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Introduction
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Dos à Dos — The Shape of Salvation is the eighteenth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Summary[]
Vanitas remembers. When he was a child. Another boy, younger than him, head of pale hair, looking up at him inquisitively. He asked his big brother, why did he hate “Father” so much? Vanitas’s breath quickens, almost panting in panic. The boy continued: Father saved them from Moreau’s laboratory, so isn’t he a good person? Vanitas scoffed at that. A good person? That, he said… That woman was a Vampire. The Vampire of the Blue Moon. Vanitas’s eyes are wide with the horror of a memory long past. Long white hair falling before his eyes in a flash, blood splattering and staining red. He swore. Someday he would steal that power and kill all Vampires.
His name is screamed; Vanitas flinches. Noé swoops in and carries Vanitas away just as a lash of shadowy energy strikes the ground, making the concrete explode upwards. On the other side, the three Chasseurs fight together to keep the creature at bay as it continually attacks them. Noé tells Vanitas to stand back if he can’t move, otherwise he’s in the way. Vanitas balks and indignantly insists that he can move fine. Noé asks him then—what is that? That huge beast made of pure shadow and no shape, just a mass of writhing darkness given sentience and the vague form of limbs reaching out at everything around it. But in that mass something other than darkness can be seen: on its underside, slowly opening up, is a mouth. A wide, gaping jaw with a set of teeth spiraling inwards, a black hole with the colors inverted. That mouth opens and the limbs of the thing grab at the chunks of concrete, the rubble, the discarded lab supplies—even the bodies of the reinforced humans, and devours it all. The grotesque snapping, crunching, chewing fills the air, making everyone grimace as they watch it eat. Vanitas speaks what it is.
Malnomen — Prédateur, the Shadow.
His voices echoes with that of the Vampire of the Blue Moon in the past. He, and they, and the other young boy sat together in the forest under the shade of a tree. The Vampire held up a book showing an illustration of the very Malnomen in question. The pale-haired boy noted how “black and squirmy” it looked from the picture. Vanitas sat away from them, seemingly ignoring them but still listening with his back turned. The Vampire explained: the Malnomen was a Vampire’s shadow given physical form. A person who had this curse would have their shadow start to move with a will of its own, growing larger and larger until it eventually swallowed the person it belonged to. Vanitas watched them out of the corner of his eye quietly. The Vampire continued, and their explanation continues to ring out until the current day in their current battle. Prédateur is a glutton, and it kills and eats anything within its reach. Their group of five evade the shadow’s swipes to grab them, instead snatching the reinforced humans around them. And until it entirely consumes the life force of the Vampire it once belonged to… Noé reaches out in alarm, but the creature is already eating the reinforced human whole. Its only goal will be to devour all life it can.
Roland leaps into the fray. He wields his Durandal, a blade in each hand, and in the blink of an eye he slashes at the creature. The limbs, shakily formed hands from the tendrils of darkness seeping out of its shape, are hacked off with his powerful attacks. Then the severed tendrils shake, and a new hand grows out of it in a matter of seconds. Roland exclaims in shock. Vanitas yells that the curse-bearer whom the shadow belongs to must be inside it, and they have to drag them out somehow to be able to do an inverse operation on them. Noé wonders what to do, then looks up in alarm. Maria has been snatched by one of the arms and is rapidly being pulled into his gaping maw. Maria grits her teeth and aims a pair of arrows at the shadow. She shoots and hits it dead-on. The hands release her—but they fling her away at full force. She flies at full speed towards a supporting pillar, head about to be cracked on impact. Roland cries out for her. Metal clangs as she makes impact. Maria winces and opens her eyes—her fall was broken by Noé jumping in between her and the pillar, softening the blow with his body. Maria exclaims in shock as Noé slumps down in pain. Vanitas snaps at him for being a moron. A shadowy hand slams the ground beneath Vanitas. He evades being crushed by it, but he’s flung into the wall as well. His back slams into the concrete, and he falls over.
“Stupid.”
