Comfort in the Snow: chapter 2
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Laamgarnus' POV
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I opened my eyes and found myself looking up at the ceiling. Looking to the side, I saw I was on the floor, leaning against the bed, and that my back was killing me. Strangely though, I felt refreshed... happy. Racking my brain for a reason, it all became very obvious when I realized there was something heavy and warm on me. Gil. I'd engraved the name in my heart. The sweet red-haired youkai was sleeping still, curled up tight against me, holding on to my jacket with a grip that could have squeezed a lemon. I winced as my right arm bumped against the bedpost, sending shocks of pain and effectively waking me up. What about him? I turned slightly, careful not to wake the sleeping form next to me. Slender hands relaxed their grip on my clothes as I placed my hand on his forehead. Hot.
Well, he was getting better. And he'd only just woken up last night after five days just sleeping. It'd been a strange five days for me. I was still alone, but he was there, giving me someone to care for. It was the first time I'd actually taken care of someone besides myself. And I'd had to do that for longer than I could try to remember.
Prying his hands off me, I carefully lifted his lightweight form off the wooden floor and onto the bed, covering him with a blanket. He moaned lightly and I flinched as I saw that my hand had pressed undoubtedly painfully against one the many cuts and bruises on his body.
"Sorry..." I whispered stroking his warm forehead lightly. Standing, I saw I needed more firewood to begin breakfast. Taking a coat, I walked outside, closing the door silently.
"Firewood, firewood..." I muttered, walking into the snow blanketed forest, my feet making a scrunching noise against the snow. The bare trees and lack of color gave the woods a sense of solitude, but comforting and there was still such a feeling of liveliness underneath the snow and cold. Life was still flowing all around me, it was clear in the chirp of birds, the snowy tracks left by snow white hares and deer and the occasional burbling of a stream which meant fish.
A lot like Gil, I though. There was life and emotions underneath the pain. I snorted, feeling my blood boil at the thought of those horrible youkai. Shydeman's lankies hurt everyone they felt like, but they'd gone too far with Gil. His whole body covered in scars, remainders of past abuse. I stomped on a fallen branch, hearing the resounding crack in the cold stillness of outside calming me slightly. And Gil was so harmless... I remembered feeling so... whole, complete, rewarded when the smaller youkai had cried against me... I'd gotten such a sense of relief coming from him.
I shook my head and concentrated on the task of gathering firewood. Unfortunately, the task really didn't require much concentration, so I found my mind wandering hopelessly around the sleeping person I knew I'd find once I got back home.
My arms now loaded with heavy wood, I secured the hatchet on my belt and walked back. The sky was beautifully clear. Blue and white. The world was gorgeous. I breathed deeply. Maybe it'd be good for Gil to come outside for a while today. Then my mind turned on what to make for breakfast... I had bacon and eggs... and flour, so I could make bread...
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Gil's POV
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I felt cold again. I realized that even in my sleep. But I was so tired, I paid it no heed. After all, wasn't I next to Laamgarnus? I'd feel warm again... but as time passed and I only felt colder, I forced my tired eyes to open and sat up forcibly, coughing harshly and growling in pain. My head still felt light... clouded, but my sight was fine now. And I saw I was back on the bed, but he was nowhere. He was gone! And there was no signs that he'd been here either. I began to panic, I could feel the sensation of loneliness and abandonment rising in my throat.
Had it all been a dream?
No, I couldn't have been dreaming last night. I clearly remembered being comforted, sleeping in his arms... I wasn't going crazy, I hadn't imagined that, right? But now fear and loneliness had controlled me, and a despairing feeling of loss was overwhelming me. I gathered the blanket around me, wrapping it tightly, biting the hem as I fought to contain myself.
I wanted to get up and search for him, bring the kind youkai back. Cause he had to be here! There was no way that everything he'd thought was a lie... his grip on the blanket tightened convulsively and a slow rriiiip was heard as the thread was pulled off the hem by sharp teeth. But I was so tired. I was weak. I knew one step and I'd collapse and only hurt myself more.
I'd known it. It'd been too good to hope. All hope gave me was disappointment. I'd trusted this stranger, and he'd abandoned me! I lowered my head as I felt that barely familiar rush to my head and felt something warm trail down my face.
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Laam's POV
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I deposited the firewood in the back of the house and brought a couple logs with me to start the fire. Opening the door quietly, I immediately saw that Gil was awake, and sitting up. A clatter rang out as the firewood dropped to the floor. He looked up, and I saw with rising alarm and shock the relief and disbelief in his face as he caught sight of me. And the tears. I rushed forward, wrapping my arm around the shaking figure and held him close.
"Gil! What's wrong?" I brushed the tears off his face. He only mewed piteously and clung to me tighter. What could have been wrong? I tried to apply to him the same logic as small children. And that dictated that he was either hurt or lonely. I'd had younger siblings. I knew how that worked. They needed constant attention or else they'd cry. Gil was very much like a small child. Fragile, dependant, easily hurt.
