Genre: Angst/Horror...by now you get the gist.
Rating: PG-13 (this chapter)
Warnings: Heavy shounen-ai implications, reprehensible humour, grumpy Eclipse
Notes relevant to text: Sorry, it's a fairly long chapter. *looks at total word count, total chapters, flinches*
Notes not as relevant but still important in my opinion: Woo! People coming back for more misery and gore! I'm glad you like it. *huggles for Silverlie* *Raenef IV plushie for Kalli*
Eclipse eased the unconscious boy back under the still-warm covers of his bed and chased an errant strand of hair from his eyes with a pale finger. Raenef's face was contorted with discomfort, as if time had spun backwards and forced him to rememorise Attributes of a Demon Lord from scratch while he slept.
Sinking into the plush cushioning of the chair by the bedhead, Eclipse sighed and drew his cloak more tightly around himself. There was no doubt in his mind that whatever had woken the normally irrepressible demon lord so cruelly the night before would be proud to claim responsibility for the second occurrence. Images of the Lord of Egae smirking over his goblet as his clearly unwilling 'host' picked listlessly at his plate danced in his mind's eye. What is happening to you, Lord Raenef? More to the point, why are you allowing Krayon to make it happen?
Cocooned in the thick blankets and rich silk of the bed sheets, Raenef's tiny moan of distress would have gone unnoticed in its muffled state by human ears, but his servant's were much sharper and his sense of guilt and helplessness would not allow him to sit by without so much as investigating the cause.
The hand which had supported his chin while he pondered inched delicately forward to pull back the covers, extended its fingers carefully to touch the cheek of the encumbered sleeper...
"No!" ...and was slapped away with a vicious shriek and equally sharp movement.
Eyes widened in shock, Eclipse stepped back a pace and eyed his knuckles in the wan moonlight. He had no particular desire to see his own flesh torn open by jewellery and thanked the gods that Raenef had no overt liking of it. Judging by the angry red mark, it was time to count his blessings that Krayon's unmistakable interference had not extended to fashion sense. Stroking the abused area in a half-hearted attempt to aid the healing process, he retreated to the superficial comfort of the armchair once more to wait out the night.
By the time early beams of mottled sunlight stretched over the edge of the
horizon, his mind was made up.
"Lord Raenef? My lord, it is time for you to get up. It's already late."
Raenef made a sound akin to the death throes of a dying walrus, flipped over onto his stomach and mumbled something vaguely reminiscent of, "T'ma'to...nofanks,s'gottaface...cannteat't...bit longer?"
Eclipse hid his face in his hands, a familiar gesture of exasperation. "Master Raenef! You're going to miss breakfast."
As predicted the boy shot up in his bed, completely alert and hair a spiky, knotted mess. He took in the folded arms, neatly restrained lengths of raven's-wing hair and paler than usual complexion of his tutor, and added two and two with surprising accuracy. His expression dulled from his bright smile of greeting to something usually reserved for Erutis and Chris when their bickering reached new heights of nastiness.
"Y--You stayed here all night again, didn't you?" Raenef eyed the other demon seriously and waited for the admission of guilt.
"I did not, sir," Eclipse replied with just as much certainty.
"I don't believe you."
"Believe what you will, Master, but know that I retired when you bid me do so last night, and slept until I found you wandering outside, half-naked in the rain." Raenef's eyebrow twitched, and Eclipse garnered the distinct impression that the boy either didn't remember his expedition with any clarity at all or was embarrassed by it. "It was only then that I quit my quarters for yours out of concern for your health."
The blonde flinched as if he'd been slapped. What is it? This isn't the first time I've watched over you, so why are you so affronted?
Gauging his question carefully, Eclipse laid a hand gently but firmly on Raenef's shoulder. "You were dreaming again - that much is obvious. Will you tell me what you have been dreaming about?"
"Nothing specific." Raenef attempted to jerk away on the pretence of scrabbling his way out of the covers, but the fingers on his shoulder tightened until he was forced into stillness.
"The Lord of Egae does not send forth nightmares comprised of unspecific images and words, and he certainly does not attack other Demon Lords without reason. Try again, Master."
The boy bristled. "What makes you think Krayon has anything to do with me having a couple of bad dreams? Sheesh, you worry too much."
Eclipse withdrew his hand and crossed his arms. "I worry about nothing without foundation."
An uncomfortable silence filled the room, during which Raenef avoided eye contact in favour of a loose thread, and Eclipse continued to glare before finally breaking the standoff.
"Demon Lords do not sulk in front of their minions."
Raenef kept his head down and made a small half-choking-half-snorting sound that, if Eclipse wasn't mistaken, reeked of an attempt to muffle impending tears. Maybe I'm being too hard on him...but it is for his own good.
He chose to interpret it as a muffled laugh instead. Laughter, although equally undignified, was something he could handle from this particular demon. "I'm glad you find my instruction amusing, but I woke you so abruptly to inform you that I have been summoned to a meeting. It is of a relatively petty nature and I should be back by nightfall. Please do not neglect your studies, my lord."
Raenef nodded wordlessly, still focussed on the piece of string between his
fingertips. Eclipse reached out to stroke the messy hair, but halfway there
remembered the slap and shrug-off he'd received in rapid succession. He swiftly
changed the course of his reach to smooth his own hair back into place, muttered
"Go!" and disappeared.
"Good mooooorning, cutie-pie!"
Erutis peeked happily around the demon lord's door, gleeful in the knowledge that Eclipse would not be there to glare holes in her for once. Or set her on fire. Or suspend her in midair. She wrung her hands and suppressed an evil cackle.
"Erutis! I could have been naked!" Raenef squeaked half-heartedly.
