Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Written for Fictober 2018.  Day 1 prompt: “Can you feel this?”

Kendra relaxed on the couch and observed as the loves of her life interacted with each other.  Baby Ava had just recently discovered her toes, and she spent quite a lot of time these days curled up in a ball while grabbing onto her feet and bringing them to her mouth.  She had also discovered her vocal chords and had taken to chirping, giggling and cooing – especially when someone was speaking with her, which was what Bracken had been doing for the past several minutes.  He spoke to her in such a gentle, cheerful voice and Ava babbled right back to him, seemingly trying to mimic his tone and cadence.  She was barely four months old, yet she clearly already held her father’s heart in the palm of her tiny hand.  Kendra couldn’t help but smile as she listened to the two of them while she closed her eyes.  She felt safe, warm, and cozy with her little family.  In fact, she started to relax so much that her tired body and mind started to drift off into a peaceful half-asleep state when Ava started giggling up a storm.

This prompted Kendra to sleepily open her eyes and watch the scene.

Bracken had removed Ava from her bouncer and laid her on a blanket on the floor, then had crouched over her on his hands and knees and started making funny faces at her.  What really sent Ava off into the throes of laughter, however, was when her father started mercilessly kissing her face, cheeks, hands and feet. He pulled up her onesie and blew a raspberry on her belly.  She giggled so loudly that Kendra couldn’t help but start to chuckle, too.

“Oh, who’s the sweetest baby in the world?  Hmm?  Who’s the sweetest baby with the most contagious little laugh?” Bracken asked his daughter, grinning from ear to ear.  She flailed her hands around his face, trying to grab at something.  Eventually she successfully snagged one of his nostrils – he hadn’t moved his head out of the way in time, and he grimaced as she pulled on it.  “Yikes, little one,” he began, reaching for her hand and removing it from his nose. “Your fingernails are sharp.”  He backed his face away and smiled down at her again with open adoration, then diverted his attention to his wife.

“Can you feel this?” he asked Kendra.  “This happiness?  Can’t you just feel it?”

Kendra felt a surge of affection for this wonderful man of hers. “Yes,” she answered, her own wide smile still gracing her features.

Bracken scooped Ava into his arms and stood up, then walked over to the couch and sat next to where Kendra had propped herself up with pillows.  He tickled Ava a little before passing her over to her mother.  Kendra held her arms open wide to receive her daughter, and Ava kicked her legs and giggled in excitement.  Yes, she could definitely feel the happiness in their home.  The joy in their daughter.  The love between the three of them.  She felt it in her core, and she couldn’t ask for more.

Chapter Text

Fictober 2018, Day 2 Prompt: “People like you have no imagination.”

“Really?  That’s the best you can come up with?” Warren asked, quirking one eyebrow upward as he shot Seth a quizzical look.

“What’s wrong with this?” Seth replied, his tone of voice slightly defensive.

“People like you have no imagination.”

Seth narrowed his eyes and gestured to himself. “Did you really just accuse me of not having an imagination?”

Warren didn’t hesitate.  “Yes!  It’s Halloween, Seth!  You can wear ANY costume on the planet, and you choose to be a ghost?  You’re literally wearing a sheet with holes cut out for your eyes.  How much more… bland can you get?”

The teenaged boy feigned offense by sticking his nose up in the air and crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t see you in a costume,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, Warren. Where’s your costume?” a new voice chimed in.  Kendra had entered the room.

“You too.  Really?!” Warren pointed at Kendra’s outfit – she’d dressed up as a fairy, complete with glittery wings. “You don’t get enough fairy-ness in a normal day or something?”

Kendra shrugged her shoulders. “I like fairies. What can I say?”

“Why are you so wound up about this?” Seth asked. “So what if we went for the direct approach this year?  Why does it matter?”

“I’m insulted.  Halloween is when you’re supposed to be something you’re not.”

Seth and Kendra shared a look, and then Kendra said, “Umm… Warren, I hate to break it to you but Seth isn’t a ghost in real life, and I’m not a fairy either.”

“Whatever,” Warren said.  “Next thing I know, Vanessa’s going to walk in here dressed like a vampire and then Bracken will follow with a fake unicorn horn on his head.”

Kendra and Seth both started snickering at that. “Vanessa as a vampire… Bracken as a unicorn… that’d be perfect!” the brother of the duo cried.  Kendra clapped her hands in agreement as she laughed.

Vanessa took that as her opportunity to enter the room.  Like Warren, she was not wearing a costume. “Hey you two.  Great costumes.  Kendra, that dress looks amazing on you,” she commented, motioning with her hand for Kendra to spin around so she could see the back. “A fairy.  How perfect for you.”

“Thanks,” Kendra replied. “Warren thinks I’m boring.”

Vanessa turned to Warren and lightly swatted him on the arm. “She is not boring.”

“Seth is a ghost and Kendra is a fairy.  Really?” Warren answered.

“You’re not even wearing a costume,” Vanessa retorted. “It’s Halloween.  They can wear what they want to wear.”

“That’s exactly my point –”

“Hey everyone, hope I’m not late,” Bracken said as he walked into the living room where they were all gathered, then shot a questioning look at Seth as Warren smacked the palm of his hand into his face.  “Did I miss something?”

