The Guardian Chronicles: A Necklace
folder
Angst › General
Rating:
Adult
Chapters:
1
Views:
910
Reviews:
3
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Angst › General
Rating:
Adult
Chapters:
1
Views:
910
Reviews:
3
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
The Guardian Chronicles: A Necklace
---0~0~0---
A boy stared blankly, gaze dull and lifeless as half-forgotten conversations and memories consumed his mind.
---0~0~0---
“No problems, then, sunshine?”
An unreadable look flashed quickly, deep in brown eyes, almost too quickly to be seen. Tarryn held back the urge to frown.
“Nah... No problems. Unless you count the exams.” He made a face again, sticking his tongue out. “Some of them were hard enough that I seriously considered murder for a while.”
“Evil teachers, then, luv?” The demon laughed at the fervent nod, hugging the other’s form tightly.
“Don’t worry, luv. I’ll protect you.”
“Even from evil teachers?” A mischievous pout.
An answering laugh, warm and filled with love and life. “Yes, luv. Even from evil teachers.”
---0~0~0---
The boy flinched, curling into himself almost unconsciously into a defensive little ball as another memory clamored for his attention.
---0~0~0---
“Tell me the truth.” The boy looked up from his homework, a question on the tip of his tongue that was lost in a startled laugh as he took in the sight of the demon wearing, of all things, a frilly, flowered apron, seated cross-legged on the wooden chest in front of the bed. “Does this make me look fat?”
Humor glinted in brown eyes, and Thalis opened his mouth, ready to reply, when –
“No jokes.” Came the stern warning.
Damn. Caught.
He offered a sheepish grin.
Tarryn rolled his eyes.
---0~0~0---
He started to shake as more recent memories and their remembered, all too-fresh horror and bitter taste assailed him.
---0~0~0---
Tarryn straightened, tilting the boy’s chin up with one hand. “Well?”
He watched the play of emotions over the boy’s face. Surprise. Guilt. Anger. Worry. Apprehension. Defiance. Followed by... regret?
“...” The boy turned his face away, dislodging the demon’s hand. “I don’t really wanna talk about it, Tarryn. Let it go.”
The demon was silent for a few moments, quiet in the wake of the boy’s request. Then –
“No. You know my stance on this, little one. You tell me what’s wrong. Always. No matter what.”
“...Not this time. Change the subject.”
“Little one - ”
“Change. The. Subject.” Brown eyes glared into steady green. Long moments passed.
Tarryn looked away first.
---0~0~0---
The boy, Thalis, clutched at his head, shaking it as if to physically dislodge the pain-drenched moments from his mind, and throw them away forever.
---0~0~0---
The demon felt no triumph at the victory... just a deep, abiding sadness that he was right to begin with. He helplessly looked up at the boy, who was staring quietly into his lap. Silence reigned in the room.
Just as the boy began to fidget, Tarryn leaned down slightly and stated, quite clearly into the delicate shell of an ear – “I love you, sunshine.”
The boy froze in his lap, almost not breathing, eyes wide. After a few moments, he drew in a shuddering breath, swallowing hard afterwards. But he didn’t say anything.
“Did you hear me, sunshine?” Tarryn nudged him. “I said I love you.”
This time Tarryn closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, his hands balling up into fists, shaking almost imperceptibly.
“Hey.” The demon licked the curve of one ear, blowing into it, holding tight onto the boy. “I’ll say it again, just to make sure you *did* hear me. I. Love. You.”
The boy shook his head again, once more, before settling into stillness for a good long while.
---0~0~0---
He bit his lip and fisted his hands so hard his nails dug blooded crescents into his skin, hoping the pain would distract him from reliving the events mere moments before – mere seconds, miniscule, fleeting images, lifetimes - that happened soon after the declaration of love.
---0~0~0---
“Heh. Whatever you say, Tarryn.” The boy glanced up, grinning, nails digging into the skin of his palms.
The demon frowned. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No no no! Of course I’m not making fun of you! I would never do that!” Exaggerated wink at the demon, the grin taking on a slight edge of hysteria that had Tarryn sitting up in attention.
“Little one?” He looked on in concern as the boy doubled over, beginning to laugh, shoulders shaking.
