Chapter Text
Awakenings can be described in any number of ways.
Some might be violent, if jolted from bed by a sound or a physical source. Others are peaceful, like the slowly fading haze of a deep and dream-filled slumber on an idyllic morning.
Your awakening, like the vast majority, settles somewhere in the middle.
Tranquil silence greets consciousness regained from a dreamless, heavy sleep, a pleasingly neutral initial impression that proves overly optimistic when each subsequent revelation is more dissatisfying than the last. Shoulders toned from consistent weight training feel uncommonly stiff and through instinct you roll your neck, attempting to soothe muscles angry at improper sleeping habits. A slender light peeks from the distance, just below your immediate sight - like a glowing band of sunlight across an early hour’s horizon - and the temperature is warm enough that the dogs must have crawled onto your bed for the evening -
- the dogs!
"Chewy! Argos!"
Disquieting gaps in memory leave you gasping your beloved pets’ names. In the darkness, a futile search of your surroundings ends as quickly as it begins, but it is the movement that sets panic into your breast:
The surrounding void is not darkness, but the weight of a loosely tied blindfold, settling around your head and across the bridge of your nose.
"Ah,” a hushed voice, pleasant and mellow, shakes any remaining stupor away, setting your senses alight in unfortunate understanding. “So you're finally awake. Do you remember what happened?"
His words the trigger, an intense memory flashes through your mind’s eye; though the details of the vision unclear, the intent understood in full:
A knife in hand -
Vague in the shadows, the dogs are still. Splayed out on your bed, dread and uncertainty accompanies ignorance - is it unconsciousness or -
"They're just asleep, as you soon will be."
He had whispered in your ear from behind.
"You!" Instantaneously, your every sense heightens, a heavily beating heart pumping adrenaline with such intensity that you might well be fighting to the death with an apex predator. Every instinct screams to leap at him, not knowing what you’ll do when he’s subdued, only that you must . Obeying the urge, you lash out, hoping to neutralize the stranger before he has a chance to react. Pushing your feet hard to the floor, you leap forward -
An attempt that fails spectacularly, the cause of your sore muscles revealing itself. Your arms burn not because of the position you slept in, rather, they’ve been tied at your back, bound around what seems to be a wooden chair - and it’s not just your arms, your legs and waist are bound to the sturdy object chosen by your captor. With a frustrated snarl, you wriggle back and forth, shifting your weight even while knowing your every movement is being observed.
Struggling against your confines is effective only in chafing the region where skin meets binding, and further attempts at rocking are equally futile; the chair might well be tied to a pole and bolted to concrete flooring for all the effect your shifting weight has on its balance.
All the while your captor observes, a quiet and far too familiar chuckle growing bolder as you become more desperate.
"You're. . .Themis?" You ask at last, frustration at your inability wearing down barriers of caution.
Only one person you’ve ever met has such a distinct and pleasingly soft voice.
"That's right. Good, that saves us some time." He seems genuinely pleased, but your former senior’s intentions had always been inscrutable.
Pleasant and cool, it was hard not to admire Themis’ resolute nature when faced with the ever increasing demands of law school. No matter the challenge, Themis always offered a shoulder to lean on - and after his graduation, you continued in his place, advising and tutoring underclassmen with a warm smile.
Life moves on, but for two individuals in the same profession and city, pursuing similar careers, meetings are more than chance. Now more rival than friend, more corporate opponent than stalwart support, you have met Themis repeatedly in court as an equal.
The blindfold does not hinder your hearing and his vague shuffling can be heard some distance away. His shoes make none of the pleasant clicks you’d expect from a wooden, tile or even granite flooring, confirming your earlier suspicion that you may indeed be bound to concrete.
"I thought I told you not to interfere." He speaks true, but you’d brushed the warning aside as professional rivalry. Themis knows more about your motive than anyone; he was always supportive of your desire for closure and even after your years together, you never once considered leaving the mystery unsolved. No matter his cautions, you had not expected Themis to take such immediate and drastic action against you. "And yet here you are."
