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"Y-You!" Lae'zel barked. |
"Then come for me, rev'na!", Shadowheart growls. |
A final shudder ran through Lae'zel's spasming body and her body tightened as she came. Shadowheart doesn't stop, continuing to fuck Lae'zel through her orgasm, only stopping as her limbs finally grow limp. |
Lae'zel's walls fluttered around Shadowheart's retreating length, suddenly feeling empty. After a few moments of shuffling, Shadowheart pulled her down into the bedroll, a heavy blanket dropping down on the both of them. Lae'zel settled into the Shadowheart, their bodies curling along each other perfectly, the half-elf... |
"I love you." Shadowheart whispered close to her ear. |
That, of all things, makes Lae'zel flush red, head dizzier than anything before. |
"... I love you too." |
"I cannot be this thing you think you see in me." Astarion hissed back at the man in front of him. He had been at odds with the half-elf over the ritual Cazador sought to perform since they had learned of its existence but never before had he seen his words have such an effect as these ones did. |
Ariat had always been stoic, even prideful, in his countenance, the way he held himself. Honest emotions rarely showed but when they did it was always significant, good and bad. He'd learned that much in the days he'd traveled at his side. He held himself as most Sorcerers did. Overly confidant in himself...practically... |
He recalled the night with the Tieflings when he'd drawn the man into conversation about wanting sex...seen the interest grow in his eyes...and enjoyed watching it dim when he'd cruelly rejected him in the next breath. That was the first time he'd seen the cracks in that perfect mask. The first time he realized that pe... |
It hadn't been enough to change his mind about him of course...that had come much later. |
It had started that one night. The night that Bard woman had run into their camp looking to join their party. He'd been against it if only because he couldn't think of anything more annoying than being stuck with yet another bubbly soft do-good personality...and the way Ariat had beamed at the woman. So happy to welcom... |
So, when he woke in the morning to find the bard brutally torn apart in the middle of their camp...so close to his own tent that he was shocked he hadn't woken earlier...he couldn't say he'd ever been more surprised in his long life. |
There was no question as to who had done it...with Ariat sitting on his bedroll looking as if he had literally bathed in the womans" blood. |
The others had been outraged and fearful at first in various ways...but Astarion had simply been annoyed. He'd confronted him on not at least hiding the fact he'd killed the woman better. He'd never forget the way Ariat had looked up at him. The lost and fearful look in his eyes when he'd spoken. |
"...it wasn't me...I...I didn't do that...I didn't..." He'd whispered, voice lacking all of his usual overbearing confidence. |
His initial reaction had been to scoff at the obvious lie...but...he knew how to read people. Ariat hadn't been lying. Everything about him, the look in his eyes, the subtle shaking of his hands, told him that Ariat was as shocked by the murder as the rest of them had been. More so...given that he had apparently commit... |
That had been the first time but not the last, and Astarion had watched as the cracks had grown and the real person underneath had become more visible. The little moments when he could see his struggle for control when no one else cared to, and the times when that inner cruelty would slip its leash...and the guilt he'd... |
More and more Astarion realized that they were more alike than he had first thought. The mask was simply a shield against the fear he had towards himself and his lack of control though he didn't fully realize how much that was true until Ariat had revealed to him the truth about himself. He was a child of the god Bhaal... |
"I'm afraid, Astarion...I know what I want, and I know what everyone else tells me. That I can be good...but...my father...he wants me to do these terrible things. How do I fight this? How am I expected to fight against a God? How am I supposed to fight what's in my own blood? I don't think I can..." Ariat's voice was ... |
He could see Ariat faltering, looking as if he might give up and something in Astarion had snapped. They had never been truly close, the two of them, though their attitudes had certainly improved as time had gone on. They were friends certainly but, in that moment, Astarion had seen a mirror in the way Ariat slumped, i... |
He'd grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to face him as he spoke. He could barely remember everything he had said that night, but he did remember the crux of it. Don't become a slave. Don't let anyone else control what or who he was. Not fear. Not the Gods. |
