Chapter 18: Chapter 18

"How long?!" Fyn screamed, his head tipped back up towards the tall trees. "Just how long have you kept me in here?"

Fyn roughly wiped the tears streaming down his face with the back of his hand, careful not to let go of the herbs they ordered him to retrieve. Once he got back to the forest, he kept running. The face of Hana was stuck inside his head for who knows how long. Her mouth forming the same words over and over again. That it was his fault, that a sudden typhoon had struck the village. That it was his fault that a sudden tornado destroyed the houses and the sheds. That it was his fault that some of them had been injured.

Her mouth kept repeating the words repeatedly inside of his head. Your fault. His fault.

Choking back a sob, Fyn falls to his knees. His chest felt heavy as he heaved. His forehead touched the cold grass and there was nothing he could do to stop the trembling of his entire body. Tears freely streamed down his cheeks as he sniveled, his sob echoing all throughout the forest. A burning sensation climbed from his chest until it reached his face. Fyn falls to his side, his tears making everything blurry.

He couldn't breathe, he felt tired, he felt alone.

His palms turned clammy, and he digs the palm of his hands against his eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling. How was it even possible? To miss years from your life because of some magical forest? None of it made sense. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of this. He was just a victim. He was already a victim, so why did he have to suffer more?

A choked sob reached down into his lungs, making his entire chest contract in a near hiccup. Gritting his teeth, Fyn couldn't stop the choked sobs escaping his mouth. Curling in a fetal position, Fyn let it happen. Fyn let it all out.

Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his eyes shut, still digging his palm against his eyes. The herbs were forgotten beside him. Curling further, he tried keeping himself warm. Tried making sense of everything. Tried accepting that this was his life, that this was happening, that it's useless feeling sad about it now. Try as he might, the tears continued.

Fyn kept crying. He cried for the wasted years in his life. He cried for his plants that ultimately died because he was gone. He cried for the other brides who had suffered before him. He cried because the forest would forever trap him within the forest. He cried because there was nothing he could do about it but accept that this was now his life. And he cried because, despite everything in his sadness, the only thing he wants is the very reason this cruel fate happened to him.

He was sad and lonely, and he desperately sought a certain demon's warmth.

From his peripheral vision, he saw branches and vines extending towards him. Much like how it did when he stayed inside the forest that one night he tried to escape. Instead of bringing him a blanket made of leaves, and instead of bringing him a bed of flowers to help him lay down on the cold ground, the branches and vines simply extended towards him. As if they just wanted to make sure that he was alright.

Gritting his teeth, he swatted all of them away.

"Leave me alone!" He choked, his voice scratchy and croaky. "Please, just leave me alone. You've already done enough. I've had enough."

When the hiccups weren’t so bad anymore, when he finally began to wind down, and felt like he could breathe again, Fyn pushed himself up. He hugged his knees towards his chest and let the tears dry on his cheeks. Tilting his head back, he saw the sky had now turned dark. The stars now filled the sky with stars.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Fyn pinched his cheeks.

"Enough," He whispered to himself. "This is reality. No point crying about it now. Get over it. Be a man. For once in your life, be a man, Fyn."

Rubbing his eyes as roughly as he could, Fyn pushed himself up. Grabbing the herbs as he did. Taking another calming breath, he wiped the remaining tears on his face with the back of his hand and continued his journey towards Kavan's cave.

Now and then, from his peripheral vision, he could see vines and branching extending, following him wherever he went. He paid them no mind. He had grown tired of the games they played, he wanted to forget the life he left behind, he wanted to forget that they were the reason why he lost years of his life.

Clutching the herbs against his chest, Fyn saw the entrance to Kavan's cave.

And before he knew it, muscular arms encircle him, and something pressed him against a warm chest. The chest felt all too familiar, and so did the warmth. Breathing deeply, Fyn bit the inside of his cheek, making sure that he would not let any traitorous tears stream down his face once more. Making sure that he was still holding the herbs, Fyn let his hand fall down to his side, leaning his head more, pressing his cheek as close as he could to the warm chest that offered him comfort.

Something warm, his cheek, pressed against the top of his head. Something warm wraps around his ankles, keeping him in place. His tail. At first, Fyn felt himself trembling, and it made him confused. He wasn't crying anymore, he was calm. Then he realized, no, it wasn't him. It was Kavan. Trembling. Scared. Breathing heavily, like he was close to crying. Much like how he was hours ago.

The demon's arms tightened even more. Pulling him against him until there was nothing, not even air, separated the both of them. With his cheek pressed against the demon's chest, he could hear a familiar noise. Thump, thump, thump. Kavan's heart was beating so hard, so fast, Fyn feared he might have a heart attack.

"You fool!" Kavan's voice shook into his ear, the demon's entire body trembling as he spoke. The arms around him tightened, and he could tell Kavan was trying his hardest not to let his wings erupt out of his skin in pure rage. "You have escaped, you foolish mortal! And yet... and yet, and yet you are here. In front of me. Here."

