Come Into These Arms

By Kay

Disclaimer: Hmmm... do I own Everworld yet? No? *DAMN IT ALL*.

Author's Notes: La la, inspired pretty late, was listening to sad sad song, decided to give it a try. Basically... uh... am very bored. To lazy to write on my other fics. Erm.

... it's David/Jalil slash. You can shoot me now, if you want.

While I don't really see this as a *huge* potential pairing, (like Christopher and Jalil's obvious infatuations with each other! Mwahahahaa!), I do indulge in it often. Like Christopher/David slash, it has a special place in my heart-- yet is overshadowed usually by my will for C/J slash. However! It has triumphed in taking at least one fic place! ... stupid evil D/J slash.

Yes, it's pointless, OOC, and badly written. And yes, the Hetwen probably wouldn't do this. I WAS DESPERATE. Ignore it. :D Thank youuuu~.

... and if you haven't heard it, go get "Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox. NOW. It inspired this. Is pretty, gorgeous, heartbreaking song. I love it.

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"David, are you still awake?" It should have been a whisper, really, but it echoed unnaturally in the stillness that surrounded them.

David tilted his head to the left, somehow distantly aware that it wouldn't matter, because no matter which way he looked it was all pitch black. The darkness was impenetrable, surrounding them in a suffocating embrace. But the voice of the other teenager caught with him was loud in the silence, coming from the left. He assumed he was around there, then.

"Yeah. I can't sleep at a time like this," he said simply. The words hung awkwardly between them, reminding the two boys of where they were.

Somewhere to his left, David heard Jalil shift. The sound of his body scraping slightly against hard granite stone sounded crushingly loud to his ears. The chamber wasn't particularily small, about the size of his old bedroom from Jalil's estimations when they first were thrown in. The dark skinned scientist insisted on fumbling around until he figured out the general estimates of the place they were being kept.

It wasn't really big. But there was still air, and that was a blessing. Though who knew for how long?

Speaking of air-- "I thought you said we shouldn't talk a lot," David reminded Jalil bluntly. He glanced off again to the left, uncomfortable with the eerie sensation of looking off into complete darkness. They'd closed off any light source when they threw them in.

Jalil snorted-- and although his face wasn't visible, David could see the look of irritation on his face. "Of course we shouldn't. But really, would you rather wait in silence, and go insane by the time the air supply runs out? This is really creepy."

"Yeah..." David gritted his teeth, repressing a shudder. "I just get this feeling there's more to this than it seems. They wouldn't leave valuable prisoners down here to rot... or to run out of air and die. Wouldn't they, you know... interrogate us first?"

"Why would they want to ask us questions?"

"We're the leaders of the Greek army, for god's sake! We could have some sort of information, I mean, something that would be useful--"

Jalil interrupted him in exasperation. "Oh yes. We know the secret of how to destroy the gods. No, David, we have nothing they feel they need. They think they've won, so what's the point of asking prisoners questions?"

"Why not just kill us outright?" David protested, sitting up against the hard surface of the wall behind him. It felt slightly damp, like the stone had been wet at one point earlier. It wasn't a thought he wanted to think about-- water sloshing and filling the entire room--

"Because they're sadists? Jesus, I don't know." Jalil was silent a moment before speaking again, exhaling loudly. "God, this sucks. So this is what Hetwan do to people who Ka Anor can't eat. I should be surprised, but it really makes sense when you think about it."

Sighing heavily, David leaned back against the stone again and closed his eyes. His head was aching already-- staying in one place with nothing to do, forced to be here like this... it wasn't something he was used to. He hated it. And naturally, Jalil would have to start analyzing the Hetwan and such--

"Why?" he finally said, giving up. "Okay, so why does it make sense?"

He could almost see Jalil's triumphant, smug grin even in the endless darkness of their prison. "Because it's just like the Hetwan's personality. See, any other bad guy or villian would get pleasure in torturing and killing their victims, in as violent a way as possible. Usually this is just the way the mind works-- they want them gone as soon as possible, in a really bad way."

"So?"

"So the Hetwan aren't ordinary like that. My guess is that they're as indifferent as they seem to everything around them-- if it's not directly to do with Ka Anor, what's the use? They're willing to give their lives for this thing. As we aren't a direct threat, supposedly, what use is there for us? Here, we are out of picture and mind." Jalil's breathing quietened for a second, as though he was concentrating on thinking. "... here, they can leave us and just forget. No worry, no fuss, nothing to deal with."

"Until they have to clean our rotting corpses out," David replied sullenly. He rubbed at his eyes with his right hand, feeling the sore bruise on his arm protest when he moved it. "I'm glad you've figured out how come we're going to die like this. Now can you figure a way out?"

"It's an airtight, solid granite room, David. I don't think we'll be going anywhere."

Resisting the urge to hit something, David just shook his head. It was a pointless gesture in their dark enclosure, but somehow the familiar gesture gave him comfort. "Well, do Christopher and April know where we are?"