The demon frowned in reply, reaching a hand out to catch the boy’s chin, turning the oval face towards him.
“Sunshine, what’s the - ” Tarryn’s voice abruptly died off, and normally collected green eyes widened in horror.
Thalis looked at him, puzzled, still smiling, entirely unaware that tears were falling down his cheeks past his frozen smile... until a drop fell land landed on his hand. A confused frown flitted across his face as he looked down and spotted the single drop on the top of his hand.
“What the - ?” He lifted his hand to his cheek, and, feeling the dampness, looked at his hand, the fingertips shining with tears. He did little more than stare in bemusement when he was abruptly pulled into an embrace.
He looked at Tarryn, smiling, tears still streaming down from blank brown eyes.
“Tarryn?” The boy frowned as he received no response, slowly rubbing the pads of his fingers together to remove the dampness. “Why are you staring at me like – whoa!”
He blinked in confusion as the embrace tightened. “What’s - ”
“Oh little one... Not again...”
The boy’s frown grew deeper. “Whaddya mean, ‘again’?”
“Don’t play stupid, sunshine.” Tarryn shifted closer, a sad smile on his lips as he nuzzled the back of the boy’s neck. “Tell me, please?”
“...”
“Little one?” Tarryn pleaded again, adding an obvious tinge of pleading to his tone.
He quietly breathed out a sigh of relief as slim shoulders slumped in defeat. Expecting a short, though halting explanation, he looked on in surprise and dread as the boy drew his left arm close to his body, almost cradling the limb.
Instant, weary understanding filled the demon’s face, was stamped clearly in his expression.
“I’m sick of this.” Tarryn said abruptly, slipping off the bed and standing up, uncaring that his sudden movements had jarred the boy to almost-sprawling on the bed.
“No matter what I do, no matter what I say, you’re going to keep doing what you want. You don’t even care about what I think. As long as you have your little self-destructive habits, everything’s all right in the world with you. I can’t compete.”
“Wha-...” Thalis swallowed, a nauseating sensation swamping his senses. “T-Tarryn, what are you s-saying?”
“What I’m saying, is this.” The demon took one step closer to the bed, hard green eyes staring into brown as he clearly enunciated, hardening his heart against the flinch brought by each of the words that dripped like chips of ice from his lips. “I’m tired of this. I’m tired of not being listened to. I’m tired of not being believed every time I say that I love you.”
He took a step back, folding his arms, looking cool and imperious. Regal. And so impossibly distant – so far away from where Tarryn was. He could never reach that far.
Yet still he tried. He gathered up the torn shreds of dignity, gripped tightly at the very dregs of courage, and reached a hand out to pull weakly at the bottom of the demon’s shirt – only to start, flinching back again as Tarryn intentionally twitched the fabric away before his fingers could touch it with a disdainful look. He immediately pulled his hand back, fisting it and curling slightly into himself, tightly reining in the urge to throw himself at his feet in order to beg for punishment, or to even so much as shoot a pleading gaze towards him. He couldn’t – wouldn’t be able to bear confirming the most likely disappointed, disapproving air in stony green eyes.
And then Tarryn spoke the words that shattered the last of his hopes, that left the words of apology and explanation dying to dust and tasting of grit on his tongue.
“Basically, Thalis - ” The boy flinched again at his name, nearly cowering on the bed. “I’m tired of you. And I’m leaving.”
Then he turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door closed with a barely audible ‘snick’ that sounded more permanent than the heavy slam of a mile high steel slab, that sounded like a death-knell to the pained boy’s ears.
---0~0~0---
He moved closer into the middle of the bed, drawing up his knees, holding them with his arms as he curled up as close as he could to the headboard.
The boy lay his head down on his knees, thoughts of disappointment and abandonment filling his mind.
…failure, failure, failure, failure… Nothing but a complete and utter failure…
Thalis breathed out slowly, closing his eyes, humming wordlessly for a while, a seemingly peaceful look on his face. A voice, rusty and cracked from long hours of disuses interrupted the quiet of the room with all the delicacy of nails screeching down a blackboard.
“Couldn’t you have kept quiet?” He asked himself, harshly. “Pretended that – no, not pretend. There really was nothing wrong to begin with. You’re just such a drama queen, you have to go and blow everything out of proportion, just so you could get the attention. Well, now you did it. He’s gone.”
