Daggers and Roses

“Ouch, that looks like it had to hurt.” Jay nodded. “I’m sure it does.” Hugo laughed once again. “You know, now that I can see you you’re a lot shorter than I imagined.” Jay scowled. “And here I thought that you might have been a semi-intelligent person. My apologies you seem to be a fool like everyone else.” Hugo laughed even harder. “Ouch, hit a sore spot did I?” Jay reached down and took a pocket knife from the now unconscious man. “Are we just going to stand here or are we going to escape?” Hugo stepped towards the door and shielded his eyes. “Been a while since I’ve seen the light you know? What? Is something on my face?” Jay realized he had been staring and shook his head. “No, you just looked different than I imagined also. Hugo was roughly twice Jay’s height with long golden blonde hair braided down his back almost even with his knees. He had murky brown eyes that appeared red when the light hit them in a certain way. Of course, being underground for so long, it made sense that the man was pale. He wore a white shirt, with some kind of red material draping over the shoulders and arms, and a pair of pants too tight for their own good. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m tired of this cave already.” Jay said. “What, you don’t enjoy my company? I’m hurt. But I guess we could leave now. Be careful these guys aren’t amateurs.” Jay scoffed. “I’ll take my chances.” They made their way through corridor after corridor, Hugo leading the way, each corridor looking more barren than the previous. “I know, no sense of interior design. Who decorated this place anyways, aliens?” Jay silenced him and motioned for him to be quiet. Peeking into the next room he paled slightly. Whispering he said “There’s about thirty or forty fighters in the next room. We can’t take on that many people at once, we need a distraction. Are you sure that’s the only way out?” Hugo nodded “Positive. I had to learn all the paths throughout here so that I didn’t get lost when I went to feed the monsters.” “How far are the monsters from here?” Jay asked suddenly. “Not too far, why?” “If there’s a way to let all the monsters out then we can use the commotion to escape.” Hugo nodded “Sounds like a plan to me.” Reaching a small room with panels and contraptions littered throughout it they stopped. “I’m pretty sure that they opened the gates with one of these things in here. Just mess with stuff until something happens.” Jay sighed, thinking of another person. “You wouldn’t happen to be a crystal eren, would you?” Hugo stopped and looked up. “How did you know?” Jay shook his head. “Nothing, I was just curious.” Jay began messing with another contraption. ‘What is it with idiots and crystal eres?’ then he thought for a moment. ‘If the stupider you are the better you are at crystal eres, Moses should be the king of all erens.’ Jay was brought out of thought when a loud metal screeching was heard nearby, followed by the yelling and screaming of people. “It sounds like we need to get out of here.” Jay nodded. “I agree.” Somehow they made their way out of the ruins without having to fight a single person or monster. After making their way outside they witnessed the fiends making their grand escape, stampeding out of both entrances. “Just how many monsters were they holding captive?” Jay asked in shock. “They had at least five hundred. When they threw me in that room they were about to start breeding them, so any number I could give you is just a guess.” Looking away from the ruins Jay noticed a man and a young boy being attacked by two Egg Bears. Without waiting for Hugo, he ran up behind the first bear, jumped up and lodged his knife into it’s windpipe. Retrieving it, he turned to face the second, but before he could attack it a coil of flame erupted from the ground and began to constrict around it leaving a twisted and charred mass of fur and skin. “Couldn’t let you have all the fun, now could I? Are you two all right?” The man nodded, helping his son down from a tree. “Thank you so much, my son and I owe you our lives.” Jay pointed out away from the ruins. “The duct to the city is over there. I recommend you hurry, as this place is just going to get more dangerous. We won’t be staying much longer either.” The man thanked them again before running off with his son. “So, I guess under that rough exterior you really are a softie on the inside.” Jay scowled “Don’t get your hopes up; I could still feed you to the monsters.” Hugo sighed “Well, I guess I’ll be going now.” Jay blinked. “Going? Going where?” “I’m going to follow them, of course. I can’t let the people, who know the whereabouts of my darling Elise, to get away from me, now can I?” Jay grunted in response. “Well then, I guess I’ll be seeing you.” Hugo laughed as he started walking off. “That’s kind of funny coming from someone called ‘the unseen’.”
Jay shook his head before turning and heading home.


Moses and Chloe finally made it to the city gates where everyone was waiting for them. “What took you two so long?” asked Senel who was leaning against one of the wooden posts placed near the exit. “Ooh, I think I know! Red and C, sittitin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Norma sang before receiving another blow on the noggin from Will. “Aww, Teach, you’re no fun.” She whined. They were interrupted by the voice of someone entering the city. “Mom! You’re okay!” shouted a little boy as he ran to the woman whom had asked them for help. “Are you okay? Where’s your father? You didn’t leave him behind, did you? How did you get here?” She rambled on and on, not letting her son answer. “Well, I guess we weren’t needed here after all.” Will stated. They moved aside as the boy’s father limped past the gates. “You should stop to breathe every once in a while, honey.” He said. “I was just about to bring help! How did you escape?” The man started to speak before he was interrupted by the boy. “It was awesome! There were these two guys, one was kinda short and the other was tall. The short guy ran up and stabbed the first monster in the neck and the tall guy used a wicked eres to burn the other monster up! You should have seen it!” Moses perked up. “What did the short guy look like?” The boy thought a moment. “Well, he had long hair, wore really weird clothes, and he sounded kind of mean.” Norma jumped. “That’s our JJ! To the Ruins of Frozen Light! Charge!” The boy yelled after them. “Wait! He said something about not staying there longer because it was getting dangerous.” Moses thought a moment. “Hey, y’all stay here. I think I know where Jay is now. I got this.” Chloe looked at him. “Are you sure?” “Yeah, I think I can take care of my lil’ bro’ without too much trouble.” Moses said before running to the duct and heading for the Oresoren Village. As he made his way to Jay’ house he was greeted by one of the scallop brothers. “Moses! Ors, ors, Jay’s back!” he said. “Is he in his house, um…Quppo?” The scallop sighed. “Yes, and I’m Pippo” Moses said thanks as he ran into the house. Making his way upstairs as quiet as he could he opened the door and found Jay sitting in a chair, facing away from him brushing his hair. “What do you want Moses?” Jay asked. “Damn! How did you know I was here?” Jay tapped his foot on the ground. “I can tell by the sound you make when you walk. Look, I’m sorry about…” He was silenced as Moses walked up behind him and began to massage his shoulders. “You don’t have to be sorry. I just want you to be open with me. I don’t ever want to see you run away from me looking like that again.” Jay sighed. “I’m sorry.” Moses turned Jay around so that they faced each other. “Didn’t I just say to stop saying sorry?” Jay started to speak but was interrupted by the taller man pressing his lips onto him. They stood there for a moment until Moses brushed his tongue against Jay’s lips asking for permission. The boy opened his mouth and their tongues collided brushing past each other and becoming familiar with the taste and feel of the other. It seemed like an eternity until they pulled away to catch their breath. Panting heavily Moses started to speak. “Jay…” Jay placed a finger on Moses’ lips. “Moses….I think that…..I might be….I might be in love with you…” Moses removed Jay’s finger and kissed his hand. “I love you too, Jay.” Moses yawned. “You know, after you ran off, I spent all day and all night looking for you? I haven’t slept since you left the other morning. “I’m sorry Moses. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Jay said as he stood and led Moses to his bed. Lying down, Jay beckoned for Moses to join him and soon Moses was fast asleep with the one he loved the most curled against his chest.