Ruben didn't leave Dante's room for anything else but dinner and the restroom.
It had been two days already and Dante hadn't woken up. Köbi had healed his wounds, but dark scars were still left over his body. They didn't mangle his skin, it was more of a pigment change, like a tattoo. Ruben was assured that he wasn't in too much pain, his body was just taking it's time recovering.
A surprising side effect of the ritual was that Dante's hair had grown out incredibly faster than normal. Köbi had said it was part of the healing, bodily processes had been sped up to heal him faster. What was unusual was that while Dante dyed his hair, the new hair was coming in entirely white. When Ruben asked about it, Sydryn said it was likely that the trauma had whitened his hair. He'd also attained two months worth of beard in two days.
“If his body keeps doing this so fast, won't he run out of energy and stuff?” Ruben asked as Sydryn came in to check on Dante's monitors.
“The process has already slowed,” Sydryn said. “It's the main reason he's still asleep. He sleeps now to regain that energy.”
“Okay…” Ruben he stood beside Dante's bed and put a hand through his hair. “So, it's just sleep, right? Not a coma?”
“No… If we really needed to, we could wake him,” Sydryn explained. “He just really needs the rest so it's best to let him wake himself. But when he does wake up, he may not stay awake too long.”
Ruben nodded. “Will the scars go away?”
Sydryn sighed. “They may not… They could fade perhaps but they're not like your typical scar… They were created by the blood of demon. It's safe to assume they're permanent.”
“Oh…”
“Do you find it unappealing?”
“No, no… If they're not hurting him…” Ruben rubbed the back of his neck. “They're kind of cool… I could get some kind of tattoo maybe. To match.”
“Mmhm…” Sydryn looked at Ruben. “Could you do me a favour?”
“What?”
“Would you mind walking my dogs for me?”
“Oh. Um…” Ruben looked down at Dante but it was obvious he wasn't waking any time soon. “Sure…”
“You can take them down to the courtyard,” Sydryn explained. “You don’t have to scoop. Their excrements are very good for the flora.”
“Good to know.”
“They don’t have leads. They know where to go. Once you’re out of the elevator, just follow them until they tire themselves. And do not visit the other floors.”
“Right…” Ruben scratched his elbow. “It’s Rozovyy…”
“Rozovyy, Arbuz, and Fandango. Just call them. They’ll come. I trust them to you.” Sydryn smiled. “I know you’re a dog lover.”
Ruben pulled a face but left and whistled for the alien pets. All three night dogs bounded over and jumped up excitedly around him. “It’s walk time, weirdos. Let’s go.”
He called the elevator and when the doors opened, the dogs all barrelled in. He squeezed himself among them and pushed the button for the ground floor as the doors closed. The elevator immediately dropped and they were falling quickly down to the awaiting outdoors.
The doors slid open and the dogs bounded outward, each going in separate directions. Rozovyy started sniffing around the flower garden while Fandango and Arbuz decided to chase some hummingbirds. Ruben just kept an eye on them while taking in the fresh air. He looked up to see if he could spot Sydryn's floor, and low and behold it was the pinkest stripe along the inside of the building. Going one up, he still couldn't figure out how such a large space could fit into Azeros's floor when the story seemed no taller. Some kind of magic was definitely about. Matter of fact, it would definitely be late autumn in Europe but the plants were all in bloom and Ruben was comfortable outside in a tank top.
Ruben took a look around at the other animals Sydryn kept here. Up close, it was much less a zoo than one big enclosure. All the animals shared the open space and it didn’t seem that anyone was interested in eating each other. They all seemed content just to go about their business and chill, enjoying their pinkness. It still seemed unnatural to keep them all there, but it didn’t look quite as cruel as Ruben expected.
At the far end of the enclosure, there was a little tool shed and a bench. On that bench, Dusty sat quietly, reading a book.
Ruben hadn't seen much of Dusty for the last couple days, but that was mostly due to Ruben not leaving Dante's room, so he wouldn't have known Dusty had been MIA for some time now. If he had known, he'd figure Sydryn sent Ruben out with the dogs to find Dusty. But he hadn't known so he didn’t figure.
Arbuz had found him first and was curled up on the bench beside him, putting their doglike head in his lap. Dusty noticed Ruben approaching and put a bookmark in his page before looking up. “Hello.”
“Hey.” Ruben didn’t know yet how to feel about Dusty. He was glad he'd been unbound from Dante, but it still felt like it was his fault Dante even had to go through all this in the first time.
