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Story
+ Angel Hunt ~ Streifen +
Alternate Universe
The Teenage Years...
A story collaboration between Angel Hunt and Streifen
Chapter Four : Part 03
The world has begun a slow intrusion into the space that they’d claimed for themselves, its presence not particularly wanted, but unavoidable. Gold-spotted thundercloud eyes open to stare at the weave of the pillowcase when a soft kiss is pressed against the top of his head. The whispered words given just after are something he’s becoming a bit familiar with when it comes to Lan, their meaning somewhere between teasing, the truth, and an intentional misdirection that Sashi is fairly sure is done only for his benefit. Certainly the white-haired Selestarri isn’t really talking about the food, which they’d so easily forgotten about… then again, maybe he is…? [You’re welcome,] he finally whispers in return, figuring it’ll cover whichever meaning the Bright had intended. Long arms tighten gently in response and he makes no protest when his body sinks back just a little more. The familiar quiet they often share settles in, alleviating any need for small talk. Just as well since he always fails miserably at it and he’s not even remotely sure what people talk about when they’re laying in bed like this. Normally he’s long gone by this point, off to bandage and stitch wounds and wipe away the blood, but when there are no injuries, when it’s just a darkened room, a soft bed, and the other person holding you near, the Dark has no idea what’s expected of him. Luckily Lan seems content to simply warm Sashi’s neck with his breath and enjoy the stillness.
Locked into the warmth from behind, the events of the day begin to trickle to the surface once more, overriding his body’s interest in sleep. The rumors all around school, the fight with Halacie, her words that stung when he thought he was immune to such things, the grueling physical punishment he’d heaped on himself all evening in Rec, had turned the day into one long mess. Thoughts of the other Bright remind Sashi why he’d wanted to speak with Lan in the first place, why he’d stopped at the third year’s door and come inside to share the meal. The white-haired Selestarri had apologized for her behavior, but it was unnecessary. Her anger was expected given the opinions about him that she’d expressed during their past meetings. It’s obvious that she loves Lan and that the beliefs widely held by their fellow students are backed up by the feelings the two Bright hold for one another. In the end that truly does make him the outsider, the interloper, in their relationship despite the fact that it was the tall, lanky teenager who approached him first and who insists that he and Sashi are their kindof friends. Still staring down at the weave of the pillow beneath their heads, the Dark’s tone is quiet and low when he finally speaks. [Halacie… when she asks you to choose between us…] and he has no doubt that Halacie hates him enough to break custom and insist that Lan choose. [I’ll understand…] when you don’t choose me… he can’t get the last words through the telepathic link and they remain within the barriers of his own mind. It bothers him a lot more than it should and even held tightly as he is now, warm and safe in the other Selestarri’s arms, a knot of unease slips around his heart, a forerunner to the pain he knows this all will cause when that choice is inevitably made and their friendship broken. The last of the golden shimmer drains from gray eyes as they slip closed. [I appreciate you covering with the rest of the school, but Halacie’s your childhood friend, so you don’t need to lie to her on my behalf… I’m… not worth that…]
Sashi can sense that Lan is about to speak, the slightest of shifts in the hold around his waist and the steady pace of his breath, but the telepath shakes his head. [I should go clean up and get to bed…]
Lan: the soft smile painting full lips slowly fades as the Dark’s quiet words are spoken, the doubt contained within each syllable clear despite the evenness of the other teenager’s tone. There’s the slightest hints of fear tainting his voice too, almost illegible and easy to miss, but there just the same. The talk of Halacie and the choice the fourth year seems convinced his childhood friend will force him to make takes him back a little and for a few moments the lanky Bright can say nothing as he mills over a presented situation he hadn’t thought a possibility until now.
Hail… wouldn’t ask that of him, he knows it. She may not like the friendship he and Sashi have been building, she may be protective and upset, but he knows in his heart that his oldest beloved childhood companion would never once come to him with that type of demand. What he suspects her to be upset about… has little to do with the Dark himself and everything to do with their circumstances, their assignment and the trials and tribulations he’s continuously put through. He knows her outburst during the afternoon could and has been taken in the wrong way, that her anger can easily be seen as personal, but he knows it’s not. The one she’s upset at is he, himself, and not Sashi. The one she’s angry at is himself, not his new friend but even with that anger, asking him to choose one friend over another is something he knows she’d never actually do.
