Welcome Home

[Axyl]

continuing from Respite in Dangerous Waters The Black Lake

Her companion glanced over his right shoulder finding a view of nothing in particular and the top of her head in his peripherals. Turning back to the road ahead he smiled at their private situation. With her head held against his back and her arms wrapped gently around his waist, she seemed to have fallen into a serene place of peace much needed. It comforted him to see her relaxed after the previous nights.

“Trust is a rare and hard commodity to come by,” he commented softly. “Thank you for yours. I promise to not give you a reason to let go.” Brown eyes gazed over the grassy plains directed towards their destination. Calloused hands remained steadfast in guiding his mare towards home though his mind wandered to other paths of action. He smiled quietly to himself thinking on the magnitude of her admission. Though he acted to respect her space and her feelings, he wanted to at least caress her hand but he feared ruining her trust so quickly.

As another hour or so (Axyl was not paying much attention to the passage of the sun) passed, they came across increasingly more travelers to and from the capital city. It heartened him to see honest faces and familiar folks – people who have frequently visited Saverin in addition to a number of new individuals. They must have come from the outskirts of the nation gathering to find new homes inside rumored closing borders. He would have to confirm when he returned home.

Within the next moment as the sun passed into the later part of the afternoon, a beautiful sight reached over the horizon. Saverin seemed to reach to its weapons master with its protective wall spreading out into surrounding golden plains. Her gates stretched high and yet he could still smell the fragrance of home and feel the heat of his fires. A wide grin spread across his face.

“Welcome,” the soldier greeted his companion. “This is where we find your feet.” Axyl glanced back over his shoulder hoping to see her olive eyes to gauge her response. He smiled again genuinely happy to have returned.


ooc: haha... welcome back Seline

[untamed]

Seline’s loose grasp on his waist, loosened more, until her hands had made their way back to her lap. She sat up straight, her head no longer against his back. The more steadfast flow of travelers meant they were no longer to themselves and therefore Seline was not comfortable showing any type of affection.

Her olive eyes watched the passer-bys, wearily. All she saw were welcoming smiles and nods. She gave each traveler a weak smile. Her eyes still scanning their face, looking for someone familiar. But the more she saw, the more uneasy she felt. Her right hand draped to her side as she felt her dagger. She held its sheath in her tight fingers.

“You’ll come back...” he chuckled darkly. He groaned and grabbed his shoulder. The blood had stained his shirt and was now spilling on to the floor.

Seline stared at him, her eyes bewildered with emotion. Her hands shook with the bloody dagger still setting in them. “No...” she muttered, swallowing against her dry throat. “I’m not coming back.”

He laughed in a dark tone once again, “You will. You’re a masochist like that. Some how you enjoy suffering from me.” He seemed oddly pleased as he watched her grab her bag. She wiped off the dagger and then turned to him, “Yes I enjoy suffering under you, that’s why I almost killed myself two nights ago. I realized that hurting you would be better than doing it to myself.”

Seline put the dagger on her belt and headed for the door. “I’ll find you when you get back. Don’t think this little wound will keep me down for long.” Seline paused and turned, “I know. Evil doesn’t die quite that easily, unfortantly.” She grabbed the door handle and ran out.

Seline looked at Axyl when he spoke, she chuckled. “You still haven’t gotten sick of me? You still want to help me? Suit yourself, Soldier Man, I’m quite the handful...” she chuckled again.


ooc: haha, thank you. I'm trying to post as much as possible while I am on vacation, but hopefully after vacation is over I will still be able to post regularly.

[Axyl]

Internally, Axyl sighed understanding that their personal time had gradually come to an end and soon enough they would not be to themselves at all anymore. Once within the city walls, there would be business to handle and tasks to finish. They duty would begin even as his vacation ended. However, before that time would come, the soldier had to find himself back in his ‘official’ state of mind.

Seline laughed teasing again at his persistence to help her along. “Never,” he proclaimed in a low shocked voice dancing once again the line of friendly jesting. “Don’t expect to lose me so easily, little lady. I’ll be around as long,” he emphasized the word, “as you need and don’t try to sneak away a minute sooner.” Axyl paused before adding, “I’ll find you if you try.” The man smiled as he spoke and laughed through a wide grin towards the sky. Seeing his home had certainly brought back the Axyl Griess his friends knew – he had desperately needed the break from constant duty within the city.

Arriving at the gate, “Warrant officer Griess, weapons master under the Soil Master Satazian,” he introduced himself gaining free passage into the main city. The man guided his horse at a steady walk to the right and through the city. Together they meandered through the residential area and market before making it to the outskirt area surrounding the military capital of the Saverin. Master Satazian’s home was of course deeper into the city near the center and near military headquarters.

Slowing to a halt, brown eyes scrutinized the familiar scene. The walls of the building suggested the structure had been part of the original city schematics where it crusted and flaked from constant exposure to the afternoon sun and occasional rains. A corner of the outer wall was missing to expose a relatively modest blacksmith workshop. Its supporting beams exhibited layers of soot from years of work.

Axyl dismounted coming around to stand between his thoroughbred mare and his shop. “Welcome to my sanctuary,” he greeted turning to offer her a hand off the horse. Slowly guiding her to his abode, he allowed her eyes the time to explore. The ceiling to the shop was treated with heat burns with a ventilation escape up through the home above the shop. His forge stood obnoxiously cold in the back with the connected bellows to their right and his coal hopper along the left wall of the shop. A large anvil stood in front of the forge with a vise catty-cornered between the anvil and a slag tub. A tool bench stood closer to the two observers along the left wall with a variety of grindstones arranged opposite in the right side of the shop where it would be cooler for cold work methods. Empty hooks sprinkled the beams and outside of what would be a wall.

“I can give you a more detailed tour later but for now,” he paused readying himself for the penny tour, “this is my shop. There’s a storage room behind the bellows there,” Axyl pointed towards the back of the shop to the only door in the back wall. “Home is upstairs,” his index finger gestured upwards, “and you can get there either by way of the outer stairs,” he backed up slightly gesturing with his left hand to take in a short stair case hugging the outer wall on their left of the shop, “or by taking that door inside,” he point to the door in the left wall just before his tool bench, “and taking the steps on your right.”

He turned back to his mare to undo the straps holding her things secure. “Take your things upstairs and I’ll meet ya there in a minute. Ok?” Axyl turned to her with a smile offering her bag expecting to see something of acknowledgment or a question.


ooc: I'll try to keep up.... end of semester blues are killing me

[untamed]

Seline rolled her eyes at Axyl’s remark to her own teasing comment. “Let’s see how much he can handle exactly....being at home is not going to easy my conscious...” she thought. Her eyes scanned the market place. The faces amongst the sea of people were not very clear. Heads were constantly turning or hair hid the finer details. The muscles around her neck tensed as she searched the faces.

The marketplace began to fade behind them. The tension in her neck began to ease. They were farther out of public eye now. She sighed, she did not want to continuously watch her back now that she was much closer to her old home. Her eyes wandered to the newer surroundings.

The horse came to a stop outside a stand. Her olive eyes were wide as she took in everything that was around her. She watched Axyl as he got off the horse and offered a hand. Seline slid her hand into his and glided off the saddle. Her feet pounded the floor with a dull thud. She followed him into the shop. Her eyes looked at all the tools and mechanics of the place.

Her eyes focused on him while he spoke. She nodded in response to his explanation. She followed him back to the horse. She gently took her bag from him. She smiled deviously, “Are you implying something?” she asked softly about his “I will meet you upstairs” statement. She snickered lightly, “Men...” she said with a sigh. She headed up the steps on the outside of the metal shop. “See you upstairs...” she repeated with a tone as devilish as her smile. She headed inside his home.

ooc: ahh, that's always fun. I should start looking at stuff for my midterms, but i am a bit of a procrastinator.