That little boy from his memories stands before him. His words are mocking as he looks down at the prone form of his “big brother.” He asks Vanitas, why is he doing this? Why is he trying to save the Vampires of the Crimson Moon who shunned and exiled their “Father”? Why work so desperately for their sakes only to end up hurt like this? The boy smiles. He’s too late anyways. Vanitas should say so to the people out there, the Chasseurs desperately fighting for their lives next to him. So that no one else will have to be hurt for no reason. The boy asks tauntingly,
“You don’t want someone to die because of you again, do you…?”
Vanitas’s eyes are wide.
Noé calls to Vanitas. He shakes him desperately, trying to wake him as he lays on the floor of the lab. Vanitas groans and shakily sits up. He flinches; another body of a reinforced human hits the wall. It falls down in a broken mound of blood. Prédateur continues raging endlessly in the center of the room. Vanitas stares. Roland runs around the perimeter as a flurry of shadowy tendrils attacks him. Maria helps up Georges who is nursing his head. His eyes shake with faint horror at he watches them fight desperately, almost futilely for their lives. His face twists up with regret and remorse as he bows his head down. He tells Noé to send everyone out of the room. Once Prédateur completely consumes the life of the curse-bearer inside, it will disappear on its own. They can contain it inside the laboratory for long enough for that to happen. And that will end everything. Noé looks at Vanitas, he asks if he can’t save it. Vanitas clenches his fist. He says, it’s too late. Noé listens. They don’t know how to get the curse-bearer out of the shadow, so there’s nothing they can do—
“Not yet!!!”
Vanitas’s eyes widen. He looks up at Noé, staring with determination at the shadow.
“I don’t want to give up yet!”
As they stare it down together, Noé asks Vanitas: what does the inside of its mouth look like? Vanitas’s face goes blank. Instantly his mind fills with the most grotesque thing he can imagine. He answers as best he can: he supposes it’s like the border, linking to a different dimension entirely—hold on. Vanitas asks with extreme skepticism, why is he asking? Noé looks at Vanitas. With total frankness, he says that if they don’t know how to get the curse-bearer out, there’s only one thing left to do! Vanitas gapes. He protests strongly and, with a pale face, reminds him that if they get eaten they’ll die. Noé agrees, but from the explanation he just heard he would take a guess that one wouldn’t instantly die upon entering its body. Noé steps forward and says he doesn’t have to come along if he doesn’t want to, he can manage on his own. Vanitas tries to protest further. Noé takes a deep breathe.
“Vanitas. What are you?”
Vanitas’s eyes widen. Noé asks, why is he here right now despite going through so much pain to get to this point? What is his reason? Vanitas hesitates. He looks at The Book of Vanitas lying before him. In his mind once again echoes his little brothers voice—why is he doing this? Vanitas pauses. He grits his teeth and snaps at that voice to shut up. He grabs the Book and stands up, life once again filling his voice as he declares—
“I… am a doctor. I am here to save Vampires!”
Noé smiles.
Vanitas yells at Roland and snaps at him to cover them. He and Noé start to dash. A pair of shadowy hands instantly begin to grab at them. Roland whips around, bearing both blades of Durandal, and he swipes at the hands above them, severing them instantly. Roland orders his subordinates to take it down. Maria and Georges attack at once with their weapons. Georges swings his ax and cuts away at the chunk of the shadow. Maria fires her arrows, and they burst explosively as they hits the shadow’s body. Prédateur writhes and the darkness making up its body shrinks in on itself. It provides the perfect window of opportunity. Noé grabs Vanitas and leaps high up into the air—right above where Prédateur’s mouth awaits them. As they drop, Vanitas wryly calls Noé “a preposterous fellow.” They leap into its mouth.
A flash of light. Then pure darkness. Vanitas opens his eyes. They find themselves in floating in a dark void filled with the countless other things eaten from the laboratory. Chunks of rubble, bits of broken pipes, various books and jars, chairs, a metal door, the ripped up body parts of the reinforced humans, even the unconscious form of a still alive man. All of it, surrounding a center of a writhing shadowy mass with a pair of soulless glowing eyes. That darkness surrounds a boy. The curse-bearer they’re looking for. Vanitas gazes at it all with a dark look. Noé assures him that it’s alright and smiles. “We can win this.” Vanitas laughs, “‘If we’re together,’ you mean?” The shadow surrounding the curse-bearer spreads and threatening to envelope and devour them whole. Noé smiles, and Vanitas takes out the Book of Vanitas. It shines its blue light.
