for Damen

[handfulofsapphires]

After making sure he was no longer on fire, Nicaise ran inside. Toulouse was barking his head off, a fact Nicaise hadn't even registered during the incident. He allowed himself a moment of relief that the small dog hadn't come charging onto the balcony with them.

"Sorry, Toulouse!" Nicaise closed the sliding door and grabbed his phone, his keys, and took off out the apartment, down the elevator, through the lobby, out the front doors. There was commotion on the street, the dinosaur's visit hadn't gone unnoticed, and Nicaise tried to avoid being walked into or walking into anyone else in the small, gathered crowds, craning his head upward to search for a sight of which direction the dinosaur had gone. He couldn't see it, so he turned to the cell phone, his shaking hands causing him to misdial Damen's number twice. Damen didn't answer, so Nicaise hailed a cab to take him to Ocean View. If Damen wasn't there, Nicaise didn't know what he would do.

The ride to the other apartment building felt tortuously long. Surely the dinosaur had eaten Laurent by now. He hadn't been able to save him, he would be too late.

When he arrived Nicaise ran to the buzzer and pressed down on Damen's apartment button. "Answer, damn you," he cursed.

Comments

[princekiller]

The buzzing of Damen's front door no longer he startled him as it once did, though it did still catch him by surprise. It wasn't often Damen had visitors and it was even less often he had visitors quite this late or so insistent as this one.

'One moment, I hear you!' he called out as he walked from the kitchen to the front door, leaving the water boiling on the stove.

He didn't bother looking through the tiny hole in the front of the door first, only unlocked and swung open the door, frowning when he had to look down a bit.

'Nicaise?' he asked before noting the look of distress on the boy's features, as well as the soot on his cheeks and the ragged, charred edges of his clothing. Worry spiked low in his gut. 'What's happened? Where's Laurent?'

[handfulofsapphires]

Relief flooded Nicaise's body when Damen answered the door, though it was short-lived.

"A dinosaur took him!" he exclaimed, his words tumbling over each other to try and escape his mouth as fast as possible. "It had wings. It flew to our balcony and Laurent jumped off and it grabbed him and it's going to eat him!"

Nicaise's explanation cut off as anxiety overtook him once more, threatening to steal the air from his lungs. He didn't know how to save Laurent, but he must.

[princekiller]

'A what?' Damen asked, dumbfounded. He knew what a dinosaur was, had seen pictures in books here as well as full skeletons at the museum. He understood what they were and that they had lived upon the earth millions of years before man.

But he also knew that they had all died out, the entire species.

He opened his mouth to argue as much, but Nicaise's frantic state as well as the memory of a number of impossible events he'd witnessed in this strange city stilled his tongue.

Leaving the door open, Damen rushed back to the kitchen to turn off the stove then next ran to retrieve his shoes from the closet. 'Did you see where it went?' he asked as he shoved his feet into them.

[handfulofsapphires]

"They're giant creatures. Monsters," Nicaise blurted out. He didn't have the time or words right now to explain to Damen what a dinosaur was. They didn't exist in their old world, but they had in this one. Do, apparently. Or it was a city trick as the Hatchimals were, Nicaise didn't know, but either way it was here now and it had taken Laurent.

He lingered in the doorway as Damen prepared to leave. "Toward the country. Do you have a weapon, a sword?" he asked.

[princekiller]

Damen hesitated then, looking up as a heavy weight landed in his stomach.

He had no weapon here. The ones he favored were difficult to come by, the few he'd ever found either expensive or intended only for show. And Darrow, with its lack of army or threat of hostile forces, needed very little protecting. Damen had grown complacent, it seemed. Had taken their safety here for granted.

He hadn't so much as purchased one of John's guns.

'I don't,' he breathed, shame crawling up his neck as he met Nicaise's wide, blue eyes. 'This city-- Where can I even find one?'

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise made a loud, undignified sound of disgust, his hands balling into tiny fists at his sides.

"How should I know, I'm only a child, aren't I?" he said in a tone of heavy sarcasm. It would figure that he had the largest man in all of Darrow right here in front of him, and he was going to be utterly useless. The dragon was as big as a house, and though Damen's hands were large a punch would prove fruitless against such a beast.

"Maybe...maybe we can...steal a car and drive it into the dinosaur," Nicaise added, trying to think of something they could do.

[princekiller]

Damen had yet to master the operation of the great metal contraptions in this city, but he kept that to himself. Even if he could drive, he doubted such a tactic would best a creature so large. At best, he might injure the thing, at worst, he would only destroy the car and perhaps himself.

He shook his head, quick and dismissive as he rushed out the door, closing it behind him and expecting Nicaise to follow.