Kendra smiled brightly and ran over to greet Bracken with a hug before pulling away from him and pointing to Warren. “He thinks we’re all boring.”

“Would you stop saying that?” Warren asked.  “I didn’t say boring.  You’re putting words in my mouth.”

“Sure,” Seth countered, “Because ‘people like you have no imagination’ totally doesn’t sound like ‘boring.’”

“Uncreative.  All of you.  Not the same as boring.”

“Sounds like ‘boring’ to me, too,” Bracken stated.  He pointed at Warren and asked, “Where’s your costume?  I thought we were all going to the party.”

“I’m too old for dress-up parties,” Warren replied. Bracken quirked an eyebrow in his direction at that comment, then motioned to himself. “Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re older than dirt.  What are you supposed to be, anyway?”

Bracken looked slightly put out at Warren’s remark, then began, “I am not older than dirt, thankyouverymuch.  I’m a prince.” He pulled a crown out of the cloth bag he was carrying and placed it on his head, then fished around in the bag for another moment before pulling out an additional one.  He took the second crown and placed it on Kendra’s head. “And you are my princess,” he stated, giving her a sweet smile.

Kendra blushed while she grinned, then said, “Hang on, I’ll be right back!” before dashing out of the room.

Warren simply rolled his eyes and then grunted as Vanessa elbowed him in the ribs. “What was that for?” he whined.

Vanessa just leveled a glare at him which clearly conveyed the message to knock it off.  Or else.

“I’m just saying – there was one year when Dale and I dressed up like astronaut pirate ninjas!  I mean, come on!  You can be anything for Halloween!”

Seth laughed out loud and Bracken pretended to cough in order to cover up his own guffaw. “Astronaut pirate ninjas?! What would that even look like?!” the boy shouted.

Vanessa hid her own amused grin behind her hand as Kendra re-entered the room with a second set of cheap fairy wings, which she gave to Bracken.  He accepted her gift and opened his mouth to say something, but Warren interrupted first.

“Fairy princess… and fairy prince. I give up. You all are so lame.”

“What’s lame?” came a new voice.  Everyone turned to see Dale walk into the room wearing a white button-up shirt with a black tie and fake glasses.  The look really flattered him and showed off his muscular build.

“Hey, Dale,” Kendra greeted him. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes indeed,” Dale cheerfully responded. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”

Warren openly gaped at his brother. “What’s your problem?” Dale asked. “And where’s your costume?”

“Me?” Warren started. “You’re going to the party looking like that?  After all of the amazing Halloween costumes we’ve ever worn, you’re going to wear that?”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Dale looked down at his shirt. “Did I spill something on myself?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Vanessa informed him. “You look great.”

“You look like someone who works in an office,” Warren said. “A really buff office worker. What, are you trying to pick up a girlfriend or something?”

“Some of us don’t want to spend the rest of our lives single,” Dale retorted, rolling his eyes. “Speaking of…” He diverted his attention to Vanessa. “Has he asked you out yet?  Because if he hasn’t done so by now, then I’d assume it’s probably never going to happen so maybe you and I—”

“Aaaaaaand we’re leaving!” Warren shouted out, stepping between his brother and Vanessa and motioning everyone toward the door with his hands.  Dale chuckled at that and Vanessa blew a kiss at him with an amused smile on her face.  Warren visibly reddened at the exchange.

“Are you really dressed up as an office worker?” Seth asked Dale as they left the house and walked toward the cars.

“Eh,” Dale started, then struck a superhero pose and pulled open his white shirt to reveal a second shirt underneath with the Superman ‘S’ on it.  “I’m Clark Kent.”

“Nice,” Seth said, giving Dale an approving fist bump. “Vanessa, are you coming with us too?”

“Oh yeah,” she answered.  She pulled a set of plastic vampire fangs out of her purse and popped them into her mouth, then winked at Seth who started laughing. 

The sound caught Warren’s attention and when he saw Vanessa’s fake teeth, he threw his hands up in the air in an exasperated fashion and announced, “Seriously.  No imagination.”

“Wait until he finds out that I’m actually dressed up like him under this sheet,” Seth whispered to Dale conspiratorially.

Chapter Text

Their days on board the Lady Luck were long and eerily contemplative.  A lot of the time was spent in silence or with soft-spoken voices, although the satyrs would try to rile them all up every once-in-a-while.

Vanessa was no idiot.  She was quite sharp and very observant; everyone was obviously working on making peace with the idea of death.  As for her, she’d thought she was a goner a long time ago.  She’d made about as much peace with death as she ever would.  Yes, she had made some bad decisions.  She had regrets for sure, not least of which was trusting the Sphinx.  There was one particular regret which was presently overshadowing her the most, however, and he was currently sitting about a hundred feet away from her.

Warren.

She regretted a lot where he was concerned.  They did have a past, but had she known then what she knew now… Things might be different.

The Sphinx had been very convincing.  Charismatic.  He had taken her in when she had nowhere else to go, had cared for her, taught her a lot, promised a better future for all living beings, and she had believed him.  Worked for him.  Become a double-agent for him.  Eventually she fell for him and she thought he returned her feelings, until he locked her away without so much as batting an eye.

