Chapter 1: Shocking News! Keefe and Tam Argue
Chapter Text
Fitz stood outside of Mr. Forkle’s office, waiting on Tam and Keefe.
Mr. Forkle had hailed him about twenty minutes ago telling him to come to his secret office, telling him that Dex had found some information about the human that Keefe had delivered the letter two. Dex and Forkle were already inside the office, so now he was just waiting on the other two.
Grizel was waiting beside Fitz, giving him a look. Before he could ask what that was about, Tam and Keefe both appeared before him, Ro a few feet behind Keefe, and Tam’s bodyguards presumably somewhere below them. Keefe waved as he arrived, and Tam gave him a nod.
Ro bounced up to them, with Tam and Keefe following.
“Where is Dex and Mr. Forkle?” Tam asked, looking around.
“Already inside,” Fitz said, walking towards the door, “come on, we should figure out what Dex found.”
Mr. Forkle turned to them as the three of them walked in, Ro and Grizel waiting outside with Lovise, “Mr. Sencen, Mr. Tam, Mr. Vacker. I see you have all made it.”
“Hey, Forklenator!” Keefe said as he walked in, “what’s going on? We heard Dex found something on the mysterious human?” He did a weird shimmy thing with his head and wiggled his fingers as he said that, to which both Fitz and Tam rolled their eyes at.
“Yep!” Dex said, turning to them. Fitz noted that he looked tired, as if he’d stayed up all night. “Now, that you guys are here, I can tell you. What even took you guys so long? Actually, never mind, I don’t wanna know.”
“Shouldn’t we be waiting for Sophie?” Fitz asked, looking at Mr. Forkle.
“Sophie isn’t coming, neither are any of the girls. They have already been sent on some other business needing attention,” Forkle replied, “Mr. Dizznee, if you would please tell us what you’ve found?”
Dex nodded, “Okay, so, it isn’t much to go on, but Keefe wasn’t the only one to give him a letter,” he paused, looking at Fitz for a split second, then looking away. “A while before Keefe gave him a letter, he visited New York. You guys know where New York is, right? Nevermind, it doesn’t really matter. Anyways, I was able to find some footage of him at the hotel he was staying at, and another person we know was part of the Neverseen also delivered a letter to him.”
Dex fully stopped as he said this, nervously looking at Fitz again, as an image came up on the screen.
It was of the human and Alvar.
“Oh,” he said, looking to his left as he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Keefe. Fitz nodded his thanks and turned back to Dex, “did you find out anything else?”
Dex nodded, “apparently, he was there to visit some distant family. Business owners Mark Dare, Sasha Dare, and their daughter, Rachel Dare. They’re cousins. Distantly. After Ethan Wright and his daughter died, they had their bodies moved to a private family cemetery. And about a week after Alvar disappeared, he showed up in Central Park in New York.” Another picture appeared on screen, it was blurry, obviously supposed to be focused on someone else, but there he was, sitting on a bench, and talking to a girl with red hair. “The girl with red hair is Rachel Dare.”
The room was silent. Everyone was staring at Fitz. He didn’t like it.
“Are you okay, Fitz?” Keefe asked, his hand still of Fitz’ shoulder.
“Is…” Fitz started, “do you have any more information? On Alvar, I mean. Or why he was talking to that girl?”
Dex shook his head, “no, I’m sorry.”
And he did look sorry. They all did, everyone in the room. Fitz decided to ignore it, shaking off Keefe’s hand and turning to Mr. Forkle.
“We need to find out what he was doing there. It could be important,” he said.
Mr. Forkle nodded, “Which is why the four of you are here. You will all be going to New York to find Alvar or locate Ms. Rachel Dare.” He gave Fitz a look, “that is, if you are all up for it?”
The four boys all nodded, and after getting a game plan going, they agreed to meet at Dex’s house in a few hours. Fitz was about to leave, but Keefe stopped him.
“Hey,” he said, “are you okay? I mean, I know you’re not, but do you want to talk about it?”
Fitz thought about it for a second.
“Yeah,” he ended up saying, surprising himself, “I would. Not at my house, though. I don’t think I can look at Biana without telling her, and I’m not sure if I should right now.”
Keefe nodded, “got it. We can go to Elwin’s if you’re okay with that. I think I have some human clothes hidden away somewhere, anyways.”
“Thanks,” Fitz said, right before Keefe took out his Pathfinder and leaped them to Elwin’s.
