What? Other stories you say? Unfinished stories? Sorry, must have the wrong author – I don't know anything about that…but on a completely different note – is anyone else excited about Pottermore? Only a few more hours until it's finally revealed!
A quick note - the title comes from the rest of the quote "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight"
Disclaimer: Dark-Hunters = Sherrilyn Kenyon. Harry Potter = JKRowling. This weird mash-up? Yeah, me. Damn…
Warnings: Angst (maybe), blood-drinking (he's a vampire), humour (very likely), swearing (definitely), slash (oh, come on…), past mentions of abuse and torture (both tragically and blasé). Also, slightly unhinged Harry and Zarek (gotta love the crazy!).
Pairing: Harry/Zarek
Timeline: Before the Dark-Hunter series starts. (Three years after The Dream Hunter)
Synopsis: After three years working as Zarek's Oneroi to learn compassion, M'Adoc has learnt one thing. Zarek is insane. Or, at least, about to become so very, very soon if nothing is done about it. Thanks to his posting, he's now unable to stand back and let it happen, so he goes to Ash with his findings. Together they work out that the only solution is the help of another individual who is just as scarred. The possible outcomes? Harry and Zarek will either cure each other…or drive each other faster to their downfalls. Who said the insane had to be lonely?
The walls start breathing,
My mind's unweaving,
Maybe it's best you leave me alone.
~ It Ends Tonight, All-American Rejects
Chapter 1: Decisions
1999 - Summer
"Ash."
Ash twitched and turned around to find M'Adoc standing behind him. His lips thinned into a straight line at his discomfort as he shifted to face him fully and crossed his arms over his chest.
Entertaining guests in his human abode wasn't his most favourite of activities.
"M'Adoc." He greeted the dream-hunter cordially. "Why are you here? How is your posting with Zarek?"
M'Adoc nodded his head slightly, "The two are mutually exclusive."
Ash raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Zarek is…" M'Adoc trailed off, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated his wording carefully, "crazy."
"What?" Ash asked in disbelief.
"Well," M'Adoc backtracked slightly, "I may have exaggerated a little. But it's only a matter of time. Zarek is currently teetering on the brink of complete insanity."
Ash's arms fell to his sides, "How?"
M'Adoc shrugged, "Repercussions of what you did to his mind all those years ago. It's been trying to heal itself by pulling half-remembered memories and feelings and covering the missing time. But it's stretching everything too thin and his mind is fracturing under the strain."
Ash's eyes widened behind their customary sunglasses, but M'Adoc wasn't finished just yet.
"It has been fine for a long time, coping under the strain, but when you sent me in to help him it tipped him over the edge." M'Adoc sighed and seemed to sag in place. "I helped him work through some of his most potent grief and in doing so have accidentally unravelled his mind's defences against itself."
He glanced up at Ash as he tried to explain. "He's creating what are basically hallucinations to assail the holes, but instead of filling in what actually happened, he's imagination has increased his feelings of guilt, which increases his focus upon the memories which leads on to his mind creating more hallucinations…" M'Adoc sighed again, his shoulders twitching in a miniscule shrug, "It's a downward spiral."
"Can you fix this?" Ash asked.
M'Adoc raised an eyebrow.
"Without returning his memories to him," Ash clarified, "can you fix him without him remembering?"
"I've been with him three years," M'Adoc pointed out, "I can only work with what I've been given."
Ash sat down heavily on one of his leather settees. He didn't drop his head into his hands, but it was a close run thing. "So that's a no?"
"It's a no."
At the answer Ash finally gave into the temptation and pressed his fingers against his closed eyes under his sunglasses. "Damn." He whispered to no one in particular.
M'Adoc stood quietly in his place and tried to tell himself that this wasn't anything to do with him; he was just the messenger of a piece of really bad news.
"Okay." Ash said as he sat up, straightening his sunglasses so they covered his eyes, "Okay. What can we do? What are the options?"
"Put him down."
Ash shot the unrepentant dream-hunter a scathing look. "I'm not just going to kill him like an animal."
"It would be kinder in the long run."
"No." Ash hissed, "This is my mistake, so I'm going to fix it."
"Like you fixed the last one?"
Ash jerked as if he'd been slapped in the face and M'Adoc felt guilt settle in his stomach. He refused to show it though, he was Oneroi. He didn't have feelings, but it didn't stop him apologising though.
"I apologise." He said quietly. "If you don't want to do that then you can always give him a distraction. If the mind starts to focus on something else then the strain will lessen, allowing it to heal the self-inflicted wounds.
