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Kill, Marry, Fuck Chapter 25
Arro is ready for answers. He thinks he might finally get them. However, he is still susceptible to mind control, and needs to find Rangavar before his information is taken away. He has to catch a lucky break at some point, right? Right?
If you're only here because you were enticed by the magic letters "TF" I highly recommend this link instead:
The Curse That Ruined Everything
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Kill, Marry, Fuck
Chapter 25
Arro was apprehensive as he followed Jethe deeper and deeper beneath the building. It turned out there wasn’t just one basement. There was a floor below that. And another. And another… What didn’t help was Jethe ominously trudging down the stairs like it was nothing, bringing Arro ever deeper. He still hadn’t bothered turning on any lights, instead pointing his flashlight beam directly ahead and walking slowly and emotionlessly. Well, that seemed more like the Jethe Arro used to know, actually. Not the snarling asshole he became while frustrated.
They eventually, finally, reached a floor with light. Arro stifled a sigh of relief. He still needed to be on his guard. He had all of his senses strained and alert when Jethe pushed open the stairwell door and led him into the new hallway, but he couldn’t hear anything suspicious. Or anything at all, actually. This floor seemed as bare as the others.
This didn’t seem to faze Jethe, as the smaller Faerian led him onwards. A few tense moments later, Arro finally broke the silence. “Where exactly are we going?”
Jethe didn’t turn around. “There are many levels to this building. Some are where employees live full-time.”
“Oh. Like where you live?”
Jethe pricked his ears, with what Arro assumed was some sort of offense. “No.”
They walked in silence another moment.
“Sooo…”
Jethe sighed. “I told you I’d give you answers. I’m intending to do that.”
Arro fidgeted nervously. Unlike Rangavar, he wouldn’t know if Jethe were lying to him. He was a bit at the other dragon’s mercy, blindly following him floor after floor. For all he knew, there could be a secret dungeon down here, or dragons more powerful than Jethe, or something.
They finally stopped outside of an unassuming door. Jethe grabbed the knob and finally turned to look at him. “Arro, I’d like you to meet my employer.” Arro didn’t have time to react as the shorter Faerian swung open the door.
He wasn’t really sure what to expect. There was a white room with some chairs, like a meeting room but with no table. There was a dragon in one of the chairs, initially turned to the side, but she cast a glance over at them as Jethe entered, Arro tentatively following behind.
She sighed and rose from the chair. “Jethe, it’s the middle of the night. The reason we hired you was to take care of these things. You’d better have called me here for a good rea—” She paused, looking Arro up and down.
Arro stared back. She was the same Darkal he’d seen on the streets.
She tilted her head at him curiously. “You’re the one who’s been causing so much trouble. Jethe has told me a lot about you. I’ve been watching you the past couple of days.”
You haven’t been very discreet about it, is what Arro wanted to say. What he said instead was, “Oh. I remember seeing you.”
She didn’t speak for a moment, as if carefully choosing her next words. “You’re not Glitarian?”
Of all the things she could have asked, Arro wasn’t expecting that one. “Uh… no?”
She pressed her lips together and studied him thoughtfully. She still had the same expression as the last two times Arro saw her; she was analyzing him. He suddenly became self-conscious to realize that this time, he looked particularly like shit; exhausted, sweaty, covered in Rangavar’s blood—Well, Jethe’s too, he supposed. It had dried over his knuckles. Speaking of which, at least he didn’t look in worse shape than Jethe. So he had that going for him.
At his side, the maintenance worker was silent, an air of defeat about him.
The Darkal looked from Arro to Jethe. “You didn’t just tell him to go away?”
Jethe stiffened slightly, but otherwise showed no emotion. “I did, but. Well. My powers don’t work on his companion. The Glitarian I mentioned.”
She suddenly looked interested. “Is he a type five?”
“He said he wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be lying,” Jethe answered unsurely.
She was quiet another long moment. “Interesting.” She shifted her gaze back to Arro. “And you?”
“Huh?”
Now she was starting to look annoyed. “Are you a type five?” she asked in her clipped Darkal accent. It occurred to Arro that that was how Darkals were supposed to sound. He’d never really thought about how Faerian-like Rangavar really was, but it was starting to make sense.
“No, he’s not,” Jethe answered for him, since Arro was still quivering anxiously, his thoughts racing. “I successfully redirected him the other day. His companion was able to… ‘undo’ it, somehow.”
Arro tried not to be distracted by the way Jethe kept calling them ‘companions.’
The Darkal pricked her ears. “I see. You need something slightly more powerful,” she inferred. “A Glitarian.”
Jethe looked down at the floor and nodded.
She let out a weary sigh. “Fine. Stand back, please.”
Arro didn’t move for a second, still nervous and confused by this whole situation. He was vaguely aware of Jethe moving behind him to lock the door and then stand off to the side. Arro finally decided to take a few steps back. Whether it was because she asked him to, or just from fearful anticipation, he didn’t know.
The pale gray Darkal had an expression that was hard to describe; not quite smug, but confident. She cracked her knuckles and flexed her white wings. She stretched her arms over her head—and there was another cracking sound, but this time, much louder. She grit her teeth.
Arro was having a bit of trouble comprehending what he saw. With her teeth bared, her fangs almost appeared to grow longer, curving down over her bottom lips. Her spine arched, her shoulders contorting, her wings fully unfurling behind her. Her toes spread as her feet elongated, and she staggered toward him a few steps.
Arro instinctively pulled back away from her, terrified; she was becoming taller than him before his eyes, seemingly extending her claws, although he realized that her claws were just becoming bigger, longer. Menacing.
She arched her wings forwards, the white fur taking on harder edges like feathers but with a more rigid, blade-like shape. Each feather grew increasingly translucent until her wings shone like stained glass, a barely rosy color in the center, but the edges touched with gold.
Arro backed away until his back hit the wall, shaking. It was terrifying. It was beautiful. It was—
He glanced up at the sky, leaning out the edge of the transport, the wind refreshingly blasting his face. It was dawn.
As he braced his paws against the cool metal on either side of him, idly watching the landscape fly by, he felt as though he’d been in the middle of something important.
