Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

A/N Again, enormous apologies for the delay, stuff came up, inspiration fled and motivation just plain disappeared, but yus,no more excuses, here is the penultimate chapter to Absence. Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review!

Chapter Eleven. Warnings: Fluff, mild angst, sorta. Nothing worse than that I don't think.

Whipping and branding weren’t the only things that the pair had to endure with Hadrian during that visit. Hadrian had said that he would punish them for their attempted escape, and he had kept his word, brutalising the pair to within an inch of their lives after being a little overzealous with his torture. It was a surprise that neither of the pair had lost their minds during the time they spent bound in the master’s private room.

Neither of the two had the strength to walk at the end of the master’s playtime and a pair of heavy-set guards had to carry them to their room where there were a couple of slaves in green robes waiting for them. As the pair were lowered onto the beds, both of them barely conscious and delirious with pain, the green robed beings started dabbing at the bleeding wounds, setting herbal poultices over some of the wounds to aid with the healing process, bathing their sweaty foreheads with cool cloths.

Leon had run out of tears long ago and just lay on the bed like a broken doll, eyes glassy and unfocused, but Raf fared better and despite his body feeling as though every nerve ending was on fire, he still reached for the younger male’s hand, wanting them to draw comfort from each other, if they were going to make it through this, then they would have to work together, and a particularly brutal meeting with Hadrian could not be allowed to separate them, not when there was a chance that they would be rescued by Luca, if and when he came.

The healer tending to him pushed him back gently and Raf settled down with a groan of pain to allow the pair to do their work. He was worried about Leon, the boy looked as though he had been mentally and physically broken and he was concerned that he might not be able to put the blonde boy back together again. For the time being though, there was nothing he could do until he had recovered some himself, or else he’d end up making himself worse.

All he knew was pain, even when it had stopped being inflicted upon him, he still felt pain. Agony even. It was beyond anything he’d ever felt before and he much preferred the starvation he had been subjected with back in the beginning, to the suffering that had been forced upon him. There was a haze across his mind that prevented any serious thought as it just made his head pound and his body ache more than it was. He had retreated into his own mind to try to escape the torment, but still, he could not escape the pain that the wounds brought on.

He was vaguely aware that the burning pain was being eased away though, slowly, and not completely but at least the pain was dissipating somewhat and he tentatively drew himself away from his attempted shielding, coming back to himself and his situation. “R… Raf?” He asked softly, his voice hoarse after his all but ceaseless screams. He received a murmur of acknowledgement from the older slave who managed to sound genuinely pleased about hearing his voice despite the dark haired male’s lack of vocabulary right then.

It took three days of rest before either of the pair felt well enough to even try and sit up, let alone get up to anything, rebellious, sexual or otherwise. The healers came and went during that time, returning only to check on them and change the dressings on their wounds, which were healing nicely. The brands though, would never fade, they would be a constant reminder of to whom they belonged and what punishment was inflicted upon them should they do wrong.

It was terrible that they had to be marked in such a way, but Hadrian was a cruel master, one that did whatever took his fancy, no matter what the consequences were. He had gotten a little carried away though, and when he was told by the healers that it would be a good few weeks before either of the two were well enough to have another visit to his chambers, Hadrian had grabbed the nearest destructible object and hurled it at the wall, scaring the healers shitless and consequently shattering a vase beyond repair.

During that time, the two young slaves took the opportunity to bond, without fear of Hadrian tearing them apart again. He wasn’t allowed, which was rather amusing once the pair were well enough to appreciate the humour; the master unable to do what he wanted which was the whole reason he was the master to begin with. During the three days of rest, the pair had just talked about anything that had nothing to do with their earlier torture.

At the end of those three days, they attempted to get up and move around, put some weight on their rested legs to see if they were strong enough again. Weak to begin with, but with growing confidence the two found their feet and rejoiced in their recovery, hugging each other fiercely. After the brutality that had befallen them, neither had been optimistic about their recovery, but there they were, happily bouncing up and down in their hug and celebrating their returned freedom of movement. Of course, it couldn’t last long as Leon’s legs gave way and Raf had to carry him to the bed, but they were the happiest they’d been in a long time, too bad it had to be under less than pleasant circumstances.

