Chapter 2: Everything Goes Away
Always Gold, Radical Face.
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Magic Realm, 1984
The cycle had to continue. In Aine’s absence, of course, life went on in Magic Realm. Nothing seemed to change, even. It was a little quieter, Morgyn awoke without a sense of urgency, and, that morning, Ezio said there was less oppression in the air. Morgyn hated to admit that he was right, but, he was right. She was gone, and with her, those expectations of hers that Morgyn never seemed able to meet.
It always felt like Morgyn was a constant disappointment to Aine. Nothing the blond ever did managed to be correct in her eyes, or so it seemed. Morgyn certainly wasn’t privy to Aine’s inner workings, and there was likely something to be glad for, there. Morgyn would’ve died to hear, just once, that Aine was proud of the blond, but it wasn’t a secret. Aine wasn’t proud of Morgyn. Simply, the little blond farmer from France was less grating than everyone else.
Aine had gone in a hurry, and there were a lot of her things still left in Magic Realm. It left Morgyn with quite a number of boxes to go through. None of these things meant anything to Morgyn, and Aine was gone now, and couldn’t explain anything. Sometimes, Morgyn would reach into a box, and pull out bits and pieces of the Aine that was before, the Aine that Morgyn never knew, and now, never would.
Ezio always said that people were given the life they had, because they could live it. Morgyn honestly felt like the blond’s life was a mistake.
The good news was that there was virtually no chance the All would choose Morgyn to replace Aine as the Sage of Untamed Magic. That was stupid. Ezio was the stronger of them, and, more impressively, Ezio had learnt untamed magic on his own through trial and error. Aine had refused to teach him, and Ezio had refused to learn from her. It was just as well. Ezio was always on about the darkness in Aine’s heart.
The point wasn’t whether there was darkness in Aine’s heart. Morgyn couldn’t say if there was or not. The point was whether Morgyn could do anything about it on the off-chance there was, and most likely, no, probably not. Morgyn had very little influence with her at all, and lacking in the kind of influence needed, that was unsurprising, if disappointing. Still, it meant Morgyn was her last student, but Ezio was the one that had learnt best.
If anyone was going to succeed Aine as Untamed Sage, most would expect Morgyn to, but Morgyn’s money was on Ezio. He was, without too much doubt, stronger than Morgyn anyway. It wasn’t like Morgyn was privy to how, exactly, the All chose the next Sage. Perhaps the how ultimately didn’t matter.
The stack of boxes on the balcony where Aine did most of her work was quite tall. Morgyn frowned, mostly unconsciously, staring at the stack. Cardboard boxes with lids, boxes full of files, stacks of papers, old-looking and quite detailed, probably antique, wooden boxes here and there, Morgyn had a lot of work to do. Simeon was getting upset about the mess Aine had left behind. Aine was good at leaving behind messes, Morgyn had noticed. Unfortunately, it was very normal for Morgyn to be the one cleaning up those messes. By now, the blond had gotten used to it.
Morgyn reached for another box, and felt a joint pop. Perhaps a break was in order. With that, Morgyn frowned slightly, and then stretched towards the glass roof over the balcony. Several more pops sounded. Ezio would likely say that, getting accustomed to cleaning up Aine’s messes was a bad thing. Morgyn had simply accepted it as a part of life.
Morgyn wasn’t sure what to do without her. Aine did a lot to soothe Morgyn’s weird and stupid ideas of not entirely being female. “Of course you’re female,” Aine would say, with that no-nonsense tone. “You were born a girl. What else would you be, a duck?” She was right, of course. Morgyn couldn’t be anything but a woman, and it was preposterous to think otherwise. Ezio never said anything against it, but Morgyn could see it in his eyes. He hated it when Aine backed up Morgyn’s belief that it was stupid and senseless to try and be anything else.
Morgyn didn’t understand. Maybe, Morgyn never would, and it was difficult to say whether that was a personal character flaw or an inevitability. No one understood Ezio the way that Morgyn did, and yet, even so, there were ways and times in which Morgyn didn’t understand him at all. There were ways, and times, in which Morgyn loving him to incomprehensible levels wasn’t enough.
