Retrieval of the Lost [Kristopher]

[Naelona Ezel]

It was night and the halls were silent. Slaves, both healing and the dying, rested in these passageways. It was a place where healing came to some and only death visited others. A boogie could be seen as either of this. Some came to recover what they lost, others sought to make one's hope for recovery lost completely. Things were lost and lost was found and many - very much like her thoughts - were absent altogether. There was merely one thing she had came here for, and it wasn't her reason or her sense that had been leading her either.

The bruising on her back was healing at it's own slow pace but it still looked terrible. The muscles were knotted and as sore as ever but there was nothing that could be done for that. Even so Naelona felt them pull whenever she had to stand straight, turn her head, or lift anything of reasonable weight. Odd how sometimes it took an injury - even a largely superficial one - to realize how interconnected the body was with itself. Even proper attire for under dresses such as bodices and stays were impractical, the flesh was still too tender, but there were pertinent things to be done.

Very important, needed things to be done.

Striding down the halls Naelona's footfalls fell swift yet silently with their own determined venture. Her chest was pounding unusually, though most likely set from her brisk pace. Words and matters from the past several weeks had been brewing in her mind for far too long. Soaked in worry and coated by fatigue, now that she was home it was the only matter in the forefront of her mind. Her slave had been gone, missing, vanished with nothing but a pool of blood to leave behind. Another slave had been sent to find him and then... she had vanished instead.

It had been what, nearly a month now? Naelona didn't know how Kristopher was fairing. Anolean had said the boy was alive, but 'alive' didn't always mean much in Wonderland. Yes, the boy meant a lot to her. Yes, he meant much more than she was willing to admit, and more than was healthy but that was beyond the point. The fact resided that to her, he was still missing and despite everything she was.. still she needed him.

Reaching the appointed door the Ezel hesitated, pausing at the door and wiping off her hand upon a cloth. Was he even alright? With her dreams she could easily imagine every mangled, scarred, mutilated appearance her Kristopher might have. Some thoughts made her hand hesitate at the handle, but more only egged her on. She had to know, she had to see. For once, Naelona needed to put this matter to rest.

Silently the handle twisted and door opened with a soft protest of the hinges. The floor was slightly warped and a smell of blood, bandages, and medicine wafted out. In the depths of the room was a bed, and on that bed was a blond boy buried in blankets and bandages like wrappings upon his feeble form. Shutting the door silently behind her, a strange pang twisted itself sharply between her lungs. Naelona quietly stepped to the side and for once she found.. she couldn't move any closer.

[Kristopher Roberts]

Silence as golden in the hospital, if not a treasure in itself. Too often was it filled with the screams and cries of the dying and injured. It was perhaps the one place in Wonderland where a human, sick or dying, could find peace and rest. No one made a sound and no human was out and about this night, not even the nurses that choose to stay out late in the hours.

The hospital was eerily silent much like one of its occupants. The blond human known as Kristopher Roberts rested in his small room. It was nothing special and kept as warm as it could in the old hospital. The young male had gone through many ups and downs in his life, from being born to an abusive family to finding a way to escape it. He had been sent to the Labyrinth as a child and been taken care of like a well loved pet. Yet, his health never improved but he worked hard.

Maybe, that was what kept him in the company of his Mistress, the fact that he survived all his trials and tribulations, thus far. He had not seen his madam in sense he had been recovered, nor has he seen his loved one in sometime. It was to be expected really, with everything that had happened between them, though Kristopher believed everything would eventually iron out and life would return to normal, or rather as normal would get.

His body was weak still, though for a change he was healing like a normal human being. His arm rested in a thick cast on his chest, his head bandage had been changed and replaced with a square patch instead. Few cuts and bruises remained on his person, his legs still weak but strong enough to hold him up for a limited amount of time.

His blond hair had grown longer, he had not been able to have his hair trimmed and so it was braided loosely, coming to rest a few inches below his shoulder. His small feline rested in the corner of the bed, sleeping soundlessly. Only the feline reacted to the door being open as Naelona crossed the threshold for the first time. The feline yawned once and went back to sleep, giving the boogie not even a second thought.

Though, Kristopher slept on and the only action he did was turn his head to the side, causing his long curled bangs to fall over his eyes. The young man looked much like the angel he did when he as but a boy, though now aged with time. However, his time would eventually be frozen forever in only a year from now if that.

