Fefnir sat in the shade of a palm tree, a slight breeze ruffling its branches and the sand around him. He didn't remember how long he'd been there, a day? Two? Regardless, he was afraid of leaving. Perhaps when a caravan came by he'd go with them... It was just too much of a risk... With sand in every direction, how did he know that he wouldn't die of thirst or hunger before he actually got somewhere?

For the first time in his entire journey, Fefnir was afraid, truly afraid. The fear he'd felt before had been... fake, somehow, superficial. As if in every situation before this, he had known that he would survive. Some part of him, hiding in his mind, that had once kept him calm was now panicking. It was a quiet panic, though.

His two swords sat beside him, propped up against the tree, a small hammer laying beneath them. Beside those things was a cloak, folded and refolded a hundred times, and a small bracer made of light leather.

Fefnir sat, staring at the oasis's rippling surface, silently ripping his own mind in half with worry, with horror, with panic. His shirt, made of simple, black cloth, was drenched with sweat and stuck uncomfortably to his body. His brow glistened, hair plastered to his forehead. The sun was at its highest, its strongest, and its warmest.

Moving for the first time in hours, Fefnir got up and walked towards the glistening water. He bent over and took a sip.

A voice issued from the very water, as Fefnir drank from it. "Child, do you wish vengeance on the two? Gabriel and Isabella, the very ones who shunned you for following your heart? Well, my child. It's almost time to..." Several bubbles dregged up from the heart of the oasis, turning the water a thick red as they did; the color of blood. "Show the fools what you've become."

A man stood on top of the tainted water, not even making ripples in it. He chuckled, and walked across the water, landing before him. "Fefnir. I've been watching you. They abandoned you when you most needed their support. They SPITE you, they hate you. They think you a monster, Fefnir. I myself have spoken with them, and every one of them think you some beast, some fiend. Like me."

He pranced around Fefnir, cackling madly. "Well, Feffy, my child, if they think you a monster..." He pounced forward, his face mere inches from Fefnir's, his voice mellifluous and soft, almost irresistable. "Why not show the fools just how monstrous you've become? They hate you, they loathe you, for nothing. Well, I think it time to give them a reason, my brood...." He pulled him close, and chuckled dryly. "Let the rumors become the legend."

Fefnir drank, allowing the cool liquid to quench the dry thirst that had taken residence in his throat. When he'd finished, he sat there, at the water's edge, allowing some to drip off of his chin, back into the sparkling oasis. All was quiet, as it usually was in this place. Sound didn't seem to travel quite so well, or perhaps it traveled much better, without anything to reflect it back. Regardless, the voice was shocking.

When he heard it, Fefnir jumped back, staring at the bubbling surface. What was happening? What was that? The crystal spring from which he had been drinking was gone, replaced by a fountain of blood.

When he saw the man standing on top of the water, he began to scamper backwards, away from the thing. It spoke to him, about his parents... Anger started to well up inside him... How dare he talk about them?

But suddenly he could go no further, his back once again against the tree. The man's face came up close.

"Why not show the fools just how monstrous you've become? They hate you, they loathe you, for nothing. Well, I think it time to give them a reason, my brood...."

When he pulled Fefnir in close, he turned his head away, refusing to make eye contact. He swatted away the hand, once again against the tree. Reaching out, he pulled out the first thing he could reach, the hammer. A scowl on his face, the boy threw the thing with all his might at the man. Should it hit, he would be struck with the force of a hammer, as well as the force of lightening, a shock going through his body, probably paralyzing him for a moment.

Fefnir used the moment he had to push himself up, using the tree as a support. Regardless of the result of his attack, Fefnir would stick his hand high up in the air. The hammer would fly into it, crackling with electricity. He looked down from his hand, back at the man's eyes. He glared, the boy's lush green eyes burning with anger.

"Shut up."

Yaksha danced aside, moving with a queer grace. He stopped, and leaned on his cane, his eyes twinkling good-naturedly. His voice was soft and mellifluous, almost like honey. "Now, Fefnir, m'boy, that wasn't nice. I'm just here to help." He grabbed his cane, and tossed it up in the air, raising his own hand to grab it higher up. "How do you think you lasted so long in the desert? I made sure you got to this oasis. I made sure the sun didn't kill you. I've been more a father to you than Gabriel ever has. You can think of me as your guardian demon." He laughed, a short, barking sound.

He sighed, and sat down, pulling out a rather soggy tophat and positioning it on his head. "It's not easy watching over a child like you, I'll tell you that. I've been my busiest ever trying to keep you happy and safe." He finally rose, and pulled his tophat off, placing it on the ground before him. "I simply deduced you'll never truly be happy until you've gotten back at your rotten parents."