“He’s gone.” He whispered again to himself. “He’s gone. And it was all your fault. Always your fault. All the time. You can’t ever do anything right, can you?”
Tears sprung from his eyes, slipped down his cheeks, past the empty, and too-blank smile on his face as he continued speaking.
“You’re so stupid, Thalis.” He gave a little laugh. “Such a moron. You can’t do anything right. You screw up the slightest tasks.”
He giggled to himself, shoulders shaking. “You deserve everything you get. Including his leaving.” A snicker. “You didn’t know when you had a good thing going, and used him and used him until even he got sick of it. Face it. Nothing could ever love you. You’re too disgusting.”
He rocked gently on the bed, humming under his breath. “They’re so pretty, so pretty. They cut so well, the pretty, sharp little red shards. They break so easy, so easy, and they never get put together again. Who will put little humpty dumpty back together again?”
He laughed to himself, clapping hands to himself delightedly. “No one!” He beamed into the room. “No one will put it back together again!”
He nodded happily to himself, calling out. “No one, no one, no one, no one – no one will put it back together again! And humpty dumpty and the pretty red shards can sleep together! Buried under dust and pain and hurt forever and ever and ever...”
Feeling slightly sleepy, he lay down, curled up into a tight little ball as he continued to sing to himself, quietly. “And it will only be the disgusting, wretched little thing crying crying crying! Crying until the end of time and no one no one no one will ever come again in the dark, oh in the dark dark darkness where there is no light... Will never be light because that is where dark disgusting things belong – in the dark! And it will only be the wretched creature whining forever and ever...”
Sleepy brown eyes looked blankly over the room, flitting from object to object before landing on the side-table. More specifically, on the small silver necklace with gold filigree lying on it.
In the past, he used to spend hours staring at it, playing with the delicate-seeming chain and letting it slip through his fingers, amazement and disbelieving wonder filling every pore as he thought of what the little bit of jewelry meant.
Tarryn had presented it to him, the first time he had accepted him into his life as his guardian. It was solid proof of a contract between them. A promise – no, a *vow* that Tarryn would never leave him, and would always be there to guide, support, and protect him, serving as stalwart defender against what would hurt him.
He hadn’t believed in his words of course – at all of seven years old he had already well learned the lesson of not placing his trust in anyone who offered him kindness and pretty gifts, like that beautiful necklace. It was always much better, much safer, for him to automatically disregard those little gestures as nothing more than gestures, and to take pain as the only truth in his world.
Tarryn had insisted, however, and old enough to know that defiance often meant pain past what even he could endure, he accepted it, and tolerated his persistence in his wearing it. So he abided by the demon’s wishes, brought the jewelry around with him everywhere, and regarded it as nothing more than an interestingly shiny piece of metal.
But oh... Over time, it grew to mean so much more. It grew to encompass a blossoming – a budding of affection that became nothing short of wholehearted, all-consuming love and devotion. And all for him.
In the disbelieving and skeptical moments that came often, he did his utmost best to disregard it. He treated the so-called ‘affection’ as nothing more than a... an acknowledgement that there was *something* binding the two of them together.
However... In those rare occasions where some flickers of hope managed to wrest its way out of his closely guarded heart... In those moments, he’d stared at the necklace, tracing the details and markings with a careful finger, and dared to think he might be worthy of affection.
He’d been told that the ruby pendant cradled by gold and silver embodied the depth of their passion with darkening hues, and that the strength of their promise to him lay within the links of the necklace. Eager to prove the demon wrong in the months after the gift, he had pulled at the jewelry with all of his might, gaping in astonishment when he failed to so much as dent the delicate chain.
Tarryn had laughed at the ensuing confrontation, lightheartedly assuring him that the chain will remain forever strong – a symbol of his utter and complete devotion to him and him alone.
So much of his hope and dreams lay with that little necklace, weighing no more than half a pound at most.
He reached a careful hand out to lift the necklace from the table now, before automatically lunging to catch the pendant as the chain simply... fell apart. Pulled to pieces by the weight of metal, the firm silver links nothing more than a puddle of shining mass on the carpeted floor.
