WARRIORS HIGH

ISLAND OF THE LOST

ARC 2 - SOCIETY OF TRAITORS

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THESE LOVELY SINS

TRIGGER WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS AND REFERENCES TO CONSENSUAL SEX. IF THIS TOPIC MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, PLEASE CONSIDER SKIPPING THE FIRST PART OF THIS CHAPTER OR THE CHAPTER ALTOGETHER

(Scene takes place twelve hours before Chapter 48 of The New Era)

Dusty hadn't slept better in his life.

He was completely knocked out, enveloped in warmth like a large blanket was gently covering him. His mind was at complete peace. Calm. Serenity. Like this, he could sleep for hours. He'd probably be late for dinner for how long he wanted to sleep like this.

Sadly, Pharell's voice cut that feign hope short by a couple of hours. Dusty groaned audibly and reached his hand over to the nightstand, muting the alarm for a couple of minutes.

Something was draped over his shoulder and bare chest. Assuming it was a blanket, Dusty grabbed it and tossed it back, ready to drift back into slumber.

But his eyes squinted open again as the object gained a second wind of resilience and replaced itself over his arms. Exhausted, Dusty felt it over a bit, making some observations. It felt...stiff. Bulky. Muscular, even. Those were the first adjectives to enter his mind. Weird things to describe a blanket, that's for sure.

But he tossed it aside. Must have been the cleaner Foxleap used to wash these last.

There was suddenly a rustling behind him, and Dusty's eyes shot open as he felt something shift along his spine.

Axis tiredly groaned with the creaking of the mattress, causing the boy to look up as a human figure emerged and sat up next to him on the bed. He stretched his arms out, yawned and looked around, confusion glinting in his eyes as he looked over the unfamiliar surroundings.

It took until he looked down at Dusty for them both to realize where they were and who the other was.

Inadvertently, Dusty traced his hand down his side and went ice cold when he felt nothing but skin below his waist.

He was naked.

They were both naked.

Trepid intelligence filled their eyes as they felt confused alarm pump through their veins. They gleaned around for a couple moments, likely looking for their clothes until Axis broke the awkward silence.

"Dusty?"

He turned and looked Axis in the eye.

"What...what happened last night?"

Thankfully and unfortunately, a knock on the door prevented Dusty from having to answer that question.

The pair was awake now. Dusty shot out of bed, wildly gesturing for Axis to get in the bathroom as he rushed to the opposite corner, grabbing a crumpled up yellow towel and wrapping it around his waist and covering his modesty as he answered the door.

On the other side was Jaywhisker, a very irritated frown on his face.

"Did you have a fun time?"

Dusty stuttered before he cut him off. "Actually, don't answer that. I made my own conclusions when I had to wipe the sex tape the security camera caught from the feed."

The dirty-blonde boy put his hand over his face. Today couldn't start any worse.

"Anyways," said the other boy, who looked ready to pour three gallons of bleach into his eyes, "I barely stopped Coalstrike and Ashtooth from barging in here. We're charging the mountain today. They want to train you up personally to make sure you're in 'tip-top shape.'"

Okay, so it could get worse.

"I...need to take a shower" was all Dusty could say.

"Yes, you do," said Jaywhisker, rubbing his eyes as he shut the door, "And spray some Febreeze in here while you're at it. Someone might look beyond the excuse of your B.O. getting worse if you make the turn to prostitution for God knows what reason."

Dusty was frozen in place as the door locked behind him.

He was now fully aware of what happened last night. The sounds, the sensations and the lingering aches that came with it.

His mind was whirling at a thousand miles a minute. He only was thrust back into reality when he heard Axis starting the shower.

Dusty walked into the glowing bathroom, shutting the door behind him, dropping the towel and stepping into the shower with the bartender.

The two held an awkward stare, eyes darting around and admiring the tiles that lines the shower wall for a couple seconds at a time.

Dusty broke the silence.

"Can...can you pass the soap?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure," he said, turning around and grabbing the carton of Old Spice from the edge of the bath. Dusty took it quickly and turned his back, not feeling comfortable at all to even look at the guy he slept with last night.

Who knew that it took a couple sobering hours of sleep to see straight again?