Hadrian was not allowed to touch them for over a week and a half yet, so they could still celebrate even after the day had passed. Sure, it was only temporary, but all their joys in that desolate place were temporary, one just had to take what one could get. In addition, over a week of distance from Hadrian was something that was certainly worthy of celebration. That day they ate and drank without fear of Hadrian paying them a visit. He seemed to have severed all ties with them for the time being, though it was feared that the master had chosen another slave from the masses in the cells to replace them until they were completely recovered.

It seemed as though all thoughts of escaping with the other slaves were gone. Nobody wanted to risk a second attempt, Hadrian had no doubt increased the patrols around his mansion to prevent any further attempts of escape. It was a depressing thought that after one failed attempt, nobody had the will or the determination to try it again, even if it meant staying with Hadrian. Leon still lived in the hope of being rescued by Luca, but none of the other slaves had someone to come to their rescue.

That night, the fourth one of their freedom, Leon crawled into bed with Raf after they worked their way through a hearty meal of pork and a variety of vegetables, now that they had been deemed recovered enough to eat solid food as long as they were careful. Before that night, anything that was solid seemed not to agree with either of them and unless it was mashed together much like the sort of thing you’d do for a baby, they’d bring it all back up again and make a mess. Not pleasant.

So there they were, curled up together beneath the flimsy sheet, arms wrapped around each other. The young blonde slave nuzzled against Raf’s collarbone and lapped at the salty skin lightly, making the older male chuckle quietly, before he raised his gaze to the stormy grey eyes of the dark haired slave. “Do you think Luca will come for us? Or are we gonna be stuck here forever?” He whispered, wide blue eyes dancing with uncertainty even as Raf leaned down and placed a small kiss on his forehead.

“I think you knew Luca better than I did, so I think you already know the answer to that.” Raf replied softly, trailing his fingers through the boy’s blonde hair, a habit he had acquired to relax and comfort the younger male, though it seemed to relax him too, not thinking about anything, just stroking the boy’s hair in gentle, rhythmic strokes. “Don’t worry so much Leon, we have a week of time without Hadrian, let’s concentrate on that and try to enjoy ourselves somehow. We can’t let him oppress us even when he’s not around.”

Leon nodded slowly, giving Raf a squeeze in thanks. “Y’know… I told you about what I did before I was brought here, but I know hardly anything about where you came from. Was it nice? Did you have family and friends and stuff?” He asked with genuine curiosity, after all, he had told Raf that he had been in much that same position in the past as he was right then, with the exclusion of the brutality, but Raf had kept quiet about his past.

“I used to be a merchant’s son. We were quite wealthy because we sold things that a lot of people wanted so we could charge quite high prices for our goods.” He explained, staring off into space. “I had some pretty nice clothes, robes, not the cotton shirt and breeches you’d expect of someone in mine and my father’s position. We travelled a lot too, so I’ve seen quite a lot of the land, although this island was somewhere that I’ve seen but never visited and apparently with good reason.” He shrugged a little, jostling Leon which he apologised for quietly before he continued telling of his past.

“I don’t know what my father might be feeling about my disappearance; after all we went our separate ways when I came of age. Even though I was young, my father taught me everything I would need to know to live as a merchant on my own, so no one could con me out of any money, or steal any of my goods and get away with it. We arranged to meet up once every few months to trade stories and goods and share our wealth and stuff. We had it pretty good, just as long as we managed to keep our supplies up and everything.”

Leon listened intently, very interested in how Raf used to live. He wondered what it was like to live as a merchant; he had always wanted to travel, and it sounded as though there were many places besides this island and his master’s land that were there to be explored. Leon envied the older slave, having lived a very sheltered life with Luca, knowing only the grounds of the master’s mansion. He wished one day to see the world beyond the walls of the various mansions where he stayed.

They stayed that way for some time, just resting together, telling stories of their lives before Hadrian. It was more relaxing than either would have guessed with the threat of Hadrian so far away right then. They wouldn’t know what to do with themselves soon enough, especially if they were kept locked up in the room so that Hadrian didn’t see them lest he be tempted by them.

Meanwhile, miles away, Leon’s favourite master had not forgotten what he had said, and still planned to return to Hadrian’s manor and rescue his beloved slave and his friend too, if that was what Leon wanted. All that mattered was that he got Leon back safe and sound, and if that meant rescuing another slave to make Leon happy, then so be it. What he could not do though was rescue every last slave in Hadrian’s possession, no matter how much Leon might wish for him to do so.

