Chapter 8
"So", the ravenet continued, staring at Yuri intently while maintaining his gaze on Yuri. "If you're willing to leave, we can go wherever your heart desires to go. You're free to follow whatever path you think is best for you."
Yuri stared back at the ravenet as he listened to the latter's words. After a while, he finally decided to speak. "Alright", he agreed. "I will follow whatever path my heart wants to lead me towards."
The ravenet grinned widely. "Perfect!", he exclaimed happily. With one swift movement, he pushed himself away from the seat he had taken and began pacing back and forth in front of Yuri. "Come with me then", he ordered as he turned to look at Yuri expectantly.
Yuri nodded his head slowly and stood up to meet the ravenet's gaze. After a short moment, he started to walk forward. "Are you coming?", the ravenet asked.
"Huh!? Oh...yes..." Yuri stammered, stumbling slightly before regaining his composure. "But what about my dog?", he asked.
The ravenet laughed lightly. "My apologies. You can leave her with me until the next time we meet. Just make sure to let her out whenever you get back home."
Yuri nodded in agreement. "Okay"
When the ravenet was sure that he was satisfied with Yuri's answer, he extended his arm out to the blond boy. "Let's go then!"
As Yuri grabbed onto the ravenet's hand, the ravenet pulled himself out of the ground and effortlessly lifted the blonde off of the ground, placing Yuri's feet safely on top of the surface of the ground before lifting Yuri's leg over his shoulder. Yuri instinctively tightened his grip on the ravenet as he instinctively wrapped his arms tightly around the ravenet's neck before allowing the ravenet to wrap his hands around his knees and hold the blonde against his chest. Yuri was surprised by the sudden embrace. He hadn't expected to be held, so it surprised him slightly. However, soon enough he realized why the ravenet was doing this. He was holding the blonde in a secure manner, preventing him from getting hurt and protecting him at the same time, which, as far as Yuri was concerned, made perfect sense. Still, this sudden action left Yuri a bit flustered. He didn't quite understand what was going on, but he decided to remain calm and allowed himself to relax completely.
They proceeded to take one more step and disappear from the courtyard of the manor. Yuri closed his eyes briefly, focusing his attention on the sound of raindrops hitting against the roof of the building above him, the smell of mud mixing with rainwater in the air, and the feeling of the wind brushing past him in waves. His heartbeat was slowing down rapidly again. He opened his eyes once again only to see that they were no longer on the ground. In fact, they were floating a few feet above the ground and the only thing he could feel was the weight of the ravenet's shoulder beneath his legs.
"Where are we?", Yuri asked quietly as his gaze wandered all over the surroundings. There was nothing but sky above his head for as far as he could see.
"We're flying", the ravenet informed casually. "Just try not to worry too much. We're almost there.", he added after seeing Yuri's confused reaction.
Yuri blinked. Flying...
Suddenly everything came crashing together inside of his mind. They weren't in a carriage anymore, they weren't in the forest anymore, and even though it felt strange to think that this was probably reality, somehow Yuri knew deep down that the ravenet's statement was true. He had seen what he had seen, heard what he had heard and felt what he had felt. Everything was real. He could never forget that sight ever again. He would never forget how the light had exploded right in front of him and the shockwave of the explosion that followed. Never.
He swallowed thickly as images of what happened that night flooded his mind as he remembered what he was supposed to do. He had been trying to save someone, someone important to him. Someone he cared about. That person was dead now. Because of him. And he couldn't help but feel guilty. This was his fault. He'd caused it. It was all because of him that the girl was dead now. If Yuri had gotten his wits about him earlier that night, maybe she wouldn't have died. Perhaps he would have killed the bastard, maybe he wouldn't be carrying the guilt of not having been able to save his sister. Maybe the girl would be alive today. And if he had managed to save her then maybe she would still be alive right now...if only he had managed to stay calm...if only he had remained conscious of his actions, of what he was trying to do, instead of just letting his emotions overtake him and acting impulsively. If only he hadn't lost control of his own body. If only he had stayed awake and focused, so that things would be different. So that he would be able to save her. To bring her back to life.
Yuri suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he felt the Ravenet shift underneath him slightly, causing his leg to slip downwards and rest on the ground. For a few seconds, he just watched in silence as the ravenet walked a short way ahead of him, making sure to keep his footing on the ground.
"Is something wrong, Yuri?", the ravenet questioned without turning around, "I mean...you seem to be a lot tenser than usual."
"...No", Yuri responded after a moment or two, "Everything's fine".
At this, the ravenet glanced over his shoulder momentarily to smile reassuringly at Yuri before he turned forwards again. "That's good to hear," the ravenet said softly, "Because we really need to be moving, otherwise our time is running out."
