I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, my eyes are super fucked up, my migraines have gotten worse and I have an issue with looking at computer screens for too long. My updates may start to always take this long, which I sincerely apologize for, but I promise you I AM updating and continuing the story.
IMPORTANT: I rewrote chapter one, please go back and read it - I got rid of some major aspects of the story, which I know is super unprofessional, but I think it changes the fic for the better. I really hope you enjoy!
Sin blinked twice, Spider's fiery eyes trained on him. The older boy crossed his arms, a furious - but far from hateful - expression muddled slightly with fear and disappointment. Sin swallowed. His body instinctively flinched from the amount of rage he saw, but consciously he was aware Spider would never hurt him. It was the disappointment that stung the most.
He had no time to process it, or plan what he was going to say to Spider, because Elena was already speaking.
"This should be an interesting one, folks… let the Fight begin!" Sin barely had time to tear his eyes away from Spider before Ironfist was upon him. She was tactless, trying to crush him with her bodyweight. He was distracted, however, and barely had enough time to dodge out of the way.
She snatched the back of his shirt and wheeled him around, forcing him up against the wall. She twisted his arm behind his back, and he could feel her breath on his neck. She smelled like cigarette smoke.
He stomped down on the inside of her foot and threw back his head, hitting her in the neck. Ironfist made a choking sound and stumbled back. Sin wasted no time in whirling around, punching her twice in the stomach and elbowing her between her ribs with all of his might. She doubled over, and he kicked the backs of her knees, forcing her onto all fours. Quickly, before she had time to recover, he wrapped his arms around her neck in a chokehold.
"Give up," he said, straining slightly. She had no skill, but she was strong, and she began to pull at his arms. Grunting, and not wanting to wait until she could dislodge him, he placed the flat of his hand against her back and pulled very gently at the back of his mind. Ironfist let out a faint 'oomph' as Sin's magic pushed her to the ground. The crowd began to count down, when they finished, Sin released the girl, scrambling off of her.
"And it's another win for Assassin, who remains undefeated! Will anyone try to challenge the young champion?" Elena called, slipping from her elegant confidence to her crowd-hyping voice.
Ironfist climbed hurridly out of the pit, and Sin made to follow her when he heard the thump of a new opponent landing near him. He let out a sigh; he hadn't wanted to take this long. Elena hadn't specified he'd have to fight more than once, but he knew that now that he'd been challenged there'd be no backing out.
He turned around to face his opponent and almost stumbled back in shock. Spider stood in front of him, eyes alight.
"Spider… I can explain," Sin murmured hurriedly, putting his hands up. "It's not -"
"You know," Spider cut him off, his voice full of stark anger, "I had wondered how you were getting all of that extra money. You've barely been with us a year, and yet you're pulling in more than Toxic from people's pockets? I thought it was a bit suspicious, but I didn't ask you about it. I figured, if it was important, you would tell me. Family don't keep secrets." He uncrossed his arms, bringing his arms up into a fighting position as Elena spoke to the crowd. "I guess I was wrong."
"Spider… look," Sin said weakly, "I wasn't trying to - I never meant to hurt you, I just - I wanted to help! I'm good at this!"
"You could have told me," Spider said through gritted teeth. "And don't expect me to go easy on you. You clearly think you have enough skill to beat me as it is."
"That's -"
"Let the Fight begin!"
And suddenly there was no time to talk. Sin had known Spider was good, and the older boy had said he'd stopped going easy on him - but that had to be a lie, because Spider was fast. By the time Sin had registered the Fight had started, he was Spider had already spun him around and forced him up against the wall of the pit.
Sin stomped back with his foot but Spider easily stepped out of the way, twisting the younger boy around and judo-flipping him onto the ground. Sin grunted in pain as the wind was knocked from his body but before Spider could get a proper grip on him he spun out of the way, jumping to his feet.
