Chapter 17: The Voids

Felix woke to sunlight and open space—nothing but clear sky and snow-capped mountains around him.

And the mystery stranger lounging in an armchair across from the couch where Felix was sprawled, his face solemn. It was then he realized he was in a mountain home, with a balcony that gave him that view which put even his tower's balcony to shame.

He swallowed, and the stranger whipped towards him. No kindness in his eyes. Nothing but unending, icy rage.

But he blinked, and it was gone, replaced by relief and exhaustion.

And pale sunlight was apparent on the homey wooden floors... dawn. It was dawn. He didn't want to think about how long he had been unconscious in a stranger's home.

"What happened?" He asked, voice hoarse. As if he'd been screaming.

"You were screaming," he replied, "You managed to scare the shit out of everyone. Oh, I'm Dorian, I know your grandparents."

"Which side of the family?"

"Don't know your maternal grandmother, but I know the other three. Kelly and I were very close." Felix brightened, because if his grandpa trusted this man, then he was safe. And now it made sense why Dorian would come to save him. Though he did wonder why he had never heard of him before. But...

"Do I have to go back? I want to see my parents again, but they might..."

"Oh, don't worry. I let it slip to your mother what's been really happening with you. Since Valeria isn't around anymore to drug you when family visits—you're welcome—that's happening, and I feel like you don't want to see that."

"Wait, you're the one who murdered Valeria brutally!?"

"No, I sent Luci to do it."

"Luci?"

"My giant dire wolf."

"Dire wolf?"

"Did you not see what Luci did? Did that not look dire to you? But anyway, you don't have to go back unless you want to."

Felix made himself ignore the fact he was staring at the man who had gruesomely murdered his almost mother-in-law, "I have nowhere to go right now." It was both a question and a plea.

Dorian waved a hand, letting his wings out, letting Felix get jealous, "Stay here for however long you want. Stay forever, if you want, and become one of my Voids."

"Void?" He vaguely remembered Kyra mentioning it.

"Irrelevant right now."

Felix, for right now, decided to accept that answer, "I—I need to go back at some point. I want to see my parents again and Hatsune."

"Say the word, and it's done."

"I'm not going back," Felix said meekly, "Not until things are figured out. Maybe I'm a coward for not wanting to be there, but..."

Dorian grabbed a mug of hot tea and handed it to him, "Drink it."

Felix took the mug, letting its warmth soak into his stiff fingers. Dorian watched him as he took a sip, and then went back to brewing something in a small cauldron on his stove. He took another sip—peppermint.

When the mug was half-finished, Felix fished for something, anything, to keep the silence at bay. "Your wings... they're beautiful."

Dorian turned, blushing a little, "Thanks. This isn't their normal state, but I can change it, so I did. Yours are lovely too." He took the thing off the cauldron and put it in a bottle, "You've been going to Amenity to fix your wings?"

"Y-Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I recognize her magical signature. She's one of the best healers in the multiverse, but there are some things even she cannot fix..." he bowed his head, "You're lucky that it will just take time."

"What did you need to be healed?" Dorian bowed his head, pulling down the collar of his shirt to reveal black veins leading to his heart,

"A curse than runs through my veins, destroying my mind. But..." he laughed hollowly, "Maybe me losing myself was a good thing. After all, if I was a sane man, I wouldn't have forced your grandfather to leave me. We could have been happy together, but your mother and aunts wouldn't exist."

Felix gasped as he was shown a memory, and saw his grandfather looking up at Dorian with loving eyes before they locked lips.

"Huh, Pops was bisexual. Learn something new every day," Felix couldn't say he was surprised, because something about his maternal grandfather had always had that vibe, but he was confused as to why his grandfather's ex-boyfriend would be helping him. Fortunately, he was powerful enough to recognize that it was a real memory. He stood up once he finished his drink, "Thank you for the drink. But why are you helping me?"

Dorian smiled softly, "I know what it's like to be forced into a position you don't want to be in." He looked down at Felix's dead wings, "I can heal those if you want."

Felix brightened visibly, grateful to this man already for getting him out of the palace, but then he narrowed his eyes, "But you said Amenity would need to take time."

"Yeah, Amenity would, but that's because she doesn't use the darker arts like I do. Besides, if she says no to using riskier methods to get faster results, you're asking the wrong person."

Even though he wanted to jump on this opportunity as fast as possible, first, he needed to be sure, "Do you have any references of others you've healed?"

