It was no surprise that the room in the Kingdom where Shiva's cage was, was almost always deserted.
And that was just the way Laney liked it.
At somewhere around 17 or 18 (she had lost track of days and dates somewhere around the 9 month mark of the current hell-on-earth scenario) she was old enough to understand the King's rules.
"Drink from the well, replenish the well."
So she did her part, did all her chores and jobs without complaint and to the best of her ability. But as soon as that was done Laney would disappear to one of three places.
The library roof.
The bedroom seven doors around the corner from her own.
And Shiva's cage room.
Funnily enough, although they found her impressive and awe inspiring, most residents of the Kingdom were very much terrified of Ezekiel's tiger.
This meant that no one but the King himself spent much time in the room with Shiva's cage.
This meant that she would usually be left, undisturbed, which suited her just fine.
She had always been better with animals than people anyway.
And Shiva seemed to have a soft spot for Laney, well, as soft a spot as a tiger could have for a human. At that moment in time Shiva could be found stretched out along the front side of her cage, a huge bulk rising and falling slowly as the animal breathed and Laney could be found sat with her back resting against the bars right beside the tiger, a book in one hand and an apple in the other.
"Hey stranger"
Laney looked up, pushing her shoulder-brushing raven curls out of her face and shot a small smile up at the young man who had spoken the words.
Benjamin was leaning in the door way, still wearing his body armour and carrying the staff that the stranger, Morgan, had fashioned for him. He was smiling down at her, though his eyes would warily dart ever so often to the tiger behind her.
"You know, I'm never gonna understand why you like it in here so damn much" Benjamin said with a small chuckle as Laney closed her book and stood up, stroking Shiva's fur once before walking over to her boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
It still felt odd to call him that. Like the world had changed to much to have something as normal as a boyfriend.
But that was what he was to her.
Benjamin the boyfriend.
"You're a weird chick Lay." Benjamin said simply watching her interaction with the tiger and then falling into step beside her as the two walked from the animal's room.
"Don't act like you didn't know what you were signing up for." she quipped back, looking down at her battered boots and fiddling with the fraying sleeve of her dark green sweater. Benjamin laughed at her retort and slung an arm casually over her shoulders.
It was a moment before she relaxed under the weight of it.
"You know, sometimes I think you like that tiger more than me." he teased as they walked across the courtyard beside Ezekiel's royal garden. Laney just laughed lightly and ducked her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face slightly as she shook her head fondly at Benjamin's antics.
As they were crossing the main courtyard, the gates suddenly began to open. As they did so, Richard and Alvaro entered the Kingdom, with a group of strangers following behind.
She recognised the man with the long hair.
"The hell is Jesus doing here?" Benjamin voiced her thoughts before she could and before she could speak Jerry's voice called out from behind them.
"Benjamin! Dude let's go, the King wants you!"
"Shit, gotta go!" Turning to face her, Benjamin leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Laney's lips before saying with a small, slightly insecure smile "See you later?" It was posed as a question, like he wasn't sure if she would want to.
"Yeah. Now go. Don't keep the king waiting." Laney said with a light laugh and a small push to his stomach to get him to move.
As Benjamin jogged towards Jerry, Laney moved to stand slightly obscured from view, round the corner of one of the buildings and surveyed the group that Richard had brought in.
Jesus.
Grey beard man.
Sword lady.
Black lady.
Pigtail, scar girl.
Short haired girl.
Eye patch boy.
Dark haired man.
Seven strangers.
She wondered what was happening.
"Thought I'd find you up here."
Jesus climbed the last few rungs of the black ladder with paint flecks falling from it and swung himself up onto the roof. He sat down beside Laney, and let his legs hang down off the roof just like hers, his trench coat fluttering in the breeze slightly.
Laney gave a small smile and said quietly
"Hey Jesus."
"Hey Laney. How're you doin' kid?"
Laney shrugged and stretched slightly
"Hangin' in there."
"And Benjamin...?" Jesus let the name peter out into a question. Laney glanced up at him and although he was staring straight out over the Kingdom, she could see the hint of a teasing smirk dancing round the corner of his lips and behind his bright eyes.
"We're fine." she said with a slightly raised eyebrow, bumping his should with hers in a friendly nudge which he happily returned.
"Good. He makes you smile, which is something I don't get to see a lot. You're too young to be so serious." Jesus said earnestly and Laney scoffed slightly
"Kinda hard not to be serious in the middle of this shit storm Jesus."
"Fair point." chuckled the long haired man.
Laney looked down into the courtyard and pointed one skinny finger down at the group huddled by the gate, apparently deep in discussion.
