Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          Eggsy missed his dad, sometimes; he was in the army, he was important and had a big job so he wasn’t home very much, and Eggsy really missed him. Really really missed him. And, sometimes, if he thought about his dad really hard (his hugs, his smile, his laugh, the funny shapes he’d make the ice in Eggsy’s water, soap bubbles dancing in the bath) he could see him. His mum said it was special , the way he could see dad- even though dad couldn’t see him. He was like a ghost- the first time he tried to touch his dad his hand went inside like water. It was weird, but it wasn’t scary. 

          Sometimes, things were scary. Real scary, with noises like fireworks and people yelling and fighting. And sometimes he got to watch his dad laugh with his friends, or play a game. Today, he’s up in the air and his dad is in a room, standing with some other people around a person in a chair. The man in the chair is sitting still, not even shaking his feet, and Eggsy wonders how he’s so still.  

          ‘By the time I’ve counted to ten, you’ll have told me what I need to know. If not, the number ten will be the last thing you hear.’ The man in the chair didn’t move, but Eggsy watched his dad standing next to the one who spoke. ‘One,’ Eggsy heard a crack and the man in the chair started to cry. ‘Two,’ Another, ‘Three,’ The man in the chair screamed without moving his mouth, and Eggsy saw some red on the floor. Where was it coming from? His dad was watching the one talking, and the other people were watching the man in the chair. ‘Four,’ More screaming. ‘Five... Six... Seven...’

          Why wasn’t his dad stopping them? 

          ‘Eight-’ The man in the chair took a deep breath, and dad ran toward him while pushing the speaker away.

          ‘Sir!’ There was a loud bang, a flash of light, and dad fell down. The man who had been speaking moved his hand and the one in the chair fell off.

          Neither of them moved, after. Both were covered in red. Why wasn’t he moving?

          Eggsy gasped as he landed back in his body, tears drying on his cheeks without really understanding why.

          Harry avoided the house for an inordinate amount of time; wandered the neighbourhood, had a pint at the local, and only when he couldn’t avoid it any longer did he go up the stairs and knock at the door. There was a flash of text at the corner of his lens, a long line of laughter, and Harry was barely able to tap out a succinct “fuck you” before the door opened.

          ‘Can I help you, sir?’ A smiling woman opened the door, a vision of orange, red, and yellow with flowers in her hair and a Water betrothal necklace with a swirling orb at its centre resting against her collarbone.

          ‘I have news of Lee, ma’am.’ Perhaps it was the tone, the hushed not-quite-whisper, or maybe she could see it in his eyes- but the smile faded to a placid blankness as she gestured inside. He stepped inside, idly taking in the open room with its simple shelves covered in knickknacks- a small cabinet filled with snow globes tucked into a corner with a young boy sat before it. ‘There was a training accident a few days ago, ma’am, and your husband sacrificed himself to save the rest of those present.’

          Michelle’s eyes flashed toward her son even as the blood left from her face in a flash, she collapsed to the sofa and covered her face with both hands. Trying to muffle her tears, it seemed, before she pulled them away and revealed only a grim frown and hard eyes despite the tears he could see trying to break free. They escaped not too long after, but Michelle refused to wipe them away, instead clenching her hands into fists on her lap.

          ‘I’m sorry that your husband’s bravery cannot be publicly celebrated, I hope you understand why that’s the case.’ Harry used every trick he knew to keep himself under control while facing Lee’s widow. She was obviously devastated, and angry, but she kept herself composed but for the flash of her eyes and the tears on her cheeks. Their son sat in the corner with a snow globe in his hands, couldn’t be older than 6, and he kept looking at them. Understandable, he was a stranger in his home and his mother was crying, but he didn’t seem afraid- just curious.

          ‘I can try- I wish I knew more; I didn’t even know he was so far along in his training.’ At least Lee had had the forethought to tell his wife he was working to ride through the ranks of the White Lotus. A noble venture, if not wholly accurate, that would mitigate a large amount of the blame for his loss. For all their publicity when caretaking for the Avatar, they were still seen as an overall secretive and elite organization. Kingsman capitalised on this often, even using intricately carved pai sho tiles to commemorate loss- like the one he was currently attempting to give to Michelle Unwin.

          ‘Nonetheless I would like to present you with this,’ Harry lifted the tile, letting the light hit the intricate design before trying to place it into her palm. When she leant away, he tucked it back into his fist before continuing. ‘If you look closely on the back, there’s a number; as a more concrete gesture of our gratitude and sympathies, we’d like to offer you… well, let’s call it a favour. If you call the number on the back, tell the operator “Excalibur.” That will let me know it’s you, and you can request anything you need.’

          ‘Thank you, but what I need is my husband back- and you can’t do that.’ Michelle snapped, quickly glancing at her son before turning back to glare at Harry. ‘I don’t want no charity, we’ll figure it out.’ She looked away, the dismissal clear in her eyes, but Harry had to do something for Lee’s family. Life in the outskirts of Republic City wasn’t simple or easy, and Harry knew better than most how Air Sensibilities of violence could bring more harm than safety to a home in such a place.

          It was an unfortunate side effect of being intimately acquainted with the world at its best and worst- the spaces in between, where people trying to do the right thing were caught in the crosshairs, were depressingly familiar territory. He was doing what he could- he wouldn’t force help where it wasn’t wanted, but that didn’t mean Michelle was the only one he could offer it to.

          ‘What’s your name, young man?’ Harry knelt down, smiling softly as the boy scrunched his face briefly in confusion. He put the snow globe on the floor and looked up at Harry; or at least it looked as if he was looking at Harry, but a moment after a feather came down from the shelf and tickled Harry’s nose. He sneezed, which made Eggsy giggle, and though he could feel Michelle’s eyes on him he settled more firmly onto the floor in front of the young man.

          ‘Eggsy.’ His eyes were trained on the feather, his hands following it and tongue barely peeking out from between his lips, and Harry couldn’t help but be charmed. Behind his back Harry flicked open the cap on his water skin belt and pulled out a thin stream, for the moment forgetting his glasses footage and instead focusing his attention on making the boy giggle again. There were worse ways of ensuring his conciliatory gift would be remembered than laughter, and Harry found himself smiling along as young Eggsy pulled the feather this way and that while watching the water chase along with bright eyes.

          After a while, Eggsy seemed to deflate a little, feather gently landing in his hand and he looked at it before looking back up at Harry who put his water away with a tilt of his brow.

          ‘Daddy’s not coming home, is he?’ It was quiet, barely a whisper, and based on Michelle’s lack of reaction she likely hadn’t heard Eggsy ask. Somehow, Harry was grateful.

          ‘I’m afraid not, this time. I’m sorry.’

          ‘He saved you?’ Harry couldn’t recall having said as much, but saw no harm in nodding to the boy’s question. He pulled the tile back out from his pocket, rolling it across his fingers before placing it atop the feather in Eggsy’s hand.

          ‘Can you take care of this, Eggsy?’ Harry made to stand, and paused on one knee, ‘And your mum, too.’

          Eggsy nodded, entirely distracted by examining the tile, and Harry smiled once more before standing to his full height and making his way out the door.

Chapter Text

          A dark-skinned man and razor-legged girl sat before the withered Tree of Time, leant forward with wide eyes, willing and eager to do whatever was necessary for this alliance to work.

          'I'm listening, Valentine. Convince me.' Vaatu spoke, satisfaction and curiosity melded together in every syllable; perhaps this time he would succeed- the pestilence finally eradicated.

          It was hours before they left, but leave they did, a slight swagger in their step and an unfamiliar glint of power in their eyes. The spirit portal wasn't all that far away, but they meandered around for a while longer- their mission was accomplished, much sooner and more simply than expected, so where was the harm in enjoying the journey home?

          When they made it home, feeling more than slightly drunk despite not being intoxicated in the slightest, their house wasn’t as empty as it had been when they left. The lights turned on revealing a man in a yellow suit, light hair swooping away from his face and a sheepish smile on his face as he stepped back minutely.

          ‘ I suppose asking to borrow a cup of sugar would be a step too far?’ Gazelle leapt forward, and Valentine closed the door before he propped himself against a wall to watch her work. She pulled her jewellery apart with a thought, forming them into blades that shot quickly at the intruder.

          The man flattened himself to the ground, gracefully rolling up to his feet a distance away before cracking his neck and shaking a hand before grinning and jumping back toward her. She flipped gracefully over him, not anticipating his hand grasping firmly to her blade as it shot off an electrical charge that brought her to her knees. She twitched on the floor, and the suited man smirked down at her.

          ‘Maybe you’ll be able to answer some questions for me, Ga-’ He cut himself off, looking down with shock at the blade protruding from his torso before there was a pressure at the back of his head.

          ‘I think it’ll be us asking the questions, man.’ Gazelle was pulling herself to her feet, Valentine still behind the intruder with a gun pressed to his head, as she watched in seeming slow motion the man lift his hand to his torso. And maybe if she’d been thinking clearly, or if Valentine had been able to see, they’d have known what was going to happen. 

          But as it was, they didn’t, and soon all they had left was a twitching body, yellow suit with intricate buttoned sleeves, and a small collection of shorted out circuitry.

Chapter Text

          Eggsy’d never been able to settle into the meditations his mother used to say were important to airbenders. He had to be moving, engaged, aware - though maybe that was more the fault of Dean’s intrusive presence than anything else. She didn’t understand, but she’d never felt the wind the way he did in his soul- just in her mind, in her heart, in the way Aang’s teachings had guided her life as an Acolyte.

          Dean, though- Dean was a stopping force, solid and unmovable and more than a little cruel in his pigheadedness. He didn’t see any difference between harsh words and harsh blows, and Michelle had long ago stopped pushing against the stone for the sake of Daisy. The brightest blessing in their lives, as unexpected as she had been; someone to focus on and keep healthy when everything else was well outside of their control.

          Dean’s goons weren’t much better, Eggsy mused over his pint as they started making a ruckus- thought they had right of way cos they could muscle their way about. The police didn’t care that much, as long as no one wound up dead, and Dean’d gotten good at intimidating people into silence. Didn’t matter how flashy they got, how much damage they did, they had the whole neighbourhood in their pockets. 

           Eggsy heard the rumble of a familiar engine that was compensating for more than a lack of brains, and as it got closer he kept his gaze to the window. Ryan and Jamal were whispering to one another on the other end of the table, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the pub.

          ‘Why’s your mum still with him, mate? He just don’t treat her right. Not like she ain’t fit enough to get somethin’ better.’ Ryan turned toward Eggsy, forcing him to look up from glaring at the tabletop and engage in their conversation. 

          ‘You know well as I do that she don’t put up a fight- all that Air nonsense ‘bout non-violence. No offense, bruv.’ Jamal looked sadly at Eggsy who could do nothing but shrug in reply. It was true, the fact that his mum somehow continued to justify her strict stance non-violence when Dean left them black and blue baffled him. It was outdated and useless, in his opinion, for his mum to rely on the words of a bunch of people who’d been dead for centuries. It was part of why he’d enlisted in the Republic City Army- he wanted to feel like he was doing something beyond existing. Wanted to make a difference .

          Eggsy’s glass shot briefly upward and dumped the remainder of his beer over his head, breaking his musing suddenly before tumbling down to the table amid harsh laughter. He lifted a hand to wipe his eyes but was beaten to the punch by a flick of Jamal’s wrist as Ryan fixed the glass upright while glaring at Poodle. The liquid flowed neatly back into the glass, but Eggsy could see the odd bits of lint and hair from the brief adventure on his person. His drink was going to remain unfinished- but at least he wasn’t soggy. He let out a harsh breath and clenched a fist beneath the table before looking up at their unwelcome interruption.

          ‘C’n I help you?’

          ‘You lot think you can chat shit ‘bout us just cos our boss’ bangin’ his mum?’ Ryan opened his mouth, but Jamal placed a hand on his leg and he shut it again. There was no point in protesting- they’d already decided what they were going to believe. Best way to get out of this without property damage was to just let them have their way, a lesson unfortunately learnt through experience. When no answer came Rottie smirked and the room got hotter, and Eggsy could see the smoking edges of his fingers as he went to stand.

          ‘Weren’t talkin’ no shit, bruv- just heading out.’ Ryan and Jamal took that as their cue to shuffle off the bench and start making their way out the door. Eggsy stumbled, fingers twitching as he righted himself, and a set of keys settled softly into his pocket as he made his way out the door. Ryan and Jamal were just outside, tensed as if expecting a fight to follow them out the door. Which wasn’t a bad assumption to make, as often as it happened with Dean’s gang, but that wasn’t the case today.

          Yet.

          ‘Y’know, it’s freezing- why walk?’ Eggsy lifted a hand, revealing the keys he’d pilfered floating in a ball of swirling wind with a soft jingle. Normally he’d have just let it be, but for some reason today had hit a limit Eggsy hadn’t been aware of. 

          ‘You jacked his keys, bruv?’

          ‘Obviously- and now we’re gonna nick his car.’ It was an act of defiance, maybe he had no control over the way they treated him, but if Dean’s goons were going to be arseholes anyway he may as well give them cause. The three of them piled into the car, Ryan and Jamal practically atop one another as Eggsy turned the key in the ignition and revved the engine before shooting out of the car park with a cackle he barely recognised as gleeful. He glanced in the rear-view just in time to see Rottie and Poodle stumbling through the door, the pair obviously yelling though Eggsy couldn’t hear them as he sped away.

          There were sirens seconds later (which, fair, they were speeding through the city in a bright yellow car) and the flash of lights getting closer with every turn. Eggsy barely avoided crashing as an officer cut him off, but he threw the car into reverse and continued on his joyride with a cackle with Ryan and Jamal hollering in agreement. They ducked and weaved through traffic, dodging parked cars and pedestrians alike while giggling to themselves.

          There was always an ambient glow to the city, the spirits giving off that small bit of light when in the human world, but in an instant there was a light where there hadn’t been a moment before, and as Eggsy peered in the rear-view he saw a something darting across the road. He swerved, desperately hoping he hadn’t hurt whatever it was in his desperation for some semblance of control even as they hit a luckily unoccupied car in the alley. They lurched forward, Eggsy’s chest pressed harshly against the steering wheel while Ryan and Jamal’s hands grappled with the seat in front of them.

          ‘The fuck’d you do that for? It’s just a spirit, fam.’ Jamal huffed as he ran a hand up the back of his neck, Ryan righted himself, and Eggsy pushed the door open as he gestured with his head as the sirens grew louder. In the dim light, Eggsy could see the Knowledge Seeker looking toward them, and as their eyes met it nodded once before fading into the night, a worn book held firmly in its mouth.

          ‘Just cos they’re different don’t make them less, bruv- now get out the car. I’ll sort this.’ The pair froze, eyes wide and lips slightly parted as if they were going to argue. They were wasting time . ‘I said get out the fucking car! ’ Eggsy shooed them with a hand, forcing the pair out with a gust of wind before shutting the door and huffing a breath, resigned to whatever would come next.

          He could only hope that he hadn’t gone too far, this time.

Chapter Text

          ‘I’m sure you know that there’s no such thing as honour amongst thieves, Eggsy. I’d like to think that we’ve gotten to know one another a bit over the last few years. Unfortunately not in a particularly positive way,’ the room’s temperature increased infinitesimally, ‘but I’d hardly call us strangers.’ The police chief smiled in what Eggsy was sure was meant to be comforting, but on the woman’s face it just made her look confused.

          She wasn’t wrong, though; they knew each other quite well at this point, he knew her name and her son’s name and exactly how much Dean was holding against her to keep he and his out of trouble. Which meant that there really was nothing he could offer to get himself out of this, no matter what she said for the tapes. He clenched his jaw and glared at the table, mad at himself for his weakness but madder still at the system he was trapped within. Livid at the reality of his situation, lockup couldn’t be any worse than Dean on a bad day but Daisy-

          Daisy. Fuck.

          ‘I want to exercise my right to a phone call.’ It was, unfortunately, a phrase he had memorised shortly after coming back from Basic and knew he would have need of at least once. He knew full well the kind of man Dean was, the people he surrounded himself with- it was why he’d worked so hard to get out in the first place- but he cared more about his mother and sister than any of his own ambitions, so here he was. Exactly where he thought he’d end up- if a few years earlier than he expected, and with a far less severe, yet far more accurate, charge than he thought he’d be framed for when the time came. The police chief scoffed, a brief flash of smoke from her nostrils before she flicked an old wireless phone to the table carelessly.

          ‘Well, kid, I hope you’re calling Michelle- you’re set to be at least 18 months late for your next home-cooked meal.’ She rolled her eyes before leaving the room, the air cooling the slightest bit at her departure. Eggsy’s hand shook as he reached for the phone, and the other was clenched at his collarbone, where a thin chain held a weathered pai sho tile against his skin.

          ‘Customer complaints, how can I help you?’ This wasn’t the voice of the man who had left him the tile all those years ago, it was higher and almost sharp against his ear.

          ‘It’s- It’s Eggsy. And, uh, I fucked up. I’m at Republic City lock up cos I lost my temper an’ I need help and I was told that I could call here if I needed help-’

          ‘I’m sorry, sir, wrong numb-’ The voice hadn’t changed, but somehow felt exasperated. Eggsy wracked his brain desperately trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong, assessing and dismissing things until he figured it out and would have jumped up and celebrated had he not been partially secured to a platinum chair.

          ‘Fuck, wait, wait, wait- sorry, forgot the funny word from those old movers- Excalibur?’ He spoke softly, certain that someone would burst into the room and yank the phone from his hand if he spoke too loud, and paused with bated breath.

          ‘Your complaint has been noted, and we hope we haven’t lost your patronage with us.’ There was a dial tone after, and Eggsy dropped his hand to the table, barely remembering to soften the fall of his hand as he stared blankly into the distance. 

          ‘... Oooooookay then,’ Eggsy sighed, slouched in the uncomfortable chair, hoping beyond reason that calling that number hadn’t been a monumental mistake.

          Unbeknownst to Eggsy, a moment after he’d dropped the phone, the police chief received a call to her personal cell authorising his release with no charges or blemish to his record. It wasn’t one of Dean’s people, just someone with the correct authorisation codes, and she took a moment to gather herself. She opened a door on the wall, revealing a Cooler, not anywhere near as cold as the ones on the Boiling Rock were, according to historian’s records, but cool enough that she could step inside and allow her rage to flow out and through her until she could collect herself again.

          Fuck did she hate bureaucracy.

          ‘Well, Eggsy, it looks like you lucked out this time,’ She entered the room as if she’d expected this outcome all along, head held high and hands propped against her hips with another officer just behind her. The other man lifted a hand, and the cables that had barely been holding his legs to the chair flew back onto her wrist holster as Eggsy’s head shot up with a look of disbelief. ‘You’re free to go.’

           ‘That’s it?’ Was the kid trying to go to prison? She raised a brow, tying to tell him without words how stupid a question that was.

           ‘Just… Get out of here,’ She leant against the doorjamb as Eggsy seemed to recalibrate in light of this new information before scrambling to his feet. ‘And Eggsy,’ He froze mid step and looked back over his shoulder, ‘maybe take a break for a bit.’

          ‘I’ll try, Chief.’ She rolled her green eyes and huffed half a laugh before she turned away. His footsteps faded slowly, but she didn’t dare to relax until the door had closed behind him; she didn't want any more surprises.

          Eggsy wasn’t sure whether to celebrate his release- his fuckups here were entirely his own, but Daisy deserved to have someone in her corner- and he couldn’t do that from jail. And maybe he wouldn’t be able to do it for long, anyway, once he was within Dean’s sights- Eggsy was pretty sure he’d finally pushed his luck that step too far. He stepped out of the station not quite running- he didn’t want to be in there any longer than he had to be, but he didn’t want to leave so quickly that they thought he was being shifty.

          He ran full tilt into an older gentleman, suit perfectly tailored and shaded lenses hiding his eyes from view, causing him to lose his grip on the slick stone and pinwheel backward. Eggsy caught him with a cushion of air unthinkingly with one hand, the other offsetting his own impending fall down the steps. The man righted himself carefully as Eggsy let the cushion fade, and Eggsy allowed himself to look him over. He was familiar, like a half-remembered dream.

          ‘Eggsy.’ The man said his name as if he’d run into an old friend unexpectedly. As if he’d answered the phone to find pleasant news instead of a scam artist. As if there was some inside joke shared between them. And, if Eggsy wasn’t wrong, there definitely was- but he knew what happened when you assumed. ‘Would you like a lift home?’

          ‘Who’re you?’ Eggsy kept his jaw tense and his voice firm, but allowed his pale eyes a bit of lighthearted amusement to test the waters. He didn’t need to tell him that he had a flight suit on under his jacket or that, as an airbender, he could get home just as quick as any car if he felt like.

          ‘The man who got you released.’ It was definitely the man who’d given him the pai sho tile all those years ago, which begged the question of how he'd gotten here so quickly. Eggsy’d only made the call ten minutes ago- where was he lurking to have been able to pop up right as he was leaving the building?

          ‘That ain’t an answer.’ Eggsy fought off the smirk he found pulling at his lips, not wanting to give the game away. After all, no matter their briefly shared past, they were strangers and he had no reason to trust him. 

          ‘A bit of gratitude wouldn’t go amiss, I think,’ The other man lowered his head a smidge and lifted a brow over the edge of his glasses, but Eggsy refused to be embarrassed. He had enough things in his life without giving in to petty feelings that benefitted no one. ‘I’m the man who gave you the pai sho tile that just saved your skin- my name is Harry.

          ‘Your father saved my life.’ Eggsy wasn’t entirely sure why that admission shook him. He could remember asking the sad man if his dad was coming home, that day with the snow globe. Harry had said no and Eggsy hadn’t been surprised, then, either. But the Harry in front of him seemed just as sad, and he was struck by the urge to offer the tile back, to press it to his palm with a steady hand and an understanding grin. Something small, to try and lighten a burden he didn’t know and likely wouldn’t understand. But those were childish thoughts, wants that needed to be tucked away and hidden before they were used against him.

          Eggsy let out a laugh, letting his amusement loose much to Harry’s confusion (had he not thought Eggsy would remember him? Mind, he didn't really remember his face but his voice was unmistakable) before turning away with a grin. He made his way down the steps slowly, listening intently for the sound of a second set of footsteps that never came.

          ‘Well? You comin?’ He turned back over one shoulder, tipped his hat and gestured ahead of him with one hand that pulled some leaves along, and watched as Harry seemed to nod to himself before resting his umbrella on one wrist and following behind him.

Chapter Text

          ‘So you always been Lotus, then?’ Eggsy slouched in the booth, running a finger up and down the side of the condensation on his glass. He’d assumed that Harry would be doing more talking, but he seemed distracted. He’d switched his sunglasses for clear ones, so they apparently weren’t a fashion choice, and despite their setting in the Black Prince he seemed to hold himself as if dining with royalty. Stiff.

         ‘Not quite,’ Eggsy waited for elaboration, but Harry took a long drink from his glass and seemed happy to simply sit and do nothing. Frustrating.

          ‘So were you in the army, before? That where you met my dad?’ Harry took a deep breath through his nose and pushed his pint slightly to the left before he leant forward with his hands clasped upon the table.

          ‘I met your father while gathering information on a gang that was wreaking havoc along the western shore of the Earth Kingdom. They were convinced, incorrectly so, that the nations needed harsher borders and separations between them. That they needed to keep to “their own kind”,’ Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes, ‘and your father...’ Harry stopped and laughed to himself, and Eggsy watched as the tension he’d come into the pub with started to fade. He’d hoped to learn about his dad, the man he barely remembered and his mother refused to speak of, but he didn’t want to force the issue.

         (She’d taken off her betrothal necklace and put it into a box not long after his death, and Eggsy had stolen that box after Dean’s first rampage through the house. The home-movers were a lost cause, the pictures wrinkled and cracked, but he hadn’t found the necklace. Mostly because his mum had put it from her mind and forgotten about it entirely.)

          ‘Your father was in the middle of the town, yelling at one of the members. He’d managed to incapacitate the man, frozen his hands and feet together, and had pulled out a strip of photographs. Do you know,’ Harry met Eggsy’s eyes directly for the first time, one end of his lips pulled up, ‘how amusing it is to watch a man aggressively tell someone how much he loves his family? How wonderful it was to have married into the Air Nation and how much he’d learnt from his Earth Kingdom neighbours? It was the highlight of my trip, and I never forgot him. When a position opened, I put him forward as my candidate.’