Of course, Morgyn had never told Ezio, but there were times when Aine spoke against him, too. Aine said much the same. There was darkness in Ezio’s heart, and maybe Morgyn would never be enough to save him from it. Did Morgyn believe that? Sometimes. Sometimes, Ezio scared Morgyn. But the only time Ezio ever showed that scary face was when it was in defence of Morgyn.
Morgyn wasn’t scared of Ezio. Morgyn was scared for Ezio. And all Morgyn could do was hope, that in the end, nothing came of it. Ezio was a beautiful soul, but he was also very fragile. Only Drake knew that better than Morgyn did.
Morgyn released a sigh, one hand reaching out, prodding one of the boxes. It promptly lost its balance and crashed to the floor, throwing papers and trinkets all over the stone. The blond squeaked slightly, drawing back, and then loosing another sigh. Now there was a literal mess to deal with, too. And Morgyn had no one else to blame for it.
“Hey,” a voice came from behind. Morgyn turned around to face Simeon, who was smiling just slightly. “How goes sorting things?”
“I just knocked over a box,” Morgyn said, tone slightly drawling.
“Oh… well, uh, if you want a break, I just made coffee.”
Morgyn blinked in surprise, and then smiled a bit. “Yeah, that sounds nice, thank you.” Keisha and L. had spent the last six years ignoring Morgyn existed. It was nice at least one of them wasn’t avoiding the blond. Ethren didn’t avoid Morgyn, more… seemed to feel pity, or something. Morgyn didn’t need pity. Morgyn needed a friend.
“Cool, well, it’s uh, downstairs of course,” Simeon said, gesturing towards the stairs and backing that way himself. “Come down whenever.”
“I will,” Morgyn answered.
Simeon looked a little awkward, turning down the hallway and walking off. And then, he turned back around, walking back past the archway with a sheepish look on his face, as he headed the right way to get to the stairs. Morgyn tried not to look too amused as he went.
Ezio had probably beat guys like him up for money once. Morgyn sighed, took one last look at the stack of boxes and papers, and stood up. No time like the present.
Spellcasters tended to be, how you say, forgetful. It was quite easy for them to forget that magic realm was not, in fact, their home. One would figure Ezio would be glad for this. It meant dozens of magical folk now had a place they were comfortable, and could be themselves. That was great and all, but Ezio really wished they’d learn to put their books back on the shelves.
Of course, some of those that came to Magic Realm forgot they’d even borrowed a book from their shelves in the first place. Plenty of tomes had gone missing over the years, and Ezio was probably the one that knew the precise count of books that had gone missing since the 1800s (1,322). Ezio tried not to be annoyed by it, but was it really so hard to just put the books back on the shelf? One would think that Ezio was asking for a miracle.
Eh, maybe he was.
His head tilted to one side, looking for the place on the shelf where the handful of books in his arms went. Ezio tisked under his breath, and then found where one of them went, slid the book into place, and moved on. There was a very large gap on one of the shelves now. Ezio had discovered, a few days ago, that all of their books on vampirism were missing.
Who on earth had any use for the entire collection of books about vampirism, that Ezio didn’t know. Clearly they had some use for them, as every dang one was gone. Really, it was sort of perplexing. Ezio was very curious to know who took the collection and what for, but he supposed he’d never know. That’d just have to remain a mystery.
Several of the books in his arms went here. Gently, he slid them into place, making sure not to damage any of the covers. Ezio was probably kinder to the book collection at Magic Realm than he was to anyone or anything else. Save, perhaps, his boyfriend, and Morgyn. Oh, and, Ezio was rather kind to Drake, too. Some wondered why. Drake was a vampire, but Ezio had made him that way. Granted, it was an accident. Drake got himself seriously hurt blowing up a potion, and Ezio panicked.
The problem with magic when you were panicking, it was very hard to control, and Ezio wasn’t trying to control it, anyway. He just didn’t want Drake to die, and that was the magic’s answer. It turned out, now he couldn’t die at all, and it was Ezio’s fault. It took Ezio and Morgyn forever to figure out the potion that freezed ageing, but Ezio was determined. He cursed Drake with living forever. He’d live that with him.
