Note:
* This idea of mine kept nagging at me, as did my lovely muse until I decided
to start writing it...and this is what resulted. :) Thanks to both Kari and
Cynthia for helping me pick out name for my
"semi-non-canon-character", who shall remain nameless in the
disclaimer at least, and thanks to Suzy for beta-reading this with a passion
like she always does. :) And the title of the fanfic came from a line of lyrics
in the song, "If You Want Me To" by Ginny Owens. ;)
Also, those who are looking for more installments of "Reflection Of Love"...I'm working on it! ^_^ The best parts always take a little longer, no? ;)
Clinging To PromisesWritten By: WhiteZeo
The room was dank and cold, smelling of cobwebs and thousand-year-old dirt. The darkness that permeated the crypt was scary and frightened him; he felt little solace from the small torches of light that penetrated the shadows just barely, allowing him to see. "Do not be scared," the monster that held him in his large ghostly arms stated blandly.
Six-year old Ryan Mitchell found it terribly hard to NOT be scared. He, after all, was only a child...a kid scared to death of what was going to happen next; so frightened he found it difficult to think of anything else but fear. He nodded his head ever so slightly, acknowledging the monster's words.
The monster slowly kneeled down to the stone slab floor, sliding Ryan roughly out of his arms. The young boy turned around and stood staring at the monster, - who could have been called his savior and kidnapper at the same time - visibly shaken. "Who, who are you?" Ryan was near tears and his lower lip trembled viciously as he spoke mutely.
The monster grinned, a cold grin, that made Ryan forcibly shiver in his state. It was then that he realized the monster wasn't looking at him, but at someone behind him. "Victoria," his voice slid with a warm welcome, "come meet your new companion."
The blond boy glanced warily over his shoulder and behind him to see a lightened doorway. In that very doorway, a girl his age stood, her dark brown hair spilling just over her small shoulders and her hypnotizing almond brown eyes meeting his ethereal green ones in a strong gaze. Her hands hung at her sides, pulling at the baggy black fabric of her pants awkwardly. "Yes, Father," Victoria obeyed, walking precariously towards the monster and Ryan.
Ryan now faced her, not as frightened as he had been before when he was alone with the towering monster. He saw the girl. He saw that she was like him and that she was not scared. If SHE wasn't scared of the monster, then he couldn't be scared at all. Girls were supposed to be scared of monsters, boys were always supposed to want to bash monsters' heads in; or so he always thought. "Where are we?" Ryan queried once again, his voice louder and stronger than before, barely betraying his deep-set fright.
"This is your home now, Ryan," the monster answered calmly, seeming to be glad that Ryan didn't fear him as much. "Victoria will be your companion and you will be hers."
Ryan faced Victoria once again now that she was standing beside him. "She's a girl," he spat somewhat venomously, shielding away from the other child.
"So what?" Victoria rolled her eyes in displeasure at Ryan's comment. "Trust me; I don't have cooties."
The blond boy looked wary and glanced up at the monster, feeling more at ease than before. "Why do I have to stay with her? Why can't I go home?"
"Your father doesn't want you anymore, Ryan," he explained, kneeling down to both children's height. "He only saved your sister because he wanted her alive and you dead. I saved you from death because I want you. This is my home and this is where you must stay with Victoria and train to be a great warrior, just as I am."
Ryan's mouth fell open and tears instantly rushed to his eyes at what the monster said. He ran away from where he stood and screamed, "YOU'RE LYING! My dad wants me! You just watch...he'll be here any second to take me home! YOU'RE A LIAR!" He ran into one of the corners of the crypt and buried his face, sobbing into his arms.
"Stay with him," Diabolico whispered to Victoria, stroking her cheek softly with his claw. "Don't let him be alone. He needs someone to be with, just like I was there when you needed someone."
Victoria nodded her head obediently. "I will be here for him, Father," she answered quietly. "Where will you go?"
"I will go where I must," Diabolico replied confidently. "For now, take care of him." He pointed towards the corner where Ryan continued to huddle in.
The little girl nodded yet again and Diabbolico disappeared into a soft mist, vanishing from sight.
***
Ryan sobbed for hours on end until he realized he had no tears left, and even then he still continued to cry, wailing for his dad to come and take him home. Victoria sat beside him the entire time, quiet as a mouse, watching him steadily.
Sometimes, between his anguished cries, Ryan would quickly peek next to him at Victoria and she would always smile at him comfortingly. When she did, he would instantly hide his face away from her view until the next time he would dare to look at her.
After a long while, Ryan calmed down and a silence befell the entire crypt. He lifted his head up to look at Victoria beside him, as a kind of assurance, and found her to not be there. The boy looked frantically around the shadowy room for the girl, terrified of being left alone.
"Your dad isn't coming." Her voice echoed within the cold walls.
He followed the voice to see Victoria playing with one of the small torches that had lit the room, all of them latched to the walls conveniently low for their height.