          ‘And my dad saved your life?’ This was what he’d been hoping for. Any scrap of information, any fragment of a memory to try and figure out what kind of man his dad had been, and whether he could ever manage to live up to his memory.

          ‘The day your father died,’ Harry leant away again, and Eggsy couldn’t help the tension that settled in his spine, ‘I missed something. I underestimated our target, and if it weren’t for you father’s thoughtless courage that mistake would have cost the lives of everyone present. My life, from that day forward, is a debt that I can never truly repay. That tile,’ Harry pointed with a lazy hand, ‘was all I could offer in return for his bravery.

          ‘But, having read your files in light of today’s call, I can’t help but feel he’d be disappointed in where you’ve ended up.’ Eggsy flinched back as if struck, the room felt bereft of air, mouth parted and fist clenched beneath the table in a pale mockery of last night’s shenanigans.

          ‘You got no right to talk to me like that. You’ve got no idea-’

          ‘Your IQ is impressive, wonderful performance at early education, and then it all went downhill rather quickly. Petty crime, drugs, a distinct lack of employment-’

          ‘D’you think there’s actually as many jobs as there’s people, out here?’

          ‘We could set that aside and there would still be the question of why you gave up your hobbies- your gymnastic coaches had you pegged as Olympic material, and then you stopped.’

          ‘When you grow up ‘round someone like my stepdad you pick up new hobbies. Less “girly” hobbies, ones that get food on the table, if you catch my drift.’ Eggsy glared out the window, not wanting to give Harry the satisfaction of tears for the things he couldn’t change.

          ‘Ah, of course, it’s always someone else’s fault. Was he also the one who had you quit the Marines? Halfway through Basic, all of your superior officers singing your praises, and you left. Gave up.’

          ‘Learnin’ basically nothin’ about my dad ain’t worth the shit you’re throwing, mate. I dunno why I thought Lotus’d be different but you lot’re all the same. Judging people for shit you can’t understand. My mum went mental thinkin’ that I’d get picked out by Lotus, bangin’ on about how I’d leave her like my dad did, endin’ up as someone disposable for someone else’s protection. Cannon fodder for people who think they’re better than us just cos they’ve got money or some special talent everyone wants.’ Eggsy wanted to slam his fist to the table, but settled for leaning forward just enough to be in Harry’s personal space.

          ‘People like you that judge from their ivory towers, who don’t ever bother to think about why we do the things we do or how we got to that point, ’ Eggsy heaved a breath, his shirt ruffling in response to his near loss of temper, ‘We ain’t got much choice. An’ if we was born with the same silver spoon up our arses we’d do just as well as you.’ Harry seemed to be judging him, an unfamiliar look in his eye but a pull to his lip that was so slight Eggsy was sure he’d imagined it. He wasn’t sure if he was passing the test. He heard the door open, the sound of footsteps growling closer, but couldn’t make himself look away.

          ‘The fuck d’you think you’re doin’ here, Muggsy? You takin’ the piss?’ Harry looked up at Rottie and the rest of Dean’s boys, and Eggsy wanted to melt through the floor.

          ‘Are these fellows also simply in need of a silver suppository to prove their worth?’ Harry raised a brow, and Eggsy felt his cheeks flush as he looked from them back to Harry.

          ‘Nah, they’re exceptions. C’mon, let’s get out of here.’

          ‘Nonsense,’ Harry slouched in his seat, entirely ungentlemanly, and Eggsy wanted to wipe a hand down his face in frustration. He wasn’t going to leave the man to Dean’s goons, but he was sorely tempted to simply pick him up and move him somewhere else.

          ‘You ignorin’ us, Muggsy? Dean said you’re fair game after wreckin’ the car, and he don’t give a shit what your mum says. You’re finished.’ Rottie lit his fist, a deep red barely pushing past his knuckles, and Eggsy wanted to laugh at his attempt at intimidation but he had to think of more than just himself.

          ‘Pardon, boys, I’m sorry, excuse me,’ The group looked away from Eggsy and glared at Harry, no change when faced with an unknown. ‘Whatever it is you want with Eggsy, which I’m sure is entirely justified, could it wait until after I’ve finished my drink?’ Harry lifted the half full glass, suddenly soft and guiltless, ‘I’ve had a rather emotional day, you see.’ Harry blinked, doe like, at Poodle before taking a small sip from the glass with a small smile. Who the fuck was he and where did Harry go?

           ‘You should take your drink and fuck off, granddad, or you’ll get hurt and all.’ Rottie murmured as if trying to be consoling. As if he was being kind and understanding for the older gentleman with his drink and not actively threatening him and his company.

          ‘He ain’t jokin’- you should go.’ Eggsy never expected to get out of this unscathed, part of him hadn’t expected to get out at all, but he could try and spare Harry the abuse. No matter how big of a prick he was, he didn’t deserve to pay for Eggsy’s mistakes. Harry looked up from his drink and into Eggsy’s face and smacked his lips once before looking down regretfully at the glass and shifting to stand. Dean’s gang stepped out of his way, Rottie gestured grandly with one hand toward the door, and Harry made his way toward the door at an even pace.

          ‘If you’re looking for another willin’ body they’re on the corner of Smith. Can’t miss the red lanterns.’ Poodle couldn’t keep his mouth shut, especially when he knew it would hurt, and Eggsy’s face flushed in shame. He’d done plenty to keep food on the table, as much as he’d like to forget, and now Harry’s already-tarnished idea of him was only going to be worse. Harry’d stopped mid-step, not that Eggsy could really see him through the assholes surrounding him but the half a pint Harry had left behind was slowly leaving the glass. Eggsy watched in grim amusement as Poodle and the boys stared at the slowly rising mass, for the moment assuming that he wasn’t the target of Harry’s impending splash.

          ‘Manners,’ The top lock sliding into place pulled Poodle’s attention from the floating ball of beer.

          ‘Maketh,’ The barkeep walked to a back room, seemingly uncaring of the impending actions of his patrons. Eggsy heard a door close, but didn’t dare look away from the men still blocking his escape.

          ‘Man.’ The last bolt slid into place, and though Dean’s people had turned away from him Eggsy didn’t dare try and move. They stepped away from the table, approaching Harry, who seemed entirely nonplussed by their intimidation tactics. Harry’s shoulder stiffened, his head tilted toward a nearby mirror, and the beer stopped moving. ‘Do you know what that means?’

Silence.

          ‘Then let me teach you a lesson.’ In a movement apparently too quick for Poodle to catch, Harry sent an abandoned glass flying across the room with his brolly handle, and Eggsy allowed himself a smile as Rottie collapsed.

          ‘Are we going to stand about all day, or are we going to fight?’ The others did a slow double take between Rottie and Harry, like an old mover where something happened in slow motion, before rushing at Harry in an unorganised swarm. Eggsy saw movement from the corner of his eye, and his jaw dropped as every bit of liquid seemed to shoot out at once.

          Harry never paused, his movements as fluid as the element he had dancing about the room, unafraid of using his fists or his umbrella (the fuck was it made of? ) or far more often his opponents themselves as weapons. He swept the legs out from one and used another as a shield from an incoming blade, one made a sad attempt at wresting some liquid from Harry’s control and Eggsy laughed at his look of utter confusion when nothing came to his grand gesture. Harry smirked, lifted a brow, and Eggsy couldn’t help but be charmed.

          All the while the air shimmered with a thousand icy fragments, discoloured and odd, and Eggsy only noticed halfway through the brawl that they were catching onto the boys and weighing them down. And, when Eggsy looked down at Rottie, they’d frozen him solid to the floorboards. Harry was making them waste their time, their energy, fighting him when he could have laid them all out in seconds flat apparently. There was enough moisture in the pub to drown a man, let alone incapacitate a handful of subpar benders- but Harry seemed to be enjoying the physical side of the brawl, and Eggsy was certainly enjoying watching.

          No matter how much he wished otherwise, Air just wasn’t that great of an element for combat. Especially when beset by Earth and Fire folk. Air was amazing for getaways, for exploring and evading and Eggsy loved his element with his entire being but when it came to actually fighting back Air was sorely lacking if you were a decent human being. It was way more effective to use his fists, but those weren’t very helpful when faced with a stone wall. He’d learnt that the hard way. So watching something he'd desperately dreamt of come to life before him was amazing.

          Harry twisted a wrist and Eggsy gasped as something flew from his watch and electrocuted the target as he fell, twitching, and Harry didn’t blink. He swept another man by the neck with the handle of his brolly before letting go swiftly enough to damage the bar as he struck, arm set at an awkward angle.

          Eggsy couldn’t follow everything that was happening, Harry popping in and out from view between the chaos of the brawl, not unlike an old cartoon where a moving ball of dust was all you could see. Instead, Eggsy followed the moisture in the air, watched as it came together and broke apart, as it circled a target before choosing a new one as Harry knocked them aside physically. As if it was just there to observe, like Eggsy was, and not participate. Harry didn’t seem to rely on his bending, not the way most would teach to, and it was beautiful . The water wasn’t so much an extension of his limbs as it was his focus , barely touching anyone until they’d been summarily tossed to the floor.

          Rottie stirred, grumbled to himself, and lit his fist before working to melt the ice that had him stuck to the floor. He looked up and saw the last of Harry’s opponents collapse to the floor, and suddenly was flaring brightly before leaping to his feet. Eggsy suddenly remembered reading books about the age of Ozai and the hundred year war, and how Firebending had become fuelled by anger, and as Rottie thrust his hand out and shot a ball of fire straight toward Harry’s exposed back Eggsy wanted to scream. To warn him. Somehow, though, he couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t get the words out, as he watched it get closer and melted the icy fragments in the air as it went and filled the room with a cool mist.

          ‘Ah, I was wondering if you were ever going to join the party.’ The mist parted just enough for Eggsy to see Harry turn and smirk before it filled the gaps again. Rottie roared and shot off several bursts that were snuffed out in seconds, never even reaching a table let alone their intended target. The air became oppressively warm, like a sauna which was actually quite annoying when one was fully clothed, and Eggsy took a moment to direct the mist out and around from him as Rottie raged fruitlessly. He shot a stream of red from his fingertips, thin and red until it faded to pink and then entirely from view until Rottie let them fade entirely.

          ‘Hello there,’ Eggsy looked up to see Harry leant casually against the side of the booth, eyes locked on Rottie as he conducted the mist like an orchestra. ‘Are you alright, Eggsy?’ Eggsy stared incredulously at the older man, simultaneously impressed beyond belief and terrified of the repercussions this would end up in. But those were problems for future Eggsy to solve.

          ‘Yeah, I’m alright,’ Eggsy took a moment to set the future aside, ‘you?’

          ‘Oh, I’m smashing .’ He held up a fist and all at once the mist froze, a solid wall of ice that landed solidly atop Rottie, knocking him unconscious, before dispersing back into the various places it had come from in the first place. Harry straightened his sleeves and sat himself back across from Eggsy as if he hadn’t just beaten six men to a pulp without breaking a sweat. He slouched into the chair, sighed, and pulled deep from his glass before speaking. Didn’t even  bother unbuttoning his jacket.

          ‘Sorry about that- needed to let off a little steam.’ Harry’s eyes danced briefly before settling back to a semblance of composed. ‘Heard yesterday a friend of mine died- he knew your father, too, actually.’ Eggsy wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Harry didn’t seem so much broken up about it as resigned and maybe a bit frustrated- was he supposed to console him, somehow? Sorry for your loss?

          ‘Unfortunately, Eggsy, I shouldn’t have done this in front of you,’ Harry began messing with his watch, and all the thoughts he’d had of not being Harry’s target flew out the window. What was he going to do to him?

          ‘Swear down I won’t say nothin’. Please- if there’s one thing I c’n do it’s keep my mouth shut.’ Harry tilted his head slightly to one side, considering, like a snake examining prey.

          ‘You won’t tell a soul?’ Harry’s wrist didn’t waver, and Eggsy hoped he could convince him- even if all he had was a vague story and the memory of the boys getting their arses handed to them it was nothing he wanted to lose. He’d lost enough from his life as it was.

          ‘Ask the feds, I ain’t never grassed anyone up.’

          ‘Is that a promise?’

          ‘On my life,’

          ‘You don’t seem to have much self preservation, so do forgive me if I’m not thoroughly convinced,’ Harry paused, ‘but I’ll take your word for it. Much appreciated, Eggsy,’ He collected his brolly and left some coin for the tab, ‘You were right about the snobs- but there, too, there are exceptions.’ Eggsy lowered his arms and finished his drink with an internal sigh of relief.

          ‘Best of luck with everything, Eggsy,’ Harry clasped a hand to his shoulder, and somehow the aches and bruises he hadn’t known were bothering him faded. He felt lighter than he had in years, and Harry smiled as if he could tell before striding confidently from the room without looking back. Eggsy was helpless but to follow him with his eyes until the door latched shut behind him.

Chapter Text

          The news was boring. The same six things happened day in and day out with little difference between them and it was a waste of time to watch. But it was something to do, so Michelle and Dean were sat in front of the telly as a Water Nation man droned on about the ‘exciting’ new mover about the life of Valentine, who had gone from an unknown inventor to the man who had reinvented Spirit-based technology seemingly overnight. 

          Valentine was everything the Upper Class loved: a man with an idea and the funds to shove it into the spotlight; and everything the Lower Classes dreamt of: someone with an idea who didn’t give up, and kept pushing, until he made it through the barrier. The former never seemed to think beyond his fortune, and the latter never thought beyond his past- but as much as Eggsy admired him and his spoken values, he was waiting to see some action. The technology he’d made would change so much if released to the public, if it was allowed to be studied and copied and distributed to the masses with no thought to the yuans that would come from it.

          ‘... and there are still no leads on the ever increasing missing persons list. There have been no calls for ransom, or evidence of harm, but without any clues hope is dwindling for their return. On WuTube a popular artist has compiled what they believe to be the qualities the perpetrator is using to choose their victims- and a likely list of who is next. Having been correct before, the authorities are beginning to take them a bit more seriously than they had been when this all began. Next on-’

          Eggsy had taken the long way home, both to prolong his facing Dean directly and to give himself time to process what he’d witnessed. Harry was an enigma, seemingly stern and a bit cruel with what seemed to be a mischievous streak when pressed. There had been no reason to show off as he had, like a peacock-cat showing off for a mate, and though he had seemingly regretted his actions he hadn’t apologised for them. Just for letting Eggsy see them, which was entirely different.

          So Eggsy had a lot to think about, and meandering the neighbourhood was as good a way as any to do so. But, getting lost in one’s thoughts was a surefire way to be caught unawares, as Eggsy discovered as he walked in the door and his mum jumped up from the couch to try and push him back out before Dean saw-

          Dean pulled the floor up to trap his feet as his fist ran into Eggsy’s face, his cruel grin a familiar sight and the already-forming bruise an old friend he hadn’t had the time to forget. The floor released his feet as Dean instead threw a stone ring around his neck and lifted him off the ground to slam him into the fridge. Once. Twice. His mum screamed, pleading, all unfortunately well known sounds as Eggsy fought to keep his eyes open. He felt the stone give way and his feet landed on the ground just as Dean turned his attention to Michelle, grasping her chin between his thick fingers and throwing her away and onto the floor.

          Ah. And now there was a knife, a large one, pressed beneath his chin and Eggsy was once again faced with the challenge of drawing breath without somehow making things worse.

          ‘Who was with you in that fucking pub?’ The knife pressed a bit firmer against his throat, and Eggsy could feel the scrape and used every trick he could think of not to gulp desperately for air. ‘I wanna know the name of that geezer you was with!’ Dean used his free hand to slap him across the face before sending a nearby plate into his gut so hard it cracked. Or maybe the sound was his ribs- he couldn’t tell, at the moment.

          ‘I wasn’t with no one!’ Another plate, and the ring of stone returned to his neck, Dean instead using both hands to hold his projectiles aloft. He’d never gone this far before, and his mum was terrified, but all Eggsy could think about was how grateful he was that Daisy was tucked into the bedroom and wouldn’t have to see. He couldn’t do anything about the sound, but hopefully she was too young to remember.

          ‘ Tell me! ’ A bowl, and the knife was brought back up to his chin, tip slicing through skin just enough to sting, but not enough to scar. Dean knew what he was doing.

          ‘I don’t know what you’re fuckin’ on about!’ It was breathy, desperate, but he’d been serious when he told Harry he could keep his mouth shut. He’d kept his word for less, and no matter what happened here at least he’d kept his word. He didn’t have much beyond his honour, but what he had he defended fiercely.

          Somewhere else, far enough removed to prevent any sort of tracing, Harry sat at his laptop. He could hear the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, the screams of a woman who could only be Michelle begging for the violence to end, and Eggsy denying all connection to him. He hadn’t done anything to deserve loyalty, had ensured his silence with all the promise of an already-cashed-in favour and an unspoken threat, but here the boy was. Keeping his mouth shut in the face of physical harm and without any sort of hope or guarantee that something would stop the other man.

          ‘I could kill you right now, you shitstain, and NO ONE in the whole world will know it!’ Michelle seemed to let loose a sob, and Eggsy’s indrawn breath let Harry know that something had changed. For all that this seemed to be a regular occurrence, the screaming and such not drawing any notice from neighbours, this had pushed Dean beyond the norm and there was genuine terror in Eggsy’s voice as he denied having been with anyone, once again, and Harry knew that this was his moment.

          ‘But I would,’ Harry’s voice boomed in the small space, and Eggsy looked at the door expecting to see the man walking through, ‘I have enough evidence of your activities to have you locked up for the rest of your pathetic life.’ Harry was nowhere to be found, and yet Eggsy felt himself relaxing just at the sound of his voice, and the moment Dean lowered the knife from him to wave it at the room as if he could cut sound from the air itself, Eggsy sighed in relief.

          ‘Who the fuck-’

          ‘I suggest you leave the boy alone,’ Michelle was still crying, one hand reaching toward Eggsy as the stone around his neck fell away in light of Dean’s distraction and he fell to the floor, ‘or I’ll be forced to provide it to the proper authorities. Eggsy?’ Despite his lack of physical presence Eggsy paused; whether he was awaiting instruction or salvation was anyone’s guess but he knew that whatever Harry asked he would listen. ‘Meet me at the bookshop I told you about.’

          Eggsy pushed Dean clear across the room with a gust of wind that he wouldn’t otherwise have dared to use, and spared his mum a sad look before bolting out the door. He’d barely closed the door behind him before there was a shout and from instinct alone Eggsy managed to dodge the chunk of stone flying at him. Apparently it’d been long enough for the goons to have licked their wounds and rallied at Dean’s physically. Though Eggsy had hoped Dean had known about the pub from a call, instead of being so handily surrounded, but he couldn’t say he was surprised by this turn of events. Eggsy ducked and weaved and leapt onto the ledge, swung his body around a pole and launched himself into the air.

          Poodle sent more rocks at him, and Eggsy caught them one by one before shooting them back in a swift fling of his wrist. Poodle growled and swat them away from his face, and Rottie threw a ribbon of fire that barely licked his ankle before Eggsy kicked it away with a grin. This was what he loved about Air: the freedom. He hit the snaps on his jacket and spread his arms, easily evading the rest of the goons’ projectiles as glided over the town and made his way toward the Kingsman bookshop.

Chapter Text

          Eggsy landed before the bookshop, an innocuous building with the familiar small passageways for Knowledge Seekers tucked into shadowed corners and a familiar insignia emblazoned on the door. He pulled the pai sho tile out from beneath his shirt, and spent a long moment looking between the two, wondering how he got here. Through the windowed door he could see the dim lighting, spirit energy flowing through glass that lined the ceiling, a pale facsimile to the bright lights of a shopping mall or grocer’s shop. A warm, inviting, light that was enough to see and read by without being oppressive- and in the middle of it all, Harry sat on a plush sofa with a glass of amber liquid. He locked eyes with Eggsy through the glass, and Eggsy watched as a stream of water came up and around from somewhere unseen before curling around the handle of the door before pushing it open.

          ‘Well,’ Eggsy could hear the laughter in his voice, ‘are you coming?’ Harry hid his smirk behind his glass as he took a sip, the water barely brushing Eggsy’s jaw as it made its way back beyond Harry. 

          ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ Harry tipped his glass as Eggsy shut the door behind him with a wave, ‘Y’know I’ve never met anyone from Lotus b’sides you. And, somehow,’ Eggsy looked him up and down, hands in his pockets, ‘I know you ain’t one.’ Harry seemed to roll his eyes, or maybe he just closed them to savour the last bit of his drink, before setting the glass aside.

          ‘Come with me.’ Harry rose from the couch swiftly, not a movement wasted, and walked confidently to one of the study rooms. Through the door he could see a desk covered in books and scrolls, a hook on the wall that bore a coat and a flat cap, and tucked into a corner was another of the Knowledge Seeker’s passages. Eggsy wondered what he was thinking, as he followed Harry into the room, just doing what Harry asked when there was no one who could possibly vouch for him. If this went wrong-

          But there’s no reason for it to go wrong, he rationalised to himself as he made his way across the room. Harry had had many opportunities to harm him, or to allow harm to come to him, and he’d done the opposite. If he wasn’t crazy Harry had even healed him after the fight at the pub, for all the good it did him now. As if having heard his thoughts, a ball of water appeared before him, though Harry hadn’t moved a finger, and pressed itself to his face. Eggsy hissed, flinched away, but the water pressed further still and glowed and he couldn’t help but sigh in relief as it meandered across his face and throat, healing the bruising and the cuts Dean had given him just hours ago.

          ‘Come on in,’ Eggsy opened his eyes, not aware he’d closed them, and as he entered the room Harry shut the door, his other hand gestured toward the mirror Eggsy had entirely failed to notice. Harry stood behind him, at an angle, and Eggsy watched as the water that had been healing him pulled away before returning to Harry’s belt. ‘What do you see?’

          ‘Someone who wants to know what the fuck is goin’ on. And you, I guess.’ Eggsy decided that, whatever was going to happen next, he wasn’t giving a fuck. If he spent all his time wondering and questioning every little detail he’d get nowhere fast- but he couldn’t taper his curiosity completely. He didn’t let himself hide the confusion in his eyes, in the slouch of his shoulders, in the ever so slight drop of his jaw- he wasn’t going to lie, no matter how much more secure it made him feel to do so.

          ‘Cheeky,’ Harry smiled, one side pulled up yet both his eyes crinkled at the edges, ‘I see a young man with potential.’ Eggsy froze, his jaw dropped just slightly more than it had been before, and he wanted to knock his head and clear his ears. What? ‘A young man who is loyal, who can do what he’s asked, and wants to do something good with his life,’ Harry locked eyes with him in the reflection, ‘does that sound accurate?’

          ‘Don’t sound much like the kid you met at the pub earlier,’ So maybe he’s a bit bitter about that.

          ‘I’m not in the habit of apologising for the truth- but I am sorry for how I presented it to you. I was not acting when I said I’d had a rather emotional day, and unfortunately part of that I took out on you prior to you luring some more acceptable targets to me. Now,’ Harry gave Eggsy no time to process, no time to accept or reject the apology he’d hidden, ‘have you seen the mover Trading Places?’ Eggsy shook his head, reeling from all the changes of direction, ‘Nikita? Pretty Woman?’

          ‘No,’ Harry sighed to himself, and Eggsy felt the sudden urge to apologise.

          ‘Alright,’ Harry shook his head, as if to clear it, ‘my point is that a lack of silver spoon may have set you on a path- but you don’t need to stay on it. If you’re prepared to adapt, to learn, you could transform.’ Harry took a deep breath, and Eggsy felt as if he was finally getting it.

          ‘Like in My Fair Lady?’ Harry looked down at him physically, seeming to forget the reflection before them, with wide eyes and twitching lips. A joke he’d somehow told but wasn’t in on.

          ‘Well, aren’t you full of surprises. Yes, Eggsy- like in My Fair Lady. Only in this case,’ Harry paused, a look in his eye that Eggsy couldn’t identify, ‘I’m offering you the chance to be a Kingsman.’

          ‘A “bookkeeper”?’ Eggsy used his fingers to emphasise how little believed the façade.

          ‘A Kingsman agent .’

          ‘Like a spy?’ Eggsy raised a brow with a grin, not truly believing what he’d said but pushing the envelope of Harry’s patience- or so he thought.

          ‘Of sorts.’ Apparently he was more on the nose than he’d thought, but he couldn’t help but scoff. What about today did Harry think was worth doing all this for?

         ‘Dean’s fixing to weight me to the riverbed and mum’s done nothin’ to stop him and his wreaking havoc around the joint. There’s only so much I can forgive and forget, you get me? D’you really think I’ve got anything to lose?’

