It had been a whole year since Ayato had been taken into the haunting Yamada Castle. He couldn't believe that it was winter once more.
The past year had been a wild ride to put it mildly. To go from just another boy living in the sleepy harbour town of Buraza to becoming the equivalent of the Grand Duchess was insane. It was the last thing Ayato had expected in his mundane life. He was now just as feared as the Grand Duke, with the servants realising that one bad word from Ayato could mean becoming the next meal for Taro's favourite pets.
He had come to love the strangeness of the creatures kept under the grand hall.
He still noted the odd longing look from the servants from time to time, but they would not dare to try and touch him. He figured that it was like wanting something that was out of their league, like an expensive car or their dream home. He would smirk when they looked his way, their glittering eyes begging for a piece of him. They only did as such when Taro was not in the same room, knowing their limits on what they could get away with.
A class upper maid Mei was the most respected of them all, seeing as she was serving Ayato directly. Any disrespect to her was considered to be as serious as disrespecting Ayato himself. He had been somewhat shocked when she confessed to him that she was not initially respected until she got into his good graces. Something about being 'too soft' to survive long on the estate'. She treated him as the most precious person to her, he loved her for her honesty and her respect to him. Wherever they went, she carried out her duties to him to the best of her ability.
Now, she had a purple and black ribbon in her deep blue hair to show her status.
Mei was someone who he really could call his friend, not just his maid.
The head butler Takahashi explained to Ayato behind closed doors that Grand Duke Taro Yamada had seen Ayato going over to his groups of 'Friends' - Fureddo, Seiyo and Enpistu. That had been the moment when his fate had changed forever and he didn't even realise it when he was crossing the road at the time. That night, he had been sent up to Yamada castle so they could try to break in and steal a certain diamond. Things had shifted that night, his friends had abandoned him to death's grace yet here he was. Near enough at the top of the pecking order.
Things were just so different now in every way.
Since he was brought in, he found out that said diamond they were most likely talking about was what Taro called the 'Nobunaga Diamond'. A cushion shaped blood red diamond that was easily worth tens of millions, it was said to be cursed. Every woman who touched it would fall ill and die or something along those lines. It was in a bulletproof glass case for now but Taro had been talking about getting it set in something as of late…
When he was caught in the woods, fleeing for his life, he had been certain that his life was over. Especially when he was brought to the grand hall in the main part of the castle. That was where he had met Taro for the first time face to face, the look in his eyes that night had not changed in the slightest. The young man before him had frightened Ayato into submissiveness, but even a battle hardened man would have been terrified in Taro's presence. The three guards who had caught him had been fed to the Grand Duke's Komodo dragons for the crime of roughly man handling Ayato.
Things changed after that night forever. He remembered how he had cried his heart out the few days, in the spare bedroom with was now a private library for Ayato. He recalled how the stress of everything had made him badly ill, the vision of the grand duke looking after him was not one he easily forgot.
The other issue regarding other servants wanting a piece of the virgin Ayato had raised its head, which Taro cut off without hesitation. Then six months later, the pair had slept together and that was when the dynamic and attitudes that Ayato held so dear really were challenged. He had become somewhat ruthless anyway but the day he fed Seiyo to the Komodo dragons was the day things had finally clicked in placed. Like a single string in his mind had finally snapped.
Fureddo and Enpitsu were still out there. They were still alive somehow. How they had managed to escape the guards, he had no idea. He supposed that they must have snuck away while Ayato was being chased into the woods.
They clearly didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves, even if Seiyo claimed that they searched for him. Those grating, twisted laughs haunted him in his dreams from time to time but they were mostly quashed now. It no longer mattered. Taro Yamada yearned for Ayato's attention nearly all the time, and Ayato was always willing to give the Grand Duke whatever he wanted. There were times when Ayato wanted to be in charge and he would take it.
Ayato savoured making Taro get on his knees and plead for a piece of him. There were bite marks, old and new, riddled across his body mainly along his collarbone. His precious lover had a thing for biting down somewhere when he was close to finishing, making Ayato buck his ass up into Taro's pelvic region.
He had learnt everything about how Taro's head worked and used it to get whatever he wanted. He was more likely to feel 'in the mood' after eating or in the evening. Yet, it was too easy to drive him into a lusty frenzy by displaying himself before Taro. The most successful result had been from displaying himself in the dungeon, biting into a soft bit gag while wearing a leather corset and being chained up. He had been fucked roughly three times before the Grand Duke rolled off him.