Cracks like shattering glass. They spread all over Prédateur’s shadowy form, that all-consuming darkness breaking apart right before their eyes. Roland is shocked as he sees this happen. The cracked bits of inky blackness begin to crumble away piece by piece, scattering into the wind as it all turns to ash until there’s nothing left. The only remnants of it ever having been present are the white flower petals falling from the sky like a gentle snowfall. Maria stares up at the falling flowers with shock to find their enemy vanished. Georges doesn’t understand what’s going on. Lying on the ground are broken, ripped up remains of the reinforced humans—and a still alive man lying unconscious. Roland gasps then runs towards where Vanitas and Noé are. The two of them lie on the ground in the center where Prédateur used to be. Noé lies face-up cradling the unconscious boy, the now healed curse-bearer, and Vanitas lies face-down on the opposite side upside-down from him.
Noé bursts out gasping. He wheezes, face pale and slightly weepy as he laments that he thought they would die. He said such confident, arrogant things before heading in, only to now realize how naive he was. Vanitas angrily grumbles at him. Vanitas is motionless for a moment, face still to the ground. He quietly starts to laugh. Noé looks up at him as he turns over onto his side, laughing louder and louder. In between his mirth he mutters that he doesn’t know how they’re still alive, that it makes no sense. Noé starts to laugh too. Maria and Georges watch on as they both do. Vanitas and Noé, lying side by side, laugh together in utter relief, triumph, and joy. The two of them together. Roland stares at them with wide eyes, shining with wonder. They stop laughing. Noé, with a bright smile, rejoices in saving the curse-bearer. Vanitas is more subdued. He notes that Moreau escaped from them. Noé admits to this, but—
A click. The ceiling explodes. Vanitas, Noé, and Roland all stare up in shock. Rubble begins to fall. More explosions shake the room all over, from ceiling to wall to floor. Vanitas screams at everyone to run, or they’ll all be buried alive. The laboratory collapses all around them as they scramble to escape. The ceiling falls in pieces, crushing the bodies of what reinforced humans are still left. The abandoned research materials break under the weight of the explosions. The fluid-filled jar holding the Vampire eyes lays shattered open on the ground. The laboratory gives way.
In the hallway outside the now destroyed laboratory, their group rests panting with exhaustion after managing to escape with everyone and everything intact. Vanitas guesses the explosions to have been set in order to destroy everything, including Moreau’s research, in case of an emergency. Vanitas mutters and grumbles that he wanted to use to elevator to leave the place, but clearly that option is no longer open. Roland tells Georges and Maria to give Vanitas and Noé their cloaks. His subordinates stare at him with surprise. Noé sits next to the unconscious bodies of the two Vampires he carried out on his own. Roland identifies them as the Vampires kidnapped by Moreau and tells Noé he’ll look after them. He assures Noé that he doesn’t have to worry for them. The Vampires there aren’t at fault, and this incident was entirely the mistake of the Chasseurs to fix. He promises to personally make sure the Vampires they saved are handed over to Orlok.
Roland tells Vanitas and Noé to leave immediately. No matter what the circumstances were, they intruded on the Chasseurs’ territory, meaning they’ll be captured and interrogated at first opportunity. And so, he advises them to get going as fast as possible. Maria looks at Vanitas and confirms her suspicions. When Roland was making that report through the communicator, he intentionally did not report Vanitas’s identity. If he, the Kin of the Blue Moon, with the power to potentially destroy Vampires en masse, were to appear before the eyes of the Chasseurs, the extremists wishing to eradicate all Vampires would stop at nothing to get their hands on him and his power. Then Roland, knowing the two would be suspicious if they tried leaving on their own, asks Maria to guide Vanitas and Noé out. Maria stares blankly at her captain. Roland stares back, smiling brightly and eyes glittering. Maria grimaces in a cold sweat, knowing she won’t be able to say no. Maria grits her teeth and sighs tiredly. She tosses her cloak at Noé and tells the two to follow her. Roland nods in gratitude. Vanitas, taking his cloak from a more polite Georges, mocks the Chasseurs for letting a Vampire escape. Maria scoffs at him then, calling back to when Noé saved her, says she doesn’t want to owe any favors to them.
