Excalibur ~ World from Ashes

When I regained consciousness, I was laid up in a bed again. Looking around, I noticed that it wasn’t my room that I had been staying in for some time. The curtains were not the dark blue of the ones in my room, the bed was far too large to be mine and upon closer inspection the decorations of dragons around the room definitely confirmed it was not my bedroom. Tristan’s room… It had been a while since I’d last seen his room. In fact the last time I was in that room was when I’d been patched up after leaving Titan. That seemed like a century ago though it had probably only been a few weeks.

It was sort of odd being in Tristan’s room when he’d hardly spoken to me. I didn’t think I had irritated him all that badly, had I? Or maybe he just didn’t really like me all that much to begin with. Maybe he’d been seriously busy the past few weeks. I supposed it could have been a number of things really that were the reason to my not having seen him all that much. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he probably wanted to avoid me as much as possible. Maybe he just doesn’t trust me… They think I’m still a part of Titan after all…

The thought that Tristan didn’t trust me at all kind of hurt. What was it going to take to make them believe that I had left that group and had nothing to do with them at all. I didn’t want to have anything to do with Titan. Hell, if I could, I would go back in time and slap my past self for staying with Alik as long as I did. I would have left Titan a long time ago had I known anything. I sighed as I started to sit up.

“There you go sighing again. I really do wonder if that’s all you do.”

Glancing over to the voice, my eyes were wide as I watched Tristan who was leaning against the wall next to the door of his room. He grinned at me and pushed off the wall to come over to the bed. Once he was seated on the edge next to me, he rested his arm on his knee and placed his head in his palm. I struggled to find something to say as I stared at him.

“Are you all right?”

His simple question took me off guard as I sat there, propped up against the headboard of his huge bed. For a moment I didn’t answer him. My gaze dropped to the bed sheets as I thought about it. Was I all right? Physically yes, I wasn’t hurt. Mentally though was a different story. My body started to tremble as I recalled the events. The only other time I’d been in the middle of a fight was when I was running from Titan. This time was different. I had been in the center of it and I had to fight back in order to live.

“I… Chris…” my eyes burned as the sheets grew blurry. I took a heavy breath and couldn’t stop the tears even if I wanted to.

Tristan watched me carefully before he reached out and pulled me close to him. My head fell against his shoulder; the warm muscle pillowed my face as I cried on him like a child. His fingers brushed though my hair, that soft, gentle touch was so amazing. It helped to calm me, to fight off the sobs that pulsed through my chest. I stayed against him for a long while as my crying subsided.

“I’m… okay,” I uttered softly after a long while. I felt him nod in response. His hands took my shoulders and pushed me up away from his shoulder. I was sad for the loss of touch. Tristan’s hazel eyes studied my face for a long while.

“You’re sure? How is your back?”

“Fine,” I answered.

“Valkyrie…”

“I’m fine. I promise.”

Tristan frowned just a bit before he nodded, accepting my words. It was true after all. My back didn’t hurt at all. The gashes were just about healed anyway. The bandages were left there around my waist to help keep the salve that Kilia used on the wounds from being rubbed away. Other than that, the cuts were nearly healed up. Just a bunch of scabbing really. It itched like a bitch sometimes, but Kilia’s solutions helped with that as well.

“Chris…” I shook my head slightly as I stared at Tristan.

He looked away, “I know. I’m sorry you had to see that happen.”

“Why are you sorry for that? Chris died! He was shot! By Titan! Why are you sorry for me?” I nearly started crying again. Tristan was so strange sometimes.

“I’m sorry because you saw him killed. You’ve seen your friends killed already. I didn’t want you to see that again.”

I shook my head, “It doesn’t matter if I see it or not, Tristan. Look at the world we live in, I’m always going to see someone die,” I bit my lip as I shook again. My fingers dug into his arm as I held him.

“That’s not the point,” he replied gently.

Gritting my teeth I just shook my head and looked down at his knee that was between us. Once again, I felt his fingers through my hair. I let out a sigh, this one of contentment as he stroked my head, his fingers trailing down to my shoulders. I shivered at the touch. Every muscle seemed to just unknot themselves at his soft stroking across my skin. Amazing… he’s really amazing.

“Jace told me that Alik was there.”

I froze.

My blood went cold again and my heart seized up in the back of my throat. I felt like I was going to be sick right there as I stared down at the sheets. Tristan’s hand pulled away from me and just that movement alone sent a cold, sharp stabbing pain through my chest. I swallowed dryly as I tried to look up at him, but found that I couldn’t.

“He… he yelled my name. I… just ran. I couldn’t think. I was… scared.”

Tristan moved slightly, his fingers dropped underneath my chin and pulled my head upward. I was locked by his hard gaze as he stared at me, “Why would he have been there in the first place?”

“T-Tristan! How would I even know? He’s probably pissed off that I left him and the gang. Nobody just leaves a gang, Tristan.”