Straightening on the bed, sleepy eyes blinked as shaking hands cupped over the pendant... And black brown eyes watched, a very slight spark of dim horror flaring and dying with abrupt finality as the stone, formerly a red so dark it was almost black changed, swirling before settling on the color of glass, looking just as easy to break – and did so as his hand uncontrollably jerked at the sudden change, squeezing the glass past its own point of endurance and causing it to spill over the floor in glittering fragments, scattering around the pool of silver as the boy let it fall from his hands with a gleeful, triumphant cry, before falling and curling tightly in on himself on the bed murmuring chants of insult, shame, and punishment.
The slight body shook, trembled, and a thin, wavering voice screamed in a high-pitched, keening note of hysterical despair. “FOREVER!” He yelled, the word ringing hollowly throughout the empty room. “Ever ever ever! Broken little puddle of melted silver and poisoned honey drops with shattered moonbeams... Broken forever and ever and ever and everandeverandeverandever!!!”
He continued, more slowly this time, eyelids drooping as a thin chest heaved in breath for labored breath of air. “And ever, and ever... And no one will ever come... No one will ever come to the wretched creature... And the creature will live miserably ever after.... Happy ending!” He giggled again, weakly. “No pain no pain no pain... Only pain forever and ever and ever... And happy endings for all... Hm-mm.. Mm-mm.. Happy end sings for all... Sings.. ends... Ends.. Forever...”
He sighed to himself, closing his eyes as exhaustion compounded with blood loss and emotional trauma quickly sent him to sleep, that empty, chilling smile still on his face.
Still humming a tuneless little song to himself, despite being almost unconscious.
Still crying a constant stream of tears where a broken soul tore itself over and over and over again. Finally proven right.
Finally left alone. Finally given what it wanted.
Though funnily enough, getting what you want isn’t nearly as satisfying as the books made it seem.
In fact, it was quite… painful…
Like the wind had somehow become a blade that took his heart away.
---0~0~0---
End
---0~0~0---
AN: Yet another teaser for you, folks - just so you know that the Guardian Chronicles will not be entirely a smut-filled series with only the sheerest covering of a plot to disguise its rampant orgiastic qualities. I did try to make it so it was just as much actual stuff as opposed to merely the 'fun' stuff alone. Anyway, end of teaser. Review, and tell me what you think please - if the teasers don't generate enough interest, then I won't bother posting up the series.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Jade Ai
A boy stared blankly, gaze dull and lifeless as half-forgotten conversations and memories consumed his mind.
---0~0~0---
“No problems, then, sunshine?”
An unreadable look flashed quickly, deep in brown eyes, almost too quickly to be seen. Tarryn held back the urge to frown.
“Nah... No problems. Unless you count the exams.” He made a face again, sticking his tongue out. “Some of them were hard enough that I seriously considered murder for a while.”
“Evil teachers, then, luv?” The demon laughed at the fervent nod, hugging the other’s form tightly.
“Don’t worry, luv. I’ll protect you.”
“Even from evil teachers?” A mischievous pout.
An answering laugh, warm and filled with love and life. “Yes, luv. Even from evil teachers.”
---0~0~0---
The boy flinched, curling into himself almost unconsciously into a defensive little ball as another memory clamored for his attention.
---0~0~0---
“Tell me the truth.” The boy looked up from his homework, a question on the tip of his tongue that was lost in a startled laugh as he took in the sight of the demon wearing, of all things, a frilly, flowered apron, seated cross-legged on the wooden chest in front of the bed. “Does this make me look fat?”
Humor glinted in brown eyes, and Thalis opened his mouth, ready to reply, when –
“No jokes.” Came the stern warning.
Damn. Caught.
He offered a sheepish grin.
Tarryn rolled his eyes.
---0~0~0---
He started to shake as more recent memories and their remembered, all too-fresh horror and bitter taste assailed him.
---0~0~0---
Tarryn straightened, tilting the boy’s chin up with one hand. “Well?”
He watched the play of emotions over the boy’s face. Surprise. Guilt. Anger. Worry. Apprehension. Defiance. Followed by... regret?
“...” The boy turned his face away, dislodging the demon’s hand. “I don’t really wanna talk about it, Tarryn. Let it go.”
The demon was silent for a few moments, quiet in the wake of the boy’s request. Then –
“No. You know my stance on this, little one. You tell me what’s wrong. Always. No matter what.”