As the man spoke, Fefnir had been inching backwards towards his weapons. Suddenly, without warning, he threw the hammer at the man again, this time reaching for a blade as he did so. He pulled it out of the sheath, the metallic screech ringing through the humid air.

Sword in hand, the boy turned around and stuck out his free hand, catching the hammer as it came flying back to him.

"I told you to shut up." he spit the words at the man, venom in his eyes. "Don't you ever talk about my parents that way..." he said, glaring at the man. "Never."

A hot breeze flew across the desert, causing the surface of the ruby-red oasis to ripple. The hair was blown out of Fefnir's eyes and kicking up some of the sand.

Yaksha sighed, and rose his cane, catching the hammer midflight, and splintering down the side. "Now, that's hardly nice! Your parents disown you, shun you from their home, and label you a failure, yet you still refuse to accept that they don't want you? They lost any claim to pity in your heart when they abandoned you. Those two left you, for simply doing what you felt you should've done. Where is the love there?"

Fefnir closed his eyes, feeling tears threatening to form there. He gripped the blade in both hands, running towards the man.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" he yelled, slashing at the man with his blade. Then he stopped, his eyes closed once again, his face turned towards the ground. His breathing was deep and quavered a bit.

"You have no right to talk about my parents!" he yelled, holding his hand out again. The hammer, laying on the ground, suddenly jumped up and flew into his hand. It crackled with energy.

He threw the hammer behind him, landing it on his cloak and beside his second sword.

"Don't you say their names!" He yelled, sending a ball of arcane energy at the man (Magic Missile) from an outstretched hand. "Don't you dare!"

Tears forming in his eyes, Fefnir ran at the man, his sword held in two hands. Yes they had left him, but they were the only family he had. Blood is thicker than water, and family is forever.

Yaksha danced aside, and the ball of energy struck him in the chest. He made no move to retaliate, merely waving a hand over the smoking wound, as the flesh slowly knit itself back together. "I've no right to speak of your parents!? I've no right to speak the truth, Fefnir!? I KNOW your parents, know them better than you ever have!" He sighed, and stepped forward, spreading his arms wide open. "You want to kill me? You want to hide from the truth? Go ahead, I could no sooner harm you than I could eat a baby."

He sighed, his voice full of the weariness of seeing the bleakness of mankind for ages. "Your family is important. But, the fact that you are the fruit of their loins should be reason for them to accept you, not reason for you to justify their wrongdoings. My dear, sweet child, blood is indeed thicker than water. But, there is one thing thicker than even blood." He moved forward with shocking speed, enveolping Fefnir in his arms, and pressing his head against his heart, the beating slow, rythmic, and soothing. "Love, Fefnir, is the only thing that can never die."

"You want to kill me? You want to hide from the truth? Go ahead, I could no sooner harm you than I could eat a baby."

"Then hold still!" he yelled, running forward, a tear falling to the ground, quenching the parched sand. But as he ran, the man kept talking, seeming to ignore the boy's charge. And then, almost without warning, he moved nimbly from where he stood, his hands reaching around Fefnir's sword to embrace him in a hug.

Fefnir felt the man's heartbeat, steady and comforting, each thud as sure as the last. For a moment, he simply stood there, confused and breathing heavily. The sword fell from his hand, making a dull sound as it hit the ground.

"Love, Fefnir, is the only thing that can never die."

He closed his eyes, pushing the man away as he took a few unsteady stepped backwards.

"Shut up!" he yelled, his eyes closed and sprouting tears slowly. "You don't love me! You don't even know me!" his voice cracked as he yelled, and suddenly his knees gave away, making him fall to the ground, his face red with rage, but wet with his tears. "You don't love me..." he said from the ground, quieter than before. Nobody loves me... he thought to himself.

Yaksha strolled forward, placing a hand on his chin. He gently lifted his head, and smiling brightly at him. His words were soft, and kind. "God doesn't know everyone in the world. But they say he loves us all. I don't HAVE to know you to love you, my child. I am only here to help." He placed Fefnir's head against his chest once more, and began to run a hand through his hair. "No one should live alone. Fefnir. I need a son, just as much as you need a father. Fefnir, I am here to help." He pulled back, tears welling in his eyes. "Fefnir. Will you be my son?"

For a bright, shining, clear moment, Fefnir wanted to say yes. He wanted to tell the man that he would be his son, that he wouldn't be alone any more. But just as quickly as that moment came, it disappeared, taking control of his actions.