He watched me carefully, an eyebrow lifted as he seemed to be thinking about what I said. My heart was heavy as I waited. Was he going to believe me? What would he do if he didn’t? Tristan stood up then, leaving my side and grabbed a pair of cups from one of the dressers in the room. I heard water being poured into each of them before he came back and handed me a glass. I took the cup slowly as Tristan sat back down next to me.

“All right. I want you to be careful when you go out with Jace and Zak.”

What? I was stunned. Or maybe I shouldn’t have been. Maybe I should have been happy that he’d not thrown me out of the room or anything extreme like that. Slowly I nodded as I took a sip of the water. Once I finished that, I set the glass down and Tristan reached out. His hand patted my head gently as he stood up.

“Where have you been lately?” I blurted out and my face immediately ignited as I looked away, fidgeting slightly.

“Working. It’s not easy being in charge of a huge gang, you know,” he grinned at me as he leaned over me, bracing himself against the headboard, “Why? Have you missed me?”

“N-no! What the hell? I don’t miss you! Why in the hell would anyone miss you!?”

He chuckled slightly as he pushed off the headboard and headed for the door, “Get some more sleep. I will see you later.”

The door closed as he exited and I let out a heavy breath as I slid down the headboard into the pillows. Damn him… Always teasing me! What the hell… I fumed as I got comfortable in the sheets. His bed was so soft, so large… It felt like I could get lost on it if I wasn’t careful. I rolled to the middle, burying myself in the pillows and relishing the feel of the cool sheets and pillowcases against my skin. It wasn’t long after that I was fast asleep again.

***

A couple of days passed, we had held a funeral ritual for Chris the day after his death. Another group of the gang had gone and retrieved his body from the warehouse. A pyre had been built in the farthest corner of Tristan’s property. I had never seen a pyre before, so I had been nervous and anxious about the whole thing. The entire gang was present. It was quite a few people, they took up a good section of the open grass that was behind the huge manor. Some of them I recognized as I had passed them in the halls or spoken to them a few times during training with Jace and Zak. The rest of the gang members though, I had met that day during the reception after the burning of the pyre.

Three days later and I had resumed my previous daily schedule of training with the handgun, fighting with Zak for self defense and then going out on more recovery missions. The second and third recovery missions were also attacked, but this time we had been better prepared. That or maybe we had gotten lucky, either way, Jace was still pissed. We had managed to get out before anything serious happened each time, thankfully. The problem was, though, that Titan had encountered us yet again for both missions. My stomach was heavy with worry at the thought.

Back at the manor, the gang was tense. I couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t just my group with Jace that were running into Titan all the time. Every small group that were sent out to patrol our borders and gather up supplies when we could, even the hunting groups, were being targeted by Titan. It seemed that no matter what, Titan always knew where we were going and when. I wrung my wrists as I went up the stair case. I wanted to see Tristan. I needed to do a couple of things. First was to apologize for being such an ass a while ago when I told him he was annoying, and second was to see if he’d figured out anything about how Titan always knew where we were.

I knocked on his door, the room where he usually was at when he was studying or doing his work. It took a moment, but the door finally opened and I was allowed inside. I didn’t see who opened the door though and was hesitant to walk in until I heard his voice from the other side.

“Well, are you going to stand there all day or come in?”

“Oh… Uh… Sorry,” I said and stepped inside. The door closed behind me and I jumped a bit. Turning, I caught sight of him and my breath seemed to have suddenly been whisked away from my lungs. Holy… Shit. Oh God. He’s fuckin’ hot… My heart pounded hard in my ears as I watched his back. Tristan was shirtless, his broad back exposed to me and what was worse were the water droplets that clung to his skin. Steam was curling from one of the side rooms, the door partially opened. Showered… I gulped slightly as I stood there like an idiot.

“Well, what did you want? Surely it wasn’t to come see if I was naked.”

“S-shut up, fucking idiot! Why would I do that?” I snapped back, though I was pretty sure my face said something else entirely as he turned to look at me.

Tristan leaned against the wall next to the bathroom, a smirk on his face. His caramel colored hair was still slightly damp, hanging around his face in thick locks. His skin was smooth, very slightly tanned and curving with muscle. I really… really, wanted to touch him, to feel that smooth skin beneath my hands, to run across every rock hard muscle that stood out underneath the tanned exterior. My eyes had wandered from his face to his chest, to his stomach and then down to his jeans that he wore. My thoughts were probably very readable as I stared at him.

“Valkyrie.”

I startled at my name, “Hu?”

“You’re staring. Unless you want to do something other than stare at me, you should say so. Or I might just take it as an invitation.”

“W-whatever! I… I came because I wanted to apologize,” my voice stuttered as I finally tore my gaze away from him. I stared at the floor as I waited for him to say something.

“Apologize, for what?”

“For calling you annoying,” my voice was really soft as I blushed still staring at the floor.

