No One Will Ever Hurt You Again I Promise-Chapter 54: Fire Ruby, Garland, William

Howie would have sworn on his life and the heads of everyone dear in his life that he had heard Aike’s voice, clear and crisp in his head, even twice since his birth wolf, started seeking the exit.

This voice prevented him from tearing Maryse to pieces in Celine’s office in front of everyone’s gaze without worrying about the onlookers and the impact it would have made on the world if his identity or animal form were revealed in broad daylight to the general public.

And the last time, in the shower, when he was struggling against the grip of Theo and El, who pledged to help him keep his birth inner caged or under control.

This voice that has clicked in his head every time he hears it acts on him like the music he often listens to escape from reality when the situation overwhelms him or when he needs a break. Aike, or Aike’s voice, acts on him as a kind of melody, capable of calming his nerves, preventing him from going berserk at any time and sinking into nothingness.

This nothingness pursued him every day of his life, from his birth until today. The various struggles he had to wage against himself to keep his nature from fleeing deep within him because the fate of humanity rested on his little childlike shoulders.

He was willing to be sacrificed to change the fate of humanity instead of letting Fenrir take over all supernatural beings in the human world to wreak havoc, despair, and chaos.

He had to lead this struggle alone, far from the warmth of his home or his kingdom and the people he loved, just for the well-being of humanity. It’s hard to have responsibilities that start from the cradle, and not everyone has this kind of duty, but he does.

This ongoing struggle robbed him of his childhood and nearly ate his teenage years if he hadn’t found his stimuli, despite his parents’ efforts to keep him as far away as possible from anyone who might represent his switch.

For this, he was resettled far from his home and his species. In fact, that was what they believed since his stimuli turned out to be the only friends he had ever had in his entire existence.

The friend of his dream, the very friend who served as a sort of life-saver, helped him escape his reality for a while before he decided to end their dreamlike encounter.

Sometimes lonely children or children with wild imaginations create worlds in which they are safe with people and animals that only they see and know their existence. They have friends with whom they play and chat aloud as if they exist in the real world and that their parents or other people who follow them never see. Sometimes they can’t even tell the difference between the two worlds.

Well, for Howie, this friend also existed, except that his friend was more than present because they often saw themselves in their dreams populated with laughter and good times without ever thinking once that this friend in question could exist for real somewhere in the real world.

Let’s say that this friend in question was going through a similar situation, let’s say in a way, because their needs were the same. Both of them did not have friends like all the other children their age who ended up in the nursery, in the amusement park, and stuff. Both wanted only one thing: a friend to talk to, play with and swap toys with, compare skills, and such.

Although this friend had a twin brother, he could rely on him to protect them from the unfounded anger and sickening resentment of an eccentric mother, capable of doing anything just to control what was happening in her surroundings, either of things or people. This mother is ready to do anything to separate two children just because she feels left out.

Both of them needed an escape. Aike wanted a friend to lean on when he wasn’t doing all he could to keep his brother away from his mother’s reach. The poor kid felt like Ayk needed to think for himself sometimes, and he needed to take a break from time to time from all the stress their mother put on them at such a young age.

Aike was his brother’s shield, and every day that dawned, he had to think of a new way to keep their mother away from them. His brother often requested the presence of their mother when he was young. Maryse always sent him to hell, as if he was some burden or annoyance to her, until they found a way to stop asking for her and focus on what they had. That means them, which enraged her when she realized he no longer needed her.

Of the two brothers, he was braver and more creative, although he doesn’t give that impression today. When they were safe for the day in the evening, he needed friends to chat with and share the dream of children of their ages.

When he wanted a friend, his brother on his side only wanted one thing: to find his puppy, who was violently taken away from him, Ek. So each time they leave each other to take refuge in their own world, Aike finds himself in the company of his friend William, whom he met while being chased by a hideous monster. He often had that frightening nightmare, but he was about to get caught this time when a small voice saved him.

This little voice says to him: "Follow me; I will hide you; he won’t be able to hurt you. you don’t have to be afraid; I’m not with him." It’s the first time in his life that he’s interacted with someone other than his brother, and it’s the first time he’s found the benefits of sleep fantastic.

He used to stay up all night for fear of getting stuck in his nightmares, which is why he often slept in the same bed as his brother—a habit which, moreover, they have both kept. Each time they need to recharge their batteries with human warmth, they slip into one or the other’s beds, and vice versa.

