Derik's Luck 48

From TSade

[edit] The Truth

For two days, Derik didn’t sleep. Every waking moment, he just moved in a daze, sleeping walking through his life as he struggled with a choice he didn’t have to make. He knew that, from the bottom of his heart, that he must make a choice and he also knew the choice his heart told him to take, but his intellect didn’t want to give up everything he never realized he needed.

In those moments between the waking and dreaming world, the nightmares reached up to clutch him, threatening terrible dreams if he would just relax. Terrified, Derik just closed his eyes and waited for the exhaustion to take him but it never came.

He could feel Sherrel’s concern for him and later Teri’s and Madre’s, but none of them seemed to do anything. It twisted inside him and he fled to the rest of the palace, remaining in the shadows until the last possible moment. When Teri managed to corner him, he snapped out at her, then ran in the shocked silence that followed.

Derik knew it wouldn’t last. The look in Madre’s eyes told him he only had hours before she intervened, no doubt as he did when she was drinking.

It was that moment, right as the harem grew silent with the coming morning, that he decided on an answer. It was the coward’s answer but it was the only one that he could live with.

He would return the Eye.

But, he wouldn’t return it in front of everyone. Instead, he decided to find the Eye and just leave it in the hall, in hopes that someone would stumble on it and he could stay where he so desperately wanted to remain.

Slipping from between Sherrel’s and Teri’s body, he padded into the bathroom. He felt exhausted and tired. Even after thinking about it so long, he still wasn’t committed to returning the Eye. Some sadistic little part of him screamed at him to confess, to march down to Madre’s room and tell her. A larger part bellowed for him to run, with the Eye of course. A bit of him just want to run away, abandon the Eye entirely and everything else. That was the worse part of it, he choked with the thought of losing everything.

Chest and throat tight, he slipped into a bra and panties to cover at least some of his body. He didn’t have his stealth outfit, but the dark colors would help in the shadows. Slowly, he unwound the blue cord in his hair. Looking at it sadly, he rolled it up and set it in the tub. It swirled in the water and he nodded with satisfaction; it would be moving just in case Madre followed it.

Sweating from the flutters in his stomach, he walked around the harem to the fountain that he fell into, all those months ago. Closing his eyes, he prayed softly for Bridget.

“Bridget, please? I don’t ask for much, I guess, but I want to stay. Just help me out, okay?”

No answer came, but he didn’t expect any. Taking a deep breath, he jumped along one column and held there as gravity took its hold, then launched himself to a second, then a third before smoothly sliding into the ventilation. It wasn’t as impressive as Shiel’s jump, but he managed to do it without even a whisper of sound.

Crouching down, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. His breath came hard and he felt tears in his eyes as he pictured himself sneaking around the shafts months ago. Swallowing, he thought about his plan.

Of course, trying to find the Eye would be a more difficult task.

As his eyes cleared, he spotted a bottle of wine near the entrance. One of the many ones Shiel no doubt stole. He made a face and looked around at the scorch marks from the flaming sphere. To his surprise, they actually criss-crossed the dust multiple times and traveled in both directions and far beyond what he thought possible when he threw it up here. Shiel’s bare footprints scuffed the dust and he could see how she followed the various scorched trails up and down the tunnel.

Derik frowned.

Crawling forward, he spotted the marks of his own struggles. The original path of the flaming sphere and his own body. Moving softly, he followed one, then a second path but it quickly became apparent that Shiel would have found the Eye, if it was still inside the ventilation.

With an annoyed sigh, he realized that Shiel must have taken the Eye herself. Shaking his eyes, he swore softly.

“Damn that bitch.”

He heard a sound. The sound of crystal rolling through the darkness. His head snapped up as he saw a flickering of light in the distance. It steadily moving toward him. Fear clutched his heart as he remained still, watching the light grow brighter with every breath that escaped his lips. Trembling, he watched as the Eye of Hamel just rolled along the side of the shaft and then come to a halt right at his foot.

Derik looked up, trying to find the person who rolled it to him, but the only sounds he could hear was the faint whistle of wind blowing past him and his own breath. Everything about his situation screamed a trap, but he waited for many minutes for a hint of anything: someone breathing, the shifting of air, or even the scrape of metal.

Nothing happened.

Trembling, he looked down at the Eye and reached for it.

It twitched, rolling back for a second, then settled back into place against his foot. Derik froze, staring at it as the Eye stopped moving again. Flame flickered on the inside of it, rolling around for a moment, then it winked out and plunged the ventilation shaft into darkness.

With only his heartbeat pounding in his ears, he forced himself to move forward with his plan. Reaching down, he picked up the remarkably warm crystal and felt its weight in his hand. A flame flickered in its depth for a moment, lighting up the world around him, then snuffed back into darkness. Derik swallowed, struggling to move his suddenly dry throat.

Fear coursed through him and he set the Eye back down in the dust. Blood rushed through his ears as he stared down into the darkness. The sphere flickered to life, a faint blue flame deep inside the sapphire. His hand trembled as the sphere began to move on its own, rolling a few centimeters away from him and then rolling back, bumping against his naked thigh.

With a start, Derik suddenly realized why Shiel never found the Eye.

“Fuck me, Bridget, you can move yourself!?”

His whisper was far louder than he wanted and he clamped a hand against his mouth as he stared at the sphere. The Eye of Hamel, the artifact he despised and hated three months ago, just rolled away and then back to bump up against him.

