Raha couldn't sleep.

Despite surrounding him the nearly scalding heat of his lover's possessive embrace and Senri's low snore-purrs rumbling by his ears, his churning thoughts seemed determined to keep him awake. Perhaps… he was a tad overwhelmed, too. If he let himself think about how extremely his life changed in such a short amount of time…

…it was less than a week since he stumbled into that tavern, for fuck's sake!

He didn't regret that, quite the opposite, but… Well, his mind was quite literally on fire trying to make sense of everything that took place in those few insane days. And it kept going in circles about the many ways this could go so very differently….

The day he set foot on board that ship heading to Eorzea, he almost resigned and stayed behind, seeing Maran. That first evening in Limsa, if he fell asleep or remained in the designed for him bedroom, who knows if he would ever meet that gorgeous stranger…? Or if Senri didn't so stubbornly look for him after their encounter in the Revanant's Toll…?

Was it all fate?

And that insane pull he felt toward him… What was that about? A part of him wanted to believe that it was only in his head. Senri was beyond beautiful and literally his dream come true… Wasn't then a tad… strange that apparently eons ago, in another life, their original incarnation were involved? Was it somehow connected…?

He was startled at the sudden, delicate nip on the shell of his ear, realizing he was so busy pondering that he missed the way Senri's sounds trailed off at some point.

"Why are you so tense, babe?" his lover purred against his ear, tightening his arm that rested across Raha's chest and by it pulling his back harder into the heated wall of muscles.

"Just… thinking," he sighed, nearly absentmindedly petting his forearm as his now crimson eyes – both of them – stared forward without seeing anything.

In the end, Senri refused even to entertain the notion of not taking along his 'nest' of blankets which now Raha was quite glad for since he was very quickly learning to appreciate his lover's tendencies. Despite his swirling thoughts, he felt warm and comfortable, almost spoiled in a way.

That was also a thing with Senri, that his friends were apparently very correct about. His lover did have a tendency to fawn over him to a ridiculous degree. Touch him constantly and pretty much… obsess over meeting his every whim. During the day, when they packed – or rather Senri did, since Raha didn't even have a chance to unpack in the first place – he felt the pale eyes follow him literally constantly. He wasn't much better about it – obviously – but it was hard to resist watching Sen's every move when his beauty was so… extreme, or so he explained to himself that magnetic pull between them.

In a way, it was like, in a matter of seconds, they were growing increasingly attuned to each other, and the sensation was so intense… that it scared him more than a bit.

Mostly because he worried that it wasn't natural. Especially now, after hearing the story of their past selves…

"What about?" Senri whispered, rubbing his chin against the top of his head. "Whatever have you so tense, my prince?"

Raha couldn't help but smile weakly at the nickname, closing his eyes with a sigh. That augmenting was, in a way… a tad disappointing. He wasn't sure what exactly did he expect, but when they came back to the Tower with Hythlodaeus and left their things in prepared for them bedroom, the violet-haired man brought them back to that circular room – on foot this time to show them the way – and once there, Hades pretty much snapped his fingers… and that's it. He felt a brief wave of heat roll through his body and not much else, then embarrassment when Senri peered into his face and started gushing with excitement, stating that, like this, he loved his eyes, too… Only back in their intended bedroom, when Hythlodaeus, with obvious amusement, instructed them in its various mechanisms and facilities, could he see the result in a full-body mirror contained in the insanely advanced closet… thing.

Everything inside the Tower seemed impossibly technologically advanced, obviously, and despite learning about the Allagan Empire once for his thesis, it seemed… well, overwhelming to face the literal peak of their achievements like this.

…and it spoke at him. The first time he heard the strange, mechanical voice, he a bit… freaked out, nearly jumping out of his skin and looking about for the source of it… as did Senri, too. That had Hythlodaeus almost rolling over with laughter before he explained that the Tower itself is semi-sentient. It did not have a 'will' of its own – he said – but for its 'citizens' comfort, it was implemented with artificial intelligence capable of learning and evolving – though in a restricted manner.

