Chapter Text
The sound of his own breathing thundered in his ears.
Mokuba tugged at the blanket while rolling onto his side, facing the wall.
Lying in a bed beside Rafael without feeling his cosy warmth felt wrong; normally he would have cuddled up to him by now.
But his mind was buzzing, overflowing with fears and doubts, thoughts surging against the thick bones of his skull.
Today’s strange events were repeating itself before his inner eye, he felt the fear and the disgust bubbling up inside of him time and time again, his supressed emotions washing over him.
Drowning him.
Mokuba closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing.
They had found a moderately priced place for spending the night.
Neither he nor Rafael had brought up the courage to say anything, anything at all.
They had gotten undressed in silence, in the uncomfortable but welcomed darkness of their room.
And now, Mokuba mused, he was where he had started with his back turned on Rafael and nothing but irritations and misunderstandings between them.
Right now he wished he could fall asleep and sleep over it, forget it all, wake up in the morning and remember nothing of the nightmare today had been.
He rolled onto his back, watching the slumbering figure of Rafael beside him with great suspicion.
Rafael had fallen asleep almost immediately.
It must have been exhausting for him, trying to screw him out in the wilderness while he didn’t want to...
Mokuba snorted, cursing himself for his taunting thoughts.
Yes, Rafael was exhausted. He’d looked as if he hadn’t slept a week straight as he’d picked him up.
Both of them were wound up, their nerves overwrought and about to snap.
It was just stress. Yes, totally normal...
Weird memories stirred at the back of his mind. Mokuba tried fending them off but they caught his attention nonetheless.
It was something Dartz had said.
‘The darkness inside your soul will stay forever within you.’
Mokuba shivered slightly.
He wasn’t scarred of the occult. But he did tend to look at supernatural events in a different light, mainly when there was no light at all. And in the dark Dartz’ words thundered through his mind.
Once Rafael had been led, controlled, by a miraculous primeval force; whether Mokuba chose to believe in these things didn’t matter. It was a fact. Period.
Mokuba couldn’t deny that Rafael had been reborn from the core; that he had changed after their first encounter.
And yet...
He listened intently as Rafael was breathing heavily, his chest heaving and rumbling at every drawn breath.
With his muscular body half hidden beneath the blanket and the strange sounds grumbling in his throat you could have mistaken him for a wild animal. A monster.
Mokuba rolled onto his side, this time facing Rafael.
‘Once the seal of Orichalcos is activated it will never completely vanish.’
Mokuba growled under his breath. Yes, Dartz had said that, too.
But there couldn’t be anything left of it. Not anymore.
...could it?
Mokuba must have dozed off but was woken by the strange glow in the room. Rafael’s phone was probably still on mute. If he managed to reach it without actually waking up switch it off without looking at it he could go back to sleep...
Mokuba sat up slowly, trying to locate the light’s source.
He recoiled in shock as, beside him, Rafael shot up, a glowing insignia forming on his forehead.
For fuck’s sake, this couldn’t be happening!
This wasn’t real!
Mokuba fought briefly with the blanket and scrambled over the mattress, desperately trying to get out of the bed and away from Rafael.
He ducked for cover; his body was pressed flat against the floor as he didn’t even dare to breathe.
Mokuba’s mind had shook off its drowsiness in no time.
What was he supposed to do? For fuck’s sake what was even happening?
Was Rafael awake? Was he awake?
It had to be a dream, it had to be!
A grunt and the sounds of something shifting abruptly on top of the mattress caused him to shudder.
Rafael hadn’t discovered his presence yet, right? So if he held his breath he could probably inch his way under the bed...
If this was a dream then why wasn’t he waking up? Why could he plan, think of his moves instead of have events and images flashing before his eyes?
Mokuba felt his body growing stiffer by the minute, he felt the cold desperation closing its grip around him.
He was wide awake. And locked up in room with a relapsed psychopath.
And yes, he was back in his old violent tracks, Mokuba realised that as soon as the monster in the shape of Rafael grabbed his leg and yanked him out from his hideout, dragging him over the floor without the slightest sign of effort.
Mokuba kicked and screamed as he got hurled and tossed over the floor. He was tossed around the room as if he was a spineless toy, his limbs smashing into walls and every obstacle blocking his way. Mokuba curled into a tight ball, whimpering and yelping occasionally as his skin was breaking. He barely felt that most of his body had come to a halt as the world around him kept on spinning. And then, in this short and disturbing moment of serenity, the pain washed over him. Mercilessly. Stabbing his ribs, tearing at his guts.
Mokuba wheezed, fighting to catch his breath.
And screamed.
He wasn’t screaming for help anymore, he was crying out with pain, crying it out into the world so it would finally leave his tortured body.
The lights above him changed as he was pulled along behind Rafael, he was squinting at the tiled ceiling, wincing and wheezing uncontrollably.
Rafael’s face surfaced, his frosty glare boring into him as he towered above him, pressing the bottle against his lips.
Mokuba’s brain detected the acrid smell, the alarming stench forcing its way straight into his nervous system. Instinctively he forced his head to his side and away from the disturbing substance trickling down, yes it was already rinsing down his lips, trying not to taste, not to breathe it in.
