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emerald_embersTitle: Patience
Fandom: Legacy of Kain
Pairing: Janos Audron/Raziel
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 940
Warning: Character death
Summary: A time had to come when Janos and Raziel were both rewarded for their sacrifices.
How strange that it should all end here, where so much began.
Janos knelt over the pit, head bowed, lips moving in silent prayer. Kain had shown him the elder god's lies but Janos' faith remained unshaken - "That is not my God," was all he said on the matter, and Kain almost commended him for the blind strength of his beliefs.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Kain said, unable to soothe - his soul had been warped for too long, he barely knew anything of the gentler emotions - and wondered when he last offered someone an apology he meant.
"I've seen enough of the world," Janos replied after a long pause, finishing his prayer before saying aught else. "If it will end the suffering, let it happen."
"You truly welcome oblivion?"
Janos gave Kain a look that could have meant anything, but lacking the guile of most Nosgoth residents confirmed it with a word. "Always."
Kain breathed out slowly before handing Janos the chalice, waiting for him to position it, and driving the Reaver through Janos' neck.
Janos knew he had been pulled somewhere. It was just impossible to tell exactly where. The atmosphere was dark, heavy, and while he wasn't entirely certain he was standing on anything the surrounding darkness seemed... alive, solid yet seething, and when he felt thick bone clamp down on his arm he near leapt out of his skin until he turned and found the first welcome sight he'd had in a very long time.
"Raziel?"
Raziel turned Janos around slightly, inspecting his wings with a manhandling that suggested he'd forgotten how sensitive the shafts and feathers were. "Raziel, are -"
"So it is you," Raziel said, voice still familiar and strangely soothing despite the pain he'd been through, 'it is you' sounding as reverent as someone addressing their god. "I thought he would destroy you."
"Almost succeeded," Janos replied, uncomfortably aware of wounds on his spine that would not heal for some time yet - might never heal, now that he was presumably dead. "Raziel, are we in oblivion?"
"Almost." Raziel sat down, seeming to will a ledge from the blackness into existence, pulling Janos to join him. "I could not devour you. The spell required only your death and your blood. So I brought you inside."
"If the spell worked, why are we still here?"
Raziel's eyebrows raised slightly in amusement. "We exist... almost outside time. The moment history let the Reaver come into existence it could not remove it like all other obstacles to the time stream. The Reaver causes paradoxes but removing it would create a paradox large enough to render history irreparable." Raziel tilted his head slightly towards Janos. "I doubt your people ever guessed how much damage they would do to time's continuity."
Silence reigned for a moment, Raziel's claws drifting up to run through Janos' hair. "I never thought I would miss anyone after finding my fledglings dead. You're an incredible creature, Janos Audron."
Janos stilled for a moment, accepting the hand in his hair though for a moment he couldn't help wishing to be anywhere else. "Vorador said something similar once."
"And now he'll live a human life where he meets you but never needs to become a vampire. That's thanks to you."
Janos folded his arms, allowing himself a moment with his own thoughts until Raziel's claws shifted to rest lightly on his jaw, one tracing the outline of his lips. Some time had passed since that all too fleeting moment in the Citadel and it was still peculiar to think Raziel could actually want such a thing.
"You've cleared one frightening event from history - now you'll never share a bed with Vorador and Kain."
Janos couldn't control the over-dramatic raise of eyebrows and blush his body opted to answer with, nor the other side effect of picturing such an event, but Raziel seemed pleased enough with the reaction, eyes brightening as he slid one hand back up into Janos' wings.
There were advantages and disadvantages to being trapped in something close to oblivion with a man who was mostly featureless, and both tended to begin and end with the infinite supply of time one had. Janos remembered how the discovery process had been with Vorador, so normal, their first time clumsy but nights thereafter slowly perfecting everything, even incorporating new changes as Vorador evolved. Raziel was ruthless, stripping him bare and learning each inch of him like a tapestry, the look and feel, what connected to where inside and out.
Bizarrely, Raziel was the one who apologised when Janos came earlier than expected.
There wasn't a bed to lie on. Technically there wasn't anything to lie on, sit on, walk on or exist on at all. Janos had suspicions that would be the first thing to drive him mad.
"How did you keep yourself from going insane?"
"I waited," Raziel replied, claws tracing patterns across Janos' stomach lazily. "I chose my company carefully."
Janos thought about that for a minute before smiling, pushing up onto his elbows and trying not to think about what he was pushing against. "Not only an act of mercy, then?"
"I could never consume you," Raziel reminded, "But no, not just mercy. You're the one unselfish being, the one who never made choices for himself, the only one I've ever met who has any talent for waiting."
"What are we waiting for?"
Raziel sat up, looking out into the darkness as if there was something else out there that he couldn't quite see, white eyes burning. "That should be obvious. Whatever comes next."
