Roxanne couldn't sleep, despite her best efforts to do so. The Manor was simply full of activity and the noise echoed something terrible. Her main concern, though, was for her boyfriend who had somehow managed to fall asleep in her arms not a few hours ago. He had been on edge since coming home, and had spoken to everyone who came through the doors, and helped the smaller part of the Family who had lost Michael that night. Megamind revealed Michael had been the first Family member he had met, back when the man had only been ten years old. The young boy had been cautious about the blue skinned baby, but had rapidly grown to like him.
It was just a shame he had lived so far away... to see him pass away from severe injuries was not easy.
Combine that with the passing of his Father by his own hand and you got one distressed man. But Roxanne had forced him into his bed and climbed in beside him, tugged the blankets up close around the two of them and held him tight. At some point he had cried, she was sure of it since she had felt the tears on her arms, but when she tried talking to him he said nothing. So she accepted just holding him, gently caressing his back and head with her hands, and hummed softly.
When the sun finally began to rise in the skies she could almost feel a wave of relief wash through the Manor. The majority of the vampires out there could not step foot into the sunlight, unless they wanted to sustain some serious burns to their skin. This meant a lot of the Family were returning for some good honest rest, while those who had been here for a few hours went out to take their turns. It was like round robin, in a way.
She took a moment to look around the bedroom that she had used to wonder over weeks ago. It was the same design as Wayne's room in relation to scale and style, but their different tastes were obvious. Megamind had an impressive looking coat rack that sat in the corner of one of the rooms which had all manner of leather jackets hanging off of it, while his weaponry was put on display in a case for all to see should they walk in. He had guns, crossbows, stakes, swords and a strange looking gun that sat at the bottom of the case but she had never seen him use yet. It must have been of his own design since she had never seen such a gun before in all her years of journalism.
She was just beginning to shut her eyes when Megamind suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed, eyes open and staring ahead.
"What is it?" she asked, startled by his sudden movement.
He sat there for a moment before shuddering and crawled back down against her, shutting his eyes. "Nightmare."
Roxanne sighed softly and kissed his forehead. "You get them a lot."
"Bernard is worse," mumbled Megamind. He knew this since Wayne had mentioned how Bernard would wake up, sometimes screaming, because of the violence he saw in his dreams. Both men were almost expected to experience night terrors, Bernard's fueled by his lycanthropy and the beastly desires lurking well beneath the surface and Megamind since he had been spilling blood and ripping vampires apart for the better half of his life. Nightmares were one of the only things, other than Wayne, that Bernard and Megamind felt connected over.
The whisper of Bernard's name brought the man to centre stage in both their minds, and Megamind pulled himself to sit up again. "I should go see if Wayne got him."
"He did," Roxanne said as she grumpily sat up and rubbed at her eyes.
"You can stay, you need your rest," Megamind offered.
"No, no... I want to see if he's all right too. He's my friend after all."
Decision made, they made their way down the stairs to the main hall. It was, as expected, a hive of activity. Many people stopped to wish them both a good morning and it was obvious a lot of them wanted to give Megamind an update on happenings but were smart enough to see he had something more pressing on his mind. He could receive reports after.
Just as they approached the door Lady suddenly rushed past them. "Sorry, good morning!" she said as she hurried down the basement stairs first.
"That's not a good sign," Roxanne mumbled.
It wasn't. When they walked down into the basement they found Bernard, human again, laying on his front while Lady was already stitching up a horrendous shoulder wound he had sustained the night before. Wayne was holding the man's hand, Bernard's head still resting in his lap. At least they had the decency to give him some trousers to wear, but his back and forearms were covered in cuts and bruises, all of which had already been doused in antiseptic chemicals to stop infections.
"Almost done, almost done..." Lady said as she continued stitching shut the wound.
"Been saying that enough I know it's almost done just get it done," Bernard snarled through gritted teeth while Wayne ran his hand through his hair that appeared messier than normal.
"Oh my God." Roxanne covered her mouth as she saw him. "Oh my God, Bernard...!"
"Roxanne?" Bernard tilted his head in an attempt to look over his shoulder but couldn't see her, plus he couldn't turn his head too much. "Hey, I'm glad to know I didn't rip you apart."
"So am I," Megamind said as he walked forwards and crouched down so he could look down at Bernard's face. "Looks like you saw a lot of action."
"No. I just nicked myself shaving," Bernard replied sarcastically.
"Some razor," scoffed the alien before looking at his brother, whose face was full of concern and worry.
Bernard shuddered suddenly, and curled in on himself slightly, groaning as he did. Lady hissed and finished up the stitching before grabbing the medical tape to place over the new stitches. "Stop moving so much... you'll open your stitches."
"Sorry... gghnnn..." Bernard shuddered all over again.
"Where do you hurt?" Lady asked, before Wayne could. "Tell me."
