Elisop/Aeseli Summer Week Day 5: Fictional Disease

Star Tear Disease AU

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His heart faltered for a moment as the piercing teeth of the hook clamped around his waist to pull him to the towering deer-headed figure. A morbid scream escaped his mouth the next second as a sharp pain incapacitated him, his legs falling under the weight of his body and red puddles staining the white snow at his feet.

He naturally turned his gaze to his monitor and once he had confirmed that the other three had managed to escape, he surrendered.

"You look rather pale, Mr. Clark."

"R-Really?" he said, feigning a weak laugh.

The entomologist's face was covered, making it difficult to discern what might be going through her mind even for the seer who was granted the gift of clairvoyance. Her tone was calm without being cold, presenting her as a particularly enigmatic person. However, the fact that she bothered to ask about the man's condition showed that she was not heartless either.

"You should go to the infirmary to treat this. I would have gladly gone with you but it so happens that I have other business to attend to..."

Even though the magic of the manor healed most wounds on the surface, the trauma and pain remained perfectly embedded and then there were also times when some of the minor scars would not go away when the injury was significant enough.

"Ah, I can manage." he replied, hoping to ease her concern.

Mrs.Plinius nodded and so left the premise, the seer doing the same, his steps guiding him to the place that all the survivors had visited, without exception. The place was so quiet that it seemed as if no soul lived there, or so the young man thought before he heard the clanking of a box.

He panicked briefly as his owl hooted, alerting the other individual of his presence. The diviner prayed he wouldn't disturb anyone, but his torment vanished at the familiar sight of ashen hair. Two gray pupils coming to meet his gaze.

"Eli...?" a low voice asked.

"Oh, Aesop!" he blurted out in a more cheerful voice than he would have liked, "What are you doing here?"

Just his luck.

Or perhaps it was more correct to call it misfortune though it was also a windfall.

"I was just arranging some things I was missing in my briefcase." the embalmer paused, scrupulously observing the seer from head to toe before resuming, "Let me help you." he then declared after grasping the situation.

"Sorry for the inconvenience... Haha..."

Eli's voice faded nervously and he accepted Aesop's invitation to sit on the hospital bed for the latter to tend to his wounds, a strange combination of mixed feelings stirring in his stomach. He tried as best he could to hide his red cheeks by removing the top of his robe to show his back to the male. Fortunately for him, the embalmer could only see the back of his body this way. 

"Does it hurt...?" prayed the silver-eyed one.

"I can't deny that it stings a little..."

Aesop brought his gloved hand up to the large red mark tracing the seer's back, his fingertips brushing against it, forcing a low growl from the brown-haired one.

"You don't have to act tough. It's normal to be in pain after a match like that against Bane. The opposite would even be surprising."

The embalmer walked away to search the closets for something to ease the seer's pain, balm, bandages and the like, his medical knowledge coming in handy at times like this.

At the same time, Eli was meditating silently. His heart was racing for a completely different reason than it had been during his match with Gamekeeper and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

He pressed his hand against his cheek in a natural gesture but it was only an excuse to check the temperature of his face in spite of the burning fire inside him.

Aesop Carl...

His blue eyes hidden behind his blindfold sought out the young embalmer and he bit his lower lip in frustration.

He abhorred these feelings, he felt guilty, he felt like he was betraying the person he had gone to Oletus' manor for.

Gertrude was his sunshine, she didn't look at him for his status but for who he was and he had fallen in love with her for that reason. But now? How many months had he spent in this prison? How much time had he spent in the company of Aesop Carl?

Enough that he was now suffering from an inner conflict that was tearing him apart.

Aesop... Aesop was not Gertrude. Yet something about him attracted Eli and that something clung to him fiercely, driving him mad.

Why was he feeling this way? He had no idea, and he would surely have preferred never to feel such sensations every time he looked at the gray-haired man. 

"I've found the stuff."

Reality suddenly hit the seer as he heard the embalmer's voice and he suddenly straightened up as if he were a convict coming to the stand, though he was innocent, or was he?

Aesop approached the bed where Eli was sitting and positioned himself behind him, he took off his gloves to put some ointment in his hand and apply it to the dark-haired man's wound, all in dead silence.

"Hey, Aesop..."

"Hm?" he hummed, focused on his task.

"What are you going to do if we ever get out of this place...?"

Aesop paused, his gray eyes deviating to what little of Eli's face he could see by confronting his back.

"I... I never thought about it. I came here of my own volition because I felt I belonged here."

"Do you ever regret it?" the seer asked.

"The whole thing with the matches is pretty tiresome, but I think I'm satisfied." replied Aesop.

"Really? Aren't you afraid you'll miss out on something? Don't you want to start a family or find... love...?"

His throat tightened uncomfortably as if the words struggled to leave his lips. He was afraid of his answer.

"Love...?" Aesop seemed to hesitate for a moment before resuming. "No."

The seer felt a weight as heavy as an anchor fall on him. Obviously, there was no way Aesop would feel anything for him, and the clear answer he had just given him was proof of that.

"I see..." he said with a laugh.

A bitter laugh, creating a faint echo in the room emanating a chemical smell.

He continued to laugh softly like this, until it became strange and almost creepy for the embalmer.

Then he removed his blindfold.

His fingers squeezed it so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

At that moment, Aesop heard what sounded like a dozen beads falling and clashing.

His eyes widened at the sound, the source of which was unknown, and he placed an uncertain hand on Eli's shoulder, putting a little more strength into his grip to get the other to turn toward him.

He saw sparkles and glittering stars, crystalline and of various colors, similar to gold dust, all surging from the seer's tear-fogged eyes.

"Why...?" gasped the embalmer in shock.

"I wonder why..." said the seer, laughing and crying at the same time.

Aesop was confused and didn't really know what to make of what was unfolding before his eyes. He had heard of such a thing but this was the first time he had seen it in real life... the Star Tear Disease. But... why...? The embalmer was closer to the seer than the other survivors and he knew about his fiancée so there was no reason why his friend had to be struck by this curse. Unless...

"Who... Who is it...?"

Eli faltered. It was cruel coming from the person involved, so much so that he lost control and suddenly moved closer to the embalmer, sliding two fingers over the tip of his mask to pull it down under his chin and reveal a pair of luscious pink lips. He already knew that what he was about to do was wrong but he would apologize as much as he needed to afterwards.

Just this once...

That cover of the smiling, selfless seer...

He would rip it off.

He placed a hand against Aesop's eyes because he couldn't stand the face he would wear and finally came to seal his lips with a kiss.

However, he didn't expect the embalmer to return the kiss, his soft lips coming to stick even more against his own and his fingers intertwining shyly with those of his free hand.

Their kiss lasted like an eternal minute until Eli pulled back and withdrew his hand, wearing confusion and hope in his sapphire eyes.

"W-Why...?"

"I should be asking that..." he whispered, his cheeks turning pink.

Instead of answering, Eli clutched his fingers even tighter and leaned back into him, running a hand behind his neck to kiss him once more. Their tongues became one in what was a languid kiss with a salty taste and as sparkling as a star in their hearts.