Monsters and Mutts
It was dark. So dark. Darker than the blackest of nights. A shade of ebony that wasn't natural to the world. It was a sticky blackness. The kind that clung to your body and thickened around you.
Jack's eyes strained in the dark, struggling to pick up any sense of movement or form. But he was blind, standing there naked and confused.
As helpless as the day he'd come into the world. The air is damp and cold causing all the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.
He wants to run. To spring into motion and flee.
But he can't.
It's like his feet are firmly buried in the soil beneath him, rendering him motionless. His limbs are useless too.
He wants to reach up and wipe the gathering moisture from his brow, but his arms refuse to work. His whole body is lifeless. Standing there still and unmoving. Like he's turned to stone.
His eyes dart from one edge of the blackness to the other, but it's all the same. It's all just sticky, musty, blackness.
He can taste the dark in his mouth. It's heavy and foreign on his tongue. He feels like every time he breathes he is swallowing more down. Filling his gut with the blackness. It sticks to his ribs, clogs his organs, coats his stomach. His body feels sickly. He feels lost. So very lost.
Suddenly...he feels he is not alone in the gathering blackness.
There are footsteps. Slow and calculated. Each step contemplated before being made. Suddenly the darkness is birthing something.
First a single, gnarled, clawed foot. Like a talon, all scaled and rough. The massive claws scrape the hard ground as it moves.
The first foot is joined by a second.
Then a leg, a knee. Two legs.
One massive hulking arm, so large it almost drags the ground.
It's claws are curled backward all tucked close to it's palm.
Finally comes a long, serpentine neck, jutting forth from the dark. A pale white face connects to the end of it's long neck, it's flat and misshapen compared to the rest of it's body.
Many long curling horns, seeming to belong to all different animals jut from it's forehead, down it's neck and to it's back.
A Keeper.
Lord of the after, a beast, a god, a creature.
Jack can feel his heart racing in his chest, booming in his ears like a great drum.
He wants to scream, to yell, to make any kind of noise but it's as if the voice was sucked right out of him.
The deformed mass of body parts comes closer, slinking slowly, it's eyes coming open to look upon the tiny man before it.
It's eyes are black and hollow, no pupil or eyeball. Just socket filled with the same pitch blackness surrounding the two of them.
It croons it's neck out farther it's almost human like face now mere inches from Jack's own. His nostrils flare as he struggles to breath. Tears stream down his unblinking eyes as he feels it's breath upon him.
The creature tilted it's head to the side painfully slowly, as if pondering the tears sliding down Jack's cheeks.
Slowly it opened it's mouth, thin lips stretching apart and letting a long slithering tongue come loose from it.
It's tongue slid up the side of Jack's cheek, tasting the salty tears there.
It seemed to murmur some kind of understanding noise then slowly backed away from the shaking man.
It sat back on its haunches gingerly, one of it's massive clawed paws coming to Jack's chin and tilting his head back ever so slightly.
"Jack...my little worthless Jack..." It hissed clicking it's tongue and shaking it's head.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut tight and clenched his teeth hard as the tears fell faster, the shakes of the sobs racking his slender body.
"How dare you think you could get away from me? How dare you make me look so incapable and stupid? Worthless little Jack...how dare you?" The creature snarled slowly.
Jack wanted to flinch away from the touch of it's overgrown claws.
There was dirt and dried blood caked beneath them and Jack could smell the overwhelming scent of death clinging to the monster's hand.
"I was not done with you yet...and somehow...you managed to escape me. It was your time. Yet...here we are. You've run away worthless little Jack...I do not take kindly to this abomination." The beast whispered lowly.
The monster slowly extended one single claw and slid it down Jack's cheek, slicing the flesh open like butter.
Jack screamed out, but no sound came forth from his open lips. He wanted to reach up and cover the wound, but his hands stayed cemented to his sides helplessly.
The monster chuckled hollowly.
"You little fucking mutt. Scum of the earth little dog...running away like the bad canine you are." The beast laughed louder, it's voice ringing in Jack's tender ears.
"It is out of my power to bring you back...yes. Out of my power you worthless little dog. So you are free to go...not by my choice of course. By the ancient rules...I can no longer touch you. But I will leave you with one final punishment as I am allowed to do so when such things happen as escape. In the circumstances of a soul getting loose from me, I am allowed to set upon them...one...single...curse." The beast whispered.
Jack could feel the blood trickling down his neck and collarbone. It was so red, and so deep. So wicked as it ran.
"You may have escaped me. But not without a price little stray mutt...mutt..." The creature repeated the word slowly.
Then booming, mean laughter bubbled up from it's chest.
"You have always been such a worthless little stray, ever since the day you came to my realm Jack. Your bark always so much worse than your bite. Let me fix that for you...let me make you the disgusting, worthless, dog you have always been." The monster hissed.
He held out his palm slowly as blackness swirled there in it's hand. The darkness shaped and moved, contorting into something living...moving.
Jack watched in horror.