None of the Emperors of old wanted their own palace to turn against them, after all!

And apparently, its highest priority now was to obey him… and the thought alone felt beyond absurd! Raha thought he understood the situation when Hades explained the need for the argumentation, but it was very… different when that disembodied voice insisted on calling him 'Your Highness' constantly, making him involuntarily flush with mortification every single time and cringe something fierce. But asking it to address him differently seemed to hit the wall of those restrictions Hythlodaeus mentioned….

Compared to that, Senri's 'my prince' was an improvement in his opinion!

"…Raha?" his lover growled softly to regain his attention, and he chuckled sheepishly, somewhat awkwardly turning to his back still inside his Warrior's tight embrace. Despite the complete darkness inside the bedroom, he could see the shine of his gorgeous pale eyes when Senri lifted above him on his elbow, resting his big hand over his cheek. "Tell me, babe… What's wrong?"

"Nothing… everything… I don't know," he sighed softly, closing his eyes again and smiling wryly as he set his hand over his lover's on his face. "My thoughts… spinning, Sen. I guess… it's catching up with me, all that happened, I mean. It all seems so… bizarre."

"Welcome to my world, babe," his lover chuckled, then lowered his head to brush his lips against Raha's in a sweet caress. "I… used to get veeery anxious once, whenever I tried to make sense of things happening around me. More often than not, I felt swept up by the stream of events and other people's demands… and at many points over the years, it made me… resentful. Angry and frustrated over pretty much everything. The Echo, the Blessing, and the feeling that others see and treat me as a tool. A Weapon of Light that they can point a whatever needs slaying… And I am a glorified killer. Because no matter how they try to decorate it, that's what I do: I kill things. People, monsters, gods… you name it. That's what the Warriors of Light are intended for…."

"…no," he breathed, wrapping his hand around the back of Senri's head and pulling him closer until his lover complied, with a sigh resting half over him as he buried his face against the redhead's throat, taking a deep, slightly shaky breath. And Raha closed his burning eyes when his throat tightened painfully as he understood something… That this was likely the cause of Senri's… 'clinginess,' his weaknesses for those who he loved… "You're a hero, Sen. You save and protect people from…."

"Babe… who decides which side is right?" his lover whispered into his skin without otherwise moving. "Why do Hyurs, Elzen, ours, and others have a higher right to live than other sentient creatures…? They say that the victors write the history, and their right is paramount… but where do the Warriors fit into that? I can face Eikons head-on in battle, Raha, and barely break a sweat… how fair is it to put me against mortals…? I have so much blood on my hands… you could fill a sea, babe, and if I didn't fight in their interest, how long do you think it would take for them to turn against me and everyone I care about…? I am a beast, but one on their leash, so they call me a hero, but it doesn't change that."

"Senri…" he could almost hear his own heart breaking when he wrapped his arms around his lover's neck and pulled him fully atop of himself. "…you're not a monster…"

"Ask the kin of the Ixal I slew the other day if they think the same, babe," Senri snarked sadly but complied, setting over him if carefully keeping his weight off him and still hiding his expression in the crook of the redhead's shoulder.

Raha stared at the crystalline ceiling above their 'nest' numbly, soothingly running his hand up and down his lover's back as he tried to wrap his head around it and find any possible words that would make it better… and couldn't. Not really.

Reading all his books about heroes and adventures growing up – so enamored with the concept – he quite… never considered it from this angle. Like Warriors of legends, Senri was stronger, faster, and more powerful than most… as he said, meant to face gods…

"Hades told me once," his lover breathed, slowly rubbing his cheek against Raha's throat. "That the 'Blessing' is, truthfully, a spell specific to the position Ares held back then. The Traveler's Ward, they called it, and it was meant to be just that… Keeping one's soul safe during travel, as that was Ares's Seat and calling… Do you think he's going to be impressed with how we came to use it…? Perhaps I'll have a chance to ask him…."

