Dale sighed and felt his stomach fill up with dread. He was at the naiad pond, somewhere he had refused to go since Lena had been sent there. He knew that Kendra had found some closure in talking to Lena after she'd been forced to become a naiad, but Kendra really hadn't known her nearly as long as Dale had. Lena had always been around, for as long as Dale could remember. She'd been a constant in his life, and Dale really didn't want to see her as a naiad. He had good memories of her, he didn't want those good times to be corrupted by seeing her act like someone that she wasn't.
But Dale wasn't here for himself. He was here for something even bigger than him. He crouched close to the pond, but out of arm's reach of the water. "Lena, I need to talk to you,"
There were splashes, ripples, and mutterings all across the water. He hadn't just caught Lena's attention, but that of all the naiads. He didn't care though. He wouldn't be so reckless as to go too close to the water. He knew they wouldn't reach him, that wasn't what he was nervous about. He really didn't care about himself at this moment.
Dale waited a moment, but nobody made an appearance. He felt himself becoming impatient. "Lena, I'm serious, this is important," He waited again, but still nothing happened. Dale hesitated for a moment before bringing out his trump card. If this last plan didn't look, he didn't know what would.
"Lena, it's about Warren." Almost immediately Lena poked her head out of the water. It was odd to see her look so young. It was almost like looking at a completely different person, except there was still something about her that looked distinctly 'Lena'.
"Dale, I'm surprised to see you here," Lena said, and even the way she spoke sounded wrong to Dale. He hated it and just wanted to leave right now, but he forced himself to stay. Lena may have changed, but part of her was still the Lena he knew, and part of why he was here was out of respect to that part of the woman he knew and loved. "I thought you said you were never going to come visit,"
"I did," Dale said. Ruth and Stan had both briefly tried to convince him to at least talk to Lena, say goodbye, but he'd refused and he'd made it clear that they should tell Lena as much. Apparently they had. "But things changed,"
"Warren," Lena came out of the water ever so slightly more. She seemed to be trying really hard to act like she didn't care and wasn't emotionally invested, but Dale could tell she was concerned. "Has something happened to him?"
"He's okay," Dale said. "Completely cured. He's not even albino anymore."
Lena stared at Dale in shocked silence for a long moment before her expression darkened. "If you think you can lie to try to get me to come out-"
"You think I would lie about this?" Dale scowled. The Lena he knew would know him better than that. "I'm serious, Lena, he's okay." Dale glanced back over his shoulder, towards the gated entrance where he had left Warren. "He's actually here with me."
Lena looked around and quickly noticed that Warren wasn't in sight. "Well, where is he?"
"I need to set a few ground rules first," Dale said sternly. "Warren's not going anywhere near the water, and if you try to get him to come closer, we're leaving,"
Lena sighed impatiently. She was acting a lot more like a petulant young woman than the grandmotherly figure that Dale was used to. "Yes, alright,"
"Second," Dale continued. "No mentioning anything about Patton," Lena's expression darkened. This was another thing that Dale really didn't like about Lena being a naiad again. Even just mentioning Patton seemed to rub her the wrong way. Dale wasn' afraid of her though. "I mean it. You can't say that Warren looks like Patton, or acts like him, or reminds him of you in any way." Dale had always been a little annoyed with the way that Lena occasionally compared Warren to Patton, this wasn't just because it was a mild annoyance, it was downright dangerous. Dale had heard from Lena just how angry the other naiads had been with Patton Burgess. Dale didn't want any of that anger to be projected to Warren.
"Fine," Lena said stiffly. "Now let me see Warren."
"Why are you so eager?" Dale asked in genuine confusion. Kendra had told him how Lena's view on humanity had changed. She no longer saw humans as equals. They were a little like animals in her eyes now, something to be fond of, but not get overly attached to. She was practically immortal now, humans just lived such short lives compared to her. "I thought human lives were so short, they barely mattered at all,"
"I never said that," Lena scowled. "But it's because of your short lives that I'm shockingly concerned about him. It would have been a shame if Warren had spent the rest of his life completely lost in his mind." Lena swam closer to the shore and Dale hurried to scoot back. She wasn't trying to grab him though, she just rested her elbows on the ground and leaned against it.
"I know this isn't something you'll want to hear, but if Warren couldn't be cured, I think it would have been best to put him out of his misery," Lena said in a gentle, sincere tone that just made shivers go down Dale's spine. He almost would have prefered it if Lena had sounded cold and cruel, uncaring. This tone of hers almost made it seem like she thought that Warren dying would have been a mercy.
"You," Dale growled.
"Just think about it," Lena said. "Warren's a free spirit, always has been. They way he was while cursed, he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. The only feeling he knew was fear, and he couldn't take care of his most basic need. That's no life, especially not for someone like Warren." Lena shook her head. "But if he's cured, none of that matters. He's no longer mindless, and he's able to enjoy what life he has left,"
"It matters,' Dale glared at Lena as he stood up. "And he was never mindless," Even on Warren's worst days, he was aware, at least a little bit, of what was going on around him. Dale knew that he didn't like Lena as a naiad, but now he believed he hated her. She had absolutely no right to talk about Warren in this way.
Dale stormed to the gate. He really regretted coming here, and he had half a mind to just walk out and drag Warren away right now. He knew if he did though, Warren would just come back without him, and if there was one thing that Dale wanted less than to be here with Warren so he could talk to Lena, it was to let Warren deal with her on his own.