Tears in his eyes, he pushed the man away."No!" he yelled, stumbling backwards in the sand. He launched a second magic missile at the man, his legs giving away afterwards, making him fall to his knees once more. The man's words echoed through his head...

No one should live alone live alone...
Fefnir, I need a son.
You need a father.
I am only here to help.

Fefnir fell back, sitting on the hot sand, the sun beating down on his head as he cried. His tears fell from his eyes, rolling down his face before they fell onto the parched ground. His sobbing was strangely clear over the vague hum of the desert, the chirping of insects and the beating of their wings. The air reeked of dust and dirt, dry as the sun itself.

"I do not know if the gods are there..." he began as his tears slowed, "And if they are, I don't think they care about those that worship them. How can they claim to love anyone when they cause such suffering?"

Kais hand fell from his lap, sinking into the hot sand, each grain caressing his fingers. "Why should I open my heart to you, someone I have never met? The heart is a strong thing, only capable of being damaged from withing. I cannot trust you within it, no more than I can trust someone I found in the streets...

His voice faded away, his eyes glazing over. His thoughts turned to his home, the place that he had been taken from, the place that he had run from, the place that he had been chased from. He thought of his mother, more supporting of him than she would have ever let his father know. She had always been there for him, and she had allowed his father to run him out of the town. She had had no choice... but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Just... just leave..." he said, curling up into a ball in the center of the sunlight's mean gaze, "Please..."

Yaksha stared down at him, his eyes wide with pain and pity. "Fefnir, you don't have to love me for me to love you. You have gone through so much, and you still remain strong. You can want me to leave all day, but I'm here to stay, Fefnir. You'll no sooner get rid of me than you could chase off a big, lumbering dog. I'll always be here, padding along with you, smiling all the way." He sat down next to Fefnir, and merely waited. "I will never leave you, Fefnir. I never COULD leave you."

"Just leave!" he repeated, anger glowing from his teary eyes. "I don't want you, and I sure as hell don't need you. I've done fine on my own..."

With that, Fefnir pushed himself up, standing in the sand. He turned from the man, determined not to look back at him. As he walked back to the tree, he wiped his face with an arm, attempting to calm his breathing. It still came in quick, unexpected breaths.

"I want nothing to do with you..." he said, hoping to make the man leave. "You cannot love someone you've never met... you can only love them for who they are, and you don't know who I am. You will never know who I am... nobody will..."

And because of that, nobody will love me... he thought to himself, sitting back down at the tree.

Perhaps someday, he would find someone that he could love, and someone that could love him in return... But not like this, not a man that rose from the water, that claimed to love him before they'd even met...

It was insane, it was ridiculous, it was...

Fefnir wiped another tear from his eye.

Yaksha embraced him again, his arms like an iron prison around him. "Fefnir, the only reason I don't know you is because you don't want me to. Low self-esteem is love's true foe." He lay his own head next to Fefnir's, and pressed him against his chest. His words were thick, and clotted with pity and tears. "Fefnir, all I want is to give you a second chance at happiness. I don't think that too much to ask." He began to hum, a low, heartwrenching tune.
"What have I got to do to make you love me
What have I got to do to make you care
What do I do when lightning strikes me
And I wake to find that youre not there

What do I do to make you want me
What have I got to do to be heard
What do I say when its all over
And sorry seems to be the hardest word

Its sad, so sad
Its a sad, sad situation
And its getting more and more absurd
Its sad, so sad
Why cant we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word

What do I do to make you love me
What have I got to do to be heard
What do I do when lightning strikes me
What have I got to do
What have I got to do
When sorry seems to be the hardest word..."
He pulled Fefnir even closer, tears flowing onto his shirt, and wetting him. He was no longer even coherant, he was simply chanting, "I love you", over and over again, his voice cracking with emotion, simply demanding his love be heard.

Fefnir pushed the man away once again, his tears replaced by anger and annoyance.

"No! Get away I said!" he called out, just barely escaping the demon's loving grasp. "I don't care what you say, I don't love you!" His last words rang in the air, his mouth still opened as he panted, his face red with anger, embarrassment, and because of the heat. Love wasn't something that you could just pick up on the side of the street, that you could hand out to everyone that you met. Love... love was something special, something that required work.

"Saying that you love someone is easy. It's the easiest thing in the world." he said, pushing himself to his feet and brushing himself off.

"It's meaning it that's difficult. Anyone that can speak knows how to say that they love someone, but the actual feeling is completely different. It's pain, it's suffering, it's work."

Fefnir gave the man a look. It seemed to say 'just try to hug me one more time'.

"I don't know what kind of deranged fantasy you're living in, but you don't love me. You can't, not yet." he said.