—————

Happy Holidays~ 

Here's your present!

And the best Xmas song around.

—————

          A rumbling purr carved through Káel's veil of dreams, a wet nose nudging at his chin for attention as he drearily cracked open his eyes. "Jay," he groaned, stopping as his fingers slipped through the cat's coat, longer and rougher hairs than the one he knew.

          His expression soured as he forced his eyes to focus, the patchy brown cat slamming her forehead against his chin as another request for attention.

          "Ragdoll?"

          The cat responded with a meow, driving her paws into his chest to massage the area while Káel took in his surroundings. He wasn't on a bed, but the spacious red couch he'd found himself on certainly wasn't his. Neither was the stretch of woven carpet, nor the embroidered white curtains drawn over an evening washed view of the forest.

          A scratching pain strained his muscles as he leaned up. The dizzy nausea from last night hadn't subsided, but the pounding headache had softened to a bearable migraine.

          "You're okay..."

          Drawn to the sound of a voice, Káel found Phantom, stood in the closest corner to watch over him in the expanse of a room.  "Where are we?"

          Fate had a horrible way of answering his questions, a door slamming shut to his left as Ray came into the room and stopped. The relief in his eyes washed away with a wave of silent irritation, the blonde muttering cross phrases under his breath as he left into another room.

          "That thing doesn't bleed," Phantom said, seizing Káel's attention once more as he noticed Puff curled near his feet. "Blondie must be some sort of golem, but the materials are something I've never seen before."

          Káel scrunched his brow, biting back the pain in his joints as he pulled a layer of thin covers off along with Ragdoll. "What do you mean he-"

          A door opened again, Ray approaching the couch with a small bag in tow. A thick wrap of cloth was covering most of his forearm,  but aside from the obvious injury, any evidence from the prior night's scuffle had been completely erased. With an overly friendly smile, the elite grabbed a chair along his journey, placing it right next to the couch to sit and face Káel. "So."

          "So?" Káel gave Ray a blank stare, staying composed was easier when he looked sickly to begin with, and he would need every ounce of convincing charisma to squeeze out of this one. 

          "Pixie Dust? Unicorns? Ring a bell?"

          Káel could feel his heartbeat quickening, the soft smile stuck to Ray's face was worse than the parenting glare he'd always try and pull off. "Why am I in your room?"

          "Because if I had knocked any harder on your door, Sev would've stormed out and kicked my butt. Seriously, did you drug Truvius or something?"

          Káel slowly shook his head, brushing his fingers along a patch of cloth that had been stuck to his cheek. He could still feel a tender tingle from where Puff's flames had licked part of his face. "I wanted to take a walk to clear my head."

          "In the forest, at night, without a trail?" Ray finished, raising his eyebrows in expectation for Káel to spit out a better lie than that. When all he received in return was silence, he slouched back on the chair with a heavy sigh, focusing on the dusty ceiling until an idea seemed to land.

          Káel watched Ray pull something out of his pocket, smooth, rectangular and incredibly earthy for a guy from Lumi. He turned the phone to Phantom, the iconic audible snap of a picture sounding off multiple times.

         "What's he doing?" Phantom muttered, rigidly poised with his arms folded for Ray's mini photo-shoot.

          Káel couldn't let his panic show, trying with all his might to wear a facade of confusion for Ray as he finished up. With a slow and dramatic side glance he thrusted his thumb at the wall. "Why are you taking pictures of an empty corner?"

          "Empty?"Ray's lips curved into a devious smirk. "You think its empty?"

          Káel forced himself to look at the corner with Phantom again, feeling the sweat collecting on his skin as he turned to Ray with a stiff frown. "Yeah? I mean... do you see anything?"

          "It doesn't matter," Ray replied, slipping the phone back in his pocket with a wink. "Samanthra will handle it."

          "How about we all just talk about this?" Phantom chimed, his shoulders dipping with disappointment as Ray completely ignored the request. "Blondie? Over here you weird golem!"  He sighed at the lack of attention. "Aaaand he can't hear me."