Aye, he knows all about you, knows about your digging into a case suspiciously and cleanly closed when it was anything but. Something isn’t right in your ex-boyfriend’s murder, and Themis must know it.
He pauses and lifts your chin until you can feel his breath on your lips. You can almost see the intense blue of his eyes, a color so unique that it remains burned deeply into dream and memory alike.
"- Here you are."
You cannot see it, but a clock on a nearby wall ticks ominously, filling the silence between breaths.
As lingering sleep fades, panic deepens unto dread as your mind slowly clears, piecing together the events of the previous night: you arrived at a cold, quiet apartment, the dogs ominously and uncharacteristically silent. Not only did they fail to greet you arrival, but failed to come when called. Your heart had thudded in growing worry and you had taken a knife from the kitchen, but still -
He had so easily snuck up on you.
The truth of your situation settled, you once more writhe and wriggle, shaking your head free of his hand; if strength will not defeat the chains, perhaps flexibility-
He sighs.
"Don't try to escape. You'll find those are not typical bindings."
Themis’ condescending serenity kindles a flickering flame of anger. The remains of your frustration boil over and, logic be damned, you throw the entirety of your weight against the chair in a final, desperate effort to off its balance. Unfortunately, unending perseverance and the eventual resulting success is as much a myth as the monsters living under a child’s bed and the attempt ends just as futilely as all the rest, leaving you dizzy and exhausted, your skin and muscles sore wherever they come into contact with the bindings. Deflating quickly, your pride stings at the lack of progress, knowing he watches you fail.
Old habits die hard; you’d sooner not embarrass yourself before Themis - not when you’d only recently reconnected.
"Are you quite done?"
Sighing in temporary defeat, you nod.
Just how badly had you underestimated him?
"Then let us continue." This time, he does not distance himself and his fingers find your hair - playing at your scalp with the same affection he had always utilized to calm your stress before an exam. "I do not easily ask one such as yourself to compromise your morals. However, there are certain rules that must be abided by for the natural order to be retained. We - both of our kinds - are not above the cycle of nature - if we alter these rules our system will collapse, cascading into inviability. In order for the laws of reality to be held fast, sometimes . . .dramatic action must be taken. Sometimes, there must be sacrifice."
The Themis you know - the man you had invited into your home, had celebrated and mourned with - is not typically taken to such grandstanding. The behavior on display is completely unfamiliar to you -
- So much so that it’s almost like you never knew him at all.
His words are easily understood individually, but chained together make little sense.
‘Our kinds?’
"In truth, we are intrinsically connected, you and I - and our peoples. What benefits one benefits the other. And so we uplift those who need it, offering bounty without stipulation.
If a participant in our exchange - not unlike yourself - happens to reach a hand behind the curtain . . .well, that would be unfortunate indeed."
You reel at this new side of Themis - at his nigh delusional condemnations. Little of what he says makes sense, though from what you understand -
This ‘reaching behind the curtain’ definitely has something to do with Haurchefant’s death.
A sacrifice.
Your jaw sets.
"And now, it's necessary that I tighten the leash. Though from my perspective, perhaps you'd enjoy that."
"Never" You bite out thoughtlessly, earning a pleasingly dark chuckle of amusement that unfortunately sends shivers down your spine - and a fleeting grasp at the tips of your fingers.
"But I admit to some fondness for you. We might yet come to an arrangement, that your transgressions against our peoples are wiped clean."
Transgressions.
You did not make it to your position by being a fool. Whatever Themis has gotten into, he is in deep - and it is the same trouble that got Haurchefant killed and you kidnapped.
"What do you mean?" You are at his mercy - he has your life and he has your answers.
Themis holds the key to your future and, where once you might have welcomed it, you cannot but be terrified.
"We can come to a deal. Don't worry, I'll not ask anything uncouth. It's simply that a certain individual has obtained some troublesome information we need returned."
Themis utilizes precise wording, a delicate and direct phrasing that is often found in strict legalities or in reporting; a perpetrator is alleged until proven guilty in a court of law. Themis carefully discloses nothing about the documents or individual in question - and that only unsettles you further.
