Critical Role Febuwhump 2022

by FlyingRaven

Summary:

Critical Role Febuwhump 2022 prompt fills! 28 chapters of angst, hurt and sometimes comfort. Campaign 1, 2, EXU and 3 are all featured in here, so there's probably a story for everyone!

Notes:

The lines in the summary are from chapter 9 and chapter 18!

Chapter 1: Head Wound (C1)

Summary:

Flying is fun. Until it isn't.

Flying was fun. Vex knew her friends made fun of how attached she was to her broom, but whenever she was up in the air she couldn’t find the energy to care. Flying made her feel free. Made her feel safe in a way. 

It was a colder day in Whitestone. Things were finally quiet. Although, really, things were too quiet if she thought about it too much. Not too quiet in a “there’s something dangerous happening soon.” But too quiet in the way that it was too quiet when someone was missing. 

Don’t think about him. Don’t think about him. Don’t think about Scanla- fuck. 

And that’s how she ended up on her broom, flying high above the forest around Whitestone. Trying desperately not to think about her friend. Her ex friend. Her friend who’d stormed off after they had brought him back to life. Who had said that he’d never wanted to see them again. 

Guilty. She felt guilty. It was something she didn’t like feeling. It was one of those feelings that burned you up from the inside and consumed you before you could stop it. 

The stupid, funny stupid witch hat that Scanlan had given her blew off of her head. A few months ago she’d have laughed about it and wouldn’t have gone after it. But now she couldn’t stop herself. Before she could fully process her own movements she was already flying after it. The wind blew the hat down to the trees, and she dove after it. Left, under, right-

 

The next thing she felt was the cold, hard forest floor. That, and the splitting pain in the back of her head. Opening her eyes, Vex tried to process what was going on. But even opening her eyes increased the pain in her head, and nausea soon followed. She barely had time to sit up and turn away from her legs before she threw up. Coughing, she tried to focus on the matter at hand. She’d fallen off her broom, that was something she could at least conclude. Patting around on the floor next to her, her hand soon found the broom. Good. That was good. 

Headache, nausea, dizziness. Probably a concussion then. Great. Possibly lost in the middle of the Parchwood Timberlands with a bad concussion. It took her three attempts to even stand up, and one more to fully look up. There was no way she could fly back safely. 

But looking at the sky revealed another problem. Even through the thick cloud cover she could see that the sun was setting. 

She’d have to fly back, unless she wanted to walk back through the soon to be pitch black forest. She didn’t want to have to rely on her darkvision. 

Slowly, wobbly, she mounted the broom again. She barely had the clarity of mind to tie the rope on the broom back onto her leg. That way if she fell again the broom would land close again. 

 

Suddenly flying wasn’t nearly as fun as it had been. Opening her eyes for too long increased the pain of the headache so much she’d lose ballance. Dizziness tugged at her head even with her eyes closed. She flew around for at least ten minutes before she even found the right direction back to Whitestone. It took at least twenty more to reach the walls of Whitestone, and five more to reach the castle (when she reached the walls she managed to get turned around)

Landing was an ordeal. As soon as her shaky legs touched the grass of the courtyard they gave out. She planted one end of the broom in the grass and pushed herself up with it. Slow steps. She fought against the urge to lay down in the grass right then and there. The doors to the castle opened.

“Ah, Vex! How was the… flight?” Percy’s voice punched through her head. Opening one eye to look at her boyfriend, she opened her mouth to wave off his concern. 

Instead she passed out again.

Chapter 2: Failed Rescue Attempt (C3)

Summary:

Ashton gets in trouble with people they owe money to. Imogen and Laudna don't plan ahead.

Ashton was starting to regret not finding a crew sooner. Scratch that. He was definitely regretting not finding a new crew sooner. Because now he was being jumped in an alleyway for not paying a debt. They couldn’t even remember who they owned it to. Ashton growled under their breath, reaching for their hammer. But it wasn’t fast enough, and before they could grab the handle of the hammer their head hit the floor. 

 

Loud knocking on the door woke Imogen up with a start. She fumbled, trying to get out of the tangled bedsheets. By the time she’d detangled herself Laudna had already opened the door. She was fully expecting to see one of her new friends, maybe Orym or Dorian. Instead they were greeted with Milo. Imogen and Laudna hadn’t really spoken to them except when Ashton had introduced the whole party to them. It made their presence all the more surprising. 

“Good morning Milo. Is there anything we can help you with?” Laudna asked, ever pleasant. 

“Have either of you seen Ashton?” they asked. The panic was clear in their voice. 

“No? Not since they left last night. Have you asked Fresh?” Imogen answered for Laudna. 

Milo shook their head. “Fresh was the one who asked me. Apparently he lost track of Ashton and by the time he realised he couldn’t find them anymore. I send him to look around in other places,” Milo wrung their hands. “They mentioned their debts, right?” they continued. Imogen and Laudna nodded. “I worry they didn’t pay one on time. Some of the people they own money to…” a shudder passed through Milo. 

“I’ll message them. Come in, sit down Milo.” Laudna said, motioning them inside. “Oh Ashton! Where did you disappear to? Milo and FCG are worried about you.” she sing sung her message. A few seconds passed before her smile fell. 

Deep worry pooled into Imogen’s stomach. “What is it?” she asked. 

“Some initials, G.K or something. I think they were about to say more but I think someone hit him.” Laudna responded. 

Milo’s eyes widened to the size of tea saucers. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Eh-” they covered their head with their hands. “Smolder spire. Warehouse next to the Take it or Leave it. Nasty people. They won’t quit until either Ashton gives them what they owe in full right now or when their- fuck!” 

Imogen was already almost dressed before they finished. “Laudna. We’re heading there. Milo, go to the Spire By Fire and get the rest of the party. Laudna and I will go ahead and try to get Ashton out or at least buy them time.” she said. 

Milo looked like they were fully ready to argue, but clearly reconsidered before nodding. “Be careful.” they said, before turning around and running out of the house.   

 

By the time Imogen was doubting her plan it was already too late to turn back. If these people were truly as nasty as Milo said then they couldn’t exactly make this worse. Laudna was messing with the lock to the warehouse, and by some miracle she managed to open it. The two slipped inside as fast as possible and dropped to the ground immediately. Voices echoed from deeper inside the warehouse. One of them sounded weak and familiar. 

Quietly they crept closer to the sound, trying desperately to not bump into anything. For a while everything went okay. They were almost there! 

And then Laudna tripped over a loose box and loudly hit another. And within an instant someone smacked something hard against Imogen’s head. 

 

Darkness.

 

Wrists tied against a chair. Her head was pounding. Something hot was running over her eye. Imogen forced it open. Glancing over, the first thing she saw was the unconscious body of Ashton, tied up in the chair next to her. 

 

Fuck. 

Chapter 3: Blood loss (C1)

Summary:

+ Alt Prompt 3: Shrapnel

In which Percy has terrible bodily awareness.

Careless. How could he have been so careless? He knew it was stupid to fire Bad News so close to him. He’d designed the goddamn gun himself! And yet here he was, trying desperately to focus past the ringing in his ears from the gunshot. The good thing was that the zombie in front of him had been reduced to pieces. The bad news… well, he was scared some of the shrapnel from the gunshot had hit either him or one of his friends. Glancing around he couldn’t immediately see any of his friends with bullet shaped wounds, so he focussed his attention back on the problem at hand. How they had wandered into a cursed graveyard, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. But right now the priority was getting out of there alive. The problem wasn’t that the undead were too strong for them, there were just so many of them.

If only Pike where there, he mused. But she was back in Vasselheim, working on the temple again. 

Aim, shoot, aim, jam. He cursed under his breath when he felt Bad News malfunction. Shoving the bigger gun back on his back, he drew Animus from the holster at his side. 

Hm, his side was warm. Curious. Problem for later. Aiming again, shooting again. 

And then it was quiet. He glanced around again and lowered Animus. 

“Everyone alright?” Vax called out. Percy nodded, drawing his coat closer around him and buttoning it closed. It still felt like the hairs on his arms were standing up. Or was that the cold? He tried to shake it off. 

“Does anyone need healing?” Keyleth asked. 

“I’m sorry for firing Bad News so close to you Vax.” Percy apologised instead of answering Keyleth. 

“All good Percival. But do pay more attention next time. My ears are still ringing.” 

“Believe me, so are mine.” he responded. Ow. His side was really becoming tender now. He gingerly brought his hand to the area and poked it. The pain increased tenfold. It felt like the air was kicked out of his lungs. He bit down on his lip and lowered his hand. Vowing to ask Keyleth or Vex for healing if it still hurt in a bit. No need to waste valuable spells on what was probably just a painful scratch. 

 

Maybe he should have said something earlier, he mused as he lost his balance again. They had left the graveyard around ten minutes ago, eager to get out of that cursed place. What he’d thought to be a scratch was quickly turning out to be the shrapnel wound he feared. The pain was still pretty bad, and he swore that he could still feel some blood running every now and then. Percy wrapped his hand around the wound.

Another wave of dizziness hit him. He cursed, stumbling back and trying to catch himself on one of the trees. 

“Percy?” he heard Keyleth call out. “Everything alright?” 

“I just need- I need to sit down for a minute.” he responded weakly. Swallowing thickly, he slid down the tree and onto the forest floor. 

“What’s wrong?” Vex was standing in front of him now. She looked at him, looked at the way he was holding himself. Her frown deepened. “Percy show me your hand.” she said. 

Against better judgement, he let go of his side and held out his hand. 

Vex gasped. “Oh gods. Show me your side.” 

He looked at his hand. It was covered in blood. He slowly unbuttoned his coat and looked at his side for the first time. 

Oh.

There was a fresh stain of blood about the size of both of his hands. Not only that, but he could feel the blood still running down his torso and leg. His shirt was torn around the centre of it. Normally he could handle a little blood, but the sight of the sheer amount of it made him need to swallow against bile rising up in his throat. 

“Percy, you’re a fucking idiot, you know that?” Vex cursed. There was no true malice behind it, just panicked concern. “Keyleth? About that healing you offered earlier?” she called back to the group. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Vax asked. 

“I might have injured myself when I accidentally shot Bad News too close to myself. Didn’t know it was this bad.” Percy responded instead of Vex. Keyleth came into view, her hands glowing pleasantly with green energy. “Wait!” he said, right before Keyleth touched him. “Check the wound first. There might still be shrapnel in it.” he tried to reach out to do it himself, but Vex caught his hand. 

“Nope. I’m doing that.” she said. Lifting up his shirt, she seemed to see something. But before Percy could ask if she’d found something he felt the white hot pain tearing through him. He screeched. Keyleth quickly touched him, and the warmth of the blood was replaced by a different kind of warmth. 

“There. Should be healed now.” she said. 

“Thank you Ki.” he said gratefully. “I just- give me a minute.” 

Chapter 4: Nightmares (C2)

Summary:

In which sleep isn't very kind to Caleb.

He didn’t want to see this again. Oh, how desperately he wished he could never see this again. The smoke choked him. He could feel the scorching heat on his palms and his face. 

Screams. He could hear the screams again. 

