Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human
Rating: T (but has the M-rating just in case)
Words: 18,856
Warnings: injuries, and mentions of torture, kidnapping, and experimentation
Note: Thank you so much to BriWei (twitter/AO3) for commissioning me to write this! This is the longest single shot fic I have ever written (posted) thus far, and also my first time world-building for a fic like this. I hope you all enjoy witch demon Connor and werewolf Nines!
Also, there's background SiMarkus, but it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing
Happy Date Day
Thoughts, memories, and feelings blended in Niles' head. It was an incredibly pleasant sensation, moving from one memory to the next, from one feeling to the next. In every iteration, he was engulfed by emotions of love and care. One moment, all he saw was pinks and blues, and suddenly he was in a flower field with his love. He felt like he was there for almost a whole week before the scenery changed, this time to deeper blues and glowing yellow lights. An ocean, a lake, an aquarium, and again he heard the love his life next to him. Kisses, hugs, and deep comforting embraces—all he felt was love and warmth.
The gentleness of it all soothed him awake.
For the first time in a long time, waking up was a slow and peaceful process for Niles. Nightmares and unpleasant memories had not visited him in the night for a change. No dreams of…them and everything that happened before. No, he woke up surrounded by pure warmth. At first, he thought he was still dreaming, but the feeling of soft cotton made him realized he was covered in blankets. Sound was next that registered to him. He heard birds starting to sing and chirp from outside as they also began their days. Glass-like clinking could be heard overhead as the floating light crystals occasionally bumped into each other. Even without opening his eyes, he knew they would not be on until much later in the day when the sun set.
Remembering what the rest of the day would bring, he felt excitement grow inside him. He drew in a large breath and opened his eyes.
The room was still mostly dark, although pink and butter-colored light was starting to drip into the room from the curtains. The light crystals were beginning to catch the small dregs of light, throwing little blips of pink and gold and blue and purple around the room without even having to be activated. They were cheaper than electricity and much more pleasing to the eyes. His love had made them himself. He stretched his arms over his head and carefully rolled over to his side to see the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.
Next to him was the love of his love, Connor still asleep and wrapped up in a bundle of blankets. He could both see and feel the rise and fall of Connor's chest as the other man was pressed up against him. Dark earth-brown hair was a veritable mess on Connor's head, strands and locks going this way and that. Several chunks were plastered against his forehead while two or three stuck up in the air from behind his head. The few strands that were parted by his glossy black horns that were slightly above temples were not spared in the slightest. Long eyelashes were set in still fans on his pale cheeks. From the little skin visible, as most of him was hidden away by blankets since he got cold easily, little moles dotted his body.
A little snore and a drop of drool came from Connor's mouth.
Niles felt himself fall just a little more in love.
An amused little laugh fell from his lips as he leaned in to kiss Connor's brow. The kiss did nothing to wake him up. Since he had woken up so pleasantly, Niles decided that Connor deserved an even better way to wake up. Pulling him a little closer, he pressed kisses to his cheeks, then his forehead, then his nose. (Not on the lips until both of them had brushed their teeth.) When he heard a little mumble and saw Connor's eyes begin to flick under their lids, he smiled, and his kisses grew quicker. Little pecks to those fluttering eyelids and even more to his cheeks, and soon he heard Connor laugh a little.
"Mmm," he smiled and opened his eyes. Rich brown eyes peered up at Niles as he smiled. Voice still thick with sleep, he asked, "What did I do to deserve a wake-up call like this?"
Nothing and everything. Niles let Connor rub the sleep out of his eyes before he reached out to brush the hair out of his face. "I simply wanted to say good morning, was all. Is that a crime?"
"Not at all," Connor allowed himself to snake just one hand out of the warmth of his blankets to grab Niles' hand to squeeze it. "But if that is a crime, I would love to see what a reward would be."
"A hot shower."
"But then I have to move out of the bed. It's chilly in here." Pointedly, he wormed himself even closer to Niles' body, if that was even possible. Thankfully Niles' prosthetic legs had absorbed plenty of warmth from their combined bodies throughout the night, so they didn't bother Connor when he came in closer. Under the covers, he could feel the other's slender prehensile tail curl around his free arm. Niles did not mind as since he knew his body produced excess heat and Connor had the misfortune to always be cold. He hadn't always been like that…
He shook his head, both in fondness to the heat-leech who was currently pasted to his chest and to dissipate any negative thoughts before they could manifest fully. "Did you forget what day it is today? It's Friday the 13th."
There was a long pause, a stretch of silence in the room as Connor racked his brain. Three, two, one…
And then with a loud and sudden exclamation, Connor seemed to explode from out of Niles' arms. Struggling with all the blankets he had cocooned himself in—various ones of differing colors, thicknesses, and weights—he finally wrestled himself out of the bed and launched himself with more grace than he should have after only waking up a few minutes ago. "It's Date Day! Why didn't you say so sooner?" Niles could only laugh because it was like watching a puppy excited over a day of treats, parks, and walks as it tripped over its bed, toys, and leashes. In this case with the puppy being Connor, Niles was watching a mad dash of underwear being pulled from the drawer, clean towels and washcloths being yanked from the small linen room connected to the bathroom, and then a spin twirl to get into the bathroom.
"Are you coming?!" the demon shouted from the bathroom. "I already grabbed a towel and washcloth for you. Get your underwear and do hurry! The early phoenix catches the sandworm and all."
Let it not be said Connor could not go from one extreme to another in less than a minute. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with him. Amusement and fondness still quirking his lips into a small smile, he got up from the bed. "Yes, yes, I am coming. Who else is going to wash your hair the way you like?"
But he loved him all the same, and that was what mattered.
Hot chocolate was such a blessing to have early in the morning.
Freshly showered and dressed, Niles rested his hip against the counter. With a mug of the delicious warm sweetness between his hands, he waited for their cinnamon swirl bread to finish in the oven. He had made the dough last night, so it would not take long to bake this morning. Coffee did not agree with him and tea was something he only drank when sick, so his preferred warm drink to have on cold mornings was hot chocolate. The cold did not bother him as it did Connor, but he still enjoyed his long-sleeve button-up shirts and jeans. Despite the chill of October, he knew he would not need any of his sweaters or his long coat until at least November. He gave off too much heat for that, now. Connor, on the other hand, had been sporting his thick cardigan since early August. It was his favorite, charcoal gray with stars on the sleeves. It was not only his favorite because of the appearance, but because he had taken the time to sew in charms and spells hidden in the stars to ward off cold and offer some safety.
It was Niles' favorite because of that.
And because he looked cute in the oversized garment.
"I cannot believe you forgot we still had to go to work before we could go on our date later today." It was currently 7:30 in the morning and still had forty-five minutes before they had to leave their house.
The smell of breakfast meats, pastries, and eggs filled their kitchen. Fruits were already laid out on the table, a banana and apple for Niles and grapefruit for Connor. The demon in mention looked up from scrambling the eggs in the pan on the stove to give a little pout. His black tail flicked in embarrassment. "Well, forgive me for my excitement. Can you blame me? Neither of us have had a mutual day off between us in two months." He turned one of the burners off. "Eggs are done, but the bacon and sausage just need another minute or so."
"Thank you, my love. The bread should be done in a few minutes as well."
"And I will make sure to take a little bit of it. You made it, after all."
That made Niles blush a little, but it felt nice to hear. He knew Connor wasn't one for many sweet things, much rather preferring savory foods. Incredibly opposite to their appearances, it was Niles who had the massive sweet tooth. Being a werewolf, most people assumed Niles mostly ate a more carnivorous diet. He did enjoy meats, but that did not mean he disliked other foods. Although Niles needed a lot of protein and calories to get through the day with his lupine metabolism, he greatly enjoyed anything and everything sweet. Hence the hot chocolate, cinnamon bread, and fruit.
Connor pointed to the pantry with the long spade of his tail. "Could you grab my green tea from the pantry for me, please? The water has done boiling, but I don't want to burn the bacon."
"Of course."
Once all the food was done, they gathered what they wanted and sat at the table. The bread was sweet and warm in his mouth and the fruits helped him perk up. He did eat some of the bacon, sausage, and eggs, but he left most of that to Connor in the same way that Connor only had some of the cinnamon bread, leaving most of it to Niles. He was glad they woke up early enough to enjoy their breakfast instead of it being one of the days where they were in a rush, food hurriedly shoved into their mouths as they rushed out the door. Sitting like this was much preferrable. Between bites of food and sips of their respective favorite drinks, they talked about nothing and everything that they could think of. And between that, Niles stole glances of Connor from across the table when he wasn't looking. Healthy dark hair, strength and luster in his horns, color and fullness of his face, and bright eyes; every day he thanked the powers above that Connor could look healthy after so long. That was why he always looked at him whenever he had the chance—he was afraid if he didn't, he would blink and that image would fade away.
He was not careful enough in his sneaking, because Connor caught him staring at him over his cinnamon bread. Connor perked up an eyebrow, "Do I have something on my face? Please, do tell me before we leave the house. I don't want a repeat of last time."
Niles rolled his eyes, although grateful that his boyfriend had not picked up on his true thoughts. "The old man was concerned for you, love. He only wanted to help." He hid his amusement in his mug of hot chocolate.
Connor's tone was flat. "Niles, he walked me to the nearest blood blank because he thought I was hungry and destitute. Destitute!"
It had been a day where so many things had been going wrong that morning, that neither of them paid attention to certain details until they got to their respective locations. In his haste, Niles had forgotten to grab his dragonhide work gloves on the way out and had managed to, somehow, forget to tuck in his shirt and had a few top buttons undone. A rather large oversight from his normally put-together appearance. Thankfully, his coworkers had plenty of spares he had been able to choose from and they had only gently ribbed him over his appearance. Connor, on the other hand, had a much different morning than he had. On occasion, Connor liked to eat his meat near rare, citing that the taste was just so much better. This was always convenient whenever they had to be somewhere quickly. However, this, combined with the fact that Connor had not slept a wink the night before, had not done well for his general appearance. The equation of haphazard clothes, clear bags under his eyes, a slight pallor to his face, and a small streak of leftover blood from his rare steak breakfast had all equaled Connor looking like death warmed over, to be blunt. From what Connor had told him later that evening, as he was waiting for the train—his broom had been in the repair shop that morning—to take him to cemetery for supplies, a small old troll man had tottered up to him with clear concern. He had, apparently, thought Connor was a poor little destitute vampire (the blood on his face being the main 'indicator') and offered to take him to the nearest blood bank two blocks over. Although Connor had tried to dispel the confusion with no success. The elderly man did not take no for an answer, and actually grabbed onto Connor's hand with strength that belied his frail appearance and walked him to the blood bank.