". . .And after I return it?" Sense dictates that you’ve little choice but to agree; you’re bound with no apparent escape. This Themis - this man you don’t know, who kidnapped you in a display of machiavellian ruthlessness - seems the type to show no remorse. He would abandon you in a lonely darkness, leaving your muscles to wither and your stomach to starve until you agree to his terms. Furthermore, the Themis you do know would account for attempts to cry and yell until hoarse; as a result, you are doubtless completely unreachable by either public or law enforcement.
At the height of his career, Themis cannot allow his coercion to be revealed. He will have prepared for circumstances beyond his control.
"You needn't worry about that - my people will deal with it."
No matter how pleasant his voice, the implication chills you to the bone.
“Themis. . .what happened?” You ask at last, fear making you bold. “Did you have something to do with Haurchefant?”
The confident man at last pauses.
"I do not engage with those below my notice. I can assure you, I had no direct hand in his demise"
Once more you are reminded that he is not the outgoing, cheerful senior who offered advice freely. . .
Or perhaps it was free only to you, and you never noticed.
You’d sooner not pursue the thought and push it aside as best you can given the weighty circumstances, but the potential niggles at the back of your brain, question unanswered.
“Then. . .why?” You ask instead.
“I believe I’ve explained myself thoroughly.”
He did, but it all seems like a dream - a nightmare, an inescapable terror lasting well beyond awakening.
Bubbling in anger - at Themis, at your own incompetence - and how you’ve been left with no other choice, you stubbornly hesitate a moment longer before at last accepting the situation in full.
“Fine. I’ll do it.” The words taste like acid on your tongue, burning and spiteful.
Blinded as you are, Themis’ features are invisible, but your imagination provides his satisfied smirk - that one you used to know - warped and twisted into something unrecognizable.
"Then it's settled. Let us bind our agreement with an oath. Not that I do not trust you, but there are ceremonies we must uphold."
His continued touch reveals Themis as no more than a pace away - and even that small distance dissipates, as you feel the weight of an arm on your shoulder from behind. With surprising care, his fingers work the cloth as he lowers his face to yours.
“This will hurt for but a moment.” He whispers against your ear, before lowering his lips to your neck.
The blindfold falls away, and all you know is bliss.
Dizzying euphoria sends your senses spinning from control. His breath in your ear, his lips on your neck, his hair teasing your cheek - the darkness of your surroundings visible to clouded sight churns and burns . Beginning at your neck, heat traverses your spine, a tingle that shoots into your core and sets your skin alight, prickles coursing down your arms until you tremble and gasp until thought eludes you entirely - all that is left of your mind seeking more.
And as quickly as it began, it’s over, debilitating ecstasy replaced with a light sting as Themis moves away, working your bindings. Sore wrists freed,you tug them forward awkwardly . The dim and settling light blinds eyes versed in darkness and upon looking up, though his features are vague outlines, you’re greeted with only the glow of silver and a blue, so bright and intense that they outshine even a vibrant and clear sky.
“I need but one more favor from you before I set you to your duty.”
He leans down, his forehead resting on yours.
With a swift motion, Themis raises his finger to his lips and - from what you can tell at such a close distance, bites down with enough force to make you wince.
Perhaps you should push him away - scream and bite and tear - but your body feels as if it has escaped your control, as if trapped in a dream and your mind is an outsider to its experiences. He is the puppetmaster and you are the puppet.
His finger passes twixt parted lips, warm copper sliding against your cheek and down your throat, a light tingle persisting under your tongue, burning as if venom.
“I trust you to do your part, but my lingering aether will ascertain it. None will interfere with your duty now.”
Themis whispers, as if sharing an intimate secret, and kisses the lobe of your ear before stepping away, the last of your bindings falling without even being touched.
This is all wrong, but your dulled senses cannot process any of what has occurred.
“You will find the information you need on your target here.” A light weight falls into your lap - a phone, perhaps, though you can not be sure. “When you’ve completed your task, seek Elidibus in its contacts.”
In the darkness, you can almost see him smile.
“I look forward to a fruitful relationship.”