[Naelona Ezel]

How many times had it been she had seen the boy like this? In bandages, bed, and ill. The winter was just a big open invitation to every trial that might try to take sweet time away from the boy's life. Everything seemed to try so hard, nothing seemed to succeed. Naelona would often say it was her who kept him alive. She kept breath in his lungs, strength in his legs and consciousness in his head.. that she never lost a bet.. never lost her bet-child because of who she was... she was Naelona Ezel. The dice bent to her will and throws. She might say even the lives of slaves suspended themselves at her word.. but it wasn't quite true. Her fierce will, that determination and absolute resolve that seemed to carry so many things seemed to have turned.

It carried her instead.

Slowly she crossed the room, the space from the door to the bedside seeming further than it was. It took forever to reach his bedside, yet once she was there once more stillness stole her limbs. His hair needed to be trimmed badly, his arm was bandaged and so was his head. A glance over shown the boy had been through quite an ordeal, but he was also recovering, healing, surviving.. like he always had.

Pale fingers finally reached out over past the kitten Kender and briefly touched the boy's cheek. They traced lightly from the bandage about his head to down across his cheek, back along the side of his jaw to his ear, his neck, and ending their path upon his hair resting on some snarled locks. They could need to be taken care of.. but gently. Naelona took a needed breath and sat lightly upon the edge of the bed, balling one hand into a fist to rest upon her lap.

There was so much she wanted, so much needed, so much.. felt. She wanted to scoop him up from the bed and hold him in her arms, steal him away from this entire mess that had become fallen upon them. How.. painful to consider she may have to do the very opposite. Biting her lip her gaze fell from the little angel to the sleeping feline with a wince. He had good company here. True some were out after him, but some were working to keep him safe all the same.

The boogie woman gently picked up one hand of the sleeping child, petting the back of if it calmly, placing a light kiss upon his hand. She was content to just hold his hand gently in her lap for the time being, not coming in contact with the child in any other way. Perhaps she should leave.. resolve this finally.. but a glance wilted what resolve she had to leave yet. The boogie had no real words or way to explain what the boy meant to her. In ways he seemed as vital as food or rest. A horrible combination.

"K-Kristopher..?" Naelona ventured softly. Even her quiet tones seem loud and harsh against the silence. "..will you wake?" She asked, squeezing his hand gently. Maybe it would be alright to continue this.. for just a little while.

[Kristopher Roberts]

If it was Naelona that kept him alive or his own will power, it would forever be unknown. Kristopher was a fighter, though he might not be strong physically, he made up for it with his will and mind. Sometimes he made the wrong choices and strayed from a path, but he was human and that was bound to happen. Though, eventually, he turned back to the correct path and kept on going.

Though now his road was shady, he had no idea where to turn and what road to take. So much had happened in his life recently that it was hard to see what he should do, how he should proceed. His eye had been brutally removed, then replaced with something that would mark him as being different from everyone.

He had been hurt by someone dear to him and what made it truly worse is that it had been a human being, someone he deeply cared for since Corvus. It was the first time he had been physically and mentally harm him since the time he lived in the human world. His faith had been shaken, but his love remained for that person, even if it was questioned.

He had been taken away from that person as well as his master, and family. Shoved in a cold, dark place without sound or light for weeks. He barely ate anything then, he had troubles discerning what was real and what had been a hallucination at one point. Soon after, he started to lose faith in himself and others, his will to live had been attacked. He had almost gave up and died in that cell where there had been no hope of aid or survival. Nonetheless, he had survived and had his faith restored.

It was all too much for a single human to handle and so he blocked it away, put it out of his mind and thoughts. It was the only way he could survive anymore, to turn a blind eye on whats happened to him. Sometimes, he wished he never was allowed out of his Mistress room and at times he was thankful he had been. He was given a chance to experience the world, no matter how cruel it had been to him. Sometimes the world was sweet though, delivering him a family, a pet, and a loved one, as well as a twin. Funny how things worked...

His slumber was being disturbed now, he barely could feel the hand touching his face and the weight of his bed changing. Slowly, his brain was becoming active and before long his ears finally seemed to come on. Slowly, his red and green eye fluttered open tiredly. His head turned to see what was in his room, speaking to him and holding his hand.

It took him a long moment to even gather what was in his room. His eyes threatened to close and send him back into darkness until he noticed how pale the figure was before him. At first, he thought maybe it was his brother, Augusta or Zeke. But it was neither of them.

