"Black Wings"

By: Vanpi

Disclaimer: Unfortunately all of the characters here that are from Dragon Knights do not belong to me. A rare thing, but I'm using them at the moment to satisfy my always-twisting imagination. - Usually it only includes my characters but this time it spewed this up and I'm unfortunately only along for the ride.

Parings: None so fare, and I don't know what's going to happen down the road.

Warning: A little bit of yoai thrown in towards the end even though its unsuspected.

Notes: The sentences written in Italics are thoughts.

"Black Wings…"

Chapter 4

Awakening Spell

The landscape slowly came into view as the sun rose, revealing its beauty in all its glory once again. The birds chirped in the distance as the two boys still lay asleep in their place. It was a warm day and there was nothing but a few clouds in the sky that rolled by at this time of day. With the awakening new day everything in the landscape seemed to be given rebirth along with it.

As the sun made its way into the room, it set its gaze on the Alchemist's gentle face. Kharl stirred due to this, regretting falling asleep were the day was allowed to awaken him once again. As he opened his eyes the silver-haired man was meet with sever pain from the sun's rays that blasted it's self in his eyes.

He shut them quickly after this, wondering why of all reasons he had picked a chair to fall asleep in, in the first place. Of all places, he should be curled up in his bed at this hour. After a few moments, and with the aid of looking over in Rath's direction, the Alchemist finally remembered the reason for his actions the previous night.

" Ah.. My little wounded bird, how could I forget about you? Even for a second? Well now, lets see how you're doing this morning." After letting his words ride carelessly on the air, Kharl slowly arose from his chair and made his way to the other side of Rath's bed to take another look at his wounds.

The boy looked so peaceful just lying there like there wasn't a care in the world at the moment. With just one look at him, who would have known about the ordeal the boy had just gone through the previous night. But, just underneath those baby-blue covers hidden from view was a mass of bandages coving the Dragon Knight's wounded body.

Looking at the site of his little wounded bird, a slight smile grew once again on Kharl's lips. As he bent over, the Alchemist slowly removed the covers from his sleeping boy.

That smile slightly faded away as the silver-haired man set his gaze on the bandages that were just seconds ago, hidden from view. The poor boy had stopped bleeding sometime in the middle of the night, but not until after Kharl had bandaged his wounds. Now the bandages around his waist, abdomen, and chest needed to be replaced, but at least he had stopped bleeding by now and that fact made some of the tension in Kharl's heart drop.

The silver-haired Alchemist slowly stood and went to the bathroom to once again retrieve the medical supplies needed. It wasn't soon after this that the Renkin Wizard had found what he was looking for and was back at Rath's side with bandages in hand.

As he sat down by his pet's side he set the supplies down on the floor to the right of him. Kharl then bent over and once again placed the Black-haired boy in his arms with his ever-so-gentle touch. After slowly undoing the boy's bandages, the Renkin Wizard then gently cleaned his wounds off for a second time before applying yet another set of bandages to the sensitive flesh once again.

After finishing his task at hand, Kharl gently laid the boy back down on the bed and covered him up once again. Now Rath could sleep more comfortably then before, and this man didn't have to worry about the bandages becoming stuck to the sensitive skin in the process.

Amused by his work done here, Kharl decided that he should probably clean up the place and get something to eat before taking a walk for a change around his garden. Making up his mind, the Alchemist picked up the supplies on the side of Rath's bed and disposed of them in the bathroom. After cleaning up in the bathroom and taking a shower in the process, Kharl walked out of the room and picked up Rath's blood-caked trench coat and proceeded to make his way out the door.

/&/

Making his way down the staircases and hallways of his castle, the master came closer and closer to Gil's cell. From the way it sounded as he made it through the halls of the castle, the blue-haired demon could tell his master was in a semi good mood. The last thing that this guy wanted to do at the moment was put his master in a foul mood, so he just sat back and waited for him to unlock the door to his cell.

As the sound of his master coming nearer stopped right outside the door to his cell, the dark-blue-haired demon then heard the sound of keys being fiddled around with and shoved into the lock. After a few seconds the door to Gil's cell flew open and there his master stood, with a smile on his face and a bloody trench coat in his hand.

"How's my little bird doing today? I have good news. My long lost pet has finally returned to me. But as you know good news always follows with the bad, and... His beautiful wings have been clipped due to that Damn Shydeman!" As Kharl spoke to his other pet, the smile quickly turned to a frown before he decided to speak again.

"So, I've been thinking. Since my beautiful bird's wings have been clipped he is going to have to have around the clock care and I don't think I can manage all of it on my own. So, I have a proposition for you. If you take care of him when I'm not, without getting into trouble yourself while watching over him, then I'll let you have one of those long awaited rooms upstairs, instead of this dump that I hate to keep you in. What do you say?" Now the Alchemist was staring into Gil's beautiful yellow eyes, just waiting for his answer.

When Gil heard his master giving him a decision in the matter his heart skipped a beat. 'Who is this little wounded bird that he's talking about? Up until now, I'm the only one around here that he refers to as his pet. I wonder what's been going on lately.' And with that thought, the teen made his decision.

" Master Kharl, I would be honored if I could serve you in the attempt to take care of this boy. Even after the time when you found me and nursed me back to health when I was afraid of you. In my attempt to get away I fled from you, but I didn't know what true freedom was until I meant you. Just please don't punish me any more down here for trying to make it on my own? That's all I ask of you."

After gathering up all his courage, Gil let the words to his reply ride on the air like the lost pieces of a letter just waiting to be found and read. Even though all he wanted more then anything at this moment was to get away from here, at least he had been given a chance to better his situation at the moment and in time, maybe even tip the scales. So, for now, he would do what ever his master told him in order to build up the trust between them once again. But after he got the chance to get away, Gil would take it and run, never looking back.

