Dragon Knights Fan Fiction / Dragon Knight (adult) Fan Fiction ❯ The Impression That I Get ❯ Duty ( Chapter 3 )

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Chapter Three: Duty

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Ruwalk was right; his companion did have his first hang-over the next morning. Unfortunately, Ruwalk also had a pretty bad one. Needless to say, they didn't go anywhere that day.

 

The next day, however, they got back on the road. Things continued pretty much the same for a while, though minus any more stops at bars because Alfeegi had vowed never to drink again...

 

Eventually, though, they did stop to spend the night at another town. It was there that Ruwalk heard the rumor. Though maybe it had surpassed the rumor stage, now, and was more at the first-page-of-the-local-paper-in-big-bold-letters phase...

 

As the sun set they had stopped at a wayhouse of the perhaps more civilized sort, and Ruwalk had imdeatly left Alfeegi to make idle chit-chat with the other cumtomers. The white officer was now staring moodily at his drink - iced tea, thank you very much - and wonderng if he really made such bad company. Just as he was considering giving beer another go, after all - was he really to the point of suicide already? - Ruwalk plopped down in the chair next to him. "We have a job to do!" he declaired, sounding entierly too cheerful for his own good.

 

Alfeegi sweatdropped. "Excuse me?"

 

"Oh, don't look at me like that. It'll do you some good! It's been forever ince you've done any demon slaying, after all."

 

Afeegi just bairly avoided dropping his iced tea. "Excuse me?!"

 

Ruwalk winced, shooting a glance at the inn's other occupants, and for the first time reconsidered his course of action. "Maybe we should talk about this... Outside?"

 

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"Start at the begining," Alfeegi said, in a tightly controled little voice. "What demon?"

 

"It's just a lesser monster that's been pestering the villagers," Ruwalk said hurriedly, wishing Alfeegi didn't look so twitchy just now. "It's been stealing their belongings, just little things; it seems to go for the shiny stuff. But yesterday this man says he saw it fly off with his goat. The villagers are saying this is the first time it's ever stolen something alive; they're starting to get worried. As Dragon Officers, it's our duty to... well, you know...um..." His voice trailed off as a vision of impending doom loomed up in front of his face.

 

"You promised them we'd take care of it, didn't you?"

 

"Well-"

 

"We're not on this trip to exterminate demons, you know!"

 

Ruwalk raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not, but we've certainly got the time. And it's our duty-"

 

"Look, can't we just send a messenger home for the Knights?" Alfeegi asked, abruptly switching from flaming rage to somewhat desperate. "They're just sitting around at the castle, probably not even doing their paperwork-"

 

The eyebrow rose higher. "It's just a lesser demon; I'm sure we can handle it."

 

"Well, yeah-" Alfeegi invested a few moments in examining the street. Cosidering that he had to walk on it, that probably wasn't such a good idea. What excatly was that brown thing, anyway? "Well, it's just, you and I, we don't really do much fighting, do we?" he said, all in a rush. "That's more Kai-stern and Teathius's kind of thing, isn't it? And I just don't know if-"

 

Ruwalk couldn't help it; he had to chuckle. "You think you're not good enough? Really? I'd have to say otherwise. We practic together all the time; I should know. I think you're underestimating yourself, Alfeegi. Trust me, it'll be fine. In fact, why don't we go take care of it right now, while it's still a little light out?" Then he winked, and wrapped an arm around the other officer's shoalders to lead him back inside. "I'll watch your back."

 

Alfeegi could feel himself start to blush, and furiously forced it down. "Are you sure?" he asked doubfully. Ruwalk nodded cheerfully, but that didn't really help. Ruwalk didn't understand what he was worried about. It wasn't him; he was worried that Ruwalk might get hurt. If that happened...

 

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By about an hour later, however, Alfeegi's outlook was far more optimistic. He expressed this feeling by becoming irritable.

 

“Look, Ruwalk, it's dark. You've noticed that, right? And we haven't found a single trace of this so-called 'demon' - so let's go back already!”

 

Ruwalk grinned nervously. Alfeegi could only tell he was doing this at this point because the moonlight flashed off his white teeth. “What do you mean, 'not a trace'? Who would leave a thimble way out here?”

 

“Well, I don't know; maybe-” It was at about this point that a shadow passed over the moon.

 

Alfeegi was instantly clinging to Ruwalk's arm and peering out, wide-eyed, at the surrounding forest as if he thought it might eat him. “W-w-what...?”

 

Ruwalk sighed, and gestured heavenward. “A cloud. Y'know, if you're this worried, maybe we should come back tomorrow...”

 

Alfeegi suddenly became aware of his position, and hurriedly removed himself. “Um, gomen...” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, let's... let's do that...”

 

As they began the trek back to their lodge, the White Dragon officer became increasingly conscious of his surroundings. They were so far into the surrounding woods that he couldn't even see the lights of the village anymore. The only light came from the moon, and that was when it wasn't covered by clouds. He stared at a distant campfire, glimmering like a bright star in the valley below them, with longing. The noises of the animal nightlife made him not only jittery, but angry because he was jittery. He was a Dragon Office, for crying out loud.

 

“Hey... Ruwalk?” he ventured, after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I'm... sorry I chickened out. I'm so pathetic, I know.”

 

Ruwalk shot a shocked glance at him; he had his full attention now. “What?! No you're not; where the hell did you get that idea?”

