Chapter 19: Born to Walk Alone
Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
Previous | Chapter Listing | Next
The pain was blinding. He had no other expectations for this mess, and the pain wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was his ability to think any sort of straight, but Ezio supposed, he may not be thinking straight, anyway. It was hard to tell, for him, how long he’d been limping from one side of San Myshuno to Forgotten Hollow, how many short transportalates he’d managed along the way. At some point, distance and time had started to become meaningless. It was hard to breathe, and difficult to move. Things like distance and time were pointless things to focus on.
Ezio took it one step at a time. It was likely going to be the only way he could manage to do this without going insane himself, but his pain tolerance was a little higher than Morgyn’s presumably was. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a prolonged state of pain, though Ezio liked to forget that time.
If he managed one more transportalate… either he would finally die, or he’d make it to Forgotten Hollow. It was right up there, in the mountains, but he was fairly sure that if he tried to walk it, he wouldn’t make it. His best bet here would be managing to transportalate up there, and either outcome he got would be an acceptable one.
He’d told Drake he wouldn’t come back screaming next. It may seem stupid to anyone else, but he was keeping to that.
So he set his jaw, his features screwing up in concentration for one last transportalate. The world swirled around and darkened, and then he was staring at a street light. Moths buzzed around it, making slight clinking sounds. A sharp pain tore through him, and he fell to his knees.
He’d made it, though. He’d made it to Forgotten Hollow. The problem now was managing to get Lilith’s attention. Caleb might work too, but he probably didn’t have it in him to kill Ezio, either, even if it was for the best. Not that Ezio figured it’d be terribly easy for Lilith to manage, either.
Grey eyes glanced up at the street light. He had an idea. First, he needed a Vatore. And, for the first time since he’d first tried controlling the overcharge, Ezio unleashed a loud, unearthly shrieking sound. The sound bounced off the buildings and made it sound louder than it was. The worst that happened was, he got a different vampire, but even that might be useful enough.
“- idea why he’s – what is that?”
“Magic charge, I think.”
“Don’t they tend to die when they lose control of it like that?”
“Semantics that don’t matter right now, Ezio,” Caleb’s voice said. “Ezio, what do we do?” Obviously, the black-haired man was not okay, and asking that seemed like a stupid thing to do in this instance.
Tired grey eyes looked up at Caleb. Lilith knelt down beside her brother, looking worried. “Kill me,” Ezio said.
“Oh no,” Caleb answered, shaking his head. “I can do a lot of shit if you ask me to, but that? Can’t do that. Lil, can you do that? Cause I can’t.”
Ezio tried not to shriek in annoyance and frustration, but the temptation was most certainly there.
Lilith looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I think so,” she said. “I don’t really want to, the only way I can think of doing it is to drain you.”
Ezio didn’t answer, right off, breathing heavily. His eyes turned up to look at the streetlight. “Break it,” he said.
Lilith followed his gaze to the streetlight above them. She was curious, tilting her head. Break it, huh? She wasn’t sure about that either, but maybe he had a plan she couldn’t think of. With that in mind, she stood up, and threw a bolt of psychic energy at the lamp. The glass immediately shattered, raining onto the asphalt under it.
Ezio raised a hand, and yanked at the air. One of the shards of glass shot towards him very rapidly and buried itself in his chest. The spellcaster loosed a strangled shriek, in time with Caleb’s, eyes squeezing closed, and then he released a breath and fell. Caleb instinctively reached out and caught him, but Ezio was already gone.
“What the fuck!” Caleb squeaked, clinging to Ezio like if he held him tight enough, he could bring him back. The sparks and zaps of colour faded as the magic charge died away.
Lilith reached over and rested a hand on his shoulder. “You know spellcasters,” she said. “Death doesn’t mean anything to them.”
“That really doesn’t make me feel any better!”
Lilith released a sigh. “Morgyn did the same thing,” she said. “And Ezio brought Morgyn back. That’s what you said, isn’t it?”
“That’s what Morgyn said,” Caleb grumbled.
“Well, there we go,” Lilith said. “The biggest hurdle in this was someone managing to kill him. It isn’t like anyone was jumping to volunteer. Well, maybe somebody was, but nobody I know.”
Caleb didn’t answer right away, instead still clinging to Ezio like he could bring him back that way. Caleb’s grey eyes looked up at Lilith. “What do we do now, then?” he asked.
Lilith took a breath in, and looked up at the street lamp. “I think now we just wait,” she said. “And maybe take care of him until he brings himself back. We’ve done our part. The rest is up to Ezio.”