"I don't... it... grrgh... everywhere...?" he asked weakly.
Lady frowned before suddenly taking one of his arms, wiped it with a bit of cotton wool before drawing out a little bit of blood. She had Wayne put the band-aid on his arm while she held the blood in the air in front of her, and shook the vial.
"What's on your mind?" Megamind asked.
"He was bitten by a vampire... a really bad bite, too... normally a bite like this would result in a turning," Lady said as she slowly got to her feet.
"Turning?" Wayne asked. "But he's a werewolf already!"
"Exactly," she said, turning to look at Wayne before down at Bernard. "His blood might be infected with vampirism as well as the lycanthropy disease. While his lycanthropy is powerful at killing viruses and diseases, like white blood cells, vampirism works differently. I need to check his blood to see what's happening, get him somewhere warm and... dark, just to be safe," she cast a glance at the window where sunlight was pouring into the basement.
"Oh Jesus," Wayne whispered as he gently pulled Bernard into his arms. "You're all kinds of trouble aren't you...?" he asked, trying to remain upbeat, despite the terror hinting at the corner of his voice.
"My middle name," Bernard whispered quietly as he let his eyes shut as he shuddered all over again, and wrapped his arms around his stomach as he did.
Megamind and Roxanne let Wayne head up the stairs first, closely followed by Lady, before trailing themselves. Roxanne looked to Megamind, who had a grim looking expression on his face. What was going through his mind? What she wouldn't give to know, since normally asking him 'what's on your mind' got her nowhere, since there was so much mind to have so many things on.
They were in the hospital wing section of the Manor in seconds, and Bernard was laid out on one of the beds as he groaned again. This time his hands were at his head, and he was breathing in quick, short gasps. "My glasses," he managed to whisper through the breaths. "Where's my glasses..."
"You don't need them right now," Lady told him as she quickly checked his temperature, shoving a thermometer under his tongue. "Don't speak, if that's possible?" she asked, trying to lighten the grim mood in the room with a little bit of playful banter.
Bernard grumbled but, thankfully, said nothing as he held the thermometer under his tongue and tightly between his lips. His hand found Wayne's and he gripped it desperately as another shiver ran through him.
"You're heating up," Wayne said, not having to check the thermometer to see Bernard was already sweating.
Lady pulled it out of his mouth and checked the temperature before sighing. "We have to cool you down. At least you're not going cold, turning cold is the first indication of turning. I think your lycanthropy is winning the war, Bernard."
"Hooray," Bernard weakly cheered, sarcastically, before Wayne pulled him up and into his arms, and sat on the bed. "I'm so glad."
"Is there... anything I can do?" Megamind asked as he watched, the guilt already beginning to smother him. If he hadn't instructed Roxanne to let Bernard out, then he wouldn't be in this mess. There would be no war raging inside the man's blood stream for control, and there wouldn't be more stacked onto Wayne's plate. How will he react to the knowledge their Father was not only dead, but killed by his brother's hand?
"Nothing really. He just needs to keep his strength up, quick. He needs liquids.
What followed was half a day of tending to Bernard. He would have flashes of sweating like a pig out in the summer sun, then suddenly shivering like somebody left out in the cold. Wayne never left him, and spent most of the time either wiping sweat away, applying heat packs, or wiping his chin when he would drink something and ultimately drool partly over himself. It was a messy affair, to be sure. Roxanne went up and down the stairs how many times that morning bringing ice, water, the like. Megamind, meanwhile, ended up being called away since he had so much to do downstairs by arranging what tactics the Family were going to deploy, and what to do about the vampires that could still materialize and fight during the day.
All the while his mind swam with the fact he had to tell Wayne such terrible news while his boyfriend was fighting for his life.
Things weren't looking good anywhere. Everywhere he looked he saw pain and suffering, his Family taking a beating from the vampires, and their excuse to evacuate half the city couldn't last much longer. Soon people would return, and if there were normal people caught up in the middle of this war, if there were more deaths, he'd never forgive himself.
"Wayne? Wayne." Megamind had finally entered the room to find his brother still on the bed nursing Bernard who, finally, had gotten through the worst of his condition. It took a few more calls of his name, and a nudge to his shoulder, to finally have Wayne turn his attention from the werewolf to his brother.
"Huh?" he asked.
"Wayne we... remember your job?" Megamind asked.
"My job?" Wayne echoed.
"Getting our medical team out to emergencies when needed? That one?" Megamind asked, putting his hands to his hips in an affront of hiding his trouble expression with an annoyed one. "Remember?"
Wayne sat there for a moment before realizing that the one job he had been asked to do in this war had been unattended. Why hadn't somebody reminded him sooner? Had they been threatened by his strength to come tell him off, to try and pry him away from his boyfriend? "Oh God I..."