He frowned. Had he really been out the whole night? His current location seemed to suggest so. He hoped Rangavar had made it home okay. It had been night when he pushed the smaller dragon through the window. It didn’t seem like all that long ago, actually, although clearly it had been, if the sun were already about to crest the horizon.
Arro felt a different kind of itch in the back of his mind, and suddenly appeared a nametag he’d been handed earlier. He had a flashback; he and Jethe standing in front of the transport, Jethe pressing it into his paw as the sky was beginning to lighten. He didn’t remember anything directly before or after. Vaugh dammit. Jethe had played with his mind again.
Feeling pissed, Arro used the last of his energy to walk himself home as dawn turned into morning. He felt completely worn out, still covered in grimy sweat and Rangavar’s blood. What he needed right now was a shower and bed. Oh, and to make sure that Rangavar was okay. Definitely that above all else.
He opened the door quietly and immediately headed up the stairs. He let out a sigh of relief to see Rangavar lying safely in the middle of the bed. He hadn’t showered or anything, covered in dried blood, as if he’d collapsed there. But his breaths were deep and even; peaceful. He was going to be alright.
Arro decided to take the opportunity to shower himself off instead. No need to fight for turns later. As he passed by the mirror, he stopped to look at himself. Usually it was in shame and self-hatred, but he was too drained for emotion right now. The dragon staring back was fat as usual, but he was more taken in by how tired and ragged he looked, and the way that blood still clung to his paws. Well, and a few other places. There’d been a lot of it. All of it was black, so he knew none of it was his. Huh. Edacans really did have black blood, like the stories said.
Arro turned on the cold water instead of hot. Maybe it would wake him up a bit. He might not have to be up for work, but he did want to be up for Rangavar.
He was at the counter stuffing down his third box of muffins by the time he heard the Darkal begin to stir upstairs. He wondered if he should hide the snacks. Then he wondered what the point would be. And after all the running yesterday, he deserved a treat, right?
Arro turned to watch as Rangavar slowly came to the top step. He looked zombie-like, not just because of the dried blood that had run down the left side of his face, onto his shoulder, and spread down his arm. He also looked tired and drained of emotion.
“How do you feel?”
Rangavar blinked at him. “Exhausted.”
Arro noticed his eyes rove over the pastry boxes on the counter and blushed. “Do you want to eat? Or… well, you probably want to shower, I guess. You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” said Rangavar flatly.
“I mean—”
“It’s okay. I do want to go wash off first.”
Arro had polished off two more boxes before Rangavar reemerged. He looked down at the counter guiltily. He was absolutely stuffed—uncomfortably stuffed, unable to take another bite—but stress-eating had always been his biggest enemy. He shamefully reached for the next box.
Rangavar slumped onto the stool across from him. He didn’t speak for a long moment, resting his head on his paw. Arro was relieved to see that his wound had retreated to a shallow scrape, what would have looked weeks old on a Faerian, rather than merely half a night of healing for the Darkal.
“Can I try one?”
“Huh?”
“One of the squishy bready things you’re eating.”
“A muffin?”
Rangavar shrugged with dull eyes. “Sure. Yeah.”
Arro pushed the box at him. “Please do.” Rangavar asking for any type of food that didn’t come straight out of the dirt was unprecedented. It was also really important he eat something. Arro was more than happy to see him have some.
The Darkal took a bite, perhaps making a bit of an unhappy face, but Arro supposed that he must be really hungry after healing his injury. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like. Magic, I mean.” He was watching Rangavar eat the muffin. “I mean, on one paw, it seems so cool, you know? But then stuff like this… Like, you get so tired.”
Rangavar stared down at the muffin in his claws. “It’s not always tiring, you know. Yesterday was tiring. But I’m usually okay.” His cheeks were dark and Arro realized he was blushing. “Like, you probably think I’m a weak shit, but I’m not like that ALL the time, you know?”
“I don’t think you’re a ‘weak shit’. I can’t even imagine how hard it is.”
Rangavar grimaced. “Some things are harder than others.”
He didn’t elaborate, and Arro didn’t press him. He never seemed to like talking about magic for some reason. Arro watched Rangavar eat his muffin in the time it took him to finish off the rest of the box. He eyed the next one, but knew better than to even dare open it. “I’m going to go lie down.”
“Have you slept yet?”
“Well, I’m about to.”
“Wait.” Rangavar laid back his ears. “I just remembered, I, uh, need to wash the sheets.”
Arro dismissively waved his paw. “I’ll go lie on the couch.” He didn’t want to climb stairs right now anyway. His belly was painfully stuffed. He slowly made his way over to the living room, his muscles also aching from all the unexpected exercise yesterday. What he needed was a good long break to recover.
Rangavar hopped off the stool when he finished up. “Wait.”
Arro had just finished easing himself onto his back on the couch. He pricked an ear.
“So… what happened with Jethe?”
Arro was quiet a long moment. “I don’t remember.”
“Oh, Arro, I’m so sorry. I—”
“No, it’s good you got out of there. It’s okay.” He wasn’t sure how truthful that was, actually, but was hoping Rangavar believed him. In reality, the fact that he’d had his memories eaten away not once, but twice, was a strange feeling he couldn’t quite describe. The knowledge that tiny blocks of his life were just gone was a new kind of emotion.
Rangavar first tried to climb onto the side of the couch that was unoccupied, but settled for pushing himself up to sit on the arm of the couch instead. Arro wondered if it’s because from the level of the couch, all the Darkal could see was Arro’s fat, stuffed middle rising over him. Arro rubbed it uncomfortably. He looked even bigger when it was bulging with the stupid amount of muffins he’d binged on. At least Rangavar was kind enough not to say anything.
The other dragon was watching. “Do you want help?”
“Huh?”
“Well… rubbing your stomach.” His scales started turning darker. “I mean, I noticed you doing that now, and I remember it helped before. But—”
“No, that sounds nice, actually.” Then it was Arro’s turn to blush. “I mean, that it would make me feel better, you know? My stomach, I mean.” Yeah. His stomach.
Rangavar edged forward, standing on the couch, until he could reach far enough to sink his paws into the doughy mass. Arro tried not to shiver at the touch. His stomach felt taut and bloated, but as the Darkal kneaded his fat he started to feel more relaxed. “I could just go to sleep right now.”
