Indiscretion

A/N: I seem to be busy tonight. Must mean I'm procrastinating. I just put up a new story in the Bleach section, so those interested should check that out. I notice that I seem to have a dream fetish, cause I keep writing dream sequences. Oh well. On with the story. Thanks to those who reviewed and more reviews are always most appreciated.

Into the city of sin and greed

All about them huddled quiet groups of strangers in foreign garb talking amongst themselves. The rain drummed heavily against the sheer glass windows reaching up into the gray sky speckled with peals of thunder. An umbrella found by the wayside their only aegis, filled with holes as it was. They had no destination in mind, only the inclination to keep moving as long as they could and then some. They had tried and failed to locate a homeless shelter; there was none. Amongst the shaded and flooded alleys nestled between buildings of vast concrete and glass and steel loitered the vagabonds, that class of people most despised by the bourgeoisie. It was here that they found shelter. A flimsy brown cardboard box currently uninhabited, an adequate though cramped bivouac.

They had been in this place for no more than a few hours. The people here were of a most unfriendly disposition and had heretofore refused to acknowledge their existence. Kept on walking in bubbles of isolation all their own design and making. A cat passed by, ragged and soaking. Before it had passed from their field of vision, another hobo had reached out and snapped its neck. His next meal. Aiden held Lucien close for warmth and comfort. Held gently in his strong arms the boy drifted into an uncertain sleep filled with dreamlessness. Aiden did not sleep that night.

He watched as the rain slowed to a soft mist, then disappeared entirely leaving behind a starless sky. Watched as the sun rose lazily from his slumber to reclaim the throne of the waking world. Watched as the sky's hue changed again and again before finally settling on a pale gray-blue. A thin sheen of translucent cloud remaining. Watched as Lucien stirred into wakefulness.

“C'mon,” Aiden said. “We need to get going. It's not safe here.”

“Okay, okay,” Lucien said.

“How'd you sleep?”

“Fine, I guess. You?”

“Fine,” he lied.

They met a kindly old lady—the first person to talk to them—who informed them of where they were: “Avarès, the financial capital of the world.” Their world. “Here,” she said, offering them some coins, “why don't y'all get yourselves something to eat?”

They both thanked her for her generosity as she walked away.

“So,” Aiden said. “Where do you want to eat?”

“There looks good,” he said pointing at the diner across the way.

“Then there it is.”

The both of them walked over and took a seat and ordered what food they might afford. Not much, but better than nothing. A light breakfast consisting mostly of eggs and bacon with toast on the side. Lucien protested somewhat when he noticed how Aiden was letting him order more, but Aiden insisted he wasn't that hungry. Even though he was.

“So, how long do you think we'll be here?” Lucien asked.

“There's no telling. We should make a plan, a worst case scenario.”

“You mean if we're stuck here?”

“I mean if we're stuck here.”

“But you don't think that'll happen.”

“Maybe.”

“We could only be here for just a few more minutes.”

“We could. Yes.”

“But we shouldn't count on it.”

“No.”

Breakfast finished and paid for, they left. Aiden wanted to try and find a job, any source of income he could find that they need no longer live in a box in an alley out open to the elements. But jobs were few and far between in Avarès, and good luck getting one without proper identification. Most simply laughed at him. His resolution wavered.

“It's okay. You don't have to work. We'll be fine in the box until we leave.”

But it wasn't okay and they knew it. A box was no home fit to live in. The two sat on a bench in the lone park they had managed to find. Sky still gray with clouds and growing grayer still. The surrounding foliage a grimy green color not natural to living plants, covered with filth. Aiden at last met sleep against his will with a warm Lucian resting his head against his shoulder.

He dreamt.

---

Blood-stained strands of death fall into place amongst the flutter of butterflies. Flitting glowing green wings flapping rapidly in the air against currents unknown. In the distance: a faint echo, source unknowable.

Do you know who I am?

