Origins of the Fates

11: Aires Ozias

Aires is dragged into the infirmary after Tarquin and Willa got a bit over-excited about their treatment of Aires.

They dump him off in the healer room, and he just lays on a cot, broken and very much out of it. He can't feel much other than the pain that is all over his body. Tarquin beat him while Willa made him feel it ten times over. He is in too much agony now to breathe normally, his wheezing and gasping breaths reminding him of Ramsey.

The dragon is suffering. Much like he is now.

Through his haze of agony and fear, he looks around the room he was dumped in. A tall cabinet off to the side of the cots is full of various potions that the healers would use. He slides off the cot, swaying on his feet. Aires struggles to walk to the cabinet, his vision swaying a bit.

While he's technically free of the hold that Willa had on his mind, he's still a bit scrambled. That's to be expected, as his mind is a bit odd anyways. He summons all his dark fae magick, breaking open the glass of the cabinet.

Shards of glass fly everywhere, but he doesn't care. He digs through the many vials of liquids he does not recognize, before he finds one called Roseblooded. The pink elixir is kept in a black and red vial, but he shoves a few vials into his pockets.

After he's done, he starts to struggle his way over to the cot, before the world beneath him pitches sideways hard. He gasps and falls, and knows no more.

..................

Aires wakes up with a start, back in his cell. He immediately sits up, feeling the vials in his pockets. He glances around before he pulls them free.

"Ramsey? You there? It's me, Aires," he says, breathing hard with excitement.

"Aires?" When she says his name, it sounds like a hiss. He focuses on the sounds of her pulling herself across the concrete floor. He looks around, but then sees a small vent in the wall, at the bottom by the floor. Not big enough for him to crawl through, but still big enough for him to push the vials through.

Dizziness causes Aires to sway a bit as he crawls over to the vent. He distantly wonders if the healers helped him at all, as his mind is still a bit jumbled from Willa's torturing.

"Ramsey, I have something for you," he whispers as he lays beside the vent. "Over here, by the vent. Come on, quick."

He hears her scraping along the wall and floor. Aires looks around, glad that there are no cameras in here. Ramsey reaches a too-thin hand that's pale and covered with both light and dark purple scales through the hole. He sighs and passes the four vials through the gap.

Ramsey hisses in delight.

"You ... did it? How?"

"The less you know about that, the better," he says.

She chuckles, then coughs hard. "Well, I thank you, kind Aires."

He smiles. "Will it help you? Is that what you needed?"

"It is," she says. "And yes. It will help me stay alive, as well as restore some of my stolen strength. That way, when Mercury inevitably comes for me once more, I will be ready for whatever hells lie ahead."

"Wish I could get some of that juice," he says, laughing.

Ramsey chuckles too. "Well, I bet you would not like it. It is made for my kind, as well as those who have fire magick."

"Well, my shadows are fine by me," he replies.

"I'd love to control shadows...." Ramsey whispers, her voice wistful.

.................

Sometime later that night, Aires is woken up by some sounds beyond his cell.

He sits up on his painfully cold cot, wrapping the thin, scratchy blanket around himself as he heads over to the wall. He doesn't say anything as he listens, just trying to tell if Ramsey is okay or not.

Aires listens to the scraping and scratching sounds in her cell, her voice harsh and raspy as she prays in that strange language that Aires somehow understands. He tilts his head, listening at the vent, wondering if she knows he's awake.

"They said it was not to be," Ramsey whispers. "But they are wrong. So, so wrong. They could not perceive us, therefore, we weren't real. But they were wrong. Oh, how wrong they were...."

He wonders what she's talking about, but decides to not say a word. Ramsey might stop talking altogether if she knows he is listening. And honestly, without her, he's likely to have gone insane by now.

Especially with the worry over Eris.

Ramsey begins to sing in yet another language, but not one Aires has ever heard before. He doesn't know what she's saying, but the melody is sweet and haunting all at once.

He leans his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. Aires listens to her song, thinking about Eris and how he loves and misses her. How he hopes that nothing happens to her on this stupid mission. And how he hopes that she will return soon, so he can hold her again.

Aires drifts off, his body succumbing to exhaustion. Eris floats in his mind, just out of reach, but always there, watching over him.