Title: Death of a Naive Heart
Challenge: Dead Lover
Disclaimer: I abuse the characters to submit to my every whim, but ultimately, they belong to Kaori Yuki. She holds their rights.
Some naive notion in my mind lead me to believe that Riff had come back, back to his normal self. He certainly looked the same, with those strands of silver hair brushing away to the side of his face, and that smile that always greeted me. My arms reached out for him and I collapsed in his embrace, melting into that same familiar position, enclosed by his protective arms. Yet at the same time, I knew something had to be wrong with him. He smelled of liquor and cigars when before he had always had this fresh, clean scent. I brushed it off, that feeling that slightly haunted me, and focused on the present: Riff had come back to me, it was as though he never left.
I buried my head into the crook of his neck and stretched my arms over his back, retouching back on the memories of when he would hold me to sleep, when he would caress my wounds, and all I could think about was his return. I honestly thought that we could return back to our normal lives, a life in which he never left.
His hands clasped at my collar, ripping away at the fabric and pulling away the white shirt which hid my scars. I felt harsh, hungry kisses wash over my collar bone, and his hot tongue pressed inside my mouth, raping me of my senses. Then his strong hands reached for my neck, gentle at first, but then he wrapped his fingers around me, clawing me, scaring me, suffocating me, and I let out a gasp. I looked into his eyes, the same eyes that I had known and loved, and found that they were replaced by a monster.
Chuckling as his grip on me tightened, I could only stare in horror Riff (my beloved Riff!) strangled me with the same loving fingers that once comforted me. My body burned with the desire for air as his fingers tightened to crush my windpipe before throwing me onto the floor.
"Cain, you are a silly child. Do you honestly think that your beloved Riff would come back to you? He's dead, gone forever! And I will take his place! Riff is dead! Only Riffel remains!" His villainous laugh was accompanied by the crack of a leather belt he now held within his hand.
Two cracks sliced the air and the third on my back, a new wound to add to my collection of old ones. I cried out, the pain overwhelming as I felt the warm blood trickle through my shirt.
"What's wrong, boy? Resurfacing with some old memories?" Again, and again, the belt slapped against my skin, cutting some open as I lay curled and defenseless on the floor. And finally, he grabs a knife from the corner table and digs it deep into my back, so deep that I can see the other end coming out of my chest.
The pain hurt as it cut into my body, it robbed me of my senses, but nothing could hurt more than the sting of betrayal, nothing could hurt more than the fact that it was Riff's face that was laughing villainously at me. The warm river of blood gushed from the wound and rained on the wooden floor. Riffel pulled the knife out of my body and I let out a shallow breath as the sharpness of the blade ran out of my body, sending more shock waves of pain throughout my five senses. Red blood blinding my vision, the wet coat of sweat running through my fingers, the smell of metal in my nose, the sound of death pervading my ears, and finally, the most dreaded of all, the bitter bile that washed over my mouth as I felt myself gag and vomit all over my dying body; the essence of life itself was leaving from my corpse.
I could feel Riffel's tongue cleansing me of the blood from my wound as I lay face down on the floor, I could feel him drinking every drop, his tongue grazing over the stinging injury; yet beneath the harshness of his laughter, I could feel (if only for a fleeting moment) Riff crying as he embraced me from behind with the same familiar hand that used to curl around my waist. And with a shallow breath, I let my cheek rest on the blood stained floor and closed my eyes.
Some naive notion had led me to believe that Riff had truly come back, and the pain of death made me realize just how naive that notion was.