"In light of the situation we can see why you forgot," Megamind quickly said. "Don't feel bad but... I. I need to talk to you."
"What about?" Wayne asked quietly.
"Alone."
"He's asleep," Wayne pointed out.
"Wayne, please. Stop this. I need to talk to you in private about something private," Megamind said through gritted teeth.
"Private. Right..." He didn't like the sound of this at all. Gingerly he set the sleeping Bernard on the bed and covered him with his blankets before following his brother out of the room, and headed down the hall to Megamind's own bedroom. "So what is it?" Wayne asked once Megamind shut the door behind them.
Wayne had seen his brother in all types of moods. He had seen him so mad his teeth would gnash, his skin would turn a vivid purple, and he'd spit as he spoke. Then there were times Megamind was blissfully happy, when he looked like you could smack him up the head and he wouldn't bat an eye. Naturally he'd seen him upset too, mourning the loss of their Father to the Children and when he was too late to save somebody.
The look on Megamind's face, now, was not one he had seen so strong before.
"Megamind?" he asked cautiously.
Megamind ran his hands over his eyes, seeming so very old suddenly, and moved to his bed and sat down on it. "It's... not good."
"What, the war? Bernard? What?" Wayne asked as he joined him on the bed easily.
The blue man still had his hands over his eyes before he finally lowered them. Megamind sat there a moment before suddenly getting to his feet, and went to the trophy case of weapons he cleaned on a daily basis. Wayne watched as his brother gingerly, carefully, lifted one sword out of the case. "Last night, before I got back here..." he said as he turned and walked up to Wayne slowly.
"I ran into the Children."
Wayne frowned. "Did you kill them?" he asked.
"I did."
"Well, good. But still bad since you realize now their father is going to be baying for your blood more than anyone else now..." Wayne said, stroking his beard as he thought. "No wonder you've been inside all day so far..."
"It's not out of fear that I haven't stepped outside yet," Megamind said flatly.
"So what is?" Wayne asked.
"Look at this sword."
Handing the weapon over, Wayne took it into his hands and looked at it. The black and gold handle was beautiful and old, and the cross hanging from its end was familiar. Realization began to dawn, and Wayne looked to the silver blade itself and saw Latin words etched into the blade that had been there for a dozen lifetimes. "This is Father's sword." he said quietly, staring at the blade as if it was a two headed unicorn. He looked to his brother quickly, eyes still wide. "You found Father?" he asked, a slight glimmer of hope tinged the corner of his words.
Megamind nodded.
It was obvious a large part of Wayne didn't want to think of what the truth could possibly be. He held onto the sword still, gently, carefully so not to bend it. "What... how... what happened? Is he... here?"
Green eyes shut and the large head bowed.
"They'd turned him, Wayne."
"No."
"They were using him to find the Manor, to bring it down."
"No, no."
"I had to do what... what he told me to do, years ago."
Wayne had given up on the word 'no' since it was pointless. It was foolish of him to even dare to hope that their Father was alive and his regular self. To know that the man who had raised them both, who had instructed them on how to work as a team and see past their outward appearances and differences for the brothers they could be, had been turned, transformed... He wanted to cry but there were no tears. It was as if they had suddenly dried up.
A part of him hated his brother all of a sudden. His brother had killed their Father. Yet Father would not have wanted to remain a monster, a monster which he had hunted his entire life. But why had it been Megamind to do it? There were no last words spoken, nothing for Wayne. His Father's last words to him, all those years ago, had been simple.
"Watch the house. Be sure to do your homework, we won't be long."
He shut his eyes on a shuddering, tired, sigh and set the sword aside on the bed.
Megamind was waiting for the blow up. He partly felt that he deserved them and yet Wayne wasn't being mad. Or sad. He wasn't being anything, which was even worse. "Wayne?"
"Did you gather his ashes?" Wayne asked quietly.
"I... I did," Megamind whispered. After the last of the Children had fallen, the bloodied, bruised alien had returned to the field. He knew where his Father had fallen and, falling to his knees, had collected as much of the ash as he could and had put it into his jacket pocket. The second he could he moved the ash to an urn which, now, sat on a shelf beside the bed. He walked to the shelf, lifting the ceramic urn, and returned to Wayne. "Do you want to..."
"I don't know," admitted Wayne as he stared at the off white colour. "He's... at peace now. But I never saw him again. All I remember is the two of you going off to train, him telling me to watch the house and..." Wayne trailed off and his shoulders shook from the emotion that continued to slam up against a brick wall that restricted it from unleashing its full effect.
Megamind apprehensively reached out and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Father... Father was always looking out for the best of both of us. I mean, he taught us so much not just about vampires but ourselves, and each other. Didn't he?"
"How he got that star-stealing attitude out of me I have no idea," Wayne whispered on a small, tired smile.
