Fractured Time
Summary: Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?
Pairing/s: None.
Warnings: Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.
NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, or any other site for that matter. I do not give permission to do so.
-o-
What, earlier than two months since the last chapter? What has happened?
What happened, I think, is that I managed to beat inspiration into staying with me for a bit, and I am overjoyed for that.
Enjoy reading!
Fractured Time takes place around five years before The Nightmare Man's Journey.
-o-
Chapter Nine
Draco was not pacing. He was not. He was just… checking the hallway. A few times. Alright, a couple of times.
…
Fine, he was pacing. He was pacing as hell. Fred and George had returned first, with no sign of Harrison. Joanne and Ywgraine followed, then Christian and Severus until all of the servants were back with the exception of Elise and Rabastan.
Severus was making a potion aggressively, while Fred and George took out their restless energy on playing dare with one of the trees outside. Draco had thrown open the outer doors so he could hear Apparating, but so far the only thing he heard was the twins shouting and the swishing sounds of a tree's branches moving through the air as it tried to do… well, what? Would it try to eat the servants?
Draco finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed at them to get their asses inside. Fred and George scampered inside and called to him:
"If you say so, mummy!"
"Go to bed!" he yelled.
"Yes, mummy!"
He sent a hex after them and continued pacing. Lucian came out of one of the rooms and said:
"It won't actually help, the walking thing."
"I know, but I'm still doing it," Draco said. "Do you think they found him?"
"Yes," Lucian said. "Elise is very good at finding master."
"How come no one found him when he was in the prison?" Draco wondered.
"He had ordered us to remain inside," Lucian replied. "Back then, his temperament was not something to take lightly. We never really disobeyed, because he could get… very angry at us for it."
Draco had understood it to a point. That once upon a time in this dimension, not only had Harrison been horrible to his enemies, he hadn't been too kind to his servants either.
"But if he disappears like that again, will you heed his orders?"
"Today? No. We would look for him. I dare say he would even expect us to."
"He better expect it."
Draco put away his wand, after noticing how hard he was clenching it. It wasn't like he felt sending a hex or spell at Lucian, because Lucian wasn't as annoying as Fred and George. In fact, Lucian was never annoying. Bloodthirsty perhaps, but his temperament was a lot calmer than Harrison's.
"Shall we go and sit down for a while?" Lucian suggested.
"Yeah, might as well. Harrison would be annoyed if I wore out the flooring in a straight line."
"Who knows, it might give him something to do to pass the time. Master does get bored easily."
Draco would rather not test it out, due to Harrison's conflicting tempers. Now, he didn't fear for himself, but he did fear a fair bit what Harrison would do to himself. No, it was better to sit him down before some wood-carving if he got bored; even without the bloodshed, he would still be allowed to stab things.
-o-
Harrison came to a stop, breathing in. Rabastan staggered a bit, and Elise said:
"There's nothing here."
"She's still moving," Harrison said. "Quite far."
"Out of the country?" Elise asked.
"No. Towards the coast though."
"You think she'll make a run for another country?" Rabastan wondered.
"They talked about another house," Harrison said. "They would ward it, and possibly move me. Didn't have time to do that, obviously, but… they might be heading there."
"Let's go then," Rabastan said.
Harrison gripped their arms tighter, his reattached arm gaining some feeling back, and moved once more.
Bones was moving erratically though. Maybe she was going to make a break for it. Getting out of the country may be her idea of escaping him, but Harrison would chase her down. He hadn't killed people in another country for some time, but it should be fine.
And if it wasn't… well, he didn't really consider that his problem. He would probably do it quickly then.
But no, she was slowing down. He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes. Bones didn't move in a way that indicated she knew he was holding onto her via a magical leash. He hadn't heard of it before, so he wasn't sure if it could be felt.
"Master?"
"She's slowing down," Harrison said. "Must be going to that other house."
"Is it warded?"
He was just about to answer, when Bones' magical signature cut off. He opened his eyes.
"She just stepped through the wards," he said.
"Do you know where it is?" Rabastan asked.
"The general direction," Harrison said, "not the exact location. Once we get there, we should be looking for a house, unless the ward hides the house as well. If it does, we're looking for wards."
"Meaning I'm looking for wards," Elise said. "Master isn't careful around wards, he just tears them down and alerts everyone something's up."
"Yes, with 'we' I actually meant Elise," Harrison told Rabastan. "She gets cranky if I touch wards without her permission."
