Radiance Ch. 12

"Anyone care to explain why in the name of hell you just buried us alive!? What the fuck were those things Ven? All I saw was a black cloud" Seven exclaimed folding his arms over his metal chest with a clank of steel on steel.

"They are called Cazadors my human and even great claws like us fear them, they are single-minded and ruthless, one or two you may stand a chance of killing them before they do severe damage to you or kill you, but a swarm like that? Not even a pack comprised entirely of the strongest alpha claws would even put a dent in it before being stripped entirely of their scales and eaten alive while paralysed by their poison, they are radiation mutated giant hornets, utterly vicious and without mercy or thought" Visa said visibly shaking at the thought of them.

Seven reached out and placed a hand on her large arm which caused her to stiffen for a moment before turning and hugging him tightly against her like she was terrified that any second a giant savage hornet make a breakthrough and fly off with him.

"So as unstable as it is, this mine is our only hope to live, but now with the entrance shot we gotta find a way out of this place, but I don't know about all of you but I am beat, we should head in a little deeper and find a way station, me and my sister have used a lot of these things to hide and travel in our time and they always have rest places for the human miners," Ven said.

"Alright, but we need to be careful, as strong as you are Ven you took out those supports with a single hit each, that tells me this whole place could be a time bomb just waiting to come down on us, its also likely to be a fucking maze, so no splitting up and no wandering off, we stick close together and away from the walls" Seven said and Visa nodded her head in agreement.

The mine was pitch black and without Wisp's Assaultron headlamp the only source of light was Seven's headlamp so he took point as they began their trek into the darkness of the mine, every footstep they took echoed and it was like the whole place breathed like a living entity.

Although he couldn't feel the movement of the air on his skin due to the power armour Seven could see it in the dust particles floating in the air that his headlamp made sparkle as it played over them, he hoped that they may be able to use that to eventually lead them to an exit, but for now they were just looking for a place to rest up.

As they moved Seven saw something move ahead and as he panned his head torch over he saw a faint shimmer, but as he panned his torch back and forth he found nothing, "Everything alright my human?" Visa asked from directly behind him.

"Thought I saw something for a moment, guess it was the dust catching the head torch," he said with a shrug.

"I saw it too," Wisp said in his head.

"What did you see?" Seven asked.

"What?" Visa asked obviously confused.

"Sorry talking to Wisp, she said she saw it too" he clarified.

"What did she see?' Visa asked.

"It was like a shimmering shadow, there just for a second but as your torch it, it vanished," Wisp said which pretty much described what Seven himself believed he'd seen.

"It was like a shimmering shadow but as the torchlight hit it vanished, not sure what it was," Seven said.

Both Visa and Ven looked at one another then sniffed the air curiously, "All I smell is dust, it's dampening my sense of smell down here" Visa said and Ven nodded.

"Agreed, we should be cautious, I know of more than one creature that can use shadows to hide like that," he said and the team moved off slowly sticking close to Seven and his lamp.

The tunnels twisted and turned and there were a great many branches, some were collapsed forcing them to backtrack a bit before choosing another path, but eventually thanks to a partially destroyed map they found they found what they were looking for, a miner rest station.

Honestly, it was little more than an underground bunkhouse, it had a shower facility that didn't work as most likely the pumps that ran the water supply were toast by this point, a small cookhouse with a stove that seemed to run on either wood or coal surprisingly but had a chimney that vanished up into the ceiling and what they truly hoped for, a bedroom.

The frames of the old metal bunk beds were rusted and pretty much destroyed, but somehow a few of the mattresses had survived and were in good condition, probably due to the plastic coating that they had to protect them from the constant swapping of occupants while the mine had been active.

Visa and Ven pulled together four mattresses which they arranged into two double beds in the corners of the room, one for Visa and Seven and the other for Ven and Gregory which made the slender human somewhat nervous, but Ven was reassuring.

"Don't worry Greg, with me close nothing will dare touch you even in sleep" Ven said confidently.

