Title: Demon Lords don't cry
Summary: the ones we love most have the power over us to hurt us the worst. Raenef receives a late night visit from a least expected guest for the most unexpected reasons.
AN: this is mildly rated. I'm not sure if this is even considered shonen-ai or fluff, or whatever you may call it. It's a bit odd. Here's the thing though, one, there may be a sequel/second chapter to this, though it may stand well as a oneshot too. Or, I may write an alternative ending for this fic. Something that starts the same and ends a bit differently, if you know what I mean. But that is by reviewer's request, so if you want the rating on this thing to go up, just drop me a review. (I bet the title makes you think: Rae! Poor wee demon lord ) And one more thing…this is short . by my standards it's short!
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Erutis sat on the cold ground under an old tree right in a puddle. The last fall leaves were dropping around her and it was raining, the rain cold and unpleasant. Every drop of the heavy moisture splashed up dirt onto her cloak, boots and pants, but she still sat there leaning against the old trunk. Her eyes were looking far away into the distance, they were inverted, in reality, she was only seeing what was in her mind.
"You will get ill like this."
"I don't care."
"You do know you are sitting in the dirt?"
"I don't care."
"Even your band of thieves has scattered where they please. Not even a dog is out in this weather!"
"I don't care"
Krayon looked pitifully at the woman of his dreams, not very dream like right now. Yes, not even stray dogs wandered the streets in foul weather like this, yet here he was, standing under a bare tree, soaking in the rain while his feet slowly sunk into the mud.
"Won't you come with me? At least to clean up?"
"No."
"I know you are hungry. I've got all the food you want. Anything you want to order, I'll get it for you."
"No."
"It's warm there. It's always summer in my realm and the sun is bright there."
"No."
He watched her stare into the distance. She didn't even see him.
"Why do you sit here all by yourself? Do you think someone except for me will bother trying to help you? You are starved, cold and dirty, if you stay there, you will die! What are you waiting for under that tree!"
Erutis turned her head. She's been running from him for so long, it got tiresome. She's rejected him so many times, she's got bored of doing it. And she had no more energy to fight, or run, or scream, or look for what she was looking for, she wanted to just sit here and wait. She looked at him seriously, and hoping that maybe this time he would understand, told him the truth.
"I am waiting for someone."
Krayon's eyes widened a little, but even then he was not deterred.
"Who! All this time and no one came for you! Who are you STILL waiting for?"
"Eclipse." She said it looking him right in the eyes.
"Eclipse!"
She nodded never breaking eye contact, but she wasn't seeing him.
"Don't be an idiot Erutis! Eclipse is not coming for you! He doesn't even know you are here!"
"It's ok…I love him, so I'll wait for him all the same."
Krayon was too frustrated to even be hurt. For him, this argument felt odd. She added new words, now a name, to it, but it was the same old argument. It made him almost feel like he's been married to her for years and they've argued for years all leading up to a divorce. Only in their case, he's been chasing her for years and it's all been leading up to a time when he will finally have enough. She was a grown woman now, not the same girl he once met long ago, there were only so many times she could tell him 'no' until he believed her.
"What is WRONG with you!" he hissed. He didn't yell. At first, he only spoke sweetly, he enjoyed her tantrums. Then years later he began to yell and they yelled at each other. Now he was even past that as well. He spoke to her again, only with weary frustration. "Eclipse does not love you!" It was one thing if he did, but he didn't! Erutis knew that, he knew that, Eclipse knew that, everyone knew that!
"I don't care." Erutis turned away and started staring into the distance again "I'll wait for him all the same."
Krayon's eyes narrowed. "He will never come for you. You will wait forever."
"I don't care."
She's been like this. Often she's been like this, it was like the rain has put out the fire and left the ashes, wet and soggy and ugly and dirty.
"You won't come with me? You will sit here and wait forever until you get sick and die from cold and malnutrition or some disease waiting for someone who you know is not coming!" he couldn't believe it! He just couldn't believe that could be true.
"Yes." Erutis did not even spare him a glance.