It’d seem Caleb didn’t like that answer, either, but Lilith stood up, reaching down and tugging on Caleb’s arm. He eventually sighed, and stood up too, shifting his grip on Ezio. As much as he didn’t like Lilith’s answer, she was probably right, and the rest of this was up to Ezio.
Thing was, Caleb never knew Ezio to be terribly good at taking care of himself. He’d just have to hope that not upsetting Morgyn was a good enough motivator to fix this, because it wasn’t as if Caleb could fix it for him.
The in-between was a space that rested between one dimension and another. Ezio knew it to exist between the dawnlands, where the living resided, and the dusklands, where the spirits of the dead went, with the in-between acting as both a bridge and a buffer, keeping the two together, but also apart from each other. During certain times of the year, the dawnlands and the dusklands came closer together, and necromancers such as himself could always reach the dusklands to an extent all year.
It meant that he was familiar enough to recognise the in-between when his soul awakened in it.
The in-between was also the space that spirits used to travel around the living world, rapidly going from one place to another with minimal effort. He could sense the dozens of other spirits in the in-between, some that he recognised the feel of, and some that he didn’t.
He almost got a headache, from how angry some of them were.
Ezio looked around, trying to get an idea of where in the in-between he was, and then, turned around and found Keisha. As it hadn’t been before, he knew it wasn’t really her. Whatever spirit this was sure liked taking her form, though, perhaps because it was one that he’d recognise. Presumably, it’d also be a form that he was relaxed around.
It made him a little nervous, actually.
“Well,” ‘Keisha’ said. “Imagine you ending up here, of all the places.”
Ezio snorted. “It happens when you die that you end up here,” he said.
“You’re not quite dead,” ‘Keisha’ answered. “You and I both know that.”
“The semantics of my level of deadness seem… unimportant,” Ezio replied.
‘Keisha’ snorted softly. “I have to warn you again,” she said.
“About what?” Ezio asked.
“Do you remember what I told you the last time we spoke?” ‘Keisha’ asked. “You know, the warning that you seem intent on ignoring?”
Ezio rolled his eyes. “I’m not ignoring it,” he said. “There are more important things than the darkness in Morgyn that may or may not be any greater than anyone else’s, and besides, if you know us so well, you should know that trying to restrict or command Morgyn at all only ends in the shitnugget fighting harder. There are ways of doing what you want, and how you want them done just isn’t on the list. Morgyn’s my twin. I suggest you leave that one to me.”
‘Keisha’ looked slightly amused, but Ezio could see the offence in her eyes all the same. Though she didn’t want to admit it, he was right, and she knew it.
“The book,” ‘Keisha’ said. “Morgyn told you it might be dangerous.”
“Of course,” Ezio replied. “And I decided to ignore the idiot, too. I know it might be, but sitting around waiting for answers to fall into my lap was never my style.”
“What if they’re the wrong ones?” she asked.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I made a mistake, and was wrong about something,” Ezio replied.
“There are things in that book that I don’t think you’re ready to know,” she said. “If you keep down this path, keep shoving your nose into these things, you’re going to end up face to face with something you may not be able to fight. Discretion, Ezio, is the better part of valour.”
Ezio went quiet, thinking. Even with her it was hard to pin-point her motivations and what her end-game was. Was she telling him these things out of the goodness of her little heart, or was it more because his nosing into the book’s mysteries were messing with her own agenda? That was hard for him to say. Either one was a distinct possibility, but he’d known from the start of this that he’d have to tread carefully.
Spirits were not to be trifled with, and enchanted, temperamental things that changed on a whim generally weren’t either. Fortunately, Ezio wasn’t Morgyn, and did have some ability to think ahead.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
‘Keisha’ was quiet a moment, and then answered, “The real threat we must face doesn’t lie in a book, Ezio. And I fear the next time you’re here, it may just be to stay.”
Ezio snorted. He wouldn’t deny that possibility, but he figured, if he was to have such a short existence, what was the harm in trying to find some sense of meaning to it? This book, it might be something only Ezio could figure out. It may also want him to believe that.
“There are secrets, Ezio,” ‘Keisha’ said. “Secrets and misconceptions and lies, that have been kept for centuries. You are getting dangerously close to unburying them, and I don’t think you’re ready for it. Unburying those secrets, it could destroy you. It could destroy everything.”
Ezio’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Secrets have never scared me.”
“And you’re a fool for it,” ‘Keisha’ replied. “The very foundation of magic realm rests on this bed of secrets, and now you want to go unravelling it. And what would that mean, then, for those that depend on magic realm, and its existence?”
