Chapter 32: Forget Your Running

Infra-Red, Placebo

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He had no idea what he was going to do. Ezio settled down on the floor beside the bed, one arm resting on it, watching Morgyn sleep. Mayor moved over and laid down on one of his ankles, and together they stood watch over the blond idiot that had no idea everything had just irrevocably changed. His hand moved, gently running Ezio’s fingers through Morgyn’s hair. After a moment, his fingers began to loose sparkles of golden magic, weaving spells into the blond strands.

Ezio hadn’t used defensive magic in so long, he almost didn’t recognise what it felt like. He had no idea what he was fighting here, had no idea what had even just happened, and it was difficult to fight enemies you couldn’t see, didn’t know. Ezio was going to be fighting blindly, and until he knew exactly what was going on, it was going to be difficult to make the right moves and the right choices. He knew that much.

Of course, he wanted to immediately go looking for Aine, but to be honest, he didn’t know where to even start on looking for her. It didn’t really matter, either. It was possible she was involved, yes, but maybe going straight for Aine wasn’t a smart idea, either. Ezio needed to be making smart choices. Diving headlong into trying to take down Morgyn’s mentor when there were times he had a little trouble taking Morgyn down, probably wasn’t on the list of smart ideas. On the other hand, he’d learnt since then. And a necromancer was a serious threat to another necromancer. That went both ways, though. Just like he was a serious threat to her, so too was she a serious threat to him, and in that sort of situation, he’d have to make sure he was the one that got the upper hand.

No, that was too dangerous and he needed to be here because Morgyn was too impulsive. As Ezio’s fingers wove spells into Morgyn’s hair, he could sense something fading away. It was almost the sense of wrongness, but it felt a little different. It fading would make it difficult to figure out what was, but neither did he want Morgyn half crippled over it, so he kept working.

Come to think of it, Morgyn was really impulsive. And it was entirely possible that the idiot would try to dive into this one headlong screaming geronimo. Magic realm, and Simeon and L for that matter, meant a lot to the blond, and while Ezio wouldn’t say they weren’t important to him, the fact was Morgyn was more so. Right now his main concern was keeping Morgyn out of the grasp of whatever the hell had just gotten to magic realm. The captain went down with the ship. Just not this particular captain.

Well, Morgyn wasn’t going to hear about this, then. It was quite easy to simply not tell the blond anything, and whenever the truth would’ve come out naturally if Ezio hadn’t interfered, then that’ll be when Morgyn learnt about it. Ezio wasn’t saying anything, at least not until he had a better idea of what was going on, or the universe gave him no other choice, whichever happened first.

Caleb had gone back across the hall, and set to making consomme. With any luck, this would be just like Morgyn had simply had a cold, and everything would go back to normal. At least, in Morgyn’s life. Ezio had some digging around to do, and maybe a few people to talk to. Actually, he wasn’t even sure where to start, but he guessed he’d better be figuring something out if he wanted to try and figure things out before Morgyn figured out there was something wrong.

The door opened, and then closed. Ezio glanced up to find Drake shuffling over and sitting down next to him. Neither of them said anything, for a moment, and truthfully, Ezio wasn’t sure what to say anyway. Eventually, Drake cleared his throat.

“How’s everything?” he asked.

Ezio shrugged. “Morgyn’s been sleeping since I got back, so I’m not really sure.”

Drake snorted. “I meant you. How are you?”

Oh. Well he guessed that answer was a little different, but then, Ezio wasn’t sure how he was. Drake had wandered in and Ezio had gotten nervous for some reason (some reason, he said). Truthfully, Ezio couldn’t wait until this awkward stage was over with, because he really didn’t like it very much. “I don’t know,” he said. “This is… messier than it looks like.”

“You went to magic realm, right?” Drake asked.

“I did.” Ezio almost wondered how he knew that, but Glimmerstones activating had a certain feel to it, so he supposed Drake just sensed his Glimmerstone doing its thing.

“They didn’t have any other ideas?”