'There's a tavern,' he said, his voice firm. There was no time to waste, but he could hardly defeat a dinosaur without a weapon. 'It is only two blocks from here, but they have weapons adorning the walls.' He glanced back at Nicaise even as he kept up his brisk pace through the lobby. 'Which way did the beast go with him?'

[handfulofsapphires]

"I told you, toward the countryside," Nicaise hissed, doing well at keeping up with Damen's brisk pace, but having to trot alongside him a few times. But he did, thinking to himself that the man could do to go even faster at that. "It isn't like he rode a car, he was flying. Maybe he's in the forest, but he's huge so he shouldn't be difficult to find."

Nicaise just had to hope that the beast hadn't gone into a cave, or the ocean. Or fuck, to that mountain range. There were too many places it could disappear into and they had to act fast.

[princekiller]

Though Nicaise's description was still rather vague, a horrid picture was quickly forming in Damen's mind all the same. He imagined an enormous, lizard beast with great, leather-like wings, and sharp teeth holding a helpless Laurent in its razor-sharp talons.

Panic seared through him once more and Damen started running, barreling into the tavern shoulders first and sparing barely even a glance toward the barkeep before ripping the two crossed swords off the far wall. He was glad for the weight of them in his hands, glad to find that they were not for decoration alone before he handed one of them to Nicaise.

"I promise to return them!" he said, ignoring the shouts of indignation as he ran back out onto the street, waving his free arm frantically to flag down one of the yellow vehicles he knew could pay to transport him.

"Come," he said to Nicaise then as a car screeched to a stop at his feet and Damen yanked the back door open, ushering the boy inside before crawling in after him.

The man up front immediately turned around to face him, his eyes wide. "Whoa, whoa, what the fuck is this?"

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise's eyes widened when he was handed a sword. It was heavy and it took some effort to hold it aloft, but he managed as he ran out the door after Damen. Damen's self-defense tutelage hadn't extended to weaponry, and he thought he had as much luck stabbing the dragon with the sword as he did himself, but there was no time to protest.

He found himself being halfway picked up by the scruff and deposited into the taxi as he tried to climb inside. Again, there was no time to protest as the driver spoke.

"It's called a fare, you simpleton peasa--" Nicaise snapped, but his rant was cut short when Damen covered his mouth with one large palm and explained more calmly. Nicaise made a muffled sound of outrage, and Damen was lucky he didn't bite him, but the hand was removed too quickly.

The car moved North, and Nicaise glared over at Damen, holding the sword carefully with both hands. "If he's dead, this is your fault," he hissed.

[princekiller]

Luckily, Damen had managed to hush Nicaise's panicked outburst before the man could take a good deal of offense, immediately apologizing as he forced a calm tone to ask the man to drive them into the countryside. It wasn't the most specific of locations but, once again apologizing, Damen assured him it was the best he could do and that was seemingly enough for the man. Though Damen caught the roll of his eyes in the mirror attached to the window.

"He's not dead," Damen replied to Nicaise, his voice sharp, doing little to mask the growing panic in his own chest.

Because Nicaise wasn't wrong. If Laurent was dead, if they were two late, it was Damen's fault. Why hadn't he armed himself ages ago? Why had he ever considered this world safe?

The car carried them out of the city and down the long, winding roads of the countryside. The speed, though faster than any horse, was still far too slow for Damen's taste. At least, it pulled to a stop where the pavement turned to gravel and Damen barely managed to free several bills of currency from his wallet before he bounded out of the vehicle, Nicaise close on his heels.

Now what?

He stood hunched as the car pulled away, searching the skies and the edges of the tree, muscles tense and body on edge as he simply listened to both the wind and his own instinct.

"Do you see anything?" he asked Nicaise just before a loud, ferocious roar filled his ears.

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise had wanted to start an argument more than anything else, something to distract the worry climbing the inside of his chest like bile. Because if it was anyone's fault, truly, it was his own. He didn't like to take the blame for anything, but there was no doubt in his mind who Laurent jumped off the balcony for. Damen wasn't even in the building.

Why he would do such a thing was beyond Nicaise. Nicaise was the one who was supposed to be dead, not even once but twice over. He'd done nothing to deserve Laurent feeding himself to a dinosaur.

When they left the car Nicaise looked around, a deafening roar cutting off his answer to Damen. His head whipped up, watching as a large shadow swept over them, the dinosaur's body gliding beyond them just above the tree tops.

"Follow it!" he cried, and ran after the beast, the sword Damen had stolen for him held awkwardly in both hands.

The dinosaur lead them to what looked like a large castle. A tall spire was standing out along the side, apart from the main building, its top flat. It was there that the dinosaur hovered mid-air. Nicaise couldn't see Laurent in it's hand or anywhere else.

"Now what?" he whispered.