"If they do? I seriously doubt they'll be coming to save us, general."

"Damn it, Jalil, I'm just trying to think of ways to--"

Something grabbed him in the dark. Jerking back violently, David wretched his arm free of the tight vise it'd been clamped in. The other hand was already reaching for his sword, the heavy yet familiar reassurance at his side--

"Christ, David, it's just me!"

David stopped, furiously silent as Jalil's annoyed protest broke through his defenses and into his brain. His heart felt like it was thudding a million times a second, pounding harshly against his ribs and chest.

"Don't do that again," he finally said, as his breathing evened. "Warn me next time you do something that stupid again."

He didn't have to see Jalil's dark brown eyes to know they were flashing in anger. The mocha skinned boy's next words confirmed it, though. "Screw you, David. What did you think, you were being attacked by giant rodents?"

"They're always a possibility," David said through clenched teeth. He settled down again warily, resisting the urge to reach out and kick with a foot to see if it would connect with Jalil's legs. "What were you doing, anyway?"

There was a pause, and more awkward silence gently drifting in the air.

"I wanted to..."

"Yeah?"

Jalil's voice was weighed down with reluctance, as he said, "I just wanted to... make sure you were still there. Damn this, I can't even see. It's driving me crazy-- which is probably the point of it."

"Oh..." Well, there wasn't much to say to that. David bit his lip uncomfortably, trying not to dwell on the thought that if Jalil was freaking out, then it wouldn't be to far before he started. "Just warn me next time. I mean, I'm here, so don't worry. Not much of anywhere else to go, after all. So, uh, yeah."

His attempts at reassurance, David reflected, were really lame.

"It's stupid... that something like taking away light affects a person so much," Jalil mused next to him, his voice sounding very quiet and far away. David recognized it as the tone he used whenever thinking about something else entirely.

"I guess since we depend on it so much..." he shrugged, unable to come up with a better answer to the rhetorical sentance.

"Yeah. Habituation or whatever. Who knows."

"Usually you do," David said listlessly, trying not to glance to the left like his brain was telling him too. There was no use without the light to see.

Jalil's voice indicated a smile-- something that surprised the young general. "Yeah, well... not always. Not as much as I'd like to. Nobody knows everything, you know. We can try as hard as possible to, but it won't get you anywhere in the end."

"That's... a depressing view." Blinking, David looked upwards at a cieling he couldn't see. It was strange to hear his friend talk so forebodingly, without the graceful confidence and firm knowledge that Jalil usually radiated. It seemed as though the darkness had swallowed that up as well.

There wasn't an answer, but he could hear Jalil move slowly in the darkness, until the sound came right beside him. He waited, making no sound except the harsh breath escaping his lips, until he could feel by instinct that someone was right next to him.

"Jalil?"

"... yeah." The body settled next to him, inches away from brushing one of his arms. Jalil scooted backwards until his back was resting on the wall, and pulled his legs up to his chest-- David knew from the sounds. It was an easy picture to make in his head, and one that slightly comforted him.

"What do we do now?" he asked quietly, still capturing that image in his mind's eye. There he could see Jalil turn and shrug carelessly at him.

"Mmm... wait, I suppose. What else is there to do? If we get lucky, Christopher and April find some insane way of getting into the city to free us. If not, well... see you in the next lifetime, huh?"

David almost grinned at the statement. "I thought you didn't believe in that crap, Jalil? About reincarnation and God?"

"I don't," Jalil shot back petulantly. "It was a phrase, not meant to be taken literally. Besides, I think living one lifetime of hell is long enough, thank you. Why would you want to go through the same thing all over again?"

"Maybe if it was worth it?" David closed his eyes wearily, although his mind was interested in this new conversation. He hadn't had a chance to just talk about his views for a long time. "Maybe if you wanted to make things better this time around?"

"There is no better. You'd probably make worse mistakes, newer ones, and end up with a life just as flawed as the one before." Jalil let out a meloncholy chord of breath. "Unless that's what you want. Really, it is impossible, so it doesn't matter if you want it or not."

"So where do you go when you die?"

Jalil's responding chuckle was both dark and unhumorless. "Well, I'll tell you one thing-- when we die here, we're going one place. Wherever they dump our bodies."

Being a scientist must be a depressing job, if you keep thinking things like that. David smiled at the thought, and for a second, felt a little more normal than he had been. However, the darkness soon banished the warm traces of reality, and he was plunged back into the place they were being kept.

"We could still find someway to escape, maybe. There's a small chance, right?"

"Not really. But if you want to get your hopes up, I won't stop you."

David chewed on his lip thoughtfully before replying matter-of-factly, "Sometimes you're a real jerk, Jalil, did you know that?"

He was rewarded with a small laugh from the dark-eyed boy, a tiny but truly amused sound. "Yeah, you're right. But you can be, too."