They both walked to Keefe’s room, Ro giving them a thumbs up as she talked to Grizel about the best fungus to prank someone with.
“So,” Fitz said, as he looked around the room, “have you been settling in well? Is, uh, is Elwin…”
“What?” Keefe asked as he started digging through some drawers, “is he still nicer that my father? Yeah, he is. He’s great, actually.” Keefe looked up and grinned at him, but there was still a bit of concern in his eyes. “That’s not why we’re here though, is it?”
Fitz was silent as he sat down in a fluffy chair, admiring a painting sitting on an easel next to a window. “Did you paint this?” Fitz knew the answer, he just wasn’t ready to talk quite yet.
Keefe stopped digging through the drawer, throwing some clothes onto his bed and going to sit in the chair across from Fitz. “Yep. It’s of a place I found when I was in the Forbidden Cities. I found a few cool places. Kind of thought everything would be ugly and terrible while I was there, but it turns out, not everywhere looks as bad as it smells.”
Fitz smiled a bit at that, appreciating the attempt at making him feel better. The two sat there for a while, as Keefe talked about stuff that happened and things he’d seen in the Forbidden Cities. He talked about feeding ducks at a park, seeing graffiti in alleyways, helping out a few people, that one time someone tried to mug him, (Fitz got worried at that part, but Keefe said he kicked their asses,) and a few other things. The entire time Keefe was talking, Fitz was thinking about Alvar.
“Why do you think he was there?” Fitz asked, interrupting Keefe as he was talking about some donut shop in Paris. “Alvar, I mean. Why was he there? Why was he talking to that girl? Do you think he was trying to find out information on Ethan? But he’s part of the Neverseen, so why would he need to know?”
Keefe was silent for a moment, eventually responding, “I don’t know. I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know. We’ll figure it out, and we’ll find him. And when we do, we’ll kick his ass and ask questions after.”
“I hope we find him in a grave,” Fitz said, looking out the window. He didn’t need to look at Keefe to know what face he was making.
“What?” Keefe asked. “I mean. Okay, I know you’re mad at him, or furious, or whatever stronger word there is for it, but, dead? That’s… you’re serious, aren’t you?”
Fitz nodded, “yes. And I know that that’s bad. I know it’s a bad thing to hope we don’t find him or find him dead. But he was my hero, Keefe. He was my brother, and I looked up to him! I loved him! And he hurt Sophie and Dex, and so many other people. He pretended to help us only to stab us in the back and he showed no remorse for it. I spent so many nights after thinking ‘maybe it wasn’t him, maybe it was someone else, pretending to be him. Maybe they took him, and we have to get him back because this can’t be my brother’. But I was wrong, and it is my brother, and he hurt me, and my friends, and I… I still love him. And I hate that I do.”
Keefe was quiet, uncharacteristically so, and Fitz took that as a sign to keep talking.
“Y’know, one time when I was a lot younger, me and dad got in a big fight. I don’t remember what it was about, but I ended up hiding in some random closet and crying for like, two hours straight. Alvar was the one who found me, and he snuck me back to his room. He wrapped me in this huge fluffy blanket he had that he never let anyone else borrow and gave me some mallowmelt and told me stories from school. We sat there until like, four in the morning laughing our asses off as he told me some random stories, some I swear he made up. In the end, we talked about the fight, and I was still pissed at dad, and he told me it was okay if I was still mad. That everyone gets mad sometimes, even him. and you don’t have to ignore it. He was the first person to tell me that. I think I ended up apologizing to dad in the morning. But I still think about that memory sometimes, and I wonder if Alvar was in the Neverseen at that point. I wonder if he cared for me, at that point, or if the Neverseen had already made him… different. Sometimes, I try and figure out when he got recruited. When my brother died, and whoever the hell took his place appeared. So, yeah. I hope we find him six feet down and rotting, because that bastard killed my brother. And if he’s not dead when we find him? I’ll kill him myself.”
They didn’t talk much after he said that. He could tell Keefe was a bit put off by what he had said, and he kind of regretted saying so much, but he meant it. The next few hours passed by quick enough, and then they were standing in human clothes with Ro and Grizel standing with them in front of Dex’s house. The door opened and there stood Dex, also in human clothes, looking a bit disheveled as there was a slight crash behind him.
“Hey guys!” He said, letting them in, “ignore the crash, the triplets decided to play tag with Tam. He’s been running for his life for about twenty minutes now. As long as you stay out of their way, it’s pretty entertaining!”
