Title: Blood and Feathers Bound

Theme(s): 39.Dusk, 50.Alliance, 89. The First Time

Claim: Death Raven/Orha gen

Rating: R-ish

Warning(s): Blood, lots of it, a teeny bit of swearing and Raven's…Raven-ness.

Summary: The First time Orha met Death Raven, he thought it was Death itself coming for him on the battlefield. First of a series of Orha and Raven fics leading up to the game. For the 100 Themes challenge from Garden of Light on LJ.

Bound

Powerful or not, Orha Duren was far from invincible. Yet he pressed on even as the forces around him fell, his fellow Yason's blood staining the grass beneath his booted feet rusty crimson. The setting sun tinted everything in eerie, bloody shades, only serving to deepen the color of the liquid splattered everywhere. His blades cut through each oncoming enemy with increasing sloth, until it finally happened. He stumbled, and his opponent seized the opportunity, a blade flashing toward him. Time seemed to slow and then stop entirely, the dusk shimmering all around him even as everyone else seemed to disappear.

A sudden rush of sound caught his attention and then the world seemed to collapse upon itself, disappearing into a tangible, dark void. A pair of glowing red eyes coalesced in the air in front of him, and Orha's first thought was:

I'm dead..!

That was quickly replaced by:

He won't take me without a fight!

"I'd reconsider that course of action if I were you…" Breathed a voice into his ear, soft and malicious and velvety-dark.

Orha whirled but saw nothing, and froze as soft, slender fingers spidered along his cheeks, the voice in his ear once again.

"Calm down, calm down… I'm not here to hurt you…much." The voice giggled giddily as Orha suppressed a shiver.

"Who are you and what the fuck do you want?" Orha growled, swords out and at the ready.

"Hostile, just like Incubus said you'd be," the voice noted, sounding more amused with every little action or word from Orha. "However, I'm in no mood for attitude, so if you want to survive, you'll shut up and listen!"

The last few words were growled out in a voice so deep and fierce that Orha had a hard time believing it was the same person.

"What do you want?" Orha asked again, his nervousness beginning to show.

"I'm here to make you an offer," the voice was back to softness, now with a hint of eagerness.

"An offer..?"

"An…alliance if you will," the voice offered offhandedly. "You allow me to use you as a medium into your world, and I, in turn, lend you my strength. Fair deal, right?"

Orha blinked, dumbstruck and then…

"A familiar?"

"Give the man a prize..! So you do have a brain in that pretty head of yours..!"

…pretty! And then… I was right..!

"Might I ask your name then..?"

"Tsk, tsk…" the familiar clucked it's tongue in disapproval. "Don't they teach you children anything these days? You're never to know who your familiar is until you summon them..!"

Orha's eyes narrowed, but he relaxed out of his battle stance finally, tensing when those invisible hands once again smoothed over his skin, this time over his shoulders to wrap around and pull him back into a playfully nuzzling nose.

"Well..?"

"…are you going to keep molesting me every time I summon you?"

A quicksilver laugh and the feel of clawed fingers drawing gashes across his chest. He hissed in pain but otherwise didn't react, and the Familiar seemed pleased at that.

"Only if you don't feed me well when I'm summoned," came the teasing tone, and Orha fought off a twitching eyebrow.

"Feed you? Do I look like a chef to you?"

"I didn't say cook for me now, did I?"

A pregnant silence and then a sound of impatience from the familiar.

"Do we have a deal, or shall I return you and leave you to a bafflingly stupid death?"

"What?" Orha blinked, suddenly attentive. "You mean I'm not dead?"

The familiar scoffed.

"Of course not! What would be the point of making a Contract with a dead man?" The voice asked as if he was an idiotic child, and Orha suppressed a growl. The claws came again, and this time, they cut deep enough for Orha to be unable to suppress a yelp…and then a louder one when an invisible tongue traced the gashes, lapping up the blood like a cat would drink cream. "I'll ask one more time before I lose my patience and kill you myself…do we have a deal?"

Orha gulped, paling slightly as the voice went deep and thunderous once again, and gave a slight, barely noticeable nod. A smiling mouth pressed into his chest where it had previously been feasting on his blood.

"Excellent. Trust me Orha Duren, you'll not regret this…"

I sincerely hope not… Orha thought as the world brightened once again, and he found himself back in mid-fall, awaiting the blow of an oncoming sword.

Nothing happened however, and he opened previously closed eyes to see his opponent staring at something behind and slightly above him in shock and awe and horror all at once. Orha took the opportunity and slit the man from gut to gullet, and then turned to see what had caught his attention. In the air above him hovered a magnificent black raven, easily several dozen times the size of an average one, with blazing ruby eyes and a beak covered in the blood of the men that may or may not have been advancing on him from behind. His own troops had paused, staring in obvious shock at the large creature until it flew down and settled easily on one of Orha's slender shoulders and fluttered its wings self-importantly, shrinking to make itself comfortable on its new perch.

Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are we going to have a massacre..?

Smirking at the tone, Orha twirled his swords, energy renewed by his sudden ace.

"Of course," he murmured and in an instant, shot forward and his remaining men did the same, their leader's enthusiasm catching on to them even as the raven took flight again, becoming massive once more and tearing through enemies left and right viciously.

XOXOXOX

Much later, when the remnants of Orha's battalion settled in the aftermath to tend to the wounded and bury the dead, Orha sat in his tent, wounds bandaged and staring at his preening familiar in a cross between apprehension and a mild sense of admiration. The raven paused and looked over at him, ruby eyes now a dark burgundy.

You want something?

-…you…- A pause, then a slight twitch of the eye. –Do I at least warrant your name now?-

A light chuckle was his response and the bird returned to it's preening. Orha heaved an irritated sigh, murmuring something about bratty familiars and began to prepare his cot so he could sleep. He was settled in and ready to snuff out his lamp when the bird began to shimmer out of existence. With a final flutter of its wings, it shimmered out of existence, one last whisper hanging in the air, much to Orha's extreme irritation.

My name is Death Raven…and I hope next time, you've something better to feed me than filthy human soldiers…

: End Transmission :

Author's Notes:

Okay, before everyone starts going all: 'Orha's way OOC!' on me, please note that this takes place several years before Crimson Stigmata (AKA Tears of Blood) and in my opinion, there's no way Orha would have been anywhere near as calm as he is in-game when he was little more than a teenager. Second: Raven's personality is somewhere between FMA's Envy and Naruto's Orochimaru, with a little bit of Magna Carta's Chris tossed in for fun. Raven is…strange, I know, but I'm still fleshing out the character a bit, but I'm satisfied with it so far. Read and Review please? I'll give you plushies!