Copyright 2023 -- Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
The only thing he could do for now was watch. Watch and try to comprehend whatever was going on in the telepathic conversation the two enemies held right in front of him. Gamni had abandoned the prospect of torturing him verbally since, apparently, he had bigger fish to fry. All Riordan could grasp was the humming that seemed to be the signature of that kind of communication. To any unaware onlooker, the scene in front of him had to look peaceful, or at least not giving away the violence concealed by the two tense bodies, one human, one alien in shape.
Gamni towered over Florent, who was now on his feet, looking upwards at his former master. His stare was resolute, keen, while Gamni seemed the more intense of them. A battle of wills took place, and Riordan wished he could be able either to tear his eyes away or start understanding what they were saying to each other.
The only thing left for him to do was to pick up on the cues bared to him and his limited understanding. Florent was resisting, his clenched fists by his sides, but he appeared unwavering in his decision, whatever that was. Gamni was attacking him relentlessly, but his eyes were slowly narrowing, a sign of obvious frustration and displeasure.
Riordan sat on the floor, his back to the wall, trying his hardest to take up as little space as possible, in an effort not to bring the asshole general's attention to himself. At the same time, his mind was racing. He needed to keep from trying to contact Xana again, although the last cell in his body screamed for it. Florent had saved him the first time, but who was to say that Gamni wouldn't take pleasure in watching him drown while stopping Riordan from getting any help?
He placed both hands on his belly and focused on slowing down the beating of his heart. All the things he had read about Xeno births and caring for Xenolites during the first moments of them being born, those were the things he tried to focus on. Even that thought filled him with dread. Gamni had been clear in his threats. The moment the Xenolite was born, he'd kill him.
For assurance, he felt the vial in his pocket. He hoped for the love of everything that Cario was right, or at least that his thoughts on the superpowers the thing could give were not mere hogwash. The only thing left now for him to do was wait for the right moment. Florent had told him enough about the strangeness of the prison in which they were kept for him not to act too rashly.
He closed his eyes, although the humming of Florent's conflict with their enemy was too distracting either way. Did time flow the same way, here, in the metal parasite serving as their cell? Had Xana learned already of his disappearance? Had they noticed that Florent was gone, too? What Riordan waited and wished for was a sign, one that would tell him that help was on the way. Then, he might take his chance at bringing down the general, because without him, someone had to be able to open the door from the outside and save them.
He pressed his head against the cold wall behind him. They could breathe in here. That meant that there had to be a physical connection to a system of pipes that pumped breathable air, and that could only come from Tu'lek. Riordan's eyes snapped open. Where was that opening that communicated with the ship? That time, when he had followed Lewis's lovers through the pipes to save Kanto, that kind of system had to be connected with this room somehow.
He stole a glance at Florent and Gamni. They seemed to have forgotten he existed in the same space as them. Keeping his eyes half-closed, he moved them slowly across the ceiling, trying his best to identify a trap, a dent, something to tell him that there was something there, something he could use at least as a reminder that there had to be a way out.
How the hell was Gamni doing that? The room appeared so hermetic, impossible to escape. His eyes rested on the huge light fixture hanging from the ceiling until they swam in tears. He blinked, and just then, he sensed that he missed something. He stared into the light again. He wasn't wrong. The thing flickered.
Riordan didn't even dare to blink again. Something was going on.
A jerk and the room tilted, making him roll on one side until he hit the wall to his right. Yes, dammit, finally, help was on the way!
An alarm began to blare and the light turned from harsh-white to crimson-red. Riordan heard a hissing sound and looked up to see Gamni pushing Florent so violently away that the Earthian stumbled and fell on his back. He slithered quickly towards the wall with the door.
Now was the moment. Riordan pulled the vial out of his pocket and tried to open it, but the room jerked again and he found himself rolling to the other side. There was nothing for him to seize with his hands to break his helpless trajectory. He ended up by Florent's side, just as Gamni disappeared.
"What do you think it's going on?" he asked rapidly, hanging on to Florent. "They're coming for us, right?"
He had no time to let Florent offer him an answer, because a stab of pain clenched his lower body. He jerked away from his friend and found himself on the back, his arms stretched out. It took him seconds to understand that the animal-like sounds he was hearing came from his throat.
Florent was by his side, grabbing his hand and Riordan squeezed back.
"What the fuck?" he murmured.
"I think it's happening," Florent said with a wild look on his face.
"What? What's--oh, fuck, the baby?" Using Earthian terms was easier. Just thinking of what a Xeno birth looked like made his breathing stop in fear.