Nope, just a lot of Morgen having no idea who he was, not speaking French, and Simeon saying things and forgetting them. That was curious behaviour, too. It still pointed towards some kind of mental tampering, either that or time manipulation, but one of these things was much easier to accomplish than the other was. What was curious was that Simeon was affected, and he was a sage. A quiet sage that was often sad about something (life, basically) and out in the garden, but he wasn’t exactly weak. Ezio’s hand stopped loosing magic into Morgyn’s hair, just petting the blond instead.

So that left the question of who, or what, could be strong enough to affect a sage like this. Presumably through the All’s barrier, too.

“Drake, something’s wrong,” Ezio said quietly.

“Well yeah, I can see that,” Drake answered, nodding at Morgyn.

“No, I mean…” Ezio gently nudged Mayor off his ankle, stood up, and, though he hesitated, he took Drake’s hand and led him out into the living room. He didn’t want Morgyn waking up, pretending to be asleep, and hearing this. “I mean, really wrong. I got there, and everyone was a little off, and then the gate broke down, I had to use necromancy to get around it. The gate just stopped working. Even Simeon was acting weird. I don’t even know where to start in fixing this, and don’t tell Morgyn.”

“Morgyn’s a sage, Ezio,” Drake argued.

“I know, but Morgyn’s also impulsive and doesn’t think ahead far enough,” Ezio said. “Until we know what it is we’re up against, I don’t want Morgyn going back to magic realm, or trying to deal with this the wrong way. Morgyn’s basically the only sage left.” And that was unfortunate, but it was what it was.

“Okay,” Drake said, breathing out. “So what’s your plan?”

“I have no idea,” Ezio answered. “I don’t know where to begin here, like I guess I can go bother the Essairs, but this seems like a stupid thing to bother them about.”

“They may be the only ones that have answers, though,” Drake said. “Or at least they should be able to point you in the right direction.”

Ideally, at least. Kassander had a habit of knowing more or less everything, too, so he could be invaluable for information on where to start on this. There was perhaps also the mystery book, but Ezio didn’t know that he trusted it very much, even now. Maybe especially now.

As he thought, Ezio realised he’d never let go of Drake’s hand. Quickly, he let go, and then backed away a step. Drake looked surprisingly disappointed, somehow.

“Sorry, just,” Ezio’s hand raised, pressing against his head. “I’m a bit off right now.”

“It’s fine,” Drake answered. “If I can help, somehow, just ask. We’re still friends, Ezio.”

Ezio looked up at him, and smiled. So they were. Ezio glanced back down at the floor, and then his gaze flicked back up to Drake. “I’m sorry, by the way,” Ezio said.

“What for?” Drake asked, looking genuinely confused.

Ezio shrugged, turning towards the kitchen. “I just… I know nothing actually changed, I just have to… figure it out in my head, or process it or something, I don’t know, it’s stupid and I’m sorry this messed everything up.”

“It’s okay,” Drake said. “Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit?”

“Yes,” Ezio said. And then the way his heart squeezed told him, “No. I don’t know. Ugh. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you still don’t have to apologise,” Drake said. “We’ll stay this way for now. And if you do want me to give you some space, just ask.”

Ezio smiled. “Thank you.” He should’ve expected that Drake would understand. He always did.

* * *

Just out of curiosity, Ezio went through the mystery book. Or rather, he tried. Strangely, he found that a lot of the pages weren’t in a language he couldn’t read, they were blank. He wasn’t so sure what that was all about, but he supposed it didn’t matter too much. Ezio pulled a notebook out from his pile of notebooks for school, and started making little notes of everything that he was sensing, and theories that he had, trying to make sense of any of this, but he knew that it’d be a while before anything began to come together. He needed answers, and currently his biggest issue was that he had no idea where to get those answers.

