Promise Me Forever

Promise Me Forever (Part 2)

Author's note or in this case collaborator's note: This part is written by strangecombo  and it is in Brett's perspective. Beware the time jumps! 

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 Brett knew why the body in his arms was trembling. He knew but he couldn't bring himself to justify those fears. They were both alive and this was the thing that mattered. Facts. He always thought for facts, and the fact that the creature he loved the most in the entire world was safely sleeping near him, or trying to get some sleep among the nightmares, was something able to erase all his worries. It's true they abandoned the field, they abandoned the little village where they learned how to live and how to love, but it was just for the sake of this impossible dream they fed for years.

The woods around them were silent, almost too silent compared to the screams they had to listen to for months before making the final decision. Just some leaves dared to whisper in the wind their silent song, reminding them that all around, there was life able to respect each creature and not someone claiming their breaths.

Eddy shifted in his sleep and clung harder onto him as his body trembled uncontrollably. It was not only the nightmares, but the wood was far from being warm without a fire, but they couldn't risk it. A fire would have meant being found, despite being already a month after their departure. Maybe they could have lit a fire but the fear was too much, and none of them was willing to risk the only thing remaining.

Brett: "Shhh...it will be over soon, we are close to Xuanpu..."

He had always said to Eddy, even before the revolt erupted, that one day he would have brought him there. A magic land where they could be finally free to love each other, and where they could have spent a life without starving or being forced to rob the fields just to make the beast retire its claws from their empty stomachs. Before their little village met its cruel destiny it may have just been a sweet thing a lover said to make you smile after a long day under the sun working in the fields, but now it was a necessity.

Their supplies were almost over, not that there was much at the beginning of their adventure anyway, but not being able to nibble a piece of bread for a week was slowly hitting.

The horse behind their backs lifted his head and glued his dark eyes between the trees in front of him. It took Brett a couple of minutes to finally focus on the new creature entering the frame. There, between the branches, was standing in all its majesty and beauty a crane. But it didn't look like a normal crane: its feathers were not gray but teal and its eyes seemed to pierce a hole through Brett's body. It was not the cold stare of an animal, it was the stare of something that was there for them. Was it their time to say goodbye to this world? Was it time for the magnificent bird to take their souls to heaven? No, Brett was sure that he wouldn't have gone to heaven. Eddy was gentle and pure, but his own black soul was far from being worthy.

The creature tilted its head scanning for the last time the scene of two men and a horse laying in the middle of a glade with a pond, and decided to approach with little, but elegant steps the trembling figure laid by Brett. It was not trying to peck the skin nor it was trying to decide if it was something worth eating. It sniffed and caressed with the tip of its beak Eddy's cheek before straightening its neck in all its glory.

Brett was right, it was not a normal crane, it was way bigger than one and as the majestic wings spreaded to cover all the three of them with ease, a warm teal glow tickled down from the base of every feather, spreading some heat beneath them. If this was really the end, it was a beautiful way to go. Eddy's body stopped trembling, and Altivo curled himself again around the couple. They were all calm now, and even Brett finally let his head fall back near Eddy's one and closed his eyes.