"Then…then…" Krayon looked around the place he was in almost in disgust. "You're not the woman I thought you were….!" Not the one he loved "Was I chasing a dream all these years! Will you not even look at me!" he's been reduced to this. For some reason, talking to her, feeling so deeply, he felt ingredibly…human.
"No."
Krayon turned away. "Fine then! Rot there! Wait for a ghost!" he felt burning rage in his chest, but it wasn't the hot and ambitious fire that he was used to, it was cold, pathetic almost. He was hurting. It's been coming a long way to this, but it hurt too much to make the final step away "I'll not come for you again Erutis, if the girl I liked so much is still alive in there somewhere, get up from that dirt right now and come with me!" he paused only for a moment to give her a last chance. If the girl he loved was not there any more, then there was nothing worth for him to save…she was already dead inside.
Erutis stayed there until he disappeared. Completely disappeared out of his life. She knew when he lied and when he didn't. He was serious this time, she could hear it in his voice, she could feel it in his presence. The pain, he was hurting so much that she knew he was serious.
"Good riddance." She whispered to herself as finally she pulled herself out of the dirt to slowly start walking towards the general direction of the Raenef castle. Eclipse might not care, and she might not make it there anyways, but since she was not dead yet, she would keep going.
Krayon didn't quite consider himself heartbroken. No, his heart has been cracking slowly, painfully, steadily for a very long time. His heart didn't break just now, more like, finally the last pieces of it fell away. His heart has been falling apart for a very long time. 'To love a mortal…is forbidden…' he remembered the laws but he wasn't one to follow rules, orders, regulations or traditions. Krayon took what he wanted and acted as he pleased.
The dull ache in his chest though was that of emptiness. Now that he has finally given up, he needed to put it behind him, let it go and move on. He just needed a little time to get past this feeling…and a little space. It was perfectly ironic that for a demon lord of his power, in a realm so big there was not a single corner of personal space to let things go.
"Uuuuhhh…" Krayon leant against the drawer in his room pressing his forehead against the cool surface of the mirror. He did not look well. His face has paled, his hair was gathered in a loose chaotic ponytail at the back of his head with random strands falling all over the place, his shirt was only half buttoned and he was missing a coat and a cloak. Even the stars that twinkled under his eyes dulled down.
It was the tension. The tension inside of him was making him ill. A human man might have gone to a bar, poured a bottle of alcohol down his throat, got violently ill, woke up with a killer hangover and spent a day in bed, then gone out and continued living. A demon lord could not do that. Krayon almost wished that alcohol would have some effect on his strong magical body. He needed to break the tight thread that tied him back to her. Release that tension still pulling him back.
For the first time in ages, the castle in Egae felt overcrowded to him. Overstuffed with decorations, richness, servants. His whole realm felt overdone. Krayon slid his fingers that were lacking their normal adornments into his less than perfectly groomed hair growling at the reflection, distorted by how close he was looking at himself. He longed for silence and space. He longed for darkness and freshness and something cold…there was too much sun in his bright realm for him to hide.
He longed…for the solitude of the old Raenef castle. "A bit of a dump…huh?" It was unethical for demon lords to show up in other demon lords' realms uninvited unless they came prepared for battle, to throw a challenge by merely presenting their self on someone else's turf. Krayon wasn't thinking demon ethics when he teleported into Raenef's realm though. He was thinking 'cool, fresh, large and simple dark room' somewhere away from too many eyes, too many voices. Somewhere free.
Years ago, Raenef was a boy unaware of his powers, with no hold on his name and no power of his realm or the legions of demons that he commanded. Years since have changed his approach to some things. He knew what was his, he knew how to own it. The only thing that remained unchanged was his good nature. When Krayon appeared in his castle uninvited, he knew the demon lord was there.
"Krayon?"
Krayon heard soft footsteps echoing evenly against the stone floor. Echoing. The silence here was blessed!
"What a dump this still is, Demon Lord Raenef." He commented not stopping his observation of the vast garden that spanned past the balcony railing against which he was leaning with both arms.
