4Author's Note: While Fioni and his story are products of my twisted thoughts, the elf Jachin and his son Mikal belong to the ever awesome Pip, who gave her consent to their mention in this story. Thank you.
Soft steps pattered on the wooden floor, quickly with very little care towards discretion. Still, there was little chance of being overhead when the wind howled outside the window, rattling the glass panes and the very house they were fitted into. Suddenly, lightning lit the sky, and a child's face was briefly illuminated, ruffled mop of black hair atop his head before a great peal of thunder struck the air, elicited a cry of dismay and running footsteps beat across the wooden floor.
"Dad! Dad!"
A childish frame of 4'2" slammed against another, taller body, and both males nearly went tumbling, but strong, pale hands grasped the boy, and caught himself on the frame of the doorway. "Whoa, there!" The man spoke, and crouched to meet the boy's level, pale hands still holding gently the child's shoulders. To say 'pale', however, would be a misuse of the word. Why…the word pales in comparison. The man's soft skin was a whiter shade of pale, flesh made of moonbeams and just as gentle in texture. There was an element of that same gentleness (as well as that sort of fae trait) in his eyes, but there nothing so pure and innocent as white, no…the man's eyes were as red as freshly-spilled blood, the crimson of an evil sin. Such eyes were framed by bone-white locks, short and tousled, as if awoken from sleep just a moment before. These kind eyes of sparkling ruby hue were a most intriguing opposite to the obsidian orbs set within the child's round face. The boy's hair was neither white, but a black as pure as Night's shade, and his skin had the color and warmth of marble, pale but not ghostly. It was hard to imagine this man and this boy as a father and son, but blood bound them in such ties, and the man's love for the child could not – and would not – be denied. Still, there was a playful twinkle to his love that night.
"You weren't scared, were you, Aricin?" Fioni questioned, doubt layered on exaggeratingly upon his tone. The boy – Aricin – at once shook his head.
"I wasn't scared!" He proclaimed, when a thunder cracked the air in two outside their cabin walls. The boy jumped into his father's embrace, his black eyes wide with fright. "Um…"
"You were coming to hear that story I promised you, weren't you?" Fioni offered a lopsided grin, his arms forming a warm, protective cocoon around the child. Aricin nodded, a smile flaring briefly on his lips, and Fioni nodded. "Up we go." He murmured as he hefted his son into his arms, settling him against his hip as the demon lengthened himself to his full height of 5'9". Aricin accommodated himself and settled his head in the crook of Fioni's shoulder, linking his hands around his neck. As the older demon walked down the hallway to his room, a bushy-haired head appeared, locks flame red and green eyes blinking away the sleep in them.
"S'Mikal?" The elf murmured, asking after the other child who was blessedly sleeping through the storm in his own bed.
"It's Aricin. Back to bed, Jachin." Fioni advised and the red-haired elf nodded drunkenly and turned back to his own room, leaving the two demons to find refuge in Fioni's. The child leapt up and promptly sunk into the downy quilts, Night black eyes closed in a sense of relief as the scent of his father flooded his nose, and wrapped around him snugly. It was the scent of most comfort to him in the world, for his father was a grand man of kindness and wonder. He was a great protector made of earth and stone, as firm and eternal as the mountains – or like the stars above that Aricin so often so his father gazing at. Fioni, meanwhile, nudged the child back to reality as he wiggled in beside him, pulling up the covers over their chilled bodies, son nestled against father in a cocoon of love and protection.
"So! What story would you like?" Fioni asked brightly, his gaze steady and confident in the black dark. "We could have the one of…The Cat and the Moon, or perhaps Green Skies, Blue Grass? I don't think we finished that one…" Fioni looked down back at his son, who sat thoughtful and quiet. The fair-haired kerrazi was perceptive, and waited quietly as Aricin built up the courage to ask his question; one Fioni could already predict.
"Can…can you tell the story about, about Mom? About my mother?" He asked, his voice light with trepidation and his black eyes flying upwards to plead with the scarlet ones that rolled away from him in consideration.
"Again? Well…" Fioni trailed off, and Aricin sensed weakness.