"You were perfectly happy to lie to Shade about my training," Sin defended, evading a series of jabs to his ribs and managing to land a kick to Spider's shin. The older boy backed up.
"That's not the same and you know it," Spider growled. "Do you honestly not realize how much danger you're in when you're here? You're ten years old, Sin!"
As he finished his sentence, Spider ducked under a clumsy haymaker from Sin and thrust his palm into the younger boy's belly, forcing him to double over, and bringing his fists down on his back. Sin stumbled and fell to the ground, gasping for breath like a fish out of water.
"TEN!" Roared the crowd,
As he fought for breath, he considered just giving up.
"NINE!"
Maybe if he just let Spider win, then the older boy wouldn't be so angry.
"EIGHT!"
It niggled at his honor, but he considered it for a moment.
"SEVEN!"
And then a familiar, steely voice whispered in his mind, 'Get up.'
"SIX!"
'Get up, Assassin. Show him how good you are. Show him why you deserve to be here.'
"FIVE!"
'Get up.'
"FOUR!"
'Get. Up.'
"THREE!"
Assassin drew in a shuddering breath and crawled to his feet. The crowd erupted into cheers, and pulled himself into a fighting position.
"It doesn't matter how good you are," Spider said, his eyes dark. "Don't you understand who's watching you? Not only could you have been seriously hurt, but you're just tempting Elena and her group. Are you trying to draw her attention?"
Sin didn't bother answering; he was done with the lying, and he didn't want another thing to have to defend himself against during the Fight. He sprinted toward the ladder, sliding underneath a kick from Spider, and grabbed onto it. He climbed halfway before turning and launching himself at Spider. The older boy, clearly not expecting Sin to come at him from above, responded instinctively and put his hands up to shield his face. Sin barrelled into Spider's abdomen, knocking the older boy over. He sat on Spider's chest, a foot keeping each wrist down.
"Goodness, folks this is an interesting one! It seems young Assassin has turned the tables on Arachnus, the undisputed grand champion of the Fights! I don't think anyone saw this coming!" Elena commented, and Spider grinded his teeth.
"TEN!"
"Just because you can beat the average starving street kid," he said, "doesn't mean you're anywhere near equipped to deal with anything Elena throws at you. Trust me, Sin, any interest she shows in you is bad news. She's a snake."
"EIGHT!"
"I can take care of myself," Sin assured him. "I've survived this long, haven't I?"
"SEVEN!"
"I just didn't want to worry you! Besides, you were going to bring me in anyway. And this is a good thing! I've been bringing in money, why does it matter how I got it?"
"FIVE!"
"Because," Spider replied heatedly, "You didn't tell us. Do you honestly not trust us?" He asked.
"FOUR!"
Sin stared down at him with hurt eyes, and Spider swung a leg up to slam into his side. Sin lost his grip on Spider and the older boy threw him off. Sin rolled away to a stand but Spider was already upon him, digging an elbow into his neck while sweeping a leg under his feet.
The young wizard fell to the ground, Spider's full weight pressing him down. Only half the crowd counted down this time, as if sure that Sin would be able to turn things around once more.
"I'm sorry," Sin breathed heavily. "I am. I would have told you - I would have asked first, but -"
"But nothing," Spider snapped. "You can explain yourself to Shade. I'm sure she'll be extremely pleased to know that you've been coming here, alone, behind her back."
"THREE!"
Sin grunted, and again, the oddly familiar voice spoke with quiet confidence in his mind. 'You can win. You are not like him - you can get out of this. Think, Sin. Show him you can do this. Beat him, and he'll have no excuse to keep you from coming.' As the voice spoke, Sin realised it was Elena's voice. It was a little disturbing that his subconscious was taking the voice of Elena, but he ignored it.