He firmly believed if they stayed together, the hideous monster of his nightmares would never catch him. Then he met William, this boy with blue eyes that sparkled, landing in his nightmares out of nowhere.

This boy, who becomes a part of him and thinks about him even when it’s daylight, makes him want to go to bed early at night and pushes him to take hours of naps to meet him. This boy made him want to stay in his bed without fear that the monster would come and take him away forever. This boy gave meaning to his nights and changed his nightmares into dreams that were joyful and full of laughter and games.

He even woke up sometimes with high-pitched, joyful bursts of laughter or childish giggles that spoke for themselves, but each time he woke up, his pain was enough when this friend was no more to give way to a big, empty, and dull house and a grumpy brother, whom he had to watch over for both their sakes.

But one morning, his brother wasn’t so grumpy anymore, and his highly lousy mood turned into immense joy and an apparent cheerfulness of heart. He completely changed, and Aike was no longer the only one watching over him constantly. This task becomes their duty. They take turns watching each other, and their role play begins when they understand what each means to the other. It was just after what happened to their pup.

His brother was in the same state of mind as him; happy, beaming, and full of energy, which enraged their mother even more. She was slapped for her overconfidence when she expected them to come crying and beg her for a new playmate. On the contrary, they had gone beyond this stage, relying on each other and being there for each other.

What she didn’t know about them was that they had each met a new friend, a friend who accompanied them in the evenings and with whom they played like crazy in their sleep until the sun came up. The sun rises on the horizon to give birth to the day, and then each morning, they tell each other their adventure, each impatient to know the story of the other.

Furthermore, Aike had William keep him company since that’s all he ever wanted. In contrast, Ayke, on the other hand, had a snow-white pup without the slightest speck or dirt that could clog or tarnish his fleece or even smear his beautiful long silky white hair with oddly weird red eyes.

But he loved it anyway, with bright red eyes like the blood that lit up in the dim light like light bulbs. He nicknamed it "Ruby of fire" and sometimes "Garland," because he could see it even if it was pretty dark without any hope of light on the horizon.

It was also the first night that Aike slept in his room alone without bothering to join his brother; when he met him, he was afraid of finding himself alone in the darkness of his room. Even the nightlight couldn’t help him keep away from the darkness that invaded his room when his brother was away from him.

Howie looked around the locker room, returning to the same faces over and over again in search of the guardian of his favorite melody. Hopefully, he’ll find him lurking somewhere in a corner, glaring at him full of anger and with deep hatred written all over his face without it really being hatred.

Staying in his corner, pouting childishly and severely judging him with a dark gaze without saying the slightest word about what’s bothering him and what’s going on in his head. With him, it’s always like this. You have to know him better than a mere acquaintance to understand when he’s angry because he will never give you the pleasure of demonstrating it clearly.

"What? Don’t tell me something is going on between you two. "Ayke intervened, looking at the intertwined fingers of El and Theo. He advances toward them with a mischievous gleam in his eyes while clicking his tongue.

"Hold on, hold on," he continued as a smile flashed on the corner of his plump lips, "so that’s why you rushed to apologize this morning instead of giving him time to answer for his faults."

" Ah, El, the servant knight who flies to the rescue of his damsel in distress; isn’t that wonderful?" He asked, clapping his hands like a child.

"What is he talking about?" Theo wonders, as he struggles to pull his hand out of El’s iron fist, who seems determined not to let him off the hook so quickly. His face was impassive, without any emotion or glimmer that could betray it; it looked like he was really making no effort to keep the other’s hand imprisoned under his steely fingers. He looked annoyingly at Ayke, who planted himself close to them while watching them with interest and amusement.

"But what are you playing? When you punched my brother and me the last time, everything indicated that you knew how to use your strength to bully people who wanted to help you, right?"

"But why can’t you get out of a simple handhold of nothing, hm? What is this comedy again, hm? Surely you want the other to come to your rescue too, since they both showed up in time to come to tae your defense. Is that what you want?"

With those words, the poor Theo stopped struggling. It was really ridiculous what was happening to him right now. Anyone would have thought that El’s grip wasn’t so hard as he let it show because the latter does not seem to expend any energy or effort to hold him back.

And that silly moron Ayke is really starting to get on his nerves. He looked desperately at where Howie was standing with a towel around his waist, shirtless, hair messy, carrying a hairdryer, with which he applied to dry them calmly without taking his eyes off the small scene with no desire to interfere.

