Author's note: The more I write for this vampire verse, the more I feel like I should have established some kind of timeline before I wrote Anchors. -sulks- In any case, this would be after Anchors, and I'd recommend you having read the drabble Flowers as well. If you don't feel like it, I'm sure you'll be able to follow anyway. -smiles sheepishly- I'm hardly complex with my stories...
A Flare of Magic
It was late evening, not that it mattered much in the perpetual dark beneath the plate. Ifalna had her knitting out, humming absently as she worked. Aeris was repotting a young sunflower, having claimed it didn't like the red pot, and what had she been thinking to put it there in the first place? Ifalna and Elmyra had traded amused glances, before Elmyra put her book down and headed into the kitchen to make tea.
There was a light tinkling of china as Elmyra gathered cups onto the tray, the two earth witches taking the familiar sound as a signal to put away their work. Aeris went to wash her hands and Ifalna pushed her sewing basket to the side as Elmyra came back into the sitting room. Ifalna set the table, sneaking a piece of cinnamon cake as Aeris settled on the couch. Elmyra smiled and reached for the teapot, intending to pour the cups, but her hand froze halfway, eyes going wide.
"They're hurt," she exclaimed, running for the door and throwing it open.
Ifalna and Aeris felt it a moment later; agitated fire moving across their land. They reached the doorway in time to see Elmyra hover uncertainly next to Cloud and his companion. A glance was enough to reveal why the water witch had sensed them first.
The Hunter had slung the other man's arm across his shoulders, holding him against his left side. His right side was badly burned, still smoking remnants of his shirt stuck to the ruined flesh. Even his hair was singed. He staggered slightly, the unconscious man's taller frame awkward to support even though he was moving along with Cloud.
Long black hair hid most of the man's features, but his skin was too pale for a human, and the feel of fire magic and demon energy was unmistakable. Ifalna would bet anything that the man's eyes were red.
"Is that… Vincent?" Aeris breathed.
"Yes," Cloud answered shortly, close enough now for his enhanced senses to pick up the faint sound. "Something's wrong with his magic, and I didn't know where else to take him."
"You did the right thing," Elmyra assured him. She shot a glare over Cloud's shoulder, unfreezing her sister and making her back away to allow them all inside. Elmyra shut and bolted the door.
"If you can get him into my room we can lay him on my bed," she instructed.
Cloud nodded, acknowledging the practicality of it. Elmyra's room was the only bedroom on the ground floor, and he did not feel up to climbing any stairs – even without Vincent. He lowered his brother into a sitting position as gently as he could, painstakingly removing his ruined shirt before laying him down. He lingered by his side for a moment before slumping into the wicker chair by the wall.
"Don't touch him yet," he cautioned as Ifalna sat down on the edge of the bed. "His magic flared when Elmyra tried to held me outside." He blinked at the sight of Aeris standing in the doorway, clutching a med kit. When did she leave? He rubbed his eyes with his left hand. Focus, or you're no use to anyone!
He felt Elmyra touch his side and quickly grabbed her wrist.
"My arm first," he said. Seeing her open her mouth to question him, he expanded, "If I need to calm him down, I'll need my hands. Please."
She nodded and began scanning the extent of the burns.
"What happened?" Ifalna demanded, carefully feeling Vincent's aura. She was already frowning at the wrongness of it, further worried by how strong the demon energy was.
Cloud gritted his teeth as Elmyra channeled cool healing magic into his damaged arm. "I don't know. It was just a nest of Turned, routine cleanup. Simple. But they were waiting for us, and they threw something at Vincent. An amulet, I think." He paused, glancing over to his friend. "It turned to dust when it touched him, and his magic went crazy."
"I can feel that," Elmyra snapped. "Why didn't you get away from the blast radius until he'd gotten control back?"
Hackles rising at the tone, Cloud snarled at her. Ifalna's yelp at the sudden flames dancing in the air around her brought him back from the edge and across the room to place his hands on Vincent's bare shoulders. He bit back a curse when the man kept struggling – whether to sit up or simply to awaken he couldn't tell.