Actually… Ezio scribbled something into his notebook, and leaned back against the couch. Keisha, he’d written. She was the only sage that wasn’t crazy and also wasn’t in magic realm left that he could think of, besides Morgyn. She may have some ideas that he didn’t, but then he also wasn’t entirely sure where to find her. She’d lost her magic, so it was maybe next to impossible to find her through magical means. Unless…

Ezio stood up, and shuffled across the dining room to the bedroom. Quietly, he popped open the door. Morgyn was still asleep, thankfully (the blond hadn’t been sleeping since the headache became a problem, it’d seem), so Ezio knelt down. “Mayor,” he said. “Mayor, come here.”

The cat eventually scuttled over from the bed, where he was still watching over Morgyn, to the door. As he scooted out the door, Ezio closed it, and followed the cat. “I think it’s time you became a familiar,” he said.

Mayor’s ears twitched, and the cat tilted his head.

Ezio smiled, murmuring the words and raising the energy. He was already a little tired from that necromancy stint, but it wasn’t a dangerous sort of tired yet. The magic flowed through him, and across the floorboards to Mayor Whiskers. And it took a moment, but, Ezio could feel a slight click in the back of his head. Mayor’s ears turned up, and Ezio shifted the energy.

Coloured lights began to fall from Mayor’s fur. Ezio smiled. Then, he knelt down and held his hands out. Mayor jumped up and put his front paws in Ezio’s hands, and for a long moment, they simply stared at each other, Ezio focusing on Keisha and what she looked like the last time he’d seen her. He didn’t know scents, not like a cat would, but he hoped it was enough.

Mayor eventually unleashed a screech and went to the door. Ezio opened it, and Mayor ran off towards the staircase. Ezio went back into the apartment, closing the door, and shuffling to the bedroom, and then to the window. Soon enough, there was a trail of lights making its way down the street, and Ezio could only hope Mayor had a little luck. She was the only other idea Ezio had for figuring out what was going on and fixing this mess.

A knocking sound came from the front door, so Ezio went back out, and pulled the front door open.

“One pot of consomme, here you go,” Caleb said, holding up a large pot.

“Oh, smells good, Ezio said, stepping away from the door and letting Caleb in. The vampire went over to the kitchen and set the pot down on a counter. Ezio closed the door, and then settled down at the dining room table.

“How’s Morgyn doing?” Caleb asked softly, like he was afraid to, shuffling around the kitchen to make up a bowl.

“Sleeping,” Ezio said. “Quite soundly, now, actually.”

“That’s good,” Caleb said, loosing a relieved sigh. “What do you think’s wrong?”

“Probably just a nasty cold,” Ezio said, shrugging. Even if he did trust Caleb, which, to be fair, he did, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be the asshole that made Caleb Vatore keep secrets from Morgyn. If he asked either of the Vatores for help, it’d be Lilith. Simply because he probably just couldn’t do that to Caleb.

Caleb frowned. “So what’s the wrongness?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Ezio answered. And he still didn’t know what it was, so it wasn’t like that was a lie. “One thing at a time. For now, my main concern is just making sure Morgyn’s okay.”

“Yeah, sounds like you,” Caleb said, snorting, and then the vampire handed him a bowl of consomme.

“I’m fine,” Ezio said.

“No you’re not,” Caleb answered. “Your blood sugar’s low and I don’t remember you eating today.”

Ezio looked at him funny. Why was he paying attention to Ezio’s blood sugar and when he ate last?

“Did you forget who you’re talking to?” Caleb asked.

Ezio blinked, and then laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did,” he said, but he reached out and took the bowl.

Caleb smiled appreciatively, and then settled down across the table from him. “How’s your life going?” he asked.

Ezio looked up at him, and then shrugged. “Fine I guess,” he said. Well, maybe things weren’t so fine, but close enough, he thought.

“You just seemed a little nervous, and your anxiety keeps spiking off and on,” Caleb said. “So, I thought I’d just ask.”

Oh. Yeah, it would just be his luck that Caleb could sense that. Which meant, most likely, Drake could, too. Damn it. “I just… Morgyn decided to show me, not just tell me, that Drake is attracted to me. And now I have to figure out how to deal with that.”

“You didn’t know?” Caleb asked.

“No, not really,” Ezio answered. “I knew he cared about me, I just didn’t think it was actual attraction, if that makes sense.”