Fate had other plans, though, as often it did. The peace they’d found together, the family they’d built with one another, these things were impermanent. Ezio was still impermanent. He couldn’t say how he knew. He just did.
Ezio released a sigh, setting a few more books on the shelf where he knew they belonged. Strangely, as he pulled his hand back, his fingers brushed against a book beside one he placed on the shelf, and it felt like electricity shot through his hand. Even more strangely, he wasn’t repelled by that sensation, but rather found himself interested to know why it’d happened.
For a moment, he simply stared at the book. It wasn’t a book that stood out, for sure. The cover was a basic leather-bound type, a rich brown in colour, ridges on the spine, but otherwise had no other markings on it. Ezio set the rest of the stack of books he had to return to the shelves onto the floor, at his feet, and then reached out, gently sliding the leather-bound book off the shelf. Before he knew what he was doing, he was leafing through the book, but, he quickly found himself faced with sigils and letters that he’d never seen before.
Many of these books were hundreds, if not thousands of years old, and many of these books were also enchanted. There was a whole collection on the ground floor of books that were enchanted to only be able to be read by someone that was supposed to understand it, and what force decided whether someone was meant to understand something, that Ezio never figured out. Ezio’s motto was, never trust anything if you didn’t know how it could think.
It’d seem, this book wasn’t meant for him. With that in mind, he gently closed, it and slid it back onto the shelf. A breeze from nowhere kicked up the moment his skin was no longer in contact with the leather, and just slightly, Ezio heard whispering.
– need to know –
– take it back –
– you are the key –
– they are coming.
Ezio looked around, trying to find the source of these whispers, his eyes glancing from one side to the other. Then, just so, distantly, he could hear it. A piercing, melodic cry, the sound of it making his heart twist in pain. It wasn’t a melody he’d heard before, a simple one, but somehow it sounded so heartbroken. His hands came up, balling into fists and pressing against his chest. He remembered the stories, of those that heard a grating screeching somewhere in Magic Realm. No one knew where from, but some heard a song.
Ezio turned around, searching the sky through the window. The swirls of colour and speckles of stars gave nothing away. The melody sounded again, from everywhere and nowhere at once, so much pain in its song, and then the whispering grew louder, and something sounded with a loud thunk.
He whirled around, just in time to catch the tail end of the leather-bound book falling off the shelf and hitting the floor behind him.
– take it –
– yours –
– TAKE IT.
Everyone knew there were spirits in Magic Realm, that had remained bound to this world. Maybe they knew something he didn’t. Ezio looked around one last time, before one hand reached down for the book. As his hand touched the leather again, the cover shimmered, and strange, circular sigils burned themselves into the leather front. He recognised some of them, but he didn’t remember where he’d seen these before.
It seemed he’d need to go looking for those sigils again. The sigils may have answers to what was in this book, and why, exactly, it was so determined to stay with him.
Aine had gone, and with her, the Sage of Untamed Magic. It was only a matter of time, then, until the All selected a new one, and L. was quite sure of who, exactly, would be chosen to replace her. Of course, L. believed that for a long time. Keisha had said as much, and L. never questioned her mentor’s prophecies, particularly the ones Keisha didn’t remember telling.
Getting Morgyn to believe the All would select the blond as the next Sage, that might yet be a little more difficult. No, that wasn’t the problem, was it? The real problem was getting Morgyn to accept it. It went without saying, of course, that Ezio would support Morgyn in anything, and replacing Aine as a Sage was merely one of the things that fell under the header of anything. As long as Morgyn’s doubt remained, doubt that L. strongly believed Aine herself put in Morgyn’s head, the blond would never truly be able to take Aine’s place. But, that would be what the All decided. No one else would be good enough, because they wouldn’t be Morgyn.
L. hadn’t spoken to Morgyn in years. Aine was a little too much of a problem for L. and her mentor, Keisha. Keisha never explained what was wrong, and Ethren had gone to a lot of lengths to shield Simeon from the whole ordeal, but it was quite clear Aine was into things she shouldn’t have been. Magic wasn’t so simple as good or bad. Rather, it was all shades of grey, but there were things one shouldn’t do no matter how grey they thought it was. Interfering with free will was one of those things.
