Men who play games of war and soldiers born from circumstance...
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The Captain stands stunned, his weapon lowered slowly to his side as the Harbinger’s steps carry him further away. That anything he has said is responsible for the blonde’s current state is just… his intentions were never this. He’s in motion before he even realizes it and the white haired man reaches quickly out to wrap clawed fingers around Kso’ppghiel’s wrist to stop him in his tracks. “Do you think I have enjoyed having to spend my days hurting a man who never should have been caged in the first place? Do you think it is been easy to have to deliver that same man back into the hands of the person who has ordered it?” The blonde attempts to jerk his wrist free of Bal’thial’s grip only to have it held strong. “I do what I am instructed to do because it is my duty and place within these walls, Harbinger, but I am no sadist and I find no honor in hurting a man who cannot fight back. My words were only ever meant to push you into action, to make you see what I see, to keep you fighting… never once did I think they would result in this.” Kso’ppghiel turns back, keeping his eyes to the ground. “Physical hurt I can take, the beatings, the injuries, they did little to me… it was your words. I have only had one purpose in my life, one I had no issue trying to fulfill. My focus has been on what was taken from me and I was used to that. I am not meant to have a different purpose, as you seem to think, I cannot, and it pains me to think I should want these things when I am incapable of achieving them. I cannot have a choice because there is no choice to make.” “But… there are always choices, options, other ways to life.” Bal’thial slips his hand away from the Harbinger’s wrist and slides it up to touch just beneath his chin to lift his face up, their gazes meeting for only a moment before Kso’ppghiel jerks his head back and white eyes shift somewhere off to their sides. “Finding reason to live beyond the kill is an option, a choice.” The Captain continues as he curls his fingers back. “When you find the one who took your family from you and make them pay the price for your loss in blood, what becomes of you afterwards? You do not simply cease to exist because the other has. You will continue on, you will live and then… what? You can find your reason to live beyond it, Harbinger without losing your current soul.” “I do not want or deserve a better or different life. As I have said before, I cannot simply pretend to live a life I am incapable of. I cannot simply settle down and live peacefully. I cannot serve another as you have done. My life is not yours, I do not have the same options. There is nothing else.” The blonde turns away again. “I am… tired of talking… as nothing I can say can make you understand. If you are going to beat me, please do so, so that I can think about something else.” “No.” Bal’thial says simply as the other man turns away, “I will not give you what you want because I do not think it is truly what you want.” The tall Captain’s words stop the Harbinger once again and a moment later, his pupiless white gaze shifts to his side when the man behind him throws his own weapon towards the ground. “How could mere words affect you to this point if the thoughts were not already swimming somewhere in your head? You say there is nothing else, so why would anything I say to the contrary hurt you?” shaking his head, the soft chime of metal adornments echoes throughout the vast empty arena room as he turns his own head to the side, his voice falling low. “You accuse me of confusing words, yet your own do not match with your actions.” “Because they were not swimming anywhere until you had said them.” Kso’ppghiel turns and finally faces Bal’thial, his voice low. “I do not talk, Captain, I simply exist because to do anything else is too much. I have not spoken of my family or my past to anyone outside of yourself. I have relived far too many painful memories because of it. You push me to feel and think when I do not want to. To relive what I am trying to forget. What used to be crystalline clear to me is now clouded.” He steps in close, a tone of desperation lacing his words. “The anger that drove me is gone and I feel dead.” The desperation so clear in the Harbinger’s words and so visible in pupiless white eyes is nearly more than the Captain can bear, the knowledge that he’s done this with words meant to have the opposite effect striking him deeper than he can take. “Then you need new fuel to spark that fire again, a new anger to drive you so you will no longer feel dead…” he whispers moments before he reaches up, clawed fingers grasping onto the sides of Kso’ppghiel’s face to wrench his head towards him. If the actions he’s about to take can spark