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drip... drip... drip...
The stalactite in the corner of Etho’s cell provides a constant repetitive sound, almost like a tick... tick... tick...
Something in it feels familiar. Safe— no...not anymore.
Set deep in the mountain, the dark cell provides no comfort. There is no window to allow for counting the days. There is no sun on outside walls to allow for warmth to seep through the deepslate.
The only thing allowing him to keep the time is the drip... drip... drip...
Scar has been standing outside his cell the entire time, messaging on his communicator with a playful smile on his face.
drip... drip... drip...
Etho stares at the wall opposite him, his gaze darkening. He lets his thoughts wander aimlessly. Playing the scene over and over in his head. The window locked. The desperate kiss to calm his panic. The tears... Etho can still feel Bdubs' tears, dried on his face. He can still hear Bdubs' voice whispering his name and—
"Scar, let me see him, please—"
That's not a memory.
"Bdubs!" Scar's voice sounds as bright as ever. As if he hadn't just escorted Etho away from Bdubs. As if he hadn't locked him in here. As if... Well, Etho supposes he should actually be grateful for taking him away.
The thought of seeing Bdubs causes his chest to ache , his heart twisting over itself, his ribs clawing at his lungs and making it hard to breathe. What would he even say?
"Step aside, Scar, I have to— I— please , let me in."
"Look, I'm more than happy to let you see him—"
"No." Etho's voice surprises even himself as he lifts his head to look over at the doorway to the prison. "I don't want to see him, Scar."
He doesn't let his eyes meet Bdubs' face. Instead they linger between the two court members.
Scar glances back at him, and Etho can feel the way he considers him. And then the guard is looking back at Bdubs. "Sorry, Bdubs. Can't let you in." His voice almost sounds smug, if it weren't tinged with a bit of gentleness.
" ...Etho? " Bdubs’ voice is barely audible across the room. The sheer pain in it is almost enough to make Etho’s heart break ( if it hadn’t already been broken ).
Etho turns his head to stare at the wall again, his hands clenching into tight fists— knuckles white, nails biting. His teeth grind together as he tightens his jaw, holding down the storm of emotions brewing in his gut.
"Go on, Bdubs." The guard’s voice drops low with his next words. "I don’t think Ren would be too happy to see you like this."
"I..." One word, and Etho can hear every bit of desperation in Bdubs’ voice.
He hates it.
It makes him want to grab the bars of his cell and beg for Bdubs to come closer— to kiss him, to tell him it's going to be okay, to... to lie to him. Again.
Scar shoos Bdubs out, and Etho is left to his thoughts once again.
***
"Can I see you tonight?"
"Yes, of course, sweetheart. Now go!"
Finally, Etho backed away before spinning around to sprint for a window.
"Bdoubleo!"
His hand caught the side of the window frame at the sound of Ren’s voice barking through the heavy silence in the ballroom.
"Etho! What are you doing? C’mon!" Impulse hissed from the ledge outside.
Turning, Etho watched as the king swept across the room to tower over Bdubs. Etho’s heart leapt into his throat, his hand dropping to the hilt of a dagger he’d hidden away. If Ren so much as laid a hand on Bdubs...
But instead, he offered one.
He invited Bdubs to dance.
Impulse’s voice broke through Etho’s focus again. "Etho!! We need to go!"
"You go on," Etho muttered back, not taking his eyes from where Ren tugged Bdubs against him. "I’ll meet up with you guys later."
After a moment of hesitation, the resistance leader finally sighed. "Fine. Just don’t get killed." A bit of sympathy laced his words. And then he was off, elytra spreading as he silently glided away.
Etho, meanwhile, settled in the window to watch. He couldn’t hear the whispered words between them, but he could see all the little things. How Bdubs was lost in the king so easily. Where Ren’s claws dug into Bdubs’ waist.
He watched as Bdubs was dragged around the room like a dog toy, fingers gripping tightly, no tenderness in any touch that Etho could see. At least, until Ren’s hand framed Bdubs’ face, and Bdubs leaned into it. It was all Etho could watch as Bdubs leaned against the king with a warm smile.
