As Long As I'm With You

Chapter 2: Hunger

Cassandra slowly opened her eyes.  She tried to clutch the stone on her chest, but it was gone.  Despite her aching head, she shot up and jerk her head around, trying to find the Moonstone.  It was out of sight, and she was chained to a wall in a cell.  Perfect.

Escaping should be easy enough... Foot steps interrupted her train of thought.  She snarled upon seeing Andrew.  He tisked and shook his head.

"Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.  My old flame.  Miss me?"

"Let me go, bitch!"

Andrew mocked the action of hurt and set his hand on chest.  "Rude much?"

"Shut up!"

He smirked as he twirled the keys in his hand.  "I was hoping you'd be more agreeable to have some fun."

"What the hell is the supposed to mean?"

He chuckled.  "You're still too red under the collar.  I'll see you in a few hours."

"Take your time," she called as he left.  The man merely laughed, which echoed off the walls.

Cassandra didn't have time to try anything before she saw another pair of boots in line of her vision.  She glared up to find Varian.  "What do you want?" she spat.

"Incase you haven't noticed, I'm holding your lunch," Varian growled.

"No."

"It's not poisoned, idiot.  If we wanted you dead, Andrew would have stabbed you to death.  Trust me, I would know."  He opened her cell to put the food in.

As he approached her, she kicked the tray out of his hands.  The food and drinks splattered on him and he fell backwards from the shock.  He yelped with surprise when she tackled him.  "Get off me!"

Somehow, she managed to get the keys, but none of them fit her chains.  She growled in frustration.  Varian kicked her off and he rolled out of her reach.  "What kind of shit was that!  I'm not stupid!  I wouldn't bring the key to your chains down here.  Besides, Andrew's in charge of that!"

Cassandra threw the keys at him angrily.  He moved his head to dodge them and they hit the stone wall.

"And that was my lunch too," he muttered.

"Just go to the kitchens if you're so hungry," Cassandra grumbled.

Varian looked away and hugged his knees.  "My food's rationed."

Cassandra missed a beat, but snorted.  "Whatever."

"Tch.  Oh, yeah.  Real thoughtful of you," Varian retorted.

"It's one meal, you'll be fine."

"You don't get to assume that's ok," he snapped.  "You don't know what hell I've been through!  That's the first meal they've given me since I blew up the lab two days ago!"  Immediately, he snapped his mouth shut, angered that he even said anything.  "But why would that even matter to you.  You don't care."

Cassandra felt guilt prick her stomach as she looked at the food on the floor.  "Well, you shouldn't have brought it down here to eat with a hostile prisoner," she remarked, trying to sound like she didn't care.

"It's better than eating with them..." he muttered, looking away.  He hugged his legs tighter.  "I'll just steal something again.  Whatever."

He stood up and slammed the cell door shut.  "I'll send someone to clean your mess up later," he mumbled.  He left the dungeons, leaving behind a guilty Cassandra.

Varian tried to avoid bumping into anyone as he tried to get to his room to change.  Unfortunately, Varian was never someone who got whatever they wished for. In fact, he always got the opposite of what he wanted.  It was life.

Andrew passed him a strange look as they passed in the hall.  Varian pretended he didn't notice, but the man grabbed his shoulder when he tried to just walk past him.  Varian turned his head to look at Andrew, clenching his fist.

"Looks like you went rolling in mashed potatoes."

"I did.  Apparently the prisoner was very against eating," Varian huffed.

Andrew fingered Varian's chin and used his thumb to take off some mashed potatoes.  Varian had to resist the urge to jerk his head away.  He hated Andrew's touch.  It made him uncomfortable, but he never dared verbalize his complaints.

"I'm going to change," Varian said at last.  He desperately wanted to get away.  Andrew looked at him like he was prey, or his little toy, and Varian hated it.  He shifted uncomfortably.

"Sure thing, buddy.  Get back to work when your done," he said in his soothing, but creepy tone.  Well, it didn't sound creepy, it just sent shivers up Varian's spine in an unnerving way.

Not wasting any time, Varian briskly walked his way back to his room.  He changed.  Before he put an overly large coat on, he looked at his skinny figure in the mirror.  He clenched his fists.  They did this to him.  He was nothing!  Pretty soon, his body would be that too.

It wasn't fair!  Why didn't he ever get his happily ever after?  No father.  The girl of his dreams crushed him and hated him.  His first friend left him in the dirt, as well has his childhood hero.  Now all he had was Andrew.  It was hard, but it was something.  He was all he had to hold onto.  That why he had to stay. Why he had to please him, do as he was told.

He was hungry.  Not just for food, but for love.  Someone to care for him.  Whether or not Andrew's was fake or real, it was the closest thing Varian had.  Andrew was the best thing in his life right now, right?  Then why did it feel so wrong?