[Axyl]

“Of course I am,” he declared smiling back in turn. “Once I put her away in the stables,” the patted his mare’s neck, “I’ll meet ya upstairs and we’ll have ourselves a good time findin some food amongst the certain mess.” His eyes smiled at her. Axyl enjoyed her humor but in the back of his head he wished she wouldn’t tease him so. She seemed to have missed his weakness thus far in their time together.

His eyes followed her figure up the stairs. The soldier’s gaze drifted from her general figure to her hair, the small of her back, her delicately curved bottom, and her strong legs. She disappeared behind the door upstairs.

Immediately, Axyl shook his head to clear his mind. She was a guest and she was to be treated as such. Even as he led his mount to her home in the local stables behind his shop, the soldier reprimanded himself for allowing his lecherous mind wander so far.

Returning home, the man followed his guest upstairs to find her still in the main room most likely still trying to fathom the chaos. Tools laid scattered about the floor some in pieces and some at the ready for maintenance. Dirtied plates remained on the table and counters as well as empty liquor bottles and glasses. He himself knew where everything was. Granted others might find his living arrangements appalling.

Swiftly, he went to the table to gather up dirty dishes replacing them into a large metal tub on the floor in the corner for washing. Then his moved to rearrange his tools onto one part of the counter rather than scattered about as they had been.

“You kin put your bag there.” He gestured towards the now cleared spots on the counter and table. “I’ll go find ya a place to sleep.” Axyl walked into the next room to his right before even finishing his sentence. This room had a cot in the corner but other than that was minimally furnished with only a table and chair again covered with his work including a number blades brought to him for repair or exchange. An odd feature was, however, a metal column that sprouted from the floor and disappeared into the ceiling.

From under his cot, Axyl retrieve a thin mat. “Forgive the accommodations,” he called behind, “I’m not prepared for less crude company than my comrades.” The man on his knees continued to search moving to a plain chest in the corner and rummaged through its contents for something more substantial.

ooc: sorry... not best... threw it together since you have time and I don't want to keep ya waitin

[untamed]

Seline’s boot scuffed the floor as she kicked miscellaneous objects out of her path. The dishes on the table had bugs crawling on them from the food remains. Her face contorted with slight disgust at the surroundings. Leave it to a man to live in a pigsty.

She turned her head to look at Axyl as he came up at the steps. He bustled about to clean up the remains of dirty dishes and long since parties it seemed. He apologized about the looks of the place. She rolled her eyes as he simply moved the dirty dishes to another area of the kitchen. She sighed as he began to head back to the bedrooms to clean up a room there.

She placed her bag on the table that was recently cleaned off. “It’s fine, I’ve seen worse conditions...” she muttered as she squashed a bug with the tip of her boot. The place simply needed a woman’s touch.

Call it the housewife in her, she shook her head as she went to the tub where the dirty dishes were. She cleaned off a cabinet area and found a dish rag. She tightened her hair in he ponytail and started to work. The water was still relatively clean, clean enough to clean dishes in the least.

She sped through the dishes cleaning almost all of them in seconds. Trained to be a perfect housewife under a dictator husband, she learned to get things done quickly. From dishes she moved to cleaning the counters and table. She gathered the empty bottles on the table by her bag to be thrown out and cleaned the surface with the dull soapy water from the dishes. She had a feeling that Axyl would reprimand her for cleaning up after him, but she didn’t care. If he was going to put up with her for who knew how long, she could at least return the favor by making sure the place was livable. She cringed her nose again as a bug ran across the floor. She went out of her way to squish the bug before going back to scrubbing the counter tops.

ooc: it's fine really, i'm not all that picky

[Axyl]

Finding a blanket suitable for this in-between weather, the soldier stood. He gathered the blanket and thin mat under his work-toned arm walking to the door only to drop them just inside before coming back to his main room. The room he had left Seline in. The room he now found Seline cleaning up.

Axyl stopped in his tracks still in the threshold of the door. He watched her for but a moment as she scurried about to clean up his mess. You have to be kiddin me, he pleaded silently. Drawing in a deep breath, he released it in an exasperated phrase, “What are you doin?” Half of him could not believe that she would succumb herself to cleaning his living mess, but the other half understood it knowing how much more efficient an organized space would make him. Often he had thought to tidy up a bit but duty often called and his passion often ruled and the thought of cleaning was pushed unceremoniously to the side. But now he was watching it happen before his very eyes. After living in this way for the better part of a year, it was almost unfathomable.

With a sigh, he approached the little housewife from behind. His hand slid around to hers claiming the rag which bustled about to wash the old countertops. Calloused hands carried the rag up and away from her hopefully ultimately leading her eyes to his face. “There’s no need for this. I’ll do it later.” He threw the rag back onto the countertop with a wet flop.

“Now,” he began after reclaiming her attention, “where will you be sleepin? Prefer it out here or in there where it stays warm… for the most part?” Axyl gestured back into his small bedroom. The man looked back to her olive eyes with a flirtatious smirk smacked across his lanky face.


ooc: hmmm.... I seem to be getting shorter... I'll aim to bring it back up for you next round

[untamed]

Seline watched as her hand was dragged from her with the dish rag in it. Her eyes met his, just as he had planned. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Doing it later is probably what led to this...” she muttered. She motioned to the bugs that were crawling around from the left over food on the once dirty dishes. She hid her disgust.

She turned back to look at him as he spoke of sleeping arrangements. She saw the flirtatious smirk and decided to play along with him. She tilted her body closer to him. Her long eyelashes batted lightly as she spoke with a purr. “Well...if it’s warmer back there, I guess that would be the best place...” Her right hand still close to him from taking the dishrag from her. She trailed her slender fingers down his arm. She leaned her face in, her lips just missing his as she spoke in, “Besides,” she purred, “you can keep me company...isn’t that why you want me back there?”

She had a devious looking smile as her body inched closer and closer to him, invading his personal space a centimeter at a time. Her right hand rested delicately on his shoulder. Her body was up against his, every curve of skin surface could be felt. She loved teasing him, he was so gullible. Every man was, when a woman knew how to use her body.

She quickly escaped the moment they had with a small giggle. “I’m heading out to the market. I can guarantee you have nothing fresh anymore,” she ran off her statements rather quickly and bounded to the door even quicker. She quickly left the house, heading downstairs. She slowed once she hit the bottom of the steps, unsure if he would follow. She had fun tormenting him, leading him on and such. She sighed, one of those moments, she thought, she wouldn’t tease or lead him on. But she didn’t know when, it depended when she felt safe again.

She gazed down the walkway towards the market, and slowly walked towards it. She reached into her pocket and felt for the bag with her money in it. She then reached up to her hip with her dagger. She shook her head as she walked slowly towards the market.

[Axyl]

His face cringed in a ‘duh’ kind of way at her comment pointing out the obvious. Life is life and his is a home lived in not to mention his time spent in his workshop. Axyl inhaled deeply exhaling it all relatively loudly in an exasperated sigh. He could tell her new surroundings were far from acceptable though she tried to hide it perhaps to help his pride. She cleaned up too readily for her to be alright with his mess.

“Of course it is,” he replied to her reasoning behind his offer, “though you still have the choice.” A brown eyebrow raised and he cocked his head to the side in response to their teasing.

