A/N- Alright, I'm not really happy with this chapter, because I think it could've been better, but... *shrug* It's the best version of the chapter I've written, and I don't think I can write it again without my brain exploding/imploding/turning to mush. It's also a little shorter then my usual chapters, though I'll try and make the next one longer.
If there are any questions anyone has, either leave them in a review or send me a message, and I'll be sure to let you know. Thank you!
"Dave, Dave, Dave," Balthazar shook his head in mock disappointment. "I thought we were staying in together tonight?"
Dave gave him a dry look. "I thought you had to get my anti-itch cream, Uncle Balthazar."
The older man quirked an eyebrow in his direction.
"Sir, you can't be in here," Melanie scowled, standing up and stalking over to him as she ignored their exchange. Poking his chest threateningly, her scowl deepened when Balthazar's expression didn't change.
"You would've been better off with the blond waitress, Dave," Balthazar informed him, ignoring the woman's presence.
"I think I'd be better off without women in general, Balthazar."
"Did your parents hate you or something?" Melanie turned to Balthazar, snorting. "Seriously; 'Balthazar'? What kind of name is that?"
"A damn awesome one, if I do say so myself," Balthazar smirked, strutting past her. Taking his place behind Dave, he grinned. "Now I'll make this clear in nice, easy terms for you, Melanie. Dave didn't kill his parents, he doesn't know who killed his parents, and he doesn't have any useful information for your investigation. I was with him all of yesterday, and I was with him at the time of their murder."
Melanie glared, crossing her arms. "Whatever you say, old guy, but, if you haven't noticed, we can't just take your word for it. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave and wait for one of my coworkers to take you into another room and question you."
Balthazar shrugged, feigning a casual mood. Placing a hand on Dave's hand and squeezing reassuringly, he used his other hand to shove an object into the other male's pocket. He patted the pocket to draw Dave's attention to it, light enough Dave felt it, but not hard enough for him to look down.
"Relax, Dave," Balthazar murmured when he felt the thumping heartbeat of his apprentice. "Everything will be fine. You haven't done anything wrong. You just need to answer their questions, and then we'll go home."
Dave nodded, biting his lip. Balthazar took a moment to run his hands through Dave's hair soothingly, before reluctantly stepping away, stalking out the door after shooting a glare at Melanie.
Melanie followed Balthazar outside for a moment, giving Dave a chance to discreetly take the object Balthazar had slipped him out of his jeans. Puzzled, he placed it on the table, observing it from all angles.
It was a gold chain, with a simple charm on the end of it. The charm was of a gold cube, nothing more, nothing less. Dave clasped the necklace around his neck with a shrug. Balthazar wouldn't of given him something like that if it would hurt him. Maybe it meant something, maybe it was just a random gift, or maybe it was a complete other thing. Dave trusted Balthazar, though.
His attention was brought away from his thoughts as the door opened.
"How the hell did you come across that guy?" Melanie raised an eyebrow in Dave's direction as she stalked back in. Dave flushed, shrugging.
"Pure coincidence."
Balthazar tipped the chair he was sitting on up, placing his feet on the table. With his head tilted back so he was gazing up at the ceiling, he crossed his arms, waiting for whoever was going to question him.
Outwardly, he was cool and collected. His countenance showed none of the turmoil flying through his rapidly moving thoughts.
In hindsight, committing murder at two in the morning in a fit of blind rage wasn't the best way to keep Dave safe. It definitely sated his anger; But if he had the sense to leave them alive, he probably could have saved both himself and his apprentice a lot of future problems.
Unfortunately, Balthazar had, in probably the first time in decades, let his temper reign over him and allow him to do something very... stupid. While a lot of times, he didn't think ahead or about the consequences of some of his actions, he usually did his best to keep himself from doing something very stupid.
Needless to say, he had spent a few minutes banging his head off of a wall while Dave was at school.
He didn't regret killing them. They needed to be out of Dave's life. The only way to fully assure himself that Dave would be able to move on with his life without his parents dragging him down was to take them out of the picture permanently. Even with their deaths, the trauma they had already cause his apprentice would take time, patience, and compassion to help him heal. They had already done so much damage, and Balthazar wasn't willing to let them get away with their crime.
Balthazar had no illusions about what he did. It was wrong. It was so, so wrong. Rarely in his thousand-plus years of living had he been forced to kill someone. It was even more uncommon for him to kill a person without being provoked or without a choice. He wasn't a stranger to death; Not by any stretch of the imagination. Whether he was the cause of it or not, whether he was the killer or just a witness, it wasn't a foreign concept. He knew death pretty well for being an almost-immortal.
