Twilight
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was supposed to be a one-off, just like Peshka. I wanted to take a break from another furry piece I was writing. But this is probably going to have a continuation. Sigh. That's what happens when you let stories write themselves.
It was going to be a new day.
He looked out at his valley. The sun was rising, the air a crisp coolness in his lungs. He drew more of it in, for the view was one that he was never tired of: an ocean of emerald dark below, a forest about to be kissed by the sun. Through it wound a silvery ribbon that curved and flowed like a snake through a field of grass. Ahead, a range of mountain so high that it was a wall of jagged whiteness that clawed at the sky; and now, a bloom of golden sunburst rose behind it to set its snowy peaks on fire.
And so he took a deeper breath, and the sun warmed him, and he was content. He stretched, feeling his joints crack, and yawned. The cave behind him whispered sweet nothings into his ear, beckoning him to sleep once more. He wanted to. But he couldn't. He had work to do.
The forest was thick with tree and brush and knobbled root, and if you knew how to, you could hear the song of the leaves in the air and the thrum of the land underfoot. He could hear it if, at the right time, he strained hard enough; his voice would ring out, then, and his body would sway and the wind would wrap around him and the harmony would be complete.
But not today. He could not sing today.
Sleepy still, his eyes half-lidded, he made his way. The ground was dappled brown and gold as sunlight peeked through the emerald canopy above. The river babbled nearby unseen, a friendly voice that he followed until he came upon its banks.
Ears flat against his skull, he bent down and sipped until he was sated. The water sparkled before him, reflecting the new-born sunlight and splashing it across his tawny coat. He licked at his paw, grimacing at the salty flavour it possessed. Was he in need of a bath? He hoped not. The water was uncommonly cold.
A fox padded over to him, appearing from nowhere as foxes in the land usually did. His fur burned deep red up to his bushy tail, the tip of which was a distinct white. He wore black socks, or so it seemed, and a grin on his face that seemed to go on right to the tips of his whiskers.
'An early morning bath,' the fox said. 'Just what the witch doctor prescribed, chase your blues away, Dusky.'
The leopard named Dusk turned towards the fox. 'And a good morning to you,' he said. 'Are you here to join me on this sorry occasion?'
The fox's grin widened. 'Well now, I'm not in the habit of grooming others, so what makes you think I'd start now?'
Dusk sighed. 'It wasn't an invitation, Adel. I know why you're here today.'
'Oh? And why am I here?'
'To persuade me not to follow through with the plan.'
The fox shook his head and padded closer to the leopard. 'I'm not here to dissuade you from taking a bath, Dusky,' he said, whiskers twitching. 'Apart from the pleasantness of the view, you've also been in need of one for days.'
Dusk untied the knot from his waist, and let his loin cloth drop to the riverbank. 'You know what I'm talking about,' he said, and waded slowly into the water, his fur bristling the further in he went.
Adel's eyebrows narrowed, a storm reflecting in his grey-green eyes. 'Indeed I do. I've been avoiding the topic because I'm utterly livid. I didn't create this to watch you throw it away.'
Dusk cupped some water in his paws and began to rinse the fur on his face. 'Are you joining me?' he asked as he finished rubbing the water from his eyes.
Adel sat on his haunches and regarded Dusk for a very long time. 'Yes,' he said, simply.
When the change happened can not be determined. What one can be certain of is this: in the place of Adel, where once a red fox had been, now was a man. His hair was long and raven black, and his eyes were the deep grey of a winter sky. His skin bore tattoos that flowed along his arms and sides, and his mouth was firm, set like that of a man who is as easy to move as the earth itself.
He wore not a shred of clothing, and he needed none; Dusk could feel his breath quicken as he watched this man enter the river, the waters swirling around him, kissing his body with wetness. The cold seemed not to affect him, and watching the powerful grace with which he moved made the leopard's knees melt.
'Now, you aren't going to fall over me again, are you?' said the man in a rough, gravelly voice.
Dusk smiled and shook his head. He let the water take him closer in to Adel, moving as coyly as it would let him, and shivered as the man's fingers stroked through his matted fur.
His hands were firm yet soft, caressing the fur gently against the nape of Dusk's neck. 'I can't let you go,' he whispered into the leopard's right ear, and started to nibble gently at it.
Dusk took his hand, kissed it, and looked up, his golden eyes meeting Adel's expression of longing. 'I want to live,' he said.
'You are. You've never been more alive.'
'In your arms, yes. But you are... never here.'
'I am always here.'