"Were you lonely?" He nodded shakily, and I hugged him tighter, "I only left to get firewood. I'm sorry, I won't leave without telling you again, ok? I promise."
He looked at me with his clear amber eye and made another cat like mew again. As if asking if I meant it.
"I promise."
Gil relaxed and I finally noticed that the hem of the blanket had been shredded. I laughed.
"You did this?"
He appeared to recoil and nodded slowly.
"Aha, well as punishment, this is now your blanket," I grinned. He appeared chastised so I kissed his forehead lightly in apology, "I'm only kidding."
I grinned again at the visible relief in his face, "So what do you want for breakfast?" he shrugged in response.
"Alright then," I smiled and headed to the kitchen area and began cutting up some meat from the icebox. Every once in a while I'd turn around to find him either dozing off or looking at me. And every time I'd catch him looking at me he'd turn away and I'd laugh lightly.
"Here's your breakfast," I presented the breakfast of bacon and eggs to Gil, and let him feed himself as I cleaned up the kitchen and sat down at the table next to the bed to eat my own plate.
"Good enough? I'm not that good a cook since I cooked for myself and I never cared for the taste," I said sheepishly. He shook his head slowly and took another bite.
"Glad to see someone approves," I smiled minutes later as I dropped both our dishes in the sink and walked back to him, not bothering to clean the dishes... I'd just let it accumulate and clean it all up at night. I was lazy. I knew that.
"So... how you feelin' this morning?" I sat beside him, pressing a cool cloth to his forehead. He shivered lightly, jerking a bit as the cold cloth came in contact with his hot skin.
"Do you want more of that painkiller stuff?" I grinned as he made a face and was about to shake his head but changed his mind and nodded.
"That stuff is nasty, but maybe if I add more sugar..." he shook his head, maroon-red hair flying wildly. I considered giving him a haircut, but then realized he looked good with longer hair. Really good... I must have been staring, since he gave me an odd look and shifted uncomfortably.
"Ah, no sugar then?" I regained my composure, "Well, I could add... mint?" I had no idea what else to add to dull the bitter flavor of the medicine. I loved sugar. Anything I ate I liked sweet. That didn't mean I lathered my eggs in sugar, since bacon was relatively sweet, and that was just gross and weird, but I loved honey and... well, sugar in general.
He nodded and I sweat dropped in relief, "OK, be back in a sec, I have all the food stored in a shed back there, k?"
He nodded slowly, but I did notice his hands tighten convulsively on the blanket, "It'll be quick."
So I rushed around the back, rummaged to find the mint and finally found it, took some of the said leaves and rushed back around. It couldn't have taken me more than two or three minutes, but when I came back you were already looking more than uncomfortable and impatient and stopped biting the hem of the blanket as soon as you saw me.
"That wasn't so bad was it?" the half human shook his head. I brushed purple strands of hair out of my face, crushing the leaves into the medicine and presenting it to you, "It's not as strong as before, so you'll still be able to move, but you might hurt a little..."
Gil just took the glass from me and downed it in one shot, grimacing at the still bitter taste. I took the glass back.
"I was wondering," I began, helping him sit up and unwrapping his bandages, "if you wanted to come outside. It's a beautiful day outside..."
Gil mewed happily... "Like a kitten," I smiled. He looked at me oddly and I hugged him, careful of his wounds, "You sound just like a kitten!"
He just kept looking at me oddly. Not that I blamed him. I'd always been rather random since I was little, and this hadn't changed despite the fact that I had grown a lot calmer. Still, it was a funny look he gave me. So I laughed. And he looked at me odder still.
"Anyway," I kept unwrapping his bandages and the lathered them with antibacterial cream. Then wrapped him up in some new ones, "You'll be as good as new in two weeks. Now..." I looked at the rags he had as clothing, "You need new clothes. Here," Gil looked at himself as if wondering what I meant, then looked up and pointed at mine, "Yeah, like mine."
I stood up and rummaged through my closet, trying to find the smallest possible shirts and jeans I had. He was actually pretty small... all my clothes would be too big. I sweatdropped. Oh well...
"Finally! Let's see if this fits you..." I handed him a pair of jeans and a shirt. Both were too small for me, but hopefully they'd fit him. I laughed, holding my sides at the sight of him in my clothes. They did fit him. Barely. The long-sleeved shirt reached half-way down his thighs and his fingertips. I knelt and rolled up the jeans, "Well, it's the smallest I have. At least waist-wise they fit... barely," I laughed again.
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Gil's POV
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His clothes were warm. Just like him. They were too big... but I didn't see why he was laughing. In any case, I was getting used to his weirdness. He was constantly cheerful and laughing and smiling. I didn't know it was possible to smile so much. It... seemed like fun though, so I smiled back, the unfamiliar motion stretching my lips. He caught sight of it and his smile grew wider if possible.
Leaning towards me, he hugged me gently again and kissed my forehead. I felt heat rising quickly to my face, and I guessed it wasn't from the fever... but then why? Did it have anything to do with the warm and safe feeling I experienced with him? Or... this feeling of wanting to hide my face, even though it felt good?
