Bravery.
A/N: MOC/MOC with a family of OCs. (Jason/James, with three sons, Hunter, Tom, Tyler.) Kilik, Fire, Thunder, Ox, Harv.
A/N: You know who doesn't get talked about enough? Crona's father. What the hell was his deal? Here's my version.
~x~x~
"Hunter! Tom! What did I say? If I can't see you, then…"
Both boy chorused back, "You can't see us."
Jason adjusted Tyler on his hip. "Exactly. You want to slow down please?"
Hunter groaned theatrically, he hadn't even wanted to come on this hike with his dad and two little brothers. Fourteen year olds were too cool for that.
Jason smirked, even as he had to gently move Tyler's hand out of his face, still sticky from his afternoon juice pouch.
Teenagers.
The Cherry Creek park was slow in the afternoon, but they'd passed some runners and other people walking their dogs in the late afternoon. Jason looked up at the sky, the moon was already up and out, grinning down. Daisy, their two year old labrador, trotted by his side, tail wagging.
Spring had clearly come to Colorado, with flowers blooming by the trail and the sounds of ducks in the reservoir.
"Do you see the ducks, Ty?" Jason prompted gently. Tyler's speech was developing slowly and he had been trying to prompt him to talk whenever he could. "What sound does the duck make?"
"Mooo."
Jason laughed in surprise. "Not quite buddy. Can you say quack? Quack?"
"Mooo." The boy insisted.
"Quack." Jason argued back, looking at his son. However he realised that Hunter and Tom had stopped ahead of them. "Boys?"
"Mooo!" Tyler whined, failing a pudgy hand around. His brown eyes were fixed on the sky, and Jason finally looked up. Daisy barked in alarm.
"Dad!" Hunter yelled, pointing at the sky. "What's happening? Dad!"
Other people on the trail had stopped as well, everyone staring up.
The moon's mouth was moving. It was slowly being forced open, and he could hear the horrible grinding noise of rock on rock. As suddenly as it started it stopped.
"Hunter, Thomas come over here." Jason snapped, tightening his hold on Tyler. The boys rushed over to his side, eyes wide.
"What is it, Dad? What's happening? Why did the moon's move?" Tom, hung onto his shirt while Hunter grabbed Daisy's leash.
"I don't know, but let's get back to the car-" Jason started, but was cut off as a horrible screech cut through the air. He looked back up in alarm as Tyler started to cry, and Tom shut his ears.
The sound was coming from one of the moon's teeth being pulled loose, like a giant invisible pair of forceps had clamped around it and was yanking it out. They all watched as the tooth started to fall and the sound that followed it hitting the bottom jaw was like a sonic boom. People around them started to scream as the moon shook.
"Come on!" Jason shouted and started running back towards the car, hanging on tom Tom's hand.
They reached the house and James was on the porch staring upwards, brown eyes wide. He was still in his work clothes and the door was partway open behind him. Their neighbors were on their lawns as well, listening to the sounds echoing from the lunar surface
"James!" His husband's eyes snapped to his.
"Oh my god, Jay. Did you see it loose the tooth?" Jason was getting Tyler, calmed slightly from the car ride, as Hunter got out of the front and Tom let Daisy out. The lab immediately ran in the house and barked.
"Hush Daisy." Jason snapped, handing Tyler to James. "Come one, we should get inside."
Turning on the TV, every channel was swamped the emergency reports. Everyone warning people to 'stay inside' and 'away from windows and doors'. Reports on every station were rattling off the same buzz words, showing shaky camera footage of the moon loosing it's tooth. James went upstairs to change into shorts and shirt while Jason made the boys sit down and eat something. He listen with one ear while digging out apples from the fridge.
"-disturbances started around six hours ago. Reports from Nevada about an 'unidentified aircraft' seen taking off from the border. Just thirty minutes ago reports came in about the moon moving."
His heart sank into his stomach. No one knew what was going on.
The brunette on the news raised a hand to her ear, eyes wide.
"We're now receiving reports that-" The screen cut away from her and Jason dropped the apples.
Something was covering the moon.