It had been in this state of sexual euphoria that an idea came into his head. A vicious, evil idea. He leaned on Taro's chest, whispering the tempting evil into his ear. Taro laughed loudly in response.
"You're so wicked, my little moth." He grabbed Ayato's hips, pinning him back to the floor. "If you keep talking like that, I might have to fuck you again"
Fureddo was in an absolute state, that was all that Enpitsu could say about him nowadays.
First, Ayato had been gone for over a year and then Seiyo disappeared six months later. His last remaining friend had taken to drinking his sorrows away every night. While Fureddo drowned himself in cheap sake and beer, Enpitsu had been continuing the search in his own time. It was a way to get out of the apartment while Fureddo put himself in a stupor. Even though it had perhaps been pointless at the time…
Until it wasn't.
Word and rumour had gotten around that Ayato was, somehow, alive in Yamada Castle.
It was said that a young man in purple either been sighted walking around the castle as if he owned it or was in the lower basement. The Grand Duke, on the other hand, was known for wearing red or gold. He supposed the Grand Duke may have just been wearing purple more often but it seemed off, why would he suddenly change his most well known habit for wearing red?
Either way, that was the sign that he needed.
Fureddo had been nursing yet another hangover when the ginger hair boy rushed into the living room. "Oi Mate! Get your ass up now and stop drinking! Ayato is alive!"
The boy with the blue scarf snapped his head around, bewilderment across his features. "What do you mean by that? It's been a year. There's no way he could be..." Enpitsu grabbed the map of the castle and the surrounding area, the same one they had used the year prior for that prank gone wrong. The three of them had rushed home and cried into each other's shoulders before shoving the map into a cupboard. They prayed that no one would come looking for them.
Things had been tense since then, Seiyo left the apartment after arguing with Furredo. It had started off with a snap here and there until it was more than that "Just so you know, it's your fault that Ayato is probably dead in that castle!" Seiyo had cursed back at Furredo before leaving, he had never been seen again. That no longer mattered now though, there was real hope!
"I've heard that he has been seen either going around the castle or that he is being held in the dungeon. Let's face it, the person wondering the castle is probably the Grand Duke. Ayato being held in the dungeon makes too much sense! But even then, why keep him there for so long?"
Feruddo had listened in until something flicked in his mind. His eyes watered as he clenched his fists.
"Seiyo… Seiyo said he was going up to the castle that day! I had tried to stop him, that was why we got into that argument where he cursed me out. W-what if he figured it out?" He shivered involuntary, a lump rising in his throat "What if that's why he disappeared? That cursed grand duke realised that he was looking around? Or someone grassed up to him?"
Enpitsu had considered that, but had brushed it off at the time. But now? He shook his head, almost in disbelief. "Why the hell didn't he ask us to go with him? Maybe he wouldn't have vanished too. Seiyo, you stupid bastard! You should have let us come with you or waited for us!" He questioned it but Fureddo's resolve had returned.
He glazed down at the map, the knowledge of what happened that night had haunted him. Visions of Ayato's dead body lingered in his dreams, alcohol helped to drown it out. That was why he had taken to drinking in the first place. Now, he had purpose again. He marked an area of the map with a red X by one of the walls before speaking quietly.
"Here is what we are going to do..."
They were here again.
Yamada Castle towered over the pair of friends the same as it had done a year prior, the moon shorn the same way as it had done that night. Even the rotation of the guards was still the same, Fureddo had noticed that the hole in the wall was also still in place. He thought to himself. That must have meant that no one had figured out that he had broken into the dungeons in his friezed search for Ayato. The two friends were dressed head to toe in black, apart from Fureddo wearing a deep purple neck tie. They both wore black mouth covers and tucked their hair into their hoods.
The guards in their blood red armour walked past, not seeming to notice them. The pair rushed into the hole in the wall, scrambling as they did so. They had not realised that the guards were told to be aware of this but do nothing. Once gone, the guards quietly radioed in the activity.
The matching pair were finally inside the castle. Enpitsu had been outside panicking when Fureedo had been breaking into the lower basement the previous year. Furredo had told him about the castle but he had not believed that it was so lavish inside. Now, he was seeing it for himself.
The cold air bit at their faces as they navigated their way through the main garden. The guards around them rotated like vultures would an unsuspecting meal. Enpitsu grabbed onto his last remaining friend.
"Which way is it?" He whispered carefully as his eyes darted about the place, fearful that they would be heard or spotted.
Fureddo pointed with his hand in the direction of a location shrouded in darkness. Two guards were posted outside, they would need to distract them somehow. Enpitsu and Fureddo crawled under the rose bushes before coming up close to them. He grabbed a rock and threw it across the gardens, it clattered on the path as it fell not far away from them.