Florent nodded and tried to give him a reassuring smile. Riordan growled as the stabbing pain started again. He had seen Cario giving birth, hooked on seth, in that bath that probably made things easier, but he was on a cold metal floor, and the only one to assist him was another human. With great effort, he searched his pocket. He'd have a drop, just one. He'd need it later, when help came, right?
"Oh, no," he whispered. He must have dropped the vial with the concentrated sangar when the room moved with them inside.
"You can do this," Florent kept whispering at him. "And yes, I think they're coming. Just hold on, Riordan. You're strong."
"Fuck, now's not the time to sell me a boatload of bullshit," he groaned as his body twisted and jerked. The pain was so overwhelming that he had no control over his muscles or anything else in his body.
Florent didn't sit idle. He helped him move his legs and hiked them up, relieving some of the pain in doing so. That was a guy who probably knew a lot more about Xeno births than him. He had gone to that fancy academy, like Cario.
"Is this doable?" he asked. "Is this even freaking doable, Florent? Without the seth--"
"It is," Florent replied and felt his forehead. "Your body is adapted for it."
"No shit. It doesn't feel like that." He swallowed the last word as his body seemed to want to break in two.
"You'll be fine," Florent hurried to assure him again.
Riordan breathed rapidly. He was already anticipating the next wave of pain. For now, it was leaving him be, giving him a little reprieve. How the hell was he going to go through this? He felt so exhausted. His eyes stayed on the ceiling.
The light was white again. The alarm had stopped.
The hissing sound of the hydraulic door made him turn his head, his hopes high.
"Oh, it started. I see," Gamni's cruel voice crushed them all.
Riordan wasn't a crier. He really wasn't. But the wave of complete helplessness and anger that rushed through him was too much. He trembled and cried on the bare floor, while the Xenolite inside him continued to push his way out, oblivious to what waited for him out in the world.
"He needs seth," he heard Florent talking.
"And? Don't expect me to help him. It is disgusting enough that I must breathe the same air as you two."
"You fucking asshole."
Riordan couldn't see very well what was going on. The pain made him crazy. But he could swear that what he was witnessing had to be a really strange dream. Florent was on top of Gamni, forcing him down, and, the weirdest thing of all, the Xeno was falling.
And then, Florent was kissing the general while grabbing his throat with one hand. The other was busy doing something else. Riordan watched, his body no longer his to control. But he could see how Gamni's tail was coiling around Florent's arm as if it had a life of its own, quite different from his master.
Florent let go of the general's mouth and grabbed the tail with both hands. His eyes were as determined as before as he dragged Gamni's tail until it reached Riordan's lips and he could drink. The seth felt like life on his tongue. Florent pulled impatiently and made him swallow the tip. There was so much and it tasted so good. The pain was turning slowly into a faraway sensation.
From the corner of one eye, Riordan observed Gamni, expecting him to retaliate. But his eyelids looked heavy, as he was taking in the scene before him. When he moved, Riordan jerked in fear, but Florent put a hand on his shoulder and held him down.
What he was seeing seemed so strange. Gamni loomed so large above Florent's head. Riordan didn't dare to move his eyes away. When he noticed Florent jerking slightly and frowning, he almost understood. Another look at Gamni above the Earthian ensured that no other explanations were needed.
The general was fucking Florent, and it had to be why Riordan could drink so much seth from the alien's tail. No matter what Gamni was yapping his mouth about, he seemed pretty hopeless when it came to wanting to mount his bearer. His icy eyes were still filled with hatred, but there was so much hunger in them, too. And the fucking asshole clearly enjoyed the disgusting act of copulation, as he called it.
The more astonishing thing, however, was the lack of expression in Florent's eyes. They were so opaque now, and his entire face was smooth. His lips appeared relaxed, but so neutral that it gave Riordan the willies for a moment. It was as if Florent took that huge Xeno cock without feeling a thing. Just the rhythmic movement of his entire body with each thrust and Gamni's strangled breathing were giving away what was going on.
Riordan felt his heart breaking. For him, to help him, Florent must have put himself aside. The general had hurt him so damn much, and now the Earthian was accepting him inside his body for no other reason than Riordan's sake.
If they survived this, he thought dimly, if there was any justice in this world as they knew it, they'd have to let Florent free. He'd make sure, he'd beg and threaten.
His eyes locked with the expressionless pools Florent's had turned into. He was still feeding on the seth, and it made the pain in his lower body so much bearable. He could tell that the egg was slowly moving through. It was still so hard to go through it all, but he could do it, only because of Florent's sacrifice.