"Don't become His!" He'd said and he'd never meant anything more in his life. |
Ariat had become more of his old self after that night, only letting his darker self out when he thought it was useful to do so. He was in control. He was that confidant man he'd been when they'd first met...but somehow...it no longer bothered Astarion to see it. |
"I cannot be this thing you think you see in me!" Astarion heard himself say in response to Ariat's insistence, yet again, that he not go through with the ritual, and he saw those cracks appear again in his friends" face. The way his head twitched up while his gaze stayed locked on his own. He'd learned to see the subt... |
The way his face went still and his eyes lost their warmth. Those gold green eyes of his that could hold such gentleness and affection...suddenly looking every bit as reptilian as the distant ancestor that had given them to him. The subtle way the scales on his cheeks flared up along the edges when he was excited. The ... |
...not so much now that it was directed at him. |
He'd flinched back but not fast enough to escape the man taking hold of his arm...and agile as he was, he was caught off guard by how strong the other man could be. Before he knew what was happening he found himself on the floor of his tent with the half-elf on top of him. He thrashed but the way Ariat straddled him ac... |
Gods, he'd heard what Shadowheart had said about the night she'd been forced to tie the man up, but somehow that still hadn't made him think Ariat could really be that much of a threat on his own. That she had been exaggerating how close she'd come to not being able to restrain him, and how easily she was sure he could... |
He was regretting that assumption now. |
Ariat's hand moved by his head and there was a flash of metal. A sharp pain lanced across his cheek and he realized he was holding a small knife. He wasn't even sure where he'd gotten it from but he could see it held in his free hand now, hovering over his face as it reflected the flickering candlelight within the tent... |
He grunted and felt the blood dripping slowly down his cheek from the shallow cut, the way the pupils of Ariat's eyes became blown wide as he watched it. The sorcerer was breathing heavy and his body felt abnormally, uncomfortably, hot against him as he leaned down over the vampire. Astarion shuddered as he couldn't he... |
Ariat groaned low in his throat, a sound that was too uncomfortably close to sexual for the elf he had trapped underneath him, and then he dragged his tongue over the cut on his face and Astarion hissed. He kicked his legs and squirmed in his captivity. |
"...get...off of me." Astarion managed to get out through his constricted throat, and he looked up at the half-elf as he pulled back and met that cold lizard gaze with his own ruby glare, fangs bared. Ariat's face spasmed in a way that Astarion knew meant he was under the influence of the Urge, that he must be imaginin... |
The knife came up and Astarion flinched, eyes closing, sure that he was about to lose his face... |
There was a thud next to his head and when he opened his eyes he found the knife buried firmly in the ground next to his head...then the grip on his throat loosened and Ariat sat up, face pulling away from him. As he pulled away his expression became less severe, softer. |
Astarion blinked in surprise and slowly came to a realization. |
Had...Ariat purposely provoked the Urge and then denied it...to make a point? |
"How...dare you...say that to me. ME." Ariat ground out, voice sounding like a growl in the wake of what he'd just done, "After all we have been through...after all you have said to me. All the times you have picked me up? Do you listen to yourself?! EVER?!" |
"How dare you act like you have no choice before you. Like you cannot be better than you have been. Like you don't want to be. You don't fool me, Astarion! I SEE you! I KNOW you don't want this! You KNOW what it will do to you if you do, just as I do...and you DON'T want that!" |
Astarion could only glare up at him and he considered trying to push him off but Ariat stood up before he could take the action himself and instead he was simply left laying on the ground looking up at him, trying to be angry and instead not knowing how he felt at all. |
"You told me once not to become Bhaals slave...and I took those words to heart, so you listen to ME now." |
"We don't have to be what others would make of us. I don't and you don't. WE are in control now. WE get to choose! YOU get to choose. Don't let fear make you into something you are not." he said, pointing at himself even as he angled himself down to address the elf, the light blazing in his eyes one of intense passion ... |
"You're not alone, Astarion...we get to choose who we are now, and you're not alone in this. Never forget that." he said and then he turned and left the tent without waiting for the vampire to respond. |