"It's been a while." Raenef commented. He wanted to know why Krayon was here, but so long as this was not a challenge to fight, he didn't necessarily want him out. Raenef had an eye for emotions, he was a ditz most of the time, but when it came to people's hearts, he saw right into them. He read into souls like open books. He knew when something was wrong. "Are you looking for a place to escape to?"
Krayon looked over his shoulder with a bit of a frown. "You've gotten your intelligence back—congratulations."
Raenef pouted a small throbbing vein appearing on his forehead, but he was not serious. Krayon was in some ways in a worse mood than usual, and in other ways, in a much better mood. He was more approachable now. 'People are vulnerable when they are dumped'
Raenef swept his eyes over Krayon, the previously flashy demon lord was more of a dump than his castle right about now. "Don't stand out there. The terrace is nice, but I'm liable to have unwelcome guests at all times." He was hinting both at Krayon's sudden appearance and at the fact that Krayon should find himself a more private spot if he came here to sulk.
Raenef gave him a bit of privacy for now walking slowly away down the terrace. Krayon watched his back flicker between the shadows and patches of moonlight created by the grand colonnade. Raenef was the only demon lord who was liable to get a surprise visit from anyone. Amongst demon lords, it just wasn't done. Krayon guessed that Raenef was more a demon than he even knew, he did what he wanted and he conformed to no rule or practice. He was more a true demon than most of those who wreak havoc, destroy villages and cause plagues because they have to. They were more alike than he knew.
Following Raenef's advice Krayon ventured inside roaming the castle. It was huge and empty. Save for Raenef and Eclipse, no one lived here and Krayon was not likely to run into either of them. It was like walking in a museum at night, a bit lonely but perfectly private. 'What other demon lords' castle can I wander in freely as I please?' Krayon wondered with a bit of mockery, but why not? Raenef knew where he was and in this place, for the likes of him, there was nothing to take, nothing secret to see. Raenef had nothing to hide or preserve or protect in the castle. So he let him wander.
Krayon wandered through hall after another, past empty room after empty room until he finally found the one that called to him. They were all open so he just walked in. Waling over to a moonlit window he sat down on the cool floor in the path of the lunar light and looked out into the black sky. Yeah, he could feel it, the tension was getting weaker and weaker.
Soft footsteps made Krayon turn his head again. The door clicked closed and Raenef walked across the room to a table placing on it a goblet and a large urn of wine.
"Did I…wander into your room?" Krayon felt a bit embarrassed, this was more like trespassing on private property where Raenef was concerned. His private bedroom, he didn't think that anyone except Eclipse was allowed here.
"It's fine. I'm not the kind of person who would mind. Do you care of you have company?"
Krayon shook his head. Not right now, he didn't care. He heard Raenef pour the wine and accepted the goblet. "It won't do any good, you know. Demons…"
Raenef waved his hand dismissively sitting down on the window-ledge so that Krayon watched his silhouette in the window.
"Have you tried getting drunk already?"
"Well no, that wasn't what I came…"
"Then don't mock it until you try."
Krayon pouted taking a sip of the good wine. He didn't believe that entire urn would get him drunk, but whoever cared about that right now.
"Is it Eru?"
"How did you?"
"Eru is the only person who gets you upset." Raenef explained. Krayon never came to him to sulk, but he didn't need to. Raenef could see it well enough from a distance how rocky Krayon's pursuit was. "Don't worry, she'll calm down soon eno…"
Krayon stared silently into the cup when Raenef stopped. Something was not right. It didn't feel like a fight. Krayon wouldn't be here.
"She's calm. I think I'm gonna stop now." Krayon poured the rest of the wine down his throat and stood to pour himself more. He took a seat opposite Raenef on the windowsill and proceeded to stare out at the scenery outside sipping the second goblet as at his own pace he told Rae everything that happened. Raenef was actually a good listener, and he had a reputation as trustworthy. The 'trustworthiness' was a joke of the demon world, demon lords snickered at the title pinned to Raenef's back, but no one doubted it was true.
Krayon didn't think Raenef had anyone to tell his story anyways, or anything to gain from telling either. Raenef did not take pleasure in spilling secrets just to hurt people.
"So…you've finally tied the loose ends?"