Fifteen minutes later, Dusty and Axis were dried off and sitted on the edge of Dusty's bed. Dusty was in a baggy t-shirt with a worn pair of slim jeans. Axis was in an AJR t-shirt and high-cut running shorts that Dusty found in the back of his drawer.

They were silent. Quietly coming to terms with the existence of the events of the night before.

To think that the couple that was flirting like there was no tomorrow and risking so much just to see and impress each other were not even daring to even come close to holding hands.

"Sooooo…"

"Yeah."

"Last night...happened."

"Yep."

Axis turned to Dusty. "You feeling alright?"

Dusty was quiet, just staring at his bare feet.

"Yeah...me too."

They fell back into quiet, the bartender debating on whether he should say something or respect the other's silent torment.

"I...I should go," he said finally, getting up and walking to the window he had repelled through the previous evening.

"Wait."

Obviously relieved, Axis turned around and looked at Dusty, who still hadn't turned to face him.

"Is this all there is?" he murmured.

"To what?"

"To love, lust, whatever the hell we had yesterday that we don't have now."

"What do you mean?"

Dusty shifted in his seat. "Well, I feel...very different today. I remember that until yesterday, I almost fainted every time I looked at you. Now...I feel…"

"Nothing?" said Axis, his voice quiet and strained.

"Yes."

Dusty slouched over, his face contorted in misery.

"I don't want it to be like this. I don't want this...us to be defined by this one-night-stand we just had. I want to go back to feeling like you were the thing I most wanted to have. I want to go back to when we flirted and talked and held hands and…"

Axis nodded, a gesture of understanding which Dusty couldn't see.

"Do you get what I'm saying?" he stammered, still on his ramble, "I don't want this to be it. I don't want that pain and I know you don't deserve that pain. You have enough pain in our life already…"

"Like that night you saw me sleeping under a cardboard box beneath the bridge?"

Dusty froze. "How did you…?"

"I'm friends with a couple of the guys that sleep around that area," he said, a soft, knowing smirk on his face as he sat down next to Dusty, "They saw you wandering around alone and thought that your folks had kicked you out. Had a feeling that wasn't the case."

Dusty looked back at his feet as Axis scooted a couple inches closer.

"I get it," he said, "I feel the same way. I know that whatever we had last night isn't the same as what we have now, but as long as we both still believe we have something, it will continue to be my great honor to know you and have you around, as a friend, as a lover or whatever suits your will."

"I don't know," said Dusty, his voice still quiet, "I want there to be something, but what if there really is nothing there anymore?"

"Well, let's test that."

Axis got to his feet, gesturing for Dusty to do the same.

"Hi," he said, holding out his hand, "I'm Axis. What's your name?"

Dusty was confused for a moment, but decided to play along as he shook his hand.

"Dusty."

"Nice to meet you, Dusty. What do you like to do for a living?"

"Mainly play music. Also torture some punching bags on the off-days."

"What's your favorite song?"

"Don't have one. Too many to count."

"Give me some good ones."

"Okay, uh...every song from Panic! after Death of a Bachelor, every AJR song, every Imagine Dragons song and that should get you through an extended workout regime."

"Now I'm a fan of jazz," said Axis, smiling widely at how successful this ploy was going, "Got any recommendations from that field?"

Dusty grinned. "I dunno. Whatever playlist you had on last night seemed to work pretty well."

Axis dissolved into laughter, slouching over as he failed to compose himself. Dusty was taken aback for only a moment before falling into the same contagious fit as well.

"See?!" said Axis, grinning widely, "We still got something!"

"Yeah," said Dusty, smiling back.

The two got their bearings and found each other staring. But this time, there was no insatiable lust or tense awkwardness driving the motive. This was comfortable calm.

This felt right.

"Can I hold your hand?" said Axis suddenly.

Dusty cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well," said Axis, "Clearly, we went too fast. I think one of the best ways to fix that is to take it slow. Y'know, consent, but with slower steps."

"That makes sense."

"So?"

"Yes."

Axis reached forward and took his hand. His grip was gentle and loose. Dusty felt like his hand was a fragile antique the boy in front of him wouldn't dare to risk shattering.