"Um... none who are around right now." He looked around, walking out of the room, before coming back, "Oh, wait, I've got references from this one glove I found on my bathroom floor. I'm not kidding. That's actually terrifying. I literally don't know whose this is. Somebody might be living in my house watching me—it's wet."

Felix giggled, "You're definitely Pops' boyfriend."

"Ex. I made him leave me, right before he got banished to Earth, go figure." He shrugged, "Anyway, are you going to accept my offer."

Even if Felix was a little too trusting, he wasn't stupid, "What's the catch?"

"You have to be one of my Voids, which basically means we have a connection and occasionally do jobs for me. In exchange, you get one hell of an upgrade." He opened his hand, and Felix saw a glowing form in Dorian's palm in his shape, flying, "But if you betray me," he clenched his fist and the figure's wings vanished, and it fell to the ground and turned to mist, "Say goodbye to those wings of yours."

"Void... that won't get in the way of living a life with my family and Hatsune, right?"

"As a Void, those you care for will be in no danger from me." He then smirked a little, grabbing Felix and diving out the window and into the sky, where there were still some stars out since the sun was barely above the horizon. It should be freezing up here, but Felix found himself unbothered as he relished the feeling of the wind in his hair. "Will you accept? This is your last chance to go back."

Go back? No way, not even worth considering. I've got nothing to lose if he's really so special to Pops.

"Dorian, I accept. Just make the tattoo easy to hide."

"Oh, Felix, this deal doesn't require that." Dorian purred, luring Felix into a sense of security, "But since you've agreed." His eyes lit up and took a hint of turquoise. Felix was unaware his own eyes were entirely turquoise with black swirls at the moment, as he screamed, his wings coming to life and spreading wide.

And then he was falling.

He felt very content as he felt the wind blowing against him, through his hair, and beneath his wings. He felt tears in his eyes as he saw them flapping in a way they hadn't in three years. Once tattered and torn, now they were even better than before, in perfect condition.

He looked down and saw the mountains below him, "We're... flying."

Dorian appeared next to him, grinning, "You're flying."

Felix giggled and whooped with mad delight as he raced across the dawning sky, not noticing Dorian slow and smirk evilly.

"Thanks, Gem," Dorian whispered to the sky lovingly, even if there was malice there too, "For teaching me how to be good with people."

OoOoO

Quantic Jared took a couple samples of blood from Amhar, taken aback by the silver color it was, like quicksilver. He was shocked, really, that not only was Amhar talking a little, but the truth of the parent also had gone well. Hana sure saw it as a relief.

He looked at the blood, deciding to shake it, and it lit up. Amhar looked up at it, "Glowstick?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He looked down at it, "Amhar, are you sure you're okay with trying this?" When they learned from Eden that Amhar had inherited the power to revive the dead, they thought that maybe he would be able to heal Roxas of the poison in his system.

Amhar nodded, unhooking himself from the other machines he had been attached to while running additional tests. He bounced up and waited for Jared to be ready to go, hugging his torso, which brought a smile to the young man's face as they walked to Roxas' room, where he was writing on the bed, whimpering. Eli was sitting next to him, holding him in his arms as he cried.

"Daddy, it hurts, please make it stop."

"I know it hurts, honey," Eli soothed, "Jared and Harry are doing everything they can to help you." He looked up, "Jared, thank god, whatcha got there?"

"Amhar's blood. We're trying to see if his blood has healing properties too." Eli looked at the blood and to Roxas,

"Sweetheart, do you want to try that?" Roxas looked up through half-lidded eyes, touching his father's hand, nodding. So Jared walked over and gently poured the substance into Roxas's mouth. The young boy coughed as he slowly swallowed, but he did relax before falling asleep.

Eli looked up, "I'll let you know if his fever breaks. Poisoning from the phoenix eye means that magic may not heal him, but we'll see. At least it's eased his pain. Hopefully, we'll find a solution that doesn't involve sucking Amhar dry."

"Right." Jared sighed, disappointed it hadn't worked, and left, seeing Amhar running around with the fairies around him. Kaylee appeared next to him,

"Jared, Felix is gone." She said in a panic, "Zoe's off screaming at Amaya and probably murdering her. Frankly, seeing as I was told she locked Felix in his room, and now he got stolen, I needed to be held back by Hatsune. So, Jared, I need you to tell me where Dorian lives since obviously he's the one who kidnapped Felix."

"Kaylee, no!" Jared insisted, "Do you not remember than Dorian can destroy people?"

"I remember, and I also remember I can beat him."