Only one thing was certain...he had a lot to think about...and not much time to come to any conclusions, if there were any to come to. |
The rage and hurt slowly began to fade as he sat back from the barely recognizable corpse of his old master that lay on the floor before him. He didn't care about the blood that was soaking slowly into the knees of his pants where he knelt in the growing puddle. He didn't care about the copious amounts of the same on t... |
Even after he stood up he felt...numb, disconnected from it all as they dismissed the other spawn...and destroyed the thousands held captive in cages. Gods...there were so many...no one in their right mind would think to release such a plague...even if they had been innocent. |
Even as he heard himself talking it just didn't feel like he was there yet in that moment. |
Then it was just them...standing there in the growing silence. |
He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, uncomfortably warm, but not quite burning him...familiar, but when he turned to thank his friend...he found who was touching him was not the person he expected it to be. |
"Easy, Soldier. Just take a minute." Karlach said as she removed her hand, but he could see the way her eyes crinkled as she smiled at him, strained with pain in their depths. |
Astarion frowned and looked around them, as if seeing the battlefield for the first time since Cazador had been defeated. |
Where was Ariat? |
He couldn't find him at first, him or Shadowheart, but then the flash of her silver armor caught his attention from just beyond the magical daylight she had cast. She was kneeling by one of the pillars near the place Cazador had held him during the ritual. A memory stirred from the chaos of the last few moments. |
The circle on the floor blazed with demonic red energy, the same energy that held him locked in the air, helpless. There were three rings...and he felt it as the third one began to blaze to life...draining his along with it. |
It was over. They'd failed. He dragged them all here, ignored all of their pleas that he stay behind,...and in so doing he'd doomed them all. |
He closed his eyes. At least it would be quick. |
Fingers closed around his wrist. Hot, burning against his skin, pulling him out of his surrender. His eyes snapped open and he strained them to look down. Ariat was holding his outstretched arm with both hands. The sorcerer's body and armor were wreathed in dancing flames and the heat of it scorched his own skin until ... |
He couldn't remember everything that happened after that. He'd fled from the ritual spot as quickly as he could. Anything to get himself as far from it and as close to the center of that magical daylight as he could get. He'd lost sight of Ariat soon after as a wall of flames had bisected the platform, separating the h... |
Now as he stepped around the central casket he saw what Shadowheart had gone to. Ariat's body was slumped on the floor against the pillar. The scent of blood was heavy in the air but Ariat's had always held a particular bite to it, both in flavor and scent, that Astarion had always been able to tell apart from the othe... |
That scent was strong now. Strong enough to tell him that it wasn't contained within his body where it should have been. That coupled with the boneless way his body laid against the pillar and the way his head was angled back told him that the there was no life left in that body. |
Had Ariat sacrificed himself...to save him? |
That absolute bastard! How...how dare he put that kind of weight on him! |
How in the hells was he meant to deal with that?! Now...on top of everything else! |
Shadowhearts wavering voice lifted in a familiar prayer and there was a flash of blue light that spiraled around her hands and settled on the fallen half-elf. A grimace formed on Ariat's face and he lifted his head into a more comfortable, and far less dead looking, position. |
Oh...oh thank the gods! |
Karlach let out a joyous cry and left Astarion's side to join Shadowheart in tending the man. Astarion let them deal with that. Watching from a distance. Ariat was alive...but by the looks of it he was far from being out of danger. Shadowheart's face was stricken with worry and panic as her hands fluttered about him. |
"That was my last spell! Selune will grant me no more healing this day...it's not enough!" She said, distressed. Her hands were pressed against Ariat's side where Astarion could now see the wide rips in his leather armor and the blood seeping out underneath. |
There was the burned body of a Were-wolf not far from where he sat, and most of the puddle he was laying in was bubbling and popping threateningly. It was easy to guess what had happened, though, he was certain the wolf hadn't expected its prey to explode when it put its claws through him. |
Astarion jumped forward, "Easy, Karlach." He warned, pointing out the blood pooling just an inch from the woman's foot. |