"Well other than my brother himself, of course, he's always had a problem keeping his claws to himself," Visa said grinning at him obviously enjoying the chance to get payback on her brother, it was obvious to Seven that she'd figured out that he brother had eyes for the slender little human and was going to mile this opportunity.

"Can I be held responsible if human skin is just so soft that and supple it begs for the touch of big strong handsome claw?' Ven shot back and Visa laughed.

"I will give you that point," she said.

Gregory looked very nervous, "I think you need to talk to him Seven" Wisp said in his head and Seven nodded.

So Seven decided to have a little human to human talk and gently steered him away from the two claws as they built themselves nests for the night, "Look I'll level with you Greg it looks like Ven's got eyes for you if you haven't already noticed, surprised me at first if I'm honest I didn't really think that he'd be into guys but by the looks of it he is and I think it's safe to say he's got his sights set on you" he said.

Gregory sighed and nodded, "Yeah I figured as much, I mean he's always so close to me and he's always looking out for me, it's really nice and he does make me feel safe surprisingly but I'm kinda having trouble with how I feel about him," he said and Seven looked him right in the eyes which while being inside a rather large suit of power armour is harder than it sounds.

"Simple question here, do you like girls or guys?" he asked and Gregory flushed then wrung his hands together and looked at his feet.

"G-Guys," he said softly as if he expected Seven to be disgusted and then to yell at him or abandon him.

"Right that's step one, next question do you find Ven attractive?" Seven said and Gregory's mouth simply fell open and his eyes went wide as dinner plates.

"W-Wait, you have no problem with the fact that I like guys?" he exclaimed.

"No, why would I?' Seven asked and Gregory literally looked like he was about to cry, his wide eyes began to fill with tears.

"Y-You are the first person to ever say that to me, all my life that hasn't been spent in chains I've had to hide it, in some places they outright kill people like me just for being born this way, they see us as evil, like just because I look at guys the way you look at girls that somehow makes me the spawn of Satan," Gregory said sniffing.

Seven felt a hot flash of anger at this and it was followed by a second one that he was positive came from Wisp, it was obvious that her emotions when strong enough could bleed through and cause a biological reaction in his body, which was kinda interesting.

"Well I'm not like that Greg and neither are any of this group and honestly I would not want to be associated with people who think like that, I mean look at me, I'm a human guy who's in love with a female claw if there's a queue for stoned to death because they went outside of the plan I'm at the fucking front of it," he said and Gregory laughed softly and wiped his eyes.

It was obvious being an emotional man was a hard thing too, Gregory looked up at him eventually, "I-In answer to your question yeah I kinda do an I don't know why really, I mean sure he's big, he's strong I mean fuck, the guy is ripped to hell, he's got muscles in places I don't even have places and he even looks like he could cut me in half with his tail let alone those fucking claws of his, but he's a sweetheart, he's kind, he's gentle, he's always looking out for me and trying to make me feel safe and protected, fuck he's sweeter and kinder than pretty much every human I've ever met, present company excluded" Gregory said and Seven leaned in a bit.

"But that doesn't answer the question, it's simple Gregory, do you find him attractive, yes or no?" Seven said a little firmer and Gregory actually looked startled by this and his eyes darted about like he needed an exit in case Seven went battle droid on his ass for giving the wrong answer, but eventually, he took a deep breath and nodded.

"Y-Yeah, I do, I don't know how I do or why I do but every time I look at him I get fucking butterflies in my stomach and I keep wishing he'd just pick me up put me over his shoulder and carry me off, he's the most beautiful man I've ever seen," Gregory said like a machine gun, it was like if he didn't get all the words out in one go he'd never have the guts to say them.

Seven smiled inside his helmet, "That's step two, now step three is remarkably easy, stop denying it to yourself, it's obvious you've fallen for him and I'd say it's becoming pretty obvious he's fallen for you too, claw's are rather shit at hiding their feelings, just look at Visa, she couldn't hide her emotions if she tried, Ven is the same, so here's your answer my friend, take the step, Ven is an honourable guy who quite obviously would charge into the claws of the Enclave or the legion to protect you, who would never hurt you and would never ever make you do anything you are not either comfortable or simply do not wish to, claws can get pretty intense sometimes not gonna lie, but if you let him know where your boundaries and lines are, he will never ever cross them" Seven said and Gregory's face simply lit up.