"A distraction would also keep the attention away from the original fracture which should, with time, start to scar over."
"A distraction?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow, "have you forgotten that Zarek is currently banished to Alaska? Part of the punishment is that there are no distractions."
"I wasn't suggesting getting him a picture." M'Adoc retorted.
Ash swallowed his smile at the piqued response. "Then what were you suggesting?"
"Another person."
"Like a squire?" Ash asked carefully.
"Yes."
"No squire will go near Zarek. Not only is he banished so far away and in complete solitude but the chat boards won't accept him or anyone working for him. They'd also be in complete solitude.
"If any squire went they'd either try to kill him or Zarek would kill them." Ash shrugged, "Either way Zarek is dead. Attacking a squire when he's already on punishment is an immediate death sentence."
M'Adoc sighed, the first real sign that he wasn't as unfeeling as he made himself out to be. It was also the first real sign that this conversation was beginning to irk him.
"Like," he stressed, "a squire. Like."
"Okay," Ash agreed, "But then you've got the problem of finding someone that isn't a dark-hunter or a squire but knows about us. Who doesn't have any previous prejudices about Zarek and won't take other peoples opinions as their own.
"And," he stressed, "Who won't mind being trapped out in the back of end of nowhere to be a distraction to a lethal killer so he doesn't have a complete mental breakdown."
"Well, when you put it like that…" M'Adoc said, "you're going to narrow the field a lot."
"You think?"
M'Adoc ignored him and tapped his fingertips against his chin in a move that was entirely too human. "What about someone who's in the same boat as Zarek, as it were?"
"I don't have any other dark-hunters on probation, and even if I did I wouldn't put two together. You don't get many daimons in Alaska but its just common sense not to take the bullets out the gun when you've got enemies knocking at your door."
"I didn't mean that." M'Adoc said shortly, "What about someone with the same kind of injuries?"
Ash raised a questioning eyebrow, "Do we know anyone with the same kind of injuries?"
M'Adoc looked at him in disbelief and then, when he saw that Ash really was clueless and not just being irritating, looked at him pointedly.
Ash was still clueless.
"Are you kidding me?" M'Adoc asked him.
Rather than perjure himself, Ash kept quiet.
"Seriously." M'Adoc said. "We were just talking about him."
Ash winced when it all fell into place. "Harry."
M'Adoc shot him a 'no, duh' expression that Ash valiantly ignored.
"I don't like it." Ash tried to argue, "Harry would drive Zarek insane."
"Zarek's driving himself insane anyway." M'Adoc pointed out, "If it doesn't work then the only thing Harry would have accomplished is a quicker time."
"But what about Harry?" Ash asked, "How would this help him?"
M'Adoc shifted slightly, the only indication that he was uncomfortable with the situation. "Zarek might help him heal."
Ash's response was to look at him blankly.
"Alright," M'Adoc conceded, "weak, I know. But really, it's the best plan."
Ash pressed his lips together so hard they turned white, wishing that he could get rip-roaringly drunk and forget about everything for a few hours.
It wasn't to be though; instead he had to measure up the pros and cons of M'Adoc's proposal. There were plenty of reasons why they shouldn't do this…but really, it was Zarek's last chance. And, despite the popular opinion of the half-Greek, Ash really liked Zarek.
If there was any way he could help…
And Harry. He'd screwed up there, he knew it and wasn't going to try and sugar coat it. If there was a possibility that Harry might find some peace, he had to take it.
Besides, Harry had this weird quality to him where people either loved him or hated him…and that wasn't even mentioning his luck situation…
This was either going to go spectacularly…or spectacularly wrong.
Ash sighed, his mind coming to the obvious decision, and looked to the dream-hunter that hadn't moved from the position he'd taken when he'd first arrived.
"I guess it's a plan." Ash grimaced slightly, "Now all I have to do is try and convince Harry to help."
"Good luck with that." M'Adoc said. He even managed to sound sincere.
Obviously my free time has gone to my head. Actually, I think it's the cold I'm suffering from right now. Either way, I probably shouldn't be starting a new story right now…hahahahaha
Not much happened in this chapter and it's a bit short…but hopefully next chapter will be longer and not just one loooong conversation.
Also! You know that picture in the Dark-Hunter companion of Zarek's files? With a mug shot of him looking all dark and broody? Does that remind anyone else of Sirius Black? That's what I'm basing this Zarek off. A sort of insane Sirius/Zarek mix.
And yes. The issue will come up.
Review!
