Love’s Keen Sting (Hugo)

“Woah, did someone roll out of the bitter barn?” Hugo asked with a chuckle. He’d been feeling delightfully tipsy all morning despite not having touched a drop to drink. “Relax, man.”

Rule 63

“Wow, Hugo. You’re gorgeous…”

“Oh, well thanks! This is a new one for me.” The shifter laughed, “Sorry… feel like I should know who you are, but you might need to give me a clue like this?”

The last few days had been strange to say the least, finding out he was five hundred years into the future where there was an entire change in ruling, and most of all that he’d supposedly lived out the rest of his days with Andy, away from the castle and happy. Reunited with the family he had long lost, too. It all seemed a little too good to be true, even for the happy-go-lucky shifter. Still, he dressed in the emerald green suit Andy had picked up for him and headed into the anniversary party.

“Always,” Barry answered, not realising who the voice belonged to before he looked at the person who had spoken to him. 

Hugo lifted his eyes from the cookies to see Barry and his lips instantly curved upwards into a relieved grin. “Barry! I’m glad to see you.” Hugo sighed, “Yeah. What’s all that about?” He asked. “Are you okay?”

When Hugo opened his eyes and suddenly found himself in a hallway he didn’t recognise, the shifter turned to look up and down at it, letting out a small “huh” of confusion at the unusual wall hangings before he continued down. He checked his watch, he was definitely late for his shift but was astounded to find a set of mostly unfamiliar faces — and some oddly familiar, but not where they should be— in the Council chambers. They ushered him out with looks of bewilderment and Hugo was utterly perplexed now.

Hugo’s face fell when Andy pulled away from him. The wolf really did think that he was somebody else, somebody impersonating him. “When I what?” Hugo asked as Andy yanked him forwards, “I died? When.. what happened?” Hugo asked. Had he been floating around as a ghost this whole time and somehow now he was forgetting things?

When Hugo opened his eyes and suddenly found himself in a hallway he didn’t recognise, the shifter turned to look up and down at it, letting out a small “huh” of confusion at the unusual wall hangings before he continued down. He checked his watch, he was definitely late for his shift but was astounded to find a set of mostly unfamiliar faces — and some oddly familiar, but not where they should be— in the Council chambers. They ushered him out with looks of bewilderment and Hugo was utterly perplexed now.

“Hey—ow,” Hugo rubbed at his chest where Andy had jabbed him, “What game? I know I’m without a doubt the funniest person you know, Andy, but this isn’t my doing.” Hugo looked around them at the vampires in the cells. “Why are they in there?” Hugo looked genuinely confused as he looked between Andy and their surroundings. This was either a spell or maybe he had taken something he shouldn’t have. “I wake up and everything’s weird. You wanna take me back to bed by any chance?” Hugo laughed softly, touching Andy’s hand with his own.

Confused was an understatement. Hugo had opened his eyes and suddenly he had been standing in a hallway he didn’t recognise. He made a small “huh” sound and continued wandering down it. Perhaps he’d had far more to drink than he had thought. It wouldn’t be the first time he had shifted and his feline counterpart had taken him far, far away from where he intended.

“That’s a broad question. And a fitting broad answer is that once upon a time, there was an explosion. And it’s still ongoing. That is where you are. In an explosion. Atoms arranged in a certain way and got haunted. That is what’s going on. And when an explosion explodes hard enough, the dust wakes up and thinks about itself. That is who you are.” Answered a seemingly incorporeal voice, melodic and enchanting in an eerie way, echoing from where the most secluded, darkest corner of the Undercroft was – the part with the cages. All of them except one were empty, like someone intentionally arranged this solitary confinement. “I can find countless ways to answer but none of those may be the enlightenment you seek. Spare us some time and try to be more… specific.” Said the voice, floating in the air with the infinite patience of a superior being conversing with an ant.

Hugo twisted around as an eerie, but melodic voice suddenly began to echo inside of his mind, drawing him further into the Undercroft where it was dark, secluded. There seemed to be no other movement from those around him in the cells, as if the voice were only talking to him. “I’m dust?” Hugo repeated, thoroughly confused and slightly unsettled, seeming to settle on the fact that maybe he had accidentally taken a huge amount of psychedelic drugs and now he was wandering around the Undercroft talking to no one about dust and explosions. He shook his head as if it that would clear it.