Here is the next chapter, WARNING: some violence in this chapter.
Parts written like this are flashback, parts written in this font are remeberence within the flashback. Hopefully it wont be too confusing!
Read and review let me know what you think!
Chapter 13: Reconciling on Rio Ucayali
Ucayali is home to the Amazon River Dolphin, giant otter, and the Amazonian Manatee, less friendly species found in this river include Red Bellied piranha and Camion. Note to travelers: avoid teeth.
February 14, Day 46
1400km from start, Ucayali River
4:30am
He let the cold drink slide blissfully down his throat. It had been so long since he had last gone out and enjoyed himself…he hadn't had the will to have fun since he had left Anton six months ago. He had thought that he would be used to being used and betrayed by those he cared about by now.
It wasn't the case however, Anton's words tore at him just as harshly if not more so, then those who had tossed him aside before did. He should thank Juan for forcing him out of his self imposed seclusion perhaps he would be able to drink enough to forget.
Right now he knew that he had definitely not drank enough for that though, as he could recall the words that had shattered his fragilely erected life.
"He had been hoping to surprise his lover; it had been several days since he had last saw the handsome Italian. Anton was often taking off for a few days here and there, he always had a ready excuse for his absences, but had Hadrian listened to his instincts he would have realized they were just that….excuses.
But he hadn't. He can still recall how excited he had been, he had found a new local hotspot and he was dying to show it off to Anton. Hadrian was much better with the locals and language then his lover was…he had after all lived immersed in the jungle for the past two years.
He had come to an abrupt halt when he heard the voice of said lover drift past the slightly opened door to the room that they often shared. At the time he had thought it was odd as Anton was not supposed to be back for another two days.
His surprise was the only thing that caused him to pause long enough to hear what was being discussed inside. He suddenly understood just how true the old adage that 'eavesdroppers rarely hear anything good' was.
"Have you gotten anything from him yet?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.
Being deeply in denial Hadrian did not yet make the connection to the conversation topic and himself.
"No, he is annoyingly evasive when it comes to his precious tribe, but really it is only a matter of time" Anton answered the irritation in his tone evident.
"I don't understand the point of this charade, why not just kidnap the little bastard and force him to show you?" the other voice asked exasperated.
Hadrian could feel an icy coldness settling into his gut.
"For one he is far too stubborn for that. He has some fucking hero complex…he would likely let us kill him before he gave us anything useful…no, the best way is to earn his trust…." Anton answered pausing momentarily, "…plus he had an incredibly hot little ass, might as well get the benefits of fucking it" he added letting out a malicious laugh.
"What if he starts getting suspicious?" the second man asked after his own mirth had died down.
"Suspicious? Doubtful he is far too much in love with me…. It's pathetic really. No, I have no doubt that he will give me anything I ask for if I play may cards right" Anton answered confidently.
Hadrian had felt the last of his hope shatter, he didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the conversation but turned and ran as fast as he could away.
Oh, he was not stupid he had known there was something not quite right to Anton for a while now, but he was so desperate for a connection, any connection to someone who reminded him a little bit of home that he had ignored the signs.
It hurt so much knowing that he was nothing to Anton. He could only thank the gods that he had never taken the man back with him to the tribe who had so kindly helped and nurtured him. From the snippet of conversation he had overheard it was obvious that Anton and the unidentified man wanted something from them. Hadrian would never forgive himself if his own stupidity brought them harm.
That same night he had sent Anton an old fashioned letter, telling him that it was over and to stay away from him. He hadn't seen the man since."
Hadrian swallowed another drink down, just as fast as the first few. He briefly wondered where Juan had wandered off too but then shrugged it off as unimportant. He was probably getting in some time with the lovely blond he had been flirting with since the start of the evening.
Hadrian crinkled his nose up slightly at the barely there bitter taste of his last drink. Unlike most people Hadrian's taste buds were extremely well developed. He doubted that most people would have noticed anything in the drink, but he was not most people.