Etho had turned at that, finally breaking his gaze away. He’d dived out the window, letting himself fall for a few moments before engaging his elytra. He’d be back tonight. He’d give all his love to Bdubs. He’d remind Bdubs why it is always Etho that he returns to.
***
When Etho is pulled from his thoughts again, it is by lantern light gleaming into his cell from a hand outside the bars. Etho doesn’t bother looking at the figure looming there. He already knows who it is.
"Etho."
The mad king’s voice fills the silence, just as cold as the walls and the drip... drip... drip... of the stalactite.
"Ren," he replies, voice emotionless in return.
"Scar is going to let me into thy cell now. If you try to escape, he shall shoot you, and you shall respawn here again. ‘Tis pointless to even try."
Etho lets out a soft scoff. "Right." He doesn’t have the will to get to his feet, much less attempt an escape.
It’s not worth it anyway .
His thumb drags absentmindedly over the edge of an object in his hands as he listens to the keys clatter while Scar finds the correct one.
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
click.
The cell gate swings open by Ren’s hand, and the king steps in with his gaze locked on his prisoner. He closes it behind him, nodding at Scar to lock it again. "Leave us, Scar. I shall call for thine when our conversation is complete!"
Scar does a small salute. "You got it, my liege," he purrs before spinning on a heel and walking out into the hall.
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
Ren's head turns slightly, ear swiveling to listen for Scar's footsteps to fade. Silence hangs heavy in the air between the two of them save for
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
Etho's thumb presses against the object in his hand, the metal filigree soothing against his skin.
"What's that?" Ren finally asks, nodding at the object.
With a bit of confusion, Etho casts his gaze at his hands, surprised to find a clock in his grip. His breath hitches in his throat at the sight, his fingers curling tighter around the edges. He'd had Bdubs fix it so it would tick again— perfectly in sync with the one Etho gave him so many years ago.
Ren is left to wait for an answer as Etho flips the clock over, his thumb grazing the word scratched in the back panel.
'Crastle'
Handwritten.
A remnant of a time. A place. A meeting.
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
"Looks like a clock ," the king hums, crossing the small cell in a single stride to loom over Etho. He kneels down next to where Etho sits— Etho fights the urge to curl away. Ren's gaze is piercing as he looks over Etho's face. "Did Bdubs give you this?" A smile plays on the corners of his lips as if taunting Etho.
Then Ren's hand is in Etho's, scooping the clock out of it with claws far more delicate than Etho expected from the mad king. He tries to grasp the clock tighter, but it's already being turned over in the king's hands— examined with a scrutinizing gaze. Etho stares at Ren's face, gritting his teeth as he bites back his words. He's unsure where the king is going with this, so he refuses to give him anything.
Ren catches sight of the engraved message and stills. Though, where Etho expects fury to explode from the king, there is something painfully familiar instead. The king runs his thumb across the word with the same kind of gentleness the prisoner always regards it with.
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
"So this is how he sent you an invitation, then?" Emerald eyes flicker to Etho before returning to the clock.
"No."
"No?" The word is punctuated with a breath of disbelief.
"Bdubs didn't know I'd be there." Defending Bdubs is still so easy. Why? It's not as though the king could ever question Bdubs' loyalty after this.
No. That's Etho's job now.
"The secret meetings, then, I presume," Ren responds smoothly— as though he is entirely unbothered by it.
Etho says nothing.
drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.
The clock is admired by the king for a few lingering moments before he speaks again. "Bdubs told me about those, you know." The wolf stands again, the clock still wrapped in his palm. "I mean, it was hard to avoid when you got...reckless." He smiles down at Etho and it is almost cruel.
Etho glares back at him.
"Y'know, Etho, you seem awfully attached to a clock, of all things."
The prisoner snarls up at the king, "You wouldn't understand. You couldn't understand." His blood runs hot as his fury blazes in his eyes. "All you see him as is one of your possessions ."
Ren chuckles at that and shakes his head dismissively. "Well, he's certainly not yours , is he?"
