Innocently Damned

Finding the corridor the worker had described was easy enough, but he had no idea there were so many rooms to pick from. Looking around, he tried to swallow the small bit of panic that rose, and looked for Ozel’s room. The corridor easily held a hundred rooms, if not twice that amount. Lavender and a musk wafted by his nose, calling his attention to the door to the right. Putting down the equipment he was carrying, the man opened the door. The room, vaulted ceiling and all, was huge... but clean. He had to give Ozel credit for that, keeping a room this big clean would have been difficult.

Servants could have done the same work, he thought meekly, but some how it just felt like Ozel. The lace fetish was apparent; every pillow, drapery, bedding and cushioned chairs had some sort of lace detailing. He was surprised the walls hadn’t been covered in the same. At a small table there were bottles of perfume and brushes, as well as some hair tool... things that he knew his mother would use to curl her hair.

A sharp pain squeezed his heart; his mother. She was a good woman, and since he probably did something wrong, he was never going to see her again. Both of his parents had been good to him, always supportive. Sighing, he retreated from Ozel’s room, closing the door after him. He hoped his death didn’t upset his parents too much, his father had a heart condition.

Letting out a shuddering exhale, he got a hold of himself. Cleaning would keep his mind off of things. Selecting the door to the right of Ozel’s room, he bent to retrieve the knife, then opened the door. A bit of dust fell from the door, making him cough. He held the knife in front of him and slowly moved forward, eyes darting this way and that. The room was as nearly identical in appearance to Ozel’s room. The floors held numerous dust bunnies... By the size of them, they looked more like dust were-bunnies. Passing one, it stirred slightly in his wake, making him jump. He was glad no one was around to see him jump at dust, so glad that he kicked it jokingly.

The dust bunny hissed and bit his shoe. Yelping, the man jerked back, dropping the knife. It hissed again, dust-fur ruffling in anger. Others joined around him, hissing and shuffling their dust bodies. If he hadn’t been so caught off guard, he probably would have laughed. He shook his head, scooting back. Alright, so he was supposed to stab at the dust bunnies. It felt silly to him, but if this was what they meant by pests, and no huge spiders would drop down and try to eat him, he could deal with it.

“Now look, I want to sleep here. If you do too, then go move to one side while I clean. I promise I won’t poke you. If you keep hissing at me and looking threatening, I’ll be forced to defend myself.” He didn’t know if they would listen to him, but he felt inclined to warn them before an act of violence.

The man was surprised when they stopped hissing and huddled together, making squeaking noises. After the series of squeaks, they shuffled off to a corner of the room, a few joining them from other parts of the room.

“Uhm, I’ll clean the bathroom first, so if there are friends or family... or whatever in there, I suggest telling them to leave too.” He couldn’t help but smile a little, striding to the door to get the cleaning supplies. “Actually, I’ll sweep every where, then I’ll scrub the bathroom... and then the bedroom.” A few dust bunnies separated and headed into the bathroom. Laughing, he took out the wire brush and the soap from the bucket. There wasn’t a dust pan, so he would use the bucket to hopefully scoop up most of the dust. “Do you guys know where I could find a trash can?”

A large groan made him jump and turn around. The dust bunnies were pushing a large bin to the center of the room. He wondered why anyone would think of them as pests; they were really nice. Of course at night they might eat his face or something, but at the moment, they were really helpful. He would ask Ozel later if they were mean.

Despite being dust bunnies, they were rather helpful while he cleaned. Only one spider was ever seen, and the dust bunnies gladly attacked and ate it for him. Good thing; it was easily the size of his hand. While he swept, the dust bunnies chased other bugs and pushed larger bits of debris that the broom had missed into the growing pile. The floors were hardwood, and through what he could see were a rich red in color. With most of the dust swept off of the floors, the cobwebs cleared from the walls and ceilings, the room was looking more liveable. Well... whatever one that was dead would sleep in, at least.

