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Raven woke up in Nyx’s mansion. Which was weird, because he hadn’t been there in months.
It was the 20th of May. Or was it the 21st?
Raven couldn’t tell.
He had been sleeping just a moment ago and now she was on the floor in his room at Nyx’s. For some reason, he was terrified. His eyes were wide. Her breath was quick. There was a murmur of helpless sound coming from the back of his throat, but there she sat, kneeling infront of her desk.
Why is he here?
The pearls around his neck push against his throat, like someone was pulling on them.
“Claud.. Release me, doll..” He mutters, voice rough and shaky for no reason apparent to him. There was a soft tug against her throat. He whined. His eyes darted around, trying to figure out what was going on. This had to be a dream, right?.. Or maybe she was back at Nyx’s. Again.
She didn’t want to be back here.
When she managed to force his head back, neck craning at a painful angle to see WHO was behind him, the landscape faded into blurry watercolor as the dreamscape changed. As his vision blurred, the pressure released from his throat and he fell backwards onto his face with a soft grunt. He found himself in a forest. Right in front of THE tree. Eventually, he came to, nurisng aching joints and sore bruises on his limbs. She stood up in the dewy grass, socked feet growing a bit damp.
On the ground, only a few feet in front of his feet, was his own lifeless body. Bleeding out slowly. Its hand was gripping the grass, the other one holding a planner. There was a gash in its head, staining its white hair red.
He stared down at it curiously. He knew this was a dream. He wasn’t too worried. He’d died in his dreams so many times. In so many different ways.
How did he die in this scenario, however?
He stepped forward, turning the torso of the body over so he could take a better look. The neck was broken, or so it seemed, so the head loosely flopped over onto its shoulder. Raven traced the bloodstained lips, wiping up the bloody mess with his fingertips.
He frowned at the arrow, tapping at it. She recognized the arrow, to say the least.. She shrugged the body onto the ground, pulling the arrow out of the flesh. She observes the arrowhead, brushing her own matter and crimson off of the point, to brush her fingers the small letter C inscribed into the metal.
She huffs, rolling her eyes. Of course it was Claudian. Who could’ve guessed? Couldn’t his dream be more CREATIVE this time around?
Peircing through his thoughts like the very arrow in his hand, his ears picked up the sound of cries… Weeping. Hiccuped, pathetic weeping. He almost recognized the cries… Salem’s? Was she alright?.. Raven’s body moved instinctively at the thought, but cutting through the cries there was another voice. Other than Claudian’s honeyed and borderline obnoxious voice, there was Meibou’s.
Oh! Meibou! Lovely.
Raven thought nothing of it. I mean, this is obviously a dreamscape, and Meibou is ALWAYS in his dreams. It only confirmed the fact that this IS a dream.
Until a certain lilt in Meibou’s voice captures Raven’s attention.
He sounded hysterical.
His Meibou.
Sounded hysterical.
HIS Meibou.
The pure terror shot through him like a bullet, his knees buckled, his mouth ran dry. His feet moved on their own, ripping through the wet ground towards whwre he could hear Claudian talking.
Claudian. Of coure he’s there too.. Who else would…—
The realization hit him hard enough to stop in his tracks, memory washing over him.
It was a few weeks ago. The beginning of May, maybe?
Raven had been getting ready for bed in the bathroom of the Hermes cabin after a quick shower. Just a few moments ago he’d kissed Meibou’s face, promising a quick return.
He shook out his damp hair, running his towel over his curls that were uncoiling from the weight of the day and the warm water. He flung his hair forward, wrapping it up in the towel.
She slipped on some sweatpants quickly after that had been hanging on the locked door of the bathroom. He reached for his toothbrush, a black and white stripey one, leaving his sleepshirt abandoned on the sink counter for right now.
Raven isn’t usually shirtless. The disgust that curls in the back of his throat at the sight of his upper half is too much to be shirtless on a regular basis. The crude C carved over his heart another reason.. But it’s been UNGODLY hot, and after a warm shower, the prince just wanted some cool air. Plus, the mirror was delightfully fogged up, so he couldn’t see a thing!
Wiping off smudged mascara he’d missed in the shower, he started to brush his teeth. He hummed some catchy song he’d remembered listening to off of Salem’s IPad earlier in the day.