The hair was far to familiar, the pale appearance was burned into his memory. Even if he wanted to forget, he never could. Before him sat the woman that took him away from his abusers, sure she wasn't much better at times but she showed a caring streak in her, unlike his own mother. This woman was always there for him, for better or for worse, she was his shadow as he was her own. Some might of even thought at one time the two couldn't be without the other. One human had once compared her to the darkness and himself as the light, constantly together and constantly fighting for their rightful place.

"So," he said slowly with sleep clinging to his tongue, "you haven't abandon me after all...?" Yes, it had been a thought that had went through his fair head more then once. It was the only reason he could come up with for why Naelona never came for him, never sent Mar to him. She must have finally given up on him, leaving him to fiend on his own or to die where he laid, for all it took was a simple word from her and his life would be terminated.

[Naelona Ezel]

The boogie squeezed his hand a little more when he finally stirred and opened his mis-matched eyes. Those alone invoked a flood of thoughts.. what Naelona had done for him was a controversial move. It was a trick stashed away within the Ezel line, something reserved for boogies and others of noted importance.. Kristopher by far wasn't the first to ever recieve such a treatment, but he was probably the most questionable.

One eye was as green as the eyes of the small child she'd taken. An emerald sort of green, often wide and fearful of it's surroundings. It was as green as the other was red.. red her father's roses.. red like blood upon the hallway floor. Red like the drops so often shed from the boy in one form or another. She had changed him. Given him a boogie's eye.. It was probably blasphemy in many a boogie's mind, but she hadn't considered such a thing at that time. Naelona hadn't even cared.

There was so much she knew of this child. She knew the reason behind the placement of nearly every tattoo, and the decisions behind what type for many of them. The most notable scars she could either recall why she placed them upon him, or who did if she hadn't, and what'd happened to that individual for it. She knew the work and strains she had put him through, and the strains his own body had put upon himself as he'd grown from a small boy to the slave he was now. Even down to his gentle hands and the scars that knicked them..

Picking up his hand she kissed it gently, holding it within her own hand close to her heart. The fabric felt softer than usual, lacking the stays it usually had, but all the easier to feel the beat of a heart. Even of a devious monster of the night.

"No..." Her voice sounded weak, and broke in odd places. "..I haven't ah-.." She couldn't abandon him quite like this, in this state, in her state. "..I haven't." Looking to the child the weak light played strange tricks at the edge of her eyes. The corners of her mouth upturned ever so faintly, but he would probably still notice them as she rested her other hand upon his arm, feeling the soft skin, yet holding onto him tightly.

"I'm.." No, 'it' would be a better word to use. It was more distant, as things should be. "..I am just.. glad.. to see you are still alive." The word tasted strange upon her tongue, but she would let it stay in the air. "H-have you been.. here long.. child..?" Had he even known she'd been gone? Something about the thought bothered her immensely, but what little she knew of Kristopher's state bothered her more.

[Kristopher Roberts]

Some world consider his eye a curse, even his own lover had issues accepting it when it was first received. Though Kristopher accepted it easily enough, it gave him back his proper vision. Vision he was now terrified of losing, his eyes had become treasured to him now, much like the tattoos on his body.

Each one had a meaning, each a shape he found attractive and bold. It hid his past, some he could no longer face, while others he could. He had stopped getting tattoos a year ago. Though now his skin thirst for the ink that was so soothing to him. It was his way of dealing with pain and suffering, though it had become a strange obsessions. He fought the urge to stay away from the needle, it would do him more harm then could in his current state.

His tired eyes started to become focused, his mind becoming alert to things around him as well as to his hand held so close to his masters heart. He said nothing about it for it didn't bother him in the least. He was comfortable with Naelona, one of the few people he could say that about. She knew everything about him, how he grew, his sorrows, sufferings, achievements, dreams and desires. She knew him inside out, after all, in a strange light she raised him.

He smiled softly at her, his hand twitching only once with the beat of her heart, as if it was proving a heart did exist within that chest. Kristopher noticed the twitch of her lips, a rare thing that she did but it always made her appear eerily beautiful when she did. It gave her an awkward human appearance that amused him to some degree.

"I survive." A small chuckle escaped his lips that seemed to be far to loud in the empty room. Surviving, it was what he did best in this life and so it should be no surprise to her that he lived. However, it was good to hear that she was happy to see him breathing, it brought peace to his troubled heart.

