forum Where is… here? (Closed)

Started December 26, 2022 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

(Perfect! :))

Anna listened, not understanding any of the locations he was mentioning. She really wasn't on Earth anymore. And that was a terrifying thought.

"And which way will we be going?" she asked, trying to imagine a map in her mind. But that was impossible since she had no possible way of picturing the other locations he spoke of or the distance between them until she had actually walked them.

"There are humans here?" Anna said, sounding a bit hopeful. Though she flinched slightly at his tone at the end. "No, you're not," she agreed tentatively. "But does that really mean that the humans won't welcome you? If that's true, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

De’Tearion shrugged at her question, but otherwise didn’t move or react.

“You may go where you wish. I have nowhere in mind,”he said.

He noted her hopeful tone and a soft sigh escaped him. Typical human clannishness. Though, her words caught him off guard. Where the hell was she from? He’d never heard of anything even remotely close to humans accepting his kin.

“You clearly are from here not. On Matatara Island, there are humans, and there are Forestfolk. Neither get along, even among themselves. War be common here, and death with it,”De’Tearion mentioned.

Anna's heart sank at his words. "Where I wish to go is nowhere in this world," she murmured, thinking again of Daisy and their simple little London flat. She missed her daughter dearly.

Her eyes softened, and she looked taken aback. "War is common? As in, how common?" she asked hesitantly. Of course, Anna knew of the World Wars in her own world, but the last one had been almost eighty years ago. And even then, there were other wars. Maybe she had been too optimistic to hope for peace in this universe.

“‘In this world’? What are you speaking of?”De’Tearion asked, confused.

He didn’t know of any other worlds, unless she was speaking of the Mainland. However, he had a feeling that Anna wasn’t even from there.

“Among Forestfolk, ‘tis frequent. That be why the forests are dangerous. Everything be trying to kill everything else. Among humans, I know not. Yet, wars between humans and Forestfolk are quite common as well. The last one… it… happened less than ten human years ago. Likely closer to five,”he answered, hesitating when he mentioned the last Forestfolk/Human war.

De’Tearion grabbed the amulet around his neck, cradling the pendant with desperation. A wave of dizziness hit him then, and he leaned back against the tree, fighting tears as much as the aching pit in his belly that was causing his lightheadedness. Without realizing it, his hands started to visibly shake.

Anna's expression turned into a frown due to her own confusion. "Haven't you realized by now?" she asked, a bit incredulous. "I'm not from here. I want to go home. To Earth. And London. And my flat. And my daughter!" Tears immediately began pooling in her eyes, and she looked away, already regretting yelling at him.

She closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry."

But she listened to his explanation and bit her lip softly. "Oh," was all she could bring herself to say. But then she noticed the way he was moving, almost swaying with dizziness and exhaustion. It was again that she realized that she didn't know his name, for she would have said it if she knew it. "Are you alright?" Anna asked worriedly, noting the trembling of his hands. He was clearly not well. "What's wrong?"

De’Tearion shook his head in bewilderment. What was ‘Earth’? What was ‘London’? Though, he froze when she mentioned a daughter. She had a child. That explained her scent. Anna was indeed a mother.

“I… I… You are far from your homeland, for I have heard not of either place. I know not if you are from the Mainland, or elsewhere, for I have only ever known this island. I also know not if you will ever get back. Matatara Island be known as a place that never releases its residents,”De’Tearion replied quietly, curling his legs up and trying to contain his emotions.

“Leave me be,”he said to her questions, a clicking whine in his voice. He shook his head as well, but it seemed more like his body was saying the opposite of his words, like he was silently begging for help because he wasn’t alright whatsoever.

He slid off the tree, flopping sideways onto the ground where he abruptly burst into tears, his black tears far more visible in the dim light of dawn. His hand held his amulet tightly, seeking comfort from the only thing he had that brought him solace.