“The vortex threatens magic realm fine enough, this is nothing new,” Ezio argued.
“Oh, but it is,” ‘Keisha’ answered. “These are shadows and secrets that have no precedent and you won’t know what to do with. That threaten the very existence of magic realm, that threaten your existence, and Morgyn’s. Nothing is as it seems in magic realm, and if you tear down enough walls, everything comes down! Can you destroy it, then? The only thing the spellcasters have that is ours?”
Ezio went quiet. Grey eyes cast down to the nothingness beneath them. Whatever it was that he was unburying, it seemed to be making some of the spirits nervous. He wasn’t sure if he liked that idea. Spirits that felt nervous and threatened could be rather dangerous ones.
A spirit had never scared him before.
“Will you stand in my way?” he asked.
‘Keisha’ released a sigh, visibly deflating. “I am not that kind of spirit,” she said. “I am a guide, not a barricade. I will not stop you. But I will continually tell you that you’re a reckless fool.”
Ezio smiled. “All the best are.”
He was late. He was so late, and Morgyn didn’t know what to make of it. The blond was pacing around by the bridge upstairs, Drake not far away reading a book, and somehow the vampire was managing not to fall apart. Of course, Morgyn was never terribly good at controlling the blond’s own emotions, and that much had yet to change. L was trying, of course, but that was likely to be something that took some time.
Occasionally, Drake would glance up from his book at Morgyn, look like he wanted to say something, and then go back to being quiet. Morgyn and Ezio both thought easier when they were moving and burning off nervous energy, Drake knew that. Still, Morgyn hadn’t stopped pacing for at least half an hour, and Drake was starting to worry about Morgyn tiring out.
Ezio was never gone this long. It was very concerning, but Morgyn was trying to be patient and trust in his ability to take care of himself.
“Did he at least tell you where he was going?” Morgyn asked.
Drake looked up at the blond, and shook his head. “No, he didn’t say anything.”
Morgyn loosed a huff. “He’s not like this,” the blond said. “Are we sure he went to the normal world? Maybe he’s somewhere in magic realm.”
“Where else would he be, Morgyn?” Drake asked. “It’s either here, Caster’s Alley, maybe up there in the observatory, but I really doubt that one.”
“I don’t know!” Morgyn snapped. “I’m just. I’m just worried.”
Drake sighed, closing the book he was reading. “Do you want me to go out there and find him?”
“No,” Morgyn answered, returning to the blond’s pacing. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
Drake loosed another sigh.
“He never leaves magic realm for very long,” Morgyn said. “I’m just having a hard time dealing with it, that’s all. It’s probably just fine. He’s stronger than us both, really.” Morgyn really did believe that. There was no reason not to, given Ezio battled the blond very rarely, but when he did, he always won. Morgyn was sure the blond wasn’t going easy on him; he was just that difficult to take down.
Of course, it was possible Morgyn was going easy on him unconsciously… whatever, it didn’t matter right that second.
“He’ll probably be okay,” Drake said. His own paranoia was going a mile a minute, but faced with Ezio or Morgyn’s panic tended to make it be quiet long enough for him to be the reassuring one. Someone had to be, he guessed.
“I know,” Morgyn said, groaning. “But in the meantime I’m having a bit of a panic, and I’m sorry you’re stuck with it.”
“It’s alright,” Drake said.
“No, it really isn’t,” Morgyn argued. “I’m trying to curb it somewhat, I promise, it’s just pretty hard.”
“I know,” Drake said. “I’m a mess, too.”
“Really?” Morgyn said, pausing in the pacing long enough to arch an eyebrow at him. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Drake laughed. “I never said I wasn’t good at hiding it.”
Morgyn smiled, very slightly, and went to respond, but the sound of glass shattering interrupted. Drake sat bolt upright, and both of them scrambled towards the sound. It came from Ezio’s room.
Morgyn shoved the door open, and then loosed a startled squeak, scurrying across the room to kneel beside Ezio. The shattering had been a potion bottle breaking, but that didn’t make any sense to Morgyn. Unless he’d…
“His heart’s going haywire, but I’m not sure why,” Drake said, sitting down beside him to work on calming it.
Morgyn’s head snapped up, looking around, and then the blond stood up, rummaging through his side table drawers.
“What are you doing?” Drake asked.
“Finding his medication,” Morgyn replied, distracted.
“When did he get medication?” Drake asked, bewildered. That was news to him.