Roland insistently pushes at Vanitas and Noé to get going as his comrades will soon arrive. While Vanitas prepares to get going, Noé hesitates for a moment. Roland pulls them both into a hug. For a moment, he holds them there in his embrace. Vanitas is revolted. But Noé flushes, confused and embarrassed and touched all at once, as they pull apart. Roland tells them to leave everything to him, and with a soft smile he urges them to go. Vanitas turns and Noé stares at Roland, speechless and face filled with emotion. He thanks the man with all his heart. Roland smiles at them, and promises that the next time they’ll meet, it’ll be under the sun.
Time passes. Roland perks up as someone yells his name from the other side of the corridor. Another Chasseur with long black hair storms in angrily, demanding an explanation. His rosary bearing a black gem dangles and shakes as he stomps over. Roland grins and greets the man, Olivier, complimenting on how nice his hair looks. Olivier slaps Roland in the face. He grabs his head in a tight and painful grip and growls, asking what that tremor earlier was about, while Georges nervously watches on the side. Roland promises to make a proper report later, but in the meantime he excitedly urges Olivier to listen to what happened to him. Olivier snaps at him for tugging on his clothes. Georges watches them with exasperation. Roland pulls Olivier into a half-embrace and whispers into his ear before revealing—Roland has made friends with a Vampire. Olivier stares at him. He doubles over and starts screaming in pain about a splitting headache. Roland, concerned, offers to get medicine for him. Olivier snaps that it’s his fault.
Olivier composes himself and asks Roland if he knows what he’s saying. If their comrades find out—Roland interrupts with a smile. If they find out, would he no longer be able to stay? Olivier stops and stares at him. Roland smiles in bright and genuine joy. Only a moment ago he saw the most wonderful sight. A human and a Vampire laying together, smiling together, laughing together. Truly enjoying being with one another. He recalls Vanitas and Noé’s smiling faces. Roland thinks of what he thought of as fact for all this time, that humans and Vampires would never be able to understand one another. And yet, so easily, in only minutes, with only a handful of words, with only the sights he’s seen in this single short day. That “common sense” he’s believed in for so long was completely and soundly disproven. He beams in elation and excitement, heart racing with his new discovery. Olivier holds up a hand and sternly orders him to stop. He tells Roland to not tell anyone except him about this. If Roland is gone, there will be no one to keep Astolfo company. Roland droops and agrees. But he perks up again in seconds and starts issuing orders to his subordinates. He tells Georges to give Olivier a full report of what happened, then leaves while humming to himself. Georges chokes in shock.
Olivier watches Roland walking away and humming with exasperation. Georges apologizes to Olivier for being right by Roland’s side and letting this happen anyways. Olivier brushes it off, it’s not easy to stop Roland when he’s determined about something, not even for Olivier. He presses his hand to his face, brow full of sweat, while Georges frets nervously beside him. He was hoping Roland would settle down and be more calm if he had responsibility towards others, which is why he recommended him for jasper, and yet this happened. He recalls Roland’s smile as he wondered if he wouldn’t be able to stay a Chasseur anymore. Olivier grits his teeth. Roland didn’t look the least bit bothered by the idea. Georges tries to argue for him, that someone as pious as Roland would never harm the Church. Olivier disagrees. He looks at Roland’s retreating back, the way the man holds his head high and proud and defiant of everything around him. What he believes in isn’t necessarily “God”—it’s “himself” as a follower of God. Olivier sighs in exasperation and remarks on how much trouble this will all be. Roland continues walking, not knowing of the worries he leaves behind him, smile ever bright on his face.