Sin gritted his teeth and threw an elbow back, pulling very gently at the well of power within him. Spider stumbled back as if a baseball bat had whacked him in the stomach, and Sin used the opportunity to use all of his weight and hit Spider in the backs of the knees, forcing him onto his hands and knees. He leapt onto Spider's back and put him in a weak headlock, his free hand forcing Spider to the ground with his magic. The crowd roared again and began to count down.
"FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!" The crowd went absolutely insane, and Sin could see flashes of paper as money changed hands. Sin retreated from Spider, releasing the hold his magic had on the older boy.
"And the win goes to Assassin, finally toppling the year-long reign of previous champion Arachnus! I don't think anyone saw this coming! Tonight was an easy way to lose a lot of money, or make a lot more! Anyone who doubted the young Assassin before… well, the young man sure showed them!"
Assassin wanted to be sick. Spider shot him another glare before crawling out of the pit on the ladder, before offering a hand to Sin. Sin smiled in thanks, relieved; he couldn't be that angry. Not for the first time, Assassin wallowed in gratitude at the fact that he had a family that cared about him so much. The only reason Spider was angry with him was because he cared about him.
That said, the walk home was an awkward one. The silence was suffocating, and Sin let out a breath of relief when Spider spoke.
"So you've got a handle on your magic, I see. I suppose you thought you didn't need to mention that, either."
Sin swallowed. "It's not… it's not what it looks like. I didn't -"
"Whatever," Spider snapped. "I'm tired of your excuses. Let's just wait for Shade."
They fell back into uncomfortable silence. As they neared the warehouse, it became nearly unbearable.
"So… Arachnid?" Sin asked cautiously, glancing sideways at his older brother.
Spider shrugged. "Yeah. A play on my name, but I didn't want to give them my real name."
"Smart," admitted Sin. "I didn't think of that."
"Obviously not," Spider sniffed. "I'm a genius, and you aspire to my level of god-like intellect." There was a beat before the boys both snorted, and Sin felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. He wasn't quite so dead. At least, not until they reached Shade.
They were about to turn the corner out of the maze of back-alleys when the hair on the back of Sin's neck prickled. He grabbed Spider's arm and stopped in his tracks.
"What?" Spider asked, narrowing his eyes and looking around. Unconsciously, Sin's legs formed a fighting stance.
"I'm not sure," he murmured in reply, "I -"
"Well, boys, that sure was interesting," came a smooth, all-together too familiar voice. Sin swore, and relaxed his stance, but didn't let down his guard. He didn't think Elena would attack him, but he didn't trust her as far as he could throw her.
"Elena," he ground out as the vampiress appeared out of the shadows before the two orphans. "The hell are you doing?"
She smiled wickedly. "Why, Assassin,I thought you were coming clean," she said with a sweetness Sin might have believed if he didn't know her, and if it weren't for the aura hanging around her that always seemed to set him on edge. "With everything. I guess you kept some things to yourself."
"Sin," Spider asked, his voice strained, "What is she talking about?" The older boy's face was pale, and while Sin had relaxed, Spider looked ready to brawl.
Elena turned to Spider, her pleasant smile flashing. "I think it's time we all had a chat." She turned to continue the way Spider and Sin had been walking, but the two boys didn't move.
"Sin," Spider repeated, his voice quivering slightly, "What the hell?"
Sin's gut wrenched as he ignored his older brother, stepping toward Elena. "I'm not stupid. There's no way you're coming with us." Elena raised an eyebrow, and Sin swallowed, turning to Spider.
"Get Shade. Bring her to the Japanese courtyard." Spider opened his mouth, but Sin cut him off, grabbing his forearm. "Spider, do you trust me?" He asked.
"Of course," Spider replied gruffly. "But -"
"Then bring Shade to the courtyard. Make sure Hero stays with the rest - don't leave them unprotected." Spider stared at him before nodding slowly, glancing between him and Elena, and heading off toward the courtyard.
The young wizard turned on Elena. "What the hell?!" He exclaimed, shoving her. She didn't so much as sway.
