---

"You Can Still Be Free"

Cool breeze and autumn leaves
Slow motion daylight
A lone pair of watchful eyes
Oversee the living

Feel the presence all around
A tortured soul
A wound unhealing
No regrets or promises
The past is gone

But you can still be free
If time will set you free

Time now to spread your wings
To take to flight
The life endeavour
Aim for the burning sun
You're trapped inside

But you can still be free
If time will set you free

But it's a long long way to go

Keep moving way up high
You see the light
It shines forever

Sail through the crimson skies
The purest light
The light that sets you free
If time will set you free

Sail through the wind and rain tonight
You're free to fly tonight
And you can still be free
If time will set you free

And going higher than the mountain tops
And go high like the wind don't stop
And go high

Free to fly tonight
Free to fly tonight
Free to fly tonight
Free to fly tonight
Free to fly tonight

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Yes, it's a non-erotic commission from me, anyone who knows me well will know I do get those on occasion. And yes I quoted Savage Garden again. Considering how beautiful this song is, and what the inspiration for it was, I think it is highly appropriate even apart from the very telling lyrics.

I mentioned before, when I posted  kalenidus 's pic of these two, that Darren had died in the line of duty. A little more backstory though. Prior to their meeting, Blake was...rather much an asshole. He didn't go out of his way to hurt people, and he was still an honorable cop who upheld the law, but he wasn't a Good Samaritan either. In his work he was definitely the nasty side of the "good cop/bad cop" dynamic, and in his personal life he was a jerkass dom. Sometimes he would refrain from outright abuse (unless they were into that sort of thing), sometimes not, but either way he was still arrogant, condescending of anyone smaller than him, convinced of his own importance, and cockily believing all men had to bow to his dominance. It was so bad, in fact, he'd been on the verge of being disowned by his father Quentin.

But then he met Darren. A cheetah, but nothing like others he'd met, since he was fairly beefy for one (medium build, not lithe and slender), he wasn't a fawning subby but an independent with a strong dom streak, and he wouldn't accept guff from anyone. Not even a huge tiger with a chip on his shoulder. He challenged everything Blake thought he knew and believed, and at the same time the fact Darren wouldn't just lie down and spread his legs at the drop of a hat made him incredibly irresistible. Forbidden fruit.

He practically drove Blake mad with how badly he wanted in that cheetah's uniform pants. As they were partnered together it got worse and worse. Finally in a fit of desperation he started changing his ways, becoming a model officer and a civil, if gruff, gentleman, making up with his father, becoming as good a fellow as he knew how to be. And when he confessed his growing desires with all the sincerity and honesty he could muster, Darren would only consent to take him into his bed if he changed his ways--treated his lovers with respect, decency, and equality no matter their size and build or who took what role--and changed them for real, not just to seduce him.

Blake wanted him so badly, he agreed...and to his shock found that for Darren, he really could act as if he believed those things to be true, be a better and more equal lover...and then to believe and apply them for real. For Darren, he became a better man, and not only did he get to top the cheetah as he had so badly wanted, a moment as romantic, passionate, and loving as it was intense and vigorously lusty, but Darren in turn helped him get over his insecurity and emotional hang-ups about size and sexual roles, so that he could bottom at all, let alone for a smaller guy...and love it. (Yes, Darren was that good.)

From that day on they were inseparable. Blake loved Darren more than he ever had any lover before, in fact he finally knew what love truly was. He introduced him to Quentin. They were going to get married.

And then, on the trail of a serial killer who turned out to be a far nastier piece of work than they'd imagined, and who had weapons at his disposal they hadn't expected...the cheetah was mortally wounded, and died in Blake's arms. And naturally, the tiger almost completely lost his mind from grief.

But he refused to go back to the man he'd been. He had come too far, changed too much and seen what a horrible person he'd been. And even though the one who helped him see the light, the one for whom he'd changed, was dead, he would never sully his memory that way. He would live, move on, and be a strong, but kind and sensitive man, in honor of the man he'd loved and always would.

What he didn't know was that Darren's spirit lingered on, that his goodness and compassion made him become a guardian angel to serve and protect in a whole new way...or that there would be happiness and fulfillment in both their futures that neither could have predicted. Until that day would come, though, he would always remember Darren and all he had done for him--and whenever the anniversary rolled around, weep for what had been lost...but each year he still felt the cheetah with him, and somehow the wound grew a little more healed.

There's really nothing else to say about this picture. Asterion did an incredible job; the concept painting style was perfect both for the overall tactile emotion and the dreamy, hazy look which Darren's spirit and Blake's memories entailed; and the effect was as stunning and overpowering as I had hoped for. Worth every penny.

Blakeson Parrish is copyrighted to me. Darren Isaacs is copyrighted to  ingonyama , from an RP created with  seneca99 . Art is copyrighted to  asterionblazing .