Child Of Darkness
(A/N: Second up today. And perhaps I will post a third as well.)
Anvil Lighthouse
Entry 2: Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim killhhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkilllh imkillhim.
ES
"Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim !" the voice was screaming in his mind now, sobbing and begging and screaming and screaming.
"No, no, no!" Mathieu shrieked desperately back, sobbing helplessly. "I won't, I won't! You can't make me! Please, please, I don't want to, I don't want this fate!"
"Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim !" the voice was screaming again.
"Daddy, daddy, Lucien, help me!" Mathieu shrieked, but Lucien wasn't there. Wait, he was. There was a figure lying helplessly on the ground. Lucien Lachance! It would be so easy. So, so easy to slit his throat. "No!" Mathieu screamed. All at once he woke up and looked around in horror. With a gasp he buried his face in his knees and sobbed. Shakily he reached for his diary and wrote, beneath the first and only entry he'd written so far, the words the voices had been screaming at him. It was strange, but to write it made him feel better.
ES
Entry 1: It's all right mother. It's almost over. I'm close, so very close. How long have we struggled? How long have we waited? Too long, I know. But it's almost over. I promise.
Entry 2: Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim killhhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhi mkillhimkillhimkillhimkilllh imkillhim.
ES
Lucien wasn't surprised to learn Mathieu had run away again. He wouldn't say he understood why he had, because Mathieu had made his point the first time and the boy knew it, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the child wasn't in the sanctuary, and his reasons ran deeper than a simple call for attention. Antoinette was crying as she relayed the news. Lucien pursed his lips tightly then strode passed her without a word. That boy was going to get himself killed. He paused a moment and asked, "Did he leave a note?"
"No," Antoinette replied.
Lucien nodded and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I will bring him back, Antoinetta."
"Dead or alive?" she meekly asked. Lucien inwardly cringed. He didn't know, and that realization scared him more than anything else. Nimbly he leapt onto Shadowmere and galloped away from Fort Farrengut.
ES
Lucien scoured the ground for any sign of the child, but Mathieu had covered his tracks expertly. He didn't even have a lead, and this time not even a guess as to where the boy would have gone. He looked around at the surroundings. Any manner of things could have happened to the young one out here. He would be easy prey to a wild animal… Or a group of bandits. He shuddered at the thought and pushed Shadowmere faster. The horse was displeased with the action, snorting in derision. "Hush you. I will give you a feast of apples and carrots when we get back," he said to her, smiling affectionately. Shadowmere whinnied in what sounded like delight and sped up even faster. Lucien grinned.
He rode up onto a bluff overlooking the sea. Mathieu had said he'd wanted to go sailing. Recently he'd been talking about the sea and adventure. He looked out over the ocean. In the distance he spotted the lone figure of a lighthouse. He believed it was called Anvil Lighthouse. He turned his head curiously. Could the boy have gone there? He remembered a recent contract nearby that place. Mathieu had been filled to the brim with questions about why the lighthouse was there and what it did and who ran it. Lucien smiled softly at the memory. He'd laughed at Mathieu's curiosity and told him that he would bring him to meet the lighthouse owner. The little one had been ecstatic, and the old man had been thrilled with the child's intrigue, beguiling him with tale after tale as Lucien waited and listened in interest.
His smile fell. The old man would be looking after Mathieu there, if Mathieu had fled to the lighthouse. It would only be a matter of time before he sent word to the Brotherhood. He wouldn't wait, though. He didn't want to wait. Turning Shadowmere around, he galloped down the trail and towards the lighthouse.
ES
"Child, why have you run away from your father?" the old man asked the boy.
Mathieu, who was picking at some food, looked forlornly up and answered, "I have no daddy. Lucien left me and went away to live somewhere else."
"Surely he comes and visits," the man prompted.
"Yes," Mathieu admitted. "But I want him to stay and he doesn't. I hate him. I should have known he didn't love me."
"Young Bellamont, there is much you don't understand about such things as love," the old man said.
"Mommy's love daddy's and parents love kids, Lucien's not my daddy," Mathieu stated.
"It's never as simple as that," the old man said. "You don't think Lucien Lachance cares about you anymore, but child, I saw the way he acted around you. If I didn't know better I would have thought you were his flesh and blood. I know it feels strange that he's not there all the time anymore, but your father has a job. He needs to provide for you. You know, my father was a sailor. I thought he didn't love me because he was gone so often, sometimes for months on end, but he would always come back, and he would always spend every moment he could with me. Sadly, not until he was killed by pirates on a voyage did it finally click. I never forgave myself for hating him."
Mathieu said nothing, looking down at his plate. That may be so, but the old man of the lighthouse hadn't watched his mommy murdered in front of his eyes by the man who became a father to him. The old man hadn't seen the merciless gaze, the cold and satisfied smirk as her killer looked at her body. The lighthouse man hadn't seen that for a moment, just a moment, the killer was ready to murder him then and there until something else interfered with the idea. "He would kill me, you know," Mathieu quietly remarked. The lighthouse man started in shock, eyes widening. He looked quickly up behind Mathieu, for you see, Lucien had entered minutes ago, just as Mathieu had claimed that the man didn't love him.
ES
Lucien froze on hearing those words from the child's mouth. "What?" he whispered to himself, quickly getting out of sight. This required more investigating.
"Mathieu, don't talk like that," the man sharply ordered.
"It's true!" Mathieu exclaimed, sobbing and pushing the food away. "It's true, it's true! He would kill me if I began to scare him and make him worried and suspicious! He loves Sithis and the Night Mother more than me! He loves his dark family more than me! I'm nothing compared to them!"
"Mathieu, calm down," the old man tried to sooth.
"He-he would kill me. He would kill me or he would laugh as others killed me" Mathieu sobbed, but nonetheless he cooled down, burying his head in his arms on the table.
Lucien slowly came out of hiding as the boy wept, sensing Mathieu was done. The old man met the assassins eyes and nodded. "Mathieu, would he come and find you if he thought you were nothing, if he didn't love you?" the old man asked.
"No," Mathieu admitted. "But he's not here."
"I am always here, child. Whenever you call me, whenever you long for me, I will always be there," Lucien finally said.
Mathieu gasped and paled, quickly turning. Lucien had found him again! What was he doing wrong? Why couldn't Lucien leave him alone? His surprise became a murderous scowl. "Leave me alone!" Mathieu screamed at him, throwing the plate of food at Lucien. The lighthouse man cringed. Lucien ducked under the projectile. "I don't want you to say that! I don't want you to lie! You won't be there always, you won't! If you die because of me you won't be there! You'll want to see me dead!"
"No, Mathieu, no… Perhaps that is what you believe. Perhaps many will think that is exactly what I should and would do, but they are foolish and naïve. I will not forsake you, child of darkness. I will not forsake you," Lucien pacified, slowly approaching Mathieu. Mathieu was backing away in fear, though. He bumped the wall and gasped. He was trapped, but Lucien didn't grab him. Lucien knelt down in front of him and reached out a hand. After a long moment Mathieu took it. Lucien wouldn't go away without him. All at once he was sobbing, collapsing into Lucien's arms.
