Faded Memories

Chapter Two

Children were curious creatures. When faced with something they couldn't see, they stared into Death's eyes with unflinching bravery. Young and innocent to the ways of the world, they were beacons of hope and light in a place of unending darkness. They could see a diamond in a mire of filth, could grasp the sands of hope from the dead soil. Yet, when forced to confront the opposite, children became a nightmare.

In a span of a single night, Hadrian realized one key truth:

He didn't know how to take care of a child.

It was this that Hadrian White learned as he was forced to deal with a crying, screaming Edward Remus Theodore "Teddy" Lupin. The boy, hair as white as the ice and snow Hadrian adored, was a wailing mess that would not cease to scream at the top of its yellow-eyed lungs. Because of this, Hadrian let the Wind carry them away from anyone who could possibly hear the distressed child's screams.

He didn't want someone seeing Teddy, not when Hadrian himself was invisible. No magically flying kids.

Attracting that kind of attention was the last thing the verdant-eyed teenager wanted. Somewhere far below, Loki ran. If he looked hard enough, Hadrian could see the massive hound's black outline. He could spy the muscled, long body surging and bristling with every leap and bound. He only wished Teddy shared the same awe when looking at the great beast below them.

Hadrian wished the boy would stop screaming, would dry those tears, and be quiet.

No matter what he did, the boy would only flail and cry and swing thin, bony fists. Hadrian was tempted to drop him, if only to make the child realize where they were. Yet Teddy would not be reasoned with, would not be consoled, and Hadrian, despite how much he wished otherwise, was struggling with the task of calming a terrified, small creature that had needs separate from his own.

'Calm the little monster before I eat it, Hadrian,' Loki's low growl came from the ground far below, yet his voice carried to him with ease. It echoed and lurked within the depths of his mind. Hadrian adjusted the boy in his arms as he soared through the sky, his body positioned in a meditative pose that allowed him to cage the child in his lap. Teddy didn't like that, either. So, with a sigh, Hadrian held him close with one arm and held out his other hand, palm up, before the child. Brow furrowed in thought, Hadrian formed a moving, animated bunny out of ice and magic and wind. Teddy's cries halted, small sniffles escaping as he watched the bunny bounce around them. Below, Loki's rumbling growl was softer. 'About time…'

Small hands reached for the iced rabbit and Hadrian watched, smiling, as the creature hopped into Teddy's hands and brushed its cold nose against the child's cheeks. Squealing laughter was the answer he received. Hadrian rested his chin on top of the boy's head, eyes half-mast as he said to the child in his lap, "Do you like bunnies, Teddy?"

"Bunny," Teddy answered, small sniffles escaping as the small, icy silver rabbit bounced around them. It was an interesting sight to see small puffs of ice puff through the air, an action Hadrian knew would have happened if the creature was alive and running through a winter forest. Magical, ice rabbits running through air didn't cause bursts of snow to rise from the ground, but he figured the child would appreciate the thought regardless. Teddy clapped his hands. "Teddy likes bunnies!"

'And he speaks in third,' Hadrian's gaze swept towards the ground so far below them, to where he knew Loki ran. He spied a black blur leaping a fence to a massive field, the canine nothing more than a deadly shadow that sped between grazing, half-asleep cattle, and sheep. 'Perhaps the human child is touched in the head, Hadrian. Best drop it now before it turns on us.'

The winter spirit wasn't sure if Loki was joking or not. It was hard to tell, most days.

He watched as the hound leapt another fence, easily covering countless miles up an incline in seconds. It was impressive, really. Hadrian grinned as he watched the hound pick up speed, knowing, in that moment, what Loki was readying himself to do long before Hadrian realized the hill ended with a rather steep drop.

"Look, Teddy!" Hadrian pointed out Loki to the small child, soothing the small boy the moment he started to whimper. He rested his chin on the boy's head, voice soft and cool as he said, "Loki's going to come and fly with us. He's friendly. Ish. He keeps us safe, Teddy. See how he runs? Look, he's getting ready to jump!"

Loki was moving faster, silver eyes narrowed. Then the muscles where bunching, dark swirls of energy curling around the hound that's fur was shifting from black to a deep gray. When Loki pushed off the cliff, the air around his paws turned a vibrant silver that matched his eyes. Hadrian felt Teddy shift in his arms, the boy leaning over his knee to get a better view of the hound bounding through the sky as if launching from invisible platforms on Loki himself could see.