But he knew that he was too late - his mouth was on fire and the acid blazed a burning trail down his chin.
Mokuba coughed and whined, the excruciating pain in his throat keeping him from screaming; but he kicked and spat at the arms binding him, digging his nails into every inch of bare flesh within reach.
Again Rafael’s fingers got hold of his hair and yanked Mokuba’s head upwards, holding the drain cleaner still in the other hand. The bottle slowly tipped to one side, pouring its contents down Mokuba’s shoulders and melting his clothes to his chest.
The lights flipped upside down as Mokuba was flung against the shower’s cold wall before he collapsed in a bloodied heap, retching and whining desperately.
Tears streamed down Mokuba’s face, his features contorting into an abhorrent mask of agony. In total silence he rolled onto his back, struggling for air and clawing at his own throat before he was doused in cold water.
Rafael, who’d turned on the shower, watched Mokuba convulsing and writhing on the floor indifferently. He prodded and kicked Mokuba in the stomach until he was lying on his back again.
Mokuba slumped back against the wall, struggling to achieve a sitting position, seizures flashing through his body. He barely felt the hot drops mingling with the icy water as Rafael urinated on him before kicking him in the chest and sending him smashing into the wall.
At least the cold water took some of the pain away, Mokuba thought half delusional as he lapped at the water rinsing beneath him.
He winced as Rafael’s hands clasped around his shoulders, howled and whimpered desperately as he got dragged out of the bathroom. His body was hauled up and he landed heavily on the bed, his limbs dangling almost lifeless from his body, the excruciating pain tightening its grip on them.
Mokuba wheezed and wailed as Rafael clambered on top of him, barely resisting the strong hands freeing him from his clothes.
Rafael was silent, oh so goddamn silent, and Mokuba didn’t dare search his gaze. Too scared was he of the cold indifference mirrored in his face, the displayed hard-heartedness, breaking through.
But he was forced to look him in the face, to look the ungodly creature he had loved and cherished in the face, as Rafael grabbed his chin brutally, his fingers rapidly closing around his jaw and intensifying their grip, ready to crush it at the merest unmindful move on Mokuba’s behalf.
Rafael stared at him, the icy blue orbs that were his eyes boring right into his skill. The cold and impassive stare of a merciless killer machine. A born predator. Born to kill with no remorse.
Mokuba’s mouth was forced open, his jaws pushed apart until he would yelp and cringe. Rafael crammed his cock into Mokuba’s mouth and down his tightening windpipe before wrapping his hands around Mokuba’s neck and massaging his erection through the fleshy duct covering it.
Mokuba responded by shaking his head violently, frantically trying to lash out and shake off his predator but it even seemed as if Rafael enjoyed the increasing desperation taking hold of Mokuba.
Rafael continued to masturbate with his cock clogging Mokuba’s throat, fending off Mokuba’s attacks without much effort.
Yes, Mokuba’s strength was dropping by the second, his arms felt numb and twitchy as he clawed at Rafael’s hands, helplessly. His vision was blurring, his lids feeling leaden. And they hurt like hell. Only his dwindling consciousness and the lightness spreading inside him made it endurable…
Mokuba gasped, clearing his throat as he discovered it to be temporarily unoccupied. Rafael had retrieved his cock, and Mokuba gladly accepted this opportunity since it was giving him a minute to breathe.
Rafael…?
Mokuba turned his aching head to catch a blurry glimpse of Rafael kneeling beside the bed. Fidgeting with his boots, retrieving his leather pouch, the shiny object falling from it glistening oddly in the green light still blazing down on Mokuba.
Memory kicked in and so did his consciousness.
Rafael kept a knife in his boots, a grubby thing with a vicious blade. He had let him keep it as Mokuba knew that old habits die hard. And speaking of dying…
His limbs barely obeying him Mokuba scrambled over the bed but was grabbed around the throat and pushed back onto the mattress. Rafael hopped on top of him, one of his knees flattening his throat.
Mokuba coughed painfully, still shaking his head madly, still struggling to fight off the flesh made nightmare Rafael had become.
His wheezing turned into yelps and screams as the blade pricked his skin, boring into his neck right underneath his jar. And Rafael just kept pushing and shoving and twisting the knife, quietly and without faintest hint of excitement.
But Mokuba kept struggling; struggling for air, struggling to scream; struggling not to die. Not here, not now.
He couldn’t die here, he just couldn’t! If Rafael just dumped his body somewhere in the surrounding fields…
A weird screeching noise escaped Mokuba’s throat as Rafael rammed his knee against his windpipe, crushing what little of it had remained unharmed. Mokuba felt the blood trickling down his throat, felt it clogging up his wind pipe, tasted his own disgusting blood, its iron tang lingering in his mouth…
A finger palpated the bleeding mess his neck had become, bore into the fresh fleshy opening created by force. Mokuba spat, spasms thundering through his body, leaving him a miserable twitching mass of limbs and accepted the unsettling lightness taking hold of him. Yes, his senses were fading and no, the pain wasn’t dwindling but increasing. And yes, he was scared. Scared of what would happen next, scared of more pain and the torture he would suffer at Rafael’s hands. Scared of dying.
