Third Person
Paris, France: Bar Haven
6:29 P.M.
Phoenix insisted that she come along with Mrs. Baernaise to visit Saccharide, but she couldn't bear to see him behind bars after his confession during the Arraignment. She just decided to go straight home with a plastic bag full of light snacks they didn't consume.
When he entered Dione's room, the boy was already seated on his desk, sketching another head of one of his victims. He was elegantly dipping his paintbrush into a cup full of red liquid.
"Hey Dione..." the girl greeted after holding back the vomit. The smell made her nauseated and motivated her to exit the room immediately.
Dione kept sketching and didn't utter a single word.
"I brought you some snacks. Just eat them and don't wait for me. I'll be sleeping in Walter's," said Raine and looked over her shoulder to see the boy ignoring the Tupperware of cookies she placed beside him.
A sigh left her mouth when turned the cold knob to open the door. To her surprise, the white-haired boy swiftly blocked her way, pushed her away from the exit, and pulled inside his cellar door.
"Where have you been?" he asked before switching the light on.
When the light hit her eyes, she was speechless of how clean the cellar room. The black walls and flooring were actually shiny white tiles. Drawing portraits and some of the boy's artworks were symmetrically hung on the wall. Canvases and buckets of red paint occupied the right side of the room.
Raine smiled and walked around the room. Dione grunted in disbelief, pushed the girl on the nearest wall, and trapped her with his arms, "Hey! Don't be dumbfounded now. Where have you been?!"
Her stuttering didn't support her firm expression on, "I- I ran some errands..."
"You buried Walter's head, didn't you?" he asked.
She turned the other way and thought this a time for her to apologize, "I'm sorry, I didn't ask per- Ah!"
One bite.
The girl shuddered in pain as he bit her neck. He released her neck with a string of saliva connected as he parted, "I'm not in the wrong! Why did you bite me?" Raine slid down the wall and sat on the floor before looking up at her, "I said, I'm sorry- Ah!"
Two bites.
He dived down to her level just to bite her again.
"No, you're not!" Dione shouted back, still holding the creamy flesh in his mouth, "You did the right thing. Stop apologizing!"
"What's gotten into you?!" Raine screamed back, but he bit her harder, "I'm still mad about earlier! Biting me will not suppress my anger!"
He was unreasonable and unpredictable again. Raine gritted her teeth and managed to push the boy away. Dione remained on the floor while the blinding light hurt his eyes. It's been so long when he last saw the bright light from this room. His father used this as his art room.
Memories.
They fade so fast. Maybe that's why he painted his father's dying face before he closed his eyes permanently. The painting was preserved and was hidden under his bed.
It was his very first face portrait.
It was like his first victim was his father.
He never looked at it since then.
"You met up with Phoenix. Why?"
Dione asked, still on his back.
"Aquilla told you..." she sighed and leaned on the wall while running her fingers on stinging bite marks.
"Why?"
"He offered help."
"-And you took it," he already thought of her decision.
In defense, the girl reasoned, "I have no choice! He was a big help!"
"Yes! And may I add?- A big pain in the behind!"
"I had options so, I chose. Support me because I'm improving like you wanted or do it your selfish way," she stood up and bent down to take a look at his face, "Now that I'm sure no attacks will rain down on us. I'm leaving here. I'm taking Aquilla with me," she blocked the light with her hands and struck him with a sad smile, "You won't be bothered from now on."
He laughed crazily and began to sit up, "You're ungrateful. I let you stay here and meddle with my life," he tried to look at her, but he might go blind.
"I pay to sleep on the floor, and I pay for overpriced food," said the girl, "If there is one thing I should be grateful for-"
Raine looked over to the boy and saw him frozen on his spot.
"It would be for my patience with keeping up with you," she ended.
Dione has no intention of letting the liability in this house stay until a folder was laid in front of him. He opened it with no holdback and felt his eyes watery again. As he stood up, the girl was already out of the door. He followed her and called her name before showing him the folder, "What shit have you done again?"
Raine smiled and said, "I went to the Parisian Art Gallery and submitted some of your drawings with your siblings and mother."