this new hatred, have it directed at him for what he’s about to do, then so be it. He won’t be responsible for taking the soul of a man such as this. Before the blonde even has time to react, Bal’thial is leaning down and moments later full lips crash against his own as he’s pulled into a hard kiss. The world freezes around Kso’ppghiel as he stands in shock, the actions of the other not quite registering to him even as they are happening. He doesn’t know what to do, think or feel but he does know he can’t take what feelings are there in any capacity. A small part of him actually wonders what returning the kiss would be like, but it is only a small part. The rest of his brain catches up with him and he shoves the Captain off harshly before backing away. He stands, simply staring at the man before him. He needs to get away, as far away as possible from him. “T-take me back… take me back to her.” Bal’thial slides the back of his hand up to his mouth as mismatched eyes remain locked with shocked white, finding himself a little in disbelief that he’d just crossed the line that he had with his Queen’s chosen. He’d just wanted the Harbinger to fight, to get a reaction from him, to console him, to do anything he could to spark some life back into his eyes and he’d acted a bit before truly thinking. And now… Pulling his hand away from his lips, the white haired man turns without so much as a word said to move back towards the arena’s sealed entrance, stopping only briefly to scoop his serrated edged sword free of the dirty floor below before continuing on. “She will be pleased to see you voluntarily returned, I am sure…” he says quietly without turning back moments after the short stream of words are spoken to unlock the doors, his tone rather flat as he swings one wide open and steps to the side, simply waiting for the blonde to move from the place his feet seem glued to far behind. Kso’ppghiel’s heart is racing as he forces himself to walk, passing so close to that man as he exits with sword in hand. He doesn’t know the way back but he’ll find it if he has to, he simply needs to get where the Captain is not. The rest of the way up is a blur as Bal’thial follows behind at a safe distance, the Harbinger not deviating from his task of finding Io’fayl’s chamber until he reaches it sometime later. Kso’ppghiel bursts through the entrance doors before the guards have time to move and upon seeing the Queen on her bed, he drops to one knee, sword held in front as he bows his head. “Please let me stay with you… my Queen.” The Captain steps in behind just as the words are spoken, the Harbinger forcing them out despite his own repulsion at every word. Io’fayl blinks, first at her Harbinger and then at her Captain who seems just as confused as she is. Rising from her bed, she moves quickly to Kso’ppghiel’s front, almost hesitant to speak. “… Then rise before your Queen.” A wide smile forms over her lips as he follows her command, standing at attention and purposefully ignoring the one standing behind. Io’fayl steps forward, bringing claw tipped fingers to the blonde’s jaw and pulling him down for a deep kiss which he reluctantly reciprocates in front of the white haired man. Mismatched eyes pull away from the scene before him, his gaze lowering towards the floor in a futile attempt to escape it. He wasn’t expecting this… or the feelings of suffocation that’s attempting to consume him from its result. “I… trust my work with your Harbinger is done, Mistress?” he says quietly with a tone so low it could be a whisper and without bothering to break the kiss, a delicate hand is brought up to wave him off. Bal’thial nods and turns away without ever raising his head, finding a dull sort of pain settling deep inside of his chest as he moves back towards her opened double doors. Moments later he’s exited the room and left the pair alone, moving swiftly through the long halls and back towards his own. Kso’ppghiel pulls away from the kiss first once Bal’thial has left. He doesn’t want to kiss her, he doesn’t want to be anywhere even close to her proximity, but he needs to be away from the Captain to sort out in his head what happened. What exactly did happen? The Harbinger has always pushed those who try to get close to him away, never wanted to engage in any physical relations with another. So why is his heart racing so much now? His thoughts are interrupted by a light touch on his chest, one he has to fight not to flinch away from. “I-I need… food.” He turns away, headed out towards the Queen’s terrace. Io’fayl allows him his uncertainty, as she truly did not think he would ever come around. He will learn in time how best to behave and she will teach him. Right now, she is simply happy there is still a chance he can walk in Mithghiiel’s footsteps. She smiles as she walks to his side. “Of course.”
