Changmin grits his teeth, barely managing to keep himself from swearing.

Yunho’s learnt Averian so recently his knowledge of it should be rudimentary at best, and no matter how powerful Yoochun is, in the end he’s just one man.

So how the hell are they holding up so well?

Much as he hates to do so, Changmin’s forced to admit that the double shields were a good tactic. One shield to burn, the second to reflect; while Changmin and a few others made it through with some mild burns to show for it, the shields are wrecking havoc on more than half their number. The burning shield lit them up like matchsticks, and when then fell through screaming the second shield simply bounced them back up to suffer all over again. There is a kind of cruel beauty in the simple genius of it, and if it hadn’t been aimed at Changmin he’d have been inclined to compliment Yunho and Yoochun about it.

But right now, he’s far more interested in killing them.

In a way, he’ll miss them both. In a tired, boring world where he’s seen all the beauty and ugliness and tasted everything on offer, Yoochun had been for the longest time one of his few sources of amusement; the only reason he kept Junsu for so long was because it pleased him to slowly see Yoochun slowly losing his mind, knowing Changmin has Junsu, but unable to prove it or find him himself. As for Yunho—well; he’d been the one keeping Changmin's blood supplies stable the whole time. It’s not like Changmin can’t do it himself—although it is incredibly troublesome, and as a vampire of the noble class it’s beneath him—or find another Blood Keeper, but Yunho’s been with him for so long it’s a pity to let him go like this.

So yes, he’ll miss them. Not enough to not want them dead though.

He’d never set out to steal Jaejoong from Yunho. When he saw Jaejoong at the orphanage, it was pure thirst that drew him to Jaejoong; even at that age, his blood had called out to Changmin, so unbearably sweet he had to swallow down the urge to sink his teeth into his thin neck on the spot. The only thing holding him back, which in turn led to the entire rigmarole with the couple that later becomes his and Jaejoong’s parents, was how truly, exceedingly bored he was. Blood was great and all, but it only provided a temprorary relief from his physical thirst, not the emotional thirst that clawed at him from the inside, demanding to be entertained.

But on the other hand, if he drew it out, won Jaejoong’s trust, adoration and even love, and then betrayed it all—oh, how delicious that would be. It was only when Jaejoong’s eyes met Yunho in that biology class that he even realised their connection.

And you know what? Too bad for Yunho. He’d invested himself into this game; he’s not about to give it up now. He’d been accommodating; he’d let Yunho have Jaejoong in every other life Yunho could find him. Was it his fault Jaejoong was born a Blood Singer in this life? Yunho is welcome to him in the next life, but in this one, he’s Changmin’s. There can be no other way.

Changmin dodges yet another energy blast—damn that Yoochun; he’s embedded some of his power in the ship so that it’s not simply the setting of a fight, but a weapon as well. It’s not strong enough to kill anyone, but all the same Changmin has no interest in losing an eye or the use of a limb thanks to a floating hunk of metal. Aiming a finger at the direction the blast came from, he mutters a few words in Averian, and a small portion of the ship bursts into a cloud of metal fragments.

He’d have felt far better if that had been Yoochun or Yunho’s head, but all the same that felt satisfying.

And then out of the corner of his eye, he spots Yunho. While he’s doing some fighting of his own—and very impressively so from an objective point of view—his status as a mere Blood Keeper, as well as his fairly discrete position in comparison to Yoochun’s extremely conspicuous one, has so far kept most of the vampires on the ship from paying attention to him, or even realising he’s there.

It suits Changmin just fine.

He walks towards Yunho leisurely, yet purposefully, never taking his eyes off Yunho. The noises around him fade away into the background, and it seems like there’s only him and Yunho and the world.

He contemplates striking Yunho from behind. Quick, simple, deadly. Yunho, being a Blood Keeper, will have a more durable body than most, but it’s nothing Changmin cannot deal with.

But no. He will gain no happiness from that. He wants to face Yunho head on, to fight him for Jaejoong as fairly as it can get, and in the end to look into Yunho’s eyes as he falls, knowing that Changmin has won.

So he holds back, watching passively at a distance as Yunho deals with the two vampires circling him, like lions around a prey. One lunges at him—fangs bared, as if a Blood Keeper’s blood could possibly taste good, and before his fangs so much as nick Yunho’s skin he’s been flung aside like a ragdoll, back hitting the ground with force that would have pulverised any human’s spine. Clearly, Yunho is not holding back. Good, because Changmin wasn’t planning to either.

It’s then that Yunho catches a glimpse of Changmin, and freezes, only returning back to reality just in time to fend off the next vampire, again sending him sprawling across the deck. Oddly enough, Changmin feels a sense of pride at that; even if he didn’t have Averian, Yunho is strong and beautiful and breathtaking, and Changmin is the one that made him that way.

“I’ll handle this,” Changmin says to the two vampires, who are scrambling up for another round. “He’s my Blood Keeper. If there is any punishment, it is my right to hand it out.”

The two vampires—Taemin and Jongin, he thinks they’re called, but he honestly wasn’t paying attention when they were introduced—bow slightly and disappear. Yunho straightens up as Changmin approaches.

“I was almost done with that one,” Yunho says, nodding at the one Changmin thinks is Taemin.

Changmin spreads his hands out. Had he been anyone else, it would have looked like a gesture of peace. “Are you not satisfied with me?”

Yunho huffs a breath. “The opposite. Let’s get this over with.”

“Simple. Give Jaejoong to me, and this will be over with.”

“Surely you don’t think I’d do that.”

Changmin didn’t, but it’s not like it hurt to ask anyway. “Why not? You’ve had him in his previous lives, and you will have him in his future lives. Let me have him for this one. In the end, he’s still mortal. What would his lifespan be? Seventy, eighty, ninety years? It’s nothing you can’t wait out.”

Yunho’s expression is pained. “I love him, Changmin. Everything about him. If you’ve ever felt that before, you must know…how much it hurts when your partner is away, and how every moment he’s not by your side is spent waiting for him to return. Have you, Changmin? Have you ever loved someone? Did you ever love Jaejoong?”

That question throws Changmin off momentarily. Has he ever loved Jaejoong? He’s spent years living with him—a miniscule amount of time in terms of his entire lifespan, but it was enough to develop a certain…fondness for Jaejoong. No, Changmin does not love Jaejoong, not in the all-consuming passion Yunho has for him. But that doesn’t mean Changmin desires Jaejoong any less than Yunho does, out of the sheer possessiveness of his nature if nothing else. Changmin just wants, and that’s all. The reasons do not matter.

“That,” he says in reply to Yunho, “is my own business.”

Yunho’s brow furrows briefly with displeasure before his expression turns pleading. “Please, Changmin. You took me in, you gave me immortality. I don’t want to have to repay you for that with…with…”

With your death, Changmin knows he means to say. Because there is no going around that fact; for Jaejoong, someone must give. Someone must die.

“Then don’t,” Changmin says, muttering a little Averian under his breath so that an energy orb glows in his hand, pulsing and thrumming. “Stand there and let me kill you.”

Yunho shrugs, as if telling himself hey, you tried. “Goodbye, Changmin.”

Yes, Changmin thinks as he runs towards Yunho, because however this turns out , it’s the end of a  relationship. Goodbye.

And as they clash, all Changmin can think of is despite having a lifespan spanning hundreds of years, identities and histories, this is the first time he ever truly felt alive.