“A while ago,” Morgyn answered, digging through the drawers. The blond pulled out a small vinyl bag of bottles, and dumped the bottles out onto the floor, picking them up one by one and checking the labels. Morgyn knew what the right one was, but finding it was – aha! Ezio had told the blond how to handle this particular medication, but Morgyn read the label, three times, anyway, probably because the blond was nervous and didn’t want to mess it up.
But, Morgyn followed the instructions, and what Ezio had said about it, to the letter, and within a few minutes, his heart rate started to even out, his heart skipping fewer and fewer beats until it was even like it should be. Morgyn released a breath of relief, settling down on the floor beside Ezio.
Drake looked up at the sage. “What was that?”
“Medicine,” Morgyn answered. “Things are a bit different out there now, I guess. Medicine actually works.” And if it hadn’t, Morgyn had no idea what the blond would’ve done. Prayed a lot, or something. “I’ll tell you what they’re for later, or Ezio will, one of the two.”
Drake shook his head. “Not sure I can handle that right this second anyway,” he said. “He’s not entirely out of the woods yet, just stable.”
“I know,” Morgyn said. “He’ll need to be on bed rest for a while, I think.”
“Most likely.” But it was a good thing, at least one of them knew what to do with the little bottles that rattled, and could calm his heart down. That was easier and quicker than either of their magics had ever been with this. Drake wasn’t sure if he was glad for that, or resented the little rattling bottles. For being better at this than he was, and not existing sooner.
Drake shook his head again, readjusting Ezio in his arms to get him off the floor, and into bed. Morgyn took one of Ezio’s hands as Drake set him down.
“I suppose we wait, now?” Drake asked.
“Unfortunately, that’s all that’s left,” Morgyn said, reaching over and brushing Ezio’s hair out of his face. “I really want to know what happened.”
“He smells like vampire,” Drake said. He glanced at Morgyn. “And like magic charge.”
Morgyn cursed.
Drake snorted. “You didn’t expect he wouldn’t go after her, did you?”
“I’d hoped he wouldn’t be able to find her,” Morgyn said.
“You know he’s practically a blood-hound when it comes to you,” Drake said. “It’d be impressive, if it wasn’t so worrying.”
Morgyn sighed, playing with Ezio’s hair. “At least she doesn’t seem to have done much damage,” the blond said.
Drake reached down, picking up Ezio’s hands and looking at his wrists. There were injuries down his arms from something sharp. The vampire frowned. “Yeah, not very much. But enough.”
Morgyn stood up, walking over to the shards of glass on the floor from the broken potion bottle. The bits of label that were still on the glass suggested this was one of the resurrection potions.
She’d hit him with that overload potion after all. That could be dangerous. Ezio’s heart likely wouldn’t have taken that well. Morgyn waved a hand, fixing the bottle. Ezio could die from this anyway, and all Morgyn could do was hope that he pulled through this.
If Ezio had to imagine what getting hit with a freight train might feel like, should you not die from it, it was probably a little something like this. His head hurt something fierce, and he had very little interest in opening his eyes and dealing with the day. That was probably a personal failing, but he didn’t see an issue with it right this second. Ezio’s chest still hurt, somewhat, but it was a distant pain, something he could easily get over on his own.
He just needed time. As always. His awareness slowly came back, like it was molasses being filtered through a cheese cloth, but he was soon aware of something holding one of his hands. One eye peeked open, finding Drake holding his hand and reading a book. Ezio couldn’t help smiling at it, releasing a puff of air at the scene.
Drake’s eyes immediately flicked up, and he put the book onto the side table. “Hey,” he said quietly. “How are you feeling?”
Ezio snorted. “Like I got hit with a freight train,” he said. “How long have I been out?”
“A couple days now,” Drake answered. “Morgyn was in here earlier.”
“That’s a while,” Ezio said. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to pass out immediately like that.” In hindsight, though, Ezio wasn’t sure why not, because that would’ve made the most sense. The fight with Morgyn the day before, then the fight with Kat, building a charge on purpose, and then the prolonged state of overload, it was no wonder his body wasn’t at its best. He supposed there was time to kick himself in the ass later. He didn’t regret it.
“What happened?” Drake asked.
“I found the potion-toting vampire,” Ezio said. “… Drake, Aine’s behind this. And I need you to believe me when I say that. I think she’s misusing her necromancy, raising vampires and probably plenty of others and commanding them. I killed this one, but I don’t think that’s the end of this.”