'Not like this, Adel. You are the land, and its light. But when I need you the most, when I want to hold you - when I need you to hold me - I am alone. And the land is cold.'
'That is the way things are.'
'And I'm tired of it! Tired of knowing that after today I don't know when I'll see you again! Tired of waiting for you all the time.'
Powerful arms clasped around Dusk's waist, holding him tight to Adel's chest. Adel pressed his lips to the leopard's forehead. 'I don't want you to go.'
Dusk's eyes flashed with anger as he spoke. 'You said you were livid, Adel. That's nothing compared to the rage I feel. I am going, Adel. I will not sing today. This night shall have no dusk.'
'I know why you're doing this, Dusky. You want me to feel the same way you do. But it has a terrible price.'
'Love me, then. One last time.'
'Here?'
'Here.'
Dusk closed his eyes as Adel released his grasp and moved his hands from the leopard's sides, raking fingers through his fur, up, to cradle Dusk's chin in his hands, and tip it up towards his lover's face.
A mouth at his lips now, firm in its request, and he acquiesced. He leaned into the kiss, felt the velvet touch of Adel's tongue and the sweetness of his taste as he explored the softness of his mouth. A burst of warmth bloomed somewhere, and he felt himself slide, falling now, to crumple against Adel's body; and his lover held him tight, safe, cold yet warm at the same time.
Adel pressed his cheek to his lover's, locked his hand with Dusk's paw and squeezed it. 'You fell over me again,' he said.
'Into you, my sweet, into you,' Dusk murmured against his chest.
Adel shook his head, smiled and hugged his leopard tighter.
Dusk opened his eyes, lightly raking Adel's back with his claws. He shuddered, and Dusk could see his brown nipples harden before his eyes. He lapped gently at one of them, tracing lazy circles around it with his tongue.
Adel arched his neck, moaning softly as he felt the tongue replaced with teeth that nibbled at him, sending spikes of pleasure into his body, and a warm surge of arousal as the tongue reappeared at his belly to flit around his navel, large circles of pleasure lapping into smaller ones until Dusk's tongue began to move in a straight line down towards his hardness.
Dusk held his lover's maleness in his palm, brown against his leathery black paw-pads. It throbbed against him, foreskin peeled back to expose its flushed purple fruit, shining in the sunlight. He gently traced the curve of a claw against its underside, beginning to purr as a drop of clear liquid pearled at his lover's tip.
He claimed it with his tongue. Dusk loved the reaction that this brought about every time: Adel gasped, and his skin pimpled in a wave of gooseflesh that passed as quickly as it came. 'Damn cats with their sandpaper tongues,' he muttered.
'And you're delicious too, my salt-of-the-earth,' Dusk said as he darted his tongue further between Adel's thighs and proceeded to sandpaper his testicles.
'Never stopped you before, salt or no,' Adel gritted his teeth.
Dusk's reply was to nibble at the root of his lover's penis, at the area just between the shaft and his testicles. And again he was pleased: he could see the muscles of his lover's thighs quiver, and he reveled in the knowledge that he too could make another's knees melt when he wished it.
Adel pulled Dusk to him roughly, and kissed him fully on the mouth once more, grinding his pert erection into the leopard's groin where it met the red warmth of his arousal at its tip and exchanged another gush of fluid with it.
They broke from the kiss, and Adel smiled as he placed a hand at the base of the leopard's length. He curled his fingers around it, pushing the white sheath down and exulting in the slickness of skin sliding against the tines of his lover's shaft.
Dusk growled long and low, the growl slowly transmuting into a moan, and he unconsciously bucked his hips into Adel's palm, oiling it with moistness. 'You know what I love about you the most?' Adel asked as he began to pump his hand along the leopard's length.
The leopard shook his head, then squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of pleasure rumbled from his throat. Adel placed a hand on his chest. 'It's your heart. When you sing, when I'm with you, it beats as the music of the land, pounds along with a rhythm like no other. It tells me that you're truly alive.' He buried his lips in the white ruff of the leopard's chest, kissed it, and looked up into his fiery eyes. 'Like it's telling me now.'
At that moment, the sun began to dip low in the sky. A spear of heat pressed below the base of the leopard's tail, insistent in its demand even as comforting arms held him close to the warm of brown skin and the cold of winter-grey eyes.
He dug his claws into Adel's back, which caused the man to grunt. Adel pushed the leopard down, down onto his hardness and sighed as the tip entered, moving past the taut ring of muscle and further into the heat of his leopard's depths. Dusk yowled, and Adel's eyes widened as eight claws dug further into his skin, even as he sank more of his shaft in. He stopped, regarding the slight smirk twisting at the corners of the leopard's lips.
