"Come on, breathe!" Kris snapped, his shoulders flexing as he bent over Snake, still doing compressions. Ryu was watching nervously, one of Snake's hands held tightly in between his and his bottom lip caught in his teeth.     
    "I can continue if you need to work on his back." Ryu said quietly, looking at Kris. Kris stooped forward to pinch Snake's nose and breathe carefully into his mouth, pressing down on his chest again. 
    "One second." Kris said, frowning down at Snake. "Breathe, you bastard."
    Kris gave one last push, backing off when one of Snake's hands twitched and he took a long rattling breath. Snake's head jerked reflexively as he tried to sit up, sinking down onto Ryu's lap and gritting his crimson teeth with a moan. 
    "Calum, where the hell are you?" Kris growled to himself, turning Snake on his side again and pressing my shirt tighter to the wound. 
    "I'm here." A sudden voice spoke next to me and I whirled around, finding myself looking at two men standing about a meter away. "I brought a friend."
    "Calum—" Kris started. The man who had spoken waved him off impatiently, kneeling by Snake and steadying the boy's head with gentle hands on his jaw. 
    The tall young man next to Calum bent down to place a black briefcase by him, flicking it open and handing Calum a small bottle. Calum turned Snake onto his back and unscrewed the bottle, pulling Snake's mouth open to pour something thick and black inside. He quickly closed Snake's mouth and pressed his palm over the boy's lips, forcing him to swallow. 
    The man with Calum rolled Snake onto his side, plucking a thin tube from the briefcase with slender fingers and uncapping it. He squirted a long line of pale green paste onto Snake's back, using his fingertips to rub the paste into the wound until it turned a sickly brown. It smelled sharp and minty and Snake groaned, his eyes briefly fluttering open before closing again. 
    "That'll hold for now." He said, wiping his fingers on the grass and tossing the tube back into the cluttered briefcase. 
    "We need to get him home." Calum said, looking over at Kris. Kris nodded, carefully cradling Snake to his chest and standing up. Snake's head lolled back limply over Kris' arm, his eyes closed and his lips stained black and red. 
    Ryu refused to let go of Snake's hand, their hands sliding wetly together as Ryu laced his fingers through Snake's. He looked up, finally taking a good look at the young man next to Calum and widening his eyes. 
    "Aoi?" Ryu whispered, his mouth falling open. The young man nodded, turning to Calum and tilting his head in the direction of the house. 
    "There's no time now. We need to go." Calum reminded Ryu, setting off. Kris followed behind quickly, leaving me and 'Aoi' to bring up the rear.  
    "I'm going to need towels, medical supplies, and hot, clean water." Aoi said, looking at me. There was a single loop of silver threaded through his lower lip and a matching glint above his right eye, glittering softly. 
    "I'll show you where they are." I said, quickly tapping in the gate code and unlocking the front door with shaking hands. The key slipped a little in my fingers and my hands left a smear of red on the handle, Kris and Calum pushing past me. 
    Kris turned sideways in the doorway, careful to not hit Snake's head as he walked towards the living room, not bothering with his shoes. I snagged a shirt from the pile in front of the washer, pulling it on hurriedly and leaving more smears of red along my skin and the fabric. 
    "Set him down on the table, on his stomach." Calum said, gesturing to the long dining room table and sending the candlesticks on it clattering to the floor. 
    "I'll need that stuff now." Aoi said, looking at me. I nodded, bounding up the stairs with him behind me to the linen closet. 
    Aoi shuffled quickly through the cabinet, pulling out bottles of hydrogen peroxide, rolls of gauze, and an armful of towels. He threw the towels at me, tossing around for a sealed sterile needle and thread. He ran his hands through his hair, picking up a roll of wound tape and leaping back down the stairs. 
    His boots left a trail of mud that I didn't have time to be upset about, following him to the dining room. Calum carefully spread a towel underneath Snake, ripping the rest of his shirt open and exposing the ugly wound and the blood that soaked Snake's back. 
    "Are you going to help or do you need to leave?" Calum asked, his voice coming out surprisingly gentle when he looked at Ryu, hovering by Snake's head. 
    "I'll help." Ryu whispered firmly, his eyes wide as he looked back at Calum. Aoi brushed past, setting the supplies down on the table and picking up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. 
    "I'll pour; you get the water." Calum said, taking the brown bottle from Aoi and nodding towards the kitchen. 
    Aoi nodded briefly, walking to fiddle around with my pots and pans. He filled my largest pot full of water and put it on the stove, cranking the heat on high and adding a pinch of salt to the water. 
    "I need you to hold one shoulder." Calum tapped me, gesturing to Snake's exposed back. 
    "I'll take the other." Kris volunteered, stepping around to the other side of the table. Ryu rolled up a towel and placed it under Snake's face, turning his head to the side.
    Snake's skin was sticky and cold under my hands, my fingers sliding around before I gripped him tightly. Calum tilted the bottle sideways and sent a clear stream of liquid splattering over Snake's back, the mixture bubbling and foaming over his ravaged skin. 