As the dust bunnies scuttled away, he swept the dust and debris into the bucket, and emptied it into the trash can. He cheered quietly when it was done. “Now that the sweeping is done, I’ll just go scrub down the bathroom and I’m finished.” The dust bunnies echoed his cheer in squeaks, plopping up and down. “To the bathroom!” He raised his fist, laughing as he carried the bucket inside. There was gladly a lack of mildew; the only real scrubbing he would have to do was on the tiled floor, and around the toilet. Wrinkling his nose, he shook his head, “why do some men find it hard to aim for the right spot? Ah well, no matter... I’ll make this place my own by killing all the evil grime. Right?” The dust bunnies squeaked at him and pushed the soap and brush into the room. “Thanks guys! Er... or girls. But thanks!”

The spout in the bathtub was dingy and choked out some air bubbles before it spat clean water. Even though he knew Ozel liked being clean, he was secretly worried that the water was brown. Now that he knew he wouldn’t have that problem, he filled up the bucket and then tossed a bit of the soap in.




Ozel poked his head inside, looking around. He had to give the man credit; he worked quickly. “Heeey, its almost dinner time. Are you hungry?” Blinking at the lack of answer, Ozel wandered further inside. “Helloooo?”

“In here!” The man wiped at his brow, smiling at the dust bunnies. “I’m almost finished.”

Blinking as he noticed the lack of mess in the bedroom, he quickly strode to the bathroom door. “Almost finished, ne? Looks pretty nice,” Ozel leaned against the open door, inspecting the man’s handy work. “Any big spiders?”

“Just one, but they took care of it.”

“They?” Ozel looked down then jerked away at the sight of the dust bunnies. “Oh gross! How could you keep those things around? Hold on, lemme get something sharp.”

“No!” The dust bunnies hid behind the man as he grabbed for Ozel’s hand. “You can’t kill my dust bunnies.”

Ozel shot him a weird look, “you... have dust bunnies for pets?” The man nodded, looking pitiful with the smudges of dirt on his cheeks. “You are such a freak. I thought you liked being clean.”

“I still do, but they’re really nice to me... And I’m not a freak.” Sticking out his tongue, the man let go of Ozel’s hand.

“Yeah, and I wasn’t just playing hide the pickle with Marcius.”

“There are pickles in hell?”

Ozel smacked his forehead, shaking his head. “God you are innocent. Heh, but I have to tell Marcius this, oh friend to the dust bunnies.”

The man sighed, looking at the newly scrubbed floor. “Do you really have to?”

“Hell yeah, it’ll make him smirk. And I’m sure that will make him feel better.”

“He doesn’t feel good?” Did dead people catch colds in hell? Or just fevers?

“Ah... no. He’s having one of those days.” When the man stared at him clueless, Ozel elaborated. “See, once in awhile, the pain we always feel will flare up.” Enough that most people went mad from it, if they weren’t already crazy. He had to give whoever or whatever made hell credit; for punishing the dead, it worked great. Not only was there excruciating pain, but when the newly dead realized that was what faced them for eternity, they also began to lose what little hope they had.

“Forever? That hardly seems fair. The few actions you did while living, which in some cases can only be seventy years or so, will damn you forever.” The man shuddered, rubbing at his bare arm. He didn’t feel anything now, but he was scared to face that sort of pain.

“I don’t make the rules, kid. Oh, but there’s the reevaluation. See, every once in awhile, an angel will pull a soul from hell and reevaluate it. If the angel decides that they’ve suffered enough from their sins, and paid their debt, they can rise. But that’s really only for the good people who just made a few mistakes and died before they could turn their life around.”

“I see... have you been reevaluated?”

“Nope. And even if they say I’m done here, I wouldn’t leave. I like it here, with Marcius. He needs me, and takes care of me. There isn’t anyone in heaven that I’ll know... and lets face it, I would be boinking angels left and right, pretty soon they would kick me out of heaven. I’ll just save them the kick.” Although he did wonder if angels were any good. They looked like they didn’t get much sex up there, and he would love to corrupt a few of them.