          ‘Young man I have no doubt that you have a great deal to lose- but you also have a great deal more to gain, just as your father did.’ Harry glanced at Eggsy through the mirror, eyes soft in a way Eggsy couldn’t quite describe, and all he could do in reply was swallow and nod once. For better or worse, he wanted to know where this went- he wanted to know even this miniscule fragment of his dad’s life, and damn the consequences. He’d given up so much for the sake of his mum and her wishes- this was going to be for him .

          Harry stepped up to the mirror and extended a hand, placed it fully onto the glass before stepping away with a firm nod. There was a loud click, a shift along the floor’s edges, and the room began to fall. Not fast, just a steady shift downward that wasn’t accompanied by the harsh clang of machinery or the sound of rock shifting. Eggsy couldn’t help but look up, at the ceiling as it grew too small to see, at the walls as they shifted from paint to metal to stone and back to metal again, then back down at the floor as if hoping to see the mechanisms that powered it.

         ‘Shortly after Kuvira’s defeat at the hands of Avatar Korra,’ Harry began, distracting Eggsy thoroughly from the room at large, ‘a prospective member of the White Lotus grew a bit jaded by the organisation having been reduced to the protectors and trainers of the Avatar. They had once been much more than that, powerful leaders in their own rights helping to protect the world from the shadows. He saw that their new structure inhibited the types of assistance they were able to offer- and as he spoke to members of the Nations he found that they agreed.’ Harry peered at him from the corner of his eye, a look somewhere between cunning and understanding on his face. ‘After all, the police had not stopped Amon or the Red Lotus- and Kuvira had nearly defeated the Avatar despite all of her guided training. Who could protect the people, if their guidance had left such exploitable weaknesses? Never mind that the Avatar is just as human as the rest of society, but they saw her as a deity and treated her and her actions accordingly. There could be no flaws; at least, none that couldn’t be quickly explained away.

          ‘But that’s beside the point. The people of the four nations began to galvanise around a set of movers released by VGI that featured Non-Benders, Benders, and Spirit advisors working in tandem to protect the world regardless of societal status, skill, or political affiliation. The Kingsman became a symbol of justice and peace regardless of borders; there were radio theatrical productions and televised programmes, school plays and novels- it wasn’t uncommon to find people bearing their symbols tattooed to their body or stitched into their clothing. Desna decided to capitalise on this and formed our organisation in an effort to gather people who wished to preserve peace and protect life. The Avatar was a single flawed being, bridge between worlds or not, and though every group has their faults he decided that the potential benefits far outweighed the risks.

          ‘As we look around us today, the Avatar has become far less important than they were in the past. To be frank, the Avatar and thus the Order of the White Lotus have become effectively defunct in light of society as it stands now- and at least the last three Avatars, if lifespan estimates are correct, have been born and died in utter obscurity. We care more for the stars of the latest mover and political celebrity than any supposed bringer of balance; and the benefits of multi-bending became less impressive with every derivative discovered and harnessed by the masses. Kingsman, shadowed as it is and always has been, has stepped into that protectorate role; we work outside of bureaucracy to ensure the safety of the world, no matter the actions necessary to do so, with no care for recognition of our sacrifices.’

          Eggsy wasn’t sure what to do with the sheer quantity of information thrown at him just then- it was too late to turn back, not that he even entertained the thought beyond wondering if he was vaguely worthy of such a risk. He was here, in a seemingly endless lift that had once been a study, the future looking more and more impossible by the moment.

Chapter Text

          ‘Shit, we’re late.’ Harry didn’t seem to be bothered by the prospect, examining his watch with a lazy look before slowly sitting up and making his way from the bullet train. Eggsy tried to take his cue from him, to walk at an even pace and simply take everything in stride, but couldn’t help but jump from the train and lengthen his stride as if to get to wherever it was they were going faster. Not that he could lead the way, he was a bit captive to Harry’s pace, but he didn’t let himself stop and look at everything going on around him. It was beyond difficult, and then Harry stopped in front of a wide window, a wall of glass, and just beyond it lay the most expansive hangar he had ever seen. 

          There were spirit vines climbing up the walls, A hundred cars in various styles, at least twice that in aircraft, and Eggsy couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever get the chance to see any of it in action. His jaw had gaped open, and he knew his eyes were bugging out from their sockets, absolutely amazed at everything that was laid out before him. He couldn’t help but grin, or as close of an approximation as his gaped mouth could manage; the sight before him had shifted something inside that he didn’t have words for.

          ‘Your father had the same look on his face,’ Harry was looking at him physically, not in the reflection of the glass, and Eggsy turned, attention still half on the hangar, ‘as did I.’ He stepped away and Eggsy saw from the corner of his eye the soft look Harry gave him as he opened a door off to the side, and swept an arm in an attempt to get Eggsy to follow- but it was all he could do to make his feet move, unable to tear his eyes away for a moment until it was literally out of view. Eggsy’d never had the opportunity to know he was echoing his dad’s footsteps before, never been able to know he was making a call that his dad would be proud of, and he wanted to commit every second to memory.

          No matter how brief this adventure ended up being, in the grand scheme of things, Eggsy didn’t want to forget a moment .

          The walls were a strange mix of new tech and old fashioned development beneath glass, the tops a series of tubes, spirit energy a steady glow down the hall, another of lightning midway down, the space between a thick mist, and below that was a steady flow of magma. It was a beautiful melding of old and new, of the places between that the elements met in, and Eggsy would swear until the day he died that that was the reason he’d entirely missed the Knowledge Seeker until he’d nearly stepped on them. This just kept happening.

           ‘Oh, shit, sorry.’ Eggsy knelt down and gathered the scrolls that had scattered into the hall, piling them neatly and passing them over with a sheepish smile. They nodded, briefly, to one another before Eggsy stood and wiped dust that wasn’t there from his denims. Harry was paused ahead of him, a brow raised and a soft smile on his face.

          ‘Not often you find humans apologising to spirits,’ Harry gave the Knowledge Seeker a nod as they went by, tail up and pawsteps silent, ‘especially from new recruits.’

          ‘Y’know with all you said about Kingsman bein’ about equal opportunity an’ shit I expected better from you lot’s candidates. Dunno why, you’re all old toffs by the looks of it.’ Another man in a suit passed by, silver at his temples, walking beside another with a smooth face but weathered hands. Eggsy wondered how they’d gotten that way. 

          ‘I can’t disagree with you there- but I hope that I’ve shown myself to be a-’

          ‘You’re late is what you are, Galahad.’ A bald man, strangely familiar though Eggsy couldn’t quite place the memory, looked up from a clipboard and over his glasses as he approached. ‘Not,’ He smirked, ‘that that’s unusual for you. Is this your candidate?’

          ‘That’s my codename,’ Harry whispered to Eggsy before turning to the man who had spoken, ‘yes, this is Eggsy.’ Harry rested both hands briefly on his shoulders, and Eggsy spared a thought to the image they had to make, with Harry pressing Eggsy forward like a young initiate (and, honestly, wasn’t that kind of what he was?) as his body relaxed and his aches faded entirely. He wished he could thank Harry for the kindness, for the Healing that he now realised was happening, but the bald man had a look in his eye that kept Eggsy’s mouth shut.

          ‘Well, in you go.’ The wall seemed to melt away, and beyond it lay a cloistered group or people around his age; as soon as he’d cleared the threshold the wall reconstructed itself, glass and all, and no one besides himself found that at all exciting. That wall was a marvel , a physical in-between of Elements that he couldn’t make heads or tails of how it functioned. He could only wonder as to the why it had come to be. But Eggsy listened to the thrum behind him: the near-silent hum of electricity, the slow sloshing of moving magma, the tinkling bells of spirit, the likely imagined whoosh of air slowly breaking through mist before rejoining again… they settled something Eggsy hadn’t known was anxious, as he brought himself to try and join the other occupants.

          ‘Fall in,’ Eggsy snapped to attention before making even, quick, strides backward to fit into line with the rest of the candidates as the man from the hall seemed to simply appear in the room. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ He seemed unassuming, held himself with an ease he couldn’t help but envy, but after seeing Harry at the pub Eggsy thought he knew better than to assume anything; ‘my name is Merlin. You are about to embark on what is probably the most dangerous job interview in the world. One of you, and only one of you, will become the next Lancelot.’ Merlin shifted to one side, and a pillar threw itself from the ground before landing with a dull thud, a pile of synthetic material stuck to the top. ‘Can anybody tell me what this is?’

           A body bag, Eggsy thought to himself, somehow unsurprised but unwilling to raise his hand like a schoolboy. The others seemed to know, anyway, from the way they seemed to lack his reluctance and universally had their hands in the air with eyes locked unwaveringly forward.

          ‘A body bag, sir.’ Eggsy barely kept himself from startling as the voice chimed from behind him, the heat that accompanied it as unmistakable as the crackling sparks that erupted as his hands met behind his back. Lightning.

          ‘Correct- Charlie, isn’t it?’

          ‘Yes sir,’ there was a cocky set to his jaw, and somehow Eggsy knew that this was going to be the arsehole he’d be fighting himself not to deck for however long he lasted.

         ‘Now,’ Merlin took a step back, and in front of him eight more body bags came up from the floor, supported by spiralled columns of steel and stone, ‘in a moment every one of you will take one of these bags, and you will write both your name and the details of your next of kin on that bag. This is to show you lot understand the risks you’re about to face as well as confidentiality. Strict. Confidentiality.’ His gaze moved to each of them in turn, and Eggsy didn’t dare to breathe while their eyes were locked. ‘And,’ Merlin suddenly smirked, and Eggsy immediately decided that fuck whatever the real protocol was supposed to be- Dean was going on that tag no matter what he said next. ‘If you just so happen to break that confidentiality the result will be both you and your next of kin being placed in that bag.’

          Well, if there was one thing Eggsy knew he wasn’t going to do it was snitch, no matter how bad he did. So, luckily for him, writing Dean’s name wouldn’t have any real consequences. He definitely didn’t want to be sardined in there with that fucker, even if they were both dead. But, come to think of it, Merlin hadn’t specified that they’d be dead- just that they’d both be in that bag. A bag built for one. Aaaaaaand that’s where he cut that thought off.

          ‘Is that understood?’ Merlin didn’t bother to wait for a reply, one lip curling upwards and a twinkle in his eye that made Eggsy shudder. ‘Excellent. Fall out.’ He exited the room, the wall once again melting away before oozing back into place despite the glass and currents, and Eggsy allowed himself a deep breath, surreptitiously, to recentre himself. The others dispersed around him, approaching each of the pillars and examining it as if there were something special about the body bags they had to figure out before labelling them- Eggsy just grabbed the nearest one and pulled the cap off the marker with a savage grin. If he was going down in this unbelievable circumstance, he’d take Dean with him- either way his mum and Daisy would be safe.

          ‘Roxanne,’ a hand jumped into his field of vision, and Eggsy looked up into a pair of determined eyes, ‘but, you could call me Roxy.’ She shrugged the shoulder of her extended arm, and Eggsy could see the strength and surety in every muscle. She wanted this position, and knew more than he did, but wanted connection. Maybe an alliance? Eggsy hadn’t a clue as to how this interview was going to work but thus far she was the only one to acknowledge him. Even if it was for being different.

          ‘I’m Eggsy.’ He clasped wrists with her, a familiar Earth gesture of good will he’d picked up from one of Ryan’s cousins. He could tell he’d surprised her, the twitch of her fingers before they gripped fully, but she smiled at him in reply despite her quirked brow. Which, fair enough, it was a strange name- but it was his, and that was enough for him.

          ‘Eggy?’ One of the other candidates sauntered up behind him, and Eggsy ignored him, just continued to fill out his bag after sharing a conspiratory look with Roxy- it was nothing he hadn’t heard before. ‘Where’d they dig you up?’ Eggsy felt the hairs on his arms stand on end and turned just in time to miss the approaching hand. It was the man with the sparks, the one who’d answered Merlin with far more than the confidence of someone who knew what an object was- the one who’d seemed almost amused by the introduction and had huffed a laugh at the supposed risks Merlin had mentioned.

          Eggsy already didn’t like him on principle. 

          ‘You know we can’t discuss who proposed us.’ Roxy cut in, seemingly oblivious to the tension.

          ‘Oi, moose-lion, back off. Charlie’s just making conversation-ain’t that right?’ 

          But Eggsy wasn’t surprised by the antics, or the fake laughter that followed the rhetorical question, because posh kids were all the same. You’d think with the world being so large there’d be some variety but every Nation, bender or non, said the same kind of shit. The words could be different, but it all meant the same thing: I’m better than you. Which was all sorts of bullshit; no person was better than anybody else, just different.

          ‘I’m Digby, that’s Rufus,’ Eggsy looked from the blonde to another man in a tacky outfit just behind Charlie, who lifted a hand in greeting. ‘Rufus, Eggy.’ There was a droplet of moisture going down the back of his neck, like a bit of sweat but more purposed, and Eggsy wondered which of them was trying to get him to snap. And why- they hadn’t even really started to complete, what would be the benefit? Rich people were weird, and Eggsy saw no reason to let them think he was bothered.

          ‘So, Eggy,’ Rufus leant partially forward, hands behind his back, and Eggsy felt a brush of wind just behind the droplet of water; ‘are you from a Lotus family, then?’ The two benders, whichever was Rufus and whichever was Digby, had to be very familiar with one another to be so in sync. Even he and Jamal had had to practise for ages before being able to pull a stunt like the one they were trying now. But, unluckily for them, to learn a trick is to know the ins and outs- and Eggsy let the feeling flow through him, let the shock of not-quite-ice start and end within and let out a breath that was, from the outside, no different from any other.

          ‘Nah,’ He took a great amount of joy from the tightening of their eyes as no reaction was forthcoming. Bullies hate when they don’t get what they’re looking for, and Eggsy was banking on there being some form of surveillance in the room that would prevent them from escalating too far. He wanted this, he wanted to try and push himself and see how far he could get on his own merit- something he hadn’t dared to try since the Marines.

          ‘Oh, you went to one of the Beifong academies then?’ Charlie looked up from where he seemed to be examining Eggsy’s shoes, the quirk of his lips enough for Eggsy to predict what was coming next.

          ‘Wait, I think I’ve met you before- didn’t you serve me at the White Dragon tea house?’ Digby smirked as Eggsy propped himself against the end of the nearest bed, and made a show of looking the trio up and down before smirking.

          ‘If I had, I’d have given you somethin’ off the secret menu.’ Eggsy made a rude gesture, easily giving him what he was looking for, and hoped that would be enough for them to leave him be. He laughed to himself as he turned back to the task at hand, the image of having “accidentally” given the trio a pot of white jade instead of white dragon nestled beautifully with the real memory of Rottie knocked out at the Black Prince.

          ‘Just ignore them-’

          ‘D’you need a pen?’ Roxy was cut off by another woman, intense eyes and a severe jawline but an understanding smile on her face.

          ‘Cheers,’ Eggsy took the pen, having lost his somewhere amidst the arseholery, and turned his attention to finally finishing the blank spaces with Dean’s information with a savage grin.

          ‘Amelia, isn’t it?’ She nodded, and Eggsy noted the way they clasped wrists before sliding it into a loose handshake- that wasn’t the greeting of strangers, and Eggsy kicked himself for not immediately assuming that most of them would already know each other, if only vaguely. He was already at a disadvantage (more than one, between his distinct lack of luggage compared to the others) due to his haphazard recruitment, and now he had this to contend with as well. But, at least some of the other candidates were happpy to introduce themselves.

          ‘Amelia, Eggsy.’ Roxy gestured to him, and Amelia extended a hand, palm-up, with a soft smile. He returned it, resting his palm gently against hers with a small burst of wind and a wink- he didn’t know how she knew an Air greeting, let alone that he could bend at all, but it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme. After a moment he slid his hand up to clasp her wrist as he had Roxy’s, and her grin became a bit more fierce.

          ‘Don’t listen to a thing they say- they talk a lot of shit to cover up a distinct lack of skill.’ Roxy grinned and agreed; Eggsy allowed himself to look at his filled label: blood type, Nation (and wasn’t that confusing, what with being a kid of Water and Air?), next of kin- and he must have taken a moment too long, seemed apprehensive or scared, as Roxy laid a hand on his arm.

          ‘It’s just scare tactics- nobody’s going to die.’ Amelia kept her distance, more reserved than Roxy seemed to be with touch, but nodded in agreement. Eggsy didn’t think they’d kill anyone- but that didn’t mean that someone wouldn’t die.

          He knew that possibility all too well.

          And though no one had given him any rules, had told him what he was and wasn’t allowed to discuss, Eggsy didn’t feel like sharing his dad’s story. That was his, and Harry’s, and whoever else was actually there when it happened- not theirs. But, still, he looked over his shoulder at Charlie and the others before raising a brow in her direction.

          ‘Shame.’

Chapter Text

In a candlelit room two men sat, a collection of photos lying in the centre of the table between them, cups half full and forgotten.

          ‘You’re telling me that no one, no one knows who this guy is?!’ Valentine grumbled, ‘Fine, that’s fine , well not really fine but I can deal with it and figure it out later. Besides, it’s not why I’m here- you know me; you know I’m not after money or fame or whatever- I could have retired after the first success and left things to run themselves, but no. Instead I’m here, doing what nobody bothered to ask: saving the planet.

          ‘Well, at least the bits of it that are worth saving. I spent years diving into research and talking with the greatest minds from Republic City to the Swamp Tribes, and do you know what I learned? We’re the problem, maybe not all of us but people in gener- humanity, humanity is the problem, and no amount of money is going to fix it. Politicians bury their heads like ostrich-horses while we’re literally killing the only thing keeping us alive. This planet is dying and all they can think about is the next chunk of change in their accounts, so I’ve spent the last few years travelling in the Spirit World trying to find a solution.

          ‘And I’ve found it; it’s going to take some work and a whole lot of trust- but if you open your fucking ears, and listen close, we might just be able to get it all under control.’

          ‘Go on Valentine, I’m listening.’ President Utsah leant back in his lavish chair and gestured with one hand to the table, embossed with a complicated layering of red rings and swirls, ‘How can Republic City be of service to you?’

          ‘Funny you should ask- but I’ve got a few conditions before I’m able to give you all of the details. I definitely don’t want this to get out before it’s ready to go.’

---

           The most amusing part of this is watching these shits panic about a bird seein’ their dicks. Eggsy thought to himself, half asleep as the last of the others did their evening ablutions while trying very hard to look as if they were entirely unbothered by the complete lack of privacy. As if they’re paying even a lick of attention to that right now. 

          Roxy had stepped right beside Eggsy in the showers, one eyebrow lifted defiantly as he’d peered from the corner of his eye in her direction, but he’d shrugged and moved on, and they’d finished in companionable silence. The other boys had started whispering amongst themselves, and Eggsy thanked his ears for their sensitivity for the first time since he was a teen. They were fighting amongst themselves about who had to go next, as if there were somehow too few toilets for their bums or some other such nonsense. But none of them wanted to do so while anyone was watching, and instead they waited until he and Roxy had tucked in to begin their shuffle. 

          As if being in their cots somehow made them both blind and deaf, as none of the actions were particularly quiet or unidentifiable, but perhaps they figured there was some kind of unspoken code. Eggsy huffed a laugh to himself, remembering Basic and somehow thinking fondly on their privacy standards- or lack thereof- and how they prepared him for this. Cos, sure, there were things you saw when you lived at the fringe of society, in that place where nothing was guaranteed but you didn’t necessarily have to fight tooth and nail for each meal- but seeing didn’t make you comfortable with it. Even experience wouldn’t do that, unless it was the right kind, but somehow despite leaving early Eggsy had gotten what he needed from it for this moment.

         He fell asleep suddenly, between one breath and the next, and woke up just as quickly to the unfortunately familiar sensation of water soaking through cloth. In a flash he was sat up in bed, greeted by the entire room flooding steadily and no sign of a burst pipe. Waterlogged bed sheets were not very helpful, in the scheme of things, as they weighed down bodies and tangled up legs. 

          Charlie was trying to rally them into action, telling everyone to stay calm while he panicked and tried to climb through the solid ceiling. Amelia and Roxy were both stone-faced (no puns intended) but calculating, eyes darting about the room but bodies unmoving. Eggsy stood on his bed and tried to push the water away, a gesture that would buy him a moment’s thought on how to not just get himself (he was an airbender he could bubble his head and wait for help to arrive) but the rest of the group out of this mess.

          The important bit there, was tried.

          ‘Oi, shut it!’ The panicked clamour paused as everyone turned toward Eggsy, ‘Can anyone bend? Cos I sure fucking can’t.’ In a flash the panic doubled, the lot of them looking at their limbs in betrayal as nothing moved alongside them. Charlie said something about loo snorkels and Roxy shouted back something about the showers but Eggsy let it all wash over him as he tried to think of a way out . 

          Eggsy could hold his breath for an unreasonable amount of time- longer if he was sitting still, but any way out of this would require action- an unfortunate byproduct of experience at the hands of Dean and his cronies. He doubted anyone else would do as well if they ended up underwater for more than a handful of minutes. The water continued its way up past his elbows, his shoulders, and only moments later it pulled over his head, but Eggsy was already in motion, swimming toward where he knew the door had been and pressing firmly against the wall, fingertips searching for a latch or button.

          At the least, someone would see that he'd tried to get them out without property damage.

          Eggsy glared once at the wall and turned from it, instead making his way toward the sinks and the mirror above them. Oldest trick in the book, two-way glass; anyone worth their salt knew how to spot it from a distance. Eggsy’d dismissed it as unimportant when he’d arrived, considering they were here to be examined and tested to be secret agents there was bound to be constant surveillance. And some testing, which this was probably the first of and Eggsy didn’t really want to think about his damaging Kingsman property being deemed a success or failure. He secured himself with one hand and punched the glass- the slightest give enough for him to keep going, the exertion pushing his limits but not enough to think of stopping, until at last it burst. He slid into the room beyond, slid past Merlin and caught his bearings before he turned to look back through the wreckage.

          ‘ No,’ Eggsy leapt back through the broken glass, uncaring of the blood he left behind or the pain in his soles, bounding back toward the beds and Amelia’s body tangled in the sheets. If there was one thing Eggsy’d learnt from a young age, it was how to fix shit without botherin’ anyone- and, sometimes, fixing shit involved dragging Ryan out of the river with no Jamal to pull the water from his lungs. Sometimes, you learn how to do things without bending to fix them- and drowning was one of those things that bending could sooner fuck up than help.

          He took a moment to rearrange her body before beginning compressions, sparing a moment to push his own breath in before continuing, entirely ignoring Merlin and whoever else decided to watch. The others didn’t move from where they were huddled on the ground, though Roxy was easy to identify based on the timbre of her shuddering breath. He guessed that posh people didn’t see death very often, and had to avoid it themselves less than that, based on their reactions. And watching something in a mover or on WuTube was nothing compared to hard-earned experience.

          Amelia spat up water, eyes wide and disbelieving as she struggled to sit up and Eggsy wiped his face with the back of a hand. No lives lost today, not on his watch. He stood and offered her a hand, pulling her to use him as a crutch as they made their way toward the collection of gaping faces.

          ‘What, you lot never beaten the life into someone?’ Eggsy would have smirked, if he’d had the energy, but instead settled for lowering himself and Amelia to the ground with an exhausted grin. Merlin cast his eyes to the sky, but when Eggsy's eyes met his he could see a glimmer of amusement.

          'Congratulations on surviving your first task. Charlie, Roxy, good thinking with the showerheads- getting that around the u-bend of a toilet,' Merlin's gaze panned over the lot of them, barely hesitating over Eggsy before continuing on, 'then you have an unlimited air supply.'

          So that's what they'd been on about, when he was trying to find a way out. 

          'Eggsy,' their eyes locked for a moment, 'good job catching the two-way mirror-'

          'Bet he's seen enough of 'em.' Charlie muttered, and Eggsy didn't know if it was bravery or stupidity that let his hand give a two-finger salute in full view of Merlin. Who did nothing but make a jab at his clipboard before looking back up.

          'You can wipe the smirk off your face, lad; far as I'm concerned all but one of you has failed this task. Eggsy,' he lolled his head upward, adrenaline already crashing hard, 'care to explain why you passed?'

           He'd passed? He'd found a way out, sure, but he doubted that's what Merlin was on about. A shudder wracked Amelia's body beside him, knocking him back to the present, and suddenly he understood.