Suddenly he noticed she was closing the gap. Instinctively, the soldier backed away a step in an attempt to gain some buffer space between them. Still she closed the distance ever so gracefully. Carefully, he restrained himself as a chill tried to flood down his spine as her fingers tickled down his arm. His lips parted eyes wide. Axyl’s breathing came shallow and heat embarrassingly began seeping from his body. Why? he asked. Stop, he pleaded. She came closer her body pressing seductively against his. Axyl, you have ta stop this, he demanded of himself. Swallowing hard, he could do nothing but take in her beautiful face. However, before he could escape on his own accord, she stole away in an unexpected rush.

“Like I have anything but rations anymore,” he called after her under his breath. After she disappeared behind the outside door, Axyl finally was able to regain his self. He swallowed a few more times and swung his head in a wide arch to be sure his head was clear.

Searching about, he wondered at a starting point for the ordeal ahead of him. Decided upon a course of action, her host moved to into his bedroom scanning the floor for anything too obvious. The floor was practically clear though the table and chair remained full. I can take care of that. His room which was usually comfortably warm was now a lonely type of cold.

Returning to the first room, he gathered up most of the empty bottles in the crook of his arm before moving outside. He deposited the bottles in a barrel. The glass fractured with a strangely comforting crack. Then he fell happily back into his element.

Collecting logs some large and thin from along the wall, he moved over to the forge with purpose and began building a wall of wood inside. After the wall was built to his satisfaction, we retrieved a handful of dried grass from a bucket. Taking a match to it, he pushed the bundle under the wall. The blacksmith repeated the action in four other places before swiftly moving to the bellows. As soon as his back was bare and the shirt tossed to the tool bench, he began pumping. This was his element and the flame would be burning with strength before the end of the night. His attention taken by his work, Axyl noted nothing trivial outside his shop.


ooc: longer like I promised... though not as strong as I hoped... sorry... was a bit distracted

[untamed]

Seline headed into the market. Being that it was late in the afternoon, the market was nearly empty. There were few people actually shopping. Most had begun to file into the bar for a night full of drinking, womanizing, and yelling. She turned her head. It would be best to avoid all the temptations.

Walking along the outskirts of the market, she scanned the marketplace to be cautious. She turned too late to the footsteps behind her and she was pulled harshly into an alleyway. She struggled first, then opened her mouth to scream. His hand clasped tightly over her mouth. His strong, muscular body pinned her against the brick wall. He overpowered her easily.

“It was so easy to find you,” he whispered directly into her ear wth a purr of excitement, pleased with his catch. “Riding in with a soldier on a horse, very detectable...” His hand caressed the side of her face.

Seline whimpered, trying to thrash about to free herself from his grasp. She cried out when he grabbed her closely. He bent his head down near her face. He inhaled her scent from her hair. Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes as she continued to stuggle against his grasp.

He chuckled darkly, reaching for her dagger. “You don’t need this,” he said, hooking it to his belt. “I missed you terribly. You have no idea...” He placed kisses along her jaw line. “You better not be screwing that soldier I saw you with. You do realize that you are still married to me..” His voice was calm as he spoke, as if he enjoyed reminding her that she still belonged to him in some way.

Seline had begun to cry completely. Damien would not leave her alone until she was back at his home. “You need to come home...” he crooned, “I won’t hit you as hard, promise. We can try the whole kid thing again. Maybe you are not as broken as I first believed. Come home to me, darling...”

He ran his hand up her thigh. Her distressed olive eyes widened and she tried to fight back. “Please, no...” she said against his hand.

He slammed his body into hers hard, knocking her head against the wall. She was momentarily dazed by the hit. Seline felt the support let her body fall to the ground.

“I’ll be waiting for you. Don’t make me wait too long...” he whispered in her ear again before leaving her.

She watched him leave through her blurry vision. Axyl would get suspicious if she didn’t hurry back. She got up, unbalanced from the hit on the head, and headed into the market, gathering items for dinner quickly. Vendors gave her looks. Red puffy eyes made questions rise to their minds, but they let them pass.

On her way back to the house, it had begun to rain. She looked up at the sky, allowing tears flow easier. They were masked by the rain as she ran back. She didn’t pay attention to whether Axyl was downstairs or upstairs in the house. She just got straight to work on dinner with a need to distract herself.

[Axyl]

He allowed the wall to burn down to embers before adding another layer to the fire. The blacksmith backed away to admire his forge. Again it came to life filling his heart with pride in what he did for his nation once again. Brown eyes burned orange in the reflection of the flames. Axyl turned back around to his shop once again finding the disappointment in returning. His workshop which was also the place in which his customers came to do business, personal and federal was utterly empty which gave off a strange sense of yearning to be whole again.

Shaking his head at its relatively pathetic state, thick-skinned hands gathered up his shirt in a ball before he turned around the corner and into the rain. Happy for cool weather after working the fires for who actually knows how long, Axyl climbed the stairs slowly allowing the steady rain to run in rivulets down his back and arms.

Though it was his home, Axyl Griess knocked on the door before trying the knob to warn his guest of his coming entrance. Immediately in the door, he used his shirt which was still fairly dry considering it was rolled into a ball as a towel rubbing it through his short common brown hair. He turned into the next room to check that his efforts were taking an effect. After draping his shirt, now wet as well as dirty from street dust, over the corner of his cot, Soldier Man reached out with a calloused hand towards the vent stopping an inch from the metal already feeling the heat of his fires.

“That ought to do it,” he declared pleasantly clapping his hands together to relieve them of their layers of dirt and once again the familiar soot. “How goes it in here?” Axyl asked while he searched around for remnants of something he could do himself. The man, as her host, especially did not like seeing her move around like his personal house maiden. He would take care of it. Axyl always promised himself he would; the time had yet to come.

Warrant officer Griess watched her with respectful eyes not staring at anything inappropriate nor drifting too far from the proper areas. He cocked his head in wonder. Something was different and his eyes wandered in search for the cause. There was the transition from the loud-mouthed woman from the pub to the devote housewife before. Still, something beyond that was different.

“Seline…”

ooc: there was something else... I forget... darn... but my time's up. maybe I'll remember next round

[untamed]

Seline tried to keep her hands from shaking. The sharp knife to cut the cabbage she bought was not cutting evenly. Her blurry vision didn’t help as she tried to see what she was cutting. She jumped slightly when Axyl knocked on the door, but her heightened senses knew better. If Damien wanted to get her, he wouldn’t knock on the door.

She listened as he walked by to one of the back rooms. She continued to try hard to cut fluently, still failing. She heard him bustling about in the backroom. Her lip still quivered as she tried to quell her fears. She had finally blocked everything out when Axyl said her name.

She jumped and a sharp pain hit her hand. “Shit!” she cursed. The blood began to pool on the counter top quickly. Now the tears running over the rims of her eyelids looked like they were from pain. She grabbed the first thing she could, which was the dirty dish rag. Wrapping up her hand, she couldn’t see where she cut herself on her thumb, there was too much blood.

She looked over at Axyl, “Don’t sneak up on me!” she growled. Her hands trembling more as she held her injured one in her unwounded one. A sharp gasp escaped her lips, slightly surprised by her outburst, the words venomous that she spat.

“I’m sorry...sorry...” her words soft and weak. She averted her eyes from looking at Axyl. “I shouldn’t be taking this out on him...” she thought, “it isn’t his fault...” She brought her hands to her chest, continuing to apply pressure to the wounded one. Her body shook like she were suffering from the chills of an illness. Her knees gave in on her. Her fear taking control of her. Instinctively, she began to bring her knees to her chest. Her olive eyes shut tightly, trying to fight the tears.