Ryan immediately cringed at her declaration. "You're wrong!" he snapped back in his angry tone. "My dad is coming and he's gonna beat up that monster for taking me!"
"No he won't," Victoria remarked spitefully, turning away from the small source of light. "That's what I thought when Diabolico brought me here. But my mom didn't come. She never came and she won't ever."
"My dad's different than your mom! He loves me and he's gonna come for me!"
"My mom said she loved me too," Victoria sighed pathetically, bowing her head and letting her hair fall over into her face. "They were lying. Diabolico cares about us and he doesn't lie."
All the blood drained from his face and his mouth hung agape. He couldn't believe what she was saying, but she had been there before him and she was still there. He had waited a long time, but his dad hadn't come for him either; he loved his little sister, he didn't love him. The monster had been nice to him, and the monster didn't lie to him. Victoria was right.
"Is that his name?" Ryan asked shyly after a long moment. "Dia...Diabolico?"
The little girl lifted her head and met his eyes. She smiled gently and motioned for him to come over to her. He walked over to where she stood next to the small flames of the torch, running her palm over the flames swiftly back and forth. "Diabolico is his name, but you can call him whatever you want if it's easier. I used to call him "Master," but now I call him "Father.""
"Why do you call him that?"
She shrugged carelessly. "I like to, I guess."
Ryan shrugged also and watched her in fascination as she continued to run her palm just above the burning fire. "How do you do that?"
Victoria took her attention away from her hand and grinned at Ryan. He grinned back at her. "Here." She removed her hand from the flames and wiped it against her pants, trying to rub the soot off. "I'll show you.
"You gotta lick your hand, like this." Victoria stopped speaking, and licked her entire palm with her tongue. He followed her lead and did the same with his own hand. "And then you do this with your hand." She demonstrated what she meant by waving her palm back and forth over the flames. "You do it."
With a slight amount of hesitancy, Ryan stared at her but stuck his palm into the fire and began to wave it back and forth. "WOW!" he giggled loudly, watching his hand pass through the flames unharmed.
Together, the two children started to play with their new gift: a friendship forged within the flames.
***
Diabolico studied his two protégées as they played amongst themselves finding the most basic of toys to have fun with.
He knew he had been right to leave Victoria with Ryan, to have her draw him out of his belligerent cries and excitable fears. She was a resourceful young girl who longed terribly for a playmate; Ryan was exactly what she was looking for and he knew she would do whatever she could to not scare him off. Though she was not of his blood, she certainly could have passed for his own true daughter. She knew how to think things through and she also knew when she needed to go with her instincts. She was almost...primal at certain times during their training.
Ryan, on the other hand, was emotional but strong and cunning. He had the mental and physical ability to become a warrior with the right training, which Diabolico was going to offer him. His emotional side would come in handy as well, for when he would be older, vengeance would be an idea that would lurk closer to reality than it would in his young years. Yes, he would make a wondrous warrior: one driven by hatred and passion.
Diabolico couldn't help but chuckle hideously as his plan ever so slowly fell into place. It would take many years until he could actually put it to work, but it would be well worth it. "The children they could bare..." he hissed pleasurably to himself imagining the future, which may have been far beyond anyone else's reach but seemed to only hover slightly out of Diabolico's own claws.
He only had to be patient.
***
Eight years rolled along quite swiftly, carrying Ryan and Victoria through their fourteenth birthdays, but that didn't matter much to the pair anymore. Nothing really mattered to them anymore; only their training, Diabolico and their loyalty to one another truly made a difference in their lives now.
Ryan skills grew with every session of training he took with Diabolico. He moved with an unparalleled grace and agility that was only helped by the fact that he had been trained in the basics of martial arts before coming into Diabolico's care. At fourteen years of age, he had mastered things that probably could not even be preformed by the greatest martial arts master on Earth...and Diabolico insisted he was barely brushing over the surface of Ryan's talent.
Unlike Victoria though, Ryan would never be able to master the art of demonic magic. Demonic magic, different from the regular everyday magic that sorcerers could easily teach to an apprentice, required more than just the proper guidance. To use demonic magic, there was a need for the mentality of a demon, and sure enough, Victoria possessed it. She was always on the rebound, always fighting and always wanting something more than what she had. She was willing to do whatever to get what she wanted, but knew when to back away.
Victoria was trained in everything Ryan was and also became quite the skilled warrior in her own respects, but never would she become as good as Ryan. He excelled her in many things from the beginning when they were trained together, and even though it frustrated her, unconsciously she wanted Ryan to be the better of them both. She accepted that and in turn, chose to excel in magic - making them an ideal team of power.
Ensuring their cooperation as a team, Diabolico made them part of each other's lives from the very start. They ate together, slept together, training together, played together...never separated for one moment in the large crypt that served as their home. Ryan and Victoria were the best of friends and respected each other more than anything. Together with Diabolico, they were a family of three; as close as brother and sister could be, and maybe even more beyond that.