"Whatever goes on with us from now on," said Axis, looking Dusty in the eye, "Whether or not we have sex, kiss or even hold hands, I just want you to know that I will always be by your side. No matter what."

For a brief moment, Dusty wanted to tell him everything. His soldier background, who he was fighting and his fear on how every day could be the last he saw his family.

But he swallowed it down.

"Thank you."

"Alright," said Axis, relieved that this wasn't the disaster it was twenty minutes prior, "I should really be going, though."

Dusty helped take out the window, letting the breeze flow through his hair as he slowly set the window down on the mattress.

Axis seemed to notice his hesitance. "Something on your mind?"

"Can I kiss you?"

It came too fast. Dusty cringed at how fast the request came, but when he turned to his friend, he saw not confusion, not surprise even. Just warm contentment.

"Yes."

So slowly, Dusty walked forward until they were inches away.

And they did.

The kiss was tender, no unlike the ones they shared on the mattress behind them, but this felt different all the same. Less passion, yet all the more sensual feeling that came from their contact.

Dusty liked that.

And so, as he helped Axis down from the window onto the safety of the ground below and waved him goodbye, Dusty felt like a weight was lifted off of his soldiers.

Sex definitely wasn't going to be a commonality. But maybe love could be.

Sky remained standing as Rock, Bone and Garrison left to take up arms. Her hands were laced behind her back as she watched the monitors showing a van of merry misfits completely unprepared to meet the unstoppable force that was Rock and his army.

An outsider looking in, like Inferno about ten feet away, could have thought that she was having some sympathy for these poor fellows.

Her eyes were calm as her mind worked like clockwork. Little did the psychopath know that he was bearing witness to a genius' mind at work.

She was still for about four minutes, every second punctured by Inferno's lighter dancing through his fingers and the flame clicking in and out, before reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a cigarette.

"Can I get a light?" she asked, holding up the tiny blunt.

Effortlessly, Inferno twirled the lighter and flicked it open with vigor. A stream of fire lashed out from the nub of the zippo like a lasso across the room, licking the edge of Sky's cigarette and lighting it before retreating back into its metal sheath.

Sky didn't even flinch, putting the cigarette in her mouth and exhaling a stream of smoke.

"You smoke?" said Inferno half-heartedly.

"Once a month," said Sky, calmly matching his tone, "Better than going cold turkey."

Three hits later, the blunt was burned out. Sky curled it into her open palm, looking at the monitors again.

"Inferno?"

Inferno grunted, but looked up to see Sky holding a loaded .44 Magnum right between his eyes.

They stood in silence before the madman chuckled. "You're not gonna shoot me."

"Of course not," said Sky, lowering the gun and taking a seat in one of the office chairs that was a victim of Garrison and Bone's fiery argument, "Just wanted to see how you would react."

She grabbed the earpiece from her helmet off the table and radioed in.

"Garrison."

"Sky, where the hell are you? Rock's thinking you're going behind his back already!"

"I want you to pull out every soldier as quickly as you can except for two squadrons."

Silence.

"Now?!"

"Yes. Use the counterattack info cover. Do exactly as I said, and it will work."

Garrison sighed. "Fine. What's the code name for the orders I give to the rest."

"RETCON-41."

"Alright," said Garrison, "But if you get me killed, you're paying the funeral costs."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. A lighter and a gallon of gas costs as much as a bag of Skittles and a drink these days."

She signed off, slipped into her jacket and looked directly at Inferno, who hadn't seemed to react to the order she had just given.

"I know you won't spill," she said, putting on her black mask.

"Of course not."

Without another word, Sky loaded her pistol and left Inferno in darkness, the only source of light coming from his malicious flame.

I'm done with school.

Thank God.

You may have noticed I've taken the backseat on this miniverse drive. That's because, as you may have heard, Jay has entered his final arc.

I have not.

I'll be a bit quieter in terms of updates, throwing in chapters here and there whenever we see fit, but rest assured that by the time Jay is done, I take this story and run.

And I got the plans man.

So what's "RETCON-41?" What's gonna happen to DustAxis? Who the hell is this Inferno guy?

You'll find out soon.

Remember to leave a review. Share your thoughts. Maybe one day you'll make me look like a dumbass (which is a good thing, I promise) and help me improve.

Best,

~Res