[Fic] Kazethyst - Animus

[vientouch.livejournal.com]

because, one day, while pose-abusing, beaun and i noticed there was unresolved sexual tension between raph and perri.
stupid rabid plot bunnies!

Animus

Peregrine was in a foul mood. That was the understatement of the year. And probably the next year as well. She could feel her siblings’ stares on her back, the waves of worry crashing over her shoulders. It made her nerves tingle, and that really wasn’t helping right now. She’d have to get them to stop.

“What?” she barked over her shoulder. Aedelia cringed slightly and Valerius quickly averted his eyes. Damn it, that hadn’t come out right. She wanted to apologize, but didn’t trust herself enough to say anything else right now. So instead, she made her gaze refocus on the road ahead and her mind refocus on the real source of her aggravation: the mail.

They corresponded regularly with their mother; she would write to them about familiar faces and places, and they would write to her about new adventures and achievements (and they had achieved quite a bit, had earned themselves a modest reputation too). It was no surprise, then, to find an envelope from home with their mother’s handwriting on their doorstep that morning.

What was a surprise was the second sheet of parchment, other than their mother’s letter, within the envelope. It was a letter from their father. He hadn’t written to them in six months. The last letter he had sent could be summed up in “Your mother made me write this; I am well”. This letter was not very different, except for the addition of “Don’t let it get to your head.”

This, while not directly stated, was clearly addressed to her. Peregrine knew it was not something he felt he needed to say to her younger siblings. Only she was ‘in danger’.

Six months, and that’s all he had to say to her. Half a year, and that’s still all she amounted to in his book.

Confound it.

“Sera!”

Aedelia ran past Peregrine and up to the girl strolling towards them, greeting her with a hug. Peregrine hadn’t even realized that they had already reached the corner where they were supposed to meet up with their companions.

“Hi Raph!” Aedelia chirped as Raphael came to stand by Sera, and she threw her arms around him too.

“Hello, Aeda” he said, returning the hug.

He was no longer surprised by her younger sister’s affections, Peregrine noted. He was still awkward about returning them though. When he was released, he turned to her and nodded. She nodded back; her mood had lifted a notch.

“Good morning!”

The exclamation continued to ring in her ears for a few seconds. She sent a glare towards newest addition to the group.

“Or not?” Thanatos amended.

Peregrine huffed and slumped back against a wall, crossing her arms.

Thanatos looked as though he wanted to say something, but seeing the vigorously shaking heads of the other two Beaunvoliants, he wisely took a step back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Peregrine saw Raphael’s brow furrow. It wasn’t out of worry. More out of… confusion. She didn’t know whether that was better than worry. In any case, she avoided meeting his gaze.

“Where are the Demalions?” Valerius asked.

“I suppose they’re on the way. Missing your lover already?” Thanatos quipped.

He received a scowl in turn, “No, I just want to know why we have to be kept waiting.”, but Val’s cheeks were tinged with red.

“Maybe they got held up by that same idiot.” offered Sera.

Aedelia turned curious eyes to her, “Who?”

Sera shrugged, “A vendor made a really lame pass at me on the way here. He asked if we wanted any fruit, and when I said no, he asked if he could purchase mine for a night instead.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did.”

Peregrine growled, “I hope you gave him his due.”

“I would’ve if Raph hadn’t stopped me.”

“What?” Peregrine turned to Raphael, annoyance coloring her voice. “Why did you stop her?”

Raphael rubbed that back of his neck. “I don’t think she should… fight like that.”

At that, something in Perri snapped. She felt a wave rise from the base of her spine to fill her chest and ultimately spill off her tongue, “Oh, because she’s a woman? She should be prim and proper, is that it? She shouldn’t fight; she should just keep quiet and let the will of men bend her in whichever way they please? Honestly!” And throwing her hands up in the air, she pushed off the wall.

“What… no… I didn’t…” Raphael trailed off, not quite sure how to react, and Peregrine was already headed into the passing crowd.

“Perri!” Aedelia called, and made to run after her too, but Valerius took hold of her arm.

“I think it would be better for us to leave her alone for now.”

“Smart move. It looks like she’s going to go kill something.” Tatter remarked, watching Peregrine’s retreating form as she herself approached.

Dimidium came to drape himself over Valerius. “What did we miss?”

Raphael felt a weight on his shoulder. “What did you do to piss off Perryberry?”

“Brusca…” He looked down helplessly at her.

“You should go after her.”

Raphael winced at the prospect. “But… she’s angry with me.”

“Well, if she ends up killing you, at least she’ll feel better!”

He looked in the direction Peregrine had disappeared to.

“Don’t leave her alone with her demons.” Labrusca whispered.

No, he wouldn’t, even if did kill him.

It hurts more than it should, she decided.

For some reason, Raph thinking that way hurt more than her father thinking that way. But she couldn’t figure out what the reason was. And she wasn’t really interested in that right now anyway, though there was a dull sense in the back of her mind that told her she probably should be. Regardless, all she really wanted to do right now was continue hacking away at tree in front of her.

Thunk. Damn. Thunk. It all. Thunk. To hell. Thunk.