A jealous, hot kind of rage curls in Etho's chest at that, and beneath the mask he bares his teeth. "He's not yours , either. You're just lying to yourself." His hand tightens into a white-knuckled fist beside him. "He'll never love you. Not really. You're deluded."
The words seem to have no effect on the king, the smile at the tail end of his previous laugh still comfortable on his face. "My good sir, Etho...I have never seen clearer than I do with him."
Etho scoffs. "I find that hard to believe."
Ren sighs. "I suppose it does no harm to let you keep this." Crouching down, he holds the clock out to Etho— forces him to take it. "It is the last part of him you can have, after all."
Etho takes the clock with a bit of hesitation, though the anger is clear in his icy gaze. Clocks have always felt perfect in his grip— Bdubs always knowing how to craft the perfect weight and balance just for him. Yet, now...here...with this clock...
It doesn't feel so perfect anymore.
"So. What?" Etho growls, tucking the clock into the inside of his coat. "You're going to execute me? Make me tell you all the Resistance's plans?" If he's going to be here, he might as well know what he's in for.
" No , no no." Ren rolls forward onto the balls of his feet, leaning closer to the prisoner. "I have other plans than that." He grins, sharp teeth glinting in the lantern light. "The little resistance can keep to their games — they'll be lost without you, now, anyway— and Bdubs and I will continue our work."
A slow breath forces its way in and out, Etho having to do everything in his power to keep himself from punching Ren in his diamond-clad face. There'd be no point to it...though it's tempting anyway.
He doesn't.
Instead, he meet's the gaze of the king with his own. Amusement being met with fury.
"I'll leave you be now, Etho," the king hums before standing one final time and walking to the iron bars to summon Scar.
drip... drip... drip...
As the mad king is let back out of the cell, Etho can't help but wonder how Ren truly feels about Bdubs. Is Bdubs really just a possession to him? Is he just the hand, the architect, the kingmaker ?
Is he more?
A dark brooding expression settles onto Etho's face as he pulls his knees closer to himself and folds his arms atop them. Once again the wall becomes his point of focus, the real world being lost to the one behind his eyes.
drip... drip... drip...
***
The wall was scaled with ease, Etho having learned the way after so many times sneaking in. Their quick kiss with Etho holding to the edge led to a clumsy tug through the window— which was left open for a quick escape. Like always. Like every time. (How did he not realize?)
Bdubs' lips moved against Etho's possessively; as if driven mad by the idea that anyone else might've had the pleasure of seeing Etho's face. His smile. Etho fell into it with ease, relishing the reminder that Bdubs wants him around the same as he always did. (Did he really? Or was it just wishful thinking?)
Etho's arms quickly wrapped around Bdubs, snaking up his back to pull him close as he deepened their kiss. Bdubs hummed into it, leaning against Etho, his smile against Etho's lips. (Was he imagining Ren?)
"You looked stunning tonight," Etho purred as he pulled away just enough to look over Bdubs' face.
"Oh yeah?" A grin spread across Bdubs' mouth, mischief glimmering in his eyes. "Well, you looked okay."
Etho's nose scrunched up as he pulled his arms back to playfully shove the architect. "Oh, come on , you couldn't keep your eyes off of me."
Bdubs snorted. "Yeah, once I realized it was you!"
"Seems I did okay hiding myself, huh?"
"Too good." It's said with a hum as Bdubs stood on his toes to chase after Etho's lips again.
They exist like that for a while, lips moving against one another's, the quiet of the night allowing them to be each other's worlds for just these moments. (at least, Bdubs was Etho's.)
Eventually, Etho broke away to a small grumble from Bdubs, only to move to the kingmaker's jaw. Soft kisses were planted along every inch as Etho moved toward Bdubs' neck, revealed to him as Bdubs tilted his head to the side. Bdubs' hand found Etho's hair as his visitor made his way closer to his shoulder.
It was easy, getting lost in the moment. Easy to lose sight of his usual caution...of the truth of their situation. It was easy to let the bitter jealousy of seeing how Bdubs looked at Ren curl in his chest, and even easier to let his teeth drag along Bdubs' skin. (He was so foolish.)
In those moments, Bdubs was his.
Just like always.
