Chapter Text
Beams of sunshine broke through the groaning branches of the treetops, spotting the dirt path with shifting patterns of light. The autumn breeze left a chill in the air that scattered crisp leaves across the plain, creating a colorful flurry of dull reds and oranges. Along the trail lined with a rockwall and bustling trees, a quiet individual walked in his own silence, accompanied by the sounds of trilling birds and the rustling of withering foliage. His dark robe curled against the sudden winds and his gloved hands rose to remove the red cloth that hid away his skeletal face. It was a peaceful afternoon for the magus, who was on his way home after a successful delivery.
Ellias had journeyed to the village to hand over a package, personally, since the customer who asked for it was so ill that they couldn’t even leave their home to get it themselves. The magus did not mind, of course, since it was an excellent opportunity to get some fresh air after being cooped up in the house for so long. He strolled in a gentle pace, inhaling deeply to fill his lungs with the heavenly aroma of the Earth. In his serenity, the fleeting image of his apprentice came to mind.
This would be the third day Chise was dead asleep. Three long days of slumber, days in which Ellias had spent without her cherished presence, her voice, her everything. He was hoping that once he returned to the household, she would be awake, and he would finally have her back again. As disappointing as it would be to have her still asleep, he’d have the pleasure to crawl right back into bed with her, and regain the precious warmth he lost from the cold, brisk air. He remembered the night of that thunderstorm, the fateful evening that led to Chise sleeping in his arms every night afterwards. Oddly enough, sleep didn’t come so easily without each other's embrace, so they found comfort in sharing a bed. Ellias grew fond of the idea of Chise’s sleeping form laid against his, her head rested against his chest and their legs intermingled underneath the soft blankets. He began to rely on Chise to shake him up in the early morning, something that he could never manage, especially when he was truly a beast of the night. The only misfortune, as of late, was that he had awoken without her for two mornings so far. Mornings where her bright eyes weren’t the first thing he saw when he woke up, and it just felt so… What was the word again? Oh, yes... lonely.
Although she was completely comatose, he spent most of yesterday lingering near their bed she slept in, watching her, feeling her gentle snoring lull him into the undeniable calm he grew to love. Well, as close to ‘love’ as he’d ever admit to understanding. He found himself petting her red hair, or caressing the silky skin of her cheeks. If it was anyone else, they’d think of themselves as creepy, but Ellias never thought of his fondness in touch to be such a bad thing. He just wanted those soft eyes to look up at him, her soul to soak into him, her voice to fill his air. In the emptiness of the previous day, he had plenty of time to embrace loneliness, and realize how that feeling never existed when Chise was with him. After being with her for so long, he did not want to experience any closeness to the ache of solitude again.
As the dirt road came to an end, the magus finally broke from his thoughts and focused on his home in the distance, which drew closer with every careful stride he made. The garden was swamped by dead leaves and fallen branches, and it felt like an entirely different yard in comparison to when the lush green grasses and red roses flourished in the summer season. He looked up from the dying flowers of the ground to the house, whose clinging grapevines were decaying due to the rising cold. Ellias stepped towards the entrance of his home, his black oxford-clad feet clacking against the cobblestone path up to his door.
When he shuffled inside, he noticed the fireplace was crackling with red flames eating at aged logs of wood. He also noted that neither Chise, nor the Silky, were there to welcome him home, which peaked his growing curiosity as to where they were. Ellias turned to the coat rack standing by the side of the door in which he entered, and slipped off his dark robe, hanging it neatly at its collar. Soon after, he brought his hands up to untie the golden strings wrapped around his rugged horns, pulling off the crimson fabric used to hide away his inhuman complexion. He hung it alongside his cloak, and turned to look around the house which seemed empty from where he stood.
Ellias tugged his vest at its bottom edges, adjusting it as he walked into the open hallway, peeking his head into each open doorway to see if anyone was even home, it felt almost abandoned with its eery quietness. The kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and alchemy room were empty, but when he turned the corner to head towards his bedroom, he saw the Silky standing before it, already looking his way like she presumed he would appear. Ellias couldn’t help but sigh in relief when he caught sight of her, knowing now there was nothing to worry about.
