Valentine's Special: Creepy Beautiful Love part 2

Creepy Love Story Part 2
By Arecus. Conberma (Liyu Conberma)
Shipping: OCxOC (Benonic x Carrie)

P.S: “…” Italic words are Benonic’s words.

Oh, forgot to mention. I said that this story is set back BEFORE “Tale of Origin”, and thus this is also AFTER Wrath of Magic War, so it’s kinda in-between. ^^

MOVING ON!

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The next morning, Benonic was already up to greet the crack of dawn. Although, technically, he didn’t sleep very much in the previous night at all, no thanks to his excitement and nervousness, that’s for sure. But today was a big day; today he’s going to meet the girl whom he rescued the day before.

He could hardly wait to meet her again, not even his favourite morning exercises could calm his nerve or exhaust his worry away. After the training, he went to the Dinning Room where he shared breakfast with his family. When he arrived, the food was already served. So far, he was the first.

Then Kaze came in second to greet him, he always was the morning hedgehog while Darren was the night one (loves to stay up all night). In fact, he was sweating a bit from the morning run he just did a few minutes ago.

“Morning, big brother.” Kaze cheerfully greeted to Benonic, and so he greeted back with a soft grunt.

The azure hedgehog grinned and helped himself at his seat. While he was pouring himself a glass of milk, he turned to Benonic, “So, Ben. Today is your big day, huh? Are you ready for this?” he asked before taking a sip from the glass.

‘Sort of.’ Benonic honestly gestured. Truth to be told, he was half-nervous and half-excited, but mostly nervous.

“Don’t worry, big brother. If she could stand and talk to you for more than one minute like yesterday, then she’s not scared of you at all.” Kaze informed.

Benonic nodded lightly at the comment, he felt a little comfort from Kaze, but still not convincing enough.

Later on, Darren and Queen Athena had joined in their breakfast, and finally, Rakar (the least welcome one) appeared. Kaze, Darren, and Benonic greeted happily back to their mother, but less fondling toward their “uncle”.

And so, the family began their peaceful breakfast, but the least pleasant one broke the ice was Rakar, “So, Benonic,” he nonchalantly said, he never saw Benonic as one of his nephews but as an abomination or a spawn of the Devil. “I overheard that you will be meeting a lady this afternoon, correct?”

The three brothers snapped their heads at Rakar, they never told him about THAT! Unless…

They looked at their mother, who seemed just as clueless as them. If Athena didn’t tell him, then how did he, of all people (Coizards), know about this?!

As if hearing their confused questions, Rakar answered for them, “You should have closed the doors before burst out the cheering.” he took a bite on his red apple.

“Ever heard of being rude in eavesdropping?” Kaze muttered unpleasantly in his drink.

“What was that, nephew?” Rakar inwardly growled at the question.

“Nothing, uncle.” Kaze replied back before he excused himself from the breakfast table.

And soon Darren and Benonic were excusing themselves to catch up with Kaze; they found him in the Training Ground. The three brothers sparred each other as usual after the breakfast, and it usually cleared their mind from their obnoxious uncle.

After an hour, they decided to take a rest and talked about planning for Benonic’s first “date”, Kaze started, “Sorry about what happened at the breakfast table, sometimes looking at him really getting on my nerve. Don’t know why, though.”

“No problem, you’re not the only one. But you do lack of temper controlling.” Darren commented while wiping his sweats with a cloth.

“I do not have a temper issue.” Kaze remarked. Then he turned to Benonic, “Right?”

Benonic just blankly stared at him, but Kaze seemingly said say something for him before he could “speak”, “See? Even Ben agrees with me.” He smiled at his younger brother.

Darren just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Anyway, back to you, Ben." Kaze turned to Benonic, "When it comes to courting with a lady, you have to take things smoothly, woo her and show off your skills. Got it?" he finished while demonstrating some "smooth" tricks to attract women.

Benonic nodded in understanding, sort of.

"Since what do you know about courting?" Darren interjected, arched his brown in suspicious.

"…Shut up." the fact was that Kaze was completely fooling around.

Darren leaned himself to Benonic's side, "Note to self: Never ask Kaze for romance advise."

"I'm right here, you know that?" Kaze quietly remarked, deadpanned and not pleased at all.

"Good. That's the point." Darren stated with a smirk, and Kaze returned it with a scowl.

Then he went back to Benonic, "Anyway, the most important part is to be yourself around her. She has to know the real you, not the one you are trying to pretend to be. If she can't accept you beneath the mask, then it's her loss." he placed his hand on the other's shoulder and squeezed lightly to assure him.