"Calm down, brother," he soothed, leaning down to rub his cheek against Vincent's, lips nearly brushing the demon's ear as he spoke. "No enemies here, just me and friends. I'm sorry I worried you. You're safe now, no need to be angry. Nothing to fight, nothing to fear. Just breathe. Can you do that for me?"
The flames had gone out at Cloud's first touch. The words made Vincent turn his head slightly, bringing his nose against the Hunter's skin. Magic and darker energy curled around Cloud, holding him. Slowly, with each breath, Vincent relaxed.
"Good," Cloud said, pulling one hand away while pressing down with his remaining one to make sure Vincent could feel the touch, and sat up. "Stay calm, I'm right here."
The three women watched in stunned silence as the dual energies loosened their hold to allow Cloud to move and then tightened as soon as he stilled.
"That's why I didn't leave him," Cloud said, voice more neutral than his eyes managed. "He knows me, and it's easier for him to hold it together when he's not alone." He glanced down, expression softening into worry. "I don't understand magic like you do, but I trust my brother. He says chaos and magic won't fight each other around me."
Aeris was the first to move forward, kneeling by the bed with an approving smile. "We can see that," she said warmly. "We just weren't expecting you to have bonded so closely. How could we, when you won't come visit?"
She spread an ointment that smelled strongly of herbs over the remaining burns on Cloud's arm while Ifalna and Elmyra resumed their tasks. The water witch offered an apologetic smile as the burns on Cloud's side faded into new pink skin.
"It'll be sore, but it will heal on its own."
Cloud nodded, understanding and gratitude bright in his eyes. "Save your energy for him," he said simply.
Elmyra nodded and turned her attention to Vincent. Cloud watched for a moment before Aeris tugged gently at his hand. He looked at her questioningly.
"Could you move higher up on the bed?" she asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the other witches' concentration. "Not let him go, but just give them better room? Your own energy might interfere with his aura if you're too close."
"Oh. Right." Cloud couldn't quite muster a smile for her, but he did as he was told.
Aeris remained kneeling on the floor, shifting slightly so she could rest her head against his thigh; offering wordless comfort much like Cloud was doing for Vincent. They watched as the older witches analyzed Vincent's aura.
It felt like forever before Elmyra sighed and let her hands fall into her lap. Ifalna looked up at Cloud, her face grim but not particularly concerned.
"I know what the spell is, though I'm surprised anyone would think to use such an outdated one. That Vincent's unconscious makes things a little more difficult since he can't help, but it's still fairly straightforward. We need to suppress his magic to remove the spell. It's feeding off his energy and it'll run until he's dead or out of magic." That being drained of magic was a death sentence in itself went unsaid.
Cloud paled. "I could barely get him to pull his wings back on the way here. I don't know what else to do for him."
"Wings?" Aeris questioned. "What do you mean?"
Cloud blinked. "You said you had to bring his energy levels down."
"Only the magic," Ifalna clarified. "The spell isn't concerned with chaos energy. I have no idea what's raised it so much."
Cloud suspected he was gaping, but he didn't much care. "You don't know?" he repeated blankly. "If he raises one, the other has to follow. It's the balance that keeps him alive, which I assume was the whole point of the spell. If Vincent weren't so used to surges on both sides, that first blast of magic could have killed him."
The witches traded worried looks.
"That… complicates things," Elmyra said. "Two of us is more than enough to press his magic down while the third removes the spell, but we have little experience with demon energy."
Ifalna hugged herself, green eyes brightening with power. "I could try to hold the magic down alone," she suggested. "Aeris can destroy the spell if you keep pace with –"
"No," Aeris interrupted. Her eyes were very intent as they met Cloud's. "You know him better than we do, and more importantly, he knows you. His demon side won't fight you." She nodded slightly, emphasizing her conviction. "You can keep him calm and balanced while we do what we have to."
Something in Cloud raged that he couldn't admit that, couldn't let anyone know how deep their connection was, how easily it could become a liability if one of them were captured, but conscious will won over feral instinct.
"I can," he agreed.
