| Ballad for the Lost Romantics [14/14] |
[Jun. 6th, 2007|01:48 am] |
Title: Ballad for the Lost Romantics
Author: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chionophobia
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Ryan/Brendon
POV: Ryan
Summary: AU. Ryan didn’t exactly plan on being chased down the streets of Vegas by a gang one late night. He didn’t count on being kidnapped either. Much less by someone who claims to be Ryan’s friend and protector, despite the two of them never having met before. And one thing’s for certain in Ryan’s bad luck; nothing is what it seems.
Disclaimer: This is made up.
Notes: I've been trying to post this for a few days but LJ has been so cranky for me. I apologize about not being able to reply to comments last time, my internet connection decided to die for about a week. Chapter title belongs to Kill Hannah. Loooonger note at the end of the chapter.
Previous Chapters: Here
14. Maybe a Sad Song Sometime Will Make You Remember Me
As a door slammed open, Ryan awoke with a start.
“Morning, sunshine,” the terrifying figure of Darius proclaimed as he stepped into the dim lighting. “Just thought I’d check up on you.”
Ryan whipped his head around, his heart already racing as he searched for Brendon, but he wasn’t there. Still though, there was a pressure on his waist, formed like the outline of an arm.
“I’m still here, just relax. I won’t let him hurt you.” The voice was coming from behind him, or was it in his head? He couldn’t tell for sure.
At his other side, he felt Darius’s presence. The man was staring down at him with a half-grin on his chiseled face, the golden ring in his ear glinting in the faint fluorescent light. But at least he didn’t look as mean as before. Still, Ryan shivered.
“I didn’t really get any time to figure out what to do with you,” Darius confided. “One of my boys found some trouble in Utah that I need to take care of immediately. I hope you’ve learned a lesson.”
Ryan looked up at him, not understanding.
“You’re free to go.” He produced a cigarette from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and lit it with a silver lighter. “You’re really fucking lucky, kid.”
“I… I can go?” Ryan was sure he was only hearing what he wanted to.
“Yeah,” Darius replied easily and made his way back to the door with the cigarette glowing from the corner of his mouth. He removed it as he tuned around at the door. “But rest assured that if you ever tell anyone what happened here or anything else about me or my boys’ whereabouts, we will track you down again, and the next time we won’t be as generous about your life.” He left without another word, the old door slamming behind him. Everything was quiet.
Ryan relaxed and he felt Brendon’s arm around his waist do so as well. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah,” Brendon mumbled and became visible in an instant. “But let’s hurry up and get you out of here before he changes his mind.”
Being pulled up was pretty painful, but at least Brendon tried to be as gentle as he could. Ryan’s legs were numb and very nearly failed him as he tried to stand for the first time, but Brendon was there to hold him up.
“Come on.”
They started toward the door, but it had locked as Darius had exited. Brendon cursed under his breath and let his right hand fall off the handle, the left one still around Ryan’s waist to support him. “Guess we’ll have to try the window.”
Ryan looked confused. “What window?” But as he looked around once more at the black walls, he saw a slight break in the blackness, a large square that seemed softer and a tiny bit lighter than the rest of the room. A painted over window. Eager to get out, he started to move towards it. “Is there anything we can use to break the glass?”
Brendon looked around and grabbed a metal bucket of paint off the floor. “Can you stand on your own?” He wondered worriedly and Ryan nodded. “Good. Stay back.” He lifted the bucket, holding onto the thin but strong wire attached to it and smashed it against the blackened window. Dark shards of glass rained down from the point of impact, creating an asymmetrical hole that let in what seemed like early morning light. It spilled over the floor and reached Ryan’s feet. Brendon smashed the bucket against the glass again and again, until a large enough passage appeared. “Come on,” he urged, motioning with his hand for Ryan to go through. “Be careful around the edges.”