***
"Hungry?"
Victoria glanced up at Ryan from where she sat, flipping through a book on their bed. "What are you eating?" she asked him curiously while he climbed off of a chair that he had used to get into their cupboard of stashed food.
Ryan continued to munch on his snack, tossing a bag at Victoria. She had returned her attention to the book for an instant, but sensed the object coming and caught it with her hand. "Good catch," Ryan laughed, plopping down beside her on the bed. "What are you reading?"
Ripping open the package of dried pineapples that both Ryan and her loved dearly, Victoria popped one into her mouth and chewed away. "A book Father gave me," she answered him, flipping to the cover momentarily. The book was ragged and bound with faded leather. Emblazoned on it were the words, "Demonic Spells." "He said if I want to get better with my magic, I'm going to need to know all this stuff."
He leaned over her shoulder, turning the first few pages written in an ancient language. "This is a lotta stuff," he murmured to her, scanning the pages that he knew how to read. "Weapons, healing, protection...how many different forms are there?"
"Ten," Victoria replied, stringing a long strand of her dark bronze hair around her finger. "I've got the healing spells mastered though. Those are the easier ones. Want me to try?" She faced Ryan, her eyes questioning hopefully.
Ryan cracked a grin and slowly backed away. "Last time I let you use me as a test subject my hair went red for a month," he reminded, unconsciously reaching up to brush his hair. "I think I'll pass."
She picked her book up and threw it aside, pouting. "Oh, come on Ryan! I was only eight when I did that! I didn't mean to!" He still was unconvinced, so she resorted to the next best thing: bribery. "I'll give you the rest of my pineapples!" Victoria waved her package in front of him temptingly.
"Ohh...alright." Ryan gave in, sitting back down on the bed. "What do you want me to do?"
Victoria grinned excitedly. "Lay down on your back. I'll fix that cut I gave you this morning in training."
Following her instructions obediently, Ryan removed his shirt and tossed onto a nearby chair. He then laid down on his back on the bed, trying to get comfortable with his friend hovering over him, her eyes shut while she tried to concentrate.
Ryan couldn't help but stare at her with her eyes shut, her hands held steadily above his chest where the stinging skin deep cut was. She was still wearing her training uniform - which consisted of a simple sports bra and pants - even though they had finished working with Diabolico more than an hour before. Sweat glistened on her forehead and her bare shoulders, running down the front of her chest and over the tops of her developing breasts. Her lengthy hair spilled against his shoulders and face when she bended over his body, yet he didn't dare move. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before, or even why he had noticed it just then, but Victoria was actually kind of pretty.
Suddenly, he felt a coldness against his chest and he looked to Victoria's hands to see a soft blue mist almost eating away at his small wound, causing it to disappear into nothingness. Once it was gone, he watched as she opened her eyes in triumph. "I told you I could do it," she snickered, jumping off of the bed. "What do you say now, Ryan?"
"Thank you, I guess," Ryan acknowledged dubiously on purpose. He grabbed his shirt and put it back on, crawling beneath the covers of the bed. He picked up his dried pineapples he had set aside and began to eat a few of them before going to sleep.
Victoria went into her closet and peeled off her training uniform, changing into a pair of shorts and a shirt for sleep. "You're so mean," she laughed knowingly, moving over to the torch that lit the room and blowing it out.
Lifting the covers of the bed, she laid down next to Ryan and softly whispered, "Goodnight, Ryan."
"Goodnight, Victoria."
***
The following morning Victoria awoke to find her arms wrapped snugly around Ryan and his arms around her body like two animals cuddling for warmth.
As far as she could remember sleeping with Ryan, Victoria always recalled waking up in the same position: both of them clutching each other. She figured it was because when they were little they just didn't want to be alone; they felt comforted by knowing that they were still together. Many years had passed since they felt that way about each other, but they still continuously woke up together the same way. And the funny thing about it was that Victoria didn't mind it at all; she LIKED waking up in Ryan's arms.
His strong arms always circled her waist, pulling her closer to him. Her head lay against his broad shoulder and she could smell him. He smelled of pineapples and she enjoyed that; they both liked pineapples for some odd reason. Her arms would be slung around his back lazily and sometimes their legs would be caught in a tangled mess. Ryan always felt secure and safe to her every morning when she would wake up with him. He would always have a look of pure bliss on his face: one Victoria used to tease him about when they were younger, but now, she just admired.
Gently, she slowly removed herself from him, trying not to wake him up, but he immediately protested. His arms wove around her tightly from their loose grip in his sleep and Victoria couldn't help but laugh. "Ryan!" she cried quietly, nudging him. "We should get up. It's almost time for training."
"Hmmm...what?" he mumbled, his green eyes slowly flickering open.
"Get up," she told him clearly, staring him in the face. "We have to train."
