Twelve

It was a dead weight no longer his burden.

Iason was relieved as he sat by his lonesome up his penthouse office, the thought of having found Riki -now a walking, awakened soul, under Tanaguran care again no less- easing the pains he'd been sinking himself into all this time. But they still had way much more to go. The Pet will want his answers, considering he was immediately thrust into such chaos by the situation, likewise, he would want to explain the changes that had taken place with them in the span of the year.

' I wish there was a better way to make him understand... ' or better if there be no need to explain at all.

Lost in his own musings, Iason only later noticed how Raoul had entered, arms crossed, a curt, displeased look overtaking his graceful countenance.

"What's wrong?" the superior Blondie asked, puzzled by such a vexed expression on the other. But it should have been a very easy guess.

"Your Pet," replied his friend. "He's being difficult..."

--

Riki just didn't want to be touched in any way by those cold hands, in fact, didn't actually want anything to do with the medical droids as they tried to give him sedatives and drugs for calm. He paid no notice as he effortlessly knocked sterile tables, syringes and other paraphernalia off and away, even spat insults upon the face of that other idiotic Blondie, Raoul, whom he hated just as much, as the latter tried to pin him down to restraints.

Then, his will literally 'short-circuiting' the bay area, though apparently he wasn't aware he could, once more Varja, the destroyer, this time, of the environment of Tanagura, before Raoul finally decided that it was dangerous to play his shrink, storming out with an ego bruised and a temper rising.

"Iason, you handle him," he glared at his friend when they came through those doors...

"Don't touch me!" the Master could hear his Pet even before he got in to see him.

Riki had made a mess of the room, and had scarred the droids almost to malfunctioning to which he scowled, albeit could not bring himself to be cruel, finding the situation quite the contrary.

"Amusing…" he shook his head. "...how you're already acting like an Exclusive when you've just regained consciousness."

His magnificent form eased into the centre of the room, shutting the door behind, greeted by the heated anger of his Pet however and that mongrel's scowl that just wouldn't go away. One of his endearing features, the Master decided.

"Shut up!" Always, the colourful vocabulary. "I don't even know what the hell that means! And what are these!?"

He flexed his sable wings, making Iason notice how he was already managing to command them. He had that determined face yet again, a face the Blondie had seen many times before, the expression quite challenging and too difficult to shatter.

"Don't you like having them?" he was jesting, but then Riki took that as an improbable insult.

"You're a monster!"

A monster he said?

But then why was the other suddenly clinging so tightly unto him, choosing to shed his confused tears there than anywhere else? Iason felt his heart thumping, in time with the little desperate sobs that escaped the Pet's lips, trembling as he held him fast in that embrace.

"I just want to go home...instead you take me here."

So that was why.

"Which home would that be," Iason wondered, tilting that gorgeous face up so he may better delve into its expressions, its undisguised hurt. "Is it home to the slums or home with me?"

He actually feared to ask, but he wanted to know. He stayed them both in that moment, allowing himself a simple lingering stare into those mystically captivating obsidian eyes as they seemed to dance in the light of the other's emotions, his confusion. He didn't want to seduce Riki, not yet anyway, but instead let the gentler side he'd discovered come through. It was an assurance to the other that things were as they should be.

Then Iason did share a kiss. Light. Nothing possessive or loathsome. Just something to cement the guarantee his eyes promised, that he would be there, that this was real, and he would tell him everything in their own time.

Slowly, the Master lifted his Pet, and the other, visibly calmer and utterly helpless, welcomed being so close to that steady strength. Riki kept his eyes closed, knowing that his weight was no more than a trivial thing to one as powerful as Iason Mink, feeling safe again, somehow.

"Come," the Blondie murmured into his ear, and Riki protested no more, nodding after only the slightest of hesitations and snuggling closer, fingers grasping in blind need, stubborn and refusing to let go.

He just wanted this to be over. To bed. To their marital bed he wanted to be laid. Never had he so wanted to belong to one embrace, scared to ask, so in the next time deciding that he will just let his body beg for it.

--

The Council Room was in the midst of discussion, "Then we must immediately look into Military Pet cloning. It's the only way to cater to the current war demands..." when Orphe received a message that immediately made his brows knit.

The other Blondies noticed and paused as he brought up a screen in the middle of their table, showing Iason, carrying a curled and still winged Riki off to somewhere.

A superior presence was he, their Neu-Jupiter, and none of the other elites they'd passed dared speak as he bore with him this likewise bewitching creature, an unmoving thing in his arms, Riki seemingly asleep or unconscious or both.

"Are they...?" Orphe trailed as Raoul had entered, immediately figuring, "It appears Iason is taking him to the Tower."

The next decision was simple, to have eyes trail their comrade and see what happened with this expected reunion, however, Iason, wanting to keep things private between them for now, as Riki lacked the appetite to humour anyone, let alone his defenceless state was a fragrant flower the Blondie wanted to ravish all by himself, opted to be selfish.

The Master could not bear to share his happiness with anyone else, as he always had.

He stopped.

The surveillance drone hovered above them like a persistent gnat when he eyed it fiercely, giving it an immediate order: Terminate. And just like that, the drone died, expiring of its use.

Some of the Blondies sighed in disappointment. Only Gideon found it entertaining. "I see he wastes no time putting his new-found inheritance into use?" before noticing Raoul's displeasure and suggested, "Don't you think this would be a good opportunity to test those theories you've presented to the Council beforehand?"

The statement made the latter turn to him with some manner of silent attention, as if saying in the quiet, I'm listening.

Gideon continued: "Don't look so distraught!

"Shouldn't we find out if you are correct, with how Neu-Jupiter and his Exclusive can rectify the damage to Tanagura..." he smiled only too mischievously. "...once they've mated under the correct circumstances?"

Raoul merely pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the proposition.