“What if the person lies to the angel and tells ‘em that they’ve changed, when they haven’t?”

“That can’t happen. The angel judges your soul, which can’t lie.”

“Ooh.” The dust bunnies nudged his hand, squeaking. “Right, I need to finish the bathroom... Did you need something, Ozel?”

“Yeah, are you hungry?”

“Do people get hungry here?”

Ozel rolled his eyes, “sort of. People can get hungry, they just can’t die from starvation. See, in Gluttony’s dominion, there’s a lot of no eating for those damned.” The blonde traced his body with his hands, “there’s no way I would fall into that sin, my body is too nice to ruin with over eating.” Winking at the boy, he knelt down, “I’ll help you with the rest. I needed to go run and take a shower anyway, so I don’t mind.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll be done by the time you’re finished with your shower, probably.”

Ozel wrinkled his nose, “fine, but then I’m bringing some of my body soap and shampoo here, you can’t go down to dinner looking like that.” As he stood, he reached out and tapped the man’s nose. “To be one of my master’s pets, you need to look the part.”

The man paled, “do I have to wear a dress?”

Being the devious soul that he was, Ozel wondered if he should insist that the man wear a skirt. It would be amusing, to see him blushing and shifting nervously through dinner. “Well...” Although, that would gain him more attention, which Marcius would frown on. “No. While you finish, I’ll send for the help to make up a bed for you and get some clean clothes for you. Nothing too fancy.”

“Okay, thanks.” The man smiled at Ozel then took the brush and began to scrub at the floor again.

Ozel watched idly, toying with the lace around his sleeves. The man didn’t look as if he had a muscle on his body, scrawny that he was, but while working, the muscles stood out more, shining with a light sweat. His mind went straight to the gutter, making Ozel smirk. It would be hard to keep this one as innocent as he had arrived. Maybe that’s why the dust bunnies liked him, while they usually hissed and nipped at Ozel. Tearing his gaze from the man, he sighed and left the bathroom.

Hours later, after much scrubbing of the floors and washing of sweaty bodies, Ozel lead the man down one of the many hallways, heading for the dinning room. The man couldn’t help but lift his arm and sniff again; not only was he clean, but he smelt good. Not girly, but good. It was a wonderful feeling, to be clean, but he had a feeling that if anyone saw him randomly lifting his arm and smelling himself, they would wonder about his mental health. In his defense, he didn’t know boys could smell good without smelling like flowers and that junk, so he reveled in the scents.

Upon passing another painting, the man blinked in surprise. “There’s a lot of art around here.”

“They’re mine,” Ozel said flippantly, chewing on the lace from the sleeve of his new dress.

“Oh wow, I didn’t know you painted!” They were good too, a few of ocean scenes at sunset, or heavy forests at day break. The lighting made the picture almost realistic.

“Yeah, it was a hobby I had. Did the whole starving artist thing for a bit. Then I found porn, and all was right in the world. Even did a few porn paintings, but those are in Marcius’ study.” Ozel smirked proudly at that, dropping his hand to his side. Marcius liked his paintings enough to hang them, and some of the other lords wanted their portraits painted. Of course he asked Marcius if he could decline those requests; he usually painted in short bursts from his imagination, having to stand in one place and do it for hours would be so very annoying.

“That’s really neat.” The man smiled; how could they not like Ozel, he was talented and sort of funny at times.

“Neat? Let me guess, the next slang you know is the bees knees, right?”

“The what?”

“Never mind, just teasing you a bit.” Ozel put his arm around the man’s shoulders, grinning down at him. They were of equal height, but Ozel put on his special boots, that he would purr and snuggle when not wearing them. Knee high, and the soles were so thick, it added a few inches to his height. Which would make him about even with Marcius, something he loved even more. Hanging on him was easier when they were near equal.

“Ozel?”

“Hm?”

“Do dust bunnies eat your face at night?”