Needless to say, Connor had been highly embarrassed about the whole situation.
Niles had laughed about it until he was hoarse the next day.
"You do not have anything on your face, no need to worry." He reached across the table with his free hand and Connor responded without hesitation to place his hand in his. Niles gave it a gentle squeeze, "I just enjoy getting to see your face every morning."
The smile he received in return made Niles feel warm inside. "I can say the same for my big, strong, handsome werewolf." Now Niles' face flushed with color, which sent giggles chiming from Connor, "Come here, you." Connor leaned across the table to kiss Niles, who met him halfway on instinct. He closed his eyes and felt a hand cupping the side of his face. He leaned into it. Connor's lips were soft and warm, a tad greasy from the food and a bit sweet from the fruit, but that was okay.
They parted and Niles couldn't help but give his upper lip a little lick. The lingering grapefruit taste was pleasant. "I love you," the words fell from his lips like a natural law of the universe, unbidden and true. It was so easy to say it with Connor. Over checking up on each other over the phone throughout the day at their jobs, over gifts and thoughtful acts one would do for the other, and even over an everyday breakfast like this—saying those three words were never hard to do when it was Connor.
"I love you, too."
After a few minutes of silence as they started to finish their breakfast, they began to talk about their upcoming day. "Anything interesting planned at the store today? I wouldn't want the day to drag on for you if it's slow."
Connor paused in his decimation of the remainder of his sausages to hum in thought, "Let me see…I have a small shipment of bog water coming in—you know how I've said Mrs. Wilson has been asking me about it the past few weeks. She hasn't been able to make any new potions she needs without it." Niles noticed his tail swaying behind him unconsciously, the back-and-forth motion matching the timing of Connor listing the tasks on his fingers. "In addition to that shipment, I have a larger one of paper and ink, rune and crystal guidebooks, and finally some jackalope antlers."
Niles blinked. "People need jackalope antlers?" As soon as he said it, he realized he should not be surprised. If there was one thing that he learned with living with his witch boyfriend, it was that all sorts of odd things went into spells, potions, and magic in general.
"Yes, and they have been asking for those antlers for months, now. They often grind them for nature-based spells and potions. It's hard to find a vendor that humanely sources them, but I managed to find someone that only takes the ones the jackalopes shed naturally. I hate the bigger corporations that go mass hunting for them." Connor got up and collected their now empty plates—Niles offered a thank you before popping the last piece of cinnamon bread in his mouth—to load into the dishwasher. "Other than stocking and cataloguing all that for inventory, I have to make a quick trip to them cemetery again. The groundskeeper mentioned a few graves from the 1800s rattling, so I think they're responding to my request to take some of the flowers that have grown over their graves. Since he isn't a necromancer like I am, he couldn't tell exactly what they wanted."
The werewolf knew that Connor's relationship with his necromancy abilities was a complex one. He had not come into his abilities naturally, so he tried to use them in positive ways that he could control. Many of them included communing with the dead to ask their permission for items from or around their graves. Most, from what Connor had told him before, were very happy to offer their permission and assistance as it gave them the opportunity to actually talk to someone who could respond back.
Niles stood up and began to clean off the table and counters as Connor continued with the dishwasher. "What about you? Anything special going on at work?"
"Nothing in particular. Luther messaged me last night that the Purple Carrot Fungus we have been caring for sprouted babies, so we have to make sure they don't cry themselves to death in their first week." If they survived their first week, the Purple Carrot Fungus babies could be moved to the rest of the nursery section. If they moved them before that, there was a chance the babies would shriek the other plants around them into spoiling. He shrugged, "Other than that, I am sure I will find out when I get to work. There is always something new happening every day."
They got the kitchen cleaned quickly and grabbed their respective things they needed for the day. With his work bag slung on his shoulder, Niles was stepping into his ankle boots. They were roomy enough for his prosthetics and would not rip when he shifted. Taking the time to bring them to a tailor (along with the majority of his clothes) to get size enchantments sewn in was a decision he was glad he made.
"How much do you want to be something bit Gavin today?" Connor asked as he was pulling on his thigh-high laced boots. His pointed witch hat was a little crooked on his head, so Niles reached over to fix it.
Niles' smirk was legendary. "Oh, my love, that is a daily given."
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.
.
"I'll see you later tonight—or today, depending on how quick the day goes," Connor said from his broom hovering eight feet in the air. He took a moment to look at his boyfriend. At the door to Kara & Luther's Menagerie & Garden, Niles had his work bag slung over one shoulder and hands in the pockets of his (tight) durable pants. They hugged his thighs nicely and his crisp button up shirt did the same to his arms. Everything about him looked put together, so nice and neat, all except for his hair which had been slightly mussed from the wind during the broom ride here. His bright blue eyes only held love for Connor, even as Niles was currently fixing his hair. In all honesty, he could stare at the werewolf all day, but alas, there were things that had to be done. "Love you!"
Niles waved to him, "I love you as well. Go get some work done and have a good day."
"I will, thank you." He made sure Niles was in the building before taking off. He knew the other could take care of himself, but habits were habits.
He had about a five-minute flight to get to his shop a little further downtown. He took pleasure any time he was able to fly, especially in the short flight to his shop. Although he could hear he hustle and bustle of the town and people under him—and a few other witches in the sky with him—it was peaceful. The weather was beautiful today and it smelled fresh, air clean from the rain last night. One negative he could do without, however, was the chill that clung in the air. It was mostly fine down on the ground, but up in the sky flying at high speeds, it could get downright cold. His sensitivity to colder temperatures only made it feel worse. He could mooch heat off Niles whenever they shared the ride to their jobs, but when he wasn't with him, he could feel his absence much more. But, despite Niles not being here right now, Connor's charmed cardigan, his flight scarf and gloves, thigh-high boots, and pointed witch hat all kept him warm aplenty. (His boyfriend heater was a plus, but a plus he missed.)
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. This section of his flight was pure sky, so he was comfortable checking it.
Cooler Than You Club
Friday, October 13
8:45 AM—Kentucky Fried Chicken: At Crystal Life to meet with the board today. They're all up in their butts, so they'll keep talking for a while.
8:45 AM—Brother to Kamina: he gets to talk, i do the stealing and the planting
8:45 AM—Brother to Kamina: and its ok to say ass, you dork ;)
Perfect. Markus was at the Crystal Life building while Simon was planting the bombs in said building. Earlier than Connor expected, but earlier the better.
A banking turn around the apartments buildings that started the block, a duck under the train tracks, and a zip down the widening street soon found him at his humble shop. He slid off his broom. When he got to the opaque glass front door, he rested a hand on the gold-painted lettering of The In-Between. A fond smile emerged on his face. He had been having a hard time coming up with the name, but a little deep thinking and long conversation with Niles later, and he had come up with something that he felt like fit his nature. Not quite one thing nor the other. Something in-between.
The shop was unlocked when he entered, as he expected. His store hours began at 8 in the morning, but being his own boss allowed him to come it at his own time. Plus, he had employees he could trust to manage the shop when he wasn't in.
And speaking of his trusted employees.
"Morning, bossman!" North, his elf employee and friend, waved from him behind the counter, grin bright on her face. If he didn't know her, he would have described it as terrifying, but he was keenly aware that she just liked to mess with people. Her long hair was curled behind her pointed ears, and he noticed she was wearing the new hanging guillotine earrings she had told him she had been wanting for a while. They were a bright silver and complemented the periwinkle hue of her skin. They looked good on her.
In a more appropriate-for-eight-something-in-the-morning volume, Josh—his other friend and faerie employee—nodded at him since he was occupied with a stack of texts in his hands. His translucent purple patterned wings were drawn close to his back, and this made Connor notice his new shirt. It was one of those that were popular recently for winged folk—the back's holes were adjustable to allow for different sized wings. (Next time he saw Hank, he would have to mention it for Cole. The poor half-harpy boy always had a hard time finding shirts that fit his wings.) He was glad Josh had finally picked it up since he knew his old shirts kept bothering his wing joints. Additionally, the mustard color of the shirt contrasted pleasantly against the dark brown of his skin. "Good morning, Connor. Have a good flight?"
Just as he was about to answer, North swatted her hands in the air as is to dissipate the question. "Never mind the flight! Did you have some fun lovey-dovey time with the wolfy boyfriend this morning? We gotta know the juicy details!"
"By the stars, North!" This wasn't the first time she had asked something like this, but nevertheless, it threw him for a loop every time. He should be used to this by now. He knew she meant nothing negative by it; she just liked gossip. He sighed, raising the bar on the counter to step into the back room. "There are no juicy details to tell, if you must know." He propped up his broom on its rack and his satchel on one of the tables. "You're making me think you're a little too bored. Maybe I should figure out more work to give you two?" he called out good-naturedly.
He heard a thud of texts being set onto a surface and then Josh's voice complain, "Oh, don't you drag me into that extra work. Give that all to North. I got my hands full with my runes research." In addition to The In-Between being a varied shop of magic-related items, it also served as a small research hub. Connor had picked up Josh's ever-present need to learn and teach early on, so he let him pursue his research here. Josh enjoyed runes and magical history. Combined, he had been creating working theories and formulas for rune applications.
His latest one—although a brilliant idea of combining the stability of crystal powder with the organic growth of plants—had unfortunately created a bit of a monstrosity. Regenerating ink it had been not, but rather a plant made of crystal that had a rather ravenous appetite for salt and, oddly, graphite.
It was a cute pink and purple with glittering lavender leaves.
It currently resided in a pot in the front window of the shop. They (North) had named it Krys.
He left the back room to the sight of North pouring over her notes that were scattered on the counter, which had been hidden by the register. Diligently working, as always. "I know you don't want to give moooore work to lil' ol' me, right?" She bared a smile at him and comedically batted her eyes at him.
Connor snorted and picked up one of her pages, scanning it with quick eyes. "Depending on what you've got here, I may be tempted to say no." His tail flicked in interest as he kept reading. Equations and working formulas to reduce the time it took for a hex to hit its target, notes for some ideas for improving barrier spells, completed spells on how to break tracker devices and tracking spells—specifically ones made by Crystal Life…interesting. Let it not be said that North was a lazy person. "You've been quite a busy bee, haven't you?"