"No, Kaylee, you can't. If he was going to fight without magic? Sure, but he's strong. I've been asking Harrison and Amelia, and they call him the apex predator." But Kaylee was clearly not listening, holding his shoulders,

"Jared, who knows what he could be doing to Felix."

Jared sighed, relenting at the desperate look in her eyes, "Fine. Dorian's on Zhisfire."

"Thank you." She hugged him, "I'll be back."

Jared already knew this was a terrible idea and had no idea what possessed him to tell her. He already knew she was done for, and realized how badly he'd messed up and raced faster than should be possible after her, running across the water and barely noticing the water turn to solid metallic hydrogen under his feet. He jumped into the air as she hopped into her ship, wings erupted out of his back in a white avian rainfall since he hadn't bothered to change them back from the snowy owl form they had taken while saving himself from Dorian.

Kaylee was almost off Alynthi, but he didn't care, fully ready to chase after her. He felt himself shift into his Fae form, feeling actually like he was worth something, was powerful, entering the Lanes Between and feeling no pain. He could see worlds and stars in space with no fear of dying. But he was more focused on his sister, diving after her, just in time to see something he did not believe as the ship Kaylee was in exploded.

"Kaylee!" He was looking around in the exploded debris for her and was shocked to see Felix flying down as well—actually flying. He was fine, maybe Dorian hadn't kidnapped him after all.

Felix was the one to find Kaylee, and she was not in good condition, burned up but also struggling to breathe in the Lanes Between unprotected.

Felix pulled her close and rushed down to Alynthi, and Jared was shaking as he wondered if he had been the one to make the ship explode, accidentally using his powers and turning something into something else.

"Grim!" He called, and Grim appeared, looking confused,

"Okay, so what are we doing in the Lanes Between?"

"Is it possible for me to use my powers and cause a ship to blow up?"

"Yeah, but the same can be said for pretty much all of the stone wielders, why?"

Jared paled, leaving the council member in the dust, making sure to check on Kaylee, instantly hating himself, thinking he was the one to blow up the ship.

When he landed, Amhar was working to heal her, the burns already healing, but she was still not in good shape. Felix was carrying her bridal style, keeping her covered with his wings since her clothes had burned away.

Aelin came running out, "Felix! You're here! And your wings!"

"I know." Felix replied simply, "Come on, even if her burns are healed, who knows what she inhaled." He carried her limp and unconscious body to Harrison, and Jared waited an hour for a verdict when his basically adopted father came out.

"She'll live. Right now, I'm to get the swelling in her brain to go down, so she's unconscious and will be for a while since she's in a drug-induced coma just until her brain recovers. But I can guarantee that unless someone sabotages, she will be okay."

"I-If Amhar hadn't healed her," he looked a the floor, "Would she still be..."

"Can't say, I didn't see what state she was in then. But I'm actually glad Amhar didn't try to use magic on her brain, who knows what that would have caused."

Jared sighed, knowing Kaylee wasn't going to be happy with having someone use magic to heal her, but she had been on the brink, and frankly, he would rather she live than respect her wishes.

"She doesn't like having magic used on her, so no more magic unless her life depends on it."

"Wasn't planning to." Harrison sent Jared a worried look, "Kid, are you okay? Listen, this isn't your fault."

"How can you say that?" He asked through tears, "You built that ship, so you of all people should know there is no other explanation! What, are you saying that Dorian came and ruined the ship? He clearly didn't kidnap Felix, so he has no reason to!"

He ran off, and into Alexa's startled arms, hyperventilating.

"I-It's my fault!" He gasped out, hugging her and trying to calm himself. He relaxed when she sat down with him, running her hands through his hair,

"Shh, it's okay, just relax, and everything will be okay."

Everything went black.

...

Dorian walked over to his adopted daughter as the young stone wielder in her arms seemed to lose all the fire in him. His eyes lost focus, and he didn't show any human reaction. He frowned because that wasn't supposed to be one of Alexandrina's—he finally remembered her name—powers.

"Well, I didn't think you could sedate him that fast." He mused, "Why did you call me here? I didn't even know you could do that." Alexandrina brightened, standing up with Jared, whose eyes were empty and unfocused, and the lighting made them look black.

"Dad, take a good look at Jared here."

"What about him? Hello~" he waved his hand in front of Jared's face, before looking to Alexandrina, "Is he okay? I mean, no, he's not, but why?"

"He's so cute like this!" She took both of Jared's limp hands and danced around with him, "He's perfect."

