Category: Darksiders I & II
Rating: M
Couples: Azrael/Abaddon
Warnings: AU, Disturbing Images
Chapter: 3
Copyright: Characters & places © By Appropriate Copyright-holder, Plot & OC´s © by me
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Azrael held the boy securely as they crossed the veils to reach his home in the White City. Appearing in his living-room, he carefully untangled his robes from the child's grip. Suddenly the boy struggled in his grip, falling to the ground and dashing away from him.
Gasping in surprise, Azrael blinked as the child ran away from him. Well, THAT was certainly unexpected. "Child?" Closing the door with his hand so it could not get away, he followed it slowly to the couch under which it had crawled. "You do not need to fear me."
"You lie. Brother says don't trust anyone. They all wants to hurt!" The tiny voice of the boy came from the hiding-spot.
When Azrael looked at him, he saw wide blue eyes look back. "But surely not everyone is untrustworthy. How can your brother judge me if he never met me?"
"He said everybody who is not family, wills try to hurt me...", the child replied, "Cuz I look different."
"You don't look so different to me." Azrael pointed out, combing his own platinum hair with his hand. Granted, the child's eyes were strikingly blue, but still... no need to kill it.
"You are different..." The boy stared at the angel's hair, blinking in question. "Brothers and sister said feathered people will try to hurt us."
And that was when something klicked in the angel's head: this was no angelic child. "Well, have I tried to hurt you yet? And why would I begin with it now? You didn't do anything that could warrant me hurting you."
There was silence between the two of them as the boy thought about it. Hesitantly he asked: "You wills not hurt me? Like brother said?"
"Of course not." Azrael answered. "There's certainly no reason for me to hurt you." He held out his hand. "Won't you come outside? Maybe I can help you find your brother and other siblings..."
Looking at the hand, the child slowly reached out to it and placed his own on it. The Archangel saw his eyes widen, probably at noticing that their skin was the same colour. "You promise? "
"I promise to do my very best at finding your family." The angel gently closed his hand around the child's. "Why don't you come out from under there? I'm sure you'd like some food and maybe a bath to clean up a bit?"
Pulling back his hand, the boy pouted. "Dun wanna bathe. Water is always cold. " He pushed himself against the wall.
The angel chuckled a bit. "Not this water, I promise you." He kept holding out his hand. "This water is snuggly warm."
Looking unbelieving at the angel, the child carefully inched towards him. "Water warm?"
"Jup." Azrael smiled at him. "Tell you what, you can try with your finger and if it is too cold, you don't have to bathe, only wash-up... Deal?"
"Okway." The child answered quietly and put his hand on the male's. After he crawled out down the couch, he held tightly onto the hand.
"Come along then." Azrael led him through the building, stopping briefly at his bedroom to pick a robe he could shrink for the child. Then he drew a bath.
"What is you doing? Shoulds we not go to river", the white-haired child stared puzzled at the tall male filling the hole in the ground.
"This is how angels bathe." The winged male chuckled softly. "Come feel. Is this warm enough?" He beckoned the child over to the edge while getting up himself to fetch some soap and towels.
Taking a few steps forward, the child knelt and touched the water. Grinning at the angel, he swirled his hand through the warm water. "Is so nice and warm!" He leaned even further over the water, only to lose his balance and fall with all his clothes into the tub.
Azrael blinked a bit when seeing the child fall. "Oh dear, are you alright?" He asked, kneeling down at the edge of the tub as the boy surfaced again. He carefully pushed some wet strands out of the little face in concern.
"I is fine" The child looked sadly at the angel, sniffing a few times. Tears began to well up from his eyes as he rubbed his head. "My clothes are wet and I..."
"Why don't you take them off so they can dry then?" Azrael suggested, shedding his own clothes down to his pants as he slipped into the water as well.
With a hiccup, the child struggled to remove his tunic. "Help?"
Chuckling a bit, the elder gently helped the child remove his clothes, laying them down at the tub's edge. Then he took the soap and started cleaning the boy. "So what is your name, child?"
"Don't have any. I dids not earn one, yet. Must become strong first." The child stared fascinated at the bubbles, trying to poke them. "Brother calls me brat when he is angry. Not many times."
"That... might not be the best name." Azrael dryly told the boy. "Do you mind if I think one up? I think calling you 'child' the entire time will get a bit annoying. Not to mention people will ask questions." He smiled lightly at seeing the child's reaction to the bubbles. With a bit of extra scrubbing, there were even more now. "Turn around so I can tackle your hair, please."
Obeying the angel, the boy turned around. "But they always calls me 'child' or 'boy'. I hasn't earn a name yet."
"Well, if you need to be strong to get one..." Azrael carefully started to untangle the long platinum tresses. "I think you were pretty strong just now to trust me and come out from under my furniture, don't you think?"
"But, I thought to be strong I can hit anybody and not get taken from family?" The child questioned, trying to look over his shoulder at the male behind him.
"There are many different kinds of strong." He in turn pointed out. "Trusting a stranger is pretty strong, right?" He asked the boy.
Looking down at the water, the boy hesitated for a few seconds. "I guess so, but you are nice. You got me out of that scary place."
"But I could just as well have been mean, couldn't I?" The angel countered, frowning a bit at the amounts of knots in the boy's hair. Did his siblings never untangle these?
"But you are not." Wincing at the tugging while the angel groomed him, the boy admitted, "I am confused."
"I can imagine." Azrael assured him. "But believe me, you were very brave and strong earlier."
"Oh, so what name do you wanna give me?" He tried to turn around so he could look at the angel, but was stopped as the male struggled with his hair.
"Mmmhh..." The scholar thought for a bit. "What do you think of Zeruch?" He offered, pulling his hands back so the child could look at him.