His face fell slowly as his mind pondered an answer but he had none to really give. "I've been here for sometime, I'm not sure on the days. But I will take a fair guess and say a week or two." He paused and looked towards his bedroom door. "I've just recently been able to get around. I should...be able to leave soon and be of some use to you." Eventually.

His eyes trailed back to her now, staring at her with a question he wanted to ask so badly. Where had she been all this time? Why hadn't she come to his side like she had so many times in the past, if not to if he lived, then to at least scold him. He knew better then to ask, it wasn't his place and so, he kept the words down and smiled again.

"At least I haven't fallen into any plants." A poor attempted at a joke of his childhood, it was all he could think to say to his Madam. Sadly, his clothing meet a worse fate beyond repair.

[Naelona Ezel]

Nodding faintly Naelona brushed her lips against the back of his fingers, but did nothing more. "You do survive." Indeed he was either the most blessed or cursed being there was, though about now Naelona wondered if it actually was Kristopher who was blessed or cursed, and not herself for all this. It seemed the older he became, the more that happened.. the greater the toll it took upon her. Did he even realize it was his own actions that'd spurned her 'absence' the former year?

Maybe he'd had a chance to mull things over in the past week as she had.

"It has been a week, at least." Naelona intoned, thinking back what days she had been gone, and how much longer before then that Augusta had gone in search of the boy. "Do not worry of being of service to me." That pang in her chest only strengthened at the words. "..Elric has been assigned to most of your duties, and continues to do so. The more taxing ones, at least." At least the tall boy could heat and fill a tub in decent time now. Even so there some tasks he would never be assigned. They would always remain solely for Kristopher. "..just rest and heal. I will be awaiting your return."

Each word, each wish and whim seemed like just another jab.. another twist. The fact alone that Kristopher was alive was of use to her. Just having him within her presence was helpful to her. Didn't he realize he needn't be mobile to be of use? Even if he were confined to bed until he further healed, that would be alright. Just to know he was there, safe, and close..

Searching his face, she caught his eyes and watched them intently as only an Ezel could do. There were words behind them, something to be said. It had taken years for Naelona to learn it, but she knew when something lurked in the child's mind now. "..what are you thinking of, Kristopher?" His name was a bittersweet sound to create that stuck to the throat. Perhaps he was already picking up on his fate from her, before she even spoke a word. Did he know she couldn't keep subsisting as things were? His wounds wounded her, and many of his actions - though blindly led - only blinded her. For Naelona it seemed now he was fine, while she was struggling.

Naelona made a note from her throat that often denoted amusement. "No, no plants." Kristopher seemed to have quite the history with them, even since he was a child, the matter of Kazn aside. "I would fetch you back, if you had." Nae added mutely, brushing his skin. There were too many things she was willing to do. "Was.." the boogie had to stop and think. "..was it indeed, Aione?" Bemusement aside her voice carried a very grave tone. If it was, the girl would have to be dealt with swiftly, if not then other actions needed to be taken, but above all - none would interfere with her Kristopher any long.

[Kristopher Roberts]

"A week then?" He seemed to be thinking of something for a long moment. It had been a while since he had been stuck in bed for so long. True he often got sick but he mostly ignored his sickness and worked around as best he could but this time, that wouldn't be the case.

A golden brow arched at an amused angle, "Elric has taken on my duties? Truly, that does concern me, as strong as that man is...seeing him do more---feminine task amuses me." He could lie at that, picture Elric mending things, running water, helping Naelona bathe, dress, make meals and so much more. It was almost hard not to laugh at the idea. Kristopher wasn't one to argue very often and so he dropped the subject at hand, there was no point in rushing his recovery if Naelona did not wish him too.

It would give him more time to think of his personal matters. Unlike his Madam, most of his thoughts had been drugged induced and thus warped. There had been many things that escaped him over the years and some that have not, meaning of those having to do with the woman on his bed.

Christmas colored eyes drifted towards his madam once again once she questioned his thoughts. He stared at her for a long moment before a sigh escaped his lips. She was one person that could read him like an open book. A terrifying thing for a boogie to be able to do with a human, but also comforting in a way. It meant she cared for him and what he thought, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to voice his concern and worries. Though the choice wasn't his at the moment, Naelona wanted to hear them.