Anna listened to him again and whimpered softly at his explanation. Would she ever see Daisy again? God, she would even settle for seeing Harry again. Or Nathan. Someone that she knew. She shook her head, her honey waves swaying gracefully despite the pained emotions on Anna's face. "No… no, I have to get back. My daughter… she…" Anna broke off her words, closing her eyes tightly and covering her mouth. Daisy.

Her eyes lifted to study his movements again. Though her vision was blurred with the beginnings of her tears now, she could still tell that something was not right with him. Her theory was only emphasized when he began to cry himself. She was shocked as tears black as the night ran down his face, and she noted that he was clutching his amulet for dear life.

"Please," she whispered, unraveling herself and slowly approaching him. "Let me help you. What can I do?"

De’Tearion sighed,”I know not how I can help. I could lead you to the coast, yet there be no guarantees that you will find your home. There be only one way off this island, and it be as dangerous as the forests around us.”

De’Tearion shook his head, weakly kicking at her. That kick, which was meant as a deterrent, only showed just how ill he was. There was barely any power behind it, and his long leg didn’t even lift off the ground.

His free hand covered his face, trying to hide his tears from Anna. Though, it didn’t work much, except to smear his tears all over his face.

“Leave me be…”he whimpered meekly.

Anna visibly trembled at his words. Would she ever be able to see Daisy again? Would she ever leave? Would she die trying? The thought petrified her.

She moved aside to "dodge" his kick, but it was hardly necessary. He was so weak. Too weak. And she shook her head at his whimper. "I won't," she insisted, firmly but kindly. "You need help. Tell me what I can do. Please. You saved my life. Twice already, I believe. It's the least I can do. Let me help you."

De’Tearion kicked at her again, but it was pointless. He simply didn’t have the strength or the focus to make any useful attacks.

Her words caught his attention, particularly the part about him saving her life. She was trying to repay him, even after his initial attempt to kill her. When was the last time someone had done that?

He glanced at her warily, paranoid that she was only tricking him. But, he quickly remembered who Anna was. A human mother who had somehow ended up lost in the damned forests, and who only wanted to survive and see her child, her daughter, again. This woman was no threat.

“I… I know not how you could help me,”he replied shakily.

He nearly said more, but he couldn’t focus enough on the words. His whirling mind was struggling to keep track of everything going on. He was starving. He was in pain, both physical and mental. He was alone… lost… aimless. And now, there was a strange woman from a strange place trying to help him. What could she do to help him when he couldn’t even help himself?

A few minutes passed before De’Tearion finally realized that he wasn’t alone anymore. Anna was with him now, even if only temporarily. She could ease his loneliness.

“Hold me,”he breathed.

He didn’t realize that he’d said it until the words were already spoke, but he couldn’t find any reason to back out of it. He really did want to be held. And, this was likely the best opportunity he would ever get for a very long time.

Anna frowned slightly at his insistence on not needing her help. Or not admitting how she could help him. She stayed where she was. While she didn't move toward him anymore, she also stubbornly didn't move back. This creature was not okay. He would die if nothing was done, and then Anna would feel both responsible and defenseless. Neither of those things was she about to let happen.

His words surprised her, but Anna nodded. "Alright," she murmured, making her way beside him and gently drawing him into her arms. She closed her eyes and pretended for a moment that he was Daisy. Her fingers made light strokes down his arm, and she slowly relaxed in his company.

De’Tearion tensed reflexively as she approached, but when she gently grabbed him, it reminded him that he had requested her to hold him. Without thinking about it, De’Tearion wrapped around Anna, holding her in a tight, desperate hug. He even nuzzled into her shoulder, still crying.

His entire body shook from a combination of emotions and his slowly weakening health. It also wouldn’t be difficult for Anna to tell how skinny he was. Even with his exoskeletal armor, he was still frighteningly thin.

He flinched when he realized she was caressing his arm. It took him a few moments to relax, after repeating in his head multiple times that she wasn’t a threat. It had been a very long time since anyone had done this for him. Since the last time someone had held him. Very few had any idea how badly he was in need of comfort, and currently none of those folk were willing to help him. Only Anna was. The strange, foreign woman that barely knew him. How had everything gone so wrong?