[Axyl]

“Oh c’mon, girl,” he sighed. “You hafta be kiddin’ me,” the soldier said in a slightly nonchalant voice having seen blood numerous times both on and off the fields. “Hold on,” he commanded as he moved to the counter opening a rough cabinet over head. Within the cabinet, a pile of clean clothes laid in chaos. His hand was quick in finding two off-white clothes which would do but not quick enough to pull it out before she snapped at him. “I’m sorry!” he replied with certain emphasis just beneath the level of yelling not certain of what exactly was going on.

Axyl pulled the rags clear of their rough home closing the door. He dropped one to the counter before turning head on at her. “Here. Let me see.” Her host reached to take her hand with his larger hand but then she began to shrink to her knees. "Oh wait. Don't go doin' that. C'mon," he said even as he moved around her to gently catch her in strong open arms. Holding her against him with his body also now on the floor and his arms surrounding her in his embrace, the man placed the remaining cloth on the counter closer to them. Her wrist softly held in his hand, he removed the dirty dish rag. “Give me this.”

Gently, he went to work clearing the blood away by patting her with the cloth not knowing exactly where she cut herself. Once the blood was cleared and her cut identified, Axyl took the still clean end of the same cloth and wrapped her hand starting with her injured thumb. “Here. Hold this.” He relinquished control back to Seline. Slowly he stood cradling her in his blacksmith arms taking her to a chair. Warrant officer Griess was unsure of whether she would resist or not though he was determined to treat her cut but did not push her to a chair. If she struggled against him, it was wholly her choice.

“Wait here,” Axyl commanded again going to a cabinet under the counter to retrieve an old wooden water pail. “I’ll be right back,” he assured as he left through the door without looking back. He moved quickly to the back not wishing to give her too much time alone. With a few moments passed, the homeowner was back inside having retrieved a pail of water, an item from his shop’s back storage area, and the scroll vessel from the floor of his shop which may have fallen when he removed his shirt.

Absently, he hooked the scroll vessel on a chair by the belt and placed the bucket in front of his guest. Retrieving the second cloth only after he obtained a bandage from another drawer, her companion returned to her kneeling on the opposite side of the small bucket. He reached his hand to her offering his palm. “Let’s clean that up,” he looked to her with the item hidden behind his back clipped to the waist of his pants.

As they cleaned her wound, whether she allowed him to help or not, he intended to have a conversation.

“So what’s goin’ on?” he opened up without making eye contact as he wet the cloth and cupped her hand above the water. “I doubt you’re one to be so jumpy given your behavior in the bar and the way you walk and you don’t seem one to slip with knives so readily either.” Axyl Griess did not look to her still attentive in his work and not wanting to make her feel any more trapped by his implication.

[untamed]

Seline let out a small gasp when Axyl caught her in his arms. Her dark eyes looked up at his face, searching for something. Her hand laid limp as he began to care for her. She felt slightly uncomfortable with the space that did not exist between them. She watched as he began to clean her wound up with clean rags.

She tried not to draw away. Though she teased him, she also tested him. He seemed very uncomfortable when she was close to him. Therefore, she could not get close to him, like she desired. Despite her efforts, her “hero syndrome” had kicked in. He had literally saved her a couple nights before from her dreary life and did it by simply caring. Having had no one who cared about her before, she had fallen quickly. She tensed realizing what she truly felt. In this situation, it wasn’t the best, but at least she had someone at her side.

Her eyes met his with understanding, as he helped her to the chair. She held the cloth to her finger. It throbbed beneath her fingers, but it did not hurt. The tears had become too much and she knew that he knew something else was going on. He told her to wait while she sat in the chair and he ran to the back. In her brief moments alone, she considered running. She did not want to drag him into her wretched life, but he would have it no other way. She knew that at least.

He came back before she acted on any instincts to clean up her wound. Her eyes were hollow, mixed with deep emotions and thoughts that mimicked a sea during a storm. She couldn’t sort through them. They were constantly shifting in her mind, only adding to her distress. And that’s when he asked her the question.

She contemplated her answer, she could tell him. She had no idea how he would react and she didn’t want him to get involved really. “I....can’t tell you...” her voice was low in a whisper. “I don’t want you to get involved...” The more she spoke, the more she became frantic, just thinking about him getting involve with Damien. “I don’t want you hurt...” she had closed her eyes to say it. She was unsure if he would understand that she actually did care for him with that statement. She didn’t want to look in his sympathetic eyes. It seemed he usually had them when she was in this condition.

[Axyl]

“I already am,” his response came quick. He spoke in an even tone a level just above her. However, his voice sounded practically the opposite of her quiet whisper. Hers came as though it did not want to sound. In this situation – whatever it truly was – she was shy and unsure. Axyl so wanted to repeat himself that she could trust him; he would help her, protect her, and stay with her as long as she needed. But the words did not come.

A familiar frustration began to seep into his mind again. Her body language and persistence to keep him at arms length from anything substantial was all too familiar. She was scared, that was evident, but it was because of him that she was like this again. Once again she was a scared little girl with a shriveled confidence no individual should experience. Just as in his first similar experience of this side of her in the tavern, his aggression reached its sickening tendrils into the back of his mind. He yearned to punch the man who had done this. But why now? They were safe within the city limits. No one was as stupid as to mess with military – headquarters and back-up was so close that distressed voices were enough to call two or three off-duty soldiers.

Then after her brief silence, Seline admitted her ultimate reason for saying nothing more on the subject. “I don’t want you hurt…” He looked up to her with compassionate brown eyes; his anger would find its target but she would not see that if fate was kind. Axyl found her olive eyes hidden from him. Was she scared of him for showing her ‘weakness’ again as she had called it?

The man raised from his task with one leg his other still half in a kneeling position. He leaned over the water bucket reaching for her arm while his other calloused hand cradled her delicate fingers in his palm. “Seline…” he said in a smooth confident baritone voice rubbing her upper arm.

After a moment, his touch left her arm for another sensitive location. He cupped her chin and gently pulled her face to him looking for those beautiful olive pools she calls eyes. Axyl did not speak until his had found hers.

“I can take cara myself.”

Their faces held perhaps 20 centimeters away from each other. He did move. His eyes only aimed to hold hers until he got her response and maybe even his name. The hand under her chin was firm yet tender in its pursuit.

[untamed]

She kept her eyes averted, trying not to look at him. Her hands tensed as she felt him move. She was still unsure about looking at him. He gently said her name and she turned, her eyes finally meeting his. His touch gentle upon her upper arm caused a chill to run down her back. She didn’t hide it. But then his hand left her arm.

She turned to him as he reached for her, cradling her chin. Eyes widened as he held her gently. His breath hot against her face from the close distance. It was nearly intoxicating for him to be so close. He spoke to her in an effort to reassure her. Once he was finish though, he didn’t release her chin. He still held it.

The hint of pink that once colored her cheeks had faded, no longer embarrassed by how close she was to him. Her tears had ceased, feeling safe with him. No harm would come to her while he was with her. Some how it was sinking into her. She let her rational thinking fade like background music.

She closed the distance between them. Her lips pressed against his. No teasing, no toying with emotions, just raw emotion. Her head was clear, it was not foggy with Damien, Alexander, or any other memory that caused pain or confusion. She meant it, and that’s all that really mattered.

Her right hand grazed his cheek. Her body instinctevly leaned in. She had to be close to him. Like a moth to the flame, she couldn’t resist. All her worries were washed away when her lips pressed against his.

[Axyl]

ooc: ok so I never actually saw Axyl in this kind of situation so it was hard to keep to his character. I hope this still works for you and I didn't deviate too much. Honest... I really tried to keep true and this is what I came up with.

bic:

His fingers slipped from the tender flesh under her slender chin. She closed the gap quickly and yet slowly, but still Axyl could not move. He froze half knelt in front of her transfixed in the passion that flooded her olive eyes.