The tail withdrew from his mouth, slipping from Florent's grip. The next thing Riordan saw was how his friend's eyelids fluttered and he thought he heard a gasp of pain.
"What?" he mumbled.
Something warm fell on his face, and his eyes registered first the horrifying truth. Gamni's tail was sticking out of Florent's neck and, once it withdrew, the Earthian's body fell forward, and Riordan felt the warmth and smell of blood hitting him all at once.
"No," he whispered, "no!"
His body remembered the pain and twisted him so harshly that he threw Florent away from him, without him wanting to.
He was on one side, but he could tell that the pain was fading now. He heard Gamni laughing, a harsh, unnatural sound. All the hate inside him froze, turning into stone. He couldn't talk. He couldn't even cry. He wasn't even trembling anymore.
"Before you die, would you like to see Xana's offspring? You've worked so hard for it, too," Gamni said mockingly.
The choice wasn't his anymore. Gamni turned him, using his blood-stained tail, and had him watch as he dropped the egg, a cracking noise following with all the impossibility of a just-imagined disaster.
Riordan tried to crawl on the floor to get the Xenolite whose little tail he could see from the broken shell. It was so frightening, because it wasn't moving. Gamni pushed him aside, making him hit the wall again. Then, he picked the unmoving Xenolite from the floor. Riordan watched in horror and disgust as Gamni brought the boy to the level of his eyes.
It had his hair, so dark, Riordan thought dimly as he crawled again. "Give me my son," he threatened and begged at the same time. "He's not alive. He's of no use to you. Just give him back!"
Gamni laughed again. "Oh, I think it's opening its eyes. What a wonderful feeling. The first face for it to see to be that of the one of its father's enemy."
Riordan stood to his feet, through what impossible effort, he didn't know. He stretched his arms. "Xeus, don't look at him," he whispered. "He's not real. He's just a monster from a dream."
Gamni laughed and threw his head back. The Xenolite was moving now, curling himself around the arm holding him. Riordan knew, that very moment, that he had stopped having a heart.
But the dark head, with hair long enough to caress his tiny shoulders, turned slowly. And his dark eyes met his, and only then, Riordan felt his heart beating again.
"I wish I had the time to kill you slowly, but you'll be dead anyway when they break through." Gamni cradled the Xenolite in his arms and turned away. He disappeared through the wall as if he'd never been there.
Riordan remained in place, too stunned to move. And then, the room jerked again, and he heard a light coughing sound coming from the floor. He hurried at Florent's side, and both of them rolled to the wall.
"Florent, are you still here?" he asked, his voice and everything else filled with pain. "Talk to me."
"I'm sorry, Riordan," Florent said and coughed more blood. "I made a promise... I couldn't keep it..."
"Hush, save your breath. It's good to hear you. They should break in soon. We might... get saved."
"No point for me. Just say that you forgive me... I can't bear..."
Riordan pressed against the gash in Florent's throat but that only seemed to cut his air, so he gave up. He squeezed his eyes shut and cradled Florent close to him, ignoring the new blood flowing over his chest again.
If only there was something he could do. How was he going to tell Xana about the boy? Riordan clenched his teeth. He was going to hunt Gamni Gafilos to the end of the universe, and he was going to hurt him. He'd be the one to bathe in his blood.
"Don't cry for me," Florent whispered. "It's no use... But the boy... your boy... he'll be fine... I saw it in Gamni's thoughts... he won't kill him..."
"Don't talk anymore, we need to hold on, weren't you saying that?" Riordan babbled as Florent's body shook with another cough followed by sputtered blood.
He braced himself as the room jerked again, sending them flying over the floor. And then, he heard something, like the noise of a thing rolling on the floor, and the vial ended up in his open palm, as if it knew that he needed it.
"Florent, open your mouth."
The guy's eyes were closing, so Riordan wasted no more time. He popped open the vial, praying that nothing would stop him now, and forced it through Florent's lips.
The ceiling blew above them and they were pulled out. Such a strange thing, Riordan thought. They were now floating, and he could see Tu'lek moving past. It was so unusually peaceful.
The tears dried and he felt small grains of sand gathering in his eyes. He tried to blink, and then, he felt the chest pain. Of course, he couldn't breathe. There was no air there to breathe. Maybe it was for the better, because his whole existence from now on would only be pain and hate.
The small shuttle stopping by him seemed taken from a movie like the ones he used to watch as a kid. A trap door opened, and he could swear he was seeing Xana jumping towards him, his long hair a floating halo all around his body.
tbc
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