She’d had a lot of time to think over the previous months while she’d been locked in away in the dungeon at Fablehaven. In that time, she’d come to understand that the Sphinx was a master of manipulation and she had been a victim of his lies.

She looked again at Warren.  He had never lied to her.  They had worked together quite a few times when she had been operating as a spy for the Society of the Evening Star.  Warren had all but outright told her that he was interested in dating her in the past.  She had flirted and teased in response, but refused to go any further with it and Warren had respected her boundaries.  He hadn’t known her reasons for keeping her distance back then, although he was plenty aware of them now.

She’d tried to talk to him the previous day.  He’d looked at her and maintained eye contact while she’d stumbled through an underwhelming and awkward apology of sorts, and then he’d interrupted her with a simple but very poignant question.  Really, she should have expected it.  She should have been aware of how much those words would cut her.

“How can I trust you?”

How indeed.

Chapter Text

Seth sat in his school’s office, hunched over in his chair with his face in his hands.  He’d been in this situation before, so it wasn’t like being in trouble was a foreign concept.  And, truth be told, he usually deserved it.  Today was different, though – he was in worse trouble than usual, and it wasn’t his fault.

Grandpa Sorenson had been the one to answer the phone call from his school and, as such, was the person who eventually walked into the office when the principal had said that she wanted to have a discussion with one of Seth’s legal guardians.  He was behind a closed door now with Principal Smith and had been there for a few minutes already.  Seth looked up at the door and then gazed around the room he was currently sitting in, eventually making eye contact with one of the secretaries.

“Hi, Seth,” she said, smiling tightly at him.  He was there too often.  She knew him by his first name in a school of 900 or more students.

“Hi, Nancy,” he answered, then bowed his head again and re-planted his face in his hands.

“You know, one of these days you’re going to get yourself into real trouble,” Nancy chided. “You really should start behaving better in class.”

“Yes, Nancy.  I know.” Seth’s tone of voice was almost bored.

He didn’t have to look up at her to know she was rolling her eyes at him.

The door to the principal’s office opened and then Ms. Smith made her way out to where Seth sat.  She stood in front of him and asked him to come into her office to join his grandfather.  Seth stood up and followed her into the room.  She closed the door behind him, then motioned for him to take a seat.

Seth looked at Grandpa Sorenson before he sat down and could tell that his grandfather was not happy.  He hesitantly lowered himself into the chair next to his grandpa and looked at Principal Smith.

“Seth, your grandfather and I have been talking about what happened earlier today,” she began. “Would you like to tell us about it in your words?”

He shrugged his shoulders in response. “Will it make a difference, or have I already been sentenced?” he asked.

Principal Smith clasped her hands together and placed them neatly on top of her desk. “That depends on several factors,” she said. “Angela was pretty clear about her version of the events.”

“She didn’t see what actually happened, though,” Seth stated. “She made some wrong conclusions.”

“How about you explain it to me, then?” Principal Smith asked.

Seth looked at Grandpa Sorenson who sent him a pointed look as if to say, let’s hear it.

He exhaled and then launched into his story. “Mike, Andrew and I were goofing off at recess.  We had a basketball and were tossing it back and forth to each other while we were walking around outside.  Mike noticed something weird on one of the walls – we couldn’t really tell what it was, so we went up to check it out and found some cans of spray paint on the ground and some graffiti on the wall.  Andrew picked up one of the paint cans and that’s when Angela showed up out of nowhere and accused us of vandalism.  We told her we didn’t do it, but she ran off and reported us anyway.  The paint was already there; we really didn’t do it.”

Principal Smith sat up a little straighter in her chair, then narrowed her gaze at Seth. “Angela told me that she saw you – specifically you – painting on the walls.”

“Well she was wrong,” Seth said.

“I don’t suppose Angela has any sort of proof to show that Seth was spray painting?” Grandpa Sorenson chimed in.

Ms. Smith turned her attention to the older man in the room. “No, she doesn’t,” she started.  Grandpa interrupted her before she could continue.

“So then why is Seth here instead of in his classroom?”

“Seth is here fairly often,” Principal Smith responded.

Grandpa sat back in his chair, then asked, “What does that have to do with this incident?”

Seth, who had been quite ready to argue on his own behalf, instead crossed his arms and looked back and forth between his Grandfather and the Principal while they conversed.

“He frequently is sent to this office for a wide range of reasons, usually to do with misbehaving in class.  I’ve noticed that children who regularly have behavioral issues in class tend to escalate from minor problems to major ones.”

“In other words, you believe Angela’s story over Seth’s.”

Principal Smith steepled her forefingers together and paused for a moment to collect her thoughts.  Grandpa spoke again before she opened her mouth.

“Have you spoken with Mike or Andrew, to ascertain their version of events?”

She pursed her eyebrows together, but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Well, Ms. Smith, it sounds to me that you have some additional investigating to do before you can adequately rain down consequences upon my grandson’s head,” Grandpa Sorenson stated.

