Striking

Chapter 6

I REMEMBERED YOU, WATTPAD. BE PROUD OF ME! AND PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, READ MY FICS ON AO3! :crylaughing:

I HAVE RETURNED, WITH THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS FIC! :elmo:

BUT FIRST: DARIA NAME CHANGE NOTICE!!
Okay, so, um, I may have fucked up and named two totally different characters "Daria." Remember the maid from the beginning of the story, whose daughter loved tigers? Well, I named her "Daria," but because Kyunvac's Daria has been more prevalent in recent chapters, I've decided to change the maid's name to "Polina." Sorry for the fuck up! I hope it's not too confusing!

Chapter five recap: Kyunvac and his delegation arrive! Otabek quickly realizes that Yuri was not overreacting and that Kyunvac is a little bitch-- but, amazingly, Yuri lets him behave terribly toward him without repercussions. When Otabek confronts him about this, Yuri says, cryptically, that it's not worth it to call Kyunvac out about his behavior, and that, while he wasn't risking international instability when he teased Otabek for being a nominal sexist, he is with Kyunvac, and therefore won't even try to rebuke his actions. Kyunvac knows this about Yuri, and, after hinting at his lust for him the entire damn chapter, he completely destroys The Act and the treaty, refusing point-blank to sign it into law. Yuri, naturally, has a melt down at this, gets in an argument with Otabek (for which they are, for once, both at fault), and flees into the garden as the sun sets. Flees into the garden, where, surprise surprise, he meets Kyunvac. I'm cruel, and I leave you on a telling cliffhanger.

Trigger warning ahead!
As, throughout most of this chapter, rape is mentioned, I honestly doubt that you can avoid every implication and mention of it. You can, however, skip the continuation of the rape scene. When you reach (in Otabek's POV), "A scream rent the air," stop reading in order to skip the scene containing rape-customary violence. When you reach "For a moment, they remained there, silent apart from their labored breathing, the halted gasps Yuri choked on, as still as they could be with Otabek's hands shaking and Yuri's entire being trembling," it's safe to continue reading, as no more violence is written. But, continuing after that, descriptions of injuries, non-graphic discussions of rape, and the aftermath of attempted rape are prevalent. Please, sensitive parties, read with caution. There will be a short summary of the skipped section at the end.

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Otabek rested his head atop his folded arms, letting out a long, low groan. He still sat in the abandoned meeting room, the light of the moon casting shadows through the windows, sending slices of illumination into the space. It was an interesting contrast, the brightness versus the shadow , and, to Otabek's currently histrionic brain, it supplied the perfect metaphor for his emotions.

Anger, resentment, hurt; battling with guilt, responsibility, and that immutable, effervescent, entirely illogical flare of hope. It was really more of a flicker now, but it still remained, that spark that, on the edge of desolation, was rekindled, barely, by Yuri's shouts.

He had, by his own, likely accidental, admission, told Otabek that he'd once loved him. That counted for something. And, at this moment in time, that something was enough.

Though Otabek couldn't be sure it would be in the cold light of day.

Digging his forehead further into his forearms, folded across the table whose chair he'd collapsed into, Otabek clenched his jaw. He didn't know what he felt, not anymore.

Over the months, he'd become accustomed to being, for lack of a better term, Yuri's whipping boy. It sounded harsh, put that way, and Otabek wasn't entirely sure if it was simply the impassioned emotions currently blazing within him making him think that way, but it seemed accurate nonetheless. He'd spent months willingly subjecting himself to the ebb and flow of Yuri's emotions: Yuri's affections ; and he'd believed (still did, to some degree) that he was merely weathering a storm, earning trust, and that, eventually, this instability in their relationship would become a thing of the past. It had even looked that way, for a while.