Suddenly the passion he had used to know flashed before his eyes. His adolescent lover, their memories, their special places, the feeling he knew when he was with her all came flooding back in an instant. But the instant of her soft lips caresses his in a tender embrace lasted powerful moments.

Thrown off balance by her sudden move to have him, the man fell to his knees knocking the bucket between their two bodies over and spilling the lot of it across the barren floor. In an attempt to stabilize himself, Axyl released her fingers and reached out for anything with his hand finding her thigh having yet to break her personal connection with a man who has long since touch any woman in such a way.

As if through a will of its own, his hand caressed her flesh his own larger fingers tracing up to her hip and around to the small of her back. It rubbed a slow circle from her lower back to her hip.

At her chin, his grip released to find another supple location. A calloused palm cupped her jaw in the gentlest of fashions his fingers entangling themselves in her silky ebony hair and his thumb wrapping around to tickle the front of her right ear.

Still unaware as to what just happened in a complete sense, Axyl Griess pulled away from her kiss slowly, reluctantly. His tongue moved to lick his lips which now strangely felt very dry. Still resting on her thigh near her waist, his left hand laid practically limp; his right even lightly clung to the side of her face subtly framing her beauty.

Axyl looked up to her with a half dazed, half confused, but pleased look flooding his brown eyes. He backed away falling to his heels with a storm of his own chaos drowning his persona.

In an instant she had turned his world. He would help her. He would protect her. He would stay with her. But now he felt only vulnerability. The soldier had forgotten the feeling though it was now all he knew.

He knelt before her lost in his own incomprehension gazing up at her looking for some answer as if searching for a hand out of a bottomless pit. Searching her olive eyes – eyes deeper than he had noticed before – he kept still almost fearful of moving from her. Her hero knelt before Seline his body almost between her legs and his strong arm draped over her lap ignorant his pants were soaked.

Lips parted. Silence came. He couldn’t grasp the words stuck in the back of his throat.

The force holding it up dissipated. Axyl’s hand began to fall.

[untamed]

Seline had blocked out the clatter of the bucket being tipped. The water soaking the floor and Axyl himself. She felt him grab her at her thigh. The skin twinged with an uncomfortable feeling. He grabbed her at the waist.

Whereas Axyl had recollection of his former love, Seline’s was vastly different. She had always been grasped harshly around her waist, thighs, and arms with the intent to hurt. The bruises and scars had started to throb with the thought and from Axyl’s caresses. Her memories were filled with being grabbed by the hair and tossed about like a rag doll in a hurricane. Her husband holding her down against the bed. Her screams had always remained unanswered when Damien had forced himself on her.

Seline’s eyes met Axyl’s. Hers were now frantic, her body stiff. She couldn’t be touched, not like that. Axyl was still kneeled in front of her. He went to speak, but couldn’t, his hands falling away. Seline couldn’t speak either. Her actions spoke for her.

Seline tore away from him and ran into the room where she would be staying. The door slammed and she leaned against it. Her feet slid out from her as she leaned her head against the closed door. Her mind was now muddled. Thoughts mixed and churned within her head. She held her head within her hands.

Axyl wasn’t Damien, Seline knew that. The touches, however, despite what Axyl’s really meant, hurt. She couldn’t get past what had happened in her earlier life. Also, she did not want to drag Axyl into her life more than needed. She was going to simply stay with him and convincingly lie to him to get away. Now, everything had changed. Maybe if things had been different, it wouldn’t be so complicated.

Seline sighed. Her eyes stared at the floor. She would have to leave tonight without a word to him. She would have to revert back to the woman he met in the bar. She would have to be inconsiderate of his feelings. He couldn’t get involved between her and Damien. It just couldn’t happen. She would just go to Damien and be done with it.

She picked up her head and looked out the window in the room. It was dark. She would wait a couple hours until she heard nothing and would slip out. It would be the easiest thing. She sighed, running her fingers through her bangs mussing them up. It would be difficult, but she had to.

[Axyl]

Ripping away from him the pull of his left arm in his shoulder drove him back to reclaiming his mind from the shadows of what was and what might have been. SLAM! His eyes came back into cognizant life. He twisted around at his waist looking to the rough door. Axyl stood knowing he had made a mistake making her uncomfortable but he could not wrap his mind a reason for it.

Her host walked wearily to the door. Putting his forehead to the wood, Axyl waited in silence. Perhaps she would say something. Maybe she would tell him what he did to lose her trust in him. For her sake, he desperately wanted to right his mistake so that she could trust him again. The soldier promised himself he would never take advantage of her. As long as she stayed here, she would be treated with respect and nothing less.

“Seline,” he finally whimpered after a long time nothing but his thoughts. “I’m sorry,” he whispered pleaded for her forgiveness. His hand which had held her precious face only moments earlier clawed at the flaking wood not knowing what else there was to do. The rest of his toned body stood limp without direction. “Seline… I’m so sorry.” Axyl pleaded. “I promise…” he choked, “I won’t do it again… never again.” Once again he swore to her he would not touch her. He had assured her in the bar, but now the repeated pledge ripped him for the inside out from the confusion of her kiss.

With the apology off his chest and still clinging to the air thick with uncertainty, Axyl moved from his forsaken state searching the room. He kicked the empty pail out of his way as he moved to the counter. The man stared at her ingredients and wondered what kind of concoction she had planned for them. This was out of his league of rations but he could not just let it all spoil. Gathering up those which required it, he placed her ingredients into the icebox in the corner. The rest he rearranged neatly further back on the counter.

Axyl tore himself away from staring at the empty counter, picked up the water bucket, and wandered over to the door outside. He glanced back over his broad shoulder for a sign before disappearing back into the rain.

The soldier walked around to the back of his shop with his back still exposed to the nighttime air being that all his shirts were locked in his room with Seline. He retrieved another full bucket of water from the well immediately pouring it over himself. Despite the bite of the nighttime weather, he felt so hot. His breath came short and heavy. With another deluge from the well, his mind felt clearer but still he remained. Axyl leaned against the well staring into its abyss of black. He lifted his head for a moment just to catch a glimpse of the window into his room. Nothing.

After retrieving a third bucket of water, he returned inside. Its usual silence now haunted him knowing he had somehow hurt his guest. He looked back to the door to his room before collecting a few strips of dried meat from his most recent rations. Putting them on a plate he added a few rolls to another. Axyl set them up on the table in the middle of the room with the added sweetness of a container of honey.

Taking a strip of dried meat for himself, Axyl returned to his forge chewing his meager meal. She wanted to be alone. Her host let her alone but did not leave her like he vowed earlier. It was dark so it felt isolated with the forge embers being the only source of light. He retrieved a slab of iron and began his work. The metal heated. His brown eyes gazed into the fires once again reflecting their brilliance.

[untamed]

Seline opened the door slowly. He wasn’t there. She heard him kick the bucket and make noise outside the door in frustration, at least she guessed, after he apologized to her. She bit her lip, she wasn’t mad at him. She couldn’t be, but she had to. It would be easier to break away if she was cruel than if she was nice.

She grabbed her bag off the table. She never put it in the room that he offered her. She went back to her room and changed out of her comfortable clothes into her other outfit of armor and such. She pulled her hair back like she had always done and then stuffed the other clothes into the bag. She made her way to the door careful that her boots didn’t make too much noise against the wooden floor.

