Life 14, what about time travel ?!

POV Gwaine

We landed in the dark dungeon we just left, only years in the past. It was refreshing to leave the tunnel and see the buzzing life outside. Fascinated I watched the people around us. A carriage transported us to our final destination. Madam Tillney´s home was a huge white mansion, though she didn´t leave us waiting in the entrance hall, hurrying down the stairs, happily proclaiming:

“Visitors from the future, how wonderful. Gwaine, I am so pleased to finally meet you. What a handsome young man you are.” I chuckled, bowed and kissed her hand.

“It is a pleasure to meet your, Miss.” Gideon went straight to the point: “Miss Tillney, I still have the same request as ten years ago.” Ten years ago? Gideon must have visited her in the year 1902.

“And my answer is still the same, you won´t be getting my blood. Let´s go upstairs. With a good cup of tea, a conversation flows even better.” We climbed the stairs, sitting down on a small coffee table

"Miss Tillney, how is it you know of my name?”

“I had visitors from the future, it happens more and more”, she smiled delighted.

“Miss Tillney you are making a big mistake, if you trust the wrong people”, Gideon interrupted, still standing. He clearly wanted to leave as soon as possible. But I had other plans. Miss Tillney knew more, and I wanted to get started on cracking this life’s mysteries.

“I always say the same. Margret, you are making a big mistake, trusting the wrong people”, offered a man standing in the doorway. I had sensed him, but deemed him not a threat. Miss Tillney apparently knew him, as he so confidently leaned against the door.

“Paul, look who is visiting today, Gwaine Shepherd”, Miss Tillney introduced me. The man froze with only that one sentence. Interesting. Tillney stood up: “I will get Lucy.”

“Gwaine is this truly you? Amazing. You grew up into such a handsome man”, his speech picked up more and more enthusiasm. Gideon stopped Paul right in his tracks. “Leave him alone, we will leave!”

“Why the hurry? I am not doing anything”, he protested. The man saw more in me. Scrutinizing him carefully, I came to a few likely conclusions. Let´s wait for Lucy, she will clear everything up, confirm or deny my theory. Standing up to defuse the tension, I greeted the man.

“You seem to know me, but I am not yet familiar with you.” He smiled relieved.

“My name is Paul, Paul de Villiers. It´s really strange, that you are this huge already.” I chuckled. “The time flows in strange ways.”

“Stop talking to him.” I shot Gideon a soothing look, he was afraid, not knowing what to make of the turn of events.

“I am sure Falk made sure you were the perfect weapon, to save the day”, Paul taunted bitterly.

“They all gave me their blood willingly.”

“Yes, because they don´t know what follows.”

“No, because they didn´t want to destroy all that the lodge archived.”

“Brainwashing is what it is. The circle of blood cannot be allowed to closed, ever! The count isn´t as unselfish as the lodge seems to believe. We know the truth.”

This was the moment Lucy stumbled into the room, her face showing longing and love. And my conclusion was made. I was their son. Lucy and Paul were my parents. My current mother must have adopted me, after those two escaped into the past. Well, shit happens.

“Gwaine.” She sighed, walking closer and gently stroking my cheek. I allowed her, only because she was my birthmother. Normally I wasn´t touchy feely at all, except with my soulmate of course.

“It is truly you.” I decided, the hell with it. “You are my mother, am I right?” She froze, gaping.

“Hhhow?”, she stammered. I shrugged, tempted to sit back down, this would end up being a longer talk than predicted.

“It was the logical conclusion.” This time Gideon didn´t stop Paul from getting closer. “My son is a genius”, he breathed out.

“When I want to be.” Not having to hold back any longer, Lucy pulled me into her arms.

“I am…we are so sorry we left you. I…oh god can you forgive us for missing your childhood”, she broke out in tears.

“Shh”, stroking her back I traded a look with Paul. He was close to tears as well.

“It´s fine. Grace was a wonderful mother. I wanted for nothing. You were not at fault, if I understand the situation correctly. You did what you believed was right and made sure I was protected at the same time. As long as we get to know each other now, I don´t blame you.” That broke Paul´s last restraint and he pressed us close to his chest as well.

“You are way too mature for your age”, he declared with a slightly wobbly voice. 

I am way too old for this shit.

“I think I haven´t quite processed everything yet.” The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up. Gideon played nice and no word was spoken about blood. They all wanted to forget about the time travelling for a moment.

