The Artist & The Dancer

IV

And here he was now, still mourning and sinking farther and farther into the void. He had to move on, he couldn't keep going on this way. He would have to forget his first love just so he could go on living.
Dan thought about it for a moment, letting the feeling of the cold floor against his body melt away. He floated around in his mind enjoying his memories of Cadence before he packed them away for good.
It was as if his mind had fallen down a rabbit hole for he was completely lost within his little world, letting all the emotions that had built up in his chest slowly fade away.
And for once he was invincible, if only for a moment. The dancer had finally been put to rest and Dan was at peace.
Dan was jolted awake with the feeling of someone shaking him. His vision was blurred, making it hard to focus on the figure in front of him who was jarring him with increasing intensity. Dan couldn't scream, he couldn't alert anyone that he was out here. He would surely end up like Cadence if he did so.
The shaking slowly came to a halt as the assailant noticed that Dan was most definitely awake. As the artist slowly looked up, careful not to make any sudden movements, he saw the same slightly tanned skin that he had tried to erase from his mind gripping at his shirt. Someone who had thought he would never see again towered over him with eyes that sparkled in the dim candle light.
"Don't go, it's okay."
Dan jumped up from his spot on the floor and ran, not stopping to process a single thought as he sprinted his way out the huge front doors and into the pouring rain. This couldn't be real. He was just imagining it. Dan ran all the way across the unfamiliar court yard to underneath a tree. He vomited. He was hysterical, there was no way that...
"Dan, stop running. I'm not going to hurt you."
He spun around to see Cadence, standing upright with his hands forward as if anticipating Dan's irrational behavior. His cheeks were rosy from the cold temperatures and he didn't seem to have any injuries. To say the least, he was alive.
" You can't, I mean, this can't be real!" Dan yelled into the wind, his eyes shaking with distress. He grasped on to the tree behind him as if it was his tether to reality.
"Come on Dan! You know i'm real. I know it's been two months and i'm sorry. Please just let me explain, you see it's a funny story I actually..."
"Do you have any idea how much pain I went through?" Dan shouted as he pushed Cadence backwards. The huge, eighteen year old flew back, landing on his butt in a puddle of muddy water behind him.
The young dancer recovered from the shove, his eyes wide with surprise. He walked back up to Dan with a frown on his face. As if sensing dan's rising heart rate, Cadence grabbed Dan's wrists and pinned them against the tree. The rain soaked them both, but Cadence refused to move, no matter how much Dan squirmed.
Dan could feel the sharper edges of the bark prodding his back and neck uncomfortably, as if the tree itself was pushing him towards the young man in in front of him.
"Listen!" Yelled Cadence, his blue eyes becoming cold and icy with frustration. Dan bowed his head in the young dancer's grip, surrendering for just a moment to let the dancer explain himself.
"Two months ago, I tried to resist, but they brought in the armored guards and they hurt me, Dan. I don't know how much pain you've felt over the past two months but I can tell you one thing, this was a lot worse." Cadence shrugged his shirt off of one of his shoulders, never allowing for his hands to leave Dan's pale wrists. The white cotton fabric slid away to reveal a huge burn mark just over Cadence's collar bone. It was red and raw, Dan had to look away to keep from vomiting again. It was the work of a molten piece of metal and a steady hand, they had tortured him. What he had been trying not to believe over the last two months was sinking in like quicksand. " Then, they blindfolded me and lead me somewhere unfamiliar. When they took my blindfold off I saw something that I'd never seen before. It was huge and blue. It shined as bright as the sun and I could barely look at it without burning my eyes..."
"The portal." Dan mumbled, just loud enough for Cadence to hear over the wind and rain. He had calmed down, for now.
"Yes, that was it. They took me over to it. I heard the king and one of the wizards there talking, they said something about how the portal only showed itself every two moons. So the guards let me go and the king said a few words to me. He gave me the choice of never seeing you again or jumping into the portal. I didn't even answer him. I just ran and jumped into the portal without even thinking. I couldn't imagine what my life would be without you. I love you Dan and I can't live without you."
Cadence let his grip loosened for a second. Dan realized and swung a punch as hard as he could, reaching high so he could hit Cadence square in the jaw.
Cadence reached towards his lip. Blood.
"Stop saying things like that. I don't want to hear it. I can't love you anymore Cadence, not after what you did to me. You still have no idea how hard the last two months have been. Emotional pain hurts ten million times worse than physical pain. You can't escape it, it cuts too deep for it to heal. If you thought you could just make everything all better by saying things like that, you clearly don't know me very well," Dan yelled into the wind with a fiery rage filling his brown eyes.

"Dan, please."