Chapter Three: The Sky Is Falling
(In which everyone does their best, but nothing makes sense and there really isn't any time for proper explanations.)
Javier wasn't entirely sure how, but he was convinced this whole thing was Castle's fault. Until the writer had shown up, his career had been blessedly free of ridiculous things—things like goddamned jungle cats showing up where they honest to God did not belong. As if the tiger those rednecks had smuggled into the city hadn't been absurd enough. And right now Javier had no idea how it was possible for a freaking panther to be running loose in upstate New York, and to be quite honest he didn't really care...
He just really wished it had occurred to him to bring his gun.
His spirited dash across the open field might have made his instructors back in basic very proud. Still, the uneven landing after he vaulted the short wall surrounding it had almost turned his ankle and dropped him on his ass. In that split-second of instability Javier had experienced possibly one of the most intense moments of fear he could ever remember...because he had been dead certain that if he went down there would be no getting up again. It was second only, perhaps, to what he had felt upon reaching the barn when he had discovered the doors needed to open outward, and he had suddenly found himself trapped—
Because by all rights it should have ended there.
Yet once it had Javier backed up against the splintery wall of the barn the thing seemed unusually content to wait. Crouched low, its eyes were locked on his, tracking his movements, its tail lashing anxiously behind it. Otherwise it was still save for the minute twitching of muscles whenever Javier made the slightest move—ready to spring, though it never did. More than once, as he had looked around desperate for some possible means of escape, it let out a loud, rumbling squall that commanded the most primitive parts of Javier's attention.
He was therefor only dimly aware of what else was going on around him—aware only that, contrary to all logical sense, they seemed to have drawn a significant crowd. Javier would definitely have been running the opposite direction if given even half a chance. That it mostly seemed to be farm animals closing in around them should have struck him as bizarre...
It would later, of course. Later—when his mind wasn't so preoccupied with the idea of very big teeth and the uncomfortable proximity thereof.
Then, during one of his very brief glances, Javier spied his partner over the crowd of animals. Kevin was staring at him with a vaguely dumbfounded expression, one which Javier thought should have been a little more panicked under the circumstances. The panther let out that warning noise again, and Javier was forced to look away. When he managed to find Kevin again he tried to call his partner's name. Fear had his voice frozen in his chest, and it took a few tries to get enough air behind it to be at all audible.
Strangely, the panther followed Javier's gaze, glancing over its shoulder toward his partner before returning its attention back to him.
Looking back, Javier would always classify this as the last time the world had made sense in any conventional meaning of the word. Nothing in his life—none of the insane mischief Castle had ever gotten up to, no moment of the mind-breaking challenge of his past two days, nor even any of the very strange happenings that would one day follow—could or would ever approach the magnitude of strain those next few moments inflicted on his sanity. And it all began with that moment when the panther managed to do something impossibly more terrifying than trying to eat him...
It spoke.
"Does this Mundy belong to you, mouthful?"
Javier's brain stalled, but apparently those words were all that was needed to startle his partner into action. Kevin waded carefully through the violently diverse herd of fauna that had gathered to watch the scene play out. Still stunned, Javier would have loved to ask his partner what was happening, but he couldn't even begin to formulate a question that held any degree of coherence.
And Kevin...didn't exactly help that.
As soon as his partner reached his side Kevin lifted a hand, cupping his face gently. His own skin was warm from exertion, slick with the sweat of fear and Kevin's palm felt cool against his cheek, but it was the gesture itself that startled Javier the most. Kevin had never touched him like that...
"Baby, what are you doing here?" Kevin asked him, looking him in the eye.
Javier was caught by the unmistakable, urgent fear pleading from his partner's eyes, which was why he didn't question the endearment, didn't flinch when Kevin's other hand slid behind his neck— Though it was perhaps only half of why he didn't fight when his partner pulled him in, bringing their mouths together in a desperate kiss.
The kiss itself was surreal enough, aggressive and messy in a way he would never have imagined Kevin's kiss would be—and he had very recently spent an embarrassing number of hours in speculation of that exact detail. Even more surreal, as it ended Javier became aware of the chorus of murmurs that had risen around them. He was suddenly reminded of the crowd that had come to surround them—animals and, now that he had a moment to finally see them, other things that his brain had too much trouble comprehending to begin to name. And the panther still waited nearby, of course, sitting now though its tail lashed unhappily as it watched them, its head tilted slightly in what almost looked like surprise.
His brain had flat out stopped working, and when Javier felt Kevin's gentle tug on his sleeve, he could think of no response but to follow.
Unfortunately, the cat had seemed to have other thoughts about their easy retreat. Whipping around in a smooth motion it easily overtook them, crouching low directly in their path.
"Let us through, Bagheera," Kevin insisted evenly.
"Don't let your years on two legs fool you into forgetting your place on the food chain," the panther warned, and Javier could hear an agitated rumble carrying beneath the words. "You still have to answer for what you've done."
Though his partner had stopped when the panther blocked their path, positioning himself between the panther and Javier, Kevin seemed oddly unintimidated.
"Then I'll answer to Rose Red," Kevin told it firmly. "Please, let us through."
The panther looked between the two of them briefly before it stalked off. The motley herd parted quickly to allow it to pass, and the last Javier saw of it was a discontented lash of its tail. Javier felt as much as saw the breath Kevin released, tension lessening in relief, though it was not banished entirely. Groping almost blindly Kevin reached behind him, slipping an arm around Javier's shoulders and dragging him in close as he directed their path through the shifting crowd around them.
As they made their way through the unnaturally diverse flock, Javier could hear an excited buzz beginning to rise amongst them. Most words were lost amongst the overwhelming hum of impossible voices, but one outburst startled Javier and had him halting in his tracks. The source of the alarm turned out to be a panicked bird of some sort.