But just as he’s about to open his mouth to tell Sashi this, just as he begins to shift in order to seek out those storm cloud colored eyes that have yet to meet his own, the gaze that remains glued to the pillow beneath their heads, the subject is changed and the telepath is starting to pull away. Despite the suggestion however, the third year makes no movement to let the other teenager go, his heavily scarred arm remaining wrapped tight around his counterpart’s slim waist.
[Yes…] Lan starts quietly as he pulls the shorter Selestarri closer towards his lean frame, the gentle gesture momentarily hitching the Dark’s breath. [I suppose getting clean is a good idea but…] Yellow eyes to slide partially closed and he leans down to touch his nose at the place where tanned shoulder meets neck. Taking a moment longer, he inhales briefly and as the other teen’s scent fills his senses, the soft smile returns to his lips. […you are already in bed and there’s little point to disturb the warmth for a task that can easily be done in the morning .]
Sashi: Resistance, strong and unyielding is met when he tries to untangle from the other Selestarri and move away, the solid hold at his waist remaining firm and drawing him even closer. The Dark’s breath catches at the action and then stops altogether when Lan touches that spot where shoulder meets neck, the same spot that knowingly or not, the third year has claimed. There is no physical mark, but it’s there just beneath the surface of his skin, flushing with brilliant warmth when softly nudged. The sensation quells any further thoughts of rising for the moment and gray eyes fall closed as he melts just a little closer to the one behind, completely unaware of what he’s doing.
Lan’s words make perfect sense and yet no sense at the same time. Wrapped in the warmth suffusing his body from inside and out, Sashi is inclined to follow the former and agree to staying here and waiting until morning for a shower. A notion that’s further cemented when one long, scarred arm reaches down to grasp the bed linens and pull them up to bare shoulders before returning to lock him in close once again. He’s warm and comfortable, drained but uninjured, and surrounded by an unfamiliar sense of safety, all things that he’s only ever experienced with the Bright. How valuable it all is, he could never describe let alone put a price on, and yet Lan gives it so casually, so easily, as if Sashi were just another member of their race. But, Sashi’s thoughts sharply remind him, Lan doesn’t know, nothing has been explained to him, he doesn’t understand… yet. And so those words, so light and freely given, make no sense when put in perspective of who the telepath is inside. If the white-haired teenager knew, if he knew whom he was offering these things to, there is no doubt that it would all be revoked . The soft smiles, the gentle touches, the offers of friendship and bed sharing would end because those things are never willingly given to a monster.
The negative thoughts aren’t helped any by the fact that Lan has remained quiet on the subject of choosing and the silence leads the Dark to believe that his friend is more than aware of its surety. Halacie will present the choice and Sashi knows better then to hope for any kind of favorable outcome. No one gives up on a childhood friend for a person they’ve only known for the span of a few weeks and even if reason and predictability flew out the window, how long will their friendship really last? How long before the third year discovers what’s inside? How long before all the exposure to his magic begins to twist the Bright as it had the others? How long before Lan gets hurt?
He knows the odds of all those questions, the nonexistent possibility of none of those things coming to pass and the one hundred percent guarantee that both of them will get hurt… and yet… he doesn’t want to leave this embrace or the kindness and gentleness given by the other Selestarri. Until he’d needed to get away from words he shouldn’t have said in the first place and the silence they brought from the other teenager, Sashi had not once thought of leaving this bed. In spite of everything he wants to remain near and the fact that Lan seems to wish for it as well is enough to set aside the painful questions and bitter knowledge of what the future will hold and allow the night to simply pass.
