Independence

A/N A big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are wonderful! This chapter is especially dedicated to you! And thank you to kitsune, who beta’d this chapter.


Chapter 7: Meetings and Goodbyes



The setting sun was slowly turning the sky into a canvas of myriad colors. Light was fast disappearing from the world, creating lengthened shadows which covered the forest floor. Many of the forest’s inhabitants were burrowing back into their homes and the forest was growing ever silent. All in all, the atmosphere was a picture of calm and serenity which was unfortunately however, a complete contrast to the inner turmoil bubbling inside of Lex.

Lex honestly didn’t know what to do. His precious brother, who was currently ignoring him, didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation he was in. He would try to plead for his brother to stay away from the dominant, but his brother seemed adamant on not listening to him. The only option that seemed available to Lex then was to try and pray to whoever was listening for his brother’s state of health, and for the dominant to not notice his over-curious brother.

Sniffing a dominant! His brother was bloody sniffing a dominant! Lex knew that Angel was naïve, but he didn’t think it would be to this extent. Didn’t submissives have some sort of a danger-radar? How else would they be able to survive in the wilderness?

Lex was trying not to shift his foot from side to side in anxiety, but it was getting hard, what with the way the grey-eyed dominant was seemingly devouring his naked body with his smoldering gaze. His twin brother was another issue to worry about as well.

And what a worrying issue it was! His brother looked to be fingering a few strands of the Ro’s dark hair!

Lex wondered then if he was somehow being punished by fate. His stress levels were rocketing sky high. If he was human, he would probably have a whole head full of grey hair by now.

He really didn’t know how he got himself into these situations.

Lex’s eyes widened the moment Angel tugged at the dark strands of hair in his hands. ‘Angel, you idiot! Do you have a death wish?!’ he thought inwardly, his body fidgeting in blind panic. For the first time in his life, Lex felt like actually strangling the little devil he called a brother.


(break)


Lucien blinked in surprise – someone was pulling at his hair, and it was definitely not the Ri he had been studying. Glancing down, he caught sight of a small chestnut-haired submissive staring up at him curiously. Strands of his dark hair were held in a bundle in the tiny fist, indicating that this was the culprit who had been tugging at his hair.

Lucien wondered how long the tiny submissive had been in the vicinity, or if he had somehow been there all along. Why hadn’t he noticed the submissive approaching? His senses would have surely alerted him to a presence nearby. But then again, he could have been too caught up in the sight of his mate-to-be in all his naked glory to have actually paid any attention to his surroundings.

When he had sighted his submissive, everything else seemed insignificant enough to ignore. His Ri was definitely a delicious sight with that lean body and narrow hips. Surely, he could be forgiven for being distracted.

Lucien studied the tiny chestnut-haired Ri in front of him. The Ri was staring up at him with large blue eyes, his expression bearing the look of curiosity and playfulness. A pout adorned his face, creating the picture of an adorably spoilt child who was used to getting his way. The pout would have enticed any other dominant, but Lucien merely looked at the Ri questioningly.

What did the submissive want?

The answer was revealed when the Ri began burrowing into his chest and smiling happily. ‘Oh, he wants to be petted,’ thought Lucien in realization. Lucien had never really had a house pet, only hunting dogs which he kept to guard his home. As such, he never really understood the finer points of petting and cuddling. Doing that with his mate however, was a different story altogether. And he didn’t think the ‘petting and cuddling’ he meant quite fit into the ‘petting and cuddling’ one would use on a house pet.

The small chestnut-haired submissive certainly reminded him of a playful puppy, rather than a submissive. But then again, most submissives he had seen throughout the years were either always cowering away from dominants or acting as affectionate fluffy animals. So perhaps, this submissive was what you would call normal?

Lucien reasoned this to be the cause as to why he had never taken a submissive in all his years. Who wanted a mate which reminded you strongly of a pet? If he had wanted a pet, he would have just gone to the pet store to purchase one.

This year, however, things were different.

With a small smile, he turned to look at his Ri. The brunette looked to be fidgeting and Lucien wondered why. Was the submissive cold?

Frowning slightly, Lucien moved to approach his mate-to-be. The brunette was out in the open in the state of undress – he would most assuredly be cold.