Ryan staggered over to the broken window, brushing away some glass before he slid himself through and down onto a patch of brown grass. He didn’t know what he had expected, maybe finding an isolated landscape, but he recognized his surroundings as he looked around. Turned out he had been held at a warehouse not far from his house, he knew it from when he was little.
Brendon was already beside him, guiding him along the back street filled with metal trash barrels and lined with broken chain link fences. He shivered in the morning air around him, feeling quivers run from the top of his head down to his flip-flop clad feet. Brendon pulled him slightly closer and Ryan leaned into him.
“We’re nearly at your place now,” Brendon whispered soothingly a few minutes later as they walked onto Ryan’s street. There were a few cars parked along the curb, but everything was still and quiet. A cat walked across the road, its tail slowly wagging back and forth as it obviously spotted something that was hunt-friendly in the yard of one of the houses.
The door to his house wasn’t locked, since Ryan hadn’t remembered to bring a key. He hadn’t even remembered clothes the night before. It felt as if the air inside was even cooler than outside and he shivered again. “I need a hot shower.”
“Yeah,” Brendon agreed with a small smile. “Or how about a nice bath?”
Ryan smiled. “Sounds even better.”
Brendon slipped his hand into Ryan’s and steered him up the stairs and into the bathroom, only letting him go to fill up the tub with hot water and pink bubbly soap. Ryan watched silently as Brendon let the tub fill and as he went to grab a big fluffy towel, thinking about what Brendon had said before. That something was going on. Brendon seemed tense, Ryan noticed.
“Is everything alright?” He wondered, carefully measuring Brendon’s reactions.
Brendon let a smile graze his lips, but didn’t meet Ryan’s gaze. “Of course. Now get in here before the water turns cold.” He grabbed Ryan’s hand without waiting for an answer and Ryan took off his grimy and oily swimwear before he slowly stepped into the hot water. He moaned at the sensation as he sat down.
“It is too hot?” That worried tone again. He was perched on the fake marble counter, leaning against the tiles.
“It’s great,” Ryan assured and sat down, leaning back against the side. The wounds on his back stung, but he was determined not to let the pain show on his face. He closed his eyes. “Are you sure everything’s alright?” He wondered again. “You seem… worried.” He opened an eye to throw a quick glance at Brendon. To his great surprise, as he had expected another gentle smile from him, Brendon’s eyes were sad. “Brendon?”
Brendon softly cleared his throat. “I think… this is, it.”
“What is what?” Feeling extremely nervous now by the tone of voice, Ryan sat up.
“I feel weird.” Pressing his lips firmly together, Brendon turned his eyes on Ryan. “The absolute worst thing they could do to me is take you away from me, you know that right? But they can’t do that, they can’t kill you, this isn’t your fault. Instead…” He choked out the rest, “they’re taking me away from you. With every time I’ve made myself visible to you, every time I’ve talked to you, every time I’ve fallen into a trance, they’ve made me weaker.” He sighed, his breath shaking. “Out bond is fading.”
“What?” Ryan didn’t think there was a way to describe the terror that welled up inside him at that moment; Brendon’s look confirmed his words. He wasn’t joking. “What are you saying?” He breathed, feeling weak.
Brendon chose not to answer. “I’m so glad we got to meet for real, Ryan, you have no idea.” He smiled then, one of those breathtakingly beautiful smiles that could make Ryan’s legs go wobbly. It didn’t have the same effect this time, as he was sitting, but nearly.
“You can’t leave me.” He didn’t know what else to say, what else he was capable of saying.
Brendon said nothing for a short moment, just stared into Ryan’s eyes with a feel of something pained. Then he clutched at the collar of his t-shirt, pulling it off his body and letting it fall to the floor in front of him. He hopped down from the counter and proceeded to take the rest off.
Ryan’s tub was by no means a big one; only large enough to make two slim people fit in it. Ryan didn’t know what to say as Brendon stepped into the hot water and laid down, his naked body pressing against every inch of Ryan’s now warm skin. The water had risen with the added weight of Brendon and was pushing at their sides, covering most of their bodies.