Tossing the folder on his bed, Dione flopped down on his mattress and hugged himself as the girl continued to talk, "Froiland and Sonia Valencia liked it. They set up an appointment with you next month and want to see you in action."
Like a lifeless doll, the boy did not dare to move until he heard the knob turning. Dione jumped on her like a fox, and the next thing she knew, he was on top again. He was holding her down while she squirmed under him like a pierced worm.
"Let me go!" she begged.
"No!" he shouted and anchored her kicking legs.
"Why do you always tackle me on a bed?!"
"It's the only thing they ever taught me!" he cried, and she stopped struggling.
After a few seconds pass, his tears began welling up, and not long, they raced down his face and onto her face, "They said, a girl likes being pinned on a bed like this. Every time I do this, I thought..."
Raine took a breath at the new person in front of her. The usual happy-go-lucky male is now opening up and showing vulnerability. His tears were real, and this time, he was not crying. The emotions were real, and she couldn't take it all in.
"I thought I'm making you happy with this," he confessed.
Smiling, she reached out her palm up to his soft cheeks and asked while imitating his voice, "Do I look like I'm happy?"
He chuckled and felt her velvety palm for a moment before pinning it on the bed again. "Initially, I don't care... I have no interest in anything or anyone. I'm asexual so, my mother signed me up for conversion therapy. They promised a gentle and promising process for a year," he sniffled a cry.
...
"It was all a lie."
...
"I will be partnered up with a lesbian or an asexual girl."
...
"They taught us the pleasure of sex and called it the real meaning of fun. In order for us to be happy, we need to change. Those people claimed we have a sickness, and we have to be cured."
...
"I always knew that was a lie, but I followed them anyway because if I don't - I'll get electrocuted while watching porn," his arms gave up, completely letting his body fall on her, "If not, they'll scream bad words and curses at me for a whole hour until I agree to do it."
The boy expected struggling again, but Raine wrapped her arms around him. He gasped and screamed in the madness before burying his face on the crook of her neck. The carnation scent in her hair helped to unblock his clogged nose. Hence, he took more of it into his system.
"Actually, I was never cured. I pretended I was cured so they'll get me out of there," Dione smiled the sorrow off, "But something had changed when I met Saccharide. I saw someone with the same experience of torture. I saw someone I wanted to follow and devote my loyalty."
Raine started to shift her face from mad to concerned.
"The gang was my life! Because of it, I don't have to work extra hours here," "I was his loyal dog, but then-"
He held unto her tighter, nearly damaging her shirt with his deadly vice grip as he remembered the first-day Saccharide introduced her to them. Dione had seen countless girls being presented to them, and after a few days, they'll come screaming at Saccharide's crazy initiations.
Raine Aksenov.
She was different.
She never spoke against their boss unless needed.
She passed all the initiations.
She brought the light inside his boss's life.
He tried to blow it away, but it never did.
Dione heaved himself to look at the girl. She was neither crying nor smiling. Her face was emotionless, somewhat confused by his unusual confession. Strands of her side bangs covered the left side of her face, and she intends on keeping it that way before he blew it away.
"You came and proved that my loyalty is nothing compared to yours. I felt as though you stole my soul purpose of existing," he whispered, "I treated you bad to see how far are you willing to go with your attitude. At the manor, I was sure you were going to end it, and I'll win."
Raine avoided his stare, but he gently turned her head in his direction, "But then you came out of there with a smile," said he, "You are the first person to go through hell and show a big smile after. Why can't I do that?"
"It's not a competition, Dione..." she reassured.
The boy closed his eyes and swept her hair on the side when she moved her hair to block her eyes again, "If it were, I'd be at the final lap, and you were already taking the trophy home."
"I was amazed. You're not only loyal to Saccharide, but to everyone," Gladly, he reminded her.
It made the girl smile, but he felt as though those explanations are not enough.
"I'm sorry..."
With widened eyes, Raine gasped when he hugged her again.
"I don't know if I have the right, but I ask for your forgiveness..."
...
"Please forgive me..."