The slaves belonged to Hadrian and Luca therefore had no right to interfere with them. What Hadrian did with his slaves was up to him, and if Luca didn’t agree with his uses of them, then he had to keep such things to himself, unless he wanted to start trouble between himself and his companion. Or at least Hadrian used to be his companion before he stole Leon from him from right underneath his nose. That was just insulting, and Luca had every intention of getting his slave back and paying Hadrian back for what he had done.

So it would seem as though any friendship that was between the two masters had been completely destroyed, all because of one supposedly insignificant sex slave. Funny how the theft of a single slave could put two powerful men at odds against each other. This was perhaps a prime example of why masters were not to get involved with their slaves in such a way that would make them value the slave as being more than someone to be used as the master saw fit.

What had started out as the typical slave and master scenario, Luca using Leon to get his pleasure just as he was supposed to, had become so much more. Whatever it was between them was more important than any friendship between masters and that was very dangerous. Luca had gotten so attached to Leon that he was not concerned about there being the possibility of a war breaking out between the two masters. Would Luca really go so far as to get people killed on both sides with a battle for the sake of the rescue of one lowly pleasure slave?

It was looking more and more like that was what was going to happen. Luca was going to exchange many of the lives of his soldiers for the sake of one slave, and Hadrian was going to do the same, send out his troops to battle in the hopes of keeping Leon as his own. Leon had no idea of the magnitude of the situation, no idea at all of how two great and powerful men were about to clash all for his sake.

Luca was getting ready. It was going to be less than a week before he went after his angel, just as he had said back when he found Leon in Hadrian’s mansion. He had desperately wanted to bring Leon home with him right then, it had broken his heart to leave his young lover in the hands of the abusive master, but there was no way that he would be able to get out with Leon if Hadrian didn’t want to lose the blond. He couldn’t just walk down the halls with Leon in tow, Hadrian would set every servant and guard in the mansion on him.

So he had to wait, to bide his time and prepare himself for the task of rescuing his young slave.

If only they’d stopped to realise that nothing was ever as simple as they would like it to be. It wouldn’t be a case of fighting a few people and rescuing the blonde slave as if he was just sat somewhere unguarded and waiting to be rescued. He was Hadrian’s slave now, what if he wanted to stay with Hadrian to stop a war between the two powerful forces? He was the type to do that after all, to endure whatever pain and misery he had to so that other people would be happy. He didn’t have to like it but even if Luca was unhappy, and he was unhappy, at least hundreds of people were going to live and someone would be happy, even if it would be Hadrian.

What if they did go to war and Luca lost? It would have been an admirable attempt to get back what belonged to him, but it wouldn’t change the fact that many people were dead or dying and Hadrian would still have Leon. In the boy’s mind, he wasn’t worth it, as much as he wanted Luca to rescue him, a part of him wished that the man would move on and forget about him so that nobody would get hurt.

He knew though, deep down, that Luca loved him and would never stand by and let anyone hurt him, not if there was something he could do to prevent it, regardless of the consequences if he failed, or even if he won there would still be dire consequences, there would be no more peace between Hadrian and Luca, their lands would be in conflict until one or other of them called an end to the conflict for whatever reason.

Hadrian had other ideas though, he knew exactly what he was going to do and it caused a malicious smirk to curl his lips. Luca would get a shock in a few days, but there would be no war, well, that was if Luca knew what was good for him and his people. When all this was said and done then Luca would have no grounds to start a war, and if he did anyway, go to war that was, then Hadrian could call on many who would gladly come to his aid to stop a mad-man who was too grief-stricken to think clearly, and no-one would help back Luca who started a war with no point to it.

Wandering to the door that his two favourite slaves were hidden behind, he slid a thick, fairly heavy, large round coin under the door and chuckled darkly. “Give that to Luca when we see him next.” It sounded as though Hadrian had plans to just hand Leon back to Luca, but there was that dark chuckle to think about, and it made Leon wonder just what the coin meant. It was on a thick, coarse piece of string and as Leon scrambled from the bed, he slipped the string around his neck and let the coin dangle, the metal cold against his chest before scampering back to bed with Raf.

It was going to be a troubling few days of speculating over what Hadrian had planned and waiting for something to happen, and with Luca’s name being mentioned by Hadrian with such malice behind it, Leon and Raf could only wait until Hadrian decided it was time for them to meet with Luca once again.