Suddenly he wasn't feeling so great. The world had started to spin, the noise level seemed to increase ten-fold and there was a numbness to his limbs. He tried to speak out, warn someone that something was wrong but all that came out was a garbled string of letters.
"Whoa there Hades! Looks like someone has had a little much…hmmm?"
Hadrian felt his heart stop at the sound of the voice. He tried to protest the hand that had latched itself around his waist, hauling him up, but his mind and mouth were not cooperating. He tried to pull away helplessly.
"Now, now….don't make this more difficult than it already is….we need to have a nice little chat….in private" Anton whispered against his ear.
Hadrian was filled with dread as he struggled without gain against his larger lover, he tried to look desperately for help….for Juan. But the man was nowhere to be seen. He was suddenly filled with fear for his friend, had they done something to him? Was he alright?
Anton dragged his protesting ex alongside him into a back room, tossing the drugged man carelessly on the couch there. He allowed another man in before turning sliding the dead bolt into place. "Now dear…we need to have a little talk"
Hadrian could feel the drug in his system slowly losing effect, it was one advantage of being a wizard, muggle drugs of any kind (including alcohol) had a very short lifespan in his blood. He glared as harshly as he could manage back at his abductor.
Anton apparently did not approve of his defiance (he had always had an incredibly short fuse) for he snarled and smacked Hadrian across the face, "You are far more trouble then you are worth! Do you have any idea of the trouble you have caused me? Do you?" he snarled grabbing Hadrian by the hair and yanking harshly to force him to look up.
"You have caused my own men to lose faith in me you little bastard! They are all wondering how I couldn't manage to get what I wanted out of one little whore" He continued his face twisted in hate.
Slowly the ability to control his facial muscles was coming back to him as well as his voice; "fuck you" he managed to whisper.
Anton snarled again, throwing him forcefully back so that his back hit the wooden arms of the divan behind him. Anton's angry face suddenly changed into a predatory smirk "I somehow doubt that you will tell me what I want so I might as well enjoy myself a little before getting rid of you" he stated moving towards Hadrian.
Hadrian's eyes widened in fear, oh how he wish he had his wand right now. There was no way that he could fight the man off in this partially drugged state, not to mention even if he could, Anton was not the only one in the room. An armed thug stood by the door, a lecherous grin on his face as he watched the proceedings.
Anton was using his larger body mass to restrain the struggling man below him, he brought his hand up to release another blow to the smaller man's face to remind him who was in charge. No one and he meant no one humiliated him! To sever ties through a fucking letter of all things…
The ongoing struggle within the room was interrupted by the panicked pounding from outside the door. "Hadrian! Hadrian are you in there?"
Hadrian was not sure whether to be relieved or horrified at the sound of Juan's voice. On one hand he might provide Hadrian with the desperately needed rescue he needed right now… on the other he might just have gotten himself into this mess as well.
Anton stilled his forceful tearing at Hadrian's clothing and snarled at the thug standing at the door, "What are you waiting for you idiot? For him to draw more attention to us? Bring him in!" he snapped. Once again his angry expression morphed into one of glee.
"I can't believe I did not consider this before darling….you might not say anything to save yourself, but something tells me you will to save your little friend" he purred licking the shell of Hadrian's ear, smirking as he felt Hadrian shudder in revulsion.
Hadrian felt like crying in despair as his friend was grabbed and thrown into the opposite wall, the force causing him to slide down it. The thug that had thrown him now had a gun trained on the slightly slumped man. Hadrian could tell that he was still awake and conscious just pained.
As he watched the second man saunter over to his injured friend, the gun never moving from its focus…something snapped inside Hadrian.
All of a sudden all of the anger and hurt that he had been feeling came rushing to the surface. He would be damned if he let these bastards hurt Juan. Juan who was only involved in this mess because he had been trying to help Hadrian.
As the anger bubbled forward, it was not alone. The restrained power within Hadrian surged forward, unchecked by its owner, it caused his whole body to start to vibrate, a silver mist started to flow from his skin pulsing with his heart beat.
Anton gave a frightened yelp and leapt backwards shouting something at the other man that Hadrian could not hear over the buzzing that his power caused. He saw the second man raise his gun once more at Juan and he understood that the man was preparing to shoot his friend.