Elena's feigned friendliness vanished, her expression now grim. "They had to find out eventually. I was only helping the process along. Also, Hogwarts letters are supposed to start coming next week." Her expression softened. "I know what the Dursleys did to you, Sin, and if it were up to me, the only reason you would ever have to go back there would be to rip their throats out. However, unless you want to be found here, you need to go. Do you really want to disappear for a week without telling your family? Do you know how worried they'd be?"
Sin opened his mouth to argue, but found nothing to refute her words. As much as he hated to admit it, Elena was right. "You still should have let me tell them," he grumbled.
"Apologies," Elena said, her tone indicating she wasn't at all sorry. Sin ignored her and took a left in the maze of back-alleys, leading the vampiress into a triangular brick courtyard with Japanese characters spray-painted on all three walls. It wasn't long before Spider showed up, Shade in tow.
If Sin had thought Spider had been angry, it was nothing to the terrifying wrath Shade's furious expression promised. "Sin," she said, her voice flat and emotionless, "what the fuck?"
When Sin didn't immediately reply, the girl's gaze snapped to Elena. She stepped between Sin and the vampiress, staring down the lethal killing machine without a flicker of fear.
"If you laid a single finger on him," she snarled, "I will destroy you. I will go to the Daily Prophet, to the Quibbler if I have to, and make sure everyone knows who you are. Rita Skeeter owes my family a debt. I think the ministry would love to know that the last Van Rau is a living vampire."
Sin had never respected Shade more. Too look Elena in the eye and threaten her, without flinching… she had to be the bravest person in the world, or completely insane.
Elena raised an eyebrow. "Well, I certainly admire your courage, but you don't have to worry. I haven't hurt him." She tilted her head. "I assume you're Assassin's connection to the magical world. Now who might you be?"
She began to slowly walk in a circle around Shade, as if aprising her market value. Eventually, as Sin began to speak, she let out a clear laugh, one that skated along Sin's spine. "I'm not the only cast-out descendent of an important family. It was always a mystery what the Lestranges did with their squib daughter." She laughed again, and Shade paled slightly, but held her ground. "Charlana Lestrange, finally resurfacing. That is interesting."
Sin couldn't quite remember where he had heard the name Lestrange before, but he didn't quite care. "Enough," he snapped at Elena. "Her name isn't Charlana Lestrange. It's Shade."
Three pairs of eyes turned on Sin, and he swallowed. "Care to explain?" Shade asked, crossing her arms. It was amazing a seventeen-year-old could convey such scary displeasure.
"You might… might want to sit. And get comfortable. This could take a while." Under Shade's withering stare, Sin sat himself. When everyone followed suit, he said, "I'll tell you everything, I only ask you don't interrupt." He got shaky nods from both Spider and Shade, and then started to explain.
"It started with Toxic, and the bullet…"
The sun had just begun to peak over the horizon once Sin finished. There was a long, sickening silence.
"How could you go to her?" Shade finally said. "You needed help. How could you go to her and not me? We're your family, Sin. Aren't we?"
Assassin's eyes stung. "How could you ask that?" He said, his voice hoarse. "How…"
Shade's angry expression slowly melted away into hurt. "Family comes to each other when they need help."
Sin shut his eyes tightly and took a steadying breath before replying. "I didn't want to hurt anyone else. You didn't offer to help me control it, so I didn't - I didn't think you knew how."
"You're not supposed to be able to control it, Sin!" Shade exclaimed. "That's why it's called accidental magic!"
There was another pause, before she said, "Show me. I want to see what you can do." She shot Sin a watery grin, and he knew that while he wasn't forgiven, she wasn't quite so furious.
He turned to Elena who nodded. Unbeknownst to Sin, Shade stiffened at the gesture. The vampiress snatched a piece of broken asphalt from the ground and tossed it at Sin, who barely needed to tug at the back of his mind before the rock stopped in the air, flying back at Elena. The vampiress caught it, a slim smirk on her red lips.