Kharl was greatly amused by his pet's reply and in the process he walked over to his side. Kneeling down on the side of Gil's cot, his master then placed the blood-caked trench coat on the end of it before placing his hands once again in his pocket. Retrieving the keys hidden from view, Kharl then moved his hands closer to Gil's neck in the attempt to unlock the chain from his collar. After doing so, the ocean-blue-eyed Alchemist stood once again in front of his little pet and spoke one last time.

" I'm very proud of the decision you've made. I just hope you live up to it. Plus, you're too beautiful to keep locked up down here, especially when it's me who has to take care of you. But that's just my opinion. You're collar will stay in place, but you're free to roam around the castle without leaving the grounds. Other then that, will you please clean this trench coat before returning it to my wounded bird's room? In the process, look after him will you?" Kharl choose his words carefully as he spoke to his pet. If he were to say anything off center, his little toy might take it as an invitation to do just what he didn't wish and the Alchemist didn't want that to happen.

After speaking for the last time, Kharl bent down to eye level and leaned closer to Gil's face. Gil's dark blue locks fell into his face, as he stood frozen in fear, wondering what might happen next. Then the Alchemist smiled slightly and leaned in closer, before placing his lips on Gil's. After a few seconds their lips parted and Gil stood there as shocked as ever. With this, Kharl backed away and snickered before standing up and making his way to the door.

As Gil heard the door slam, he took in a deep breath and felt relieved. Finally his master was gone and he could be alone. He looked over at the chain that had bound him here only seconds ago. At least he was free now to go and do what ever he wanted, after tending to his tasks. Well at least almost anything, but the fact still remained that he couldn't go off the primacies. But hopefully that would change in the future because in the meantime he was going to do whatever his master told him in the attempt to build the trust between them.

As Gil's yellow eyes pierced through the darkness of his cell, he set his gaze upon Rath's blood-caked trench coat. As he stared at it, memories of his childhood came rushing back to him. That day a few years ago, when the Alchemist had found him as a child he had been gravely wounded by a demon that had been set loss. In an attempt to save him, his master had placed a demon seed in his eye that cursed him to this day. Then, on every full moon as he transformed into that overgrown demon cat, Kharl would allow him to prey on humans until the day he turned on his master. Since then Kharl had chained him to the cold brick wall in this room, with this cot in hopes of punishing his pet to the point that he would never try that stunt again.

Gathering his thoughts once again, Gil shacked his head in an attempt to get rid of the images from his childhood that were engraved in his head. He had things to do and no time to spend at the moment contemplating on past issues. There was another one of his master's pets laying upstairs in a bed needing to be looked after at the moment and he was down here, thinking about his own self.

Placing his feet on the cold floor, Gil stood up and grabbed the trench coat laid out on his bed. After this, he headed towards the door and walked into the hallway before making his way down the passage and up the staircase in order to start his task presented to him moments ago.

/&/

As Kharl the Alchemist made his way through the gardens surrounding his castle, he took in the scenery around him. There were butterflies flying everywhere due to the flowers all around and various types of birds chirped in the distance. This was a nice day unlike any other, which made it seem that everything was born anew at the moment.

As the Renkin Wizard was marveling at the way his plants looked and were growing for this time of the year he felt blessed. Not many years allowed this much growth and prosperity in the very beginning of spring due to the temperature, but this year had been very generous with nothing but warm weather, and trickles of rain every few days.

As Kharl was tending to his plants he heard a faint noise that seemed to be coming from the side of the forest of Kainaldia. It sounded as though a young demon had been wounded and this only made the Alchemist more curious as to what was making the sound. So, in the attempt to find out what was raising all the commotion, Kharl put down the plant he held in his hands and began to make his way towards the not-so-distant cries.

Coming to a clearing in the forest of Kainaldia, Kharl finally found what he was searching for. There in the clearing, beside a tree stump was a figure of what looked like a tiny white dragon-like creature. The Alchemist would have thought that it was a dragon right off the bat if it wouldn't have been for the scent of the little guy, which clearly stated that he, in fact, was a demon. The poor thing had a gash in its side, and there could have been one of many things that could have caused this. Kharl fell in love with it at first glance and was about to pick it up when a voice yelled out to the creature.

"Perish! Get over here, now!" The poor little guy jumped at the sound of the voice and ran towards it. Kharl watched as the little guy followed the voice and weakly jumped into its master's arms as he bent over to receive him.

At first glance Kharl couldn't tell who it was, but he had a very good clue with that cloak and long white hair draped down to the ground. As the demon picked up his little wounded pet and stood, facing him, Kharl was finally able to see his face. In that moment of realization Kharl's face turned from looking curious to that of shear hatred for the man in front of him, the one that had allowed his demon to slash his pet to shreds.

"Shydeman!" Kharl spat as the demon laid his eyes on the Alchemist and, in the process, he gave the Renkin Wizard a slight smile.

"To be continued in chapter five..."

An: Hello once again to all the readers out there. - I hope you guys have enjoyed this story so far. I feel sorry for Rath right now. I hope my muse allows him to wake up in the next two or three chapters because... if not, I'm going to be sad. Plus, what's with Kharl trying to, or actually kissing Gil, to only then leave him with the task of taking care of his other wounded pet that's like a bird with tattered black wings at the moment? I think Kharl's true personality is starting to unfold unless that's just me. Other then that, I would like to here what you guys think about this situation as well and your more then welcome to give me ideas for what you think should happen. So please help my muse out if you will because she often finds herself stuck in the weirdest situations. Also many thanks to those that read, the characters and I appreciate it! -