Astarion x M!Reader

Forty-Seven

Mockery.

So much mockery on Cazador's face. It dripped from every fibre of his being, oozed into the ground and corrupted it to his feet.

That smirk of his was as vile as it was possible and even beyond. It wasn't hard to tell just how pleased he was by the realisation that crossed your face.

Blood ran down your abdomen. Or maybe that was just a memory. You couldn't tell.

Pain cut through your flesh as the cold crept up your spine. It felt like your cells started to turn to ice. And again there was this feeling. As if the scar reopened on its own to make you suffer through the worst night of your life all over again.

You remembered.

Yes, of course you did. It wouldn't have been possible to not be plagued by that moment for the rest of your endless existence.

All of a sudden your mind opened and everything returned. Now you knew why that scent that stuck to him seemed not as foreign as it should have been.

It had been there. That very day he had stabbed you. You had smelled it while darkness had lured you further down into the abyss.

Darkness. Your nails had clawed into it, had torn it to pieces until light had reached your eyes again. It hadn't been of natural caused, hadn't felt how light was supposed to.

A world of naked stones and nothing.

Yes, you remembered it as clear as day.

And yet.

There was no way for you to make any sense of it. There had never been an explanation. Just a hand made of nothing that had grabbed you by the neck, had torn you back through the darkness and into life.

Against your will.

A shivering breath escaped your parted lips. The shadows trembled to your feet, both with excitement and...

And what?

Was that... was that the longing to return to a place you had been taken from long ago?

No, that couldn't be.

Your eyes jumped up to meet Cazador's. The smirk on his lips grew, sharp teeth appeared, shimmering in the silver of the moonlight like mother-of-pearl.

"What do you know?", you asked with your teeth clenched.

Darkness reached to your rage. Fingers made of nothing chased across the ground, climbed up his legs to wrap around his neck and take his breath away.

A choke escaped his lips. But he did not falter in his cocky ways.

"Do it...", he whispered, his voice hoarse from the lack of air. "And you will... never..."

His eyes rolled back as your anger got the better of you. Clenching your teeth you took a deep breath and called your dogs back.

The shadows crawled down his neck but continued to shackle him to the spot.

"Speak.", it wasn't a request but a demand, a need.

He choked, took a deep breath and then sighed. His eyes lowered in a satisfied manner.

"You know, Platinum...", how good he was with his words, how easy he managed to lull you in with that voice of poison. "You've always had the same problem. When we were still mortal. And as spawns. Even now it's the same thing that chains you down."

"I am not in the mood for riddles.", your voice made another tree kneels and wither.

He smirked, huffed even.

"You never knew your place.", red eyes met yours, made them collide like an eclipse forced sun and moon to share a spot. "You always yearned to be somewhere else. And once you were there... well, you yearned for another place."

"Cazador!"

"Fine.", with a snap of his fingers he made the shadows that held him tight explode. "You should have died that day. You even did. But Vellioth, that old fool, was quick. He tore you from the hands of hell. And as he did, you couldn't let go. So you took a piece of it."

Long fingers gestured towards the ground where all of the smallest pieces lay scattered around. Pieces of the darkest darkness there was.

Pieces of hell itself.

"No.", it slipped off your tongue.

But there was no need to deny what you already knew to be true. As always, you just refused to accept it.

"Yes.", his fingers curled and a woe appeared in his hands. "Just like back then, you're a thief, my dear Platinum. You stole from the king of hell. And he wants compensation."

"Enough!", your teeth bared you called the shadows back to your side.

Howling and trembling they crawled across the trunks of the trees, made leaves turn dry and wood rot. Their teeth dug so deep into the soil that it turned slaty.

Cazador watched with a smile on his face.

Just when would his cockiness find an end?

At what point would he be out of evil and back to the man you once knew?

The answer was never. And this time you accepted.

"Finally facing your demons?", he asked, chin raised.

With a deep breath you let your eyes fall shut for a second. The mess of your mind died and all that was left was the silence of loneliness.

A void opened up inside your chest. And it demanded to be filled.

"I must admit...", as your eyes opened again the glowed in the dark, raging with magic, or perhaps the piece of hell you had taken from the devil as Vellioth had betrothed you with a second chance. "Now that you revealed my origins, it feels better to let the darkness run free. Since I can be sure that it's not my own rotten core. But the doing of yet another monster."

Cazador huffed. His fingers wrapped tighter around his weapon.

"Oh, I'm not sure if the sire of all hells likes to be called a monster.", he chirped. "But who am I to assume? I'm sure he'll show you just how foolish your words are."

Your lips curled into an expression of disgust.

"For that you must drag me to hell.", you replied, your voice so powerful that it made the earth tremble.

He chuckled.

"That can be arranged."