Title: Sublime Oblivion

Title: Sublime Oblivion

Author: Metal Pandora

Disclaimer: I do not own Okage: Shadow King.

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Rating: T (for mild language, suggestive themes, and comic mischief.)

Pairing: Stan/Ari

Summary: Life simply became too dull without a certain redheaded slave to harass. Exploring new worlds is just not a job to be done alone. Post-game – Shounen-ai – Stan/Ari

Part I: Demon Days

Chapter 4

Stan rested idly against the wooden headboard of the bed, sighing as his gaze drifted to the redhead lying beside him. It'd been at least seven hours since Ari passed out and the moon was already high over the tiny town. Though he was infinitely bored out of his mind, Stan refused to leave the room, lest Ari wake without him there. Not to mention that Rosalyn had been checking in nearly every hour, on the hour, as if Stan was going to smother the boy in his sleep. Stan growled to himself; how he hated that impudent woman! Why couldn't she just remove herself from existence? Or at least stay far, far away from him and Ari.

Ari shifted slightly, drawing Stan's attention.

"Mmrr…what time is it…?" Ari mumbled out, muffled by the pillow his face now occupied.

"About midnight," Stan answered, sitting up to face the boy, "How does your wound feel?"

Ari turned his head to stare sleepily at Stan, "…what wound?"

Stan paused for a moment to wonder if Ari was still too out of it to feel pain or if the serum Rosalyn had given him had healed it up already. He turned the boy over gently to examine his shoulder wrappings.

"The one the fat-headed hero gave you when she skewered you on her great sword of lawful justice," He grumbled with heavy sarcasm. Unwrapping the bandage, Stan discovered that the wound had completely sealed up, leaving behind a noticeable dark scar. Ari yawned and stretched luxuriously, running a hand through his ruffled hair to smooth it.

"Rosalyn…? Oh yeah…I thought that was a dream," Ari fingered the scar, tracing the outline of it, checking if there was any pain. It was still a bit tender, but nothing like it had been hours ago.

"You okay to walk? The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Ari nodded, doing a few more stretches before hopping off the bed. He gathered his equipment and silently followed his master out the door. Out in the lobby, Stan made sure Rosalyn was nowhere to be found and proceeded into the cool night air. Even though a certain vampire evil king had been destroyed, nighttime in the Highlands still seemed supernaturally creepy.

"I'm guessing I won't get to tell Rosalyn thanks for the medicine," Ari followed closely behind Stan as they made their way to the long wooden bridge. He knew there was no way Stan wanted to deal with the hero at this point.

"Thank her? She's the one who ran you through in the first place. If anything, she should still be on her knees begging for your forgiveness," Stan spat harshly, obviously still upset, "In any case, I'd rather get out of this tiny world as soon as possible; preferably without a certain meddling hero on our tails."

"Ah, yes, Master Stan," Ari shrugged and smirked light-heartedly.

The two began the trek across the bridge, leaving the Highlands behind them. The boy gazed out over the rope handrails, staring in to the foggy void that surrounded them. Ari never knew exactly how high up the Highlands supposedly were, but the seeming lack of a horizon made it seem as if they were in another dimension altogether, with no sky or ground. It was both unnerving and breathtaking that a small slip could send one falling forever, into the void. Ari had been so deep in thought, he hadn't realized that Stan stopped walking and he ran right into the taller man's back.

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Stan yelled in exasperation. It took Ari a moment to comprehend what exactly Stan had been talking about. A familiar figure stood next to the glowing portal of the stone circle.

"I knew this is where you were headed, Stanley. Did you really think you'd be able to slip away that easily?" Rosalyn spoke, obviously just as irritated as the blonde man.

"Listen, you filthy scorpion-woman, I'm in no mood for your half-baked hero shenanigans, so you'd be wise to step out of the way," Stan was clenching his fists until his knuckles were stone-white. Ari, recovering from his stumble, firmly grabbed Stan's right arm, as if hoping to anchor the wrathful demon man to the spot.

"Stan, please…" Ari mumbled, "I'd rather not have a repeat of earlier."

Upon Ari's quiet request, Stan relaxed slightly. Though he wasn't about to back down, he certainly didn't want to upset the boy or endanger him again. He sighed in vexation as he ran a hand through his hair; what should he do now? The only way he knew how to solve these kinds of problems was through violence. After all, such was the nature of an evil king. He couldn't fully understand his sudden fierce need to protect Ari, but yielded to it nonetheless.