"Oh!" Ryan finally realized what she had been implying and slipped his hands away from her, allowing her to move out of the bed. "Sorry about that..." He blushed, a soft red rising in his cheeks.
"No problem," she assured him, opening the closet and getting dressed.
***
Diabolico studied Ryan's attack on the creature that he had Victoria conjure up from her spell book just for that very exercise during his training session.
The creature was small compared to Diabolico's towering size, but compared to Ryan they were evenly sized. It was lithe and its strongest attack was speed, and at that very moment was beating up Ryan fairly easily, landing blow after blow faster than he could react to stop them.
Of course, Diabolico did not only watch Ryan in his battle; he glanced at Victoria out of the corner of his eye. The spell book lay open in her lap, but she paid it no attention. Her unwavering brown eyes stared at the fight, her facial reaction to Ryan's losing screaming out how badly she wanted to help him. She knew better than to interfere with his training, however.
"Victoria, does something bother you?" he voiced over Ryan's cries of anguish.
Both quite aware of the fact that when in battle, Ryan paid no attention to the outside world because of his deep concentration, Victoria responded to his question. "No, Father. Do I look as if something is amiss?" she queried innocently, unaware of how intently she had been looking at her companion before.
Diabolico grinned knowingly at the young girl, and thrust his hand out towards the magical creature causing it to disappear in mid-fight with Ryan. "What happened?!" the young warrior shouted in frustration, the dagger he had just thrown lodging itself into the stone wall.
"I want you to battle Victoria, Ryan," Diabolico declared, causing Victoria to suddenly rise from where she sat, quite confused. "You will use your fighting skills and she will use her magic...only."
Mentally, Ryan questioned the fairness of the fight, but didn't voice his concerns. Father had never made them do anything that would cause them harm. "Very well," he accepted, grabbing his sword off of the ground where it had been discarded in the previous quarrel.
Ryan lined himself up on one side of the room, while Victoria did the same on the other side, making sure she was standing directly across from him. They both took attack postures, and then waited for someone to unleash the first move.
Confident as he always was, Ryan took the first move; pulling a dagger from inside his boot and pitching straight towards her head.
Victoria easily deflected the dagger with a wave of her hand that was glowing a deep crimson, and threw an energy charge at him: one she knew he would simply flip over and avoid.
True to her thoughts, Ryan did flip over the attack and unsheathed his sword in mid-air, his hilt making solid contact with her forehead causing her fall backwards onto the cold floor. He landed over her, straddling her body, his blade swiftly coming down to make the finish. Before the sharp blade could touch her flesh, Victoria blocked it with a temporary shield, flinging Ryan backwards.
Hastily pulling herself back onto her feet, Victoria's thoughts fell back to a healing spell she had just learned to use. She wasn't severely hurt, but the results from the spell would be able to get her out of the spot she was in.
Ryan recovered from his stumble, and began to rush Victoria when she lifted her hand to her face and blew softly against her palm. A deep blue mist rose from her hand and swirled around Ryan's figure a few times before he collapsed to the ground, his sword clanging as it fell with him.
"Very good," Diabolico complimented the winner of the battle, moving to her side. "You used a healing spell to stop him."
She nodded, her gaze turning to look up at Diabolico. "The fight wasn't fair, Father."
"Of course it wasn't," Diabolico agreed, resting his large hand upon her shoulder. "But is it fair when you fight Ryan in combat only? He is far more superior than you are in that art of battle. In those matches, you were bound to lose.
"Magic dominates combat; it always has," he paused, gazing at the fallen warrior. "Combat is strong though. When you combine the two they are unstoppable. They are a team, complimenting one another: never to be separated."
A gentle smile graced Victoria's face as she returned her gaze to Ryan, fully understanding the meaning of her teacher's words. "Yes, Father."
***
After that battle, Ryan and Victoria never fought one another again. Ryan learned from his defeat: never doubting the capabilities of magic and to always be aware of them. Victoria learned from her victory: always saving her strongest suit until it was desperately required to be unleashed.
With five more years they grew under Diabolico's tutelage, maturing into young adults with a fierce power held easily at the end of their fingertips.
Ryan grew into a handsome and fierce young man, one of deep powerful passions and strong, upstanding morals. Over the years, he had remembered the car accident that had brought him into Diabolico's care much more vividly; remembering just the parts that seemed to justify what Diabolico had told him at a young age. His REAL father had left him to die, letting Ryan go while hanging onto his younger sister. Bitterness and hatred singed his soul, though it was mostly filled by a lustful passionate want for another.
Specifically, Victoria.
Ryan didn't know what to make of the feelings. They were completely foreign to him, and yet they felt so natural. Every single part of his body ached when he was near her and his body throbbed when they slept together. He wanted to be close to Victoria with every particle of his being. His respect for her prevented him from doing just that though. She was his companion; he couldn't do such a thing without talking about it with her.