          'I didn't leave anybody behind. I made a way out we all could use, and soon as I saw someone needed help I went back. I didn't assume everyone was alright til I saw it with my own eyes, yeah?' Eggsy spoke with surprising surety for all that he was guessing. 'We're only good as our team, an' we can't just assume that everyone'll do as we ask. And we don't leave someone behind. Basic teamwork.' He shrugged without moving his arms from his knees, still curled up on the floor, freezing and barely conscious, but he swore Merlin smiled at him for a moment.

          'Spot on, Eggsy. Teamwork,' Merlin addressed the room at large, 'is the most important thing.'

Chapter Text

          ‘Next week we’re starting the study of Harmonic Convergence, beginning with the Equalist movement,’ Pale eyes scanned the room of disinterested young scholars. ‘Yes, from that far back, Ghira. So get your reading done.’

          The students gathered their things and ambled toward the exit, and the professor turned back to his papers and began to pack up while distractedly answering questions thrown at him by the small group of people hovering near the desk. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate their interest, or that he found it tedious to reply to them, but ever since-

          ‘Excuse me,’ Harry interrupted the idle chatter, the picture of an older student ashamed of needing to ask a question, ‘I’d heard about the lecture and sat in- hope you don’t mind- and I had a question about the Spirit World? Mostly about how Spirits connected to the Living World before Harmonic Convergence?’ He kept his head lowered, voice soft, only looked up at him from the corner of his eye. The professor waved the others away before turning back to Harry.

          ‘So what specifically were you-’ He became aware of his limbs in the way one was after sitting on them improperly for too long. They were there, but they were stiff, numb; partially out of his direct control. Or perhaps that was just the ice.

          ‘Listen well, scholar-’ Harry nearly spat the word, eyes hard for all his body seemed relaxed, ‘ my colleague died attempting to rescue you and I’m sure you saw some things you wish you hadn’t.’ The man swallowed, eyes wide and darting about the room,  ‘I’m only going to ask once- who took you, and why did they let you go?’ A sliver of ice ran its way behind the professor’s neck, down across the jugular, and back up to hover between his eyes. Harry hadn’t done more than raise an eyebrow.

          ‘How are you-’

          ‘Ah ah ah- I’m the one asking the questions, here, Professor.’ The ice came infinitesimally closer, edges glinting and the space between his brows growing uncomfortably icy despite the lack of touch.

          ‘I- I’m not supposed to say, but there’s-’ He cut himself off with a pained hiss, and seemed to come back to himself with a resigned nod. ‘I don’t know much; they wanted my life’s work, and I know that they’re working with Va-’ 

          A single beam of light barely peeked through the window, and the world exploded.

---

          Eggsy’d never relied on his bending- it was a great tool, but with people like Dean about he’d learnt never to rely on one skill over another. You never knew when it would be taken from you. So, compared to the rest of his competitors (except maybe Rufus, who apparently knew chi-blocking), he was having an easy time adjusting to the long periods that the surprise nonbending field was active. Overnights, obviously, and random bits of the day- often in the middle of combat training- but that didn't mean he liked it. He didn't know anyone who liked having something taken out of their control, let alone something as personal as their bending; but the world of espionage was built on knowledge, and knowing someone's strengths was to know their weaknesses. Pretending the latter was the former was just common sense.

          ‘If and when he comes to, you should talk with Harry about sharing his password,’ Merlin’s voice was slightly muffled as Eggsy neared a gap in the wall, and he couldn’t help but slow his stride. He was heading to the library to do yet more remedial work (which, no, none of the others knew about. Even Roxy assumed he was spending time with his mentor) as he hadn’t had the privilege of the same education as his now-peers. He hadn’t been told he had to do this, but he wasn’t gonna expect shit to work out for him if he didn’t put up the effort in the first place. He’d show Harry that his trust wasn’t misplaced, and himself that he was worth just as much as these toffs despite their advantages.

          But all that had nothing to do with his shamelessly eavesdropping on whatever was happening in the room Merlin’s voice came from. That was just his insatiable curiosity and inability to keep his nose out of other peoples’ business. He watched his step carefully, the humming of the walls made it difficult to hear footsteps and Spirits were quiet anyway, nodding at a few walking mushrooms and ducking the gesturing arm of a rock spirit who hadn’t been paying attention and slapped his fingers into the wall. Which was funny, but any thought of laughter fled at the sight of Harry.

          ‘And you’re certain his scans showed no foul play?’ An older man, white haired and wrinkled with skin like the moon, stood beside Merlin.

          ‘Positive. There are the expected injuries from close-quarters combustion, but once that was healed there’s been no reason for his prolonged nap.’ Merlin lifted a hand, and Eggsy could imagine the pinch of his brow, ‘we’re just going to have to wait and see, Arthur.’

          Eggsy was knocked partially into the room by a bustling waterbender and their spindly spirit companion who wasted no time in approaching Harry’s bed and beginning what seemed to be another round of tests. Arthur turned, and Eggsy caught a flash of distaste in his eyes before they hardened- it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before, and honestly all it did was make him more determined. Merlin’s gaze was softer, but there was still worry pulling at the edges of his features.

          ‘Is he going to be alright?’ Eggsy pretended he’d heard none of the conversation, as any sneak worth their salt would, though the concern in his voice was entirely genuine. He noted Arthur’s frown as he left, the hum of the room changing as the healers attempted something new, the way Harry remained still. Unnaturally still. The rise and fall of his chest barely shifted the blankets. The monitors steadily beeped no matter what the healers tried. The look on Merlin’s face read clearly that he couldn’t guarantee a positive outcome.

          ‘We’ll need patience, Eggsy, to find out. Life has no guarantees, and the Afterlife is no different- all we can work with is the present. So,’ He gripped Eggsy’s shoulder firmly, pressed his thumb once against his collarbone, ‘focus on your training. Knock the wind from their sails,’ Eggsy grinned as Merlin’s grip tightened just enough to be noticeable, ‘and make him proud.’

          ‘Yes, sir.’

          The days blended together after that, an endless cycle of studies, testing, and visiting the healer’s wing to update Harry about his progress. Each candidate sent home, each exam passed (or failed, he didn’t pretend to be perfect), each strange thing he’d read about during his endless hours in the library. The spirits he was slowly becoming friends with, despite knowing it could all very well be temporary- but, maybe if he didn’t become a Knight he could work in support. There was no shame in being out of the spotlight- the world kept spinning either way- and at this point Eggsy couldn’t imagine going back to civilian life. He wanted to make a difference, even if no one ever knew about it.

          Harry, however, remained comatose and grew more unkempt by the day. It was eerie, and Eggsy would give his left foot to change it, but he couldn’t deny himself the little joys that came from the circumstances at hand. He spent ages trying to make his air do just a fragment of what Harry’d been able to do with water at the pub. He tried to move it with just a twitch of a finger. A toe. His eyebrow. On one occasion, he wriggled his nose like he’d seen a witch do in a mover and had only succeeded in making himself sneeze. So nose-bending was out, unless there was an occasion to weaponise a sneeze.

          Which was probably more likely than not. The world was a strange place.

          But the point was that Eggsy had spent much of his time at Harry’s bedside fucking about with his bending on a minute scale. How softly could he move something, could he cut something neatly in two, could he unlock a deadbolt with no tools on his person? Kingsman had a great many tools, and if Eggsy knew one thing it was that the world was full of cheap knockoffs, but sometimes… sometimes you had to know what your limits were, if only so you could push past them. It was also loads of fun to see what ridiculous thing he could do next.

          Which is why it shouldn’t have been surprising when, while arranging Harry’s hair into a vague approximation of the octopus woman from The Little Mermaid’s with nothing but air, the man in question woke with a sneeze. Eggsy lost balance, his chair toppled over, and Harry’s hair fell in a heap atop the pillow as Eggsy lost concentration. The ridiculousness of the situation hit him hard, and instead of calling the healers in or even righting himself from the heap he’d landed in Eggsy began to laugh. Boisterous and disbelieving, tears of relief hitting the floor as Harry began to stir in earnest.

---

          ‘You have one hour to finish this exam.’ Eggsy flipped the first sheet with his tongue poking out from behind his teeth- he had some studying quirks, and chewing on his tongue was one of them. Don’t ask him how it helped him remember, it probably didn’t, but he felt like it did and that was enough.

          Merlin took the completed exam with a blank face, but returned the nod from Eggsy as he left the room. There’d been a change in the atmosphere, a couple days back, a settling that Eggsy wasn’t sure he was supposed to know about. Harry was recovering swiftly, whether it was a byproduct of superficial injuries or years of practise was anyone’s guess, and absolutely refused to decrypt his passcodes. He didn’t seem to be in any sort of rush to leave medical, either, which didn’t fit Eggsy’s interpretation of him at all- but it wasn’t as if he knew everything about the man. 

          Training had been going on for months, candidates bowing out (like Amelia had just after the first test- near death experiences had that effect on people) or getting eliminated every few weeks like clockwork, and yeah he’d gotten to know Harry a bit in that time. Well, he’d gotten to know Galahad but he wanted to think a bit of Harry snuck in there, too. Afternoons mastering knife tricks, late nights perfecting accents over expensive drinks, early mornings doing water moving meditations that Eggsy couldn’t help but see his dad in.

          His dad was the strangest sort of ghost between him and Harry. Never fully there, never fully gone; never acknowledged and yet somehow always present. There was this tether pulling him to Harry, to Merlin, a half-remembered dream that somehow his dad was central to. He could feel it. Of course Eggsy paid attention to all of his lessons, of course he practised the forms of all the Nations; but he paid special attention to water. He tried to imagine his dad, vague as the memory was, in these spaces. Doing these things. He thought about all the things he’d have learnt while here and the ones he’d have found a way to pass down if he’d had the chance. The thoughts were always tinged with sadness, with a longing for shit that couldn’t be changed, but always overwhelmingly thankful to have had the opportunity to think that way at all. To get to know even these hollow might-have-beens.

          Eggsy’s mind had wandered as much as his feet had, though they’d arrived at the same place in the end: Harry. Harry, standing in his recovery room in a deep blue robe, patting oil onto his face.

          ‘Are you familiar with the concept of knocking?’ Harry raised a brow but did not pause.

          ‘Only when I’m casin’ a place.’ Eggsy leaned sideway onto the door jamb, legs crossed at the ankle, with a smirk.

          ‘Well, I’ll knock some manners into you-’

          ‘Wha’ like osmosis?’

          ‘Eventually.’ Harry frowned in the mirror at Eggsy, who was entirely too amused to be repentant. ‘Congratulations on making it to the final six,’ Harry gestured to a frame that began to display their candidacy scores, ‘your results have been better than anything I could have hoped. Your father would be quite proud. I know I am’

Chapter Text

          The day Harry was set to finally leave the healer’s wing arrived with little fanfare. They’d never discovered the reason for his coma, and the testing never revealed any long-term trauma, so there was no reason for his stay to continue and Harry’s excuses had run out. They basically amounted to laziness anyway, so no one felt bad tossing him out- he was taking up valuable real estate for actually injured people, a group of which he was no longer a part. 

          Harry’d not bothered with dressing fully, still technically benched despite his exile from the healers, red robe knotted loosely and revealing the deep blue of his sleep top. It had taken everything in him for Eggsy to not guffaw the first time he’d seen the Kingsman standard civilian wear. For a supposedly secret organisation Kingsman really loved throwing their emblem on everything. Not even subtly- no matter where it was, it was always gold and nearly ostentatious and for all Eggsy appreciated a good hiding-in-plain-sight gambit it caused him no small amount of anxiety. How many fragments of information were scattered around the worlds, waiting to be put together like some sort of fucked up puzzle?

          Maybe he should put more faith in the organisation he was hoping to become a part of- but he also knew that arrogance bred mistakes. Just because they thought they were beyond being found didn’t make it the truth- it would only take one lucky arsehole to fuck it up. He was very familiar with the consequences of people like that.

          ‘You see that interview with Valentine yesterday?’ Eggsy meandered beside Harry, one hand idly keeping a bit of paper aloft and the other stuck into a pocket. Harry kept his hands crossed behind him, but that didn’t stop the thin stream of water from trying to catch the paper. Like a pair of butterfly-birds circling in the springtime.

          ‘Not yet- was it more of the demand to “even the playing field” between the worlds’ inhabitants, or was it something worth noting?’

          ‘Weird’s what it was. Spent half of it goin’ on about his usual schtick “the planet is dying” and “spirits know more than we ever will” before just… stoppin’.’ Eggsy paused, and when he spoke again he’d lost the mocking tone. ‘Said he knew that things were hard now, an’ that they’d prolly get harder before easing up any. Joked about the spirits having it right the first time, fucking off and letting humanity do its thing until we killed ourselves, except…’ he trailed off, brow furrowed, ‘I don’ think he was joking.’

          ‘And what makes you say that?’ Harry asked, casually, as if they weren’t already walking, conversing, and having an elemental skirmish at the same time already. Eggsy wondered for a moment if this wasn’t just another bit of Kingsman testing, but quickly dismissed it. Harry hadn’t seen the interview, hadn’t read it and drawn his own conclusions already- he was asking because he wanted to know what Eggsy thought, and why. Full stop.

          It was an unfamiliar concept.

          ‘His eyes, mostly,’ Eggsy looked to the ceiling, gathering his thoughts, and was once again struck by how futuristic the place was. It seemed to go upward endlessly, spirits meandering in seemingly infinite paths that reminded him of the traffic in the Star Wars movers. No visible barriers, yet everyone followed the paths set out by the ones before- until one didn’t. ‘Y’know how actors look when they’re tryin’ to be funny at an interview- big smile, small eyes? It’s not that they don’t think it’s funny- it’s that they spend all their fuckin’ time pretending and they can’t stop.’

          ‘I’m familiar.’ Harry pelted a small bit of ice at the wall as Merlin seemed to melt out from it on Eggsy’s left; it struck his neck and was gone, the air shimmering for such a small moment that Eggsy thought he’d imagined it. Though seemingly engrossed in a tablet, eyes roving things Eggsy couldn’t see, Merlin’s lip twitched into a smile before falling back to neutrality. Harry smirked, but gestured for Eggsy to continue. 

          ‘It’s like that. Or that sudden shift when they’re pretendin’ to be a villain for a bit- whole body makes itself bigger, they tilt their heads, an’ their eyes are just… dead? Valentine put on a good show, but he looked at the interviewer like they were a glass on the edge of someone else’s table, or a bit of cracked rock on a cliff- something you want to see break when you know you won’t have to suffer any consequences personally.’ Eggsy felt odd, walking between the two men; it was a place you put someone important. Someone worth protecting.

          He tried to slow down, to let the actual Kingsman talk, as there was no other real reason for Merlin to have appeared, but without pause they simply shortened their strides to match. One better, Merlin tilted his head in askance as he passed the tablet into Eggsy’s hand. The paper continued to dance, and the water continued to chase.

          ‘Speak of the devil- here, look,’ Eggsy moved through the video with his tongue caught between his teeth, eyes narrowed until he found what he was looking for. Harry watched at his shoulders dropped, one end of his mouth pulled upward, and Eggsy tucked an errant bit of hair off his brow without twitching a finger. Such fine control of what was arguably the most difficult element to master, used so thoughtlessly that Harry did not know if Eggsy understood what a marvel he was.

          Harry watched as Valentine laughed with his whole body, head thrown back and a finger curled at his eye as if to wipe away rebellious tears, but when the camera closed in on his face it was precisely as Eggsy had described. Hollow, but as he went on about how much he’d learnt about the spirit world and how he hoped to inspire a “more equal sharing of the planet and its wonders” there was an edge of malice to it. Nothing so overt as a sneer, just a tightening at his lips and a flash of his eyes. The sorts of things easily dismissed by the masses, by most anyone who wasn’t already looking for them.

          Eggsy would make an excellent Kingsman if these were the observations he was making idly, with no stakes or thoughts to actively seek out the details. Already able to articulate his gut feeling and provide the evidence to back it up if one were to question them, easily sharing his information and feelings with those who would be considered his teammates or superiors with no concern over being dismissed. Harry couldn’t help the swell of pride, and shared a smile with Merlin over the top of Eggsy’s head, the other huffing a breath to cover a laugh.

          ‘Well, Merlin, I think it’s time for Mr. Valentine and I to have a little tête-à-tête .’

          ‘There’s a gala he’s hosting happening in just over a week- I’ll get you an invitation. Though,’ Merlin paused, spared a glance at Eggsy before seeming to shrug to himself, ‘there have been a large amount of missing persons in the time you’ve been sleeping-’

          ‘Comatose and bedridden -’

          ‘So I’m not certain I’d want you going on your own, after your slip with the scholar.’ Eggsy didn’t know what to do with himself, stuck now between what seemed to be a mild argument. Perhaps it was subconscious, but no less effective, for the little bit of paper Eggsy had been messing with during their walk to coincidentally go up Merlin’s nose.

          ‘Oh fuck I’m sorry, Merlin totally lost track of-’ The tension snapped as Harry cackled, the way a person should and not the way Valentine had, with shaking shoulders and a shortness of breath that could only half be blamed on the amusement.

          ‘Well, that was uncalled for.’ Merlin tried to look dignified, looking down the end of his nose through his specs, but Eggsy caught the amusement in his tone.

          ‘I got no clue what you’re talkin’ about, guv.’

Chapter Text

          Harry was bored. He had decades of espionage under his belt, had done feats that would make some sick to think of let alone perform, and he was in the house of an eccentric billionaire who for all purposes should be a Bond villain but instead was simply boring. The assistant, however, was all manner of intriguing; she walked like a water bender, all fluid grace, but with the steadiness of the earth. A beautiful, if worrisome, dichotomy. Amelia had been voluntold to accompany him to the gala, bedecked in deep silver and green, and was playing the part of trophy-spouse with aplomb.

          They’d eaten their weight in fast food, the kind of overly-salted greased meats and starches that lingered in the system for days instead of hours, and Harry had taken great care in drinking sparingly from the offered wine glass. It was subpar in the first place, bitter and distinct in all the wrong ways, but in the game of espionage good manners were essential. There was also the piercing gaze of the assistant, Gazelle, who would pointedly ask if the wine was not to his liking if the glass left his lips not noticeably less full than it had been when he’d lifted it.

          So some of the offensive liquid had been ingested, unfortunately. And he had been pretty much entirely unsuccessful in obtaining any sort of legitimate information. A brief glimpse at some flyer for a religious institution an ocean away, the strangely dangerous design of Gazelle’s prosthetics, an odd comment about spies that he’d refused to react to. The gala itself had either been cancelled or a ruse the entire time, which did nothing but add new bells to the cacophony Eggsy had begun with his innocuous comment. 

          Amelia tapped a finger to his wrist and leant in as if to whisper in his ear, and he forced a brief flush to his cheeks before turning to her with a disapproving look. Neither were happy at being essentially trapped at the table.

          ‘Dear, you know better than to comment while at someone else’s table.’

          ‘Oh it’s no issue- I’m sure your wife was expecting a bit more entertainment than she’s gotten tonight.’ Valentine slanted an apologetic look in Amelia’s direction, ‘I do apologise for not letting you know about the change in plans. It was just such an opportunity to meet someone with your lineage that I didn’t already know. It’s not often that someone claims to be related to Unalaq.’

          ‘I’m sure you can understand my discretion- there’s still a bit of lingering hate for those of us who acknowledge Unalaq as opposed to Desna or Eska. He may have been a little… extreme, ’ Harry quirked a lip, ‘in how he went about it. But he certainly had the right idea, wouldn’t you say?’

          ‘Some might say that he didn’t go far enough.’ Ah, finally they were getting somewhere.

          ‘Is humanity truly so arrogant as to think we’re in control of the world?’ Amelia chimed in, one hand hovering over her mouth, the lights glinting off her dainty rings.

          ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell people! The spirit world is so vibrant and varied, they’ve had forever to rip into each other the way we have and yet they haven’t and what does that tell us about people? We’re toxic. A disease, even, and if we don’t find a cure…’ Valentine exchanged a brief look with Gazelle, lips downturned and eyes sad but empty, ‘well, I doubt there will be anyone left to find out.’

          ‘You think the spirits would be amenable to finding this cure?’ Harry took a small sip and covered his grimace by dabbing his lips with a napkin. ‘I would hazard a guess that they would be quite unaffected by whatever did us in, what purpose would they have in assisting us?’

          ‘I have spent a lot of time in the spirit world,’ Gazelle spoke truly for the first time, lowering herself fluidly into the seat beside Valentine, ‘and I remember how longingly they spoke of exploring. ’ Her eyes widened as she gesticulated, ‘Humanity isn’t tied to the planet, anymore; we’ve been to the moon and seen things so far beyond our current reach! But the spirits can only be where there is life and they can’t seek it out themselves. The veils between us and the spirit world may have holes here, thanks to the actions of Unalaq and Avatar Korra, but that is not so elsewhere.’

          ‘Discovery is novel to them, not so much technology as places but in the end it is the same- we cannot stretch our reach if we disappear entirely. But there’s a limit on how much the planet can take,’ Valentine jumped in, ‘so we have to find a balance, and it’s not one any Avatar would enjoy.’

          ‘It involves a great deal of death, then?’ Amelia sounded small, and sad, and Harry knew it wasn’t entirely an act. She had chosen to work behind the scenes for a reason, and here she had been dragged into the thick of it. 

          ‘I’m afraid so.’ Gazelle reached a hand across the table and placed it atop hers, a sad smile splitting her face, ‘but is it not better to lose some, instead of all?’

          ‘I suppose.’

          ‘Are you implying that you’ve not only found a solution, but a spirit both willing and capable of pulling it off?’ Harry allowed the incredulity to bleed into his voice, but not the horror, a little bemusement; the kind of detached acknowledgement of something thought impossible having been solved through idle dilly-dallying and a lot of money. He could not help that the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, the sensation of being watched simply piling on to the thought of Valentine’s scheme coming to swift fruition, whatever it could be.

          ‘All that and more, my friend- we’ll see the results in a few moons’ time.’

          The rest of the evening passed swiftly, if blandly, their hosts apparently done with speaking seriously and instead exchanging idle gossip until the food was gone. Valentine bid them a good evening before departing up the stairs, and Gazelle apologised for his departure before offering to escort them to the door. 

          ‘Oh, before you leave, Valentine wished for me to convey his gratitude for hearing him out today. Here,’ Gazelle pulled a velvet bag from her side, and from within removed two small disks that gleamed in the light, ‘It is a pai sho tile, nothing more. But if you turn it in the light,’ she demonstrated with her necklace, a matching disk hung from a thin chain and turned a deep red in the spotlight, ‘it can reveal your dreams.’

          They thanked her for the tiles and entered their vehicle, leaving the mansion at a steady pace.

          ‘Should we have them followed?’ Gazelle spoke softly, the sound of a thousand footsteps came to a halt just behind her, gaze blank.

          ‘No need, there was a nano-tracker in the wine; we have 24 hours of unfiltered access to their location. And,’ the voice was right beside her, breath tickling her ear, ‘there’s nowhere they could go that I couldn’t find, now that I’ve seen them. We’ll have our answers soon enough.’

          Harry and Amelia slumped inelegantly in the back seat, glasses and other miscellaneous tech tossed into a pile, allowing Merlin to guide the vehicle remotely while staring at the tiles in their hands. They could easily have tracking devices implanted within, or any of a hundred other forms of weaponry or nefarious tech, but seemed to simply be what they appeared: glass, a red so deep it seemed black out of the spotlight, with something vaguely familiar displayed within.

          ‘It was smart of you to claim Unalaq as an ancestor- history’s refused to forget him, but no one wishes to claim him as kin.’

          ‘Oh there are plenty who wish to, if you know where to look; but there are far fewer who could do so truthfully.’ Harry pulled a hand down his face, sweat and makeup coming clean away in a gelatinous mass before flowing out the window.

          ‘And if Valentine were to go digging?’ Amelia tapped the disk against the door to the car, a faint ring echoing as it brushed the metal edges. Harry smirked, a full and arrogant look he rarely let escape, and leant carelessly into the seat of the car without answering.

          ‘He’d find the masterful craftsmanship of your small army-’

          ‘ Our small army, Merlin- fuck knows nothing gets done without your approval- however… Did you feel as if that went too well?’ Amelia used a hand to pull a steel comb through her hair, releasing it from the intricately woven bun it had been trapped in. Once freed, a flick of her wrist returned the comb to her forearm in an elegant web.

