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There were some things he had had to get used to over time, like the lack of light or things to occupy his time. There were windows in the shed, but a few boards had been nailed over them from the outside, causing slits of light to fall haphazardly on the floor. When he sat silently and thought, he could see the dust dancing in the rays of light as if life was one big party. When Hybrid wasn’t around, though, it was anything but.
He swore he heard approaching foot steps, and instantly Pilot jumped to his feet. His silver gazed focused in on the door, waiting for its hinges to swing open and reveal his part time lover. "Hybridddd," he called, brushing strands of silver hair that had veiled his eyes.
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indent Something was wrong. The shack had been abandoned since the girl (Firefly, someone had told him) had been dragged back home. Now he had heard that something was in there, something that sounded and smelled like a wolf. While his cousin’s peculiar absence bothered him, the fox that still hung around was a remarkable spy. All it took was a few scraps, the promise of protection, and whatever blind loyalty the red-coat had to his wolfish cousin.
indent Two-legged, Gabriel reached out, fumbled with the wire lock and pulled open the door. While he looked puzzled, his face swiftly dropped and darkened as he saw the wolf. Pristine white fur was covered in dried blood and dirt, and he looked half to hell. “The hell?”
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He grinned, brushing back the silver bangs that refused to stay clear from his eyes. When the door finally swung open, he had to squint, unused to the intensity of light pouring in. Though his gaze couldn’t make out details of Hybrid’s form, Pilot smiled with the knowledge that his partner was back for more. When he went away, there was nothing for the Crimson Dreams leader to look forward to save Hybrid’s return.
As the door closed with a soft thud, the light was reduced to its original quality. Though he still couldn’t make out large details, the golden gaze gave everything away. This wasn’t Hybrid. When Pilot was able to determine who exactly had trespassed into the dilapidated love shack, he stumbled backwards in panic, tripping over an abandoned crate and spilling onto the floor. The last time he had wandered into Inferni’s territory, Gabriel has chased him away with the promise of death if Pilot ever dare return. "He keeps me here," were the first words that came spilling out in a jumbled mess, as if it might somehow save his skin. Any real sense of diplomacy the boy had learned from his time in leadership was neglected now.
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indent Cold wind poured in behind him, and the moment he shut the door it settled to a faint thing, seeping in through the cracks and the larger gap formed by the wolves from Dahlia de Mai. The other male stumbled back, and Gabriel watched him silently, lip pulled up in confusion. What the fuck was Hybrid doing here? Keeping pets, or something worse. He was like a cat playing with his prey.
indent There was no formality. There was panic, and there was confusion. Gabriel had to take a few moments to gain any sort of composure, and finally just blinked and opened his mouth. “And you’re…you’re okay with that?” That call hadn’t been terror or hate. It had been longing.
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He had been broken and then there was nothing left. He had been stripped down to nothing. This boy had changed so much from when he had first wandered away from the loving arms of his surrogate family. He had been so naive, so carefree and generally happy back then. But now, would he ever be the same? "Sometimes," he muttered, still collapsed on the floor. He made no attempt to pick himself up or even to situate himself more comfortably. He looked like a sad, broken doll. Gabriel still shared him shitless, despite the lack of murder promises. All he wanted now was to crawl away somewhere and hide deep in a hole where no one could find him.
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indent Falling was an act that everyone experienced. And the utter destruction of ones life was another. Gabriel had broken down once, and on that day drove a nail through his palm and called it stigmata. He still carried the scar, and would until he died. There had been other moments where he had broken, though it was not a breakdown—it was, perhaps, ascending into a state of fury and holy rage. Madness. Breaking Conri’s ribs, nearly killing both Haku and Iskata, and the murder of the latter’s mate. But it was all right. No bounce, no play. “What the fuck happened to you,” he said quietly, not even asking, not sure if he really wanted to know.
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The words resounded in his head and he looked aside, falling away from the world of the shack that had been his life for the past six weeks. Even after he was let out from here, he didn’t know what he would do next. He wouldn’t be able to face Urma – Crimson Dreams wouldn’t be the same. Both of his sons were gone and so he didn’t even have his shitty skill as a father to hold onto. What was left? He looked to Gabriel, perhaps with some sense of pleading swirled with his fear. The scratches along his torso began to ache and thoughts of Hybrid returned. It was all he had to look forward to. He had grown sick with the lust and waited obediently for the return of his master like an inferior little mutt. But he knew he didn’t want that anymore – yet he had let himself loose hoping in every changing this. "I don't know what's going to happen," he spoke to anyone who was listening.
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indent This man had broken down. He had fallen from grace, burnt himself, and now crawled in the dirt. Such things were not uncommon in Gabriel’s vision of the world—such things happened long ago, before the world had come to know everything that it did now. Angels and original sin were both pushed out into that great desert, that great wilderness. His ears turned forward, swiveling on top of his head, and he regarded the stranger.
“He’ll kill you,” Gabriel said quietly.
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He let out a large sigh, picking himself up off the ground momentarily so that he could situate himself more comfortably. He no longer feared that Gabriel was going to kill him. Then again, maybe that wouldn’t have been so unpleasant. "No he won’t," Pilot retorted firmly, though it scared him to consider the possibility. "He loves me." If he could convince Gabriel of it, then maybe it would make it true. "Hybrid loves me," he stated again, looking to the door beyond Gabriel and wondering if the world had changed as much as he had during his stay in Inferni's grasp.
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indent The milky-gray man was no threat. He wasn’t much of anything, in this state. Pilot had sunk into a musty, acrid world where his delusions kept him alive. Hybrid would not. Hybrid would kill him the moment it stopped being fun. Though Gabriel was no sadist (though his record might argue otherwise) he understood how psychopaths operated. “No he doesn’t,” he declared firmly.
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He stared directly at Gabriel, trying to decide why he was so intent on making Pilot miserable. Pilot knew what he had said to Gabriel wasn’t true, but it hurt even more to hear the Inferni leader say it out loud. Pilot wanted it to be true – oh, so much. Maybe that way he would feel less like a toy and more like a companion. "Why are you here?" He asked Gabriel, feeling that familiar twinge of anger, accompanied by the threat of tears. "Get out!" He screamed, startled by the sound of his own voice.
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indent There was a rising impulse to strike the boy. To bring his hand down, across his face, and shake him from his delusion. To make him listen to reason. Gabriel could not justify this in any political sense. It was what his morals demanded of him, though he reminded himself he owed this man nothing. “…but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.” A soft verse, a reminder that the delusions were chosen, not forced, and belonged to sin and vice. “Your soul is your own business,” he said, and turned his back. One hand pushed open the door, flooding the world with cold air and light.
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He didn’t care what he had to say. All the mattered was that he had turned to walk away, that the door was opened now. He studied Gabriel’s frame, having forgotten the threat that had lingered in his mind earlier. He could have easily killed him, but he supposed he was going to let Hybrid do that. Pilot watched, waiting for the door to slam shut and the light to cease blinding him.
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