Baz was crying. So was Simon. Baz was shaking. So was Simon. Baz finally fell to his knees, pulling the sword of mages, now stuck in his gut, down with him and out of Simon's hands. He let out one last shuddering breath and fell forward, now dead to the world. Simon didn't move. For a while he just stood, trembling, crying, and watching the snow before him slowly turn a bright red. And he kept watching Baz not move, not get back up. The forest around them was silent. Until Simon let out a guttural sound half way between a laugh and a sob. He reached up into his hair with both hands and grabbed tightly, wincing at the pain and taking a step back. He moved his hands down to his ears. He swore he could still hear Baz's voice. Simon, Simon…Simon! Snow! SIMON FUCKING SNOW! Then the world went black.
-0-0-0-
"SIMON FUCKING SNOW!" cried Baz, shaking Simon.
Oh god what happened!? What if he doesn't wake up! Oh gods Simon don't you dare do this to me…
Baz let out a sigh when Simon's eyes fluttered open. He was caked in sweat and tears and was still trembling violently. His pupils were pinpricks.
"B-Baz?" he whimpered, still looking confused. Baz took both of Simon's hands in his own, kissing the palms.
"Yes, Love. I'm right here-"he got out before Simon lunged forward, burying his head into Baz's shoulder, body ravaged with sobs. Baz placed a hand carefully on Simon's back, just where his spine was.
"Simon, Love, what is it?" he cooed, trying to sound as calm as he didn't feel. Simon didn't answer, just kept trembling, coughing out the occasional sob. Baz took Simons shoulders and pulled him off, moving his hands to his flushed cheeks.
"Simon, please, what happened?" by now Baz's stomach was twisting itself into nervous knots. Simon took a deep breath and swallowed.
"I-it was j-just another nightmare" he said shakily. Baz looked unconvinced.
"Simon, I've known you for so many years. I know how you react to 'just another nightmare', ad that wasn't it. I know how to pull you back from the edge, but this time I couldn't. That wasn't just anything"
Simon sighed again, this time in defeat. "I-I can't…" he mumbled, more tears blossoming forth to replace the others. Baz wiped them away with a cool finger.
"You can"
And that was all Simon needed to launch into his story.
"I still don't really know what happened, or why I reacted so badly, but I…I think I killed you…" he forced out. Baz's mouth was a stiff line, his eyes reflecting worry and fear.
"Simon…" he started, but couldn't find the right words to say. "You didn't. I'm right here, see? I'm fine, you're fine, and we're all fine"
"Agatha's not" Simon pointed out. Baz bit his lip and rolled his eyes.
"Fine. I'm fine and you're fine"
"Thanks" whispered Simon, leaning into Baz's chest and falling into that black oblivion we call sleep.
-0-0-0
"Penny?"
"Baz?"
"Yeah"
"My gods Baz it's three o' clock what happened this time?"
"I'm not actually sure. But, it's Simon…"
"OH DEAR GOD WHAT HAPPENED"
Baz winced and pulled the phone away from his ear.
"He's fine! Calm down! He's sleeping now. But, he had a nightmare or something…"
"Basilton, he's always had nightmares."
"Don't call me that. And this time it was different. I usually know how to pull him back, but this time I just…couldn't. It was worse. He was screaming and crying and trembling and he wouldn't wake up. It took me a few minutes to even be able to make him open an eye. And it took him a really long time to calm down. He was just sobbing and shaking for a while"
"Yeah, that does sound worse than usual. Did anything...happen?"
"Other than him practically giving me a goddamned heart attack? No-"
"I meant, well, he didn't go off, did he?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Baz, did he?"
"Sort of, kind of, I don't know" Baz growled, snapping the pencil he had been holding. He cursed and reached for a new one, twirling it between his long fingers.
"How do you not know?" Penny asked shrilly.
"It was like him going off, but smaller. There was a faint red haze, but nothing was burning. And I could feel the magic coming off of him. But it didn't feel like his magic. It was different. His magic feels like fire. This felt like a block of ice had settled itself in my abdomen. Penny, is it possible that his magic changed?"
"What? No!"
"But Penny-"
"Baz, that's unheard of!"
"So is he! So was the Humdrum! Penelope you can't honestly think that unheard of is a valid reasoning for something to not be possible!"
"...that's true, I guess, but still,"
"Penny, seriously. I-I don't think we should tell him he went off-"
"Agreed"
"Wait, really?
"Yes. If he knew that, though he was a danger, it would destroy him. Literally"
"Yeah...that's what I was thinking"
"Okay, well we can't do anything now. Go sleep. You'll need your energy for tomorrow"
"Hah, yeah, that should be fun. Good night"
"Night."
-0-0-0-
The next day Baz, Simon, and Penny met at Penny's apartment around 5:00. They were sitting around a table, tea in hands. Maps of Watford dominated most of the room.
"How about here…" Penny wondered out loud, pointing at a small clearing in the woods. Baz pressed his eyebrows together and made a path through Watford using his eyes.
"That might just work" he said thoughtfully. Penny beamed.
"So she works here" he pointed to a small square on the map. "And she lives here…" he dragged his finger across the beige paper to a small cluster of rooms. "And we know she leaves the school every weekend and enters the forest here" more dragging across wrinkled paper. Penny nodded more. Baz sat back in his chair and sighed.
"Well than, that's it. Tonight, we strike"
A/N: Yay! Hiatus is over! Sorry for the long, long wait guys! Check out a new story I just posted, Violin Lessons, if you haven't already. As an apology, here's an awkward story of mine: My school is doing this thing where we can send a flower to our friends for Valentine's day, and I was going to write one to my crush from Anonomys, but people were watching me, so I put my actual name and instead of writing something sweet, I just wrote: God this was a waste of my money… And this is why I'm alone. Thanks for 3,000 views! I love you guys!