 “Get up.” Bal’thial says flatly, allowing his comrade no time to even spit the blood pooling in his mouth before he’s coming at him again. Scrambling away to catch his footing with a arm wrapped around his side, he turns back towards his Captain only to have a hard punch delivered to his jaw that sends him flying back down again. “This is why five of you were killed!” the white haired man nearly hisses, fire filled green and blue turning on the remaining line of men and causing nearly all of them to flinch. “This is why it takes so many to subdue her chosen every time he gets a whim to escape! There is not one of you worth your weight in gold and I have had enough!” the beaten man limps his way quickly over to rejoin the group standing rigid at attention to Bal’thial’s front just as a clawed hand is brought accusingly up. “You will all train until the sun has risen again in the sky as I will not have our Queen’s guard filled with pathetic excuses for men. No breaks, no rest, nothing until I am satisfied.” A collective ‘yes sir’ resonates into the air moments before the Captain turns from them and storms back towards the arena doors, his men behind him quickly restarting their training all over again and not one daring to deviate from the task even as their commanding officer exits and leaves them alone. Bal’thial’s footfalls echo out in the hall as he streamlines back towards the levels above, the anger he’s feeling at himself not quelled in the slightest. He’d hoped he could drown it out along with the pain stabbing him deep inside of his chest, but no matter how many of his men he beat down, no matter how many punches he delivered, no matter how many times he’d knocked them back onto the floor, it wasn’t working and he’s left with the image of the Queen’s Harbinger pressing his lips against their Mistress’s burned deep inside of his mind’s eyes. He hates it, wants it purged from his head and can’t quite seem to manage it no matter what he does and more than the hurt he feels from that alone, he’s angry at himself for the feelings in the first place. He has no right to feel this way, shouldn’t even care at all and the fact that he does, upsets him on a level so deep he honestly doesn’t know what to do…
Delicate, claw tipped fingers play in white-blonde hair, her Harbinger’s white eyes staring out into nothing as they normally do. Within minutes of her call, the Captain of her guard arrives, entering her chamber as the door is held open. Io’fayl smiles and rises to greet him, moving swiftly across the marble. Bal’thial stops just inside of the room as his Mistress moves towards him, his eyes lowered and head bowed towards the floor. He hasn’t been back inside of her chambers since that day weeks ago, all orders he’d been issued during that time sent to him by one of his men or another and he’d been relieved to have it this way. He’d hoped that the pain he’d felt on the day would fade, that without having to be near the Harbinger he could go back to not caring the way he’d never cared before… but standing once again in his Queen’s room and finding himself purposefully avoiding even a glance towards her chosen, the dull ache that springs up tells him otherwise. “Mistress.” He says quietly as Io’fayl steps in close. Her fingers reach out to lift his chin up gently to meet her gaze. “I need you to accompany Sav’real as he gathers information for me. It requires going through a more dangerous area and I would rather not lose my most competent intelligence officer.” A quick nod by her Captain assures her the task will be done as ordered and a moment later, she guides his face forward and their lips meet. Behind her, white eyes meet mismatched blue and green for the first time in weeks, a look of disgust, hatred and hurt forming over his features before he’s even aware. Kso’ppghiel turns away once he’s realized his actions and pulls his gaze from the two. The tall Captain can’t accurately describe the pain that stabs at his chest when the range of emotion shifts through the Harbinger’s gaze while his Mistress’s lips remain locked with his own, confirming everything Sav’real had once said to be truth. This is no different than it was with Tir’snin, the Queen’s efforts so obviously paying off as her webs ensnare yet another against her fold. Yet with Tir’snin he didn’t care, just as he hadn’t cared about the one before or any others that she’s touched and taken during his years of service… to know that Kso’ppghiel is now amongst them however strikes him deep, just as deeply as it had the day he’d been pushed away. He shouldn’t be surprised; this is simply what she does. She can take the most level headed of men or women and send their worlds spinning so for him to think the blonde would have been any different was as foolish as his feelings have been from the start. Pulling his eyes away from the white gaze that’s already turned from them both just as Io’fayl’s lips leave his, he smiles the smallest of smiles as her clawed fingers trace along the contours of his face. “I will return with Sav’real intact shortly…”
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