“For you!” Fitz heard Tam yell from farther down the hall.
Dex grinned at them, “I have so many videos of Tam running into walls now.”
“Awesome!” Keefe said, giving Dex a high five, “can I have those?”
There was a bang and the three of them heard a “ha!” right before Tam came speeding around the corner, “can we please go before the three terrors catch up to me? No offense, Dex, but they are terrors.”
“No problem, I’ve been calling them terrors since they were born,” Dex said, “I’ve got the Pathfinder, so if everyone is ready, we can head out.”
“Hold on,” Ro said before they could do anything, “before you leave, you three,” she pointed to Dex, Tam, and him before continuing, “have to promise not to let Runs-Away-From-His-Problems out of your sight.” She glared at Keefe as she said that last part, Keefe giving her an offended look in return.
“Don’t worry,” Dex promised, “if he tries to run off, me and Fitz will hold him down while Tam messes up his hair.”
“What? How dare you!” Keefe yelled at the same time as Tam said, “I’m down for that.”
Fitz nodded, “we promise.”
Ro let them go after that, (well, after Lovise and Grizel gave them a very long speech about sticking together) and they could hear their bodyguards getting tackled by the triplets right before they leaped away.
As soon as he landed, Fitz noticed the smell, and the very loud noises. He then registered that he was in what looked like an abandoned building, the hole in the roof letting light in. Looking around, he spotted a lot of graffiti, and what looked like a few things people used to sleep on.
“Alright, so, where are we going?” Fitz asked, turning to Dex.
“Central Park,” He answered, “that’s where, uh, Alvar, was spotted with Dare, so. That’s where we’re going first.”
“Right.” Tam said, “and how, exactly, do we get there?”
“I’m so glad you asked, Tam.” Dex said, “we walk! Using our legs. Like humans.”
Tam glared at him, “I know that, but which way do we go?”
After Dex and Tam stopped bickering, the four of them continued on their way. As they walked, Tam and Keefe bickered. The joys of friendship.
If they didn’t die on this mission, Fitz was going to throw them both off of a cliff. Lovingly. Knowing they will not die. Unless he knocks them out first. Which is a possibility.
As they walked, Dex pointed out random stuff, like cars, buses, lights, and other stuff while explaining how they worked. Fitz didn’t really understand it, but it drowned out Tam and Keefe’s bickering, so he was grateful. Besides, it had been a while since he’d heard Dex talk so much, especially so… excitedly. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed talking to him.
Eventually, they reached the park, and somehow, Tam and Keefe were still arguing.
Fitz turned to them, “I don’t suppose you could pause this argument and help us look for Dare?”
The two looked at each other, then nodded.
“Consider the argument paused,” Tam said, “now, where should we start looking?”
“Well, Dare was spotted by the lake,” Dex started, “so, probably start there? And just, walk around it?”
“That’s as good of a place to start as any,” Fitz said, “uh, which way is the lake?”
As soon as Fitz said that, he saw a sign pointing him in the direction of the lake, and unfortunately, everyone else saw it too.
“I think,” Keefe said, smiling, “that we go that way.”
“Shut up, Keefe.”
“Oh, absolutely not, Fitzy boy!”
Chapter 2: Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot
Summary:
Walking around the lake, the boys run into a bit of trouble, Tam and Keefe argue about hair (again), and then everyone gets food.
Sure hope everyone is okay after that encounter though!
Notes:
Hullo, it's me again, I'm alive! Sorry this chapter took so long, been busy. One of the buildings where I work caught on fire a few days ago, so now half of its gone. No one was hurt, though, and I don't have to clean it now! Yay! Anyways, this chapter is really short, and ngl its mostly talking. I tried to make it do the emphasis thing, but I don't think it worked, so if anyone knows how to make it work, tell me your secrets. Please let me know if I should add any trigger warnings, or if there are any spelling mistakes. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome, and if you guys have questions, let me know!
Enjoy
:::D
Chapter Text
It took them about five minutes to get to the lake from where they were. After they got there, they decided to split up, Keefe and Fitz went left, while Tam and Dex went right.
The first few minutes were silent while they kept an eye out for Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but eventually, Keefe broke the silence.
“Hey look, a goose!” he pointed out, “those things are terrifying. Did I tell you about the time I got chased by one?”
Fitz looked at it him, “you got chased by one of them? Why?”
Keefe shrugged, “I think my charming good looks and fabulous hair angered it. I was just walking by one and it went after me! I think it chased me, like, the entire length of Foxfire before I jumped into a tree to escape it.”