"You're blushing!" he laughed and kissed my forehead again. I only felt those conflicting emotions once again and the heat rose higher and higher. He looked at me again and laughed. I tried to glare at him, wondering why he was laughing.
"You're cute when you blush," he said, as if that merited all explanations and settled everything. I blanched. Cute? I knew what cute was. It was a little girl in a dolly suit, or a kitten playing or-
"Like a kitten caught doing something it's not supposed to. Except you're not doing anything wrong."
I stared at him and felt that blush creep up again. This was the second time he'd called me kitten. What was the similarity even? I mean, I knew I turned into a lion-like demon, but I wasn't a kitty. Still, what puzzled me the most was that... I liked it. It felt good to be called something... well, cute?
"You want to go outside?" he wrapped a heavy jacket around me as I nodded and helped me up, "Don't want your fever to get worse."
He'd said I'd heal in about two weeks, but I guessed quicker. A week and a half. Demon bodies healed quickly, I thought bitterly and then stopped myself. I didn't want to spoil the good mood I was in with something trivial. Like thinking about my past. I snorted to myself. That was hardly trivial, but maybe if I pretended then it would become so.
"It's so nice out here," Laamgarnus breathed in deeply and I nodded. I'd never been really free to enjoy nature like I used to when I was home. My thoughts had always been troubled, and usually I'd been hurt, or just... I was in hell. There was no time to appreciate anything when you're in hell, hoping that death would come. But now, just being free from Nadil's army and being near Laamgarnus made me feel a sense of peace I thought he'd lost a long time ago...
I looked about in wonder at the clearness of the sky, the purity of the air and the simple feeling of contentment that found its way inside me as I looked at the pure whiteness of the snow, the brilliant azure sky, the outline of the bare trees and pines that made up the woods.
"There's a nice creek a couple minutes from here, I think you can make it there fine..." he said, taking my hand and leading me into the forest. I followed blindly, not questioning anything he asked me. It was him we were talking about after all. Only a day with him, and I would follow him to the deepest vowels of Dusis. I trusted him, I realized. The only people I trusted were... were my brother... and my parents, but I was sure they were dead. I mean, how long had it been since I'd been captured? Fifty years? Something about that. And they'd been pretty old. Were they living now, they'd be over a hundred. And Barl? He was about sixty now... If not dead. I sighed, stepping easily over the tree trunks and potholes. My thoughts had to turn sour...
"What's wrong?" the outcast demon paused and looked at me. I still couldn't believe the concern those hazel eyes held for me. I shook my head, dispelling all my other thoughts and focused only on the prim snow alighting on the delicate tree branches, the fragile icicles that clung from all the surfaces, the small birds and rabbits that scampered off as out crunching footsteps resounded in the quiet stillness, the clarity of everything I looked at, the way Laamgarnus' hair glinted in the pallid sunshine. Everything. Why him though? I wondered. What had made me notice him as much as the woods around me?
"Here we are," he announced. It had been a short walk. But I was tired nonetheless. I sat down heavily on a tree stump and reached down, touching the clear waters. And retreated. The water was freezing. Yet pleasing. I stuck my hand in again, twirling it and watching the waves form and the droplets splash and leave my hand. What a beautiful slight it would be, to somehow freeze time and watch the water frozen as if fell off my hands... My life would be frozen here, with Laamgarnus, away from the pain, happily, just him and me in this beautiful day, in this gorgeous creek.
I started as he ruffled my hair, "Just as playful as a kitten too. Except, instead of yarn, it's water."
I shrugged and continued watching the water, splashing it and observing how it swirled and moved across rivulets and down rocks and mini waterfalls.
"You can speak, right?"
I looked up to find him staring intensely at me. I opened my mouth. I could say my name. I knew that much, since I'd already done it, but something else?
"Can you say... yes?"
I didn't know. I would try... I forced something to come out of my mouth, forced my throat to make the sounds I could picture so clearly in my mind...why couldn't I? I was trying..."Y- y... s –" I stopped as he began stroking my throat, loosening the muscles. He motioned for me to go on, so I close my eyes and tried again, "Y-ye... yes."
I opened my eyes, he looked as pleased as I felt, "You can! With some practice, I think you'll be able to speak again," he smiled again, hugging me. I smiled back.
"Now, how about no?"
"Nnnn...- n..." I tried again. Yes had been actually easier to say... He kept massaging my throat, "N-... n-ou... No..."
"That's good. Real good. So now, all we have to do is practice that, and you'll get a hang of it soon!"
"Y-yes!" I said triumphantly. He hugged me again and I, hesitantly at first, hugged him back.
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:sigh: the happy couple. Anyway, hope you liked. Any suggestions, any stuff tell. Someone suggested for me to change all the you's to something else in the chapter before, but in a way, though I guess it did make it a bit boring, I was looking for a certain feel, and that's why I let the you'd remain. Might change them someday though if I feel like it. Once again, hope ya liked!