That which slips through the cracks

Shuen looked back at Keyon and grumbled lowly in annoyance. "Come on boy, I'm not going to hurt you...at least let me have a chance to see you in private before you go getting all scared of me," he said. But his words were somewhat uncharacteristic of him.

Normally, Shuen was cruel, harsh, cold, and completely unforgiving. But when it came to Keyon, something about Shuen seemed completely off. It was almost as if Shuen knew everything about this one before he even met him, or perhaps...before they met again. Whatever the case may be, Shuen was a bit kinder towards Keyon and a bit more patient when he normally would have simply walked back and picked the boy up and carried him, kicking and screaming, into the warehouse...he did not. Instead, Shuen stood there and waited, perhaps a bit restlessly, but patiently when concerning Shuen.

Keyon stood there unable to move. As he looked up at Shuen and down again closing his eyes. Always since that day, always was she at his side. He felt safe secure but Cecilia wasn't there. If she wasn't at his side it was because he had sent of her off to do something not because he had gotten himself into a mess like this. He was usually so careful but he had made a reckless mistake.

Keyon looked up at him and moved taking one step and freezing, going......to be violated to be.......he was going to....allow another to do it to him again this time......the mark of the beast burned into his back burned and ached as he hit the stairs. Feeling like he was going to be sick he had been a child when it happened and yet it took him years to get over it, years for the nightmares of his parents deaths to leave him of the incident to leave him enough that he didn't wake up screaming but he was shaking now feeling like he was going to be sick. It wasn't anything against Shuen it was this terrifed him to no end.

To be touched he didn't know Shuen and he would be used again.....he knew it knew what he wanted and....Keyon was shaking staring wide eyed at the ground. The butterfly began glowing he couldn't take it bargin or no bargin he couldn't.....just couldn't not like this call her name....at any point...."Cecilia!"

A blur and she was there grabbing his chin. "Keyon look at me no chains hold you, nothing binds you, you are free from that." He collapsed against her breathing heavy and shaking as if at the moment he was a small child......it terrifed him.

"I don't want this game.....I don't......" he whispered and she sighed shaking her head as she ran her fingers through his hair. Then looked up at Shuen. Knowing he would be pissed. But there wasn't much else to do but to give Keyon time to calm down. "I know of him but I don't know him......I......"

Shuen just stared down at him from where he stood. A look that seemed to be genuine. A look of pain. He had just wanted to talk to him really. To talk to him and look at him. But now he knew that he wasn't meant to look. Shuen understood now. He wasn't meant to be even the slightest bit happy.

After a few moments of silence, he sighed and closed his eyes, saying simply, "I see..." With that said he walked over and let his hand rest on the cold concrete of the building before him. "I am such a hopeless fool...and even though I know that, I keep pushing forward when all I really want to do is fall over dead..." he said, his voice suddenly having lost any cold tones to it.

It would seem as if his cold demonic heart would be the one thing that really wasn't cold at all. It would also seem that all he had wanted was just an evening with Keyon to try and prove to himself that he was not falling for a human boy. But his reaction, the pain in Shuen's heart when he saw how terrified of him Keyon truly was only served to confirm it all the more. He loved the Queen' nephew. He loved a human boy.

Keyon rested there as Cecilia ran her fingers through his hair having taken her glove off to do so. Her white nails careful to not scratch his scalp. "Now....not more cryptic talk. What do you really want with my master?" she said looking up as Keyon finally calmed down and rested there against her. She ran her fingers soothingly as she once had for a five year old who tried to act like he was twenty. "Just his mouth not until he comes. It was never your intention to use him to begin with was it?"

Keyon's eyes were closed as he laid there his head in her lap on the stairs holding onto the demon before him some part of him knew he should be appaled to find such safety and comfort in her but at the same token when he was a child there had been no one else. The Queen's nephew the Queen's cat had collapsed helpless in a stairwell and the one who held the power over him to force him even if that meant fighting her looked sad. She couldn't say it...that he was a fool because his dark heart had learned a human emotion....she was truly no better. She had been watching over him for sixteen years that was a long time to be with a contractor.....and more then enough time to become attached. He was awake and listening but he had calmed down.

Shuen turned and faced Cecilia with a sad, broken look a out his normally harsh features. "I did not intend to use him...I would not stoop so low as to harm him in any way at all..." he said lowly and closed his eyes. "I just wanted to look at him...to talk to him until early the next morning...I just had no way of expressing that desire to you who gets to see him and sPend time with him day in and day out," he said before he sighed and shook his head.