The darkness contorted into some sort of beast, standing on all fours but in a disgustingly human like way. Pointed ears adorned the top of it's skull and a long muzzle jutted from it's face, filled with fangs and slobber.
The tiny thing growled and bit at the hand that held it.
The big monster chuckled at the small creature it had created.
"Now you will be a fucking mutt...inside and out." The beast whispered before grabbing Jack by the throat and shoving the small creature made of blackness into his mouth.
Jack swallowed instinctively, his mouth burning, his throat feeling scorched as the thing went down.
He could feel it clawing and scratching his innards. His body felt white hot, burning inside like a great fire.
Jack coughed and sputtered trying to choke the blackness back up. He gagged harshly, stomach turning.
He mouthed the words "Why would you do this to me!? This is my second chance, I will be better this time...be something greater!" to the Keeper and it merely laughed.
"Oh dear Jack...you will never be anything greater. You will always be a scummy little mutt. I will make sure of that. This is no second chance. Your mistake of an escape will be filled with nothing but horror and pain." The thing answered throwing it's head back in a fit of bone chilling laughter.
"They will hunt you, and they will shun you. They will not accept you...and soon enough you will come back to me my little Jack. Soon enough." It finished it's hollow eyes empty and soulless as they looked upon Jack's shivering form.
Jack's eyes suddenly shot open, screams filling his lungs, but this time sound came with them.
He scrambled to his feet, but tumbled to the ground.
He fell to the hard floor, on his hands and knees.
He hunched over his stomach sick as ever, and before he could stop it he was vomiting onto the tile. His stomach clenched as he gagged and coughed up the remnants of his last meal.
There was a the thud of feet hitting the ground behind him, and the frantic touch of hand's on his back and shoulder.
His head was spinning, vision blurred, so much so that he could not even make out the details of his surroundings.
He could faintly hear a voice yelling at him, but it was so distant and weak.
He coughed up a small dribble of stomach acid and spit onto the floor, tears clinging to the corners of his eyes.
His body shuddered weakly as he crouched there like a dying animal.
Slowly, everything seemed to come back into focus.
The voice yelling at him became clearer and clearer.
"Jack! JACK! Are you alright!?" It yelled in his ear.
Jack shuddered weakly.
He knew that voice. He'd know it anywhere.
Axton.
Jack looked to his left and the blurry form kneeling there finally came back into clearer view.
In the darkness he could barely make out the worried features of Axton's face.
Axton's green eyes glinting in the weak firelight.
His eyes darted from Axton's face, to the room around him. He was back in the great living room, the fire in the fireplace still barely alive with small coals. The memories all came back to him slowly.
The sex, the lying there by the fire talking, the redressing, the falling asleep on the grand couch beside Axton.
Jack wiped his mouth with the back of his hand shamefully.
"Jack are you ok?" Axton asked again the worry heavy in his voice.
"Yeah I'm fine..." Jack whispered back his voice rough and strained.
Jack sat back on his knees weakly, looking over himself ashamed. He'd vomited on the tile and some on his shirt.
He cursed under his breath and shook his head.
Axton rubbed his back slowly.
All Axton could think about at the moment was the notebook...the vomiting subject...how they'd died after choking on their innards.
He drew in a shaking, fearful breath.
"I just had a fucking awful dream...it...turned my stomach." Jack finished, saving the details.
Axton didn't need to know about his ridiculous nightmares.
Axton sighed out and ran his hand through his hair.
A bad nightmare, that was it.
No coughing fit and vomiting organs.
"Oh thank god." Axton sighed out lowly.
Jack shot him a disgusted look.
Axton shook his head defensively.
"No, no not thank god you had a nightmare...it's just...in the notebook...some of Doctor Maine's first trials had these awful vomiting fits and ended up dying...I was just worried...you know." Axton breathed.
Jack scoffed and shook his head.
"No. I'm fine...just stupid fucking shit..." He growled.
Jack rose to his knees shakily.
"I gotta take a shower." Jack snarled angrily.
He was angry at his pathetic outburst, angry a stupid dream could have him falling apart at the seams all over again.
Angry at his ridiculously helpless state.
Axton looked up at him with concerned eyes.
"You need help?" He questioned sympathetically.
"No I'm fine. Is there a downstairs shower?" Jack snapped.
Axton pointed to the first door in the hallway to the left.
He knew that tone of voice. That tone Jack got when he just wanted to be left alone. Axton had learned it was always best to just leave him be, no matter how badly you wished to just be there for him.
Jack slowly disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
Axton sighed and rose slowly.
Jack was an impossible thing.
He wasn't good at letting people comfort him that was for damned sure.
That was just a sign that he was getting better, getting stronger, becoming that Jack Axton knew and loved.
It was both relieving to see this, and troubling. Jack was hard to deal with. The past few days he hadn't really been himself...that had just made things easy as far as caring for the bastard.
Things would get a lot harder from here on out, Axton thought smiling and shaking his head.
Jack was a stubborn fuck.
Axton flicked on the kitchen lights and went about gathering towels to clean the mess in the living room.
Meanwhile in the bathroom, Jack stripped his borrowed t-shirt up over his head irritably.