Her ears perked up and she shot him a confident grin. "'Course I have," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Gotta stay on my toes, ya know."
Similar to Josh, North had a keen mind and liked to work things out. She was always one to stay busy on a project—several projects, in fact—that could benefit her or someone else. However, in direct contrast to Josh's nature, she was more on the aggressive and direct side. The kind of work and research she specialized in was very combat-oriented: hexes, attack spells, defensive spells, shields, and other magic of that nature. To an outsider, her work would have fit much better and would have been able to have more resources if she worked with the police, military, or even Crystal Life. But like they had done to him and Niles, Crystal Life had fucked up the lives of her, her cousin Echo, and her cousin's wife Ripple (Like they had to Collin…). Additionally, Crystal Life were deep in the pockets of the several high-ranking police officers, politicians, and often contracted itself to the military. He knew she liked working here because of the freedom and security it gave her.
A shiver passed through him as some unpleasant memories threatened to drip like ink from the dark corners of his mind. Not yet in his mainstream of thoughts but threatening to leak out. He took a fortifying breath and masked it as a yawn.
He wasn't one for swearing unnecessarily, but he shouted a mental fuck Crystal Life and hoped he didn't show any visible disdain on his face.
He handed her back her back her page. "I like your equation about reducing hex travel time. I wouldn't have thought to factor in the latency of an oral hex versus the more instant silent one. But I think I'm more interested in your shield work. Can I borrow a few copies of the recent barrier slips you've drawn up?"
"Thank you," she took his compliment with her usual self-assuredness but leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest, curiosity piqued. "And sure, but what brought this on?"
From the table where he had set the texts down, Josh on a stool, already looking highly interested. "Delving into shields now, Connor?"
Connor rubbed the sleeves of his oversized cardigan as he pulled a few shipping orders and schedules from the appropriate folders from the shelves built into the front counter. To stall, he double checked the orders for today. Bog water coming at 9:30 this morning in the first shipment, then a larger shipment of paper, ink, and rune and crystal guidebooks from Magic Office around 11. His jackalope antlers should be coming in a little after noon from the vendor himself. He liked to hand-deliver his stuff, which was a nice touch now-a-days. Finally, he said, "I am, I guess you could say. It interests me because Niles and I are having Date Day today."
As if he had dropped a bomb in the room—which, he supposed, he kind of did—both of his friends practically exploded from their respective seats. North pressed herself into his space before he could blink and Josh flew—yes, literally flew—to the counter and leaned over it to inspect him as if he was an apparition. "You're kidding me, this early?!" His wings fluttered behind him in response to his emotions, but Connor knew that Josh had enough control of them to not let the gusts from them disperse any loose papers. "That's a whole half a month early."
North tugged Connor's sleeve, and when he turned to her, she pinned him with a look of great concern. "You sure you guys are ready for this? I thought you wanted to plan more. Crystal Life is—you shouldn't rush things."
They're such good friends. He was touched that they cared about him—and Niles—so much. He addressed both of them, "It is early, but we're ready. Niles talked to Luther and Kara to give him some time off, and business has been good here enough that I'm comfortable being gone for a bit. So, our schedules lined up nicely. Plus, I heard from Markus that Crystal Life has been losing business, which always puts me in a good mood to hear."
Markus was their liaison who could get frequently get in touch with Crystal Life. The angel was a head representative of Jericho, a beneficiary group who worked for the advancement of non-human beings. As a leader of Jericho, he worked closely with Crystal Life…on the surface. The company created a lot of magical products that could be used in many walks of life: domestic, business, military, engineering, etc. In reality, however, Markus used his close ties with the company to feed information to Connor, Niles, and those working with them. Not only that, but getting such pertinent information from the Crystal Life higher-ups, he had been able to plant people loyal to Jericho and those wanting to see Crystal Life in ruins within critical points of the company.
Today was the day Crystal Life would fall to ruins.
After all they did to him, to his twin Collin, to Niles, and to all the innocent people that were affected by Crystal Life's greed and corruption…he couldn't wait to see it. An ache rested in his chest when he thought about his twin…Stars above, he missed Collin so much.
He wiggled his arm to get North to let go. "Now, come on, guys. We got orders to prepare for today."
.
.
.
It was close to nine in the morning when Niles entered work. He wanted Connor to stay longer, but they had separate responsibilities they had to take care of, after all.
Walking into the building, he was immediately bombarded with the sounds yelling, the jaws of carnivorous plants snapping after their food, and a few containment spells firing off here and there. The front atrium had a tall ceiling with perches of different sizes and heights. The chirping of different flying creatures rang out and the flutter of feathers followed right behind that. A general cacophony of the hustle and bustle of the daily business was the sound of the well-oiled machine that was Kara & Luther's Menagerie & Garden. It was loud, a little chaotic, and a sort of crazy that only the people that worked here could make sense of.
It was a scene of tightly controlled chaos.
He loved his job.
At the front desk of the atrium, Kara waved at him from what looked like a stack of order forms. "Good morning, Niles!" Her pixie-cut of silver hair gleamed bright in the lights of the atrium and the sharp teeth of her smile was the only thing gleaming brighter. Her silver lupine ears atop her head twitched in his direction and he saw a brief glance of her matching tail swish behind her. Even though she was a fellow werewolf, her family kept some of their wolf traits in their human form opposed to Niles who looked fully humanoid sans his bright eyes and pointed teeth.
He gave her a smile and a nod as he swiped his admin card in the clock-in station. "Good morning, Kara. How are you today? I am glad to see nothing has burned down yet—"
A large streak of fire shot down the hallway to the left—the one that led to the larger animal section—but bounced off the barrier that kicked up around the atrium. Some of the birds above shrieked as they were startled but settled down rather quickly once they realized they would not be harmed.
"—I suppose I spoke too soon?"
She laughed and pointed a thumb to the hallway the fire came from. "Martha down there has been a bit of a tizzy this morning. Not sure what it is yet, but it's had her pretty rankled since a little after dawn. The only ones she's been putting up with today have been Luther and Gavin—Luther because he's a sweetie and Gavin because she knows he gives her food."
"Oh, so like his cats?"
"Exactly."
Martha was their resident FyreSpire. An old girl that they rescued from an illegal trading exchange, her projection for life had not looked good. But with plenty of love, care, and time, Martha regained her health and a better disposition towards life and people. FyreSpires were long, winding creatures similar to eastern dragons, but furry like cats. In their care, her fur grew back with a healthy sheen, her four horns stopped flaking and grew back stronger, and the feathers of her wings stopped falling out and came in double their size.
After clocking in, he went around the corner to their long line of lockers to put his stuff away. His bag was hung on the hook, and at the inside of the locker door, a photo of Connor was taped in place. It was taken last Halloween during a party they had attended. The photo did him no justice to his in-person appearance, but he looked immaculate in his sharp smokey eye, shiny black lipstick, jewelry bands on his glossy black horns, and embroidered warm cloak pinned at the neck that draped on his shoulders. His smile was brilliant as it was pointed directly at the camera.
"I have a good feeling Martha will cheer up more when she sees you!" Kara called out from around the desk.
"Let us hope so. If not, I am sure some berries from the garden will cheer her up." He pulled on his apron before putting on his dragonhide gloves snugly. He gave Connor's photo one last look. A soft smile on his face, his kissed the tips of his (clean) gloved fingers and tapped them on the photo. "I will see you soon," he whispered.
He pulled out his phone from his pants pocket to check what was going on in the group chat.
Cooler Than You Club
Friday, October 13
8:45 AM—Kentucky Fried Chicken: I'm at Crystal Life to meet with the board today. All their heads are up their butts, so they'll keep talking for a while
8:45 AM—Brother to Kamina: he gets to talk, i do the planting and snooping
8:45 AM—Brother to Kamina: and its ok to say ass, you dork
8:50 AM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: Just pulled up to the Crystal Life military recruitment center. My "appointment" is in like 20 mins, so ya girl is going to the bathroom before i gotta talk to these assholes
9:03 AM—Knight of the Black Death: good luck
9:03 AM—Knight of the Black Death: work. evac prep already ready w the team in the know
9:04 AM—I Like Dogs: Good work and be safe everyone. If everything goes according to plan, we won't have to worry about Crystal Life anymore
As not to jinx anything, he did not say it out loud, but he felt as if everything was going okay. Tina was about to have her interview with one of the military recruiters. Crystal Life contracted themselves to the military so much that it was common that people worked at Crystal Life in their military section. She would be moonlighting as an eager recruit, wanting to 'better' her life through all the opportunities Crystal life could give her, but would get so nervous that she would need to excuse herself a little before the interview. There, she would sneak away to the restrooms to the bombs.
Just thinking about the military and Crystal Life made Niles' metaphorical hackles rise and the scar tissue around his neck itch. His legs throbbed for a moment. He felt his pulse quicken and his hands began to jitter. Uncomfortably familiar with his feeling, he leaned inward to his locker, taking deep breaths to try and calm his pulse. If he did not calm down, he was too aware that fear and anxiety could turn to anger that could turn into a manic sort of desire for control.
He rubbed his throat as he calmed himself, steadying his breathing. That metal collar is not on me. That metal collar will never be on me again. He repeated that in his head five times. Once he determined he was alright enough to step away, he closed his locker door harder than he intended. Oops. Glancing over the door, he realized he had accidentally gripped it so hard that he had dented the corners. His locker still worked fine, though.
He sighed, tired even though it was still early in the day.
Damn Crystal Life.
Before he went down the hall to start his workday and check on Martha, he paused at the front desk in front of Kara. "Need something?" she asked.
He stalled with a hum as he tried to figure out the best way to say what he wanted. "It is Friday the 13th," he began hesitantly, "and…under much discussion between Connor and myself, we decided that today is Date Day."
He winced when she stood up from her chair in one abrupt motion, which scattered some of the order forms she had been working on. "What! Already?!" She was out from behind the desk and in front of him in the blink of an eye, hovering her hands over him like she wanted to make sure he was not a figment of her imagination and that she heard him correctly. Her ears flattened back against her head. "That's so early. Weren't you waiting a few weeks or a month or…?"