          ‘I know you spend your time in the depths of the Lake and not in or around the field, generally, but I really thought you knew better than to say such things, Iseult.’ Merlin groaned, the distinct sound of flesh hitting tabletop echoing about the vehicle as Harry chuckled.

          ‘Why, Merlin, one would think you didn’t appreciate her observations!’

          ‘If I’d wanted your input, Galahad, I’d have asked for it.’

Chapter Text

          ‘Somehow I expected more from this endeavour, Galahad. Pulling Iseult from the Lake seems to have been an entirely unnecessary risk.’ Arthur sat at the head of the Table, as per usual; Harry sat to his right, also per usual, and Merlin stood to one side hiding an exasperated look behind his clipboard. This wasn’t usual, as Merlin was more often in agreement with Arthur’s assessments than Galahad’s antics, but this wasn’t a usual case.

          ‘Sir, you’ve entirely missed the significance of the encounter- moving past the obviously put-on airs and lack of any emotional connection, he’s admitted to having a Spirit accomplice that has at least claimed to have the ability to cause what could only be called a culling of the human race. And, beyond that, he plainly stated that we would see the evidence of such within a few months in a manner not entirely unlike the villain in a Bond mover. I fail to see where this was a lacking encounter.’ Harry tilted the chair back on two legs, feet propped against a table leg and hands folded elegantly on the table. The picture of innocence until one noticed the angle at which he was sat. Arthur’s brow twitched.

          ‘But was it truly necessary to put Iseult at risk, Galahad? I have yet to hear anything that the lack of her presence would have precluded; he seemed happy enough to share his thoughts and intentions with you.’

          ‘But Gazelle was not; she kept herself aloof and in the role of servant until Iseult spoke up. And I’ll be frank and say that if Valentine is the brains of the operation then she is the brawn; she’s the one with the experience and connections in the spirit world and ability to back up Valentine’s ideas. Lord knows how she’s actually tangled up in all this, where her beliefs actually originate, but she seems to be the one to tug on heartstrings and souls to make their supposed ‘necessary’ plans palatable to those they’ve deemed worthy of surviving the venture. And it wouldn’t be incorrect that, for most of the populace, a spouse is a perfect target for manipulation- people do crazy things, when they’re enamoured.’ Merlin nodded behind Arthur, where the latter couldn’t see, and pulled up the candidate statistics for the final six.

          ‘I’ll have to wait for some tangible results before I’ll be signing off on any further ideas, Galahad. I’ve found myself questioning your judgement for some time now.’ A candle on the mantle burst into life, flame large but not dangerously so. Harry pulled the wax with a flick of the wrist, which fought him intensely, up the wick until it snuffed the flame out; Merlin’s eyes widened, Arthur was oblivious, and Harry blinked innocently before he let the chair fall back into place and pushed himself from the table.

          ‘With respect, Arthur, you’re a snob.’ Harry buttoned his suit coat and brushed away nonexistent crumbs from his untouched biscuit.

          ‘Somehow the “respect” eludes me.’ Arthur closed the file before him and placed his pen atop it.

          ‘The world has always been changing, it changes more each day, and somehow you’re still stuck before Harmonic Convergence. There are many potential reasons the Avatar has fallen into fantasy and idea instead of stepping up into the role they were created to portray- but I think the simplest one is closest to the truth: they’re not necessary, anymore. Humanity rose to the occasion. You’re happy to remain as we were, but we need progress and new blood is the best way to get there.’ Harry nodded his head to Arthur, shot a message over their specs to Merlin, and left the room.

          ‘Merlin, have these sent to my hub. I’ll review them later.’ Arthur didn’t so much as glance in his direction, and thus missed Merlin’s brief glare before he did as asked, as he stood and left the room. 

          The moment the door closed there was a shift in the air, and if Merlin hadn’t been expecting it he’d have jumped; but as it was he turned his head and offered a hand, which was briefly covered in shadow. The shadow receded, and in his hand rested Amelia’s red pai sho tile.

          ‘So, what did you gather from that?’ Merlin nodded toward the table, eyes not leaving the round red tile in his hand. 

          ‘It’s old, and this isn’t the first time it’s been in the human world. The symbol is from-’

          ‘While I look forward to learning everything you’ve uncovered concerning this tile and the things it implies, I was asking about the tiff between Arthur and Galahad just now.’

          ‘It was nothing unusual, or novel; the two of them have been butting heads more severely for the past decade. But,’ the massive owl tilted his head at an unnatural angle, ‘this is the first time I’ve seen Chester dismiss his concerns so handily. I will admit it has me curious.’

          ‘Curious?’

          ‘Of course- something has shaken Arthur enough to have him clutching desperately at his own foundations. He was once the proponent of progress, it’s why he was elected Arthur in the first place, and here he is having pushed the obvious aside for the familiar yet again. You humans change as time elapses, but rarely is it sudden or without cause.’ Wan Shi Tong turned his head to Merlin, neck elongating to hover near his eye level as they gazed together at the red disc sat in the man’s palm.

          ‘It’s been some time since I’ve seen this symbol outside of my library or a data screen. I’m not sure whether to rejoice or mourn that they’ve survived this long, but either way we know something for certain.’

          ‘And that is?’

          ‘We have great change ahead of us, whether we’re prepared for it or not.’

          ‘The fact you’re still here is bullshit. Positive discrimination for the world’s most useless Element. Target 800 metres.’ Charlie sneered, quiet enough not to give their position away but loud enough for Eggsy to want to punch his teeth in. An unfortunately familiar state of mind.

          ‘For someone whose daddy paid his way through life you sure talk a load of shit. Think you’re hot shit cos you got some sparks? Shit’s useless without actual skill, bruv.’ Eggsy adjusted the rifle and kept Roxy in his sight, the balloon over her head a beacon even as she walked soundlessly made her away across the wooded clearing.

          ‘Forgive me, I’m sure you’re the youngest Airbending master since Avatar Aang himself. Fire when ready.’ There were a lot of things Eggsy could let go, but people having a go at Airbending wasn’t one of them. His Element had come back from effective extinction and was the most essential element in the human world and somehow it was still seen as lesser. Cos it wasn’t visually impressive , it was invisible to the eye, and for some stupid reason using Air to make other things do tricks wasn’t the same as forming a sculpture from a rock with a kick, or carving beauty from the ice with a swift cut through the air.

          But Eggsy’d read the histories, knew all about Laghima and Zaheer and the forbidden abilities they’d pioneered. And, yeah, he could see the use of them in certain circumstances- but mostly all that had done was make him want to push boundaries. Make new techniques, cos compared to every other element Air was sorely lacking because it was simultaneously the most difficult element to master and the easiest to manipulate by accident. It was difficult because it could be dangerous , and that was something Charlie seemed to have glossed right over in his schooling.

          So he put the rifle down, and instead fixed his bared eyes on Roxy and the floating balloon target. He turned toward Charlie and lifted a finger to his mouth with eyes locked on the camera mounted to his head, looked briefly skyward to smile at the moth wasp pretending it wasn’t watching the evaluation in the tree, and lifted a hand with his thumb and forefinger extended in Roxy’s direction.

          ‘Bang,’ Eggsy whispered, miming a bit of recoil as the balloon popped with a deafening noise. He took a moment to blow imaginary smoke from his finger before pretending to put it into a hip holster. ‘Think it’s your turn, yeah?’

          Charlie looked apoplectic, face red even in the dim light from the moon, and began to angrily pull out and set up his own weapon. Eggsy set himself back up with a scope and began looking for Rufus in the underbrush.

          ‘That’s fucking cheating, you charity case. They’re going to toss you out on your arse and I am going to laugh. We’re moving from here.’ Eggsy didn’t make a fuss, picked himself up without a sound and gestured for Charlie to lead the way. If he wanted to leave their carefully selected spot because he was bitter about Eggsy’s success that was his problem. Eggsy’s scores depended on his skill, not on Charlie’s success, so all he had to do was spot and direct properly. Easy.

           ‘Considerin’ I didn’t read the rules until after we started this whole game I think I know them a bit better than you. Shit says we have to use the tools provided to us during each assignment, doesn’t say we can’t use our bendin’. And, considerin’ the dorms, they’d have made it impossible if they didn’t actually want us to use everythin’ at our disposal. Target 1000 metres south.’ Eggsy spoke evenly, and continued to walk backward with little issue. Rufus was fast approaching, unerringly pointed in their direction, because Charlie wasn’t doing much to be quiet and instead was counting on the noise of the wood in the wind covering his lack of grace in the brush. ‘Fast approaching. Suggest taking cover.’

           ‘Shut your fucking trap and get down. ’ Charlie reached as if to drag Eggsy down with him as he dropped, but Eggsy flitted by his fingers and let himself sink slowly from view.

          ‘500 metres. Fire when ready.’ Charlie took a breath and set the rifle against his shoulder, exhaled, and took the shot. The balloon popped and Rufus used a hand to throw a pile of leaves high into the air while stomping his way back toward HQ. The exercise was over, and they’d earned a shower at the very least.

          ‘Eggsy.’ Except the universe had other plans apparently, as Merlin and Harry were standing between them and the door.

          ‘Yeah, guv?’ Charlie and Rufus snickered behind him, undoubtedly assuming he was about to be dismissed, but neither of them were near enough to see the amusement in the pairs’ eyes.

          ‘Congratulations on being the first candidate to both read and understand the rules of the Kingsman trials.’ Merlin gave a small smile, just enough to be seen if you knew where to look but quick enough to be dismissed as a trick of the light. Eggsy nodded in thanks, but remained silent. ‘For those of you unaware, the requirement for any assignment we give is to utilise the tools we provide for you. Not exclusively, not even primarily if you have a better way of accomplishing the goal, but they simply must be used .’

          ‘A Kingsman uses everything at their disposal, and knows how to think creatively if those resources change unexpectedly. If your bending is blocked, or simply unable to be used in that setting, for example. And those things differ for every Agent,’ Galahad inclined his head in Eggsy’s direction, ‘Mr. Unwin was singular in his technique, and we could all learn a thing from his creative thinking.’ Harry’s eyes twinkled, and Merlin closed his own briefly before returning to the task at hand. Charlie was singeing the grass at his feet, and Eggsy was certain he could smell melting rubber, but no one commented.

          ‘Keep that in mind moving forward. You have a full day tomorrow, rest up and be here at 0800.’

Chapter Text

          Percival was never more grateful for having mastered seismic sense than when he faced Galahad in the gym. There was little he could do to counter the thick mist that filled the room, or the chill that settled in him because of it, but at the very least he still knew where his target was. Even if he didn’t actually get the time to retaliate, and couldn’t properly evade blows, because Galahad’s technique was very much “strike everything in the area and see what sticks.”

          In short, sparring with Galahad was a nightmare, and one few of the Knights would endure willingly. But Percival had been trying something new of late, and there was no one else he’d subject his experimentation to. Problem was he had to earn it, and that was bloody difficult.

          ‘Could you just keep,’ a slide of his foot, ‘fucking,’ a flick of the wrist, ‘ still !’ Percival stomped his foot and the floor thrust a thousand points upward. None of them level, just enough higher or lower than the one beside it to ensure they couldn’t be ignored easily, and he heard a curse from his left. Perfect. He twitched his fingers and felt more than saw the bits of flooring melting together to hold the man’s bleeding foot captive, and then trailing upward to encase his wrists. ‘Finally. First blood me.’ Several droplets sat atop the re-flattened floor by Galahad’s feet.

          ‘One would think I had tired you out, Percival.’ The man was grinning as the mist dissipated, and to anyone looking for it it was obvious that the man had only become trapped because he wanted to be.

          Infuriating.

          ‘Do you want to hear the particulars of what I’m trying to do, or not?’ Percival felt for the droplets on the ground, the spaces that were softer than the body yet denser than the air beyond it, and curled his fingers slowly into his palms. It felt like dragging fingers in treacle, through drying concrete; grasping desperately for something you couldn’t. Quite. Reach.

          ‘I think I’d rather be surprised, if it’s all the same to you,’ Galahad twitched his fingers and sweat flew from his brow. Percival barely heard the words, entirely focused on reaching .

          Movement. Success, if even in the smallest of ways. It meant that this was actually possible , if incredibly difficult. He lifted his arms slowly, fingers still curled inward, and forced the tremor in his body from his mind. He was in entirely uncharted territory, there were no recording devices around, and the man before him was one of very few who knew the true value of secrecy even within Kingsman’s walls. He brought his hands together at chest height, eyes kept open from sheer force of will, enough space for a coin to slip between: parallel, with the object of his focus an unstable mass in front of him.

          ‘Hey, Hart,’ Percival panted, and Galahad’s eyes snapped toward him from whatever meaningless spec on the wall he’d been staring blankly at. His jaw dropped even as he absently noted the sweat dripping from Percival’s brow. ‘Surprise.’

          The droplet of blood floating between them seemed to note their scrutiny, and fell to the floor with a faint drip. Percival collapsed, barely remembering to release Galahad before his knees hit the floor. Not that the other man moved, seemingly frozen in place entirely, but he was no longer forced into one position. Coming to himself, he waved a hand above Percival’s collapsed form and pulled the sweat and grime in one sweep before crouching beside him.

          ‘How the fuck did you manage that one?’ Harry’s disbelief cracked through Percival’s exhaustion, and he couldn’t help but giggle.

          ‘For all that blood’s liquid,’ he gasped out between bouts of breathless laughter, ‘it’s iron, too. But don’t worry!’ he caught his breath around a grin. The kind of grin associated with villains and madmen and inventors who were impossibly close to crossing the lines between life and death. ‘Don’t worry, it’s too touchy to be done at whim and fancy. Likely been dismissed as impossible by the same people who thought of platinum as unbendable, and luckily for us they’re the most respected scholars of our time.

          ‘And even then, I’m about positive it only worked because of the perigee.’ Percival sat up and ran a hand through his hair, eyes wide with disbelief even as his grin widened.

          ‘The what? ’ Harry pulled some water out, and began healing their hurts as best he was able; cuts and such were easy, but muscular aches could only be slightly alleviated. Unfortunately, it was true that time was the only way to fully recover from strain- or to improve from it- but Harry still did his best to alleviate what he could.

          ‘Perigree. The moon’s bloody close to the Earth right now. I’m not going into specifics, but just like the whole ‘full moon’ shite makes waterbenders stronger, I’m of the belief that proximity can affect earthbenders as well. It’s why I wanted to spar today, testing the theory. If it hadn’t worked I had another idea, but that’ll have to wait for another day. That was exhausting .’ 

---

          Eggsy understood the need for the gear in general, the helmets and body coverage alone were non negotiable for anyone who couldn’t control the air pressure around them, but he didn’t really understand why he needed to be subjected to it. The material was stifling, the places it wasn’t snug were uncomfortably loose, and honestly Kingsman had better technology when it came to communication so what was the ulterior motive ?

          It could be something trying to enforce equality between the lot of them, but even shitty gear couldn’t give them equity and maybe Eggsy was thinking too hard about it. But there was little else to do, stuck in a plane awaiting the cue to jump and make their way to the ground, and honestly the entire trial seemed too easy.

          ‘Fuckfuckfuckfu-’ Roxy’s eyes were screwed shut inside her helmet and Eggsy stifled a chuckle.

          ‘Don’t like heights?’

          ‘If I was meant to be in the sky I’d have the wind at my beck and call. Or wings, or something.’ Roxy heaved a breath before looking up at Eggsy, still uncomfortable but determined underneath it all. ‘I’ve done something like this before, but it was awful. Prolly why I don’t want to do it now.’ 

          Don’t laugh at your distressed friend, Eggsy, he glanced around the cabin and noticed Charlie smirking, especially with pricks like that ready to jump her throat.

          ‘You’re top of the class, Rox; you got nothin’ to worry about.’ He knocked his ankle to hers, and Roxy still looked queasy, but she gave him an approximation of a smile before curling in on herself again. There wasn’t much else he could do to help her, so he let himself sink back and listen to the others. Hugo and Digby were listing over each other, falling asleep from the sounds of sudden scrambling every few moments.

          How long does it take to get where we’re going, anyway?

          ‘The mission is simple: land in the target without showing up on the radar or using any Bending. And don’t,’ Merlin paused, and Eggsy heard a faint buzzing begin, ‘think you can cheat the system. This is a test of your reasoning and deduction as much as it’s a test of skill.’

          ‘Hear that, Eggy? Can’t bend your way around this one.’ Charlie sneered, looking down his nose at Eggsy as if he’d made a point.

          He had not.

          ‘Bruv I dunno where you got the idea that I had to bend my way out of anythin’ . You’re the prick that can’t keep to himself; you need a dryer sheet? Rubber glove?’ Roxy giggled, and Eggsy barely caught the huffed laugh on the other end of his comms. Charlie certainly didn’t miss it, from the way his face was turning red.

          ‘If you’re done, gentlemen- if I catch you on the radar, or you miss the target, you go home. Understood?’

          ‘Yes, sir.’ And they were back to waiting. Which was boring, but boring was better when it came to super spy shite, he guessed. Like the army. Eventually they were prompted to stand and approach the back of the plane, and the menage a fools scrambled up from where they were slumped against the walls. He didn’t care enough to think it out, and let himself stretch languidly as he got up.

          ‘Well? C’mon,’ Eggsy offered a hand down to Roxy, still seated and holding tightly to the edges of her gear, and she took it with what was definitely too much force but nothing broke so he’d count it as a win. 

          ‘Eggsy I really don’t think I can do this.’ Roxy had a green tinge to her skin, eyes locked on the expanse of air in front of them.

          ‘Of course you can’t- let me show you how it’s done.’ Charlie shoved his way between them and barely waited for the light to change before leaping. The others followed suit, leaving Roxy frozen in fear and Eggsy unsure of how to help her. And he would help her, not because she’d been decent to him, or because she was an outsider like he was even if for different reasons, but because if he was going to win this thing he wanted to do it against the best. And she was the best, no two ways about it, even if she had this weakness. But limits were made to be tested and pushed and broken so Eggsy took a breath and hooked their arms together.

          ‘Got a happy thought?’ He could feel Roxy shaking, could feel the way her breath stuttered as they approached the edge. ‘Look,’ he turned and let go of her arm, both hands cupping her helmet, ‘stop fuckin’ about. You’ve done this before, yeah?’A nod. ‘Well I haven’t, not withou’ bending, but I know loads of people do. I know you have. I know that tech’s amazin’ at keeping people alive even if they don’t deserve it. Besides, it’s like you said,’ he grinned, ‘no one’s gonna die.

          ‘Now jump.’ Eggsy let himself fall, ‘Now or never, Rox!’ 

          ‘If I die I’m going to kill you Eggsy !’ He couldn’t help but laugh, the wind he couldn’t hear ruffling his suit and though all he wanted to do was toss off the gear and soar he kept himself in check beyond the glee. He was here for a reason, after all.

          ‘Now any idiot can read a display and pull a trigger,’ Merlin’s voice came over the comms, ‘but a Kingsman is able to solve problems under pressure.’ Eggsy spared a glance to Roxy, whose wide-eyed face had lost the sickly tinge, and Charlie, who had been bragging about his uncle’s private jet or something else poncy. They’d figured out the loo snorkels, so if anyone was gonna have an idea first it’d probably be them. It wasn’t like he couldn’t have ideas, himself, but why work harder than you had to?

          ‘Problems like what to do if one of you has no parachute ,’ Merlin chuckled, ‘and remember- no bending.’  

          ‘Holy fuck-’

          ‘ The hell are we going to-’

          ‘If I fucking die with you arseholes-’

          ‘Okay, okay, think, think-’

          ‘What do we do?!’

          ‘I’ve already given your instructions. I hope not to be scraping any of you from the grounds, but if I do and you’re in the target… well, know that I’ll be very impressed.’ Merlin cut out but everyone’s panic remained. Eggsy just let it wash over him. 

          There was nowhere he felt safer than the sky, anything that could go wrong he could overcome. Worse came to worse he’d shuck off the gear and forfeit if it’d keep everyone safe, needs of the many over the wants of the few. He could make do outside of Kingsman, much as he wanted it. 

          As it was, though, the surety of his own survival left Eggsy surprisingly clear-headed.

          ‘Oi! Listen up- we’re gonna pair off, you get me? Then- fuck you Rufus fuckin’ coward.’ He spared a moment to glare at the mass that was Rufus having panic-pulled his chute. Sorry excuse for an airbender. Less competition, but they had to get past this first. 

          ‘Alrigh’ new plan, then, as we’re odd-numbered- circle up, link up; Digby, you’re gonna pull your chute. We go one by one til we know who ain’t got one. Person on their right is gonna grab on and pull their chute to get ‘em both to safety. Got it?’

          ‘Good plan Eggsy- but you’ve only got 30 seconds, hurry up.’ And just as they’d settled into a groove they were panicked again. Fucking Merlin.

          ‘Digby. Now!’ 4.

          ‘Hugo.’ 3.

          ‘Charlie.’ 2. Just him and Roxy and a ringing in their ears telling them how dangerously close to the ground they were getting.

          ‘Roxy, you go.’ Eggsy pulled forward until he was able to pull his legs about hers, locking them together as she tugged and they were yanked backward by the parachute coming free. Eggsy spared a grin for Roxy as they continued nearly-hurtling toward the ground, laughing. They were nearly there when Eggsy heard the faint buzzing stop, and he took the chance to cushion their landing right in the centre of the target.

          He figured if he was able to bend then he was allowed to use it, and it wasn’t as if he tried to alter their course. Just made it softer, considering they’d likely have snapped their legs at the speed they were going.

          Charlie landed shortly after, barely in the ring. The others weren’t anywhere nearby- Rufus had ended up in a tree, Hugo had almost made it but Digby had ended up landing almost on top of the mansion.

          ‘Hugo, Digby, you missed the target. Rufus, you were all over the radar. Pulled too early. The three of you can go pack your bags.’ Charlie spared a look back as they trudged away, but didn’t bother to suppress his grin. Roxy was still shaking a bit, half leaning on Eggsy, and Eggsy had a hunch he wasn’t going to test until they’d been dismissed.

          ‘Eggsy, Roxy, pretty ballsy not pulling til 300 feet. Well done, the three of you, for-’

          ‘Sir, didn’t Eggsy break the rules?’ Charlie’s back was straight but Eggsy could hear the smirk in his voice. Merlin apparently had no patience for the self-righteous prick, and turned to Eggsy fully.

          ‘He did not, Mr. Hesketh. Care to explain, Eggsy?’

          ‘If you didn’ want me to use my bendin’ at that point you’d’ve kept the blockers on. And I didn’t change our trajectory, or anyone else’s.’

          ‘If that’s all?’ Merlin lifted a brow in Charlie’s direction, and he looked away. ‘As I was saying, well done for completing another task. Dismissed.’ Roxy and Charlie began to make their way back, but Eggsy hung back and tossed his helmet to the side.

          ‘Everything okay, lad?’ Merlin looked down at his clipboard.

          ‘Just testing a theory, sir.’ Eggsy smiled and pulled his chute, flying backward with a laugh.

Chapter Text

          Things seemed to settle, after. They settled into a jagged mess, fragments of success and shards of failure and what was forming was as beautiful as it was ugly and utterly unique. Eggsy huffed a laugh at Roxy’s attempts to melt Charlie’s shoes while he worked through some katas (claimed it was the Dancing Dragon, but it def didn't look like any dance he'd seen)- magma was an imprecise element at best, but she was determined to master it- while he watched a set of scorpion bees land on a nearby flower. It drooped with their weight, and after a moment they were in the air again. Eggsy smiled. 

          ‘The fuck are you smiling about?’ Charlie sneered as he dropped his arms. He made as if to walk over and stumbled, shoe remaining behind in a sticky mess and socked foot landing on the grass. 

          Way to go, Roxy.

          ‘Feeling good is all, Chaz.’

          ‘The fuck did you just call me, Eggy?’

          ‘You need to find a new favourite word, mate. An’ look- it’s just us three now, yeah? Top three ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at, an’ even if Roxy gets it I could work in a lab or somethin'. Not sure what they’d do with you, tho-’ Eggsy felt the hairs on his arm stand up and leant the other way with a laugh, narrowly avoiding the bolt of lightning Charlie’d unleashed as he pushed himself up with a gust of wind.

          ‘Sorry, sorry, I know you’ve got your reasons for bein’ a prick. Don’t understand ‘em, but you do you- Rox and I’ve got places to go, Spirits to see..’

          ‘We do?’

          ‘How else d’you think you’re gonna get the hang of this magma shit?’

          ‘Practise?’

