Genre: Angst/Horror
Rating: PG-15+ (this chapter)
Warnings: Shounen-ai, mild gore
Notes relevant to text: Double backslashes once again denote thoughts during the dream sequence, and single backslashes denote flashbacks.
Notes not as relevant but still important in my opinion: Yay! More beautiful reviews! Silent Sorrow, you're still with me? *glomps and huggles back* Sankyuu so very much. ^_^
Something was not right. Eclipse knew it the instant he teleported back to his little lord and saw him ashen-faced, staring unseeingly across the room. The only sound was the careful, metered breath Raenef was drawing in at strangely irregular intervals. Gods, why did I leave him with Krayon? He's miserable again.
"Master Raenef? Come, you should sleep now. You do not look well."
The boy's eyes unglazed as he smiled at his mentor. "Yes, you're right. I don't feel sick but I am tired," he admitted.
Twin 'go's later, and Eclipse began his nightly battle to keep his master's sheets free of cookie crumbs and milk stains. Brushing the worst of the mess off the surface of the fresh sheets (he hadn't been able to stand the idea of Raenef curling himself up in the sweat-scented cloth and the memory of the previous night's unhappiness and had changed them as soon as the boy had given him time to blink), he straightened the blankets and attempted to pry the tray out of the other's hands. Raenef's mind had drifted into his eyes, and it was only the slight tug at his fingertips that brought him back to reality.
"Eclipse?"
"Yes, Master?"
"D...d'youthnkI'lhavvatdrm'gen?" Raenef asked meekly.
Eclipse donned his best 'What Have I Told You About This?' face and primmest voice. "Demon lords do not mumble. What did you say, my lord?"
Raenef twisted his hands in the bed sheets in much the same way that he had clung to Eclipse the night before. "Do you think I'll have that dream again?" he repeated quietly, but considerably more distinctly.
Eclipse eased himself onto the edge of the bed, and stilled the boy's hands with one of his own. "Considering you won't tell me what it was about, sir, it is difficult for me to gauge. However, if you encountered Krayon and had the dream afterwards, it seems likely that it was just a nasty parting gift to thank you for disturbing him. Sleep well, my lord. If you should need me, you have only to call."
"I know. Goodnight, Eclipse. I'm sorry for keeping you up all of last night." Raenef watched as his tutor's eyebrows furrowed together and waited until the man's lips parted to add, "I know, 'demon lords do not apologise, especially to their minions.' But I meant what I said, and that's the end of it. Get some sleep."
"Thankyou, sir." Resignedly, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand in a familiar gesture of exasperation, Eclipse muttered 'go' and vanished from view.
Raenef's improved humour disappeared with his servant. Shaking, he huddled
under the covers as if their warmth could ward off Krayon's mocking voice, Alithiel's
shrieks and the awareness that there was more to Eclipse than he'd wanted to
admit. Those cold, cold eyes...He didn't want the dream to come, but he knew
it was inevitable. Determined not to disturb anyone this time, Raenef closed
his eyes and fell asleep.
***
He stood outside amongst a group of people who almost seemed familiar, if
only for the sandy hair that denoted them as southerners. //Okay, Krayon. Who
am I this time?// Judging by the considerable weight of armour that would have
crushed his waking self and the equally heavy sword at his hip, Raenef swiftly
came to the conclusion that he was probably inhabiting the body of a mercenary,
and a man at that. A small part of him was grateful - if Eclipse resorted to
violence to the degree he had with the group of heavenly creatures, at the very
least the gruff, seasoned warrior was unlikely to scream and plead and maybe
he might get through this dream without rousing the entire castle.
"Come forth, Demon Lord!" An old man, bent with age and leaning heavily on a walking stick, had scuffed his way to the front of the mob, dragging a group of village girls dressed in the finery of an Offering along with him by the chain that bound their wrists. Two of the group bumped into each other and yelped softly. The man, by appearances a village elder, glared back at them as he rubbed a gnarled and arthritic thumb along the cool links of metal.
Raenef's host shifted uneasily, his eyes fixed on the third girl from the end. It didn't take an awful lot of digging to learn that she was his sister, and about to be offered as a bride to a Demon Lord. //But which demon?//
A murmur worked its way through the crowd, and someone whispered to him. "Look up! The bastard's come out of his cave at last."
The man followed the other's extended finger, and Raenef realised why everything felt so familiar - he was standing out the front of his own castle. It was unmistakable, not only for the golden sun engraved into the mountain above it or the intricately carved pillars, but for the cloaked shadow far above him which could be nobody but Raenef the Fourth. The man's human eyes weren't as sharp as Raenef's demon ones, but he was fairly sure his predecessor wore the dangerously unpredictable masked expression he'd worn when he first returned from the dead. Silence reigned.
"Well? For what reason have you disturbed me?"
The Demon Lord's regal lilt drifted down from his lofty position, and the softness of his voice seemed to lull the girls into a false sense of security.
"Great Raenef the Fourth! We have come to barter peace between your realm and our three villages. We offer you these women as tokens of our goodwill." Kneeling, arms thrown skyward and walking stick forgotten, the elder pulled on the chain with strength fuelled by near-hysteria. The six girls, some of whom were considerably younger than Raenef himself, stumbled forward awkwardly.
"I see." The older Raenef appeared to be amused, and his successor could tell instinctively that the canny demon was about to bait the old man below him. "What, no jewels or animals or silks?"
Right on target.
"We...we have no riches greater than the beauty of youth since you began pillaging and destroying our land! You must know this!" The elder warbled, losing his previously insurmountable strength and groping for his cane as he struggled back to his feet.