As he spat out the toothpaste, he heard the door click open. Raising his head in confusion, he glanced over to the now unlocked door. Claudian. Of course it’s Claudian. Damn hawk never knew privacy, especially when it came to the corvid.
“What’re you doing in here, birdy?..”
“Getting dressed? And I’d love my privacy, doll..” Raven turned instinctively away, bare back facing Claudian. He wasn’t too worried to cover himself up, it was just his chest, after all, but it WAS Claud..
Claudian grinned a sinister smile, stalking closer to Raven. “Ohhh, lovely. Meibou ran off. The cabin’s basically empty,” the suggestion rang loudly in his voice. A lie. A simple one. Raven’d caught a glance of his beloved through the door left ajar, now slammed shut with the hawk’s cane. And of course he’d remember his beloved’s face!
Raven sneered, fighting back the frustration in order to be polite. Like a real gentleman. “Sure. At least let me get dressed, yes?”
Claudian said nothing. Arms wrapped around Raven. The corvid took that as a no.
(Start TW.)
The rest of their time was a blur. Raven could only recall feelings. His bare back digging painfully in the counter. Claudian’s hands where his hands should never be. Sweaty palms digging into the counter, the edge cutting into her palms. Cries that were silenced with a wing. Knowing that Meibou was just outside of the door. The realization that Meibou was waiting for him. The lies he would have to tell. The guilt. The disgust, too. But mainly the overwhelming guilt.
Claudian’s face buried in the crook of Raven’s neck, whispering skewed, unintelligible phrases. Until one phrase stuck out to him in the haze of guilt that filled his conscience. “I’m going to kill you… I’m going to make that red-crowneed crane WATCH.. No, wait.. He’s going to help me.. mutilate you instead.. Just you wait, Birdy…”
Raven’s breath hitched, but he didn’t know if it was from the confession or from the disgusting pleasure washing over him.
(End.)
The memory faded. Raven fell to his knees, a cry that cut his throat dry escaping him. Meibou is in DANGER. Claudian’s going to force Meibou to MUTILATE her. And it’s probably all his fault; Everything is. If he had never even came to camp, Meibou would’ve never met Claudian…
He forces himself up, dragging his feet towards the sound. When he turns around the cluster of trees, he’s somehow back at the tree he just was. His body was still on the ground beneath it. This body was, to put it nicely, mangled. It was headless and halfway chopped through.
Even he winced at the sight.
He still heard the talking and the cries and the sniffles, and they sounded like they were right under him, but there was no one there. It was driving him crazy. The cries only grew louder, and louder, and louder, louder, louder, until Raven sank down to his knees, his own sobs ripping through his chest. His hands came up to his face, nails digging into the skin. The sound was TOO much.
This is HIS fault.
Everything is!
He can’t die now. He can’t leave Salem. He can’t leave Meibou. It isn’t fair! It’s NOT FAIR!
He had already had his death planned. But now Claudian’s gonna make it impossible?! That prick.. Fucking hawk won’t even let Raven take his death into his own hands, like he’s had planned for WEEKS…
His nails cut through the skin on his face in the disgustingly familiar way they always do. He felt the drips of blood running down his face, mixing with his tears and snot. The cries had dried, now reduced down to raw, raspy screaming. He’s powerless. He hates it. He hates it, he hates it, he hates it, he hat—.
He flung up in the bunk bed with a cry as he awoke, smashing his forehead into the metal frame of the bed in the process. As Raven did so, his arms released around the warmth next to him. Tears streamed down his face, burying his hands painfully into his eyes, ignoring his now pounding forehead.
The bed shifted next to him. “Raven?..” Rang out the most familiar voice, Rs rolling in the sleepiest, cutest way. Raven looked over with wide eyes. “Meibou!..” He mutters some other phrases, but they’re mainly unintelligible to the crane. Raven’s cries slow. He wraps his arms around Meibou’s middle. “I’m sorry.. Nightmare..”
There’s a little reassuring hum.
Words of comfort. Gentle but firm hands. Small banter. Tiny sweet kisses. Embraces until they both lull back to sleep, legs tangling as they always are when the pair sleep. Salem, who hasn’t stirred this whole time, stays asleep on the opposite side of Raven.
Raven had no dreams after that. He slept all the way through the night, body practically buried against Meibou’s in fear of anyone else touching him ever again. Meibou was safety. And safety was the only thing he needed right now.
The only thing he’s ever needed in his whole life. He finally has it.