“You should,” Rangavar agreed. “You’ve been up all night.”
“How much sleep did you get? Maybe you should go sleep too,” Arro suggested.
Rangavar shrugged. “A tiny bit. The sky was light when I got here.”
“It sounds like you got here only just before I did.” Arro groaned. “No wonder we both feel like shit.”
“You can try to sleep now. I’ll go to sleep after you doze off.” Rangavar continued massaging Arro’s swollen gut. “Since I already got a little sleep, that’s only fair. I’ll go change the sheets after this.”
“Yeah.” Arro was already feeling drowsy. “Sounds good.”
Rangavar was hovering awkwardly in the narrow space between Arro’s massive ball of fat and the back of the couch. He didn’t complain. He continued to rub Arro’s belly, and it wasn’t long before the Faerian was asleep.
Arro was startled awake by a buzzing noise. He went to look at his wristband, but realized it wasn’t his; it was Rangavar’s. The next thing he became aware of was the fact that Rangavar was still on the couch. Then he became aware of the fact that the Darkal had fallen asleep curled up next to him.
Rangavar groggily lifted his head and made a noise in his throat. Then he seemed startled to notice where he was, sitting up straight and scrambling back from Arro’s bulk.
Arro felt like he hadn’t slept at all. He didn’t even react.
“Fuuuuck. It’s the research facility.”
Arro pricked his ears. “Are you going to answer it?”
“Should I bother?” Before Arro could respond, however, Rangavar pressed the button in the middle of the screen like Arro had shown him. “Hello?”
“Hi! Is this Rangavar?”
“Yes.”
“We’re calling because you didn’t show up for your shift.”
Arro and Rangavar shared a glance. “I was under the impression that my shift, uh, got cancelled. They didn’t want me to come in.”
This didn’t seem to faze the female voice. “Oh, it’s not cancelled, you were just moved to a new position. Sorry for the confusion.”
Rangavar’s brow furrowed. “Oh, I was..?”
“Can you come in for the afternoon, instead?”
The Darkal paused. He looked back at Arro.
Arro shrugged.
“Um, sure.”
“Great! See you then.”
Silence.
Arro craned his neck to look at the other dragon, although his double chin got slightly in the way. “Are you actually planning on going?”
Rangavar sighed. “I’m not actually sure? I was planning to say no, but then I was wondering if maybe I should at least consider it. Saying yes means that I have all morning to decide.” He shrugged. “I mean, at least they can’t hear lies over the wristbands, even if she’s a Gemian or something.”
“Do you think that she is a Gemian?” Arro snorted. He shrugged at Rangavar’s confused look. “I haven’t seen any the whole time we’ve been there. I just kind of assumed…”
The Darkal stared blankly. “Assumed what?”
“Well, you know…” Arro fidgeted awkwardly. “Y’know, it’s pretty sad for them. They talk about it on the news a lot. How all the Gemians, you know… died, I mean. On Glitara.” He looked off to the side. He was still lying on his back on the couch, and it was an awkward angle. “It’s probably awkward for Gemians to work for a research facility that studies Glitara.”
Rangavar was quiet for a really long moment. “Yeah,” he finally said. It was all he said.
Of course many non-Gemians had died as well, and Arro hoped he hadn’t said something insensitive. It was a good explanation for the lack of Gemians, though. And a lack of Gemians meant they could lie. Well, except to Jethe. Fuck Jethe.
Arro wondered if he should sit up, but was still feeling exhausted. Also bloated and heavy. It really hadn’t been that long since he’d lain down, maybe an hour or two. “My shift was supposed to be this afternoon. I wonder what would happen to me if I went with you.”
“Wait…” Rangavar suddenly became more alert. “I just remembered something. Right before you showed up—right before Jethe knocked me out—he was trying to tell me to make you quit. I missed what he said before that,” he admitted, “but the rest of the time we were in the basement, he was trying t—”
The basement. Jethe in the basement. Arro suddenly sat bolt upright. “Holy shit, I remember.”
Springing forward made Rangavar fall back on the couch. “What?” he asked intently. He didn’t even seem care about being flung backwards. He could sense Arro’s energy.
Arro put a paw on his head. “Jethe wanted me to meet his employer. He took me down a few floors—there were like, a ton of floors,” he recalled. “And it was that Darkal I kept seeing on the streets.”
Rangavar was staring with anticipation. “Well??”
Arro paused. “Uh…” He’d walked into the room. Recognized her. Talked to her—What had they talked about? He remembered Jethe seeing him off on the transport before dawn, which must have happened afterwards. Jethe had been in the room with them, though. Arro remembered Jethe go in with him. And the Darkal… what had she said…
Rangavar’s face sank.
“No, wait, I’m trying to remember,” Arro stammered. “Just, I just need a sec.” What had she said..? What had she said..?
Wait. What had JETHE said? Arro suddenly appeared the nametag that Jethe had pressed into his paw before sending him home. They’d been having some sort of conversation, he was sure of it.
He could feel Rangavar’s eyes on him as he inspected it; it was his nametag. Well, not one he’d already had, but it had his name on it. It just didn’t have the word ‘Maintenance’ printed in tiny letters beneath it like his others. He realized that there was a rolled up scrap of paper pinched into the clip on the back. With a frown, Arro teased it out and flattened it.
“What’s that?”
Arro quickly scanned over it. “It’s a note.” It was Jethe’s handwriting. “It says that we’re being moved to new positions.” He frowned. “And it does specify both of us. That must be what the dragon who called was talking about, too.”
“That’s… weird. What do you think they’re planning?”
“Well…” Arro paused. Jethe had let him go home last night. Anything ‘shady’ he’d wanted to do to Arro could have been done with no one around. Arro could have just quietly gone missing, but he was being asked to come in for his regular shift in broad daylight. “I’m going to go in this afternoon and find out.”
Rangavar lifted a brow. “Wait, really?”
Arro shrugged. “You know, if you do decide to go in too, we can go together. And really, if you think about it, it’s not like they’d be expecting that. Since you were supposed to just show up this morning.”
The Darkal thought for a second. “That’s true.”
Arro looked back down at the note and sighed. “I wanted to go back to sleep, but now I’m going to lie awake wondering what’ll happen.” Also wondering what HAD happened.