He didn’t know what to feel. He felt fear and relief burning through him, then anger as he glared at the flickering sphere. All the frustration he gathered in the last few days, all the pain as he struggled with a decision, it came down to a single thing. Trying to return a sphere that apparently could just meander back whenever it wanted. His rage only grew as he watched the sphere rock and forth, moving on its own. Leaning over, he whispered in a hard, quiet whisper.

“Then fucking take yourself back!”

The sphere didn’t respond. He shook his head before whispering again.

“Damn it, I don’t want this. I want to be happy with the baron, Tornsin and everyone else. I want to be in love and I want to keep being... used, loved, damn it, I don’t want anything to change! If you can just go back, then we can just pretend this never happened.”

The Eye of Hamel rolled away for a mere moment, then bumped up against his leg. Derik found tears in his eyes.

“Go! Just go! Damn it, stop doing this to me! I want to be happy.”

Rolling back, the Eye suddenly grew dark as Teri’s voice rose up from below.

“Derik? Where are you?”

Derik gave the Eye a glare before whispering at it.

“Fuck off.”

The sphere didn’t respond and Derik peered down quickly before jumping out of the gate. This time, he flipped once and landed neatly on the edge of the fountain as Teri came around the column with a concerned look on her face. His hair came fluttering down around him, spreading out in a cloud as she spotted him.

Even in the dim light of the harem, her smile lit up the world.

“Derik!” she whispered and rushed over to him, hugging him tightly as the last of his hair settled into place over her shoulders.

Heart pounding, Derik wrapped his arms around her tightly. She let out a sigh, then looked up with her eyes shimmering in the light.

“I-I thought I heard you whispering. You sounded so angry, a-and I never heard that before. I was afraid you got in trouble with Madre.”

Derik let out a long sigh. His mind pushed aside the Eye once again and he ran his fingers through Teri’s hair.

“No, I’m just a bit stressed.”

Teri sniffed, “I know. Since you got marked, you’ve been no fun. Did Hime tell you something horrible?”

She faced him strongly, her eyes glaring at him.

“Don’t tell me you are going gay. You promised!”

A smirk quirked his lip, “Sorry.”

“You should be. I mean, you weren’t around when I wanted to plow your booty. My guy is rather busy lately, so I want something to abuse.”

Derik chuckled and rested his cheek against her own. His breath felt hot as he stroked his palms down her naked shoulders.

“I’ve been a bit of a bitch, haven’t I?”

“I can fix that,” came the playful grin.

Derik chuckled and slid his hands along hers as she reached around him. Teri purred against him as her fingers found the crevice of his buttocks and teased them apart. He moaned at the feeling of the fingers against his most delicate of openings.

“First, I’m going to get my strap on and open you up properly. Then I’m going to fuck your ass in the tub until you scream. And your only break is going to be when I ride that pretty mouth of yours.”

His shaft grew to full hardness against her belly.

“How is that going to help?”

“Well, for starters, I’ll be happy.” She grinned, “And when I’m-”

He didn’t hear her next word as something smacked him hard against the shoulder and he felt the terrible sensation of a crystal sphere rolling down his back. He gasped and Teri yanked her hands back. However, he felt the sphere land loudly in her palm and the sound of slapped flesh echoing in the room.

The world froze.

Curious, Teri frowned as she stepped back away from Derik. His hands slid off of her as he shook violently, screaming with frustration and rage inside him as he watched the flickering Eye of Hamel appear in his vision. Teri gaped as she pulled it to her, looking at it as her mouth remained open.

“D-Derik!?” her voice came out as a strangled whisper.

He felt his stomach twist in two as she looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the glow of the enchanted sphere.

“T-This is,” she swallowed with surprise, “this is the Eye of Hamel!”

Derik started to nod, but Teri grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the fountain and behind the columns. He felt a strange sense of déjà vu as she pinned him against the stone. Her eyes flashed.

“Why the fuck did you steal this!?”

He winced at the hard whisper and fought with his emotions while trying to speak.

“I didn’t steal it!”

Teri brandished it, “Then why the fuck do you have this!? We weren’t good enough!? What about the baron!? Damn it, you were suppose to be the good girl here!”

Derik took a quick, deep breath.

“I was trying to return it, damn it!”

She froze and her mouth gaped open again.

“Y-You mean, you already stole this!? You mean, not tonight?”

Derik sniffed as he felt everything spinning out of control. He closed his eyes as a tear ran down his cheek.

“Yes, fuck, yes. I want to stay here, I’ve never been so happy in my entire life. So I was going to return it before anyone knew I had it.”

Teri stepped back, releasing Derik. He struggled as he stood up.

“Look, something Hime said a few days ago pointed out that I needed to get rid of it. I was going to just roll it in the great hall and then pretend this never happened. Then that fucking sphere decided to ruin my life.”

She hefted it, looking confused.

“What do you mean ‘it’ ruined your life?”

Derik shook his head, whispering harshly, “Damn it, I want to stay. I love you and everyone else. I just want it to go away and for me to be happy!”

Teri frowned, but he could see the worry in her eyes. She hefted the crystal before taking a long, deep breath.

“When did you steal this?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but something halted the word in his throat. It was the tiny whisper of wind and the feeling of the hairs on the back of his neck rising up. A quake shook his limbs as he turned to the column where he only saw the nearly transparent flares of a Madre’s aura coming around the column. And two glowing eyes filled with more rage than he could ever comprehend. He whimpered and stepped back as Madre stalked in front of him.

She wore her robe and nothing else, but there was nothing vulnerable about how she glared at him. Waves of power rolled off her and he felt his hair shifting from the energy that rose up around them.

She spoke in the silky voice of death and with a tone of anger barely held in check.

“Yes, Derik, when did you steal it?”