#also yes tomoki/blizzarmon was trying to not give himself away to yutaka

[razzle-zazzle]

853 Words; i,,,, i really don't know???

TW for death & death mention

The mantis bears down on him, and Yutaka freezes. It raises its scythe-like arms with a screech, and Yutaka has only a moment to realize that he's going to die as the blade comes down—

The mantis is slammed against a wall by a massive axe, dissolving into nothing around the blade embedded into the concrete. Yutaka flinches back, then falls backwards entirely when the owner of the axe leaps forward to grab it.

The new monster towers over him, a massive hand grabbing the handle of the axe and pulling it out of the wall. Another equally massive axe is clutched in its other hand, glinting dangerously in the sunlight. The beast turns toward him, cold brown eyes focusing on Yutaka.

This is it, Yutaka thinks, this is where I die. It's like staring into a blizzard, into a white wall of endless snow knowing that danger could come from anywhere.

The beast huffs, exhaling icy mist from its brown muzzle. It leans forwards, light glinting off its horns and the sharp ends of its dreads like sunlight off of snow. Its shaggy white fur almost seems to glisten.

Yutaka is staring death in the face. It's the only thought he can have, in front of a monster so cold and imposing.

"Ar—" The beast coughs, and were Yutaka not frozen on the spot in terror he might have found something about its squeak familiar, "Are you okay?" Its voice comes out gravelly, rough, like glaciers grinding against each other.

(Yutaka gets the odd sense that the monster is pitching its voice down. But that makes no sense.)

Yutaka sits there in slack-jawed silence, any attempts to move or speak failing him. His brain finally processes the words that were spoken to him, and he manages a strained, "yeah."

The beast stares at him, then nods. "Good." It grunts, "Let's get—"

The monster is cut off as a small figure appears beside it, suddenly seeming to manifest.

No, Yutaka realizes, staring at softly-buzzing wings, it flew into place so fast as to seem to teleport.

“We could use your help a few blocks over, Blizzarmon.” The smaller creature speaks. It looks almost human, if humans had waists so tightly cinched as to look insectoid, if humans had legs more than half as long as their bodies, if humans had bright gossamer wings buzzing softly behind them, if humans had long purple hair whipping around like a streamer.

Yutaka can’t get a read on it—not through the visor over its eyes. But as it speaks, he can’t help but lock onto a mouth full of sharp teeth. This being is dangerous, Yutaka’s instincts scream. This being could kill him effortlessly.

It’s like looking out into a storm from the eye, knowing that just beyond the walls lie utter destruction.

The beast nods, kneeling down in a position not unlike prayer. Seemingly satisfied, the fairy turns its attention to Yutaka.

“You look familiar,” it comments, its voice breezy, carefree lightness underscored with malice. It hovers closer. “Are you—” It cuts off, clasping gloved hands together. “You are! You’re Yutaka!” It flits around him in excitement.

Yutaka’s mouth opens—to say what, he doesn’t know. He barely manages to exhale before the beast’s eyes snap open, the massive monster bursting into motion and flash-stepping away. The fairy gives Yutaka one last look before flying off after it, with a “Nice to meet you! Stay safe!” thrown behind it.

Yutaka stands on shaky legs, and turns to go home.

+=+=+=+=+

Tomoki's playing a game on the TV when Yutaka finally returns home, the last dregs of adrenaline fading from his system. His little brother perks up at his arrival, throwing Yutaka a greeting without quite looking away from the screen.

Yutaka switches to indoor shoes, walks over to the couch and sits down hard. Even at 20 years old, he's still shaken up by the altercation at the mall. He'd gone out looking for a particular book, and got caught up in that whole mess.

Yutaka hadn't thought much of the monsters that had been appearing as of late, writing the news off as a hoax or over exaggeration. He almost wants to turn on the news now, to see if the attack on the mall was recorded in any particular detail, but he equally wants to ignore the whole event. It's fine, everything's fine, he didn't stare death in the face at all today, and even if he did he made it out alive so everything's fine—

"—glad you made it home safe," Tomoki's saying, his voice breaking Yutaka out of his spiral, "Those Snimon looked really scary!"

"Yeah," Yutaka responds, for lack of anything else to say. Tomoki must have seen the attack on the news or something. Good thing he didn’t get caught up in that; for all that Yutaka’s brother had inexplicably matured in the past year, he was still a child.

(It isn't until he's settling down for bed that night, all of his study materials put away, that Yutaka realizes that Tomoki called the mantis by a name nobody else had mentioned.)