"Treason!" It screamed, flapping and squawking hysterically, "He'll lead them all down on us! We're done for!"
Javier found himself strangely grateful for the noise, as it drew away from the mass of attention which had otherwise been focused on him. Kevin's hand tightened slightly on his shoulder as his partner urged him on.
"Ignore the chicken and get inside," a voice spoke low in his ear.
Only...that voice wasn't his partner. Turning his head slightly, Javier looked toward Kevin and saw for the first time the small mouse clinging precariously to his partner's collar.
It was wearing little overalls.
Right. Of course it was.
At the center of the farmyard there was a tall stone building, maybe two or three stories of architecture that looked vaguely old fashioned and just as vaguely out of place. When they reached the door, Kevin all but shoved him inside, closing it quickly behind them. When they were halfway up a flight of stairs the mouse suddenly hopped off his partner's shoulder onto the bannister, dashing down to have words with what Javier thought was a very confused looking badger. Kevin didn't let Javier stop, and he didn't look back.
His partner turned them toward a room off the top of the landing, some kind of guest room. Once the door fell shut behind them, Kevin released the death-grip from around Javier's shoulders. For a few moments Javier could only stand there, staring silently at the wall in front of him as Kevin started pacing. His mind was hung up on the impossible, painful task of grasping a thought—one that made sense—but the last few minutes had left him absolutely no ground to stand on.
Finally, as his partner made another restless pass across the floor of the tiny room Javier managed to latch onto something concrete.
"Kevin?" His voice was kind of weak and uncertain, but it was a start. "Kevin."
Behind him he heard Kevin's footsteps slow to a halt. Javier thought about turning around, but right now the wall was good. It was a wall. A wall busy doing...nothing unusual, which was what walls were supposed to do. Part of him was afraid that if he turned around he'd see...something. That some other crazy goddamned thing would show up and send him barreling off of whatever cliff it was his sanity was teetering on at that moment.
Though that analogy felt too generous by half.
"Kevin," he said again, slowly, trying to formulate his thoughts. Failing to find anything quite adequate to express what he was feeling he settled. "What the fuck?"
He heard Kevin's hesitation, could feel weird tension creeping into his partner as he froze. He could imagine the exact kind of deer-in-the-headlights look Kevin would be wearing with that kind of indecision. After a few moments without response Javier did turn around finally. His partner's face just as he had pictured it, eyes distant and slightly narrowed, nervousness cutting wrinkles into his forehead as Kevin chewed his lip thoughtfully. Noticing Javier's eyes on him Kevin gave a slow blink, expression turning a bit helpless as he sought the answers Javier desperately needed.
"Uh," Kevin stammered, meeting Javier's gaze with wide eyes sympathetically begging his patience. "Uh, just...give me a minute. Okay?"
Javier processed the request with a slow blink, dragging both hands over his face. He took a few slow breaths letting them fall back to his sides.
"I'm dreaming," Javier reasoned eventually, though he wasn't sure if he was telling Kevin or himself. "I'm dreaming. Or dead. I wiped out on the highway and this is some kind of weird-ass death dream..."
"You're not dead," Kevin insisted firmly, looking him in the eye. "And believe me, I want to keep it that way. If you calm down and follow my lead, that might even happen."
"Calm down?" Javier asked. He was relieved to note his voice managed to stay relatively even, almost resembling normal though nothing else did. "I'm not the one who's pacing, Kev, and you're not the one that almost got eaten by a freaking panther."
His mind stumbled over the end of that last sentence, the way he almost had earlier, and for a faltering moment there was a similar threat that it might not recover.
"I mean...that is what happened, right?" Javier asked hesitantly. "Those things down there happened. I'm not..."
His eyes slid away from Kevin's for a moment. The words hallucinating and crazy slipped in through some neglected crack in his defenses, and it was all Javier could do not to start panicking again. That fear and uncertainly must have shown, because Kevin's face abruptly softened.
"No, Javi, God no." Kevin soothed softly. "You're not—"
Kevin lifted a hand to his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze that drew Javier's eyes back to his.
"It happened," Kevin confirmed solidly with a nod. "Is happening. There are...things happening that I really don't have time to explain."
He waited a moment, eyes searching Javier's for understanding. He thought Kevin was being deliberately vague, playing it safe maybe, but even if he didn't understand what was going on he still trusted Kevin enough to accept that last without challenge.
"Okay," Javier allowed feebly, even managing a slight nod.
"Okay," Kevin said, repeating the word and even the motion almost absently. "Okay. Listen... I don't know how it's even possible for you to be here, but you've stumbled onto something you really weren't supposed to see. You're in danger, Javi, and there might be a way to get you out of it, only..."
The uncertainty that stole over Kevin's features then was a little odd, lacing strangely with the fear that had been there only a moment before.
"Only what, Kev?" Javier asked, not entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Kevin hesitated, examining Javier's face carefully, nervously. If everything else about the situation hadn't been so dire, Javier might have thought he was almost embarrassed.
"In order for my plan to work," Kevin said, "we'd kind of have to pretend we're engaged."
Javier stared.
"What?"
And Javier almost immediately wanted to apologize for the question. He knew Kevin really was doing his best to be gentle with the situation, and Javier was doing his best to understand it. In fact, he hadn't not understood, but his brain was apparently stuck in "what" mode until such time as proper answers were provided. He saw the frustration in his partner's eyes. Finally, Kevin released a huff, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck.
"Fine," he said, "I'll make this easy for you."
He couldn't quite manage to look Javier in the eye as he lowered himself to one knee.
"Javier Esposito, will you marry me?"