Rosalyn placed a hand on her hip and huffed. As much as she wanted to teach the obnoxious evil king a lesson in humility, Ari was right. There was no reason to put any innocents at risk, especially her friends.

"Well, I'm not just going to step aside and let you kidnap Ari, you fake evil king," Rosalyn barked, knowing she was only instigating this escapade further. Stan noticeably bristled at the insult, but almost as instantly fell back into his usual confident smirk.

"Oh, really? Well then, why don't we have Ari decide for himself who he wants to go with?" Stan crossed his arms over his chest. The smirk fell from his face as he watched his slave casually walk over to where Rosalyn stood. 'W-what…?' he thought to himself, suddenly fearing the worst.

"Thank you, Rosalyn, for being such a great friend," Ari began, placing a hand on the hero's shoulder. Stan's face contorted in disbelief as he felt his heart drop into his stomach. Had Ari truly hated him all along? "I forgive you for what happened before; it was my fault anyway. I'm also grateful for the medicine you gave me, it helped a bunch," he continued. Rosalyn shot the surprise-stricken evil king a triumphant smirk, but returned to Ari with a warm smile. "I'm honored you're so adamant about my well-being…" Ari dropped his hand to his side and took a step back, "…but I want to go with Stan."

Both Stan and Rosalyn stood speechless. Now it was Ari's turn to smirk, knowing he'd caught them both off guard. It was really something they knew all along, but hearing it straight from Ari's mouth truly put it into perspective. Rosalyn regained her stature, casting a glare at Stan.

"…Well, be that as it may, Ari, I still cannot let him simply pass through and corrupt another world. As a hero, it is my duty—" Rosalyn was cut off by Stan's indignant snort.

"Oh, come off it, woman! Don't you ever get tired of the goodie-two-shoes act? You should be glad I'm moving on to conquer another world; you can just stay here, safe and sound with your little hero friends." Stan moved closer to the stone circle.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you, idiot evil king!" Rosalyn snapped back. The two began bickering in the petty manner they always had, though this time, the only thing preventing them from mauling each other was their mutual respect for Ari. The redhead sighed, knowing they'd never give up, but deciding it was safe enough to turn his attention to the stone circle. Once a crumbled, useless mass of rock, it was now burning with life again.

The first thing he noticed was the size of the middle column. Standing at least twice the size of a normal stone circle, it seemed impossibly tall as it towered above. It was fluted and decorated at the very top in a vaguely Corinthian manner, while the stone itself had become a pearly alabaster, decorated in intricate symbols and glyphs. The whole thing seemed very out of place in the middle of a floating, grassy platform, Ari decided. It was strange though, after seeing and using all sorts of these strange portals, Ari had never seen one with a glow like this. It was of every color and yet, with no color at all. It made no sense, but the longer he stared at it, the more he felt like it was consuming him.

Something felt almost…wrong about this portal. Ari's instincts suddenly started screaming at him to turn tail and run away as fast as he could, but his body would not obey. Frozen in place, he just continued staring into the almost haunting light. Both the hero and the demon stopped in their verbal battle with one another after noticing the vacant stare on the boy's face.

Rosalyn called his name several times, but when there was no response, Stan grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him gently.

"Hey, c'mon! Snap out of it, Slave!" He gave Ari's cheek a light slap, relieved when life came back into his eyes.

"Wha…what happened?" Ari asked finally.

Stan huffed. "You tell me! As much as you space out, I'm surprised you haven't walked off a cliff or something yet."

Feeling a little embarrassed as he realized that he actually did have a bad habit of zoning out, Ari shook his head and turned away from the eerie glow of the portal. Whatever strange feelings of fear he had before were gone now. "…ah…well, anyway, what do we do now, Master?"

"First of all, we have to ditch this dead-weight," Stan gestured casually to an enraged Rosalyn.

"Don't think you can just walk away, Stanley!" She pointed with renewed vigor; "It's about time we ended this now. I'm sorry about this, Ari, but I can't have my life brought to another stand-still because of him."

Confused, Ari watched as she raised her unsheathed sword, letting it gleam in the moonlight. Only moments later, a swarm of soldiers surrounded them. Part of the newfound hero army, Ari assumed. Where they had been hiding, he had no clue. It wasn't until two men came up behind him, each grabbing an arm, that Ari began to feel a twinge of alarm. It didn't take long for Stan to notice his slave's capture either, as he made a move toward the two soldiers. The flash of a silver blade at Ari's neck made him stop dead in his tracks.

