Chapitre8 :

°Disclaimer in the prologue.

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Xander watched as understanding replaced the confusion he had seen lurking in Ripper's eyes before the man told him, "Don't worry, I'm ready but before anything else, you have to understand who I really am and where I came from..."

Seeing as he had the attention of the three men surrounding him, Ripper nodded once and said. "I knew and hoped that tonight's spell would release the wall caging my real self, but what I didn't realised, was that there was another mind spell on me. One that I bore since I was a young child but didn't even know existed…"

He saw as the understanding flowed through Angel's eyes and said. "Yes Angel, Rupert Giles never existed, he was a persona forced on me to control my real self; Ripper. It weakened me and put a lock on my magic making me easier to manipulate. I'm more than angry with what happened but what made me hate them is what they were capable to do to a child!"

With that said he went on and explained what happened to him since he was a young child. They must have done this mind spell when he was at the tender age of five; he was so young and completely helpless to defend himself. This was why all of his memories had been erased, except for one. That memory had been lurking in his brain throughout his life, helping through difficult choices or protecting him from difficult situations, without him knowing it. Though now he knew why!

That memory was of a man wrapping him in a cover and cradling him to his chest. He had dark hair and eyes that were of a brown that was so dark that it seemed to be black. His movements were extremely tensed and alert, as if he was listening and looking for a threat. Before he could reach the door that was leading to his car, the sound of a car coming to their cabin made the man furiously and violently swear. Making sure that the boy, he was carrying was well covered, he ran outside in the hope of attaining the forest before the car could reach them. He was half way from it when a man exited the car and not loosing any time fired his weapon in his direction. The child hearing his father grunt as a bullet passed through his leg, began to whimper with fear, but that didn't stopped him from pursuing his escape. All he could think of was to enter the forest and reach the safety of a hiding place. But as hope began to fill his eyes as he came into reaching distance of the forest, another round was fired and this time the father fell as a bullet went through his chest.

Crying and still cradled in his father's arms, the child lifted his head up to watch his father's eyes. They were shining with all the love the man was feeling for him, though fear and concern could be seen as the man knew he was dying and wouldn't be able to protect his son from them anymore. The child was too young to really understand what was really going on, but he knew he was going to loose his father, he felt it as his father seemed to hurt with each breath he was fighting to take.

Then in a last effort to protect his son, the man asked him to make a promise. "Ripper, promise me to never trust in the council and the monsters they are still creating."

The child was sobbing, as he knew his father wasn't going to make it, but he found the force in himself to respond "I promise, father, I promise." His father in a last gesture of comfort smiled at him, and then the light in his eyes disappeared. The child broke down and buried himself in his father's arms, trying to make himself disappear, forgetting about the men that killed his father in the first place.

At the same time, the marksman was watching their surroundings making sure they were alone before he let the man who was still in the car get out. His face was blank as he watched the child sobbed on his father's chest, a sneer of disgust began to form on his lips as he was forced to go and retrieve the boy himself. He snatched the kid from the body, letting the now blood covered blanket fall to the ground. The child didn't have the strength to fight the man off and was forcefully taken to the car. Though, before the man could secure the child in the backseat of the car; the other one called. "Mr Travers? What do I do with the body?"

"Nothing" He told him. "The wolves are going to take care of it."

That was the last straw for the child and going into shock, he fainted. They must have used that moment to erase his memories, but the promise he had made to his dying father was too important and powerful to be erased by any spell and to this day, it continued to have an impact on his life.

"What!" shouted Xander stopping Ripper's story. "How could they! How could they steal your childhood's memories! Not only that but they suppressed your own self as well!" He asked fury radiating from his eyes. Angel and Kyle could only node shock evident in their eyes, but anger was leaking from their tensed bodies as they came to realise the distress that would cause to a child.

"Please guys let me finished before you fly into a well deserved rage, it will be easier for me." Ripper said a smile showing on his lips at the show of affection and concern from the three other men.

"Okay Ripper, I will do what I can, but I won't promise anything" Xander told him smiling back.

"Thank you", Ripper responded, "that's all I ask.", and then continued with his story.

So they took Ripper with them and once he woke up scared, alone and without his memories, they told him that he had been kidnapped by an insane and dangerous man. They explained to him that it was the trauma he had experience with that man; that made him loose his memories and forget who he was. That in fact his lack of memory was for the best.

Taking advantage of his confusion, they introduced him to 'his parents', even though in reality they were a couple belonging and working with the council. They took him back to 'their home' though even at that young age Ripper felt the lack of love and distance between him and his so called 'parents', it was not how parents should be behaving after their son had just been kidnapped. He had always felt they weren't his parents and he was proud to say, that he didn't made their life easy!

He was what you would call a rebel. He had always been very intelligent and in advance for his age, but he was taking great pleasure in doing the opposite of what was expected of him. He didn't know why at the time, but it had always felt right. Now that he knew the truth, he thought that the promise he made to his father was the only thing that had kept him from falling for their lies.

Ripper was a loner, there was no child around his age for him to play with and he was home schooled, so he never really had a chance to try to make friends. He spent his time being taught what the council thought to know about demons and most of it was totally wrong by the way.

And he wouldn't have realised it, if it wasn't for the arrival of a child younger than him by two years. Ripper was ten the first time he saw him, the boy had just been taken from his parents and severely beaten, to only been brought to the house to be caged in the cellar. Ripper should never have met him, he certainly wasn't meant to befriend him, but that's what he did anyway and he was proud of it.

He was only temporary there his 'parents' had told him the following day, they were going to send the boy back to the council, once they succeeded in breaking him. Not that they told him that in those terms but he had always been good at reading between the lines.