Caramel-tinted arms shift to hesitantly rest on those that lock him in and the silence stretches out, seconds running into minutes and minutes into a quarter hour before Sashi finally speaks. [I suppose it can wait until morning…] The only response is the gentlest of kisses pressed against pitch-black hair and then the silence returns, comfortable and increasingly familiar between the two teenagers. Warmed by the lean frame locked in so close and the soft breath at the back of his neck, it still takes a very long time for sleep to claim the telepath and he’s more than aware even as he slips under that Lan remains awake…
Zephyr: The lights dim as the tall blonde walks down the deserted dormitory hall, the thick shadows immediately stretching out to trail in his wake like a long cloak. The first year pays them little attention, his thoughts presently on the sleeping girl he’d left in the room down the corridor. He’d been meaning to deal with Ae-Cha and her less than perfectly reassembled mind for the past week, but after the trip to the club he’d been more focused on other matters. Matters down the hall from his own room in the boys’ dorm. Matters with white hair and deep pink eyes... That blush when embarrassed with a cute red flush… Matters that have soft, velvety skin that he very much wants to touch more of …
The Dark scowls as he turns the corner, long fingers lifting to rake errant strands from his line of sight. This seems to happen all the time now, his thoughts wander almost constantly to Jun and he gets pulled away from whatever he’s supposed to be doing. This whole thing with Ae-Cha is case in point. He’d borrowed those books from Sashi and done the research he’d needed on a couple of spells that would help piece the girl’s mind back together, but every time he tried to concentrate enough to practice them, he ended up thinking about his friend. It’s becoming a serious problem that he’s really hoping a couple of days away from the school will help because he’s running out of things to distract himself with when they’re alone together. Zeph’s frown deepens as he stops before one of the lacquered doors. Who the hell is he kidding? He and Jun don’t even have to be alone for him to want to touch and that’s like, a whole new layer of issues he can’t even begin to wrap his head around.
A quiet sigh slips from between full lips and he stares at the door for a moment, pushing everything out except the task at hand. He’d fixed Ae-Cha as much as he’d been able to given that human minds are weak and fragile and while she’ll probably always have that space cadet quirk happening, she won’t be quite as far out there as she has been. Now he needs to deal with a different female, one who’s crossed a line she should have damn well known would come with consequences. That slap on the wrist she’d received earlier today during her tantrum in front of the school is nothing compared with what he’ll hand out should she be stupid enough to try something like this again. Right now he’s here to give a warning, which is much more then others of his faction would give.
A black void opens beneath Zephyr’s feet, surging upward to teleport him through the wall and into the bedroom beyond between the space of one heartbeat and the next. All the rooms in this school are basically laid out in the same manner, so there’s little chance of reappearing into a chair or dresser or whatnot even though he’s never been inside of Halacie’s room before. The tall Bright is standing in front of her wardrobe, her back to the door and the blonde and apparently unaware of his presence. Long arms cross over his chest as the first year sinks back against he lacquered wood. [After your little tantrum today,] he says quietly, a smirk shifting over full lips as Halacie whirls around. [I have to wonder if you’ve been spending too much time with the cattle. If they’re rubbing off on you a bit when you freak out over something as simple as Lan and my brother sleeping together.]
False chocolate eyes narrow immediately, but Zeph shakes his head, the smirk only widening at her anger. [Let me have my say and then you can go on about how unfair it is or how disgusting or whatever, okay?] The second year continues to scowl at him for a moment before her own arms cross over her chest as well. [Look, I admit I was a little unsure of them messing around too, because really, the factions shouldn’t mix like that. There’s just some unnaturalness to it or something that doesn’t sit right. But, it’s not like they’re the first ever Dark and Bright to do it.] Halacie’s scowl manages to grow somehow deeper and she’s about to interrupt before another small shake of the blonde’s head. [Don’t even make that face because we both know it’s true, whether your prissy faction wants to admit it or not.]
As he pushes away from the door, sharp chocolate eyes watch while he crosses a few feet over the floor to a tall, plush, wing-backed chair and leans over the top. [The bottom line is: they’re just fucking. The end. Period. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re not like the humans who need to control every aspect of the person they’re involved with physically and emotionally.] Honestly, he’s about a million percent certain that his brother couldn’t handle anything right now that isn’t just sexual. Seriously, look how hard it was for the two of them just to be friends. Not that Halacie needs to know any of that, of course. [There’s a reason why our people believe in multiple relationships, right? It’s unfair to expect any one person to fulfill all of our needs, all the time, and in every aspect. It creates a pressure that’s unhealthy for everyone.] The Dark’s narrow shoulders shrug. [Understanding that idea is how we, as compared to the human cattle, can grasp the concept that messing around is nothing more than that. It’s not the commitment to any of the romantic stuff, like pledging your heart or your eternal love.] Even saying that sounds like the worst cheesy romantic movie ever made and he kinda feels like he needs to wash the sugar sweetness from his mouth. [So while yes, he’s your boyfriend or whatever arrangement you two have and you play the game down here as I suppose you’ve decided to do, it doesn’t mean you have any real need to freak out about it. Certainly, you have no reason to call my brother out and attack him in front of the school like some overwrought human chick. Because at the end of the day, it still breaks down to one thing.] Zephyr waves dismissively and the tone of his words are light, but midnight eyes are sharp and cool when they meet false chocolate. [Sashi and Lan are just fucking.]