Outside, under a bridge above the Seine river. A gate underneath clangs open. Vanitas and Noé crawl out, both absolutely exhausted, panting and wheezing as they kneel on the ground. Noé is relieved to be out in the sunlight again, then immediately takes it back when the sun burns his eyes. He crawls away, wondering if it was alright to leave the rest of the problem for Roland to deal with. Vanitas answers noncommittally. Noé looks at him. Vanitas declares that he stopped caring the moment there were no more curse-bearers, and takes the cloak off his form. Noé quietly looks at him, then looks out towards the river in front of them. Vanitas lets go of the cloak and it flies away in the breezy wind. The two of them watch the surface of the Seine together as it glitters with the reflection of the sun. Noé thinks back. That which Moreau said, asking about a “No. 71,” caused Vanitas to start acting strangely. He recalls Vanitas’s expression of extreme guilt that he saw in that moment. Noé sitting on the ground embracing his knees wonders if it’s alright for him to ask. They’ve never discussed what happened to Vanitas before all this. What caused him to get where he is to day, to become who he is today. Noé quietly calls for Vanitas—something touches his back. Noé is surprised.
Vanitas sits back to back with Noé. They sit together quietly by the riverside to the sound of the flowing water and the warmth of the gentle sun on their skin. The wind blows a pair of leaves above their heads.
Vanitas leans his weight against Noé’s back. He closes his eyes and quietly says he’s tired. Noé looks at Vanitas, then looks down. He agrees that he’s tired too. He offers that they return to the hotel and ask Amelia to bring them breakfast. Vanitas says he’d rather sleep than eat. Noé realizes Vanitas didn’t sleep at all last night. They continue bickering with one another about these petty things, complaining towards one another but staying back to back. The wind continues blowing leaves through the air above them, and Noé smiles as he continues speaking. He thinks to himself. He’s sure that Vanitas didn’t want to get involved in his incident. He saw that dark, almost haunted look Vanitas had when he found out about it. He didn’t want to sneak into the catacombs, or deal with the Chasseurs, or go into Moreau’s laboratory. Despite all that, he went anyways. Leaves continue to fall. Because there were curse-bearers there. Noé wonders if he felt it was his mission as a doctor, then immediately shakes off the thought. Rather… Noé recalls Vanitas standing up again with vigor, the look on his face as he did so. It seemed more like Vanitas was clinging to that. As if it was all he had left. Noé thinks as leaves fall past his head. He recalls their first meeting, Vanitas’s declaration of salvation. Noé thinks about it. Vanitas continues to lean against his back, eyes closed as he rests.
Noé wonders if the one who wants to be saved more than anyone else, the one who is wishing for it most of all, is Vanitas himself.
Within pure darkness, two voices speak. One asks what Moreau is currently doing. The other answers: he’s depressed over the loss of his lab, currently wailing his eyes out in the other room, meaning he’ll be useless in the meantime. Monsieur Spider admonishes that it was a mistake to allow him to return to that lab. The other voices answers that they had to, because as risky as it is, they need to have Moreau continuing his research. It’s what Monsieur Spider wants too, and he knows it. Monsieur Spider stays silent. Behind them, in a tank filled with glowing liquid, something moves. Monsieur Spider angrily growls about him—that Vampire. The one who’s always managed to stand in their way at every single turn. Stopping them from killing Luca at the bal masqué, and this time with the Chasseurs causing everything to go into chaos and be destroyed. The other voice thinks quietly to himself. Noé Archiviste; he speaks the name. Monsieur Spider flinches as he sighs. He touches his hand to the tank. Within it, a hand floats, as does long flowing white hair that envelopes the entire body.
“I’ll do something about the boy on my end,” declares Lord Ruthven as he begins to move.
Characters[]
- Vanitas
- Mikhail*
- Vanitas of the Blue Moon*
- Noé Archiviste
- Roland Fortis
- Maria
- Georges
- Parks Orlok*
- Olivier (First Appearance)
- Astolfo Granatum (Mentioned only)
- Moreau
- Amelia Ruth (Mentioned only)
- Monsieur Spider
- Luca Oriflamme*
- August Ruthven
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Dos à Dos is literally translated as "back to back" from French.
References[]
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| v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
|---|---|
| Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
| Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
| The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
| Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
| Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Vanitashu no Karute • Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION • Confessional Counseling Office |
| Other | Author's Notes |