Likely planning on shooting Juan and then Hadrian to just clean up this mess. The silver mist reacted without Hadrian telling it to, it shot towards the man and began tearing at him. His shrieks went unheard as the power that tore him apart muffled the sound.
It could have been minutes or hours, Hadrian was not sure. When he finally became aware again, he was lying crumpled on the ground, Juan was kneeling beside him shaking him trying to get his attention.
"Hadrian! Hadrian! Are you okay? Come on my friend we need to leave now. Please come on!"
Hadrian blinked slowly pushing himself up and looking around him. He was all but naked, Juan had draped him in a sheet, Anton was nowhere to be seen….Hadrian had to swallow down the bile trying to force its way up his throat as he took in the state of the second man.
He was no longer recognizable; his body looked as if it had been torn apart by some wild animal. Hadrian swallowed forcefully, making himself stand up his whole body shaking.
Whatever he had done had forced the remainder of the drug out of his system, he could not care about what happened to the other man. He was going to kill Juan and then likely Hadrian, his only regret was that Anton had gotten away.
He felt slightly ill at his own twisted thoughts but forced them back down. Juan led his shaky, sheet clad friend out the door, walking them both briskly down the dark hall away from the room and the main club.
The two men exited a side door desperate to leave the horror and gore of the night behind…
Hadrian gasped, desperate for air as he bolted into a sitting position, the sweat and dread from his nightmare still with him. He tried to calm his frantically beating heart as he realized where he was. It had been a long time since that awful night had wormed its way into his nightmares.
He let the marginally cool night air hit his sweaty skin, and slowly moved so that his legs were dangling out of his hammock. He knew why he was having this nightmare again. It was more than the fact that Draco had come back to find their hotel room's trashed two nights ago. It was everything.
He had hoped against hope that he would never see Anton again…even after he had he had hoped that the memory of what happened to his ex-lover's companion would be enough to prevent the man from coming after him.
He should have known better, if anything Anton was a prideful man…he no doubt wanted revenge for how events had unfolded all those years ago. After the poisoning and the break-in, Hadrian could not help but think he should split from the group.
His presence was only making them a target as well. He knew that he could take on Anton easily enough, especially with his magic, but he did not want to risk injuring the other three. It was only by some miracle that Juan had not been hurt that nightmarish night.
The only reason he had not yet left was the fear that Anton would continue to target the group because of Juan. He did not want to leave them defenseless against the man, he knew that Draco and Blaise could not use their magic here and without it they were helpless against Anton's muggle weapons. And Juan had never been a fighter, he was strong no doubt but that hesitance would un-doutbly get him hurt or worse killed.
So now Hadrian was in a bind, was it safer to leave or stay?
He honestly did not know.
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Feb 15, Day 47
1475km from start, Ucayali
1pm
Draco sat a small ways away from the rest of the group, stirring the tasteless rice and bean mixture with distaste. He was so bloody sick of the long, muscle quivering days, hot sticky nights, and bland, continuous meals. He was at the point where if he heard one more cheerful fact from Juan's mouth he would likely be wanted for second degree murder.
Well, if he was being honest with himself….it wasn't the travel conditions that were bothering him; no it was his travel companions. Ok, so it was everything. He had four main emotions that he had been cycling through these past few days; anger (at Blaise), annoyance (at Juan), embarrassed concern (over Hadrian), and finally fear. The last was not towards anyone in his group but rather for them.
He knew that he was being slightly ridiculous, it was after all just a break and entry…but it left him feeling even more vulnerable than he had already. That and he had seen the deep seated fear in Hadrian's eyes when he saw the rooms, before the man had masked it.
He was so confused right now; part of him was telling him that the best thing for him would be to call this entire trip a failure and depart at the next city….yet another deep routed instinct was telling him to wait it out. That things would fix themselves if only he was patient.
Draco did not know why but he had chosen to listen to the later. He was distracted from his broodings by the sound of quiet footsteps approaching.
