Walking Down The Path To Destruction
There Razoff stood as elegant as always, signature red hat upon his head and resting his weight on one leg, arms crossed whilst he glared down at Rayman with Rosyetta hooked affectionately onto his right arm. Rayman blinked in a curiosity he could not completely hide when his sapphire eyes trailed over the Hunter's new, peculiar clothes: at how the usual red coat had been replaced with a white one that seemed to be just as long and just as fitting to his lithe frame. Slender fingers covered in the safety of black, rubber gloves tapped the tops of his arms as he raised an eyebrow back, obviously waiting for some kind of response. However, Rayman only snorted when he also detected the glint of amusement that swirled in that man's dark pools.
"Why are ya wearing a lab coat, not an evil scientist as well are ya? Jano help us," Rayman cockily remarked. Next to him, Vincent only paled with a look of possibly fainting from hearing such blunt rudeness.
"As imprudent as you are, I'll enlighten you: no, I am not an 'evil scientist,'" Razoff rolled his eyes as he did a quotation action with his fingers. How he managed to make a scoffing action still graceful was beyond the two slaves.
Rayman burst out without thinking. "Nah, of course not, you're not an evil scientist—you're just evil in general."
It appeared that temptation wanted Razoff to give a punishing slap to the boy, but Rosyetta squeezed his arm gently from where her arm still remained linked to his. Such gentleness, such tenderness could be physically felt in her interruption…and yet Rayman's eyes flashed in triumph when he also detected something that made Razoff narrow his eyes in silent defiance: a warning.
"Now, now, my Knight, surely if I am your Mistress then Razoff is your King? Your Master?" Rosyetta began in a soft voice, her gorgeous irises slowly meeting Rayman's and trapping him within them. Words filled with slight offense rose forth from the normally kind throat, making Rayman's heart drop into his stomach, "As much as I am opposed to slavery…I am far more opposed to people calling my own flesh and blood such dishonouring names. My cousin is not evil."
Suddenly, Rayman could not deny the squeezing in his chest that signalled humiliation: the tables had been turned on him yet again, but this time the triumph belonged to the Hunter and no other. Somewhere, hidden within the maze of his conscience, the embarrassment caused by this beautiful maiden he had grown so fond of summoned Ly's voice to cackle in the back of his mind. And it only made his heart race wildly in his chest when that same conscience formed Her voice: Traitor! A traitor gets his just reward!
The silence had grown almost unbearable between them to the point that even Razoff began to shift a little where he stood, secretly uncomfortable. Quietly, he cleared his throat just loud enough to grab everyone's attention as he decided it was best to shed some light on the subject.
"I am not yet willing to let you in on all of my life's work, so use your imagination. All you need to know is that every drug, chemical, poison that I use as a Hunter, comes from somewhere. Knowledge of herbs and plants is necessary when I live, practically, in the middle of where useful life does not thrive. I sustain my own plants in order to create the drugs and chemicals that I need," Razoff explained somewhat reluctantly, eyes fixed on the boy who now refused to meet his gaze. "Pray tell, I do believe I saw you interested in the 'sky' earlier, yes?"
Almost immediately, Rayman's golden hair twitched: a prominent sign of curiosity. Vincent felt relieved at the glimmer those curious sapphires held whilst they darted a glance to the Hunter, unconsciously interested even if his pride hated it so.
"Simply put, boy…it is an illusion," Razoff carefully stated. His stern eyes suddenly switched to a different target at feeling Rosyetta pull away from him and quietly slip away among the flowers. Those eyes were only for her and Rayman felt an unfamiliar pity rise, for the concern for the woman flowed seamlessly from Razoff's gaze. "The illusion is created by technology given to me by the Hunter's Guild. The Bog is stuck in an eternal night, killing plants that need the sun. The sun in this ceiling remains unreal, but it is enough for the plants to feed off."
Rayman made a face of understanding at the same time that Vincent shyly left his side, approaching the Goddess of the Bow with reassuring words unheard to both the Guardian and the Hunter. They both merely watched the two from a distance and Razoff could not restrain the calm smile that tugged at his lips from the sight bestowed to him, for his cousin had lowered herself willingly to her knees to weave a yellow rose into a blushing Vincent's ponytail—a small smile creeping onto her lips despite the turmoil he sensed dwelling within.