Without giving Yuri a chance to respond, the ravenet suddenly leapt upwards as quickly as he possibly could. The blonde quickly scrambled after the ravenet and managed to catch up to him by simply running after him as fast as he could, although he was still considerably weaker and slower than the ravenet due to his injuries. The latter, however, showed no signs of slowing down, so Yuri forced his legs to move faster to try and match the speed of the ravenet's pace, despite the fact that his legs were becoming numb with pain. However, just before Yuri reached the limit of his current stamina, the ravenet abruptly stopped.
"Here" he declared, stopping in his tracks. Yuri paused briefly, catching his breath as he caught up to him, and turned around to face him in order to find out why the ravenet had stopped walking. "This is the place where I want to start from. Are you ready?" he inquired.
"Yes", Yuri breathed heavily, nodding vigorously in response. Without saying anything else, he placed his hands on the sides of the ravenet's face and pulled their foreheads close together as he gazed into the ravenet's eyes, as though seeking comfort. He lowered his eyelids slowly, as though he wanted to close them, but he couldn't bring himself to do so and ended up staying open.
After a short moment, Yuri felt something touch his cheeks gently, causing him to lift his head away from the ravenet's face and blink a couple of times in surprise. Once the ravenet saw that Yuri was looking at him, he raised his hand again and touched Yuri's cheek again before pulling his palm away. Then, without warning, the ravenet took both of Yuri's hands in his and interlocked their fingers firmly together, as though afraid that if he let go of Yuri, he might fall off the edge of the world.
The blonde boy's gaze fell upon their joined hands before shooting up to look straight into the ravenet's eyes once again, as though silently asking him to let go. The ravenet seemed to catch onto what he wanted and finally relaxed his tense shoulders and dropped his hands. At this, Yuri instantly pulled his hands back and stared back down at them curiously, his lips tugging downwards as he examined every inch of his new hand with wide eyes. He wasn't entirely sure what he should be expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. It didn't feel like his hands.
"Your hands are beautiful", the ravenet suddenly spoke. "You're a beautiful man", he added with a warm smile adorning his features.
Yuri shook his head in denial. "I'm not", he replied.
"Nonsense", the ravenet answered dismissively, "Everyone likes their hands. Yours are beautiful. You look very comfortable in your skin...which is very rare to see on someone with such soft hair, and especially in someone who isn't used to wearing dresses, you look very well put together. Your skin has just the right texture, so it doesn't rub off easily, and your fingernails are clean and pretty. Your ears are extremely cute, too" he commented with a grin. "I think they're really nice."
Yuri blushed slightly before turning his gaze away from the ravenet. His heart began to pound painfully loudly in his chest; he didn't know whether he liked hearing that compliments, or if he actually enjoyed them being said, especially coming from the ravenet. The blonde boy cleared his throat.
"Thank you..."
"You don't need to thank me Yuri. It was my pleasure to do this. Although I am curious...what were you thinking of while I talked to you? When I was speaking to you earlier...did you manage to come up with an idea on how to deal with Verena's father, or did you get stuck in a bad situation?"
"Actually", Yuri sighed deeply, taking a deep breath before continuing, "It was my fault. She was trying to protect us when I tried to kill her father. But I failed. And because I failed, she's dead..." he explained solemnly, lowering his head slightly. A small sigh escaped his lips as he continued, "And I don't know how to fix it."
The ravenet's eyebrows furrowed slightly and his expression grew serious as he noticed Yuri's expression. He leaned forward slightly, until he was resting his elbows on his knees in front of the blonde boy and looked directly into his blue eyes.
"What do you mean? Is she alright?", he asked worriedly.
"Yeah, she's okay..."
The ravenet nodded and remained silent for a brief moment before he started talking again, "...But you're not, are you? You're hurt. You've been hurt badly. What made you so reckless this morning?" he interrogated, sounding more concerned than angry.
Yuri gulped hard. What did he mean 'heal'?! Of course, he had been hurt! He knew that he must have been, but he hadn't really expected a question like this to be asked by the ravenet. Especially since the boy sounded genuinely interested. He hadn't expected to hear those words from him either.
"Well...I just didn't want to die..."
Silence filled the air after Yuri's little admission and the atmosphere became even heavier and more uncomfortable. The blonde shifted his weight nervously from one foot to another. He didn't know how to react or say anything.
After some seconds, the ravenet broke the silence first, "Oh....so that's what was bothering you. Why didn't you talk about it? I would understand..." he stated.
"What?", Yuri blinked in confusion as he raised his head up to meet the ravenet's gaze.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Forget it".
"Wait, what was it?", Yuri insisted, wanting to make sure he got the details right.