          Ray gave Káel's shoulder a small pat, pulling a small sack of medicine out of his bag to toss on Káel's lap. "That'll get rid of the headache and keep the swelling down in your lungs. Get some rest while I fix this."

          No.

          "Wait," Káel croaked, his throat still stiff with pain if he tried anything above a normal volume. "Stop."

          But Ray kept to his route towards the door, his hand just brushing the handle.

          "Ray, stop!"

          Káel rolled off the couch, shakily standing and ready to try his best attempt at running in his current state.

          But Ray had finally stopped, although his expression certainly didn't reflect someone that had suddenly changed their mind. He was rigid, brow scrunched in extreme concentration as he stared at his outstretched hand. "What did you do?" 

          Káel froze, the spite grating in Ray's voice keeping Káel on his side of the room. "What do you mean?"

          Ray gritted his teeth, his face reddening with strain as his hand shook ever so slightly. 

          He couldn't move.

          Káel took a few steps closer to the frozen elite. "You can't tell Samanthra."

          "Oh, this spell is going to wear out eventually," Ray spat, letting out a sigh of frustration when he couldn't get his limbs past a stiff shake. "For now, you're going to listen to me loud and clear. That thing isn't your friend, it's a monster. You'll see that as soon as you give it what it wants."

          Káel choked out a laughing scoff. "You mean like you?" 

          "Me?" Ray's eyes darkened, his voice growling with a near murderous depth. "All I've ever done is keep your scrawny butt safe. Like I did with those Chirops, that stupid room, those unicorns." He jerked his arm back, Káel feeling the spell he'd subconsciously cast shattering as Ray's imposing shadow turned to engulf him. "You would have been a mauled corpse left in the woods."

          "You know. I don't remember much about that night, aside from suffocating on my blood, but I do remember saving you from the Queen." Káel took a couple stumbling steps back as Ray changed his direction. "You're welcome by the way."

          "Oh, well I remember that entire night. Trekking through whipping vines and a frankly pissed off forest so I could save your sorry ass from a herd of full grown unicorns, because you thought you could hunt pixies with a jar and some cloth," Ray growled, stopping less than a foot from Káel who's retreat had been ruined by a wall. "I do remember you shooting the Queen in the face before I finished casting a sleeping curse on her, thanks, by the way. And then I remember every damn second running you back to Cobalt while you choked on your own blood. Every second felt like hours. Hours of hoping you didn't give up and die on my back before I could get you help. Hours of wondering what the hell was going through your head." He pulled down his goggles, thrusting an accusing finger at Phantom as his voice lifted to a rattling boom. "Hours of staring at that thing and wondering how you'd place any trust in a cloaked creep in a rock, and how you still trust him even now, after you almost died doing what he wanted." 

          Káel tried not to shiver in the heavy silence, the glare Ray was drilling into him seeming to be without an end. He finally did the only thing that came to mind, grabbing the thick wrap of bandage covering Ray's arm with a tight squeeze.

          Ray wasn't even trying to hide it.

          There wasn't a flicker of pain on his face.

          Káel couldn't help but shudder as he spoke. "What are you?"

          "That thing is controlling your mind."

          Ray's words sunk like poison in his ears. He knew what mind control felt like now, a false sense of security justified by the spell, and completely undetectable while he was under its influence. But when broken it allowed him to shine a light on the insanity of his previous mind.

          With Ray's words, only one event came to mind.

          "Those pixies..." Káel muttered, his weakened tone softening Ray's glare to worry. "When they got me I thought they wanted to go swimming. I only thought it was crazy after Puff broke the spell." His heart flushed with panic as the thought continued to haunt him, prying itself from his lips as he searched Ray's eyes for what would happen next. "Just like I never knew what was I thinking when I followed you to the junkyard over a textbook." His shaking voice steadied as Ray looked on speechlessly. "I barely panicked when I realised I was on another planet. I followed you for three hours when I didn't even know where you were taking me!"

          Ray put his open palms up, trying to calm Káel with a gentler tone. "That's not it Káel. I would never do that."

          He could feel a fire swarming in his stomach, guiltless even with the show of innocence Ray wore on his face. "I don't believe you."