 

“Well, you know...” This was embarrassing enough as it was; did he have to go and make it worse? “I'm only really any good at paperwork and politics, and nothing else. You, Tetheus, Kai-stern... you're all so much better at fighting.” He laughed uncomfortably. “Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't even be an Officer.”

 

Ruwalk grabbed his shoulders, and Alfeegi found himself momentarily reeling at his touch, his scent, the intensity in his eyes. “Don't think that, Alfeegi! Being an Officer isn't about going out and slaying demons; it's about... serving the Dragon Lord. I thought you, of all people, should understand that. What you do is just as important as the rest of us... Well, I mean, maybe you go a little overboard sometimes...” He paused, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. “...But that's not the point! At least if you're going overboard, that means you're certainly anything but useless! Without you, the entire Dragon clan would be completely disorganized. So don't feel bad about yourself, okay?”

 

Alfeegi felt himself tearing up, and cursed mentally. Then he noticed that Ruwalk was holding him for perhaps longer than he needed to, staring down at him, and he blushed. “Thanks,” he muttered, feeling highly embarrassed.

 

Ruwalk looked a little embarrassed too, no doubt at getting so emotional, but he grinned. “No big deal.” Then he realized he still had hold of Alfeegi's shoulders, and let go. “Now, let's-”

 

At which point Ruwalk interrupted himself with a shocked yell, and Alfeegi's world went black.

 

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Curtains. Curtains, that's what those were. Fascinating. They floated in the gentle breeze and bight noon sun as if he was seeing them from the other side of a pool of glowing water. He stared at them for some time, mesmerized.

 

Or at least it felt like some time. In reality it was only a few moments before the shouting started. Ruwalk jumped out of his chair, entering his line of vision. “Alfeegi, you're awake! Thank goodness! Can you hear me?”

 

He blinked. It was beginning to come back to him, but surely there was still something missing because what he could remember wasn't helping that much. “Hi,” he said, wincing at how hoarse his own voice sounded. “What's going on? Where are the woods?”

 

Then, to his shock, Ruwalk hugged him. He had about two seconds to marvel at his good fortune, before he noticed the pain. “Ow!”

 

Ruwalk instantly laid him back down on what he discovered to be a bed, all disturbingly-maternal concern. “Are you okay? The doctor said all your wounds should be healed, but you'd probably be pretty stiff from sleeping so long...”

 

He arched an eyebrow, the only thing that didn't seem to be painful to move at this point. “Wounds? What wounds? What's going on? And could I please have some water?”

 

Ruwalk hurriedly started filling a cup from a pitcher on the table by the bed as he talked. “It turns out the demon we were looking for that night found us instead. He snuck up on us and got you good before we even heard him coming. He was a lot nastier than any lesser demon that goes for shiny things, let me tell you; I think he ate the original one.” Ruwalk put the pitcher down and carefully gave Alfeegi a drink; he was about to protest that he wasn't that out of it, thank you, but then he realized that it was actually kind of nice... “Anyway,” Ruwalk continued, “after I killed it I rushed you back here to a doctor. He managed to heal your wounds, but he said you'd have to sleep it off for about a week.”

 

Alfeegi nearly choked on his water, then pushed it away even though he was still thirsty. “A week?! Why didn't you tell me?! We'll be late!”

 

Ruwalk rolled his eyes. “Not this again... Don't even think about it, seriously.” When Alfeegi tried to get up Ruwalk pushed him back down with just two fingers; Alfeegi scowled. “See? You won't be fit to travel until tomorrow, at least. Let me give you a massage.”

 

At Alfeegi's shocked look, he added, “It's what the doctor said to do if you woke up stiff. It's not just from lying there all week, you know; it's also from all the magic he had to work on you... So, do you want one?”

 

“Yes!” Alfeegi said, just maybe a little too quickly, and sat up as fast as said stiffness would allow.

 

Ruwalk chuckled. “Well, if you can sit up by yourself it must not be too bad, but that's okay. Take off your shirt; it's easier that way.” Trying hard not to blush - and failing miserably - Alfeegi did as he was told. What was it about Ruwalk that made him act so swoony? It was so annoying... in a good way... Then Ruwalk sat down behind him and got to work, and for the next few minutes his only coherent thought was how he really needed to get mauled by demons more often... His incoherent thoughts were something like how warm Ruwalk's hands were, and how he wished they were elsewhere...

 

“I'm sorry I couldn't help you kill the demon,” he found himself muttering. He didn't know what part of his brain it was that wasn't completely caught up in Ruwalk's touches, but it made a good point so he decided to leave it be.

 

Ruwalk scoffed. “You're sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry, especially after I promised I'd watch out for you.” He sighed. “I mean, I was even looking that way, you know? I shouldn't have let you get hurt.”

 

Alfeegi couldn't help but smile. “Ruwalk...”

 

“Yes?”

 

'You're too wonderful for your own good.' “...Nothing.” Ruwalk hesitated for a moment, but didn't push it.

 

It was a few minutes before either of them spoke again. “Do you think you feel better now?” Ruwalk asked.

 

Alfeegi smirked ever so slightly as he surprised himself. “Actually, if you could do just a little more, right around the neck... yeah, right there...”

 

Even after he was gone, he could swear he could still feel Ruwalk's hands on him.