Rangavar quietly gazed around the room. Arro took the moment to lie back down. Even if he couldn’t fall back asleep, he still didn’t want to move.
“I might go lie down too. I’m, um, sorry for falling asleep on you.” Rangavar was blushing again. Arro found it sort of funny to see the other dragon flustered for once.
“You can just lie down here again,” he offered.
“Well, there isn’t really enough room.”
“You can just lie down where you were.” Arro felt his own face starting to grow hot as Rangavar stared at him. Where he ‘was’ was curled into Arro’s side, resting on his sprawling belly and snuggled against the side of the couch. “I, uh, don’t mind.” He actually the opposite of minded, if there were a word for that.
Arro wasn’t really sure what he was expecting, but Rangavar didn’t make a big deal of it. “Thanks.” He settled back down. Arro’s breaths were shallow as the smaller dragon cuddled back into him. Rangavar’s body was warm against his own. “Thanks for not making me move.”
“Heh. Neither of us want that right now.” It was true. It was a true statement. Arro especially didn’t want Rangavar to move. The Darkal didn’t have to know that part.
It took a while for Arro to calm back down after Rangavar had been leaning into his massive, plushy pile of fat. The way he had his head curled left it resting on Arro’s soft chest. The sleeping dragon didn’t notice. He’d passed out almost immediately, despite previously planning to do otherwise.
Arro was pretty sure he could lie like this forever. As his racing heart slowed back to normal, he tried to think of ways he could let Rangavar know that he wanted his face connected to Rangavar’s face, without ruining their budding friendship, but nothing in particular came to mind.
It was awhile before Rangavar woke up. The side of his face was pressed into the fat Faerian’s chest. He could hear his heart beating, his breaths slow and even. It was nice of him to let Rangavar stay on the couch, even though they were cramped together. Arro didn’t seem to mind him squishing his side.
He tried to think of ways to thank Arro for helping him escape last night. He felt relieved that Arro had gotten out, guilty that he’d left him there, and a bit embarrassed that he’d let Jethe best him like that in the first place. Where did he even get a pipe from? That’s what Arro had said he used.
He tried to flex his muscles a little, stretching out the stiffness. Now that the pain on the side of his head had finally dulled, he had a kind of full-body tired to contend with instead.
He felt Arro stir when he moved. “Sorry,” Rangavar whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I haven’t really been sleeping.” Arro yawned. “I told you I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about the note.”
Rangavar lay his head back down on Arro’s chest. The Faerian’s heart was beating way faster now. “What time is it?”
Arro lifted one heavy arm to check his wristband. “It’s about an hour before work, if that’s what you mean.”
Rangavar pushed himself up, although it proved harder than he would have expected. He’d sunk down in the space between Arro and the couch, so that he was drowning in a soft sea of pudge. He had to push against Arro to get himself up. “Sorry,” he blushed.
“It’s okay,” said Arro, sounding a bit breathless, which was weird because Rangavar was the one doing all the work. Rangavar hoped he hadn’t hurt him, but didn’t sense any pain.
He wormed his way off the couch, clambering over Arro’s fat knees and hopping into the floor. After resting, he really did feel better. He turned back to the large Faerian on the couch. “How do you feel?”
Arro sighed. “Like I could use a real nap, but I know I have to get up.”
“How do you think they’ll react to both of us showing up at the same time?”
“Well, we don’t even know how they were going to react to us showing up at all. Whatever it’ll be, it’ll be unexpected.” Arro went to push himself up. He winced. “Ugh. Everything hurts. At the very least, I hope they don’t ask me to run anywhere. I’m never running again.”
“I doubt they’ll ask you to run.” Rangavar watched him a moment. “I… I wish we knew what happened to you after I left. I feel so shitty about just leaving you there.”
Arro glanced over at him. “It’s not like you could have helped anyway.” He looked away, and was silent for a really long moment. “Actually…”
Rangavar pricked his ears.
“Can you do anything to help the memory loss? That would be helpful.” Arro started to blush. “I mean, not to sound pushy or anything—”
“I can’t,” Rangavar interrupted. “It’s okay to ask. If it were me, I’d want to know too. But I can’t do anything.” Memories were finicky; once they were manipulated and shifted around, it was hard to sort real ones from created ones. “If anyone could, it would be Jethe, since he caused the damage. But I don’t think anyone is actually that powerful.”
“Oh.” Arro’s ears flattened in disappointment.
“Sorry.”
“I just… I mean, not just for me. It would be helpful in general.” The Faerian grit his teeth and put his head in his paws. “I SHOULD know what happened. That I could just, lose pieces like that, is just…” He trailed off as he groped around for words.
“Scary?”
He lifted his head and raised a brow. “Not the word I’d use.”
“It… no one would blame you. For being scared. It sounds scary.”
“You never told me why you’re immune,” Arro squinted at him suspiciously. “You don’t have the same power?”
Rangavar shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He didn’t. “But no, I don’t have Jethe’s powers.”
Arro let out a wordless, frustrated growl. “It’s more like I feel… ‘helpless’, or something.”
“It’s okay. I know what you mean.” Rangavar went back to the couch to sit down again. He’d gotten up because he didn’t want to keep cramping Arro’s personal space, but now that he’d moved, he realized he didn’t want to just stand in the middle of the room, either. Even though he felt better, he was still a bit tired.
“Just, we’re so close. I can feel it.”
“Maybe we’ll find out more when we go in today.” Rangavar sure hoped so. Based on what Arro did remember, they were still missing so much information. How deep did the basement go? Why? And who was the Darkal he kept mentioning? She hadn’t said anything to them before, but now it did seem pretty weird that she’d begun appearing right before Arro met her at the research facility. Although, he couldn’t remember why, and Rangavar felt too bad about that to push him. It was all Rangavar’s fault that Jethe had fried his mind again.
Arro grimaced. “I hope so.”
“We should probably get ready to go.” Rangavar stood up again reluctantly. “Heh. At least we get to go together.” He found himself wondering what ‘new positions’ the facility had in mind. He doubted that they’d let he and Arro anywhere near each other, but Rangavar wondered if they could find a way around that.