Caleb snorted, resting a hand under his chin. “Yeah, I don’t know how he manages to hide it the way he does,” Caleb said. “He’s way better at it than I am, that’s for sure. I take it Morgyn apologised, too?”

Ezio nodded. “Yeah, not long before I came and got the idiot’s clothes from you.”

“That’s good then,” Caleb said. “Morgyn was pretty sure you were never going to speak again. I’m glad that was wrong. One of you without the other just isn’t right, you know?”

Ezio snorted, smiling somewhat lopsided. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

* * *

Morgyn was sleeping late this morning, but Ezio didn’t expect much else. He didn’t sleep well that night, his mind being too preoccupied with trying to think up any other potential leads on this magic realm situation. He supposed, he could also return to Glimmerbrook and see if he could get anything off the portal at the top of the waterfall, that might have some clue or another. It also may not.

Ezio was seated at the dining room table. He’d turned the coffee pot on a few minutes ago, but he wasn’t actually sure when Morgyn would wake up, and honestly, whether Morgyn would wake up or not. Since Caleb had brought over the entire pot of consomme, it would be a lot easier to set it on the stove and heat it up. Ezio didn’t mind it any, but he hoped Morgyn would be feeling better today. Ezio had found Morgyn’s class schedule, and thankfully the idiot didn’t have to go to class until this afternoon. Still, Ezio didn’t want Morgyn missing the first classes, that probably wouldn’t do much to endear the blond to any of the professors on that list.

Somewhere between the sports section and the weather, his phone vibrated against the table. Ezio frowned a little, but he reached over and picked it up. Cassandra’s picture popped up on his phone screen when he turned it on.

Was just thinking about you and thought I’d say something. I hope you’re having a good day. ♥

Ezio smiled slightly, and then tapped the reply button.

I hope you are, too. Are you at the gallery today? She was usually at the Casbah Gallery, or across the street from it, selling her paintings. That was where they’d met, the Casbah Gallery. Turned out, twenty-something girls arguing with museum employees was very attention-grabbing.

I am, yeah. Low traffic today, so I probably won’t be here long.

After a moment of debating, Ezio picked his phone up, went into the bedroom to go through his dresser and get a pair of pants, something that didn’t look like he’d just rolled out of bed, went into the bathroom to change, grabbing a light jacket on the way, and then he transportalated to an alleyway very close to the gallery. He’d teleported there several times before. Ezio shuffled out of the alley, peeking around the corner this way and that, and then found where Cassandra was. She had a little table set up and was sitting down at it. She didn’t seem to be garnering a lot of attention, so apparently it was indeed low-traffic today. That was just as well. It meant they had more time to talk.

Ezio shuffled over there, shrugging the jacket on, and then stopped right beside her.

“Oh!” Cassandra started slightly, and then looked up at him. “Oh, it’s you. I mean it’s you, wait, if I knew you were coming I would’ve brought another chair-“

“It’s okay,” Ezio said, laughing slightly. The pressure in his head, just behind his eyes, seemed to melt away, and suddenly he could breathe easier. It was like somehow she took the weight off him just by being around. He didn’t know what that meant. Well, his heart did, maybe. His head would figure it out eventually.

“Here, you can have mine-” she said, starting to stand up.

Ezio reached over and gently nudged her back down into her seat. “No, seriously, it’s okay,” he said. “I can stand for a bit, I’ve been on my butt all morning.”

Cassandra made a face, but she didn’t try to get back up. “Okay,” she said.

“Besides, I wanted to look at your paintings,” he said, shuffling over to the display board she had them on, his boots tapping audibly on the walkway. In a few days or so, maybe a week, the spring rains would start. Ezio didn’t dislike spring, but it always felt like winter didn’t last long enough to him. Of course it did.

Cassandra watched him with an almost tangible apprehension, like she really cared what he saw when he looked at the board. He tried not to think about it too much, and simply looked from one painting to the other. Mostly, she did abstract work, but once in a while, you’d find a very interesting monster or two in them.