The End
Fandom: Legacy of Kain
Pairing: Janos Audron/Raziel
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 940
Warning: Character death
Summary: A time had to come when Janos and Raziel were both rewarded for their sacrifices.
How strange that it should all end here, where so much began.
Janos knelt over the pit, head bowed, lips moving in silent prayer. Kain had shown him the elder god's lies but Janos' faith remained unshaken - "That is not my God," was all he said on the matter, and Kain almost commended him for the blind strength of his beliefs.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Kain said, unable to soothe - his soul had been warped for too long, he barely knew anything of the gentler emotions - and wondered when he last offered someone an apology he meant.
"I've seen enough of the world," Janos replied after a long pause, finishing his prayer before saying aught else. "If it will end the suffering, let it happen."
"You truly welcome oblivion?"
Janos gave Kain a look that could have meant anything, but lacking the guile of most Nosgoth residents confirmed it with a word. "Always."
Kain breathed out slowly before handing Janos the chalice, waiting for him to position it, and driving the Reaver through Janos' neck.
Janos knew he had been pulled somewhere. It was just impossible to tell exactly where. The atmosphere was dark, heavy, and while he wasn't entirely certain he was standing on anything the surrounding darkness seemed... alive, solid yet seething, and when he felt thick bone clamp down on his arm he near leapt out of his skin until he turned and found the first welcome sight he'd had in a very long time.
"Raziel?"
Raziel turned Janos around slightly, inspecting his wings with a manhandling that suggested he'd forgotten how sensitive the shafts and feathers were. "Raziel, are -"
"So it is you," Raziel said, voice still familiar and strangely soothing despite the pain he'd been through, 'it is you' sounding as reverent as someone addressing their god. "I thought he would destroy you."
"Almost succeeded," Janos replied, uncomfortably aware of wounds on his spine that would not heal for some time yet - might never heal, now that he was presumably dead. "Raziel, are we in oblivion?"
"Almost." Raziel sat down, seeming to will a ledge from the blackness into existence, pulling Janos to join him. "I could not devour you. The spell required only your death and your blood. So I brought you inside."
"If the spell worked, why are we still here?"
Raziel's eyebrows raised slightly in amusement. "We exist... almost outside time. The moment history let the Reaver come into existence it could not remove it like all other obstacles to the time stream. The Reaver causes paradoxes but removing it would create a paradox large enough to render history irreparable." Raziel tilted his head slightly towards Janos. "I doubt your people ever guessed how much damage they would do to time's continuity."
Silence reigned for a moment, Raziel's claws drifting up to run through Janos' hair. "I never thought I would miss anyone after finding my fledglings dead. You're an incredible creature, Janos Audron."
Janos stilled for a moment, accepting the hand in his hair though for a moment he couldn't help wishing to be anywhere else. "Vorador said something similar once."
"And now he'll live a human life where he meets you but never needs to become a vampire. That's thanks to you."
Janos folded his arms, allowing himself a moment with his own thoughts until Raziel's claws shifted to rest lightly on his jaw, one tracing the outline of his lips. Some time had passed since that all too fleeting moment in the Citadel and it was still peculiar to think Raziel could actually want such a thing.
"You've cleared one frightening event from history - now you'll never share a bed with Vorador and Kain."
Janos couldn't control the over-dramatic raise of eyebrows and blush his body opted to answer with, nor the other side effect of picturing such an event, but Raziel seemed pleased enough with the reaction, eyes brightening as he slid one hand back up into Janos' wings.
There were advantages and disadvantages to being trapped in something close to oblivion with a man who was mostly featureless, and both tended to begin and end with the infinite supply of time one had. Janos remembered how the discovery process had been with Vorador, so normal, their first time clumsy but nights thereafter slowly perfecting everything, even incorporating new changes as Vorador evolved. Raziel was ruthless, stripping him bare and learning each inch of him like a tapestry, the look and feel, what connected to where inside and out.
Bizarrely, Raziel was the one who apologised when Janos came earlier than expected.
There wasn't a bed to lie on. Technically there wasn't anything to lie on, sit on, walk on or exist on at all. Janos had suspicions that would be the first thing to drive him mad.
"How did you keep yourself from going insane?"
"I waited," Raziel replied, claws tracing patterns across Janos' stomach lazily. "I chose my company carefully."
Janos thought about that for a minute before smiling, pushing up onto his elbows and trying not to think about what he was pushing against. "Not only an act of mercy, then?"
"I could never consume you," Raziel reminded, "But no, not just mercy. You're the one unselfish being, the one who never made choices for himself, the only one I've ever met who has any talent for waiting."
"What are we waiting for?"
Raziel sat up, looking out into the darkness as if there was something else out there that he couldn't quite see, white eyes burning. "That should be obvious. Whatever comes next."
The End
