Familiarshipping (Critias/Kisara)

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((warnings for brief references to sexual slavery))

. . .

"…is it uncomfortable?"

Her shoulders jumped a little—she hadn't heard him come in and her heart immediately began to race.

He looked guilty when she turned over her shoulder towards him, drawing back a little from the doorway as though to let her know that he wasn't blocking her in. It was a kind gesture, and Kisara felt her heart rate beginning to slow.

"It's…a little," she admitted.

She was sitting in front of a large vanity, her dress cascading down around her legs and waterfalling over the stool. It was a pale, diamond blue, studded with small ocean colored stones that rippled with the light when she moved. There weren't any shoulders, and the waist was tied off with a thick silver ribbon. It looked beautiful but it…it was a little tight in the chest, and she didn't like how low it fell. It reminded her of another part of her life that she didn't want to remember. She frowned at herself in the mirror as she hooked her fingers into the top of her bodice and tried to wriggle it a little closer to her collarbone. She didn't even quite look like herself…her face was carefully sculpted with makeup and she was cleaner than she had ever been in her life. Her platinum hair had been piled up into the intricate style that was popular in Atlantis, held with what felt like hundreds of silver pins and barrettes. She wouldn't say she disliked seeing her face like this, though. She looked…nice.

"I can let my lord know," Critias said, shifting in the doorway. "He can have it altered a bit."

She shook her head quickly, almost losing part of her hair style as she spun around.

"No! No, no, it's fine! I don't want to impose on him. He's done so much for me already."

Critias watched her for a moment with those implacable eyes of his. So calm, she thought as always. Calm and violet, like the twilight hanging over a still ocean. It had been his eyes that had calmed her first, his eyes and his soft, soothing voice that murmured to her over and over until she finally managed to stop screaming after her had pulled her free of the crate.

Her mind fluttered to the crate again and she shuddered, closing her eyes and hugging herself tightly.

"You are a lady of our court now, Lady Kisara, and more than that, you are now considered family to my lord Dartz. It would not be an imposition on him."

She couldn't stop herself from shaking slightly. Her mind was somewhere else and she could barely hear what Critias was saying.

All at once, she was in the crate again. Cramped and dark, her body all folded in over itself and her nails bleeding from where she had scratched the wood while she had screamed, begged for her master to release her, her throat now sore and voice gone from screaming—

She felt his hand touch hers—gentle, questioning. She could pull away in a heartbeat if she wanted, he would never hold her in place.

She didn't want to pull away.

She put her other hand on top of Critias' gasping for breath.

"I-I'm sorry," she said, feeling tears in her eyes. She couldn't cry, she would ruin the careful makeup that the women had done for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fade away—"

"It's all right," Critias soothed, rubbing her palm slowly, gently. "It's all right. You are right here. You are right here."

His eyes held hers—so calm. She had only seen him angry once. Only on the day her former master had been brought to trial for killing her family and imprisoning her as his pleasure slave. That rage had been only directed at that man, and she remembered it, roiling and fiery like the belly of a dragon, heat almost actually rising from his armor and his golden hair as his gaze bored holes in the man.

He was the one who had pulled her free. She still remembered his hair tangling with hers as he held her gently against him, whispering to her that it was all right, they were here to help, she was safe. When her former owner had been brought to trial, Critias had held her hand the whole time, even while she was asked to testify. She still remembered how warm and gentle and strong his hand felt. It grounded her even now.

"Can I get you anything?" he whispered.

Kisara swallowed as she slowly drew herself back to the present.

"I…I just want you to stay here for a moment," she whispered. "Please?"

His other hand came up so that he could hold hers with both of his, eyes still on hers. He smiled softly, and the tiny motion made his entire face ablaze with beautiful, warm light.

"As long as you need me."

. . .

A/N: I might actually write something for this universe on its own, actually, I found it fascinating. Just to clear up anything that I might not have said straight out in the story, the basic gist is that Kisara was from a minor noble family in Atlantis, but her family was killed in a raid from pirates and she herself was kidnapped, later sold to another minor noble of Atlantis who secretly held her prisoner while she and her entire family were presumed dead. After Critias rescued her, Dartz had the man executed and "adopted" Kisara into his own family as reparation for the crimes against her (this is clearly well before Dartz loses it to the Orichalcos). Anyway, next is Fameshippng (Otogi x Vivian).