Keisha and Aine had mutually decided to avoid one another. Sparks flew every time they were in the same room. Whatever spirits spoke to Keisha never did like Aine, and Aine didn’t like the threat that Keisha posed. L. was much the same. L. was one of Morgyn’s peers, to make matters even more dire, and had influence over the blond that Aine couldn’t. Had L. chosen to, she could’ve eventually turned Morgyn against Aine, with or without Keisha’s help.
It was for the best, but it did make this situation a little awkward. L. stood by one of the chairs on the balcony Aine had claimed as her own. All the Sages had their own areas of Magic Realm’s headquarters that they claimed, this was nothing new. The boxes and boxes of Aine’s things that Morgyn had been combing and sorting through for the last several days since her disappearance were new. Apparently, Aine had placed a spell on them, so that they remained in the in-between, rather than taking up physical space in the Realm.
This worked, right up until Aine was gone, and the magic went with her.
For a moment, L. simply watched the blond go through the boxes, and then cleared her throat. Morgyn started slightly, dropping the books that were in one hand, and jerked around to look at L. “Oh.”
L. snorted in amusement. “Well, don’t sound too glad to see me,” L. said.
Morgyn looked a hair annoyed, in the eyes, but smiled anyway. “Sorry, yes, it’s nice to see you. How are you?”
How was she? L. was practically having a party now that Aine was gone. She’d taken the oppressive edge out of the air, too. “Fine,” L. answered. Telling Morgyn, who had loved Aine like family, that L. was pleased as punch now that she was gone, probably wasn’t good for negotiations. “How are you holding up?”
Morgyn blinked, turning back toward the boxes, and then stood up, brushing the dust off dark jeans, turning to face L. properly. “I’ve been better,” Morgyn answered. “Strange that you’re here, though. I would’ve figured you’d be partying somewhere.”
Oh. Was L.’s excitement that obvious? Perhaps Morgyn knew her better than it seemed like. “I’m worried about you,” L. said, resting one hand on her hip, shifting to lean a bit more on the back of the chair. “You and Aine were very close.”
“I suppose,” Morgyn said. “But there are things that are over now, and that time is one of those things. No sense dwelling on it. It just makes you bitter and angry.”
“So it does,” L. replied. “You’ll be the next Sage, you know. We should try to get along, I think.”
Morgyn snorted in disbelief. “Me?” Morgyn asked. “No, I won’t. You’ve absolutely lost it.”
“Please,” L. replied. “Who else would the All choose but you?”
“Ezio,” came Morgyn’s immediate answer.
“You mean you hope beyond hope that it’s not you,” L. said.
Morgyn didn’t answer with words, but the look on the blond’s face made it clear enough.
L. sighed, glancing away for a moment, before purple eyes returned to green ones. “Becoming the next Sage may be your destiny, you know. There’s a reason Aine favoured you as much as she did.”
“I don’t believe in destiny,” Morgyn answered.
Well, that made two of them. Keisha didn’t, either, and L. inherited it from her. So what was Morgyn’s excuse? “Have you figured out who you are?” L. asked, instead.
Morgyn’s head tilted to one side in confusion. “I’m Morgyn,” was the flat response. “Who else would I be?”
“That’s your name, yes,” L. said, her weight shifting, hand raising off the chair so she could examine her nails, currently a dark, shiny purple. “But your name isn’t who you are, not really. You’re not quite female, anyway.”
“Of course I am,” Morgyn said, green eyes rolling. “What else would I be?”
L. snorted again, looking exasperated. She shouldn’t have expected any other response. Of course that was what Morgyn replied with, and in Morgyn’s position, maybe L. would say the same stupid things. It wasn’t Morgyn’s fault, and L. knew that. It was what it was.
“Now that Aine’s gone,” L. said, “it’s time to get her out of your head, and remember how to listen to yourself.”
Morgyn looked annoyed, but L. didn’t leave the opportunity to push the matter, turning on her heel and heading back to her basement. The first step, after all, was merely planting the seed. It needed time to grow.