He looked up to see the last person in the world he wanted to see at that moment, Blaise.
"What the hell do you want?" Draco spat, glaring at his former friend's interruption.
Blaise shifted looking both nervous and ashamed, "I-I….um well I….can we talk?" he finally got out.
Draco wanted so badly to refuse him and to continue ignoring the desperate plea, but he knew that if he was going to continue on this trip they needed to at least attempt to clear the air. He glared but gave a curt nod of accordance.
Blaise hesitated for only a moment before carefully sitting down beside Draco on the fallen tree, the blond was using for his chair.
"Look….I-I need to apologize. What I did was wrong and cruel and idiotic. I never meant for you to find out this way….." Blaise began rushing his words as if he feared Draco would take away his chance to say them.
"You mean you didn't mean for me to find out at all" Draco corrected not looking at the man beside him, his voice cold and hard.
"No!" Blaise cried in denial before reigning himself in to continue, "No…I always meant to tell you Draco….please you have to believe me, I was going to tell you about my divorce. I-I was just embarrassed because it meant you were right about it. That it was doomed from the start, you warned me and I refused to listen…."
"And Hadrian? Where you ever going to tell me about that?" Draco asked not yet softening to his friend's explanation.
"No" Blaise answered quietly before hastily continuing "No, it was so many years ago Draco, we weren't really close back then and well when me and him were together it wasn't really a relationship just two scared, confused kids getting comfort from where they could. We were on opposite sides, I didn't know who to trust back then…..and then well I called it quits and he disappeared. It was the biggest mistake of my life turning away from him, and after he was gone I just couldn't talk about it…..then when it didn't hurt as much, too much time had passed to tell you…." Blaise trailed off.
"I never expected to see him again, so what was the point on causing a rift between us for an issue that no longer was an option? Then we saw him again and I didn't know how to tell you….I tried to convince myself to let sleeping dogs lie, but….well I saw my chance and took it. I didn't think about the consequences or how I might hurt you in doing so and for that Draco I am sorry. Truly sorry"
Draco refused to look up from the rice and bean mixture he was pulverizing to death, his silence seemed to drag on forever. Finally he sighed and looked up, his angry posture slumping slightly, "Ok" he stated.
"OK?" Blaise questioned his voice filled with surprise and hope.
Draco just nodded before answering the unaired question, "Yes ok. I don't know if I can forgive you…you really hurt me Blaise, you were the one person I thought I could trust no matter what. That trust can't just be given back…"
Blaise's expression fell slightly before he turned to Draco, "I know. I know that. Listen I still have feelings for Hadrian and they are not going to just go away. But I don't want to ruin whatever we have left….so if you want I will back off. It's not like he has really agreed to anything anyway. You are important to me Draco….please I made a mistake but I really don't want to lose you"
Draco felt his traitorous heart swell at his friend's words. It was all he had ever wanted, to be first, to be important to enough for another to make sacrifices for him. He had needed Blaise to say those words even if he would not allow his friend to put them into action.
If he allowed Blaise to sacrifice his feelings then he would be acting like the very person he had gotten angry at Blaise for being. No, he would not ask that of his friend, he had only wanted his honesty after all.
But at the same time he would not sacrifice his own feelings towards their guide, he was a Malfoy after all.
"No….don't Blaise. I may hate the lies you told me but backing off will only bring future problems" Draco stated.
Blaise looked confused for a moment, "then what do you suggest?"
Draco allowed a small smirk to grace his face, "Well my dear friend….we are both former Slytherins and what is a little competition to the house of snakes? I suggest that we both go for what we want. Whoever wins, wins and the loser will bow out gracefully"
Blaise was silent for a long moment before returning Draco's smile, albeit a tad more hesitant, "Ok, agreed. No sore feelings or awkwardness after, we each have until the end of this trip to woo the elusive savior. If neither of us is successful we go back to England and forget him?"
Draco nodded his concurrence with the terms, holding out his hand. Blaise seized the proffered hand and shook it sealing their deal.
It had been too long since Draco had indulged his Slytherin routes. Let the games begin.