Sequel

I got to Ashun talking and I nearly choked pop all over my computer. Besides Ashun being helpful to people. There are so many twists in what she’s saying that it’s like. Wow. Of course she works for Illuva so I suppose that would explain it all… or… something.

Might be updating Sequel again tonight, despite the midterm I'm about to fail, as the test will take no more than half an hour. Especially if I'm going to bomb it...

Anywho.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




Koln and Taln left, promising to visit soon, when Ashun began to yawn. It wasn’t even late in the afternoon, but the young woman curled up in a ray of light and was soon asleep. Raoh and Osht, once Ashun was asleep, curled up on the couch together, petting lightly. Muan seemed very interested in the happenings on the couch, peeking over his third grade level reading book. Rel, baffled by Muan’s interest in his adoptive fathers’ actions, watched Muan watch Raoh and Osht while he pretended to wander the internet.

There were already a good deal of pages bookmarked, and most of them involved Sidhe lore and porn. Yes. The program had bookmarked porn on his laptop. Because that made total sense. One of the bookmarks was for a forum, started by Taln and maintained by the partners, it was an open forum where the public could interact with the partners, and the partners could interact with each other.

There were questions like, “why does my Sidhe chew on the couch?” and “help! My female is stripping and I can’t seem to explain the inappropriateness to her” and then the always nice “I walked in on them having sex and now they want pointers…” people from the outside could rate on Sidhe pictures, comment on nearly any forum and start forums. As soon as Rel went to the website a little window popped up, informing him of his user name Leluan (a combination of Partner/Sidhe name) and a password that he was asked to change as soon as he logged on.

Rel logged on.

There were a hundred and ninety-five messages in his private messages. Rel scrolled through, most were irate people asking for pictures and why hadn’t they seen new pictures? He deleted all of those and was life with four messages. One from Taln, welcoming him. One from Paw, welcoming him. And two from one Raya.

Rel clicked on the message.

Welcome to the program. Try not to lose your mind, okay? We have plans for you and need you sane to do it all.

Rel puzzled over the message and clicked the next one.

One more year, aren’t you excited? This would be easier if you just took my calls but hey, a surprise is always nice, right?

A message popped up on the forum. Raya had added Rel as a friend. Another popped up. Raya want’s to chat yes/no? Rel clicked yes, he was bored, this might be interesting.

“Hello.”

“Hello.” the laptop let out a little bee-boop with each new message Rel received. A little bar at the bottom said that Raya was speaking. The user had decided to use a dragonfly as their avatar. Of course. So did almost everyone online.

“Just checking…” Raya’s font changed, colour turning to a dark red, almost black and slanting in an italicized font that was used in the bibles, “you ARE Rel DeAniege, formerly of the LeAniege line, multibillionaire and (if rumours are true) the genius behind four different multimillion dollar companies?”

“Yes… is there another Rel DeAniege?”

There was a moment of silence before “Two, actually. Both are older and snarl when asked questions.”

“Questions such as…?”

“Do you know the village of Telt?” the place in his world where he hid in, where he lived and played and escaped to? “little village nestled against a lake, I’m told it is absolutely gorgeous.”

Rel had never told anyone about Telt, besides Ashun, and wasn’t about to start, “no. Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Raya is writing…

Muan sat very carefully beside Rel and pointed at his page. The words read “What are you doing Lute?” with the name Lute scratched out and “Lel scrawled above it.

“Chatting online.” Rel replied. Muan nodded and looked at the screen, setting the book in his lap. After a moment of reading the screen, Muan picked up his book again and continued to pretend to read while watching Osht and Raoh kiss on the couch.

Bee-boop. Rel looked down at the computer screen.

“Then I suppose if I told you Nattar missed you and wished you’d come visit again soon. Wouldn’t mean anything to you? Too bad. Not all of the hells are bad ones, you know, Rel. They just don’t advertise the pretty ones. And sometimes, once every few thousand years, the daemon in charge of guarding the nice hells invite a mortal to share their existence.”

“Telt is completely fictional.” and how dare Raya call Rel’s family there daemon.

“Ah. So you admit to knowing of it?”

Son of a bitch, that was probably done on purpose.

“Alright, who the hell are you?”

“A family friend.”

“There are no family friends.”

“I never said a family friend of your immediate family… but the real question, Rel, is. Who the hell are you? Rel, the beaten boy genius?”

Rel clenched his jaw as Raya began writing again. He was upset and he was afraid at the same time. Afraid of what this stranger knew, of what this stranger could know. Somewhere at the back of his mind was that thing, that tugging, that unknowable something under it all, pulling at his attention.

“Or Lel. The super power, the genius who knows everything about everything, the last possible, viable Aniege left alive? The saviour, or the victim? The lover, or the loner? Who the hell are you Rel? When will you finally decide. Rel or Lel. Lel or Rel. DeAniege, Aniege or LeAniege? Are you your father’s son, or are you, you? Think about it.”

Raya has signed off.

Rel blinked at his screen and looked up. Raoh and Osht were both looking at him. Muan had put aside his book entirely and was reading the screen.

“Lel?” Muan murmured carefully, looking up at Rel and giving him a sad puppy dog type of look.

Rel clicked the website closed and tried to smile at Muan, “te?”

Muan looked from the computer and back to Rel again. The Sidhe huffed out and rubbed the side of his face, considering something, thinking something over. He muttered something under his breath in Sidhe, something about Rel, and got up and left.

Not about Lel, about Rel.

Rel’s heart skipped a beat. Muan had never called him Rel before. That was like. Like. Rel calling him a dog. And not in a nice way either. In the derogatory way.

Ashun approached behind Rel and set her hands very carefully on his shoulders, allowing her presence to flow over the room as if claiming him. Muan, across the apartment and looking out over the city, didn’t react outwardly to Ashun’s blatant claim.

“Sometimes we decide for ourselves, you said,” Ashun murmured, her obscene pleasure rolling over Rel, “and sometimes others choose for us.”

“That was about submission.”

“I was talking about the same. Perhaps he tires of the game, between you and who you could be. Perhaps he will decide to keep you as you are. He could do that, you know, cut you off from your power and keep you stunted,” Ashun turned her head so that her lips were right at Rel’s ear as she whispered, “dominate you like your father did before him. I know you want to be Lel, even if you don’t understand why we can’t call you by your birth name and accept you as he who you could be, so I am telling you, begging you, to make the decision before someone else does it for you.”

“Not even Ayato has ever been able to-”

“Muan is not Ayato,” Ashun laughed and patted Rel on the head, a light, comforting little flutter of a thing, “They are on an even ground. So even that Ayato has entrusted you to Muan. But we just need you alive and sane, no one, I’m quite certain Paw didn’t, said that we needed you un-dominated.”

“Even if I wanted to be him, be that guy you all seem to think I am-”

“Not are, will become.”

“Fine, that guy that I will become. I can’t. I’m just me. I’m just Lel.” fucking slips of the fucking tongue and gods damned be anyone, anyone at all who pointed it out. Rel clenched his jaw and waited for the mockery.

None came.

Ashun pulled away held her breath a moment before she said, “why don’t we bake cookies. I like cookies. People like cookies. Have cookies and ice cream for dessert tonight, come on.”

.