'That hurts, you know.'
'And you think this doesn't?'
'I'm talking about your smile. Is there something about me that's so funny whenever we make love?'
'No. It's just that you're always so serious when we do this.'
'And it isn't something to be serious about?'
'It's... well, I don't know.' Dusk grinned. 'You always look like I'm about to die when you stick it in me.'
'Well, I'm not exactly small. And you're always so tight, that I'm afraid...'
'Mmm. I thought you liked it that way.'
'I love it that way, Dusky. But I don't want to hurt you.'
'Even if I do?'
'It's going to take a lot more than a couple of scratches to stop me from doing this with you.'
'That's my lover.' Dusk placed his hands on Adel's shoulders and raised his legs to wrap them tightly around his back. He reached a hand down below his tail and guided his lover back into him, squeezing down until he felt half the shaft throb richly inside him. He rested his head on Adel's shoulder, then, and let him take over.
He thrusted. One swift, brutal stroke and he was in completely. Dusk's breath came out in a convulsive gasp, but he recovered quickly, tightening his grip as his heart raced. It hurt, but it was love, and today, it was all he could ask for. He bit into Adel's flesh as the thrusts came long and deep, sending him into spasms of pain and pleasure all at once.
He felt his penis grind against Adel's chest, dribbling his ecstasy all over it as Adel's hips rocked him ever faster. He tasted the blood welling in his mouth as his teeth clamped onto skin, and the harder Adel thrusted the harder he got; the world disappeared but for the lover he clung to, and the rhythm pounded in his ears and in his brain and in his blood until it replaced everything, beating faster, faster, faster until there was only a great pounding roar in his ears...
That was his, as he exploded, white streaks jetting against Adel's skin in a wash of heavenly pleasure even as Adel himself unleashed his own torrent deep in the leopard's bowels, a roiling, burning white flood of heat that crashed upon his senses.
Adel fell back, slowly, into the water, Dusk with him.
The sun was still low in the sky when Adel felt Dusk licking the blood off his skin. 'So we finally had our bath. Nasty cuts you've given me there, Dusky.'
'Just scratches,' Dusk purred. 'And I've healed them, besides.'
'You didn't need to do that.'
'I wanted to. Because...'
'Because,' Adel interrupted, propping himself up on his elbows, 'you didn't want to leave me anything to remember you by.'
Dusk got up and sauntered over to the riverbank, tail swishing behind him. 'I hope today was good for you, Adel.'
Adel reached his hand out, anguish in his eyes. 'I'm asking you to stay, because I need you.'
'And will you stay, Adel? Will you need me tomorrow, and the day after that, and the next? I know who you are, and it is not your wont to stay a lifetime with just a poor harvester of the stars.'
'What would you have me do, Dusk?' He withdrew his hand, raised himself up and waded out of the river. He regarded the leopard coldly. 'Abandon everything else, answer to the heavens for you? You have always been alone. You were made to be alone.'
Dusk nodded. 'That is why I will not sing this day. I am there when you need me, but there is no one when I cry myself to sleep at night.'
'I can not be by your side, Dusk, because when the stars shine coldly in the night, I am the land and you are the sky. You have always known this.'
A tear fell, like a falling star, toward the soil. The leopard walked up to the man, took his hand in his paw. 'I feel like I'm complete when you're here with me, Adel. Without you, I ache... but I'm not dead, either. And so it is. I need someone to share their life with me.'
'Even if it means stupidly giving up your own?'
Dusk leaned in and touched his nose to Adel's. 'Apart from the fact that you can no longer use me, does my leaving really make any difference to you?'
Adel gazed at the leopard, his face as impassive as stone. He did not reply.
'I thought not,' Dusk said. 'The earth does not suffer the sky.' He took Adel's hand and placed it to his breast. 'This is my heart,' he said. 'Listen to it, for this is the last time it will sing.'
And the leopard sang. Not with words, though, not the song of Dusk: a song of sorrow, and longing, and despair was this. As it broke across the face of the earth, it echoed with a rhythm unlike any heard before.
The sun had dipped just beyond the jagged crest of the mountain range, and a soft golden glow had suffused the land. The light seemed to shimmer now, and shiver, as the song floated through the air. The glow that had just begun to turn rosy seeped with an otherworldly greyness. The forests turned ashen as the song reverberated in the hollows of their trees, and the river grew suddenly still.
There was no dusk, no twinkle of stars; there was only dark night, and it fell like a veil onto the face of a corpse.