Of a things he could have done.... He went and fell in love with a human boy.... A human boy who was already contracted to another demon.

She sighed as she looked at him Keyon was in no condition to be carried through East End he was too distraught and out of it if she tried now getting him back home would be impossible. It was a far treck she shifted and despite her smaller size lifted the man not her arms and walked towards Shuen. "Speaking with him is fine. Once we get into the room and you start talking he should come around."

Keyon held onto her eyes closed as he tried to center himself not sure what to make of anything at the moment the way it sounded earlier he was abut to be used and that frightened him to no end. She walked up the steps. "Are you coming?"

Keyon was relaxed Cecilia wouldn't take him into a danger she could not protect him from and Shuen was talking about wanting to talk to him. He could handle that and found himself relaxing more and more."I can handle talking."

Shuen looked at here for a moment before he turned and walked into the warehouse. He didn't like her...in fact, he hated her. He hated the fact that he clung to her and asked for her help, hated that she got to hold him, got to dress him, feed him, and love him every day of his life. He hated the fact that she got to even breathe the same air as he did.

Shuen didn't even take the time to see if they were following him. He just wanted to get away from her as quickly as possible. He just wanted to distance himself from her. The fact that she was wth him, the fact that she was contracted to him made him... he stopped and rested his head against the cold stone of the wall before he turned and just slid down the wall, hugging his knees up close to his chest and he buried his face in them feeling the hate and jealousy burn deep in his heart.

He didn't care if they saw him like this. He was a demon and a demon's emotions, no matter how pure they were, ran deep. So deep in fact, that nothing could stop them once they started. "Curse this place..." he mumbled lowly as he sat there, knees hugged up to his chest. Anything, even being torn apart by an angel would be better than feeling this.

Cecilia looked over he understood now. She had been with him for sixteen years and humans grew attachments not to mention she had sworn under the contract to always be there, to always protect him. She looked at Shuen as they walked in and she finally set Keyon down as he began walking having regained enough of himself to be able to walk on his own.

Keyon looked at him not sure what was up with Shuen now, having no idea that he was jealous and hated Cecilia because of there contract because of there bond. Because he called to her without a second thought when he was in danger or scared and she came.

Keyon looked at Shuen. "You wanted to talk."He said having found his center he looked at Shuen not sure what else to think at the moment.

Shuen looked up at Keyon and frowned. What was the point? Keyon was obviously not interested in him or anything that he had to offer. He was wrong and it hurt. Was this supposed to happen? Was a demon supposed to love anything or anyone? "What's the point? You're not even interested in being here....." he said lowly in defeat.

He had wanted what he couldn't have. He reached for the sun and only got burnt. Even so...He couldn't stop himself. He had to at least look. So, despite his hurt, he raised his head again to stare up at Keyon, his eyes reflecting his inner pain.

Keyon looked at him, not sure why it hurt Shuen so much was it because he couldn't handle the idea of being used? What was it that bothered him so. He looked at him. "If I didn't want to be here I wouldn't be, I would have left by now. You wanted to talk so we'll talk." he said coolly finding his center again he wasn't sure why Shuen was so very upset he hardly knew the man the demon.

Keyon looked at him and held out his gloved hand to the man sitting there. "How long do you intend on sitting on the floor surely it can't be that comfortable." he said simply looking at him.

He would not give up Cecilia, but at the same token he wasn't the sort to just cast another aside. And right now just like Cecilia tended to, Shuen looked more human then demon at the moment. Was that what happened to demons who spent a long time in the human world? Did they learn how to become human how to actually feel?

Shuen turned his head away, not wanting to touch him, yet wanting to touch him. Not wanting to look at him and yet his heart ached when he looked away. He had gotten himself in this mess so many years ago when he first saw the Queen's young nephew. Now look at him....he was burning with desire to look, to touch....but he couldn't or risk Keyon screaming in terror. He felt himself frowning down at the floor as he thought about it.

"You don't want to be here, other wise you would not be so blind...." he said lowly in bitterness before he stood up and pushed past Keyon and walking on through the seemingly empty warehouse. It wasn't that he was upset with Keyon, it was just that he wanted Keyon to see it for himself, to remember him from that time.

Eighteen years ago in the snow. He had been about 4 when Shuen first saw him. The boy singing so happily as he ran along in the snow and telling how happy he was that his papa would be home for Christmas this year. Shuen hadn't been overly interested in the child at first, but when the boy had wandered into the woods and gotten himself lost, he had been the one to find the child huddled in the snow and shivering.

