A/N: Hi! This is my first Now You See Me fanfiction, and I have to say, I enjoyed writing this. I saw the movie last week and was spellbound. It was just amazing! I loved it so much, I'm trying to convince all of my friends to go too! Anyway, on with the story. The title is a work in progress, if anyone can think of anything better, please let me know!
A wrinkled fingertip gently brushed a yellowing deck of cards, resting in the palm of a familiar hand belonging to an ageing magician. Said magician stood, clutching the cards in his right hand, slowly limping across the ever darkening room towards the door. His shoulder glanced a leather jacket hanging by a crumpled photograph, as he left the place he now called home. The Las Vegas air, once perfect yet now tainted with fumes assaulted his senses, and he took a step back, lacing scars upon his back dully burning as they touched the wooden door. Taking a deep breath and wrapping his weakening fingers around the cards, he took a step forward, moving off down the crowded Vegas streets, step slightly uneven. A deep cough shuddered through his skeleton, pulling the air from his lungs, causing him to rasp as he fought to catch his breath. He slowed to a halt, raising his pained chocolate eyes to the bridge that changed his life. Framed against the clouds, he supposed it could look beautiful.
Just not to him.
A young magician gritted his teeth, pearly whites forced together as his fingers gripped the steering wheel, a nervous expression fleeting across his handsome features.
Jack Wilder was scared.
Hell, he was terrified.
Truth be told, he'd never faced such a predicament, and that fact alone truly terrified him.
It really did.
He allowed himself to check the mirror, hoping to spot a familiar face, shrouded in some sort of disguise, but he wasn't so lucky.
"Daniel..." Jack growled, fighting back a bout of strangled emotion as he turned his attention back to the road, dodging between cars as he provided a target. His dark eyes checked the mirror once more, searching for a flash of red locks, bright blue eyes or a signature fedora. Anything to offer a slight glimmer of hope.
The steering was suddenly wrenched from his tight grasp as the tyre connected with the concrete barrier central to the road, knocking the car across lanes like a delicate leaf in the wind.
"No!" Jack shouted, anger and pure fear tearing through his words as he battled to force the steering wheel to the right, to regain any balance the car still had.
But he was too late.
The car kept flipping.
Windows smashed.
Shards of glass littered the road.
Flames began licking across the wreckage.
Twisted metal.
Burning rubber.
Paper to ashes.
Leather to dust.
Fight to tears.
An unbearable heat.
Strong hands upon his fading body.
"Help-"
A strained whisper.
"Please-"
A fierce pain.
"Danny? Henley? Mer-"
Black.
Life to death.
J. Daniel Atlas wasn't known for expressing his emotions.
He rarely shed a tear for any cause, choosing instead to keep his emotions locked inside his heart, chained up, leaving no access to any soul wishing to pry.
He cried only once.
He cried for Jack Wilder.
"Jack? Jack, can you hear me?" Daniel begged, slender fingers wrapped around Jack's hand, squeezing tight as he jogged alongside the stretcher carrying one of his dearest friends. The attractive blue eyed magician stopped, allowing Jack's limp fingers to slip through his own, his fingertips brushing the burns across Jack's palm. Daniel choked back a sob, watching the lifeless body being pulled out of his sight and into the back of a stark white ambulance. Salted tears blurred his vision, as warm hands pulled him into a loving embrace, soft hair brushing his cheek.
"Shh, it's okay, Danny. He'll be okay." Henley whispered, voice catching with emotion as she spoke, breath ghosting across Daniel's cheek as she drew back, brown eyes boring into his. Daniel looked down at her, one of the people he trusted most in the world, and realised that it was okay to release his emotions from the confines he'd pushed them into.
And so, he allowed a single, glittering tear to fall.
That tear fell for Jack.
"He trusted us, Henley. He trusted us, and we let him down." Daniel murmured, shaking hands carding through his brunette curls, gripping the silky strands with fear.
"We weren't to know, Danny. If any of us had known this was going to happen, we never would've let it. We love Jack," Henley soothed, gently running her fingertips over Daniel's cheeks, removing the crystals taking homage there. She slipped her leather clad fingers through Daniel's gently trembling ones, pulling him forward towards where Merritt stood beside the ambulance. "The least we can do now is be there for him. Every step of the way."
Oooohhh! A relatively short intro chapter, which will hopefully pique your interest! Thanks for reading! :)
thebestoftimes11 x