"Tying…" Krayon rose his fourth goblet of wine up to Raenef as he emptied the rest of it. Raenef was comfortable company.
"You…didn't come here just to talk and drink with me…did ya?" Raenef didn't know what Krayon wanted. He could guess a few things, but he would hope that Krayon knew he was not so loose as to be used like that. Not even to humor a pity party. Still, he felt that there was something Krayon was anticipating
The elder demon lord put the goblet down on the floor and for a few moments sat in front of Raenef with his head in his hand as if he had a sudden headache.
"Krayon?" Raenef reached out putting a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly the demon leant forward and wrapped a strong arm around Raenef's shoulders leaning his body down on him.
"K-Krayon! If you think I…" he was going to protest. He didn't want Krayon to come onto him. Comfort sex was good and dandy, but not with him. He well, he had his own strings attached, he couldn't offer that kind of comfort to Krayon. Fortunately Krayon calmed his worries. He shook his head that was lying on Raenef's shoulder negatively.
No, he didn't come here to take advantage of someone who was a kid compared to him either. Raenef's hospitality and ability to establish friendships was rare in the demon world. For that, Krayon didn't come here to be offensive.
Rae was a bit skeptical. Krayon didn't seem the type to want hugs. But one, he didn't know him that well or that long. Two, he could have very well underestimated the depth of feelings Krayon had for Erutis. The demon lord could really be hurting right now. With a helpless sigh Raenef put his arms around the other's shoulders resting his palms lightly on his back. This was odd, but it wasn't nearly so bad. Not for him, he just wondered what Krayon must be thinking, going through to succumb to this.
After a while, and it was a long while, Raenef finally noticed a change in Krayon as he let go of his self control, thread by thread, cutting it away forcefully with his will. His body tensed a little in a small contraction, then relaxed, after a while it shuddered again and he took a deep breath. Raenef was catching on and he felt genuinely bad. He tightened his arms around the elder looking up and with his eyes destroying the clasps that held the curtains back from the window. Darkness sheltered them and Krayon's last shreds of self control broke as he let out his first sob in centuries.
After that, Rae could do little more than watch and hold him as his powerful wide shoulders trembled over and over. His shoulder was becoming increasingly moist and the small gasps and ragged, choked breaths indicated to him that indeed Krayon was crying. But they were silent tears. Krayon did not sob like a child, like Raenef would have if he was upset. Krayon had centuries upon centuries of self control to break just to be able to cry and let go of something he loved. Raenef, young as he was, understood that.
It was close to dawn that Eclipse found the pair still perched on the windowsill. Raenef slid down to half lie half sit leaning against the side of the window, his head hanging low, cheek resting lightly against Krayon's head which still rested peacefully on Rae's shoulder. Raenef's arms were around Krayon, but loosely, it was the older demon lord who seemed to support the boy demon more, with his arms around his waist. Krayon was lying on top of Raenef and they have both fallen asleep like that, with Krayon's face hidden in Rae's shoulder from the world.
If Eclipse was not jealous, he would have thought it sweet. If he didn't trust his master with all his heart, he would have been enraged at the sight. Instead, he just watched the two slightly mournfully in the uncomfortable embrace that they have fallen asleep. He reached out pinching Raenef's ear lightly and tugging on it a few times so he could wake him without waking Krayon. Krayon didn't come here to be seen by anyone except Raenef it would appear and Eclise would respect that.
Sleepy eyes opened and Rae smiled sweetly at his lover who with a slightly annoyed look silently pointed to the unoccupied bed before disappearing out of sight. Rae 'Go'ed himself and Krayon there finally being able to relax his stiff muscles now that they were lying down. He felt Krayon's tense body melt into the softness of the bed beside him, his warm torso still half covering him and their arms still twined around each other. Sweet, sweet sleep. Raenef had every intention of falling asleep like this and sleeping into the late hours of the afternoon after such a night.
"Sweet dreams…" Krayon murmured as he shifted ever so slightly against Raenef and Rae was sure that coming from the Dream World's master, a promise of sweet dreams was in earnest. Sleep claimed them both.