"W-What about Rosyetta?" Rayman whispered out of the blue, sounding lost to his own wandering mind. The slight stutter that inwardly made his pride roar in rage outwardly caused Razoff to whip his gaze to him in confusion.
"I…I fail to understand you, boy. What about her?"
"Is she also unreal…?" The voice of the boy seemed to find it difficult to speak, sounding hoarse, unsure, oddly worried, even distressed. "She seems to hide herself—to hide something dire. I can sense it. As ya say, the sun here is unreal, but it remains enough for the flowers to feed off…can the same not be said for her?"
"Rosyetta, my Jewel…is like a Siren."
Razoff released an understanding sigh. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, slightly unnerved by how perceptive Rayman truly was. Sometimes the boy could be ridiculously oblivious to most things, and yet it could not be said that he was stupid or inexperienced. No, Rayman certainly could be observant when he wanted to be. A delicate eyebrow rose as the Hunter suddenly realized how Rayman's deep eyes appeared…different.
"Her singing-looks may grab your attention now…"
His eyes just looked so lonely and lost.
"But she will trap you just as well as I did."
There came a moment of utter silence between them: between both a slave and his master, between two similarly stubborn personalities, both just as concerned for the future and the ones they cared for as the other. Both looked so different in nature to anyone who spared them a glance, yet they held a certain air of familiarity when they stood together. Razoff felt more than saw this odd connection and graced the boy's ears with a sympathetic sigh.
"My dear boy, if I know my cousin, she tells people what is wrong in a unique sort of way. She will not be blunt or brash; she will do small things with subtle meanings. You just have to look for them."
Confusion etched its way into the sad mask plastered across Rayman's face, one so uncharacteristic to the confident one that would normally be in place there. Surely, the emphasis on the word 'look' was solely his imagination? Was it really all that simple? However, as quickly as he fell into his seldom state, Rayman shook his head and his face suddenly turned bright red in fury. The chuckle Razoff taunted him with at seeing his state did not help to ease his inner fires.
"I thought ya wanted to protect your 'Jewel,' as ya call her, from me. Why exactly are ya encouraging me here?" Rayman hissed. Sometimes the Hunter kept his motives so unclear that it became just too confusing to see.
"Awww, and we were doing so well, Boy. That was the first proper conversation we have had that did not end up with us at each other's throats on the get go."
Razoff then sent a rather dark smirk down to him that caused shivers to slither down the victim's spine. "To answer your question: love and lust is a sword, concern and care is a saint."
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Rayman spat, fiery disbelief evident.
Only a delicate, proud chuckle sounded in return, now quieter from how the Hunter mysteriously left him to usher away the two lingering their footsteps within his flower beds. Only a short distance away from Rayman, he gracefully leant down to start picking some leaves from a strange, pearly, bell-like flower, his lab coat epically catching the breeze and onyx eyes glistening from a smile.
"It means use your head. Now, before I actually do issue a punishment, you better get on with watering the plants—considering that is your job for today. Take Vincent with you, if you must, although I had other plans for him."
Rayman curiously cocked his head to the side, eyebrows furrowed at how the Hunter's tone had sounded strangely…gentle.
"Oh?" Rayman began, and Razoff allowed his smile to widen when he spotted the cocky gleam in the boy's eyes. Obviously, Rayman wished to see how far he could stretch this out. "What plans did ya have?"
The Hunter raised a delicate eyebrow. "Well, Slave, if you used your eyes for a change you would see that all the fruit, tealeaves and vegetables are on the farthest side of the garden. I am currently out of tealeaves."
"If ya didn't drink so much tea all the time then maybe ya wouldn't have that problem," Rayman sniggered: half joking and half in spite.
Suddenly switching to picking the yellow, buttercup-like flower heads of the herb next to the last one, Razoff chuckled without looking to Rayman, "Indeed? And do you know what side of the garden you are currently standing in?"
"Do I even wanna know?" Rayman questioned unsurely. Onyx met sapphire—amusement met uncertainty. In truth, he did not like the sly glint that flashed in Razoff's eyes when he met them.