"Cranky, temper tantrums… aren't you two supposed to be some of the oldest magical people still existing? You sound like toddlers."
"Aren't old people supposed to revert back to childhood once they're old enough?" Harrison said. "I'd say we classify as old enough."
Rabastan just shook his head.
"I am not a toddler," Elise said. "Now get us there, master."
"Alright, alright…"
-o-
General direction was right, because they pretty much didn't see anything at all that could look like a house. Still, all three of them crouched down immediately upon arriving, and Harrison sighed.
"This is boring now," he said. "Not much of a chase, really. Sorry for the disappointment, Rabastan."
"I'm fine with them dead, no matter how boring it was to find them," Rabastan reassured.
"You are really a kind-hearted friend. Elise, did you hear that? He's not even angry!"
"Well, he's not old and acting like a toddler," Elise said and pushed Harrison. "I still have to yell at you later."
"I won't remember that," Harrison said. "Rabastan, will you remember that?"
"Oh, yes, I will."
"Damn."
"Are you perhaps suffering from selective memory, because sometimes it seems you forget stuff you simply don't want to remember?" Rabastan said.
"I have both," Harrison said. "Bad memory and selective memory. It's a talent. Now, are we spreading out or are we staying in one spot?"
"Stay," Elise said. "I'll search for wards."
She moved out and Harrison sat down on the ground to wait. Rabastan did the same after a while, because hey, he wasn't young anymore; he had achy knees and staying crouched down was something he could do for hours, but if it could be avoided then he would avoid it.
He wondered when they would be done. Early morning maybe? Then he wondered if someone had spoken to Voldemort about this. Rabastan hadn't stopped to think about it. Then he came to think about Harrison's looks.
"Are you going to remain in glamour until they're dead or what?"
"Huh?" Harrison looked down at himself. "Oh, I'd completely forgotten about that."
He shook his entire body, and the glamour slid off him. Rabastan looked, and wondered if Bones, or anyone else left of her group, would even know who it was.
Elise darted back to their field of view, shook her head and moved on. So she hadn't found any wards so far.
"Still can't feel Bones?" Rabastan whispered.
"No. She's hiding."
"No houses?"
"It's too dark," Harrison said. "Lucian has better night-vision than me."
"Guess we'll just wait then."
Which was boring. Harrison was right, it was not much of a hunt, but Rabastan could deal with it if it meant Bones and her group would finally be gone after this.
Elise came back and crouched down.
"Half a mile this way," she said and pointed. "The wards hide the house, but it's similar to the wards that you were kept inside of, master."
"Oh good," Harrison said. "Dismantle it as gently as you can."
"You don't want them to notice?" Elise said.
"Well, if they notice it you can tear the rest down, but if they don't… we get to surprise them."
-o-
Bones watched the barricaded door as the survivors paced around. She didn't feel her legs, and her fingers were going numb as well. She still had blood on her clothes where someone's entrails had ended up before she Apparated.
She had never felt so meaningless in her entire life. In their old world, she had been a fighter. She fought against Voldemort, became Minister after the war, and fought Dumbledore due to his decision to imprison a teenager who had freed them from Voldemort.
Perhaps she shouldn't have fought that fight. Perhaps so many things had been different, had Harry Potter remained in Azkaban. Or maybe not in Azkaban, but somewhere else. Still imprisoned, but more comfortable.
But she helped get him out, and things could've been solved if… if George Weasley hadn't died. So many factors played into what Potter became, but he also chose an active role of destructor and murderer. He didn't regret it. Instead he vanished from their world, unknowingly crippling it forever.
And here, in this new world that Potter had ended up in? Bones, and her group, hadn't succeeded in doing anything. They hadn't changed a single thing since coming to this world. All that had happened was them dying off one by one.
This country was not for them. This country had not seen Voldemort defeated. Instead, this country had had both the Ministry and Hogwarts fall to enemy hands, and started to adapt after five years.
Sure, there were rebels but Bones had seen people around Lucius Malfoy. They genuinely respected him as a Minister. She had seen Voldemort, in full health and not the creature he had become in their world. This Voldemort was saner, and not as bloodthirsty. His Death Eaters didn't rob or plunder or kill. They were more like part of the Aurors.
