Can You Hear The Angel Cry?

[Leith Kaerdyn]

The boy eyed him for a moment “My previous Master didn’t hurt me either, but you are my Master now and I’ll serve you however you wish. I don’t know how I’ll serve you and pretend to others you don’t own me, tell me how I can best play your game. Urmen just had me clean and cook and see things for him when he was playing cards.”

Telling him what he had been doing might be a good thing, but he just wasn’t sure what the man was getting at. “My name...it Leith, Leith Kaerdyn, but Master can call me whatever he likes.”

It wasn’t like he could protest anyways and his name sounded weird to his ears anyway. He was used to being called ‘boy’ most of the time anyways. “Does Master like children, is that why you took me?”

He certainly hoped he wasn’t the kind of person Urmen always warned him about. It didn’t matter because if he touched him in a way he didn’t like he’d get a nasty surprise, it was why he’d not been touched before.




[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"Leith..." the blonde breathed. "You are not my slave, nor my servant. I do not own you in any way. I took you away from this Urmen so that you wouldn't have to serve anyone ever again. Can't you understand that?" he pleaded softly, his face brought down to the boy's level and kept close to his, eyes piercing eachother. "Urmen was using you for his own gain - something I will never, ever do. I couldn't, even if I tried. My conscience would see me dead before I enslaved someone, my heart would burst inside my chest and my mind would shut me down." He hoped he hadn't painted a most grueling picture in Leith's impressionable mind. What came next out of the boy's mouth was too shocking not to react to.

"Do I... what?" he said in a stern voice, not directed at poor Leith, but the mere insinuation that such a thing existed in the first place, and that this youngling had been told about it at his tender age. "No. I am not like that, Leith. I would never become like that. See, I have a girl - a daughter. She's a few years younger than you, and her name is Nina. I would treat you like I treat her in every way. The love of a father to his son is not the kind of love you're used to. It transcends it, becoming an unbreakable bond few share in this downward spiralling galaxy." Hopefully he had not used words too big for one so young to understand. Sometimes his tongue overstayed its welcome, but anything he said came straight from his heart, and he meant every word.

[member="Leith Kaerdyn"]

 

[Leith Kaerdyn]

The whole thing just had him incredibly confused, he stared at him trying really hard, but he just couldn’t understand. He stepped back looking down at his feet “If that is how Master wants, shall I go clean something?”

The only thing that made sense is doing something he’d always done. He didn’t trust his word, didn’t trust that he’d be kind, but he could trust cleaning and making himself useful. He was grateful at least for the quiet, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d not felt what others felt and been fully awake.


[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Thurion showed a look of concern at the boy's submissiveness and lack of emotion. This one must've been severly mistreated to have achieved such enthrallment... or perfected into servitude, depending on how you look at it. The truly broken never complain and never talk back, nor do they plor and scheme behind their master's back in the dark. It sickened him to think of these things, and rather than give the boy what he wanted - an order - Thurion simply rose from his seat and wrapped his arms around the poor boy. "No, no cleaning, Leith. What I want from you is to go straight through that corridor behind you. It leads to a bedroom. I want you to crawl into bed and take a nice, long rest, my son. Don't worry about getting the sheets dirty." It would take time, but he would do his best to break his invisible chains. Perhaps once fully rested and with something to fill his small tummy he would come to his senses, somewhat.

[member="Leith Kaerdyn"]

 

[Leith Kaerdyn]

Keyed up as the child was and worried the man was a creeper, him touching him was a bad idea. A burst of electricity coursed along his skin, weaker than a tazer, but certainly strong enough to be quite a surprise to the unprepared. It wasn’t borne of the Force, for a child like him that would take higher skills than he possessed. It was just something he’d always been able to do when he was stressed, scared, angry and simply caught up in some kind of negative emotion. He was near-human, human looking enough to pass as such, but not truly.

He was gone in a flash, not sticking around to find out if he was in trouble. He went looking for the smallest of place to hide in and once it was found, crammed himself into it.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Suddenly an electric shock jolted through Thurion's system, and it made him snap his hand back as if having touched a hot stove. It left him clenching at his heart, which skipped more than just a beat and left him disoriented. It didn't make him mad, but rather aware of the boy's wish of no touching. "No..." came a whisper from the man as the little boy shyed away from his touch. "Leith, I didn't mean to..." It was too late - the boy was gone, zipping away like a bolt of lightning out the cockpit. "Leith!" he yelled after him, not in a stern tone but one of concern. This youngling was more broken than he'd ever been able to think possible. It made his heart ache to think such a thing was possible to do to a kid. He didn't pursuit the boy; doing so would only add to his belief that he wished to harm him, or that he made him angry by running away, which was not the case in the slightest. There was no way for the boy to hurt himself aboard his ship (since he'd make sure it was a safe environment for his daughter Nina), so he would let [member="Leith Kaerdyn"] do as he pleased. There would be no forcing him to do anything, not anymore.

The pitter-patter of bare feet against the floor made its way to where the boy was hiding. The one in possession of such small, naked feet was Nina, who'd gone out to see what all the fuss was about. She knew that her father had brought back with him a small boy, a few years older than her, and that he would take care of him from now on. Her icy-blue nightgown of the softest fabrics trailed along the floor, and her white hair was adorned with a cute bow. She pattered over to where Leith was hiding, as she saw him cram himself into it, and just stood a watched him. Her inability to speak made her standing there all the more quiet, while her wide eyes studied the boy.

 

[Leith Kaerdyn]

Leith eyed the girl wary, scooting further back and keeping an eye on her. She didn’t look like a slave, but then she could be marked some other way. She looked like one of the pictures of angels his mother used to show him, except she was a kid instead of a lady, but still pretty. He didn’t trust her at all, especially since she was with that man at the front of the ship. He didn’t really get what was happening at all and the stranger might as well have been speaking another language to him. What he felt from the man was intense, almost painful and it seemed to fill the whole ship. He wanted nothing more than to run back to Urmen, at least then he understood.