[princekiller]

This time, there was no need to search the skies as they were engulfed in a large, looking shadow. One glance upward and Damen could see the underbelly of the great beast and panic was replaced by sheer determination as Damen took off in a run to follow it, Nicaise doubtlessly close at his heels though the boy's legs were far shorter.

They were swiftly led to a large stone castle, the likes of which Damen had never seen before in this city. It reminded him neither of Akielos nor Vere, but also looked severely out of place as it sprung up from the earth.

The beast hovered above the large spire that dominated one side of the castle, its great wings keeping it aloft as its talons scraped at the stone.

'That can't be where it lives,' Damen said, wondering out loud. 'So why...'

He trailed off as he looked closer, spotting a flash of movement. The creature sported four legs, the back two as well as one of the shorter front legs scraped and gripped the stone tower while the other front leg seemed to be holding something. Something alive.

'He's collecting,' he said, the horror washing over him in a wave. Like an animal hoarding food for the winter, Damen thought and, immediately, began looking around for a door to the spire, his heart pounding. 'We need to get up there.'

[handfulofsapphires]

"It's Laurent," Nicaise gasped, catching sight of the man held in the dinosaur's large paw. The dinosaur deposited Laurent at the top of the tower, or at least that was how it looked to him, and he swallowed hard, afraid to hope.

He tore his gaze from that incredible height and returned it to Damen. "No. He'll have us trapped. We have to bring him down here." They could use the trees to their advantage, to hide behind and strike. Or at least simply be level with the dinosaur without risking falling off the giant tower.

Remembering what Laurent did for him, Nicaise didn't spare a moment's thought. He moved.

"Hey!" he shouted, bursting from the treeline. He waved his sword above his head so the silver blade winked in the sun. "Down here!"

Nicaise had no aspirations of killing the beast, he knew what he was capable of. His chances against the dinosaur were impossible, but if he could just attract and distract the beast then it should give Damen a better advantage.

[princekiller]

He didn't want to believe it true, but a flash of familiar blond hair confirmed Nicaise's outburst. Though, at the very least, it also meant that Laurent was still alive, and clearly conscious as evidenced by the way he fought the great beasts hold.

Damen's focus was so fully on Laurent that he did not notice Nicaise slipping out from beneath the cover of the trees until it was too late. He made to reach for him, to grab him by the scruff of the neck and yank him back to safety, but to do so would reveal them both and, at the very least, Damen could recognize that Nicaise's attempt to distract might be their best method of felling the giant winged dinosaur.

Heart pounding, Damen clung close to the nearest tree, making sure to remain well hidden behind its large branches as he watched Nicaise flail and shout.

He heard shouting, voices that didn't belong to Nicaise or even Laurent, though they were all swiftly swallowed by the huff of the beast. Its wings beat at the air once, twice, before it dropped to the ground, the earth shuddering under its enormous weight.

'Careful!' Damen whispered in Nicaise's direction though he doubted the boy could hear him. If Nicaise could lead him away even just a few meters, Damen could attack from the side, strike without being side.

Provided Nicaise didn't get himself dead or apprehended in the process.

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise was once more struck by the sheer size of the dinosaur as its massive wings pumped, lowering its body closer and closer to the ground. It was bigger than a house, a boat, its paw surely larger than Nicaise's own body.

He tried to stand his ground and not piss himself, waving the sword through the air once more as the dinosaur grew near.

"Come and get your prize, ugly!" he shouted above the beating of its wings, the voices calling down to him. He couldn't tell, but he hoped one of them belonged to Laurent if only because it meant he had lived through the ordeal.

Once the dinosaur was nearly to the ground, reaching to snatch the sword and possibly himself, Nicaise darted to the left, hoping to force the beast to the ground itself and give Damen a better advantage to attack. "Come on!" he called again, dodging the dinosaur's claws.

[princekiller]

Though Damen had long recognized the fierceness that lied within Nicaise, he had never seen it so clearly with his own eyes. The boy waved about his sword and shouted, shouted loud enough to be heard above the beast's roars and the cries of the people in the tower.

Heart hammering, Damen spared a glance upward, hoping to see a glimmer of Laurent's face, but his attention was swiftly diverted as Nicaise danced about. He could not let Nicaise get too close, could not risk him being injured. Months ago, Damen held little regard for the boy, but much had changed in that time. To lose him in the midst of this would be unforgivable.

Nicaise's plan was working, the dinosaur's attention on him fully, its tail swishing behind it's enormous body as it tracked Nicaise's every movement.

Slowly, Damen crept away from the tree, hunched and sword drawn. He kept his eyes on Nicaise and on the beast's attention, careful to keep himself just adjacent to its line of sight. The creature was made of what looked to be thick scales, a natural shield that Damen himself lacked entirely. But the shields shifted with his every movement, betraying softness if Damen could only plunge his sword in exactly the right spot.