But the desperation he read in Theo’s eyes appealed to his great sense of duty. He put down the hairdryer with a sigh and went to pull Ayke by the collar of his shirt, which he hadn’t even finished buttoning properly without saying a single word.

Between them, they know that Theo can’t easily get out of El’s grip if he doesn’t want it, and given the silly face that the latter is making at the moment, this little game will last another eternity until he decides to end it or Theo submits to him.

So the intervention of Ayke, who really has no idea what is going on, risks irritating the poor toddler by applying himself like a damned man to get out of the hell that his idiot friend is making him live in.

The situation could take another unexpected turn for Ayke if he stays out of this little game with his arms folded and doing nothing. He is really not ready to handle a frustrated wolf overwhelmed with conflicting emotions and worry.

So it’s really best that he pulls Ayke out of this step and lets them sort out their problem on their own as El sees fit because he is tired of hearing him complain day and night about his heart problems while moping about his fate.

"Hey! Stop that, I haven’t finished yet. Stop dragging me like this. It’s not nice to grab people by the stick. " He complained while being dragged away by Howie.

"It’s also not nice to interfere in other people’s business uninvited," Howie replies with a grunt.

"But it’s not a private thing; they do it in front of my eyes. If it bothers me, I have the right to tell them the reason behind my thoughts. If they want a room or a little privacy, they can ask us kindly because we understand people, right? "

"No, you just have to shut up and finish what you had to do without intervening in their affairs." Just like they left you, did they make curious and inappropriate comments, hmm?" "No,"Howie answers without waiting for Ayke to answer.

"Hm, it’s true, but I’m not them, I..."

"Yeah, that’s right, you’re not like them; you’re your mother’s son, right?" Howie replies with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Hey, oh, for someone like you, that’s really a low blow; I would never have thought you were capable of such baseness, Howie." Ayke raged, struggling like a poor devil to get out of the grip of Howie, who dragged him to a seat where he threw him without worrying about his childish protests.

Ayke slumped heavily in the seat, squealing, "Hey, easy, dammit, Howie." He grumbled through gritted teeth with a pout; he looked up at Howie," standing in front of him, staring at him with half-closed eyes.

"Hey, love, don’t make that face because you’re breathless, my bunny." "You’re too cute like this, my golden sugar." Otherwise, I couldn’t hold myself back if you kept sulking like this.

Howie told him in a half-serious, half-amused amber voice. Ayke smiled, seeing the wild face he had with his messy hair. It’s not like he was really mad at what Howie said because he knows when the latter is joking. And since he saw him this morning, it’s the first time he’s seen something almost as if a smile appeared on his lips and in the sound of his voice.

If his childish behavior can make Howie smile, then nothing and no one is going to stop him from continuing to play the child irrationally. He continues to pout, which makes him even cuter than a toddler.

A wonderful smile crosses Howie’s lips, showing his pretty white teeth while looking at the ridiculous face his friend is making to get his attention. He pinched his cheek where he left a small red mark before moving away from him in an elegant step to finish what he had started, which meant drying his hair and getting dressed.

On the side of El and Theo, the fight faded. Theo gave up. Now he just stares at El, holding his gaze without showing emotion, his eyes empty like those of an animal slaughtered alive.

El seems to be enjoying the whole situation and is not ready to let him go, so he decides to talk to him despite himself because he had no intention or desire to speak with him after what he did to him.

"What exactly do you want?" I don’t plan on spending the day playing whatever sordid game you can think of because I’m not in the mood to put up with your bullshit and bad temper. "

"Ah, finally, you can speak!" El exclaims, staring at him with a triumphant smile on his lips, "and my bullshit, as you say, is a response to your stubbornness in challenging me every time our paths cross, and I hate that. I like it when you are obedient and docile, but you persist in standing up to me, my little hairy puppy. It risks harming you if this continues."

"You’re looking for a puppy, so go and adopt one. Pff, get off me, idiot. You’re boring me... you’re the worst thing I’ve ever come across, a real pain in the ass, my only nightmare.’

"So much the better," El replies calmly, as a shadow passes over his eyes that darkens them. Theo silently witnessed the change taking place on his face, a little pained all of a sudden.

He didn’t know why, but he preferred to see him teasing and smiling with shining eyes. The dark complexion didn’t suit him too well, he told himself. His heart jumps in his chest, causing him to wince. What did I say? Is it because of me that his eyes are veiled? He began to think a little in a panic.