"…perhaps," he said softly, then sighed and sank his fingers into Senri's impossibly soft hair, pulling his head back slightly to pull him into a sweet, soothing kiss… And because there was nothing else he could say… "I love you, Sen," he breathed a moment later when they broke for air, delicately keeping his lover's inky hair back from his beautiful face.

"Love you, too, babe," Senri chuckled a tad wetly, then took his mouth into another, much hotter kiss, and Raha dove into it easily, letting his sweet flavor soothe his sore heart. Because sad as it was… he understood now that Senri's behavior toward him and his friends was borne out of self-loathing and guilt he hid behind his cheery attitude. Out of the misconceived gratitude for them treating him as a person instead of the beast, he apparently thought himself to be.

And as the kiss gradually – inevitably – grew hungrier, he swore internally that he would find a way to convince him that he, more than anyone else, deserved to be loved.


Senri was always full of energy. Some said: to a downright ridiculous degree.

When he was a kit, his mom, T'rhasa, found it adorable and would often repeat with a laugh - that rang like cheerful chimes - that she never saw a kit that would get as easily excited as he tended to do. No wonder, though, as the moments he had her all to himself were rare and far between. The females around the camp - and his three older sisters - frowned upon the way she was so very obviously enamored with him, and he swiftly developed his pretended cheer to spare her their scornful looks.

Thanks to her also - in a way - he developed a weakness for pretty things. In his mind, to this day, there was no female more beautiful than his mother, though, over the years, he met his share of women considered of extreme beauty. Especially when she smiled whenever he brought her found by him stones or crystals her beauty made his young heart melt - and even years later, as an adult and long after he left the tribe, he had a tendency to collect things he thought would bring that smile on her face. If someday he would grow brave enough to face her again, he would love to show her that - by now quite big - collection.

When he left the camp - using the distraction of one of the biggest celebrations - he took from it only the blankets his mother sown from him over the years, and with not much more, after saying his goodbyes to her, he ventured off into the ancient forest surrounding the place he grew up in. Without a direction in mind or very useful skills to help him along the way, he later figured that he was quite lucky to survive getting out of it.

Most Tia, between puberty and the moment of the Choice, were allowed to learn some basic things about the world and skills in case they picked to leave. Senri, for obvious reasons, wasn't even considered for such a privilege. When the hormones did the number on his physiology, and from weak and fragile-looking teen in a matter of weeks, he went to stand at six fulms tall - not to mention his features - none but his mother would ever consider that he would leave. Even his sire, T'sema, the first time he saw him after that... change, wore a resigned expression, knowing that if Senri elected to challenge him, he had a poor chance of winning.

None but his mother cared about what he wanted. And only she never assumed that he would want the breeding position if he were pretty sure that she had no idea about the real reason behind his reluctance.

The only useful skill he brought out of that Twelve-forsaken tribe was a knack for combat. And when he fought, he fought dirty and used any trick available to make the battle as short as possible. Those rare few who witnessed his ferocious behavior on the battlefield could surprise his naïve admirers with tales about the utter viciousness with which he went after his enemies. If they still - likely - wouldn't realize the reason behind it.

Because under all the bluster, T'senri Tia, the Twelve-forsaken Warrior of Light... despised fighting. And in his mind, the faster he put his opponents down, the better for them all.

As much else, this also was a remanent from his tribe. Until he wasn't a 'threat,' other Tia's tended to like him due to his cheery disposition, but when they started to train... nothing was off-limits against his advantage in his sheer size and strength. It didn't matter that he didn't want it, as with anything else there: his wants mattered little. Vicious as his half-brothers were in trying to take him down and humiliate him in front of enamored with his beauty females, he learned to be worse.

Later his kills were swift and, in a way by it: merciful. Unless he believed that his target deserved pain... then gloves went off, as Shtola liked to call it, and his victims ended up as a pile of meat mauled beyond recognition. Provoked, he was vicious and merciless, with the uncanny instinct of a predator picking on others' weaknesses and using them to perfection. And if it spared his party: nothing was off-limits.