Then there was Harry Potter, of course. Or rather, Harrison. She was certain he was the Nightmare Lord. She was still finding it hard to believe the Nightmare Lord was as old as Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort claimed, but she shouldn't be surprised by anything surrounding her world's Harry Potter anymore.
Like he wrecked havoc in their world, he had done the same in this one.
Bones put her head in her hands. This was the end. They would be hunted throughout England. They couldn't stay. The others was rattled enough to listen to her. Maybe. She wasn't sure. They seemed to think killing their world's Harry Potter would sort everything.
They seemed to think people wanted her as Minister. Bones wasn't even sure this world's Amelia Bones was alive.
"We have to do something!" someone finally hissed.
"You saw them! They didn't care, they just killed! That bastard Lestrange was with them too."
Rabastan Lestrange. She wasn't surprised. His first priority coming to this world had probably been finding Harrison.
"We have to leave," she said.
"Minister!"
"I'm not the Minister," she said and slowly rose up. "And we have to flee the country if we wish to live."
"But they've killed…"
"They'll kill us too," she interrupted. "I should've made you leave as soon as we came. As soon as we realized how different this world is. I'm sorry. I failed you."
"We can't leave the community in the hands of Voldemort!"
"He has ruled for five years," Bones said. "His people are everywhere. We don't stand a chance."
She prepared herself for the arguments. She prepared herself to plead with them, perhaps even on her knees. To flee. To leave and never look back.
-o-
Elise worked quickly for someone who was doing it gently. Her explanation was that the wards were not that powerful.
"I could tear it down in moments, if I got a few minutes to prepare," she said to Rabastan. "Dismantling it is a different thing, and I'm adding my own wards."
"Why?"
"So they can't run away."
"You don't feel like chasing them any longer than this?"
"Master may say this is boring, but he won't have the patience for it either," Elise said.
Said master was yawning and inspecting his nails on his reattached arm, slowly moving the fingers. It was still looking a bit stiff, but it had been a hasty job putting it back on him. Or rather, had Harrison worked his magic too fast on reattaching it? Or did his body do that on its own?
"I should be done in fifteen minutes, master," Elise said. "Can you feel her magic yet?"
"Hmm?" Harrison turned his attention towards the wards. "Wait a minute… yeah, barely. It's twitchy."
"So she's nervous?" Rabastan said.
"Everyone in there is," Elise added. "They aren't focusing on the wards."
"They think they're safe," Harrison said. "One of them hasn't practised their Occlumency walls well enough, if I can slip in that easily."
"From here?" Rabastan said.
"Not too deep," Harrison said. "Surface thoughts. Enough to know they aren't expecting to be found. Good. That'll make our surprise even funnier."
"So what will you do?" Rabastan asked. "Blow up the door?"
"Oh, now that's an idea…"
-o-
The arguments and talking had actually led somewhere for once. The rest of the group didn't want to flee the country, but Bones had made them realize they had no other choice.
They had to run. They had to run now. No time to rest. She wanted to be in another country by dawn.
"Let's get ready," she said, rising up from the chair.
Something clicked into place around them, but she didn't have time to think about that, because the door exploded.
Wood splinters tore through their skins before they were thrown backwards. Bones slammed down on the floor; the others thudded against the wall. Part of the wall had been taken out around the door. The house creaked above them. Bones fought to get her breath back.
Something exploded above them. The crackling of fire began. Smoke gathered. Through the partially destroyed wall, where the door once stood, she saw someone walk closer. The robes were splattered with blood. She recognized them, but several things jumped out at once.
No wand.
Two arms, not just one.
A face she didn't know.
Eyes she definitely knew.
Had he been wearing a face they would recognize? Or was this a face he used to hide his real identity as formerly Harry Potter? Harrison stepped inside the house and used the arm he hadn't had last time she saw him to clear away some dust.
Harrison smiled, showing off bloodied teeth.
"Hello, Bones," he said. "Recognize me?"
"Your face…"
"Oh, I had to put some glamour on. Otherwise you'd never wise up and recognize me. I managed to look like that young Potter you hunted, didn't I? For me, I'd almost forgotten what he looked like."
This was his real face?
"You…"
"I've changed, haven't I?" he said. "Time does that. I don't know why I don't look more like Harry Potter, but at this point, I don't care. I look pretty, and that's good enough."
"How did you…?" They were supposed to be hidden!
"Oh, I put a leash on you. If that was what you were wondering about. Naughty of you to hide behind wards."