"Who's there?!" A guard barked out as both of them walked away. The two snuck into the lower basement. The older guard turned to the younger one "Sounds like they took the bait, the Grand Duke and Duchess will be pleased."
It was dark and murky, exactly as Fureddo remembered it. Each careful step took them further in the deep abyss, where only rust coloured torchlight showed them the way. The place stank of damp, the holding cells towards the top of the building were oddly empty. But that was when they were at the top of the lower basement, the real prisoners would be held deeper.
Halfway down, the cells changed to ones that Fureddo had expected when visiting castles in the past.
The pair came down to the final level, it was darker somehow than before. Then, orange coloured light emitted from a room ahead of them, chatter could be heard as they snuck by. They would see the shadows dancing by the doorway, Enpitsu and Furredo stuck themselves to the wall to avoid the light. The last thing they needed was to be caught now of all times.
"When do you think we're going to be rotated out of here. This place gives me the fucking creeps" A guard with deep green hair spat as he nibbled on some buttered bread, it looked like he was polishing his armour while eating. The second guard came out from another room to the right of the first one, fixing his greying maroon hair. He rolled his blue eyes in the same way that Ayato would before sighing.
"You're always bitching about being down here. We'll be out of here in the morning as you are well aware. Then we'll get rotated next week to do the walk around the walls. You just need to be patient and wait like everyone else does. Everyone gets the shift down here at some point. That's just part of the job, Besides, we get good money for it compared to everyone else in the harbour town."
The first guard stopped nibbling on his bread, placing it back down on his plate. He picked up another piece of his armour and started on it "To be honest, I'm surprised that they still put someone down here. There's only one person and it's that kid we caught… a year ago I think..." He had to pause to think, Enpitsu threw his hand over his and Fureddo's mouth. Fearing that either one of them would make a sound and give themselves away. "Yeah, that one with the black hair and purple eyes"
"I'm surprised he is still down here all things considered. That blonde kid from six months ago is long dead last I heard. One of the butlers told me that they used what was left of him in the compost for the flowers. You know, those pink roses by the door outside. Considering that he was fed to the komodo dragons, I wonder just exactly how of him was actually left..."
Both of their stomachs dropped. Seiyo was dead. Worse, they had just crawled over his remains when they distracted the guards outside. Tears flooded Enpitsu's eyes at the news. He had to stop himself from making a sound again, lest they ended up the same.
"You know damn well why he is still down here. The grand duke wants to take him for himself. That poor kid has held out so far but I don't know just how much patience the grand duke has left..." Fureddo felt a vein pop in his forehead, was that how Ayato was being treated?! Like a toy? The guard continued "He'll either kill that kid for not obeying him or he'll just take him by force I bet" Furredo's stomach turned, he thought that he was going to be sick for a moment.
The first guard shook his head. "I don't know what would actually be worse. If I were in that position, I'd much prefer death"
Enpitsu gestured to Fureddo to move on. Finally, they did so. Leaving the twittering guards to their own devices. Enpistu sniffled quietly, Fureddo had expected that Seiyo was dead but the through of crawling on his final resting place had disturbed him deeply. They tried to push the thought out of mind, it didn't stop them from thinking about just how Seiyo had met his end.
Fed to the Grand Duke's pets like a live mouse being fed to a snake.
Furredo ran into a nearby cell and emptied his stomach. Enpitsu tried to keep him quiet. Finally, Furredo stopped vomiting. "No! We can't let that happen!". Enpitsu placed a hand on his friend's back "That is exactly why we are here. We're going to help Ayato get out of here. Alright?"
Furredo spat in anger. The only thing was, what were they going to do when Ayato escaped? Surely they would have to leave Buraza behind. Hell, they might have to leave Japan altogether if the Grand Duke really wanted him that badly.
Would they ever be truly safe?
They could figure that out later. They left the cell and ventured further into the unknown.
Finally, a single cell at the very bottom of the dungeon was lit. But, they heard chatter. Fureddo and Enpitsu forced themselves to the darkest corner of the room as they listened in.
"Come on, how much longer are you to resist me?" The voice of another boy could be heard. "You would be the most powerful person in the castle, in the entire chūbu region of Japan. Apart from myself of course" An evil sounding chuckled emitted from the cell. That had to be the Grand Duke without question. The red haired boy felt his blood boil.
"You killed my only friends and now you expect me to sleep with you? Fuck off! I'd rather die" It was Ayato! He was alive. Fureddo felt his heart jolt with relief, then with horror. Was this what he had been dealing with for the whole year?