"I hate to do this, Ari, but it's the only way. Whether you live or die is up to Stan now. So what will it be, evil king?" Rosalyn held her sword out. She hadn't planned on hurting Ari if it could be helped, as she was sure Stan wouldn't be that careless. It was not the most noble way of getting something done, but at least this way, the redhead would be kept from interfering and thus, away from injury.

If looks could kill, Rosalyn would have been maimed the most horribly brutal way imaginable. Stan's entire body radiated murder; how dare she use his own slave against him like this. It wasn't the first time, of course, but back then, he'd been but a shadow, unable to do anything without the boy. Surely Rosalyn knew he didn't technically need him for anything at this point. He knew she could see that he did care about Ari, but was she really gambling with his life on such small evidence? Obviously, Stan would never let any harm come to the boy, but what did this woman know of his real feelings? She was either tremendously perceptive or tremendously stupid.

Gathering his wits once more, Stan spoke, "A hostage, hm? That's hardly an honorable move, Hero."

"And what does an evil king know of honor? Though it is truly despicable to threaten the life of an innocent, I will stoop to your level just this once if only for the sake of your defeat! Now fight me!" The hero adjusted her stance and prepared for a strike.

"Of course, we can't forget about coercion. My, my, you're well on your way down evil's path," Stan laughed, making no move to acknowledge the impending battle.

Ari could hardly believe the scene unfolding before him. It was like deja-vu, except this time if he or Stan made a wrong move, he'd be missing a very important body part. He struggled slightly, testing how serious his captors were. Their grip was solid and the blade remained steady as it hovered mere inches from his adam's apple, but there was no real retaliation; the soldiers remained stock-still. While not the strongest of his size, Ari was certainly no pushover either, thanks to their previous save-the-world incident. A bit of quick thinking produced a simple plan of escape. Stan had turned back to glance at him again and Ari sent him a discreet wink. The taller man stared for a moment before settling into a knowing grin.

At this point, Rosalyn had already begun her attack, though Stan did little more than evade and block. She screamed at him to fight her seriously, but the blonde demon simply shrugged and continued to stay on the defensive. He knew Ari had already come up with a plan of his own; all he had to do was wait for a signal.

'This could either go perfectly, or I could end up with a severed jugular,' Ari thought to himself as he subtly moved his right foot behind one of the soldier's legs. Bracing himself on his other foot and using the soldier's grip as leverage, he rammed his knee as hard as he could into the back of the guy's knee. As expected, he yelped and folded like cheap card table, thankfully not slashing Ari's throat on the way down. Quickly grabbing the dagger before the man could recover, he swiped at the other guard, grimacing as he felt the blade hit flesh. He didn't really want to hurt anyone, but wildly waving a dagger around was a pretty quick way to ward off pursuers. Besides, he'd only nicked the man's arm.

As soon as Stan saw the guard go down out of the corner of his eye, he launched an offensive attack, taking Rosalyn by complete surprise. A wave of pure dark energy sent her toppling into a group of equally surprised soldiers. The evil king wasted no time in retrieving Ari, plucking him from the ground much like he had done earlier that day. He knocked the soldiers back with another wave of force energy and ran for the portal. A quick spell before they disappeared caused the flame-like light of the circle to turn a deep purple. Ari's world went white before he could even react.

Once the two had warped, the light of the portal stretched and solidified into gigantic, jagged stalagmites. Stan had sealed the gate behind them. Already back on her feet, Rosalyn had witnessed the whole thing and slashed at the pointed structures in desperation. Finding that they were doing more damage to her sword than she was doing to them, she yelled in frustration.

"You haven't won yet, you wretched evil king!"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Good lord, is anyone still reading this?? D: I am so sorry. I fail at fanfiction so hard.

Well, anyway, I managed to come up with some semblance of a plot, so the story will probably take a more serious tone from here on out (and probably get really fucking weird and make no sense). Of course there will still be humor, just not pointless bouts of it like this entire story has been so far. AND! More Stan/Ari action to come, I promise!

A huge thank you to everyone who's still with me at this point!

ALSO. This was not beta'd. Like…AT ALL. So fuck all if there's tons errors, I'll fix them later.