The song is yet again by Nine Inch Nails, not me. And this one is a little... odd. shrugs I have no idea what was going on in my mind on this one, folks...
Well you've got me working so hard lately
Workin my hands until they bleed
If I was twice the man I could be
I'd still be half of what you need
Black satin and crimson velvet coiled through the hazy smoke as the leaden air transformed itself into the heavy golden scent of liqueur. Every footstep was silent as a boulder thundering down a cliff, the impact absorbed by musty fur. Lips parted before a curving glass and paused to form a smile, feral teeth glinting white in the gloom.
All my power I bequeath to you, she had murmured long ago. Whether or not you are up to the tasks I shall put before you remains to be seen...
Soft smoke caressed his cheek and kissed him deeply as blood pooled on an ebony surface somewhere in the flow of time. No others save he remained at her side, but the doubts lingered still.
Still you lead me and I follow
Anything you ask you know I'll do
This one act of consecration
Is what I ask of you
Love has always been akin to hate, hate akin to love. She was a golden figure in his mind, a bronzed and lovely goddess whose slightest whim dictated his entire universe. Worship and awe stole his heart and made it hers even as the seed of resentment cracked open and spun a vine about his soul.
He loved her. Loved... her, loved... oh yes. That was exactly the reason he hated her sometimes, in the darkest recesses of sunny days. He knew that even if she was to break him he would still gaze at her with adoration and the idea was repellent in its truth, damning evidence of his weakness.
Ringfinger
A promise carved in stone
Deeper than the sea
Ringfinger
Sever flesh and bone
And offer it to me
Oath of allegiance, sworn with dying breath and made eternal by love. There was never any going back, not for him or anyone else. Things were irreversible.
My life for you... Final, fading whisper.
I know. Ruby lips curling upwards to conceal the animal hunger lurking within.
Well you just leave me nailed here
Hanging like Jesus on this cross
I'm just dying for you sins
And aiding to the cause
The matters of his deepest heart were of little consequence if they went against her will. He would destroy his own beating soul for her sake if the need so arose, he would sacrifice all he had ever known and planned in order to protect her. Her evils were linked to him as he was the easier target, although not by much, and he accepted this without a second thought. Her goals were his, her will his law.
Stain slithered across bare, golden skin and he looked away.
Ringfinger
A promise carved in stone
Deeper than the sea
Ringfinger
Sever flesh and bone
And offer it to me
Hundreds dead, laying in heaps as their blood fed the sterile ground. A glorious offering of shining scales and broken wings that spoke volumes of his devotion and sang her praises in the chorus of the damned. He smiled against the destruction as the smoke caressed his lips tenderly.
A single drop of blood.
Wrap my eyes in bandages
Confessions I see through
I get everything I want
When I get part of you
His dedication was not unrewarded. He possessed the power of two and was privy to most of her secret workings, making him a dangerous foe indeed. And he felt that she loved him back as much as she was able.
Tears slid over smooth cheeks to water the crimson and make the pool shimmer as the smoke cleared.
Juuou-sama... Juu-jinkan....
The blackness was all consuming and he welcomed it, revelling in the copper taste that filled his mouth as his heart bloomed within the poison.
Ringfinger
A promise carved in stone
Deeper than the sea
Ringfinger
Sever flesh and bone
And offer it to me
She granted him free will, to a point. The leash was long, but it was still there, chaining him to her side for all eternity. The alternative was an empty void stripped of even her twisted affection, a lonely desert of the soul that split the eyes and cracked the mind. He bared his soul before her, offering himself as a tool of her service.
The crimson trembled and the smoke licked his wounds.
Ringfinger
A promise carved in stone
Deeper than the sea
Ringfinger
Devil's flesh and bone
Do something for me
Ultimately, she owned him.