“Did that work?” Fitz asked.
“Oh, no. Turns out the little terrors can fly,” Keefe said.
Fitz laughed, “so, you got your ass kicked by a bird, that’s what your saying?”
“What?” Keefe scoffed, “no, no. I totally won that fight. Seriously, stay away from them though, I think that one’s eying you with its eyes.”
“What else would it be eyeing me with? It’s beak?” Fitz asked, still laughing.
“You know what I meant!” Keefe said, laughing along with him.
The two kept laughing until they couldn’t breathe. Fitz tried to catch his breath, but he couldn’t. He had stopped laughing at this point. He couldn’t breathe, and by the looks of it, neither could Keefe. Fitz looked around, and finally spotted what he assumed was the source of the problem. Two people in Neverseen cloaks stood a few feet away, one with his hands outstretched, like he was about to grab something with them.
It was Trix.
“So, you’ve finally noticed us!” One spoke, in a teasing voice, “nice to see you again, boys. It’s been a while. Taking a trip to the Forbidden Cities? Chasing some geese?”
Fitz couldn’t breathe. Thankfully, everyone had been trained to hold their breath, but this was different. It was like any, and all air was getting sucked from his lungs, and from around him. From the fact that Trix was here, he guessed that was pretty accurate to what was happening.
He pushed Keefe behind him, making sure there was a buffer between him and the Neverseen.
“Oh, relax, little Vacker,” the same one said, “we aren’t here for you or Keefe. Although now that we know you’re here, we might have to expand the parameters of our mission. Actually, you might be able to help us with our little mission! You see, we’re looking for your brother. And Ruy, but that’s more of a side quest at the moment.”
Fitz concentrated on Keefe’s thoughts, which was a little hard considering his lack of air making his brain feel fuzzy.
Any ideas on how to get out of this? Fitz asked.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t either.
Dex and Tam. Get help.
I can’t concentrate enough.
Imparter.
“Hmmm, I suppose your lack of air makes it a bit hard for you to talk at the moment? I imagine its hard to concentrate on anyone’s thoughts as well.”
Fitz nodded at Keefe, reaching for his imparter. Unfortunately, the Neverseen member noticed.
“Ooh, an Imparter! Can’t have you calling for help, actually.” The man snapped his fingers, and the Imparter disappeared from his hand into the Neverseen members. “Trix, would you be a dear and let these two breathe for a moment? I would like for them to be able to give us any information they have.”
Trix lowered his arms, and air rushed into Fitz’ lungs.
“We don’t have any information on Alvar.” He lied, catching his breath, “but if you have any, I’d love to hear it.”
“Oh, no. It doesn’t work that way! You give me information, then I take the both of you to Gisela, and you die, and Keefe does… whatever it is Gisela wants him to do, and we find our two defectors! Speaking of our two defectors, I don’t quite believe the fact that you don’t know anything about your dear old brother. I don’t really like wasting time, so you might as well tell me!”
“He’s not my brother,” Fitz said before he could stop himself, finally catching his breath enough to find Dex’s mind.
We’ve run into two Neverseen members. Trix and someone else. Could use a bit of help. Fitz thought.
On our way. Came the reply.
“Oh?” said the Neverseen member. “Well, that’s an interesting development.”
“Who are you?” Keefe asked.
“Oh me?” the man asked, “no one important, just some random guy, no need to worry about me! Although, I suppose you might want to call me something. I’m not very picky, so go ahead! Give me a name.”
“How about Stupid?” Keefe suggested.
“Nah,” Fitz said, “he looks more like an Idiot to me. Perhaps Stupid Idiot is a fair compromise?”
Keefe nodded, “ah yes, I do agree, Fitz. So, Mr. Stupid Idiot, why are you looking for Alvar? I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”
“Oh, well.” Mr. Stupid Idiot said, “I was hoping for something a bit more mysterious. Trix, I don’t suppose you have any suggestions?”
“Nope. I think Stupid Idiot suits you just fine. Or maybe, Annoying Stupid Idiot, on the account that you don’t shut up.” Trix replied.
“None of you are any help,” Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot said, right before Dex came out of the shadows and sucker punched him in the stomach, Tam right behind him.
“Run!” Tam yelled, kicking Trix in the knee, “we need to get Keefe away from them!”
“Couldn’t agree more, Tam!” Fitz yelled, grabbing Keefe, and running.