"I know, but I'm not Christopher yet." They both laughed at that, louder as though it could scare away the dark, banish any fear from their rapidly shadowing spirits. It was shaky, almost forced laughter, but it brought more strength to David's mind.

"He's not a bad guy," Jalil finally said, a teasing note in his voice. "At least, most of the time. Well, a very small bit of most of the time. I mean, sometimes if he really tries--"

"--rarely, when he does--"

"--he's actually a pretty nice guy," Jalil finished. They snickered again.

After a while, they fell silent. But now it was a more gentle, trusting quiet that graced them, putting them at ease, and David could feel the edges of desperation receding. To laugh at the night... to scorn the possibility of giving up, even in this circumstance...

He closed his eyes again, soothed by the steady sound of Jalil's breathing next to him. The thin, dark-eyed boy was as untalkative as he was feeling, slumping against the stones from the sound of it. Every few moments, he would move his position, attempting to get comfortable. It was hard to ignore the sounds, and after a second, David's eyes wrenched open.

"Hey, look-- I don't know about you, but I want to sleep... Can you keep it down?"

"I'm trying," Jalil grumbled, and the sound of an open palm hitting the granite floor followed. "I can't get comfortable here. A bed would be nice. Heck, a pillow would be. I'll even take a rolled up coat right now, if it means--"

"Oh shut up," David interrupted in irritation, exhaling in exasperation. He groped out blindly in the darkness to his left, coming into contact with a steady warmth that could only belong to a human. "Jeez, it's not like we usually sleep anywhere nice, anyway--"

"David...?" Jalil asked darkly. The warning in his voice caused the young leader to pause.

"Uh... what?"

"Stop groping me, and get your damn hands off." With that, a surprisingly wiry but strong hand snatched his away, and gripped it tight enough to feel the blood recede. David grimaced at the slight pain, before the words sunk in, and blanched.

If it were light in the chamber, they would have seen the bright red blush on his features.

"I-I... uh... shit. Sorry."

"You're forgiven," Jalil said slowly. He let go of his imprisoned hand, and sighed. "Now what were you trying to do?"

David, shaking his hand free of the tingles pain left behind, scowled. "Well, now I'm not sure I want to..."

"Oh for chrissake..."

"It's not my fault I can't see in the dark, you didn't have to practically rip my hand off," the young general retorted furiously. "I don't want to grope you!"

"I didn't say you did!" Jalil snapped, "So drop the subject, okay?! I'm sorry I hurt your stupid hand."

David gritted his teeth, but said nothing except a low breathy mutter about ingratefulness. Then, the red receding from his face, he reluctantly conceded, "Well... it's okay. I should have watched where I was grabbing anyway. I mean, if I could watch. Or whatever."

"Hn. Well, what were you trying to do?"

Shrugging off an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty, David reached out again. This time, more careful, he felt higher and more cautiously than before. Soon he found what was unmistakably a slim, bony shoulder, and sighed in relief.

"What are you--?" Jalil paused in confusion, tense under his touch.

"This," he answered simply, tugging Jalil so that the teenager fell directly over to him. His body fell sideways until it leaned against David's, his head resting lightly on his own shoulder. Immeadiatly, the warmth of the contact seared through both their bodies-- and he could feel Jalil's responding shiver.

"... well?" Jalil finally said, stiff and unrelaxing. David could practically hear the steeled, hidden fierceness under the deceptively light tone, and quickly explained.

"You were uncomfortable. I'm not going to sit around and listen to you complain for an hour, when I'm really tired. If you lean on me, you'll shut up and sleep, too, right? It's better than stone, at least."

That's the only reason, too, David told himself swiftly. It has nothing to do with how much you're craving someone else's body heat. To make sure you're not alone in this place. It's not that you're afraid or anything...

Apparently, the same thoughts were running through his friend's head, because Jalil simply nodded. And after a moment, also said as an afterthought, "Thanks."

David leaned back against the wall again, closing his eyes, shifting so that his friend could lean safely on him. The other boy was slow to relax, but as the time stretched out, the unyielding body next to him softened and melted slowly into his. Jalil's head tucked itself lightly on his shoulder, pressing into the fabric hesitantly.

"Should we really be going to sleep here?" he asked tiredly, not really caring the answer, as his mind slowly shut down.

"Probably not," Jalil said. "Go ahead. I don't think it will matter later."

And with the warmth radiating against his body, David drifted off to sleep.

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To be Continued... (I have to many damn fics that say that. At least I plan to finish 'em all. Eep.)

Anyway! ^^;; Yes, I don't like it. But I'm happy to stick random people in rooms and make them either go insane or get together. I'll think of plausible things later-- right now, I'm just having fun. Please enjoy it! :D Even if you don't like David/Jalil slash, it'll get interesting. I think.

... and more slashy. Next chapter. Ooohhhhhh.

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