His shield

8. Open Flower

                              *FLASHBACK*
   Falco had been torturing Thomas for about three months in all now. Thomas had never once broken. He had remained strong and loyal to his father, holding onto the hope that his father would still come for him. Within the last week though, things had started to change. He was doubting his country and his fathers loyalty. No one was coming...
   Thomas looks up at Falco, his eyes full of pain. He was sitting in his chair, hanging limply against the restraints as usual. "Please...just kill me."
    Falco stared at him with desperate eyes. He'd started growing tired of doing this. Something had changed. "Why can't you just speak?! Please fox. Your dad betrayed you. He's not coming. Please work with me!" Falco stood, knocking his chair over, walking over to the red-haired boy, grabbing his face gently "Please, I don't want to hurt you anymore..." Falco whimpers thinking hard, "This boy is getting at me.... I don't know why I feel this way. Ugh! So pathetic." He'd never had trouble torturing and interrogating anyone before but Thomas was a tough one to do. It almost pained him to see the other man in such agony recently.
   Thomas flinches at his touch and looks up at him before looking back down. "I can't...I can't tell you anything."
    Falco whimpers. "Why won't you? It has been three months. Your father hasn't even sent out soldiers for you. I'm tired of doing this everyday. Aren't you? Isn't it exhausting? If you just tell me... No more pain. No more suffering. Please kid..." Falco begged, his heart aching.
    Thomas keeps his head down, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. He looks up at Falco, showing weakness for the first time. "My father has deserted me, hasn't he? He doesn't care about me...he left me to die. He never loved me, did he?"
    Falco's mind spun in circles. All he wanted to do was to comfort him and tell him that it would all get better. Falco moves to suddenly untie the straps and hugs him tightly. "I'm sure he loved you. He just...Some people are very bad and cruel. You'll feel and get better. You just have to trust me. Your father isn't coming though. I've been telling you this for months."
   Thomas tenses, fear washing over him as Falco wraps his arms around him. "W-what are you doing?..." He kept expecting Falco to attack him or start some new form of torture at any second.
    Falco tensed, pulling back quickly and standing. "Sorry. I just- I thought doing that would make you feel a little more comforted?" He waves in hand, annoyed with himself. "Are you hungry at all?" Falco looks to the side awkwardly. He wasn't great at comforting.
    Thomas looks up at him with wide green eyes in slight shock. "Really? You've never asked me that before... What is going on with you?" He looks down, seeing that he is still untied and his eyes widen slightly. Not even taking into effect how injured he really was, he shifts into his fox form and makes a run for the entrance of the tent, stumbling forward.
    Falco panicked, rushing forward. "Hey! HEY!" He shouts as he runs after him, quickly picking him up before he could get out of the tent. "Don't make this hard for yourself, dammit." Falco shuffled over back to the chair. "Shift please."
     Thomas let out desperate yips before giving up. Before today he would have bitten Falco and tried to get away, but now he remained still in Falco's arms. "Are you going to torture me now?"
    Falco could understand since they were the same species. Not animal of course. But as in shifters. "No. I know you're hurting from your father. I know how it feels to lose a parent. Come on and shift."
    Thomas reluctantly shifts back to his human form. "Why are you being nice to me? Why do you care if I'm hurting? You've done nothing but hurt me..I figured you would be happy at my pain."
    Falco cringed slightly at his words. "It's just, you finally realized your father is never coming. Since torturing you isn't working I'm going to be nice..." He felt stupid for talking to him like this. It was such a sudden shift in emotion.
    Thomas looked down again. "So you're just doing it as a different way to get to me? It won't work...I'm still not going to tell you anything."
    Falco sighs. "Why are you so faithful to him? After what he has caused you and all...."
    Thomas shakes his head, sitting back in the chair. He looks down sadly. "I don't know. Maybe because I'm an idiot. I still have hope that he might love me. That he will come for me...even though I know deep down that he won't."
     Falco walks over, pulling over his own chair, sitting next to Thomas. "I'll get you help. Please, I really do ca- ... I believe that you'd be amazing on our side. I'd keep you in line and away from the others. Make sure you won't get shot." Falco smiles just slightly.
    Thomas looks up. "You can't promise that...besides, your people would never accept me. They would think I was a spy or something." He looks down. "Why do you want me to join you? Why don't you just kill me and be done with me?"
    Falco's face had a faint tint of red to it as he blushed softly. "I would get them to accept you. The biggest reason for them to trust you is if you tell me everything you know. They will treat you with respect. I promise you. Also, they'd know you're not a spy since I'll be at your side. I'd kill you if you tried anything. You'd be a great soldier."
    Thomas bites his bottom lip, looking at Falco worriedly. "How do I know you won't just kill me after I tell you? Not that it matters. Either way, I'm dead, right?"
     Falco smiles. "I won't kill you either way. And I guess you just have to have a little faith in me." His eyes had something in them today. It was as if he was telling Thomas that it was going to be okay. It was... trusting.
     Thomas looks up, looking into Falco's eyes for a moment, studying him. He speaks up after hesitating for a long moment. "Fine, I will tell you everything I know."