"Jason!" James shouted from upstairs and the footage showed on TV right as he screamed it: "The moon is turning dark!"
It was.
It was like every huge tidal wave Jason had ever seen in movies. It swallowed the moon in patches, rising like the sea. Within moments the yellow moon was gone and the only thing left was a perfect sphere of blackness.
"Moon." Tyler pointed at the screen, then back at his father. He made the grabby hand he made everyday when Jason left for work. "Moon bye-bye."
TWO YEARS LATER
"Have fun with Aunt Emma, Tyler." Jason kissed his son's curls.
"We're goin' to the-the zoo!" Tyler beamed up at him, before racing to the door, calling for his aunt to follow him.
"Tyler, wait a second sweetheart, let me say bye to your dad."
Emma brushed a brown curl out of her face and adjusted her purse as she stood up from the table.
"We'll be back here around four."
"Sounds good. Feel free to tire him out. He's stopped needing nighttime pull ups, so we're trying to get him to go to bed earlier." Jason hugged his sister in law warmly.
"Okay. Alright shorty, let's go see some lions and tigers and-"
"And bears!" Tyler shouted excitedly as Emma opened the door and let him out, so he could dash over to her car. Jason laughed, grabbing the cold cups of coffee from the table.
Emma had been their surrogate for all three boys. All three had her and James eyes and hair. Jason smiled, thinking about it. It was a good thing he loved both features.
He had the day off from the practice. Tomorrow he had Mrs. Marlow's root canal and in the afternoon he had a wisdom tooth extraction, so Jason was glad to have some time off.
He'd only sat down to read the magazine article that had been on his mind for a week when the doorbell rang out. Jason didn't move from his chair, assuming it was UPS or the mailman. None of the packages would need signing for.
It rang again and a knock followed.
He huffed an annoyed breath and left his chair to go answer.
"Hello? Can I help you?" Jason opened the front door. Three teenage boys and two kids who looked like they were a little older than Tyler stood on his porch. They all wore white uniforms and when the boy with the twins turned, Jason saw the skull insignia on his shoulder patch and backpack.
The DWMA.
"Hi. Is this the residence of, uh," The boy checked a folder he was holding, "Mr. Jason Demos?"
"Yeah, that's me. How can I help you?"
One of the other boys interrupted. "We're from the Death Weapon Miester Academy. May we come in Mr. Demos?" His voice was as close to a complete monotone as Jason had ever heard.
He slowly opened the door and let them come through. The toddlers immediately sat themselves on the living room couch, the one where Tyler had left his stuffed rabbit this morning. They giggled and patted it's worn out ears.
"It's Maka!" One of them cheered and the other giggled.
"I'm Kilik Rung, and they're Fire and Thunder." Kilik held out his hand, smiling. Jason shook it, feeling like there was a fruit pit in his stomach.
"Hello, I'm Ox. This is Harv." The other boy in the glasses gestured.
"It's nice to meet you." Jason nodded. "Can I get you guys anything? Water?"
Kilik nodded. "That would be great. Thank you very much."
Jason walked to the kitchen, keeping his ears pricked.
None of his family or James had weapons in blood. Neither of them had ever even been to Nevada. Why would the infamous DWMA want to talk to him?
In the wake of the moon, the DWMA had officially come forward, taking responsibility for it. Something like two billion people across the world had watched the DWMA's first ever press release. It had been short and simple. The spokeswoman, Yumi Azusa had delivered a quick speech about the newly forged alliance between witches and the DWMA. Then expressed condolences about the lives lost in the battle on the moon, before finally warning against interfering with the moon. At all.
That had been only a week after the moon.
They hadn't addressed the nightmares. Nightmares the whole world had, of being a place with no light, alone and in terrible pain. For a month Jason always woke to the sounds ot Tyler and Tom crying, while James tossed and turned in his own private torment.
Jason shivered, grabbing the glasses of water.
He head back out to the living room where Kilik was looking at the digital photo frame that James had gotten him last year for Father's Day.
"Cute kids." The boy gestured to one taken last fall with all three of the boys sitting on the porch with jack-o-lanterns in their laps.
