SEEKING REFUGE [COMPLETED]

[Sascha Stark]

He dabbed the cool cloth along the garish wounds still trickling blood, trying to fight off the waves of nausea threatening to overcome him with each subtle pulse of blood as each shallow, shuddering breath was taken. Sascha could hardly believe that this was happening, that he was staring down at Casey lying prone and bleeding, his back torn to pieces by one of his supposed Ringmates. The one Casey had often complained about being too lazy, Jonny. It left a disgusting taste in Sascha’s mouth, bile burning its way up his throat as he thought of the betrayal. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened except Casey had gone down to greet what he thought was a Fulsi Patrol, only to have him clatter through the window as a wolf some time later, bleeding profusely and shouting one word that never failed to send a shudder through him—Carna. He barely managed to pack the essentials, shoving what little food and water they had stored, a candle and a few other essentials into a duffle bag. He’d shredded a blanket and wrapped Casey’s wounds the best he could, just enough to stem the flow of blood. He had to coax Fletcher into shifting, the little boy too shaken by the angry sounds coming from downstairs and the sight of Casey’s blood; it had taken Sascha a few minutes to get him calm enough to shift. He’d taken one last look as he squeezed himself through the window, glancing over his shoulder knowing that this would likely be the last time he’d see his room. It wasn’t much, but it had been his—his and Casey’s, a safe place. And now that had been destroyed. He took a shallow, shaky breath and leapt, snapping open his large wings and working fiercely to gain altitude. It had only been a matter of moments before he, Fletcher and Casey flew off into the darkening skies, for once grateful for the night and its inky cover. Everything had happened so quickly that his head was still reeling; they had flown for a good twenty minutes before Casey couldn't go on any further and they landed on the roof of Studio Ess, making their way to a small, closed off room on the top floor that would grant them some safety, some form of refuge for the night. Sascha had put tucked Fletcher in to sleep on a small pile of rags that had been used as a bed before, but not for years judging by the stale scent. After a few minutes of a soothing, wordless lullaby the young boy nodded off, tossed and turned occasionally in his sleep. The frantic terror had only just abated, and Sascha could feel his heartbeat leveling as he worked to sooth Casey’s pain. He knew Casey could heal, which had helped to stop the bleeding. But Sascha knew his body was too weak to do anything more. He placed his hands as gently as he could over the wounds, the slick feel of blood beneath his palms made him heady, the usual mix of nausea and hunger almost overwhelming him. Casey needs you, he thought, chiding himself. It was only a matter of seconds before he pushed the thoughts aside and let his energy flow into Casey’s body. Warmth surged around his fingertips as cells sparked back to life and the bites and tears in Casey’s back slowly began to close up. They hadn’t spoken yet, not a single word passed between them since they had found the Studio. They were too exhausted, and Sascha was almost too terrified to speak lest they be heard by any potential enemies nearby. But as he watched the last of the wounds close up, only dark pink marks where before had been bloody gashes, he felt the silence reeked of their desperation. And he wouldn’t allow them to be desperate, not when it was so important to stay strong, to stay together. He ran his hands along Casey’s back and massaged his shoulders gently for a few minutes before lowering himself gently to lay beside Casey, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and spreading one of his wings over him, to keep him warm. He grabbed one of Casey’s hands and pulled it toward him, pressing a gentle kiss into his palm. “It will be okay,” he murmured. “We are safe here, for tonight, and we are together. That is what is important.” He didn’t want to think about tomorrow, and whatever the future had in store for them; for now all he wanted to do was sleep.

