The Web on The Crack

Chapter 13

      As Noxious told the bandit what happened in the past few weeks Drake avoided his gaze and clenched his fists tighter. The blond, of course, noticed him but payed no attention to him what so ever. When his words came to an end the bandit was at his limits. He glanced up at Nox with not so friendly of a stare, the blond got reminded of his cousin’s description of her friend, how his eyes seemed like they were covered in an ice layer, like a lake, but warm if you look deeper. Unlike what she said, and more like an actual lake, the blue eyes of the bandit were dark, empty and bottomless. An abyss.

As he waited for the brunet to respond he reached for his vest’s pocket and unfolded a paper. The bandit stared at it for a moment, trying to make the shapes.

His eyes widened when he saw that it was a drawing of a man with a line dividing the face into two. One with a sweet smile, eyes bright, filled with kindness and happiness. The other half was dark, angry, a face of a man who lived through hell, ready to kill without hesitation. He knew the second half as his own, for it indeed was his.

Drake’s eyes shifted away from the paper and he let out a sigh of anger. When he turned back at the blond he had a self mocking smile and his eyes were closed, taking a deep breath.

" She really is talented…" He mumbled in a low whisper and shook his head in defeat. " I didn't want this to happen… I didn't wish to hurt her, but…" he reached to the paper and looked again at the drawing. " For her to see this face, to fear me yet believe in a lie just to see me as this other man…" He focused at the right side, the man with his face but not the one he know.

" You knew she would believe you’re good no matter what. So why did you walk away?" Nox asked and leaned back on his chair. "You could have kept on being friends."

" Oh, I know. And I did considered it." He gave back the drawing and sighed. "On that day I got angry. I hated pity and… I was just angry." He sighed once more. " I thought of going back, to apologize but… As I thought it over I realized that what we were doing. Meeting up, being friends, wasn't something good for her… She cared for me, Me! A nobody!" He lat out a sarcastic laugh and shook his head more. " A lady like her, so innocent, so kind… So perfect! With someone who would ruin her image!"

He brunet bandit laughed again and covered his face with one of his hands.

" Why did she have to meet me?" He said more to himself than to Nox, he used the hand on his face to smack himself over and over. " Why did she have to be nice to me? She should have slapped me? Yelled at me and walked away?" He then laughed and rested his head in his palms, his body seemed to be shaking slightly which took Noxious by surprise. Was he… Crying?

A moment later Nox smiled faintly and sighed, “You really do care for her.”

Drake looked up for a moment at the blond then looked down again, realizing that the blond wan’t asking, he was simply stating an obvious fact.

" More than I should…" He whispered and his expression soon darkened, for he spoke the words that he feared to acknowledged. I care for her more than my own life, I care for her enough to make me go through this suffering and lies just so she wouldn't fall with me into this bottomless hole of doom that is my fate, my nothingness.

"You know, she’s suffering too…" Drake’s eye shot wide, for a second he thought the blond was able to read his mind. But soon after he noticed the tears on his cheeks and sighed, wiping them away.

The blond shook his own head and sighed, ” I understand.” With that Noxious stood up and Drake’s eyes followed him and he himself stood up. ” I won’t tell you what to do… But…” He put his cloak’s hood on and headed to he door. “… Some of my guards will be watching the eastern part of the house, they start their watch when the clock strikes nine…” With that he exited the bed room to the small living room where the bandit’s grandmother sat on a rocking chair reading a book.

She looked up at Nox and smiled a little, ”Are you sure you don’t want some tea?”

"No, but thank you again, ma’am. I wish we could one day sit together and do so…" He made his way out of the house and closed the door behind him.

The bandit made sure the door was looked and sat down on a chair near his grandmother. He sighed loudly and leaned against his chair making it lean with him making it stand on only its back legs. He stared at the ceiling and looked at a little spider making its way from a crack in the wall. He thought of reaching up and ending the spiders life, to give him a fast, painless death. Like the one he wished he would be lucky to have one day. As he tried to extent his arm up he noticed another spider walking to the first one. It was slightly smaller so he assumed it was a female. The male spider stared at her and she walked closer to him. They made weird moments near each other, some kind of a dance and then they crawled together to the corner in the wall with the crack on it. The male and the female then went in circles for a minute and Drake noticed the faint silver lines they were shaping. It was a simple web but the brunet saw it as more, a safety web from the crack.

He smiled and looked away, how bizarre… A moment ago I was about to kill this spider and thought I would be a saint, and now I saw this lonely thing find a mate to keep his company, someone in his life to make him keep going, to build a home, somewhere safe for him and his tiny mate…. Did he decide to build it so that she would have all she need or was he doing this so that his mate wouldn't have to go into this dark crack… She would see it, know where he lived. But would she have minded… His eyes looked around the house and he thought for a moment. Maybe…maybe she’s from a big web family, a place better than any web a small spider like him could make, and she choose to live here, with the spider she felt happy with. Giving away all her riches and lady titles… Her last name, her clothes, she would live a peasant girl and wouldn't feel bad… She would give it up all…. For someone worst than a spider… For me…

He sat straight and leaned forward and looked at his grandmother. She placed her book down and smiled at her only grandson. Her wrinkly hand reached his face and patted his cheek.

"I know its hard, I know you’re worth it… But, you decide if she’s worth what you’ll do from now on…"

He stared at her for a moment and looked down. “Are you sure I am?” His grandmother used to be known for knowing the right answer, she would rarely answer it if someone asked her for something big, life or death, riches and health, danger and, of course, love.

She didn't tell him what he hoped for, but it was better. All she said was, “go for it.” And that was more than he needed to reach for the door and run out.

The large clock building started ringing, announcing it was nine o’clock. Announcing to him the beginning of his new life.

Author's Note

Another chapter posted because Meralis (Drake's mun/ creator/god/idgaf) wanted too

Found on tumblr in Akuma-Drables under the same tags.

Tell me if mistakes are found~