“Mr. Sorenson,” she began, “I have no reason to doubt Angela’s words–”

“Ms. Smith,” Grandpa interrupted. “We live in a society which believes in the idea that the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Sorenson – may I call you Stan? – Seth has a track record.  He has repeatedly—”

“Seth is not a liar, Mary,” Grandpa stated. “He has owned up to all of his previous wrongdoings, and I believe him when he says that he did not vandalize his school.  If I were you, I would question Angela’s motives for accusing my grandson of something he did not do, and I would collect statements from the other two witnesses who were present on the scene this afternoon before jumping to unfounded conclusions.  Now if you will excuse me, I need to get on my way and I will be escorting Seth home seeing as the end of the school day is in five minutes as is.”  He stood up and put a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Will that be all?”

Principal Smith looked at both of them with her mouth agape for a moment, then she spoke. “Of course.  I apologize for the misunderstanding.  I will investigate the situation further and will let you know if any consequences will be in order for Seth.”

“Thank you,” Stan answered, then guided Seth out of the office and into his car.

“Grandpa,” Seth began once Stan sat down in his seat and buckled his seat belt, “Do you really believe me?”

“Seth, I won’t pretend I’m not bothered by the fact that you’re in the school office so often that you speak to the secretary by her first name,” he replied.  “Don’t think I missed that. You are more concerned with being the class clown than with actually learning anything at school, and I am not impressed by that behavior.” He reached over and again grabbed hold of Seth’s shoulder. “But you are not a liar.  You know when you’ve messed up and you are quick to own your mistakes.  That’s called accountability.  You have a good sense of that and, while you constantly expose me to endless levels of frustration due to your various shenanigans, I know that I can trust you to be truthful.” He squeezed his shoulder.  “I’m proud of you.”

At Seth’s resultant grin, he said, “Don’t let that get to your head.”

Chapter Text

His sister was an angel, although he’d probably never admit it out loud.  Brothers have a certain responsibility to antagonize their sisters, after all.  Still, as he watched her pour her heart and soul out to the people around them, he couldn’t help but be proud of her.

Kendra had been working tirelessly over the past six or seven months to raise money and gather donations from all sorts of organizations, companies and individual people from all over the place in order to assist the homeless in their city.  Seth started helping out occasionally in his spare time, but Kendra had thrown her entire being into the project.  She’d spoken at all sorts of fundraising events, driven to various locations throughout their city in order to pick up donations, stored all of the items in her small condo, and used the money she’d raised in order to buy food, clothes and decent camping gear at discounted rates (he had most often been called on to help negotiate prices due to his “silver tongue and charismatic personality” as Kendra had put it.  Well… he might have added the charismatic part himself, but still).

All of their hard work had led them to this particular moment in time, when the two of them plus many other volunteers had come together to pass out necessary items to those who stood in the most need of them.  Each volunteer wore a yellow t-shirt so that they could be easily recognized, and they had split off into a number of small groups of five or six people in order to cover more ground in the city.  Seth had stuck with Kendra and they each pulled along a cart or wagon which had been stuffed full of donated or purchased items.  Seth’s contained sandwiches and other food while Kendra’s contained warm blankets and hats.  The others who were with them were passing out things like hand warmers, backpacks, sanitary products, fast food vouchers, and bottled water.

“Take what you need,” was something he frequently heard her say when she’d stop to speak with someone.  He found himself parroting the phrase fairly often, and also found himself copying the large smile she wore on her face.  They’d stop and mingle for a minute or two with the person who was receiving their gifts, and then they’d continue on their way forward to meet the next person.

When the evening was spent, all of the items given and the volunteers dispersed, Kendra turned to him and enveloped him in a tremendous hug.  They were both worn out from the event, however their hearts were light and cheerful.  He returned her embrace and she told him that she was thankful to have him as her brother.  He responded by admitting that he was a pretty awesome person, which drew a laugh from her as she released him.

He loved his sister and, not for the first time, he thought that she deserved every happiness.  She was an angel, after all.

Chapter Text

“It’s been a long time, Bracken,” Warren said dramatically, dropping into a fighting stance.

“So we meet again,” Bracken replied, adopting a similar position and tossing his shoulder bag to the side of the yard.  “Decided to come back for another defeat, have you?”

“The only one who will be conquered is you.”

The unicorn chuckled darkly. “We’ll see about that.  There’s no one here to save you this time.”

“Oh, get on with it!” Vanessa called from where she and Kendra were sitting on the back porch at Fablehaven, some distance away from the boys.  Kendra passed her the bowl of popcorn they were sharing.

Warren stood normally and shouted back to Vanessa, “Do you mind?! We’re in the middle of talking smack right now!”

“Kick his butt, Bracken!” Kendra yelled, tossing a couple of popcorn kernels into her mouth.

“Quiet from the peanut gallery!” Warren cried.  He then returned to facing Bracken, who looked like he was struggling to keep a stern expression on his face, and resumed his battle pose.  “I don’t need rescuing,” he said, the dramatic tone once again present in his voice. “I have trained ceaselessly since our previous encounter.  This time you will be the one to learn from me.”

“That’s what she said,” Vanessa mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear.  Kendra snorted and Bracken’s composure cracked.