"Now, now. There's no need for that" Shuffling could be heard, as if someone was trying to get away. "You'll come to me in time. I know it. Perhaps a few more weeks in the cold will help you seek some warmth from me" Enpitsu had to grab his friend and drag him away from the doorway to stop him from revealing them both, lest Fureddo decided to punch Ayato's captor. They slipped in the pitch black of another cell as two butlers and a boy their age came out.
Taro Yamada was not exactly handsome but money was an easy way to charm people. He looked like the average young man in Enpitsu's opinion. Fureddo was enraged, this piece of shit nobility dared to touch Ayato! To coax him into his bed! He gritted his teeth as the Grand Duke and his butlers disappeared from his sight.
They had brought bobby pins and hooks for the cell door. Ayato, still dressed as he had been a year ago, leapt from where he had been sitting and threw himself at the bars. "Fureddo! Enpitsu! I thought you were dead! He said that the guards had killed you both. H-how are you here?" He wept openly, Enpitsu was dealing with the lock as Fureddo comforted the frightened Ayato.
"We all got away. We ran as soon as more guards came out the door. I'm so sorry! I never expected this to happen! What happened to Seiyo?"
Ayato sniffled and shivered from behind the bars "T-they brought him down here. Placed him in the cell next to mine. The guards took turns beating him black and blue with chains for information about me but he wouldn't give them anything. Then, the grand duke started burning him, with a candle's flame..."
Fureddo had started to turn white as chalk, listening to the story. Enpitsu finally got the door open and Ayato threw himself at his friends.
"T-they didn't stop until Seiyo's voice gave out. I had to listen to the whole thing! When he didn't give them anything, they fed him to the komodo dragons and made me watch!" Enpitsu looked around warily, eyes tearing up. "W-we need to get out of here, they might come back anytime. We cannot be caught!" Fureddo nodded, he took Ayato's hand and fled up the stairs.
The trio snuck past several cells, hiding in one every time steps or chatter got too close. They hid until the noises passed and then continued on their way. The first half of the plan was completed, now they needed to get out of here alive. Furredo knew that the hole would be tricky to get back out of but they had to try, for Ayato's sake.
They were nearly at the top, evading any of the two guards from earlier. Then, the bells rung and Ayato froze. "No...n-no!" He fell to the floor, hands gripping his hair. "T-they know you're here. They only ring that bell if someone has got in the castle!" He started to hyperventilate. "Oh god..."
Fureddo reached for his neck tie instinctively, it wasn't there. He looked around hastily "Fuck, it must have gotten caught on something." Enpitsu was cradling Ayato on the floor, trying to prevent a panic attack.'Huh, I thought he would be thinner...' he thought before saying "Come on, let's get up. Let's get out of here" The boy with indigo eyes nodded shakily as he stood up, breathing deeply. The doors above them burst opened suddenly.
"They could be down here. Comb the bottom cells!"
The three fled into the nearest cell as the guards charged past them. The footsteps echoed through the lower basement until it got quiet enough that they would hear each other's breathing. Ayato was still shaking from the close call. Fureddo breathed a sigh of relief only to have the cell door slammed shut and locked.
"NO!" Fureddo grabbed onto the bars "Let us out, we won't say anything! We haven't taken anything, you can search us!"
"You're trying to take something that belongs to me" A cold voice came from the darkness "Or more correctly, someone."
The sound of a match striking came from the back of the cell, revealing Taro and his two butlers from earlier holding a lantern each. "You didn't think I was going to make it easy for you, did you?" Taro spoke, holding up the missing purple neck tie. He hovered it above the flame, allowing it to lick the purple fabric until it burnt to a crisp. Ayato backed himself into a corner, fear prevalent in his features. Enpitsu looked around, there was no way out.
Finally, there was Fureddo who was dumbfounded.
"H-how?"
Taro threw back his head and laughed. Everything about it felt gross, evil even. "I was aware of the first time you broke in here. Searching for your 'friend'" He looked over in Ayato's direction, tilting his head slightly. Furredo and Enpitsu both jumped in front of him. Shielding their friend like they should done one year ago. Taro smiled. "I knew you would be back, so I purposely chose to ignore the hole in the wall"
He chuckled again "How cute. The pair of you finally get to be the knights in shining armour you always wanted." He looked back at his butlers. "Seize them, bring Ayato to me" The two butler's approached menacingly. With no other way out, Fureddo pulled out a knife he had stashed.
