The cold

In the basement

Neil woke up in Damien's hands, wincing at the pain on his face. He squinted a bit , taking in their strange surroundings, it looked they were in some sort of basement, the air damp and heavy, the lighting sparse , not a single window in the room. He looked at Damien expectantly, waiting for an answer, wondering why they were in a place like this. The answer didn't come, Damien just stared back at Neil with an expression on his face that might have fit right in in a funeral. Damien found it hard to face the boy, it was his decision to leave the boy behind, his decision that put a mark on the boys face, his decision that got Andrew killed. He felt a pang in his heart at the thought of what would have happened if he was just a bit a bit late, would Neil be dead, would he have been left on the runes till  all the life in him bled out? The mark would forever remind him of his failure to protect the boy and so many others that died yesterday. 

Neil huffed , heading towards the door on wobbly legs, the pain on his face intensifying with the slight strain the movement  brought. "Don't bother heading out, unless you want to gift some of the demons your head on a silver platter " Nerezza said , looking at Neil with a bored expression on her face. Neil was horrified, his mother was outside , Spots was outside, were they all dead? Hissana wasn't in the room either, did everybody die?

Abbadon winced at the mention of HIssana, the first expression that had graced his face since his death. Nerezza eyed Abbadon for a second, that was terrible timing indeed but the boy couldn't be blamed, he had probably lost consciousness after the marking . "Not all of the people outside are dead, a lot of them moved into safe spots, places such as these, bidding their time for a chance to fight back and many of those who were actually in the wrong place at the wrong time weren't killed , just captured, probably because those pesky demons needed a source of entertainment, someone to rule over, so chances are your mother's still alive , out there somewhere  and no, we can't go searching for her now, not unless we want to join the ones that are dead or the ones in cages. Hissana though is dead, one presumes the man must've felt guilty" Nerezza added, her eyes moving to Abbadon once more , waiting for some reaction, anger, desperation , perhaps a few tears, but in vain. Abbadon continued to stare blankly at the floor, not giving any sort of hint that he had heard his lover's name in the talk. 

Neil blinked in shock, memories bombarded his brain, fitting together like puzzle pieces , telling him what had happened. He understood now, things were probably never going to be the same again. Andrew was dead , probably killed by Hissana who was in turn dead too. That explained the dead look in Abbadon's face. He wondered what the humans would do now, suddenly thrown into a world that they had always believed to be a dream, when said world was at it's worst. He figured they would have to deal, what else could they do? Pretend the thing killing them off like cows in the slaughter line wasn't real.

Neil let out a deep breath , gingerly sitting down near Damien and leaning on the man's shoulder ,feeling slightly comforted by his presence, by the presence  of those in the room, at least they were still alive. He had  no idea what he would've done if they were gone too, it was something he didn't want to have an idea of, something the possibility of which  he didn't even want to think of.

He realized one thing at that time, he wanted to become stronger. He didn't want to take their protection for granted, be the one that would wait to be rescued or left behind to be kept safe.He wanted to be able to protect them, he wanted to find a way back , back to the time when the gates were still closed , to a time when they didn't have to hide in a basement out of fear for their life. He realized he was willing to give up anything for it, even his life.

Nerezza smiled at the expression on the boy's face, his thoughts as clear as day. Good , he hadn't given up yet,that was a good start in itself. "Have a good nap today boy, brace yourself for tomorrow, 'bout time you get out of your diaper habits and become a man, this little basement is as good a place as any to train and well, I'm not gonna go easy on you, at least not until the demons start going easy on their prey"Nerezza said, the old wicked glint back on her face, she had something to do. Her smile vanished when Loki popped out of no where, an army of stuffed toys on the floor,looking extremely pleased with himself. "Cuddles anyone?" he asked, picking up a stuffed bunny and throwing it at Nerezza , chuckling when the bunny hit her head, before being torn apart by a furious  Nerezza. "Well, there's no rule that you have to cuddle it, you can tear it apart too if it helps you sleep at night, pull it's hands out,remove it's eyes, empty it of it's cottony entrails, what have you?" he said in a sing song voice ,laughing at the deep hue of red Nerezza's face had taken.

Damien observed the boy who leaned comfortably on his shoulders, taking in his slightly feminine features, his scarred face ,the way his cheeks slightly puffed up when he tried to hold back a laugh, the way his mind ran to the bright side of things no matter how bad it looked. He had no idea what the future held for them, no idea where they would be a few years from now but what he did know  was that the boy had slowly sneaked his way into his heart, booking a permanent place of residence there. " Hey, Neil" he called out in a hesitant voice, slightly gulping when the boy's eyes turned to him, a question on his face, "I think you've  made me fall in love"