Which was exactly why when Victoria slid her petite legs underneath the bed covers and took to the bed that night, Ryan huddled as close to his side of the bed as possible without falling off.
Victoria tossed in the bed slightly, trying to find a comfortable position. Once she found it, she turned to Ryan and was about to voice a goodnight when she caught sight of the great warrior's huddled form at the other side of the bed. "Ryan, what are you doing?" Her voice held a sultry flavor to it, as she slinked over to his side of the bed and peered down at him.
Realizing he had been caught, Ryan turned over to face her, trying to seem casual. "What?"
"Staying all curled up on the side of the bed," she replied, her small feet brushing against his calves. Ryan nearly groaned out in pure pleasure at her caress.
"I'll stay here then, alright?" He scooted towards the middle of the bed and spread his legs and arms all over the bed so there was barely any room left for Victoria.
A joking grin spread across his face when she took her own pillow and hit him hard with it. "Scoot over!" she hissed playfully, her legs kicking him over to his side. "You big monster!"
Ryan didn't budge from his spot even after all her prods and pushes. Quickly, with an effortless swipe of his hand, he rammed her off of the bed. Out of the darkness of the room he heard her fall to the floor with a minimal thump.
After a few minutes of waiting for Victoria to crawl back into the bed, Ryan became somewhat worried. "Victoria? Are you alright?"
When no one called back to answer his questions, he suddenly felt a dread come over him. What if he had driven her off the bed too hard and she had hit her head? Scrambling, the blond man moved over to her side of the bed and bent over, looking at the floor below the bed.
His eyes, which hadn't totally adjusted to the darkness quite yet, had a hard time of distinguishing the different shadows, so he was completely caught off-guard when Victoria's hand grabbed for his wrist and hauled him to the ground.
Ryan fell down on his stomach and let out a low grunt of surprise. "That's what you get!" He heard Victoria's voice snap from underneath him. It was only then he realized he was lying directly on top of his best, and only, friend.
He felt like he was on fire. Every nerve in his skin that touched her skin sparked within him crazily, little fires within him raging out of control. All of the small hairs on his body stood on end and he could feel his blood rising to the top of his skin. His brain couldn't handle all of the maddening impulses that his nerves were sending to it, and in compensation he let out a relaxed groan.
"Ryan?" He could hear her small sensual voice overriding all of his other senses.
"Hmmm?" he replied her after a moment, gazing down at her now that he could finally see her; drinking up her beauty with every blink of his eyes.
"Ryan..." It wasn't a question anymore to Ryan's ears; it was an invitation. Victoria was inviting him to touch her...hold her...caress her.
"Mmmmm..." He moaned excitedly and met her halfway, his lips indulging hers in a desperate, soulful dance.
He barely noticed when her arms grazed down his bare chest, her fingertips leaving fresh trails of fire on his skin. He was much too involved with her mouth, and how it leapt out to his own, caressing it and pleasing all of his desires and longings for her.
It was intoxicating, the touches that she lavished on him and how they magically met the demands his body would unconsciously call for. Her legs came to his own, running her toes up and down his calf causing him to pull away from her and moan delightfully.
"Ryan?" Victoria gasped just before he moved to capture her lips once more; her deep brown eyes staring hungrily into his own green ones.
This time he answered her with more than a grunt or moan. "Yes?" Ryan whispered, his voice deeper and throaty accompanying his primal hunger for her.
"Will we ever grow up?" she panted fervently, her hand slipping slowly down his arm.
"Ohhh...I hope not," he groaned fiercely, his hand weaving into her cascades of reddish brown hair, kissing her once more.
***
Over the last five years, Victoria had matured. She had grown beyond the crush she had had on Ryan when she was fourteen; the one she had been taught to suppress by Father after he had recognized the primal look of warmth in her eyes towards the blond boy. She had full control of her bodily actions through her mastery of demonic magic and self-control.
Or so she thought.
What Victoria had thought of herself over the last five years had completely changed within the very millisecond her lips met Ryan's and she felt a surge of unrequited lust run rampant through her body, breaking the bonds of magic that had held it in place for so many years. It hastily took over all her systems, leaving nothing for her higher brain functions to control. It was all primal...all instinctive...and oh so right.
How had Ryan resisted the hunger for all these years? She couldn't help but wonder that as his hands roamed her back and his tongue probed her collarbone with a whisper-delicate touch that drove her insane. Her hands gripped his back tightly, her long nails digging into the flesh of his shoulder blades and causing blood to slowly trickle from his skin. Yet he still persisted in nourishing her long cast-off desires any way he could possibly.
The way he stroked her and almost seemed to pay heed to her groans and moans, pulling away where she didn't want it and giving more when she did. It was a dance. She gave and he received. He gave and she received.