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey was too tired to even let out a hiss at the small jolt of pain whenever the cloth ran over one of his wounds. His shoulders merely twitched in response, but he remained silent, staring blankly across the foreign room they had come to rest in for the night. The pain didn’t bother him much anymore, only eliciting the slightest physical reaction. The feeling of Sascha tending to him was soothing, emotionally at least, and Casey felt safer knowing that he was there. The rest of him just felt numb and distant now. The shock had yet to wear off. Their home was gone, his ring was gone—or at least, he could never return there. And his family still wasn’t safe. Jonny’s threat echoed in his mind, the same words that had sounded in his mind without the traitor even opening his mouth. We've got a taste for your blood, Casey. No matter where your family goes, we'll find you. Casey’s stomach turned at the memory of it. His heart began to race again, and in his clouded haze he questioned whether he was just remembering the threat, or if Jonny was near enough to repeat it. Casey lifted his head as much as he could and glanced frantically around the room, chest heaving from the effort. But only Sascha and Fletcher were there. He wanted to scream when he realized then how deeply Jonny had shaken him. Part of him said to just forget about the Carna, and to just lay his head down and rest, and the other part of him said that no matter how safe Studio Ess seemed, that Jonny was on his way here with his band of killers. If that was the case, he realized, there was nothing more he could do. His body was too weak to fight off much of anything, and so he had to take comfort in the hope that they had hidden themselves well enough. After a tense moment or two, Casey lay his head down on his folded arms again and closed his eyes. Warmth soon flooded his body, sending a surge of energy through him. He grimaced at the discomfort brought on by the injuries closing up, his flesh mending itself at an unnaturally quick pace. It was a feeling one never really got used to, but learned to endure for the short while it had to last. Sascha’s energy rejuvenated more than just his physical self, also clearing his mind of the cloudiness that hung over it. He felt almost like himself again, and he smiled and closed his eyes contently as Sascha massaged his shoulders. He wanted to agree with Sascha so badly. To nod and smile and pretend that everything was fine. But he hadn’t told Sascha about Jonny’s threats— the words he had sent directly into his head. It was the most sickening revelation of all, to discover that Jonny had such a power. He knew everything Casey had ever thought while they were together. He knew Casey better that he’d imagined… it meant he had every advantage he needed to hunt them all down. “Sascha…” Casey spoke, cringing for a moment as his voice echoed off the bare walls of the empty room. “Sascha,” he continued, more quietly this time. “He said…he said they’d find us. Hunt us down like prey.” Casey’s voice was nearly a whisper. “Maybe we’re safe for tonight, or a few nights even, but we can’t stay here forever.”

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha wished he could do more for Casey; he knew that there was more bleeding to be stopped than just from the physical wounds. Sascha had been chased out of the Inn a dozen or so times before (what felt more like a hundred), and late night escapes were not uncommon to him. He knew the fear the unknown, the desperation that came with struggling to find a safe place to rest your head, even for a few moments. The Studio had always been a place to wait out the darkness and the threats it brought with it. Sascha knew all too well the fear that was flooding through Casey, and he wanted so badly to banish that fear. But when Casey told him what Jonny had said, that the threat was more real than it had ever been…Sascha swallowed the rising lump in his throat and tried his best to keep his voice steady as he spoke. “It will not be so easy for them to find us. We fly--it leave no scent for them to follow.” He turned onto his side facing Casey so he was resting on his shoulder, bringing his hand to gently trace along Casey’s cheek, lightly threading through his tousled, sweat laced hair. “But no. We can-not stay.” He was wracking his brain, trying to think of anywhere safe. The Studio was the safest inside Ring territory, besides Casey’s own ring. He thought for a hopeful moment that they could go there, and seek refuge; but the Fulsi were not accepting to his kind. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him as he realized that the safest place for Casey, and for Fletcher, would be in the Fulsi. They were protected behind thick walls and thick numbers, safer there than anywhere else. He swallowed hard against the quickly rising sorrow, not wanting to glimpse into a future where he was separated from the two people he cared for most. Silence had grown stale between them as Sascha mulled it over, biting at his lip with one long, white fang. “You have to take Fletcher to live in Fulsi,” he said suddenly, gently grasping Casey’s chin and turning his head so he could look at him. “It is safer there than…out here. There are many to help protect, keep you safe.”

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey felt the tension finally leaving his body as he rested there, soothed under Sascha’s gentle touch. He was still uneasy, but he didn’t feel like they were in immediate danger. Sascha’s words comforted him, and he was surprised he hadn’t thought the same. There was no way Jonny could have tracked them by scent, and they had flown too far and too quickly to be tracked by sight. He supposed the terror had kept him from thinking clearly; Casey was glad at least one of them could. And then as if on cue, Sascha tilted Casey’s face toward him and suggested the most nonsensical solution possible. Casey’s face twisted into a confused scowl, wondering how Sascha could even say something like that. Leave him all alone here? Go back to the Ring with Fletcher? They weren’t going to be torn apart, not now after they had just escaped it. “No!” He insisted, sitting up with a groan, body still sore. The idea was so preposterous and the panicked, overwhelming refusal of the idea so strong that he couldn’t just lay there calmly to discuss it. “I can’t go back there… I won’t leave you again! Didn’t tonight tell you anything?” Casey struggled to keep his voice down and had to glance over his shoulder to make sure that Fletcher was still asleep. The boy fidgeted a little, but didn’t wake up. He turned back to Sascha, fear shining in his eyes at the thought of going back to the Fulsi. “Every time I leave… sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever come back. Or if you’ll be there.” He cringed at speaking his worst fear aloud. But it was a valid one, for if he hadn’t switched patrols and gone to the Inn earlier that day, he might not have ever seen Sascha or Fletcher again. He'd already come back once to Sascha brutalized by rogues... Casey wondered how long it would be until their luck ran out.