When she exited the house, she closed the door gently. It was then that she heard him in his shop. She closed her eyes to gather courage. Fast or slow....she contemplated the options. If she did it fast, he would never know what happened until she was far up the street, but she would make a lot of noise. She headed down the steps, slowly, making little noise. Her eyes cautiously watched him. Once at the bottom of the steps, she tried to head towards town, but she skated down the last couple wet steps, but kept herself up. She winced. She had to have been heard. Her boots had grinded against the gravel making even more noise than her trip down the steps.

She walked out of the shadows to gaze into his shop. Her eyes conflicted with what was going on. She didn’t look angry, like Axyl thought she was. “Axyl...” his name graced her dry lips. She didn’t want to confront him at all. She subconsciously took two steps backwards, unable to work up the anger at him that she had planned for.

[Axyl]

A grating behind him brought the blacksmith from his daze. He wheeled around ready for any ruffian who would be stupid enough to try to sneak up on him while in his forge with a rod of red hot metal at his fingertips.

With eyes sensitized to the light of the fire, Axyl stared into the night outside his shop trying to put shapes together to form a cohesive scene. Finally her form took shape.

In the dark, he could only see her figure but it was enough to know it was Seline at his nonexistent door. He released the tension in his muscles and took a step towards her when she called his name in the silence of the night.

“You ok?” he asked walking forward but fighting with himself to reach for her. She didn’t need his embrace. She didn’t want it. Instead he fingered the item still clipped to his waist just as he had the other day. “It should warm up soon,” he assured referring to the room upstairs his words gentle. “Go back upstairs. You’ll get sick out here,” he finished not mentioning himself not understanding why she would be out here with him if he had wronged her.

“Seline…” Axyl his voice turning to a warning edge having noticed her original outfit in the gleam of the forge fires. “What are you doin?” he urged as gently as possible as he could while on the edge of uncertainty and heightened senses.

He took another step stopping at the outer edge of his shop his eyes never leaving her.

ooc: ugh... short but I like it

[untamed]

“I need to leave...” Seline said coldly. She matched his steps with her own backing away from him. She grasped her bag in her fist. His eyes never lost their gaze as he stared at her. It made her feel even more uneasy about doing this.

“You said you would be could defend for yourself. I believe you, but I would rather you didn’t have to at all.” Seline crossed her arms over her chest. Her posture, defensive, preparing for what he rebutted her with. Her feminine figure was tilted towards town. “I have caused you more trouble than I should...” referring more to her kissing him than anything.

Her calm, emotionless tone turned icy again as she cried out, “I can’t stay with you!” Lie, all were lies that began spilling from her mouth in hurtful tones. “I can’t be with you!” She calmed her fake anger down, “Just let me go. Just let me do what I need to do and you will be safe and I won’t cause you anymore trouble...”

Her words were just repeats of what she had said recently. She had to get away from him before Damien came looking for her. Her voice and body followed how angry she was faking, but her eyes deceived her. She was scared to go back home. She was afraid of hurting Axyl more than she already had. And she had a desperate need to stay with him, he was good for her. These powerful emotions were shaded quickly when she turned her head. She began taking a few steps towards her fate

[Axyl]

He shook his head frantically trying to set her straight and trying to understand what was going on. Axyl looked back to her only to see her turn away from him. Instinctively, the man reached for her leaping the short distance to grasp her wrist in his unnecessarily strong grip. “Just hold on a second!” Immediately he loosened his grip but still turned her with it back to his face. “Where are you goin?” His frustration surfaced again twisting his face in the shadows of the fire. She was protecting him. She was protecting him despite him telling her she should not trouble herself in that way.

His other hand went to grip her upper arm on the opposite side. The soldier shook his head again trying to put the words to his thoughts. “You don’t have to be with me,” he blurted out. “Please just stay here… where I can help you… find your footing.” He did not let go nor did he look away. Axyl calmed himself his voice smoothing its edge. “I promise nothing like that will happen again. You can still be my guest,” he assured. “Nothing but housemates. I promise,” he assured again still thinking she was angry with him but not knowing what it was exactly.

Then he realized what it sounded like he was saying. There were implications. A kindness beyond friends here though his words danced along the edge. There was the implied threat. Listening to himself, he realized that in her upset state she might see his home as a prison… and he as her warden. Upon the acknowledgement, his grip released and his eyes drifted to the dirt. “I’m sorry,” he took a step back returning her desired space to her.

“But wait another second.” His voice was quieter but still possessed the same determined confidence. He reached around his back releasing the item from his pants and pulled it around for her to see in the dim light. “Take this.” It was a knife about the same size of the one he had seen her with earlier. Its hilt was elaborately decorated and identified as a part of his craft a sister of the one he usually carried but less specific to the military profession he usually responded to. The sheath was a hard leather design to protect the blade from the elements. Taking it in both hands, he loosed the blade a few inches from its home to reveal the clarity in the steel and the edge and make of the blade itself. As if closing the deal, he forced the blade back into hiding. “I noticed you had lost yours. Take it. That’s all. After this, I’ll leave you alone.”

Axyl looked back to her his brown eyes displaying his determination and hopefully his stubbornness in this matter. He held the knife out to her on the flat of his hand waiting. If he had to, he was ready to shove it in her pack himself.

ooc: sorry for the wait

[untamed]

A sharp gasp escaped her lips when he grabbed for her. Her eyes searched his, questions rising in her mind, but she didn’t pursue them. He tried with a strong effort to string words together to get her to stay. She didn’t have to be with him, he tried to reassure her, as long as she stayed. She sighed and shook her head.

“I don’t trust myself with you,” she muttered, her words shy of what she felt. She felt attracted to him, no lie, but she was unsure if it was because of her situation. Being the damsel in distress, she would obviously be drawn to her hero, but she didn't know if her feelings were true or not.

Her eyes watched as he reached and handed her a knife he held it up for her to grab. Hesitantly, she reached for it. Her fingers gently wrapped around it. She hooked it to her own belt.

Confusion filled her eyes, “You’re not going to stop me...?” she questioned softly, almost hurt in tone. She shook her head gently, gathering some sort of courage. She got on her toes and leaned towards him. Her lips pressed gently against the skin of his cheek.

She began to walk away, only to pause a few feet in front of Axyl. She turned, “I’ll make it back sometime...” she muttered. She turned back and swiftly made her way through town to make sure he didn’t follow, taking back ways and alleys.

On the outside of Saverin was Seline’s hometown. The shabby, shady town had no name. The shacks that lined the main road were disheveled and were hardly standing up. Thieves lurked in the shadows and drunks stumbled about the road and people’s porches.

At the very edge of the town was an elaborate well built log cabin. Though to Seline’s memory, it was beginning to lose its luster. She walked up the five steps to get to the raised porch. She was careful to walk across the wooden porch without a sound. She pressed her hand against the door. Gathering breath in her lungs, she knocked and waited. No footsteps approached, no disgruntled string of profanities, nothing. She reached for the door handle and opened it.

The kitchen laid before her, dirty and unclean. Rats crawled across the floor eating leftover food that had spoiled. The sour smell made Seline’s nose curl. She set her bag on a clean space on the table. “He can’t be living here...” she muttered.

She walked down the hallway. Her breathing got labored as she opened the door to one of the rooms. Toys laid scattered on the floor. A ragged stuffed bear sat against the pillows on the bed. Seline walked to the bed and sat on it. She picked the bear up and held it to her chest. She pressed her face to the bear’s head and took in it’s warm scent of the forests. Alexander was always playing in the woods, his smell still lingered in the room and on the bear.