"That's hardly the point, old man. But I will accept your flawed offering simply because you have amused me." Raenef's voice trailed off momentarily as he incanted something, and the shackled girls reappeared behind him.
"Flawed...how dare you, demon!" Raenef's host roared, drawing his weapon despite the fact there was nothing within reach worth aiming it at. The people around them drew back, as if afraid to be associated with him.
The world spun into teleportation, and the mercenary and his demonic passenger landed face-first on the sandstone of the outer courtyard, barely a sword's length away from the dark-haired Demon Lord's feet. One elegant black boot edged out from under the voluminous folds of his robe and caught them under the chin. Raenef offered his groaning sympathy as his host grunted uncomfortably.
"I dare because I may. How presumptuous of you to think that you could so much as split a hair on my head with nothing but a sword and a familial tie, human. You know nothing of real beauty." Raenef shook the man's jaw off his foot as he turned to the dark clad man who stood silently behind the shivering girls. "Come here, Eclipse."
The boy-Raenef could have sobbed with relief when his tutor stepped forward, dressed in his simple robe and sandals instead of the savagely spiked armour, and wearing the not-quite-blank expression of annoyance at his lord's antics. The Demon Lord turned on his heel to face the mercenary again, sliding one hand along Eclipse's shoulders and manoeuvring the other to stroke the man's chin.
"This, human, is beauty. Everlasting beauty rather than the flawed kind you have offered me, which will wither and die so quickly." He peered at the man on the ground from beneath his inconceivably long eyelashes. "Thus, I will leave beauty to decide what to do with you and your --"
"Be silent!" The mercenary leapt to his feet with an impressive snarl and charged at the demon full tilt.
Within the space of a heartbeat, Eclipse shrugged himself out of his lord's grip and stood between him and the impending danger, glaring fiercely.
Raenef was thrown out of the mercenary as his body exploded into a fine mist of red, which the wind swept over the brides in white before carrying it to rain down on the people below. The blood that collected on the faces of the girls ran down the cheeks of the girl who was still chained third from the end as if her eyes bled tears. She collapsed and made it almost to the ground before the chain binding her to her companions halted her fall.
Invisible, Raenef crouched on the ground as he clutched his throat, feeling the gorge rise again. He swallowed hard. //No, if I throw up or pass out here, I might never wake up. I have to wait it out.//
Raenef the Fourth sniffed at the mess, good humour gone. "Dispose of them quickly and don't leave a mess," he ordered before sweeping down the corridors, completely ignoring the unnaturally pink-tinged chain of girls.
A slight smile curved Eclipse's lips. "As you wish, sir."
//Eclipse! No!// Raenef felt the air shift as Eclipse moved to dispel the
group of humans in the most permanent way possible, and dove at him blindly
in an attempt to stop the impending slaughter. Strangely enough, the dark hair
of the demon was disturbed by Raenef's useless charge, and he turned to discern
the source. He found nothing. Scowling at the horrified group of girls who were
attempting to revive their fallen friend, he never saw the blonde boy become
opaque as he tumbled over the edge of the balcony, down towards the rocks below.
Raenef felt the spell being cast, saw it careering towards the shrieking humans...
***
And shot upright in his bed just before he hit the ground.
Hands clamped firmly over his mouth, Raenef was momentarily proud of himself for stifling the scream building in his throat.
Huh? I didn't scream...I'm sure I didn't. Where is that voice coming from? He could have sworn he heard screaming echoing from...outside. Strange.
Shivering slightly as he slipped out of bed, Raenef padded down the corridor in bare feet for what seemed like miles, following the sound of the phantom voice. He blushed brightly when he realised that his abilities most certainly extended to teleportation, and he could find the source by concentrating on it.
"Go," he whispered, all too conscious of his proximity to the room currently housing a snoring cleric.
Raenef reappeared on the great balcony at the front of the palace, and nearly
swooned at the sense of deja vu. That was where the girls stood in their huddle,
and that was where Raenef the Fourth had stroked at Eclipse like some sort of
prize possession. The boy might have bristled, but it might have been the wind
tearing across the unprotected space.
The wind.
There hadn't been any scream at all.
He sighed in a mixture of relief and disappointment, clutching at his arms for warmth as he moved to walk back inside, suddenly aware of the bareness of his feet and the chill in the air. He stopped stock-still when Eclipse stepped out of the shadows, hair in slight disarray presumably resulting from sleep, cloak thrown over his thin indoor robe and clutching a blanket.
"Master Raenef, I'd ask what you are doing but I'm not sure you'd tell me." He moved forward with the same grace Raenef always associated with his tutor, shaking the blanket out of its folded state and spreading it over the boy's shoulders. "Please come inside. You need sleep, not a cold."
The long-fingered hand remained on his shoulder, drawing him to the man's greater body heat.
/"This, human, is beauty. Everlasting beauty... Thus, I will leave beauty to decide what to do with you--"/
"My lord?"
/The mercenary's body exploded into a fine mist of red, which the wind swept over the brides in white before carrying it to rain down on the people below.../
Eclipse's brow furrowed with concern, and he stooped to see if his charge was paying attention. Perhaps he should just teleport them back to Raenef's chambers.
/"Dispose of them quickly and don't leave a mess." /
"Are you well, my lord?'
"No...Eclipse...please..." the blonde's fingers gripped the edge of the blanket more tightly, and as an unnaturally warm mist of rain sprinkled onto his pale face, he managed to loose the beginnings of a keening wail before he dropped limply into his servant's arms.
Endnotes: I couldn't help myself. Raenef the Fourth needed some airtime, and he wouldn't go away until I gave in. I'm thinking of adding a not-so-dark omake-type chaper to break up the endless misery every now and then. What do you think?