But all of that had a massive downside: without a way to spend his energy, he grew restless and nearly itchy with a need to do... something. And the so-called Blessing made it so, so much worse...

Perhaps that's why a week into their stay in Crystal Tower and when his gorgeous lover was busy with found about the structure book... he was growing increasingly twitchy by the minute.

In between the lessons given by Themis and Gaia, and when Cid and Nero needed his lover's assistance, they set to explore the nooks and crannies of the Allagan palace, and to say that Raha was pleased when the second day, they found a well-preserved collection of ancient tomes was an understatement! The lovely shine it put in his crimson irises nearly equaled that of with which he looked at him... And absurdly enough, soon Senri found himself feeling a tad jealous of his lover's attention.

While Raha so very obviously liked to read, Senri didn't exactly understand the appeal. Perhaps because he never really learned - didn't need to with his Echo, anyway - and for his nature, it was a far too static thing to do. And now, while his cute redhead should very much in their free moments pay attention to him... He found his fascination with old books irritating. Especially as his restlessness grew. The only upside - for him - was the absolutely adorable focus present on his lover's face, and perhaps that helped him with staying idle... So far.

Splayed belly down in their nest and wearing only pants with his red hair for once bound into a loose, side ponytail instead of the usual braid, his redhead looked good enough to eat. And with the thought that they should have a bell or two before they are needed again... Well, watching the next lazy flick of the red tail gave Senri ideas... Next to him on his side - and much more comfortable wearing nothing at all - without warning, Senri shifted, rising slowly to next pin down his lover with his weight unceremoniously, and chuckled when Raha sighed patiently, not even turning his head but lowering to rest his chin on top of his crossed in front of him forearms.

"I'm reading, Sen," he stated petulantly.

"You had been reading for a while, babe," he whined and set a kiss on his neck. "Play with me instead."

"It's been merely a moment since we had sex, my insatiable beast," the redhead replied, and though like this he couldn't see his expression, he would bet he was blushing despite the brazen tone - mostly because he was adorably bashful like that.

"It's been a bell!" He complained, then chortled at another patient sigh from his lover. "But nah, I mean... Really, play with me, Raha... I'm bored," he admitted, carefully settling more of his weight over his lover's form as he nuzzled into the back of his shoulder insistently.

"Play...?" That did earn him a cutely owlish look if Raha like this could barely tilt his head, apparently not yet getting his intentions. He shifted slightly, enough to unfold his arms, then a tad uselessly tried to push back and raise on them. "Huh... Sen, get off. You're heavy."

"Mhmm... Make me," he purred deviously, nuzzling still against his skin as he lowered his hand over his side, quite intending to give his buttock a very pointed squeeze... and they both froze when his fingers brushed Raha's side, and his lover giggled! And when he raised his head to look at Raha's profile, he wasn't quite sure which one of them was more surprised by the sound. "...huh? What was that, babe?"

He had his suspicions - especially when his redhead's neck and cheeks grew noticeably redder while he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"No... no idea what are you talking a-about," he stated, carefully looking distinctively opposite to him.

"Truly...?" hidden from his crimson eyes, he grinned toothily at that pathetically weak attempt at deception - when it was so easy to tell when his cute lover tried to lie (Raha had so many tells that at some level it was ridiculous) - Senri shifted slightly to one side, then with premeditation ran his fingertips over his redhead's side, predictably electing another unbearably adorable giggle followed by an even cuter squeak when he repeated the motion harder. "You're ticklish," it was a veeery gleeful statement instead of a question.

"Stop that," his lover tried to slap his hand away, squirming under him with a completely red face.

"Nuhuh... that's so cute, babe!" he gushed, nuzzling into his neck again as, despite his lover's attempts to shake him off, he cheerfully set to torture him until Raha laughed uncontrollably, choking in between it on the gasps of his name and swears at his manners.

Until... something weird happened.

One moment he was quite enjoying teasing his lover to seven hells, and the next one... he was on his back, stupidly gawking at the ceiling above their nest, when his redhead pinned him down with an aggressive snarl.