Halacie: the scowl painting the tall Bright’s pretty features only grows darker with everything the other teenager says, the indignity of the Dark just popping into her room without permission as if she gives a fuck about his opinion on the matter soon lost beneath the meaning of his words. What he’s implying only solidifies something she’d already been convinced had happened despite the fact that Lan lied to her and claimed it had not, and that in itself upsets her on more levels than she’s willing to admit. For the entire two years she and Key have been in this school -on this assignment they’d been blissfully free of the other faction’s presence. The three of them always knew one another were around but their paths never once crossed and she liked it that way.
They’ve had enough to worry about without complications from the other side simply because of the nature of their assignment alone. So how in the hell did any of this happen and why is it happening now? Is it because of the blonde? Another of that dirty faction comes in and suddenly it’s as if there are no more lines that should be crossed? And Key… how could he possible lower himself to even touching that other Dark? After everything those Angels have been doing to him, after everything he’s had to endure even from their own Assembly as a result, how could he possibly let something like that happen?
[You have no idea what you’re talking about…] Halacie finally starts, her false gaze narrowing at the first year before her and her outwardly calm disposition relaying nothing of the un-surety she feels inside at his presence, […about any of it so I’m not even going to waste my time trying to explain it to you.] she wants to tell the other Selestarri exactly how wrong he is, that no matter what the norm of their societies may be and what he assumes is the case, is so very not. Key… he isn’t like everyone else and if he and Sashi are truly sleeping together, then it means something big. Lan has always been different in that regard, it’s one of the reasons she has such a hard time not being possessive of him when it comes to others touching him or even the reverse.
It’s also one of the reasons she couldn’t help falling for him so early on.
When he shows another those sorts of kindnesses, it’s more than a simply touch or a casual encounter. Her Key… doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. When he allows you in, he’s let you in deep. When he allows you in, it means something and she’s pretty god damn certain that neither this Dark or the other gets that in any way. It’s why she can’t stand the thought of it, knowing that Sashi’s treating her Key the same way any of their faction would treat another; just another fuck and no big deal.
But it is a big deal, major in fact because of the source and she hates knowing that Key’s done that, opened himself up to someone who doesn’t care, allowed himself to be touched and dirtied, shown more of himself to that freak than he’s been allowed to show any other. He doesn’t deserve to be treated so dismissively any more than Sashi deserves to lay his hands on him in any way. It’s why she lost it when she came back from the weekend and heard the rumors, it’s why she freaked out. She’s spent all this time having to watch Key be hurt, tortured, mutilated, changed and then told to endure by their own people simply so they can find out more. All the while he’s had to withdraw, no longer allowed to reach out for others, to touch anyone, to be himself, drop these stupid barriers of concealing magic or do all the things they used to take for granted.
She’s tried so hard to protect him throughout it, to make him feel as normal as she can when everything continuously makes him feel as if he’s not and she doesn’t understand why he’d go to another instead of her, to that one in particular and hand him something that’s obviously viewed as some quick and easy way to get off. He doesn’t deserve it, any more than she deserves this ridiculous asinine lecture based on things that don’t apply.
“Just go away” she says as she unfolds her arms, each word slightly slurred aloud and signed as well, but the hurt she feels prominent just the same. “I’m not going to get into a discussion about what’s going on with them with someone like you… especially when you just don’t understand.”
