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Under the glimmering light of a thin crescent moon lay a sand sailer, mast folded down with its adorning purple cloth, with but one figure nearby.
A drow, Marco, seated next to its wooden planks as he carefully tinkers with his violin.
Intently focused as he gingerly places a fresh string across the neck, it takes a minute for him to notice the sound of approaching footsteps crunching over the sand.
Pointed ears perking up at the noise, he turns to see the figure of a certain pink genie he’s fond of.
It wasn’t every day that Rooster, shy as he acts towards Marco, decides to approach him first. Setting aside the violin, he eagerly waves his friend over.
Barely making any noise as he sits down, it’s almost unnerving how calm and quiet Rooster is, compared to the energetic mess he typically was.
The genie’s face is turned away, as to stare off in the distance, not speaking a single word, or even fidgeting with his scarf.
Thrown off by this strange behavior, Marco reaches a hand over, pausing the motion as his palm is met with another’s, and pink digits gently fold themselves between those of grey. Surprised, Marco’s face gains a tinge of soft crimson as he turns to Rooster with a look of disbelief, delight shining faintly in his ruby-red eyes.
Marco then notices something… off with the genie’s expression. It seems near emotionless, showing only a slight indication of curiosity, and there’s something different in how his golden eyes reflect the faint crescent moonlight.
Growing somewhat tense, Marco opens his mouth to say something, but is swiftly cut off as Rooster rushes forward, locking the two of them in a kiss.
It’s quick and messy, their teeth clicking together in the initial connection.
While not necessarily unwelcome, it was quite a shock.
Breaking the kiss for a breath, Marco lets out a short, nervous laugh, his face burning with a red hue.
‘I uh- I mean I would have liked you to ask first, but-’
He pauses as a pink hand finds itself behind his head.
‘Rooster?-’
Forcefully pressing his lips against Marco’s, Rooster muffles the brief sound of surprise from the drow. Trying to lean away, Marco has to place an arm against the ground to stop himself from falling over, as the figure holding him tightly goes along with his movements.
He manages to pull his hand from the genie, a small victory that's cut short as his wrist is yanked into a firm grasp, a deep fear slowly creeping through him as the grip on the back of his hair tightens.
Marco winces as their teeth tik against each other, cold shivers going down his spine as sharp gold digs grooves in his enamel.
Suddenly biting down onto Marco’s lip, Rooster’s gleaming fangs easily piercing through the soft flesh, as blood quickly flows from the wound.
Startled by the stinging pain, Marco wildly thrashes about, finally managing to separate the two of them as he pulls himself up, stumbling a short distance away.
Reaching a shaky hand to his face and seeing red droplets fall upon his leather glove, he turns a look of horror and confusion towards his attacker.
Steadying himself from being thrown off, Rooster looks back towards Marco, who notices the eerie pink glow now radiating from the genie’s once golden eyes.
A sinister grin finds itself across the boy’s face, glimmers of red highlighting the edges of those razor sharp teeth.
Keeping crimson eyes latched onto him, Marco takes a cautious step backwards, his wariness quickly justified as the genie lunges at him with unnerving speed.
Barely able to brace himself for the attack, they both go tumbling to the ground, kicking up sand as they frantically grapple with each other.
While attempting to push Rooster away, he makes the mistake of letting an arm too close to his mouth, shooting pain now emanating from his hand as sharp, gilded teeth find themselves digging into his skin.
Hardly able to bite back tears from the burning sensation, Marco instinctually kicks at him, burying the metal heel of his boot into the boy's gut, a distressed yelp from the genie sending a pang of guilt through Marco.
He hesitates to run as he watches Rooster crumple to the ground, curling up as he shakily inhales.
Going against his better judgement as he steps forward, Marco kneels down, reaching a hand towards the figure on the ground.
Rooster’s hand cautiously reaches up, just grazing their fingers together before snatching them in a rough grip, forcing Marco off balance, and rushing at him as soon as he hits the ground.