"I said enough!" he snapped right in Senri's face, his face completely red and eyes quite teary... and nearly literally on fire with more than a spike of temper.

"...huh?" he hummed stupidly, barely noticing when his lover took hold of his wrists and almost brutally pinned them down around his head, straddling his chest on his knees. "What... how did you do that?"

"I have my ways... now," his lover scoffed, then leaned in until their noses almost met, his gorgeous eyes still aflame... if now with more than irritation at his antics. "You should have stopped when I told you so, Sen... Now I have to punish you, my beast," his face colored darkly. There was more than a bit of hesitation in his expression for a moment... until Senri bared his teeth at him defiantly, arching off the blankets in an attempt to throw him off... and a tad baffled when it didn't work. Instead, Raha pinned his arms down harder and rose to all fours above him with an infuriated hiss. "...behave."

"Make me," he dared in turn, feeling an impossibly swiftly mounting arousal when his lover growled and then, without warning, pushed his hands up over his head, crossed his wrists together, and pinned them down with one hand, freeing the other to wrap it around Senri's jaw, tilting his head to almost brush his lips against his mouth. And feeling his quickly speeding up breath and how his spicy scent spiked with by now telltale tang of arousal... Well, quite intrigued - and beyond turned on - by this game, the black-haired Seeker snapped his head up and delicately bit his lover's plush, lover lip, snickering when Raha jerked back with surprise. "Point for me," he purred, wiggling his eyebrows playfully when his redhead narrowed his fiery eyes at him, then his free hand shot down between them and unceremoniously curled around his dick, squeezing in a warning. It tore an embarrassingly loud moan from his mouth as he arched again, involuntarily following the slight tug of that hot grip.

"That's what you get for picking a fight naked, Sen," his lover chuckled - if it sounded quite raspy with desire - and shifted his legs above him, soon pressing one between his legs, spreading them forcefully. Senri almost whimpered when that wondrously tight grip left his cock, then followed it as Raha arched over him, reaching outside of the nest. Realizing his intentions, he purred loudly and shamelessly... if his sounds staggered when instead of - as he thought - that hand once oiled didn't wrap around his flesh but instead pushed deeper between his legs. Raha buried his face against his chest as his fingers somewhat gingerly rimmed his opening. "I've been... w-wondering... Would you m-mind...?" He asked in a stammer, and Senri frowned with confusion... that lasted only until one of those digits very carefully pushed into him.

Not as much the sensation but more so the idea - when it sank in what his lover was asking for - had him instantly painfully aroused, shifting just slightly to push back against that intriguing intrusion.

"I'm yours, babe... however you want me," he cooed, gladly spreading his legs wider when his redhead sighed softly and, without looking up, shifted to kneel between them.

"But..." he hesitated, then audibly took a deeper breath as that finger pressed deeper, soon delicately massaging the squeeze of his body loose. "...do you want it, Sen? Not just to... please me, or something," his other hand tightened slightly over his wrists seemingly unconsciously.

"I was... curious," he admitted if closing his eyes when his face grew impossibly hot. "But I thought... Ah, I'm so much bigger than you and... a-all..." If normally - so far - Raha seemed to enjoy their size difference...

"Let's see if you're going to... e-enjoy it as much as I do, hm?" his wonderfully soothing voice sounded hoarse again, sending a nearly brutal pang of arousal to clamp over his gut. With the next careful stroke, another finger pushed up into him, adding an... interesting sensation of a stretch of his body, and soon involuntarily almost he rolled his hips in their rhythm. The idea alone that his Raha wanted to claim him... had his senses on fire, drinking in every single hitch in his lover's breath. The way his spice-like scent grew so impossibly, wonderfully thick around them... "I'll help you relax, gorgeous," his redhead took a deep breath, let his hands go, and then lowered against him...

...Senri almost arched off the nest again when Raha's rough tongue trailed a scorching line from the base of his dick up to its tip. Then he curled his freed hand around the base and shifted over him, soon tearing a desperate whine from his throat when he swallowed his cock down. His hands shot down to grapple in the fur-like red hair as he choked on a breathless whimper when, at the same time third finger pressed inside him.