“We will visit again, as soon as we are able”, I had to promise for the thousands time.

Finally, I managed to get Gideon and myself out of the mansion. Family was always so exhausting. Still it was nice, warm. It was seldom that I had living and caring family in one of my lives. The streets were empty already, the sun just sinking down and it left us with less and less light. I made sure Gideon was close to me and kept an eye on our surroundings. I had a bad feeling about this. For a shortcut we went through a small alley.

Suddenly men blocked our way. Fuck, a quick glance backwards, we were surrounded. Gideon sucked in a shaky breath.

“Gwaine”, his voice was panicked.

“Keep calm, we will make it out alive”, we stood back to back, I squeezed his hand. Drawing my rapier, I kept a close eye on our attackers. Four on my side and three on Gideon´s.

“Leave now, and I won´t kill you!”

They laughed loudly, a cold grimace on their faces. “We swore as the Florentine alliance to bring all of you abnormalities down. We will kill every last one of your pack!” Yeah, it would be impossible to reason with them. Relaxing my muscles even more I prepared for a fight. Kill or be killed. The sun was by now almost gone, leaving everything in a red tinge. The wind picked up a bit, howling through the small back lane. I rolled my shoulders.

“Well then let´s not delay this any further.” Especially because it wouldn´t be safe to jump back to the future here, I was not sure if this alley existed in our time.

With a few swift movements I had advanced to the blindsided men. A few swipes later and one was down. Lying in his own blood on the floor. Jumping over the half dead man, I didn´t wait for them to recover and get their shit together. The faster I killed them the better. My eyes glinted as cold as ice, no remorse whatsoever. My strokes were precise and on point. The men struggled to evade all of them. The small alley played to my advantage, only two men were able to stand next to each other, so the third had to wait and watch the fight happen unable to help. Leaving a deep cut in the left one’s leg and piercing the sword hand of the other one, I wasn´t able to dodge the enemy´s blade in time, which in a swallow cut on my arm. Adrenaline coursed though my veins. Fighting with renewed vigour I slashed away. Occasionally checking on Gideon. For now, he was able to hold his own. I grit my teeth.

Taunting them: “Is that all you´ve got?” There! One moment their guard was down, I used that opportunity.

Quickly burying my rapier in the man´s chest, while using my foot to kick the other in the gut. I yanked my rapier out. The third had sprang to take the downed one’s place, gingerly standing over the body. Not waiting I delivered a punch to the head, landing full on, leading to a nice pile of bodies. Last I took care of the gut-punched one. He was gasping for breath. Another punch and I heard as his spine cracked. That was the power of a god.

I swirled around to Gideon. Only to have my breath stolen from me.

Fuck!

I almost teleported to his side. Deflecting a vital blow, Gideon was leaning on the wall, bleeding from various cuts, the worst a long slash on his leg. One man was lying dead, the other two hurt as well. Eyes blazing, I advanced. How dare they hurt him? Hurt my precious Gideon! My heartbeat was drowning the screams. Even more blood splashed on my clothes. I watched in satisfaction, as the last two fell by my blade. As soon as the threat was eliminated, concern for my soulmate consumed me. Eyes softening, I carefully examined Gideon.

“Where does it hurt? Is the wound on your leg the worst one?”, my voice only wavered slightly, but that was merely because of the mountains of experience I had with battle wounds.

I needed to be calm now!

Gideon was still staring down on the dead men. He was in shock. Moving with careful, deliberate movements, as not to startle him I took off my suit jacket. All the while talking in soothing tones. Making sure he kept standing. I ripped of my shirt and tied it around Gideon´s leg as a makeshift bandage. That would stop the blood flow for now. Next I hastily pulled the jacket back on and swiftly picked my soulmate up. Holding him in a bridal carry. Gideon still hadn´t said anything. That frightened me more than anything.

Get a grip, I berated myself. I evaded the bodies on the way out, heading straight for the church I had spotted. I knew that church, it stood to our day. We would be safe there. Our time was running out fast.

Picking up the pace I managed to enter the church with Gideon in my arms. He had clutched my jacket tightly, burying his face in the crock of my neck. I cooed, giving my best to calm him. But now that we were about to jump back, I had no choice but to let go of him. Gideon made a distressed noise of protest, when I sat him down in the small wooden confession chamber. It broke my heart, to hear him whimpering.