"Who are they Jesus?" her voice was curious and quiet and her brow was furrowed as she observed the strangers.
"They're friends. Rick's the guy in charge, th-they're good people, they have a community. They came to see the King."
"Why?" she wasn't normally inquisitive but for once her curiosity was peaked.
"Theeyyyy" Jesus paused like he was choosing his words carefully "They need allies. Dangerous world ya know?"
Not satisfied with the answer but not wanting to push the issue, Laney nodded.
"Are you staying?" this question was tentative and she didn't look at him as she spoke. Jesus sighed and gently gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"I can't. I have to get back to the Hilltop. I'm sorry, you know I would if I could." he said earnestly and she gave a quick nod in response, not wanting him to see that it upset her he was leaving.
Laney liked it when Jesus stayed.
It made her feel safer.
After all he did save her life.
As this thought flit through her head Jesus stood up on the roof and stretched, before heading back to the metal ladder.
"Are you coming down?"
Laney looked out of her window. Her room had a view of the gates and front courtyard and through the streaky, dirty glass she could see the group that had arrived with Jesus hovering by the gate. They all seemed to be involved in a discussion when over the sword lady's shoulder she saw Diane approach. The Kingdom's archer spoke, Laney saw her mouth move though the words were inaudible. The group then moved towards the slowly opening gates, all except the dark haired man who stood watching them go until the gates swung shut again.
"Hey"
"It's just Benjamin" she thought to herself, closing her eyes for a moment as the young man in question slid an arm around her waist from behind her and leaned his head against hers. He had learnt throughout the course of their relationship to give her fair warning if she couldn't see him approach and not to sneak up on her (There had been one unfortunate incident at the beginning of their relationship about a month and a half or so back, which had ended with Benjamin with a bloody nose and Laney not being able to look at him out of shame for three days).
"Hey back" she murmured, still watching the courtyard where Jesus had just left with the strangers.
"You wanna go get something to eat?" he asked as she turned in his arms to face him. "Henry says if I don't feed him soon he's going to kill and eat Shiva." Benjamin chuckled as he repeated his brothers words.
"Sure." was her only response and Benjamin looked at her with a slight frown.
"You ok?"
A half shrug, half nod.
"You missin' Jesus?" he guessed and she nodded.
"It's just" Laney sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to find the words "It feels like something's changing. I don't know." she sighed again "forget it. Let's go feed that feral brother of yours."
"You could stay" Benjamin murmured, brushing his lips over hers as they leaned against the door of his bedroom.
He said it every night.
He made the offer every night that she could stay.
And every night she said the same thing.
"Not now." she murmured back gently extracting herself from Benjamin's arms.
"Henry's got his own room now." Benjamin tried and Laney felt her heart tug guiltily as he continued "You could save yourself a trip and just crash here..."
"I do that and you won't get any sleep at all. And you have training with Morgan in the morning. At least if I try and sleep in my own room you can get some sleep and I can always sneak in without waking you up." Laney said gently and Benjamin rubbed the back of his neck with a begrudging nod of agreement.
"I guess you're right."
He still looked a little disappointed so Laney leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek saying with a small smile
"Hey, I'll see you in the morning." then as an afterthought "Hey, I finished that thing you asked about."
This made Benjamin perk up a little.
"Really?"
"Yes"
"Awesome. Thank you so much Lay."
Laney ducked her head with a slight blush and shrugged saying
"Don't worry about it. Look it's late. I should go." she moved away from the door "Goodnight."
And with one last kiss she exited the room as Benjamin ran a hand through his hair and let out a groan behind her.
Awake.
Eyes snap open.
Breathing, harsh, hard and heavy.
1.
2.
3.
A deep breath.
A gulp.
Swallow the sense of bile rising in her throat.
Breathing again, slower now.
Letting the remnants of the dream wash away.
It's not real.
It's not real.
It's not real.
Benjamin didn't stir as the door to his room carefully creaked open.
Padding in on bare feet, Laney, dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and shorts, tip toed over to the bed and carefully lay down beside him.
Benjamin didn't open his eyes.
Just wrapped an arm around her waist and went back to sleep.
Yeah.
Maybe she should just stay from now on.
Ta da!
I love Benjamin he's such a sweet character.
I hope you guys like it, I tried really hard.
Sorry there wasn't much action, but there will be soon I promise!
I am rubbish at title's so if anyone can suggest a better one for this story I might use it if that's cool.
Let me know what you think, I love reading reviews and pm's.
More soon.
Geronimo xx