His magic is being drained from him. He wants to scream but he can't find his voice, lost in fear and rage and darkness. Chaos is howling for him, struggling to find what's hurting him, but there's nothing there, and he can't strike blindly because Brother's right there and he can't hurt him.
Brother is talking but he can't understand him. Soft words, pleasant sounds strung together like pearls on a necklace. He holds it in his hands, cradles it close and watches as it grows and grows because Brother understands that sometimes you have to fill the darkness with something you can see and touch.
Something is pressing against his magic, pushing it deeper inside. He doesn't want to let it go and chaos tugs at him, trying to shield him from the darkness now that magic can't, but Brother's voice is calm and the pearls are still pretty colors, not fear or anger or sorrow.
Brother keeps talking and the pearls are warm in the chill of the darkness, and maybe it's alright to unfold the bare comfort of chaos and force it to follow the magic.
Hands tighten around the word-pearls.
He'll trust Brother.
"Got it!" Aeris exclaimed triumphantly.
Cloud relaxed, closing his eyes as he's safe ran through his mind over and over, but he didn't stop talking. Until Ifalna and Elmyra said they were done interfering with Vincent's magic, he had to make sure he knew he wasn't alone. He was just speaking nonsense, and when he opened his eyes he could see Aeris was quite amused by it, but Cloud wasn't talking for her benefit. Vincent would hear his tone, and he'd take comfort from it. Words didn't matter.
Finally, Elmyra and Ifalna pulled back. Even Cloud, magic-less as he was, could feel their powers fade – like a chokehold had loosened and there was air to breathe again. Vincent shifted against him, sighing softly as his energies were freed. Cloud ran his fingers through the dark bangs, smoothing them away from Vincent's face. He was glad to see his expression relaxed into true sleep.
"He just needs some rest now," Ifalna said, "to regain his strength."
Cloud smiled; wide, heartfelt, grateful. "Thank you. If you hadn't – Thank you."
"No thanks necessary," Ifalna assured. "You're family, and so is he. Don't hesitate to come to us if either of you is hurt again, or even if you're well."
Cloud would have objected, but Aeris cut him off before he could get a word out.
"Go get cleaned up and I'll bring you something to eat; you'll be no use to anyone if you collapse from exhaustion."
Elmyra nodded. "You'll have time for a shower before he wakes, if you want."
"I should get changed," Cloud admitted. "If he sees me like this he'll know he torched me, and he'll never be able to relax around me for fear of it happening again."
"I'll get you some clothes," Ifalna said, and she and Aeris hurried off to their self-appointed tasks.
Elmyra stayed, looking at Vincent with a soft motherly expression Cloud didn't often see.
"What characteristic or emotion would you describe Vincent with?" Elmyra asked. "What's the one thing others have to know about him?"
Cloud frowned at her. "… Courage," he said. "I doubt I would have had the sheer courage to face the pain and struggle he does every day."
"Poplar." Elmyra smiled. Seeing the question in Cloud's eyes, she explained, "He's really family now. The land has felt his magic, and it will do its best to make him feel at home here. He needs his own tree, just like we planted one for you when Aeris said she was certain which one suited you."
Cloud smiled back. "He probably won't say it, not yet, but he'll appreciate it."
They might have said more if Aeris hadn't called at him to hurry up and take that shower.
Vincent woke early the next morning, before anyone else had stirred. His energies were unsettled, but not dangerously so. They were reaching for Cloud, fighting when Vincent tried to pull them back, and he let them be. In fact, he scooted closer to the edge of the bed and leaned on one elbow so he could brush a hand over Cloud's cheek. Blue eyes blinked open sleepily, watching him for a moment before widening in realization.
"You're awake!" Cloud pounced on him.
Vincent smiled, sliding his arms around the blonde in a more sedate return of the enthusiastic hug he'd been tackled with. He hummed an affirmative and waited for Cloud to compose himself.
"Where are we?" Vincent asked as Cloud pulled back enough to look at him, and was surprised to see an odd mix of sheepishness and defiance spread across the Hunter's face.
"I couldn't help you," Cloud said. "I couldn't calm the magic down, so I took you to see someone who could, and it was a good thing I did, because apparently that amulet held a spell designed to kill you."
