#lich gaster

He rested his palm against the cool glass of the window. It was winter, but the snow on the ground had been melted by a steady downpour of rain. Outside was grey and dismal, much like his mood. Every time he returned home, he found himself spending less and less time there. G actively ignored him most of the time. When he wasn’t ignoring Voidster, he spoke in the flat monotone he had affected for dealing with humans, primarily. A voice he used on strangers, not with his mate.

The girl rarely left her room now, and Voidster let her be. He had touched her only once since they had brought G back from the brink of death together, and her typical reaction of fear and disgust had unnerved him, somehow. Instead of soft human flesh in his grasp, he had seemed to see a fragile, skeletal limb. He had expected to look up and see a fearful half-face spilling over with indigo galaxies and stars.

Since then, he had left her alone. And in turn, G had taken more interest in her. He moved her things to the bedroom right beside his office, and spoke more frequently with her, as if she were his equal. As if...he cared for her. While his soul spilled over with disdain for Voidster, his mate, he showed only tenderness to the human. At first Voidster wasn’t sure what to make of it. Now, the pieces had begun to fit together, and the shape of the puzzle left him shaken.

He wouldn’t normally have heard his mate approach, but since G’s leg had been crippled, he made the faintest whisper of sound when he moved. Despite the surgery, despite Voidster’s best efforts to repair the damage he had done, some consequences of his insanity remained. The slight limp that now affected G’s leg was the least of these consequences.

“You’re home.” He hadn’t expected G to make the first move, to open the conversation. G had not sought Voidster out since they had returned from the prison, where G had gone to die. Against the slight ache in his soul, Voidster turned. As he expected, G’s face was flat, expressionless. When he spoke again, his words were too.

“I want you to leave.”

Hearing G say this stirred memories within Voidster. Memories of when he had first arrived in this timeline with the intent to stay. G had tried everything to force him to leave. He had tortured Voidster, tried to kill him, even tried to fling him back into the void. But Voidster wouldn’t leave. He’d had nowhere to go, and G presented a worthy challenge for his abilities. A strong male that intrigued and enticed him. He had stayed. And then, when Sun had died, G had needed him to stay. He had finally embraced Voidster, as Voidster had always dreamed of happening. He had wanted him, he had even said he loved him.

For a long time, it was enough for both of them. G was in agony over the loss of his human mate, and Voidster provided the comfort he needed, in the form of specialized torture and vicious sex that left them both aching and satisfied. And it kept escalating. They kept pushing each other harder and harder, fighting and making love with the ferocity of beasts. They cared for their human pet together, and tortured other, different humans together in an effort to replicate her shimmering gray soul. The research had been intriguing, but more than that, it had been a thing that further bound them together. A common purpose that gave them something to strive for besides mutually assured destruction.

There were no subjects in the basement now. It was silent and empty, the black stains of G’s blood still splattered on the table where Voidster had destroyed his leg. That room had been the one he always used when G was hurting and in need of the tender therapy of his blades. Now it had been violated, saturated with remembered hatred and violence. Voidster couldn’t bring himself to enter, even to clean the mess that had been left during his rut.

G would never forgive him for what he had done. That much was clear. It was shown in the loathing in his face whenever Voidster entered a room. It was shown in the bitter silence that had settled between them like an impenetrable mist.

At first, Voidster had thought...had hoped...that this recovery would be no different from the rest. It was hardly the first time he had hurt G, had scared him, had broken trust. But once G had recovered from his time in the human prison, it was clear this was not the case. He had bitterly blamed G for being so spiteful, for being so implacable and unforgiving, at first. But slowly, over time, he had come to realize the severity of the damage he had done. Not just physically, but emotionally.

G made a noise in his throat, and Voidster glanced back up at him, then felt something on his cheek. He slowly raised his claws to face, and felt shocked when they came away wet. He was...crying? How strange. He cleared his throat, and finally said, [Very well.]

G nodded slowly, and Voidster continued. [How long do you want me to leave you for? You realize I have hardly been here, I have given you space, as you have seemed to desire it. But you can’t patrol the entire property by yours-] “Forever.”

Voidster halted, shocked. Forever? G couldn’t mean that. He needed Voidster. Yes, he was angry at him now, and would perhaps never forgive him for what had happened, but Voidster was still needed to help protect the property from intruders, to watch over G, to eventually warm his bed again. He gave a weak chuckle, running his claws over his skull in a sweeping motion, stopping when he realized his hand was trembling.

[Forever? Don’t be dramatic, G. You know that you need me here, a-and besides that, this is my home.]

G’s expression hardened, the white pinpricks of his eyes standing out in the shadows of the still room. “This was your home,” he corrected slowly, his voice cold and static-laced. “No longer, Voidster. I don’t need you like I once did. I don’t want you.”

The cold in G’s voice was nothing compared to the freezing sensation in Voidster’s soul. He felt numb, this couldn’t be happening. He hadn’t expected G to forgive him, but to say he no longer needed him? To say that he no longer wanted him? G was lying, he had to be, but as Voidster searched his face, he found no trace of a lie. The ice in his heart was pierced by a searing heat, and he took a step forward, angry. [How dare you. After everything I have done for you, after everything we have shared together! Have you forgotten my promise? If you abandon me, I will unleash the full force of my rage upon this world, I will destroy everything you hold dear. Is that what you want? For the girl to die? For your human friends to die?]