"W-Wow Seven, j-just wow, I-I feel like you just picked up a backpack full of rocks off my back and said hey let me carry that for you!" he said and Seven patted his shoulder softly.

"Welcome to the claw lovers club buddy, meetings every Tuesday, its always bring your own claw, oh and no one ever makes it through the whole night because we all get carried off for claw love at some point, patience was never their strong suit, but hey we love them all the same" Seven said and Gregory howled with laughter, it was obvious that in one single move Seven had not only blown Gregory's worldwide open but showed him the true meaning of acceptance.

"Thank you Seven, thank you so so much," Gregory said hugging Seven tightly and Seven patted his back.

"Your welcome buddy, now you'd better let go before a certain jealous claw sticks her head in here and thinks you're making a move on her human, then we'd end up with a claw battle royale on our hands and I'd have to start selling tickets and popcorn, Uggh it'd just get messy" Seven said making Gregory laugh again.

"God, where have you been my entire life? All I've ever wanted was a guy to love and a friend like you and I found them both in the same day" Gregory said and Seven patted his shoulder.

"Your welcome my friend, now get out there and turn a giant male claw into a giddy schoolgirl by saying some words that his fluttering little heart is undoubtedly aching to hear," Seven said and as he turned to lead Seven back to the main room he swore he heard a whooshing noise as well as what sounded like the rapid click of running claws on stone, he grinned again, it appeared that curiosity didn't only kill the cat it ate the claws.

As Seven steered Gregory back into the room that Ven and Visa had turned from a bunkhouse into a claw nest he saw both of them trying their hardest to act non-descript, but failing utterly miserably, Ven had taken on the stance that his sister had when she'd first confessed her feelings to Seven, he was fidgety and nervous, didn't know what to do with his hands etc.

Seven let Gregory go and he closed the door behind them, the only other way into this room was an air duct above their heads which while someone slender could possibly fit through was way too high and awkward to be considered a viable exit or entrance.

Seven turned and blocked the door with his power armour before stepping out of it and heading over to join Visa, they appeared to have gotten an old miners lantern working and it burned softly in the middle of the room casting a golden glow over everything, as Seven approached Visa threw her long arms around Seven and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you Seven," she said softly into his ear.

"For what?" he asked and she moved her huge head to look him right in the eye.

"For understanding us," she said and he grinned.

"So you were listening in huh?" he said playfully and she nodded looking guilty.

"We wondered what was happening and we snuck over and we heard every word," she said.

"I'm surprised that being gay is actually tolerated in claw society, forgive my ignorance here it just struck me as something most claws wouldn't understand too well," he said and Visa hung her head.

For the most part, you are right, my brother is what I believe you humans call bisexual, he likes females and males, he's kept it hidden all his life, he's always believed that I do not know, but I his sister, I have always known he was different, I saw the way he looked at male claws and female claws and I realised that it was the same way, at first it scared me and worried me, but he is my brother and I love him regardless, all I've ever wanted is that he be a happy claw, proud of his life as any claw should be, he is proud of me for the steps I have taken to accept who I really am by admitting that I love you with all of my heart, now I will do the same and I will tear apart any who would try to use his love to hurt him" Visa said both proudly and emotionally.

Seven hugged her and stroked her horns gently while kissing her on the lips, "Everyone has the right to love my sexy alpha, just look at us, I'm a human and I love you, you're a claw and you love me, now sit back and watch this" Seven said and with that the pair just in time for Ven to utterly explode in pure joy.

They missed the words being said but the response was obvious, Ven snatched Gregory from the ground and hugged him so tightly and then out of nowhere he planted his mouth on Gregory's and Seven heard Visa sniff loudly, he looked up and saw the tears running down her face but her wide smile said it all, happiness, pure and simple.

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Silently the observer watched the strange creatures that had wandered into its sanctuary, they we very strange to be sure, but seemingly not hostile yet, this warranted further observation.