lucetilogs | I burn without end.. Demons spare me..

Who: Leto Atreides 2, Ryuhou, the voice of Jenova
What: the struggle within Leto's head comes to a climax; Ryuhou comes to aid him
When: Wednesday evening
Where: the mountains, Leto's cave
Summary: there is UST and craziness
Rating: R

There was a desert storm in Leto's head. His internal architecture shook with the struggle.

This is the Kralizec inside me. Was one of his few coherent thoughts. Voices swarmed over his consciousness, stealing bits of him like a flock of terrible crows. And always the most terrible one was there. Mother, that ravager, that world destroyer with a sweet voice that promised comfort in her bosom. She was a resonant voice, promising to make the others leave, to give peace. She was the nekiya, the eternal temptress

But Leto had faced this struggle before. This gave him wry comfort in his agonies.

Inside his cave, he raged and twitched, threw himself against the unforgiving stone. There were disturbing thumps.

Who would come to rescue him? To soothe his agonies? Was such a thing even possible?

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Ryuhou hadn't seen or heard from Leto in a few days, and was becoming concerned. Leto had promised to tell him when he felt the struggle in his head increasing, but had been evasive or wouldn't answer when Ryuhou would ask him about his health.

Packing a small bag of food, Ryuhou headed up into the mountains, toward Leto's cave.

As he approached, he frowned, hearing disturbing sounds from inside. "Leto...?" Dropping the bag, he hurried inside to see Leto writhing on the floor. "Leto!" Kneeling beside him, he touched his shoulder lightly. "What is it? Are you all right?"

Leto drew up to his knees. "Ryu...The dragon...that's what your name means in ancient tongue, she tells me..." He seized the other man by the collar. "I am the dragon too or am I a man there is a dragon inside me for she is like shai-hulud a devourer, a force of nature there is a force of nature inside me did she plan this can you help me no do not try..." The air finally drained from his lungs and he took it in again with a great shuddering gasp.

Ryuhou gripped Leto's shoulders, holding him steady. Jenova... he's fighting her influence. We knew it would come down to this. "I'm here, Leto. I'll help you. Tell me what you need." He tried to stay calm for his friend. I won't lose you here.

The babbling went on for quit a while, until he fell into a fitful psuedo-sleep with his head in Ryuhou's lap. When he woke up, his eyes were somewhere else. Fever-bright, desperate, he clutched at him again and called him by his sister's name. "Ghanima, help me! Don't let me become like Alia!" This was something akin to fear, the first time Ryuhou had seen it in him.

Ryuhou was bad at comforting, but he sat still, letting Leto rest in his lap. Occasionally, he touched his hair, awkwardly trying to soothe him.

When Leto awoke again, Ryuhou startled, then held the other man tightly, supporting him. "Leto, it's me, it's Ryuhou. I won't let it happen, I'm right here." He didn't know how to help Leto fight this battle... there was no enemy to see, nothing to attack, nothing he could do other than hold his friend close.

Heedless, he continued to call him Ghanima for some time, before falling asleep again. He would briefly babble in many different voices. Gradually one started to predominate, to take the lead in the internal structure between voices.

It was motherly, resonant. Alien though. It touched your inside with strange fingers. You wanted to obey her. You wanted to love her.

I will have him soon enough. I will beat the rest of his interior multitude and then I will be the top of this mental food chain. I am...

And she was interrupted. A grizzled desert traveler replaced her.

I'm his father, Paul Muad'dib. Young man, if you wish to save my son...Do as his mother did for me in the depths of my Spice trance.

And then a gentle but fierce desert woman's voice, thickly accented with heavy consanants and rolling Rs.

I kissed him awake. Do the same for him. Such a thing is forbidden by Fremen tradition but it is to save my son...Please.

Then Jenova's voice came back, fighting the others away. But Ryuhou had been given the right instruction. The rest was up to him.

Ryuhou cradled Leto's head and shoulders in his arms, helpless to do anything against the onslaught of voices.

"You will not have him," he answered Jenova's voice. "He is stronger than you, and we are stronger together. You will not defeat him!" He tried to sound more confident than he felt, remembering his promise to Leto after his friend had returned from the Malnosso recently.

...Water. It's the only thing I'm really vulnerable to. If Jenova wins this internal struggle, I trust you to use it.

Ryuhou knew that it would only be an absolute last resort... he could restrain Leto, if he was weakened, and bring him to the lake... no. It would not happen. There had to be another way.

Different voices began speaking, and Ryuhou furrowed his brow, listening to their instruction. Leto's father and mother were telling him how to save Leto... or was it a trick? He couldn't be sure, but what more did he have to lose?

Jenova's voice returned and Ryuhou set his jaw firmly, ignoring her words and promises. "You will not have him," he repeated, pulling Leto closer and drawing in a deep breath.

"Leto, come back! It's Ryuhou, you know me. Don't let her take you. Wake up, come back to... me..." With that, he dipped his head and pressed his lips to Leto's, kissing him for the first time without artificial influence. Closing his eyes, he poured all of his need for his friend into the kiss, willing him back, calling him with his touch.

Edited 2009-12-07 08:28 (UTC)

Jenova was a great maelstrom. Interior structures he had set up to manage his multitude crumbled. Personalities went spilling across his awareness. She bent the lesser ones to her will, waged an interior blitzkreig against his mohalata, the benevolent personalities-within.

Then something jolted him up and towards consciousness. The center of him was pulled up and the rest followed.

He first became aware that his lips existed. Then the rest, in a spreading arc from them. He came back to himself as Jenova screamed her protestations. She became more shrill and powerless, ineffectual and impotent. He expanded around her. Coal shapes, dark and pulsing helixes sorrounded her and she was caged again.

It had all been set off by that kiss. His eyes fluttered open.

Al-Yalim... he croaked with a smile when Ryuhou pulled away.

Ryuhou hadn't been sure who would be in control when Leto opened his eyes, but he breathed a sigh as his friend spoke in his own voice, calling him by the name only he had known. "Leto. It is you." Without a second thought, he leaned down and kissed him again, this time with relief and affection.

Leto propped himself up to return and deepen the kiss, savoring the sensation of humanity, the sweet heady breathlessness that was the heritage of lovers for all time.

He was, however, exhausted. "I am...very hungry. Would you bring me something to eat please?"

Ryuhou allowed his eyes to slip closed as the kiss continued, his arms tightening around Leto, pulling him closer. Every time before this had been influenced by some experiment or suggestion, and he wanted to make the moment last.

At Leto's words, he nodded and drew back, his face slightly flushed. "Of course. I brought food." Glancing around, he remembered that he'd dropped the bag outside. "I'll be right back." With a faint smile, he eased Leto back to the floor and stood, stretching sore muscles.

He returned a moment later, carrying the bag he'd abandoned in his earlier haste. "Here, I brought some bread and fruit. It should still be all right." Sitting cross-legged beside Leto, he pulled a dry loaf of bread out of the bag and broke it in half, offering it to the other.

I burn without end.. Demons spare me..

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