Ozel nearly tripped, but caught himself before tumbling down. “Do they eat your face at night,” he repeated, making sure he had heard right the first time.

“Yeah. I mean, the way people acted, I thought something in my room was going to try to eat me, but it was just a dust bunny. So... are they evil dust bunnies? Do they eat body parts?”

“They’re just pests,” he assured the man, patting his shoulder. “Really, they hiss and bite people, and that’s the most they’ll do. If they aren’t still doing that, then you have nothing to worry about... Oh keeper of the dust bunnies.”

“Shh.” The man leaned against Ozel; he was hungry, but after the shower he felt relaxed and tired from cleaning all day... night... whatever it was when he arrived. He felt safer with Ozel around, the boy’s oddness was slowly settling into what was normal for the cross-dressing porn star.

“Hey, after this Marcius wants to talk to you again. Then you can go to bed, okay? It shouldn’t be too long.” Ozel could only imagine what it was like to wake up one day in hell, when there wasn’t anything that you remembered doing wrong.

“Mm, okay... Will you walk me back to my room? I’m already lost as it is. This place is enormous.”

“It is, isn’t it? I heard before Marcius came to power, it was considered a maze. And very bleak. Lust didn’t equal fashion sense, I suppose.” Ozel had seen pictures of the old lord; disgusting man, he looked like he preferred feeling himself up than touching people. He was glad he never met the man, and stayed far away from where he was kept.

“Marcius hasn’t always been the lord of Lust?”

“Nope. I mean come on, you’re in hell... loyalty isn’t exactly a common thing here. The damned are constantly trying to gain power for one reason or another. Marcius has been lord here for a few centuries, and I heard he helped him take over the lordship.”

“He?”

Ozel nodded, glancing around to make sure there was no one to over hear them. “The one that rules over all the lords, the ruler of hell itself. Marcius is his favorite.”

“You mean the devil?” Noticing how Ozel lowered his tone, the man did the same, whispering the name.

“Oh, him? No, he isn’t in power anymore. Looong story. Like I said, loyalty isn’t exactly first on everyone’s list here. Especially in a such a powerful position. The current one, he’s been there for awhile, and he’s fought off a lot of attackers. Usually locks up and tortures those lords who turn against him. Now if anyone wants to take it over, they plot a lot more carefully. There hasn’t been an uprising in years.”

“Well... that’s cool. I guess.” The man laughed a little, feeling lost. So there were lords over part of hell, and then there was one lord... and they all could change, depending on who takes over. He shivered, rubbing his arm. Hell was a lot like the business world. “You know... I’m not all that impressed with hell. I thought it would be scarier, or more er... dark. And evil.”

Ozel snickered, “just because the parts you’ve seen aren’t all that bad, doesn’t mean all of hell is like that. We’re lucky all we have are dust bunnies here. Take Wrath’s dominion. Lots of murders, very violent criminals, and just lots of very disturbed people there. You can’t wander around that region, not if you want to stay in one piece. Any one who is Lord of Wrath, is one tough cookie. Lust isn’t all peaches ‘n cream too. You’ve only seen the walk here, and Styx. The mansion is filled with people who Marcius isn’t too disgusted with. Ya know, people like me, whores or pimps... porn stars. Bruce probably would have worked here, if he hadn’t pissed Marcius off.” The blond shook his head, curls bouncing around his face. “There’s only one guy here that wasn’t any of those... You went to the kitchen, right? Well if you saw the larger man with the butcher knife...”

The man felt a chill go down his back. Wasn’t like the rest of them? “What’d he do?”

Ozel smirked, “he was an undertaker.”

Blinking in surprise, the man tilted his head a little. How was that a sin against lust? If anything, it made him pretty strong, not many people could look at a dead body without feeling sick.

“Heh. You didn’t get it, did you? Alone, with all those dead bodies...” Ozel paused, hoping the man would get it. When confusion was still written on his face, Ozel sighed. “He liked doing dead people.”

“Isn’t that what you do, though?”