Zephyr: The blonde grins when told to go away, his tall frame still draped over the back of the plush chair as the Bright signs out the words that mean as little to him as they would if she were talking about the weather. Her dismissive attitude would hold a lot more weight if there weren’t a couple other factors in play at the moment, factors he doubts Halacie either knows or has taken into account. First, she’s scared of him, although she does a good job at hiding it behind the irritation and what’s more, a quick slip into her surface memories reveals that she’s also scared of Sashi, really scared in fact. That’s very interesting and something he’ll certainly look into at a later point in time, but at the moment the fear is useful. No one grows up on Nova without understanding how to use fear to their advantage. Second, this whole thing involves his brother and while their shared blood means little to most Selestarri, it means a hell of a lot to him. All these years on Nova he’s had to watch as the others treated Sashi like trash, smacked down whenever he’d tried to stand up for him, every protest overruled by the Elders, and fuck if he’s going to let it happen here. This is the only place the telepath has found any kind of peace, the only place he’s made a friend and if this bitch thinks she’s going to interfere in any way, Zeph is more than happy to correct the mistake.
[I don’t understand?] The first year asks after a moment, that same grin never leaving his lips in spite of the icy cold that slips throughout. [Was I the one out there today making a scene? Calling even more attention to every single rumor?] His words are light, but the frost in midnight eyes is piercing as it meets annoyed false chocolate and the dismissive gesture she flashes as he speaks only adds a layer to the chill. Sometimes he really hates how stupid girls can be, especially when they think they’re right. Straightening his tall frame, Zeph shrugs. [But hey, we can totally do this your way. You don’t want to listen to what I have to say?] Slender fingers lift to casually rake stands of white-gold from his face. [That’s totally fine.]
The same fingers sketch out glowing white runes in between one heartbeat and another, the teleport pulling the Dark from behind the chair to Halacie’s side much faster then eyes can follow. Seizing the girl’s narrow shoulder, Zephyr shoves her back against the closed side of the wardrobe, the heavy wood shuddering a little at the impact as he pins her tight. The first year follows right in with his body, tall and menacing as he towers over the Bright and leaving no opportunity for her to slip past. [Let me make something perfectly fucking clear for you before I go: stay away from Sashi.] Tapered fingers dig into the slim shoulder and the blonde’s words have lost all sense of lightness, pitched low and edged in sharp frost. [If you’re stupid enough to repeat what you did today, it’s not my brother who will act, it’s me.] Glaring midnight find startled illusionary chocolate, the icy cold that grips the first year beginning to filter into the air. [Every single memory Lan has of you, I’ll strip away. All those times you played as little kids, trained, messed around, all the smiles, the laughs, everything will be gone from his mind. When he looks at you, there will be nothing and no matter how much you cry, or beg, or plead, he’ll never remember because for him, it didn’t exist. You didn’t exist.] A chilly smirk crosses Zephyr’s mouth and he drops his hand, stepping back. [Think about it, Halacie.]
The darkness of the teleport whisks him away a moment later, leaving the Bright alone in her room once again…
Halacie: every word, each syllable, all of what the younger teenager had said before he’d teleported away rings throughout the tall Bright’s head and for many long moments afterwards, she can do little more than remain perfectly still –pinned up against the wardrobe by her own accord as if that Dark was the one continuing to keep her there. The fear she’d felt when he’d issued the threat to begin with only seems to grow in intensity with every second that ticks by, almost numbing in a way she can’t properly describe.
The blonde wouldn’t do that to them; herself or her Key. He wouldn’t take every bit of their friendship away as if it never happened, he wouldn’t hurt them like that. He couldn’t.
But from his words alone, from the frost and seriousness in his tone, from the simple fact that he’s a Dark –evil and vindictive and so much more terrible than she’d ever thought that faction could be, she knows that threat wasn’t an idle one. From this encounter, she’s now facing two choices she isn’t sure she can make in any way… stand back and watch someone she loves be used and disregarded as if he were nothing more than a piece of trash or continue trying to protect him and watch everything they’ve ever known be stripped and tossed away.
Before she can even think to stop them tears rise up to blur falsely tinted chocolate vision as the impact of the blow finally hits her full force, the thought of losing Lan in any way so painful and overwhelming that all she can do is pull her hands to her face and sink towards the floor, the movement doing nothing to stifle the loud sob that spills forth as her lithe frame slides defeated down onto the cold hardwood below…