She set the bear down and got up to see the rest of the house. As she got out of the door frame, she was stopped. “Damien...” she whispered, her breath missing for a moment from being startled. She felt the glass bottle slam against her head, but she didn’t feel her body hit the ground afterwards. The world turning dark.

[Axyl]

Trust herself? So she finally gave him a hint to work with in figuring her confused thoughts. He let loose a quiet sigh still not sure what to do with himself in this sticky situation. “Just trust me,” he pleaded in a whispered breath once again.

He fought to curl the corner of his mouth into a smile as she accepted his small gift. Axyl did not want to fight her on this thing. It had seemed he was in enough trouble as it was without even trying.

Brown eyes turned back to look into her confused olive-colored pools at the sound of her wary question. “I have no right,” he answered in a slightly defeated voice. “It’s your choice.” His gaze wandered to the darkness surrounding them; it was almost as if it was closing in on what could have been. Suddenly she broke through his daze her lips finding his reddened cheek. It was all he could do to stand and watch her go. This wasn’t right. She turned promising to return before she rushed back into the darkness.

“But I’m going to make sure you at least get that chance,” he whispered to himself even as he turned back into his shop. Swiftly and as efficiently as possible he meandered through his workshop to the back storage area. Immediately inside the door he grabbed a thick coat threading his arms into the sleeves. Once his hands were free from the thick cloth, he grabbed for another long knife hooking behind his back. Wheeling about, he clutched at his cloak and the short sword underneath upon exiting. Axyl turned back into the street barely catching her back disappearing into the alleys.

Her host was quick to follow though of course at a distance. This was stalking. She did not want him around and yet the man felt he needed to. He needed to know she was truly going to be safe. Seline’s behavior was spontaneous, seemingly random without the crucial hint – her reasons. She was very jumpy and more defensive now that they had returned to the city. It was not right. Saverin was to be a strong foothold of the Earth nation – a safe haven for her citizens. This whole thing was not right. Axyl wanted to be sure that changed. His gift to her was the beginning. The blacksmith had made sure she had her full defensive power at her fingertips.

As he weaved through the alley, Axyl fell into his soldier disposition strapping the short sword to his waist under the dark cloak around his shoulders. Rain beaded off the rough fabric even as he shadowed her with a strong determined stride. He had nearly lost her a few times, but was quick to find her path again. Still, he was careful not to get caught. Axyl did not need or more so want her distrusting him anymore than she already apparently did.

Seline’s shadow slowed as the details to observe multiplied. This was unfamiliar territory to the weapons-master who rarely left military barracks and the warm comfort of his shop. She finally stopped to enter a house that stuck out like a sore thumb. His jaw nearly dropped as his eyes darted from the roof to the porch. Taking a round about route, Axyl sprinted to the side of her cabin. His mind wandered. His was a relatively shabby place in a bustling city, but at least it was surrounded by a respectable environment. Granted the cabin possessed a more lavish décor suggesting a good amount of wealth, but she did not seem the woman who would return just for the money. Love? Her husband? That man! Axyl’s anger flared at the memory of her distraught behavior in the hotel and in response to his touch even as he peeked into the windows looking for a sign of Seline or anyone else who might reside behind wooden walls.

Finally he found her. Seline sat on a bed with an old stuffed bear cradled in her arms. She had come back for her child perhaps? He continued to watch in silence even as he promised himself he would not dwell on it… at least not until he was alone in the confines of his home again away from the peering eyes of his noisy comrades.

A heavy sigh escaped his lungs as he gathered up his cloak mentally preparing to leave her to her chosen path. It was not his right to interfere; they were still practically strangers who met in a tavern one night. When he had accepted his role in her life was through a sudden peace shattering crash sounded through the rough walls. His gaze frantically searched the view through the window only to find her limp form lying in the door frame.

Loosing his sword from its sheath, Axyl ran the glass of the window through with hilt and fist. “Seline!” In a few brisk steps, the soldier was at the door wheeling around the corner to face her assailant. “What ta hell do ya think yer doin?!?!” he yelled with strong support from his lungs. His determined gaze wandered to the woman’s unconscious form at his feet. Her weapons were not drawn and yet she was bleeding. Axyl’s steely gaze transferred back to the man before him. “Don’t make me repeat myself,” he growled. “What the hell are you doin?” His was the voice of a frustrated and dead-set soldier ready to commit to a course of action; his was a voice that could make the very steel of his blade tremble for blood. He took his first step forward attempting to position himself between her and that bastard of a man with his sword still drawn directing its edge at that man.

ooc: late... long... hopefully still worth it? ;D Merry Christmas!

[untamed]

Damien had kneeled beside Seline when Axyl broke into the home. He looked up from her body when Axyl began yelling. He snickered lightly, “You’re that man...” he muttered under his breath. He looked back down at Seline and smacked her lightly upon the cheek. “Wake up baby, we have a visitor...”

Seline’s head rolled listlessly to the side, following the light smacks. He got up off his knees, “Seline, darling, you have to wake up...” the last words had more gusto and were gritted between his teeth as he slammed his foot into her side. Seline cried out, gasping in pain from the ribs snapping under the pressure. She was pulled roughly to her feet by Damien as he cradled her. She took sharp breaths, but no comfort came to her.

“Now sweetie, you weren’t suppose to bring company...” he held her gently around the waist, keeping her hands pinned against his body. His other hand went to her chin and pulled it to look at Axyl.

Seline blinked, blood from her head wound was blurring her vision plus the hit to the head made it hard to focus. She made out his form just barely. Damien’s hand left her face and traced down her curves to grab the knife at her side. He held it with in his hand, a smug smile upon his face. “Now sweetie, I’m sure he believes that he can take you away from me, but considering you are still married to me, he should know better.”

Damien held Seline’s body as he began to slowly move towards to kitchen deftly, “We will need more room to discuss our circumstances...” He went to the kitchen and pulled out a chair. He grabbed another one and pushed it closer to Axyl a good 20 feet away from him. “Take a seat...”

Damien sat down in his chair and pulled Seline into his lap. He placed her head on his shoulder and draped her body across his lap. “Now I know you won’t come after me,” he said as he placed the knife near Seline’s neck, “You don’t want me to hurt her more, do you?” He pulled the knife away from Seline, “Now what exactly do you want with my wife?”

Seline looked at Axyl. A pained expression upon her face, too pained to move or function. Ragged breaths escaped her lips. Her broken ribs hindering painless breathing. “Axyl....” she whispered. Damien looked down at her and chuckled, “What makes him so desiring?” he asked her and then he turned to Axyl, “What makes her so desiring?”

[Axyl]

“Stop it!” he demanded over Seline’s pained cry. He bent to comfort her only to have her stolen away from his reach. Soldier ears listened with malicious intent as that man, her husband, justified his twisted cruelty towards the woman in his arms merely because he had followed. A pained expression spread across Axyl’s shadowed visage when he noticed her struggle to focus on what was laid before her olive-green eyes. That pain quickly warped to reveal an anger that had not been summoned forth in years. Anger, pain, and righteous justice danced in his brown eyes creating a dangerously beautiful reflection of a man’s soul in the midst of committing the bestial act of killing another. “She didn’t bring me,” he responded through gritted teeth.

Seething eyes watched with a silent tongue as the man’s hand slithered across Seline’s delicate form to retrieve the knife, his knife, from its sheath at her belt. His body heaved with heavy controlled breathing as his eyes moved with the man Axyl’s gaze never leaving his mark and his sword’s tip having yet to fall below his hip.

That unnamed man moved precisely to the kitchen dragging his friend along with him in pain. It was a filthy piece of space reflecting upon the man’s habits. Axyl followed slowly weighing his options and measuring his chances to get them out of this hole his eyes still never leaving his mark while his mind wandered to their surroundings.

