Cinder-knight (bxb) ||completed

35th rule| i

Eric was a fool to think the nightmares wouldn't haunt him that night.

Of course, him being the idiot he is, spent the whole night gushing to the full moon and the stars, about how his prince had given him one of the most precious blankets in the world. It was one out of the several curtains (that actually belonged to Pase's lair, if we had to be literal) which were blessed enough to be rubbed against Henry's skin, as the said prince had been using them to keep safe from the cold for the past few days.

And Eric certainly didn't think he would fall asleep in the middle of it.

Stupid Eric.

Classic Eric.

As expected as it sounds, in his sleep, he felt flames rising and dancing across his body as his breath quickened. His fingers clamped around his nose, not being able to withstand the horrible smell of burning meat that flitted against his face. His calves shook, shoulders tremored and sweat pooled down his clavicle in a way that made him shudder.

With a gasp of pain, the knight thrashed in the soil, his eyes on the verge of popping open. But there was an obscure veil of skin that held his eyelids close, like glue. A temperature as extreme as a literal holocaust enclosed around the knight, confining him in every way it could.

But then happened something weird.
Soft mane swept against his skin and he felt someone hairy- like a horse, laying beside him while letting out a small comforting neigh. Gloved fingers brushed a strand of bloody red hair out of Eric's forehead, and the same ones stroked the knight's cheek, caressing it to free Eric from the misery of always being alone. It was something foreign to the ginger.

Eric hummed quietly once he felt a person hugging him, and he unknowingly curled into that person's chest. Like a silver lining that shot through the usual dark clouds, the sudden invasion of two people into his hour of misery, made the knight forget all about the burn in his skin. He couldn't care less about how ripples of fire kept on consuming him. The only thing he cared about at that moment was being hugged.

And for the first time in forever, Eric wished this 'nightmare' wouldn't end. He missed hugging people who are... Well, alive. So he didn't want it to disappear, even though callous flames were still kicking him like a bitch.

------

On the next day, Eric woke up all alone, his body that was wrapped in a piece of cloth was curled up into a ball. But for some reason, he was oddly happy. His mood was lifted, and he knew it was because of that certain dream yesterday.

"Good morning," he told his prince who was already on his feet and doing his daily work out routine. Avianthan was also up, mawing hungrily over the ground to find some grass to eat. Henry, upon the sudden call of his name, turned towards Eric and smiled wide.

"Good morning!" he sang, snapping his gloved fingers together to beckon Eric, "I see you aren't deceased yet. In celebration of it, how about we go down to some early-in-the-morning hunting? Not gonna lie, I'm hungry as hell, and it's not like we can eat that horse," he pointed at Avianthan, making the Knight crack a smile.

Though Eric was confused as to why the prince's way of speech took a sudden turn, he was lured in as a matter of seconds. It wasn't a lie that Eric was infatuated with his prince, thus, him being quick to mumble out a small, "Yes, my prince." wasn't something to be surprised about.

-----

The sunbeam fell on top of the knight's, prince's and Avianthan's heads as they walked through the labyrinth of creepers, thorns and saplings.

It was not over two hours since they had started their search, desperate to find any sort of meat that could satisfy their hunger. They were definitely not going to be appeased by fruits; which they had been feeding on for days, therefore everyone except Avianthan ignored the branches that showcased ripened fruits right in front of their faces.

The mare on the other hand was eating everything, as she went on.

However, all of a sudden, Eric heard the oinks of wild pigs that whiplashed in the air. While hearing the sounds of mud squelching, Eric's and Henry's eyes met, both of their minds screaming the exact same word as their mouths watered.

Meat.

And there was just no way in hell they would let this chance slip.

It was like an unforeseen outburst of guns, arrows and things in between, when the prince and the knight drew their respective swords from the scabbards that swung against their belts. Tiny sourgrass flowers crushed under their feet as they charged towards the source of the oinks, their desperation to feed their bellies leading them straight through the woods and into a swamp where well-nourished delicious pigs were bouncing in mud.

Their fat oily bodies made drool cascade down Prince Charming's mouth so un-charmingly, but that wasn't important, and the two men jumped to the dark brown goo without a single care in the world. Fuck, they were starving.

Avianthan watched boredly at the way swords clashed, pigs ran and how the knight hung onto one of their short legs desperately. Henry, on the flip side, was biting some pig's ass while the said porker cried in pain. With a roll of her eyes, the horse slumped down on the ground, not bothering to waste her time on men as she went to sleep again.

------

It was evening.

After the trio had failed to catch even a single pig, the prince and the knight coursed through the jungle to finally find a place they could rest in. The horse trailed behind them quietly, not understanding why Henry and Eric seemed so depressed. It was just a goddamn pig! It's not like the two humans wouldn't be able to cease their hunger by eating the gifts nature had given them for free; such as grass.

And in the end, the knight found himself rubbing two stones together to form a fire while squatting down in front of the pile of dry twigs and branches he had made with the help of his prince. At least that way, they would be able to roast the veggies they gathered and it would also provide Henry some heat.

"You're going to scratch your fingers if you do it so aggressively," Prince Charming clicked his tongue and shook his head, watching the knight grumble to himself while trying to ignite a spark from two flints. Eric suddenly let out a loud "Eek!" and fell back when a crack of fire appeared, he almost let out a whine when his ass collided with the ground.

But of course, the small bit of fire was quick to disappear.

"You're scared of fire, aren't you?"

Eric's heart thumped as he snapped his head towards Henry, gulping when he saw his prince slowly squatting down next to him. "What- no, of course not!-" he stuttered, but the blonde sighed and held the knight's hand to take away the two pieces of rock from him.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. People have their own fears, and you have yours too," Henry whispered, setting himself down as he focused his gaze over the brown twigs which were awaiting to be cinders. Eric, in response, slowly calmed down, ignoring the way Avianthan's meeky footsteps pitter-pattered against his ears, showing she's in the middle of slinking out of their sights to sneak into the woods.

'She's probably hungry' Eric thought and decided to let it go, with that, he turned to look at his prince who parted his mouth to speak.

"Do you wanna talk about it? You know, about why you're scared of fire?"

Eric looked down, fiddling with his fingers awkwardly, "It's nothing much, my prince. Listening to it might bore you."

"It won't, I promise. Just let it out," Henry said, and the knight took it as his cue to start telling what he wanted to say, so he readjusted his posture and brought his knees close to his chest, to hug them.