But this time his parents weren’t the only ones who were screaming. Oh no. He could see the vague shapes of other people in the burning house. Vague wings attempting to fly out of the inferno. Yasha was pulled down again, and the screech she let out was truly horrifying. Caduceus, the one who was normally the calmest of them all, screaming as he tried to run out of the fire. Jester, trying desperately to heal Nott on the front steps of the house. The smoke was choking him. It invaded his nose and lungs and strangled him from the inside out. He could feel the hot breath of Trent on his neck. 

“ I’m proud of you son. You did what had to be done. Now, let us find Astrid and Eadwulf .” 

He screamed.

And he kept screaming as he felt Trent drag him to the sanatorium. He screamed as the guards hit him for the first time while restraining him. He screamed until his throat gave out. 

And he screamed again when the burned corpse of his parents confronted him. 

 

“CALEB!” 

His last scream still echoed though the cave when he shot up. Pushing himself into the wall of the cave, Caleb dug one of his hands into his hair as tightly as he could. His other hand wrapped tightly around his mouth as he desperately tried to stifle the sobs. 

“Shhh, you’re alright. You’re alright.” the soft voice of Caduceus poked through the haze of panic. 

Caleb looked up slightly and caught the faces of his other friends. Nott, looking sadly at him from the other side of the small cave. Jester, tense and extremely concerned. Fjord, Yasha and Beau, barely awake but on guard. And Caduceus sitting next to him.

“I’m sorry.” he squeezed out. 

“Nightmare?” Caduceus asked. 

Caleb nodded. 

“They haven’t been that bad in a while Caleb.” Nott said softly. 

He slowly untangled his hand from his hair and dropped the other one. “I’m aware.” he responded. “I’m sorry for waking you all up. I’m fine.” he swallowed thickly against his sore throat.

Beau crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “If that’s what you call fine I’d hate to see what you consider not fine. I’m calling bullshit on that.” she said.

“Harsh, but she does have a point.” Fjord said.

Caleb cleared his throat. “Like I said. I’m fine. I’ll take watch now.”

“What you need is rest Caleb. You got hurt pretty bad today.” Caduceus paused for a second. “I might have something left in me. It won’t last long but it’ll help.” he finished. Before Caleb could protest he felt the soft warmth of Caduceus’s hand on his back. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. A wave of calmth washed over him. “It’ll last a minute. Best to try to sleep while it lasts.”

He nodded thankfully at Caduceus. With how tired he still was he felt like he could easily fall asleep in a minute.

When he did, the nightmare continued.

Chapter 5: Alt - Left Behind (C1)

Arrows were flying all around them. Percy was dragging her along through the snow. Her dress was torn, had been torn since she’d been forced to hide in the tunnels beneath the castle. What would- it didn’t matter what her mother would think about it. Her mother was dead.

“Keep running Cass.” Percy panted.

She couldn’t keep up. Not really. There was a big difference in height between her 18 year old brother and herself. But she had to keep running. Keep running from the wolves and undead creatures behind her. Running from the guards who controlled the creatures. She tripped and stumbled. Barely catching herself, she had to pause for just a second to regain her ballance. 

The second was too long. 

Cassandra felt the impact of the arrows before she registered the pain. The force of the arrows brought her to her knees in an instant, then to the ground. She couldn’t even scream. Only a short gasp came out. 

Her brother didn’t stop. He barely glanced around to her. She tried desperately to catch his eye, to beg him to save her.

Percy kept running. 

The dogs were closer now. She could hear them. But they came to a halt right around her.
“Leave the boy. He won’t make it far. Take the girl.” was the last thing she heard before she passed out. 

 

Shackles and a soft bed was the first thing she felt when she woke up. She hadn’t even expected to wake up at all. Yet here she was. Blinking her heavy eyes she looked around the room. It was Vespers room, she realised quickly. And it hadn’t been cleaned since the massacre. Blood stained the carpet and the walls. The bed itself had scratches on it. She started pushing against the shackles, trying to pull them off of the wall.

“Oh dear. I apologise about the mess. If only your sister hadn’t fought back.” the sickly sweet voice of Delilah Briarwood hit her. She froze. “Luckily you’re still here. I’m glad the pretty one didn’t die.” 

“Let me go!” Cassandra screamed. 

Delilah chuckled. “So feisty! Did your brother teach you that? What was his name, Percival? The one who left you behind when you so foolishly tried to escape?” Delilah gently touched Cassandra’s chin and lifted up her head. She wished she’d just punched her. The way she touched her was too reminiscent of the way her dad used to comfort her. “No dear. I think you belong to us now. Your other brother, oh what was his name, the oldest one?” she asked.

Cassandra didn’t answer at first. In response, Delilah moved her hand down from her chin to her throat. She squeezed it. “When I ask you a question I expect an answer.” she said.

“Julius.” Cassandra answered tightly. 

As if nothing ever happened, Delilah let go of Cass’s throat. “There. That wasn’t so hard. He told us everything we needed. But Sylas took a liking to you. And I’m beginning to see why. Such pretty skin.” 

Cassandra started crying by now. There was a monster in the room. Mother always said monsters didn’t exist in Whitestone. Yet she was looking at one now. And she was alone. So alone. “Percy didn’t leave me. He’ll come back.” she whispered. 

Another chuckle from the woman. “Sweet innocence. I’d be surprised if your brother made it another mile before he died. I’m sure he’s rotting in the snow somewhere.” she gently touched Cass’s cheek again, wiping away some of her tears. “I poured a lot of healing into you dear. I’ll keep you safe. As long as you listen to me, my dear husband and Anna you’ll be fine.” 

“I don’t want too.” she responded with the last bit of defiance in her. 

“Oh, soon enough you will darling. Soon enough you will.” 

And then she was alone again. Left behind in what once was her home. Now it was nothing but her prison. 

Chapter 6: Hypothermia (C2)

Notes:

I struggled a bit with this one, sorry if it's not very good!

How they’d managed to get stuck in this situation, Fjord wouldn’t be able to tell you. Yet here they were, fighting a bunch of very angry juvenile frost worms. Actually, nevermind. He could think of why the juvenile frost worms were angry at them. These were probably the kids of the big frost worm Jester had turned into a turtle. Either way, they were in trouble. Big trouble. Caleb was down, with Jester trying to get to him to get him up again. Caduceus was supporting Beau and Yasha was fine on her own. That left him. Two of the frost worms had ganged up on him and were taking jabs and bites at him. The cold was making him fumble his sword. Using one hand to defend himself he tried to cast eldritch blast with his other one. 

Big mistake. 

One of the frost worms broke through his defence and swallowed his arm. It was too small to swallow Fjord fully, but it’s size didn’t diminish the pain it caused. Stabbing cold and acid made him scream loudly. The cold from inside the worm was quickly moving through his body. He kicked it, but it didn’t let go. The other frost worm let out a loud trill and he could feel his body freeze up. 

He lost count of how long it took until someone came to his rescue. It felt like hours. In reality it was closer to 45 seconds. But every second the frost worm had his arm he could feel the cold settling deeper into his bones. By the time Yasha ran to him and pulled the worm from his arm his thoughts were getting sluggish. 

“That should be all of them.” Yasha breathed heavily, the last remnants of her rage fading. “You alright Fjord?” 

“‘M fine.” he slurred. Hm, that didn’t sound right. 

Yasha clearly agreed with the fact that he didn’t sound right. “Cad! I think Fjord needs some healing!” she called out. 

Caduceus jogged over. He quickly healed Fjord, but the cold didn’t leave his bones. Caduceus frowned when he touched Fjord again to check up on him. 

“You’re really cold.” he stated. “What happened?” 

“Frost worm ate my arm. Thnk the acid froze me.” 

“We might need to set up camp soon. You feel hypothermic.” 

“What’s that?” Jester had come up to them by now. 

“Dangerously cold.” was Caduceus’s patient response. “Caleb, do you have enough left to throw up the tower?” 

Caleb shook his head. “I can throw up the bubble, but I can’t do the tower today. Sorry.” he said. 

“Then let’s get away from here a bit and throw up the bubble. He needs to warm up.” 

They set off quickly. Jester wrapped her arm around Fjord while walking. “That way, I can warm you up a little!” was her reasoning. And honestly, he didn’t mind at all. But when he fell for the third time and faceplanted in the snow it was clear they needed to stop.

“Let’s set up here!” Beau said. “If we continue we might have a Fjordcicle on our hands.” 

 

Jester cuddled up to him again when the bubble was up and the fire was lit. “You’re cold.” she said redundantly. 

“‘M aware. You’re warm.” he said.

“Then I’ll sit here and warm you up.” she smiled. 

“I’ll gladly accept that.” 

Chapter 7: Used as an experiment (C1)

Crystals. There were crystals in her arms. Ripley was smiling at her. Why was she smiling at her? Cass’s thoughts were muddled. It had been weeks since her ill fated escape attempt. She’d been trying to fight back in any way she could. Attempting to escape again, trying to contact anyone in Whitestone itself. Even trying to straight up kill the Briarwoods or their collaborators. Nothing had worked. 

It was because of her latest escape attempt that she was now tied up in the dungeon, left to the whims of Anna Ripley. Her mouth was gagged, so she couldn’t even talk. 

“You scream more than your brother.” Ripley mused. “You see those crystals in your arms?” Cassandra glanced at them again. They were green and thin, kind of like broken glass. “Residuum. I was experimenting with it back in Wildmount before I had to run. Now that you’re here I can continue!” her smile was icy, and it made Cass shrink back into herself. “Now. If my theory is correct it should enhance your resistance to magic. But you see, there is only one way to find out.” she cracked her knuckles before backing up. “Tell me Cassandra. Is this room fireproof?” 

Her eyes widened. She started fighting against the restraints that were keeping her tied to the wall. 

“Are you fireproof? Let’s find out.” and with that, Ripley conjured a fireball and fired it right next to one of Cassandra’s arms. Searing hot flames burned the whole arm and almost melted the residuum. 

She screamed. The heat worked its way up to her face even after the fireball had died down. 

Ripley sighed. “Maybe that was the wrong kind of magic. I would tell you to stay here while i get Delilah but it’s not like you can leave anyway.” 

 

Her screams had quieted down to silent sobs when Delilah Briarwood and Ripley returned to the dungeon. Delilah knelt in front of her, using her hand to raise Cassandra’s chin up. 

“Oh dear. Such a mess you’ve gotten yourself into. If only you had been a good girl. Then Ripley wouldn’t have to use you for this.” she got up and dusted off her dress. “Just a simple blight?” she asked Ripley. 

The other monster nodded. “Don’t kill her. Just see if the residuum makes it harder for you to hurt her.” she instructed. 

A flash of purple arcane energy shot through Delilah’s eyes. It flowed down to her hand where it coalesced. 

Cold pressure all around her body. She’d felt this one before. Delilah had used it to drain her within an inch of her life so Silas could feed. The energy to scream left her as soon as she wanted to. One of the residuum shards in her arm shattered. The other one began to burn intensely. She could feel her nose begin to bleed.  

“That’s enough Delilah.” Ripley said. “The residuum clearly isn’t working as planned. Maybe the person infused with it needs innate magical capabilities. I’m going back to the drawing board. You want to take her or do we let Vedmire have his fun with her?” 

The name of Vedmire was enough to make her whimper and shake her head. 