“Oh, you’ve missed me that much, have you?” the unicorn asked, failing to reign in his laughter.

“Come on, man.  This is serious!” Warren protested, although his eyes shone with amusement.

“Which part is serious?  The one where we banter back and forth, or the part where I pretend to lose because we both know you’ll never actually be able to beat me?” Bracken retorted, a cocky smirk crossing his face.  All observing parties thought he quite resembled Kendra’s brother in that moment.  Perhaps he’d been spending too much time with the boy lately.

“That’s it,” Warren announced. “I’ve heard enough; this ends now.”  He ran toward Bracken, and the two of them began an odd kind of mock-fight in slow motion.  Kendra and Vanessa cheered and rooted from the porch as Bracken and Warren grappled with each other and very slowly, very theatrically, dodged each other’s punches and kicks. 

This wasn’t something they did often, and usually Seth or Dale were also involved, but it was always fun to watch them pretend to kick the snot out of each other.  The play fights had started one day as a joke after Warren and Bracken had been sparring for real, and now they happened every so-often (usually spontaneously).  Today’s was sort of planned; Kendra knew Bracken would be visiting for the first time in a couple of weeks, and when Warren heard of it he’d told her to get out the popcorn because there was going to be a showdown as soon as the unicorn showed up.  Kendra had taken his instruction quite literally and grinned cheekily at him as he gave the popcorn bowl an incredulous look.  Vanessa had appeared right before Bracken arrived in the yard, and Warren had waylaid his friend immediately.

Seth discovered the scene several minutes in, just as Bracken was slowly laying down on the grass in defeat and Warren planted his foot upon the unicorn’s chest in victory. “Wait… you guys are doing the slow-mo sparring thing?  Without me?!”

The other two boys looked at him sheepishly while Kendra and Vanessa started pelting him with popcorn.  “You’re ruining the ending of their epic battle!” the girls complained.

“Nuh-uh,” Seth replied. “I’m not missing out on this.  Warren!  Today you meet your end for the demise of my BFF Bracken!”

Kendra laughed. “BFF?  Really?”

Bracken sat up on the grass as best he could with Warren’s foot on his chest. “BFF?” he questioned. “I’m guessing that stands for something.”

“Best Friend Forever,” Warren supplied. “Now lay down; you’re supposed to be dead.”

“Oh hey, thanks Seth,” Bracken said, giving the boy a fist bump. “Kill Warren for me, will you?”

“I will avenge your death,” Seth promised, crossing over his heart with his finger before he slowly lunged at Warren.

Kendra and Vanessa rolled their eyes good-naturedly, then turned toward each other and said, “Boys.”

Chapter Text

Bracken normally wasn’t a chatterbox.  His words were nearly always carefully chosen, and the exceptions to that rule were always memorable.  Kendra lived for those moments when he fully let his guard down and showed his true colors.  He was so much more than a protector, healer, warrior and leader – he was playful, surprisingly gentle, and possessed a deep, massive well of optimism.

Right now was one of those moments when he departed from the norm.  Bracken had been positively brimming with happiness when he’d walked up to the house that morning.  As soon as he laid eyes on Kendra, he ran to her, grabbed her hand and spun her around as though they were dancing, then pulled her close for a tight embrace before he let her go and started excitedly talking to her with animated hand gestures and everything.

She couldn’t help but return his joyful expression with one of her own.  His happiness was contagious, and she was glad for it. Kendra listened as Bracken babbled on and on, and came to the understanding of why he was so ecstatic: his father had officially woken from his coma, memories intact, with his overall health improving at a dramatic rate. It was a miracle.

Bracken chattered happily about his father for a long time, then moved on to speak about his mother, his sisters, and had just started in on a few of the other important figures in the fairy realm (none of whom Kendra had ever heard of, so she was a little lost while he rambled but she humored him anyway), when he abruptly ceased his word flow and asked, “You’re supposed to be somewhere today, aren’t you?

Kendra looked over at the clock on the wall across from her and replied with, “No worries, we still have time.” She bit her lip. “I do need to start getting ready to go, though.”  Standing up, she said, “Walk with me.  I’ll get my stuff together while you talk.”

The unicorn followed her into the kitchen and asked, “What are you doing today?  I know you told me a while ago, but I’m afraid recent events seem to have usurped the capacity of my short-term memory.”  He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, apparently a little embarrassed about his slight forgetfulness.

“I’m volunteering at a park.  They have a problem with ivy strangling the trees and other plants, so there’s a group of us who are getting together to pull out as many of the vines as we can.” She paused.  “Want to come with me?”

Bracken grinned. “Sure!” he responded.

“Great.” Kendra smiled back at him. “Let’s pack some lunches.  Keep telling me about the fairy kingdom.  I’m really curious – you were telling me about… Bosnik?  I’ve never heard of him before.”  She reached into a nearby cupboard to pull out a loaf of bread with the intent of making sandwiches, however Bracken beat her to it.  She turned around to look at him, and he set the bread on the countertop before suddenly picking her up.  He carried her over to a different countertop, his hands supporting her thighs while she placed her hands on his shoulders and they looked each other squarely in the eyes.