Dorian's eyes widened as he realized it was very possible his own insanity and inherited Blackwell crazy had rubbed off on her, "Hello. I did not expect this."

Alexandrina held Jared's face, pointing it at Dorian, "Dad, meet my project! In this state, Jared can only listen and react to me. So—what do you think?"

Dorian looked Jared up and down, a small smirk on his face, "Show me how far you've come in this little project."

She nodded, clearly delighted. "Jared, hand." Jared gave Alexandrina his hand, "Do a backflip." He did a backflip, "Now, say you love me with a smile."

Jared beamed, "I love you, Alexa!" Alexandrina hummed, leaning close,

"Now, kiss me."

Dorian's eyes widened as Jared passionately obeyed. He saw Alexandrina beam, practically giving Jared heart eyes, "Me too! I love you too, Jared!" She turned back to Dorian, "So, don't you agree my precious toy is adorable?

"Okay, how did you do that? I'm impressed, don't get me wrong, but how is this possible without the auto-kill kicking in? Hypnosis?"

"I've tried multiple tactics, subtly, but the best one I've discovered is to eradicate his most precious person, or it happens to him on its own with nightmares. He's vulnerable enough during that time Kaylee is gone, to run into my waiting, loving, arms."

"Ah, so you're the reason the ship blew up. I was curious about that," Dorian's smirk was serpentine, "I have to say, I'm proud."

"That's not the best part!" Alexa was jumping up and down with glee, "Kaylee's near-death which he blames himself for was the final piece. Now, I am confident that even the slightest of hardships will cause him to turn weak, and he's more dependant on me than ever. Add in your influence, and he's putty in our hands."

"That certainly explains why this process is a whole lot faster than anticipated. Dragonfly, I am a very proud father right now. But tell me, how did Kaylee not catch on to this? She's an analytical prowess. Not to mention the others, who you've kept up the facade for."

"Kaylee is rarely around me, and all she ever sees is a woman who doesn't understand friendship and looks to Jared for help. I'm too good at keeping up the mask, sometimes I even fool myself. Besides, she's never around me for long enough for me to say much of anything. The others think I can be trusted since I saved Jared and Eli's lives during the Tragedy. But in truth, I just pulled Eli inside since I didn't want him luring out monsters, and as for Jared..." she giggled, "To answer your question, either I am too perfect, or they are too stupid. My bet's on both."

"Okay..." Even Dorian felt a little unnerved, "Why are you so obsessed with Jared? I mean, it helps my plans, so I'm not judging you, but I am curious."

"Reason? How about I ask you a question instead: do you need a reason to love someone? I love Jared! If you could have your loved one all to yourself, having them depend solely on you and follow your orders, anyone would have done the same!"

Dorian fought the urge to shake his head because he loved Kelly, and because of that wanted him to have his own free will—not that he would be complaining if that free will led to them uniting.

"I have to admit," Alexandrina continued, "that's part of the reason I went after Kaylee now since Felix isn't gone any more. She was really getting on my nerves, and anyone who could help Jared get over his mental state must be eliminated."

"Why do you love Jared?" Dorian crossed his arms, trying to see what made her love him, to see how this could benefit his plans.

"Well, actually because he was the first conscious guy to try being my friend. But I was attracted to him from the moment I first laid eyes on him and knew I wanted him to be mine. That face of his back then, all bloody and scared and helpless—was the face of an angel more precious and adorable than anything I had ever seen! Was that the face you saw in me that night years ago, because I understand now if it was." She sighed dreamily, "Since you attacked him, Jared turned into an extraordinarily passive and weak state whenever he is mentally or physically backed into a corner. And it was so amazing how it showed itself after you saved him from suicide—but the look on his face as he got ready to pull the trigger, oh, I get goosebumps from thinking about it! Since then, I've started to train my little puppy." She petted Jared's hair. "I don't know exactly why, but whenever he's in this puppet-like state, he does everything perfectly. No complaints, no reactions, like controlling a game avatar. The first time I saw it in that warehouse that night after you saved him, might have been the happiest moments of my entire life! It only lasted a short time, but as the nightmares grew worse, and then Kaylee collapsed when you called for her, it started lasting longer and longer. After this, I'm pretty sure I can switch it on and off whenever I'd like to."

She gasped as Dorian hugged her, "My girl, there's something I need you to do. After that, we can be together as a family."

"Anything for you, Dad."

It took every ounce of willpower Dorian had to not laugh.