“Good afternoon, Silky. Has Chise awoken yet?” Ellias asks, his voice laced with a bit of hope. The Silky responded with a small nod, and this made the magus perk up ever so slightly. “Splendid, I was hoping she would today.”
He smiled through his eyes, moving to put his hand on the knob of his bedroom door, but the Silky slid right in front of him so he couldn’t go any farther. This confused him.
“Wha--, Silky, pardon me,” He says, trying to bend around the fairy, quickly failing when she stood to block his path yet again. He looks down to stare quizzically at her face, which was as neutral as it's always been. “I wish to see her, why won’t you let me?”
She remains silent, but only counters by shaking her head and gently pushing him back with her hands, politely gesturing him to go away. Of course, Ellias took this the wrong way and instead became increasingly troubled.
“What is it, is she purging again? I can take it, Silky, let me in --” Ellias insists, only receiving more head-shaking, more aggressive this time, and that’s when he finally hears it. The smallest sound that came from the other side of the door, muffled but distinguishable; Heavy breathing, ragged yet hushed, and it made Ellias immediately assume the worst. Pain, he thought, the magic drained too much from her body and its taking a toll upon her.
“She’s hurting, isn’t she? Don’t let her suffer alone, please, I must see her…” He pushes the Silky to the side with an anxious force, his gloved hand wrapping around the knob, breaking through the lock with little to no effort at all.
His sudden burst of strength shot open the door, nearly cracking the adjacent wall it slammed into. Ellias trudged towards the bed, but stopped in his tracks when his eyes captured Chise’s wide ones. He had a split second to view what was before him; Chise, kneeled upon the bed, pale skin completely bare and flushed and drenched with sweat, her thighs spread wide and straddling a pillow, her hips caught in the midst of a gyrating motion. Quickly, she managed a gasp and wrapped her arms around her naked breasts, jumping up and off the bed to hide on the other side of it, ducking low to conceal the entirety of her body.
It felt like time froze over.
Ellias stood in complete shock, his heart beating murderously within his ribcage, his glowing eyes gaping and his jaw almost hitting the floor. He could hear her labored breathing from the opposite end of the bed, sounding as if she was ready to have a heart-attack, or maybe she already was. Falling upon such a situation never went through his mind, he had never expected anything like this, nevermind bearing witness to it all. The previous sight of her supple flesh and mid-rolling pelvis were forever singed in his mind, replaying over and over while he stood as still as a statue. It was a rarity for Ellias to be left so speechless.
“-- Elias!” Chise bellowed from behind the bed, the extreme embarrassment apparent in her voice. “The d-door was locked! And have you ever heard of kn-knocking?!”
“Chise, I didn’t think --”
“No, you didn’t think!” Chise interrupted him, her words quivering into a sob. From behind the mattress, she started to fumble around, and she then whispered, “...Oh god, where are my clothes?”
Ellias heard her hopeless mutter, and looked to the floor, seeing that a few pieces of clothes were scattered along the ground by his feet. He bent down to pick them up, collecting a shirt, skirt, and pair of undergarments in his hands, taking a brevity to curiously inspect them before he tossed them over to her side. Chise, unnerved by his lengthy silence, grabbed her clothes and began to put them back on, jittering with a mixture of anger and humiliation. After covering up her sticky body with her garments, she remained hidden from Ellias, knees hugged close to her chest and her burning face buried behind her knees.
The contemplating magus looked relatively close to a deer in headlights, staring in the direction where Chise was, waiting patiently for her to come out, but she never did. It felt like hours when it was only seconds passing. He was completely lost on what to do next, blaming himself for creating a dreadfully distressing situation for his apprentice, whose contentment and happiness was what he urged for. In this moment, he thought he broke all the progress of respect and comfort of each other. Ellias wished he knew how to apologise rightfully, to make Chise forgive him for this one incident where he acted on impulse. He was normally a heedful fellow, but when it came to the off chance Chise was in danger, his actions were quick and witlessly executed, and he had yet to make a mistake because of it. Of course, this was the biggest mistake for his first. This was the first time something bad came from his autonomous fight-or-flight response regarding Chise. Was he in the wrong?