“I'm just reading,” Dusty stated.
“I can see that. I'm just walking the dogs.”
“Yeah…” Dusty closed his book. “Do you read, Ruben?”
“Mmm… Not really,” Ruben admitted. “I used to read a lot as a kid. Fell out of it after middle school… Does reading to my kids, count?”
“Sure. I don't see why not.”
Ruben shrugged. “I don't really have the time for a book for myself.”
“Fair enough…” Dusty stroked the spine of his book. “I had a lot of time to read when I lived with Syd. You'd be surprised how many books were published with pink covers.”
“I can't imagine… Listen, I'm not really a small talk kind of guy…” Ruben stated. “If you want to talk to me about something, might as well get to the point.”
“I'm lost, Ruben,” Dusty said. “I feel really empty. I thought maybe I could read and find something inspiring in it to help me through this, but it's not working. I can't enjoy the things I liked before right now.”
“That's a lot…” Ruben shooed Arbuz off the bench and sat down. “But it sounds like depression.”
“Azeros said the ritual took my emotions away temporarily. I don't feel like they're back yet,” Dusty said. “I want to want something but I don't know what…”
“What about Grey?” Ruben offered.
“Grey?” Dusty stared blank for a moment then his head jerked up and tears started falling from his eyes. “Oh god… I forgot about Grey…”
“Dude.”
Dusty wiped his eyes and turned to Ruben. “I didn’t think I'd forget my son!”
“Well… If you lost your emotions, they're back,” Ruben stated.
Dusty sobbed and rubbed his knees. “I want to go home…”
“Hell, me too. Couldn't you though?” Ruben said. “You're not bound to Dante. You could just leave.”
“Sydryn said I need to recover first…” Dusty stated. “And I know they're right… I don't feel right inside. I'm…a little too strong, if that makes any sense.”
“Sure, you sucked the life out my boyfriend,” Ruben stated.
“Ruben, the ritual—”
“I'm messing with you.” Ruben smiled.
Dusty looked at him shocked. “Wow…”
“What?”
“I've just… I've never seen you smile before.”
Ruben frowned. “I smile.”
“Not around me. Everyone says you don't like me.”
“I don't. I didn’t…” Ruben rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I'm a simple guy… I went through shit as a kid and it messed me up so I was pretty happy just to have a decent normal life after that. But then I met Yori, and I love him, but it wasn't until my kids were born did I get a really big reality check. It's like every day, there's another…supernatural thing going on, and yeah, I mean I knew this alien business was happening in the news, but none of it really affected me until Yori. While I wouldn't want to live without him, I am constantly reminded that I'm… I'm literally just a man. A human man. No powers, no special abilities. A normal regular human. But I live in the same house as a hyper intelligent alien. My partner and my children are basically dog gods. I’ve met a mermaid, an angel, a dragon... And then all of a sudden I find out my boyfriend was bonded to a demon. Then…on top of that… They have a child together.”
“Ruben…” Dusty bit his lip. “I didn’t realise—”
“Of course you didn’t,” Ruben huffed. “No one else seems to know how fucking terrifying all that is. I'm sick and tired of it! I'm literally just a man! And all I want is a fucking drink!”
Dusty blinked. “A drink? Just have a drink.”
“I…” Ruben licked his teeth. “Ah, fuck… Yeah. Let's have a fucking drink.”
“Let's?” Dusty perked up. “Me and you?”
“Yeah. Can demons get drunk?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good.” Rusty looked up at the building. “One of these dragons has got to have something good… Maybe one of them has an alcohol hoard.”
“You want to raid another dragon's hoard?” Dusty was suddenly both terrified and terribly excited.
“Sure. Isn't there one with a basement floor or something?” Ruben said. “There's gotta be a cellar down there.”
“We really… We really shouldn't…” Dusty muttered, hating every word.
“You're a demon. My parents thought I was too,” Ruben said smirking and standing up. “You were born to indulge yourself. Am I wrong?”
“Well, no… But don't you have the dogs?”
“When they're done shitting, we'll just drop them back in Syd's and sneak out,” Ruben said. “You…Dante told me you could teleport.”
“Oh. Yes, yes I can. Only where I've been or can see though.”
“Then just take us back down here after we lose these dogs. Deal?”
“I haven’t done something like this in a really long time,” Dusty said.
“Me neither. I miss it,” Ruben said. “Are we fucking doing this or not?”
Dusty nodded quickly. “Yes! Definitely!”
“Alright. Awesome.”