He threw it on the floor as if it had done him nothing but wrong. He dropped his sweatpants and turned the shower knobs, bringing the running water to life.
When it was warm he stepped in slowly, letting the stream engulf his aching body.
His stomach was sore from heaving and his throat burned.
His hands came to his neck gingerly surrounding the flesh there, the memory of the creature from his dream sliding down into his stomach came wandering back into his head.
Jack shook his head wildly, trying to shake the memory away.
The beast's voice still hung in his head like an unwanted guest.
Lurking there somewhere in his ears.
"...let me make you the disgusting, worthless, dog you have always been."
The phrase swarmed through him like wasps, stinging at his skin, crawling through his being.
Jack gritted his teeth and ran his nails down his arms, trying to scratch away an invisible itch.
It was just a damned nightmare.
That was it.
So why did it have his skin crawling like so?
He was being so weak, so ridiculous.
But seeing that thing...again...just had him falling apart.
It was so damned real...but it wasn't. It was just a dream...right?
Jack touched his cheek where the Keeper had split his skin.
It was all in tact, no blood, no scar, nothing.
Just a dream, he told himself again.
Just a god damned dream.
He needed to get a hold of himself.
The creature wasn't real, nor was it's promise of one last punishment set upon him. It was all just a nightmare.
Jack leaned hard on the wall and breathed out shakily.
Those things couldn't get him here, in this world.
He was safe here, this was his second chance to be something better than a madman. This was his chance, he knew it...it had to be.
Axton had brought him back to this world for a reason, and he would no waste this opportunity.
Jack washed his body slowly, as if trying to wash away the haunting memories of the dream. He would not let them cling to him like mud, he had to wash them away.
The memories, the after, the Keepers...he just had to wash them all away.
He had to.
For his own good.
Jack finished his shower and rinsed his mouth out thoroughly with some borrowed mouthwash on the counter.
He dried his hair and slung the fresh, fluffed towel around his waist.
He cracked the door open slowly, stream billowing out around his bare feet wispily.
His eyes peered into the great living room.
Axton was sitting on the couch, having already cleaned the pathetic mess Jack had made.
Jack drew in a deep breath.
Axton was a kind hearted soul.
He always had been.
Rough around the edges, sure, but who wasn't on this damned planet?
He'd always been too good to Jack, even in the worst of times. Even when Jack screamed at him, beat him and tortured him...he never stopped loving him unconditionally.
Even after all the wrong Jack had done, Axton had still risked everything to bring him back.
He was genuine and strong. A crutch for Jack to lean on.
Jack's eyes met with Axton's green orbs.
They held each other's gaze for just longer than the standard moment.
Finally a small smile broke across Axton's lips and he made a motion for Jack to join him on the couch.
Jack slowly crossed the grand room and eased himself down on the couch, only to feel Axton's arm come to encircle him protectively.
Axton's nose was pushed into the nape of Jack's neck, feeling the wet hairs brush his chin.
He kissed Jack there, soft and slow, hands working over the other man's shoulders soothingly.
Jack breathed out, his chest rising and falling with the heavy breath.
"You ok?" Axton whispered into Jack's hair.
Jack nodded.
Jack looked at the larger man beside him.
"Do you believe dreams can actually mean something? Like...hinting at things to come...foreshadowing of the future?" Jack whispered looking out the large window at the night covered landscape beyond it.
The rain had eased to a drizzle. Slow and steady, barely there and soft.
Axton did not answer Jack's question for a very long time.
Silence weighed heavy over the two men.
"I guess it just depends. Maybe sometimes they can, but sometimes they are just what they are...dreams. Only dreams." Axton whispered kissing Jack's neck again.
Jack smelled fresh and sharp, the heavy scent of soap still clinging to his skin.
"I don't know if this one was just a dream..." Jack whispered hollowly.
"It didn't feel like...just a dream." He finished.
Axton squeezed Jack's shoulder softly.
"What kind of dream was it?" Axton questioned slowly.
Jack chewed his lip for a moment, not looking at Axton...simply staring out into the night, eyes hollow and unmoving.
"A Keeper...it came to me. It said I had embarrassed it by escaping it...it vowed to give me one last punishment...and that I would return to it soon." Jack whispered his throat dry and his voice wavering.
Axton shook his head slowly.
"You aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I promise." Axton replied soothing his fingers through Jack's freshly washed hair.
"No matter what...I will protect you. No matter what." He continued slowly.
His words were soft but in the same breath...they were strong.
Jack sighed out.
"Ok" Jack whispered.
The two men fell silent.
The only sounds being offered to their ears were those of the drizzle outside, and the popping coals in the fireplace.
There just seemed to be nothing to be said.
Nothing more to talk about.
So the silence was there to fill the heavy space between them.
Jack rested his head on Axton's shoulder.
Axton...the protector of a mutt that did not deserve it.
The owner of a stray that was broken and beaten.
When he was starving, he had fed him.
When he was weak, he had carried him.
When he was frightened, he had chased the monsters from his head.
When he was dying, he had revived him.