          Ray scoffed, giving Káel some space while he masked the pain on his face. "You have magical powers, a dragon, friends." He threw his hand out at Phantom. "Whatever the fuck that is. And you're telling me that you'd rather run back to your little ivory tower? You're using me as an excuse for the fact that you don't really want to go back." He dipped for Káel, close enough for his breath to brush his ear. "Don't blame me for the fact that you hated your life until you came here."

          Káel could feel the heat building up to his cheeks, Ray's shadow retreating as he went right back to the door. But in his wave of conflicting emotions he knew one truth had bobbed above the waves. 

          Someone was to blame for this entire mess, and it certainly wasn't him.

          He could feel the air buzzing when he muttered insanctious, Ray stopping when he felt the tingle of energy. "Are you going to attack me now?"

          Káel paid him a weak smile, slowly shaking his head. "I won't let you take Phantom. Go to sleep."

          Ray's confusion flickered with fear as he felt a strange wave of exhaustion, struggling to keep his eyelids up as he stumbled away from the door and fell to the ground unconscious.

 —————

          Káel sped past every person that tried to greet him in the halls, ignoring their calls of concern at how pale he was and beelining for the Silver House. Sev couldn't even stop him with his booming voice as he quickly opened his door, giving Truvius the fright of his life when he walked through the door like a stumbling corpse.

          Dropping his notes, Truvius ran to meet Káel, grabbing his face to check his temperature and poke at his banadges. "Where were you?! We thought you were dead!"

          "Ray knows about Phantom," Káel blurted, allowing Truvius to guide him to his bed and sit. "I accidentally breathed in some pixie dust, then a pack of unicorns came along, and he came..."

          "Take it slow. I'm glad you're alive."

          "We need to get that winter tree branch, before he reports Phantom!" Káel grabbed a pack of chips from his closet. "I need to get out of this place!"

          "You need to eat that and go to bed," Truvius replied, sliding the curtains closed to block the glow of the large planet. "We can plan this all out tomorrow."

          "We can't, I don't know when he'll wake up," Káel whimpered, shakily running both his hands through his hair as his anxiety spiked. "We can't do anything! He could have a listening device on me. He could be on his way to Samanthra as we speak! We're screwed. We're so screwed. he's gonna report Phantom... and they'll kill him... and I'll be stuck here forever!"

          Truvius gripped his shoulder. "Káel. Calm down."

          "Don't tell me to calm down! I messed everything up!"

          A sharp bite struck Káel's cheek as Truvius slapped him, his roommate cringing as he watched him freeze. "Sorry! I just- breath! Do you feel anything in your hair?"

          Káel rubbed his hair again, slowly shaking his head.

          "Good, then there's no spying device, okay?" Truvius said, relief flooding his eyes as he watched Káel take a couple steady breaths. "You can even get changed and chuck those clothes out the window to be sure, but he's not listening in on us, okay?"

          "Okay," Káel muttered, continuing to nod to himself as he approached the window. "Okay... I'm gonna be right back."

          "Oh Tesirus have mercy! What are you doing?" Truvius said, watching Káel unlatch the window and stick his head through it. "You can't be serious right now!"

          "I'm dead serious," Káel retorted, straining to get through the opening with Truvius pulling him back. "My necklace is out there along with that pixie dust and I don't know how much time I have left! Phantom's life depends on me not going to bed!"

          "Nobody said that," Phantom muttered, watching the two boys struggle in a window frame. "We still need a winter tree branch, and we have no idea where to get one."

          "Great!" Káel retorted, finally ripping from Truvius' hold to face him with a delirious smile. "You figure out where to find a winter tree branch. I don't have time to waste, I'll ask Zalius while I'm trekking the woods and be back in a couple hours."

          "How much medicine are you on right now?" Truvius replied, his face dropping as Káel turned away to trudge off the roof. He stuck his head through the window, his fear of slipping to his death keeping him from going any further. "At least tell me you can walk in a straight line!"

Don't forget to:

COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)

Quality Quip #43:

'Marriage is brainwashing. Not necessarily a bad thing. You're brain could do with a wash.'

~Iris Murdoch