Genre: Angst/Horror
Rating: PG-15 (this chapter)
Warnings: Shounen-ai (la-duh), more considerable angstiness
Notes relevant to text: Guess I could've just made one chapter short and one really long...*shrugs* Oh well, too late now. As always, thoughts are marked by double backslashes and emphasis by...you'll figure it out.
Notes not as relevant but still important in my opinion: Reyana - Uh-oh, I don't think you're going to forgive me for the second half of this chapter, but bear in mind it was written before you threatened. *cringes* But fear not, even I have a limited attention span for torture. We've just about hit rock bottom for the poor little guy now, so I can't make it much worse without killing someone off. Which isn't necessary, in my opinion. Silverlie - Hope it doesn't disappoint. ^_^ Kalli - me hurry up? How about you? *whines* Want more naked Raenef IV...
They ran down the corridors, weaving in and out of doorways with a confidence Raenef was sure Chris would kill for until they came across a bedraggled, miserable looking girl in the kitchens. Looking harder, Raenef recognised her as the sister of the human mercenary Raenef had travelled with in his last dream, right up until...//No, can't think about that right now...have to pay attention.//
"Aerilyn! Come quickly, Master Eclipse wishes to see you."
"Ha," Aerilyn spat as she put down the knife she'd been using to chop vegetables far more harshly than necessary. "What, finally going to kill me, is he? You should know, Katja. You spend enough time standing like some sort of porcelain ornament in the corner of his chambers."
The servant, now more than a nameless entity, scowled. "I don't think so. But you must hurry or he may change his mind." S/he tugged impatiently on the girl's arm, and they ran through the heat back to Eclipse and the group of mercenaries.
"About time," Eclipse growled as the two girls and Raenef stumbled through the door, obviously out of breath. "You may leave us now." He inclined his head at Katja/Raenef, and the girl bowed before turning on her heel, leaving Raenef behind her.
//Eh?//
"You, on the other hand, I have a proposal for." Raenef blinked and suddenly found himself looking at Eclipse out of Aerilyn's narrowed eyes.
"What sort of proposal?" s/he huffed, jutting his/her chin forward defiantly. The squad of mercenaries chortled.
"One that will rid these halls of your bawling one way or another." Eclipse offered her a particularly malignant smirk, and Raenef was glad it wasn't his stomach doing somersaults for once. "You will go with these soldiers to your village. They will leave you on the outskirts and you will have three hours to convince the populace that they are about to be raided. After that, the pillage will begin and you will be free to do as you wish."
Raenef/Aerilyn felt the colour drain from his/her face. "You cannot do this! The--the offerings meant your Lord must do us no harm!"
"Nonsense," Eclipse spat back. "Lord Raenef never agreed to anything. Do you wish to give up your chance to warn whatever is left of your family and friends?"
His eyes were mocking and cold as he waited.
"N-no, of course not," s/he grumbled.
"It is agreed then. Now remove yourselves from my chambers before I lose my temper." Eclipse glared at them, clearly irate. If he hadn't been tossed over the shoulder of the head mercenary with his unhappy host at that moment, Raenef would almost have laughed at the way the huge men scuttled under Eclipse's disapproval.
The mercenaries stalked clankingly through the corridors until they reached a stable of sorts at one end of the palace that Raenef had never seen before. Crusaders wandered around freely, and Raenef felt Aerilyn suppressing a squeal at the sight of the draconic minions of Raenef the Fourth.
"You'll ride with me," the mercenary captain intoned as he swung himself onto the back of one of the beasts, shoving Aerilyn/Raenef roughly in front of him. "I don't know what Eclipse is playing at, but you'd better be worth it."
The girl shuddered, and the movement was masked as the Crusader stretched its massive wings and took to the air, followed by its brethren.
Raenef noted, as they flew under the blazing sun, that he was learning a lot in this dream; firstly that he didn't want mercenaries, secondly that if you wore a dress and sat side-saddle on the back of a Crusader mercenaries were likely to attempt looking up your skirts, and thirdly, that Crusaders were both uncomfortable to ride on and almost as smelly as their riders.
As the village came into view, the mercenaries on their draconic mounts dropped back and landed in a forest clearing while Raenef/Aerilyn's captor made good on Eclipse's word and tossed him/her roughly to the ground as they swooped past a hillside leading down into the cluster of buildings.
After determining that nothing was broken or injured past bruising or scratches, Aerilyn/Raenef forced her/himself to her/his feet and fled for the confines of the village.
As s/he ran, people stopped to stare and whisper. She returned their stares just as openly.
"Don't just stare at me! Run! Run for your lives! They are coming to flatten this whole place to the ground!"
The villagers eyed each other suspiciously before an old woman stepped from behind her spinning wheel. "Stay where you are! Girl, you are either a phantom or a vassal of the Demon Lord and we cannot trust you. Begone!"