He didn’t want to leave Arro alone with Jethe again.
If you're only here because you were enticed by the magic letters "TF" I highly recommend this link instead:
The Curse That Ruined Everything
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Kill, Marry, Fuck
Chapter 25
Arro was apprehensive as he followed Jethe deeper and deeper beneath the building. It turned out there wasn’t just one basement. There was a floor below that. And another. And another… What didn’t help was Jethe ominously trudging down the stairs like it was nothing, bringing Arro ever deeper. He still hadn’t bothered turning on any lights, instead pointing his flashlight beam directly ahead and walking slowly and emotionlessly. Well, that seemed more like the Jethe Arro used to know, actually. Not the snarling asshole he became while frustrated.
They eventually, finally, reached a floor with light. Arro stifled a sigh of relief. He still needed to be on his guard. He had all of his senses strained and alert when Jethe pushed open the stairwell door and led him into the new hallway, but he couldn’t hear anything suspicious. Or anything at all, actually. This floor seemed as bare as the others.
This didn’t seem to faze Jethe, as the smaller Faerian led him onwards. A few tense moments later, Arro finally broke the silence. “Where exactly are we going?”
Jethe didn’t turn around. “There are many levels to this building. Some are where employees live full-time.”
“Oh. Like where you live?”
Jethe pricked his ears, with what Arro assumed was some sort of offense. “No.”
They walked in silence another moment.
“Sooo…”
Jethe sighed. “I told you I’d give you answers. I’m intending to do that.”
Arro fidgeted nervously. Unlike Rangavar, he wouldn’t know if Jethe were lying to him. He was a bit at the other dragon’s mercy, blindly following him floor after floor. For all he knew, there could be a secret dungeon down here, or dragons more powerful than Jethe, or something.
They finally stopped outside of an unassuming door. Jethe grabbed the knob and finally turned to look at him. “Arro, I’d like you to meet my employer.” Arro didn’t have time to react as the shorter Faerian swung open the door.
He wasn’t really sure what to expect. There was a white room with some chairs, like a meeting room but with no table. There was a dragon in one of the chairs, initially turned to the side, but she cast a glance over at them as Jethe entered, Arro tentatively following behind.
She sighed and rose from the chair. “Jethe, it’s the middle of the night. The reason we hired you was to take care of these things. You’d better have called me here for a good rea—” She paused, looking Arro up and down.
Arro stared back. She was the same Darkal he’d seen on the streets.
She tilted her head at him curiously. “You’re the one who’s been causing so much trouble. Jethe has told me a lot about you. I’ve been watching you the past couple of days.”
You haven’t been very discreet about it, is what Arro wanted to say. What he said instead was, “Oh. I remember seeing you.”
She didn’t speak for a moment, as if carefully choosing her next words. “You’re not Glitarian?”
Of all the things she could have asked, Arro wasn’t expecting that one. “Uh… no?”
She pressed her lips together and studied him thoughtfully. She still had the same expression as the last two times Arro saw her; she was analyzing him. He suddenly became self-conscious to realize that this time, he looked particularly like shit; exhausted, sweaty, covered in Rangavar’s blood—Well, Jethe’s too, he supposed. It had dried over his knuckles. Speaking of which, at least he didn’t look in worse shape than Jethe. So he had that going for him.
At his side, the maintenance worker was silent, an air of defeat about him.
The Darkal looked from Arro to Jethe. “You didn’t just tell him to go away?”
Jethe stiffened slightly, but otherwise showed no emotion. “I did, but. Well. My powers don’t work on his companion. The Glitarian I mentioned.”
She suddenly looked interested. “Is he a type five?”
“He said he wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be lying,” Jethe answered unsurely.
She was quiet another long moment. “Interesting.” She shifted her gaze back to Arro. “And you?”
“Huh?”
Now she was starting to look annoyed. “Are you a type five?” she asked in her clipped Darkal accent. It occurred to Arro that that was how Darkals were supposed to sound. He’d never really thought about how Faerian-like Rangavar really was, but it was starting to make sense.
“No, he’s not,” Jethe answered for him, since Arro was still quivering anxiously, his thoughts racing. “I successfully redirected him the other day. His companion was able to… ‘undo’ it, somehow.”
Arro tried not to be distracted by the way Jethe kept calling them ‘companions.’
The Darkal pricked her ears. “I see. You need something slightly more powerful,” she inferred. “A Glitarian.”
Jethe looked down at the floor and nodded.
She let out a weary sigh. “Fine. Stand back, please.”
Arro didn’t move for a second, still nervous and confused by this whole situation. He was vaguely aware of Jethe moving behind him to lock the door and then stand off to the side. Arro finally decided to take a few steps back. Whether it was because she asked him to, or just from fearful anticipation, he didn’t know.
The pale gray Darkal had an expression that was hard to describe; not quite smug, but confident. She cracked her knuckles and flexed her white wings. She stretched her arms over her head—and there was another cracking sound, but this time, much louder. She grit her teeth.
Arro was having a bit of trouble comprehending what he saw. With her teeth bared, her fangs almost appeared to grow longer, curving down over her bottom lips. Her spine arched, her shoulders contorting, her wings fully unfurling behind her. Her toes spread as her feet elongated, and she staggered toward him a few steps.
Arro instinctively pulled back away from her, terrified; she was becoming taller than him before his eyes, seemingly extending her claws, although he realized that her claws were just becoming bigger, longer. Menacing.
She arched her wings forwards, the white fur taking on harder edges like feathers but with a more rigid, blade-like shape. Each feather grew increasingly translucent until her wings shone like stained glass, a barely rosy color in the center, but the edges touched with gold.
Arro backed away until his back hit the wall, shaking. It was terrifying. It was beautiful. It was—
He glanced up at the sky, leaning out the edge of the transport, the wind refreshingly blasting his face. It was dawn.
As he braced his paws against the cool metal on either side of him, idly watching the landscape fly by, he felt as though he’d been in the middle of something important.
He frowned. Had he really been out the whole night? His current location seemed to suggest so. He hoped Rangavar had made it home okay. It had been night when he pushed the smaller dragon through the window. It didn’t seem like all that long ago, actually, although clearly it had been, if the sun were already about to crest the horizon.