She couldn't put down a name to what she was feeling. Lust it most definitely was, but there was another feeling hiding behind it in the shadows just lingering out of reach. And Victoria couldn't put a name to it. She wanted to know what it was, but how could she describe something she couldn't even name?
She broke from her thoughts, and glanced at her hands which were slicked with Ryan's warm red blood. "You're bleeding," she breathed deeply, trying to tell him of his injury. "I made you bleed; let me heal you."
"I'm fine," he murmured into her neck, nibbling gently on her ear. "It doesn't hurt.
Victoria insisted once more, while directing a wayward thought towards the blood and causing it to evaporate, cleaning the mess of red. "Ryan, you'll have scars on your back if I don't heal them now," she half-moaned, his hands sliding beneath her shirt and onto her stomach.
It was then he gently withdrew from her, grinning softly. "Scars are good," he told, running his thumb along her lips. "They'll always give me something to remember this night by."
The young woman blinked brightly, returning the same grin. He wanted to have scars...scars from her. How...kind? No, that wasn't the right word she was searching for. How...sweet? Yeah, that was the word that she wanted, but she couldn't quite understand what the flavor of pineapples had to do with him wanting scars from her...
***
"Finally," Diabolico chuckled to himself as he spied upon his two near adult charges through his own demonic magic. "After thirteen years of sleeping in the same bed together, tension breaks!"
His hissing laughter rang through the buried room of the crypt, his ghost image resting upon the large tomb that incased his corporeal body as well as Queen Bansheera's other lackeys. "Soon, the humans will come to free us like the prophecy has always foretold: with the loss of innocence, brings forth the freedom of the demons...
"Of course it certainly won't be the end," he continued to talk out loud to himself, liking the sound of his bellowing voice recounting his eventually victorious plan to recapture what was rightfully his. "Once we are freed, I will feign my loyalty to Queen Bansheera and take back her palace for her, just like she would demand of me if she still was in this realm. But once my two protégées have produced the perfect offspring for me - one born of the knowing magic and battle - I will destroy my captor, retain my Star power and enslave her as one of mine. Then no one will stop me and I will rule all within my clawed clutch."
***
Ryan awoke later the next morning with a huge lump on his shoulders. It wasn't heavy, but it was definitely warm. He nearly laughed out loud when he was more conscious and realized what - more like who - was on him. "Mmmmm..." he moaned softly, remembering her warm caresses from the night before.
His hands gently glassed up Victoria's calf that laid on either side of his hips. Ryan could feel her stir from her sleep at his touch and grinned privately. "Hello, my scarred warrior," her heard her voice murmur, her delicate fingertips tracing along the ten little crescent moon scabs that had formed on his shoulder blades.
"Same to you, my enchantress," he warmly replied, slowly flipping onto his back so that he had Victoria sitting down on his stomach on top of him.
Victoria couldn't help but give a silly grin, her hands sliding up his bare chest. "Have you ever felt this way before, Ryan?" she asked curiously.
Ryan met her gaze and held it for a long moment, answering her question in the process, "I feel...happy. I don't know...it's hard to describe what I feel, but I've never felt it before. Although," he chuckled, his hands slipping underneath her tank top to hold her waist, "I do LIKE the way it feels."
"Will Father approve of it?" Victoria queried once more. That very question was her truest worry about whatever had taken place between her and Ryan. She hoped to death he would approve because, like Ryan she enjoyed the way she felt when she was with her companion.
"Father will approve," he assured her confidently. Always so confident, Ryan was. But then Victoria thought that that was his best trait because he continually managed to make her perceive their little world as the safest place to ever be. "He'll be happy and we'll be happy and it will be alright."
Victoria's eyed looked unsurely upon him, still a child in many respects; somewhat untrusting. "You promise?"
"I promise you."
***
Few hours following, Ryan and Victoria ran into their training room clad in their clothing, ready to follow their father's orders.
"We will not be training today," Diabolico declared blatenly as the two lined up before him.
The team of two looked completely taken away. Never in all the days, weeks, months and years they had lived with Diabolico and trained under his tutelage had they taken one day away from training. Learning and living to Diabolico's expectations was their lives. There was only one possible question that could sum up their thoughts.
"Why?"
Diabolico looked to Victoria, the one he had known would ask the question. "I need to explain everything to you now. You both are old enough now to know the reasons of your training and why I offered you a home in my sanctuary," he carefully explained, trying not to foreshadow to what he was going to reveal in their continuing conversation.
After a pause of silence, Diabolico began to tell his reasoning to his intrigued students. "Three thousand years ago I lived on Earth as a demon serving my queen, Queen Bansheera. I admit, during that time I did some horrible deeds, but it was always for the benefit of my queen; I could not very well deceive her.
"Soon enough, a powerful sorcerer came along to challenge my queen's power. He ended up banishing my queen into another realm of existence and entrapped me and my fellow warriors in a tomb to be sealed forever."
"And you're still trapped?" Ryan queried with a confused expression.
