((The following short story was written on 26 April 2015 for my best friend @Insein, whom is always a delight to write and play with and whom I always cherish. This story features my character Klaus “Vomher” Richter" and her character Angelique “Insein” Richter.))
It was a necessary evil.
Black wings soared high in the morning sky.
What by all accounts should have been a beautiful day was looking dark and dim. The sun shone brightly upon iridescent midnight and pleasant warmth beamed down; the people of the glistening metropolis below blissfully went about their days, but above brewed anger, angst, and discontent.
It should have never come to this.
Frigid blue eyes scanned the horizon. The bestial bird they belonged to was looking for something. They were looking for someone. A perceptive gaze swept over the inhabitants, searching for a very specific sight.
Nothing good could come from this.
The ominous avian visage was at least the size of a human, with wingspan to spare. Frazzled feathers were in abundance. It was a wild sight to behold, and one that would not rest until it found what it needed.
There!
A woman stopped to stretch; an ordinary sight, but yet the very person that had been the goal of the eldritch intelligence’s search.
Wings snapped close and the enormous raven took a sharp dive for the figure. In a breakneck landing, he was before her. The city was fairly quiet in the area, with nothing but warehouses and the desolate to surround them.
It was the perfect time and his best shot.
After the dramatic danger of a descent, he struck a proud pose with beak held high and wings wide out, as if to say ‘Ta-da!’ to the woman. Klaus wanted to make a good impression, after all, even as abnormal as outwardly appeared. First impressions mattered, and every feather was a mess.
The audience of one showed a slight sliver of surprise. Panic flooded his every fiber and the prideful pose fell to a cower behind large curtains of draping wings. Just because death was imminent doesn’t mean he had to look.
Moments of silence passed between the pair with only the sounds of faint footsteps to fill the void.
Why was he still alive?
It should have been an easy task for the accomplished assassin. It would have only taken an instant to dispose of the dark dinosaur, yet both still stood.
Why?
Curiosity crept into the crevices of thought and wings fell for a peek at the face of certain doom. In the time he prepared for his annihilation, she had closed the gap between them. He could see her more clearly now for the first time in a long while, and yet the worry that crossed the skull-capped face was not one of familiar love but a stranger’s innocent care. Hands hovering close held no guns in their grasp nor knife to slice.
It was not what was expected.
Finally did the feathered fury raise his head and accept fate for what steadily seemed less fatal.
Approaching hands neither strangled or slaughtered. Avian eyes clenched shut for the last stretch of space between hand and head.
She touched his beak.
The distinct feeling of touch fell upon the bird, and it was overwhelming. A gentle caress and the tender touch to his frazzled feathers that followed was enough to make him falter.
It was something that couldn’t be afforded.
Then came the hug.
The woman’s arms wrapped around the distraught raven in loving care while whispering kind words to wane his worries. She had no recollection of him, yet still he was hugged. She had no idea who he was or what he was, and she still took the effort to help him. Even without memories, she loved him.
It made everything so much harder.
Guilt wormed deeply into the withered heart of the raven and shattered it piece by piece. Wings wrapped around her and he whispered the faintest of a whine.
“I’m sorry.”
Hugs and love and still things must go on.
Anima mingled under feathers and flesh in their embrace. The magic rushed into the woman and acted upon her blood. Anima acted wholly to restrict blood flow with as much certainty as the morbid magician of a chemist could muster.
She stiffened in the winghold and feebly began to pry herself out, but the bird held on. It was too late. The woman dropped into the cushioned fall of feathers unconscious.
Gingerly did wings unfold and claws take hold of the woman as they lifted off into the sky. Anima shivered around them as it obscured the odd ensemble. Regret filled the beast.
It was a necessary evil.