Something had changed a moment ago. Ezio frowned slightly, more to himself, setting the leather-bound book of many mysteries down on the table. He stood up, shuffling out of his room and down the stairs. Magic Realm had been home for so long, it was hard to imagine ever having another one, but someday, maybe he’d try making it somewhere else. For now, Morgyn needed to stay here, and Ezio wasn’t far behind.
As he unlatched the door and headed outside into the slightly warm air, he realised what was different. It took a few moments more to find her, but when he did, he smiled brightly and ran over to her. “Lilith,” he said, “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“It’s sort of a surprise,” Lilith answered, smiling in return. Wordlessly, she reached out and pulled Ezio over in a hug. “I heard about Aine. You must be in a good mood.”
“Yes and no,” Ezio answered, hugging her back. She smelled distinctly of some kind of flower, but Ezio never figured out which one. Morgyn smelled of valerian, he’d decided, but that was probably because Morgyn spent way too long hanging around the valerian plants. “Morgyn’s a depressed wreck, of course.”
“Naturally,” Lilith answered, separating to look at him. Lilith was defensive of the Embers, like they were family. Very distantly, they thought they were, but it was hard to say. Neither the Embers or the Vatores had spent a notable amount of time tracking their bloodlines, and that was all hundreds of years ago now.
“I’m glad Aine’s gone, though.” Ezio always said Aine would ruin Morgyn, and funny enough, he turned out to be right in that statement. The truly tragic part was that Morgyn seemed to have no idea how much damage Aine had done. Either Morgyn didn’t know, or didn’t care, and Ezio wasn’t certain which was worse.
“So am I,” Lilith agreed. “Maybe now, Morgyn can heal a little.”
Ezio nodded. “With any luck,” he answered. “Though knowing Morgyn, it’ll just get shoved in a proverbial box and left to collect dust.” He couldn’t win that.
“Well, maybe you can heal, at least,” Lilith answered.
Ezio made a face, looking very confused. “I don’t need to heal from anything.”
“Oh really? You know, you and I could start a club,” Lilith argued, “it’s called the ‘I gave up most of my life for my stupid sibling’ club. Not a great club, actually. The meetings are boring.”
Ezio snorted, shaking his head. “I didn’t give up my life for Morgyn.”
“Do you hear yourself right now?” Lilith asked. “You’ve only stayed in Magic Realm all your life because Morgyn had to stay, prevented yourself from murdering Aine when you should’ve because Morgyn liked her, put all your feelings on hold indefinitely because Morgyn’s always came first. You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re Morgyn’s keeper or something.”
Ezio’s expression flattened. “I think you’re being dramatic.”
“Am I?” Lilith asked, her head tilting slightly. “I love Morgyn, don’t get me wrong, but I love you too. So which one of you do I be angry with? You for treating yourself like crap, or Morgyn for letting you?”
Ezio made a noise, features screwing up in amused exasperation. “Morgyn doesn’t let me do anything.”
“Of course,” Lilith answered. “But Morgyn doesn’t stop you, either.”
“Things are fine,” Ezio said. “And with Aine gone, it’ll feel a lot less like I need to be paying way too much attention to Morgyn anyway.” The things Aine put into Morgyn’s head were something, and Ezio didn’t like a damn one of them.
“I guess,” Lilith said. “Just remember that you can’t bury your issues in Morgyn’s and call it good enough. You can’t fix you by fixing Morgyn. Okay?”
“Fine, okay,” Ezio said. Whatever made her feel better. Ezio didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about. He dealt with his issues, it was merely that he did it much slower. His problems weren’t as pressing, that was all.
“Hey, you know, things have changed a lot in the normal world,” Lilith said. “Technology and medicine in particular have progressed a good deal.”
“Is that so?” Ezio asked.
“Yes,” Lilith answered. She fidgeted for a moment, rocking a little on her heels. Ezio didn’t like to talk about his health, but Ezio was a delicate, somewhat sickly person. Lilith could smell it, when something went wrong, but she didn’t know what was wrong. There was the chance that modern medicine had answers that the vampires didn’t.