"How…?"
"Elise is very good at breaking wards. It's a hobby of hers. The stronger the wards are, the happier she is. She had to dismantle this one, so at least it was more of a challenge than the other one."
The killing spell came through the smoke towards him, from someone in her group. He ducked, and Bones moved. There was no point in escaping, she knew that, but the fight was still in her blood. She was a fighter. A survivor perhaps, nowadays, and her body wouldn't lay still and just take it.
Another killing spell was sent at Harrison, and this time it hit him, slamming his body to the floor. She was halfway through a window at that point, and only glanced back for a moment. His fingers twitched.
The killing spell was absolute. It was the end. Of course it didn't work on him. Bones started to run from the house. She wasn't alone, everyone was running with her. They would come with her, she knew that.
They had options. There had to be somewhere in this whole world where they could flee and be left alone.
Bones slammed into an invisible wall. A ward, much stronger than the one her group had put up.
"Like I said, it's a hobby of Elise's to break wards, but in order to be able to break them… she has to know how to make them."
Bones turned around. Harrison smiled again at her.
"Her wards are pretty damn good," he continued. "So good I let her do them around my home. You see, I'm not as patient as she is. But then again… you probably already know that."
Harry Potter had always been a bit reckless. As he was now, as this Harrison, he seemed to have no regards to the state of his body. He just continued.
"Stay away!" One of her men raised his wand. "Freak!"
"That was Uncle's word for me," Harrison said. "I don't like it. Use another one, and it better not be monster. That's unoriginal."
"Abomination!"
"Oh, that's quite a good one," he said to the woman who shouted it. "Did you hear that one, Elise?"
"You've been called that before!"
A woman walked up to Harrison, apparently the one who had called out to him. So she was Elise, the one to break their wards and put up new ones in… in what, matter of minutes? Could she really be that good? As she came closer, Bones recognized her from when they took Harrison.
"Have I?" Harrison said. "When?"
"1599," Elise promptly replied.
"How do you remember stuff like that? I don't even know what I did three years ago."
"Old man." Rabastan came up to him.
"Rude," Harrison said. "True, but rude."
"Hey, that almost rhymes."
"Thymes," Elise added, and Rabastan burst out laughing.
"Don't you start, you two," Harrison complained. "Come on, we've got people to kill! Look, they're just standing there!"
"I could make them run in circles?" Elise said, holding up her wand.
"Leave the Bones one to me."
"Which one is that?"
"That one," Harrison said and pointed at Bones.
"Understood."
"I'll just follow Elise then."
Elise grinned and darted forward. An explosion, a spell Bones didn't recognize, separated her from the others. Elise herded the rest of the group away from Bones like it was nothing, and Rabastan followed while Harrison walked closer.
There was really no point in even fighting. No point at all. But Bones still raised her wand.
"You should've run when you arrived to this dimension," Harrison said. "Don't you agree?"
"A bit too late for that," Bones said. "But if it's the time to say what we should've done, then I should never have allowed you out of Azkaban."
"That's true. Your life would've been a hell of a lot easier if I was stuck there. But I don't die, and the Dementors were loyal to me. Eventually, they would've let me out."
"They never should've killed George Weasley," she said.
"That is more correct than letting me stay in Azkaban. But seeing as this dimension is the birthplace of Dementors, and they simply came through a crack of time and space to the one we were born in… then it was always meant to happen."
Bones breathed in. He wasn't wrong, but she hated him anyway for it. How could the universe be so cruel to let that chain of events occur?
"Isn't that just depressing?" Harrison asked. "I've come to terms with it. But I don't think you'll manage, considering you won't live for much longer."
"You're certain of that?"
"I know that, Bones. Because I'm going to kill you now."
"You're very calm for such an ancient murderer."
"Thank you. It comes with time, I suppose. I've had a lot of time to calm down."
He came towards her. Bones managed to cast two cutting curses before he reached her. The wounds didn't seem to register. Just as he grabbed her by the throat, Bones let the hatred fill her, and with her wand pressed against his chest, she said:
"Crucio."
He didn't scream, but he fell backwards, back bending with the pain. His entire body was shuddering and twitching, his teeth clenched and eyes rolling. She wouldn't be able to hold the curse long enough to render him permanently insane.
"Break the wards!" she yelled. "Someone, break the wards!"
"Oh, no… they won't."
