Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

Theo's breath came back to him quickly, probably fuelled by the adrenaline now racing through his body. He sucked it in as he was taken high up into the canopy of the trees, twisting, and shifting as he did so.

The rage held him tight against his body so that Theo was looking down on the forest and away from the rage. He could only be grateful for that. He'd gotten only the briefest of glimpses of this one, and it looked angry.

The rage was moving quickly, still spitting out that horribly melodious language. Theo tried to ignore it, but it was doing exactly what he suspected it was meant to do, confusing him, making him frightened and yet eager at the same time.

It was horrible.

And Theo knew that he was in trouble.

He twisted again as the rage swooped them towards a huge tree deep within the forest. The branches were thick and heavy this high up, not thin and spindly like Theo would have imagined. Was the rage planning to drop Theo on to one of those branches and then eat him? Theo suspected as much, and he tried desperately to think of a way out. Baku could not fly. He wasn't going to reach Theo here. The only way back to his monster was by getting back to the ground.

They passed over something in one of the trees that looked like a cloud. It wrapped its way through and around the branches, and Theo gasped as he remembered Baku telling him exactly what that was for.

The creepers.

They were the only monsters that occupied the forests with the rages without the fear of being killed because they were just as strong, just as fierce, and they lived there in those clouds. They were not friendly. Baku had been clear on that. But could they be worse than this rage?

Theo decided there and then that he would take his chances. He reached down and he grabbed the clawed hands of the rage against his chest, and he dug his nails into them as hard as he could. The rage let out a shriek. Theo turned his head slightly and bit down hard on the only bit of the rage he could reach which was his upper arm. It shrieked again. Theo bit again and then again, pulling and tugging on it flesh in an effort to free himself. The rage loosened his grip ever so slightly. Theo took advantage of that to pull himself free, using every bit of strength that he had.

The next thing he knew he was plummeting towards the tree covered in clouds. He was quite high up. His heart jumped into his throat as he fell. Would the clouds break his fall? Would the tree? Theo did not get the chance to find out. The rage grabbed him before Theo could make it to the cloud, though it wasn't quick enough to stop them falling into it a moment later.

They tumbled into the cloud in a tangle of limbs and wings. The hissing started immediately. It began at the point they had entered the cloud and then quickly came from all over. Figures started to move within it. Theo could see them because he was enclosed in the cloud, desperately trying to pull himself free of the rage. And, of course, it was not a real cloud, it was made of a thick substance that moved around them, cradling them in place, and unfortunately for Theo that meant he couldn't pull free of the rage. It held him tight as hissing surrounded them.

"Let me go!" Theo screeched.

He pulled and he twisted but the rage having lost him once was not going to lose him again. With a deep, gut-wrenching howl, it flexed its wings, and it pulled Theo from the clouds and the creepers that were beginning to emerge. Theo saw just a glimpse of dark, glistening flesh before the rage swooped him back away and plummeted them to the forest floor. Theo screamed as they picked up speed, but his scream was soon cut off as the rage slammed him into the ground and he lost his breath again.

Theo gasped for air as the rage pinned him down. He was completely immobile, the creature's wings surrounding him, beating in time with Theo's tortured gasps. He looked up into the greenest of eyes and the most beautiful of faces before that face changed into something that made Theo finally sob a breath in.

The rage cried out.

Pure pain pierced Theo's heart.

It cried again, its absolute sorrow surrounding them.

And then once more, and then the cries were endless, they did not stop, and Theo started to cry as well. He would have done anything for the rage then, as he looked at it, as its misery enfolded them both. How long passed? A minute, two, more even than that? Theo did not know. But it was not long before the rage changed again, the beauty returning, and the next time it cried, it did so directly into Theo's face, and the cry was no longer sadness personified, it was filled with a pulsing rage.

The rage shrieked through Theo, and he found himself screaming back in response which the creature seemed to relish as its cries increased and its features sharpened into something beyond cruel. It cried its rage to Theo and Theo screamed back in horror. The rage opened its mouth wide, feeding upon Theo's misery, taking it all, and Theo was at the point where he could not longer tell whose cry was whose or why it even mattered and then?—

The rage's neck snapped.

Its cry ceased immediately.

It almost fell on top of Theo but was kicked aside, rolling onto the forest floor. Barely a moment passed before dozens of mini monsters emerged from their hiding places to seize it.

Theo was happy for them.

He was completely happy.

Blissfully so.

"Theo, look at me, are you okay?"

Baku pulled him up, dragged him into his arms. He hugged him close, whispering words of relief. His presence made Theo deeply happy. He was so happy. He hugged his monster back, thrumming with joy. "I feel…"

"You're happy," Baku said as he drew back to look at Theo.

Theo smiled. "Yes."

Why wouldn't he be?

Why wouldn't everyone feel like this?

"It feels wonderful, perfect…"

Baku let out a shaky breath and pulled Theo back into his arms. "It will fade in a moment," he said.

Theo started at that. How could it? It was perfect. Exactly as it should be.

"Let it fade, Theo," the monster said. "And hold on to me as it does. It is going to…be painful."

Theo couldn't possibly imagine what Baku meant. How could he ever feel pain again? He was far too contented for that to happen.

"I have you now," Baku continued. "You're okay."

He shifted slightly so that Theo's head was against his chest, and he was enfolded completely in the monster's arms. Theo realised why a moment later as a deep, shrieking pain lashed through him.