Arro felt a different kind of itch in the back of his mind, and suddenly appeared a nametag he’d been handed earlier. He had a flashback; he and Jethe standing in front of the transport, Jethe pressing it into his paw as the sky was beginning to lighten. He didn’t remember anything directly before or after. Vaugh dammit. Jethe had played with his mind again.
Feeling pissed, Arro used the last of his energy to walk himself home as dawn turned into morning. He felt completely worn out, still covered in grimy sweat and Rangavar’s blood. What he needed right now was a shower and bed. Oh, and to make sure that Rangavar was okay. Definitely that above all else.
He opened the door quietly and immediately headed up the stairs. He let out a sigh of relief to see Rangavar lying safely in the middle of the bed. He hadn’t showered or anything, covered in dried blood, as if he’d collapsed there. But his breaths were deep and even; peaceful. He was going to be alright.
Arro decided to take the opportunity to shower himself off instead. No need to fight for turns later. As he passed by the mirror, he stopped to look at himself. Usually it was in shame and self-hatred, but he was too drained for emotion right now. The dragon staring back was fat as usual, but he was more taken in by how tired and ragged he looked, and the way that blood still clung to his paws. Well, and a few other places. There’d been a lot of it. All of it was black, so he knew none of it was his. Huh. Edacans really did have black blood, like the stories said.
Arro turned on the cold water instead of hot. Maybe it would wake him up a bit. He might not have to be up for work, but he did want to be up for Rangavar.
~~~~~He was at the counter stuffing down his third box of muffins by the time he heard the Darkal begin to stir upstairs. He wondered if he should hide the snacks. Then he wondered what the point would be. And after all the running yesterday, he deserved a treat, right?
Arro turned to watch as Rangavar slowly came to the top step. He looked zombie-like, not just because of the dried blood that had run down the left side of his face, onto his shoulder, and spread down his arm. He also looked tired and drained of emotion.
“How do you feel?”
Rangavar blinked at him. “Exhausted.”
Arro noticed his eyes rove over the pastry boxes on the counter and blushed. “Do you want to eat? Or… well, you probably want to shower, I guess. You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” said Rangavar flatly.
“I mean—”
“It’s okay. I do want to go wash off first.”
Arro had polished off two more boxes before Rangavar reemerged. He looked down at the counter guiltily. He was absolutely stuffed—uncomfortably stuffed, unable to take another bite—but stress-eating had always been his biggest enemy. He shamefully reached for the next box.
Rangavar slumped onto the stool across from him. He didn’t speak for a long moment, resting his head on his paw. Arro was relieved to see that his wound had retreated to a shallow scrape, what would have looked weeks old on a Faerian, rather than merely half a night of healing for the Darkal.
“Can I try one?”
“Huh?”
“One of the squishy bready things you’re eating.”
“A muffin?”
Rangavar shrugged with dull eyes. “Sure. Yeah.”
Arro pushed the box at him. “Please do.” Rangavar asking for any type of food that didn’t come straight out of the dirt was unprecedented. It was also really important he eat something. Arro was more than happy to see him have some.
The Darkal took a bite, perhaps making a bit of an unhappy face, but Arro supposed that he must be really hungry after healing his injury. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like. Magic, I mean.” He was watching Rangavar eat the muffin. “I mean, on one paw, it seems so cool, you know? But then stuff like this… Like, you get so tired.”
Rangavar stared down at the muffin in his claws. “It’s not always tiring, you know. Yesterday was tiring. But I’m usually okay.” His cheeks were dark and Arro realized he was blushing. “Like, you probably think I’m a weak shit, but I’m not like that ALL the time, you know?”
“I don’t think you’re a ‘weak shit’. I can’t even imagine how hard it is.”
Rangavar grimaced. “Some things are harder than others.”
He didn’t elaborate, and Arro didn’t press him. He never seemed to like talking about magic for some reason. Arro watched Rangavar eat his muffin in the time it took him to finish off the rest of the box. He eyed the next one, but knew better than to even dare open it. “I’m going to go lie down.”
“Have you slept yet?”
“Well, I’m about to.”
“Wait.” Rangavar laid back his ears. “I just remembered, I, uh, need to wash the sheets.”
Arro dismissively waved his paw. “I’ll go lie on the couch.” He didn’t want to climb stairs right now anyway. His belly was painfully stuffed. He slowly made his way over to the living room, his muscles also aching from all the unexpected exercise yesterday. What he needed was a good long break to recover.
Rangavar hopped off the stool when he finished up. “Wait.”
Arro had just finished easing himself onto his back on the couch. He pricked an ear.
“So… what happened with Jethe?”
Arro was quiet a long moment. “I don’t remember.”
“Oh, Arro, I’m so sorry. I—”
“No, it’s good you got out of there. It’s okay.” He wasn’t sure how truthful that was, actually, but was hoping Rangavar believed him. In reality, the fact that he’d had his memories eaten away not once, but twice, was a strange feeling he couldn’t quite describe. The knowledge that tiny blocks of his life were just gone was a new kind of emotion.
Rangavar first tried to climb onto the side of the couch that was unoccupied, but settled for pushing himself up to sit on the arm of the couch instead. Arro wondered if it’s because from the level of the couch, all the Darkal could see was Arro’s fat, stuffed middle rising over him. Arro rubbed it uncomfortably. He looked even bigger when it was bulging with the stupid amount of muffins he’d binged on. At least Rangavar was kind enough not to say anything.
The other dragon was watching. “Do you want help?”
“Huh?”
“Well… rubbing your stomach.” His scales started turning darker. “I mean, I noticed you doing that now, and I remember it helped before. But—”
“No, that sounds nice, actually.” Then it was Arro’s turn to blush. “I mean, that it would make me feel better, you know? My stomach, I mean.” Yeah. His stomach.
Rangavar edged forward, standing on the couch, until he could reach far enough to sink his paws into the doughy mass. Arro tried not to shiver at the touch. His stomach felt taut and bloated, but as the Darkal kneaded his fat he started to feel more relaxed. “I could just go to sleep right now.”
“You should,” Rangavar agreed. “You’ve been up all night.”
“How much sleep did you get? Maybe you should go sleep too,” Arro suggested.
