Tanta; Okay. It's been how long since I've updated? I'm sorry. Please don't kill me. If you need a disclaimer check the first chapter.
Chapter Four: Autumn
Laden Autumn here I stand
Worn of heart, and weak of hand:
Nought but rest seems good to me,
Speak the word that sets me free.
From a poem by William Morris
Eclipse scowled and rubbed at his skin, already painful and blistering from the amount of sun it had received. It seemed that there was going to be as much damage to his porcelain complexion as he had feared. It wasn't just his skin's new bright red colour either. At the moment he was more worried about the fact that every time he moved or his skin brushed against his clothes it became extremely uncomfortable and usually painful.
It would have been nice to say that it was all worth it to see his master smile, but even that small amount of pleasure had been taken away from him. Raenef the fifth had been uncharacteristically quiet during the trip back to the Raenef castle.
Eclipse had been so sure that Raenef had been enjoying himself. Maybe it was just Raenef's sadness at leaving the beach that had caused this sudden silence. Eclipse wished he could pretend that he didn't know Raenef well enough to know that this wasn't the case. Perhaps there was a little bit of Raenef that would miss the beach, but the glances Raenef kept giving him suggested that there was a lot more that was bothering the demon lord than the lack of sand underfoot and waves lapping at his feet.
Perhaps he should approach his lord. Perhaps it was something that Eclipse had done that had Raenef so upset. If he wasn't Eclipse and was say, someone like his lord, he would probably rush up, interrupt Raenef and Erutis's hushed and awkward sounding conversation and demand through overuse of puppy-dog eyes to know whether he had upset Raenef in any way.
But he wasn't. He was Eclipse. He would sit back and pretend for now that he didn't give a damn whether it was him that had upset Raenef. He would wait for the right time to approach Raenef and ask him if there was anything he could do to alleviate Raenef's sombre mood.
For a moment, Eclipse wished he wasn't himself.
Because, deep down inside the heart he had tried to keep frozen for so long, he knew that he was the reason Raenef was so upset.
"So," Erutis nudged Raenef a little too roughly in the ribs. "Did I miss anything? Is that why you're so quiet? Are you embarrassed?"
"What are you talking about?" Raenef asked. "I'm not quiet."
"Yes you are!" Erutis cried. "Or are you just too busy thinking about a certain someone? You can go back there and talk to him you know. I promise I won't interrupt this time."
"What?" Raenef tried to act totally innocent. "I wasn't thinking about Eclipse or anything! And what do you mean interrupt? We weren't going to do anything! There's nothing happening between me and Eclipse."
Erutis became silent and then nodded knowingly.
"That's the real problem, isn't it?" she said. "There could be something between the two of you, but there isn't. Raenef, Raenef, Raenef," Erutis shook her head and threw a companionable arm around Raenef's shoulders. "You should go back there and tell him."
"I can't," Raenef whispered. "He's my servant, and I'm his master, and as far as he's concerned anything more would be wrong."
"How do you know though?" Erutis persistently attempted to, for the first time since she had met the demon lord, make Raenef more positive about the subject.
Raenef sighed and stayed uncharacteristically quiet.
Erutis just smiled and nodded, feeling rather confused about Raenef's behaviour.
"Don't worry Raenef," she said, summoning a smile for Raenef's benefit. "He likes you. I can tell." She winked at Raenef and then glanced back to see Eclipse watching the two of them with a rather worried look on his face.
As the Raenef castle came into sight, Eclipse felt his heart very slowly, for want of a more appropriate word, disintegrating; although that really was what it felt like it was doing. His lord just seemed to be getting more and more miserable and quiet, and as much as he tried to deny it, he knew it was his fault.
Chris came running out to them from the castle, but slowed down over the last few metres and tried to look like the fact that they were home was no big deal to him. None of them bought it; not even Raenef.
"So," the cleric began, before he had properly assessed the situation; probably an unwise move. "How did the trip go?"
Raenef and Erutis didn't answer. Eclipse's gaze however, was answer enough for all three of them.
"Okay…" Chris looked back and forth at the three of them as though trying to work out what it was that he was missing. "Well, I've got some good news!"
Chris sounded uncharacteristically optimistic.
"What?" Raenef went from melancholy to happy and excited in under a second.
"The heat wave should be gone soon!" Chris sounded unsure of himself, despite the obviously good news. "I fixed it!"
Raenef grinned so wide Chris thought the demon lord's face might fall off. Eclipse just stared and blinked, and though his demonic pride was the only thing stopping him from fainting because of the shock.
"I don't believe it," Erutis had the presence of mind to say. "Chris actually did something right for once."
"Hey!" Chris protested. "I'm not the successor to the High Cleric of the Temple of Rased for nothing you know. I am a supergen…"
Chris stopped as he suddenly found two demons and a swordsmaster apparently trying to stare him to death.
"All right. All right," Chris conceded. "But what do you want me to tell those guys?"
He pointed towards a group of very scared looking labourers, probably dug up from some village to build Lord Raenef's pool.