One caught his eye, a swirl of colour and darkness, and it almost reminded him of the darkness that was always there when he saw Makana. He glanced at Cassandra, and then back to the painting. But the more he stared at it, the more sure he was that he wanted that one. Grey eyes flicked down to the price tag under it, and then he took the painting off the board, reaching into a pocket and dropping money into Cassandra’s lap.

“Again?” she said, squeaking slightly in surprise.

“Of course,” Ezio said, smiling. “I like your paintings. They’re almost as pretty as you are.”

Cassandra turned about the colour of a tomato, and Ezio smiled.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was very forward of me.”

Cassandra shook her head. “No, it’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“I forgot to ask, by the way, if maybe you’d be up for dinner with me sometime?” Ezio asked quietly.

She spent so long staring at him, Ezio almost took it back, but then eventually she nodded, rather enthusiastically.

Ezio smiled. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll um. We’ll make plans later.”

“Okay.” Cassandra went quiet, chewing at her bottom lip for a moment. “So, has your day been okay?”

“Yeah,” Ezio answered, shifting his weight, making sure he wasn’t leaning on the canvas. “Just a little worried. Morgyn’s by and feeling a bit under the weather. I came by mostly to try and get my mind off it for a while.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” she said. “Who’s Morgyn?”

Oh, right, “Ah, my twin,” Ezio answered.

“Brother or…?”

“Just, my twin,” Ezio said. “Morgyn’s agender, and I don’t use any gendered words, but you can use masculine ones.”

“Wow, how do you avoid using those?” Cassandra asked.

“A lot of work and some occasional rewording,” Ezio said. “It’s second nature to me now, almost. Just takes some practice that’s all. I’ve been doing that since we were kids. Like, way before Morgyn even figured out what being agender is, let alone that the dolt is agender.”

Cassandra smiled. “That sounds kind of nice,” she said. “But I guess twins are a little closer than siblings usually are.”

Ezio shrugged. “I’ve never had a sibling that isn’t Morgyn, so I don’t know.”

“My little brother, Alex, and I are kind of close,” Cassandra said. “But there are times when I don’t really understand him, and I’m sure he doesn’t always get me either. … is Morgyn really sick?”

Ezio shrugged. “I’m not sure,” he said. “Morgyn’s been sleeping since yesterday. I just worry a lot, I guess, but Morgyn’s not the cautious one of us, so to say. Actually, the idiot’s really bad at self-care.” Well, so was Ezio, to be fair about it, just in a slightly different way.

“Oh, I see,” Cassandra said. “I’m sorry, that must be kind of difficult.”

Ezio snorted. “Technically, I’m disabled, so I got used to this a long time ago, this waiting thing. It’s just a little different when it’s not me everyone’s waiting for, I guess. It’ll be okay.” Yeah, but he had no idea what to do if it wasn’t, and for that matter, little idea of what to do if it was.

Cassandra didn’t say anything, just silently took his hand in hers. The tension in his shoulders relaxed. She didn’t say it, but he could sense it. It felt like, it was okay to be worried. How did she do that, anyway?

Well, maybe that one would have to remain one of her many mysteries, at least, for a little longer. Ezio smiled, slightly, and then shuffled over to her, sitting down on the pavement, and laid his head on her leg.

She was starting to feel like home, too.

* * *

Morgyn had woken up long enough to eat something, and then went right back to lying down. Fortunately, the dork only missed two classes, and they were busy going over the syllabus. It was still early, and Morgyn still had time to make a decent impression on the professors, which would probably go a long way in getting through university.

Ezio was almost done. This was his last term, and then he was done, and he kept thinking about it because it was a decent motivator. He didn’t want to get this far and then decide to quit and give up, but sometimes he was a little tempted to do just that.

Morgyn was lying against his side, curled up against him, while he sat with Drake’s laptop and typed his term paper. Drake was out in the living room using a good old fashioned pen and paper to write, but he preferred to do it that way sometimes. Ezio wouldn’t claim to understand why, but he supposed the why, exactly, didn’t really matter anyway. It was more about what Drake was most comfortable with, and Ezio couldn’t really say what that was anyway.

