14. Chapter 14 (1/2)

series: melody of the heart||story title:

oken sirencharacters: taichi, yamato, chosen children||pairing: taichi x yamato/yamato x taichichapters: 14-15||words: 2,475||total: 29,802genre: romance, fantasy|rated: pg-13challenge: diversity writing challenge, j4, 7-15 chapters; new year's mini-advent, fic length determined by dice roll; (10,000-50,000 words); valentine's day to white day advent 2016, day #23, write a fic where everything turns out alright (no one said it had to start that way); easter egg basket advent, day #5, include someone almost, but not quite, dying; taiyama/yamatai week on tumblr, prompt #2, bondsnotes: this is an au. things will probably be confusing now, but i will try to explain it all by the end.summary: sirens are forbidden to exist in prince taichi's kingdom. he barely even thinks of them. so when a mysterious stranger with a compelling voice arrives at his twenty-first birthday party, taichi's only desire is to get to know him better, no matter the cost.

miyako made her way through the corridors of vamdemon's hidden palace. once she'd found a window she'd been in. now she just had to find taichi and whoever vamdemon kept as a blood source.

and then i have to get them out of here while it hurts to walk and i've got no chance of shifting and i have no idea of what's going on out there. she cast a glance behind her; she had to trust that the others would at least keep vamdemon at bay long enough for her to pull off the rescue. she couldn't do a lot more other than that.

she listened at every door she came to, pausing at cross corridors to see if she could figure out which way to go. what would be even worse would be finding a way to get back out again.

i'll do it like i do everything: on a wing and a prayer. even if i don't have my wings right now.

she turned a corner after listening for several minutes to figure out if anyone was there. she'd taken no more than a half a dozen steps before a door opened and a figure stepped out. she couldn't take another step beyond that before whoever it was turned to look at her.

miyako froze in her tracks at the sight of those large green eyes. she blinked several times before a name came to her lips.

"iori?"

he stared back at her. he'd grown respectably since the last time she'd seen him. the bite marks on his neck weren't all that fresh, except for one. that told her one thing: she'd found vamdemon's blood source.

"miyako?" a thread of hope wove through his voice as he turned to take a step toward her. "is that you?"

"who else would be stupid enough to come into a vampire's castle with almost no weapons and not able to change to get out of here if my friends can't take him down?" she raised one eye

ow at the question, hand on her hip. iori had never been one to smile much, but she recognized the joy in his eyes anyway.

then those eyes widened with worry. "if we're going to leave, then we need to take his highness with us."

"yeah, that's who i was looking for. him and you." she hesitated for a few seconds. "when this is over, you're going to tell me why you're here and why you're not dead." her eyes flicked to his pulse, almost invisible from where she stood, but she hoped it was there. it had to be; vampires couldn't feed off of other vampires.

"when it's over, yes." iori nodded, then gestured her along. "i know where he is. but he won't be able to leave willingly."

miyako let loose an annoyed sigh. "vamdemon did something for that?"

"yes." iori hurried along and she followed. "but i think i might know a way around it."

that wouldn't surprise her; iori had always been a smart one. finding he was the unknown blood source gave her a boost she hadn't thought she could feel with the way she still throbbed in multiple areas.

now everyone else could just finish off vamdemon and it would be a magnificent day.

for the thousandth time – but who was counting? - taichi envisioned slamming a huge stake in between vamdemon's ribs and watching as he screamed, flailed, and otherwise made a complete fool of himself before finally fading away never to be seen again. this time he added the extra detail of picking up yamato and seeing the blond no longer had fangs and his voice didn't compel others.

it was his fantasy, he could do whatever he wanted with it.

soft footsteps, little more than whispers of movement, sounded from the door. he expected iori, though he wasn't sure what the other could want here.

he expected iori and he wasn't disappointed, but who he didn't expect was the phoenix princess miyako. he blinked at her; he didn't know her that well, but he didn't think the

uises and general battered condition was standard issue for her.

for a moment he opened his mouth, then his lips slammed together again. oh. right. i'm not allowed to talk to anyone who comes in here. he tossed his head; this wasn't going to be fun at all.

"vamdemon gave him orders to stay here and not speak," iori murmured to miyako. taichi found he could nod in agreement to that and did so.

"you said you knew a way around it?" miyako kept her voice only a fraction above a whisper. taichi's eyes lit up at the thought of being able to leave here and listened intently as well.

a small smile made its way around iori's lips. "i can't promise it will work."

taichi nodded his head with all the speed he could manage. he wanted to at least try it! he hated being trapped like this, unable to do anything at all. i'd prefer being chained up. at least then i could see why i couldn't do anything! as it was, he sat there like a lump on a log or some kind of wax doll for someone to play with. it wasn't a position he wanted.

"let's give it a try!" miyako declared. taichi nodded even faster. iori gave him a measured look, then pulled his fist back and -

miyako blinked as taichi slumped over, a quickly flowering

uise where iori's fist struck. "that was your idea?"

"he couldn't leave of his own will and he would've had to fight us otherwise," iori said. he'd definitely grown since the last time they'd seen one another, as he scooped up the prince and carried him over his shoulder. she was more than willing to let him do that. just the movement she'd done already was enough to make her long for her bed.

she let out a long

eath from her nose. "all right. let's get out of here." maybe they'd get there in time to see the others shredding vamdemon. that would be worth every ounce of pain and then some.

vamdemon lashed scarlet bolts of energy everywhere he could get to, hitting more than he missed, but being hit as well. not every strike that hit him hurt him; those were reserved for those who had holy power.

he dropped out of the way of one strike from the demon prince, only to find himself facing the golden-haired angel, staff at the ready.

"will you not surrender and give up your captives? all of them, including yamato?" angemon asked, gaze bent toward him. vamdemon threw back his head and laughed.

"are you truly that foolish? give up what's mine? what i created out of something nearly a corpse and the tool of my revenge?" he smirked. "not to mention a very useful blood producer."

"surrender them, release them from your bondage, and this battle ends," angemon promised. "you'll find no peace otherwise."

vamdemon's answer was a swarm of his enslaved bats, which angemon dodged with a flick of his