...
"I'm just afraid that If I change, I'll be abused again. If I let my guards down and be soft, I might be taken advantage of," his voice was cracking, and he cannot calm the sting in his eyes by letting more salty tears.
He felt her shaking before a pair of arms hugged him.
"Thank you for keeping up with me," he chuckled, "I'm grateful for having you as my friend. I'm glad Saccharide is in good hands. We are all in good hands so, please don't leave anyone of us."
They stayed like that for a minute.
It was a genuine moment where he labeled her as his friend.
But he felt the girl clawing on his back. Swiftly, he pushed her away by the shoulder just to see her reddened face and her puffed cheeks ready to burst out in a laughing fit.
"Pfft-"
"You're so cute and squishy!" she shouted out loud.
Dione stared daggers at her before getting off the bed, already regretting telling her his life and secrets.
"It's not easy to say that, you know!" complained the white-haired boy as Raine rolled on the bed knocking the pillows and bolsters on the floor.
Sighing, Dione let her laugh her troubles away and just sat on the floor while her feet repeatedly kicked the back of his head.
"Come here!" Raine hugged him from the back again, feeling his soft side acting up again as he held her hand.
"Did you bury him?" asked Raine out of nowhere, thinking about the old man she killed out of rage.
"With candles. And I prayed for him," Dione proudly narrated, "I also lit candles for the other victims."
"You learned from me. I'm flattered," giggled the girl, "You know that if you wanted Aquilla and I to stay, you could've said so. You know I don't mind paying."
"Actually, when you leave any payment-" he coughed first to clear his throat, "I tuck them back inside your bra pocket while you sleep."
He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, held his breath, and waited for the girl's reaction.
"That's very kind of you," she smiled and snuggled her face in his neck.
...
"Wait, WHAT?!"
Dione laughed and stood from the floor to let her fall on the floor face first with a thump. 'So that's why. I feel my breasts growing bigger?!' she screamed frustratingly in her mind before getting up and feeling the heat emitting from her palm. Her hand itched with longingness slap someone's face as her face darkened.
Dione leaned against the door he locked. He eyed the keys on the bed. Gulping, he waited for the girl to take another step.
...
Then the door opened was opened by Aquilla, and it's Dione's time to fall on his back with a satisfying crunch. They thought he was dead, but he laughed like a maniac.
"Raine, before you slap him. There's someone downstairs asking for you," reminded the other male before he loses that information just by looking at the white-haired boy's jester face.
Raine ran up to him and beckoned him to sit on Dione's bed first. He did climb the stairs with a boy full of clotting wounds. As soon as he hit the sift mattress, the girl began lecturing him, "Aquilla! I said, don't push yourself. Your wounds are still fresh from inside," she kissed his hand for comfort, "Don't let the blood clot fool you..."
"I can handle myself... Now go," Aquilla reassured and took a few steps to ruffled her greasy hair.
She smiled gleefully and turned to the boy behind her, "Dione. If he needs help-"
"I got his behind. Now go! It seems more important than slapping me," he joked and covered his face with a bolster as he spoke.
The girl shook her head and hugged him again. After running away, she gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek. Dione followed her movements as she clumsily ran down the hall and finally running down the steps.
"She turned us into a softie," said Aquilla with a smile before he watched the other male close the door behind him, "I can't argue. She's an angel..."
Dione kept quiet and immediately locked the door before pushing the bed, revealing rolled artworks, buckets of red paint, and a chest. Appalled, Aquilla asked what he was doing with that, but his companion pushed all of those aside.
"Raine's an angel who is not as innocent as we think," Dione continued after bending down to reach something underneath a discarded floorboard he lifted.
"Dione, this is the time where you stop sabotaging her," ranted the green-haired boy.
When Dione finally turned around with a beautifully decorated vase-like jar in his arms, Aquilla's tongue stopped slithering around as he was silenced by the white-haired boy's serious gaze upon him.
"I found this on the cemetery the night I killed Walter," he sighed and opened the jar, "I better tell you what's inside of this."
...
"Better yet, I'm going to show you..."