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha pulled back slightly as Casey's smile contorted in response to his suggestion, twisting into a grimace at the thought of going back to the Fulsi, sitting up suddenly as if even the mention of it made him sick. Slightly surprised at the unexpectedly powerful response, Sascha simply watched Casey in silence and let him speak his peace. He spoke the truth, Sascha's own fears reflected in Casey's. It was an every day reality, an oppressive and almost suffocating bottom line that weighed like a yoke on the shoulders, slowly, surely wearing you down until there was no fight left. Sascha had seen it before, seen how fear drove people mad. But he wouldn't let it happen, not to any of them. He knew Casey was right, that they needed to stick together. He knew deep down that he wanted nothing more than to hold them both close and keep them safe; to never have to be parted for longer than a few minutes. Sascha yearned for that comfort, for the closeness and warmth of a family that wanted him. But Sascha also knew how dangerous it was out there, without a Ring to have at your back. Casey hadn't lived on his own all these years. He didn't know what it was like out in the wilds when you didn't have any place to return home to. The fear then seemed almost tangible, like a living creature breathing down his neck. Sascha glanced at Fletcher as Casey had done, sorrow already bringing tears to his eyes. Sascha cleared his throat, eyes darting down to his hands as he started playing with the edges of the rag he'd been dabbing Casey's back with. He didn't want to argue about it. He just wanted it to be done, so that they would be safe. "I wonder that also," he said at last, unsure of exactly what to say. "But you have to take him. We barely escape. Next time maybe we won't. But if you had more people, they could protect him better. And you." Sascha looked up at last, lips pulled thin. "You do not know what it is like out there, to live. Not safe, not with...not with me.  Always they come, always they hurt." He thought of the rogues that had almost killed him when he'd met another bat person, like him. He grimaced, almost feeling the knife carving into his back like it had just happened. "You have to..." his voice faded into a whisper, almost as if he couldn't summon the breath to speak. He glanced up at Casey, eyes watery with tears and lips slightly parted as if to speak. But Sascha only regarded Casey in silence, not knowing what else to say.

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey had trouble hearing what Sascha was saying. It was as if sounds were coming out of his mouth, but no matter how hard he tried to concentrate, his fog of confusion kept the sounds from coming together to form words. He stared at Sascha, his brows furrowed and lips turned in a frown, incredulous that he could actually be arguing the point. “Sascha, no. That’s just it… it’s not safe there! I can’t go back, ever.” Casey shook his head. “Maybe I was safe there once, but after all this, it’s not.” Too much had happened since he’d joined the Fulsi. Circumstances had put him in the line of suspicion one too many times. Though he’d been loyal to the Fulsi from the start, Casey had sometimes made friends with the wrong people, broken rules for what he thought were the right reasons, and often snuck away for what admittedly were selfish reasons, but harmless to the Ring. Over the years he had sensed the change in some of his ringmates when he spoke to them, and lately he’d felt like someone was always watching him. It was part of the reason it was so hard to sneak away to see Sascha. When they finally found out about Jonny’s traitorous ways, all eyes would be on his mentor. “Some already think I’m a traitor… When they find out I was training the ultimate Carna spy, the one Adam assigned to me personally, how do you think that will go for me?” He asked. His tone was tense, but not angry. He was more terrified at the thought that Sascha might still try to make him go back to the Fulsi. Or worse, think that he and Fletcher would be better off without him no matter where they were. “But no matter how much I don’t want to go back there, it’s nothing compared to the horrible feeling I get in my chest thinking about being away from you, Sascha.” Casey leaned over and took Sascha’s hands in his. “I don’t have to. I won’t. We’ll be safe with all of us together. I don’t know where we’ll go, but we’ll be fine.” Casey had to believe it, because they really had no other choice. His conviction was clear in his voice, and he smiled warmly again at Sascha. “No one is going to hurt you, or Fletcher, or me. Maybe you were always scared and in danger when you were alone, but now you have me. And I dare someone to mess with us!” He added with a lighthearted chuckle. There were many dangers in the menagerie, both in a ring and out of a ring. If one of those dangers were to be his demise, he’d rather fall at Sascha’s side than be alive and alone in a sea of ringmates.