“No. Well, yeah I guess. But these people move. And are usually warmer, less stiff. Heh, he doesn’t like me anymore because I asked him if he put the bodies in the microwave before he did them.”

“Ew... and he prepares our food?”

“It isn’t like he has sex with the food, stupid. Besides, there aren’t any dead people here that would get him worked up. I guess that’s his punishment.”

“So if he ever went to heaven.... there would be lots of dead people that he would like to do?”

“Ha!” Ozel slapped the man’s back, laughing. “That’s a good one.” He hooked his arm with the other’s pulling him toward the end of the hall. “Anyway, there are sinners here that Marcius hates, he’s so smart, my master... There are tortures being used that I could never think of, and he came up with them by himself.” Frowning, he glanced around then stopped, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Here’s a bit of a secret that you can keep to yourself. But since you’re going to be around him a lot, its better you know, and avoid topics about these things... The previous lord was Marcius’ father.”

The man’s eyes widened, “but didn’t you say he was here being...”

“Yeah, I did. His father made babies to sell for his habits. Not only that, but he... liked his sons a little too much. That’s partially why Marcius took over. He had no desire to rule or what not, but he wanted revenge. Now all his father’s friends and fellow child molesters are put through the most painful parts of hell. To Marcius, those types, and rapists are the worst.” Ozel perked up, smiling, “they give porn stars a bad name, to be stuck in the same hell as them.”

He suddenly liked Marcius a little more now. “That’s good, though... Not the giving porn stars a bad name, the other stuff.”

“Mmmmm.... chicken kiev...” Ozel turned from him, following his nose as he hurried down the rest of the hall. The room at the end was full of tables, only half at use. Marcius sat at the raised table in the back, sipping his wine. Red wine, from what Ozel could tell by the bit that lingered on his lips. Lips that he wouldn’t mind licking clean...

“There’s chickens in hell?”

Broken from his daydream, Ozel glanced back at the man. “Sure. Evil chickens.”

“Really?!”

“Heh, no. Its meat that tastes chickeny.”

The man wrinkled his nose. “I don’t usually trust people when they say that. My brother told me that squirrels taste like chicken, and when we tried to cook one... well yeah, not that chicken-ish.”

Ozel smirked, “you cooked a squirrel?”

“Oh! It was part of camp, surviving in the wilderness and stuff, getting your own dinner. It wasn’t something weird, I swear.”

“Suuuuure it wasn’t. Poor squirrel.” Ozel yanked the man further into the room, dragging him to Marcius’ table. “Anyway, I’m sure our food will taste better than squirrels.”

For the most part, it was. The man ate carefully, a few dishes things that didn’t appeal to him when he was alive. The meat tasted like chicken, something he was happy to taste, although he wondered how they had cheese or the other flavorings in the food. At one point, a mental picture of few damned working the fields or milking cow-like creatures made him giggle out loud. The wine’s fault, no doubt.

Once it was finished, Marcius stood, dismissing the diners from the room. Ozel popped up, clinging to Marcius’ arm. Really, the man didn’t understand why one would be that clingy. He was certain if Marcius gave him the okay, Ozel would have spent the night in his lap. There wasn’t really anyone he was interested in enough to think of having them so close all the time, when he was alive. He just didn’t get the relationship thing. The few friends he had, once they got married, they seemed to be echoes of their wives, it was almost scary. He didn’t want to change that much, be that stupidly giddy, or vow things that were outdated. Although, if Ozel slept with other people, he guessed there was something different about Marcius and Ozel’s relationship.

Marcius leaned closer to Ozel, lowering his voice so only the blonde could hear him. “Stay near my room, look jealous or whatever you wish. I want to talk to him alone, and we need to at least keep up the appearance of him being a pet of mine.” When Ozel looked away, very obviously pouting, Marcius touched his cheek. “It won’t be long.” The need to keep up appearances was great; the boy was not supposed to be here, and certainly not with him. It was something that needed to be kept quiet. Keeping the boy in one room, without giving him a duty, people would talk. Calling him a pet, and not using him, that would raise suspicions as well.