          ‘And here I thought you had a brain.’ Eggsy pulled her toward the mansion, shaking his head as she spluttered, and made his way toward the Library.

          ‘’Scuse me?’ Eggsy stopped a passing Knowledge Seeker, ‘could you point us toward Tui and La? Or someone who could answer a few questions about how Waterbending works? Can't really ask the moon without looking like a nutter.’ The fox-like spirit tilted their head briefly, one ear twitching, before pointing toward a far corner with their snout. Eggsy bowed, just as low as he would to any human he respected, and made his way in that direction.

          ‘Eggsy those are water spirits. They are, in fact, the water spirits- why would I need to speak to them?’ Roxy’s brow was furrowed, her lips pursed, and Eggsy couldn’t believe that she hadn’t made the connection. But he wasn’t in any rush to do so- they’d nearly made it to their destination, anyway.

          Wan Shi Tong allowed his eyes to follow the two until they turned a corner, simultaneously surprised and not by the man’s actions. Things were changing, and they were staying the same. They were shifting, and they were stable. On and on it went, the cycle continued, and though history rarely repeated itself exactly it certainly echoed.

          Eggsy and Roxy made their way through the winding halls until they hit a door to the outside. Surrounded by tall stone walls, the large greenhouse loomed ahead of them and he finally dropped her hand once they made it to the door. She turned in askance and Eggsy immediately gripped her by the shoulders, locking eyes.

          ‘Are you serious that you don’ get why you need to talk to some Water spirits?’

          ‘I’m not one for pretending to be daft, Eggsy. I honestly don’t know.’ He could tell that it hurt her to admit it, but he smiled instead of prodding.

          ‘Would you rather I tell you now, an’ you go in on your own to talk to them, or we go in together and I’ll ask?’

          ‘... Why don’t we go inside, and you can explain what you’re on about, and then I’ll talk to them?’ Eggsy grinned, as that was what he’d intended to do but didn’t want to shove himself where he wasn’t wanted. Dragging her to help was one thing, give a man a fish and all that; but it meant something to Eggsy, the man who’d had few truly want him around, that she wanted his presence even after any explanations.

          ‘Deal.’ The door was cool to the touch, there was a faint humming in the air, but they were greeted by a warm wall of air, so dense with water that it stuck to the skin immediately, and lush foliage that looked as if it should have been anywhere else. Thick, wide, leaves and bright flowers, vines up everywhere they could reach and beyond. In the centre of it all was a pool, crystal clear, from which the rest of the streams flowed. 

          Eggsy felt himself relax in a way he hadn’t known was tense, even as Roxy continued to ask him why they were there. He ignored her, made his way to the pool, and sat neatly on the ground. He didn’t need to ask Roxy to join him at the water’s edge, though she sat with her feet pressed flat to the ground, knees upright, as opposed to his crossed with his arms resting atop. He took a breath and looked at the pool, took a moment to simply watch Tui and La circle one another, before daring to speak.

          ‘I know we didn’ make a request or anythin’, Masters, but honestly I didn’t even think about doing that 'til we was almost here and I figured you could easily keep us out if you didn’ want to be be bothered. I’m sure you’ve got ears and all about the place, but I’m Eggsy and this is Roxy and somehow she hasn’t made a few connections when it comes to her bending.

          ‘See, she’s got this firm idea in her head, this exact way things’ve got to be done, and I think it’s holding her back. She’s got great technique, no lie, but see she’s actin’ like Earth is all harsh edges and filling in gaps and maybe tha’s most of it but somehow for all her brains (she’s top of the class, y’know) she ain’t figured out that Magma’s a lot more like Water than Sand.’

Roxy sucked in a breath.

—

          ‘There’s been a significant increase of spirit energy over on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom. The assumption, going from how Galahad’s dinner went,’ Merlin changed the image on the screen, ‘is that Valentine’s modifying current technology in an effort to actively colonise the spaces humanity doesn’t currently occupy. See here a patent for a water filter intended for high pressure environs, and another for oxygen. 

          ‘Alone those wouldn’t raise any flags, however…’ another image, this time of what seemed to be a mountain, but upon closer inspection seemed to be a spaceship, not unlike the ones from Star Wars movers. ‘However, due to the scale with which they’re being utilised,’ Merlin marked sections on the screen, ‘and the presence of large-scale Spirit Weaponry,’ Wan Shi Tong cursed, ‘we’re of the mind that Valentine is intending to abandon the planet entirely.’

          ‘After all of his harping on about the planet dying and how much we needed to save it, for the good of all, his grand plan is to leave it entirely? Has he given up, or truly lost his mind?’ Harry couldn’t help but complain- he’d spent Raava knew how many hours listening to the man babble on about his “cause” only for it to have been a sham in the first place?

          ‘Or,’ Arthur interjected in the same flat tone Merlin used to cut off any semblance of fun, ‘Valentine has something up his sleeve far worse than we’ve imagined. Galahad,’ Harry’s head snapped from where he was glaring at the images, ‘I’m going to need for you to continue our tête-à-tête with Mr. Valentine and see what he lets slip through. Follow up on the organisations he’s donated to recently- attend a rally or two, test the waters.’ 

          ‘Sir.’ Harry nodded once before making his way from the room without pause.

          ‘Wan Shi Tong, I’ll ask that your little helpers search for any similar occurrences over the past few centuries and how they were resolved.’

          ‘Consider it done, Chester.’ Wan Shi Tong swept from the room, up into the shadowed corners, and was gone.

          ‘Great bloody owl has no respect for titles-’

          ‘If I’d lived through even half of what that Spirit has seen I wouldn’t give a toss about titles either, sir. With respect.’

          ‘Did the definition of respect change recently? You all seem to have a very different idea of what it means than I.’ Arthur muttered, idly writing something on the file before capping his pen. He made no move to leave for his own office, so Merlin nodded briefly before exiting.

          There were more than a few things bothering him. Arthur’s behaviour only struck him as increasingly strange the more he thought on it- he was detaching himself more than he had previously, was running meetings with as little notice and as short a length as possible, and overall seemed to be actively trying to slow the Lancelot trials by keeping the mentors from their candidates. If it were only Galahad Merlin would have thought nothing of it- but Percival had barely been at HQ, and Arthur himself had met with Charlie only thrice throughout the trials. Whether that spoke to arrogance or detachment was anyone's guess, but without proper foundations they'd be holding another set of trials before they knew it.

          Luckily Valentine was the only mission Arthur had direct hands in at the moment- he’d wiped his hands of the “lesser” missions early on in his tenure, though he had the ability to alter orders and observe Handlers as he wished.

          He just didn’t wish to all that often.

          Beyond that there was something niggling at the back of his brain about the pai sho tiles Galahad and Iseult had brought back with them from Valentine’s. They had been commandeered by some of Wan Shi Tong’s folk, with promises to alert him of anything suspicious. What irked Merlin about that (beyond the fact that he wasn’t the one investigating them himself) was how different their definitions of suspicious were, being Spirit and Human. Merlin was suspicious of everything, with or without cause; Wan Shi Tong was likely suspicious of nothing but simply awaiting what he saw as inevitable, and Spirits on the whole were more likely to miss human malintent simply through cultural difference. Things had to be blatant, hard, action to be understood by Spirits- even if what they understood from it was entirely incorrect; they didn't quite understand nuance.

          Merlin wandered, pulled up the latest report concerning the tiles, and stopped fully in the hall. The seemingly unremarkable tiles had been identified as having the symbol of the Red Lotus, an organisation from Avatars Aang and Korra’s time, that had been ultimately defeated a short while after Harmonic Convergence. They’d held the belief that the Nations only caused harm by being separate, and the same went for the Spirit world- on the surface, a noble effort. Unity. But their methods left much to be desired, especially in regards to Unalaq’s brief tenure as a Dark Avatar and Zaheer’s intention to murder political leaders as if there were not hundreds more to replace them. They purportedly believed in restoring Balance, but seemed to think that chaos was the only true balance there was. As if life and death, elation and depression, fire and water, were not themselves already constantly shifting to remain equal in one form or another. As if the world were somehow that simple, that black-and-white, that they needed the worlds entire to be instantaneously equal by their standards with a handful of actions.

Entirely unreasonable.

          But that wasn’t what had frozen Merlin- the source of his concern was in the Spirit readings. The tiles themselves seemed to read on precisely the same frequency as the Spirits testing them. The room read these objects as being as alive as any other being in the room- and had been since their arrival- but it hadn’t been noted anywhere. Wasn’t seen as remarkable. They hadn’t felt like Spirit energy in his hand- nor in Iseult or Galahad’s, they certainly would have said something- but there on his screen there was no denying it. 

          Merlin had spent years on the calculations, on the testing and implementation, begged and debased himself for the sake of their organisation to make entirely certain that readings would be accurate. Well, accurate as to the fact that it could differentiate Bender from Non, or Human from Spirit, but nothing deeper than that. That was simply beyond their abilities. For now.

          He’d not once regretted the actions he’d taken, as the ability to build technologies for both the human and Spirit Agents was invaluable, but at this moment the unfortunate limitations of it brought him nothing but dread.

          A Spirit Agent or member of the Lake wouldn’t be looking at these readings casually- what use were they, when it was so obvious what was what?- and to be fair most of the human members of the Lake wouldn’t look at this either. But Merlin was in charge for a reason, and his relentless curiosity was a large part of that.  He forced himself to continue moving, to act as if he was not on the edge of throwing his pad at the wall and destroying a large amount of valuable technology, cursing for all and sundry in the safety of his mind.

          Spirits could lose limbs, this was true. In the spirit world, they were as mortal as any human in the living world. Their actions had consequences that stuck, just as any other being does in their world. But in the living world… In the living world they could be spliced and reattached in horrifying configurations, hacked to pieces and shipped to a hundred separate places like Osiris, burnt to the last and ash tossed into the sea- but left to their own devices they could tell you precisely where each bit was. Down to the atom. A Spirit could never truly lose a piece of itself in the living world.

          So, whoever Valentine’s Spirit accomplice was, they knew precisely where these were. They knew something was being done to them, if not precisely what that something was (the sensations felt by a separated bit of Spirit varied widely, but there was always something ), and had simply elected not to do anything at this time. Or so it seemed.

Kingsman was compromised.

Chapter Text

           Roxy spent much of the time she’d been dedicating to solo practise with Eggsy and his mentor. Galahad was somehow precisely what she expected, elegance and manners and unyielding belief, and nothing like that at all. When she least expected it he’d trip her with a well placed patch of ice, or simply raise a brow as opposed to actually answering a question no matter what it was, would allow her to stumble through sentences and come to the wrong conclusion and force her to figure it out herself. Trial and error and error and error until finally success.

          In short, he was a shit, and it explained much about Eggsy’s selection. It also didn’t hurt that Percival and him got on, so when Roxy was taking up Galahad’s time Eggsy got to learn from him. Which overall amounted to a large amount of Percival cursing while Eggsy ducked and dodged every scrap bit of metal tossed in his direction. A dance interspersed with laughter and swearing and no small amount of debris going in every which direction before being pulled back from whence it came. 

          How Roxy had missed the fact that Earth could flow just as well at Water when it was staring her in the face she had no clue- but she was grateful to Eggsy for disabusing her of that notion. Even as they competed for the singular Agent position, he’d made a point to help her learn instead of using her blindness to his own advantage. No matter which of them won, she had no intention of letting him slip out of her life as easily as he’d slipped in- if only because there were some things you couldn’t go through without becoming friends, and these Trials certainly fit the bill in her opinion.

          ‘Oh very good , Roxanne,’ Galahad smirked and twisted his wrist, she could feel the air behind her shift just so and she jumped. Up, twisted, and as she did so the ground beneath them flexed and shifted and fell away in a wave of heat that ended right as her toes touched down. A wave of steam blocked her vision, but even that was able to be tracked and felt and heard as it coalesced on the exposed magma, hissing as it cooled and solidified the surrounding area.

          However, Roxy sighed, not good enough just yet. She was weighed down by ice she hadn’t noticed forming, the siren suit glistening in the sun. Unlike Fire benders, she couldn’t increase her core temperature and melt it off, she was reliant on what she pulled from the earth itself, and as quick as she could make it Galahad could take it away. It was a battle of wills and she had far less time to practise than he.

          However, she wasn’t entirely out of tricks. She could barely feel Eggsy a bit away, and was familiar enough with Percival to tune him out entirely, but Galahad was still novel, still new , which meant that he was at the forefront of her awareness. She wriggled her toes, safe within her regulation boots, and the magma began shifting again slightly, quietly, and she held the smirk inside. She knew the value of experimentation, of pushing one’s limits, and in a field such as theirs every excessive movement could give away your intentions.

          Bending was a force of will, of manipulating the energy of the world around you with the strength of both body and mind. Or, she was determined to prove, in some cases one far more than the other. She tensed her chest and twitched her nose, the magma beneath barely moving but it was and she took that as victory in and of itself as she slowly, so slowly, moved the magma beneath her. Not the stuff directly on top, but the bits she could feel just beneath the surface. Make it loose and shift just enough to-

          ‘Fuck!’ Galahad slid, legs pulled in an unintentional split that she could see was straining the seams of his suit. His focus pulled from holding her in place, she was able to break free of the thin layer of frost (deceptively thin for all the weight it held) and hold the man in place. Arms swaying in a bid to remain upright, legs held apart and then brought swiftly  together with a pinch of her fingers. Trapped in the shining obsidian her will had left behind.

         Her victory was short lived, however, and it was between one breath and the next that a shard of ice was held at the soft spot beneath her skin, pressing just enough to draw a thin droplet of blood. Galahad’s hand an unerring point even from this great distance away after having gotten himself balanced.

          ‘First blood to me- do you yield?’ Roxy grinned at the way she could hear Galahad breathe, evidence that this had not been an easy fight for him to win. She hadn’t expected a full victory- she was here to learn, not to master. Not now. There would be time enough for that later.

          ‘I yield.’ Galahad huffed a breath, the shard disappeared, and the faint crackle of stone breaking and being crushed underfoot as his hand appeared before her. ‘That was new, and exciting. I hope to see many such things from you, Roxanne.’ If she hadn’t felt it innumerable times previously, she’d have entirely missed the bit of warmth where the ice had pierced her skin. For all he’d sounded out of breath, Galahad showed no signs of exertion now.

          ‘I’m grateful for the time to try.’ She shook out her hands, more from habit than any lingering aches after his Healing, before turning back to their companions. ‘Oi, Percival, you want to teach me something or continue lazing about with the competition?’

          ‘From what I was observing, Roxy, it seems as though there is little I have left to teach you.’ Despite what he was saying, Percival stretched out and flicked a wrist, a cufflink flying out and melting at his whim. ‘But, if you’re done playing with puddles, you could try your hand at something a bit more structured.’ 

          See, it seemed to be that if an Earth bender had one of the derivatives mastered then the others were out of reach. For all that it had been unintentional, Roxy had blocked off ever mastering her mentor’s specialty when she had embraced the tumultuous way that lava flowed through her. Alastair had hoped to pass his forms along, but her inability to steal mercury from his grip or steel from his sleeve didn’t mean he was through with her. 

          The movements could be harnessed, could be adapted , and he was determined to prove that to her. Even Fire Lord Zuko had admitted to adapting movements from other elements into his style, which helped him win every Agni-Kai he was challenged to- of which there were many. He’d relished those, according to the histories, because it was the only time the Fire Lord felt truly able to unleash his full skill.

          Percival never wanted Roxy to need them, these adaptations, but he was determined to give it his all anyway. Always better to have a skill and not use it, than to need it and be left floundering at its lack.

          He rolled his shoulders, lifted a hand, and waited. The steel hovered for a moment before flattening entirely, gleaming in the afternoon light. Galahad meandered his way past, looking entirely unruffled which was incredibly unfair, and Eggsy took a moment to swirl a handful of leaves through the air and up Galahad’s trousers because he was an actual child . Not that it bothered Galahad any, as he waved a hand through the air and shot a droplet of water straight up Eggsy’s nose.

          The two of them were certainly well matched.

          Roxy smiled at Percival before steadying herself, pulling a ball of molten rock up and closing her eyes. She unerringly followed his footsteps, turning as he did, eyes closed all the while. He took a breath, same as any other before it, and gestured toward her, the disc of metal shooting out from his hand and circling around in a wide arc before jolting toward her. Without opening her eyes she smiled and stomped the ground, a pillar easily popping up and knocking the disc from its path before trapping it within.

          The magma remained bright and hot ahead of her, and Percival couldn’t be prouder. Who needed an Avatar to wield more than one element? The world had changed, was changing, and that was amazing . But his glee didn’t stop him from moving again, chucking a pebble he’d forced the ground to spit up into the air and allowing it to free-fall in her general direction. It fell precariously close to her ear before being snagged away, having jostled a hair on the way down.

          They went on an on, a dance and a battle and weren’t they all one in the same, now? Roxy’s eyes remained shut and Percival shot stones and metal and mixtures of the two from every direction to test her defences. The lava shifted and grew and shrunk and flattened and sharpened and was everywhere and nowhere all at once. It seemed to be alive, independent of Roxy, for all that it moved opposite her seeming direction. Percival wished fiercely, for a moment between heartbeats, that James had had the opportunity to see Roxy transform in all the ways she had thus far- and all the ways she surely would in the future.

           Just look at our girl go.

           Arthur had been concerned, when Percival had announced his candidate, that there would be favouritism. That, somehow, there would be a way for him to make the trials something they weren’t for the sake of the girl he considered his own on every level- but Arthur had a great deal to learn about families such as theirs. Families borne of loss and a desire to never lose again, of a fury that was only further fuelled when loss inevitably happened. There would be no one Percival pushed harder and harsher than Roxy, because he knew she would lose all respect for him if he had.

          Strangely, he was almost positive that Eggsy was cut from the same unfortunate cloth. For what little he’d interacted with Lee during the previous Lancelot trials, he couldn’t help but see the best of him in Eggsy. Not that he’d said as much, or would while the trials were on, as he was firmly on Roxy’s side of the court. He was excited to see who and what Eggsy became, in the wake of these trials.

          While he’d been lost in his head, Roxy had parried almost everything he’d thrown her way. A handful of scrapes littered her face, the edges of her hands, there were frays to the edges of her siren suit that hadn’t been there when they’d started. But she was grinning, unabashed and giddy as she threw her all back at him. Galahad and Eggsy had grown quiet behind them, and though Parcival’s seismic sense was focused intently on Roxy he could tell that they were approaching. Eggsy’s feet barely touched the ground, skating across the blades of grass, and Harry walked as surely as he ever had slightly behind.

          Either they’d missed a key part of conversation, or the troublemakers were going to interfere. Either way the result was the same, Eggsy blowing a kiss in Roxy’s direction, a bubble of air coating Roxy’s magma and hardening the surface. It cracked and pulled apart like caramel beneath chocolate, but the air remained. It was unending, and apparently didn’t even have Eggsy’s full attention, as he neatly swatted Harry’s water from his ear without moving a finger. Percival pulled the ground from beneath their feet, and it was on.

          Harry never truly let himself go full tilt. Well, no, that was a lie- he never let go unless he was on a mission, nowadays. He’d do whatever he had to in order to complete the objective, as he knew intimately what holding back could cost. But casual sparring rarely took his complete focus, let alone training recruits.

         And yet, you wouldn’t know if you watched him move. If you observed the way his eyes narrowed, the way he flowed and then became a series of jagged edges in equal turns, the grace with which he would glide through the air once thrust into it.

          Percival had asked, once, how Harry managed to make himself weightless without aid- and Harry had smirked and said it was all about thinking light. Getting a straight answer from Guileless Galahad was like talking to a sphinx, a series of riddles that you’d maybe get half the answer from, but he knew the answer was hidden within the twists of words and pointed silences.

          Eggsy was hovering a few inches from the ground, simply walking on air, and redirecting everything that headed his way. It didn’t matter what it was, it wasn’t getting near him- in unlucky cases, he managed to simply send it back from whence it came, often at such a speed that they were helpless to do more than dodge. The air that surrounded the rest of their elements kept them from being able to get them back beneath their own control.

          It was exhilarating.

          The four of them continued on in this way for ages, eventually ending up flat on their backs in breathless laughter. It had been a long while since Percival had been able to laugh without guilt. But here they were, two of the top three pairs of candidates for Lancelot. And, if Percival was entirely honest, Charlie’s time was running out and soon they would be the top candidates.. 

           Charles Hesketh was a lot of things, but chief among them was hot headed and brash. He would take orders reluctantly, and believe he was in the right even if his actions caused more damage than they prevented. No, Hesketh as an Agent was a recipe for disaster even, or perhaps especially, with Arthur as his sponsor. Arthur would pull him aside once a week for several hours, would hide away in his office and personal quarters with Charlie, and that was it. No contact or sparring or anything of the like.

          Percival didn’t hazard a guess at how the two knew each other, but he’d bet money on them not truly caring for one another. Well, that was mostly due to Percival not believing Arthur had a true capacity to care for anyone, though whether it was something that had faded away or never been present to begin with was up for debate. A position such as his made attachments difficult to foster, if he was the one responsible for sending all those within the organisation to their potential doom. How far could one be objective if they cared for those they commanded.

          He was also a classist prick, somehow a product of a time so far gone that it was the thing of history books, those first few years after Kuvira when the world was recovering from the shocks of spirit weaponry and an Avatar who was firmly seen as not only human but a weak one for a large swath of time. Simultaneously convinced that there were no things stronger than teamwork and that some things simply needed to stay within the correct groups of people. Arthur was a man comprised of contradictions, but he’d led them to success for the entirety of his tenure and in the world of espionage that was no small thing- even with the handful of losses.

          Thinking of Mr. Hesketh, though, Percival spotted him behind a pane of glass, watching them with a sneer. That was about the sum of him- throwing his weight about as if his name meant he’d somehow guaranteed his space without lifting a finger of his own. That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t without skill, or had made his way to the top three without effort, but it was easy to see that he put forward effort with anger fuelling him. Not spite, as if he had something to prove, but anger at having to put forth effort at all. It had been over a century since Fire Lord Zuko had relearnt Fire bending from the dragons, since it had been revealed that anger as a fuel worked but was not natural and it confused Alastair to no end that there were those who would continue the practise once they’d been shown something better.

          Where on earth had Arthur dug him up from?

          ‘Dunno ‘bout you lot, but I’m fit to fall into a coma. Done in. So,’ Eggsy shifted up onto his elbows, ‘who’s up for grub?’

Chapter Text

           Wan Shi Tong was used to being overlooked, when it came to his position in Kingsman. For all the bluster, they were still an inherently Human-centric organisation- though, in some ways, it couldn’t be helped. Yes, Arthur was the figurehead upon which most decisions fell- but it was Wan Shi Tong’s choice on which decisions made their way to his desk at all.

          If there were a current Kingsman he had to deal with directly, he’s immeasurably glad that it’s the current Merlin. Laurel was a credit to his lineage, on every front, and he was glad to know him as well as he did; which was how he knew how stressed the man was based on the cadence of his knock alone.

          ‘Enter.’ Wan Shi Tong wondered what it would be like, if he still demanded tribute for access to his libraries. If each time he was greeted by a new face they had to leave a piece of themselves behind. He was once a powerful, angry, Spirit with the world at his claws- not that things were much different now. Simply a different guise for the same form of power. Merlin came into the room with his ever-present screen, and gave a short bow before sitting himself across from the great Owl. He had not once presented himself as above Wan Shi Tong, which allowed him a bit more freedom with address and conversation than many others.

          ‘Kingsman is compromised.’ And there was the other reason Wan Shi Tong respected this Merlin so readily- he did not cut corners, or obfuscate his reasons for being there. He was direct, to the point, and rarely if ever kept knowledge back from him. To Merlin’s mind they were equals, a true partnership, and that meant that they should always be on even footing, where possible.

          ‘I have not sensed some great tidal shift in the last fortnight- what makes you say so?’

          ‘This.’ Merlin turned his screen and showed him the readings from the lab. The readings he had not bothered to look at himself, so focused was he on the symbols visually present and what they represented. Red Lotus was a threat when they began, and for many years after, and their ideas continued to poison the minds of those who found the world lacking even now. He felt foolish for having ignored one thing for the other, which was rare in and of itself, but even more so for what these readings revealed.

          ‘Ah,’ Wan Shi Tong breathes, all at once disappointed and determined to move forward, ‘I am at a loss for what to do from here.’

