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"I can't leave them here…"
_
Darius Deamonne was never one for letting his emotions get ahead of himself, after all, to be a member of the Emperor's coven required putting that all behind himself and undergoing the rigorous hardships that tested his commitment to the coven, but more importantly what he could endure.
Yet, despite the countless hours of patient endurance and silent by-standing, something within him irked and turned disgustingly, as the days went on- melting into the sludgy remains of the months and years he had sacrificed to the Emperor.
He wasn't one for conspiracy theories, " no" . Darius Deammone was no conspirator or rebel against the coven system, " no " .
He was " no " traitor or scoundrel.
So when the load-bearing weight of the smoky whispers of the fire of a rebellion starting up began to lick the air and bat into his ears, he had no choice, but to investigate, because he couldn't believe that his own thoughts had started to come to play before himself.
_
" No …" Looking over the body of Raine Whispers that stood suspended mid-air by veiny, red-roots twisting around their body to hold them up, snaking up to their sculpted face and laying their burning brand into their jawline like a knife's edge.
Newly emerging head of the Bard coven, Raine Whispers had been taken into silent imprisonment within the deepest cell of the conformitorium, hidden from even the warden himself, as a well-crafted result of Kikimora's perfectly deceitful and sneaky ways- like a rat, Darius thought with a scowl coming to his face and the quirk of his upper lip.
He traced his hand over their cheek, the skin connecting his thumb to his index finger feeling the uneasy quakes of their breath.
Still breathing. Still alive.
The older man let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, the tension creeping up on him like the sneaky witch that was Kimimora- a spider crawling up his neck ready to strike with its fangs.
"Who did this to you ?" Spitting venom he held their face, green eyes burning with an acid gaze. The question was rhetorical, he knew exactly who had done this to them.
"Darius…"
He exhaled a loud gasp, pupils widening at the bard as they tilted their head to get a better look of him, soaking in his features and the robes that hid from the view of anyone who could come near him- including the couple guards that he and Eberwolf took care of on their way down, which Eber was currently holding off.
"Raine!" With a whisper that was a step away from a shout, he leaned in closer to their frown, noticing the way the light stripped away from them: the shagginess of the top of their short hair, the greying of their eyes and the almost purple eye bags under them like bruises. "Come on, we need to get out of here." Unsheathing the dagger that he had kept close to him under the large robe, he started cutting at the red vines- careful as to not accidentally injure them.
"No…it's too risky, please, Darius, I can't have another person risking themselves for me." Their voice was raspy, unlike the playful one Darius would've loved to hear in the moment. Full of guilt, Raine couldn't look back on Eda's sacrifice for them, the owl witch now laying in a cell of her own- that they only hoped she could escape from. They held back a sob, "Go, Darius, please."
For a moment there was silence, giving the illusion of them having the time to contemplate such things while resistance wailed overhead. "If you think I came all this way, just to bid you goodbye after everything we've been through, you're sorely mistaken." Ignoring them, he continued to cut the vines that held their arms above their head on both sides, before making the final slash that dropped them to the floor, but not before the witch could catch them in his arms.
Raine averted his eyes as they attempted to wiggle out of his grip, lacking all remainders of strength left from their body. "If you get caught, we'll both die."
"Then we'll just have to make sure we don't then." He hoisted their limp body over his shoulders before casting a circle of pink underneath the two that swallowed them up in a bunch of goo, transporting them elsewhere- away from the conformitorium.
_
"Drink." Scuttling over to them with their small feet, Eber held a mug of hot cocoa in their paws, looking up at Raine to receive it.
"Thank you, Eber." With a still drowsy smile, they patted their head before taking the red mug and placing it down on the coffee table in front of them, as the little demon clambered up onto the arm of the sofa that Raine was huddled up on in a thick, white blanket.
They laid back their head and Eber curled up on their lap, their warmth immediately bringing some life back to Raine, as they ran their veiny hands over their mass of orange and red fur.
"Unfortunately, I can't call a healer, as we can't have anyone knowing you're here, but I do have my own kit for emergencies like this." Kneeling down on the sofa next to Raine, Darius cracked open a box labeled with the blue hand sigil of the healing coven, removing: potions stored in small vials that were perfectly arranged and labeled, a roll of clean bandages and several sizes of plain plasters.
"Should I even be surprised you have all this on hand?" Raine chuckled.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Darius gave them a look.
"Oh nothing, nothing!" They looked away with a cheeky grin and Eberwolf giggled underneath their smirk.
Over the past few months the revolution was laying low, with the members such as themselves sneaking around with hushed whispers, Darius couldn't lie to himself that he found charm in Raine. From the way they got along so well with Eberwolf to their selflessness- it all truly intrigued him, not that he'd ever admit it aloud.
"Now stay perfectly still." Darius squinted to concentrate on the scarring around their eye that just about passed from blinding them even more than they already were. Raine closed their lids, as Darius took off their shattered glasses, dabbing a wet cloth gently over the areas where there was blood- the worst part was that there were bits where it was far from fresh, which made him gag a little.
Settling down the now reddened cloth, he took a dab of the soothing ointment for where the cuts burnt and Raine relaxed at the cooling touch which was enough to bring Darius to peace.
Taking out a plaster, he repeated the process for the slashes across Eber's cheek and nose, covering it up and then placing one on a fresher, smaller cut on Raine's eyebrow.
Raine giggled, "We're boo-boo buddies now!" Eber laughed with them with glee, revealing their toothy fangs.
Darius tilted his head with confusion. " What ? "
"Oh, it's something Eda used to say." They rubbed the back of their neck with a blush at slightly embarrassing themselves in front of Darius.
He let out a sigh and shook his head. "No wonder you two get along, you're both children ."
"Hey!"
For now the house was calm with the sound of chuckles and scolds, laying low under the blanket of the exhaustion all three witches were feeling, but Darius knew it couldn't always be like this.
He had to keep his guard up.