“Shh, everything will be fine. I will have you back in my arms as soon as we are both back in the present”, I promised torn.

On cue, I was yanked to the present. I waited anxiously for Gideon to appear next to me. As soon as he materialized, I pulled him close again. I needed to take care of his wounds.

Deciding that a meddling lodge would only worsen Gideon’s mental condition, I picked him up again. My flat was close by, there we had everything we would need.

I had bought the flat under an alias. Officially, it was the flat of a friend of mine, who was out of the country currently, at least that´s what I told mother. I spend a lot of my weekends there. It had a fully stocked kitchen, anything we would need to bury ourselves inside for the weekend. Thank god, it was Friday today. I was lucky the way to the flat was so short, because we got quite a few astonished and worrying looks sent our way. Well I couldn’t fault them, we were both covered in blood, our clothes centuries old and in places cut to shreds. Leaving out the fact that I was carrying a grown man in my arms. I opened the front door with my magic, kicking the door closed behind us. I kicked my shoes off and headed straight for the couch, not caring if I got blood all over it. Gideon came first.

Gently I pried his hands of me. He whined and tried getting closer again. Cupping his jaw I made sure he looked me in the eyes.

“Gideon, darling. Gideon, please come back to me. Everything is fine. We are safe.” He nodded slightly, still dazed. “Wait here a moment, I will get the first aid stuff.” I stood up, with great reluctance I turned and raced for the right cupboard, returning as quickly as possible.

Glad I had stashed a bottle of water on the coffee table, I held the bottle out for Gideon together with a painkiller. I made sure Gideon had swallowed the pill. “It would be best to take the trouser off.” Gideon nodded again, not sure he heard or registered what I said, I slowly unbuttoned his bottom.

Damn, I had imagined me taking his clothes off quite differently. After a few tugs, Gideon even helped me getting the trousers off his butt. Carefully I shed the garment away, finally giving me a good view of the wound. Shit, that needed stiches. Ten minutes later I was done stitching and just finished wrapping a clean bandage around the leg. That was the moment Gideon finally came out of his trance.

“Gw…Gwaine?”, his voice was so weak.

“Yes, I´m here. Everything is fine. We’re safe.” Quickly sitting on the couch as well, I pressed him close. Without much thought pulling him in my lap. I had shed the jacket a while ago, and so my chest was fully bare. Gideon scooted closer to me. Inhaling and exhaling my scent. His breath hitched and I felt tears soak my skin. May hand ran soothingly down his back

“Let it out. The fight was intense. It is only normal to be shaken.” I swayed us back and forth. A big sob escaped him, heavy, heaving sobs that make the whole body shake.

“I…I…kille…killed, I fuck I…”, he started to hyperventilate, trying to get away from me weakly. I didn´t let go.

"He wanted to kill you. You only protected yourself. You are not to blame. Darling, I killed as well.” The longer I talked to less he fought against my embrace. But his breathing was still way to fast. “Breath in, that’s right slowly, breath out. There, that´s it.” I leant back into the couch, pulling him with me.

He cried himself out after a while. I caressed his hair, playing with the strands.

“Gwaine?” His voice was meek, I didn´t like it that way at all!

“Mmm, what is it darling?” He buried himself deeper into me, when he heard the word darling. A tiny smile made it on my face.

“Where are we?” “This is my flat. I thought it better to bring you here, rather than back to the lodge. Never mind that it was closer.” He nodded.

“Thank you”, came a tiny whisper.

“You don´t need to thank me. You are important to me.” I felt his face heat a bit at that comment and I chuckled. He got even redder when I brushed his bare legs with my hands again. Cute.

“Now, why don´t we get ourselves a bit more cleaned. I still haven´t checked all your other cuts.” When I made a move to lean forward, he pressed himself closer.

“Please, don´t leave”, his voice was pitched higher, full of panic.

“Shh, I won´t leave. We will go into the bathroom together, okay? I will stay in your sight at all times.” Clutching him closer I stood up, Gideon still in my arms. I wandered first to my bedroom. Shifting Gideon to one arm for a second, I pulled out two new sweatpants. Then to the bathroom, I set Gideon down on the edge of the huge tub. The bath had already been this huge when I bought it, but I didn´t complain. Sometimes one had to indulge. I put the heater on, filling the room with warm air. Glancing at my soulmate I deliberately shrugged my trouser off as well, now standing there only in tight fitting boxers.