When Shuen had approached him in his wolf form, the boy didn't shy away from him, instead he reached his hands out and felt of his ears and asked him lowly, "Did you know that papa is coming home for Christmas this year doggy?" Those tiny hands had been all it took. Without giving it a second thought, he had put the kid on his back and took him back to his home and watched from the darkness as his parents hugged him and cried over him. And once he had been done, he turned and walked back towards the woods.

Keyon narrowed his eyes and followed after him perhaps a bit too stubborn for his own good. He walked after Shuen not knowing what the big deal was, Not realizing they had met once long ago in the past. All he did know was that he didn't like the way this one was suddenly seeming to blow him off. Perhaps he was very spoiled but it irritated him to no end. Keyon followed him and Cecilia followed Keyon.

He walked up and into the room not knowing what the big deal was the other had refused to take his hand and said that he didn't want to be there or he woulnd't be so blind. What was that supposed to mean anyways? If he didn't want to be there he wouldn't stay there, he had things now he wanted to know namely what this one's deal was. He acted like he knew him but surely if he did Keyon would know him but he was sure he had never met him before. He had no idea that it was before then, before he lost his parents and his honor, before he was stripped brutally of his innocence and made his contract with Cecilia who took there place in bringing him up. In taking care of him. He had no idea that his connection to Shuen was from a time when he was still an innocent boy who believed in the good and purity of the world around him. "What is it with you? One moment your acting like you want to eat me alive the next you act like you can't stand the sight of me." Keyon said following behind him he was not used to this at all. Nomrally if someone wanted something they persued it to the end but Shuen was walking away from him.

Cecilia mentally sighed this was what made humans such interesting creatures when Shuen wanted him to come closer he pulled away and now when Shuen wanted to put distance he drew closer it was perhaps the oddities of humanity that they wanted what they didn't have.

Shuen came to an abrupt halt and turned on his heel to glare at Keyon. "What is it with me? The better question is, what is it with you?" he asked coolly. "Why can you not just leave well enough alone? You keep pushing and pushing..." he said harshly, his tone slowly coming back to the cold ice that it had been to start with.

But soon, that coldness melted away as he began to speak about that time. "I saw him...I saw a boy who was lost and alone in the snow eighteen years ago. He asked me happily, despite the cold, 'Did you know that papa is coming home for Christmas doggy?' Without really thinking, I took him home to them...and watched as they cried and hugged him and told him how very much they had missed him...how much they loved him..."

But after a few minutes of silence, he looked back up at Keyon and frowned. "He hadn't been the slightest bit afraid of me then...so...where is he now? Don't you dare try to tell me that he has died....because...all I see is the fact that his kindness has turned to another...."

Keyon looked at him. Regarded him quietly a moment. "I don't know him anymore. You say I am kind to her....." he looked back at Cecilia and then to Shuen. "About as kind is to one's servant I suppose." he looked at him and closed his eyes shaking his head.

"I.....can't remember it clearly anything before.......a certain time. All that I remember is a series of events and what comes after it. I can't remember anything then." Keyon sighed and turned shaking his head. "And if your that upset that I turn towards her it's because she's the only one who came when I screamed for help....in that one moment when I needed it the most." Keyon said and turned to walk down the stairs. "Let's go Cecilia there is nothing else to be done here."

He walked down the steps towards the exit with Cecilia following behind him. She said nothing as she walked with him down the steps, she walked with him glancing back over her shoulder at Shuen to fall in love....something almost unheard of among there kind and yet not just her it seemed but Shuen as well loved this foolish boy she could have allowed it at any time. Could have allowed him to die failed to get there not warned him because he had not asked of the dangers and claimed in him checkmate but she had something of an 'unhealthy obession' when it came to Keyon. She didn't want anything to happen to him. She had fallen in love with the fragile child she saved and stayed by his side would she feel the same had the situation been reversed she didn't know.

Shuen closed his eyes and felt it, felt the warm wetness fall down his face. Was he...crying? He opened his eyes and placed his fingers to the warm salt-water and pulled it away to look at the droplets that was on his fingers. "Stupid....stupid....stupid!" he repeated until his voice had finally rose into what could be considered a scream for Shuen as he cried.

"Master....wouldn't let me....master is so cruel....he....refused to let me go....its....not my fault...." he said lowly as he cried. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Not my fault at all!"