Diabolico nodded his head, to the shock of both. "Yes, I am. What stands before you know is my spirit's projection; it is just as real as I would be if I stood before you in my real body.
"Before I was captured, I was made aware of a prophecy that had predicted my queen's demise and my entrapment. While before I didn't believe it, I do now. It was foretold that two children would free me from my prison; two children who possessed the minds and souls to become a great warrior and enchantress."
"And we are those children," Victoria succinctly stated. It wasn't a question to her. She knew...she felt like she had always known she was special, destined for something great.
"Yes," Diabolico replied, then continued on. "For the many, many years that followed my capture, I allowed my spirit to search endlessly for these two children...and I did not succeed until I came upon you two.
"When I first saw you Victoria, roaming the dark streets on that fateful cold night with your mother, I knew right away you were my enchantress. So swift and resourceful you were, slipping your hands into the right places and coming out rewarded nearly every time; you never got caught in your game. You were a quick study, eager to learn and craving the new knowledge to be found in your games." He chuckled, recalling the girl when she was younger. "You despised me when I first brought you here."
Victoria blinked rapidly, and Ryan could have almost sworn it looked like she was on the verge of tears. He immediately banished the thought though. Victoria never cried, at least he had never seen her cry and ever since that first night he had spent with her in their home, Ryan hadn't shed a tear either.
"I grew to respect you, Father," she insisted, her eyes baring into the monster that raised her. "Despising you wasn't an option."
"It was never logical either," Diabolico agreed, then paused as if to signal his continuation of his story. "When I first saw you Ryan, you were in a terrible situation, forced to hold on for dear life while your father chose to save your sister, rather than you. Your strength and willful determination was what drew me to you. Though sorely misplaced, you placed blind faith with your father...same faith that you have now learned to place in yourself as a warrior of great strength. I saved you from death - the same death your father condemned you to - because I knew you worthy of my attention. Such a great life, I certainly would not allow to go to waste. While you did not appreciate the help I bestowed upon you at the start, I have come to believe you respect me the same way Victoria does."
Through his anger at the memory, Ryan lifted his dark eyes and nodded tersely towards his savior. "I do respect you, Father, and I cannot thank you enough for this great power you have given me," he voiced tightly, but meaningfully.
Victoria noted her companion's anger, and while she always knew he was very emotional, she never knew him to display such a deep anger towards anything before. She had never heard the story of his life before he came to be with her, but from what she had just heard, Ryan had every right to display his emotions the way he did. After all, he had never heard her life story before today as well and she had seen him studying her expression to it being revealed. It took all she had in her to control her tears. "How do we free you, Father?"
"You have already freed me," Diabolico answered easily. He laughed at the furrowed brows of both of his students. "You two children are no longer children. I have told you the truth. You are no longer oblivious; you have both given into your desires for one another. You are no longer innocent."
"How did you know?" Victoria cried in bewilderment, frightened of his lack of acceptance.
"I see everything, Victoria," Diabolico responded, moving forward to cradle the young woman's jaw within his claws. He turned his head dismissively towards Ryan. "Leave us, Ryan. I will speak to you later."
It was evident in Ryan's eyes that he objected to leaving Victoria's side, nonetheless he followed his father's command and returned back to his quarters.
As soon as his warrior left the room, Diabolico returned his gaze to his enchantress. "You are the enchantress, Victoria. You wield demonic magic within your fingertips, therefore you must also have a demonic persona."
Diabolico moved away from Victoria and started towards a stone table that had gone unnoticed in the back corner of the shadowy room. She slowly followed him, until her eyes caught upon a gleaming silver object lying on the table. Edging closer, Victoria spotted a strong silver sword set next to its leather sheath among many other silvery things.
Her brown eyes wandered the table in excitement as she came to realize that everything there was for her. All together they created an entire suit of body armor, colored silver and black. "For me?" she whispered, still quite in surprise. Awing over it all, she gingerly slid her fingers over the silver wings lying before her.
"For you," Diabolico nodded, standing beside her. "From now on, when you don this armor you will be Vypra. When you leave this armor behind, shed it for your humanness, you will be Victoria once more."
"My humanness?" She faced him, eyebrow raised in a peculiar fashion.
"When we leave here, which we will soon enough, we will reside in Skull Cavern; one of my queen's many hidden hideaways. Everyone who resides there with us will be demons: Impus, the queen's son, Jinxor and Loki, my two lackeys, and all of the battlings, our henchmen. You and Ryan will be the only two humans, but I want you to appear as demonic as possible to everyone else."
"And what about Ryan?"
"He will be fighting by your side of course, but in a different fashion than you fight."
"That would be?"
"Many ways...but mostly by your side, in your bed," Diabolico bluntly declared. "I do approve of the turn your relationship has taken with Ryan, Victoria. I trained you for great power, but I also trained you to breed."