Really, the only reason why Balthazar might lose some sleep over their deaths, was because he was apprehensive about Dave's reaction. He didn't want to lose his apprentice because of those people. He didn't want their corpses to drive a wedge betwixt them.
He just found Dave. He couldn't lose him because of a brief lapse in judgment on his part. After centuries of searching, he couldn't -wouldn't!- let the boy out of his grasp.
Balthazar, when Merlin gave him the task of finding the Prime Merlinian in his dying breath, was not thrilled. He had never planned on taking an apprentice; It just never appealed to him. However, he understood that Morgana needed to be conquered. The grimhold was a temporary solution, he knew that the second that he captured Veronica and Morgana.
He had searched rigorously, in spite of his reluctance. In his mind, he had imagined his apprentice would be an awful brat. A dim-witted, rude, obnoxious child were only a few of the traits Balthazar had assumed the Prime Merlinian would hold.
It was the one time that he was ecstatic at being wrong.
When he met Dave, when the boy was only ten, he could tell he was smart, and good at heart. When he met Dave again, ten years later, he was impressed. The younger male had, of course, been confused and short-tempered, not that Balthazar blamed him. Balthazar had essentially thrown him into a battle Dave had no idea about; He had almost expected Dave's reaction, based on his personality.
He didn't blame Dave for being reluctant to learn about magic, either. Balthazar had grown up knowing sorcery and magic was real, without a doubt. Merlin had essentially raised him after his parents abandoned him, and, well, he was Merlin. Balthazar had watched Merlin do spells on a daily basis for most of his life. He had started reading the Incantus the moment he learned the alphabet. Dave hadn't.
Dave had grown up learning science and math. Balthazar didn't think Dave was one of those children that believed in all of their hearts that some magical being would come and sweep them off of their feet, letting them save the world. It was just Dave's luck that he had been dragged into almost every kid's dream. A wizard, coming up to you and saying that you were able to use magic and had to save the world? What child didn't want that kind of life? (Other then Dave, of course.)
Balthazar's eyes turned towards the door as it swung open, revealing a young, brown-haired, blue-eyed man. He looked overly confident like most of the people Balthazar had come across in the building when he first came in.
"Mr. Blake, my name's Jeremy Griffith," He introduced himself, taking a seat across from the sorcerer. "I'm going to have to ask you a few questions-"
"Before we begin with all of this," Balthazar interrupted, eyes narrowing. He leaned forward and said quietly, "Dave just found out about his parents' deaths not even an hour ago. I want to be alerted immediately if he starts to have an emotional breakdown or anything of the sort and be taken to him right away, Mr. Griffith. Can you let Melanie What's-Her-Face know that?"
Jeremy eyed Balthazar, visibly disbelieving and surprised by the man's concern, only nodded. Pulling out his phone, he dialed a number. The phone rang, able to be heard throughout the almost empty, silent room.
"Melanie? It's Jeremy. The guy you just shoved in here with me says that if the Stutlers' kid starts freaking out or crying or something to call me so we can get him back in there to calm him down. Alright?"
Melanie must have said something that Jeremy took as a yes, for he shut the phone closed and leaned back in his seat.
"I'll try and make this quick, Mr. Blake. I don't wanna be here anymore then you do, man." Jeremy bluntly stated. "We'll start with the easy questions. How do you know the deceased?"
"I don't."
"Then why the hell are you here and wasting my time?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow.
"I know their son. I came here to make sure that he wasn't falsely arrested. I was with him all of last night, so he couldn't of killed his parents. Easy as that." Balthazar toyed with the rim of his hat, taking it off of his head.
"Why were you with him last night?"
"We room together in a house near the suburbs, boy." Balthazar snorted, rolling his eyes at the investigator's suspicious tone. "His parents didn't exactly help pay for anything. I met Dave almost a year ago and we moved in together a little while back. I pay most of the expenses; He cooks, cleans, and does jobs for me when I'm busy."
Jeremy shot him an incredulous look. "How the hell did that arrangement happen? I would of thought the kid would want to live somewhere where he could impress the ladies."