If there was one thing that Niles hated doing was making people worry, and he felt like he was going to be doing that a lot of that today. "We heard from Markus not too long ago. Crystal Life is losing business, which means they have less interest in their products and even less security. This is the perfect opportunity to enact our plan."
The chirping of the birds was the only noise around the two of them for a moment as Kara thought about what he said. She blew out a heavy breath as she leaned against the desk and crossed her arms over her chest. Her tail whipped once before wrapping around her leg. "I don't like you guys going off so early…but," she glanced at his legs, "they really did a number on you, huh?"
"More than just that." He crossed an ankle over the other. His pants leg hid the alchemized metal of his prosthetics, but that did not remove him feeling the weight of one leg over the other.
"Well," the smile she gave him was a little sad, yet hopeful, "I guess we better get your time-off situated with your pay, huh? Why don't we go find Luther?"
"I swear she's gonna eat my hand one of these days."
"You know the more you talk about it, the more likely it well happen, right?"
Niles and Kara walked into the large creature section to see Gavin and Luther in the midst of…something as they took care of Martha. The FyreSpire had her windy body wrapped up around Luther's huge frame, trilling under the pets that she was receiving. As the man was distracting her with affection, Gavin was grooming out the dead and broken feathers near her long back. Separate from her brilliant azure feathers, there was a collection of dull blue ones on the floor.
Making sure he projected his movements clearly so that she could see them, Niles reached out to scratch underneath her chin. He felt lighter when she pushed her face into his hand and rubbed against it, letting out higher pitched chirps. Her whiskers twitched. "Good morning, Martha. I hope you are not giving these two too much trouble."
Next to him, Luther's amused laughter was a familiar rumble. "This old girl keeps us on our toes, alright. Pretty cranky until we realized her some of the spines around her feathers had ingrown, so we're taking care of those now along with her regular feather maintenance." He patted a large hand against a section of her flank. "Gavin, more so than I."
Most people at first glance thought Luther was a brute with his appearance. Tall as a tree, broad in the shoulders, and possessing an incredibly strong build, the half-giant was an overall tank of a man. Even though he was huge in bodily presence, he was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people that Niles had ever had the pleasure of meeting and befriending. Other than Connor, Luther was perhaps the only other person that Niles could was comfortable going to if he needed to talk something out. That, and Luther gave the best hugs. Niles was taller and larger than most of the people he was friends with, so having someone bigger than him was nice.
Luther's hugs could literally squeeze almost all of his stress away. It was great.
"She only likes me because I'm the one that feeds her all the damn treats she likes," Gavin grumbled at them. The human was concentrating on getting the broken feathers out, but his voice was still annoyed. They could tell it was a farce, though. He loved all the creatures they took care of.
Gavin was an ex-cop who retired fairly early due to a permanent injury to his lower back. He had been in a funk about it for a while, but his best friend Tina had recommended him a job here, and he had taken a liking to it. Not that he would ever say, but everyone could tell.
"So, what are you doin' over here?" Gavin directed his question to Kara. "Thought those order forms were kicking your ass for the past hour."
Niles' hand was still preoccupied in Martha's fur, and right now he was using it as a mental distraction. "I…I am taking a leave of absence for short while."
"It's Date Day, apparently," Kara added.
Although possessing two vastly differing personalities, Luther's and Gavin's reactions were near identical. Frozen motion, wide disbelieving eyes, and mouths agape. "Already?"
"That's what I said!"
Like most animals were—especially those bonded with humans—FyreSpires were sensitive to emotions. Sensing their rapidly changing emotions, Martha squawked before unwinding herself from Luther's body. Instead, she wound her furry noodle body around the four of them around the knees until they were forced to become very neighborly very quickly. Once she was satisfied with how they were practically sardined together, she cupped her wings around them, chirped, and rested her head on top of Niles' own. He heard her make a harrumphing noise, then felt the air she displaced from it flutter his front lock of hair out of place.
No how much they wiggled to tried toescape, Martha had her mind set. There was no getting out of her furry noodle prison until she wanted. Like it or not, knowing her, they were going to be here a while.
Luther, already familiar with how Martha was, calmed himself and stroked along her feathers. To Niles, he said, "I shouldn't be so surprised. I know you—know you don't rush things, friend. That doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you." There was some more wiggling and then Niles felt a broad hand pat him as best as it could on the back.
Kara tried moving, but all it did was jam her knee into Niles' hip while Gavin's elbow was firmly jabbing against his back. For such a compact person, the man had incredibly sharp elbows.
"We better see your ass here after your leave of absence, furboy," Gavin grumbled.
"Now," Luther said, "let's get your leave pay situated." Martha's brushed them with her wings and nuzzled her chin even more on Niles' head. "…Whenever Martha decides to let us go."
Kara and Luther were good bosses and better friends. He appreciated everything they did for him. Even Gavin who could be surly on the best of days, was a friend whom he cared about.
He just hoped everything would go the way they planned.
.
.
.
The afternoon rolled around sooner than Connor would have expected.
All the shipments he had been expecting came in on time, surprisingly. Maybe those above were giving him a small bit of a break just for today. On the average week, the people who delivered the bog water were habitually several minutes late, while the guys from Magic Office always were about ten minutes late. Today, the bog water shipment came at half passed nine on the dot, while his paper, ink, and rune and crystal guide books came right on time at eleven this morning. And of course, the vendor who came to deliver his jackalope antlers came right on time at noon.
By two o'clock, North, Josh, and himself had gotten everything catalogued in their database and put away in their rightful places.
Even now, glancing at the clock and taking a hard blink at it, he could hardly believe it. Huh, that's the fastest we've ever done that.
Josh slumped over a chair as he stretched out his back. His wings fluttered a bit as he got comfortable. "Ahhh, is it me, or were those boxes of papers heavier than usual? I swear they were, and I think the Magic Office guy was making fun of my struggles."
"I don't know about that. I think he has a crush on you," North teased, feeding Krys some graphite pencil shavings.
"No way!" Josh shot up.
At the register, Connor did his mid-day count of their cash. The till was even, but they were low on twenties. Two-hundred, two-twenty, two-forty, two-sixty, two-eighty, three hundred, three-fifty, three-fifty-six, seven, eight, nine…Three-hundred sixty dollars. That was fine, however, as they would not need them like they normally would today. "I think she's right. He was offering to do all the lifting for you, and you know the Magic Office guys aren't really supposed to help us put things in place. They drop it off, get a signature, and leave. He was trying to flirt with you."
The moan of despair that came from the faerie was equal parts pitiful and amusing.
With everything done that needed to be done for the day, Connor closed the register and walked towards the door. He flipped the hand-painted wooden sign—given as a gift from Markus—from Open to Closed. This drew the attention from his friends who looked at him in question.
North raised an eyebrow at him, pausing in her feeding of Krys. "You dooo know we still have several more hours of the day, right?"
"I do," he said plainly as he walked back behind the counter to the register. "I'm closing the shop early today. He gestured them to come to the counter, and when he did, he produced two envelopes that he had hidden in a little shelf underneath the register. They had been taped to the top, out of sight. Each white envelope had North's and Josh's names on them in neat, print writing. He slid them across the counter to them and said, "In fact, The In-Between is going to be closed for over a week."
"Wait, what…?"
"Connor?"
They opened of their envelopes to find that each of them held several large bills of cash. Their pay plus double for the next two weeks. The 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing' looks they were shooting at him conveyed their thoughts that he must have had brain damage or something.
"You dummy," North's look that she was giving him changed from 'you-have-brain-damage' to 'you're-a-whole-dumbass' in one second flat, "I know what you're doing, and you don't have to. We can keep the shop open just fine even after everything that's going to happen today."
Josh, ever the observant one, nailed his reasoning in one go. "You're worried about Crystal Life's agents coming after you and us, aren't you? That's why you're closing the shop."
Connor sighed before leaning against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just listen to your boss for a change." He gave them a tired, though encouraging smile as he nodded at the door, "Think of it as an early vacation. Everything we needed to get done in the shop today is finished, and Niles and myself need some time after today. Go home, guys. We'll keep you updated." A thought came to him, so he added, "Rather, the news will keep you updated, too. Keep an eye on your TV's when you get home."
There was a tension in the air as Josh, North, and Connor had a stare-off of sorts. He could see them weighing the options in their heads.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds.
Thirteen, and he began to sweat a little. His tail curled around his leg.
Finally, Josh blew out a breath and walked to the backroom to grab his backpack. North was behind him to grab her purse, though being clearly unhappy about the whole thing. "Make sure you message us when you can," Josh pointed at him on his way out, then pointed two fingers to his own eyes and then those same fingers back to Connor in an 'I'm-watching-you' motion.
On her way out the door, North shook her head but smirked. "If you have to flee the country, I'm taking over the shop." More seriously though, she said, "Take care of you and Niles. Make sure we see your face here, bossman. I'm holding you to it."
He huffed a laugh. "I'll take your word for it. I'll see you two in a little over a week!"
And with that, his two friends were out of the door and out of sight.
Oh, today was going to be a long day.
Once North and Josh left, his anxiety began to slowly rise like a thermometer about to have a temperature-induced freak out. With the store to himself and the presence of others poofed away for now, it really hit him that this was going to happen. After all the shit that Crystal Life had put him through, had taken away from him, this was really going to happen. Before he realized he had even moved, he deposited his entire body weight in the chair behind the counter. He began to wring his hands.
Things could go so wrong. What if something went wrong? What if their lives were completely ruined after this?
He took a moment to collect himself before his anxiety got so bad that it dipped into the beginnings of dissociation. All of his therapy sessions came in handy as he remembered what his therapist told him. He clenched his hands together tightly as he bunched all the muscles in his body. Counting to eight, he inhaled deeply. Then, he exhaled for double that count, relaxing all the muscles in his body and unclenching his hands.
It was going to be okay.
Everything was going to be okay. They had triple checked all of their plans, gone over every sort of possibility that could happen. Crystal Life would fall, and with it, all the contracts, binds, and manipulations that ruined the lives of the people the company had in its grasp.
The bell at the top of the door chimed as it was opened.
At the same time, his phone began to wring.
Nerves still frayed and distracted by his phone, with only a quick polite smile and the barest of glances, he said to the person who stepped in, "So sorry, but we're closed right now." They probably were not paying attention to the sign. With that, he turned his attention to his phone. It was Simon. But why would he be calling? If anything, he would have sent it to the group chat.