“...Not this time. Change the subject.”
“Little one - ”
“Change. The. Subject.” Brown eyes glared into steady green. Long moments passed.
Tarryn looked away first.
---0~0~0---
The boy, Thalis, clutched at his head, shaking it as if to physically dislodge the pain-drenched moments from his mind, and throw them away forever.
---0~0~0---
The demon felt no triumph at the victory... just a deep, abiding sadness that he was right to begin with. He helplessly looked up at the boy, who was staring quietly into his lap. Silence reigned in the room.
Just as the boy began to fidget, Tarryn leaned down slightly and stated, quite clearly into the delicate shell of an ear – “I love you, sunshine.”
The boy froze in his lap, almost not breathing, eyes wide. After a few moments, he drew in a shuddering breath, swallowing hard afterwards. But he didn’t say anything.
“Did you hear me, sunshine?” Tarryn nudged him. “I said I love you.”
This time Tarryn closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, his hands balling up into fists, shaking almost imperceptibly.
“Hey.” The demon licked the curve of one ear, blowing into it, holding tight onto the boy. “I’ll say it again, just to make sure you *did* hear me. I. Love. You.”
The boy shook his head again, once more, before settling into stillness for a good long while.
---0~0~0---
He bit his lip and fisted his hands so hard his nails dug blooded crescents into his skin, hoping the pain would distract him from reliving the events mere moments before – mere seconds, miniscule, fleeting images, lifetimes - that happened soon after the declaration of love.
---0~0~0---
“Heh. Whatever you say, Tarryn.” The boy glanced up, grinning, nails digging into the skin of his palms.
The demon frowned. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No no no! Of course I’m not making fun of you! I would never do that!” Exaggerated wink at the demon, the grin taking on a slight edge of hysteria that had Tarryn sitting up in attention.
“Little one?” He looked on in concern as the boy doubled over, beginning to laugh, shoulders shaking.
The demon frowned in reply, reaching a hand out to catch the boy’s chin, turning the oval face towards him.
“Sunshine, what’s the - ” Tarryn’s voice abruptly died off, and normally collected green eyes widened in horror.
Thalis looked at him, puzzled, still smiling, entirely unaware that tears were falling down his cheeks past his frozen smile... until a drop fell land landed on his hand. A confused frown flitted across his face as he looked down and spotted the single drop on the top of his hand.
“What the - ?” He lifted his hand to his cheek, and, feeling the dampness, looked at his hand, the fingertips shining with tears. He did little more than stare in bemusement when he was abruptly pulled into an embrace.
He looked at Tarryn, smiling, tears still streaming down from blank brown eyes.
“Tarryn?” The boy frowned as he received no response, slowly rubbing the pads of his fingers together to remove the dampness. “Why are you staring at me like – whoa!”
He blinked in confusion as the embrace tightened. “What’s - ”
“Oh little one... Not again...”
The boy’s frown grew deeper. “Whaddya mean, ‘again’?”
“Don’t play stupid, sunshine.” Tarryn shifted closer, a sad smile on his lips as he nuzzled the back of the boy’s neck. “Tell me, please?”
“...”
“Little one?” Tarryn pleaded again, adding an obvious tinge of pleading to his tone.
He quietly breathed out a sigh of relief as slim shoulders slumped in defeat. Expecting a short, though halting explanation, he looked on in surprise and dread as the boy drew his left arm close to his body, almost cradling the limb.
Instant, weary understanding filled the demon’s face, was stamped clearly in his expression.
“I’m sick of this.” Tarryn said abruptly, slipping off the bed and standing up, uncaring that his sudden movements had jarred the boy to almost-sprawling on the bed.
“No matter what I do, no matter what I say, you’re going to keep doing what you want. You don’t even care about what I think. As long as you have your little self-destructive habits, everything’s all right in the world with you. I can’t compete.”
“Wha-...” Thalis swallowed, a nauseating sensation swamping his senses. “T-Tarryn, what are you s-saying?”
“What I’m saying, is this.” The demon took one step closer to the bed, hard green eyes staring into brown as he clearly enunciated, hardening his heart against the flinch brought by each of the words that dripped like chips of ice from his lips. “I’m tired of this. I’m tired of not being listened to. I’m tired of not being believed every time I say that I love you.”