“I think the pup wants to say something.” Delilah said. She walked over and ripped the gag off of Cassandra’s mouth.

“ Please. ” she cried. “I’ll be good. Not Vedmire. Please.” 

Delilah laughed. A sickly sweet laugh with darkness underneath it. “I would let you go back to your room pup but it’s clear the message hasn’t sunken in yet. Let’s have Vedmire bring the message home again.” she caressed Cass’s cheek. “It’s for your own good dear. Bad children need to be punished.” 

Chapter 8: No anesthesia (EXU)

The Crown Keepers were tired. Opal had somehow gotten into trouble and they’d spend the whole day and way too many spells to rescue her. Oyrm was lagging behind the group, lazily strolling as he took in the sights of Emon.

A sharp pain. 

Oh, that was a lot of blood. Like, a lot of it. That’s what shot through Orym when he saw the cut on his stomach. And the blood was flowing out fast. He stumbled back, clutching the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding down. The mugger who had slashed him quickly looked around and decided to run away. 

“Oh shit.” he breathed out. 

Dorian glanced over from up ahead and stopped dead in his tracks. “Orym? ORYM?” he ran back towards his friend. Dariax, Opal and Fearne stopped too at Dorian yelling. 

“Now might be a good time for those healing spells.” Orym muttered. His vision was quickly becoming spotty, and Dorian barely caught him when his knees buckled. Dorian helped him to the ground and helped to press on the wound. 

“DARAIX! FEARNE! PLEASE TELL ME EITHER OF YOU HAVE HEALING LEFT?!” he shouted. 

The others had made their way back to them by now. Fearne shook her head.

“I didn’t prepare any today.” she said.

“I ran out during the battle.” was Dariax’s reaction. 

“So did I…” dread settled in Dorian’s stomach. And Orym was still bleeding. And they were still way too far away from the townhouse. And they didn’t trust the guards in Emon enough to ask them for help.

“I could burn the wound shut, I still have one slot left for burning hands.” Dariax said. 

“Burn him?! But he’s already hurt!” Opal said. 

“Do it. I’d rather not bleed to death.” Orym said. 

“Are you sure?” Dorian asked. Logically he knew that it was the best option, but everything in him yelled to not have Dariax do it. 

But Orym, like the logical person he was, nodded. 

“Okay. Might wanna prepare. This is gonna hurt.” Dariax said redundantly. Orym squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed Dorian’s hand. Dorian gladly accepted it and readjusted Orym to hold him better. The hands of Dariax lit up. “I’m sorry.” he said. Then, he reached down and ran the flames over the wound as thoroughly as he could. 

Agony. Orym was in agony. It might actually have been the worst pain he’d ever felt. All the air was drained from his lungs, he couldn’t even scream. But boy did he squeeze Dorian’s hand. After a few seconds he regained the air in his lungs and he screamed. It pierced the air. 

“Shhhh. You’re okay. See? It’s already over. It’s over. You’re fine.” Dorian shushed. Orym’s screams transitioned into smaller sobs. “You’re okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you.” he softly rubbed Orym’s hair. 

“We’ve gotta go. Guards might think the wrong thing.” Dariax said. 

“Smart.” was Opal’s response. 

But Orym clearly wasn’t ready to move. So Dorian picked him up. Even with all the armour Orym wore he was relatively light. He buried himself into Dorian’s chest as soon as he was picked up. “You’re okay. We’re going home.” he said to him. 

“ Thank you .” was whispered into his chest. 

Chapter 9: Alt - "I dreamt you were alive" (C1)

Notes:

Aka, the first part in this challenge that almost made me cry writing it.

She was holding baby Vesper. All big eyes and fluffy lashes and soft skin. She was so precious. More precious than the prettiest diamond. More precious than all of Whitestone. She was hers. With her young age it was hard to say, but Vex was pretty sure she’d inherited Percy’s pale skin and white hair. 

“She looks just like you Stubby.” her brother said next to her. She looked up at him. He’d been away when she was giving birth, sadly stuck in Zephra. But he was here now, and that was what counted.

“I think she looks more like Percy. And a little bit like Velora.” she said. 

Vax smiled and softly ran his hand over Vesper’s tiny hand. “When she’s old enough I’ll teach her how to use knifes.” he said.

She chuckled. “I’ll teach her how to shoot an arrow. She’ll be the most dangerous toddler in all of Tal'Dorei.”

“Can I hold her?” her brother asked. Vex nodded softly and handed her child over to him. She’d never seen Vax hold something with such care and delicacy before. He softly ran his finger over his niece’s cheek. “Is this what we were like? When we were babies?” he pondered. 

“I think she’s cuter than we ever were.” 

Vax chuckled at that. Oh how she’d missed that laugh. However much she loved Percy, nothing came quite as close as the laughter of her brother. 

“I’ll give her back to you now.” he said. “Thank you, for letting me hold her.” 

“Of course. You’re my brother. You’ll always be allowed to hold her.” 

“ I just wish I really could .” 

 

Vesper was crying. Vesper was crying and it woke Vex up. Her brother’s name was nothing but a ghost on her lips now. It was midday. She must have fallen asleep in the courtyard while sitting there with Vesper. She quickly picked Vesper up out of the basket Percy had made for taking her outside. 

A raven landed next to her. At first she barely took note of it, ignoring it in favour of feeding Vesper. But when Vesper was peacefully drinking her lunch she looked over at it. 

“I dreamt you were alive, you know?” she said to the raven. “Well, I dreamt my brother was alive. You’re probably just a random raven.” she swallowed thickly. “You’re just a random raven and my daughter doesn’t have an uncle. I don’t have my brother.” tears were gathering behind her eyes now. “I don’t have my brother and Percy doesn’t have any of his brothers and almost none of his sisters and we both don’t have our moms and he doesn’t have his dad and I fucking- miss you.” her voice broke and the tears escaped. “And you’re just a random raven who’s gotten used to human company around here. You’re not Vax. Vax is gone.” 

Vesper coed at her, unlatching and reaching out her tiny, tiny arms for her mom. Vex held her closer to her chest. Logically Vex knew that Vesper was too young to really understand emotion, but it still felt like she was trying to comfort her mom. 

“I miss my mom. I miss my mom and the concept of a real dad and I miss my brother. Velora is supposed to have two siblings. Vesper is supposed to have two aunts and an uncle. We weren’t supposed to end up like this Vax.” 

The raven croaked at her and nuzzled her leg with its beak. 

“It’s just fucking unfair.” she finished her broken tirade. She reached down with one hand and gently tried to pet the raven. But it immediately jumped and flew back a bit. Vex huffed out a wet laugh. “I don’t know if you’re a random raven or an avatar of the Raven Queen or whatever. Maybe you really do contain a part of Vax. Who am I to fucking know. You can’t bring him back.” 

With that, she quickly picked up Vesper’s basket with one hand while holding her with the other. 

Maybe Cass had some tea. Tea didn’t fix problems, but it would make it easier to push them away for a while. 

Chapter 10: "How long has it been?" (C2)

The silence in the air was thick with tension. Her mother was in her house. And even though her mother had left her dad a while ago the idea of her mother being in her safe space still made her skin crawl. And made her combative side flare up again. 

“How long has it been?” Beau asked. 

“Since what?” 

“Since you and dad gave up on me.” 

Her mother’s eyes widened. “Don’t talk like that around your brother!” she hissed. 

“He’s 14 and the youngest person ever to enter the Soltryce Academy. I think he hears worse things than that.” Beau said, leaning back defensively in her chair. 

“I never wanted you to be taken like that Beauregard. You don’t know how horrified I was when I was notified of your dad’s and Archivist Zeenoth’s crimes.” 

Beau huffed. “You never even bothered to ask. Your troubled daughter suddenly disappears to somewhere sanctioned by the father she despises and you didn’t even ask.” 

“Is this conversation just going to consist of you accusing me of not loving you? Because in that case I might as well leave. I thought you’d have grown out of this by now.” 

Beau didn’t respond. Her brother, TJ, came bouncing down the stairs. He was staying in Beau and Yasha’s house for the school year. That was the only reason Beau had let her mom in to her house. 

Her mother rose abruptly. “Hi dear.” she said, her face softening at her younger son. “Did you get everything settled in well?” she asked.

TJ nodded. “Yeah! Miss Yasha helped me with putting some stuff away.” he said.

“That’s nice.” his mom said. She cleared her throat. “Anyway. I think it’s time I take my leave. It’s still a decent way back to Nicodranas.” she hugged her son. “Be good and study hard, okay TJ?” then, she turned to Beau and awkwardly held out her hand. After an awkwardly long pause Beau took it and shook it. “Take care of him.” 

And then the door closed.

 

Beau sighed and sunk deeper into her chair. 

“You alright sis?” TJ asked.

“Fuuuuuuuuuck.” was Beau’s singular response. “I did not have the capacity to deal with her today.” 

Something that seemed way too close to guilt flashed over TJ’s face. “I’m sorry.” he said.

“Not your fault lil bro. They weren’t peaches to you either.” Beau still remembered the day her brother showed up on her doorstep. 12 years old, battered and bruised. Brought to her by Dairon. His mom showed up a week later, having finally decided to leave her husband for good. It was too little too late in her eyes.

“Do either of you want some tea?” Yasha asked from the doorway. “I have a calming brew Caduceus made.” 

“Yes please miss Yasha.” TJ said politely. 

Yasha smiled. “TJ, please. Just Yasha is okay. You want some too Beau?” 

Beau shook her head. “You two go ahead.” she said. 

Yasha seemed to get what Beau meant. “TJ, wanna help me with the tea?” she asked. 

Tj nodded and followed her to the kitchen. Leaving Beau alone in the living room. 

“Fuuuuuuuuck.” 

Chapter 11: Chronic pain (C3)

Summary:

Hi! I just want to note that I personally do not have chronic pain, so if anything here is not correct feel absolutely free to correct me! I will change it in that case!

Bad day. This was going to be a bad day. Worse than most their days. Throbbing pain was radiating down from their head into their left arm. Part of their chest and back were even hurting. It was nauseating. They groaned, rolling over in the bed they were occupying in the Krook house. It was raining outside. Maybe that was the reason his pain was worse than normal? Or was it the physical exertion of the last few weeks?

Either way, they were not having a good time. Their crew (they should really think of a name soon) was meeting up at their house that day to work on the masks for the ball. 

FGC powered up in the corner of their room, and he immediately seemed to notice how Ashton was feeling. “Good morning Ashton! Is everything okay?” the little automaton asked. 

Ashton groaned. “Everything hurts and I am dying.” he muttered.

“Anything I can do to help?” 

“Not really.” Ashton groaned again and pushed themselves up. A white flash of pain radiated down. They took a few deep breaths and almost rolled out of their bed. FCG rolled up next to them, and Ashton automatically leaned on them. “Thanks Grass.” he said. 

“No problem!” 

Milo was already in the kitchen with Anni when Ashton came in. They took one look at their punk rock friend and sighed sympathetically. “Bad day?” they asked.

“The worst. Got anything for it?” was Ashton’s response. 

“I might have something that’ll put a dent in the pain but not as much as you’d probably like.” 