"He hated it when we used to fight. Not just because you could break me with your little pinkie but because he wanted us working as a team. We are a team, aren't we Wayne?" Megamind asked.
"Of course we are," Wayne replied, looking to his brother.
"So Father accomplished what he set out to achieve," Megamind said with an equally small, tired smile. "He has two dashingly good looking sons who each have somebody they love, who loves them back. We kick butt every day, I mean, look at us! We're aliens fighting a human war, with vampires! You're dating a werewolf! Do you know how amazing it all is?"
Wayne had to chuckle, and shook his head as he lifted his hand and ran it through his brown hair. "It is... isn't it?"
"He's left one Hell of a legacy," Megamind said before walking back to the shelf and placed their Father's remains on it. "Once this is all over, his remains will be put with the rest of the Family, in his rightful place."
"We can properly grieve then... right?" Wayne asked.
"You don't have to ask me," Megamind replied with a look of surprise. "I mean. If you want to cry, I won't tease you over it. I bawled my eyes out like a newborn."
The older brother snorted in amusement before standing up and walked to his brother, handing the sword back. "You'll no doubt see me like a newborn someday soon then. But... what about now?"
"Huh?" he asked, taking the sword back.
"Are you going back out there?" Wayne asked, lifting his head to peer out a nearby window.
"I'll have to," Megamind replied. "It's the right thing. It's what I was taught to do."
"Doesn't make it right. I... hrm. Stupid wishes of a stupid man." He shook his head.
"If wishes were fishes the world would be an ocean. Is that how it goes?"
"I've no idea."
They shared a short, bemused laugh, before Wayne petted his brother's shoulder and left the room. He needed to get his act together; his brother had faced his worst nightmare and came out of it alive. While Bernard was alive and getting through his own struggle, what had he accomplished? There were medical emergencies he had to help with, and it was time he knuckled down and faced them. It's what his Father would have wanted, it's what he wanted to do.
He didn't even look at Roxanne as he rushed past her down the stairs to give his help to those who needed it.
Roxanne looked in on Megamind, standing there in his bedroom holding his Fathers sword, looking up at his ashes on the shelf. She hovered in the doorway momentarily, resting her hand against the doorframe, before walking up to him.
"Are you going to be all right?" she asked quietly.
"One day," Megamind sighed, looking down at the sword in his hands. "Nothing lasts forever."
She smiled. "You can be pretty deep, you know that?" she asked.
"Baby, I'm so deep even the most expensive up-to-date submarine can't maintain itself because of the pressure my deepness would give it," Megamind replied.
Roxanne sighed, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him softly, if just because she could. Seeing Bernard the way he was this morning, lingering between one world and the next, and witnessing one of Megamind's Family members die just helped drive the idea home that this was a war. Their time together seemed so short; she just prayed they would both see each other through this Hell.
He kissed her back tenderly, one hand touching her hair while the other (still clutching his Fathers sword) pressed against her back. The hilt pressed against her back and he broke the kiss to apologize before sighing, and rested his forehead against hers. "Still… The time for being deep is over with for now."
"What do you have to be now?" Roxanne asked softly, arms still around him and refusing to let go just yet.
"Man of action," he replied quietly, kissing her again but briefly, before having to pull himself from her arms. "I have to go out there."
She dreaded those words more than any other. "A small part of me wishes you won't, but I know better than to wish that." Roxanne mumbled.
"You and me both," Megamind replied. "This has to be done, though. And it needs to happen today. He's taken so much from us, from me, it's about time he gets put in his place."
The door to the bedroom was suddenly slammed open, causing both of them to jump in surprise. It was Eagle, breathing hard, her hair a mess and a cut to her face now bandaged, but you could still see the blood seeping through the bandage. Her clothes were torn up pretty bad too, and there was blood staining her clothes... and not all of it was her own.
"What is it?" Megamind asked, taken aback by her sudden appearance.
"He's appeared. In the middle of town, sitting at the fountain! He, he killed three of us and sent me back to tell you he's waiting for you," she said shaking, eyes wide and face wet from both sweat, and tears. "It was. It was horrible he... he came out of nowhere; he threw Toni as if she were nothing and... and..."
Roxanne looked at Megamind who was watching his cousin with a worried expression. "Roxanne, take Eagle downstairs, she needs to rest."
"What are you going to do while I'm occupied?" Roxanne asked, going to Eagle's side and wrapping an arm around her. This woman was strong, tough, and yet she was shaking as if the Devil himself had appeared before her.
"Preparing. He's called me out, I've no choice but to answer."
"But-"
"No buts. Roxanne. Please. Take her downstairs," Megamind said firmly, already walking to his case of weapons and pulling the glass doors open. "This has to happen. It was going to happen way back when he had his Children take my Father from me. This is it."
Roxanne swallowed her emotions, bit her tongue, and led Eagle from the room, leaving Megamind to prepare.
To be continued