There was an intake of breath from Sin's left, and Spider spoke up. "Wow. Can you - can you do anything else? Ow!" He turned to Shade, who had stomped on his foot. She didn't speak, however.
Sin's gaze, again, went to Elena whose eyes seemed to say, 'whatever you're comfortable with'. So he opened the door to the power in his mind, and let it flood him. The intoxicating feeling of power made him sigh with euphoria, and he willed the ground before him to freeze, creating a tiny sheen of ice. He willed it to build, and build, and build, until there was a block of ice as tall as he was standing in front of him. He ignored Elena's sharp gaze and the gasps of Shade and Spider, before shoving a hand forward. The block of ice flew into the wall and smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces.
"I had no chance of winning that fight, did I?" Spider demanded. Elena snorted.
"Assassin defeated a Runespoor. No, you didn't."
Spider huffed and crossed his arms.
"I didn't really defeat it," Sin argued. "It was more like I… reasoned with it."
Spider let out a humorless laugh. "I still can't get over the fact that you can speak to snakes. That's freaky."
"Parselmouths are incredibly rare," Shade agreed.
Sin glanced at Elena, and her lips were pressed together tightly. He didn't often see Elena rattled, but whenever the fact that he was a parselmouth was brought up, she lost her elegant cool.
There was another pause. "So where do we go from here?" Sin asked.
"There's no way you're going back to the Dursleys. Or to another magical fight," Shade said immediately.
"Shade," Sin pleaded, "I have to. If they find out that I'm here, they could come and take me away, and put me back with the Dursleys permanently. I'd rather go for a week than for the next six summers.
"I don't see why you can't just go the day the letters come," she argued stubbornly.
Elena stepped in, and Sin nodded at her gratefully. "The letters don't all come on the same day, and just in case we get the day wrong, or the Dursleys find the letter before Sin and throw it away and the next one comes the next day… it's better not to risk it."
Shade shot her an angry look and Elena stepped forward, her expression comforting. She rested a hand on Shade's shoulder. "Sin will -"
The moment Elena touched her, Shade drew a small knife from her belt and pressed the blade to the vampiress's neck. "Don't you fucking touch me," she spat. "And don't you ever, ever lay a hand on Assassin."
Sin stepped forward, alarmed, and frankly worried for Shade's safety, despite Elena being the one with a blade pressed to her throat. However, Elena merely put her hands up placatingly and stepped back. Sin relaxed.
"As I was saying," Elena continued smoothly, and Shade lowered her knife slowly, "Assassin will be perfectly fine. He can defend himself now. He has the power. They won't be able to lay a finger on him without him blowing them into the next room. And I'm going to … have a word with them when he arrives."
This was news to Sin, and he turned to Elena, the question in his eyes. "I don't want him going back any more than you do, but it's a necessary evil," she finished. Shade snorted in disbelief and Spider raised an eyebrow, skeptical, but neither of them argued.
"When are the letters coming?" Spider asked.
"Next week."
Shade swore under her breath. "Fine. But only if you are sure you feel comfortable," she said, taking Sin's hand. "And I want you to check in twice a day. We can get you one of Sparky's radios, and if we don't hear from you for over eight hours, we're breaking in and I'm going to exponentially increase the murder rate in Privet Drive."
Sin nodded. It was reasonable, and he was glad to have a life-line; if, God forbid, his uncle beat him senseless, then his family would save him. He had nothing to fear. Besides, if Elena was going to speak to them, they'd probably be too terrified to try anything.
"One more thing," Shade said, turning to Elena. "You stop meddling with Sin's life. I want you gone. You don't ever talk to him again."
The corner of Elena's mouth twitched into a horrible, knowing smirk. "I promise I'll leave you all alone, and never even say hello to him ever again… if he asks me too."
Sin blanched in surprise. She would really do that? After all the trouble she went through of blackmailing him?