G remained motionless, his eyes narrowing. “That was true, once. But now? If you carry out your threats, Voidster, I will ensure that the people you have come to care about find out what you have done. If you destroy this timeline, it will follow you to every timeline you visit thereafter. I will ensure it.”

Voidster paused in his tirade, suddenly cautious. [What are you talking about?]

Sneering, G took something from his pocket, tossing it toward him. Voidster’s phone landed on the floor with a soft thump, the screen opened to a picture of the eldritch being he had claimed as his pet. The one who shared G’s name, but little else with the hateful lich standing before him, except perhaps Voidster’s care for them both. Voidster was silent, staring down at the phone, at the picture before him.

“You were far from subtle about your relationship with him, Voidster. About your friendship with the others in that timeline you’ve been visiting. Did you think I would not notice your wounds having been healed after our fights? That I would not notice their scents upon your hide? You did nothing to hide the pictures or messages on your phone from them. And I have the information to contact them, now.”

His mind wasn’t working, all he could do was stare down at the picture of that familiar, beloved face. If his pet found out...if Bird found out...surely he would never be allowed near them again. The bar he had come to regard as a second home, the room he had been given in Bird’s home...he would lose that.

The threat he had made to destroy G’s timeline had been made almost two years ago. Yet so much had changed in the past few months. Voidster had never believed he was capable of coming to care for anyone but his mate. And yet...the thought of losing his pet, of losing the others he had grown familiar with...it filled him with dread.

[You are making me leave because of this other male? Because of this other timeline?]

At that, G looked almost amused, giving a slight shake of his head. “No, Voidster. I’m not angry that you’ve found someone new to torment. I am...relieved. I am relieved to be rid of you. You were my own personal demon for far, far too long. Now you are somebody else’s cross to bear.”

Voidster felt the sting of those words, flinching slightly at the venom in G’s voice. He had known G was angry at him, he had known that G had not forgiven him. He hadn’t known that G had grown to hate him so much. His naturally violent and volatile nature struggled to surface, but it was subdued by the pain and dread saturating his soul. Stooping, he picked up the phone, slipping it into his trouser pocket with a gentleness that belied the extremity of his emotion.

“I’ve packed your things, and left them on the kitchen table. Your blades, your instruments, the drugs, the trinkets you’ve collected. All of it. Take it and go. Go to that other timeline, and never come back.”

A pained snarl was building in his throat, burning and aching to be released. But he refused. His face felt like a mask, too stiff and heavy to reflect the turmoil within him. G had given him no choice. But there was one last thing.

[And the girl?]

G paused, then said slowly, “She is mine now. Consider her your payment for the pain you have caused me. Besides, where would you take her? Your friends don’t know about her, do they? They don’t know how you’ve hurt her, how you’ve raped and tortured her.” [It was no more than you did!] He said with a snarl, his claws clenching into a fist. [Acting as if you had never taken her against her will, as if you had never harmed her. How amusing.] He wasn’t amused, he was furious. [Tell me, has your weakness for human girls finally won? Will you make her your new mate when I’m gone? Love her until your soul breaks from it, and you finally shatter into dust when she dies? FINE! I wish you both the joy of your suffering!]

His words didn’t seem to affect G as he had hoped. The other man simply shrugged, his eyes never leaving Voidster. “That is no longer your concern. What happens to her...what becomes of me. That is a story you are no longer part of.”

Voidster’s shoulders sagged. His anger drained from him, leaving him empty and aching. [You truly want me to leave.]

“Yes.”

[Then, there is nothing more to say.]

“No. Take your things and leave, Voidster. I wish…” G paused, a distant, almost pained expression in his eyes. “I wish that I had never met you. You’ve brought me nothing but pain. Leave me in peace, now. It is the only way your debt can be repaid.”

Voidster was silent and motionless, the white noise of the rain enveloping them both. His soul seemed to shudder within him, the fractures growing deeper and wider. After several long moments, he finally stirred, forcing his foot to lift, forcing himself to take a step toward G, to walk past him to the kitchen.

When he was near, when he felt his mate’s heat, when G’s scent drifted into his jaws, he almost faltered. He wanted nothing more than to turn and envelop the smaller male in his arms, to keep him, to refuse to leave. How he ached for the comfort of a single embrace, a touch, any sort of connection. But G stepped away from him, and the moment was over. Shoulders slumping, Voidster kept walking.

He walked into the kitchen, and saw some unfamiliar luggage on the table. G must have purchased it just for this. For some reason, that thought hurt even more. There wasn’t much to carry, just the barest remnants of the life he had shared with the lich, of the work he had done here with him. He was leaving behind much more than he was taking.

He gathered the bags into his arms, holding them for a moment and looking around, committing the details of this home to memory. When movement caught his eye, he paused, his gaze lighting on the girl. She was in a pale nightgown, her long blonde hair falling down to her waist. She didn’t look surprised, he realized. She had known, G had told her. Of course he had.

Rallying himself, he inclined his head toward her, unable to hide his pain. [Pet,] he rumbled, and she met his eyes warily, her hand gripping the doorframe.

“What is it?” she finally said, her voice barely audible.

For a long moment, he didn’t speak, bowing his head. Then he raised it, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. [Take care of him.]

She hadn’t expected that, he could tell. But she smiled a little sadly, and nodded. “I will, Voidster.”

[Good.]