He was having a lot of trouble focusing on his term paper, though. The painting he’d bought from Cassandra was hanging on his wall, now, next to the other three that he’d bought since he’d met her. His eyes kept wandering back to it, but his mind kept thinking about magic realm. Mayor Whiskers hadn’t come back, but he didn’t suspect the cat would be back quite that quickly. He did hope that Mayor would have the sense to come back if he got sick or couldn’t find enough food or something. Mayor was a street-savvy cat, so Ezio wasn’t really that worried, but he was still worried.

And what if he never found Keisha, and never came back? No, that wouldn’t happen. Ezio could summon him back here, if he felt like he needed to, which he’d give Mayor a few days before he made the cat come back. No, what was more concerning was, what if Mayor didn’t find Keisha, just in general? Because then he’d have to come up with another plan to figure out what was wrong in magic realm and how to fix it. He supposed he could fall back on the gate that was on this side. But then that may tell him absolutely nothing and then he’d be right back here and ugh! There should be some kind of a ‘here’s what to do if you get randomly thrown out of magic realm and the gates stop working’ guidebook.

Actually, there might be… magic realm had a number of spirits in it, that was how he’d gotten the gate working again long enough to himself and Emilia out.

Oh, come to think of it, Emilia. Ezio frowned to himself, tapping his thumb rapidly against the side of the laptop, and then he reached around Morgyn, grabbed his phone, and went looking for Emilia’s number. They were on decent terms, and Ezio helped her out with things Morgyn couldn’t explain sometimes. Minerva was awfully pushy about Emilia getting a handle on magic and quickly, like, before the wedding. Something about a Charm couldn’t be so bad with spellwork or whatever, Ezio had kind of tuned it out.

Ah, this one was her. Or at least, he hoped it was. Hey Emilia? Do me a favour, and don’t tell anyone about what happened in magic realm. Most especially, not Morgyn.

It was a few minutes before she answered. I can do that. I tried to tell Minerva, but she didn’t believe me anyway.

That was odd. Minerva would’ve been really interested in that, so it was strange that she hadn’t taken any interest in it. Ezio shook his head, more to himself than anything. Do you know where I live, by chance?

Nope. You didn’t tell me.

Good. Have a good night.

Ezio set his phone down on the night stand, and leaned back a little more. He still wasn’t sure where to start looking for answers if Keisha fell through, and the wrongness could be just about anything. With magic realm cut off from him, he couldn’t easily figure out where that was coming from, though it was stronger in the realm. That was a curious thing, and maybe something to keep in mind. But, as long as Emilia didn’t know where his apartment was, then she couldn’t accidentally tell anyone that didn’t need to know where Morgyn was right now.

He didn’t know if whatever was after magic realm would be after Morgyn, of course, but it stood to reason. Morgyn was the last sage that wasn’t in the realm, and it was entirely possible that something that wanted the realm would want the sages. They were strongest in the realm, and the realm was strongest with them in it. That was how it worked, a kind of symbiotic relationship.

Come to think of it, just damage to magic realm could theoretically be causing Morgyn’s symptoms, because Morgyn was intrinsically tied to the realm in a way no one really understood anymore. That symbiotic relationship had been established millennia ago, and none of the witches that had been alive then had really left records of how it worked. If Morgyn’s issues were stemming from damage to magic realm, then sooner or later, Morgyn would figure out where it was coming from. Of course, Ezio didn’t know if Aine had taught Morgyn how to tell when it was the realm that was having problems and not the sage. Actually, he wasn’t sure if the sages even knew that anymore, it was entirely possible that this knowledge had been lost to the sands of time the same as everything else about the realm.

What did they even know about their own home, anyway? As Ezio was figuring out, about fucking nothing, and the realisation was a little uncomfortable to have.

Ezio drew a breath in, and then shoved the laptop down his legs. It wasn’t like he was paying any attention to his term paper right now anyway. Of course, he wasn’t a sage. Maybe he shouldn’t even be messing with any of this because quite frankly, it wasn’t his problem. And it wasn’t like Morgyn had done literally fucking anything for him recently, so why was he doing Morgyn favours?