Shade turned to him expectantly, but he didn't speak immediately. "Well?" She prompted, obviously thinking she knew what he was going to say. Elena's smirk proved she expected a different answer.
Sin opened his mouth to say of course he wanted her out of his life, of course he never wanted her to speak to him again, of course -
And then he really thought about it. If he never saw Elena again. He didn't need her to help him with his magic anymore - he had it under control - but he couldn't deny that being someone with power in the wizarding world was extremely appealing. Being at the top of the food chain instead of the very bottom… he couldn't help but want it. Plus, when he had that power, he could keep his family safe. And while Elena terrified him more than anyone he'd ever met… she was also the only one he trusted to protect him and his family from Mr Noir, and others like him. She wasn't his only connection to the magical world, but Shade hadn't been there in ages, and he didn't want to put her in harm's way. However, he could care less about using Elena to climb to the top and then pushing her aside when she was no longer needed.
He thought she was telling the truth - she would leave him alone if he asked. But as much as he hated to admit it, he needed her.
He refused to acknowledge the small part of him that admitted he had another, more emotional and very impractical reason for not wanting to sever ties with Elena.
"I can't do that," Sin said softly, his chest tightening at the awful mixture of betrayal, hurt, anger and confusion in Shade's eyes. His eyes flickered to Elena's face, and he immediately regretted it. The vampiress's smug expression conveyed that she had known exactly what Sin would say, and it made him feel sick.
"Fine. Then I want to be there every time you two are together. I don't ever want you alone," Shade snapped.
Sin nodded; he supposed it was reasonable, but he hated to put Shade in Elena's path, and the chance that someone would recognize her…
That's when it hit him. "Oh! Lestrange!" He exclaimed, turning to Shade, who flinched backwards. "You're a Noble and Ancient House!"
"Excuse me?" Spider asked, and Shade nodded stiffly. Sin immediately felt bad for bringing up Shade's obviously painful past, but he couldn't help but be curious.
"Wouldn't that bring shame upon their name? To give up a child?"
"My parents were… despicable people," Shade spoke quietly. "And in Azkaban - the wizarding prison - for most of my life. I stayed with my mother's sister, who married into the Malfoys. As an… influential member of the ministry, and as a Noble and Most Ancient House, Lucius Malfoy was able to visit my mother in Azkaban once he'd realized I was a squib. He got her to sign the papers, and I was no longer a Lestrange nor a Malfoy. I ran."
"I'm sorry." There was nothing else he could say, but he noticed that somewhere during Shade's monologue, Elena had vanished.
"Let's just go home."
Sin practically inhaled his bowl of tomato soup, graciously accepting the hunk of bread Hero offered him. He gnawed on the edge as Hero glared at him.
"Spider told me everything," was all she said, before turning on her heel and stalking away. Sin put down the bread, not quite so hungry anymore.
"Do you think she'll forgive me?" He asked Sparky as the young teenager sat down next to him.
"Hero? Or Shade?"
"Both. Either. Anyone."
Sparky took a long slurp of her soup before replying. "They will. It'll take time - your fault, mate, for bein' such a fuckin' dumbass - but they'll come 'round."
Sin conceded her point, grateful that there was at least one person who wasn't freezing him out.
"It's no' tha' they're angry, so much," the fourteen-year-old continued, brushing a strand of wispy blond hair from her face, "they're hurt. They don' fink ya trust 'em, Sin. And tha' hurts."
Sin ducked his head in shame. He hated being the cause of his family's pain. He took a small bite of his bread as Sparky finished her soup. Sin stood and found himself face-to-face with Shade.
"The letters start coming tomorrow," she said, her face emotionless. "We're going to the Dursley's tonight."
I really hope you liked it! Pretty please with lots of sprinkles and a cherry on top leave a review! It gives me ideas and tells me what you'd like to see, and whether you're picking up on any hints I drop. Thank you so much for reading!