To tell the truth, he didn’t mind that much when he realized the position they were both in. He even had a discreet little smile before panicking like a trapped animal. He feared the other would take it badly and kick his ass like the last time. He wanted to act like it didn’t affect him and disgust him, but it seemed he said the wrong thing. El let go of his hand abruptly and moved away from him, leaving him staring blissfully at his back.

He met Howie’s gaze, who was watching them while buttoning up his shirt, his downcast puppy eyes making him want to laugh, so he looked down. ’Ah, that jerk! He can’t even recognize what he has in front of him when he allows himself to advise me on how to manage my feelings.’

"Hey, El," he said, raising his voice slightly without straining his vocal cords. " Don’t tell me you’re going to leave him in this sorry state like a stray cat. Why don’t you lend him one of your spare uniforms? I’ll make it up to you, and I want to see you two afterward. "I think you and Theo are almost the same size. "

"And you, what are you waiting for to follow him? "You’re pitiful in those wet clothes." Because of me, I really don’t want you to catch a cold." He nods at Theo, who still hasn’t moved from where El left him.

"Follow him," he ordered, taking on a more authoritative and intimidating tone; at the same time, Theo jumped and hurriedly followed El.

He looks at him, passing close to him with his head down, his tail between his legs. He no longer has anything of this handsome, proud, arrogant young man who set up an ambush to teach him a good lesson a few weeks ago. He takes advantage of their proximity to whisper it to him.

"Hey, stop arching your back, and that awful face you have doesn’t show off your beautiful almond eyes, and I prefer it a thousand times when you behave like the last of the idiots instead of a frightened dog." That doesn’t suit you at all. And this, even if someone else told you otherwise. Don’t change who you are. "

"Don’t worry about him; he’s not really angry, he’s like that, always making his diva. He is someone who requires a lot of time and patience. It will take a lot for you to understand and support him, of course. But he has a good heart. Just don’t let him destroy you. And you, too, can decide to talk to him without waiting for him to do it. Act around him as you do with your other friends, and you’ll find it’s easier for both of you.

Theo looked up at him with a question mark on his lips. He didn’t really know what to say to Howie, and he didn’t understand why he was talking to him like that. Did H know that I... no, no, he didn’t guess it? He said to himself, wondering if it was that obvious.

Howie smiled at the sight of the stupid and confused face that he showed him. "Yeah, that’s very obvious, Theo," he said teasingly to answer the silent question on his new friend’s face.

El tries to listen to the conversation between Howie and Theo without picking up anything. Yet, he uses his super-hearing before he understands that the sneaky bastard has built a sound barrier around him and Theo, leaving him and Ayke out of it.

"He didn’t dare the son of a bitch," he shouted out of his right mind. "It’s good. I see that you are completely at your best, my friend. "

gave"He’s dumb as two left feet, but he’s sweet as good quality brown golden sugar, you’ll see." Finished, Howie gave Theo a friendly pat on the shoulder before deactivating the barrier.

"He’s a real jerk, and if you can’t find a way to deal with your problems, I’ll end it myself, and I don’t think you’ll like it." The tone he used to utter those words was icy, completely different from the one he used to speak to Theo in private.

El glared at him, rolling his eyes in annoyance as Theo nodded, a little less dumb than he looked before the little talk. His fear and insecurity eased a bit after what Howie told him.

With a confident and proud gait, he walks toward El, standing in front of his locker. He casually leaned against the locker, staring at El before speaking. El wonders what’s happening to him. Where does all that confidence come from? For heaven’s sake, what the hell did that jerk H say to him to boost his confidence so quickly?

He looked at him from head to toe. While Theo didn’t care about his questioning gaze on his person, with a firm and reassured hand, he began to undo the buttons of his shirt one by one as slowly as he could without taking his eyes off El.

" Would you lend me something dry to put on my back? Those are wet, and I hate cold things against my skin unless it’s someone I need to warm up with my warmth. "

Howie smiled. He went to Ayke and grabbed his hand, who hadn’t gotten up from the seat he had thrown him into a few minutes before, and dragged him towards the exit with a single thought in his head: I may also arrive one day.

’I hope you will be able to put into practice what you say to others. He mumbled.

Finally, everyone can advise on subjects they have no experience with, as long as the theory holds up and follows sound logic. I just gave someone advice on what to do when I can’t even deal with my own torment and burden.

Isn’t it funny?