That wasn’t fair. Ugh. Morgyn was busy, of course the dolt didn’t have time to be out here with him doing him favours, and like that was the reason why Ezio did anything for Morgyn anyway. Okay, now that he apparently had gotten the minor selfish thought out of the way… Ezio reached over and picked his phone up, typing out a couple notes to himself, and then set it back down. Whatever he’d done to Morgyn had managed to put the sage to sleep, and maybe the blond needed it. Hopefully, everything would start to make sense tomorrow, because Ezio was kind of slamming his head into a brick wall at the moment.

* * *

He was running. If he remembered this hallway right, marble floors, columns every so often, candles in frosted glass wall sconces against blue wallpaper, all he had to do was turn the corner at the end, and it would lead out into the garden. Something hurt, but he couldn’t immediately identify what, and it was confusing, but Ezio didn’t think about it too hard.

“You can’t run from me,” a voice said, and the sound of it made Ezio’s heart leap into his throat, and he almost devolved into a panic. No, he had to keep running. He had to keep moving, he couldn’t stop.

His leg, it was his leg that hurt, and judging by the sensation he was getting from it, he was going to assume it was broken. That was making it very difficult to run, but he couldn’t stop. He could see the light from the door that went outside on the floor. He was so close, just a little further-

A sharp pain shot up his arm, and Ezio screeched. Someone behind him grabbed him by the neck, pulling him backwards, and then he hit the bed. Some corner of his mind registered that this was a strange transition, but it didn’t quite register. Instead, what registered was light blue eyes, staring at him from a pale face, hovering inches above him. He couldn’t quite make out the details, but neither did he try to, before he was screaming and kicking.

The hand around his throat tightened. It took a few pulls, but Ezio realised both his arms were pinned down by something else. He could feel it, and desperately did not want to, as a hand trailed down his side, over his hip. An almost-caress that instead set his nerves on edge. The sharp pain up his backside hid the feel of someone else in him, but he knew what it was.

“Don’t, please-” he whispered around the tears in his throat, and lips met his own. There was no love there. Ezio didn’t think Jean could love.

“You will always be mine,” Jean answered. “Even when I am gone, I will never leave. I will always live right here, Ezio, right here in your head, where you can never hide from me. Remember it. You are mine.”

Another sharp pain shot up his arm, and then it felt like something hit his side, but Jean hadn’t moved, and then suddenly he was shoving the coffee table towards the television stand, fighting against the blanket he’d fallen asleep with. The sound of his own screaming eventually registered, as he got loose of the fabric and stood up, panting heavily, crying so hard the whole world had become one big formless blob and he didn’t care. He could still feel it, he could feel Jean in him, touching him, he could feel the lingering traces of him on his skin, and before he knew what he was doing, he was trying to pull the feeling of Jean out of his skin, and there was pain.

“Ezio,” someone said, but he didn’t register it, the sound of his heartbeat loud in his ears, you will always be mine, mine, mine–

“What happened?” another voice asked.

“Just, go back to sleep,” the first said. “I’ve got this one. I think.”

“He’s bleeding everywhere-“

“I know, just, go back to sleep, I don’t want to overwhelm him and you can barely see straight.”

Ezio couldn’t hold still, wringing his hands, waving them in the air, crying hard enough that he couldn’t breathe, it felt like he was dying and at the moment, that would be welcome, he had to get away from it. Away from what, he had no idea, Jean, this, everything, where was he? What year was it? Never mind, it didn’t matter, he backed into the wall, a loud shriek unleashed and he jerked away from it, fell to the floor with a loud crashing sound, and stared at the wall. There was red smeared across the paint, left behind from where he’d touched it, but it didn’t register what that meant.

It was so loud. His fear was so loud, he couldn’t think around it, he couldn’t breathe-

“Ezio…” one of the voices said again. Ezio registered that it was someone talking to him. “You’re safe, Ezio. Everything will be okay.”