    Snake arched his back and screamed, thrashing until Kris and I leaned fully onto his shoulders and kept him still. His scream was bit off into a sob, quickly becoming a mixture of quiet, ragged begging and whimpering that sent Ryu walking quickly out of the room with his palms pressed over his ears. 
    Calum splashed more liquid onto Snake's back and he struggled, shaking violently under my fingers. It was hard to hold him down without hurting him, and I balanced my chest carefully on his shoulders, feeling more blood smearing up onto my neck. 
    "Here." Aoi broke through Snake's moans, walking up with a pitcher of water. He poured the water quickly but steadily into Snake's wound, sending warm water running down Snake's sides to drip onto the table and then the floor. 
    Aoi kept flushing out the wound until he was out of water, then carefully dabbed at it with a paper towel. There was a warm puddle of pink by my left foot and I shifted out of it, looking at the pools of red and pink on the table. Calum dug through his briefcase again, pulling out another jar and carefully unscrewing the top. 
    "Aoi, do as much as you can, and then I'll finish." Calum said. Aoi set the pitcher down, shrugging off his jacket to reveal a fitted white tank top underneath. There was a thick band of symbols tattooed on each of Aoi's biceps, locking and interlacing with one another until they became a solid line of drawings.
    Aoi stretched out his arms, his hand slipping behind him to pull a thin silver blade from his pocket. There was a thick band of obsidian around the hilt of the blade and Aoi shifted it carefully, settling the misericord knife between his fingers like a pencil. He flipped it through his fingers a few times, considering Snake's back carefully and taking deep breaths. 
    "What are you doing?" I asked, looking from the thin blade to the weeping cut on Snake's back. 
    "He's a warlock." Kris whispered next to me, tensing his shoulders. Aoi ignored us both, using another paper towel to soak up the blood still leaking from Snake's back. 
    Aoi ran his hand through his hair, pulling it back out of his eyes before grasping the knife firmly. Aoi set the tip of the blade just under Snake's wound, pressing ever so slightly and making a tiny cut. 
    The tattoos along his biceps began to gleam a dull silver, matching spots of light appearing in his black eyes. Aoi hunched his shoulders, making another careful cut into Snake's skin and making his tattoos flare with a sudden burst of light. I looked away, spots dancing in my vision, but finally looked back to see Aoi straighten up. 
    There was a small symbol carved under Snake's wound, its twin residing somewhere in the network of tattoos on Aoi's arms. Aoi began to carve another next to it, the edges of the wound turning smooth as his worked, shiny with new skin. 
    The symbols didn't bleed when they were carved into Snake's skin, but smoked faintly before sealing themselves. They faded after a small flash of silver, turning into dark red scars in a matter of seconds. 
    Aoi's arm was shaking now, his other forearm braced heavily against the table, his hand curled into a tight fist. There was a line of sweat along his spine, soaking his tank top, and he was panting. Aoi finished the second symbol and started another, barely finishing it before his knife clattered out of his hand and onto the table. 
    Aoi's knees hit the wood floor with a crack and he slumped sideways, just barely saved from hitting his head on the floor by Kris leaping forward and hooking his hands under Aoi's arms. Aoi's head fell back onto Kris' shoulder and his eyes regained their normal color before sliding closed, his tattoos also fading back to black. 
    "He always pushes too far." Calum shook his head, giving Aoi a scolding look and then regarding Snake's back. 
    Kris picked Aoi up carefully, walking into the living room and coming back several moments later alone. Calum snapped a pair of latex gloves onto his hands and unwrapped the sterile curved needle, threading it carefully. 
    "He did well." Kris remarked, leaning forward to inspect Snake. The gash was shallow now, the edges healed, and blood no longer leaked out. 
    "Can you wipe the rest of the blood off of him?" Calum asked, gesturing to one of the towels and a second pitcher of water waiting on the counter. 
    Kris poured the water while I carefully rubbed the rest of the blood off Snake's body, getting him as clean as I could before dropping the towel at my feet to mop up the puddles on the floor. Calum moved to hold Snake's skin together, slowly beginning to stitch up the rest of the wound. 
    Snake was thoroughly unconscious by now, but his hands would flex every so often on the table and I reached out for him, feeling his wet fingers squeeze mine. I distractedly picked up a wet rag, dipping it in the water pooled at the bottom of the pitcher and using it to wipe the blood from one of Snake's palms. I continued to his neck, swabbing dried scarlet from beneath his ears and along his collarbones. 
    "Almost done." Calum said, tying off the thread and using Aoi's knife to cut it. He dipped his fingers into the glass jar on the table, scooping up a large dollop of something thick and purple. 
    "What is that?" Kris asked, wrinkling his nose and covering his mouth with his palm. 
    "Secret family recipe." Calum said with a private smirk, slowly painting a thick coat of odd-looking paste along the line of neat stitches. Snake sighed and relaxed, his hand falling limp in mine. 
    Calum screwed the cap back tightly onto the jar and removed his gloves, tossing them on the floor by the discarded towels and unwrapping two of the thick gauze pads. I held the pads in place over th