“I wish there was a way I could stay with you,” Brendon mumbled as he lay with his head pressed to Ryan’s chest.
“Just stay,” Ryan pleaded.
Brendon raised his head and used his hands to push himself up a little bit more so that their faces were close. “I love you so much. It will never change, I need you to remember that. Whatever happens; you’re always going to be my one and only.”
Ryan felt soft lips touch his and despite having kissed Brendon before, tingles exploded in his body as if it was the very first time. He ran his hands over Brendon’s skin in the water as the kiss deepened and became hungrier, as if the primitive urges inside the both of them were overcoming their rationality. Ryan closed his eyes as he felt Brendon’s lips kiss a trail down his jaw and to the side of his neck. It was one of the most sensitive places on his body, he realized, as lips were moving against his hot skin. He moaned and then it felt like he was falling asleep for a split second. The wonderful feeling of his lover’s kisses disappeared and Ryan was momentarily frozen. He thought that maybe a dream had caught him so he struggled to wake up, to open his eyes, but when he was able to open them in a flash and take in his surroundings, the dreaded realization hit him with the power of a nuclear bomb. He was alone.
:-:-:-:
Ryan’s cries had long since stopped echoing around the house walls, as he had no tears left to cry out. The floor felt like nails sticking to his skin as he lay there naked, clutching at the fabric of the clothes that were his only reminder of what had been, but he lacked both the strength and motivation needed to get up. He didn't know how long he had been sprawled out on the floor, but it couldn't have been less than a day. His eyes were blankly staring at the ceiling, not focused on anything in particular, just setting on something so that he didn’t need to close them. If he did then he’d, inevitably, see the face that was lost to him for all time. Because that’s what Brendon was, lost. Gone. There was nothing Ryan had been so sure of in his entire life. Brendon was no longer with him, was no longer looking over him. Was never coming back.
Every part of him ached. For some reason the pain never seemed to stop, never lessen in volume. It was always there as a constant reminder of what he had lost, of what he was never ever going to have again.
Ryan wondered if he was still a human. Was he a person still, without his soul mate? He didn’t know. All he knew was that he would never be able to forget. He knew that he would never be able to move on. How could he ever do that?
He thought it amazing how the little time he had spent with Brendon had come to mean so much to him, how it had almost defined him as a person. The time spent was like a song with intricate lyrics that spoke of love and with music so divine it made people tremble. It had certainly made Ryan tremble. Yes, Brendon had been like the most beautiful song he had ever heard; one that had simply been lost in time.
And so the ballad was over.
-FIN-
Note: Thanks to everyone who ever read and commented on this, you guys are freaking amazing. Also, thanks to the mods for not getting all pissy with me when I mess up my posts :S
Some of you are most likely hating this ending, I realize that, but this was never meant to be a happy one. Anyway, I have started a sequel, if anyone's interested, but I'm not sure if it's going to work out yet. We'll see. Here's a part of that first chapter, please tell me if you think I should continue, and please be honest. If you don't think a sequel is a good idea then please tell me. Again, thanks for all the nice words on this :) |
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| Comments: |
I'm so glad I found this after it was completed, because I don't think I could stand waiting fo this to update!
I love this story so much! *off to read the sequel*
Thank you :) I hate waiting for people to finish their stories too, so I usually just end up forgetting about them, which sucks.
Very glad you liked this :D
okay.. so im actually crying right now
this was amazing so sad but really amazing x
I've read this a million times, I just wanted to let you know this and the sequel are my favorite fics.
Ok, I lied. I read it like 10 times :)
you...amazing. I love this from start to end. I...wow...still crying here.. Why take brendon?!!!!!!
Even though the ending's so sad I think it deserved an elegant one such as this. :)
Sequel? I know I hope too much but yeah...
Much love to you and this fic. Its my absolute favorite :)
Thanks, that's awesome!
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