“Anything is good at this point.” Ashton dropped down on the nearest chair and dropped their head into their arms. “People ‘r coming around at like noon for some crafts and stuff.” he said.

Anni chuckled. “Having an arts and crafts day are we?” she teased. 

Ashton’s glare could have burned the sun. “We’re invited to some masked ball. Gotta be creative.” Milo handed them a bottle of… stuff. He’d had it before but he’d never bothered to learn the name of it. And they didn’t care to lean it now. They just downed it in one go and dropped their head back into their arms. “Thanks Milo.” 

 

Ashton cursed as they dropped their mask for the third time. Turns out that trying to do fine motor work when your left hand is shaking like a madman wasn’t very easy. The pain was making both of his hands shake actually. He was just more aware of the left side. 

Orym glanced over at Ashton fumbling with the mask. “Everything okay?” he asked. 

“Fine.” Ashton groaned in response. The leather strap they were trying to attach snapped. “FUCK!” They dropped the half finished mask on the table and rubbed their head aggressively. Imogen’s eyes burned into their back. “I can feel you Imogen.” he sighed. 

Great, everyone was staring at them. “I’m fucking fine. ‘S just-” they gestured vaguely at their head. “Fucking with me. Nothing to be done.” 

Imogen nodded sympathetically. “Painkillers don’t do much?” she asked. 

“If they did I’d be feeling better wouldn’t I?” Ashton snapped again. He shook his head. “Sorry. Unfair to snap at you.” 

Imogen shrugged. “Pain fucks with people. I forgive you.” she said. 

“Will it pass?” Dorian asked gently. 

“It’ll vary. Who knows how much it’ll hurt tomorrow. Nothing to be done ‘bout it.” 

“Let us know if we can do anything to help.” Orym said.

“Just… try to not be insane today. That’ll go a long way.” 

Fearne pouted dramatically. “Aw, I was just planning to set this place on fire.” Chetney eyed her with a lot of concern. “I’m kidding.”

Chapter 12: Spiked drink (C2)

“SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!” oh, how had he ended up in this situation? He didn’t drink alcohol! Let alone do shots! Caduceus really, really wondered that. But here he was, in the Evening Nip, watching his friends in a drinking contest. They’d done this before, and usually he’d never participate. Why was he participating now?

Oh, whatever. There’s a second time for most things. 

“Come on Deucy! Down it!” Nott called out. He sighed and complied, grimacing intensely at the burn of the… whiskey? Rum? He had no clue. It just tasted bad. Worse than the other shots he’d drank that evening. Oh, whatever. Probably an effect of being slightly drunk already. Jester was absolutely wasted already. Fjord and Beau weren’t far behind. Caleb, Yasha and Nott were the most sober. Nott curtesy of her tolerance, and Yasha simply due to her build. And Caleb wasn’t doing as many shots as the others. 

Ew, that shot really didn’t hit right. His throat was still burning after at least thirty seconds. “I’m tapping out.” he said. 

“Awww, come on Caduceus!” Jester whined. 

He shook his head. “Nope. This,” he pointed at the shots. “Is horrible.” 

Jester, Beau, Nott and Yasha continued. He hung back with Caleb. Hm, he was beginning to feel woozy. He tried to get up to get some air, but stumbled and had to grab on to Caleb. 

“Woah! Caduceus?” Caleb asked. 

“Bit dizzy.” he said. 

Concern flashed over Caleb’s face. “Let’s go take a breath outside.” he said. Caduceus nodded and followed him. 

The night air was pleasant. But it didn’t do much to help Caduceus. In fact, he was feeling more and more sick by the minute. He leaned against the wall, trying to take deep breaths. 

“This doesn’t feel like being drunk.” he muttered. 

“You’ve only been drunk like once Caduceus, are you sure?” Caleb asked. 

A wave of nausea crashed over Caduceus, so sharp it was painful. He nodded. “This feels like something was wrong with my drink.” 

Caleb paled significantly. “Stay here Cad.” he said, turning and walking inside. While he left Caduceus tried to cast restoration on himself. But it failed to take hold. 

Caleb dragged Jester outside. Yasha followed. She took one look at Caduceus and paled. 

“Yeah, that’s poison. I saw someone use it in someones drink once.” she said.

Jester seemed to sober up a bit. “I didn’t prepare any restoration spells today.” she said seriously. 

Caduceus was quickly feeling worse. But he did have a bright idea. “I just need to get this out of my body, correct?” 

Caleb nodded sceptically. “Yeah?” 

“I’ll just make myself sick.” Caduceus continued pragmatically. 

“Are you sure that’ll work?” Yasha said. 

Caduceus shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” and he stepped out of the way and unceremoniously shoved his finger down his throat. He’d seen his mother do it to a kid once, who’d wandered into the grove and ate something they shouldn’t have. Melora, that didn’t feel nice. It burned his throat. Coughing, he swayed back to the group. The feeling had stopped getting worse now that he’d thrown up, but he still felt bad. In fact-

He couldn’t finish that thought because he passed out.

Chapter 13: Won't regain consciousness (Cinderbrush)

Notes:

This is Cinderbrush, the monsterhearts one shot that some of the Critical Role cast played. I've been in love with it recently and couldn't stop myself from writing this one. I know it's stretching the Critical Role thing a bit sorry :) Tomorrow we'll be back with your regularly scheduled Critical Role main campaign content!

“Jamie?” their friend in question was laying on the floor of the hideout. Next to the couch Af had recently brought into it. He must have fallen off of it. Af gently shook them, but no response.

“GUYS?” they called. 

Sasha and Cameron followed into the hideout. They’d come by after realising that Jamie wasn’t at school that day. It had happened before, so they took a guess that they were in the hideout again. Jamie was pale. Even when they were unconscious they were shivering. In summary, they looked sick. 

Sasha crouched next to them. “Hey, Jamie?” she asked, shaking him softly. No response. Sasha shook her head slightly. “Af, put them on the couch? Please?” she asked. 

Af nodded and quickly picked their partner up and put them on the couch. “He’s really warm.” they muttered. 

Sasha frowned. She reached out and gently touched their forehead. “Damn, you’re right.” she said. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Cameron asked. 

“Well, they’re definitely sick.” Sasha said. She poked Jamie slightly harder. “Jamie, hey. Wake up. You need to wake up dude.” she said. The only response was a small groan. 

“Did they take something?” was Cameron’s suggestion. “Maybe they took or smoked something before we got here. I don’t know what happens when you do that when you’re sick.” 

Sasha huffed out a laugh. “They’re certainly dumb enough to try that.” 

Af let out an offended gasp. “Jamie is not dumb!” they said.

“No they aren’t. But they sure do make some dumb decicions.” Sasha said. She sighed. “He does really need to wake up though. I’m getting worried.” she continued. 

Cameron started to look around the hideout to find if Jamie took anything. It didn’t take him too long to find it. “Well, I found what they took.” he deadpanned. He held up a small bag of edibles. Most of them had been eaten. 

Sasha facepalmed intensely. “This dumbass drugged himself. Well, we definitely have to wake them up now. Because now we have to check if they don’t have to go to the hospital.” 

“Throw water on them? That’s what they always do in movies.” Af suggested. 

Sasha shook her head. “Doesn’t work when some’s unconscious. I have an idea but he won’t like it.” she said. Before the other two could argue she grabbed the inside of Jamie’s forearm and pinched the skin hard. That finally did have an effect. Jamie jerked, startling half awake. 

“The fuck?” they slurred. 

“Hey dude. Sit up for us okay?” Sasha said. Jamie stared blearily at her, their eyes barely focusing. Cameron walked closer to them and forced them to sit up. 

“I don’t feel good.” Jamie said. 

Sasha gave him a quick look over, reaching out to touch his forehead again. “Well, you’re definitely sick. I don’t think you need to go to the hospital though.” she sighed again. “Now, why in the fucking world did you think it’s a good idea to do drugs when you’re sick? Do you have any idea how wrong that could’ve gone? You could have overdosed Jamie! You could’ve killed yourself!” she snapped.

Jamie shrunk into themselves. “Didn’t expect them to hit so hard.” they said, their breath catching and launching into a coughing fit right after. 

“Being in this cold place probably isn’t helping.” Af said, gesturing around the unheated hideout. “Let’s take them to my house. My dad isn’t home this week and he,” Af continued, indicating Jamie, “clearly needs rest in a warm place.” 

Jamie shook their head weakly. “I’ll be fine.” he insisted. 

Cameron laughed exasperatedly. “Sure mister ‘I did edibles while sick and accidentally drugged myself.’ nope. You’re coming with us and we’re taking care of you.” 

Almost as if Jamie had been waiting to hear that, they nodded. “Okay.” they muttered, already halfway to unconsciousness again. 

“This idiot.” Sasha sighed, a tone of affection clear underneath her harsh words. 

“Yeah. This idiot.”

Chapter 14: Can't go home (C1)

She missed her home. Gods, she really missed her home. Keyleth took another swig of her ale. She hadn’t been home in… how long had she been away? She took another swig of ale. The keep was cosy, but it wasn’t home. Not really. 

She missed her mom. Her mom would know what to do. Her mom wasn’t scared when she left for her Aramenté. Her mom- she took another drink. 

“Mind if I join you?” Percy asked, already sitting down at the table. 

“Be my guest.” she muttered. She could hear Pike laughing up ahead, talking with Grog about visiting Willhand soon. She had no idea where the others were. 

“Everything okay Kiki?” 

She zoned back in when Percy asked that. “Yeah. Fine.” she squeaked out, finishing off her ale. 

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Pike and Grog are really excited to see Willhand soon. You?” 

Nail on the head. How did he do it? Keyleth forced her face to harden. “It’s fine. I’m glad they get to go home.” 

“What’s your home like?” he asked innocently. 

“I’ve told you about it before.” 

“I want to hear more about it.” 

She sighed. He was poking at wounds and he knew it. Yet he wasn’t stopping. He knew about her Aramenté. Did he just want to rub it in? Rub it in her face that she wasn’t good enough yet? “Zeprah is a small village. It’s always windy around there. That’s because it’s on the rift to the Elemental plane of Air. It’s surrounded by mountains. Simple but nice.” and yet she told him. Maybe it was the ale talking. 

“What was it like, growing up there?” Percy asked. 

“It was-” she swallowed thickly. “It was lovely. There’s this big cherry blossom in the town centre. We would always secretly climb in it and try to see who could jump the furthest out of it. If you got caught you’d get in big trouble. But that was the fun of it, you know? Sometimes we’d go outside of the village and try to float in the wind. Even the kids who couldn’t do any magic. I wasn’t allowed to play with them often, especially after mom-” she cut herself off. “But when I did get to play it was so fun . You know?” she sighed, trying to push the tears behind her eyes down. “I miss it.” she whispered. 

Percy wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It sounds like you were very happy there, even with all the expectations put on you. You’ll get to go home one day, I’m sure of it.” 

That was the final straw. She started to sob. “I won’t. I’m not good enough. It was never meant to be me. I’m going to fail Percy. I’m already failing.” she cried.

Her best friend just rubbed her back softly, pulling her into his chest. “You’re very strong and competent Ki. Heroes and leaders usually aren’t born heroes and leaders. They become them through experience. You’re still getting experience before you can continue. There’s nothing wrong with that. You have a home, and one day you’ll return to it.” 