Harrison rolled over to his stomach, and still under the curse's influence, got up. His eyes shone bright green, his lips stretched into a pained grin.
He broke free, and tackled her to the ground.
-o-
Harrison hadn't expected the Cruciatus curse. Didn't know Bones could cast it, but then again, surely she hated him enough to make a decent try.
Once he had her on the ground, he contemplated ripping her arms off first, but that was boring. He could do that later. He just wrenched the wand away from her, and settled on the lower part of her stomach. He would take his time with her.
Bones howled as he split her chest open. Harrison grinned, and cracked her ribcage. The howl turned to a shriek and she got her arms free, pulling at his arms and when he didn't relent, she tried to reach for his neck. Her nails scratched at the exposed skin.
Pieces of ribs were thrown away, and soon enough her organs were exposed.
"You'll have to put in a bit more effort if you want me to stop," Harrison informed her.
She fumbled for her wand, and found it just within reach. But the spells wouldn't come. She tried several times, voice merely a whisper, and sometimes a light would form at the tip of the wand before sputtering and disappearing in the air.
"Not very impressive, Bones," he told her, and she sobbed.
She dropped the wand, and started to slip away. Harrison wouldn't have that. He found a part that reignited the pain in her body, and she flinched, eyes wide. He began to dig in, and every time she seemed to start to go, he would pull on a nerve, just enough to bring her back.
"Let me go," she eventually moaned.
"Hmm, let's see…" he started, and then moved his head to avoid a spell.
The man who fired the spell cursed, then his eyes widened and he turned to run. Elise, cackling, ran past Harrison, shoes covered in gore and her hands no better. She seemed to be taking her time with what little remained of Bones' group.
"I don't think so," he said at last. "Not yet. I've hardly tortured any of you lot. So I'm making up for it, with you."
"Just… why? Why?"
"Why not? I'm afraid logical answers are not something you can expect from me."
-o-
Bones thought she knew pain. Now she realized while she certainly knew mental pain, she had no idea about the physical pain of slowly being ripped apart.
Harrison's arms were covered in her blood, and he kept digging. Kept pulling on nerves that made her shriek and had her entire body tremble with white-hot, searing pain. She had tried to do spells, but her magic wouldn't respond. She tried to reach his neck, but her arms just couldn't reach.
As he was busy holding up one of her kidneys, Bones felt around. Her wand was at her side. Useless. She found a few stones, but what good would they do? He'd only laugh at her if she threw a stone in his face.
The dagger! Bones knew a lot of witches and wizards didn't carry around weapons. Why should they, when they had their wands? But she had taken the habit to carry a dagger. He didn't seem to care that she was digging into a deep pocket of her robe.
When she stabbed him in the stomach, he did stop and looked down. Then he turned his eyes to her, and fucking laughed. Bones gritted her teeth, and stabbed him again, higher up. He responded by throwing her kidney to the side and pulling at one of her lungs.
After the fourth stab, he started to tell her where she should stab him next. Bones had never felt her blood that hot, rushing through her veins, pulsating around her temples. He was infuriating.
"Go on," he said at last, blood dripping out of his mouth as she had finally stabbed him through the lung. "Go for the heart, Bones. Go for it. I dare you."
"You like pain?" she asked.
"It's a welcome distraction at times."
"Distraction… for what?"
"Life," Harrison said. "You don't need this lung, do you?"
He ripped it out and Bones felt it, she felt how she couldn't really take a deep breath and her body began moving. She knew she was panicking, her flight response was kicking in, and Harrison was laughing even harder at that.
It was quiet around them. Were the others dead? Bones tried to look around, but saw no one moving. Just smoke from the destroyed house. Then a voice!
But no, it was Rabastan. Elise's answered.
"Master, are you done?" Elise called out a moment later.
"Almost," Harrison called back. "She's getting boring. She won't even stab me in the heart!"
"She stabbed you?" Elise sounded alarmed.
"It's fine, I can barely feel it," he replied.
And that was just it; even if he would feel it, he wouldn't die from it. Not for long. Harry Potter from her world had become Harrison, the Nightmare Lord in this world. He had roamed the lands for hundreds of years, a plague upon the people.
Bones let go of the dagger and her arm fell back. Her body was getting numb. Harrison looked down at her. He tilted his head, like a curious animal.