“As you wish, my lord,” Ozel said quietly, pride stinging despite knowing that nothing would happen between the two. He might have boasted sleeping around, which he honestly did when he first got his body back... but now, he was devoted to Marcius.

“Good.” Resisting the urge to further comfort Ozel, Marcius leaned away, offering his hand to the man. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” The man took the offered hand, yelping a little as he was pulled to his feet, and against Lust’s lord. He immediately looked toward Ozel, when he noticed the blonde quietly retreating from the room. That made him very nervous. Ozel wasn’t the type to quietly do anything.

“To my room, of course.” Marcius purred, guiding him out of the room.

“O-oh... Right. Your room.”

“Don’t be so nervous. I’m not going to touch you.” Once they were out of sight, Marcius let go of him. The way the boy tensed when he touched him, and Ozels obvious disappointment were turn offs. There was no real reason to take the boy.

The man couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “Thank you. I mean, I’m sure you’re really good... er... and uhm...”

“Don’t worry about it.” Running a hand through his long hair, Marcius swept the few straggling bangs that usually hung over his eyes. “I have a theory, though, and I want to try it out.”

“Well I haven’t really had any sexual experience, so I don’t know how I would help...”

“Not on sex.” It was hard not to roll his eyes at the shorter man. Had he really spent so much time around perverts that he forgot what being innocent was like? “Its about you, and how to get you out of here.”

“Get me out? I thought I was stuck here!” His spirits lifted a bit; he didn’t know they were trying to help him get out too. Surely people like this didn’t belong in hell.

Marcius shrugged, “you don’t belong here. I can imagine what a shock it is to be stuck here. So we’ll try to get you back to the living room. Though it isn’t like I could open a door and shove you back there. The lord over all made a deal with heaven, and any ties to the living world hell once had, are broken or sealed.”

“Oh... Then what’s this theory?”

“You’ll see.” If the boy was alive, there was really no way to put him back to his rightful place... but if the boy were to rise to heaven, and plead his case, they might give his life back. Opening the door to his private room, Marcius gestured for the boy to enter first.

“Wow,” he breathed as he stepped in, looking around. Large murals, most likely painted by Ozel, took up the wall the door sat on, the door itself part of the masterpiece as well. The window was wood painted red, and carved in intricate designs. A bed loomed against the back wall, black and red lace hanging from all four posts.

“Its Ozel’s fault. Though I did tell him to do as he wanted.”

“Yeah, I could tell by the lace.” The man smirked, glancing back at the lord, who chuckled at his words.

“Yes, Ozel has quite a thing with lace.” Sometimes he would buy bolt of lace just to watch the blonde purr and writhe as he curled up in the lace. Odd child, really, but odd enough to be unique. Marcius loved collecting unique things. Locking the door, he leaned against it, watching the man take in the objects in his room. He tried to think how long it would technically take to do what he was supposed to being doing, and then send him away. For a newbie, maybe a half an hour. Or he could pretend to be dissatisfied with him, and spread rumors that he cowered from his lord. Tapping his chin, Marcius nodded himself. That would have to work. “Come here, we’ll start my experiment.”

“Okay!” The man smiled and hurried to Lust’s lord.

“If you see angels, tell them what’s happened, ne? They might send you back to the living world.”

“Right.” He nodded, not quite sure how he would see them, but ready to speak nonetheless. “How,” his eyes widened as a sharp pain ripped through his chest, making sparks dance in front of his eyes. The man couldn’t speak, jaw stuck in its shocked state. He managed to glance down as he fell to his knees, hilt protruding from his chest.

Marcius watched impassively, leaning against a nearby dresser as he waited for the boy to die. Then he wouldn’t be Lust’s problem, and he could center on what was going on in hell. He didn’t know what would happen to the boy’s body, and not wanting to lose one of his favorite knives, Marcius pulled the blade from him, examining it for nicks. If not put into a person correctly, the chest bone could nick the blade. Through trial and error, he had learned to slide the blade in, while the flat of the blade was parallel to the ground. Interesting things to learn in hell.