Balthazar rolled his eyes. "Have you seen Dave?" He asked rhetorically. "He isn't exactly a womanizer. A great, wonderful kid, don't get me wrong. Extremely sweet, extremely sensitive. But also, a very big physics nerd. Girls just can't keep up with his intellect. Plus, Dave himself just went through a pretty rough break up. He's staying away from relationships, for now."
I hope.
Inwardly gagging at his gossiping tone, Balthazar forced himself to retain a casual, innocent posture and voice. Talk about normal things, he reminded himself. Let him think that you're just a casual, friendly person.
"That doesn't explain why you and him are living together, though." Jeremy reminded the other man, looking extremely bored.
Balthazar shrugged. "Someone needs to be there for Dave. I've grown fond of the kid."
He wouldn't be surprised if that was the biggest understatement of the millennium.
"We can't let you leave yet," Jeremy explained to Balthazar as they walked out of the room they had just spent an hour talking in. "You or Dave. Something came up in the case, so we have to keep all potential subjects in our view."
Balthazar shot Jeremy an incredulous look that mimicked the one the investigator had been using throughout their entire "conversation". "Why?"
"Like I said, something came up and there's a chance that we'll have more questions after we analyze what we found. It's easier keeping you two here then driving you back and forth. Feel free to walk around and grab something to eat from the vending machine, just don't leave the building."
Balthazar closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. "Fine. Whatever." He was tired and more then ready to go home. After an hour of talking like an gossiping old woman, his anxiety was starting to grow.
What if Dave found out? What if Dave didn't forgive him? What if Dave left? What if Dave-?
Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes. He snorted in disgust, directed towards himself. What kind of master was he if he was doubting his apprentice's loyalty? Dave had taken an oath after Morgana's death that he would stay with Balthazar until he was finished learning. Dave would understand, and everything would be fine and back to normal between the two of them.
Hopefully.
"There is no way that half of those questions were necessary," Dave groaned, slamming the front door behind him and Balthazar as they walked inside. "No possible way..."
"It could have been worse," Balthazar reminded him, kicking his shoes off and taking his leather jacket off with a shrug.
Dave stared at him blankly. "Five hours. I was forced to sit in that room for five hours since I was their only suspect. I'm starving and tired."
Balthazar slapped his back, forcing cheerfulness into the move. "Well, look at it this way. We're home now, you can grab something to eat before going to bed, and I'm fairly sure that your teachers won't be too mad if you miss classes tomorrow."
The apprentice shot Balthazar a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Your parents just died, David," Balthazar said slowly, making sure Dave heard each syllable. "Did you miss what those five hours of being questioned was for?"
Dave turned away suddenly, his back to Balthazar as he made his way into the kitchen.
"O-of course not. I-I was just... I wasn't really thinking about why I was there, I-I was trying to ignore everything." Dave laughed, scuttling around as he searched for something to eat. Opening cabinets, eyes not really taking in anything he was looking at, he continued to babble meaninglessly. "I-it was a lot easier to answer the questions without thinking about why I had to answer them, and it w-was-"
His hands were captured by Balthazar's, stopping his frantic hunt for a distraction. Balthazar's hands were cold around Dave's, his thumbs rubbing circles soothingly.
"Dave. Breathe." Balthazar commanded quietly, pulling him over to the couch. "Just breathe for a little while. Don't worry about anything. Focus on breathing. Because you really, really just need to relax."
"But-"
"Dave." His tone was sharper this time, like when he was teaching him a spell and was telling him to do it again. "Relax. We can talk in the morning. We can work everything out. Everything will be fine."
It was painful, seeing Dave gaze up at Balthazar with such a lost look. He really didn't know what to do, and Balthazar felt a pang of guilt run through him.
This was his fault. It was his fault that Dave was confused, that Dave was hurting...
For once, it wasn't one of those times where it wasn't really his fault, he was just thinking it was. It really, truly, honest-to-God, was his fault. He'd be damned, though, if he didn't try to make it better.
Dave wasn't his first priority, he thought as he used a mild charm to calm the younger male down. He was his only priority.
A small, sad grin played itself out on his lips as Dave sat down on the couch, leaning back and rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Balthazar may not admit it out loud. Dave may not admit it out loud or mentally. They both knew, though, that they needed each other.
Balthazar needed Dave's companionship and attention. Dave needed Balthazar's understanding and guidance.
And now...
Neither had anyone else. They were all each other had left.
A/N- Like I said, not my favorite chapter, and not as long as my other chapters, but I hope it appeases you guys for now. I'm always open to everyone's opinions, so please review if you can! Thank you!