Quickly outstretching his hand, Marco grabs onto Rooster’s arm and throws him to the side, taking to his feet as he frantically dashes towards the distant tent.
Hearing the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching, he whirls around just as he’s tackled, sand kicking up as he tussles with the attacking genie.
Balling up his fist and wheeling it back, Marco stops as he chances another look at Rooster.
There’s something clearly wrong, shown clearly through the uncanny grin and eerie light in his eyes, but this still seems to be his friend.
The same person he’s spent so much time getting to know, getting close to, teaching him things and spending time with him, the same person he would be happy spending forever with.
Marco doesn’t want to hurt him.
Using the delay to his advantage, Rooster bursts forward. He shoves the drow onto the sand, pinning his wrists, and lets his own head move down to kiss him.
Marco desperately struggles against the hold, turning his head to the side to avoid it, surprised at first as one of his arms is released, before a hand viciously latches onto his scalp.
Pulling his face upward, Rooster presses their lips together once again, unbothered by the sounds of protest coming from the drow below him.
Forcing down whatever hesitation remained, Marco’s one free hand streaks forward as it hastily wraps around the genie’s neck, causing the hold on himself to be released.
Attempting to bury the intense disgust he felt through doing this, Marco throws Rooster down beside him as he then pushes his friend against the sand, pinning the genie’s hands against his back.
Pressed against the ground, Rooster turns glowing eyes to him, that chilling magenta light ever present in them. Something in his expression seems... Betrayed? Scared? Whatever it is sends a nauseating, guilty feeling through Marco’s heart, and his grip carelessly loosens.
Eagerly taking the opportunity, Rooster’s menacing smile returns as he swiftly throws the drow off.
Air escaping his lungs as he falls hard onto his back, Marco is given not even a second of recovery as Rooster hungrily forces him into another kiss.
Frantically tugging his head away from the genie, he gasps for air in panicked breaths, saliva and blood trailing down from his lips as it drips onto the coarse sand.
Once again, Marco is unprepared to fight back, feeling as his back is forced against the ground, quickly ceasing his struggle as he feels cold, sharp metal pressing against his throat.
Terrified red eyes look up to meet with a sinister and cruel expression. Rooster sits over him, holding a brass scimitar across the drow’s neck.
Leaning down towards Marco’s ear, Rooster speaks in a hushed tone.
‘You know Marco, I was well aware that you looked stunning-’
He presses the sword down a bit harder, skin beginning to break as glistening beads of crimson pool around the metal.
‘But I think you'll look better like this.’
Marco’s voice shakes.
‘Rooster, wait ple-’
The blade easily slashes through tender flesh, ignoring the unfinished plea, its wielder calmly placing the weapon to the side. Trying to let out an agonizing yell, Marco’s head is quickly slammed onto the ground, a hand forcing his jaw closed with an iron grip.
Red blooms from the gash, bubbling with air as his breaths grow panicked from the blood seeping into his airway.
Desperately grabbing at the person above him, he repeats frantic attempts to remove the figure pinning him against the ground to no avail.
With every second passing by it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, blood flowing into his mouth, coating his tongue with that foul metallic taste.
Strangely enough, the grasp on his head is soon released, allowing him to spit up the bright red liquid. Looking towards Rooster, he watches as one of those pink hands finds itself resting on Marco’s shoulder, the other holding onto his neighboring arm.
With an abrupt snap his shoulder is wrenched out of place, and his red eyes flare wide in agony.
Muffled by the pooling blood, he lets out a barely audible scream, shoving Rooster aside with a sudden and short lived burst of strength.
Stumbling horribly as he got to his feet, his vision blurred and shifted, eyes stinging with the tears running down his face as he narrowly avoids tripping over himself.
Crimson running down his neck, Marco turns pained and terrified eyes to those of cruel, sadistic satisfaction. Rooster tilts his head, his face showcasing some kind of sick and twisted feeling of love.
And he smiled.