“But right now I can’t.” 

Percy sighed, and she could swear there was pain of his own behind it. “No, right now you can’t. But one day you can.” 

“I wish I could go now.” 

He just kept holding her. “I know Ki, I know.” 

Chapter 15: Hidden scars (C2)

Notes:

This went in a slightly different direction than I had planned, but I like how it ended up anyway!

“I’m glad we’re finally talking. Really talking I mean.” Clara said. 

Beau nodded. “How’s the new house?” she asked her mom. 

“It’s nice. Smaller than I’m used to I suppose, but it adds to it to be honest. And it’s nice to live closer to you and TJ again.” 

“And further away from him.” Beau deadpanned.

Her mom sighed, but nodded. “And further away from him.” 

“We never really talked about him. How bad he was. Did you know mom? Just how much he tried to hurt me? Or did you only notice it with TJ?” Beau asked. It was somewhat accusatory. 

“How’d you get that scar Beau?” her mom took another sip of her tea. 

Beau frowned. “Why are you changing the subject?” she asked.

“I’m not. How did you get it?” 

Beau pinched the bridge of her nose before rolling up her sleeve and showing the scar. It was a long and thin scar, ragged around the edges. It ran down her forearm. “Dad shoved me away from him and my arm got caught behind a nail. He told you I was roughhousing with one of the kids in the neighbourhood and got beaten up. And you believed him.” 

“Who’s to say I did?” her mother’s voice took a sharp edge. “Who’s to say I believed him Beau?! Did you maybe think to consider for a second that you weren’t the only one who suffered under him?!” she roughly pulled at the collar of her shirt, revealing multiple scars right under her collarbone. “He was mad at you, you know? But I managed to usher you out of the room. He threw a teacup at me and it shattered on impact. There was tea in it too.” 

Beau’s face fell. She had to put her own teacup down to prevent herself from dropping it. “Mom…” she whispered. “Did he do more?” 

Her mom looked taken aback by the genuine care in her voice. “A couple. He was more verbal. You know that. This one’s the biggest one.” 

“I can’t believe I never noticed it.”

Her mother chuckled rawly. “Well, I always tried my best to keep it hidden from you. And you were pretty occupied. And-” she trailed off for a second, gathering her thoughts before continuing. “I know I should have done more to protect you. I should have left him when his abuse towards you started. But please don’t think that I liked watching what he did to you.” 

Beau ran her fingers over her own scar. “Does it still hurt?” she asked. “The scar I mean.” 

“On occasion.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Her mom shrugged. “It’s over now.” 

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t stay with you. I can see the pain he left behind in Tj and I.” she sighed. “And now I see it in you too.” she had a thought. “Caleb might know a spell which can fade the scar if you want, or at least fix the pain it causes you.” she suggested. 

“It’s fine Beau. It’s my reminder.” was her mothers reaction.

Beau didn’t know how to reply to that. This whole situation was new to her. She wished- what did she wish? That she’d been told earlier? She wouldn’t have listened anyway. That her mom had done something earlier? Her mom had probably been fearing for her life. “I’m glad you and TJ got out mom.” she ended up saying. 

“Me too Beau.”

Chapter 16: "Does that hurt?" (C3)

Her wrist popped out of its socket. Usually it was pretty funny, but this was the 5th time in one hour. Laudna sighed and popped it back. It was starting to become pretty tender. 

“Does that hurt?” Dorian asked. 

“Does what hurt?” she asked back, flashing him her best smile. It ended up coming across as extremely unsettling of course. And of course, her jaw popped slightly. She suppressed another sigh and popped it back. 

“Your joints. They keep dislocating.” Dorian continued. 

“I mean, I’m used to it. It does get a little tender after a while though.” she admitted. 

“Anything I can do to help?” Dorian offered.

Laudna shook her head. “It’s just the way it is. I’m used to it now!” 

 

Oh how situations change in the blink of an eye. Less than ten minutes after that conversation and they were now caught up in a fight. She was doing pretty well, hanging in the back while the heavier hitters took the brunt of the physical attacks. 

Somehow, Ashton managed to smack her with the end of their hammer. It made her lose her ballance, and she felt her arm pop out of her shoulder. And she didn’t know what caused it, but the pain this time was agonising . She screeched, stumbling back and losing the focus on her hex. Stupid, stupid fragile body. In her fall she felt her ankle go too, and when she tried to catch herself her wrist went too. 

“Shit! LAUDNA!” Imogen yelled from somewhere. 

Laudna barely processed the fight anymore. She crumbled to the ground, folding protectively in on herself. It hurt, it hurt so much. 

Ashton cursed up ahead. “Might have hit her with my chaos burst.” he theorised. They proceeded to smash the last shadow creeper in front of them. 

Imogen reached Laudna first. She scooped her up gently into her lap. “What moved?” she asked. 

“Shoulder, ankle, wrist.” Laudna whispered. “It shouldn't hurt this much Imogen. It hasn’t hurt this much to dislocate them since I died.” 

“We’ve been doing a lot of things the past few weeks. Maybe your joints can’t cope with the strain.” Imogen said. God, Imogen was so smart. 

“ASHTON?!” Orym yelled. “Do you have any of those painkiller potions Milo got you? The ones that don’t really help you? They might help Laudna.” 

Ashton dropped their hammer and dug around in their bag. “I swore I had one in there-” he cut himself off and looked at Fearne. They smirked and opened their hand, beckoning her to hand it over. 

Fearne smiled, satisfied with herself. “Took you long enough.” she said, handing over the potion. 

“You know, if I was having a migraine and needed that I’d have killed you.” Ashton said, taking it and handing it over to Orym. 

“You said they don’t work enough!” 

“Doesn’t mean they don’t work a little.” 

Laudna had downed the potion in one go. The blessed relief washed over her aching body. She reached out a shaky hand and pushed her wrist back into place. It twinged, but the pain was manageable. She made quick work of her ankle as well. Her shoulder took a little more effort, and in the end Imogen assisted. 

Ashton walked over and extended a hand. Laudna took it to help herself up. “Sorry for smashing you.” they apologised awkwardly. “Do you joints always hurt when you do that thing?” he asked, thinking back to all the times she’d purposefully dislocated them for a joke. 

Laudna shook her head. “Only sometimes. Back when I first died it always used to hurt. But I got used to it.” 

“What a thing to get used to eh?” Ashton said, very gently elbowing her in her side. 

She smiled. “Thanks for the painkiller. I’ll be good now.” she said. 

“We might want to take a rest anyway. Give your body a break.” Orym suggested.

“I’m a fan of that.” Ashton said. 

“Well if you insist! To- where are we going?” 

“The Spire?” 

“To the Spire by Fire!” 

Chapter 17: Self-inflicted wound (C2)

As far as he knew, everyone except him thought he only hurt himself when he was fighting. And to be fair, that was mostly the truth.

If he sometimes woke up at night with his chest bleeding, as if he’d drawn the scimitars over his chest in his sleep, he told nobody. And if he sometimes ran his finger along the blade when he was awake to draw some blood… well, it helped him focus. 

It was one of those nights again. Restless sleep which woke him up to a haze of chaotic, empty thoughts. It was his normal. He’d been experiencing these kinds of nights ever since he woke up again in the blooming grove. The haze only lifted a little when he vaguely felt the sharp blade of his scimitar run over the familiar scars on his chest. He looked down and saw the blood run down in a thin stream. He sat up straighter on the floor. When had he sat down on the floor? 

Oh, the little trickle of blood was starting to flow faster and a little thicker. He gingerly touched the wound and brought his fingers closer to his face. It was his blood. His body. He was alive. He was Kingsley, and he was alive. 

Normally the bleeding would have stopped by now. And normally the bleeding would have firmly lifted the haze of emptiness. Instead Kingsley still found it hard to focus on anything but the emptiness in his chest and the blood on his fingers. 

The scimitar ran over his chest again, next to the first wound. And yet the haze persisted. Kingsley vaguely felt himself groan with annoyance. The Nine Heroez was gently rocking under him. 

 

“King?” the voice of Fjord poked through the haze. He looked up at the door to his cabin. Fjord was standing in the door opening. The half orc in question looked him up and down, taking in the appearance of his friend. If Kingsley had been more present he’d probably feel at least a little embarrassed. Fjord’s face fell a little when he took in the sight. “Do you want me to get Jester?” he asked gently, indicating the wounds on his chest. 

Kingsley shook his head. The trickle of the second wound was beginning to pull him out of the haze. He had an idea, and pressed down on one of the wounds. Renewed pain shot through it. And finally the haze fully lifted. He could focus again. The emptiness in his chest was replaced by a warmer feeling. He cleared his throat, willing his voice to work. “Sorry. All good here.” he said, flashing a smile at his captain. 

Fjord crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. “You’re still bleeding.” he deadpanned. 

Oh, right. Kingsley chuckled. “It happens.” 

“Why did you do that?” Fjord asked. 

Kingsley shrugged. “Felt too empty after I woke up. Didn’t even realise I did it until after it happened. It’s the easiest way to get rid of the emptiness.” 

“It’s not very healthy.” 

“Healthy is relative. You’re talking to the guy who does this all the time in a fight to gain an advantage.” 

Fjord sighed, feeling like Kingsley did have a point. “King-” he paused. “Come to us next time you wake up like that. I’m sure Jester or I can find another way to help you without you having to hurt yourself, okay?” 

Hm, right. A part of him kept forgetting that he had friends. Kingsley didn’t know much, but he knew that that was a nice feeling. A very small, curious part in him wondered if his brother used to do the same to this body. Not in fights, but outside of them. He decided not to ask. His brother’s past best stay buried. 

“Thank you cap- Fjord.” he said. “I’ll take the helm now. I might as well.” he said. 

“You’re still bleeding.” 

“It’ll stop soon. Who am I relieving?” 

“Orly.” 

He smiled. “Thanks bossman!” he said, bounding off onto deck. 

Fjord stared after him. Unbeknownst to Kingsley he was vaguely wondering the same thing as he had. Had Molly done the same as well? Had they not noticed that? He decided to leave the thought behind. No use disturbing the dead. Focus on the person his friend was now. That he could do.

Chapter 18: Forced to watch (C1)

“DON’T HURT HIM!” his voice was raw. He’d been screaming for days. Had he? How long had it been? He’d lost track. And now he could see Ludwig screaming. Ripley was holding him, dragging the hook through his brother’s stomach. “Please! He doesn’t-” he coughed. “He doesn’t know anything! He’s a kid! Let him go!” he begged.

Ripley laughed. A cold, piercing laugh. “If only you’d talked. Maybe your little brother will.” 

“He’s fourteen! He doesn’t know anything about anything! Neither do I! You have to believe me!” 

Ripley didn’t reply. Instead she dragged the hook up to his brother’s chest. Blood was dripping out of his mouth now. 

“ Percy- ” his name ghosted over the lips of his brother. His eyes unseeing. Percy couldn’t tell if he was even alive. But he went limp. 

“Lame. Your sister lasted longer. Oh what’s her name, Whitney? The bratty blonde one.” she said, throwing Ludwig’s limp body to the floor. He landed in front of Percy. Now that he was close Percy could see the agonal gasps shaking his younger brother’s body. He was in the throws of death. 