Anna gasped quietly, but she returned the hug. Her expression softened as he buried his face in her shoulder. She could feel his wiry frame wrapping around hers, and her eyes widened. She was thankful he couldn't see her expression. He was incredibly thin, almost dangerously so. Her worry only grew. And he was trembling so horribly in her arms… she needed to do something.

Almost without thinking, Anna began to sing. It was an old lullaby she used to sing to Daisy, and the words returned to her effortlessly.

"Deep in the meadow / Under the willow / A bed of grass / A soft green pillow / Lay down your head / And close your eyes / And when they open / The sun will rise / Here it's safe / Here it's warm / Here the daisies guard / you from every harm / Here your dreams are sweet / And tomorrow brings them true /. Here is the place / Where I love you."

De’Tearion gasped when she sang. He didn’t know the lullaby, but he didn’t need to. It was similar to the many lullabies he used to sing to his dear Agatha. And, that thought only brought more tears. He hid his face even more in her shoulder, fighting the memories, and failing.

“I… I used to sing like that to Agatha, my sister. I miss her. I miss holding my dearest Agatha!”he burst.

He held tighter to Anna, though he made sure that he wasn’t crushing her, which he could easily do even in his weakened state. He just wanted a hug. He didn’t want to smother Anna, who was currently the only source of comfort he had at the moment.

“C… can you keep singing? I… I have heard not another’s voice in such a long time,”he asked shakily.

Anna accidentally gasped louder as he held her tighter. For as thin and frail as he looked, his grip on her was still deceptively strong. He began to cry even harder into her shoulder, startling Anna. He was crying out about Agatha… his sister.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" she began to apologize, but his shaky question interrupted her. "O-Oh," she stammered softly. "Alright." She hesitated for a moment, trying to think quickly of another song.

"There was a place in Maine, not that long ago / Where we would hide away for several months or so / Tucked beneath the pines and under summer skies / A bunch of twenty-somethings running barefoot every night / And some of us were new and some had been for years / And a few of us found love, all of us had fears / But every single night, we'd gather by the fire / And sing away the night / And oh, when the fire burns out the embers all die / We still have all our stories like stars in the sky / And we will always remember how we lit up the night / Oh, summers by the lake / Like a million twinkling lights."

There Are Worse Games To Play/Deep In The Meadow/The Hunger Games Suite - James Newton Howard, Jennifer Lawrence (start at 1:40; end at 2:46)
Twinkling Lights - Annalise Emerick (beginning through 1:23)

(Cool. Twinkling Lights actually somewhat reminds me of Dreams by Van Halen. I love that song, but it’s a tearjerker from hell)

De’Tearion didn’t register her gasp, nor did he really acknowledge her apology or words. However, he listened closely to her singing, trying his best to draw comfort from it. The song didn’t really have meaning to him, but her voice was soothing nonetheless.

As he listened, he kept remembering singing to his sister. He shuddered at the memories, but it was nice to actually hear someone else sing for once. No one had ever bothered to comfort him. No one had taken the time to see if he was truly alright, to call him out on his lies of ‘I am well’, and to break through his stubborn shell to the shattered core within. And now that his stubbornness was too cracked to hide behind, someone was finally there. A foreigner, but someone.

“What… what are those songs? The ones that… that I know are tales, passed down through the bloodlines. Be this… the same of your songs?”he asked.

He wasn’t really too concerned about her answer, but he needed the conversation. He needed her voice, her reassurance, her company. He had been alone for far too long.

Anna felt him shudder and worried immediately that she was doing something wrong. But he said nothing and made no move to draw away from her – or eat her again – so she figured it was at the very least a passable attempt at comfort.

"Um, well, not exactly," Anna answered quietly. "The first song is a lullaby I sang to my daughter when she was a child. And the second… I heard it on the radio somewhere and thought it sounded ideal. I've never been one for too much travel, but I like to experience things nonetheless. I suppose that's rather confusing when I say it all out loud, isn't it?"