‘It would be better if I took him home,’ thought Lucien. ‘The forest will be dark soon and it’s known to be colder at night.’

He wouldn’t want his Ri to catch a cold, and home sounded like the perfect place to warm the submissive up and to get some proper food into his belly. Who knew what or when the submissive had last eaten?

Before Lucien could reach his Ri, however, the small chestnut haired submissive tugged at the back of his clothes, pulling the dominant to a stop. Halting in his tracks, Lucien wondered what the submissive wanted this time. He turned around to look at the small Ri with a questioning glance.

The submissive pouted and stepped closer to him. Those blue eyes were glistening, and Lucien wondered if the submissive was about to cry. Lucien didn’t exactly know what to do; give him a ten foot fire breathing lizard any day, and he could wrestle it into submission in five minutes. A crying submissive, however, was not in his list of ‘I Can Handle It’ situations.

The submissive glared adorably at Lucien from under his lashes and pushed his face into the dominants shoulder. ‘Oh,’ thought Lucien in realization. He patted the submissive’s head awkwardly and the small Ri smiled up at him happily in response.

It seemed that he had forgotten to pet the submissive.

With that, he turned back towards his mate-to-be. The brunette had a look of pure disbelief on his face, and Lucien was surprised at the intelligence etched into that expression. The Ri’s mouth was left slightly ajar but he hurriedly closed it, putting on a glare that would have sent lesser men running.

Lucien was amused by the reaction. There was fire burning in those sky blue eyes, proving that the submissive was one with a strong determination and unwillingness to submit. This submissive was one any of the lesser dominants would surely be incapable of handling. But to him, the Ri was absolutely perfect. He could not wait for that day when his Ri would truly be his in every sense of word.

Only someone with that much amount of fighting spirit could truly capture his attention. And perhaps, his attention wasn’t all the submissive had captured.

Lucien could almost imagine the flame burning in those eyes in times of defiance, and, in times of anger, a roaring fire. Perhaps one day those eyes would burn for him as well, not with defiance or anger, but with an all consuming passion. The fire in those eyes certainly held a bright promise for the future. He would, after all, settle for nothing less.

The sight of a dragon flying overhead snapped Lucien from his thoughts. What was another dominant doing out here?

The figure of the large reptile circled above the canopy of trees before slowly descending. Shape-shifting in mid descent, the dominant landed gracefully on the forest floor fully in human form.

“My Lord,” he greeted Lucien with a small bow. There was amusement dancing in the Ro’s golden eyes as he spoke to the leader of the Clan of Rah.

“Edward,” Lucien acknowledged with a nod. “It is surprising to see you here.”

“Not as surprising as it is to see you here, my Lord,” answered Edward with a small smile.

“In fact, I thought you would have avoided this place. You were, after all, never one to be interested in a submissive,” spoke Edward again as he moved towards the other dominant.

“Times change,” said Lucien as he glanced towards his mate-to-be. The submissive stood as still as a statue, intelligent eyes glancing back and forth between the two dominants. There was small frown adorning his face, and Lucien thought it looked incredibly appealing on him.

“I can see that,” replied the other Ro, following Lucien’s gaze to where a dark brown-haired submissive stood.

“Well then, I suppose it’s about time to be getting home,” said Edward casually as he stared up into the sunset. “It’s going to turn dark soon,” he continued.

“Did you come all this way to tell me to go home, Edward?” asked Lucien raising an elegant brow.

“Oh, of course not. I’m here to collect, or so to speak,” answered Edward as he turned away from Lucien to where a small chestnut-haired submissive stood, staring at the both of them curiously.

“I presume you won, then,” commented Lucien.

“Was there any doubt?” asked the golden eyed Ro with a smirk.

The response he got from the Lucien was a brief chuckle. “As expected, I suppose,” said the elder.

“Of course, the others backed out the moment I defeated the first five,” replied the other dominant, as he gazed at the chestnut haired submissive.

“Come here, little one,” Edward beckoned towards the Ri. He smiled softly at the small submissive, holding out his hand to prompt the submissive to step closer towards him. The submissive, who had been acting like energetic house pet mere moments ago, grew unexpectedly shy as he stared nervously at the outstretched hand.

