Chapter Text
October 1980
The smell of spellfire in the air was thick and overwhelming. Pure magical energy crackled around them as spell after spell was shot off, the beams of light that accompanied each cast lighting up the dense forest they raced through.
It wasn’t the first time that Fabian and Gideon had been involved in a duel for their lives - they were Aurors as well as members of the Order of the Phoenix, after all, and just couldn’t seem to stay out of a skirmish. But this felt different.
It felt final.
But they were slippery, he and his twin, and they wouldn’t go down without a fight. They worked better together than apart - two individuals with one soul shared between them, his mum had often said. They knew the other better than they knew themselves, and with the twin bond that they shared…well, they were so in sync that fights like this were often easy.
This fight was proving to be anything but, though.
Fabian dodged yet another spell, pulling his twin down with him by the hem of his shirt. The green beam of light went over the top of his head, missing its mark by mere inches. He took a gasping breath, relishing in the feeling as he took a moment to just breathe. But he knew that they didn’t have the luxury of staying in one spot for long, so he stood on shaky legs, grabbed Gideon’s arm and wrapped it around his shoulders before starting forward again.
This was getting to be close - too close - and for the first time in a long time, Fabian felt his confidence slipping, wondering if it was possible for them to get out of this one.
They were outnumbered, drastically so. Eight on two, he thought as he counted them off of his mental list. But really, there could have been more of them than that by now or he could have underestimated the number from the beginning. It wasn’t as though he’d had the chance to really stop to count the number of Death Eaters attacking them to be sure.
The forest they were currently using as a defence was the one advantage they had against their enemies. It offered places to dodge and hide behind when spells and curses were being cast at them. But it also came with its disadvantages as well.
Gideon had tripped over some tree roots earlier in the chase, twisting his ankle in the process. Between that and a few missteps on the uneven ground, he was barely upright now and Fabian found himself supporting most of his weight. Gideon had demanded he be left behind, but that had never been an option for Fabian. There was no way that he could have let his twin down like that, no matter the circumstances.
At this point, he knew that they just needed to get out of there, and quickly. He was no longer worried about taking out any of the Death Eaters who had ambushed them or completing the mission they’d been assigned. Thoughts of anything other than getting to safety had long gone from his head. His basic instincts were on overdrive as he fought for a way to escape, his brother dangling from his side. Frantically, he looked about in an attempt to find the edge of whatever anti-apparition wards had been set up, knowing that if they could just reach that they would be fine.
But that was proving more and more difficult the longer they were in the forest, chased - or herded, he now suspected - by their enemies. Fabian could no longer deny the sick feeling in his gut. The Death Eaters were closing in, corralling them toward a certain location though he hadn’t a clue as to where exactly that was or what awaited them there. Cursing under his breath, he realised there was little that he could really do about it; not when Gideon was literally leaning on him for support to get them through this. He’d tried breaking through the ranks of the group that now seemed to be surrounding them from a distance, but it hadn’t worked no matter what he tried.
He tried to remain positive, knowing that if he’d mentally given up there wasn’t much of a chance at all as to their survival. But as the ranks of Death Eaters closed in around them, getting closer and closer by the second, there was no denying it anymore. The dark figures loomed ominously as they worked their way toward them.
They were trapped.
There was no escape.
They would have to fight to get their way out of this mess - or die trying.
“Gid…” Fabian said in a hissed whisper, looking through the trees. “We’re going to have to make a stand.”
“You should have gone when you had the chance,” Gideon groaned from his side. “Then at least one of us would have gotten out of this mess alive.”
“Like you would have left me if the roles were reversed?” Fabian asked, trying to alleviate some of the guilt and despair he felt radiating from his twin through their bond. “Never.”
Gideon shook his head and hissed in pain as he put some of his weight onto his injured foot. Fabian tried to take some of his weight for him, but Gideon leaned back away from him, refusing his assistance.
“If this is our last stand, I’m not going to let you be dragged down because you are trying to hold me up.” He turned around, and Fabian felt his back against his in the familiar way that they duelled together. “I love you, Fab.”
“I love you, Gid,” Fabian replied, his voice tense as he looked around the trees, the brief reprieve that they’d been given by the latest cover of trees they’d taken to coming to an end as another spell was sent their way - Fabian’s shield charm going up just in time with a quick flick of his wrist.
He wanted to have hope that they could survive this, but he knew that their chances were slim.
They were both tired - beyond the point of exhaustion - but they kept fighting. Together they defended one another, taking out whatever Death Eaters they could in the process as they moved like wraiths through the trees, closing in steadily now. One by one, though, they began to fall under his and Gideon’s attacks, neither of them willing or able to give up the fight.
But it wasn’t enough.
Fabian knew, instinctively, as the four remaining Death Eaters in the fight stalked toward them, sending curse after curse, that this was it. He could feel his magic draining. And, from what he could feel from his bond with his twin, Gideon was in the same shape.
He watched as a streak of purple light flew toward him, crackling like a flame as it streaked through the air. He knew this curse - he’d seen Dolohov cast it in battle many times, and had seen the effects of it countless more - and knew that as weak as he was at the moment that there would be no fighting it, no deflecting it.
From that moment, it was as though everything about him began to move in slow motion. Allowing him a few extra moments to come to terms with what was happening and gather his thoughts.
His mind immediately went to his family - his sister, her husband, and all his nephews - hoping that they would all somehow make it through this, even if he wouldn’t be there to see them grow. He hated that they hadn’t been able to spend more time with them recently, as caught up in the war as they all were. He allowed himself a moment to mourn the birthdays and milestones that he would miss: Ron’s first steps, teaching the twins about their own twin bond, reading to Percy, teaching Charlie how to fly on a real broom, and Bill coming to them for advice on wooing witches.
But as the beam of purple drew closer, his thoughts turned to himself and his twin. Wishing and longing, more than anything, that they could have made it through this. And not just this battle. That they’d made it through the war and had been able to come out the other end of everything whole, happy, and alive. That when the last of the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who’s supporters were rounded up and in Azkaban, they could finally relax and enjoy life again.
Visions of a future that they would never have greeted him, and he relished in them. Snapshots of a future where they would finally find the witch that would complete them. Where they would settle down, pop out a few kids of their own, and revel in the domesticity of it all: weekend lie-ins when the kids would allow it, making breakfast for the family, enjoying a weekly dinner with the entire Prewett-Weasley brood, and teaching the kids how to fly, and prank, and just…live.
Because Godric knew that was something that they’d both always wanted but thought that they’d have time later.
But they were out of time. He knew that, and as Gideon grasped his arm from behind, squeezing it in what he was sure was meant to be reassurance, he knew that his twin knew it too.
So, in an effort to make this as painless for both of them as he could, Fabian pushed the lovely images his mind conjoured of the future that was now a fleeting dream through his bond, hoping to share them with his twin; hoping to offer some form of comfort back to him as well.
The last image he saw before the world went dark and fell away around him was a witch - their witch - with wild brown curls, a sweet smile, and a small smattering of freckles across her nose welcoming them home.