'We should head northeast,' Loki ran a few laps around him, looking to be part of the ice and wind that Hadrian himself was bound to. Teddy kept turning and twisting in his arms, amber eyes wide and shocked, disbelieving, as he watched the hound. 'The humans from the forest are rising into the sky. They are moving in our direction. Zephera will guide us to safety.'

"They're following us?" Hadrian looked off into the distance, to where he could see the faint impression of a fire within the vast forest and the black dots rising into the sky. He unfurled his body, hovering in the air as verdant eyes flashed. His eyes narrowed. "Zephera, slow them down. Loki, can you smell a town?"

The hound blinked. 'There is one in the distance. I can smell their smoke and food. It is north of here.'

Hadrian's gaze swept the sky and he found the North Star twinkling in the heavens. He tucked Teddy close to his shoulder, wrapping the child in his arms as he said, "Teddy, we're gonna have to fly really fast, okay?"

"Fast?"

"Yeah," Hadrian ran a hand down the boy's back. "Hold onto my neck, kay? Don't let go."

Thin arms did as he instructed. They tightened when Hadrian shot forward, sharp winds propelling him forward as an undercurrent hurled through the sky behind him. Zephera's rage was a howl on the wind, fierce and unyielding. Loki bounded ahead of him, a streak of blacks and whites and greys. Hadrian followed without questioning, trusting the hound to lead them to safety.

It didn't take them long to reach the city. Hadrian alighted upon a rooftop, Teddy's cries back. Hadrian tucked the boy onto his hip, his gaze sweeping over the streets below. In the darkness, hardly a soul was out. Loki, perched next to him, swiped the air with his tail. The emerald-eyed teen shot a glance at the beast beside him, an unasked question in his eyes.

'The people here smell like those we encountered in the forest,' Loki pawed his snout, gaze narrow and distrusting. Hadrian looked towards the sleeping settlement before them, knowing the wolfen hound was right. He had already spied one person hurrying through the street, body wrapped in a dark robe that had long, billowing sleeves and a sash tied around the waist. 'These people have magic, Hadrian. Like the boy and his dead mother. Come, let us fade into the shadows where we will be safe.'

Hadrian's gaze shifted to the boy in his arms. "I can't, Loki. We need to look after Teddy."

Loki snarled and snapped at the air. 'You have done as the mother asked. Let him be someone else's issue.'

"No," Hadrian leveled a stern look on the hound, oblivious to the confused look spreading across Teddy's face. The ravenette ran his hand over the snarling wolf's head, fingers grazing behind erect ears as he continued, "Zephera took us to them, took us to Teddy, for a reason. I was meant to have him."

'Human whelps are not pets, Hadrian. Leave it here,' Loki paced along the roof, then.

"You want me to leave a kid on a roof in a strange village?" Hadrian wasn't sure if he should be horrified or amused by Loki's sudden temper, a knowing smile spreading across his face as said hound's tail snapped through the air. Loki stared him down, silent. Hadrian returned the stare without flinching.

Loki snorted, pawing at the roof for a moment. Hadrian eyed the beast, jaw set. Loki, seeing Hadrian was adamant about his decision, snarled, 'Fine. We won't leave the little beastie on the roof. We'll leave him in the street.'

Hadrian slapped his hand against his face, shaking his head. "You know what I mean, Loki."

'You are not fit to be a sire,' Loki snapped, drool easing between too-large fangs. Teddy was looking from teen to canine, confusion written across his face. Hadrian noticed how Teddy's head snapped back to the nightmarish hound as Loki snarled, 'You are far from ready, Hadrian. To rear a pup, yours or someone else's, is a great responsibility. One you are not ready for. Do not be irresponsible.'

Hadrian pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't just leave him here, Loki. You know I can't!"

Loki circled him. 'Very well. I will take to the shadows and watch you both from the dark. Do not draw attention to yourself, Hadrian. Find someplace to sleep.'

With that, Loki vanished from sight. Hadrian adjusted Teddy, who was still confused, as the silence of the night washed over the top of them. Hadrian could feel Loki's attention, could sense the canine but was unable to pinpoint his exact location. A gentle breeze told him Zephera was also near, watching.

"Okay, Teddy – ah, what is it?"

"You talked to the doggie like mommy talked to daddy," Teddy reached up and ran his hands over his face, amber eyes wide and curious. Hadrian blinked, disgruntled by the description. Then, after a moment, his eyes widened in understanding. Hadrian eyed the child as he asked, "Couldn't you understand Loki?"

Teddy shook his head. "He growled and snapped a lot, but no words like ours. You a Dog Whisperer?"