Now, Benonic completely took Darren's advice. Then he's preparing himself for his "date".

---

Soon the time flew fast, it was time for Benonic to meet Carrie, and he was in hell of nervous. Every step he walked towards the direction of Carrie's place, the speed of his heartbeat would increase. What is wrong with him? He often asked himself. Maybe because people saw him like cold-blooded assassin, that he slowly began to believe that he was. Fortunately, besides his new "family", Carrie just came in to his mind so he could throw those crazy thoughts aside.

He took his mother's advice, he brought flowers and cleaned himself for this occasion. After he bid his brothers
a good-bye, getting a good luck from them, and he was off his way to meet his…"date".

Carrie didn't actually say where should they meet, but Benonic could sense her presence as he followed her scent; and it led him to her small shop. Just then, he saw Carrie closed her door like she was running an errand.

Then she halted when she saw him, her expression softened as a relief. She explained in genuine concern,

"Ben, I'm so glad to see you again! I was about to go out looking for you. Because I just remembered that I've forgotten to tell you the meeting place, so I was worried that you would not come instead."

The two of them shared a comfortable yet a little bit awkward silence. Until Benonic broke the ice by giving her the flowers. Carrie gasped and beamed at the gift as she happily accepted them.

"Thank you! I love them." Carrie commented and flashed Benonic a wide smile; that smile gave Benonic a warmth feeling on his chest and butterflied flying in his stomach….again, what was wrong with him???!!

The duo entered Carrie's little shop, it was shop selling antiques. Couldn't earn very much income, but it was certain a shop worth to come in for a sight.

Carrie's curiosity rose, as she slowly approached to the other's mask. But she barely touched it, Benonic's instinct reflected as he grabbed her wrist with full alert. His eyes turned red for a moment, but he released her immediately when he calmed down. He never liked showing his face in front of people, not to mention in front of the one you have a crush on…

There was a brief moment that Carrie was startled at the other's react, but she knew she must have done something uncomfortable to him. "Oh, I'm…I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable." she said with saddened eyes.

Of course, Benonic regretted his action and immediately apologized as he bowed his head and pointing at himself to blame. These simple gestures had already won the female rabbit's forgiveness. In fact, she found it quite…adorable, as if Benonic was like a shy schoolboy (A/N: You have no idea…).

Maybe, perhaps, this could be the beginning of a beautiful (/oddly) friendship…

For the past few weeks, Benonic and Carrie had become closer and closer, much amazed to people around them (most of them bet it'd take a few days to end this "relationship"), on the other hand, the two of them acted like any normal couple who had fallen in love holding hand in hand. However, every time when Carrie asked Benonic to take off his mask, he always refused her, it only increased her curiosity even more.

It's not that Benonic didn't trust Carrie, but it's his lack of self-secure. So, basically he was not ready to reveal his true self to the world yet. Although his family always encouraged him to be more confident, which he tried his best to, but when it came to his first love, who knew it would be so hard??

He would reveal his "true face" to Carrie one day, and hopefully, she would accept him like his family does. There was, of course, an incident happened…

Benonic and Carrie had been "dating" for nearly a month, and both of them were having good time, people in the kingdom nearly thought they were couple. But if they were, the citizens would feel happy for them. The hedgehog and the rabbit were having a small picnic in an open grass field watching the sunset. Carrie exclaimed that she loved the sunset that welcomed the night arrival, and stargazing. One of the qualities Benonic loved about Carrie was she was a night person, she preferred staying late and doing night activities together. Everything was at peace, serene, and just perfect.

Carrie had become like the only closest friend, besides his family, Benonic could get. And she, for some reason, felt safe and happy around him, unlike those forced smiles he had seen from other girls in the kingdom whenever he came across with. There was one thing got Benonic curious about Carrie's scars on her half face. He once asked her before, but since he didn't tell her about his mask in exchange, guess they were in even secret-keeping.

Actually, Benonic didn't mind or question any further about the other's deformed appearance, as long as this moment could last forever. But everyone knows that nothing could last forever.

Until someone, or more than one, interrupted the moment.

"Hey there, little man." the voice came from behind them.

It was the same goons from a month ago when he first encountered Carrie. They seemed look a bit tougher, but still as arrogant as same. The leader cracked his fist, bones crackling was heard. He sniggered at the oddly couple and sneered, "It's payback time."