Rangavar shrugged. “A tiny bit. The sky was light when I got here.”
“It sounds like you got here only just before I did.” Arro groaned. “No wonder we both feel like shit.”
“You can try to sleep now. I’ll go to sleep after you doze off.” Rangavar continued massaging Arro’s swollen gut. “Since I already got a little sleep, that’s only fair. I’ll go change the sheets after this.”
“Yeah.” Arro was already feeling drowsy. “Sounds good.”
Rangavar was hovering awkwardly in the narrow space between Arro’s massive ball of fat and the back of the couch. He didn’t complain. He continued to rub Arro’s belly, and it wasn’t long before the Faerian was asleep.
~~~~~Arro was startled awake by a buzzing noise. He went to look at his wristband, but realized it wasn’t his; it was Rangavar’s. The next thing he became aware of was the fact that Rangavar was still on the couch. Then he became aware of the fact that the Darkal had fallen asleep curled up next to him.
Rangavar groggily lifted his head and made a noise in his throat. Then he seemed startled to notice where he was, sitting up straight and scrambling back from Arro’s bulk.
Arro felt like he hadn’t slept at all. He didn’t even react.
“Fuuuuck. It’s the research facility.”
Arro pricked his ears. “Are you going to answer it?”
“Should I bother?” Before Arro could respond, however, Rangavar pressed the button in the middle of the screen like Arro had shown him. “Hello?”
“Hi! Is this Rangavar?”
“Yes.”
“We’re calling because you didn’t show up for your shift.”
Arro and Rangavar shared a glance. “I was under the impression that my shift, uh, got cancelled. They didn’t want me to come in.”
This didn’t seem to faze the female voice. “Oh, it’s not cancelled, you were just moved to a new position. Sorry for the confusion.”
Rangavar’s brow furrowed. “Oh, I was..?”
“Can you come in for the afternoon, instead?”
The Darkal paused. He looked back at Arro.
Arro shrugged.
“Um, sure.”
“Great! See you then.”
Silence.
Arro craned his neck to look at the other dragon, although his double chin got slightly in the way. “Are you actually planning on going?”
Rangavar sighed. “I’m not actually sure? I was planning to say no, but then I was wondering if maybe I should at least consider it. Saying yes means that I have all morning to decide.” He shrugged. “I mean, at least they can’t hear lies over the wristbands, even if she’s a Gemian or something.”
“Do you think that she is a Gemian?” Arro snorted. He shrugged at Rangavar’s confused look. “I haven’t seen any the whole time we’ve been there. I just kind of assumed…”
The Darkal stared blankly. “Assumed what?”
“Well, you know…” Arro fidgeted awkwardly. “Y’know, it’s pretty sad for them. They talk about it on the news a lot. How all the Gemians, you know… died, I mean. On Glitara.” He looked off to the side. He was still lying on his back on the couch, and it was an awkward angle. “It’s probably awkward for Gemians to work for a research facility that studies Glitara.”
Rangavar was quiet for a really long moment. “Yeah,” he finally said. It was all he said.
Of course many non-Gemians had died as well, and Arro hoped he hadn’t said something insensitive. It was a good explanation for the lack of Gemians, though. And a lack of Gemians meant they could lie. Well, except to Jethe. Fuck Jethe.
Arro wondered if he should sit up, but was still feeling exhausted. Also bloated and heavy. It really hadn’t been that long since he’d lain down, maybe an hour or two. “My shift was supposed to be this afternoon. I wonder what would happen to me if I went with you.”
“Wait…” Rangavar suddenly became more alert. “I just remembered something. Right before you showed up—right before Jethe knocked me out—he was trying to tell me to make you quit. I missed what he said before that,” he admitted, “but the rest of the time we were in the basement, he was trying t—”
The basement. Jethe in the basement. Arro suddenly sat bolt upright. “Holy shit, I remember.”
Springing forward made Rangavar fall back on the couch. “What?” he asked intently. He didn’t even seem care about being flung backwards. He could sense Arro’s energy.
Arro put a paw on his head. “Jethe wanted me to meet his employer. He took me down a few floors—there were like, a ton of floors,” he recalled. “And it was that Darkal I kept seeing on the streets.”
Rangavar was staring with anticipation. “Well??”
Arro paused. “Uh…” He’d walked into the room. Recognized her. Talked to her—What had they talked about? He remembered Jethe seeing him off on the transport before dawn, which must have happened afterwards. Jethe had been in the room with them, though. Arro remembered Jethe go in with him. And the Darkal… what had she said…
Rangavar’s face sank.
“No, wait, I’m trying to remember,” Arro stammered. “Just, I just need a sec.” What had she said..? What had she said..?
Wait. What had JETHE said? Arro suddenly appeared the nametag that Jethe had pressed into his paw before sending him home. They’d been having some sort of conversation, he was sure of it.
He could feel Rangavar’s eyes on him as he inspected it; it was his nametag. Well, not one he’d already had, but it had his name on it. It just didn’t have the word ‘Maintenance’ printed in tiny letters beneath it like his others. He realized that there was a rolled up scrap of paper pinched into the clip on the back. With a frown, Arro teased it out and flattened it.
“What’s that?”
Arro quickly scanned over it. “It’s a note.” It was Jethe’s handwriting. “It says that we’re being moved to new positions.” He frowned. “And it does specify both of us. That must be what the dragon who called was talking about, too.”
“That’s… weird. What do you think they’re planning?”
“Well…” Arro paused. Jethe had let him go home last night. Anything ‘shady’ he’d wanted to do to Arro could have been done with no one around. Arro could have just quietly gone missing, but he was being asked to come in for his regular shift in broad daylight. “I’m going to go in this afternoon and find out.”
Rangavar lifted a brow. “Wait, really?”
Arro shrugged. “You know, if you do decide to go in too, we can go together. And really, if you think about it, it’s not like they’d be expecting that. Since you were supposed to just show up this morning.”
The Darkal thought for a second. “That’s true.”
Arro looked back down at the note and sighed. “I wanted to go back to sleep, but now I’m going to lie awake wondering what’ll happen.” Also wondering what HAD happened.
Rangavar quietly gazed around the room. Arro took the moment to lie back down. Even if he couldn’t fall back asleep, he still didn’t want to move.