Lucien glanced in disbelief at the sight, wondering what had brought on this unexpected change in the chestnut-haired Ri. The submissive had been practically hounding Lucien to pet him only a few minutes ago.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” spoke the golden eyed Ro, pitching his voice to a tone one would use on an abandoned puppy.

Slowly taking one step at a time, the submissive began approaching the dominant who was prompting him to come closer. The Ri started sniffing at the air around the golden eyed Ro as he approached the outstretched palm cautiously. When he was close enough to touch the dominant, the Ri started fidgeting nervously and looking like he would bolt if the dominant so much as moved.

Lucien, who had been watching the scene unfold, had failed to notice the dark brown haired submissive darting out quietly from behind both the dominants. It was only until the brunette had rushed out and pulled the other Ri away from the other Ro did Lucien realize that the Ri had moved from where he had been standing only moments ago.

Shoving the smaller submissive behind him, the taller Ri growled at the both of them in a warning for them to stay away.

“Hmm, this is certainly unusual behavior,” commented Edward as the two dominants studied the growling submissive.

“Not for this one, I’m afraid,” replied Lucien, wondering if there was a connection between the two submissives. Ri’s were rarely this protective of one another as they were solitary creatures who lived in the wilderness without company for most of their time on the island. Submissives only ever built a habitat together if they were related.

“What do you suppose we should do?” asked the other Ro, frowning. The Ri looked ready to scratch their eyes out the moment any of them so much as took a step closer. And as none of them wanted to wrestle a Ri into submission and risk hurting the submissive, pulling them both apart was certainly out of the question.


(break)

Lex was dumbfounded.

His little brother had bloody snuggled against THE Lucien Crescent. And better yet, THE Lucien Crescent had even patted his brother’s head. Somehow Lex didn’t know if he wanted to sigh in relief because his brother was still alive or kill the dominant for standing still and letting his brother snuggle against him. It surprised him though, this feeling of not wanting another person to touch the dominant. He had never felt anything akin to it in all his years.

Perhaps he was coming down with the measles?

But no matter, the dominant had already moved away from his brother and was coming towards him. ‘That’s a relief,’ he thought silently.

‘Wait, he’s coming towards me?!’ Lex thought in alarm, immediately glaring at the approaching dominant. Why couldn’t the dominant just go away and leave him alone already?

The shadow of a large form passed overhead, making Lex look up towards the sky to where a dragon with scales the color of gold flew in circles above them. ‘A dominant?’ he wondered. What was it doing here? He had one too many Ro’s to worry about as it was.

When the dominant descended and shape-shifted into his human form, Lex thought he would faint right then and there. Standing right in front of him was Dragon Country’s head ambassador in dealings with the human race.

Lex remembered watching him on the news, attending some conference with other ambassadors of the human race only about a week ago. He looked the same as he did then. Short and stylishly cut golden stands framed his aristocratic face, painting a picture of some olden-day noble in the portraits you saw in old ancestral homes. Sharp golden eyes regarded his surroundings, reminding Lex of a lion in its territory. He reeked of wealth, and Lex could practically count the many times he had heard the women back in human society claiming that they wished they could get married to someone such as the dominant. Yup, the dominant was pretty popular among the ladies (and some men) back where he came from.

Lex snapped out from his thoughts the moment he heard the line, “Come here, little one.” Glancing towards where the dominant was beckoning his brother to come closer, Lex found himself gaping. The dominant had come to take Angel?!

Lex’s brain flew into overdrive and he found himself rushing out to grab hold of his brother before he had even realized that he had moved. No way, was anyone going to take his precious sibling away! He had thought that he would have more time to find away to escape but now, with a dominant coming to claim Angel, how was he supposed to get his brother out of here?

Maybe he could punch Goldwind’s lights out? The pretty boy deserved it anyway. Lex could recall hearing the line “Why can’t all men be more like Edward Goldwind?” almost as often as “Why can’t you be more like Edward Goldwind?” in his lifetime. Lex could admit it was somewhat of a personal vendetta all males who had grown up in human society had against the golden eyed dominant. Yup, Lex decided, if the dominant got close enough, he would do what every other human male had thought of doing a least once in his lifetime.