"I've merely wondered where you have been. Normally, you are one of the first people to come see me, yet this time you are the last. So I...started to grow concerned." He did not elaborate anymore then that. It was unsettling to think that someone so close to him would drop him like a sack of potato's, or worse something happened to his Madam. Most people would be overjoyed at such a thing, but that frightened the boy. Naelona Ezel treated him well enough for a slave and gave some care for him, and he was strongly attached to her. The fear of her---going away or trading him off to someone else scared him. It had happened before only once by what he considered to be an accident.

He never again wanted to be owned by anyone else but her. He wanted to stay with her, be with her for as long as his body would let him. She was on the same level with Augusta in his mind, though to what degree...he wasn't sure. He loved Augusta and with Naelona...he wasn't sure what to label it. Was it another type of love? Maybe fondness? Who could tell. Before he had turned nineteen, she was all that he ever had for most of his life and that counted for something, didn't?

A small smile touched his lips, yes, she would fetch him from the plant and probably scold him about such a thing. Plants never where kind to him oddly enough. However, his smile now dropped from his face and shattered upon the cold floor. Slowly, he withdrew his hand from her hold as his eyes moved about in uncertainty and unwillingness to recall his events.

His hand went to his hair, an automatic defense to deal with stress. The pale hand weaved in and out of the twisted curls, tugging on them lightly for the time being, he hadn't even noticed he was doing it.

"Aione..." The name tasted vile on his tongue and sent shivers down his spine as he paled at his memories. "...such a small girl. I--I--I didn't th-ink...our differences w--would go..." he stopped talking and let out a shaky sigh as he closed his eyes. His fingers curled about his locks close to his scalp.

"We n-never liked each other...I..." His voice dropped, losing the sentence he had been working on. His eyes moved towards the doorway, fearful that even having spoken of her would suddenly make her appear in the darkness.

"Where is she?" It was unclear if he was asking if she was close by or what had become of her at this point.

[Naelona Ezel]

Something shifted across her countenance at Kristopher's inquiry. The peace she had for the moment left and a look of discontent crept in instead. There were too many matters at hand concerning her absence that Kristopher did not need to know. Many matters she didn't want him to.

"I would have come, yes, but I.. I was unable to do so." Being veritably locked in a shed during a snowstorm did cut down on one's mobility. Naelona was mixed about the whole ordeal. She was caught between blaming the child for placing her in such a state to warrant arrival at such a location, or taking the blame herself for not having a better plan - a better solution to her own issues.

"I.. wasn't well, and had to be gone for a short time when you were found." Naelona bit her lip. The entire thing was unsettling, but there were some things Kristopher didn't need to know. "Anolean was able to first inform me of your state only two nights ago." There had been a considerable amount of rest to catch up on then, too. Never mind her twin wouldn't let her do much else out of concern for her fatigued well being.

Learning what had gone on during her absence was of utmost important to the boogie at the moment, especially concerning the blond. The broken contact drew a frown upon her features. It unsettled her, he was a mode of comfort, but she wouldn't press him for it. Not quite yet.

"She held disagreeance with you?" Naelona had hardly seen the child in question, lastly sending Elric to check upon her hearing the thing had fallen ill. She hadn't heard much of the slave's questionable well being after wards, save until now. Frowning, Naelona clenched her hands together within her lap. It was needful to know if the small girl had done this damage to Kristopher.

"I do not know where she is, I have only just come back." Elric could probably be sent to fetch her as before. Perhaps a word with that Augusta would prove more promising in finding the girl - or in unearthing her. "Kristopher." Naelona addressed the boy is a solemn, concerned tone. "You did not answer my question.." ..had or had it not been Aione who'd done this to him? It wouldn't pay to persue her if she wasn't the one to be sought.

[Kristopher Roberts]

His two colored eyes slowly looked towards his Madam, his hand holding his hair tightly still as he listened to her words. She would of come to him if she was able, it was comforting to know. His fear of her abandoning him was being put to rest now.

Hearing her words suddenly put a fear into his tired heart. Reaching out with his hand, he touched the side of her face carefully, as if she might be made of glass. "Ill?" He repeated softly, "Are you feeling all right? Should you not be resting if you feel unwell?" His concern showed deeply in his eyes as well as guilt. If she had been unwell and he was not there for her...then he was a horrible slave. He was supposed to take care of her and make sure everything is right for her...what if something had happened and was not there? That frightened him, if something went wrong...then what would become of him? What of her? Far too many 'What If's' for his liking.