“I just, thought I’d mention it,” Lilith went on. “They may have answers that the vampires don’t.”
Ezio snorted softly. “Last I remember of medicine and doctors, poison was being sold as a remedy.”
“Yes, but that was a long time ago,” Lilith said. “Look, I know it’ll take some time before you’re really comfortable with the idea, but medicine’s different now. They have a much better understanding of how things work, and there are medicines that they make themselves now.”
“Oh, that really makes me feel better,” Ezio said, snorting.
“Ezio, listen to me,” Lilith said, taking Ezio’s shoulders. “If there is… even the slightest little chance that they have answers, that they can help you, don’t you want to try? Maybe you still won’t have forever, but maybe they can help you feel better and do more things that you love to do. You could dance again, really dance.”
Ezio took a breath in, lips parting, and then grey eyes fell to the grass under them. Mist swirled around their ankles. He remembered, when he used to dance. The sheer control over his own body he’d had then, how enthralling it was. Because, back then, he had control over so very little. None of it mattered when he was dancing. He could move any way he wanted to. Push himself as hard as he felt like. It was something Jean couldn’t take away from him.
“I’ll think about it,” Ezio answered.
Lilith smiled softly, reaching up and ruffling waves of black. “If you do decide you want answers,” she said, reaching into a pocket and handing him a card. “Go see this person. She can help you.”
The weather never did change here. When they first came here, Ezio had found it strange, but he’d gotten used to it. Nowadays, Drake didn’t feel the weather anyway, so it wasn’t any more strange than anything else. Morgyn didn’t seem terribly bothered by it, either, so as usual, it was just him. He loosed a sigh, looking up at the stars. The day and night cycle was different here. Who knew if it was actually night?
“Did Lilith come up?” Ezio asked.
“Yeah,” Morgyn answered. “She helped me with probably more boxes than I could’ve gotten through on my own this week.”
“That’s nice then,” Ezio replied. “She seemed oddly distracted, was she like that with you?”
Morgyn glanced at Ezio, and then shrugged one shoulder lightly. “Lilith barely ever seems anything to me,” Morgyn said. “But maybe a bit upset about something. She didn’t tell you anything? She tells you everything.”
“Not everything,” Ezio argued. “But she didn’t mention anything, no.”
“If she didn’t tell you, I won’t feel bad she didn’t tell me.”
Ezio snorted, looking back up at the stars. She seemed more concerned about talking to Ezio about modern medical advancements. Ezio hadn’t mentioned that to Morgyn, or Drake, for that matter. It was probably something one or both of them were going to argue with him about, and he was having a hard enough time arguing with himself. It seemed like such a terrible idea, but maybe…
“Oh, L. came up, too,” Morgyn said, jarring Ezio’s thoughts.
“Really?” They hadn’t spoken in years now, it seemed strange L. had suddenly changed that. On the other hand, if Ezio remembered, that was also Aine’s fault. One of the things that were Aine’s fault Ezio had never told Morgyn about. There were some things about Aine that, if Morgyn knew, would break the blond’s heart. Even if it would’ve ostensibly been for the best to tell Morgyn about these things, Ezio didn’t like seeing Morgyn hurt, for any reason, and ultimately couldn’t.
“She seemed pretty sure I’m going to end up Sage of Untamed Magic,” Morgyn admitted quietly.
Ezio looked away from the stars, giving Morgyn a side glance, then looking ahead. “She’s probably right.”
“But you’re stronger than me,” Morgyn said.
“Am I?” Ezio asked. “I can barely stand up some days, Morgyn.”
As always, at mention of that, Morgyn visibly recoiled and winced slightly. Ezio released a sigh, moving around in front of Morgyn as they both came to a stop.
“I know you don’t like to think about it,” he said. “But it doesn’t change reality. I may magically be stronger, but physically, I am much weaker. That’s not a very good quality in a teacher and guide. But you, you’ve got enough energy for us both.”
“I can’t teach, Ezio,” Morgyn said.
“And why not?”
“I have no patience!”
“You did just fine teaching me Necrocall,” Ezio pointed out.
“That’s different! You’re you!”
“So pretend everyone is me.”