"I won't let you get to him!" Fureddo slashed, Taro sped forward and took the blonde's wrist. He twisted it, snapping several bones, forcing Fureddo to drop the knife. He screamed at the top of his lungs, not realising that the door out of the cell had been opened. Two pairs of guards flooded in, seizing Fureddo and Enpitsu.
The two butlers grabbed Ayato as he yelled to spare them. They were mindful to not leave marks on him, lest they ended up like the ones who manhandled Ayato a year ago.
Taro, however, was having none of it. Even if he knew that Ayato was only acting. While the others panicked, Ayato flashed a smiled at him before returning to acting.
"Take the intruders to the top of the towers." He then turned around to face Ayato and smiled. "Make him ready for me when I return to my chambers" The butlers kept Ayato back as Fureddo and Enpitsu was dragged from the cells.
Fureddo writhed in the grip, even with his broken wrist. He had to do something, Ayato was begging for their lives at great risk to his own. The tower that they were dragged up to sat on top of the building at led to the lower basement. Both struggled against their captors, Enpitsu had managed to throw in a punch before being restrained once again.
Taro laughed at the sight, a fond reminder of the night he and Ayato had finally met.
He couldn't wait to see what their reactions would be.
Finally, they reached the top and Enpitsu was forced to the edge. He squirmed, forcing himself to not look down. Feruddo again tried to fight, realising what they were about to do when the Grand Duke ordered his guards to halt.
"Hold on a moment, we have one more person to wait for..."
They waited until someone in a silk black kimono appeared from the doorway, escorted by a maid with navy blue hair and eyes that matched her glasses. The figure's hair was decked out in a wisteria kanzashi, pooling down to its neck. A gold obi belt held the dress in place. A gold necklace with a massive red diamond in the center sat on the figure's neck. The person being escorted looked to be the grand duchess. Then, Fureddo met the indigo eyes.
He stammered in horror before Ayato smiled, Enpitsu's stomach dropped at the revelation.
"Did you think that I was going to forgive you for leaving me to die?"
Enpitsu shivered from his precarious standing "We did not mean for that to happen. Please, you have to believe us! That wasn't supposed to happen! I swear!" Ayato tilted his head in a menacing manner. "I believe you Enpitsu, you're sweet and harmless. You were always honest to a fault." He spoke before his eyes lay on the blonde boy "It's Fureddo who I don't believe." He giggled to himself before Taro stood by him.
He knelt down, facing Fureddo eye to eye. "If you were hoping to saving him from me, you're far too late. Ayato is mine in every way you can think of. Body and soul. He belongs to me" He laughed before looking over at the red haired boy who squirmed.
The moon leered over the group as the cold air cut through their clothes, Ayato loved the cool bite. The pale moonlight highlighted Ayato's haunting beauty as he stepped towards Enpitsu. He placed his hand on his friend's cheek and smiled sadly.
"Goodbye, old friend."
With that, the two guards threw him off the building. Enpitsu screamed as he fell to the ground…
A faint spatter was heard, Fureddo's legs buckled under him. Then, he too was dragged to the edge of the building. Looking down had been unwise, he could already see a pool of red surrounding the broken body of Enpitsu. The cold in the wind bit at his eyes as they watered, was this really going to be the end? After everything that they had been through together?
He glanced back at Ayato, his eyes pleading to see reason. To spare him. "You don't have to do this!" He stammered "I won't say anything! Please!" The two guards drew closer to the edge. He struggled once more, his will to live driving his last remaining strength. A tear fell from his eye as he looked down once more. He dug his heels in, hoping for a final chance to live.
"Ayato, please!" He glanced back once more time before the ground gave out from under him. Things slowed down as he acknowledged that he too was falling. The remaining tears left his eyes and he gave himself to the dark.
A final splatter was heard and it was over. Something lingered inside Ayato's heart, threatening to overtake him. Remorse perhaps? He had spent most of his life protecting his friends after they became a group in the orphanage. They had always been together after that, what had he done?-
He smothered it, shaking his head.
Holding out his hand, Mei took it and guided him back down the darkened stairs. Taro looked over as the mess that was already being cleaned up, he shrugged his shoulders and too made his way downstairs to the great hall where he noticed that it was lit up with black candles all the way to his throne.
Ayato sat in it, naked in all his glory. A tattoo of a purple moth on his back. The younger man looked back expectedly "Won't you come closer?" He spoke seductively, turning back to face him. The candlelight flickered as Taro approached, as if sensing the twisted person inside. He placed his fingers under Ayato's chin, making their eyes meet like he had done that night.
"You look ravishing" were the words he spoke before sealing their lips together...