Deadly butterflies amongst silent sirens ever staring futurewards. Echo growing louder still and rumbling the ground beneath his two feet balanced precariously on loose rocks. The edge of a cliff looking down over a vast ocean of deep azure. Whales swimming happily in the distance and spouting into the air great jets.

Do you know who I am?

He denies knowing, for how could he? How could he associate with such an evil presence?

You know who I am. There is no denying it.

Butterflies swarming around him in swift and thick currents. Can he escape?

I am the beast that lives within. That dark shadow ever lurking just beneath the surface. Won't you let me out to play?

There would be no playing, not for him. Not ever again.

You think you can keep me locked inside forever?

Through the swarm sift streams of blood along the wind blowing gently from the sea beyond. He steps forward towards the vast blue.

You think you can control me? The boy will be mine again, of this I am certain. You can't keep him from me, not forever.

He would rather die.

Be my guest. Just one more step.

Another step and he's over the edge falling downwards amongst neon green death-butterflies heading towards the sirens on the rocky shore beneath. Sharp and jagged and pointing upwards straight at him they waited silent and patient as ever.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. . .

He closes his eyes and awaits the inevitable to come in a rush of feeling. . .

---

His eyes shot open and his body lurched forward. Enough to startle Lucien.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Just a bad dream. It's nothing.”

“It's not nothing.”

“It doesn't matter. Really, I'm fine.”

“If you say so.”

Silence and waiting, for what they knew not. For the leaving, perhaps. Who knew.

After night had settled in a man approached them. He wore a trench-coat several sizes too large.

“You talking to me?” Aiden asked when he noticed he was speaking to them.

“Yeah. I was asking how much for the boy.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean how much does he cost.”

“Cost as in. . .?”

“You really gonna make me say it?”

“Say what?”

“Sex.”

Anger.

“What do you mean 'sex'?”

“What else does it mean? You need money, right? I'm willing to pay.”

“He's not for sale. That's out of the question.”

“C'mon, he looks so good. I'll pay whatever he costs.”

“I said he's not for sale. Now leave, while you still can.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It might be, if you won't leave.”

“I'm not leaving till I have him.” He pointed at Lucien.

“You're not going to have him.”

Aiden's tone was beginning to scare Lucien, but the man remained undeterred.

“You think you can stop me? Do you know who I am?”

“I don't give a fuck who you are, you're not going to have him.”

They were standing very close to each other and gesticulating wildly the both of them. Both seemed on the verge of violence.

“Look,” the man said, “I will have him, and that is final.” His words were accompanied by violent motions off his hands intended to imbue some sense of fear within Aiden but only succeeding in further angering him.

“That's it,” Aiden said. He lunged forward at the man and they began a struggle.

The both of them rolling around on the sidewalk covered in dust and dirt and grime. Each time Lucien blinked the two had changed position and neither seemed close to victory in a useless and vain show of power. A punch landed directly to the man's eye, then his jaw. A punch to Aiden's gut, a kick to his groin.

“That'll teach you, punk.”

But Aiden would not fail his mission so easily. He recovered and lunged again at the man, but he stopped when the man pulled out a gun. Aimed it straight at his heart.

“Some people never learn.” The man reached into his coat and pulled out a walkie-talkie. “John? This's Mike. I got us a pair of brawlers don't know when to pick a fight. Yeah, pretty dangerous, I'd say. The large one got a punch or two in, but I got 'em. Great, see you in five.” He returned the radio to his jacket but never taking his eyes or gun off his target. “You're lucky I'm feeling so magnanimous today. I'll let you live, for now. But I'll be seeing you—” he pointed at Lucien “—later.”

Aiden and Lucien both sat in dejected silence as the man stood over them with the gun and waited for his backup to take them away and lock them up. Flashing lights and loud sirens indicated their arrival. They went quietly into the cars without a struggle, but the look the man—Mike—was giving Lucien made both feel uneasiness deep in the pit of their stomachs, and neither was certain where the night would take them.