Knuckles turned white as the blacksmith’s hands clenched in fists his right tightening around the hilt of his short sword. The knife she was to use in her defense was now aimed against her. This was not the first time his pieces were used against him and his allies, but the situation would never become easier to handle.

“I would prefer not,” he referred to the seat before him, “I’m not one to sit over stand. Forgive me but I feel more at home standing.” He ignored the chair presented in front of him but took a step forward nonetheless. Axyl drove the sword back home in its sheath hidden under his dripping cloak.

“She didn’t bring me,” he repeated ignoring the man’s final string of questions. “I followed on the whim of an afterthought.” Axyl had committed to a path; he would test the waters to see where her regrettable husband’s insanity ends. His mind flared again in anger at the thought of her being tied to him by any means and yet his visage surprisingly relaxed slightly. The soldier had work to be done and he could not accomplish it with a clouded mind. “She had been acting strangely and seemed ill when she left. I had just thought to bring ‘er ta see a healer,” he lied smoothly hoping to gain some ground. “When I found her through the window lying on the floor, I panicked believing I had been too late,” Axyl continued in his story wanted to just get her away from here. “Allow me ta take ‘er to a healer?” he requested now calm in voice and expression. “I’ll cover the price,” he offered.

His eyes wandered once since the encounter began. He checked the knife at her neck but went straight back to the man’s face. Axyl wanted to gauge the look in his depraved eyes.

[untamed]

“There is actually one right on the outskirts of town...” Damien pondered, “I found her there at least three times a week, the healer isn’t too fond of me, isn’t that right?” he looked down at Seline.

Seline gazed up at him, wincing with every breath. She would stumble to the healer at least three times a week. Broken bones, sprains, deep gashes, all sorts of wounds need to be cared for when Damien got overly rough with her. The healer didn’t like Damien for obvious reasons. She had befriend Seline quickly from her frequent visits and usually when Damien came searching for Seline, he was given a mouthful from the healer, but he ignored any threats.

Damien set the knife upon Seline’s body, “However, it would not be necessary to pay the healer. She hasn’t charged Seline once, has she?” He grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled on it. Seline yelped, breathing harshly through her teeth. The sudden jerky motion sent a wave of pain through her nerves. Her side was heavily bruised from the hit from Damien’s boot.

“I can’t understand why you want her though...” Damien said. Seline struggled against his grip, the onslaught of verbal abuse was just on the tip of his tongue. “This senseless slut...” Damien muttered, his eyes scrutinizing her broken body. “You know she killed her own son a couple years back...”

Seline snapped, his sentence hitting her core. His words twisted in her mind of him implying that she was an unfit mother. “I loved that boy more than anything in the world!" she cried. She glared daggers at him, her physical wounds no longer affecting her clarity of mind.

Damien glared at Seline and her sudden outburst. “Now sweetheart, there is no need for yelling...” he let her hair go and grabbed her wrist. He twisted it unnaturally, making it pop and crack. Seline cried out again. Damien stood up. The dagger fell to the floor and he cradled Seline who was now clutching her wrist.

“She’s worth more trouble than she is...” Damien hissed and threw Seline at Axyl. He knew Axyl would go for Seline and not after him. He fled out the door, making a quick escape to live and torment Seline another day.

[Axyl]

“Knock it ta hell off!” he commanded as he shortened the distance between them by half. His jaw tightened and his hands flexed briefly bringing the blood back into circulation. Three times a week? And here he was hurting her again in plain sight of one who would protect her with his own hands… perhaps even his life.

His hand glided under his cloak to the hilt of the knife at the curve of his back. “Knock it off already,” he demanded in a low growl once again becoming more intense in the strength of his voice. “Ya already made yer point. You don care about her. So why do ya hold on so tightly?”

But the man continued in his mutterings blatantly ignoring Axyl’s criticism. However, this obviously hit a nerve as Seline snapped in her physical pain shifting to personal agonies. Axyl cringed and took another step through sheer instinct as she cried out in pain again when her wrist was unnecessarily popped. Her guardian stood helpless has her demented husband wrapped his slimy arms around her broken form.

“Leave. Her. Go.” Those three words came as strong as any command, as deadly as any threat, but as quiet as a whisper under his breath as his mind frantically pondered the options.

Suddenly, his path was chosen for him. Axyl hastened to catch her frail body hoping to alleviate some of the shock of being thrown. Immediately, he was throwing rushed words at presumably trembling body. It was trying to be quiet for her, to comfort her, but he rushed to pursue the criminal. “Please, stay here. You’ll be safe. I’ll be back. Promise.”

Instantly after she was safely on the floor, the weapons-master wheeled around on one foot sprinting for the door. He launched himself off the front porch landing with a thud in the dirt. Standing to full height as he scanned the area, Axyl pushed himself after the shadow rushing away into the darkness. I hafta finished this. “Don’t you wanna finish this!” he yelled after his quarry. His hand went back to the hilt of his knife but this time drew the clear steel of the blade free from its casing. “Ya too scared to face justice, coward?” he called taking the blade in his fingertips. Instinct and training told him to hinder movement. He hurled the deadly projectile at the rushing shadow aiming for the upper leg area. At least knowing his accuracy, he could still potentially hit a lower leg.

“Get back here!” he hollered as he continued in his chase for retribution for Seline’s sake.

[untamed]

Seline’s body curled, trying to avoid the harsh hit against the floor. It didn’t come but the plusher landing she did have still hurt. She cried out when she hit Axyl’s arm. His attempt to comfort her did not last long as he gently laid her on the ground. She reached out for him, but he had already gotten out of her reach.

Gasping and gritting her teeth, she sat up and tried to stand. She stood up, but lost her balance. She was able to catch herself against the kitchen counter, but only by using her hands. Her wounded wrist popped uncomfortably under her weight. “Dammit...” she cursed, heading for the door. Each step, each breath was hell. All her nerves seemed to be haywire, pulsating these tremors that shook her core. Despite the pain she was in, she never shed a tear. Only emotional wounds caused them anymore.

She was able to drag her feet to the doorway to the outside. Her fingers clung desperately to the wooden frame, to hold her own delicate frame upright. She saw the men running and then one fall to the ground. She missed what happened exactly. She couldn’t see that Axyl had thrown a knife at Damien. It missed his intended target and embedded itself at his ankle, ripping his Achilles’s tendon.

Seline stumbled out of the doorway to the stairs that led up to the porch. She heaved her upper body over the railing. The sour bile from her stomach landed on the grass with a sickening splat against the grass. Her body was overcome by a dizzying sensation. She tried to get herself together enough to get down the steps. Stumbling and sliding down the last few, she got to the end of them.

“Fuck it all...” she gasped. The world began to tilt and the men in front of her were no longer on an even ground. No longer able to stand straight, she crumbled to the ground. Breathing became a terrible chore, coming in short , hurtful gasps. Her eyes kept wanting to roll back in her head, but she tried to fight it off. It was crucial she kept her consciousness. She tightened one of her fists, she had to fight even in her weakened state. But she was so tired and weak, she slowly gave into the sleep that she needed.

Damien looked up at Axyl, knowing that he wouldn’t be allowed to leave alive. But the blood loss from his ankle would kill him, if the soldier didn’t. He snickered lowly, “You know, she may die with you chasing after me. You didn’t think about that did you? All while you hunt me, she’s wasting away. You may kill me, but she won’t alive for you to celebrate my death.” He laughed darkly and motioned with his head to Seline’s broken body laying on the dirt path a few yards away from them.