A smile that reached further than it should, beautiful and sinister as blood-stained gold shimmered under the faintest of starlight.
Inhaling heavily, a choice Marco learns to greatly regret, as crimson ichor fills his lungs in place of air. He violently coughs it up, breaths growing weak and ragged, blood spilling from the gash in his throat.
The ringing in his ears and the way his heart beats from his chest masks the sound of approach, as a sickeningly familiar grip suddenly latches onto Marco’s scalp as it drags him back down to his knees.
Grabbing the drow’s weary and blood covered face, Rooster passionately locks their lips together, seemingly unbothered by the metallic tasting fluid that spilled into his mouth.
If anything, the gore seems appealing to him, as he pulls back only to drag his tongue across the drops of it that spill from Marco’s lips.
Smile unfaltering, the genie parts his shark-like teeth as he moves to sink them into his victim’s neck, serrated gold effortlessly cutting through grey skin.
Slowly tearing away small pieces of flesh, blood flows from the fresh wounds, dripping downward and soaking into the fabric of Marco’s clothes.
Eventually letting go of the drow, Rooster turns away as he reaches for his sword, leaving Marco unable to hold himself up as his body goes limp, splaying out across the ground.
Stinging pains radiate across his body, the ache from his displaced shoulder thrumming off key from his weakening heartbeat.
Staring blankly to the side, he’s just barely able to make out the blurry silhouettes of distant figures as they stand, seemingly frozen against the horizon.
The smallest shred of hope blooms amidst the violent scene, yet quickly ripped away as tortuous sparks of pain tear him out of whatever daydream he had of freedom.
Yanking at his already damaged arm, Rooster pulls him over, an arm placed under his back as he’s lifted slightly from the ground. Head lolling to the side, Marco gazes at the one holding him, frightened eyes pleading for some kind of mercy.
Expression becoming unexpectedly soft, the genie leans down to place a gentle kiss on his cheek, a small and sincere smile on his face as the blood of another slowly trails from his pink lips.
In quick contrast to that sliver of kindness, sharp brass digs into his gut, though the drow could barely react to it. The smile on Rooster’s face morphs to be sadistic as he twists the blade, mangling muscle and tissue.
At long last he begins to feel numb, stinging pains slowly changing to dull aches.
His mind dissolves into static, heavy eyelids closing as he lay motionless, excluding the occasional twitch of a hand.
But the figure above him is suddenly ripped away, putting a welcome pause to the tearing of his flesh.
Falling slack against the ground once again, Marco feels a cold hand shaking him, a panicked voice calling out what he assumes could be his name.
Blood still spilling from various injuries, he barely has the mind to assume this is the end.
Greatly startled as an unexpected rush of adrenaline shoots through him, his eyes snap open, body no longer numb to the searing pain.
Turning to cough up the vile liquid blocking his throat, Marco manages to take in desperate wheezing breaths, before quickly noticing Kore next to him.
Demonic blood dripping from his snout, he looks at the drow with an expression of concern and horror, before pivoting the glance at the others.
Placing a shaky hand to his neck, Marco finds that the wound had been healed, though there was still plenty of fresh crimson surrounding it.
While he no longer seems to be bleeding out, the pain he feels radiating from wherever he’d been cut, stabbed, and bitten is sharp and excruciating.
Soon following the demon’s gaze, Marco watches as Amelia holds down Rooster, her eyes meeting with Kore’s as she waits for an explanation.
-
There was a knock on the door.
Kore was sitting on the floor, back against the wall as he stared blankly into the nonexistent distance, deep in thought.
Suddenly pulled from his daydream as he hears another knock, he stands up and reaches to twist the doorknob.
Looking out, he found the pleasant surprise of Amelia standing in the doorway, though the concerned look on her face didn’t bode well for there to be a nice conversation.
’Oh, hi’ Kore said, attempting to hide how glad he was to see her, ’Did you need anything?’
