Hypocrisy

Marcellus was a fucking hypocrite.

That was the conclusion I came to when the man had left our hiding spot in front of the cave. He'd just gotten up out of the bush we'd been hiding in and walked—fucking walked—right into it.

I'd been too stunned to even think of trying to stop him.

We'd discussed the whole plan on the way up the mountain. We were meant to slowly walk in and confront the monster, distract it with conversation first considering they were one of the few creatures that spoke. Then Marcellus was to attack it with magic while I went in to find the hostages.

That had been the plan. So why exactly did Marcellus have a dark look on his face and walked in without warning?

Wasn't he the same fucking person that told me not to do this? I thought as I rushed in after him.

I felt a slight push at the back of my mind as I ran into the cave, the sounds of a Mind Flayer's screech reaching my ears.

Pausing at the entrance of the small cave, I noted how big it was on the inside. It looked like the typical burrow for a Mind Flayer, only a little smaller. Carved up walls adorned with glowing mushrooms, some smaller holes within the walls leading further into the mountains, and a small pond at the back.

The small pond that had the hostages standing around it with blank gazes.

I rushed towards them, the one thing on my mind being—Where the fuck did he go? Where's the monster?

I heard the screech again and pinpointed it to be within one of those small caves. I felt my blood run cold as I remembered how Mind Flayers feasted only in dark locations.

They'd make their little holes and force their captives to climb in there, entering their tombs.

I looked at the hostages, the dawning realization that there were fewer in number than I'd expected. And Leon was nowhere in sight.

No.

The screech happened again.

I took a step back, counting each of the hostages and trying to remember the number on the list of lost villagers the head had given me.

No.

Some are missing. Leon isn't here.

No. No. Please no.

"Were we too late?"

I didn't even have enough time for the panic and immense grief to set in because an explosion went off behind me.

I grabbed the hostages and led their lifeless forms to a corner, making them stand there and tried to use my body to shield them from the rubble.

Turning around, I saw Marcellus stand up casually from a pile of rocks, shaking some of the dust out of his fluffy hair. My eyes widened when he pulled the battered Mind Flayer out of the pile, the monster fighting to get out of the nobleman's grip.

All I could've done was stare. Marcellus looked beyond angry and his reddish-brown eyes looked like they were flashing a blood red.

He was looking down at the beast like a furious god.

"Why are you in this realm?! You know the laws!" I didn't understand what language he was speaking, the sounds of it reminding me of whatever he had called the village head.

It was melodic and filled with so much emotion. It sounded familiar and foreign at the same time.

"Your majesty! Your majesty! Please! Please! You must understand! My hive abandoned me and I am so so hungry!" The monster looked like it was begging, using the same language as Marcellus was.

The whole scene was confusing me and I had so many more questions piled on about the nobleman. How was he that strong? Magic did magnificent things but the man had nearly taken out the whole mountain and he looked just fine.

But that could've waited for another time. We needed to find Leon and the remaining hostages. Or whatever was left of them.

"Marcellus!" I yelled as I walked slowly towards the man, not fully sure about the situation. "Some of them are missing!"

It all happened so fast.

Both Marcellus and the monster turned to face me, but the creature had been a second faster than the nobleman.

Its tentacles reached for me and out of instinct, I grabbed them and ripped them clean off the monster.

That had been a mistake. It had made contact with my skin, letting it get easier access to my mind.

"Putain!" I heard Marcellus curse, at least it sounded like a curse, just before my mind began to feel hazy.

The monster was screeching in the background as my legs began to feel like jelly. My head was pounding and I clutched it as I tried to steady myself against a few rocks.

I looked up to see a blurry image of Marcellus. I felt so heavily that my mind was playing tricks on me because what else could have explained what I was seeing?

The soft, gentle and subconsciously flirty nobleman I had come to know was ripping off the head of the monster with his bare hands.

He wasn't doing it quickly either. The beast had already been writhing with pain from trying to get in my head, and Marcellus was then slowly pulling its head off from his grip on the tentacles on its face.

The nobleman's eyes were bright red then and he looked like he was ready to destroy the entire mountain itself.

The monster's blue blood was spraying everywhere and by that point I had slumped to my knees with my back against the wall. With the beast dead, my mind was slowly clearing up but my sight was still hazy and I felt exhausted.

"Disgusting mongrel," I heard him from close by and opened my eyes, not fully sure when I'd closed them.

Marcellus was kneeling in front of me, and my mind really must've been fucked with because his black hair suddenly had white tips.

"Diego. Diego," the man mumbled softly as he gently tapped my face. I felt my head killing from side to side before he took a firm hold of my face to steady me.

"Mmm." I couldn't even speak but at the very least my sight was returning.

The white tinge I had seen before had vanished and his eyes were back to their pretty red velvet brown.

"Oh my soul," Marcellus muttered in a rush, pressing his forehead to mine for a second before moving back to look at me. "Are you alright? Can you understand me? How is your body?"

Too many questions at once, love.

"…Leon…others." It was all I was able to get out of me. My tongue felt heavy inside my mouth and it was taking all the strength I had to not let drool seep through my weak lips.

"They are fine. They are in the walls and weak but they are fine. Everyone is fine."

I didn't know if it was the stress of the past week added on with the stress of this entire endeavour or even the relief at Marcellus' words. Either way, I ended up having tears run down my cheeks as a broken laugh escaped my drowsy lips.

"Really?"

The man wiped my cheeks, something I hoped did not become a habit between us.

"Yes. Really, they are fine. We rescued them, they are fine. Gods. You scared the shit out of me."

Marcellus cursing was so unexpected I laughed a little.

"Don't…Don't say…those. Too pretty…for words." I felt like I had been drinking for a whole night without stopping.

My eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and stopping myself from sleeping was becoming too difficult.

"Rest, Diego. I'll take care of you, so rest," Marcellus said and his melodic voice was not helping with staying awake.

The accent from that unknown language was seeping in as he spoke as well, lulling me into sleep.

Knowing that everyone was fine, that I didn't have to deliver bad news for once, was such a nice thought that I felt the smile form on my face before falling into the sweet sweet slumber calling my name.

I still planned, at the back of my head, to tear Marcellus a new one for his hypocrisy.

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