Curiosity ever-present, he picked up. "Hey there, what's—"
"Connor! Youneedtoleavewhereyouarerightnow!" Simon's voice was a piercing hiss over the phone.
He blinked and hunched a little in himself as he pressed the phone closer to his ear, giving his friend his full attention. "Wait, wait, slow down! I can't understand you. You need to slow down and take a breath."
Simon sounded out of breath as if he was moving with haste. Not quite running, but definitely not walking leisurely either. That coupled by the urgency in his voice was making Connor's anxiety return two-fold. When Simon began to speak again, he was more careful to enunciate, but somehow that made everything worse. "You need to leave!" He spoke low, though still with urgency as if he was afraid someone was going to overhear. "I was getting all the blackmail I could from their servers and found something on you and Niles. It's not just your past stuff. They know where you work, where you live—the both of you! They're coming for you!"
And before Connor could even breathe to say anything, the sentence he most dreaded and feared was said:
"They're going to take you both back!"
His stomach clenched. He had to swallow hard as not to vomit. The words echoed in his ears and he felt as if all the warmth had been sucked from his body. Cold. He was cold. Everything was cold and he was going to drown again. No, no no nononono!
Something clicked in his head suddenly as he realized something. They knew where he lived. They knew where he worked.
He had never heard the door chime a second time.
Movements slowed with trepidation, he uncurled from his hunch and rose his head to look at the door. The person who had entered had never left In fact, they had been standing there the whole time just staring at Connor. It was a man, human just a bit shorter than him, though packed with plenty of muscle. He was wearing dark clothes and a long black jacket that covered most of his body. The clothes, however, did nothing to hide the grin on his face.
Connor was met with the man's hand pointed right at him, glowing bright with magic. Faintly he could hear Simon's voice calling to him through the phone that had since fall into his lap from his limp hand.
"Connor? Connor, can you hear me?"
"We want our most powerful necromancer back," the man bared his teeth at him in a threatening smile.
"Connor!"
No. Not again. Not ever again.
Bright yellow light overwhelmed his vision.
A roar of magic and heat, and the shop was engulfed in yellow.
.
.
.
A little after two in the afternoon, and Niles was walking towards The In-Between. Even though he was going to be gone for a little over a week, his pay would actually cover two weeks. Bless Kara and Luther. With a little of that extra pay, he thought perhaps he and Connor could pick up some food from one of the places Connor liked as a little treat. They wouldn't have to leave the city until about three or four, so they were a little ahead of schedule. It was a little too cold for ice-cream, especially with how Connor despised the cold, but perhaps they could go to the bakery not too far from The In-Between…
He turned the corner of the apartment complex that started the block. Adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, he looked around him. People were going about their everyday activities: some kids getting off of school early, a few people selling food at street corners, deliveries being made, and people just living their lives. Among the throngs of people, Niles could spot a few bright white uniforms of Crystal Life employees. He had to keep the sneer off his face.
It would be okay. After today, they would have the information to show to the public and be able to watch Crystal Life metaphorically and physically burn to the ground.
The sounds of the train chugged above him as he passed underneath the tracks. The shop was located in a niche little pocket that was hard to find unless one was looking for it. Although the outward appearance of the shop was aesthetically pleasant, it was accurate to describe it as being a hole-in-the-wall-shop as that was exactly what it was. Much of the traffic the store got was almost all thanks to online advertising and a smaller percentage was due to people stumbling across the place if they got lost. Business was never too stagnant, though.
Once he was away from the train tracks, the amount of people dwindled down to nothing. It wouldn't take him much longer to get to the shop.
That meant it was time to stop fooling around.
"I do not know you are, but I believe you are wasting both your time and mine," Niles stopped in place and turned around. "What do you want?"
There was still moment before he heard someone chuckle. A tall figure appeared from an alley that was near unnoticeable behind a dumpster. It was a woman, taller than he was by a fair number of inches with platinum blonde hair done up in a severe ponytail. Dark clothing covered her body and tinted round-framed glasses sat in front of her eyes. They did nothing to hide the subtle glow behind them. A magic-user, then. "How ever did you know I was following you?" Her tone was one of amusement rather than question. It annoyed him.
"I smelled you. Yours in not a familiar scent in this area, especially trailing so close behind me for so long."
She smiled and it set him on edge.
Niles shifted into a position more ready to react. He was not a witch or imbued with any offensive magic, but he was still quick on his feet. "Answer the question," he would have crossed his arms, but he wanted them free just in case. "What do you want?"
The woman stepped closer, but Niles did not back down. She gestured to his whole self with a well-manicured hand before saying, "Oh, you know. I just wanted to know how you were doing. It's nice to see you walking around on two legs again."
Two legs—he frowned. How did she…?
Oh no.
No, no, no it wasn't possible.
An overwhelming sick feeling filled his whole body.
"You get it now?" Her eyes glowed brighter around her glasses as if a precursor to her delight. "You may not remember me as I worked a lot behind the scenes when you were at Crystal Life, but I sure do remember you. Stronger than any other werewolf we had, nasty bite, a beast all on your own," she raked her eyes up and down his body before stopping at his throat, "and obedient. Well, obedient when we finally broke you in, that is."
His pulse quickened, a drum in his chest. His lungs seemed as if they had forgotten how to breathe in a steady manner. It was worse than earlier. At his job, it had just been phantom memories, intangible and banished with the right methods to calm down. Right here in front of him was an actual ghost of his past, a reaper threatening to bring him back to a grave. And a reaper she was. She was not a slight woman, and her demeanor and strong build alone spoke that she was in the shadow military section that Crystal Life had in its grasp.
He was in tight predicament. Although there were not people around them at the moment, this was still a dense section of the city. Apartments near him, the train not too far from him, and cars parked on the sides of the streets—he was at a disadvantage. He could not shift into his wolf form in this area as it would be too large. He may have been able to fit in the street, but once he got moving, he would only run into everything in his path—cars, poles, lampposts, traffic lights, people later on. Additionally, there were laws preventing shifters from accessing their animal forms (if they were over a certain size) within main parts of the city like this as it was a safety issue. If he shifted now, the police would be on him, and that would only lead to them questioning him, detaining him, or both. A headache and a half.
Fuck.
He ventured a quick glance from the corner of his eyes. The In-Between was not far, but if he ran to the shop, the woman would only follow. She was a high-risk situation, and letting her know where Connor worked was a bad idea. He did not want to risk Connor's safety, but Niles was not a witch. He did not have any offensive spells or talismans he could use. The only thing on his person was the beaded charm around his wrist that Connor gave him, but that could only repel low-grade magic. Anything this woman fired at him would plow through the charm's magic like a train through tissue paper. Connor had not only his magic, but plenty of spellwork, talismans, and charms in the shop they could use. They could escape together towards the less dense part of the city, where Niles could shift and they could get out of the city limits.
Niles may have been at a disadvantage, but so was she. Any major offensive spells she would need to cast were illegal in the heavily populated parts of town like this. If she followed him, she would not be able to cast unless she also wanted police attention on her.
He tried not thinking about how she probably had police connections being with Crystal Life.
"What do you say, puppy?" Her teeth were sharp with threat, her smile making them appear deadlier than any human's ought to. "Ready to come back to your owners?"
He could see the faint glow of a binding rope beginning to grow from her hands, and he knew it was time to go.
Channeling a little bit of Gavin, he swallowed before baring his own deadly teeth right back at her, "Catch me if you can, lowlife."
And with that, he took off in the direction of the shop. His heart was beating loud in his chest not out of anxiety this time, but out of determination. Speed was one of his strengths, and he was about to use it to his fullest. His feet pounded the sidewalk as he ran towards the shop. His arms pumped madly at his sides. He ducked into a few other alleyways to shake her off. She was not far behind him, but he could hear her cursing at him as it was more difficult for her to keep up. A hop over a dumpster and over a separate mound of rotting trash and he almost gave her the slip. Another turn around a corner and launching himself off of some piping between walls almost got her off his tail. Almost, though not quite, He did not know how she found him, how she knew where he would be, but he would be damned if either he or Connor were going back to Crystal Life.
His senses tingled. In one sharp motion, he ducked his head down in time to dodge a sickly orange stun spell that had been fired at him. Damn, she was closer than he was comfortable with. The sounds of metal and plastic crashed behind him as they were knocked over. Garbage cans. Something more fragile shattered, almost earthy. Clay pots. Stars above, this woman was maddeningly fast!
They were nearing the end of the skinny alley. The shadows of the alley were giving way to the brighter light of the street. Niles knew it would spit him out right next to the shop—the side near the door to be precise.
About ten more strides.
For as dog-like as she called him to be, the woman was an adamant bloodhound behind him.
Another crackle of magic. He twisted his body to the side of one of the walls, but the heat of the spell was felt against his forearm. Using his momentum, he pushed off the wall to pick his speed back up.
Five more strides.
Three.
One more.
His chest heaved as he practically launched himself out of the alleyway. The In-Between greeted him like a lost friend. As much as he wanted to nearly drop in relief, he knew he had to keep moving. He could not stop. A run inside and he could grab a charm or a spell or something that could at least buy them a few moments to escape.
Just as he was about to take another step forward, the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end. He could hear the low vibrations of a concussive spell about to be cast. It wasn't behind him.
His senses screamed at him.
A split-second reaction made him leap back and throw his arms over his face. It was just in time to guard himself as the shop's front exploded outward in front of him. The heat was intense against his bare forearms while the force of the explosion made his ears ring. He was knocked clear off his feet. Glass was thrown all about onto the street as yellow magic and heat were vomited out the front of the shop like a monster.
Dazed, he desperately scrambled to his feet and all he could do was look on in horror. Smoke began to pour out of the shop. His ears were still ringing even as he shouted in anguish, "Connor, no!" He could not fully hear himself, but his throat most certainly made it known that the noise he was making was a rough one. His eyes stung, his body was sore, and he just watched Connor die in an explosion in his second home.
This could not be happening. No, this wasn't right. No, no, no, no! He can't be…!
He whipped his head back to see if the woman was still behind him. There was some marginal relief in seeing her body slumped against a pole on the sidewalk, having been blown aside from the explosion. It looked like she had not ducked or protected herself when it happened. Blood dripped from the back of her lolled head—the now mushy back of her head, and generous head-sized dent in the metal of the pole assured him that she would not be getting up. Good. He would have sighed in relief if not for his ragged panting.