"Yeah, you're boring me now," he said. "I don't even feel like torturing you anymore. But first…"
He grabbed her arm with one hand, placed his other hand on her shoulder, and pulled. Her arm was wrenched out of its socket, but he kept pulling. Bones screamed as he ripped the arm off. When he moved to the other arm, having thrown the first one to the side, Bones turned her face away from it. The pain was worse, but she refused to look at it.
Then, smeared with blood, his hands grabbed her head. She didn't want to look. But she felt she had to. Bones met his eyes, and stared at him, lips quivering.
"Goodbye," he said, and broke her neck.
-o-
Harrison sat back and looked at Bones. There was a bit of satisfaction in seeing her dead, but mostly he felt tired and wanted to have a bath.
So he got up and pulled the dagger out, letting it drop into the cavity of her body now that he had pulled most of her organs out.
"You've killed the rest, yeah?" he asked Elise.
"They weren't very challenging," Elise said.
"You've got holes in your robes," Rabastan added.
"Stab holes," Harrison said. "She had a dagger on her. Stung a little, that's all."
"If you like, master, you and Rabastan can return home while I clear up the locations."
"I think I'll do that," Harrison said and stretched. "I need a bath."
"Just a question," Rabastan said. "Just how many robes do you destroy a month?"
"Rude."
"No, I really wanna know because you keep getting them fucked up."
"It varies," Elise said as she dragged a body towards the pile of bodies she had already started on. "A bad month, he can destroy up to twenty sets. That's why master normally wears quite simple and plain robes; he's only allowed to wear the fancy ones for special occasions."
"I don't even like the fancy ones," Harrison said. "They're too tight."
"They are very flattering on him," Elise told Rabastan. "But master cares little for that."
"Fancy ones, ey?" Rabastan said. "Interesting."
"Why is that?" Harrison wanted to know.
"Nothing. Let's go back home."
Harrison glanced at him, but Rabastan didn't elaborate so Harrison let it go.
"We'll be going back first then," he told Elise. "What are you doing with the body parts?"
"Feeding the trees, and hand some out to the Inferi," she said.
"Fair enough. Sorry I tossed the organs everywhere. And the arms. Where did Bones' second arm go?"
"I'll find it."
Harrison nodded and prepared to Apparate.
"Right then," he said to Rabastan. "Let's go home."
Rabastan nodded, and Harrison started off. He couldn't Apparate straight back to his manor, it was too far of a journey, but he made it in two trips. Rabastan wasn't next to him when Harrison Apparated in through the wards, but he supposed Rabastan had to make it in more than two trips.
Sure enough, half a minute passed before Rabastan joined.
"You didn't go inside?"
"Well, I thought I'd be nice and wait," Harrison said.
"It's not me who's worried about you, you know."
The doors opened, and Lucian came out, quickly followed by the children.
"Isn't it like in the middle of the night?" Harrison wondered. "Or at least early morning?"
"Come on, don't be too harsh on them," Rabastan said. "They're only kids, and their guardian didn't return home on time."
"You're back!" Lucy shouted, but stopped before she could clamp her arms around his waist. "Ew, you're covered in blood again!"
"Most of it isn't mine!" Harrison defended.
"Isn't that supposed to be worse?" Lucy asked.
"I'm not injured?"
"Oh. So it's better, than the blood being yours."
Merlin help if Lucy turned out to be just a little bit like Harrison when she grew up…
"He needs a bath, squirt," Rabastan told her, and Angel.
Angel pouted, and then she yawned.
"You two, why don't you go nap in my bed while I have my bath?" Harrison said. "Then you get to know how it feels to be woken up when you're nice and cosy! Little devils."
Lucian grabbed Angel before she could grab onto Harrison anyway, and Joanne and Ywgraine ushered Harrison into the manor. The servants were all gathered, and Harrison's robe went flying. Louis caught it in the air and said:
"Cleaning or throwing away?"
"Soak it in cold water for now!" Joanne called back. "Elise can see if it can be salvaged."
"Not my shirt, surely?" Rabastan heard Harrison protest.
"You've got blood all over it, master?"
"Yes, I know, but no need to strip me!"
"Oh, are you feeling shy, master?"
"You two are impossible."
The shirt was off, caught by a confused Christian, and the two women dragged Harrison through the bedroom door. Lucian planted Angel on Harrison's bed, Lucy climbing up on it while Harrison was pushed into the bathroom. A few moments later, he threw Ywgraine and Joanne out.