Her excited brown eyes were now clouded with slight disappointment. "We were just animals to you, Father?" she demanded, her tone tempered. She had never yelled at Diabolico - she had never had a real reason to - but now, being angry with him seemed only decently right!
"No! I do not see you as animals." The monster shook his head, wanting to chuckle at his protégée's misunderstanding. "You see, there is one bit of information I lacked to reveal to you when Ryan was present before."
"Oh?"
"The prophecy that was told to me also spoke of the two children giving birth to a child, a child born of both worlds - magic and strength. This child was to overthrow Queen Bansheera and her son from their powerful perch...which has always been my true mission. To banish her evil ways..." The words flowed easily from his mouth, half-truths mixed along with his lies. Slowly, Diabolico twisted his voice to produce the sounds of sorrow and begging. "This will sound like an odd request to you, Victoria, but...I NEED a child from you and Ryan."
Victoria stared into her father's eyes, her lips pursed tightly. As she searched, she found the look of need in his eyes hiding his true intents. Yet she stood quiet, not knowing how to respond to his plea.
Diabolico pushed his acting skills to the limit, cupping the woman's cheek with his large hand. Whipping out his trump card, he gently let it slip from the caverns of his mouth, "Grant me my wish, dear daughter..."
Her eyes swelling with love towards the monster - her only real father figure - that had raised her from such a tender age, Victoria tore herself from his gaze. The long strands of her dark bronze hair that hid her features from Diabolico for a moment were pushed away from her face with the aid of his claws. "Daughter..." He pushed her again, hoping that she would acceptingly play into his hands.
Her voice was a ginger and gentle whisper, but it did touch his ears.
"In time, Father, in time..."
***
Victoria walked down the hall towards her quarters, her steps tentative and her mind jumbled. She hadn't experienced the feeling of such a thick confusion clouding her thoughts. Mostly everything had been laid out for her in life: clear and concise, black and white.
It was no longer like that anymore. She was confronted by ceaseless doubts and so many different shades of gray at the decision she had just made with her father. So many that she felt utterly uncertain, and she hated that feeling. It made her feel uneasy.
She was going to give her father a child.
Did that seem so awful? Did it seem wrong? Was it right? Should she have not agreed? The questions barraged her and she did all she could to suppress them with her magic, but one question insistently remained.
Was it right?
In her mind, she believed it to be right...or at least MOST of her thoughts believed it. It was only fair, for he HAD saved both Ryan and her from lives of misery. One new life, for both of their lives? It seemed like a decent equation. Maybe even they were getting the better part of the bargain!
Victoria approached her quarters and pushed open the stone door, stepping inside the room and nearly bursting into laughter.
There Ryan was, laying lazily on their bed before her, tossing pieces of dried pineapple into his mouth casually. His appearance contrasted to her own tumultuous emotions so much, she couldn't help but give a small giggle.
"You're finally back?" Ryan sat up on the bed, pushing the pineapples aside and eagerly scooting up to the bottom of the bed.
She watched him, his eagerness and childishness showing upon his face. They were both still were children, no matter what Diabolico had told them. "Seems so," she replied, taking up a seat beside him. She could smell the scent of the pineapples on his breath and she grinned.
Ryan and pineapples. If anything, she always wanted to remember that about him.
"What did Father talk to you about?" he asked, not even looking at her face. He was far too busy tracing and memorizing the skin of her neck, causing little tingly sensations to run crazily down her spine.
She gave a little moan before replying. "He gave me new armor and a new name." Victoria slyly left out the part about them conceiving a child for Diabolico; she didn't want to talk about it and bring her mind into more chaos.
"A new name?" He looked at her intrigued.
She nodded, lolling her head back to allow room for Ryan's finger which had begun to graze downwards towards her collarbone. "I am to be called Vypra when I wear my armor," she told him, her voice a throaty whisper. "When I don't, I am Victoria."
A slow, opulent smile grew upon Ryan's lips as he replaced the touch of his fingers for the caress of his tongue along Victoria's skin. "You are my Victoria...my enchantress," he claimed, one of his arms slipping around her waist and pulling her down onto the bed.
A teasing smile tickled her lips momentarily as she watched him hover over her, forgetting everything else but Ryan. "I suppose," she whispered hungrily, bringing him down to her.
***
She hadn't committed the act.
She couldn't bring herself to do it so long as Ryan didn't know what their father wanted...and as she told herself before, she was not going to tell him until Diabolico did. It already was too complicated.
Quietly, she lay in the dark of their quarters, gazing off into the nothingness the shadows occupied. Ryan's arms held her to him, her head resting lightly against his bare chest while one of her arms remained draped over his side.
Victoria tried and tried again to let her mind completely blank out, to be free of thoughts, allowing her the sleep she longed for. The sleep would drown her in fantasies, and for awhile let her forget of her promise to her father. If only it would come and take her away...
Sleep did not come to her rescue that night.