It was so, so easy to forget the truth.
(He should've known, when Ren called from the other side of the door, that Bdubs would rather shove him out the window than turn the king away.)
(He should've known, when Bdubs locked the window after him, that the king would have Bdubs' devotion that night.)
(He should've known, when he spent the night alone in the cold of the jungle, while Bdubs found warmth by the mad king's side.)
***
Once again his name pulls his attention to the forefront of his mind. The tone pleads for more than the word asks— and more than Etho can offer.
"Etho...?"
Where once Bdubs' voice might have thrilled Etho, it now causes a sharp jolt of pain to course through his veins like electricity. It surprises him how similar the sensations feel.
The prisoner remains silent.
Keys jangle together as Bdubs flips through them for the correct one and Etho stiffens. He's coming in. He forces a deep breath through his mask before gifting Bdubs with a simple glance.
"I said I didn't want to see you, Bdubs."
"Well, I want to— need to see you. I... I need to explain."
Etho's jaw clenches.
"What if I don't want to hear your explanations?"
Bdubs hesitates, key in the lock, staring at Etho with nothing but hurt in his eyes— As if he has any right to feel hurt. He shakes it off, turning the key and pushing open the cell door. A weight hangs in the air as the door is shut once again with a soft click.
"I'm gonna tell you them anyway," the kingmaker finally decides to respond.
Etho scoffs and pushes himself off the wall so he can stand and face Bdubs.
"Actually, sure." His arms cross over his chest as his gaze locks onto Bdubs'. "I'm curious. Tell me why."
Tell me why you broke your promise.
Tell me why you betrayed me.
Tell me why you chose him.
"Etho, I... I didn't have a choice."
A snort of disbelief cuts him off before he can continue.
"N-no, you don't— This was— Etho, he would've had you chased down and dragged in, I was— I was trying to keep you safe!" Every word is agonizingly desperate.
"Keep me safe ? Bdubs, you would've kept me safe by not imprisoning me!"
"It's not— You would've had to keep running, I was trying to think of you, I—"
"You were trying to think of me," Etho repeats back— a statement over a question. "You were trying to think of me, and so you broke my trust."
"No! No—"
The prisoner doesn't let him finish.
"I know you better than this, Bdubs." His words sound cold. "Stop lying to me."
Bdubs finally pulls his gaze away, looking at the wall next to Etho's head. "I didn't have a choice..."
Etho stares at Bdubs in sheer disbelief. He lets out a soft cuff as he shakes his head and lets his arms fall apart. A hand digs into his coat pocket, gripping something and pulling it out to hold in his hand.
"Bdubs, you gave me this clock, and I trusted you." The clock is held in his open palm for the kingmaker to see.
tick. tick. tick.
Bdubs says nothing as he stares at it. Etho takes a measured breath.
"You made a promise to me that night. You let me get comfortable visiting. You let me—" Think you were safe. Another slow exhale passes through his nose. "You promised me, Bdubs. I know you better. I know you don't just break those to keep me safe."
"What are you saying?" The kingmaker's voice shakes.
"I watched you dance with Ren at the masquerade." His fingers curl around the clock edges, knuckles whitening as he grips it tightly. "You did this because he asked you to. Because you like when he's possessive of you, when he—"
"It's not like that!" Bdubs blurts, eyes begging as they meet Etho's again.
"Then what is it like, Bdubs?"
"It's— I—"
An awkward silence fills Bdubs' mouth as nothing comes out. Etho shakes his head again and turns his attention to the clock.
"Ren was right. This is the last part of you I have left."
The clock is dropped onto the floor next to Etho's foot, causing a pained sound to come from Bdubs. Etho pays him no mind, instead lifting his boot and hovering over the clock.
tick. tick. ti—
crunch.
Easily, the clock fractures apart beneath Etho's heel.
The cell falls silent.
drip... drip... drip...
...
"I think you should leave, Bdubs."
It is one of the rare times that the kingmaker has nothing to say. Etho can see the tears glistening in brown eyes as Bdubs holds them back. And then he sees Bdubs leaving, and Etho is left alone, save for a broken clock.