Dex and Tam quickly caught up with them, but unfortunately, Trix was still awake, and that meant he could take their air away.
And once again, Fitz couldn’t breathe. This time though, Fitz remembered his Pathfinder, and pulled it out, raising it to the sky. Now that the four of them were together, they could escape.
He did, however, forget the fact that Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot was a Conjurer, and as soon as he pulled it out, it was gone.
“Ooooh, fun! I wonder where this goes!” Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot was getting more annoying by the second.
Fitz saw Dex reaching for something and decided to make sure Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot was focused on someone other than him. He pulled out a throwing star, aiming for Trix. It quickly disappeared from his hand.
Then a flash of light came from where Dex was, a Melder in his hand, pointed at Trix. He went down immediately, thrashing on the ground, and they could breathe again.
“Oh, dear,” Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot said, turning toward Dex, “that won’t do.”
Dex shot the Melder again, just as Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot snapped his fingers. This time, he missed. The Melder appeared in Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot’s hand, and he walked over to Trix, conjuring a different Pathfinder. He leaned over him, then turned looking straight at Dex.
“Well, that’s interesting,” he said, raising the pathfinder, “Until we meet again! Oh, by the way, I thought of a name! Call me Mania.”
As the two disappeared into light, the four boys looked at each other.
“Well,” Keefe said, “I vote for continuing to call him Mr. Annoying Stupid Idiot.”
“Are you guys okay?” Tam asked, looking at Keefe and Fitz.
“Other than not being able to breathe for a bit, yeah, I’m okay.” Keefe replied, “are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay,” Tam said, nudging Dex a bit, “right?”
Dex nodded, staring at the spot where Trix was a few seconds ago. He turned back to them and looked at Fitz. “I don’t suppose anyone gave you an extra Pathfinder?”
Fitz shook his head, “they took our Imparter too. Don’t suppose we have an extra one of those?” The other three shook their heads, and Fitz sighed. “Probably should’ve thought of that before leaving. Good job grabbing a Melder though, Dex. That came in handy.”
Dex nodded, once again staring at the spot Trix was last.
“Anyone else hungry?” Keefe asked.
Fitz stared at him.
“What? We just encountered a stressful situation, and now I’m hungry. Is that a bad thing?”
“Rachel Elizabeth Dare is known to visit a café near here,” Dex chimed in, “they serve food there.”
Tam rolled his eyes, “okay, let’s go get His Majesty of Terrible Hair Land some food so we don’t have to hear about it.”
“Oi!” Keefe said, “I have great hair!”
Dex smiled, and started walking, gesturing for the others to follow.
It turned out by “near here”, Dex meant “about a thirty-minute walk away from here”, and that walk was spent listening to Tam and Keefe argue about hair again, so it felt even longer. But eventually, they reached a quant little café tucked in between two stores. There were chairs and tables outside, surrounded by flowers of all kinds, some bird feeders, and fountains. A few cats sat on the chairs, basking in the sun. The sign out front read, “Hestia’s Café”.
The four walked in and were immediately met with the smells of human food, and Fitz had to admit, it didn’t smell bad. He spotted muffins, croissants, cupcakes, and many other pastries. The smells of food mixed with even more flowers inside, on tables and windowsills, hanging from the walls, they were everywhere.
There was a counter a few feet in front of the door, where two people could be seen helping customers, and to the left, a few booths. To the right, some tables matching the ones outside. There was a window with a wooden bar and chairs so that one could eat while looking outside. To the right and behind the counter was a fireplace surrounded by comfortable looking armchairs, a shelf of books beside the fireplace. There looked to be a door leading to a bathroom to the left of it.
A few people were in the café, sitting at booths or tables. Dex and Keefe went to get food and drinks, since Keefe was the hungry one and Dex had the money, while Tam and Fitz went and sat down at a table. The chairs were surprisingly comfortable. The two sat and talked for a bit, mainly about how long they should stay there, and how they could contact Mr. Forkle or Sophie.
Dex and Keefe sat at the table after a few minutes, Dex carrying the drinks and Keefe carrying plates of food. They ended up trying everything, and Keefe and Fitz ended up switching drinks, while Dex and Tam kept stealing whichever drink the other had.
Fitz ended up drinking a frozen hot chocolate, which tasted a bit like Cinnacreme, but colder, and not as sweet.
And so, they stayed, mission momentarily forgotten, talking about random things. Until the door opened, the bell on the door ringing, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare walked in, accompanied by two boys.