He felt betrayed. He’d always said he’d never give him up, that he would never be away from him, did he lie? He pulled his knees to his chest and held them, burying his face so he didn’t have to look at the girl. His head was starting to pound again, too much emotion, too much stress, too many things that were so confusing. Why did the stranger keep calling him ‘son’? Was he his father? His mother never mentioned him, ever, but he could have been for all he knew. Was that why he was being so strange? He didn’t hope, what was the point? He could be a bad man too, like the man his mother had been with, the one who sold him away. He wished he had died, why couldn’t he just die already and be with his mother again? At least then he wouldn't hurt so much and he'd be far far away from anyone that would hurt him, it wasn't fair at all.


[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Nina remained where she stood, just watching the boy as he struggled to understand what was going on. She didn't make any outward appearance of what she felt or thought, and if she had she would have had a look of confusion on her face. One so small as she wouldn't know about what had inflicted such torments upon the boy, and neither did she. As the boy began to crumble under his depression, Nina noticed as much and without really thinking about it she stepped closer and reached out to settle her tiny hand gently upon his cheek.

"H-hello. Why are you crying?" she spoke into his mind with the soft words of a 4-year-old girl. "When I'm sad, I let my father sing to me."

[member="Leith Kaerdyn"]

 

[Leith Kaerdyn]

The touch only made him flinch away, even as the voice in his head made the place that burned with pain bring him further agony. The connection he had, to the freakish powers he’d been cursed with was raw and angry from abuse. He’d pushed himself too hard, like he always did when Urmen had wanted, but he hadn’t been allowed to rest it off. He wanted to lash out at her, drive her away, but he didn’t dare. He hated the big man for taking him away, it was all his fault and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He squirmed out of his corner and ran away from her, going to the room he’d woken up in. The door closed behind him and he quickly locked it, he then moved to curl into a ball on the bed.

He had been rude, he knew that, but the last thing he wanted was to be around someone who made the hurt worse. He didn’t know if she meant it or not, he had hurt the man, so maybe it was punishment. He just wished he knew what was going to happen to him now. Tears started to run down his face and he wiped them away with disgust, tears wouldn’t help him. Tears were for weaklings, weaklings got punished and killed. He hated them, he stared at the wet and wiped his hand on the blankets biting his lip hard to make them stop. The pain and bit of blood helped clear his head, but he knew he was trapped till they got to wherever they were going.

He had to wait. He had to think, to figure out a way to escape, Urmen would be happy if he managed to make his way back. Would he take him back? He’d have to then, at least he could get away from the strange man and angel girl. He glared at the door, who was that man to take him from what little home he had? To think he could ‘keep him safe’? There was no safe place, ever, no way was he going to stay with someone so silly. Safety was a dream, because it was only so till someone or something took it away. His mother had always said he was safe with her, but she died. There was no safe place for a freak like him, someone would always wanna own him, but at least he knew Urmen.

It was easier with him, no surprises and the man at least didn’t do weird things. But how could he trick the big man? He’d have to wait and see and then he could get away. He just had to be patient, wasn’t that what his mother used to tell him when he wanted something bad enough? Maybe this was what she meant by it, because he wanted very badly to get away.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Nina was taken aback by the sudden movement the boy made. Her hand snapped back to her side as a frown appeared on her face, watching him scurry off to her father's room and close the door behind him. Big, blue eyes watched, half-expected the door to open again, but before long heavy steps came up from behind her. Her father's scent caught her senses before she turned and hugged his leg. Tears began to run down her cheeks and into the fabrics of his trousers. The 4-year-old didn't know better, and thought she'd done something wrong judging by the way the boy had acted just now, like she was some kind of monster. "Nina..." Thurion breathed while picking her up into an embrace between father and daughter. "Shh, it's alright, baby girl. It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault." She wept into his chest, quietly. "Let's put you back into bed, my little snowflake", he said while carrying her back to her bedroom.

[member="Leith Kaerdyn"]

 

[Leith Kaerdyn]

He fell asleep after a while, curled into a ball and restless. There was no peace for him in sleep, chased by fathomless unease and scary shadows. Under it all was pain, his head still hurt and it registered in what should have been sanctuary from it.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

The next morning proceeded pretty much as normal, all things considered. Nina would usually wake up first, and when she did she would remain in her room, often times drawing in the peace and quiet of the morning hours. Soon after her father would awake and set about making them breakfast. While no master chef by any means, he liked to think at least he could whip together something edible, and he'd heard no complaints from Nina yet, even though she probably would never think ill of anyone's cooking.

His thoughts were of the boy that morning, and how distraught he seemed whenever he tried talking to him. Granted, had his intentions been any other but pure, that boy's reaction would be the most sensible. Thankfully such wasn't the case, but any attempt to show Leith he meant him no harm had fallen on deaf ears, it seemed, and it pained him to know he was only causing the boy more harm than good, at this stage. Even so, he would not let someone so young be kept starving.

Three plates he had prepared that morning. Two were placed on the table were they used to be: one for Nina, one for him. The third plate of food he held as he made his way through the nearby corridor leading to the room he'd quartered Leith in. He knocked on the door, soft enough that should he be asleep he would not be disturbed by them. When no answer came he tried to open the door. It was locked. He was not about to break doors down, especially not on his own ship. Instead, he left the plate of food just outside the door, accompanied by a glass of blue milk.

Thurion returned to Nina, now sat at the table, and set about enjoying another breakfast together.

[member="Leith Kaerdyn"]