But now his discomfort returned ten folds at the mention of Aione again. His eyes lowered once more, "Yes." He said slowly, "We never liked each other...often we had verbal arguments...and the like."

His hand dropped from Naelona's cheek to rest on top of her hand, limp without feeling. "Aione..."He wasn't sure what to say, true he hated the woman with a passion and now terrified of her...but he wasn't sure if he wanted to see her burn for everything. But a part of him wanted her too, he wanted to see her get what she deserved. It was such an odd feeling, one of pure hate.

Softly, he nodded at Naelona. "You had ordered me to stay within your room. But a knock had come and I thought maybe, my brother had come or...someone calling for you..." His voice dropped away, unable to say he was hopping Augusta had returned for him and not Vasant. He had also been nothing more then a beaten, empty shell of a man. He didn't care about anything during that time, let alone himself. "...so I went to see who it was, she was standing there. I don't remember much then...I was so...out of sorts...but I woke up to her...she had thought she killed me, until I opened my eyes, it scared her I think..."

[Naelona Ezel]

Kristopher was probably about the only being besides her own twin who could freely touch her in such a way. Sometimes even Kristopher was refused contact, but the blond boy generally had enough sense to tell when she would or wouldn't allow it. Nae shook her head gently so as not to remove his hand from her cheek. "Not that sort of ill, Kristopher."

He became so concerned so easily from mere news of her not being fine, Nae was unable to say it was from Kristopher's doing. She couldn't just tell him the reason she was unwell was because he had been gone, and so couldn't rest. That he was the cause of her deliriums, and questionable sensibilities. Taking the secret she bottled it away, hiding it within her memory not to be shared with the child. She'd forget it in time but he worried so easily.. he didn't need to become more sick by finding out all that had happened to her.

Not now, at least.

Naelona was solemn and quiet, listening to Kris tell his side of the story. "You shouldn't have left the bed.. that was the order, Kristopher. You weren't to go anywhere without me or my express permission - even to the door in the other room." Just another point to consider that perhaps the boy wasn't as good for her as she believed. She was.. in a way addicted to the slave.

His presence, absence, and fate all affected her. What would she do the next time this happened? If he was gone, left, or died? Or if he merely vanished and she never discovered his fate? It would be this entire thing all over again.. sans an ending. He had started as such a task, become a blessing, and now seemed to be his own unique curse and she was trapped in the middle of it.

"The girl.. " There was still the matter of where Kristopher had even been this whole time. Aione might have started it, but could the small thing have possibly dragged the boy away as well? Female slaves were often small, and weak. They served for very little and none of which did her sex employ. "..I searched but couldn't find you. Where were you hidden?" Someplace Naelona either didn't know, or had overlooked. Both unsettling concepts.

[Kristopher Roberts]

The young man flinched from his Madams words. It was true, he wasn't supposed to leave her room, let alone go to the door without her. Part of this was his fault and he knew it, thought at the same time it wasn't.

Before the event took place, Kristopher had retreated into the depths of his mind. He had hardly spoke to anyone for many days, he only ate when told too and doing basic chores much like a robot. Sleep was something he didn't even have the joy of having. The young man mostly just laid there, staring off into space, barely answering questions that where asked of him. Now, getting dressed was also robotic if he even could do that himself.

Having been forced to face the reality of his life thanks to Shaehern, had changed him greatly. He had realized that he was back to stage one with Vasant. He had been physically abused as well as mentally, much like what his parents had done to him. In fact, he had relived parts of his childhood with that being. The mere acceptance that he was trapped in that sick world murdered him inside, it had ripped something in the slave. That something could never be repaired. He would always be off in some way.

It had been a dangerous time for him and it caused him not to think clearly and disobey an order. He had gone to the door to see Aione without a sound mind. Kristopher slowly lowered his head in shame that he accepted. "I know, I had disobeyed you, even though I was, I suppose mentally ill at the time. I couldn't think right but that is not an excuse, I should of never disobeyed you. I have cause you much grief and trouble for my disobedience and for that...I apologize."

Kristopher grew silent for a long moment, even as Naelona asked him a question it took him a moment to gather his thoughts as he rested in his bed. "I don't know." He admitted at last, "I never saw the place I was in, even when I was allowed to see, I couldn't make anything out, though--" he paused for a moment. "I was told, I was found in the lowest level of the dungeons in the furthers cell, I suppose the last one."