"This…" The Hunter trailed off simultaneously with when he held up one of the pearly, bell-like flowers from before. His eyes were fixed on that delicate flower to the point that Rayman became unsure as to whether the man talked about the garden or the certain flower currently clutched in his gloved fingers. He continued with a little grin as he casually held the flower out to his slave, who only glared at it as if a vicious spider. "This is a flowered herb called a Bildred. It has very…unique qualities."
Rayman began to feel very, very self-conscious all of sudden, even more so when Razoff quirked an entertained eyebrow at reading him like an open book.
"What does it do?" Rayman asked cautiously.
"Now that is a question," Razoff said, looking the boy dead in the eye. His look seemed to be one of powerful meaning and Rayman stiffened, hesitantly accepting the flower in order to examine it more closely. "I have experimented with the Bildred plant…and each time its results are different. The essence in the flower has been used to knock prey unconscious at times, yet on other occasions it has simply paralyzed them. It can give hallucinations that can make the sturdiest of men go mad or even give the victim memory loss. It can poison, yet can also be an antidote to some other types. Sometimes, the plant is completely useless and nothing happens. What does it do, you ask me? In one word, you could say it does everything, or nothing."
"Ya used this on me—that fateful night when ya captured me—didn't ya…" It sounded as a statement rather than a question, a quiet mutter to the flower he stared at. "I believe ya wouldn't have highlighted it to me otherwise."
The answer he received sounded strangely regretful. "I admit that is true."
Rayman looked at him with an expression both incredulous and shocked beyond belief. "Ya took a huge risk then, Hunter. It was either all or nothing. I could have died that night."
"Either way, the outcome would not have affected me," Razoff snorted out a secret, well disguised lie, swiftly snatching the flower back from Rayman's grasp. It was then, and only then, that Razoff gave him a curious expression that he had never given to him before. "But I have to wonder, boy…why you turned up in my mansion to begin with?"
The Guardian slowly peered down to the gravel in a sadness that caught the Hunter off guard.
"I'm afraid it's…complicated."
Whilst everything happened around him, Vincent remained inconspicuous as he secretly watched Razoff and Rayman from where he stood afar. He had picked up on a strange sensation of calmness between them and innocently blinked: he had been feeling it for a while now since they had all been together as master and slaves. Vincent remained undoubtedly sure that Rayman had not picked up on it yet, but it seemed Razoff's hostility towards the golden-coloured creature had turned into a slight acceptance instead. Although, Razoff still cut the other down characteristically, and Vincent felt confused on what to really think.
Why seem so cruel, and yet also reluctant to be so at the same time? Why be nasty one moment, then remorseful and playful the next? Time seemed to have strengthened this peculiar bond, and the more and more of said time they spent together…the more and more the many lines that separated them began to fade.
And if only, just if only, they could understand the true horror of such friendly closeness…
Then maybe the destruction the future held would not be so devastating.
Razoff had then waved his hand to dismiss the golden creature in a silent order to begin watering the plants. Much to Vincent's utter surprise, Rayman did not retaliate or disobey. Vincent watched him very carefully from his distant location beside Rosyetta in shock and even a little flicker of fear. Never, Rayman never did anything for the Hunter just like that—never without a fight, an argument, an insult at least. However, his worried eyes noticed how Rayman's face appeared pensive from inner thoughts, a look he reluctantly recognised by this point.
"It can give hallucinations that can make the sturdiest of men go mad or even give the victim memory loss."
If only Vincent knew that these particular words were replaying in a never-ending cycle around the Guardian's mind. If he did, then perhaps he could have comprehended the dawning sense of terrified realization that made Rayman's movements stiff every time he tilted the watering can. Perhaps he would have been able to sympathize with how Rayman's breath had just suddenly hitched in his throat, or the way his spare hand trembled slightly as it brushed his hair back. But, sadly, he could not. Why? Well, it is quite simple…
He could not remember what had happened to him the moment he had appeared in the mansion over a year ago. He could not sympathize.
And that's because the blasted Hunter used the same Bildred plant against you, Vincent. The moment you were injected your past was destroyed! You have suffered from memory loss all because of that single dose so long ago.