The man closed his eyes and fell to his side, clutching at his chest. It hurt like nothing he had felt before. The pain began to lessen, and he waited to see a bright light or angels singing in the background. When none of that came, and the pain all but vanished, he cracked open one eye.

“Oh, still here? Then I guess you were dead. It’ll be a little more difficult, if not impossible, to get you out of here now.” Marcius shrugged, wiping the blade clean.

“You... you stabbed me!”

“Yes, but if you were alive, you would have died, and went to where you really belonged.”

“You stabbed me!”

“I stab a lot of people, feel lucky it was with a sharp and clean blade.” He returned his cherished blade to its scabbard, putting it back on the display brackets.

“But still, you stabbed me!” The man stood shakily, rubbing the retreating wound as it healed. “That... that hurt! A lot! I didn’t do anything to you!”

Marcius ignored him, opening the door. “Ozel?” Popping out of his hiding place, the blonde smiled slyly. “Take him back to his room, then return here alone.”

“Yes, master.” Ozel skipped into the room and took the man’s hand. “Come on doll. Lets get you back to your room.”

“He stabbed me!”

“With what?” Ozel looked at Marcius suspiciously.

“A knife, nothing more, brat. Hurry up, or I’ll have to go to bed without you.”

Ozel tugged the man forcefully from the room. “I’ll be right back!” As soon as they both were clear of the door, Marcius shut it, taking a rag to wipe up the blood that had seeped from the man’s chest.

“I’m so confused,” the man whispered, not sure if he should cling gratefully to Ozel, or want to back away.

“Look, that was my fault. I gave him the idea... But really, we had your well being in mind. There is no way out of hell, short of an reevaluation, and this isn’t a place for someone cute like you. If you were alive, then you could have left. Only angels can put you back in your life, like nothing happened. And it had to be done quickly, so there was no decaying in the body.”

“But... it hurt so much...”

“I know hun,” Ozel stroked the man’s hair, pulling him into a hug, while still walking back to his room. “Its over now, we won’t have to do it again.”

“...Is that how you feel all the time?”

“Mm? Like being stabbed? Well, everyday, no. But the bad days... I’ve been stabbed before, when I was alive, don’t ask, and let me tell you... the bad days hurt like you’re being stabbed everywhere, and then having your skin stretched and pulled...”

“Oh,” he said quietly, feeling embarrassed for being so upset. If he only had to go through that once, and Ozel faced that for all of eternity... Well yeah, he was being a baby. “I’m sorry. Would you tell Marcius that I’m sorry too? I didn’t mean to act like that, I was just so surprised.” His cheeks flushed when he thought of the scene he caused in the lord’s room. Marcius could have given him a little warning though. Well... he probably would have hyperventilated, which wouldn’t make him easy to stab. In the chest, at least.

“I’ll tell him. I’m sure he understands, though.” Ozel patted his head, taking short cuts to their corridor. While he genuinely felt bad for the boy’s rude awakening... he really wanted to be in bed, with Marcius.

“Thank you, Ozel.”

“No problemo. I have to work tomorrow, but if you want I can stop by early and amuse you. We could do breakfast, and I’ll erm... try to find something to amuse you.”

“You know... I sort of like cleaning. Can I clean the other rooms too?”

Ozel smirked, rounding the corner to their corridor. “You just want to collect more dust bunnies.”

“Do not!” The man hesitated, opening the door to his room. “Okay, maybe that would be cool too.”

“Pretty soon, you’ll be wearing shirts that say ‘save the dust bunnies’. Ooooh guru to the dust bunnies.” Ozel snickered, tapping the man’s nose as he scowled at him. “Sleep well, see you later.”

“Have fun,” the man called as Ozel nearly ran back down the hall.

“Oh... I will.”