POV Gideon

Blushing bright red I couldn´t make myself look away. Fuck, maybe it hadn´t been that of a good idea to force him not to leave me alone. But hell, I must be in heaven, this had to be it. Where else would I find such a man? He was built off solid muscle, sculptured like a god. His green eyes bored into me, making me squirm. “I can leave them on, if it makes you more comfortable”, Gwaine assured. I froze for a second, not sure what I wanted at all. But I was undeniably gravitating towards him. After the tender way he took care of me for the last few hours, I knew without doubt, that I was head over heels for him.

“I don´t…we are both men.” He nodded, turning to a cupboard and presenting me with a plastic piece and two rubbers.

“We will warp your bandage with this, to make sure it doesn´t get wet.” He kneeled in front of me, doing just that and then fixing it with the rubbers.

Looking down upon him, suddenly a giggle escaped me. Baffled Gwaine looked up. Probably questioning if I finally went around the bend. Then he grinned as well. He helped me out for my tattered shirt, leaving me as clothed as he. Embarrassed, I toyed with the fabric. All the while he put a plastic stool into the tub.

“You can sit on there, your leg outside of the tub and I will wash you.” Would my face ever turn a normal colour again?

Not with this gorgeous man around.

In the end he left me with my boxers on. He stood to my left in the tub, gently rinsing me with water. Then he took a washcloth to hand and proceeded to wipe me down. I will go crazy! His fingers did wonders. Kneading away the hard knots in my muscles, making my pudding in his hands. Signing I leant back into his body. He was extra careful with the cuts, making sure not to irritate them. He massaged shampoo into my hair, washing it away like a professional. Far too soon, he was finished.

He wrapped me up in a huge fluffy towel, after he had lifted me out of the bathtub, depositing me on a convenient placed chair. Though before I settled down, I shed of my boxers at last. I had a prefect view. Gwaine had no problems stripping himself completely bare. He stepped under the shower.

Fuck! Breath! Gideon, don´t fucking forget to breath! In! Out!

Gwaine was…huge down there as well. Watching the water flow down his body, my throat grew dry, swallowing I wiggled around a bit. A problem was growing down there, the more I watched Gwaine´s hands roam all over his body to get rid of the blood. Not even the conscious thought, that he was getting rid of BLOOD, did anything for me. When he shut down the water and dried himself, I pulled out all the stops. Thinking about everything and anything to get my body to calm down. Not that I didn´t want Gwaine to…to…touch me, but right now, I wasn´t ready for that yet. And not after a day like today. Not after…fuck that thought did it.

My breathing hitched, tears built, my throat grew tight. Gwaine as if sensing my distress, was beside me in an instance. He was kneeling on eye level, rubbing my arms, my shoulder, my hair. Gwaine spoke to me in a gently voice. Then he simply stood up and pressed my face to his broad chest. I rubbed my cheek along his muscles, his scent even through the fresh soap, calmed me greatly. After I was breathing normally once more, he coaxed me in the fresh sweatpants and once more picking me put like a princess. I didn´t mind, it made me feel safe, cared for. We made a quick stop in his bedroom, where he equipped me with a way to big shirt and some socks.

“Are you hungry?” My stomach grumbled like on command. “Well, that settles that. What do you think about ordering pizza?”

“Sounds good.” He deposited me on an armchair in the living room. Eyeing the couch and the blood stains, he simply got rid of the blankets littering it. Tada, a clean couch. Getting two new blankets he tossed them on the sofa.

“What about a movie?” We quickly decided on one. Not wanting anything serious or bloody, we ended up with a comedy. I cuddled close to Gwaine, tangling my fist into his shirt. He had me in his lap again, it was beginning to be my favourite place to be. His arms keeping me in place, he occasionally pressed a quick kiss to my shoulder. The shirt had slid down, exposing my shoulder, making it the prefect target for Gwaine´s affection. I felt all giddy inside. Truly contend since a long time. I must have fallen asleep, because I woke lazily when Gwaine gently laid me down on his bed. Tucking me in properly, he climbed in on the other side. After a second of hesitation I slide over to Gwaine, pressing myself on him. Gwaine let out a happy sigh tugging me closer, kissing me on the forehead.