He had other things he needed to focus on right now. Focus, Niles. Focus! I must find him. I need see him for myself. Need to see if…if…
He did not want to dwell on this train of thought, but he did not have a choice. Tears were stinging his eyes—he could not tell if it was from the smoke, the agonized horror in his chest, or a nausea-inducing combination of both—as he stepped closer to the shopfront.
Just as he was about to assess how he could enter without burning up, something shot out of the store, a dark bullet making him protect his face again. The thick smoke and glowing embers trailed behind the thing like a comet's tail, but with the speed the thing was going, the haze soon cleared away to reveal that it was a person. It was Connor! His boyfriend was on his broom about to take off down the street. Before he was aware that he had even oved Niles bolted towards him and screamed his name, "Connor! Connor, here!"
Connor's head was an instant swivel towards his voice, turning his whole body and broom around. They saw each other, and it was like instant magnetism between their two bodies. "Niles!" Connor's voice cracked around a broken sob. It broke Niles' heart.
His love sped towards him on his broom, not dropping speed as he lowered a hand down. Niles knew what he had to do instinctively. He raised an arm up as he ran towards Connor. Their hands met, and while Niles' body jerked at the force, he hopped onto the broom behind Connor in one singular motion with Connor's help. He did not know what, but something was fired behind them, and Niles had to duck his head into Connor's neck and wrap his arms around his waist not to be thrown off as Connor barrel-rolled to dodge it. There was shouting, distant people panicking, and sirens beginning to go off in the distance. All while this was happening, he could hear a steady stream of 'fuckfuckfuck' pouring out of Connor's mouth like a second language.
Connor rarely cursed like that.
They picked up speed.
"I thought I just watched you die!" Niles shouted over the roaring of the wind around them.
"I thought they came after you!" Connor yelled back. He almost hit a sign as he maneuvered them under the train tracks and between telephone wires. "Simon called me. They want to take us back!'
Neither of them had to explain who 'they' were.
Niles clutched to Connor like he was a lifeline, and for all intents and purposes, he was. In any other context, they would have long since been pulled over for reckless flying, but he would take reckless flying over whatever Crystal Life had in store for them if they caught them. A sharp, sudden left almost had Niles slipping off the broom, but he corrected himself before it could happen. The wind stung his eyes, screamed around his ears, and began to bite his skin.
"This is the police, pull over!" A glance behind them showed two police cars on the street below them and a police witch flying not far behind them. In front of the police, however, were two pursuers in black. Crystal Life. "You are under arrest! Pull over now!"
He couldn't do anything right now, and he felt useless. He hated it. If he moved too much, he could throw Connor's balance off the broom and send them both headlong into a crash that could kill them both at high speed.
"We're almost to the edge of the city!" Connor said as he entered between the last bit of the maze of tall stone buildings. "Once we get to the barrier, they won't follow us."
The barrier in mention was a blessing to them at this point. With the city located on a cliff, the literal edge of it was built right over the drop into the valley below. The barrier was about a fifty-foot stone wall to prevent someone from falling to their death. People could fly over it but doing a straight ascent to do so without a gradual incline was difficult. The cops driving certainly would not be able to follow them without roads to drive on, and the witch flying after them would not risk crashing to their death either to chase them.
"Pull over!"
At least they were not the ones doing property damage.
As soon as he said that, the corner of the building they were about to clear around exploded in a shower of concrete and dust. There was yelling as it knocked off Connor's control, sending them into a dizzying, falling spiral towards the street. Colors and lights whizzed by Niles' eyes—it was difficult to discern up from down, left from right, or backwards from forwards. Over his and Connor's combined yelling, he could sort of make out the pavement of the road coming to meet them. Quickly. Without thinking, he was able to throw out his leg and strike out, his prosthetic meeting the street with a painful lurch, a deafening metallic grind, and sparks spitting out everywhere. A thrust, and he was able to kick off from the street and help get them back in the air proper.
Only to see the barrier near tens of feet in front of them approaching like it wanted to greet them personally, faces to stone.
"Connor!"
"I know!"
His stomach nearly ended up in his mouth in the violent change in direction as Connor began to pull up from his lateral flight from the road to a vertical one to try and clear the barrier. "Come on, come on, come oooon!" Connor yelled in exertion, trying his damnest to pull up. The road was soon behind them as the bristles of the broom scrapped against the stoneface of the barrier. If he thought the wind was bad before, the speed of it here hurt his skin as they were completely vertical, parallel to the barrier.
Fifty feet to go.
Forty feet.
Twenty feet, and they began to wobble unsteady.
The amount of effort and control Connor was using to clear this wall, from what Niles could see, was making his arms taught and hands a vice around the broom handle. He dared not distract his boyfriend, but perhaps a little encouragement would tip some favor in their direction. "We are almost there, Connor. You can do this!"
"Come on, ahhhhhhhh!"
Ten feet.
They clouds could almost be touched.
One foot.
A scream and a cry, and they finally cleared the wall.
Only to fall into a terrifying dive into the foggy valley below.
.
.
.
"Connor."
He had to keep holding on. Had to keep going, had to keep going.
"Connor."
Don't let go.
"…Connor," a careful, familiar voice whispered into his ear and there was a hand rubbing his shoulder. "Love, you can stop now. You have been flying for over a half hour now. We can stop." The hand reached around to touch at his own hands that were latched onto his broom handle. His hands hurt but the touch was like a balm.
Thirty minutes? He could stop?
"Yes, you can stop. It's okay."
Oh. He didn't realize he had said that out loud.
Then again, there was a lot of things he hadn't realized. Like how long they had been flying, or how fast he had been taking them. Far enough apparently, as they had gone so deep in the valley that the fog had thickened to blocking out some of the sun. It must have been at least past three in the afternoon, but with the thick fog and low clouds that clung to the ground, it appeared as if it were almost twilight. He knew that if he looked up, he would see the colorless disk of the sun through the clouds, but here in the valley, the sun was but a distant stranger as of now—not to be seen in trueness until they escaped the valley. But that was fine. They needed the cover of the valley and its fog right now. The silver of the fog and clouds hazed around them and rolled like they were alive, embracing everything around them. Everything was thrown in a blue and purple tone, even the tall, gray slab stones and the green vegetation.
Now that he stopped, he could feel all the exhaustion and every negative emotion he had been feeling crash down on him like a building. He swayed a little and slumped forward on his broom with a pained groan, the wood of it pressing uncomfortably against his cheek, collarbone, and stomach. His muscles were screaming at him from being clenched so long while flying. His head was throbbing. The stone that had exploded from the building he had been flying past had clipped him on the head, leaving him with dampness in his hair that he was sure was blood. His arms were dangling limp noodles on either side of him, shaking from nerves. Cold settled into his body. Even with his charmed cardigan and heater of a boyfriend, he had not had the time to grab his flight scarf and gloves before his store exploded—flying without them turned him into a popsicle. He was so exhausted.
Wow, the ground sure looks appealing right now.
He would have fallen clean off his broom if not for Niles steadying him back up. "Woah, hey," he drew his close to him to rest for a moment, Connor's back against Niles' chest, "you are alright. I have you."
Connor removed his hat to hold in his hands. He then allowed himself to release a leaf-shaky breath as he leaned his head back against Niles' shoulder, letting him support all of his weight. His tail curled around the other's hips. They floated there in the silver-fogged purple valley, silent as ghosts. Niles' arms were around him, wrapped around his middle, and when he placed a hand over one of Niles' larger ones, he could feel them shake. Or perhaps that was both of their hands. Either way, their life had been turned upside down in perhaps the worst way. He wanted to cry, whether from fear, sorrow, or a more confused third option. Everything was just…so much.
They were to destroy Crystal Life. They were going to. They had to.
They were so close.
He could have lost Niles today for good. Crystal Life sent someone after him, the both of them, because they wanted their good little puppets back to carry out all of their orders. Connor may have been both angry at and terrified of Crystal Life, but thinking about Niles being trapped under their thumb and how he must be feeling right now…
He angled his head to kiss his boyfriend. I'm here with you. You're here with me. They can't break us apart.
Stars above, they really almost died not even a full hour ago. He sent a silent 'thank you' to North for her barrier spell slips. Not only had they saved him from the explosion in his shop, but they had also provided a much-needed cushion when they were diving (falling) into the valley.
They parted after what seemed to be a small eternity of recollecting themselves. Niles dipped his head into Connor's neck and breathed deeply, embracing the smaller of the two like one hug could banish all his worries. Connor understood how he needed that right now. Afterwards, Niles sighed and let him go before sliding off the broom. He took a few steps back to give himself some room. His eyes glowed bright blue in the silver fog around them as he looked up at him. "I will take it from here. The safehouse should not be too much farther. Another twenty minutes of me running should get us there just fine."
Slipping his hat back on, Connor watched, as he had many times before, as Niles shifted forms before him. He could feel Niles' natural inherent magic work to change his body. Skin made way to dark fur as two legs soon became four. His form swelled with muscle as he grew larger and larger, a tall man becoming that of a dark wolf over seven feet tall at the shoulders alone. His ears flicked and he shook his huge head a little as if to clear out dust. Dark like the night itself, he was a handsome wolf. Behind him, the metal of his alchemized prosthetics had changed along with the shift—Connor was so relieved whenever they did as that meant his hard work paid off for Niles. The reminder of why they were there in the first place pained Connor's heart.
After today, those who did that to Niles wouldn't be able to hide any longer.
Niles leaned in and nudged his snout against Connor's middle, who had floated to a height that would make it easier to access his back. "It's good to see you in this form. Lovely, as always," he kissed the tip of his snout. After, he hovered himself over Niles's broad back before sliding right on. His broom was nestled between Niles' back and his stomach well enough that it would not fall off when Niles started moving. He dug his hands into soft fur and let himself relax. The smell that was a mix of everything that made Niles himself comforted Connor: the scents of warm fur, earth, and moonlight helped fight off the nerves that still shook Connor's core.
Once Niles knew Connor was secure on his back, he took off with a steady run. A rhythm was soon developed, a rolling fluidness that had Connor bobbing with the motion. Now that they were out of immediate danger, he took the opportunity to check his phone. The light from his screen cut a glowing streak through the sliver fog.
Five missed calls from Simon, three from Markus, two from Tina, and one from Hank. Scrolling, he winced when he saw another fifteen missed calls from North and a matching amount from Josh. There was one from Luther, and twenty unread texts from a mix of all of the people mentioned.