He took a step back, folding his arms, looking cool and imperious. Regal. And so impossibly distant – so far away from where Tarryn was. He could never reach that far.
Yet still he tried. He gathered up the torn shreds of dignity, gripped tightly at the very dregs of courage, and reached a hand out to pull weakly at the bottom of the demon’s shirt – only to start, flinching back again as Tarryn intentionally twitched the fabric away before his fingers could touch it with a disdainful look. He immediately pulled his hand back, fisting it and curling slightly into himself, tightly reining in the urge to throw himself at his feet in order to beg for punishment, or to even so much as shoot a pleading gaze towards him. He couldn’t – wouldn’t be able to bear confirming the most likely disappointed, disapproving air in stony green eyes.
And then Tarryn spoke the words that shattered the last of his hopes, that left the words of apology and explanation dying to dust and tasting of grit on his tongue.
“Basically, Thalis - ” The boy flinched again at his name, nearly cowering on the bed. “I’m tired of you. And I’m leaving.”
Then he turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door closed with a barely audible ‘snick’ that sounded more permanent than the heavy slam of a mile high steel slab, that sounded like a death-knell to the pained boy’s ears.
---0~0~0---
He moved closer into the middle of the bed, drawing up his knees, holding them with his arms as he curled up as close as he could to the headboard.
The boy lay his head down on his knees, thoughts of disappointment and abandonment filling his mind.
…failure, failure, failure, failure… Nothing but a complete and utter failure…
Thalis breathed out slowly, closing his eyes, humming wordlessly for a while, a seemingly peaceful look on his face. A voice, rusty and cracked from long hours of disuses interrupted the quiet of the room with all the delicacy of nails screeching down a blackboard.
“Couldn’t you have kept quiet?” He asked himself, harshly. “Pretended that – no, not pretend. There really was nothing wrong to begin with. You’re just such a drama queen, you have to go and blow everything out of proportion, just so you could get the attention. Well, now you did it. He’s gone.”
“He’s gone.” He whispered again to himself. “He’s gone. And it was all your fault. Always your fault. All the time. You can’t ever do anything right, can you?”
Tears sprung from his eyes, slipped down his cheeks, past the empty, and too-blank smile on his face as he continued speaking.
“You’re so stupid, Thalis.” He gave a little laugh. “Such a moron. You can’t do anything right. You screw up the slightest tasks.”
He giggled to himself, shoulders shaking. “You deserve everything you get. Including his leaving.” A snicker. “You didn’t know when you had a good thing going, and used him and used him until even he got sick of it. Face it. Nothing could ever love you. You’re too disgusting.”
He rocked gently on the bed, humming under his breath. “They’re so pretty, so pretty. They cut so well, the pretty, sharp little red shards. They break so easy, so easy, and they never get put together again. Who will put little humpty dumpty back together again?”
He laughed to himself, clapping hands to himself delightedly. “No one!” He beamed into the room. “No one will put it back together again!”
He nodded happily to himself, calling out. “No one, no one, no one, no one – no one will put it back together again! And humpty dumpty and the pretty red shards can sleep together! Buried under dust and pain and hurt forever and ever and ever...”
Feeling slightly sleepy, he lay down, curled up into a tight little ball as he continued to sing to himself, quietly. “And it will only be the disgusting, wretched little thing crying crying crying! Crying until the end of time and no one no one no one will ever come again in the dark, oh in the dark dark darkness where there is no light... Will never be light because that is where dark disgusting things belong – in the dark! And it will only be the wretched creature whining forever and ever...”
Sleepy brown eyes looked blankly over the room, flitting from object to object before landing on the side-table. More specifically, on the small silver necklace with gold filigree lying on it.
In the past, he used to spend hours staring at it, playing with the delicate-seeming chain and letting it slip through his fingers, amazement and disbelieving wonder filling every pore as he thought of what the little bit of jewelry meant.
Tarryn had presented it to him, the first time he had accepted him into his life as his guardian. It was solid proof of a contract between them. A promise – no, a *vow* that Tarryn would never leave him, and would always be there to guide, support, and protect him, serving as stalwart defender against what would hurt him.