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha listened intently, trying to translate as quickly as Casey spoke. It took him a few minutes to understand everything that had been said, trying to decide what to say. He didn’t quite understand all the politics and drama of the Rings, being so isolated from them. Casey had said relatively little about the inner workings of the Fulsi, if only to keep himself from betraying his Ring that had once been like his family. He had no idea that Casey had been under suspicion. But his fears seemed valid if he were to be linked with the Carna. They could think him a spy, and even if they didn’t…Sascha didn’t believe for a moment that the Fulsi would just let Casey leave. Sascha did not trust the Rings to do the right thing as far as he could toss a castle. Casey was right. “I…I did not know all of this things,” he said after a minute of silence. “I think you are right, then. It is too much a risk, to go back to them if there is all that suspection.” He cringed inwardly, wishing he had a better grasp of English. It would make serious conversations like this go so much smoother. He sighed and rubbed his neck, stretching it from side to side as he thought things through and caught himself frowning when Casey grabbed his hands. He watched the enthusiasm with which Casey spoke, wishing he could share that same conviction. But his frown slowly leveled and he soon felt the corners of his lips twitching up. “I do not want to be apart either. Not ever again.” He said, his voice sober. "It has been hard these years, being alone and to wait for you. Sometimes it felt like you never come back. But now, we do not have to worry, yes? Now we together, always." He shook his head at Casey with that same smile though, at the whole situation—how the two seemed to have reversed roles. Usually Casey was the one to doubt and worry and Sascha was the one who did the convincing and the whole, you know, positivity thing. “So. We stay together, we don't argue that no more. But where we go? We are safe here for a time, but like you say it is not forever. I say woods,” he said, thinking aloud. "There is place there that I go sometimes when I hunting for the foods. No Rings. Only some Rogue, sometime, but...it is how you say, safe? No attack. It give us more time to plan, in safety."

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey knew this all had to be a lot for Sascha to take in. It was unfamiliar territory, dealing with Ring politics and all the things at stake, all of that on top of the language barrier that sometimes got between them. Casey thought that they usually communicated well, but when it came to serious issues like these, it was difficult to make sure that his exact meaning got across; slight misunderstandings wouldn’t do when it came to a conversation about all of their futures. When Sascha admitted that he was right about not going back, Casey couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. “Always,” Casey agreed, almost too shocked to believe that it was true. He really wasn’t going back. He wouldn’t have to leave Sascha wondering if he would come back. Fletcher would have both of them to protect him. Casey was overwhelmed with a rush of joy and relief and leapt at Sascha, wrapping his arms around his shoulders in an enthusiastic hug. “I think that’s a perfect idea.” He agreed, “I want to get as far away from the Rings as we can.” The woods were isolated enough that he knew they could be safe, but it would be a much more difficult life than they had close to the city. There would be no one to pick them up if things fell apart or went wrong; part of Casey actually wondered if it was best if they only had to rely on each other. “We can gather some travelling supplies from here, then we’ll head there to plan. The rogues might be an issue… eventually.” Casey didn’t want to have to deal with any more rogue incidents, and he was pretty sure Sascha didn't care to run into any nasty rogues either. “But we’ll find somewhere out there to be safe.” He said, just happy to have some vague, hopeful plan in place. “We should build a treehouse!” Casey jolted back with surprise at the sudden exclamation and turned to find Fletcher standing behind him, looking more excited than ever. Shaking off the sudden rush of nerves, Casey sighed and shook his head. “We can’t just build a Treehou—…” He paused then, actually taking a moment to consider it. “I mean… we can’t right? Or could we? …It sounds pretty safe, actually, if we could make it happen.” Casey looked back to Sascha, brows raised inquisitively. Behind him. Fletcher grinned victoriously.

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha let out a whoosh of air when Casey leaped forward and wrapped his arms around his neck, overwhelmed with everything that was happening. But Casey's warmth sank into his skin, his scent washed over him as Sascha buried his face into Casey's neck, relishing the closeness of the moment. They had gotten so few of them the past year. But it finally sank in in that single moment where all Sascha could sense, touch, feel was Casey and knew that they could truly be together now. He felt his chest and throat tighten as he fought back the sting of tears and pulled Casey tighter against him, pressing a kiss at the base of Casey's neck. When they pulled away Sascha nodded to Casey's plan, liking the sound of it more and more. "Yes. We give a few days for you to feel better. It will not be too long a travel if we fly." He was about to mention that the Rings often strayed into the wooded areas to hunt, but that for the most part they were easy to avoid. They often made louder noises than they thought when trying to be sneaky. But Fletcher's sudden interruption had set them both in another direction. "Treehouse...?" He said, mouthing the word to himself to get the pronunciation down; it helped him work out the definition most of the time. It didn't take him more than a second to realize what they meant and he cracked a wide grin, one fang catching on his bottom lip. "It...would be hard to...make happen. But it is safe in the trees, not many people climb. And we fly, don't need to. Trouble? Quick way out." He said, making an upward motion with his hand. Sascha thought for a moment that they might be aiming beyond their means and abilities but at this point in time they didn't have many other options beyond risking discovery by the Carna, and even the Fulsi if what Casey said was true -- and Sascha didn't have any reason to believe it wasn't. He didn't trust the Rings, not even the Fallen, to do what was right by Sascha and his family. So they would go into the forest and do what they could to survive. "I say we do it."

[Sascha Stark]

END THREAD