Cooler Than You Club
Friday, October 13
2:25 PM—Brother to Kamina: PLAN NEEDS TO GO NOW, THEYRE GOING AFTER N & C
2:26 PM—Knight of the Black Death: explain right now
2:26 PM—Brother to Kamina: i was downloading the last of the stuff to leak when i came across an encrypted file. once I got though, they had everything on N and C! i called C but it cut off. someone was at his shop
2:28 PM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: Fuck
2:28 PM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: Fuck, Shit, fuck okay. Okay, lemme try to get either one of them
2:35 PM—Kentucky Fried Chicken: No luck on my end. Brother to Kamina is right. We need to start this now.
2:35 PM—Kentucky Fried Chicken: Knight of the Black Death We are going to move on our part, so you should get the notice from your Captain soon.
2:36 PM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: Can't get in contact with them. Jesus, I'm worried now
2:39 PM—Knight of the Black Death: call came in, gtg. get your asses out of the heat
2:45 PM—Brother to Kamina: me & KFC are leaving. made sure i looked super scared and teary when i cried to the guard about a bomb ;)
Although the movement from Niles was making it a little bumpy to type, he nonetheless wanted to make sure the others knew that Niles and himself were safe. Bumped and bruised, but safe.
3:13 PM—I Like Dogs: Brother to Kamina was right. Someone from Crystal Life came for me where I worked. Nearly blew me to pieces. We got chased out of the city, but we're heading to the safehouse now. We're okay
3:13 PM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: THANK FUCK, I was *this* close to go looking for your asses
3:13 PM—Sappho Wishes She Was Me: I Like Dogs and Pastry Terminator If you stress me out like that again, I'm going to kill you myself
3:14 PM—Kentucky Fried Chicken: Relief would be an understatement at this point. I Like Dogs how is Pastry Terminator?
3:14 PM—I Like Dogs: He's okay, running right now. If he was anything like me, he probably wasn't able to check his phone since much earlier. We're going to get patched up at the safehouse, but we'll meet up at the rendezvous with you all soon
3:15 PM—I Like Dogs: It'll be over soon…
With that taken care of, he switched from the group chat to his text messages. The wall of texts basically surmounted to varying questions of where he was, if he was okay, and where Niles was. While Markus, Simon, Tina, and Hank were all intimately in the know as they were helping to enact this whole thing, Kara, Luther, North, and Josh only knew that there was some sort of plan happening today. He did not have the time to tell them everything—additionally, that would have put them at risk to inform them of more explicit details—but he did want to ease their worries at least somewhat.
Plus, North would kill him if he didn't come back in one piece.
He sent out a quick group text to Kara, Luther, North, and Josh. It read: 'Shop gone, but we are safe for now. Laying low, will get in contact soon. Keep watching the news.'
Phone slipped now into his pocket, he could relax somewhat for the rest of the ride. It may have been colder in the valley than in the city, but Niles was plenty warm in his wolf form, even more so than his human one. He kept his grip still tight on Niles' fur as not to slip off, but he did allow himself to close his eyes and bury his face into the warm black. The cold seemed to steadily slip away, no longer becoming a persistent issue. It was still there, but it was lessened to such a degree that he could ignore it. He blew out a breath and then took a deeper one. Oh, how he could feel his tiredness. The rhythm of Niles' pace was steady, almost lulling Connor…
Eye closed, he listened to the sounds around him. The pounding of huge paws on the flowered purple valley ground, the breathing of Niles beneath his ear, the last of the insects in the air…
He could just…fall…
Asleep…
A low whoof brought him back to awareness. A groan escaped him as he rubbed his eyes and began to sit up. He felt fur underneath his free hand as he cracked his eyes open. He was confused for a moment as to where he was, but then everything came back. Hrrgh, how long was I asleep?
Niles made a ruffing noise as he tilted his head back and up to try and look at Connor. Connor rubbed his head between the ears. "I'm alright, I'm alright. Everything is just starting to catch up to me."
Satisfied, Niles knelt down in order to let Connor off his back. Jumping from that high would be bad for his knees and he didn't feel like flying just to get down. Once Niles was low enough, Connor slid off with his broom in his hand with a practiced motion. With two feet on solid ground, he worked out some stiff joints and stared at their safe house. Just behind him, Niles shifted back to his human form.
Safehouse…was a rather generous description. It was safe, yes, but a house it was not. Nestled into a craggy area of rock in the bottom of the valley was a cave. It was well hidden, covered by dense, tall bushes and had hanging curtains of flowers growing from the top of the cave's mouth. They had found it when they had escaped from Crystal Life two years ago, wild in their hopes to never be found again and desperate in their actions. With a well-developed city on one side of the top of the valley and an immensely dense forest on the opposite top, there was not a single soul that wanted to traverse the thick, silver fog below.
Save them, as it were.
They had hidden out here for weeks, recovering and trying to get some semblance of ground beneath their feet. Once they were stable enough, they had ventured into the city for supplies and more permanent housing. Even after, when they had carved out a little slice of the city to nestle a life for themselves, they had come back to the cave. They had stocked it with emergency supplies, adding more and more to it as they developed plans to take down Crystal Life. It was small and not fit for anything truly long term, but after today, it was going to be their home away from home for a short while.
He stepped forward with a raised hand. The soft pink glow of his magic lit his hand and the area around them as he touched an invisible barrier about three feet from the mouth of the cave. He sensed Niles step next to him. Pink magic glowed a little brighter as the concealment charm he had placed here reacted to his magical signature. A small sigil burned magenta on the invisible barrier and faded away, a few dull embers of light flaking off and falling harmlessly to the ground. The barrier unlocked.
"It has been a long time since we have been in here," Niles commented as he walked in.
Following in right after, Connor agreed. "Mm, it really has, hasn't it?"
The concealment charm had not only added an extra layer of security, but the barrier it provided had also been great in keeping things dry in the foggy valley. They had everything wrapped in plastic storage bags and plastic containers, so nothing in them would have been ruined, but not having to deal with wet walls and floor was always preferable. Even though this was nothing like their actual home, the sight of the storage containers stacked on top of each other, folded metal cot frames, and various bags of supplies—it felt like a four-star hotel right now.
Once inside, Connor and Niles got into a familiar, though not recently executed, routine. A lantern was quickly brought to life, providing them with necessary illumination. (Niles could see okay in the dark, but even he preferred light most of the time, and Connor wasn't gifted with night sight.) One of the collapsible cot frames was unfolded—they could share one as they would not be staying long—and a cushioned bedroll was taken from one of the larger storage containers to put atop it. From one of the smaller containers came the first-aid kit along with other various medical supplies. As soon as he saw the medical supplies, it was as if that was the signal for his body to remind him of everything that was hurting in his body.
"Stars above," he heaved out a heavy sigh as he collapsed onto the cot with the first aid kit in his lap. Was it bad he wanted to down many pain killers? Perhaps, but right now, he didn't care.
"How bad is it?" Came the question from behind the stack of containers that held the non-perishable food. Asking if he was okay would have been redundant, so Niles already knew how to phrase what he needed to know.
There was the sound of crinkling wrappers and rapid crunching. Transforming burned a lot of energy, so Niles often needed to eat after shifting, especially considering his run before they got here. They always kept this placed stocked with plenty of canned items like soups, pastas, meats, and veggies in addition to dry things like snack and protein bars, dried fruits, and nuts. From the sounds of it, it looked like Niles had torn into the protein bars first.
Connor took off his hat with a wince. "I could sleep for ten years and still not feel rested enough." The feeling of dried blood crusting in the fabric and his hair was disgusting. He tried to rub the ache that was blooming below his left horn, but it was a fruitless endeavor. All the managed to do was to get some blood on his fingers. For a moment, he closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the wall.
He heard Niles come to stand in front of him, so he opened his eyes. "Let me help," Niles took the first aid kit, hands clean of snack crumbs.
"It's okay, I can do that," Connor began to protest, but Niles was having none of it.
His boyfriend shook his head and batted his hands away. "I like taking care of you," he gave him a small smile. "I do not mind at all."
The sigh that came from him was tired, but fond. Connor knew it was a losing battle to argue with Niles over something like this, so he just let him do what he wanted. Niles was quick to work. He wiped the dried blood and dirt away from Connor's face and the side of his head. Connor handed him the necessary materials—he didn't want to just sit there useless, after all. Next came the antiseptic to the shallow gash on his head by his horn. It stung but felt much better after it was dressed. While Niles was finishing up, Connor took the opportunity to give the man a once-over, and was shocked to see injuries on Niles that had somehow escaped his notice until now.
"Oh, love, your arms," Connor breathed, gently taking Niles' arms in his hands, turning them over. The outside of Niles' forearms was burned. Most of the hair had been singed off, the skin reddened, and there were several blisters on them. "You don't feel this? What happened?"
The 'oh' that came out of Niles' mouth sounded uncharacteristically awkward. "…Ah, would you believe me if I said I did not notice until now?"
He could since he was the same.
"And I believe it happened when I was coming to the shop," he continued. "I had brought my arms up to protect my face just in time when the explosion happened. It hurt, but with everything, I had not paid it any mind." He seemed more sheepish than anything, which was just so Niles.
"Well, I guess we're trading places then," Connor patted the cot. "Come on, take a load off."
There were a few nicks and cuts on Niles' face and hands, which just needed some quick cleaning and not bandages; advanced healing would take care of it soon. His arms, however, needed some work. Being careful with them, Connor could see there were several blisters (some threatening to open already) and a lot of reddened skin. He bit his lip. Even with Niles' advanced healing, these were second degree and needed to be treated.
The quiet of the cave was only disturbed by their breathing. In the warm glow that the lantern brought, Niles had some more color to his face, taking away the paleness that constant stress and worry had brought on from today. Even with a speck of dirt on his cheek, a few nicks on the opposite cheek, and the disheveled state of his clothes, he was still beautiful. If anyone were to look at them now, they would see two rather banged up individuals who just wanted to stay together.
"Oh, what a pair we are."
Niles' expression was soft when he looked at him. "What a pair we are."