"I am neither! They let me go to warn whom I would!"
The crone cackled. "They let you go? Of course they did, dear. A demon lord rejected a bride." The people gathering in the market murmured uneasily. " Now begone! We see you not and hear you not!"
Aerilyn/Raenef watched in horror as the old woman slowly and deliberately crossed her arms and turned her back to them.
"But--"
One by one, the villagers glared at her/him and turned away until s/he was left completely without an audience.
"Fine!" s/he spat, "You can all die! See if I care!"
S/he collected her skirts and ran down a side street, out of view. Panting for breath, Aerilyn/Raenef choked back a sob and made for the next corner and the fourth house beyond it. Exhausted fists thumped on the door until a tall, kind-eyed blonde woman opened it.
"Aerilyn? It can't be you! What are you doing here?" Without a second thought, the owner of the residence grabbed her/him by he elbow and ushered them inside.
"There is no time left to explain. Pack as much as you can and run. We need to get out of here, the demons are coming to sack the place!" Aerilyn/Raenef sputtered.
"How do you kn--"
"That's a story for when we get out of here. For the love of Rased, hurry! Where is the boy?"
The woman's face softened. "He is sleeping. He looks so much like his father I hadn't the heart to wake him."
Aerilyn/Raenef made a dismissive, frustrated grunt and without another word, the woman moved to fetch her slumbering child.
Gusts of wind began to blow down the unpaved street, unusual for the time of day and the season. Warily, Aerilyn/Raenef stuck her/his head out the window to determine the cause as screams began to waft along on the bursts of air, combined with the bitter smell of smoke.
"No...gods, no...it can't be...they lied to me!" S/he smashed her fists against the wall. "They said three hours!"
The blonde woman reappeared with a dark haired boy in her arms, who was attempting to rub the sleep from his eyes with little success.
"Three hours...what are you talking about?"
As if in reply, a blast of fire hit the roof of the house and brought it down on the occupants, blocking the doorway. In the air above the wreckage, the head mercenary laughed uproariously at his own skill before directing his mount away to another dwelling.
Aerilyn/Raenef sunk to the ground with her/his eyes wide open in a state of catatonia. Raenef knew she could see, could hear, but was powerless to move.
Across the room, the little boy wailed at being thrown clear of the mess, rubbing a sore spot on his shin. His mother smiled crookedly and sank to her knees, touching the tips of her fingers to the back of her head. She brought them around to look at and didn't seem surprised to find them bright red. The woman crumpled further to the floor as blood seeped down her back, dying the simple white shift dress she wore. Her son started to cry.
"Mama?" he sniffled through his tears.
"No, don't cry, baby." She offered him one last broken smile that
shone from her own streaming eyes. " It will be alright. Mother loves you
very much...hush, Chris. Rased, please protect my child..."
***
Raenef curled over on his side, clutching his middle as he bit his lip to keep
from crying out.
"Master Raenef? Are you well?" Eclipse's face hung over his own as the dark-haired demon leaned from his seated position by his master's waist.
The boy whined softly and moved his confused grasp to his head, still trying to bite back whatever reaction the muddle of thoughts screaming through his head were bidding him to loose. A dull repetitive thud sounded behind the demon, and Raenef looked up to see Erutis suspended mid-air, thumping on the shield that held her as she attempted to free herself.
He glanced back at Eclipse and found him wearing the same slight smirk he'd worn as he offered the servant girl a choice between death and an end befitting a drama queen. Suddenly, Raenef was furious. He drew back his hand and slapped his servant full across the face. While Eclipse's face registered shock more than actual hurt, Raenef threw himself at his tutor anyway, pummelling his fists against the other's chest as the tears began to flow.
"Why?! Why did you do that?! Why do you hurt people?!" the boy near-screamed from his position beneath Eclipse's chin.
Eclipse, still dumbstruck by the relatively painless but nonetheless grossly out of character onslaught, did the only thing he could think of: he brought his arms up and caught the boy in a solid embrace which he refused to break, even as his charge struggled and yowled like a kicked cat. Eventually he felt the slump that signified Raenef had given up at last. He waited until the blonde's breathing became deep and regular before he asked so quietly that Raenef wasn't sure he'd heard it...
"Are you afraid of me?"
Erutis stopped thumping in her lofty prison. Krayon's gleeful laughter sounded out again, closer than it had been. Chris, presumably, was wandering around lost after his attempts to ditch his unwelcome companion. Eclipse waited silently.
And finally, Raenef answered him. "I don't know. I just don't know anymore."
Endnotes: *flinches at excessive use of creative liberty* Nonetheless, I firmly believe the only way the relationship Raenef has with Eclipse could be threatened is if Eclipse was instrumental in the demise of either Erutis or Chris, so it was necessary to keep the whole thing plausible. Note to self: Needs more Krayon.