Ripper was curious about whom the boy was, but they refused him when he asked to see him, saying that 'it' was a demon and that 'it' was going to die for the greater good. They told him that 'it' should be thankful to be chosen for taking the place of the sacrifice and not fight it. But apparently demons were too stupid to see the better choice, though he had to say that if he was in the demon's shoes, he would fight as well!

Ripper knew he was going to take a risk, but what would you expect from a child who was bored out of his mind and alone? The little demon was the first child of his age he had seen in a long time, he had to see and talk to him. So Ripper waited for his 'parents' to go to bed and went to where he thought the young one had been detained. He didn't have to search for long as he followed what could only be described as whimpers and sobs.

The little demon was crying, but he didn't thought that it was caused by the pain brought on by his injuries, no it was more probable that it was caused by his hurtful separation from his parents and loved ones. That first time, they didn't spoke a word to each other, they just stared at each other in the eyes; Ripper only went back to bed when he began to hear the house's other occupant awoke and move about.

The following night he went back to the cellar out of curiosity and decided that this time he would talk, and talked he did. He talked about his day, what he learned… without revealing anything important except for his name of course. The young demon wouldn't answer the boy's questions, but Ripper knew that he was listening to him and he was happy enough to have his attention. It continued like that for a week, the boy talking while the little demon patiently listened to him letting his magic healed him.

After that week was when Ripper began to really hate his 'parents' and the council, as he went back to the cellar only to find the young one curled on himself, and obviously badly beaten. He was sobbing hysterically from the pain he had received at the hands of Ripper's 'parents' and his blood was everywhere.

During that last week he had begun to grow fond of the little one, as he had learned to read his physical behaviour. Every gestures or looks had more meaning to Ripper that any words could ever have, but as he looked at him now, he could only feel disgust ant hate engulfed him, for the monsters that did this to him. The despair and fear that he felt coming from the demon wasn't improving his state of mind at all.

Ripper tried to reach for the little demon's hand, but sadness came over him as he saw him try to flinch out of the way. He didn't let it stop him though and with a little more coaxing and a lot of patience and obstinacy, he finally took the child's hand in his. When contact between the two was made for the first time, Ripper's magic awoke. Merging with the boy's very own magic, it began to heal his most dangerous and painful injuries. While their magic was combining, it created a link between their minds enabling them to learn all there was to know about each others; their names, their fears, their pains, their wishes… who they were.

Once the link between their minds was established, Ripper could feel the young demon emotions; who by the way was called Ethan. Well his real name was unpronounceable by human standard and at the laugh that came from the boy during its first attempt; he decided to go with Ethan. Which boy seemed really pleased by it and his effort to not destroy his name, calling him by a shorter and proper version of his name.

Manipulating their link to find out what it consisted of, he felt that should he concentrate on it, he would be able to hear Ethan's thoughts as well. It would be extremely useful if one of them was threatened or in danger.

They didn't had the chance to talk about it as the sun was beginning to rise and Ripper had to go back to his bed, but he couldn't go without a last look to Ethan. What he saw surprised him as complete awe and trust was looking at him from Ethan's eyes and hearing his voice for the first time, made him answered Ethan's with a smile of his own.

The voice was small, hesitant and hoarse from its lack of use, but it had more force than he would have ever thought as Ethan asked "soul mate?"

Those two words had more meaning to Ripper than everything he had been said or asked by his 'parents' or anyone else to this day. He answered it with all his might and force. "Soul mate!" A warm feeling of joy came from Ethan's link, as a smile of pure happiness lightened his face in response. To this day, thinking of the smile that illuminated Ethan's eyes at those words still made his stomach fluttered with happiness and contentment.

The following weeks where spend with Ethan teaching Ripper all he knew about demons and creatures, as Ripper helped him with his healing. The more the days passed, the more they learned about each others and their link and the more they grew attached to each other.

Ethan had to learn quickly how to close their bond as he was tortured every day, because it was making Ripper going crazy with helplessness and anger at the pain and despair coming from Ethan. Ripper hadn't been happy with it at all, as it made him unable to offer Ethan any comfort, but it was the only solution they had. They didn't want the others to discover their newfound closeness so soon, if at all, because they knew that they wouldn't hesitate in moving Ethan away fro Ripper.

The two of them knew that if it was to happen, Ethan wouldn't survive it. He had come to rely on Ripper's presence and magic to fight the torture that was forced on him each day. Their link was that powerful and in the little time that had passed since its creation, it had grown to the point that neither of them could imagine living without the other.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the power to escape on their own and the more time it took for Ethan to break, the more suspicious Ripper's 'parents' became. They had to be cautious with the healing as well, because if they healed too much of Ethan's injuries, the parents would realise that something was wrong.

They already realised that Ethan should have broken days ago and were talking about increasing their tortures. Ripper was scared that he wouldn't be able to help him heal for much longer, before Ethan was hurting too much to be aware of anything. Once this state was reached, it would be easy for his 'parents' to trick Ethan in accepting his own death, or sacrifice like they liked to call it. They wanted him to be willing to die, to willingly give his life in sacrifice for one of their monster.

Ripper thought them to be insane, and if they believed he was going to let them do it, they had another thing coming. Ethan was his friend, his soul mate and he would protect him from them with everything he was and had.

The time had come a week later, that night Ripper knew that he hadn't been able to heal Ethan enough for the day to come. They didn't have anytime left and in a day or two Ethan would be gone, so he went to do the only thing he could do now and went to his room to pack. He knew that they would find them in no time, but if they didn't escape now, they wouldn't even have this chance.

Reaching for the bag he had hidden under his bed for this opportunity, his eyes came to look at the blanket neatly covering his bed. That was when he took his first look at the two letters that would save Ethan's life and gave them seven years of freedom…

A.N:

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