Fyn didn't speak, and Kavan didn't stop.

"You foolish, foolish, mortal." The demon hissed, leaning away to put some space between the both of them. He meets his eyes. Red to brown. Kavan was pure rage. "You could have left! Lived your life! Why did you return? There's nothing for you here!"

If Havu could gasp, that was probably what he did when his voice echoed inside both of their heads, "Master!"

Kavan paid the serpent no mind. Instead, he dropped his hands, his eyes never straying from Fyn.

Kavan circled his hand around Fyn's arm. Rising it up so that he could see the herb that was the very sole reason he had the taste of freedom. "You could have been free, Fyn."

Fyn knew that. He knew that he could have been free had he not returned. He knew that he could have continued his life if he chose not to go back to the demon right in front of him. He knew all of that. Fyn wasn't dumb. And because he knew all of that, a wave of anger so powerful spiked deep inside of him, and he narrowed his eyes. As strong as he could, he started pulling away from the demon, but it was futile.

Kavan's claws dig deep into his skin, deep enough to draw blood.

Wincing in pain, Fyn tried again, and when he couldn't let the demon let go, he screamed.

"Without me," Fyn huffed, feeling warm blood dripping from his arm. "You would have never gotten better!"

Chuckling darkly, Kavan grabbed his hand that was holding the herb, pulling him flush against his chest. Their head mere inches apart, "You foolish mortal. You had your freedom and look at you, you return here. The only thing I needed was sleep, I would have been fine. This has happened before and I survived. Your effort was for nothing. Such a mortal thing to do, thinking about others before your own."

Fyn felt his claws digging into his skin and the pain was turning unbearable, fast. Wincing once more, he pushes the demon off with his free hand. A confused expression appears on Kavan's face as he felt Fyn pushing him, then his eyes land on the blood dripping on his arm. Suddenly, he lets go, Fyn stumbling and falling flat on his back.

A look of pure horror crosses Kavan's face. He lifts his claws, blood dripping from them.

Fyn hissed, averting his gaze, he cradles his arm, the five puncture wounds dripping red blood. A shadow casts, and he feels knuckles brushing his cheeks. It reminds him of the same time the chief brushed his dirty knuckles against his cheek and Fyn flinches. When Kavan took a sharp intake of breath, Fyn realized just what he had done.

He wanted to tell him it wasn't him he was afraid of.

Fyn wanted to tell him he was not the monster he fears.

Despite the pain on his face, Kavan's thumb brushed against his cheeks. Only then did Fyn realize he had been crying. Clicking his tongue, a look of pure pain falls on Kavan’s eyes and it made Fyn wonder why that was.

He was the one injured, it was not the demon.

And then Kavan lifts his arm up, drawing it close.

He licks it. Fyn watched, awe-struck, as the demon licked the puncture wounds. He stayed frozen, his eyes watched as the blood disappeared, as the wounds closed. He watched Kavan heal him like it was nothing. His skin stayed smooth, as if it hadn't been injured at all.

Once Kavan was satisfied, the demon sighed once more, looking down at the ground.

Fyn felt it before he realized just what was happening.

Something warm lands on the back of his head. Kavan’s hand falls on the back of his head, and with another sigh, the demon pulls him against the crook of his neck. Fyn froze, blood rushing to his cheeks. The beating of his heart strong and loud against his ears. When the demon spoke, warm breath almost kissed Fyn's ears, it made a shiver run up his spine.

"You should have left," Kavan whispered softly, his voice no longer angry. "They won't let you go now."

Finally relaxed, the truth falls out of Fyn's lip, unable to be contained.

"I wanted to," He admitted. The words left his mouth easily, and he noticed just how the demon's breath hitched at his confession. How Kavan froze once he heard it. Fyn wonders what was running inside Kavan's head when he told him the truth. Closing his eyes, Fyn continued, "I wanted to stay there. I knew that once I returned, the forest won't let me go again. But... time must be different inside this forest. I thought... I thought I had only been gone for weeks. I wasn't. I had been gone for years. There's nothing more I could go back to back there. Time destroyed my house. My plants were dead. They blamed me for the misfortune. The villagers turned angry like they wanted to hurt me-"

Kavan's grip on him tightened. When he spoke, his voice was like a growl.

It was frightening, "They hurt you?"

"No," Fyn shook his head. "They didn't get a chance. When I tried escaping, they started saying... bad things. Things I didn't like. I got angry. And when I did, unexplainable things started happening. It started to rain, thunder and lightning came from the sky, and a tornado even appeared. It didn't make any sense. I got scared, I ran back. Here. I realize the village wasn't safe, I realized the only place I truly felt safe was here."

Fyn bit his cheek, his voice shaking. Lifting his head, he puts some distance between them.

He meets Kavan's eyes.

"I realized the only place I felt safe," He whispered, "Was here, with you."