Aine? Drake frowned, but he had no reason to doubt Ezio’s words. As much as Morgyn and plenty of others liked to think that Aine wasn’t much of a threat, Drake and Ezio knew better. She was already misusing her necromancy before she’d left magic realm.
“Ezio, you know you can’t handle Aine by yourself,” Drake said.
“Bullshit I can’t,” Ezio answered. “I could take her twisted ass down no problem, unless she went using necromancy on me, that might be a problem, never fought another necromancer before. That’s not the point, the point is, watch me.”
“I’m not going to watch you die because you’re having a really long arrogant moment,” Drake said, quite flatly. “Let me help you.”
“You’re a vampire and you want to help with that?” Ezio asked. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Now you know how I feel, all the time,” Drake said.
Ezio started to argue, and then, found that he couldn’t. Instead, he released a breath, and dropped his hand onto the bed. Arguing that way, they’d never get anywhere, and he knew it, as much as he would much rather argue about it all. Drake meant well, he knew that too, and at the moment, maybe Ezio couldn’t take Aine by himself.
Ezio needed Morgyn on his side, but he didn’t know if that would ever happen. Morgyn still had a very romanticised idea of Aine in the blond’s head, and needed to let go of it before Morgyn would listen to anything that painted her in a negative light. It was hard to accept it, when the people you trusted and wanted to believe in let you down. It wasn’t like Ezio didn’t understand. He’d just always hoped, a little, that Ezio would be more important to Morgyn than Aine was. Then, he supposed that was partially his own fault, for not being here when Morgyn needed him. For not being strong enough to deal with Jean on his own.
That was a failure he’d carry for the rest of his life.
“I’m sorry I’m a mess,” Ezio said.
Drake snorted softly, patting his hand. “I accepted that about you a long time ago,” he said. “You were like that even back then. It’s quieter, now, you hide it a little better, but it’s always been there.”
Ezio smiled a little. “You shouldn’t worry about me so much,” he said. “You’re probably really lucky you can’t age anymore, or you’d be wrinkly by now from the stress.”
Drake snorted again. “Please,” he said. “Someone has to worry about you, because you don’t worry about yourself nearly enough.” At least, he didn’t if one asked Drake, and usually, no one did. He’d still thought it many times now.
Ezio couldn’t help the laugh at that. Drake was right, and he knew it. Ezio still didn’t understand why Drake was still here. He could’ve gone and made a life for himself somewhere else, without the crazy Ember twins making his life harder and messing with his blood pressure. Yet for some reason, here he still was. Maybe that was something that Ezio would never really understand. Maybe, he wasn’t meant to.
“You’re right,” he said. “All of my concern about myself seems to have gone to Morgyn.”
Drake glanced down at the floor. “So it would seem,” he said. “But you know, if Morgyn loses you because you decided to take something that was never your fight to spare Morgyn having to… I don’t think Morgyn would ever really come back from that.”
Ezio’s gaze softened, thinking about that. Drake was probably right. Yet, it wasn’t as if this wasn’t Ezio’s fight. Of course it was. No one threatened Morgyn without answering to him, let alone killed the idiot.
When you lived for a reason, it was difficult to act outside of it. Ezio lived because Morgyn needed him to. Because Morgyn didn’t know how to be alone, and Drake didn’t know how to be without Ezio. And maybe that wasn’t a good enough reason to live, to most, but it’d done fine enough for Ezio, so far. He was still alive, after all.
“I’m tired,” Ezio said softly. “That’s annoying.”
“So sleep,” Drake answered.
“I don’t want to…” He said that, but he was already drifting off, still holding Drake’s hand. Unconsciously, Drake’s thumb started to rub circles on the back of Ezio’s hand. And when his breathing evened out, and his muscles relaxed, Drake stood up, gently putting Ezio’s hand down, and pressed his lips to Ezio’s hair.
“But to be honest,” Drake said softly. “Even if you did start thinking about yourself more, I’d probably still worry about you.”
At least he knew that, he supposed.
Morgyn had some reservations.
In the first place, the vampires randomly gaining potions that were specifically designed to emulate the effects of magical overload (it was and was not a true magical overload, Morgyn figured), and then using them, knowing that the spellcasters had whipped their asses before, seemed highly unlikely. It was more believable that there was something making them turn on the spellcasters, but Caleb didn’t seem to have any more idea what was going on than Morgyn did. Ezio wasn’t sharing, either, and Drake seemed to know something, but neither was he talking.