“Ludwig!” he cried thinly. He tried to struggle against the restraints tying him to the chair. It was useless. His broken fingers couldn’t do anything. He looked up at Ripley through his broken glasses. “You’re a monster.” he coughed, spitting a little blood out of his mouth. 

Ripley laughed again. “If that’s what you insist on calling me, sure. But let it be known that all of this could have been avoided had your parents just worked with us. Or if you’d just told us what we needed to know. Or if your oldest brother had.” she caressed his cheek for a second and then roughly smacked his face to the side. “Take him to the dungeon again. We’ll continue in a few hours. Get me the other brother. If that one doesn’t talk we’ll finish him. We still have this one left.” 

“Stay away from Olivier!” he said weakly. That earned him a harsh poke in the side with Ripley’s hook. 

 

And then he was thrown back in the dungeon. His weak body scraped over the stone floors. There was not enough energy in his body to even move off of the floor. Cold, smaller hands helped him to sit up. His second youngest brother helped him sit up. “Oli-” he coughed again, blood still on his lips. “Hide. She’s going to come for you.” he begged. 

Olivier shook his head. “There’s no way to hide. I’ve tried.” he said. He was 16, but the past days of torture and pain had reduced him to looking like he was the youngest. Gaunt and pale, white streaks marred his hair. Percy knew his hair looked the same.

“She’s going to kill you. She already got Ludwig today. I’m sorry.” he cried. 

The last bit of light left Olivier’s eyes. His sweet, silly brother, who’d always been ready for a joke with his twin siblings. Reduced to a shell of himself. He nodded. “I know.” 

That was the last thing he was able to say. Two of Ripley’s assistants picked him off of the floor and started to drag him away. In desperation Percy reached out and tried to grab his brother’s legs. One of the assistants kicked him back. They hit one of his broken fingers, and Percy screeched. “Come back.” he whispered. 

The door closed with an echoing bang. And then he was alone. 

Chapter 19: Delirium (C3)

Notes:

Late chapter, sorry! I was at an event this saturday so I didn't have the chance to write this chapter until now.

(22/3/2022) Now edited to use the right name for Orym's husband! I'm happy to say I managed to get it right that Orym had a dead husband :)

“We need to get his fever down.” he heard a voice say. It was so familiar to him. He’d missed that voice. 

“Will?” he muttered. He couldn’t open his eyes, but he didn’t want to either way. 

“Who’s Will?” the voice said. Why was his husband playing games with him? He tried to turn around to him, to open his eyes. But they were so heavy. He swatted at his eyes. 

“Orym, calm down. You’re sick. We’re trying to help you.” 

He struggled again, finally managing to open his eyes. Will looked weird. The last time he’d seen him he hadn’t been that tall. Was he wearing heels? And his eyes were wrong. They were never- black- empty. It was horrifying. He screeched, trying to push himself away from the not-Will. But his limbs failed him. His arms weren’t listening as they should. Had not-Will attacked him? “Please Will, don’t hurt me. I’m your husband. I’m sorry!” he coughed. 

Will jumped back, raising his hands defensively. Orym’s vision was foggy around the edges. 

“He’s delirious.” his husband said. “Imogen, we really need something to cool him down.” 

“I can cool the bed?” someone past his vision suggested. 

“Go for it.” not-Will said. 

The bed Orym was laying in cooled rapidly. It wasn’t comfortable at all, and he tried to make that clear. But when he looked back at Will a deep, painful realisation set in. That couldn’t be him. Will was dead. He’d held his husband as he died. Why was he standing there now? He couldn’t be. He’d felt his blood on his own hands. Felt the last fight drain out of him. Saw all his future plans shatter in front of him. He could still feel Will’s blood on his hands. It made him gag a little. And then, then it made him shatter again. He started sobbing, curling up as small as he could against the cold headboard of the bed. 

“Orym?” another female voice asked. It wasn’t the voice of the Tempest, he knew that much. Who it was escaped him at the moment. And he couldn’t find it in him to care. All he cared about was the all encompassing grief that returned in that moment. 

“I should have done more.” he sobbed. “It should have been me. And yet I’m still here and you’re fucking dead Will. It’s not fucking fair.” he could feel a little clarity return to him. Will had never been in the room he was in right now. He would have loved Jrusar. 

Someone sat next to him and wrapped their arm around his shaking form. He leaned into it. 

“I’m sorry Orym. Losing someone so dear is one of the worst things that can happen to someone.” Dorian. It was Dorian who was sitting next to him. In his delirium he’d mistaken Dorian for Wil. A whole new wave of tears welled up and escaped before he could stop them. “His fever is down a little. Thank you Imogen.” 

“It’s all good. Keep an eye on him. Make sure he sleeps. I’ll check in with the others to tell them he’s doing better.” 

Orym didn’t have the energy to talk. All he could do was cry. Cry until he fell back asleep. And maybe, maybe that was for the better.

Chapter 20: Alt - Friendly fire (C2)

Dunamancy was an unpredictable field of magic. As much as Essek liked to pretend he knew everything about it, he didn’t. He knew how most of his spells worked. And he even knew the possible mishaps with some of them. 

A few of them however…

He didn’t like using those spells. He’d seen them go wrong before. Some of them were hard to control and shot out very easily. 

Then why was he gearing up to use one of them right now? It might have had to do with the zombie frost giant standing in front of him, Expositor Beauregard and Caleb. After the fall of Lucien they really thought they wouldn’t run into any more of those things. Yet it seemed that Aeor had every intention of proving them wrong. And fuck, that thing was strong . He finished the somatic component of the spell, holding it right before the top of the sigil. 

“STAND BACK!” he shouted. There was no time to wait long. Three seconds after calling out he finished the sigil and released the spell. The spell would, if it worked correctly, crush everything in its path. It was the more powerful version of one of his other spells. But this one was hard to aim or control. It managed to hit the knees of the giant, bringing it down to the ground and making it very easy to finish it off. The force of the giant hitting the ground was deafening. Essek smiled, turning to face Caleb in victory. 

His heart sank.

Caleb was clutching his arm. Silent tears were flowing over his face. His hand was a mangled mess of blood and bone. The sight of it made bile rise in Essek’s throat. 

“Holy shit-” he breathed out, stumbling over his own feet to run up to his boyfriend. “BEAUREGARD!” he called, voice rising in panic. 

The Expositor jogged over, smile falling when she saw the state of Caleb’s hand. Immediately she glared daggers at Essek. “What did you do?!” she snapped.

“He didn’t do anything!” 

“The spell I used, it must have caught Caleb in its radius.” they said at the same time.

Beau swallowed thickly. “Gods almighty. What kind of spell does that?!” she said. “We need to get him back to the nearest archive. This is not a simple healing potion kind of wound.” 

“I- I don’t-” Essek rubbed over his chest in an attempt to slow his breathing down. “I panicked when I saw the giant and used a spell that I know could destroy it instantly. It’s an unpredictable spell and I fear it had more spread than I thought. I-” he coughed, his breath catching. Caleb was swaying on his feet, still bleeding. Beau took off her shawl and wrapped it tightly around the mangled hand. 

“Essek. Teleport us. Archive in Rexxentrum.” she commanded. 

 

It took him four tries to correctly cast the spell. His shaking hands kept messing up the somatic component. A few healers of the Cobalt Soul instantly whisked Caleb away. Essek stood frozen in place. At least, until Beau grabbed him and told him to “Sit down.” 

“I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to- Fuck.” he breathed. 

“I don’t think I need to tell you that you fucked up majorly Thelyss.” Beau said. But her harsh words were contradicted by her placing her hand on his knee. “The healers here are excellent. If anyone can fix his hand they can.” she said. “And I’m sure Caleb knew you didn’t do it on purpose.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Good. Then let’s just wait until someone tells us if he’s okay.”

Chapter 21: "Help them!" (C3)

In an instant, Laudna hit the ground. Seeing her fall made Ashton curse. Damn fragile casters. They didn’t like feeling so concerned over people. They weren’t used to it anymore. But he wasn’t going to abandon her. She was clutching her ankle, and they could see that it was popped out of it’s socket again. Normally she would pop it back in and jump up as quickly as possible. But right now she was both in her nightmare form (which in Ashton’s observations made her struggle with fine motor skills) and already exhausted. “ORYM!” they called, already moving to stand in front of Laudna. “HELP HER, PROTECT HER BACK!” 

Orym’s head snapped over. He nodded and finished off the shade creeper in front of him. Then he quickly shot over, diving under Ashton’s legs and moving behind Laudna. “Need a hand?” he asked her. 

“It won’t pop back in.” she said, her voice strained. 

“Sit tight. Do it after the battle.” Ashton responded. “If you can cast do it. If not that’s fine.” they tightened their grip on their hammer and smacked another assailant away from his friend. The creepy human controlling the creepers was causing Chetney and Fearne decent trouble further up ahead. But they looked like they could hold her back. Good. He’d rather not leave Laudna just protected by Orym. Orym was capable, but this was a sticky situation. And Laudna was vulnerable like this. It had been an unspoken code in the Nobodies. If someone is vulnerable you protect them with two people at least if possible. 

The shade creeper that was assaulting him exploded into flames. Their first instinct was to try to jump out of the way. But in the split second before the flames hit them they realised that if they dodged that Laudna would get the full blast. So instead they tried to stand as broadly as possible to absorb all the damage. 

Oh shit, that burned. They couldn’t hold back the yelp that escaped them. “That’s gonna leave a scorch mark on my damn jacket.” he complained gruffly. 

The human dived into one of those damn holes in the wall again. Fearne cursed, trying to jump after them. But it was futile. They focussed their attention on the last few creepers while Imogen made her way over to Ashton, Orym and Laudna. Laudna had dropped her scary form and was still attempting to push her ankle back into the proper position. Ashton spotted this before Imogen and gently but firmly smacked her hand. “Wait until the healers are here.” he said. 

 

It didn’t take too long for Chetney and Fearne to get rid of the last few creepers. Then they made their way back over to the group. Ashton dropped his hammer and rolled their shoulders. “Can someone who knows how bodies actually work help her? Her ankle is like, properly fucked.” they said. Imogen and Fearne crouched next to Laudna and started working together to help her. Imogen knowing Laudna’s body and Fearne knowing how to heal. Ashton was confident they had it. He was useless when it came to healing and fine motor stuff. It didn’t help that he barely had sight in one of his eyes. He decided to do a sweep of the room they were in. They were about halfway through when Orym caught up with them.

“Thanks for calling me over when you did. It helped a lot being there with the two of us I think.” he said. 

“It’s always better to cover vulnerable people with two people. Gives them more protection.” they responded. 

“Smart. We should remember that.” 

When the two of them made their way back to the group Laudna was standing again. The only sign of her previous injury was that she wasn’t putting as much weight on her left foot. She smiled brightly at them.

“Thank you for protecting me!” she said enthusiastically. She gestured at Ashton’s scorched jacket. “Do you want me to fix that when we’re done for today?” she asked. 

The question took them off guard, and they blinked blankly at her for a few seconds before responding. “Sure. Could you do it with like gold thread?” she nodded. “Dope.” when the group started to set off again he patted her on the shoulder. “Be careful. I don’t like it when people get hurt.”

