Reversal of Fortune [malexmale]

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

An eerie heartbroken wail woke me up in the middle of the night.

My eyes flew open, cold sweat prickling my skin. I blinked rapidly, laying in the darkness, unmoving as I listened. A second later, another wail ripped through the air. It sounded close. Terribly close. I glanced at Yiuwa, who was somehow still asleep, with his arms around a pillow, because he'd kept trying to scoot closer through the night. So it was either hug that pillow or I was sleeping in the living room.

He'd grudgingly chose the pillow.

I sat up slowly before I slid out of bed. I rose to my feet and grabbed a loose robe, slipping it on and padding out into the hallway. I listened, but could no longer hear the wailing. It appeared to have died down and was now nothing more than sobbing. A rough hoarse sound, and I immediately knew who it was.

I went down the stairs, maneuvering easily in the dark as I made my way to the sliding doors that opened up into the backyard where an elaborate beautiful garden was splayed out before touching the thick forest beyond. Sitting on the wooden deck just outside the door was Sin. Or at least, his body was.

As soon as the doors rattled open, Sin's head snapped around and his fangs were bared. His stormy grey eyes had become red as blood, his fangs elongated, his claws extended and scratching into the wooden panels. He was wearing only a loose red yukata that wasn't properly belted, but made sense given Sin was far too large for the small thing.

"Ssh," I whispered quietly, placing a finger to my lips and I watched Sin's beast cock his head curiously. Clearly it wasn't accustomed to being approached like this, so I made sure to tread carefully. Beasts were different, just like the rest of us. And while they all shared the same childish traits, they still maintained their own personalities. This one was the first one I'd ever seen weeping.

Unrestrained tears rolled down his cheeks and fell to the floor, even as he snarled at me, as if his pain far surpassed his rage and he had no control over it. Which made sense. Beasts did not control their emotions like we did. They couldn't. They were the most primal part of our emotions. It was just who they were.

"I heard you," I said softly, closing the door behind me. Sin's beast sniffled and backed away from me, clearly out of instinct. Tenjin had tortured him. In fact, Tenjin was probably the only other person the Beast had been exposed to. Or at least, the only one that was still around anyway.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said, keeping my voice gentle and calm, and Sin's Beast curled its lip in repugnance, clearly not believing me for a second, and I found myself smiling at that, "I know, I know. You've probably heard that a lot... I have as well." The Beast gave pause at that. His lip lowered a little, his fangs retracted just a tad.

"Mind if I take a seat?" I asked. The Beast just stared.

Beasts couldn't speak like we could. They didn't use words. They used actions.

So when the Beast settled back down, I took that as an okay and came over and sat on the edge of the deck, a good few feet from him to give him space. I'd run into plenty of Beasts that hated being boxed in, and it would be no different with Sin, especially considering he was kept in a fucking cage for Source only knew how long.

The Beast turned to stare back out at the garden again. This time, his tears were silent as they continued to roll down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them anymore than we could. He was too honest about his feelings. All Beasts were.

I was reminded of the first time I'd seen Petros's Beast. I'd seen Beasts even before then, but Petros's was... special. He was unlike any Beast I'd seen before. His Beast, whom he refused to name and simply called Monster, was anything, but. At least, from what I'd seen. I'd watched Monster rip trees straight out of the ground just so he could shake the birds loose and watch them fly. I'd seen Monster attack large cats for food, or even rabbits. I'd seen him swim and hunt fish. It was rare, because Petros hated his Beast with a passion.