He hadn’t believed in his words of course – at all of seven years old he had already well learned the lesson of not placing his trust in anyone who offered him kindness and pretty gifts, like that beautiful necklace. It was always much better, much safer, for him to automatically disregard those little gestures as nothing more than gestures, and to take pain as the only truth in his world.
Tarryn had insisted, however, and old enough to know that defiance often meant pain past what even he could endure, he accepted it, and tolerated his persistence in his wearing it. So he abided by the demon’s wishes, brought the jewelry around with him everywhere, and regarded it as nothing more than an interestingly shiny piece of metal.
But oh... Over time, it grew to mean so much more. It grew to encompass a blossoming – a budding of affection that became nothing short of wholehearted, all-consuming love and devotion. And all for him.
In the disbelieving and skeptical moments that came often, he did his utmost best to disregard it. He treated the so-called ‘affection’ as nothing more than a... an acknowledgement that there was *something* binding the two of them together.
However... In those rare occasions where some flickers of hope managed to wrest its way out of his closely guarded heart... In those moments, he’d stared at the necklace, tracing the details and markings with a careful finger, and dared to think he might be worthy of affection.
He’d been told that the ruby pendant cradled by gold and silver embodied the depth of their passion with darkening hues, and that the strength of their promise to him lay within the links of the necklace. Eager to prove the demon wrong in the months after the gift, he had pulled at the jewelry with all of his might, gaping in astonishment when he failed to so much as dent the delicate chain.
Tarryn had laughed at the ensuing confrontation, lightheartedly assuring him that the chain will remain forever strong – a symbol of his utter and complete devotion to him and him alone.
So much of his hope and dreams lay with that little necklace, weighing no more than half a pound at most.
He reached a careful hand out to lift the necklace from the table now, before automatically lunging to catch the pendant as the chain simply... fell apart. Pulled to pieces by the weight of metal, the firm silver links nothing more than a puddle of shining mass on the carpeted floor.
Straightening on the bed, sleepy eyes blinked as shaking hands cupped over the pendant... And black brown eyes watched, a very slight spark of dim horror flaring and dying with abrupt finality as the stone, formerly a red so dark it was almost black changed, swirling before settling on the color of glass, looking just as easy to break – and did so as his hand uncontrollably jerked at the sudden change, squeezing the glass past its own point of endurance and causing it to spill over the floor in glittering fragments, scattering around the pool of silver as the boy let it fall from his hands with a gleeful, triumphant cry, before falling and curling tightly in on himself on the bed murmuring chants of insult, shame, and punishment.
The slight body shook, trembled, and a thin, wavering voice screamed in a high-pitched, keening note of hysterical despair. “FOREVER!” He yelled, the word ringing hollowly throughout the empty room. “Ever ever ever! Broken little puddle of melted silver and poisoned honey drops with shattered moonbeams... Broken forever and ever and ever and everandeverandeverandever!!!”
He continued, more slowly this time, eyelids drooping as a thin chest heaved in breath for labored breath of air. “And ever, and ever... And no one will ever come... No one will ever come to the wretched creature... And the creature will live miserably ever after.... Happy ending!” He giggled again, weakly. “No pain no pain no pain... Only pain forever and ever and ever... And happy endings for all... Hm-mm.. Mm-mm.. Happy end sings for all... Sings.. ends... Ends.. Forever...”
He sighed to himself, closing his eyes as exhaustion compounded with blood loss and emotional trauma quickly sent him to sleep, that empty, chilling smile still on his face.
Still humming a tuneless little song to himself, despite being almost unconscious.
Still crying a constant stream of tears where a broken soul tore itself over and over and over again. Finally proven right.
Finally left alone. Finally given what it wanted.
Though funnily enough, getting what you want isn’t nearly as satisfying as the books made it seem.
In fact, it was quite… painful…
Like the wind had somehow become a blade that took his heart away.
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End
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AN: Yet another teaser for you, folks - just so you know that the Guardian Chronicles will not be entirely a smut-filled series with only the sheerest covering of a plot to disguise its rampant orgiastic qualities. I did try to make it so it was just as much actual stuff as opposed to merely the 'fun' stuff alone. Anyway, end of teaser. Review, and tell me what you think please - if the teasers don't generate enough interest, then I won't bother posting up the series.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Jade Ai