She realized just how much she was talking and bit her lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to speak so much."

“Lullaby. I know lullabies well. Yet, I have never heard of a ‘radio’. What be a radio?”he asked softly. His voice became heavily distorted by chirps and clicks as he said ‘radio’. It always happened when he said a new word for the first time.

He shook his head against her shoulder at her apology.

“‘Tis soothing. I have heard not another’s voice in a long while. I was always better at listening anyway,”he replied softly.

After a moment, he shifted, more cradling her in his arms now. He rested his cheek against her shoulder, taking deep breaths to try and stop his crying. It wasn’t working as well as he would’ve liked.

Anna blinked, trying to think of how to describe the device. "It's… it's a communication tool. There are different frequencies that produce different kinds of content. Sometimes, people talk. Sometimes, a station will play music. It's broadcast so many people are able to listen to it at the same time."

Her expression softened at his words. "Well, I suppose I've been one for talking," she admitted. "I speak a lot in my profession. But I also have to know when to be quiet and let things unfold without intervening. It's a delicate balance."

She gasped as he shifted their positions and she was cradled in his arms. His exoskeleton was odd for her to feel, but she tilted her head to rest against his. She could feel the deep breaths he took and intimately felt her clothes become wet with his tears. "It's alright," she murmured, reaching for his human hand that was closest to hers and gently taking it in her grip. Her thumb brushed over the back of his hand, and she whispered sweet little nothings in hopes of calming him down.

De’Tearion chirped in acknowledgment, though he still wasn’t sure what a radio was. He wasn’t too concerned about it though. He understood the basic idea.

“I understand that. Far more than I like to admit,”he said with a quiet sigh.

He shuddered when she took his hand, gasping. When she starting whispering, he gladly listened, closing his eyes as he did. He needed to listen, or he would crumble into nothing.

“Thank you. Thank you, Anna, for showing me a kindness that I have barely ever known,”he burst, his voice barely audible and cracking.

"I only did what I know to be right," Anna whispered back, continuing to stroke the back of his hand gently with her thumb. "I'm so sorry that you've rarely been shown kindness before. No one should have to endure such treatment."

She had worried that taking his hand had been too much when he shuddered and gasped, but he hadn't pulled away or said anything. Her soft hand was small in his, but she gently squeezed it in her grip to hopefully give him confidence through the touch. Or at least, hope.

“You are clearly from a land that be far more peaceful than here,”De’Tearion said, sighing resignedly and shaking his head slightly.

After she squeezed his hand, he gently wrapped his long fingers around her hand, cradling it much like he was cradling her. He also started to unconsciously sway, rocking them back and forth without realizing it.

“Ákle-Ikli De’Tearion. My name. Yet, simply call me De’Tearion,”he said softly.

"I suppose my world is more peaceful than yours overall," Anna admitted quietly. "There aren't wars continuously… though I suppose even then that's wrong. There have been wars spanning centuries. Conflict is inevitable, no matter what universe we live in."

She watched his fingers take her hand and hold it gently. The rocking motion soothed her, and she even closed her eyes. But she quickly opened them when he told her his name. "Was that so hard?" she briefly teased before stroking his hand with her thumb gently to show she didn't really mean the words.

"Alright… De’Tearion. That is your last name?" she asked softly. "Ákle-Ikli is an interesting name. I've never heard anything like it before… though I've also never met anyone like you before."

De’Tearion sighed,”Battle be constant in the forests. Neverending. If ‘tis true battle not, then ‘tis the battle of politics. I have grown to despise both.”

He huffed irritably at her tease, almost growling at her. She wouldn’t be teasing him if she knew the significance of his name, both to himself and the forests. Though, he calmed slightly when she rubbed his hand. He then sighed heavily at her words.

“Aye. ‘De’Tearion’ be my family name. A damned curse upon me,”he said.

He didn’t respond to her comment about his first name though. He didn’t dare. The pain following his first name was just as bad as the pain swarming around his family name.

Anna nodded slowly. "I can understand that," she murmured, but she said nothing more on the topic.