"I know how to clean myself!" he yelled through the door.
"Aaw, we didn't get to strip him," Joanne said.
"Master is rather adorable with that shyness sometimes," Ywgraine said.
Rabastan wasn't going to touch that. The two women disappeared out the room once they got the rest of the clothes and Harrison's boots, to see if they would be saved; apparently Louis and Christian proved themselves to be really good at getting the gore off shoes, while Elise and Lucian were experts with the clothing.
"Practice makes perfect," was Lucian's only comment.
Rabastan offered to find Harrison some clothes. He should really get Harrison some sleeping clothes, but dove into the wardrobe to find what Elise had dubbed, fancy clothing.
When he did find it, he was impressed because yeah, it was fancy alright. Silver sown into the fabrics, gems attached. Sharp cuts to create what he could only assume were a dashing look. Modern, yet with a hint of the past.
"We do love seeing him wear that."
Lucian looked at Rabastan before taking out one outfit.
"Master thinks he doesn't look good in them," Lucian admitted. "We've gotten him to wear some, more fine robes but in the beginning, he just wore black. Easy robes… boring ones."
"From what I remember," Rabastan said, "he never really had clothes of his own as a child. He only got the hands-me-downs from his cousin. I don't think he started wearing his own clothes until he was an adult, and at that point, I don't think he care what he wore."
Lucian hummed, and then hung up one of the fancier robes near the exit of the wardrobe.
"Maybe we can lure him to wear this later," he said. "When we celebrate the end of that annoying group. If he protests, we'll say Angel loves the gems. She does love them, and he has a tendency to give in when the girls are concerned."
"So, when he's unreasonable, bully him into thinking about the children?"
"… More or less."
"Noted," Rabastan said. "How about some sleeping clothes, then? I do think he'll want a nap."
"He had healed wounds on his chest," Lucian said as they picked out the clothes. "Stab wounds."
"Bones had a dagger. Harrison was not very impressed. He complained she wouldn't even stab him in the heart, so I can't imagine he felt scared by her."
"That does sound like master. Any other injuries?"
"No. His arm reattached just fine, he had a bloody nose but nothing broken. He was mostly annoyed at the group, actually."
"Lucian, Uncle Harrison's yelling about something!" Lucy called.
Apparently he was done, and he wasn't coming out naked. Lucian opened the door a bit and pushed the clothes in. when Harrison came out two minutes later, hair sopping wet, Lucian sighed and said:
"Towel, master."
Harrison let Lucian dry the hair as he picked at his nails.
"All gore gone?" Lucy asked. "You never learn, Uncle Harrison."
"Maybe I want it all over me," Harrison said.
"That's just yucky."
"Yucky," Angel repeated, and then plopped herself in Harrison's lap, snuggling closer.
Harrison froze for a moment, and then relaxed, carefully patting her head. Angel was nodding off quickly, and Lucy pushed and prodded at Harrison, but soon enough her blinks grew heavy and she kept leaning onto his shoulder.
Lucian put her properly onto the bed, same with Angel, and then wanted to see Harrison's reattached arm.
"Sometimes a nerve or two doesn't connect," Lucian explained to Rabastan. "Then we have to do it all over again."
"It feels fine," Harrison said.
"It takes less than thirty seconds to diagnose it, master, and then you can sleep."
Lucian's grip was firm, but gentle. Harrison watched the children struggle to stay awake, and then said to Rabastan:
"You should go to bed too. You've been up looking for me, and then fighting."
"I hardly had to lift a finger," Rabastan said. "Felt like Elise and you needed to work out some of the aggression."
"Smart man," Lucian muttered. "Arm's fine. Sleep now, master."
"I don't sleep on command."
"Well, you should."
"Rude."
"Is that a new, favourite word of yours?" Rabastan asked. "You keep saying it."
"It perfectly conveys my feelings, and it sounds funny."
Harrison flopped down on the bed, and pulled the blankets up over him. He was asleep within the minute, Lucy snuggled up his back and Angel's face tucked against his shoulder.
"Rude," Lucian told the sleeping man.
Then he made sure the blankets properly covered Harrison, because apparently he just couldn't help himself.
Rabastan just shook his head and left the room, stretching out as he walked towards his room.
"What a day," he said. "What a day…"
To be continued…
Just one more chapter to go!
Chapter ten: Aftermath, and a routine comes out of all the chaos.
See you later,
Tiro