“But everyone is not you,” Morgyn answered, sounding perplexed, as if the blond couldn’t fathom why he’d even suggest that.
“Oh for the love of god.” Or the love of whatever higher power there was. A sigh escaped Ezio’s lips, as he raised a hand to his head. “You’ll do just fine,” he said. “Remember why you wanted to stay here in the first place. It’s possible that maybe, just maybe, there are others that feel the same way. Morgyn this is home. And we all have to do what we can to protect it, or we’re going to lose it. If that means being more patient, I think you can do it.”
“What if I can’t?” Morgyn asked.
“The All wouldn’t choose you if it didn’t think you could, Morgyn,” Ezio answered.
Yes, well, the All wasn’t exactly privy to what was in Morgyn’s heart. The only reason Morgyn loved Magic Realm so much was because this was where Ezio was. Because here was where Ezio came back to Morgyn, where they finally found peace. Morgyn didn’t deserve to be the next Sage. Sages weren’t so fucking selfish.
And yet, what was so wrong about being a little selfish from time to time?
“L. said something weird,” Morgyn said, looking down at the grass.
“Did she?” Ezio asked. Obviously Morgyn didn’t want to talk about being a sage anymore, and Ezio could play along. There were things in Morgyn’s head that needed to come out, sometimes. Ezio always just played sponge and absorbed them, sometimes pointed out ways Morgyn hadn’t thought about them.
“She seems to think I’m not female,” Morgyn said. Then, the blond laughed a little. “That’s preposterous, isn’t it? What else would I be? You don’t think I’m not a girl, right?”
Ezio arched one eyebrow upward, lips parting in mild surprise. And then he drew in a breath. “I’ve literally not called you ‘she’ since we were nine, Morgyn,” he said. “Of course I don’t think you’re a girl.”
“But if I’m not a girl, then what am I?” That didn’t make any sense. You were one or the other, right, you couldn’t be anything else. There was nothing else to be.
“Morgyn,” Ezio said. “I think you’re Morgyn.”
Morgyn stared at him, for a long moment, in confusion and Ezio could see the beginnings of panic in those green eyes.
“No, no,” he said, taking Morgyn’s hands. “Look, it’s fine if it doesn’t make sense right now, okay? It doesn’t have to right away. You can take the time and think about it, see how you feel about it, you don’t need answers now.”
“I just-“
“I know, I know it’s weird, I mean what else is there besides male or female anyway, gender is stupid but that’s another argument, Morgyn listen to me, you’re just you. And there is nothing wrong with you.”
“There’s a lot wrong with me,” Morgyn argued, and Ezio could hear the tears in the words, “I feel like a freak.”
“Morgyn, you’re not a freak,” Ezio said. “You’re you.”
“And me is so great,” Morgyn said.
“Of course,” Ezio said. “You’re my twin. And I love you just the way you are, quirks and all.”
“I think this is a bit beyond a quirk, Ezio.”
“I think it just makes you different, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with different.”
Morgyn blinked. The tears spilled over, and Ezio smiled, reaching up and brushing the tear track away.
“How do you always know what to say?” Morgyn asked.
“Because, I’m part of you, I guess?” Ezio said. “Or because I’ve just known you all your life, something like that. I love you. I always will.” Even now, he would always fight for Morgyn, even if he was fighting Morgyn.
“I love you, too,” Morgyn answered, sniffling. The blond’s head tilted down, watching their hands together. And then, a bright orange light came alive under them, and Morgyn loosed a quiet surprised gasp. Ezio did too, letting go and backing away. He knew what that was.
The light became brighter, swirling into a circular pattern with strange sigils in the design. As it became a column of bright, orange-red light, Ezio had to squint one eye closed and look away for a moment.
“NO!” Morgyn shrieked, as the light died.
“Morgyn, don’t fight it,” Ezio said.
“I don’t want it!” Morgyn answered.
Ezio sighed, reaching over and taking Morgyn’s hands. “Remember what I just said,” he said softly, tapping his forehead against Morgyn’s. The blond huffed, but started to calm down. “I believe in you, Morgyn. I always have, and I always will.”