Chapter 22: Restrained (C1)

His muscles locked up. He knew that feeling. Someone had done that to him before. And oh boy was it not pleasant. 

“Got you now.” the man in front of him snarled. 

“This is a mistake. Let me go. I’ve done nothing to you.” Percy tried to say. It came out more mumbled than he wanted. Damn hold person. 

“I lost my wife because of you and your damn friends. You left us at the mercy of that dragon. And now she’s dead. All because of you!” the man continued. 

Percy tried desperately to struggle against the spell. It was starting to make unpleasant memories return. Scanlan throwing his gun into acid, Ripley having Delilah cast it on him to torture him in different ways- his breath caught in his chest. “Let me go-” his breath was coming in fast gasps now. Where was the rest of his friends? They were right behind him a while ago. 

The man pulled out a dagger. “I will make you feel what she must have felt. Let this be a lesson.” 

 

He wasn’t in the forest anymore. He was in the dungeons of castle Whitestone. Delilah was watching him as Ripley pulled out her dagger. “Let this be a lesson pretty boy. Tell us what you know.” she said.

He couldn’t say anything and she knew it. His mouth was bound, both magically and manually. Sharp, tearing pain through his chest. He could hear Cassandra scream in the background. Was she being hurt too? Or was his little sister screaming at the sight of her brother being tortured? A cold hand around his throat. She squeezed it shut, cutting off his air. He couldn’t even struggle against her. This was it. This was how he died. After more than a week of torture. Strangled to death by the monster who’d already killed Ludwig, Whitney and Olivier. 

He wanted to welcome it. 

Instead she stopped right before he could embrace the darkness. 

 

“PERCY!” 

He dropped to his knees. The spell on him had ended suddenly. Yet he was barely processing it. He could still barely breath. His chest felt like there was concrete in it. 

“Percival, are you alright?” someone touched him on the shoulder. He jerked back, losing his balance and falling fully. 

“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” he yelled frantically.

Vex stepped back, holding her hands up disarmingly. “It’s okay. I won’t. I’m sorry. You’re safe now.” she said. 

He shook his head. “He’s going- he was going to- oh gods-” he curled up into himself, gripping his hair with both his hands. “I can’t breath.” he squeezed out. 

It was Keyleth who recognised what was happening first. “Oh!” she exclaimed softly, crouching next to her friend. “Percy, breath with me okay? I know you can. I can see you breathing right now.” she said. Percy looked up at her. “Trust me?” she asked.

He nodded. 

It took more than ten minutes for his breathing to slow down to a reasonable level. “My apologies. That was uh, undignified.” he said, pulling his polite mask back on. 

“Don’t do that.” Vex said. “Don’t pull that mask back on. It’s okay to not be ‘dignified’ all the time.” 

Percy cleared his throat. “It’s not something I like people to see.” 

“Tough. We’re not going to abandon you because you struggle with something. Every single one of us has a thing that fucks them up. You’re not alone in that.” 

He coughed, but nodded. “I’ll try.” 

“Good.”  

Chapter 23: "Don't leave!" (C2)

His whole body was shaking. Dairon was holding his shoulder to steady him. He felt so godsdamn lucky that she’d been in the Zedash archive. 

“Do you want me to bring you to Rexxentrum? Beau lives there with her girlfriend.” he heard Dairon say. 

He nodded vaguely. His arm still hurt. Was it broken?

“It certainly looks hurt. When we’re at your sisters house I’ll check it out for you.” 

Shit, had he said that out loud? Looking at Dairon he guessed so. He’d only seen her a couple of times when Beau and her were visiting. And that one time at dad’s trial. But Beau said she was to be trusted. And that’s why he was there. His dad had snapped when he told him he wanted to go to the Soltryce Academy. Beat him relentlessly. He’d been on the road for multiple days walking to Zedash. The thing that hurt most was that his mother hadn’t come after him. Dairon lead him to the teleportation circle. “I’ve messaged Beau already. She knows we’re coming.” they said. 

“Is she mad at me?” he asked quietly.

Dairon raised an eyebrow. “No? Just worried about you. And mad at the person who did this to you.” she said. TJ knew that Dairon already knew who did it. He’d blurted it out as soon as she’d asked. “Have you ever used a teleportation circle before?” she asked.

He shook his head. 

“Okay. Just hold on to me. You might feel a little sick when going through it. That’s normal.” she said. 

Oh shit, she was right. As soon as the two of them popped out into the Rexxentrum archive he had to swallow down bile. He steadied himself against Dairon, but jerked back at the sharp pain in his wrist. Dairon clearly saw it. Her eyes softened. 

“Let’s take you to the healers while we wait for Beauregard, okay kiddo?” she said. 

 

He must have been a sight to behold. A twelve year old kid, black and blue, looking a lot like Beau, being brought to the healers by Dairon. He hadn’t exactly had the chance to clean up on the road. All his energy had gone into getting to Zedash as soon as possible. It had been a miracle that he hadn’t gotten attacked. Or had he been? The walk to Zedash was very vague to him. He was quietly flinching at the healer setting his wrist when Beauregard stormed into the wing. 

“WHERE IS HE?!” she shouted. He flinched instinctively. She zeroed in on him and her face fell even further. “Oh TJ…” she whispered. She jogged over to him and hugged him as gently as possible. Then, she turned to Dairon. “Thank you for bringing him here Dairon.” she said. 

Dairon nodded. “Absolutely.” she stood up. “I’m going back to Zedash immediately. I think it’s time we reevaluate the case against your father. Especially after this.” she said. 

“What will happen to him?” he asked. 

Beau gently ran her hand over his back. “Well, he’s on thin ice already because of his past shit. He could be going away for a long time over this. And he should.” 

He didn’t have the energy to worry about it. He was so tired. 

“Has our mom done anything? Send out a message, rapport him missing, reported our dad, anything?” Beau asked Dairon.  

“Not as far as I know.” Dairon said, vague anger behind her words.

A flash of fury shot through Beau’s eyes. It made TJ flinch back again. When Beau noticed that she froze up a little. “Give me a second.” she said, getting ready to leave the room.

“Don’t leave!” he exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing her shirt. 

She immediately sat down again. “I’m sorry TJ. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at our mother.” she said. “And murderously furious at our pathetic excuse of a father.” 

“I told him about he academy and he lost it. And you always said I could come here if he ever became worse to me. This was the last straw.” he explained. 

The healer was finished. “He needs to be careful with his wrist and ankle for the next while. One of the tendons in his ankle was ripped pretty badly.” oh, that must have been why walking hurt so much. 

Beau nodded. “Thank you. I’ll take him home. We don’t live far from here.” he tried to get up, and Beau held out her arm so he could steady himself on her. 

“Thank you.” he whispered. 

She wrapped her arm around him. “Of course ‘lil bro. Let’s go home.”

Chapter 24: Too weak to move (C2)

Notes:

This is a part two to yesterday's chapter!

“ Beauregard, you’re needed at the archive here. It’s very important. Your mother is here. Maybe don’t bring your brother. She’s still alive. But barely. ” 

She was running. It wasn’t a far walk from her house to the archive, but still. Anger and worry fought within her. Yasha was watching TJ while she was out. She hadn’t told him why she was leaving yet. 

Literally tripping into the archive, she ran against Dairon. “Is she okay?!” she asked.

Dairon sighed. “The healers are working on her now. Seems like she got hurt very badly on the road to Zedash. She left at night apparently to escape your dad.” 

“So she did go after TJ?” she asked. 

“Seems so.” 

Beau ran her hand through her hair and kicked against a random box standing in the archive. “Gods! I don’t know what to feel anymore! She should have done something way earlier. But shes here now? And she’s hurt? What if Thoreau hurt her before she left and she just lied to you? Should we get TJ?” 

Dairon placed her hand on Beau’s shoulder. “Take a breath. Do you want to see her first?” they asked.

Beau cleared her throat. “Yeah.” 

 

Her chest tightened as soon as she walked into the medical ward for the second time that week. Logic told her that that was her mother laying there, but it felt like she was looking at herself. Her mom looked so young, so fragile. She barely raised her head when she saw Beau walk into the room. Beau had never seen her mom look so empty before. Not even after her dad’s trial. Clara tried to sit up, tried to move. But her muscles gave out and she fell back down on the bed. 

“Beauregard!” her mom exclaimed. “Have you seen TJ?! Is he oka-” she started coughing. 

Beau swallowed thickly. “He’s safe. He’s at my house with Yasha. He was pretty hurt but he’s recovering.” she said. 

“Thank the gods.” her mom said hoarsely. 

Beau sat down next to her mom. “What happened mom? Who hurt you like this?” she asked.

Clara was quiet for quite a while before she answered. “Well, I had to climb over the wall to escape your dad. He’d locked the whole estate down while trying to find TJ. I think I got attacked on the road too. I can’t really remember anymore. I just needed to find TJ.” she finished. 

“Did dad hurt you?” Beau asked thinly. 

Silence. Then her mother nodded. “When I said I wanted to go after TJ. I told your dad he had enough talent to go the academy. That it could help the estate. He lost it against me just like he lost it against TJ. That’s when I hid until it was night.” 

Beau grabbed her mother’s hand and softly ran her hand over her hand. “I- uh, thank you.” she said. Then, she turned to Dairon. “Can you get TJ?” she asked. “He needs to see his mother.” 

 

Ten minutes later and TJ sitting next to his mom. Yasha was gently holding Beau’s shoulder as they stood next to him. Her mom was quietly talking about how she left Thoreau after TJ ran away.

“Dairon?” Beau asked. “How long will my mother need to stay here?” she continued.

“Might be more than a week.” Dairon responded honestly. “Her injuries were bad. I don’t want to know what she encountered on the way to Zedash to be honest.” 

Yasha nodded. “A week. That should be enough for us to set up a room for her to stay in. If you’re okay with that Beau.” she said.

“What?!” Beau turned to Yasha. “Of course! I’m not leaving her to find a place on her own. Besides, TJ could use his mother close to him. At least until he starts the academy next semester.” 

Clara turned her head over to them. “TJ’s starting the academy?” she asked, surprised. 

Beau nodded. “Absolutely. Caleb teaches there and managed to get him a place. He’ll be the youngest to ever study there.” she smiled proudly.

TJ beamed. “I’m so excited mom!” he said. Beau recognised the way he was talking. He was clearly pushing some shit down. She could see his conflicted feelings towards his mother. But she could see he didn’t want to feel so negatively towards her. 

“I think miss Clara Lionett needs rest.” the healer said. 

Beau nodded. “Yeah, that might be a good idea. Uh, we’ll be back tomorrow mom.” she said. 

Her mother nodded. “Thank you for protecting TJ Beau.” she said.

Beau cleared her throat again. “Of course. He’s my brother after all. And you’re my mother. I’m not going to abandon you. Not when you didn’t really have control over what happened.” she said. “Let’s go TJ. We’ll be back tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow mom!”                   

Chapter 25: Muffled screams (C2)

Someone was covering his mouth with their hand. And he was screaming. Why was he screaming? Who was covering his mouth? Images of burning houses were stuck on his iris. 