She fidgeted lightly with her bracelet. ’Yeah, I just wanted to ask you a question.’
’That’s alright, go ahead.’
’So back when the whole fireball incident happened, you asked me if I’d ever seen Rooster’s eyes glowing pink. What exactly was that about?’
Kore paused as he was about to say something.
He didn’t know if Rooster was ok with him sharing that information, though Kore would’ve liked to tell Amelia in the case where it could put her or others in danger.
’Why are you asking about that right now?’ He questioned, ’You’ve had quite a few chances to do so before.’
’Because I think I saw him like that just a bit ago.’
Quickly growing panicked, Kore grabs Amelia by the shoulders.
’Where did he go?!?!’
’I- He went outside, he said that he was gonna talk with Marco.’
Kore moved past her, dashing toward the exit of the tent.
Amelia follows close behind him.
’What’s going on?! Kore, what is happening??!’
’I’ll explain in a moment, but Marco’s in a lot of danger right now’
’What do you mean?!!?!’
Pushing aside the cloth door, Kore frantically looked around, stopping dead in his tracks as soon as he spotted something.
Not too far away, he could make out the shape of a familiar drow sprawled out on the sand.
Knelt on the ground next to him was Rooster, holding a sword that had blood dripping from its edge, suspiciously matching the liquid seen spilling from Marco’s neck and mouth.
Hearing a shaky, choked sound beside him, he sees Amelia staring at the scene, terrified.
Kore snaps out of the shock, opening his maw as to issue a command.
’Run.’
Rooster raises a blade over Marco’s abdomen.
Kore swiftly steps forward.
’RUN!!’
-
This isn’t how Kore would have wished to spend his night.
He wishes he hadn’t needed to cast such a powerful spell.
Despite being healed, Marco is clearly not fairing well, terrified and in pain as he barely manages to hold himself upright.
Having lost a significant amount of blood, the drow’s skin is pale and clammy, his breathing ragged as he tries to cough up whatever trace of crimson that remains in his throat.
The one responsible for his state was close by, restrained, and refusing to give in easily.
Amelia had long since shifted to her were hyena form, as she pins down a struggling genie, neither person looking too happy about this circumstance.
Noticing that Marco was sitting up, Rooster quits fighting and simply looks at the drow, a heartless grin slowly spreading across the boy’s face, as glowing magenta eyes bore into those of terror-filled red.
Marco’s breath grows in speed and irregularity, gaze locked forward as he tries to push himself off from the ground, stumbling backwards, not daring to look away for a second.
But something changes in the genie, as the cruel expression slips away, irises returning to the golden color they always should have been.
It doesn’t take long for shock to seep in, as Rooster takes in the scene around him, with spots of sand tinted red, and a metallic smell that matches the overwhelming taste still burning into his tongue.
Then there’s Marco.
His best friend.
Barely able to stand on trembling legs, clothing stained crimson.
Red blood and crystalline tears leaving streaks down his face.
There's also fear. An intense fear in the drow’s ruby eyes.
And it’s directed at Rooster.
It hurts.
It hurts to be looked at with such an expression.
Hurts so much that it’d be less painful to rip his own heart out.
And as the force pinning him to the ground removes itself, he slowly sits up.
Looking on as he’s viewed with such visible terror, from three of the closest people he has.
He should say something.
But his throat tightens simply at the thought.
He should be sure that he hadn’t wanted to do that.
But then why did he feel so conflicted?
He hated this. He hated how much he’d hurt his friend.
And yet part of him was filled with sadistic satisfaction.
And yet something inside him says to try again.
Something inside that enjoyed doing that.
Something rotten.
Something cruel.
Something evil.
Something monstrous.
And as the memories and emotions whirl like a storm in his head,
He steps back.
As tears roll down his blood-soaked face, and his heart twists and aches,
He steps back.
As his stomach burns, daring not to accept the flesh and blood he so willingly devoured,
He
steps
back.
And while choking back sobs of anguish,
He turns away,
And runs.