Tristan laughed and I turned to look at him in shock. He’d only ever chuckled softly or laughed in shorter versions. This one… was a loud laughter that had him leaning sideways off the wall with one hand tangled in his hair as he shook his head. When he recovered, he pushed off the wall and walked over to me. His hands fell on my shoulders, “You’re very silly. It was an impulse. Haven’t I told you already? You don’t have to apologize. I’m fine, over it. It didn’t bother me all that much anyway.”

I frowned at him, “It looked like it did.”

Leaning down, he got really close to my face and I sucked in a deep breath, “Well, if you’re so worried about it then maybe I’ll show you that you don’t need to be worried.”

I opened my mouth only to have him invade it. I made a soft sound as his lips enclosed mine and his warm tongue was caressing mine. Everything seemed to have shut down as he kissed me. I closed my eyes, tilted my head a bit and allowed him to continue as I kissed him back. My hands reached up and wrapped around his neck. Pulling my body closer to him, I closed the distance between us. His arms dropped around my waist, tightening around me to hold me in place.

My breath was short as I felt him against me. Heat pulsed through me and my groin ached terribly as I felt his erection against mine. I panted in his mouth as he continued to kiss me. Letting out a moan, he tightened his arms around me. Tristan pulled away from our kiss leaving me to gasp for air. Dropping down just a bit, he grabbed my legs and lifted me up so that my thighs were against his hips. He moved us from the center of the room to a couch that was situated against the far wall, opposite of his desk.

Lying me down on the couch, he came back up to kiss me again, heating my body with those sensual kisses. His tongue stroked mine slowly, his hand pulling at my hip to move me underneath him to a better position. I wiggled on the couch, my legs coming up to wrap around his waist and try to pull him down so I could feel him again. He gave a soft groan that sent chills down my spine. I continued to kiss him back, moaning as he moved against me and then slipped his hand up under my shirt. His fingers ran across my skin and eventually up to my chest. My nipples were already hard from his kissing me, but as he ran his fingers across them, I arched up and let out a cry of pleasure.

He gently ran his fingers across my nipples, making me pant harder, moan louder and grind my hips against his. Tristan dropped his hand down from my chest and pulled my legs from his hips, forcing me away from him and I pouted from the loss of his hard erection rubbing against mine. Struggling to breath, I was lost in a haze of pleasure as he started to undo the belt of my jeans and then pull apart the button and zipper. As his fingers dropped down under the jeans and stroked my hard shaft, I moaned, bucking on the couch. My breath gasped into my lungs as my hands reached up behind my head to grasp the arm of the couch.

“Tristan… Oh, right there,” I moaned.

He complied, stroking the area along the tip of my erection. My body shook, shuddering with every touch as he played with me. I could hardly breath as I lay there, putty in his hands as he worked to pleasure me. I opened my eyes to look down at him, my face hot from what he was doing to me. When he stopped touching me there, I panted heavily and watched with butterflies in my stomach as he started to drag my boxers down, to reveal my hard shaft.

It wasn’t until his mouth encompassed my entire length that I cried out in shock. My hand released the arm of the couch and took hold of his hair as he sucked on me. Every moaning cry that escaped my lips grew louder and more pleading as he ran his tongue up and down my shaft, the warm, wet heat stroking my erection in slow, lazy drags. My fingers tightened in his soft hair.

“Yes! Ah! Tristan! Aah, yes… Don’t stop! Please, right there… So… Close,” I begged him my hips moving with his mouth that held my erection. I shuddered, feeling my climax beginning to build up as he gave me one last lick right from the base of my shaft to the tip in a slow, hard drag. I gasped heavily, my voice a partial scream of ecstasy, my hips arching up to try to keep his mouth around my length.

He moved up to straddle me, grinning down at me with a wicked smile, “If you keep moaning and begging like that, you’re going to make me cum. And I’m not even done with you yet.”

I bit my lip, my eyes growing wide slightly as I stared up at him. His words sunk in and I opened my mouth, a soft moan falling from my throat as I reached up for him. Tristan leaned down, kissing me again. I shuddered as I felt his hard shaft against me again. I arched my back, lifting my hips, trying to direct him to where I wanted him to be. He pulled my legs up, spreading them further open and his hand slipped down my thigh, between my ass and then around to the hole where he rubbed his fingers around gently. My body tightened, every muscle convulsing at the sensual touch.

His voice just barely came though the haze of pleasure as he slowly inserted one finger to swirl around and try to loosen me to accept his huge size, “How do you want it, Valkyrie?”

I panted as I stared up at him as he was kneeling on the couch with my legs lifted up on his hips. His finger moved in and out of me, and then he inserted two fingers and I writhed on the couch, my voice hitching as I moaned and clawed at the soft material beneath me.

“Hard… Slow and hard,” I panted out, as his fingers touched a certain spot I cried out, arching as the back of my head dug into the thick material of the couch, “There! Ooh, right there, Tristan. Please, hurry…”

He leaned forward, that wicked grin on his lips, “As you wish.”