Sweat fell into her eyes. She wiped it away with the back of her free hand. When she let it fall back to her side, she saw Raphael, standing there next to the tree.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other. Had someone happened to see them at that moment, they would have found it odd how they could look at each other so intently yet expressionlessly.

Then Peregrine shifted her weight onto one leg, placing her hand on her hip. “Yes?”

He didn’t say anything, only looked sidelong at the mutilated trunk.

Her father would have done the same thing.

She suddenly remembered Labrusca saying that a woman looks for her father in her mate. Good lord, why in the world was thinking of that right now?!

“Why… are you angry?”

The question caught her by surprise. It wasn’t the question per se, because she had expected that. It was the honest simplicity with which it was asked. It sounded almost void of emotion because of its purity. She couldn’t think of anyone else who could ask such a question in such a way. It almost made her forget the answer.

But the answer was also the one who had asked the question, after all.

Her hand clenched around the hilt of her sword. She reached for the mask that had been attached to her belt, and lifted it to her face. “…Go away, Raphael.”

She turned her back to him, and began to walk away.

“…No.”

She stopped. “No?”

“No.”

“Ah. That’s what I thought you said.”

Peregrine spun and Raphael suddenly found himself sidestepping her sword.

“But I don’t recall giving you a choice.”

She lunged at him once more. This time he drew he managed to draw his sword. Their blades clashed as his deflected hers. He jumped back again.

“I just want to help.”

“It seems I have to repeat myself.”

With a cry, she leaped up high. He braced himself, but he still buckled slightly under thunder of their swords. She continued to press down on him.

“Ngh… don’t…”

“Don’t? Don’t tell me what to do.”

She lifted her weapon to strike another time. He took advantage of that and struck up against it, forcing her back. She landed in a crouch.

“Why won’t you let me help?” His voice now carried desperation. “Why won’t you tell me… what’s wrong?”

Peregrine bowed her head, hair falling over her face.

Oh, it really hurts more than it should.

She attacked again. Raphael gave up evasion. He met her head on. The steel sang.

“What’s wrong, you ask?”

One by one, the notes came to form the melody Raphael recognized as Pain.

“I’m wrong.”

Said in barely a whisper. Raphael thought that more unnerving that if she had shouted it.

“Father thinks I’m all wrong. You think I’m all wrong! Well, I’ll prove that YOU’RE wrong!”

She slashed frantically at him now. He needed to end this.

He noticed one of her strikes went a little too far because her grip had slackened. He quickly struck her wrist with the flat of his blade, making her drop the sword. She didn’t seem to care, and threw a punch instead, landing it across his jaw. He retaliated by ramming against her with his shoulder, into the same tree she had chosen to unleash her wrath on earlier. He pinned her there with his forearm across her collarbone.

Like earlier, they just stared at each other for a moment, only this time they were both trying to get some wind back into their lungs. Then Peregrine let her head fall back against the trunk, and Raphael freed his hold on her.

“Why… why would you think that I…”

“Sera.”

“Sera? Sera said that?”

“No.” She looked at him. “What you said.”

His brow furrowed again. He needed to stop doing that, it was too adorable. No, annoying. She shook her head. He thought it was to emphasize the ‘no’.

“You don’t think she should… fight.”

“Oh.” He blinked. “But that…”

He paused here. She knew he was gathering his thoughts.

“I stopped Sera… because she might have ended up trying killing that man… and I would have tried to stop her… and somehow we both would’ve ended up in jail.”

It was Peregrine’s turn to blink. “Oh.”

“And you would have had to come bail us out. So, really… I was thinking about you.”

That would indeed have been… a very likely scenario. And… wait, a darn minute… “Raphael Kazethyst… did you just make a joke?”

He smiled, a small smile, the kind you give to someone you just shared a secret with.

Peregrine couldn’t help it. She laughed.

Raphael laughed with her. It made their chests ache, unused to that kind of exercise, but they relished it.

Her shoulders were still shaking when he called her name.

“Perri…”

“Mn?”

“…I know.”

She sent him a questioning glance. He bowed his head ands kicked at the ground.

“I already know… that you’re… a good person.”

He took a deep breath, then continued.

“That you’re strong. That you’re smart. That you’re…”

He raised his head again to look at her. He was hesitating, deciding how to finish. Finally, he slowly lifted his hand… and gently removed the mask from her face.

“I know.” he said again.

Peregrine was still for a long time. Or what seemed like a long time to Raphael anyway. He rubbed that back of his neck, trying to find something interesting to stare at on the ground.

Then he heard her begin to walk away. He watched her back for a while, not know what to do. If he had managed to upset her again somehow, he was going to hit himself.

But she looked back over her shoulder.

“Are you coming or not?”

As she watched him catching up to her, she took the realization she had just made and locked it away in the safe of her soul, where it would be hidden even from her, but where she would still feel its warmth. It would have to do for now. There were others to think about.

But she allowed herself to take his hand as his footsteps echoed hers.

The rest could wait.

Maybe in another lifetime.

To be continued… in the 21^st century.

Comments

[dreamlandarrest.livejournal.com]

AWKWARD RAPH IS AWKWARD

d'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[llyse.livejournal.com]

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Are you SURE we can't have a threesome?