“I’ll make lunch,” he said.  “You’ve listened to me talk for an hour.  It’s the least I can do.”  He sat Kendra down on top of the counter and walked away, returning with the loaf of bread.  “What kind of sandwich do you want?”

Kendra laughed and yanked him back over toward her, her legs on either side of his body, then kissed him on his nose.  “I love it when you ramble,” she said.

Her boyfriend smiled and lightly kissed her cheek.  “Thank you for listening,” he replied.  “Turkey sandwich?”

“Sure,” Kendra replied. “Now continue your earlier train of thought.  Who is Bosnik?”

Bracken set himself to bustling about the kitchen as he continued to speak.  “My father’s brother.  He was actually a former suitor of my mother’s.  That’s kind of a funny story…”

Kendra happily listened as Bracken continued to tell her about his life and the people in it.  He still spoke with great enthusiasm and used wide hand gestures as he very animatedly explained who various people were and told some stories about his family.

It had been four years since they’d met, and she’d only seen him like this maybe a handful of times.

She loved seeing him like this.

Truth be told, somewhere in the past four years since they’d met, she’d just genuinely grown to love him.

Chapter Text

It had been an awful, horrible, terrible, very bad past several days, which had ended with an even worse morning.  Everything which could have gone wrong on the mission had of course gone wrong.  Warren was shaken.  A friend of his – a fellow Knight – had taken a little too large of a risk and had paid for it with his life.  It had been another reminder to Warren that life was precious and fragile.  Yet another loss of yet another courageous soul and, now that Warren was safely on a plane headed for home, he buried his head in his hands and tried to mask the sounds of his tears so as to not draw attention to himself or bother the other people on board.

The plane was tiny and only occupied by three other Knights besides Aaron Stone, who was the pilot.  They had all been together for the past week looking for a sign, just one shred of evidence that Bracken may have been in their area.  Well… they found nothing, and their expedition had ended in disaster.  Kevin had wandered a little too close to a group of violently territorial trolls, believing that they were guarding an item of interest to the Knights’ investigation, and had drawn their attention when he stepped on a twig which snapped beneath his weight.  A twig.  And then that was the end.  The trolls were on him like lightning, and before anyone could even think to do anything, Kevin was gone.  The rest of the group had had to run for their lives.

Warren couldn’t wait to get home.

He was met at the airport by Vanessa.  She’d bothered to park her car and actually walk into the airport instead of meeting Warren at the curb in the Arrivals section as usual – Trask had sent a message that the mission had gone south in every aspect, and she intuitively knew that she needed to be there in person and not be stuck behind a steering wheel.  Sure enough, as soon as he saw her, he ran over and threw his arms around her and simply held her close as he buried his face into her neck.  She stumbled a little due to the force with which he’d latched onto her, but quickly regained her balance and returned his embrace just as fiercely.

“Hey.  I’m here.  It’s okay,” she whispered to him, rubbing soft circles onto his back in a gesture of comfort.

“I love you,” Warren stated in a normal tone, unabashed. “I love you.  I want you to know that I love you.”

It took Vanessa by surprise, to say the least.  They’d just started officially dating a few weeks ago, although they’d known each other for years now.  But Warren was a man of action, and she knew by his previous actions around her that his present words did indeed ring true.  “I know you do,” she responded to him. “I love you, too.”

“We can’t waste time,” Warren insisted.

A crease appeared on Vanessa’s face as she scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. “We’re not,” she said.

“I’ve been stupid,” he replied. “I’ve wasted time. I’m so sorry.”

“Warren, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  You’ve done nothing wrong.”

He pulled away from her and kissed her forehead. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” she reaffirmed. “I heard about Kevin. I’m sorry. I know you were good friends.”  Warren’s response was to embrace her again. 

They stood still for another couple of minutes before Vanessa pulled away and ushered Warren out of the airport and into her car.  She had the feeling it was going to be a long night spent with comforting companionship and several cups of coffee back at Fablehaven.

Chapter Text

DRAGONWATCH BOOKS 1 & 2 SPOILERS.  You’ve been warned.

Warren ran down the rows of cells, trying to be quiet as he propelled himself forward as quickly as possible.  His head swiveled from left to right as he peered inside each cell, obviously looking for one person in particular.

There.  The last cell on the left of row 3.  That had to be it; it was the very last one in the dungeon, at least that Warren could see.

He approached the cell in question and looked through the small, barred window which was embedded in its door.  Finally, he thought to himself, letting out a quiet breath of relief.  He started to smile as hope began to well up inside of him until he shook himself out of it.  Rescue now, think about all of it later.

Pulling out the set of keys that Seth had swiped from one of the guards and slipped into his pocket – it was so good to have Seth back on their side again, even though he still didn’t remember his past – Warren began trying to insert every single key into the lock on the cell door in front of him.  The keys jangled a little as he kept switching between them, which added to his feeling of nervousness as he wondered if the noise would attract the attention of any enemies.

At last, Warren found the correct key on the ring and was able to pull the door open.  Inside the cell, Warren found Bracken laying on the floor, on his side, with his face turned away from the entrance.  Oddly enough, he didn’t move when the door opened, which concerned Warren.