He slowly advanced around the foot of the bed, his gentle footfalls making Chise cringe deeper into her ball of shame. She was unsure if he was walking out of the room or coming closer, not knowing which was worse. When she felt him looming by her, the light being shrouded by his tall shadow, tears began to prickle in her eyes. She didn’t want to hear him say anything, fearing a scold of disgust or a promise of banishment. If there was any way to take it all back and prevent Ellias from seeing her do such lewd things, she would have easily sold her own soul for it.
“Chise…” He began, his voice low and soft. The words that he meant to articulate fell flat. Again, he was absolutely breathless.
Ellias peered solemnly down at the ashamed human, curled up in a tight huddle. He wanted to tell her everything was okay, and hold her close to prove his truth. Not a single word rose from his mouth, although he tried, but he instead turned to her side and slowly lowered himself to sit next to her. Knowing full well that she was on the verge of tears with degradation, he wanted to comfort her. The moment his backside touched the floor, Chise shot up from the ground and stormed out of the room, cheeks as red as her hair. His eyes unfocused in bewilderment as his ears were filled with the sound of her hasty footsteps, growing faint as she left the room and entered the hallway. He was left in his own silence.
Unsure of the reason why she was acting this way, he tried to familiarize himself with the feelings that humans had, but had never experienced himself. Embarrassment, shame, regret… but inwardly, unbeknownst to him, there was a hint of all of those. That is why he felt so out of place, a sense of turmoil ingrained in his core, and slivers of strange titillation that he pushed away in an effort to keep his poise. Dare he admit it, he felt saddened because he caused Chise to be so upset with him that she ran away. Did that mean she feared him now?
He prepared himself to stand again, grasping the pole of the bed frame, using it to support his weakening legs. He was so confused, yet at the same time, he understood everything that happened. Upon lifting his eyes to the open doorway, he saw the Silky, who shot him a look of disapproval before she continued down the hallway, presumably where Chise went, and escaped his line of sight.
“Well, it would have been nice if you warned me with words,” He called out to her, only answered by more silence. He says under his sigh, “I didn’t expect this…”
The empty absence of sound made his thoughts seem even louder. He was left alone, turning his head to stare at the very bed he and Chise slept in, and was now seen as a platform for something more. It reminded him that beds are not only used for innocent slumber, but in an adults’ eye, a playground for lovers. Ellias felt odd when that idea finally hit him.
The incident from earlier repeated in his mind, growing more vivid the longer he mulled over it. Strangely, his skin started to itch under his coverings, and his throat grew unpleasantly tight. He went to loosen up his collar, and bolo necktie, but the tightness still remained. An ache rose in his chest, and it intensified when he stepped closer to the bed to sit on its edge. His glowing eyes were glued on the pillow left in the middle of the bed. He specifically recognized it as his own, the one that was always on his side of the bed, and the one he always slept on. His pillow, that when observed closer, had a suggestive splotch of moisture. When he realized what it was, his grip on the mattress clenched tighter, and his head turned away like he wasn’t supposed to see it. Though, there were plenty of things he probably shouldn’t have seen all in one day.
It wasn’t long before he glanced towards it again, and his brain did not hold back imagining Chise’s slender legs wrapped around it, her petite waist grinding back and forth against the fabric of the pillowcase, the heat between her thighs begging, searching for release…
her hands greeting her breasts to grope them...
her head falling back in o r g a s m i c b l i s s - -
Ellias jolted out of the fantasy with a rapid shake of his skull before he lost his composure, finding how utterly powerful these salacious thoughts were, controlling him briefly. The light of his eyes grew weary, as did his heart, and he turned to grab the pillow that stole away all his attention. He sat for a moment, holding it in his hands and gawking at its whiteness marked by Chise, improper images returning again. Without a forethought, he ducked his head down to lure the pillow to his bony snout, inhaling deeply. Sweet, musty. Her smell was so strangely enchanting to him, and the fact that his own scent had been mixed up with hers made his entire frame jitter. He felt like the combination was heavenly, like they were meant to be as one.