“No, he’s still in my head, I can’t get him out of my head,” Ezio spluttered, curling up and holding his head.

“He’s not here, Ezio, he’s gone now,” the voice answered. After a moment, Ezio recognised that was Drake talking to him, and he looked up at him. Just like everything else, Drake was just a blur, but something in him knew he was right and he was okay. It was okay. Drake was here, everything was just fine.

Drake didn’t say anything else, knelt down on the floor watching Ezio as he was. After a moment or two, he held his arms out. Ezio’s breath was still coming in rapid, short bursts, he couldn’t make anything out, had no idea which side of the living room he was even on, didn’t even care. His hands slid out of his hair, and waved in the air, but then he scooted across the floor, and clung to Drake.

Drake always made it better, Drake could make it better again.

“Breathe,” Drake said softly, but it was more the sound of his voice that Ezio was paying attention to, the sound of him breathing beneath Ezio’s ear, he needed something else to focus on, anything, he almost didn’t even care what. Just slightly, he could feel something playing with his hair, probably Drake, but he was still talking, mumbling words that may or may not even make any sense in context, but were something besides the roaring in Ezio’s head.

And he cried, for so long his throat felt dry and raw, and slowly, the memories of Jean faded away again, drowned out by Drake talking to him.

As Ezio’s breathing slowed down, and his heart rate became less rapid, Drake leaned over. “Let me see your arms,” he said, softly.

“Why?” Ezio asked, looking up at him.

“You made yourself bleed,” Drake answered. “I can feel it soaking into my shirt.”

Ezio squeaked, immediately letting go and backing away.

“I don’t mind,” Drake said. “I just don’t want it to get infected, that’s all.”

Ezio took a few breaths in, still calming down somewhat, and wordlessly held his arms up. The world was still a formless blob, and Ezio didn’t care any.

Drake gently took a hold of his hands, and started cleaning the blood off. “You sure did a number this time,” Drake said softly.

Ezio didn’t say anything, just ducked his head, and started crying again. “Mmmm’sorry,” eventually made its way out of his throat.

“Ezio, it’s okay,” Drake said. “I’m not angry at you.” The vampire reached up, brushing away some of Ezio’s tears. Finally, Ezio could see what he meant, long, red scratches down Ezio’s arms like he’d literally tried to claw Jean out of his skin. It hadn’t worked, anyway.

Drake was always saving him, like this. Always knew what to do. Ezio didn’t know where he’d be without him. No, maybe he did. If Ezio had never met Drake, he’d have died in France. Yeah, that sounded right.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Drake asked.

Ezio shook his head.

“Okay,” Drake answered. “I’ll listen, if you ever change your mind, you know that right?”

The tears were still falling, just not as rapidly. Ezio nodded mutely. He knew. But maybe there was a difference between knowing, and doing, because even as he knew it, he still couldn’t always bring himself to say anything. And suddenly, he was afraid, all over again, the feeling gripping his heart, and the fear was so strong, the tears almost came thicker for a moment. Afraid that someday Drake wouldn’t be here anymore, and Ezio would be alone with the feeling of Jean on his skin and his words echoing in his head and Ezio didn’t think he was strong enough to face that alone.

“Are we going to be okay?” Ezio asked, his voice still thick with tears. “I don’t wanna lose you.”

Drake released a sigh. “Ezio, as long as you still want me here, I will always be here,” Drake answered. “But I won’t push you into something you don’t want. I want you to choose me, too, like I chose you.”

Ezio was quiet, watching him, for some reason, because he couldn’t see anything again, as the tears welled up and his chest started hurting. He’d have to take a pill later, probably, but right now, he didn’t want to let go of Drake. A whine loosed, and Ezio started crying all over again, leaned forward, and rested against Drake’s collar bone. Drake, patient as he was, stopped trying to fix his arm, and instead wrapped his arms around Ezio, and just let him cry.

Ezio wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard it, or if he just really wanted to, when Drake very quietly whispered, “I love you,” into his hair.

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