Just a one-shot that wanted to get out of my system. A prequel, if you will, to James Barclay's chronicles of the Raven, but really only for Thraun and Will. What with Will having a certain degree of cold cruelty, I think this fits.

These two may not be my Raven-OTP, but I just felt like doing this for myself. Slash, but nothing too obvious. Some language, though.

Will was wearing a big smile on his face as he knelt before the door. Hands steady and practised, he worked the lock within seconds. For a moment he considered knocking and announcing himself, but then again, it was only Kajan. Kajan liked surprises, and he knew Will well enough to see that it was all good humour. Carefully, he opened the door and slipped into the dark house.

For a moment Will thought he heard a voice, but now he listened all was silent. He must have been wrong. Kajan was certainly sleeping at this time. But then the sound came again. Kajan's voice, but he didn't think he was talking. His smile widened. Probably being naughty. Well, he'd give him a hand in that. There it came again, definitely a moan, and not the pained kind. Chuckling to himself, Will proceeded less carefully. Kajan was obviously not going to hear him.

Standing before the door to the bedroom, Will hesitated again. It was an intrusion to just enter unannounced. But then again, they had been lovers for over a year, and Will had come to care for the other man so deeply. The way Kajan treated him was so intense, so loving, there was nothing that he could do wrong by just going in. And so he did.

For a moment, Will stared at the scene he found in disbelief. His heart beat low and steadily, belying the chaos that was building in his gut, his brain, his very soul. 'Kajan,' he breathed, then said the name again, yelling this time. A stunned silence followed. Still, the calm inside Will was present, but it felt cancerous. He stood unmoving as Kajan disentangled himself from someone and looked at him. Will didn't register or care if the other person was a man or a woman, he was never able to tell afterwards. All that mattered was what Kajan had done. The other man approached slowly while Will stood frozen. Will forced his eyes away from his middle and to the face of the man he thought loved him.

'Look, you should not just have entered,' he said. No remorse, just an accusation. The absurdity of that bred something deadly inside the shocked man. He sank to the ground, as though shaken so much he couldn't keep standing. Still fixing Kajan with his eyes, his hand travelled to his boot undiscovered in the darkness. Stark naked, Kajan crouched before him.

'Are you sorry?' Will asked hoarsely. It was all he needed to hear in order to go meekly and never come back. The other man shook his head.

'You are fun, Will, but not someone to love,' he said. 'You cannot even be trusted.' Will shot forwards. He was small and not very strong, but he had the element of surprise on his side. He bawled the other man to the ground and with a small dagger in his left hand slashed at his face. And again. And again.

Ϡ

'Are you even listening?' Jandyr asked with a bemused impression. Thraun shook his head.

'Sorry,' he said. 'I still don't believe it.'

'Well, unless I'm very wrong, you should consider yourself lucky,' Jandyr told him. 'Remember the corpse they found three weeks ago? The ones before that? All killed during or after sex, and with another man, they think. I know that doesn't make it less painful, but I for one am glad you're alive.'

'Don't be ridiculous, he wouldn't do that,' Thraun said dismissively. 'He just left, he didn't even try to attack me. Plus, that would be a big secret.' Jandyr stared at his friend for a few seconds, then he started laughing. Hard. It was a rare enough event, and Thraun, despite his pain, had to smile. 'That was a ridiculous thing to say, wasn't it?' Jandyr wiped at his eyes.

'Yes, it definitely was,' he confirmed. 'Anyway, it has to be tonight, Thraun. And without a thief.' Thraun sighed.

'I know.'

Ϡ

It was really just a reconnaissance mission, they had thought. And now Jandyr was injured and fleeing and he was cornered. A well-aimed arrow grazed his sword hand and the blade fell to the ground with a clatter. He had only one way out. He crashed along the street to give himself the peace he needed for a few moments only.

Ϡ

Heart beating up in his throat, Will watched what has happening directly under his window. First he had thought his eyes betrayed him as he recognised Thraun with his back against the wall. But the gravelly voice telling the guards earnestly that they should leave could not be mistaken. Guilt ate at his guts. He should have slit his throat just like those others. Or perhaps, he should just have …

It was moot. He had always been fucked up, and he was getting worse by the day. He might as well show the world. It would be a nice way to make his point to just shove the man into the swords of the guards. He ran out into the street to intercept him. Thraun would be in the alley behind, trying to ambush them. He would …

For the second time in his life, Will was completely incapable to react to the situation he saw. Thraun was lying naked on the floor, curled up like a small child. A shudder went through his body, and then the change began. Transfixed, Will watched limbs elongating, fur growing from the skin beneath, heard how bones broke to be reformed. He swallowed hard. Of all the things he had expected he would ever witness, this was the last. The guards were coming. They would not be able to kill a shape changer. Will turned.

He had barely made the door, when a yelp cut through his thoughts. He spun and saw a guard lashing at Thraun - the wolf, he corrected himself. The vicious cut should have killed him, but it bounced off him as though his skin was mail. One of the guards had a torch. Now this might hurt him. 'No,' he said softly. 'Bastards!' he yelled, drawing their attention to himself. Thraun' too, but he didn't care. Knife in hand, he rushed to the side of the beast. 'You don't,' he told the man with the torch. Feinting right with the knife, he punched him with the left hand. Dazed, the guard stepped backwards and the right hand followed quickly, burying the knife in his eye.

Slowly, the rush was leaving him. They were alone, the guards dead. Seven of them, only two by his hands. Thraun stared at him, yellow eyes holding bloodlust but no recognition. Will let his knife fall, knowing it wouldn't help him. 'Thraun … I'm not afraid of you.' It was true, somehow. He knew he might be dead in a few minutes, but somehow he didn't care. 'I'm sorry, you know,' he said and meant it. 'I wish I hadn't left you. I wish you knew who I am, then I'd tell you all of it and ask you to forgive me. Thraun, why don't you remember me?' The wolf pounced, knocking him onto his back. Paws stood heavy on his chest, the hot breath of the beast was so close to his skin. 'Thraun,' he whispered, barely audibly, 'remember me. Remember.' Unable to watch the jaws closing on his face, Will shut his eyes. But the pain never came. The weight left him, and he dared to look.

There he sat, a human again, arms slung around knees, eyes staring unseeing at the floor. Without a word, Will sat up, wrapping his arms around the much larger man in a protective gesture. 'You are safe with me,' he said, hatred bleeding out of him and leaving him sad at what he had become. 'And I know I'm safe with you. Don't ever let me down, Thraun. Ever.'