"Have them build it anyway," Eclipse sighed. "No doubt Lord Raenef will want it some other time. Am I correct Lord Raenef?"
No answer came, and Eclipse realised that in the last couple of seconds Raenef had managed to sneak away somewhere.
"Master Raenef?" Eclipse called, venturing off to find his liege's whereabouts.
"Am I missing something?" Chris asked Erutis as he watched Eclipse disappear.
Erutis just sighed and stared after Eclipse dreamily.
"They just don't realise," she began softly, "that sometimes unrequited love isn't as unrequited as it seems."
"What?" Chris looked and sounded clueless. "Are you talking about Krayon now or something?"
Chris swiftly found himself hit on the head by the handle of Erutis's sword.
"I was talking," Erutis grit her teeth and pointed angrily at where the retreating form of Eclipse had been up until a couple of seconds ago. "About those two!"
"Eclipse and Raenef are in love?" Chris questioned, looking rather worried at the prospect.
"Duh!" Chris found himself victim to another one of Erutis's attacks. "Are you blind or something?"
"But they're both guys!" Chris protested. "That's really weird!"
"No it's not!" Erutis screamed. "It's cute! And it's a shame really that they're both too clueless to realise what the other feels. It really is."
"I did it again," Raenef sighed as he gazed out at his lands that evening. A slight breeze ruffled his hair, and he smiled at the fact that it wasn't the blistering heat that had been blowing around the castle when they left. "Didn't I?"
He looked over at Eclipse, to find the older demon staring at the landscape, clearly not interested in the view before him.
"I'm sorry," Raenef continued. "I didn't mean it. Well, I did, but I just wanted to see if you would and it's so difficult sometimes."
"It's difficult for you!" Eclipse snapped at the young demon lord, before letting out a short, pain-filled laugh. "Have you any idea how difficult you've been making it for me lately?"
"I'm sorry," Raenef whispered.
Eclipse sighed. "What did I tell you about…?"
"Well what else am I supposed to say? Either I say sorry or I ignore every word you say and take you as my lover anyway otherwise it doesn't make any sense!" Raenef screamed.
Eclipse had noticed that the new Raenef seemed to be much more forceful at times like this. From a certain standpoint he supposed he supposed he should be happy about it, but sometimes, like right now, it made things difficult.
"If you're going to pretend that you're only my servant and I'm the almighty demon lord then why don't you just give in to it like I want you to?" Raenef continued. "But if you want me to listen to you about this then it means that I have every right to say sorry if I want! Eclipse… Why can't you just give in to it? Why can't I love you?"
"We've talked about this before, Master Raenef," Eclipse said, trying as hard as he could to appear as the voice of reason in this situation.
And indeed they had talked about it before; so many times that Raenef was beginning to become sick of the conversation. It had started when an over-eager and far too inexperienced Raenef had, after many weeks of fighting with himself, finally decided to tell his tutor how he felt. Eclipse had stayed silent for a while, before announcing that it didn't matter whether or not Eclipse returned the young demon lord's feelings; they couldn't be together. Since then, Raenef had been told countless times that his position as demon lord took precedence over any personal feelings he had. How many excuses had Eclipse made? Raenef needed an heir, the other demons would look down on them; there was always some new excuse to be made.
How many times had situations like this arisen? No matter what it was, no matter what adventure they found themselves on, no matter how Raenef tried to please Eclipse, nothing worked.
And so, for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Raenef wished there was some way he could knock some sense into Eclipse. He wished that he wouldn't have to hear this stupid conversation again. He didn't want an heir. He wanted Eclipse.
Raenef sniffed a little, and wrapped his arms tightly around his body to shield himself from the rapidly cooling wind. When had he gotten so cold?
He blinked as something soft and extremely cold touched the tip of his nose. Snow? It shouldn't have been snowing at this time of year, should it? He looked over at Eclipse, to find the other demon looking up at the cloudy skies in confusion.
Did snow usually make you this drowsy, Raenef wondered, because he was suddenly overcome with the deepest desire to sleep. He blinked a little, trying to get rid of the blurriness that was swiftly overtaking his vision.
Eclipse gazed at the sky, trying to work out what could have caused the snowstorm. His thoughts were interrupted however, when a soft moan came from beside him. He looked over to find that Raenef wasn't at all steady on his feet. He hadn't realised how tired Raenef had looked before.
Raenef stumbled the last two steps to Eclipse's side, just as his eyes fluttered closed. Eclipse placed his hand on Raenef's forehead to discover that it was burning up, and not because of the sun that had burned his own skin. The swift change of weather had taken its toll on the young demon lord. Raenef was sick.
Raenef collapsed against Eclipse, letting the elder demon take all of his weight. The reason for the strange weather hit Eclipse just as Raenef's weight did.
"CHRIS!" Eclipse screamed.
AN: Okay. That was the story's one and only twist. I know pulling a twist like that in such a fluff filled story isn't at all usual. I'm not sure whether it works or not, so please let me know what you think.