(break)


The opportunity to separate the two submissives came after roughly twenty minutes of waiting and standing as still as statues. The smaller Ri who looked like he was getting tired of standing behind the other submissive had started backing away from behind the glaring brunette and making his way towards the berry bushes near the fence. Glancing at one another, the two dominants decided to take this golden opportunity presented to them before the dark brown-haired submissive noticed that the other submissive had moved away.

Moving in a flash, the golden-eyed Ro raced to where the smaller submissive was slowly sneaking away and swiftly grabbed hold of the small body before the submissive could run away. The submissive squeaked in surprise when he felt himself being lifted from the ground and propelled up into the air. Large wings sprouted from the back of the dominant and soon the hands that had been holding onto him turned into claws.

Angel found himself in the clutches of a large reptilian form as he was carried higher into the air. Crying out in distress, Angel tried reaching his arms out in a gesture for his brother to come and save him. But his brother, who was already a few feet down below, could only run after the retreating form of the large reptile in dismay. And when the large dragon flew above the high fence, Angel could only look down at his distressed brother who was clawing at the high fence in distress to try and get to him.

Soon enough, they were high up into the sky and the sanctuary was gone from his range of sight. Angel could only cry in despair as he thought about his brother who was probably hurting himself trying to get to him.

It would be impossible now, though – they were too far way.


(break)


It was only the moment he heard Angel squeak did Lex realize that Goldwind had moved from where he had been standing and had grabbed Angel. His little brother who had somehow moved from behind him was taken from the ground and carried up into the air by the dominant.

Lex, who could not reach them in time, rushed after the retreating dragon already high in the air. He was, however, stopped by the fence from going any further. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes as he thought of his helpless brother, probably crying for Lex to come save him somewhere up there in the sky. Lex clawed at the thick aluminum bars, knowing it was futile but needing to do something, anything, to try and save his only sibling.

Strong hands grabbed onto his own then, stopping him from clawing any further at the fence. Wanting to take out his frustrations, Lex struggled against the hold, lashing out furiously at the intruder who merely kept a firm yet gentle hold on his bruised fingers. He stopped struggling after a while, sobs racking his entire frame and tears of frustration trailed down his cheeks. He had failed to protect his brother once again! What type of a brother was he to fail not once, but twice? Perhaps, Angel would have been better off with someone else as a sibling.

Lex let his hand go limp and the hands that had been holding them, released him. Lex knew he was outwardly crying by now, but what did it matter? It was all he could do at the moment. All the events the incidents that had happened to him during the past few days came crashing down and he finally let it all out. He had always played out to be outwardly strong, but really, he was just as fragile as any other person inside. He just hid it better that was all.

He just wanted him and his brother to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? Did they have to put him through all that humiliation and emotional turmoil?

Large hands began stroking his back, soothing the sobs that wracked his body. Lex tried to keep the tears from falling at the feel of those hands, finally recalling that Crescent was still around. He furiously wiped them away and turned to glare at the dominant, expecting to meet the smoldering gaze of the dominant. He was, however, surprised to see sadness in those silver-grey eyes which watched him with regret.

“I’m sorry, one way or another Edward would have taken him away,” Lucien spoke softly as he soothed the crying submissive. Lex thought that his hands were surprisingly warm, then. The only hands that had ever soothed him before belonged to his father, and even then, those hands hadn’t been as warm.

“You’ll see him again, I promise. We’ll go over some time; I’m sure Edward won’t mind,” said Lucien, bringing a hand to wipe at the tears trailing down Lex’s cheeks. Lex wondered why Lucien was being so gentle, and if life with him would always be this way.

His eyes were growing heavy – the emotional breakdown must have gotten to him more than he had thought. So he closed his eyes, wanting to forget that his little brother was probably already miles away by now. The hand running up and down his back was comforting enough to lull him to unconsciousness.

“I’m sure Edward will take good care of him,” said Lucien as he gathered the semi-conscious Ri into his arms.

“Just like I will take good care of you,” were the last words he heard as he buried himself into the dominant’s warm and gentle hold, letting sleep take him.



A/N Can anyone tell that I’m in a solemn mood? I’m sorry for separating the two brothers. But don’t worry; Lex is too stubborn to let a dominant stand in the way between him and his precious Angel, Lol. And I’m sorry for the slow update. (sigh) It’s hard to find time to write nowadays. But don’t worry, I’ll do my best!