          ‘Is there a way to determine who they belonged to? I know humanity thinks much of itself, but I know we are still in the infancy of Spirit recognition.’ Even as he speaks, Merlin is scratching at the screen, a series of notes to himself scribbled through or altered and honestly it simply looks like a mess but he is not one to judge progress in all its forms. Humanity did not possess the ability to sort their minds as simply as his shelves of books.

          ‘There is a… resonance, I would say, to each of us. Some things that make each of us uniquely ourselves, but those are difficult to parse through in the world we have today. I can tell you that it looks to be old; readings such as those are what appear when those nearest my age go beneath your scanners. Whoever knows of us, or at least of our location, has seen ages come and go, wars fought and won and lost and forgotten.

         ‘However,’ Wan Shi Tong paused, ‘I do not believe that they have full awareness of what is happening here. What kind of beings have been poking and prodding, absolutely, but certainly no individual identities- there is a lack of fluctuation, here,’ He pointed, expanded one file of many, ‘that would indicate active recognition. They seem to be simply… waiting.’ Merlin pulled off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and slumped in his seat.

         ‘I was afraid you’d say that.’ 

—

          ‘As the final three candidates, your next assignment will be taking you off Kingsman grounds. You are tasked with securing an item from the target- the photo is within the envelopes in your hands. Before you reveal them, however,’ Merlin tapped his clipboard, ‘I will tell you that they are each formidable opponents, in their own right, and that you are not allowed to trade targets with someone else. Within your envelope you will find two photos, one of your target, and the other is the object you will need to retrieve. As is the case with many of our Missions, the use of bending is strictly limited to what you can do without being observed or caught. If you’re noticed, you’re going home. No exceptions.’

          ‘Oh, this’ll be easy.’ Charlie ripped one end of his envelope, heedless of the metal fastening, and revealed an attractive woman and a flower pai sho tile hung by a bit of wire, though it didn’t fully show what the wire was attached to.

          ‘Don’t be too sure about that, bruv- posh girls love a bit o’rough.’ Eggsy pulled the same woman’s photograph, but a different pai sho tile, an inversion of Charlie’s that also hung from a thin bit of metal.

          ‘Well, we’ll certainly see about that.’ Roxy also pulled the same woman’s photo from her envelope, and a delicate pendant with the White Lotus symbol. Upon closer inspection it was also a looped pai sho tile, simply held in place with a thin bit of chain, obviously gilded. A piece of importance.

          Well, that made things a bit more difficult. Same target, same style of object- Eggsy wondered if there would be a consequence for retrieving the wrong one, or if they’d be allowed to swap amongst themselves. Not that he’d swap willingly with Charlie if it came down to it, but him and Rox wouldn’t have any trouble with one another. Not until Hesketh was out of the race.

          The location, which was on a separate bit of paper, seemed to be a night club- an environment Eggsy was familiar with, luckily, even if it catered to a higher calibre of wealth than he was used to. However, as Eggsy was reminded of repeatedly by Charlie and his remarks at Eggsy’s lack of individuality, he did not have the luxury of a wardrobe. The other two had been able to bring a packed bag when they were proposed, more forewarning than Harry had been able to afford him, but he doubted even they had brought clubbing gear to spy auditions.

          ‘Question, Merlin- are we s’pposed to do this in these digs, or’ve you got somethin’ that’ll give us a sporting chance?’

          ‘You will, of course, have access to Kingsman’s resources to procure suitable attire. If, somehow, we do not have what you are looking for already in our extensive wardrobe department, you may make a request- but you must be precise and specific, as there will be no exchanging what is brought to you, should you take that option.

          ‘As a secondary objective, if the first seems too simple for you, use your NLP training to win over the target- and I do mean in the biblical sense.’

          The club is loud, the floor is sticky, and there are far too many bodies and too little light to see where one person ends and another begins. Eggsy’s almost positive that their target will be impossible to find- until the music cut, the lighting shifted, and there she was. Scantily clad, with a belt of bells and pai sho tiles bouncing from her thighs as she stalked her way through the crowd. There wasn’t another word for it, she prowled with her head held high and a saunter that screamed she was on a mission.

          He doesn’t know what it is she’s looking for, doesn’t know where to begin, so he sticks with blending in while he thinks his way through. A stop at the bar, virgin drink in hand, and Eggsy made his way to the edges of the dance floor. There are enough people with drinks in hand that it isn’t odd, and Eggsy allowed himself to flow with the music. Swaying and bobbing and honestly he could lose himself in this- but he’s on a mission, so his eyes are lidded yet ever-scanning, idly tracking her path and doing his level best to meander his way into it.

          Which would have worked, had she not been waylaid by Charlie literally pulling her into his embrace for a dance, which threw off her groove. She shoved him away, and Eggsy saw the edge of her belt snag for a moment before her hand shot out and snagged his wrist, gripping in such a way that whatever he’d managed to grab fell out of his limp hand and back into hers before she went off in the opposite direction. Eggsy grinned, though he hid it behind his drink, and glanced about the room again, entirely missing the way Charlie swayed in place before being dragged off into the shadows.

          This task wasn’t set to be easy, he’d known that before they’d left the Kingsman grounds, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself while he was there. They were simply told to accomplish the task, not to do so first, and it had been ages since they’d left the grounds. Eggsy had missed civilisation. 

          Roxy was in the centre of the room, her dress clinging to her every curve and elegant neck entirely exposed with her updo, being fawned over by seemingly every being with a pulse in the room. It looked as if the target was going to run into her at any moment, so Eggsy wandered in the opposite direction- the night was young.

          In a corner far from the dance floor, a group of Spirits leant against the wall, seemingly content to be separate from the rest. But Eggsy knew a lot about seeming one way when desperately wanting the opposite, and made his way to them.

          ‘D’you wanna dance?’ The dragon-eel, light spirit, and one Eggsy had no name for that looked like a collection of sentient vines turned to him in unison, and he got the distinct impression that they were raising their metaphorical eyebrows in his direction. ‘Look, you’re in a club and actin’ like a set of flowers in a vase- pretty to look at, but not actually part of the experience, like background noise. But you’re not, you’re here an’ you deserve to have a good time.’

          ‘Which of us were you speaking to?’ The light spirit’s voice was lower than Eggsy expected, rumbling like thunder.

          ‘Well, all of you. I dunno if you all want to dance, but we dance in groups all the time where I’m from. But I wouldn’ say no to a single partner, long as they’re havin’ fun.’ Eggsy shrugged, honestly feeling a bit awkward with his tattoos exposed, and made sure he was making eye contact with all three of them as best he could manage. It was a bit difficult when many spirits didn’t really have eyes, but he figured it was the effort that counted. The three turned back to one another, a seemingly restless energy moving between them, before returning to Eggsy with outstretched hands.

          It was exhilarating, it was chaotic, and it was an absolute shit show when Eggsy realised that the dances he knew didn’t translate well when the partners didn’t have particularly definable limbs. But he laughed it off and sipped his drink and simply let himself be, being spun from partner to partner with nary a care to the rest of the club.

          He’d blame his exuberance for how he lost track of his own limbs, entirely sober, and on a particularly enthusiastic spin collided with someone who gasped when what was left of his drink sloshed onto them and then nearly fell over.

          ‘Shit, love, I am so sorry here lemme-’ Eggsy lightly grasped her shoulder, easily keeping her upright and allowed a huff of a laugh to push the moisture from her body. It wasn’t something anyone else could see, and he wasn’t about to let whoever it was suffer for his lack of spatial awareness. ‘You alright?’

          With a series of bells ringing, his target swiped a hand up to right her hair before looking up at him. If she hadn’t been a mission, Eggsy could’ve easily seen himself desiring her- but he’d learnt a long time ago to separate his wants from the job at hand. Or mouth. As it was he took a moment to untangle her belt from where it had snagged on his trousers, and nearly pricked himself on an exposed end. Or, actually, on what appeared to be a chunk of barbed wire.

          ‘Lookin’ to be dangerous, love?’

          ‘Well it certainly weeds out those who want something easy when their flower has thorns.’ She smiled at him from beneath her lashes, a small look barely caught between brief flashes of light.

          ‘Well I’ve always been a fan of roses myself- you up for a dance?’ Eggsy took a moment to step back, offering a hand at whatever amounted to an acceptable distance when trapped in a throng of writhing bodies.

          ‘Not sure if you can handle me, but I won’t stop you from trying.’ She took his hand and spun him round before pressing herself to his back, a clear opposite to every other pair on the floor. She kept hold of his hands, laced their fingers together, and tossed her head forward to rest against his shoulder, chin tucked just over. There was so little Eggsy could do without her noticing, the thorned belt still rubbing mindlessly against his clothing and the hanging tiles swaying in the dim lighting. But Eggsy hadn’t been fucking around while at Kingsman, and turned his head to run his nose up the edge of her jaw and up to her ear before switching their places with a well placed turn. He put them face to face, thorned belt snagging on the edge of his top, before bending to rest his cheek on the crown of her head, using the moment to examine the tiles he could see in the flashing lights.

          There, at the very edge, was his objective- and, now that he knew where it was, he allowed himself to smile. He took their laced hands and spun her, and as the belt flared out he tightened his grip on her fingers, ending with them hung behind his neck and his mouth pressed beneath her jaw. There wasn’t a great deal of difference between their heights, but it was enough for him to notice, and the shift of his clothing with the move exposed the skin of his hips, scraping it against her belt with a hiss.

          In his pocket, the pai sho tile fell with unexpected weight.

          Moments later, so did he.

          He came to in an alley, tied to something. No, he wasn’t tied to anything, but his limbs felt weighed down and wouldn't respond to him. His vision was blurred, his mouth was tacky, his limbs wouldn't respond and, somehow with all of this being true, Eggsy was not freaking out. Maybe it was because he’d been in similar situations before, and always made it out, or maybe it was because he’s immediately so far past fear that he’s calm again. He has no idea where he is, or how he got there, but his first thought is to the girl he was with and the Spirits before that. He hoped that they weren’t tied up in this as well, whatever his shitty luck had brought him to.

          ‘Oh, good, he’s finally awake. I hope his answers are better than the last two.’ It’s a man’s voice, one he doesn’t even vaguely recognise, but that doesn’t mean much. Dean had eyes and ears all over the place, and who knew whether his reach was out this far. ‘So, Eggsy, I have a couple questions for you. If you answer them correctly, then you get to go along your merry way. If you don’t…’ the voice let his brain fill in the blanks, a dark chuckle that trailed off with the sound of metal grating upon itself. 

          ‘I got nothin’ to say to you.’ Eggsy tried to spit, but he couldn’t get any force behind it and instead it just dribbled down his chin. Gross.

         ‘You sure about that? I just want to know about Kingsman.’ It was said patronisingly, and once he managed to open his eyes Eggsy was simply met with a mask, plain and nondescript, inches from his face and tilted in askance. If he could have flinched, he would’ve, but instead he mustered all he could to glare at them.

          ‘Fuck off, bruv, I dunno what you’re on about.’ Eggsy closed his eyes; he didn’t have it in him to be afraid, but he was resigned and defiant all at once. If this was how he was going to go out, then so be it- but he wasn’t pulling Kingsman down with him. There was a moment where Eggsy thought the masked assailant had left, but instead he felt the cool press of metal against his neck.

          ‘I won’t ask again, Eggsy- I’ve killed two others tonight for inadequate answers. I have no qualms in adding you to their number.’ Eggsy gave himself a moment to mourn Roxy, silently promising to see her soon, before he opened his eyes again with a glare.

          ‘I don’t know what you’re on about, but I wouldn’ be braggin’ about murderin’ people if I was you.’ Eggsy might not be an Agent himself, but he was certain that they’d had multiple forms of surveillance for their assignment and hoped that whoever was manning their stations would make this man disappear.

          ‘Last chance, Eggsy- is Kingsman really worth dying for?’ The blade barely broke skin, a drop of blood leaving trail of ice down his neck, and yet Eggsy pressed forward.

          Wait.

          Eggsy could move.  

          He snapped out a hand and smacked the knife from the assailants, he grabbed the wrist nearest him as the man turned to flee and yanked him back, slammed him into the wall face first and held him there with his body.

          ‘Now where d’you think you’re goin’?’ Eggsy whispered, and the man began to shake. Not in fear, he soon realised, but in laughter. Laughter that built silently before shooting out of him and echoing down the alley.

          Familiar laughter.

          ‘Oh well done, Eggsy. Well done .’ Percival’s laughter cut between his words in huffs, and Eggsy let him go instantly, about to apologise before he had a familiar hand pressing to his shoulder.

          ‘I taught him everything he knows.’ Harry bragged from beside him, Roxy trailing behind when Eggsy glances back, her dress tattered but mostly whole, hair a mess.

          ‘You sure as shit didn’t,’ Eggsy smirks, ‘but you’ve taught me a bit, yeah.’

          Arthur took a moment in Charlie’s alley, fingers still smoking from sparks he refused to let free. He hadn’t been this disappointed by a candidate since before Harry’s little experiment, by a man he’d believed perfect for the Bors position who made it through to the final two and then bowed out. Decided, after all the work and effort he and Kingsman had put into training him that it simply wasn’t what he wanted, and walked out without a backward glance.

          He’d had hopes there, as he’d had here- but this was more insult than he’d been willing to handle.

          ‘I’m sorry, Arthur, I-’

          ‘Don’t speak. You’ve lost that right.’ Arthur heaved a breath, glared at the sky, and turned away. ‘You can find your own way home. Your things will be sent, not that you’ll remember any of this.’ Arthur turned his wrist, fiddled with his watch for a moment, and Charlie slumped against the bins.

Chapter Text

          ‘Congratulations Galahad, Percival, for successfully getting your candidates to the final two. Eggsy,’ Eggsy’s head snapped up from where he’d been messing with the frayed edge of his top, ‘you should know that your father made it to this point. The both of you,’ Merlin made sure to lock eyes with them both, ‘should know that from here on out there will be no failsafes, no training wheels, no safety nets.’ They nodded and glanced at one another, shoulders knocking.

          Whichever of them won, there’d be no hard feelings between them- they’d give it their all, knowing the other was as well. Neither was used to getting things without a fight, and would be wary of anything that came without a visible price tag.

          ‘Now, as tradition demands, you will have 24 hours before your next task to spend as you wish. This will be the last break until we have knighted one of you, so use it well. Dismissed.’ The group walked toward the bullet train together, and the moment the door to Merlin shut Eggsy and Roxy leapt into each other’s embrace.

         ‘Fuckin’ knew you could do it, Rox.’

          ‘Can’t say I’ve been more pleased to see your face at the end of a task, Eggsy.’

          They spent the ride to the shop talking about what they’d be doing with their day in the sun. Roxy was heading home for the day, excited to sleep in her own bed, no intention of training in any way. Eggsy wondered how Percival fit into that plan, but didn’t think it was his place to ask- they were friends built upon competition. He’d ask after this whole thing was through.

          ‘You going home, then?’

         ‘Ah, no, actually;’ Eggsy bit his lip, ‘it’s just, I know if I go back I won’ wanna leave. I’ll remember all the reasons I left the army and the way my mum frets and I just… won’t come back. And I’ll regret that, like I do everythin’ else, so I’ll just… stay with H- Galahad. Learn a few tricks to surprise you with.’ He nudged her leg with his foot, to keep her from frowning, and the rest of the trip was spent in companionable silence. 

          It was the wee hours of the morning, so most the world’s asleep, and Eggsy stumbles into the room Harry said he could call his own with barely a muttered thanks once they arrived. It had been a long day, a long night, fuck it’d been a long year of training for this with barely any time for rest between one bout and the next. If there was one thing he was indulging in for the next 24 hours, it was rest.

          He woke to the smell of bacon and eggs, and his mouth watered. It wasn’t as if they didn’t feed them at the manor, but it was survival food; for all the luxury they were surrounded by, it was grab-and-go food with supplemental shakes for most of their meals. Eggsy supposed it was to keep them from getting too comfortable, from forgetting they were there for a dangerous purpose, but he didn’t know how anyone could exist in that supernova of energy and possibly forget .

          Harry’s house was in the Mews, tucked at the end of a well-lit alley (and wasn’t that a contradiction) and a vibrant white. Inside was a mess, and Eggsy loved it. Well, it was an organised mess, but it was such a relief to not see the same bits of finery he’d been surrounded by. There were bits of art from around the world, a set of masks from Love Amongst the Dragons tucked right beside a poster from an Earth Rumble tournament as if they were the same calibre of artistry.

          And, yeah, the dining room was exactly what he’d expect from some toff with White Lotus- shining dark wood carved in elegant swirls, with a pai sho board embedded in the centre. The shape of the table didn’t lend to the board actually being used, but the mental image of two people at either end trying to play while their fingers barely brushed the board was amusing in and of itself.

          As it was, Eggsy found himself tucked into a corner with Harry setting out what could only be described as fine china and silver. He wore an apron, a ghastly thing with three separate contrasting patterns that made Eggsy’s eyes hurt, and a soft smile.

          ‘You gonna teach me how to be proper, then?’ Eggsy straightened himself and pulled his shoulders too far back and glared down at his food the way Arthur had looked at him when Harry’d been in the infirmary, ‘How’m I doin’?’

          ‘If you were serious we’d be having an entirely different conversation. As it is, however, I cannot fault you for finding levity where you can. And,’ Harry paused and tilted his head, ‘Arthur’s face is far closer to a resting sneer- observe.’ He took a moment to realign his spine and let his face relax, droop, and then the smallest tightening at the corners of his jaw. If one could picture a lion-turtle with resting bitch face, and then slap a pair of Kingsman specs on it, that’d be the look. Laughter burst from Eggsy like a popped balloon, and Harry came back to himself with a quick shake.

          ‘Now that you’ve fully joined the world of the living, please eat. From there, we have some options- personally I would most like for you to accompany me on a venture to the Spirit World. I have a few friends that I would like to introduce you to. You’re also more than welcome to visit your family, though you would not be permitted to reveal anything of what you’ve been doing for the past year- nothing beyond what you’ve already been allowed in your letters and calls. Of course you’re welcome to simply stay in and rest, but forgive me for presuming that sitting still for that long would do little but drive you spare.’

          Well, he wasn’t wrong. For all his half-asleep self had intended, the reality of actually doing nothing grated on his nerves. He’d known from the minute they’d been dismissed that he wasn’t going home, though he guessed he had only told Roxy so it wasn’t surprising that Harry had thought that would be a temptation he would need to resist.

          ‘You’re gonna go to the north pole for a day trip to the Spirit World?’

          ‘Well we wouldn’t make it to the south pole and back before your time is up, so yes. It doesn’t particularly matter which portal you enter the spirit world through, we’ll get where we need to be.’ Harry moved to sit at the head of the table, directly to Eggsy’s right, and served himself- apparently, that was that.

          Eggsy didn’t exactly have the right gear for the north pole, but Harry happened to have some things near enough to his size to work so off they went. Turned out the Kingsman bullet train went to any number of destinations, so what could have been an all-day trek ended up being an hour and change. Harry and Eggsy sat for little of that journey, pushing and pulling and otherwise annoying one another in the smallest of ways.

          Eggsy wondered if his dad and Harry had gotten on as well. Not enough to actually ask , but enough to occupy the edges of his thoughts while they messed about. Harry shot a stream of water in his direction, and Eggsy contained it, surrounded the entire thing in a bubble, but didn’t stop its progress. If he’d done it right, Harry wouldn’t know he wasn’t in control just yet. Wasn't like he could see the air. The water continued its way toward him, and he allowed the air around it to kiss his skin before he shot it back toward Harry at twice the speed.

          Harry didn’t know what, precisely, had happened, but his face was a fair bit more wet than it had been a moment before. Eggsy was looking particularly smug, vibrating in place with a hand over his mouth and light in his eyes.

          ‘So that’s how it is, then.’ Harry murmured, deciding to let go of the obvious for a moment and idly coalesced a bit of frost at the nape of Eggsy’s neck. He did it slowly, without moving a muscle that Eggsy could see, and let himself feel the way the air cooled nearby. He used the angle of the air vent to his advantage- the cooling system was in actuality barely on, but Eggsy wasn’t aware of that. For all he knew, this was what it felt like normally, and he’d pulled off the thick coat Harry had leant him halfway through the trip.

          Eggsy couldn’t help the shiver that made its way up from the base of his spine and through his skull, even though he knew it was Harry’s doing. He and Jamal had done this bit often enough, and Charlie’s goons had tried it when they’d all first arrived, but the kind of control Harry had made it near impossible to prevent entirely. He was good, absolutely better than Eggsy, which was no surprise since he was a spy.

          Eggsy was baffled to have made it this far in the Lancelot trials, but he knew that he’d earned it. He’d worked so incredibly hard, done all he could to fill in the gaps he knew the others would and could and had taken advantage of. He was allowed to have a bit of fun, at least for now.

          ‘Galahad,’ It was whispered, low, from a space not too far from Harry’s shoulder. Yet, when he turned to look, no one was there.

          ‘Galahad.’ This was closer, more firm, more akin to an Agent from the Lake demanding his attention, and Harry pulled his glasses from his pocket to check for an incoming transmission with a frown. Nothing there.

          ‘Galahad!’ It echoed from further down the train, from compartments he knew were empty. Harry ran a hand through his hair, for once not perfectly styled and left loose, before he turned a beseeching look toward the train’s only other occupant.

          ‘Eggsy, though I have no idea as to how you are doing that, please stop.’ 

          ‘Dunno what you’re on about, guv.’ Eggsy was slouched back in the chair, legs spread obscenely with his hands behind his head, and Harry shook his head. For all the years his age added up to, there was little he could do to force maturity upon the young man before him.

          Or, perhaps, it was not a matter of maturity at all, and Eggsy simply felt at ease. This thought warmed Harry, as he remembered the fond if distant relationship he’d had with Lee. The circumstances of their meeting and subsequent time as mentor and mentee had always kept a strange sort of distance. He hadn’t interacted with Lee directly prior to his proposing him for Lancelot, only observed him from afar, and Arthur had been more stringent about what it meant to train to be a Kingsman. Arthur had been more hands on, more on-the-ground, and observed far more closely than he did now. Nowadays he was happy to leave the minutiae to Merlin as long as he was given detailed reports every few days.

          Not that he actually looked over any of those reports beyond the first page. He looked at candidate base scores with no regards for the notes given by their instructors, and honestly only skimmed those pages at best. Harry had taken to leaving commentary in other languages, or sometimes simply spelt backward, to test that theory. It seemed that his heart simply wasn’t in it, anymore, and Harry wasn’t sure when that had changed. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely certain that he cared to know, beyond using that knowledge to his own advantage.

          ‘As you say. But, we’ve nearly arrived so get yourself settled and warm before we stop.’

          There didn't seem to be a particularly large change in temperature upon disembarking, despite being surrounded by snow. However, the way the light glowed through the small gaps was breathtaking, as so much of the Water Nation’s architecture was. Eggsy’s mouth was parted with the slightest uptick, and Harry was struck with the realisation that Eggsy had likely never seen anything like it. Or, perhaps, not in a time he could remember. Republic City was a melting pot on every level, but the climate prevented true displays such as this but for a couple days of the year.

          This was a part of Eggsy’s heritage that he hadn’t had access to, with the way his life had gone. With the loss of Lee, and his mother’s subsequent struggles. 

          With Harry’s interference.

          And here, again, Harry was struck with how entirely fucked up it was that he was pulling an Unwin into his world. Well, maybe not just any Unwin, but that it was fucked up that he was pulling this Unwin into his world. A world more obviously dangerous than the one he was already living in, by some estimations, but infinitely more rewarding by his own.

          And, he consoled himself, it wasn’t as if he’d done more than ask, than present an opportunity. It was entirely their own choice whether to start on the path at all, or continue on it throughout their training. They could have left at any time; even now Eggsy could at any moment change his mind and return to the life he’d known. 

          ‘What’re you waitin’ for, then?’ Eggsy called from the lift doors, looking equally excited and exasperated at Harry’s behaviour since getting off the train, and Harry let it go.

          The future was always in motion, things would happen or they wouldn’t, and he needed to focus on the present. There was a man on the cusp of becoming something extraordinary counting on him, and he didn’t intend to miss it. 

Chapter Text

          ‘How d’you know where you’re goin’?’

          ‘I don’t.’

          ‘What? We’re just wanderin’ around here waitin’ to run into whatever it is you’re looking for?’

          ‘No.’ Eggsy waited for the rest of the sentence, but Harry just blinked at him with the same doe eyes Dean’s gang had fallen prey to. Eggsy knew better, at this point, but that didn’t mean he knew how to pry answers from the man. So he’d just have to wait.