“I might go lie down too. I’m, um, sorry for falling asleep on you.” Rangavar was blushing again. Arro found it sort of funny to see the other dragon flustered for once.
“You can just lie down here again,” he offered.
“Well, there isn’t really enough room.”
“You can just lie down where you were.” Arro felt his own face starting to grow hot as Rangavar stared at him. Where he ‘was’ was curled into Arro’s side, resting on his sprawling belly and snuggled against the side of the couch. “I, uh, don’t mind.” He actually the opposite of minded, if there were a word for that.
Arro wasn’t really sure what he was expecting, but Rangavar didn’t make a big deal of it. “Thanks.” He settled back down. Arro’s breaths were shallow as the smaller dragon cuddled back into him. Rangavar’s body was warm against his own. “Thanks for not making me move.”
“Heh. Neither of us want that right now.” It was true. It was a true statement. Arro especially didn’t want Rangavar to move. The Darkal didn’t have to know that part.
It took a while for Arro to calm back down after Rangavar had been leaning into his massive, plushy pile of fat. The way he had his head curled left it resting on Arro’s soft chest. The sleeping dragon didn’t notice. He’d passed out almost immediately, despite previously planning to do otherwise.
Arro was pretty sure he could lie like this forever. As his racing heart slowed back to normal, he tried to think of ways he could let Rangavar know that he wanted his face connected to Rangavar’s face, without ruining their budding friendship, but nothing in particular came to mind.
~~~~~It was awhile before Rangavar woke up. The side of his face was pressed into the fat Faerian’s chest. He could hear his heart beating, his breaths slow and even. It was nice of him to let Rangavar stay on the couch, even though they were cramped together. Arro didn’t seem to mind him squishing his side.
He tried to think of ways to thank Arro for helping him escape last night. He felt relieved that Arro had gotten out, guilty that he’d left him there, and a bit embarrassed that he’d let Jethe best him like that in the first place. Where did he even get a pipe from? That’s what Arro had said he used.
He tried to flex his muscles a little, stretching out the stiffness. Now that the pain on the side of his head had finally dulled, he had a kind of full-body tired to contend with instead.
He felt Arro stir when he moved. “Sorry,” Rangavar whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I haven’t really been sleeping.” Arro yawned. “I told you I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about the note.”
Rangavar lay his head back down on Arro’s chest. The Faerian’s heart was beating way faster now. “What time is it?”
Arro lifted one heavy arm to check his wristband. “It’s about an hour before work, if that’s what you mean.”
Rangavar pushed himself up, although it proved harder than he would have expected. He’d sunk down in the space between Arro and the couch, so that he was drowning in a soft sea of pudge. He had to push against Arro to get himself up. “Sorry,” he blushed.
“It’s okay,” said Arro, sounding a bit breathless, which was weird because Rangavar was the one doing all the work. Rangavar hoped he hadn’t hurt him, but didn’t sense any pain.
He wormed his way off the couch, clambering over Arro’s fat knees and hopping into the floor. After resting, he really did feel better. He turned back to the large Faerian on the couch. “How do you feel?”
Arro sighed. “Like I could use a real nap, but I know I have to get up.”
“How do you think they’ll react to both of us showing up at the same time?”
“Well, we don’t even know how they were going to react to us showing up at all. Whatever it’ll be, it’ll be unexpected.” Arro went to push himself up. He winced. “Ugh. Everything hurts. At the very least, I hope they don’t ask me to run anywhere. I’m never running again.”
“I doubt they’ll ask you to run.” Rangavar watched him a moment. “I… I wish we knew what happened to you after I left. I feel so shitty about just leaving you there.”
Arro glanced over at him. “It’s not like you could have helped anyway.” He looked away, and was silent for a really long moment. “Actually…”
Rangavar pricked his ears.
“Can you do anything to help the memory loss? That would be helpful.” Arro started to blush. “I mean, not to sound pushy or anything—”
“I can’t,” Rangavar interrupted. “It’s okay to ask. If it were me, I’d want to know too. But I can’t do anything.” Memories were finicky; once they were manipulated and shifted around, it was hard to sort real ones from created ones. “If anyone could, it would be Jethe, since he caused the damage. But I don’t think anyone is actually that powerful.”
“Oh.” Arro’s ears flattened in disappointment.
“Sorry.”
“I just… I mean, not just for me. It would be helpful in general.” The Faerian grit his teeth and put his head in his paws. “I SHOULD know what happened. That I could just, lose pieces like that, is just…” He trailed off as he groped around for words.
“Scary?”
He lifted his head and raised a brow. “Not the word I’d use.”
“It… no one would blame you. For being scared. It sounds scary.”
“You never told me why you’re immune,” Arro squinted at him suspiciously. “You don’t have the same power?”
Rangavar shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He didn’t. “But no, I don’t have Jethe’s powers.”
Arro let out a wordless, frustrated growl. “It’s more like I feel… ‘helpless’, or something.”
“It’s okay. I know what you mean.” Rangavar went back to the couch to sit down again. He’d gotten up because he didn’t want to keep cramping Arro’s personal space, but now that he’d moved, he realized he didn’t want to just stand in the middle of the room, either. Even though he felt better, he was still a bit tired.
“Just, we’re so close. I can feel it.”
“Maybe we’ll find out more when we go in today.” Rangavar sure hoped so. Based on what Arro did remember, they were still missing so much information. How deep did the basement go? Why? And who was the Darkal he kept mentioning? She hadn’t said anything to them before, but now it did seem pretty weird that she’d begun appearing right before Arro met her at the research facility. Although, he couldn’t remember why, and Rangavar felt too bad about that to push him. It was all Rangavar’s fault that Jethe had fried his mind again.
Arro grimaced. “I hope so.”
“We should probably get ready to go.” Rangavar stood up again reluctantly. “Heh. At least we get to go together.” He found himself wondering what ‘new positions’ the facility had in mind. He doubted that they’d let he and Arro anywhere near each other, but Rangavar wondered if they could find a way around that.
He didn’t want to leave Arro alone with Jethe again.
Category Story / Transformation
Species Western Dragon
Size 120 x 117px
File Size 53.2 kB
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