"Thank you." Jason handed out the water. There was silence for a moment while his company politely sipped from their glasses. Questions burned on the back of his tongue. 'What are you doing here? What do you want with my family? Are you weapons or miesters?'
His every nerve felt alive with tension, and he held one arm with his other hand. The boy with the red visor, Harv, watched.
"Mr. Demos, are you married?" Kilik suddenly broke in.
"Yes," Jason replied stiffly. "My husband, James."
Kilik glanced at the photo frame again, nodding. "Did you guys use a surrogate?"
"Yeah, his sister Emma."
"Do you have any other children, Mr. Demos?" Harv cut across Kilik's next question.
Jason was bewildered. "No. Only my three sons." The boys cast significant glances at each other. Jason grit his teeth and snapped, "What is this about?"
Kilik took the folder out from under his arm and sat on the couch next to the twins. He opened it and look at it for a moment before sighing and looking back up at Jason.
"Mr. Demos, we're here for a friend."
He handed the folder to Jason. He took it, immediately opening it.
The easy chair shuddered slightly as Jason sat down heavily, still staring at the page.
His eyes were staring up from it. The unique blue-grey that had been passed down from his great grandmother, to his mother, to him.
No of his sons had them, but the eyes on the page were unquestionably his.
"W-who?" Jason looked up at Kilik, hands crumpling the paper.
"Crona." Kilik said.
"Did you have unprotected sex between the years of 1995 to 1997?" Jason flinched at the blunt question, looking over at Harv.
"I-I don't remember."
Kilik was digging in his backpack and handed him a picture. Jason took it in a trembling hand. It was a of a blonde woman with heavily lidded golden eyes. She had a nick in her right eyebrow.
"Meet Medusa Gorgon," Kilik said heavily.
"Yoga teacher," Jason whispered.
"What?" The boy in the round glasses, Ox, questioned.
"T-that's what she told me she did, she taught yoga." Jason's voice was hollow even to his own ears. "I was so hammered, I can't believe I still remember it. I met her rush week, at CU. She kept buying me drinks, and she took me home. I didn't have condoms, but she," the words got stuck in his throat, "She told me not to worry."
Kilik cleared his throat. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Demos. That woman you slept with was a witch."
Jason's head jerked up. "A witch?"
"Yes. There has never been a woman who deserved the title more than Medusa. Trust me."
His eyes slid back over to the picture.
The child was bathed in over exposed light. Pale skin that looked waxy and unhealthy, and the big blue eyes were shadowed unnaturally.
"Crona?" Jason whispered.
"That picture was taken when they first joined the DWMA," Kilik said foundly.
"They?" Jason asked absently, double checking the forms the photo was clipped to.
"Crona preferred non binary pronouns. They didn't feel feminine or masculine," Harv said bluntly.
Jason nodded.
"Where are they? When can I meet them?"
An ugly silence settled over the living room, as Jason looked from one face to the other. Kilik's expression of surprise melted into one of sadness. Even the twins stopped fidgeting, looking at Jason, with wide eyes.
"That's why you're here right? Their mother died and now they need someone to take care of them?"
Ox opened his mouth then slowly shut it, looking at Kilik.
"You can't." Everyone jumped when Harv spoke.
"Excuse me?"
"You can't meet Crona. They're gone," Harv clarified.
Jason's stomach curled, and he could feel his heartbeat double. "Are they dead?"
Kilik interrupted. "Crona's... They did a very brave thing, Mr. Demos." He stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to the front windows, looking up. As always the moon was completely visible. A large black dot in the sky.
"Crona is on the moon, Mr. Demos. They sacrificed their freedom to save us all."
"O-on the moon? What the hell do you mean by that? There's nothing on the moon!" Jason gripped the arms of his chair, jaw set.
Kilik shook his head sadly. "They are Jason. They're the reason the moon is black now. Crona is helping to keep the whole world safe. The DWMA, you, your kids, everyone owes them a debt." He smiled sadly again. "And that's why we're here. What we're telling you is very confidential information. It's never really suppose to be known outside of Death City. We had to get special permission from Lord Death himself, and everything."