He cried out. Baku muffled the cry against him once and then again.

Theo cried and he sobbed as the happiness leeched away and all the negative emotions he had lost filled him once more. It took longer than either of them would have liked, long enough that the tiny monsters around them started to feed on the dead rage, but eventually Theo gasped and pulled back from his monster, dropping onto his knees, thudding there onto the forest floor.

"Baku…"

The monster joined him, pulling Theo to him again. He seemed desperate to reassure himself that Theo was okay, his hands running over Theo's body. "You are fine now, Theo, fine, and I am here, I have you."

"What was that?" Theo whispered as an echo of that strange, horrible happiness filled him. It had been…wrong. "What's happened to me?"

Baku held him close still, reassuring himself that Theo was well. After a few moments he lifted them both back up and quickly moved them away from commotion nearby, practically dragging Theo along with him as Theo tried to right himself. The mini monsters watched them go, contenting themselves with the flesh of the rage for now.

"The rage feeds on your sorrow, any and all that you have experienced in your life, and it takes it all from you," Baku said as they wound their way back through the trees. He shook his head. "And it is not just the sorrow. It is any negative emotion you have ever experienced. It takes it all."

"That's a good thing," Theo said as he paused next to a large tree. A small, golden bird snapped at him. Except…it wasn't, was it, it had felt wrong.

"No, Theo, it is not," Baku said. He snapped a branch off the tree and held it to Theo's mouth. Theo drank the water direct from it, not even questioning the action. Baku approved of that, and Theo realised that his monster was angry though Theo knew the anger was not directed at him. He was also covered in quite a bit of blood. "A person cannot live their life in a state of absolute happiness," he added. "It is unbalanced."

"Once it took what it needed…"

"The happiness would fade," Baku said. "It would then leave you to find your negative thoughts once more, would encourage them even, and each time it would be more and more painful. It would keep you that way until you could take no more, Theo, and then it would consume you completely."

"How…" Theo began but he did not need to continue. It was obvious what the rage would do to encourage more negative emotions. He closed his eyes as he imagined those teeth and those claws... "You saved me."

"It is becoming a habit," Baku said. "One I would rather not have."

"The other rages?"

"Dead." He growled. "All but the younger one. That one seemed to disappear." He growled again. "And it took longer than I expected, and I only just avoided their sorrow myself. My people seem to have a bit more tolerance than yours."

"They did this to your people?" Theo realised. "That's why you left Europe?"

"Yes," Baku said. "To millions of us. I will not let them have you though," he said, and he held Theo close to him again. "Not the creepers, not the rages, and not the nightmares. You are mine, Theo. Only mine."

Theo sucked in a deep breath as he pressed closer to his monster. The feel of the rage around him…its screams flooding Theo's face…the pain of it… Theo shivered. It had been one of the worst experiences of his life. And yet, he was okay. He was alive and he was almost in one piece. Had Baku been right all along? Was Theo a natural adventurer? Was he built for this?

"I thought it was all over for me," he said slowly. "Again."

"I am sorry, Theo. So sorry."

"No, but…" Theo shook his head. "That keeps happening, doesn't it? Here in this dimension."

How many times had he nearly died during the few days he had been here?

The pincer monster.

The matriarchal spider.

The young rage.

The older one.

The creepers.

Hell, even those silver tree insects probably would have had a go given the chance!

This dimension was nothing but danger, Theo thought. But then he looked across at Baku and realised that was not entirely true. It was desire as well. Dimensions of danger and desire, and if that didn't sum the whole damn thing up, Theo didn't think anything else would!

"But I keep fighting back. And I keep surviving," added after a moment. "We keep surviving."

"Together," the monster agreed.

"Yes."

They pulled apart. Theo tried to right himself. It was starting to get dark, the afternoon running away from them, and they still had a job to do, the very reason they were in the forest in the first place. Suddenly, Theo began to think he could do that job. He really could stop the queen and save this little part of both worlds from the infestation.

"Look at me," Baku said after a moment and Theo did. "I will always save you, Theo. Just as you will always save me."

Theo looked up into the moonlit eyes of the monster who he had not even known existed a handful of days ago. "Do I want you to because you have made me feel that way?" he asked.

The monster tilted his head slightly. "Perhaps."

"If I was apart from you would that feeling fade?"

"In time."

"How long?" Theo demanded.

"Longer than you would like."

Theo nodded and stretched himself out before starting the walk back in the direction they had originally been going. Considering how forcefully he'd fallen onto that floor, Theo thought he would be hurting a lot more. Maybe it was the medicinal soap!

"It feels like since I was conscripted to the MDF that everything has been forced on me," he said after a moment.

The monster growled. "I would never force myself on you."

"You forced these feelings on me," Theo said.

"That is not how my people think of it, Theo."

His would, Theo knew that. They would say that the monster had imposed this on him, these feelings, this attraction, this bond. That it was just like what the rages did when their sorrow called out, the principle was the same.

And yet, Theo felt what he felt.

It was a tangible thing.

And he didn't want to resist it.

If they survived this fight, what would that mean? Theo would find out soon enough, he realised, as they couldn't be more than ten minutes from the rip now. The rage had moved them closer.

"Come on, Baku," he finally said. "We have a job to do."

"A queen to kill?"

"Yes," Theo agreed. "And some worlds to save."