Keyon continued to walk down the steps and out. He didn't look back as Shuen hollared stupid. He had learned long ago that the only one who would come if he needed help was Cecilia. Other then her he was alone no one came, not the guards of the royal family, in fact they acted like they didn't even know that they ended up missing and were truly 'sorry' for his loss.

Keyon walked out of the warehouse and back towards central London to return to his carriage and go home. He'd had enough of East End, enough of all of it. Shuen asked where that boy went who embraced everything so warmly? He dissappeared in order to survive he changed and adepted and burried his heart behind his mind behind his logical thought. He walked towards the carriage hearing the click of Cecilia's heels. He didn't go back because in this world he learned the hard way being Duke of Kingsland being a Kingsland the Queen's Cat meant that he could not be soft if he was.....there were those out there who would seek to crush him. He wasn't about to loose to them or anyone else. He watched as Cecilia moved to open the door to the carriage and still he didn't look back although part of him felt bad that Shuen was hurting the way he was he kept his head held high. If he went back there would be a weakness in him and that would cause him more harm then good.

In this game of Chess in real life he was the black king Cecilia was one of his pawns as was soo many others and one didn't look back when there pawn was upset. And although Shuen wasn't his persay he could not spare him that move. He knew that as easily as he knew that those who wished him harm were always watching.

Once he was inside the carriage and Cecilia as well the drive paused to wait for the traffic to clear to let them head back to the Estate he was done here......

Keyon leaned back against the coushined seating and looked off towards East End frowning for anyone who saw him it would look like he didn't like the answers he got and while part of him wanted to go check up on Shuen......the man who knew he could not afford even that much weakness made him stay where he was.

Cecilia looked at him and sat there regarding him quietly. 'And so your throne of sorrow continues to build Young Master....how long before your crown falls and crumbles and even then I will stay by your side.......the question is now what move will you make Shuen.......will you prove him right that there is no one who will come to help him or will you prove him wrong.......' she thought as she sat there quiet.

Even as the tears fell, he didn't run after him. Keyon hadn't wanted him, and he understood that now. He would be good and stay in the place where his master had put him. He would not disobey...no matter how badly his heart hurt, no matter how badly he wanted to scream, he wouldn't give his master the satisfaction.

"I'm done here too...." he whispered lowly as he slowly, numbly stood up and turned, walking out of he warehouse and past the carriage. He was hurting, but that hurt had slowly fallen away to numbness, nothingness. If he wasn't wanted, wasn't needed....

He would find a place to go, even if he were a demon....he would die the same as anything else.

The carriage began moving slowly through the crowded streets it's paths slow and while Keyon just wanted to go home he looked over at Cecilia who looked neither bemused or annoyed she simply looked netural.

"Is something bothering you Cecilia?" Keyon asked bluntly as she seemed to be looking out the carriage window at something.

"Bothering me Young Master that would imply that I have emotions." Cecilia said looking over at him before looking back she didn't deny something was on her mind but didn't confirm it either.

"Don't be stupid Cecilia it doesn't suit you. Something is bothering you and yes Demon's have emotions." Keyon said annoyed.

"Indeed we do, although we do usually tend to control them a bit better." She said coyly.

"That still has not answered my question....Cecilia do not lie to me." Keyon said and she looked at him.

"Even a demon can commit sucidial actions and want to die Young master. Even a demon's heart can break." Cecilia said and he frowned looking at her. Keyon reached up and rapped on the carriage making the driver stop as he opened the door and climbed out with Cecilia a step behind.

"Find him Cecilia. Only an idiot throws there live away.......I don't care if it's a spider webs thread in the darkness you grab on and hold on using it to get what you need." Keyon said in a cross tone.

"Yes, My Lord." she said in a low sultry tone as she turned and moved to find him with Keyon in tow following his Housekeeper but right now she was acting as more of a guard dog. Her sense of smell keen enough to be able to pick out Shuen and follow after him.

Shuen had went to the one place that he knew he could die. He had went willingly to an angel and simply dropped down to his knees and looked up at him telling him lowly, numbly, "I'm done...you can have whatever you want from me...."

He had been so tired before it had even began. He felt heavy, yet weightless at the same time. He had watched with empty eyes as the angel smirked and brought up a hand to cup the side of his face and look at him with gentle eyes. Then, he watched as the angel brought up a hand and watched as a blue glowing arrow formed in his hand.

If he was going to be forced to deal with this, if he was forced to make a choice of letting him go....Shuen chose to let everything go.