But even death itself was a welcome change, anything was better than the feeling of Rafael’s cock inching its way into his twitching throat via the freshly cut opening, penetrating the exsanguinating flesh, abusing his beaten body in the worst way possible.
And yet Rafael kept shaking his shoulders, not even allowing him to pass with even the slightest hint of dignity in his final moments…
A surge of strength bolting through him Mokuba grabbed Rafael’s hands and managed to push them away. He rolled onto his stomach, panting and sweating heavily and dabbed at his unscathed neck. Mokuba took a deep breath, pushed backwards and flung himself flat against the wall beside the bed, its coldness and solidity more than appreciated. He stared at Rafael, irritated, dumbstruck and scared to death.
With his brain still caught in the nightmare, his mind a distraught wreck of nerves, he managed to whisper what little he needed right now to feel safe.
“Get…away from me…!”
A couple of deep breaths while occasionally bumping his head against the wall did the trick.
Mokuba was back and not just knew but actually believed that Rafael hadn’t tried to kill or rape him. Which meant he was still a nervous and emotionally damaged wreck, questioning his decision of spending the night with Rafael, alone, somewhere in the back of beyond where nobody would hear him scream.
The dream wasn’t real. But it had been a warning.
While still trying to sort out how to put the farthest distance between him and Rafael without having to explain anything, Rafael finally spoke the words Mokuba had been longing to hear:
“We need to talk. Now.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Mokuba growled under his breath, only daring to sneak a peek at Rafael in case the Seal of Orichalcos was about to pop into existence again.
“I suppose I owe you an apology,” Rafael began before letting out a deep sigh, “And an explanation.”
Mokuba dared to come nearer. He sank back into the bed, heavily, not minding Rafael’s hands working their way across his body now.
“I know I really messed up yesterday. My behaviour was… plainly speaking: dumb. And immature,” Rafael began while cuddling up to Mokuba, “I… The head of my department admonished me for something really stupid I did.”
Rafael’s warm head settled onto Mokuba’s shoulder as be breathed down his neck.
“I’ve lost my phone. I lost it on the way to work. It’s so embarrassingly stupid I could… I got really mad about myself.”
A hand nestled up against Rafael’s chest. Mokuba sighed pityingly before turning around to kiss Rafael on the cheek.
“When he straightened me out and I was sent away to retrace my steps, to go and search for my phone… I’ve never felt so utterly helpless and desperate. It was a fruitless search, of course. I know I texted you while having breakfast at a small café. After that it just… disappeared. Vanished without a trace. I’ve tried calling my number a few times but I don’t seem to get a signal. It’s been switched off. Someone must have switched it off. I know that I didn’t just drop the phone on the way. Either way, I can’t track it.”
Mokuba patted Rafael’s back fondly.
A horrible trip on Rafael’s bike that had Mokuba still aching, a failed attempt to have painful sex in the outdoor and an emotionally frosty night leading to the worst nightmare Mokuba had ever had… all because of a phone?!
True, Mokuba did pity Rafael. Yet he also felt like using his head as a punching bag.
“It’s weird having something you always carry around with you, something you’re simply used to, taken from you for no apparent reason,” Rafael went on, thoughtfully.
“Money is a reason,” Mokuba disagreed, “Your phone guarantees a couple of meals for a rough sleeper. Or at least some booze.”
Rafael shook his head, lost in thought.
“I could buy you a new phone, you know,” Mokuba whispered into Rafael ear, adding after a moment’s hesitation, “If you behave.”
“It’s not the phone’s quantifiable value. My business contacts, the documentation of the creative exchange of ideas with work mates, project descriptions and possibly some blueprints… all of that is just gone. Irreplaceable.”
“And invaluable if it has fallen into the wrong hands,” Mokuba pointed out, “A rival company indulging in industrial espionage would pay good money for blue prints...”
“…for a new kind of strap on going both ways?” Rafael added wonderingly.
Mokuba shrugged.
“Anyway, you’re going to get a new phone first thing tomorrow morning, I can’t have you running around like that,” Mokuba stated matter-of-factly before wrapping both his arms around Rafael.
“I might as well consider myself fired, don’t you think?” Rafael thought out loud.
Again Mokuba shrugged it off.
“If you had been employed by my big brother then I could have provided a definite answer,” Mokuba explained, “But I’m sure your employer is a sensible guy. And if things go pear shaped I might recommend you for a job at Kaiba Corporation.”
“As my personal assistant, that is,” Mokuba added after giving it some thought.
Fondly he placed a hand on Rafael’s cheek and gave it a few loving pats.
“I’m going back to sleep,” Mokuba whispered while rolling onto his back and staring straight into the darkness above him.
Relief infiltrated his body and calmed down his mind.
He knew that Rafael, lying right beside him was irritated and insecure, showing traits Mokuba didn’t even know existed within him, which, in return, made Mokuba feel irritated and insecure too. He didn’t know whether he could handle a distraught Rafael.
But, he figured, he’d had worse.
Thereupon he fell asleep consoled.