The Tiefling glanced down, huffed and nodded, "...right...well...fuck me." She cursed and moved herself back. She shook herself off, taking some deep breaths, as she calmed down her overheating engine. Slowly the flames escaping through the vents on her shoulders died down and she looked a great deal...safer to be arou... |
"Ok, soldier, time to get you home." Karlach declared with determination in her voice and stepped forward to pick the sorcerer up. Ariat was not a small man and had more muscle on him then one would usually expect in a Sorcerer, but the Tiefling held him in her arms as easily as if he weighed no more than a child. |
Ariat grimaced in pain and Astarion saw his lips move...but was too far away to hear the words. |
Whatever he said made Karlach grimace and shake her head, "Like hells I will. You just hold on, ok? We'll have you right again in no time, mate. Just you see." She said and began heading back the way they had come, unbothered by the burden she carried. |
Shadowheart followed behind with Ariat's staff clutched in her hands. She paused briefly as she walked passed Astarion. She smiled, "...I'm glad you're alright." |
She spoke and her voice seemed sincere, but in her eyes Astarion saw a glimpse of that woman she had been when they had first met. Pain filled shadows that told him that if Ariat died now...she would never forgive him. |
Looking down at the distinctly hand-shaped burns on his arm he wasn't sure he could blame her. |
------------------------------------- |
The camp was filled with unease that night as Ariat fought for his own life in the nearby barn, waiting for the coming of the dawn to herald a return of Shadowheart's depleted spells. The others hovered around the barn trying to find ways to help in whatever ways they could...but Astarion kept far away within his own t... |
What good would his presence do anyway? He was no healer. |
When someone did finally come to him, he was surprised to see the Druid Jaheira in his doorway. He'd not cared overly much for the older woman but as she had never caused him any trouble, he left it alone and Ariat had seemed appreciative of her advice. |
"I would speak with you a moment." She said, her tone brooking no room for argument...though perhaps that was simply an effect of her accent. |
"Oh, yes, of course. Do come in." He said, with a slight bow...heavily sarcastic seeing as she was very much already inside. |
She smirked and made an amused sound in her throat almost reminiscent of a chuckle, "Thank you." |
He smiled. She could take a joke at least. He could appreciate that, "How can I help you, my dear." |
"Hmm...it is not me that is in need of helping." |
His smile faded. |
"Your friend is in need of you this night, more than he has ever needed you I think." |
He squirmed slightly, uncomfortably, "Yes, well...whoever gave you the idea that I am a healer...I'm afraid you have been grossly misinformed." |
"It is not in his body that he is need of support...and, I know, you and he have been...invaluable to one another in the matters of the mind and soul." |
He cleared his throat, "I..." |
"You have much in common." She continued, insistent, "He fights his demons just as you have done. As you have succeeded in doing. Sadly, his trials are not yet over...they never truly will be. Such is the case of all Bhaalspawn and the closer he gets to the source, the harder it will become. Whether he succeeds or fall... |
He didn't respond. He wasn't sure how he should even try to do so. His first instinct was denial, but he had no doubt that the perceptive woman would see right through such deceptions. He opted instead to say nothing. |
"He has...said some concerning things this night, things that make me think that he needs your help again." She sighed and shook her head, "I traveled beside one like him before. A Bhaalspawn. Certainly, Ariat's trials are...unique in comparison, but what he needs is someone to listen to him. Hear what he has to say wi... |
Astarion grimaced and rolled his eyes subtly. He couldn't help himself as the woman tried to speak as if she knew anything about the half elf...or himself...or their situation. |
Jaheira smirked and quirked an eyebrow, "...already you defend him I see." she observed. |
He glared at her and opened his mouth to make a sarcastic retort, but she spoke first. |
"Go to him, I beg. If nothing else...to let him know the one he risked his life to save at least cares to see his face hmm?" She said and then turned to leave his tent. |
He threw his hands up and shook his head, "Gods...damnit it all to the hells with these people." he huffed indignantly to the empty space she had left behind. |
He had it in mind to refuse...just to prove a point. Just because he could...but...if he had to be honest with himself, he didn't want to. He wanted to see Ariat. He had the entire time. He just...hadn't felt like he'd be welcome. |
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