"Oh, please, Da? Oh please, oh please, oh please, please, please, please, please—"
Fioni laughed. "Alright, alright! Enough begging from you, mister, and maybe then I can get on with my story, hm?" Aricin grinned happily in victory and nestled in closer to Fioni, folding perfectly against his father's strong and gentle form while Fioni gazed off into the distance, blood-red eyes looking past the heavy drapes and envisioning the stormy sky. "It had been a night quite like this one, with rain falling down in sheets from the heavens and your Da and Uncle Jachin stuck inside, with nothing better to do than to wait…or in your uncle's case, sleep…
…Little did the demon wonder what might be held in store for him, little did he suspect what traveled beneath the stormy night without a drop of wet to tell the tale. All he thought of, really, was that it was horridly cold, and his hands might be too frozen to heat some water for tea. Still, the pale-skinned individual strived to breathe life into the flames in the chimney, the bright fire illuminating his ghostly appearance. Red eyes satisfied with the effort, he stood from where he'd knelt, and wrapped the blanket a bit closer to himself, one pale arm reaching out from beneath the quilted armor to swing the tea kettle into the fire in the hopes of a drink to revive the warmth in his flesh. Still, the cabin was cozy and Fioni turned, pausing to admire the quiet life he'd been gifted with.
Perhaps quiet wasn't the operative word, thought Fioni wryly, as he heard the snores permeating from the cabin walls. One would've thought it was Syrrus causing all that racket, rolling in His sleep beneath the ground. Still, that sound was comfort at its best and Fioni sat down on the couch, tucking his feet in under him and sighed in contentment. As he felt his eyes growing heavier, he thought: That's all it would take now, for me to fall asleep and have…the tea bo…bo…yaaawn…boil over…ZzZzZzZzzzz…
Fioni awoke with a startling abruptness. It was not often that the predatory side of the moon child surfaced, but there was certainly something bestial in his scarlet eyes. The fire had been blown out and the tea kettle had long since cooled; why? Fioni lithely slipped off the couch, the blanket peeling away from his shoulders, and immediately the demon realized why, for the door seemed to have been opened, left wide ajar. Stray leaves lay scattered on the floor just inside, and for a moment, Fioni strained to listen for something, because it was far too quiet (hadn't it been raining?) and there was something wrong with that…stillness. Then the familiar sound of a snore pushed him back from sanity's edge, letting him draw a full breath and refill his mind with other thoughts. Jachin was a scream away should there be anything out there that Fioni couldn't handle, although… If there was something out there that could outmatch a Demon Lord, there would be little the elf could do.
Regardless, Fioni's oiled and silent gait carried him to the opened door, one pale hand resting on the sturdy wood. The wind breathed over and across his moonlit skin, the hue of which was startlingly similar to the moonlight that fell outside, on his porch, flitting across the wet grass. Fioni took another step out, his bare feet pressing quietly against the wooden floor, toes splayed out like claws. However still the night was, however his ears might be deceived, his scarlet eyes were not so beguiled. Out in the wood, the rain continued to fall, dripping past the canopy and down to the forest floor below. It seemed so still because the rain failed to fall on the cabin's roof…directly over the cabin. Fioni took another step out, letting his arm fall back to his side as he turned his crimson gaze upward. The clouds had parted just that much, and moonlight streamed down through that opportune opening. A full moon; which meant that…
Fioni…
Crimson eyes blinked as the breath in his lungs froze, his sudden footsteps bringing him fully out of the house and down the front steps…when an abrupt thwak! made the white demon jump and whirl back, only to see that the door had been violently shut behind him.
Fioni…Fioni…
The call now more urgent, Fioni turned his scarlet eyes back to the forest beyond, his heart debating this summons and the overwhelming sense that he would be walking into a trap should he obey. Why would She lay a trap for him? He considered this carefully. She had always, if a bit naively, done what was best for him, had protected him; had even been fierce about it at times. Fioni had never had any fear for his immortal Mother. So, the question remained…
Why this nagging sense of dread?
…Fioni…Fioni…
The call was fading, and the demon's curiosity and worry won him over, pushing him forward. Bare feet flew down the steps and nimbly into the muddy ground but no rain fell on him, only the moonlight that forged a clear path ahead of him. Obviously, someOne felt the need to make very sure he knew his way. A white ghost in the white moonlight…only two bright stars of ruby red gave notion to the life burning inside this phantom.