The demon’s heart began to speed up again, his grasp on the pillow straining due to a feeling unbeknownst to him: arousal. His face rose up and away from his stained object of interest, pointing to the open doorway, relieved that no one had seen him commit such a perverted feat. Seeing as he was still by his lonesome, he brought his concentration back to the pillow in his hands, swiftly craning his neck down and allowing his long jaw to open. His tongue, dark and slick, creeped out from behind his teeth and touched the stain, pressing deeply into it to taste its flavor. Before he knew it, he was lapping feverishly at it, its intoxicating tartness spreading throughout his taste buds, causing him to huff heavily through his lungs.
Once the flavor was entirely gone, the ferocity of his licking slowed and a feeling of self-disbelief washed over him.
“...What is wrong with me?”
Ellias placed the now slobbery pillow back onto the bed, soon feeling his own foreign perception of stigma and bashfulness. He didn’t feel like himself at all.
He couldn’t say he knew too much about sex. He only knew afterwards, offspring would come into the world, and that was mentioned a few times when he and Chise were together. It was mostly teasing, anyway, but it did come across his thoughts once in a great while because of it. He never understood the desire for the act, only the interest for the following gift, a child. What happened during sex was somewhat of a mystery to him. There would be sensations and emotions that he could possibly never understand, and he maybe didn’t have the power to feel them like any human would. Was it painful? Was it quick and clean or lengthy and sloppy? When the images of walking in on Chise flowed through his brain, he sort of answered his own question. The split-second look of bliss on her face told him it was enjoyable, and even if it wasn’t, why would she be doing it in the first place? And why was she doing the act alone? He didn’t think people did that, but then again, he still had much to learn about humans. And the leftover stain on the pillow told him it was messy, and lots of bodily fluids were involved.
Because he was so suddenly introduced to the personal topic, he was caught off guard and had no idea how to respond. He was oblivious as to why he felt the need to practically consume the tool Chise used for adult reasons, and it made him feel sick. Sick, not in disgust of himself, or maybe it was, but that he was losing his own self-control. He did not want to fall for the weaknesses of humanity, of clumsy emotion and urges, but it seemed that being so close to a human made it hard to avoid. Indifference of situations was what he was used to, and proved to be most rewarding and casted away all complications. Being invaded by so many alien, emotional perplexities just gave him more to concern himself with. The stirring imbalance of his stoicism was disturbing to him.
There would be no way to describe the feelings that bottled up inside him, forcing the air in his chest to become stale and his eyes in a whirlwind in their sockets, struggling to focus but kept on wandering. Tightness, like his skin was a size too small, like his clothes were tearing at their seams. An overwhelming warmth made beads of sweat dribble down the length of his neck, which he tensely dabbed with the sleeve of his white dress shirt. He felt as if he was suffocating, so he removed himself from that bedroom and tread down the hallway, making a beeline towards the front door of the home. He needed fresh air, and he needed to get his mind off things for just a minute so he could maybe find a way to fix things.
A gust of invigorating wind wafted into Ellias’s face once he opened the door, surrounding himself with the colors of the fall atmosphere he greatly needed. This time, the air smelled of an earthy dampness, and a light drizzle showered from the cloudy skies, shielding the early evening sun. All he could hear was the rainfall patter against the stone path and the soggy leaves. The unappealing weather did not stop him from walking into the wilted garden and taking a seat on the dainty patio furniture. He simply sat there, allowing the rain droplets to collect upon his head and trickle off his jaw and coiled horns. He felt better.