[Naelona Ezel]

Hearing Kristopher apologize pained her, but even more considering he didn't even know the entire story. He didn't know of how little sleep she'd had, the destructive worry that roped even her twin into assisting her, the hallucinations and her own departure. All because of this young blond boy and the hold he had on her. It was terrible, horrible, and yet she couldn't bring herself to just discard him. She never would have even come to his side now had that been possible.

Naelona watched the boy tell what little he could recall as the scene just became more morose. Was the dungeon really where he had gone? It was deep, and had a number of twisting halls. There was hardly anyone who truly knew the entire layout.

At the same time she cursed that old promise. She never should have agreed to take care of those wretched girls in the first place. One seemed meek but the others actions proved neither could be trusted. It only reaffirmed her long standing view of females and their limited usage. There was little they could be trusted with, if at all. Things like this happened when left to their own devices.

Getting up Nae moved in closer to the slave, siding up to him where he lay against the bed and pulling him close. Wrapping her arms about him protectively she cradled him to her, pulling up her kneels to curl up beside the boy. It hurt to hear him recount these things. It shouldn't. He was just a slave. But it did.

Placing a kiss on the side of his head the boogie went back to holding him possessively. "Mine." It was difficult not to hold him too tightly. She didn't want to hurt him further, but equally felt if she held him too loosely he would just slip away in the darkness of the night. "Don't. Don't ever vanish again." She'd kill if he did, there was just no telling who.

[Kristopher Roberts]

The blond spoke no more for the time being. He merely closed his two colored eyes that marked him different from the two races that lived in this world. A small sigh escaped his lips, one of exhaustion. His eyes opened slowly as he felt his madam curl into his bed. He moved just enough automatically to make room for her small frame.

His broken arm rested on his chest as his other found its way about the middle of his owner. How strange, she was oddly warm to him, it was as if she was a heating pad. Had he gotten a fever at some point or was he really just that cold?

Slowly, he tilted his curly head down to look at his Naelona. Curiosity and concern was etched upon his tired features. However, he merely offered her a gentle smile that matched the soft kiss he received. Held protective and possessively made him feel safe in a very strange manner.

"Yes," He said in a whisper, "I am yours and that will never change." His eyes closed once again and he leaned into his pillow, thumb rubbing against the smooth fabric of her gown.

"I will not, I will try my hardest, to never disappear again as long as it is in my power to do so." But the power of a human was limited, even a gifted one such as Kristopher. "But in return, I ask that you never allow me to become lost."

[Naelona Ezel]

The boy felt unusually cool, but it was welcome to her warm body. Ills and fevers made one run warm, and his presence was like a cool cloth upon a burning forehead. She was ill.. Naelona was at least that much aware. Not by typical illness or disease, but an equally troubling cause if not worse.

His thumb against her side was such a small gesture and easily overlooked. As Kristopher settled against his pillow Naelona shifted slightly. She still held him close to her body but hid her face by his neck, clutching him tightly when he spoke. The small gesture only constricted her throat making speech difficult. He was hers. Only hers. Then how come she kept losing him? Rules and law were the only consistencies. Lives and beings all left in time - save this one couldn't make up it's mind of which direction it was going.

"Just don't, Kristopher." The words came forced as her fingers pressed possessively against his skin. The world turned to her command. Upon whichever - if she set her mind and her tongue - it happened. Why wouldn't this slave do the same? Why couldn't she? "I-I..." His one request asked so much. She never had 'allowed' him to.. it had always happened all on its own - much of his own instigation. "I-I.. I can't." For the moment the words choked her before she could get any more out.

"I have never s-strayed from you. I-it's you who have always strayed from me." His involvement with a certain slave and departure to answer a certain door came to mind. For some reason, the child always left. She could show him a path, but ultimately she could not force him to stay upon it. A bit desperately she left another brief kiss behind his jaw, just below his ear before cradling his head to hers, knotting her fingers in his hair.

He had done nothing this time, gone to no-one, stayed no-where, yet that pain was there. Like something... fracturing, or already fractured. "Do not do it again Kristopher." The words came whispered, weak, tired. "Just leave it all, please.. Just leave it." Perhaps ill was an understatement, even if much of this made her feel sickened. "Stay only mine."