“Bracken,” Warren whispered, laying his hand on the unicorn’s upper arm and shaking him slightly.  Bracken didn’t respond.

Alarms went off in Warren’s head.  Non-responsive and laying on the floor instead of on the cot in the corner.  Not a good sign.  He stood up and hopped over to look at Bracken from the front to check vital signs and see if he could figure out where his friend might be injured.  His skin was cold to the touch, but his heart was beating and he was breathing.  Warren couldn’t see any physical injuries, but it was a bit dark inside the dungeon and he wasn’t sure if he might’ve missed something.  At the very least, he couldn’t determine why his friend was unconscious, and that was very concerning.

“Hey.  Bracken,” Warren said, his voice still at whisper-level as he maintained his effort to not attract outside attention.  “Bracken.  Wake up.”

He still didn’t respond.

Anxiety and apprehension started to fill Warren.  What could have possibly put Bracken in this condition?  He looked like he was physically fine.  Was he under a spell or something?

Act now, think about it later, Warren again admonished himself.  Now was not the time to get caught up in emotions.  He had to act quickly.  What had he brought with him?  His leather armor contained a few pockets and he started rummaging through them in order to assess his supplies.  A few packets of walrus butter, a thing of gauze, some medical tape, antiseptic cream, a couple of small flares, waterproof matches, no, no, no… not helpful in this situation.  Wait a minute.  There was a small vial in one of his pockets.  What was inside of that?  Warren pulled off the cork stopper and curiously sniffed at whatever was inside the bottle, then abruptly whipped his head back as his eyes started watering and his nostrils and throat burned.  Tanu’s version of smelling salts; powerful stuff.  Absolutely worth a shot.

Warren hastily sat down and placed Bracken’s head in his lap, then brought the vial up to his friend’s nose.  When Bracken didn’t instantly react, Warren’s worry started to increase – but then he remembered that Vanessa had told him once upon a time that she’d spent quite a while trying to revive people with the same potion during their first adventure at Wyrmroost back before the Zzyzx fiasco.  Maybe it’d just take longer than a few seconds for Bracken to snap out of it and wake up.

Sure enough, after about a full minute, he coughed and wearily raised a hand to swat at the vial in front of his face.  Warren let out a soft, relieved laugh and said, “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Bracken’s face scrunched up in confusion as his muddled thoughts tried to connect together.  After several seconds, his eyes opened and he looked around without focusing on any specific object in the room.

“Are you with me?” Warren asked.  Bracken’s eyes then tiredly drifted toward his friend, who he seemed to just realize was present.

“Warren?” the unicorn replied, his voice sounding rough.

“Hey, buddy,” Warren answered, smiling.  “Good to see you again.  Now how about we get you out of here?”

Bracken closed his eyes again and Warren shook his shoulders, willing his friend to stay conscious. “No sleeping,” he insisted. “You have to wake up.  I don’t think I can carry you all the way out of here by myself, at least not without raising alarms.”

“Not sleeping,” Bracken responded. “Getting energy together.  Why are you here?”

“To rescue you,” Warren replied incredulously. “I thought that was obvious.”

It took a moment for Bracken to say anything more but, after he’d rested for another minute or so, he opened his eyes and said bleakly, “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“Too late, it’s already happened.  You ready to bust out of jail yet?”

“Ronodin-”

“Isn’t here,” Warren interrupted.  He patted Bracken’s shoulder in an effort to get him to sit up.  Unfortunately, Bracken didn’t move his head from its resting place on Warren’s lap.  He was apparently too low on energy still.

“Where’s he?” Bracken asked.  Oh, yes – low on energy indeed.  His words pretty much ran together when he tried to talk.

“He’s at Wyrmroost, probably trying to romance Kendra or something,” Warren said without much thought. “That’s been happening to her a lot lately, comes with the territory of being a shiny fairy princess I guess. Get up, let’s go-”

“No,” Bracken nearly shouted, immediately sitting up and clutching at his head.

“Dizzy?” Warren asked.  Bracken completely ignored that question.

“Kendra’s ‘n danger, sh’needs help.  Why are you here?”

“I already answered that question.  I’m here to bring you home.”

Bracken shook his head. “No – why are you here?” he repeated, emphasizing the last word.

And suddenly Warren understood what Bracken wasn’t yet able to articulate.  He wanted to know why Warren was in a dungeon with him, as opposed to watching over Kendra.

“She’s okay,” Warren tried to reassure the unicorn.

“No,” Bracken insisted. “Ronodin-”

“Isn’t trying to hurt her.  I promise.”

Bracken looked like he was going to cry. “He can’t be trusted – she isn’t safe-”

“Hey,” Warren said, standing up. “Marat is with her.  A couple of the Fair Folk are with her, among a few other powerful beings.  She’s gained the allegiance of the talking animals, and the fairies are acting as scouts for her.  She’s well protected, I promise.  We only had a small window of time to come get you before you were moved again.  Kendra told me to leave.  Bracken… she needs you.  She needs you to come back to her.”

Still quite visibly upset, Bracken nodded and then said clearly, “Help me up.”

