The first time you see him he's covered in blood and gore, his antlers stained red dripping down his fur like tears, from the haziness of your being you can't help but think he looks strangely dashing as he is right now, haloed by the light of the open door it's been a long time since you've seen the sun shine down here. You blink slowly at the scene in front of you, of him snarling at the guards and his stomping hooves before laying your head down again and closing your eyes. You no longer care.
The door of cell beside yours clanks open with force and the guards throw the fable inside without any care, the pink (
red, oh how it drips so prettily off him-) fable rushes towards the door but it's too late the only thing he achieves it's probably a headache with how hard he bulldozed towards the door with his antlers.
He lets out a loud bellow of anger at the retreating guards backs, stomping as hard as he can with his front hooves before snorting angrily and starting to pace in the cell.
He doesn't notice you. Nobody does at first.
From the depths of your numbness you can feel something calling you a low voice that bewitches, that endears, that curses. Like being underwater you try to swim to the surface and slowly, oh so slowly, sensation returns to you.
First, your legs, lightning and pins course through you, then your ears pop as if coming down from high altitude, then pressure under your eyelids and finally with a snort and a shiver you awake (
or were you always awake?). Ignoring how the fable on the cell beside yours gives a shout, startled at seeing you moving again. You stretch your front legs first, then you streeeeetch upwards dragging your back legs until your spine pops with a satisfying crack, with a shake of your fur, a quick stretch of your wings and a snuffle you finally dignify to move your heavy gaze towards your companion.
Wide eyes look at you before noticing you're watching him and hiding his expression under a snotty if blank facade. He starts to sneer. Even then he looks strangely handsome. You have no idea where he cleaned all the blood from before but you notice how unkempt his fur is despite it you feel the strange urge of fix it for him.
"What did you expect? Nobody will sing praises to a murderer." the other fable growls under his breath. "Your ego will kill you first than the hunger or the guards down here."
"Were you faking the whole time? Did you listen to everything-" he starts and you give a snort and the fable side eyes you, with a slow tumbling gait you settle down on the division between the bars of your cells. He (Cato, you remember now the golden child of the colosseum, The Unbeatable Champion. So much for that now.) looks down to you and you stare back, he seems to fluster and rears away from you and starts to pace again mumbling under his breath now.
"It's hard not to listen when you talk at every waking hour." You say, watching him under lidded gaze. He turns back to you and bares his teeth. "They made a mistake! They will pay for what they did to me, I AM THE CHAMPION." He bellows the last words with a strong headbutt to the bars near you, huffing and panting as if trying to intimidate you. You gaze at him placidly. "You're insane, I see now why you're down here like a forgotten blanket." He squints at you before starting to pace again. "I will get out of here and then they will see-"
With a sigh, you tune him out again, he is nothing more than a nuisance. Time will pass anyways.
And time does pass indeed.
You're not sure if it's weeks or months, but one day you awake to him with your throat under his teeth, a worrying pressure over your windpipe. You have no idea how he got out or why he hasn't left, his gaze is blank as he watches you but you can feel a turbulent depth of feeling underneath. You stare back calmly at him. He huffs and lets you go, tossing his head to fix his fur he urges you to stand with unsubtle stomps. Just to annoy him you take your time.
"We're leaving." He simply says and starts walking away towards the door and you watch him in surprise. This is not something you expected. (
Or maybe you did, at least it was something you wanted, you don't want to be alone again, not again, not again, not again-) "I'm not waiting for you so get moving."
"To what do I owe this honor, oh mighty Champion?" He turns back and smiles at you. It's not a nice smile.
"You simply know too much now, I don't need loose ends. And I have no desire to kill you so you're coming with me whether you want it or not." He chuckles. "Come on, aren't you tired of being down here? You need to live again."
And at those words, your heart stops for a second, you certainly didn't notice or care, but he's right. You been down here for a long, long time.
Maybe it's time for a change of pace. Cato opens the door with a bang and walks out with the strut of a champion.
Haloed by the sunlight, you can't help but follow him, entranced.
There's no words for the two of you to what you are to each other, but one thing is clear between you two.
You will die before leaving each other.