Red eyes narrowed. "Where?"
"The Gainsboroughs."
Vincent lay still, trying to absorb that. He'd known Cloud visited them, of course, but that they'd go to such lengths for him as to help a halfbreed like himself…
"Stop that," Cloud admonished.
"Stop what?" Vincent asked, genuinely puzzled.
Cloud sighed. "They don't hate you, and you're an idiot if you think they do." Correctly anticipating Vincent's protest, he continued, "They shut your mother out for abandoning you, not for having you. Aeris might not have been told as much, but Ifalna and Elmyra have been hoping I'd eventually bring you here."
Vincent stared. Could that be true? He didn't know, and he wasn't sure lying in a witch's bed with his brother looking at him with that fond exasperation was the best time to think rationally about it.
"I need to –"
"Go." Cloud smiled, and got off the bed. "I know."
Vincent sat up, and despite a lingering dizziness when he moved got dressed and armed without much assistance. Cloud knew him too well to offer, only stepping in when Vincent's pride had taken enough of a beating to allow it.
They'd just reached the front door when Aeris came down the stairs. Her yawn was cut short as she saw them, but she didn't say anything. She simply smiled in that warm, understanding way she had.
Vincent didn't know what to make of her; he owed her too much to be impolite, but he wasn't comfortable enough to smile back either. He turned slightly desperate eyes on Cloud.
"Home?" The blonde said, and only Vincent could read the longer question of 'Do you want me to wait for you at home?' from it. It eased his nerves somewhat, and magic and chaos were less reluctant to let Cloud go. He might be close to the witches – other magic, his own protested – but he was still Vincent's brother, and too loyal for that to change.
"No, I…" He glanced up at the young witch again. "I'll come back for you," he finished hurriedly and fled before Cloud could do more than grin at him.
Cloud had been in a decidedly cheerful mood while he helped Aeris make breakfast. She kept looking at him, wondering what had brought it on. It had something to do with Vincent, obviously, but it seemed to be more than relief at his recovery. The quick exchange she'd witnessed hadn't told her anything except that the two were very attuned to each other and didn't need words.
But Ifalna had taught her that serious questions were better asked after breakfast, so she waited.
Once the dishes had been washed and all had greeted their trees – even Cloud, who was much less embarrassed about it now than he had been when they first planted the oak – Aeris sat him down on the bench by the kitchen window and asked the question that had nagged at her since Vincent and Cloud had first stumbled across their threshold.
"How do you know what he needs?"
Cloud suddenly looked more tired than she'd ever seen him, and she almost regretted asking. Almost.
"We can pass, when we make the effort to," he said. "Sometimes we can even fool those who should know better, but we can't fool ourselves. I don't know if it's a Strife trait, or from my mother, but… We're not like you. Vincent's a demon and I'm a Hunter. We can't ever be human. I respond to smell, touch, sound and taste when words mean nothing to me." He sighed. "I understand Vincent because when you look inside us, we really are brothers."
Aeris nodded slowly. "That's why you never speak seriously with someone out of sight."
"Yes." Cloud gave a fleeting smile. "I ask how you are, and it's not your words that tell me. It's the sound of you voice, the look in your eyes, your body language. You wouldn't say you have a headache, but you can't speak without telling me."
They were silent for a while, both content to watch Ifalna and Elmyra discuss where to plant the new sapling tree.
"We can plant as many trees as we want, and we'll still never be family to him like you are," Aeris said finally, wistfully.
"No," Cloud agreed. "Demons rarely care for human magic, and chaos won't like the steadiness of earth magic." He turned to look at her, earnest and encouraging. "But you don't have to be like me to be family. Magic to magic is family in a way I can't be. Vincent has room for both, once he gets used to the idea of you wanting him here."
Aeris smiled. "We can live with that," she said.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself to imagine Vincent having tea with them, watching in vague bemusement as they worked with the garden, one day letting them call him cousin. Him and Cloud both accepting the Gainsborough land as a home.
"We'd like that," she amended.
Poplar tree - courage