Warren held out his arm for Bracken to hold onto.  Even with his friend’s assistance, it took Bracken a little while before he was able to stand.  His legs were shaky and he leaned heavily on Warren. “Sorry,” Bracken apologized.

“What happened to you?” Warren asked as they started to shuffle toward the cell door.

Bracken looked close to tears again. “Don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Are you injured?”

He shook his head.

“Then why are you so weak?”

“Poison.”

Warren paused their movement. “Say what?”

“Poison,” Bracken replied, motioning forward with the arm which wasn’t draped around Warren’s shoulders.  Warren took the hint and resumed walking. “S’anyone else here?” Bracken asked.

“Seth is here, and the plan was for him to bring Vanessa and Tanu once the coast was clear,” Warren responded.

“Seth’s compromised-”

“He’s back with us again.  Ronodin doesn’t know yet.  It’s one of the reasons why we had to get you out now.  He thinks Seth is still on his side, but that’s not going to last much longer.  He’ll definitely plan to move you again once he realizes that Seth has come back to us.” Warren gazed in the direction of the dungeon entrance, stressing out a little at their delayed movement.  He thought he’d find a coherent Bracken and then the two of them could just run out of the dungeon; he hadn’t planned for the unicorn to be in this sort of condition.  What was supposed to have been a quick in-and-out mission had become a lot lengthier than he’d hoped.

The door to the dungeon opened and Warren threw himself and Bracken against a wall in order to hide themselves.

“Warren?” came a whisper.  He again let out a relieved breath of air. “I’m here,” he answered.

It only took a minute before Vanessa and Tanu found them.  Bracken was slumped on the floor again, his head drooping and his eyes closed.

“What happened to him?” Tanu asked, immediately crouching in front of the man in question.

“He said he was poisoned,” Warren answered.  “He was unconscious when I found him.  I used your smelly potion thing to wake him up, but he’s struggling to stay with us.”

“The unicorn was poisoned?” Vanessa asked.  “Now there’s irony for you.”

“He has no horns, Nessa,” Warren stated.

“I can see that,” she responded.  “Tanu, do you have any antidotes on you?”

“Way ahead of you,” Tanu said, rummaging through his pouch which contained quite a few vials. “The problem is, I don’t know what he was poisoned with, so I don’t know which antidote to give him – or if I even have the right one.”

“There are only a few known substances which can actually poison unicorns,” Vanessa responded, kneeling down next to Bracken and checking his vital signs. “And poison is typically a moot point anyway, since their horns provide constant purification.  He’s cold, so that rules out veniroot.  His pulse is slow, so that indicates it was either wortmoth, venimoss, or that one fungus I can’t ever remember the name of.”

“Phytoboletus,” Bracken mumbled. “’s phyto… boletus.” He then succumbed to unconsciousness once more.

“Got it,” Tanu said.  “I don’t have the antidote pre-made, but I can make it with the ingredients I have in my room back at Blackwell Keep.  Let’s get him out of here.”

“If Kendra’s back to the Keep, then she could also just give him back his first horn,” Vanessa surmised. “That’d do the job.”

“True.  Help me get him up,” Tanu said.

Vanessa shook her head. “Nuh-uh.  Warren, your turn,” she said. “I’ll help him live, but that doesn’t mean I want to touch him more than I have to.”

Warren smiled at her and took one of Bracken’s arms while Tanu grabbed the other one, and they both shouldered some of his weight. “For someone who hates unicorns so much, you sure know a lot about them,” he teased.

She stared right at him and said, quite seriously, “Know thine enemy.  Lesson number one in any blix household.”  With that, Vanessa turned around and led the way to the door of the dungeon.

Tanu and Warren followed behind, making quick work of the remaining distance despite Bracken’s dead weight.  The plan had been for Seth to keep other beings away from the dungeon area for as long as possible so that the rest of them could infiltrate and steal Bracken away, and it looked like everything so far was working out pretty well.  Vanessa acted as their scout, occasionally pausing before allowing them to proceed again.  Eventually they made it to the room which held the magical barrel they would take back to their favorite dragon sanctuary.  Vanessa hopped in first, then Tanu and Warren lowered Bracken inside once she disappeared.  When he wasn’t immediately pulled out on the other end, Warren climbed in with him – it was a very cramped fit – and said the word, “Wyrmroost.” He quickly felt Bracken’s presence leave him, then felt a pair of strong hands lifting him out of the barrel as well and came face-to-face with Henrick. 

Kendra was already crying tears of relief all over Bracken and pressing the unicorn’s first horn to his chest, Vanessa telling her to stick the horn up his shirt so that it directly rested against his skin.  When Warren crouched down next to Kendra to help adjust Bracken’s body so that he was flat on his back on the ground instead of awkwardly laying on his side, Kendra gave him a desperate, one-armed hug (her other hand was firmly holding Bracken’s first horn in place).  She thanked Warren repeatedly, over and over again, and all he could do was pat her back as she clung to him.  Tanu and Seth came out of the barrel soon after Warren did, and before he knew it, their family was mostly whole once again.  They still had to figure out the issues with Seth’s memory, and there was still the dragon uprising to deal with which would surely split them up again, but for this one moment in time they could just be together for a little while.

Mission: Success.