Literally losing his mind at the double sensation, Senri couldn't help but rut into that wet heat, holding his lover's head just in a perfect way... and Raha let him, then started purring around his flesh, slowly at first and almost hesitantly. That sound - and its maddening vibrations - soon grew harder and more confident as he fought to catch his breath, mewling the redhead's name as the pressure mounting at the base of his spine grew painful. His movements became jerky and erratic, and when the first mewl-purr rumbled in his throat, he came with a relieved groan, sagging bonelessly between the blankets. Nearly dizzy with bliss as it spilled through his body, he merely moaned weakly when soon he was rolled over to his stomach. Still twitching in the aftershocks and busy with his high, it felt impossibly good when his lover's heated skin pressed over his back, accompanied by deliciously delicate nips along his spine. His tail unconsciously wrapped around the redhead as he nuzzled into the blankets that by now were soaked in the mix of their scents. Drunk on it - and his lover's affectionate ministrations - he only nearly meowed softly when Raha's cock breached him, carefully but steadily pushing into his body. It felt so impossibly hot, and the idea... He curled his hands in fists in the blanket, eagerly pushing back onto the fiery feeling, purring insistently at the sound of his lover's possessive growl accompanied by a harder bite on his skin. Sure to leave a mark... he more than wanted.

Raha owned him, his heart and very soul, and he needed to...

...his sounds choked on a surprised whine his lover's scorching intrusion brushed... something inside him that sent sizzling sparks along the length of his spine. And apparently noting his flinch and gasp, Raha chuckled a tad breathlessly, then bracing his elbows around his sides, shifted slightly, pulling back an ilm and then pushing back in harder, turning that sizzle into a jolt of lightning. Senri bit down on the blankets to choke down an embarrassingly desperate whimper, uselessly as his lover, with premeditation, repeated the movement harder.

Soon that sensation became his entire world, turning it into a fever of need as each roll of his lover's hips sent violent shudders to wreck his body. His dick grew impossibly hard and painful so quickly that he grew dizzy again, helplessly rutting into the material under him as the pressure mounting inside him felt like a blaze of a flame ready to burn him away to ash. And Raha eagerly matched his increasingly desperate movements, gasping and whimpering into his skin.

"P-please..." Senri mewled, unsure what he was asking for as everything inside him tensed up, and his very skin felt far too tight. His head spun, and his heart felt ready to jump out of his chest, at least triple the normal rhythm. Raha moaned as his hand moved under the both of them and curled possessively around black-haired Seeker's dick. At the same, he snapped his hips with strength that couldn't be normal, and the sensation it sent across his nerve endings could be called only the raging inferno.

He came with an intensity that took his breath away, leaving him mewling incoherent praises as his whole body spasmed. Through the fog of it, he felt Raha's bite and the way it vibrated with a choked snarl as he pushed into him harder twice and spilled with a relieved groan.

Senri felt drunk, purring his bliss in staggering sounds until his lover joined in, as his redhead sagged against his back, resting and lazily nuzzling his cheek against Senri's back.

"...and?" he whispered after a long moment as the afterglow waned slowly. Enjoying the pressure of his relaxed body against his back, Senri hid his smirk in the blanket when he answered.

"Don't know... yet," he muttered into the material. "I think we should try again."

"Sen..." his lover snorted a laugh, soon shaking with it against him, and Senri grinned at the sound, flicking his tail excitably. "You're impossible to sate," his left hand took hold of his, lacing their fingers tightly.

"I just can't get enough of you, babe... no matter which way," he stated with pretended resignation, then sighed patiently, returning his grip. "...or is that book of yours more interesting...?" he added petulantly, and his redhead snorted again, putting another utterly lovesick grin on his face with his reply.

"Nothing is more interesting than you, my dream."

"Good! Now about that another try..."

They had to wait with that until his lover stopped laughing... but he didn't mind.