The verdant-eyed, raven-haired teenager laughed. "No, Teddy, I'm not."

"Then what?"

Hadrian blinked at the question, baffled once again. Where children always this curious? Was Teddy the exception? The ravenette ran a hand through his hair, not quite sure what to say in response to that soft, almost-scared question. When he jumped from the roof into the darkness of an alleyway, Hadrian sat the boy on the ground and then rested a hand on his head.

"I'm Hadrian White," the ravenette smiled as Teddy blinked and he knelt in front of the child. "I'm lost, like you, with nowhere to go except where Zephera pulls me."

"Who's Zeph'ra?" Teddy asked.

Hadrian tilted the boy's chin so amber eyes would see the sky. "Zephera is the wind, Teddy. She's my friend."

"You friends with the wind?" The boy seemed excited about that for some reason, though Hadrian wasn't sure why. When he nodded, stating he was, in fact, friends with the wind, Teddy's hair shifted from an off-white to a glowing, happy orange. Then that hair changed again, and Hadrian watched, surprised, as Teddy's face screwed up in concentration as the brightly-colored hair started to mimic Hadrian's own bizarre, messy hairstyle. "Teddy'll be good. 'Adri will see that Teddy's a good boy. Won't stick out."

The boy yawned, then. Hadrian lifted him from the ground, tucking him against his side. They needed a place to rest, a place where Teddy could close his eyes and settle in for a few hours. Hadrian left the dark shadows of the alleyway and made his way into the empty streets of the city. Teddy, though tense in his arms once more, tucked his head against his chest.

'There's something going on here,' Hadrian eyed their surroundings, a sense of unease crawling through his skin as this realization dawned on him. The child had fought and kicked and screamed until they had reached the city; now that same child was tense but still, quiet as they made their way through the streets. Hadrian looked towards the top of this kid's head. 'What's going on here? Why the change?'

Hadrian sensed Loki pass them, felt the cold shadows curl around him. Loki said nothing. It took some time, but Hadrian found an inn. He eased his way through the back door, nothing more than a silent shadow that ghosted through the kitchen and up a flight of stairs connected to it. He found himself climbing higher and higher, away from rooms full of sleeping people. In a short time, he found the attic.

Loki was standing in the middle of the room, visible and resigned. There were old blankets scattered across the floor, obviously dragged to make a nest underneath the open window. Hadrian knelt and lowered the half-asleep child into the cocoon of blankets, taking the last to drape over the small body. He combed his fingers through black, grey and white hair, emerald irises glowing in the darkness as the child's body relaxed fully into the embrace of the Lord of Dreams.

When he was sure he was asleep, Hadrian whispered, "What's going on with this place, Loki?"

'I know not, Hadrian,' Loki circled the nest as much as he was able before settling down to curl around the small child. Hadrian turned, eyes half-closed as a strong wind came hurtling from the sky. He held out his hand, then, with a smile as something small and thin twirled through the sky to come and rest upon his open palm. He heard Loki's pleased rumbled as the small, winged creature stretched her arms over her head, large eyes, like two pools of iridescent energy, blinking happily. 'We are safe for the time being. We need only wait for daylight, now. Then we can resume our endless journey.'

Zephera, the wind spirit in his hands, settled down to rest her wind-swept hair and head against the soft skin of his lower thumb. Hadrian held the small spirit close to his stomach, happy to see her in person than as a formless, insistent gale of wind.

Once more his attention was drawn to the child and the canine, a smile spreading across his face as he settled down to look after the child throughout the night. Teddy was curled up in the old blankets, thin hands tucked under his cheek. Hadrian sat above him, perched in the window, with his attention shifting to the city beyond. Loki rested on the ground next to the sleeping child, tail lazily sweeping across the floor. Hadrian eyed the two of them with a gentle smile.

'It's odd,' Being able to talk to a child, to speak to Teddy, was an experience he hadn't had in a long time. He couldn't remember the last time someone had seen him, the last time a living mortal had touched him. 'Is it his magic that allows him to see me? Is that why? Normal humans can't see me, but Teddy can…'

Hadrian leaned his forehead against the wall, verdant-irises glowing, softly, as he watched the sun begin to rise.

Author's Note

Chapter two of 'Faded Memories' has ended. Took me forever to write it, really. I wasn't all that sure what I wanted to do with it, yet I also knew I had to do something because I couldn't just leave it be. So this part of the story was born, here and ready for anyone who wants to read it. I don't have all that much to say this time around, so I'll leave this here.

I hope those who read this enjoyed it and, as always, I hope to see what you think!