Keyon looked as they arrived in time to see it, to see the man raising a hand holding an arrow and narrowed his eyes. "Cecilia?"

She sighed. "An angel.....I can smell the rotten apples from here."

He looked at her to send her after an angel he was already past the point of no return so what did it matter? He looked back and narrowed his eyes. "Cecilia.....Checkmate."

She smirked as her eyes flashed a silvery blue. "Yes, My Lord." she said and moved flying fowards it seemed as she ran there cutlery in her hand as she flung it into the angel which shrieked and jumped backwards flinging the arrow at her and she dodged continuing to move fowards as she fought it they were both moving and jumping going airborne and fighting.

While she did that Keyon walked over and up to Shuen pulling off his white glove as he did and came to a stop before him before his hand moved before he could think better of it and slapped him hard. Narrowing his eyes. "And what did you hope to gain by dying? The only thing death would gain you is becoming nothing to me a passing moment." he narrowed his eyes as he glared at him. "I don't care if it's nothing more then a spiderweb's thread you hold onto it and pull yourself back out. The only things one can truly loose can never be regained no matter how hard one screams kicks and begs." he said ignoring the sounds of battle never mind that unless Cecilia took her true form killing the angel would be a pain, but.......she had been given an order and she would forfill it.

Shuen didn't look up at him. He had no right to look now. He didn't say anything. He didn't feel anything, didn't know anything. He didn't want this, didn't want to keep going when it hurt so bad. No demon deserved this cruelty from the master.

But finally, he looked up at Keyon, looking so broken and defeated. He shouldn't look, but he had no choice. "I have no desire to hold onto anything...not when you have no desire to even know me...when you don't even want to look back at me...." he said lowly, sadly and let his gaze fall back down to the ground.

"Death for me would mean that you forgot me....so...it would be better that way...to forget the one who let you down when you needed them the most....to forget the one who was forced to watch as you were soiled and then saved by the one who they hated more than anything....to forget the one who nearly let you die...." he said as he looked down at the ground that he was sitting on.

"Things would be better for you if I were gone..."

Keyon looked at him. Regarded him quietly. But paused when Cecilia was thrown to the ground and narrowed his eyes. "I believe I gave you an order Cecilia...."

"You did." She agreed and stood. "And for that reason I must ask that you not turn, not look upon me. It would be unsightly for the housekeeper of the Kingsland Estate to be seen in such a state." Cecilia said and he nodded.

"I will not turn." Keyon said looking at Shuen and narrowed his eyes. He shook his head not looking as she took her true state and moved to fight the angel the fight was fierce and dark but he didn't look back at her. His gaze remained looked on Shuen.

What are you stupid?" Keyon said lookin gat him and shaking his head. "If you want to mean something more to me then be there. Running away solves nothing. I don't know why you hate Cecilia, nor do I particullarly care that's her problem not mine. If you want to mean something else to me then be something else."

Shuen closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes...I am stupid...I will not try to deny that..." he said lowly. And it was true. Shuen, like the other demons, was his masters dog. He had been kept uninformed and left to bathe in his ignorance.

"There is no way for me to be there when all you count on is her...she is the one you look to...I have no place among your sight," he said lowly and opened his eyes only to look up at Keyon sadly. "I am useless to you."

Keyon looked at him as the sound of the explosion behind him echoed in the air. Cecilia had killed the angel per his orders and stood there looking at her torn skirt and jacket sighing she would have to mend that when they got back how annoying. She had already shifted back and looked over she was a bloody mess but never the less she had done as ordered.

Keyon shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "You are an idiot to decided what I do and do not need." he said as he narrowed his eyes. "If it's simply you don't want to be where she is that is up to you. But she stays. Wither or not you come is up to you. But in case you didn't notice I'm HERE because some idiot was about to go and get himself killed." He said a bit harshly. "And the dead are useless."

Shuen closed his eyes and sighed, standing up and turning to walk away. "In case you haven't realized...I am dead...all demons are dead....we have sold our souls to work for our master....therefore we are dead," he said bluntly as he put his hands in his pockets and opening his eyes to look back at Keyon.

"I did not ask you to come and save me...I didn't ask you to remove her...I didn't even ask you to look at me...all you're doing is getting yourself buried farther and farther into a hole that you will never be able to escape from...." he said and turned, starting to walk away.

It wasn't that he wasn't happy that Keyon came back for him, but....at the same token....Keyon was too stubborn or too blind to see that what he had needed was kind words. All Keyon was doing now was driving Shuen farther away.