When Dale left the pond, he found Warren waiting impatiently for him on the other side of the hedge. Warren looked up at him desperately. "Is she there?"
"She's there alright," Dale muttered. "Just...don't get your hopes up too much. Lena's not exactly herself right now."
"I still want to see her," Warren insisted, like Dale thought he would.
"I know," Dale sighed. He led Warren through the gate where they saw Lena waiting for them. She grinned when she saw them.
"I thought you weren't coming back." Lena said, she began to reach her arm out to them but stopped when she saw Dale's cold glare. This was her first and last warning. If she made even one more attempt to draw them closer to the water, they were leaving. And Dale would make sure that his brother didn't come back.
"It's against my better judgement," Dale said. He held out his arm to stop Warren a good ten feet away from the edge of the water. It was definitely farther than necessary, but Dale thought it was better to be safe than sorry. "Not a word of what we talked about earlier,"
"Of course not," Lena frowned. "Despite what you may think, Dale, I'm not cruel." Oh, Dale definitely begged to differ.
"Let's just get this over with," Dale said. Warren frowned at Dale in concern before looking back towards Lena.
"You're okay," Lena smiled. "I never thought I'd see the day." Dale stiffened. She knew that as a naiad she would outlive Warren, so she just thought that him being cured would never happen. Dale hadn't liked other people being pessimistic about Warren's recovery earlier, but after what Lena said, it made him feel sick to hear it from her. And she tried to claim that she wasn't cruel.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you as a naiad," Warren said sadly. "Honestly, I wish I never had."
"This isn't a bad thing, Warren," Lena said. She splashed the water. "I prefer my life like this,"
"You wouldn't," Warren said. "Not if you were human," Warren sighed. "I'm not here to argue with you though. I know I won't be able to change your mind about this, and you won't be able to change my mind either. That's not what I came here for,"
"He's just here to say goodbye," Dale said. "You were gone before he woke up. He deserves peace of mind," Dale sighed and glared at Lena. "And I thought the old you deserved to know his fate."
Warren grimaced and sat on the ground to bring himself closer to Lena's eye level. "For a few days after I came back, I didn't even know what happened to you," Warren said. Dale felt guilty all over again.
"We don't really like to talk about what happened to you," Dale said to Lena. They all acted like Lena had died, because she might as well have. Occasionally Dale would think that it would be kinder if Lena had died, but that was almost exactly what Lena thought about Warren's albino state, and it wasn't a thought that Dale wanted to entertain anymore.
He hated this. He hated all of this.
"I just wanted to see you," Warren said. "It took me so long to convince Dale to let me come though."
"I haven't changed my mind," Dale gave Lena a sharp look. She knew how he felt right now.
"You're...a lot different," Warren said. He had no idea, and yet Dale thought Warren was even more distressed about this whole thing than Dale was. It made sense. Lena had been around for as long as Dale could remember, but she hadn't played much of a role in raising Dale, while she'd practically been the only one around to bring Warren up. Dale understood why Warren was so upset.
"Change isn't a bad thing," Lena said. Dale scowled at her tone. He had never seen her sound more patronizing, even when she'd been dealing with a four year old Warren.
"I think this change is," Warren crossed his arms defensively. "I...I don't think I can be here for very long," Dale relaxed for the first time since they had come here. He didn't want Warren to be here at all, let alone for a long time. The sooner they got out of here, the better.
"We can go whenever you want," Dale said. He wasn't here for his own sake, but for Warren's.
"I...yeah, I want to go," Warren said with a regretful, longing look at Lena. "Please, can we just go home now?"
"I would say I hope to see you again, but we both know that your brother would never allow it," Lena said. She definitely knew Dale decently. He wasn't going to expose Warren to this mess again, and Warren hadn't even seen the worst of it.
"...I miss you," Warren said. Lena gave him a small smile.
"I miss all of you too," Lena said. "But we're where we belong now. This is what's best." Lena pushed away from the surface and slowly went back under the water.
Warren took in a shuddered breath and brought his hands to his face. Dale sighed and knelt down next to his brother. He put his arm around Warren's shoulder and just sat there for a moment. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to Warren, so he said nothing. He just sat there with his brother and held him.
It took a few minutes for Warren to gather himself. When Warren took his hands away, his eyes and cheeks were wet. "I want her to come home,"
"So do I," Dale said honestly. He may not like Lena as she was right now, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss her. Dale took a deep breath and gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze before he stood up and pulled Warren to his feet. "I have some cleaning up around the yard to do, do you want to help me?"
"Please," Warren nodded. What Dale really thought Warren needed was a break, but he knew his brother. Warren didn't calm down by relaxing, he did it by taking his mind off of what was bothering him. He needed a distraction, and Dale was more than happy to provide it.
"Let's go," Dale led his brother out the gate again, and he swore to himself that he wasn't going to visit this pond ever again. There was nothing here for him or his family, not anymore.
A/N: Since I've been writing Lena as having practically raised Warren, and the books never even mention him being told that Lena was a naiad again. I had to let him at least say goodbye, and I was planning on focusing on that, but as always, Dale's protectiveness of his little brother took over. It's amazing just how many ways I can write Dale keeping an eye on Warren.
Writing naiad Lena was...interesting.