She winced slightly at his huff. "I'm sorry, it was a gentle tease. I didn't mean to make you upset. And you'd prefer I call you by your damned and cursed family name?" she asked with a soft frown on her face. It didn't make sense to her, but she supposed it didn't have to. Nothing made sense since she'd fallen through her mirror.

De’Tearion chirped in acknowledgment of her apology, though he hesitated to speak after her question. A sigh escaped him, and, after a few minutes, he finally spoke.

“Being called by my family name be… less painful. Yet, there be great misery in both names,”he answered.

De’Tearion then went silent, just wanting to listen, even to hear her sing again. He closed his eyes and simply sat there, drowning in his neverending melancholy. What else could he do? Where else could he go?

"Oh," Anna murmured quietly. "I'm sorry to hear that. We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to. I suppose my family name is painful to me too." She didn't know why she had admitted it, but it had slipped from her lips before she could realize what she'd said. But it was true. Her own surname, Clayton, belonged to her ex-husband. And Harry was the last person she wanted to be thinking about out here. He always had the worst habit of distracting her from whatever she needed to be focusing on.

De’Tearion chirped, but stayed silent. He nuzzled into her shoulder again, his tears finally stopping. Though, as he rested there, his senses tuned in to her heartbeat. Her lovely, appetizing heartbeat, and the pumping blood that went with it.

He immediately fought the temptation of turning his head, letting his proboscis loose, hooking it in her neck, and sucking out her lovely, lovely blood. Blood… Her heart… Her flesh… So appealing. She wouldn’t be hard to subdue. Just one simple shove and she’d be an easy meal.

But, it would be too easy. Too simple. He wanted a challenge. And, Anna was most certainly not a challenge.

A strange feeling came over him as he fought his internal battle. He needed a meal, desperately. But, he couldn’t find anything of interest. What could he do? What…

De’Tearion’s eyes flickered closed and his body started wilting to the side. The pain of his hunger started to slip away, replaced by exhaustion.

“Agatha… why… why am I cold?”De’Tearion mumbled.

He slid off the tree, flopping to the ground on his side in a half-asleep daze. He was unaware of Anna’s presence. His eyes were also much dimmer than before, to the point where their natural glow was barely visible. His skin had become frighteningly cold, compared to its usual coolness.

Anna inhaled slowly as he nuzzled into her again. It reminded her of Daisy, when her daughter was still a little girl. Whenever she'd been afraid or scared, she would jump into Anna's lap and bury her face in her shoulder. Anna would always promise her that everything would be okay.

She had no idea the thoughts and temptations that De'Tearion was fighting. All she knew was that she needed to convince him it would be okay, just like she'd done with Daisy.

But before she could speak, she felt him lean into her even more as his body began to wilt with exhaustion. And then he called her Agatha. His sister…

"I don't know," she whispered meekly. Suddenly he was on the ground, looking incredibly frail and weak. Anna panicked. She had no idea what to do. "De'Tearion?" she asked worriedly, cupping his cheek. The coolness of his skin under her fingers frightened her. "What's the matter? Are you alright? De'Tearion?"

(I may have done this whole incident too soon, but fuck it, lol)

De’Tearion flinched when she touched his cheek, but otherwise barely reacted. His eyes flickered, fighting to stay open despite the obvious exhaustion in them. He then chirped repeatedly, making strange sounds that slowly formed speech.

“C… Co… old… Cold. T… Too cold.”

He shivered, slowly curling up. His lower pair of arms wrapped around his abdomen, while his upper pair folded against his chest. Though, one of his human hands grabbed the amulet hanging around his neck, cradling the pendant close with a shaking hand.

A few moments later, his eyes finally fluttered closed. His body continued to shiver occasionally, his lower arms tightening around his scrawny belly as if trying to ease some sort of pain there, even though he was unconscious.

Not long after he passed out, the sound of hooves and squeaky wooden wheels, like from a carriage, approached. The sound was slowly passing by, but it wasn’t far from the pair. Jovial whistling could also be heard.