Some made the mistake of underestimating how much Morgyn could figure out. Aine was one of those that did, and it’d cost her the position of sage of untamed magic. Morgyn had chased her out, albeit a little reluctantly. But Aine wasn’t one for talking, and Morgyn wasn’t one for bullshit, and while that hadn’t been Morgyn’s plan, that was how it turned out, and the blond would do it again in a heartbeat.
The All choosing Morgyn to replace her seemed a bit strange, if one asked the blond, but nobody had asked, and Morgyn hadn’t explained where Aine had gone or why, let alone how weird it was that the All had chosen Morgyn as the new sage. As far as anyone knew, Morgyn had no more idea what had happened than anyone else. It was safer that way, because Morgyn wasn’t sure if the blond could explain what was going on enough that anyone understood and believed it.
Well, Ezio would. Ezio believed everything Morgyn said, just like Morgyn always believed everything Ezio said. It helped that he was rarely ever wrong. Ezio was also a very kind person, even tempered for the most part. People trusted him, because he spoke respectfully and calmly, and rarely ever spoke wrong. Morgyn was exactly the same way. The blond trusted Ezio for a lot of the same reasons, but also because Ezio was the other half of the blond. Nothing could override that.
Morgyn sat at the dining room table, taking a coffee break. The blond silently drank some of the coffee, set it down on the table with a light tap. Morgyn was beginning to wonder if the blond chasing Aine out of magic realm hadn’t incidentally incited a fight for revenge, or something. If Aine was going to do that, though, it’d make more sense to be after Morgyn.
On the other hand, if you messed with one Ember, you tended to get the other one. Ezio was also the stronger of the two, and it would be logical to take Ezio down first, only it was Morgyn that Aine found first. Either one needed to be taken out, so perhaps Aine thought she’d taken them both out. That could feed into Morgyn’s favour. If Aine was behind this, and thought both Morgyn and Ezio gone, they’d be quite a surprise later on.
Of course, Morgyn had no way of proving this was Aine, and it’d be a better idea not to say anything to anyone about that reservation. Aine was respected here, and Morgyn was getting there, but the blond was not quite her level yet. For now, focusing on gaining that respect, so that one day, when Morgyn said it was Aine, people would believe it, that seemed like a better idea, certainly more constructive.
Morgyn needed Ezio on the blond’s side. Working together on this would behoove them both. They’d always been stronger together. That was a strong accusation, though, and Ezio was all about things making sense. Morgyn would need something besides just a hunch.
The blond’s head shook slightly, and Morgyn took another drink of coffee, setting the cup back down. As green eyes turned hazy, staring at the liquid in the cup, someone else settled down across the table. Morgyn looked up. Drake smiled slightly.
“How is he doing?” Morgyn asked.
“He’s a little better,” Drake answered. “He ate a bit ago, and he’s gone back to sleep now.”
“That’s good,” Morgyn said. “Hopefully he stays okay, and doesn’t suddenly take a nose-dive.”
“So far so good,” Drake said. “He’s stronger than he looks.”
“I know,” Morgyn said, pausing to take another drink of coffee. “He’s just not invincible, and it feels like he keeps forgetting this. Why does he do this?”
Drake snorted softly, reaching across the table and patting Morgyn’s hands. “Because he loves you,” he said. “No matter what else is going on, if you two are on bad terms or not, he loves you.”
Morgyn looked down at the table. “I know you’re right,” the blond answered quietly. “It just feels like a bit much.”
“Nothing will ever matter to him as much as you do,” Drake said. “You should know that. Even if he has to go down doing it, I don’t think there will ever be a time when Ezio does not defend you. That’s how it goes.”
Morgyn sighed, scooting down in the blond’s seat. “It sounds so simple when you say it that way.”
“Isn’t it?” Drake asked. “It’s not like there are any complicated explanations for this. He just values you many, many times more than he will ever value himself.” And that wasn’t his fault, really. Jean had done that, if Drake had to guess. Jean had nearly destroyed him, and Drake hadn’t made much of a dent in the damage he’d done, even now, many years later. It was unfortunate that Ezio still had to suffer for Drake’s mistakes, but he supposed thinking that way wouldn’t get anyone anywhere. It generally didn’t, tempting though it may be.
Morgyn was quiet for a long moment, and then sighed again. “I just wish he could see himself the way I see him,” Morgyn said. “The way you see him.”
Drake snorted. “I’m fresh out of miracles, too, Morgs.”
Morgyn took a breath in, looking amused. “Of course you are. Though you seem to work them on Ezio all the time.”
The vampire stood up, shrugging. “They only look like they’re miracles.”
Previous | Chapter Listing | Next