It was close to five in the evening by the time they had flown up to the other side of the valley to get to the rendezvous location. They had to take it slow, but when they did finally reach the stop, the forest greeted them almost instantly. Massive giants comparable to the size of sequoias, the midnight trees created an absolute towering kingdom of shadow. They were named for their bark—a deep, dark blue that it appeared black. The ginormous size and height of the midnights had them in so much cover that, like the valley, made it seem much later in the day than it actually was. There was just enough light from them to see a little ahead of them, but not much as to make out details. There wouldn't be until the trees thinned out closer to the edge of the cliff at their rendezvous location.
Connor cast a simple orb of light to hover in front of them as they carefully weaved through the thick trees close to the ground.
Behind him, Niles said, "You know I have good night vision. I could lead us through the forest."
He rolled his eyes. "Controlling my broom from behind you would be a mess, and while I trust you with every fiber of my being, I rather not get smacked in the head again."
"That was one time, and it was not my fault."
"Uh-huh."
"Not my fault."
"Of course, dear."
The last time Niles decided to roam around the forest in his animal form with Connor on his back, Connor had gotten a heavy smack on his head and had nearly fallen of Niles' back. His werewolf boyfriend was huge in his animal form, to say the least. As such, many animals who had not encountered him before were natural frightened of him and would often flee at the sight of him. On the little adventure the two of them had been on, some kind of flying creature—Connor didn't get a good look as to which creature specifically—had been startled badly by Niles and had flown up to escape. Right into Connor's face.
He did not want a repeat of the scratches on his face and feathers in his hat and hair.
It took them about ten or fifteen minutes of low flying until they started to reach the edge of the forest. The deep shadow of the forest began to fade and make way to the waning evening sunlight. Connor banished his orb of light. The closer they got, the more anxious he was becoming. Well, perhaps anxious wasn't the most encompassing word. He wrung his hands. Excited? Nervous? It was a little of everything.
Niles reached around to still his hand wringing. Connor didn't mention the Niles' pinky tapping against his hand, one of Niles' own restless tics.
Before long, sunlight banished all of the shadow of the forest, and they were met with the evening sky and the rest of the horizon.
And there was everyone! No Hank, however, who was still working the evacuation measure.
Connor pulled them up to a stop in front of near everyone and dismounted with Niles following. The relief he felt in seeing everyone okay was a lot, but everything they had worked for was about to come together.
As soon as his boots were on the ground, Tina came rushing forward and drew them both in a hug. He was about to say something, but before he could, the arms she had over their shoulders curled around their necks. Tightly. Connor heard a 'hurk' sound come from Niles and a noise very similar came from him as he was starting to choke. Tina bent them down to her level before whispering to them, "Make me stress like that again, and they'll never find your bodies. Understand?"
Their rapid nodding must have appeased her because she released them as quickly as she had run up on them. "Great!"
Markus and Simon came near. Markus' white wings and Simon's dark speckled ones both lifted up in their happiness to see them. Simon was freer with his emotions and his wings often reflected that, and while Markus did his best to seem collected all the time and not let his wings betray him, it didn't always work that way.
Simon reached out to pat Connor's shoulder while Markus clasped arms with Niles. "When you got cut off, I was so freaking worried, Con! But I bet you made them regret it, huh?"
"If I'm being honest it was all thanks to North. Without the work she had been doing on barriers, I probably would have been toast along with the rest of my shop."
A sympathetic grimace. Every thoughtful Simon. "Sorry about that, by the way. I know how much that place means to you."
"Thank you."
Markus brushed them with his extended wing—a gesture that meant he was trying to comfort them. "While you two both looked banged up, it's nice to see there's no serious damage," he said as he drew his hand back from Niles.
"Nice to see the stuffy old ghosts at Crystal Life did not bore you to death, Markus," Niles said. Then, in a comment that was on brand for his dry humor, he added, "It would be a shame if you keeled over. I might have to really turn you into some fried chicken."
Simon snorted while Markus rolled his eyes. It was an old, harmless joke between Niles and Markus that had been going on for as long as they knew each other. It didn't help that Markus' nickname in the group chat was all Simon's doing in order to egg it on. "Ha ha," was the dull intonation. "Even if they did kill me, I have already given Connor full permission to resurrect me so I can haunt you."
Niles fake gasped, turning to Connor. "Such betrayal from my own boyfriend."
"I love you."
Once all the pleasantries were done, essentially checking over everyone to make sure they were all in one piece, it was time. Niles, Tina, Markus, Simon, and Connor walked to a safe distance from the edge of the cliff. The sun was beginning to slide down behind the tall figure of the city on the other side of the valley. From this height, Crystal Life main building and its nearby military recruitment center could be seen just outside of the city. Even from here, ant-sized blips of red and blue police lights were visible. Small, but still visible. Nothing of the Crystal Life building would be standing after today.
"No more Crystal Life," Tina whispered as she looked towards the building.
"No more Crystal Life," Markus nodded. "Not after today."
Simon handed Niles a round, glowing metal device. The detonator. The exchange was silent, with no further words needed from the angel. Once in hand, Niles turned to Connor. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Connor's heart was thudding in his chest and his tail was flicking behind him. This was really it. They were really about too do this. One push of a button would set off all the explosives that Simon and Tina had planted, and Crystal Life would soon be a nightmare brought to rubble and smoke. He swallowed hard and took steadying breath. Reaching out, he did not grasp the detonator, but instead rested a hand on top of the one Niles was using to hold the detonator. "Together," his voice was thick. "I…I want to do this together with you. They took away so, so much away from us…away from scores of other people. I wasn't the only one affected. This…this is your time, too."
They kidnapped him and his brother. They killed Collin—took away his twin from him—when they tried their experiments on them, leaving Connor half dead, half alive. They tortured him, half killed him with cold and ice, put him under spell after spell to keep him sedated and pliable, easy to control. Forced him to become a necromancer, to pervert the art of necromancy in ways that he did not want to remember. Ways that only came to him in his nightmares.
They kept Niles on a reinforced collar and leash that left him with abysmal scars around his neck. They took his fucking legs away when he had tried to escape. They forced him destroy and kill and maim under the threat of the collar making his life an absolute hell. Made him become a literal dog of the shadow sects of the military.
They were going to pay.
Niles nodded, more of a head jerk than anything, and looked out on to the horizon. Connor did the same. The others were several feet behind them having taken a few steps back as they sensed Connor and Niles needed this moment between the two of them.
"…Three."
They squeezed their free hands, grips desperate.
"Two."
They took a steadying breath.
"One."
They pressed down on the button together and before their very eyes, a massive surge of red and yellow and smoke exploded from the Crystal Life and the military recruitment center. Immediately following was a loud boom that reached even across the valley. Thick smoke climbed towards the sky. Before their very eyes, the very corporation that put them through hell and back was being eaten by fire.
Niles made a noise in his throat as he knees slowly gave out from under him.
The emotion—or rather, emotions—that were running through Connor were so overwhelming and were hard to place. What the hell was he feeling? Joy? Relief? Fear? "We really did it," Connor breathed through the tears that were now running down his face. It was as if he was watching what he had dreamed of every day since he escaped. Almost like a daydream. He slumped to the ground right next to Niles who gripped the back of Connor's cardigan.
Niles rested his head on Connor's shoulder. "Happy Date Day."
"Happy Date Day."
Hands were placed on both of their backs. Their friends were with them, and Crystal Life was gone.
They were free.
.
.
.
[From CCN, My name is Shantay Williamson, and today I bring you breaking news about the megacorporation, Crystal Life. The main building and adjacent military recruitment center have been destroyed in multiple explosions—]
[—and there has been a massive information dump online about Crystal Life. It is unknown as to how the information was leaked online, but there is suspicion that this could have been an inside job. The internet has jumped on the information, and multitudes of social media sites have in fact crashed due to the massive floods of higher traffic. Of the information, it has—]
[—multiple reports of explosions by the Crystal Life main building and military center today at—]
[From Channel 3 News, we bring you this breaking news update: coupled with the Crystal Life building being destroyed, there has been waves of top-secret information about the company that has been leaked online to the public from an unknown hacker or group of hackers. Of the information, there are scores of accusations of unethical business practices, human rights violations, and more. We will keep you updated when—]
[—information about kidnapping, magic-users the victims in particular; torture; inhumane treatment of unknowing volunteers; and several more human rights violations.]
[Previous sensitive information reveals that the megacorporation, Crystal Life, has secret military sects across the country that have been used in the past to carry out illegal missions—]
[—victims are taking to social media to talk about what Crystal Life has done to them—]
[—families outraged learning what happened to missing loved ones—]
[We at this station are confident when we say that Crystal Life's time is drawing to an end. My name is Christian Watanabe, your anchor for this evening. Thank you for tuning into this broadcast, and we wish you and your family a wonderful and safe evening. Good night.]
.
.
.
Bathed in the light of the full moon, Niles hugged Connor's waist as they flew through the night sky, Connor's tail curled lazily around Niles' wrist. There were few clouds hanging in the air, which only made the light that much brighter.
It had been a month since they had wiped Crystal Life of the map in their city. Their injuries had healed up fine, but their lives had not exactly returned to full normalcy. The shop was closed indefinitely until the insurance could kick in, so Connor had been left with a lot of free time. Additionally, Kara and Luther had not let Niles come back to work, citing that they had everything handled and that with everything that had happened, he should take some more time for himself. Typical of them. Niles was not sure how he had expected anything less.
Now that all of Crystal Life's dirty laundry had been aired for all of the United States, and the rest of the world, the corporation had gone dark. People near rioting, victims and families of victims calling for recognition and compensation, and anybody connected with Crystal Life going dark—it was an entire mess. With little to do, Niles and Connor had talked about doing something positive, something to help. With help, they had taken down the Crystal Life scourge from their city. Perhaps they could help others do the same in their own towns and cities.
"Where am I flying, love?" Connor called over the wind. His boyfriend, his everything, sounded much lighter and happier ever since they had blown the corporation to bits.
Niles zoomed in on the map on his phone. "The closest city that Crystal life went dark the quickest is Bone Eater Bay to the south. Going dark that quick definitely means they are trying to cover their tracks. Thankfully our contact already knows where the most powerful people in that branch are hiding, so all we have to do is meet with them and start from there."
They were going to have their work cut out for them, but that was okay.
With Connor by his side, Niles felt like he could do anything. He smirked.
"Let's get busy, then."
Published: 3/29/2021
A/N: The formatting here on FF kinda sucks, so you may want to check out this fic on AO3 if you rather that kind of format. ALSO, if you like my stuff, check me out on twitter: el_rey_ciervo and on tumblr: elreyciervo