Benonic growled lightly at their ignorance, he could hardly take a break. Did they really want to humiliate themselves again? Despite this would only take him a few seconds, he assured Carrie to stay where she was as a sign of 'everything's gonna be fine'.

But there was one thing Benonic didn't see it coming.

They knew his only weakness; the leader pulled out a glowing torch behind him.

Fire!

Because he had no eyelids, they were cut off (read his story of origin) by his "owners" in the past since he was young, therefore he was quite sensitive to extreme light, especially he had recently developed a slight fear of fire. He didn't know how those goons knew his weakness, but he couldn't show his fear as well.

The leader of the goons with the torch was coming closer and closer, and Benonic's protection on Carrie increased; though Benonic tried his best not to shield his eyes from the blaze, he remained strong for the other. Unfortunately, the leader noticed Benonic's discomfort as his smirked and rubbing his victory, "So the rumour is true, you are scared of little fire."

"Rumour? What rumour?" Benonic fiercely thought.

"People in the Black Market know your history, Devil's Child. They cut off your eyelids so it's clear that you are sensitive to light." the goon mocked.

Great, now everyone knows his weakness. Benonic thought while mentally rolled his eyes.

"So, Devil's Child," one of the goons sneered, "not so tough now, are you?"

Another goon took it as an advantage as he lunged himself to Benonic and pinned him on the ground. While Carrie was sacred at the sight, two goons grabbed her. The leader kept the torch close to Benonic so he couldn't move due to the light, on the other hand, Carrie was struggling to get free.

"You let us go, you creeps!!" Carrie cried, kicking her legs with frustration in the air.

"So, pretty lady," the goon on her left hissed in her long ear, which she found it repulsive, as he continued, "have you ever curious about his mask?"

Although Carrie tried to ignore the other's remark, her curiosity won over her struggling body. The leader took her moment of silence as a cue as he quickly grabbed Benonic's mask, even though Benonic kept on struggling, it didn't stop the other taking away his mask of identity.

The only thing Benonic could hear and see were screaming and blinding light to his eyes.

Carrie let out a piercing scream that Benonic wanted to cover his ears from it, but at the same time, he couldn't do it. He just simply listened to her scream and accepted the cruel fate: he watched her ran away, just like all the others reacted and did when they saw his true face after a month of friendship.

Now it's all gone because of the one thing he tried so hard under his mask. His smile.

The corners of his mouth were cut to the edge of his cheek that created a huge, wide smile. It not only revealed how terrifying, or nightmare-bringer from a glance of it, but also the shark-like sharp teeth he was born to have. With that combination of his frightening "smile" and his no-eyelids eyes, it's an image of a freak...a monster.

The so-called Devil's Child watched Carrie ran away in a blurring sight, although his sight began to heal itself. But before he knew it, he was knocked out cold.

While Carrie was running for her life, her mind was racing with thoughts, but most of them were conscious. Soon, her running pacing ceased and slowly she stopped to think. She panted and gasped for air, many thoughts in her head that made her frustrating. But the main question was:

Why on Cosium she was running from? From Benonic? From a monster?

No, Ben wasn’t a monster, he didn’t harm her even though he looked like one. He was sweet, gentle, and a shy boy behind the mask.

Look…Appearance…she judged by what it seemed, not within. She subconsciously touched her half-scarred-face and thought about her painful past and present. Basically, she and Benonic both had something common about their faces, everything went well even he didn’t talk much; but she enjoyed their quiet moments nonetheless.

So who was her to judge? She already had a half-deformed face, but she still remained to be kind like she had always been.

Then she questioned about her feelings toward Benonic.

Sure, they started out as an unlikeable friendship, but soon the bond had developed something more. He might be silence, but at least he listened to her; he leaned out his hands to help her even though she didn't need one, she appreciated it nevertheless. And there were some moments that she found him rather attractive, like there were times when she heard weird rumours around him even when he could hear it very clear, most of them were negative ones, but he seemed not feeling bothered by it; that's one of the things she admired him. He had better self-control and not easily swayed when the world was wrongly pointing at him. She could see a complete normal person in front of her every day of their spending time together. The hedgehog behind the mask...

Like lightning strikes, Carrie knew what she had to do, she had an apology to make, and most of all, she had to save him.

She was about to turn back, when she bumped a mysterious cloaked figure. Carrie fell backward on the grass, she let out a groan on her rear and looked up the person she bumped into. But she saw the face under the cloak, she couldn't help let out a surprised gasp.

“You…” Carrie said in shakily horrid.

---

To be continued…