“Shhhhh, Caleb please. You need to stop screaming dear. They’re going to hear us.” Molly. That was Molly who was saying that. Was Molly covering his mouth? Smoke was invading his nose. Was he finally burning in hell? “Caleb! You’re fine. Whatever you’re seeing right now is not real. What is real is the fact that if you keep screaming that the guards will hear you. Although they’re a bit distracted by the fire you set.” Molly continued. Caleb’s throat gave out, screams becoming high pitched squeaks instead. That, and muffled Zemnian apologies. He could feel Molly cock his head behind him. “Jester is saying we have to run NOW. If I let go of your mouth will you stop screaming?” he asked. Caleb barely processed what he asked. But he nodded anyway. “Good. On three I’m opening the door.” Molly continued. “One, two, THREE!” he kicked the door in. 

 

Smoke. Thick, black smoke. It was enough to make Caleb’s knees weak. He froze. Molly sighed and grabbed his hand. “RUN!” and dragged him along. His legs ran through syrup. He could hear the muffled screams of his parents in his ears. The small voice telling him it wasn’t reality right now drowned out by smoke and panic. Someone yelled something at them, and Molly responded by furiously yelling something back in Infernal. At one point Molly sighed and simply picked him up while running. And again he didn’t care. All he wanted was to be out of the smoke.

Light. Blessed light hit his eyes. The air became clearer to breath. Molly helped them down to the ground and they simply buckled on the floor. He fell onto his knees. He wasn’t on Zemnian ground. The ground in Blumenthal was more sandy. This was clay ground. That small thing was enough to pull him back to reality a little. He jerked his head back up, eyes scanning feverishly around the group. Did everyone get out? He counted. Yes. Jester, Nott, Molly, Fjord, Beau and him. The group was there. Yasha had been out for a while now. 

“Back with us Caleb?” Molly asked. 

“Kind of.” he said. Talking hurt. How long had he been screaming behind Molly’s hand? How had they not been caught earlier?  

Molly patted him on the back. “Let’s go get a drink. I think we all need it.” 

“What happened to you Caleb?” Jester asked. 

Caleb just shook his head. He wasn’t ready to talk about this. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be. 

“He’ll be fine Jes. Now, you know any good places in here where your mother doesn’t work?” Molly asked casually. 

“Oh yeah! There’s this really good place that…” 

Caleb gave Molly an appreciative nod. Then, he forced himself to stand up. If he wobbled back to the point where Beau needed to catch him, he ignored it. And if he got drunker that night than the Nein had ever seen him, well, it happens.

Chapter 26: "Please don't do this" (C3)

“Take me. He’s not the one you’re looking for.” the words left his mouth before any of the Bell’s could react. 

The bounty hunter in front of him frowned. “What?” 

“That’s not Cyrus Wyvernwind. I am.” Dorian lied. “That’s my brother. If you let him go I will come with you without a fight.” 

“Dorian! Please don’t do this! This is my problem, not yours!” Cyrus responded. 

“Yeah, no way in hell that we’re letting you walk to your suicide.” Ashton said.

The only thing that they were achieving in the moment was thoroughly confusing the bounty hunter. At least, for a few seconds. Then he snarled again. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just take you both.” 

“Do you really want to go up against 9 of us?” Orym threatened. 

The bounty hunter chuckled. “You assume I come alone.” he said, motioning with his fingers. Out of the shadows multiple people approached. 

“Just take me! They are innocent! This is not your problem!” Cyrus exclaimed desperately. 

“You’ve made it our problem a while ago pretty boy.” Ashton said, already gripping their hammer tighter. 

The bounty hunter pulled his rapier. “Get them boys!” he shouted. 

 

Bright pinkish blood was spilling on the street. A rapier was sticking out of his chest. He clutched onto it, trying to remember if he should pull it out. 

“Bronté!” he could hear his brother scream. He stumbled back, falling against the wall of the alleyway. Someone moved in front of him. A tall, spindly form. Laudna? It must’ve been her in her nightmare form. 

“Get away from him!” she snarled, an echo following her voice. The person who had stabbed him must have listened, because she immediately turned back to him. “Dorian?” she asked. He looked up at her with vague eyes. Then he looked back at the rapier still in his chest. He could hear Cyrus yelling, fumbling with his dagger. Fire was heating up the alley. 

“I’m going to die aren’t I?” he asked thinly.

“Absolutely not. We won’t let that happen. Not again.” Laudna said. She pulled out a potion. The fighting was starting to quiet down. But not fast enough. He was still bleeding heavily. His vision was becoming spotty. Laudna gently manoeuvred him into a better position. “I’m going to pull out the rapier. As soon as it’s out I will pour the potion down your throat. You need to drink it okay?” she said. He nodded jerkily. 

The rapier being pulled out might’ve hurt more than it being stabbed into his chest. As soon as it left he could feel more hot blood gushing down his chest. His vision left. He welcomed unconsciousness.

 

He didn’t expect to wake up again. It made waking up on the cold stone pavement all the weirder. He rolled onto his side, coughing. Blood passed his lips. 

“Ssssh, shhh, we’ve got you. You’re alive.” Orym said, helping him sit up against him. 

“Cyrus…” he muttered.

“Dumb as always, but alive.” Orym responded. 

“Good.” he coughed. “He needs to get out. We need to get out.” 

“Later. Save your strength. We’re waiting on Fearne to finish some stuff and then we’re going to Lord Eshteross.” 

He nodded. “Okay.” he said, dropping his head on Orym’s shoulder.

Orym’s warm hand on his back. “You’re safe.” he muttered.

That was all he needed to feel to close his eyes again.

Chapter 27: Shower Breakdown (C1)

Notes:

A bit of a loose take on the concept of shower but it worked lol

She was taking a walk in the forest with Vax. He’d practically dragged her out there. Saying something about how she’d been hiding inside for too long. What a ridiculous suggestion! Sure, she’d only left the castle to go to the temple or the Slayers cake or the taverns. But that was what she normally did as well!

And yet she’d gone with him anyway. Just to appease him, right? Right. She’d always appreciated his company, but especially after he became the Raven Queen’s champion. He made for a good conversation partner about faith. And just about random things.

They arrived at a small waterfall. It was the middle of summer, and a heatwave was passing through Whitestone. She was drowning in the sweat in her plate armour. 

“Why are you even wearing it Pikey?” Vax laughed, ruffling her hair. 

“Habit.” she whined back. 

The water was looking really inviting. Vax seemed to have the same thought. “Race you to the waterfall!” he said, already beginning to strip off.

“Oh it’s on!” she laughed. 

 

Unsurprisingly, Vax made it first. She stumbled in after him. The water was a blessing. Comfortable but not too cold. She fell back in it and let herself drift. Good as any place to meditate a little-

Scanlan loved places like this. 

She immediately forced herself to stand up from floating and stepped under the flowing water. She could feel Vax’s eyes burn on her back. He seemed surprised by her sudden change in mood. The waterfall was a little more forceful than she expected. But it was not unpleasant. 

“You alright Pike?” Vax asked.

“Fine.” she responded tightly. 

Vax joined her under the waterfall. He decided to sit down. “Normally I would let it go, but really. How are you Pike? It can’t be easy what you feel.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she deflected. 

His piercing eyes burned into her. “You’re allowed to be mad at him you know. Or sad about him. He’s an asshole for leaving like he did.” 

“Don’t-” she cut herself off with a strangled sob. “Don’t talk about him.” hot tears mixed with the cold river water. “I want to hate him but I can’t. I wish I did more but I don’t know what I needed to do. We fucked up but he never said we did. And now he hates us.” 

Vax hugged her slightly awkwardly. “He’s a dickbag for leaving us like he did. He can’t just accuse us of never caring while he never tried to tell us what he needed.” he said. “Maybe he’ll come back soon.” he continued.

“Do you really believe that?!” she spat out at him. 

He sighed. “I’m trying to.” 

“Is it working?” 

“Not really.”

Chapter 28: Presumed dead (C1)

“Cassandra dear, come here.” Delilah’s sickly sweet voice compelled her. She walked over like a ghost. A ghost in her own castle. What did she want this time? “There’s someone in the dungeons for you.” she continued.

Nod. Just nod. “Okay miss Briarwood.” she responded obediently. It hadn’t been the first time she’d been used for shock value in the torture of Whitestone civilians. 

That smile again. It chilled her to the bone. Delilah dug her hand into her shoulder. Was she scared she was going to run for it? Cass was still waiting for the punishment for her last attempt. She’d tried to run for it again, for the third time. But it had been two weeks and nothing had happened as a punishment. She zoned out on the way down. When they arrived a sharp dagger was shoved into her hands. She stared at it, then back at Delilah. “You’ll see.” Delilah said. 

The person tied to the walls made her stomach turn. It was a boy, barely older than her. 16 at the oldest. She knew him. He was the son of one of the cooks in the castle. She stared at Delilah with wide eyes. The boy looked up at her, his own eyes widening dramatically 

“Miss de Rolo?” he coughed out. A little trickle of blood escaped his mouth. “They said you were dead!” he continued. 

“Who said I was dead?” she asked shakily.

“The people! They think-” he cut himself off, finally noticing Lady Briarwood behind Cassandra. A shadow fell over his face. “Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me you’re with them!” he said. 

Delilah’s nails dug into her shoulder again. “He was caught trying to sabotage an operation ran by professor Anders. And when we found out he was familiar with you and your family, well, the punishment was easy to decide.” she smiled. “Kill him.” she commanded.

“What?!” Cassandra exclaimed. She dropped the dagger.

“Pick it up.” Delilah snarled, yanking Cass’s shoulder forcefully. 

“No! I refuse!” she tried to be brave. 

She could feel Delilah’s hot breath on her neck. “You do as I say Cassandra. If you don’t you’ll enjoy the same fate as him. Maybe I’ll give you back to Ripley. Or Vedmire. Would you like that instead?” she threatened. 

Her whole body shook. But she had no choice. She knew it. She slowly bend down and grabbed the dagger again.

“NO!” the boy shouted. The fact that she couldn’t even recall his name hit her like a rock. “Please don’t do this. I’m so sorry for what I did lady Briarwood. I could tell you who made me do it. Please! I’m still a child!” he cried. 

Delilah just shoved Cassandra forward. “Do it.” she said. 

Cassandra closed her eyes. It did little to drown out the shouts of terror from the boy in front of her. “I’m so sorry.” she whispered. She opened her eyes just enough to aim. Straight at the heart. It wasn’t instant. The screaming increased, then died down to agonal gasps. She had to stab again, and again, and again. Finally his breathing died down, then stopped. Tears were running down her cheeks. Her hands were sticky with blood. Her dress was probably ruined again. She dropped the dagger again. 

“Good job pup.” Delilah said, sweetness returning to her voice once more. “It will stop hurting in time. The people must believe that you’re dead for a little longer. If you just stop fighting us like a good girl it will get so much easier for you.” 

She felt herself nod. She was just so tired of this. 

Delilah caressed her cheek. “Come along now. I’m proud of you.”    

Notes:

And with that I have finished the challenge! I can't believe I made it to be honest, but I'm so proud of myself! I hope people enjoyed reading this!

Notes:

Thank you for reading once again! Comments are loved and appreciated, they really motivate me to write more :)