Disclaimer: I swear, these things are just an annoying waste of time. I own nothing.
Thanks bellatrixcastle for your advice. I forgot the rating was so low. Thanks again.
Migraines
Thwarted Attempts
'Wait!' someone yelled. Too late.
Cold metal pressed against the flesh of his stomach, tearing through to the soft organs inside. Blood splashed out on the blade as Neil thrust it farther inside of himself. The pain ripped through him with a stinging intensity that caused his eyes to water. The soundless scream on his lips died in a frothy mixture of blood and bodily fluids.
'You imbecile!' Sevran shrieked, grabbing his shoulder and wrenching him around to face him, 'What have you done!'
Reality crashed into him like a tidal wave and, with the help of Sevran's fear and panic, he realized he was going to die. Clumsily he pulled the blade out, in a vain effort to undo what he had done. Fear flashed in his eyes and he began to hyperventilate, swallowing his own blood rather than air. This only served to make him lightheaded, black nothingness curling at the edges of his vision. The blade clattered to the floor, the sound ringing through the cave as it became a spark of light that flashed back into the silver band on his wrist. Neil opened his mouth to say something to the other teen, but the sound was lost in a fresh gurgle of bloody froth.
'Shut up and lie down,' Sevran snapped, apparently regaining some of his composure. For Neil, this seemed a pointless command, as Sevran was the only thing holding him in an upright position, and he had let go. He felt rather than saw his shirt ripped off of him, and Sevran's cool, long fingered hands slid over and around the bloody wound. Neil gasped and gurgled, the air that would have come with that intake, nothing more than his own liquids. Abruptly Sevran pressed down, shoving hard against his stomach. The sharp retort of pain was nothing compared to the boiling agony that ripped through him next.
Heat rushed from Sevran's hands, tearing through the open wound and seeming intent on burning him alive. If he had been capable of comprehensive thought at that moment, he would have wondered if Sevran was trying to cauterize the injury. That would have been a disturbing thought for the heir of good looks, and he was lucky his mind was over whelmed with the rush of pain. Sevran pulled back, panting, and Neil gasped in a lungful of air.
He looked down, only to find that the wound was still there, and studied Sevran with and exhausted sort of curiosity. The aforementioned teen waved his hand, summoning a black bag which he placed on the ground beside him. Opening it, he pulled out a stainless steel needle and some thread that appeared to be made of plastic.
"Just stay still,' he snarled. He needn't have, though, Neil had already passed out. He hated needles.
Neil woke sometime later to a small fire crackling merrily closer to the entrance of the cave. Looking down, he noticed that his stomach had been bandaged and he was wearing an open black dress shirt. He was in the process of poking it, when a figure appeared beside him.
'Sev-' he was cut off by a solid slap across the face that made his head ring and eyes water. His hand fluttered up to the burning flesh and he stared at the black clothed teen who moved in front of him.
'If you ever,' Sevran began in a low, silky hiss, 'Do something as stupid as that again, I will make sure I pound the living shit out of you. Do you understand me?'
Neil nodded mutely, hand still against the heated flesh.
'Now, what happened and why were you calling me?' Sevran asked, his glittering black eyes still trained on Neil's face. He moved back a few inches and sat down across from Neil who sat up and pulled a couple of pillows behind him. Leaning against them, he was able to pretend that he wasn't too weak to sit up on his own.
'I…there was a guy…at the fountain…I thought he was going to…I mean, he tried to…but I stopped him…god, he nearly,' Neil tried, face crumpling as the terror of what had nearly happened fell back over him. He started to say something else, perhaps clarify what he meant, but a sob broke forth from his open mouth instead. Sevran was already at his side, arms wrapped tight around him as he rocked the slight teen in a soothing manner. Neil clutched at Sevran's suit jacket, burying his face in the chest of the only person he had left.
'He was going to rape me!' Neil moaned through his tears. Sevran only held him tighter. Curled up against the other teen, he felt like a child again, warm and protected. He missed his mother.
'You were driven by fear. Fear breeds hate. Your death would only have made things worse, not better. Why can't you understand? Why don't you know what the opposite of hate is?' Sevran asked quietly. Neil looked up, studying his face in silence. The black eyes showed only understanding and compassion, perhaps even…
'Love. It's love I need to defeat your spell and free everyone from Cronus' command,' Neil murmured, 'How am I to get to Aphrodite when everyone will be after me with bloodlust?'
'You don't need Aphrodite to love, Neil,' Sevran scolded, 'Who do you love more than anyone?'
Neil thought for a minute, the image of a beautiful woman with blond hair and features almost exactly the same as his. She was dressed in a shimmery, floor-length white dress that seemed to float on the air as she glided towards him in his mind.
'My mother,' he whispered, a warmth that he missed for so long appearing next to the ache in his chest that had been caused by her death, 'But she died.'
'Do you still love her?'
'Yes!' Neil exclaimed, turning his face up to better see the other teen in the dark, 'How could you ask me something like that?'
Sevran ignored his question. 'Focus on your love for her. Let it fill you. After that, you will know what to do.'
Neil nodded against his chest, and let that familiar warmth flood him. It rose, warming him, and for a moment, Sevran appeared to take on the form of his mother in Neil's tired mind. White light blinded him in the flash, and he could feel it spreading, filling every crevice, flooding the minds connected to his. Erasing the hate in everyone that had been filled with it. The love did not destroy the hate, for without hate, love is no longer so precious. But it flooded them all the same, restoring the balance to the world. Abruptly, it snapped back into him, like an elastic band stretched too far. He fell limply against Sevran.
The other teen picked him up, gently placing him in the sleeping bag and tucking him in, pillows and all.
'Sevran?' Neil asked quietly.
'Hush. I will be here when you wake, and so will breakfast. Then we need to rescue your friends,' Sevran murmured, kissing him delicately on the lips.
'What happened to them?' Neil asked.
'Cronus has them, but he won't hurt them until I have brought you to him. He wanted to see you break under the stress caused by their hatred,' Sevran replied.
'I can't fight,' Neil replied closing his eyes, 'I don't know how.'
'Yes you do. You just don't know it yet,' Sevran replied as Neil drifted from consciousness.
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