Ox snorted as Jason tried to absorb this. "Kid's so soft on Crona that he would have delivered it himself if he could get away with it."
Harv interrupted. "Mr. Demos, we don't have any pictures from when Crona was a child. But we do have some from their time with us as a DWMA student. And out friend is a very good artist. She made you some sketches."
Jason flipped further in the folder, pages of medical documentation flipping past his eyes, until he reached the back.
They were obviously computer copies, printed on white paper, the material fragile and flimsy under his fingers.
Crona looking nervous but smiling as a petite blonde in pigtails wrapped an arm around them. Outside with a boy that had bright blue hair. With a man in a grey lab coat and a woman who had an eyepatch. In each one they looked a little healthier and little brighter than before. Jason noted through blurry eyes that they even held their arm when they nervous.
His child, whom he had never met. Crona had saved him without even knowing him.
Kilik cleared his throat and Jason looked up.
"There's a number written on the back. If you ever want to visit the city, you're welcome to. There's a lot of people who would love nothing more than to talk to you about what kind of person Crona was." Kilik stood and Jason got up as well, blinking.
As they shook hands Kilik grinned and remarked, "You look a lot like them, Jason. I think-" Kilik cut himself off, shaking his head. "Crona was a really good person. More people should have known them."
He watched as they got into a four door black Taurus and drove away. He looked down at the folder in his hand.
Jason carefully went through each sketch, sitting on his and James's bed. They were all in colored pencil and crayon. Light pink hair, which wasn't something Jason even knew was possible and big blue eyes. Crona smiling nervously, the edges of their lips barely tipping up. Crona with the pigtailed girl again. (The notes on the back said 'Crona and Maka. ;).) Each sketch was proudly signed with a , in a curly looping cursive.
Through each picture and drawing, Jason discovered a little more about his child. Shy, curious, kind. Quiet, and reserved even with people who clearly loved them.
Jason looked out his window, and saw the ever present black moon.
Brave.
James was home before any of the boys.
"Jay, I'm back! I grabbed milk and eggs for dinner. the boys want to do pancakes again. We really need to to stop having breakfast for dinner."
Jason walked downstairs numbly, holding the folder.
"Jay?" James had his coat in one hand and his briefcase with groceries in the other. "Jason?"
His mouth was dry as he tried to get the words out. Instead he just grabbed the bag from James's hand and placed them on the table while James hurriedly got rid of his work stuff.
"Jason you're scaring me. What's wrong? Is it the boys?"
He handed over the folder and sat down at the table. James immediately opened it, and after staring at it for a second, gasped.
"What- who- Jason this kid has your eyes!"
"Crona," He croaked. "Their name was Crona."
James sat down, grabbing Jason's hand and running his finger over his husband's knuckles as Jason explained what had happened.
"They told me to call, if I ever wanted to visit, but god, James, what the hell would I say? I didn't know about them until today. You can see how much their friend loved them."
James's eyes were very wet and sympathetic. "I think you should call them, Jay. I don't know anyone who would do more for a child than you. If it's important to you to find out about Crona, then you should."
Jason sighed. "I don't know. Do I have any-"
"If the next words out of your mouth are, 'any right', then you're on dishes with Tyler and Daisy for the next month. Jason, of course you do. You didn't know the kid, but I can tell you already like them, just from so photographs and sketches. They have your eyes." James kissed the top of his hand. "Go call them. Figure out some time off to go see the City. You should go see where they lived at least."
"What about you and the boys?"
James pulled a face. "What about me and the boys? You make it sound like you'll come back to a house fire."
Jason laughed wetly, hugging his husband. "I tell Emma and Daisy to look after you guys."
"Ugh, you nose is cold, Jay! Don't do me any favors."
They pulled apart so James could shower and change, and Jason started putting the bags away. As the boys arrived home, he hugged each of them, sulky sixteen year old Hunter to just getting into guitar and painting Tom and a sleepy Tyler. He kissed each of his children's heads and told them how much he loved them.
That night Before Jason went to bed he looked up at the moon and quietly told it that he loved them, too.
-FIN