The knight shrugged and let herself in. "Chris is trying to cook again while Eclipse isn't here to yell at him for setting the place on fire, which means breakfast is going to be scary. He nearly set me alight twice, so I thought I'd come visit! Where are you, anyway? I can't see you."
"Oh, he's setting the library on fire? Maybe you should go check on him," Raenef blundered. "I'll come out later. I'm not dressed and I'm a mess and I'm supposed to read --"
"Boo!" Erutis pounced onto the bed, grabbed him from behind and collected him in a fierce hug. Peering over his shoulder, she took in his red-rimmed eyes and miserable expression. "Rae? What's the matter? Did you have another nightmare or something?"
He let out a shuddering sigh of resignation and leaned back on the girl, who squawked and groped for purchase in the mess of pillows and blankets. "Yes, and something."
"So which are you going to tell your sis about first?" Erutis's grip on his waist and shoulders locked in much the same way Eclipse's hand had on his shoulder, and Raenef knew immediately that escape was impossible.
"I...I can't," he answered meekly.
"You can and will," she informed him, with a light tap to his unbrushed head. "Misery isn't you, Rae. Come on, tell me what's wrong."
"I'm not miserable, I'm just..."
"Solemn? Grumpy? Sixteen going on sixteen thousand? No dice, kiddo. That's what Eclipse is for. Spill it. You know I won't tell anyone, and you can't lie for peanuts." Erutis whispered urgently. "So unless you want me to sit here and guess all day until your jerky servant gets back, I suggest you take me up on my offer before you have a nosy cleric to regale as well."
As if in response to her insult, a protesting explosion followed by a shrill yelp sounded from the direction of the kitchens.
Raenef squirmed uncomfortably. "It's just something I need to work out by myself. It's nothing you should be worried about."
Erutis scowled. "It is something I should worry about. You're miserable, so Eclipse is miserable too. Which means I get set on fire more often, and that isn't exactly great for my complexion."
"If being set on fire bothered you so much, why didn't you say something? I could have insisted he find something else to take out his bad temper on," the blonde grumped.
The knight's eyes took on an unholy glint as she added two and two to make five. "Great gods! You've...with him...so cuuuute...he's deflowered you and you don't know how to act around him! Oh Rae, your sis is so clever!" She burst into maniacal laughter.
Raenef struggled valiantly against her grip as his nose turned a vivid pink. "Erutis! I told you before; it's not like that!"
She hugged him so tightly he almost squeaked before declaring, "Your sis is clever, but sometimes she's a little off when she's not quite awake. He's deflowered you and you're feeling abandoned, right?"
The demon lord adopted his best 'how dare you mock me!' expression and bellowed, "There has been no deflowering of any sort!"
"That's...er...nice to know," Chris mumbled as he peeked through the door. "I'm glad she hasn't molested you any further, demon." A drip of blood trickled from his nose, which he swiped away hastily. Thankfully, he was suitably covered in soot and ash for it to appear as more of a battle injury than anything...un-high-priestly. He schooled his expression fiercely. "Break...breakfast will be late. I just came to tell you that one of your ovens doesn't work. I've attempted to find the root of the problem, but even my supergenuisness is yet to decipher the mechanics of demonic kitchen appliances. So when Eclipse comes back tell him it broke by itself, okay? ThankshavefunI'mgoingnow!"
The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly down the corridor as he fled for the sake of his purity.
Raenef used Erutis's momentary distraction to slip out of the full nelson he'd been trapped in to the extent of circulation loss. He edged quietly across the bed as she laughed at the long-gone cleric and curled up in the high-backed, high-armed, completely-and-obviously-intended-for-one-person chair that Eclipse had spent the night in.
"Eclipse," he said quietly.
Erutis stopped laughing, and noticed her arms were empty. "Eh?"
"Eclipse. All of this boils down to Eclipse, and how I should have listened
to both of you in the first place." He drew his knees up to his chest,
and began to relate the whole ordeal to the dumbstruck knight.
The soles of Eclipse's fine leather boots clacked sharply on the dark marble floor of Meruhesae's dwelling.
"Meruhesae! Where are you? This ceases to be amusing," he growled.
Eclipse had spent the better part of two hours navigating the winding halls and corridors of the Seer's home, and found no trace of her. The place teemed with her energy, the air itself hung with her scent, but she was nowhere to be found.
Woman, what are you doing? This isn't funny. You're always home.
Eventually he found himself back in what he supposed was her main parlour - the place was damnably repetitive and festooned with drapes and silks that hid any marks identifying the difference between one room and the next. No choice but to wait for her. He glanced out the window; the sun was dipping low and he had no inclination to lie any further to his master than was necessary. Besides, someone had to be there to intercept Krayon when the fop arrived.
Eclipse gave in to the fatigue that had dogged him for the better part of two days, and sunk down onto the bench-seat which usually held the body of the Seer. He could almost picture her lying there, peeking coquettishly over her fan. He slumped further, and something crunched beneath him.
What...?
Reaching under himself, the demon found a folded sheet of parchment, addressed to him and sealed with wax that one sharp fingernail sliced through effortlessly.
My dear Master Eclipse,
We all have vices. Mine happens to be the maintenance of my hair, which keeps me from you today. The question you must ask yourself is whether he will still accept you once he learns of yours. The hour is late. Does he trust you, or simply fear you?
You still owe me two PROPER kisses.
Meruhesae
xxx
Scrunching the note in his fist, Eclipse stormed out of the dwelling in what would have been a fascinating display of bad temper, had anyone who knew him as restrained and obedient been there to witness it. In the blink of an eye he had teleported to the border of his lord's realm, and in the heartbeat that followed continued storming a path back to the castle with no name.
As was so often the case in matters relating to Master Raenef's new attributes, he needed to think.
Endnotes: Still with me? I have to say I'm impressed. And if you humour me (*points to review button*) I may even get to the point eventually.