          They’d been walking for a while, though he couldn’t tell precisely how long, simply following a path that continued to stretch before them through trees and desserts and clouds and swamps and all the things between. Eggsy watched as a frog Spirit hopped from the edge of a root into a puddle. Fully into a puddle, with a splash that didn’t match the amount of water that should have fit there.

          Actually, now that he started to pay attention, they’d been in these woods for a while. Far as he could see there were trees with puddles at their roots, moth-wasps and lightning-butterflies flitting between dangling vines, and every once in a while some Spirit would walk into a gap and simply not appear on the other side. They didn’t pause, or gesture- they simply continued on, and suddenly Eggsy understood.

          Harry treated the Spirit World like any average person would the street they lived on- with unspoken familiarity, and the easy confidence of knowing a place so intimately you could navigate it with your eyes closed. But it was the kind of understanding where you couldn’t really explain it. Did you know the way? Absolutely. Could you explain it? Probably not. 

          And, even if he did know what the end location would be, that didn’t mean that was the only place he intended to go. Or the only place they would end up. The Spirit World wasn’t like the living world, where things were stagnant and changed infinitesimally over large periods of time- things could change in a blink, and often did, at the whim and fancy of the Spirits who called this place their home. It was silly to try and impose the way he knew things over the way they were- he was a guest here.

          It seemed like the minute he decided to stop thinking about when they would get there, and just enjoy the chance to experience the Spirit World, Harry stopped. And that was just his luck, for things to change right as he learnt how they worked, but he wasn’t going to complain. Much.

          When he decided to look away from the sight of a pair of turtle-doves meandering out of one puddle and into another he almost missed Harry disappearing from view. The soles of his shoes fading into the foliage without a word, and why the fuck did the man wear his fancy shoes if he knew there’d be tree climbing? At least Eggsy was vaguely dressed for the occasion, though that didn’t mean he was used to straight vertical climbs. It wasn’t all that bad, though, between the glow between leaves, the ever shifting vines in all directions, and the not-insignificant view directly above him.

          All that to say that however long it took to get to the city at the top of the tree passed very quickly. There was a bustling market, filled with artisans and smaller spirits that Eggsy was pretty sure were the equivalent of children based on their behaviour but were likely centuries old themselves. Eggsy was looking up and around at such awkward angles that his neck hurt, but there was simply so much to see. He’d never given much thought to life in the Spirit World, to what a day in the life of someone who actually lived there would be like, but once he took a moment of course there were markets and sports and restaurants (did spirits even eat?) and the like.

          Eggsy wasn’t entirely sure this is what Harry had meant to be teaching him, to look beyond what he knew or the obvious, but it was certainly a lesson he was taking from this trip.

          He had to catch up to Harry, who obviously had seen nothing significant in their surroundings (and wasn’t that a lesson in itself, that he could grow to not see anything worth witnessing in his surroundings, could lose the open wonder) and had continued his walk through the square until he came to an archway with a wide green banner and a pair of soft, white, dragons embroidered on it. The threads glistened in the ambient glow this part of the Spirit World emitted, the fabric shifted slightly in a nonexistent breeze, and once again Eggsy almost missed Harry disappearing into the door ahead of him.

          He wasn’t sure if Harry was testing him, if he’d forgotten that he’d brought Eggsy at all, or if he simply assumed that Eggsy would follow him and not wander away through some combination of privilege and confidence in their connection. No matter the answer, Eggsy caught the door just as it swung shut and closed it quietly behind him before turning to see the rest of the room. 

          In the centre of the room was a long, thin table, low to the ground and surrounded by cushions that were occupied by people and Spirit alike, all conversing with one another. Along the windowed walls were various other tables, chairs, and all manners of seating arrangements- some of the windows had cushions built into the sills, even, with beings curled into the corners accompanied by steaming cups and snacks. No one spoke particularly loudly, the idle clinking of cutlery and ceramic against wood echoing about the space, but all sound stopped shortly after their arrival. Harry paid it no mind, and chose a small, three seater table off to the back before he sat down without a word.

          The table itself was mostly a pai-sho board, with a gap around the edges just large enough for a small plate or cup, and Harry quickly shuffled through the tiles before placing one in the centre. What would normally be a white lotus gleamed golden in the light, but was otherwise unremarkable on the board. The moment the tile was down, the occupants of the shop resumed their activities, and the bustle went back to the hum it had been when they’d entered.

          ‘I see you favour the white lotus gambit- not many still cling to the ancient ways.’ It was an unfamiliar voice, coming up from behind them, but since Harry didn’t so much as flinch neither did Eggsy, focused solely on the board as a wrinkled hand reached past his shoulder and placed a tile across from it.

          ‘Those who do can always find a friend.’ The words had an air of ritual about them, though not one Eggsy was familiar with, but that was entirely secondary to the reveal of who Harry was playing with. As the voice came around them before and sat across from Harry, the two setting the tiles down in near sync, Eggsy fought to keep himself upright.

          There were things that history texts and mover reenactments couldn’t really capture. You could read almost anything said by anyone and there was no way for you to know what they actually sounded like. Words didn’t really give you the sense, and an actor’s portrayal was always going to be based on their own idea of what someone sounded like. The soft, rich, kind voice did not at all match the way the history books spoke about the Dragon of the West.

           Eggsy took a steady breath and reminded himself that, especially in the spy world, things were rarely as they appeared to be. Even more so when it came to the types of things that were barely recorded in the first place; parchment records and portraits weren’t seen often outside of textbooks and museums, and time faded even beloved relics from the line of Sozin. They were a pale imitation of who they would have been, and even the best of them couldn’t capture what it meant to truly know a person. 

(Eggsy had so few memories of his father, and no matter how much he heard about him it wouldn’t compare to those few, faded, moments)

          ‘The white lotus opens wide, to those who know her secrets,’ Harry smiled, ‘though she still may shift some things beneath. It’s been some time, Iroh.’

          ‘I shall have to take your word for it- you know time is a fickle friend, here. But I will say that you have been blessed with kind lines where your ancestors had ruinous anger as their ageing companion.’ Iroh reached beneath the table and pulled out a tea set, large and ornate, and poured three cups of steaming tea from it. Eggsy took the one offered to him with a nod, barely making eye contact before looking away, though he didn’t miss the smile breaking across Iroh’s face or the slight shift of Harry’s silent laughter.

          ‘Well, I’ve come here to introduce someone to you, and perhaps teach him some lessons that he wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to learn. Iroh, this is Eggsy- a young man I’ve put forward for Kingsman candidacy who has exceeded my every expectation. Eggsy, this is Grand Lotus Iroh- the last of the old guard of White Lotus, and a good friend of mine.’

          ‘Cheers.’ Eggsy wasn’t quite sure what to say, or how to act; the way he was introduced implied little to no history between them. No mention of his father. And yet the entire scenario set itself as the informal introduction of mutual friends, of people held individually in high esteem that the friend believed would pair well with one another. A potential partnership that was unlikely to have happened in any other circumstance than the one before them.

          ‘You haven’t brought someone to meet me since that young Laurel; Eggsy must have greatly impressed you to think he was worth the trouble of coming out just to see me.’

           ‘There is no “just” about you, Iroh- but yes. Eggsy’s father was my last candidate, he was unfortunately lost at the penultimate task through a bout of self-sacrificial bravery I have no hope of ever repaying, and though that was what first brought him to my attention…’ Harry glanced at Eggsy, who waited with bated breath to see where Harry was going with this, ‘I’ve found him to be a singular man with a great deal of potential ahead of him. Someone who, in a truly unexpected luck of the draw, would be a more than fit successor to what I do for Kingsman, off the books.’

          ‘The fuck does that mean?’ Eggsy didn’t know his thoughts had escaped until the words hit his ears. Iroh hid a laugh in his teacup while Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, and though his face went red he didn’t apologise or take it back. So what if he didn’t sound like everyone else? It was an honest question that he deserved an answer to.

          ‘It means,’ Iroh set the cup aside, picking up a pai sho tile and rolling it across his fingers, ‘that Galahad has decided that, whether or not you become a Knight, you will have an important role to play in the future of our people.’

          ‘Spies?’

          ‘Those who are Spirit-Touched. They are the most vulnerable of humanity, the ones who can see that which some may try to keep hidden. They are the ones whose hearts are too free with their cares and thus are burned too soon; the ones who become the fiercest fighters, for good or ill, and keep the rest of us moving forward instead of becoming complacent in the seeming comfort of the present.

          ‘I do not need to ask kindness of you, or understanding, as I know you would listen with the intent to understand the first time through. The path you have decided to follow is one wrought with deception and pain- and yet by your ability to make it here alone I know you have chosen it with the intent of assistance.’

          ‘Isn’t that why anyone goes into public service?’ Eggsy wasn’t sure what to do with the golden eyes piercing his own, intent yet kind, and tried to pass off the too-accurate reading of his motivations.

          Cos, yeah, he’d idolised his dad going into the army and going Lotus- but not because he thought fighting was cool or there was some great amount of pride in the military. As a kid he’d always believed that helping people was the most important thing, the best judge of character, and being in a position such as that was a great way to help a lot of people. Now that he was grown there was more nuance to it, but the basics were the same.

          His life wasn’t the best, he knew that, but he also knew it could’ve been a lot worse real easily. He didn’t think anyone deserved what he lived through, let alone worse, and he figured that was as good a reason as any. And, a small voice in the back of his mind admitted, he desperately needed to prove to himself that he could be more than what life with Dean had shaped him into. 

          ‘Espionage is a very loose interpretation of public service- you just as easily could have gone into the police academy, or run for public office.’ Iroh gestured widely with the cup in his hand, and Eggsy scoffed.

          ‘Now I know you know nothin’ about me, guv- neither of those’re possibilities with where I’m from.’

          ‘Don’t lock doors you haven’t tried to open, Eggsy- often the only thing keeping someone from their potential is themselves.’

          ‘That’s not a train of thought Eggsy has seen fit to board, Iroh, let’s move on.’ Harry interjected, easily reading the tensing of Eggsy’s shoulders with the last comment after their discussion at the Black Prince what seemed like years ago now, but had barely been a year ago.

           ‘Ah, my apologies then, young Eggsy, for I did not mean to press against old wounds. But the point remains that ones such as you are rare gifts, and one must not squander their talents by sullying their potential with something as subtly toxic as doubt.’

          ‘Still not understandin’ what you’re on about.’

          ‘Eggsy, my intention in bringing you here is to introduce you to The World Between Worlds and give you the opportunity to make connections that are not, entirely, connected to Kingsman and thus can continue to be lasting and useful- even if you do not become Lancelot.’ Harry cut in, uncrossing his legs and leaning his forearms on the edge of the table. ‘One can only find this place if they have pure intentions and truly see all beings as equal regardless of their having a pulse or other such human trivialities. It is quite the impressive feat of Intent and Spirit Bending, all things considered.

          ‘When Gawain the former brought me here in the midst of my own Trials, I was more than confused; I was bewildered, couldn’t understand what he saw in me, but being where he was now I have the words he did not. Or, at the least, I hope I shall do it all justice.

          ‘Iroh has been Kingsman’s unofficial eyes and ears within the Spirit World for as long as this organisation has existed. Desna begged the assistance of Avatar Korra in speaking with Iroh, who had years before left his physical body to live in the Spirit World permanently, to bring his dream to fruition. It worked better than he had ever hoped, as you have seen, with Kingsman being an equal opportunity organisation with beings the likes of which rarely interact with your average human. Wan Shi Tong is powerful, yes, but he rarely leaves his library if he is not actually within Kingsman’s halls. He uses the Knowledge Seekers to fill gaps where they can, but there is something to be said about first-hand knowledge. Or second hand, with a human eye for interpretation.’

          ‘And while Laurel is a pleasant conversationalist,’ Iroh interjected, ‘He has far too many responsibilities to have this one as well. The pieces will fill the board as they should, even when circumstances seem impossible- and the way one uses their pieces is how you can tell a master from a novice.’

         ‘You are young, yes, but you are driven and compassionate. You have a spine of platinum and a heart as wide as the oceans themselves. You used an undisclosed favour after nearly twenty years because you felt too much and chose a poor outlet for it, but prioritised the comfort of another over your successful escape. Not the life of another, but the comfort; even within the hallowed halls of Kingsman you have treated each being equally, decently, which is far more rare than I would like to admit.’ Harry didn’t look away from him as he spoke, no matter that Eggsy was attempting to melt through the table. He’d never known how to take a compliment, or praise, no matter how hard he worked toward earning it. One of those “didn’t think I’d make it this far” things. He was startled from his thoughts by an unfamiliar weight on his knee, and Eggsy looked from Harry to Iroh, not understanding the softness to the latter’s eyes having only met him minutes before.

          ‘We often speak of choices like roads to the east or west- but life is rarely that simple, and often there are several paths branching from any point. Your journey is your own to become lost and found upon, but you are more well suited to this position than you know.’ Iroh smiled, but there was a sad weight behind it. ‘You remind me very much of my dear nephew, with the chip on his shoulder and righteous fury, and his friend who cared so deeply he couldn’t bear to end a life but still managed to find victory within the impossible.’

Chapter Text

          Bending didn’t work in the Spirit World, but it seemed that some of Kingsman’s technology did. This didn’t mean he was able to send or receive any messages or calls, but Eggsy checked his phone briefly and was surprised to find it was barely an hour past when they’d gotten off the train; only a handful of hours from their 24 had elapsed, and they had done so much; but there was still so much more to do, apparently. The three had put the board to rights, finished their tea, and ducked into a back room for further conversation. 

          ‘There have been whispers of Koh’s wood being empty. He has never before ventured to the living world, preferring to lure his victims, so this has caused some concern. Vaatu has been quiet, though he had some interesting visitors some time ago- a woman with blades for legs and a man wearing an old Air Nation talisman’ Harry wanted to slam his head onto the tabletop, in a move most unbecoming, as his brain made a thousand connections in an instant that painted a terrifying picture.

          ‘Fuck.’ And yet it was Eggsy who let the expletive loose, somehow able to follow the thought Harry himself hadn’t verbalised based on a fraction of the information. ‘Valentine got somethin’ from Vaatu, or Koh, or both- and he’s gonna let it loose, ain’t he?’ 

           ‘It’s certainly the most likely scenario, all things considered- it would explain his unending confidence in recent interviews. And at dinner. Though it does not tell us where the missing persons have gone as Spirits have little use for celebrities, especially if their reward for this exchange is exploration as Gazelle implied.’ Harry wasn’t too sure if that was truly the case, though perhaps he was honest for as much of the truth as he knew it. Vaatu or Koh or both of them could have implied exploration was their desire and instead had something entirely different planned once Valentine’s scheme had been completed. The scheme that involved a great deal of death.

          ‘And we’re sure they’re connected? The missin’ people and Valentine, not Valentine bein’ one of Vaatu’s visitors, obviously.’ Eggsy was sceptical of that, it was easy to tell from his tone, but he wasn’t dismissing the idea entirely.

          ‘As sure as we can be, especially with using the day Lancelot was lost as the beginning of this timeline. It’s been nearly a year of celebrities disappearing and Valentine spent the dinner we shared implying he was mere months away from a cull of humanity. While we thought he was cocky at the time, in light of this information I have a terrible feeling that we have severely underestimated him.’

           ‘I am sorry to be the bearer of unfortunate news, and even more sorry for my not sending it along when I first received it. I didn’t know that it was as significant as you’re taking it.’ Iroh stroked his beard with one hand, and looked out a window with a frown. 

           ‘Old friend you have nothing to apologise for, you had no way of knowing those Spirit World tourists were more significant than any others. There have always been a collection of people fascinated with the darker end of this world, some more academically than others- but it is few and far between that actually manage anything significant with their findings.’ Harry dismissed Iroh’s apology out of hand, who took it well despite not knowing how to continue. He bustled about the room, looking through cabinets and drawers piled high with bits of paper with a look of intense concentration.

           ‘If I know anythin’ about Spirits it’s that they care more about stuff bein’ interesting than right or wrong- and whatever it is Valentine’s planning is definitely more interestin’ than the shit that’s going on already.’ Eggsy bit his lip, looked down at his shoes before looking back up, ‘If he’s got Vaatu and Koh on his side, or somethin’ from ‘em, then what’s going to happen to all those people?’

          ‘I don’t know.’

          Eggsy was entirely unaware that Harry had been attempting to flag Merlin through their private channel for the last several minutes. Very little technology worked in the Spirit World, mostly due to the surrounding Spirit energy interfering with anything trying to control it, partially due to the incredible time differential between the realms, but Harry had been determined not to be entirely cut off from Kingsman while on his own little trips. He and Merlin had experimented until eventually finding a way to send coded messages to one another via a modified watch band- but even that wasn’t working now.

          There was only one reason for that to be cut off, and it chilled Harry to his core in a way no mastery of the elements could. There was nothing to be done about it for the moment, but Harry would be seeking the man out as soon as they had returned.

          The three of them pulled together their thoughts, set things to rights, and moved out of the back room to an open field, where Eggsy was being treated to a lecture Harry had been given what felt like a lifetime ago. Unlike Harry, Eggsy paid his full attention the first time through, eyes rapt to the diagrams Iroh was drawing in the dirt, coat off and sleeves rolled up exposing his tattooed forearms.

          ‘I can see quite plainly that you’re an airbender, your people have always displayed their masteries with stunning pride, and I am quite sure that you know people from the other nations as well. The modern world seems like a wonderful blend of peoples and cultures. But,’ Iroh gestured with his stick, ‘that does not mean there is true understanding between you. There is something to be learned from every Nation, Eggsy, and it can only help you to remember that.’

          ‘I helped my friend Roxy with her lava bending- thought it was more like water than dirt. Makes sense it’d be like that for other shit. What’re you thinkin’, then?’

          ‘When I taught my nephew how to redirect lightning, a technique that I made myself, it was something I had discovered by watching water benders and fire sage healers alike. Though it may be considered unnecessary knowledge now, the way that energy flows through our bodies is influenced by both our physical motions and our chakras. All of our peoples have their forms of healing- but they all focus on our chi, on the movement of it through both our bodies and our minds.

          ‘The more balanced you are, the more open you are, the easier you will find this manipulation of energies. We are discovering new ways to use them not because they were not possible before, but because we did not think to try them. Our imaginations have been contained by what we were already able to see and prove, and now we have begun to see beyond. If I were to ask you how an earth bender would waterbend, what would you say?’ Iroh raised a brow conspiratorially, and Eggsy took a moment to think about all the forms from around the world that he had read about or watched on WuTube.

          ‘Uh, mud bending I guess?’

          ‘To airbend?’

          ‘Sand?’

          ‘And what of water benders, how would they airbend?’

          ‘Mist? Or clouds, maybe?’

          ‘How would a water bender earthbend?’

          ‘... Ice? That’s a bit more solid, takes more determination to move it as ice and not just turn it back into water an’ back again.’

          ‘Where would the movement of steam fall, in all this?’

          ‘Ain’t that just more mist, just hot? Still be air and water, then.’

          ‘Did you know, Eggsy, that Fire Lord Sozin once bent steam while in an argument with Avatar Roku? Now, it was steam from a volcano, but the point remains.’ Harry chimed in from where he was leaning against a tree, idly snacking on a pastry.

          ‘Well what is the point, then?’ Eggsy felt himself getting frustrated, with this meaningless quiz and the passing of time and the expectations he had set upon himself. Harry pushed off from the tree, walked up and sat himself across from Eggsy, holding his gaze with a seriousness that surprised him.

          ‘That limits only exist because we allow them to. Determination and creative thinking can find your way through many perceived barriers, or around those you cannot traverse yourself. The Avatar, whoever and wherever they may be at this point, hasn’t been necessary for peace and balance in over a century. What once made them unspeakably unique has become nothing more than a quirk. Oh it’s still unique to be able to truly harness all four elements- but are there truly only four, now? The world is changing, has changed, and we must continue changing with it.

          ‘Air is the element with the most potential for that change; the only reason your people have never been feared is because your culture has made peace your priority. But you as an individual have no scruples in doing what is right over what is easy, or taking actions that some would call immoral for the sake of the greater good. You do not hold fast to the pacifistic beliefs of your mother’s people, and are willing to adapt in the name of the greater good. 

          ‘You could do unspeakable evils, as was shown with Zaheer, and you could do great good like Avatar Aang- but I believe you will do the most good,’ Harry smiled at him, a gentle thing so at odds with the passion of his speech, ‘by allowing yourself to trust your instincts, and take the actions most wouldn’t think of. Kingsman’s never had an Airbending Knight- those from the air nation have always found themselves better suited to the Lake- but none of them have ever been you .’

          ‘No pressure, then.’ Eggsy looked away with a laugh, simultaneously embarrassed for Harry to see such potential in him and nervous beyond all reason that he would manage to fuck it all up.

          ‘Perhaps a small bit of pressure- necessity is the mother of invention, after all.’

Chapter Text

           Eggsy was a bit more than confused as they exited the Spirit portal, with the sun still high in the sky despite the hours they’d spent at the Jasmine Dragon. He’d known there was a time differential between the two realms, but it was different to experience it physically for himself. Made it more real.

          Iroh had been a kind and patient tutor, expanding on things that had honestly just been more ideas than anything in his head. Harry had watched, or chimed in on occasion, with the notable exception of some active demonstrations of waterbending katas. And, yes, Eggsy’d had plenty of opportunity to watch Harry bend, to catalogue the ways his muscles shifted in the most minute of ways and the results of those movements, but it was quite different to have the visual and then an explanation of why.  

          Normally those sorts of things were private, kept within their Nations or the lineages they derived from, but both of the older men had stressed that the ability to not only try but to master techniques from other benders was what would keep society alive. Keep progress… progressing. 

          It didn’t hurt that some of it was a lot of fun. Eggsy had always enjoyed using the air scooter and his flight suit (he knew he’d never master unaided flight; he was far too attached to far too many people and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon) and had messed around with the things he'd seen in movers, but to truly use another bending style had always seemed taboo. But there was something to be said about being forced from a belief, and novel experiences that came from exploring the unknown. And the thoughts they brought about- cos Harry was right, about Air sensibilities and his decided lack of them.

          Well, maybe not a lack so much as a loose interpretation? He certainly avoided outright violence against other beings where he could- but he wasn’t going to just sit back and let shit happen to himself either. Or those he cared for. Or the people those people cared about. Or-

           Maybe lack was a better word after all.

           In any case, Eggsy was uniquely qualified to do some more offensive experimentation with his bending. He’d figured out how to manipulate sound years ago, bored in his room and trying to make the experience of talking to himself seem less pathetic. He could use a sliver of air as well as any gun with ranged targets (though he hadn’t tested it on objects denser than fruit) and was trying to make it function like a blade- but sudden bursts of compressed air could do what a steady stream of compressed air could not. Trying to use it like a knife or sword had simply resulted in objects being thrown away from him at high speeds, not pierced or sliced, so that quickly lost his interest.

          Eggsy had instead spent more time trying to combine the waterbending katas Harry had shared with his already-present style, which wasn’t that difficult, before trying to mimic Dean with far less success, while on the train back. Firebending katas weren't as exciting, so many of them already nearly identical to air that experimentation was more for misdirection or style than anything actually useful. He also took frequent breaks to write down what worked or didn’t, with accompanying stick-figures as he couldn’t draw to save his life, as he’d once heard it said that the only difference between science and fucking about was writing it down- and Eggsy intended to give his findings to someone, someday. Even if it was only to his mates, or sister. Harry had seemed a bit off the whole journey back, rubbing at his watch band and tapping on the edge of his glasses before nodding to himself every few minutes. Well, likely to Merlin, but Eggsy didn’t want to assume. 

          When they got back to HQ Harry didn’t say much of anything, merely gestured Eggsy ahead with his ever-present umbrella, and Eggsy took that to mean they weren’t speaking now. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t an idiot and if Harry was keeping his mouth shut there was a reason for it. He pulled out a bit of paper and drew a small wizard hat and a question mark, folded it into a little plane, and sent it into Harry’s pocket.

          Harry visibly startled at the sensation of something unexpected in his pocket, which would have spooked Eggsy if he hadn’t already figured out something was going on, and when he pulled it out and gave a small, startled, laugh Eggsy felt himself relax. They locked eyes in the hall for a brief moment and Harry nodded his head slightly, and with that established they meandered at an even pace down through the Lake until they made it to the tucked away corner Merlin called his office. They’d barely made it to the door when it swung wide open, and a black wing scooped them inside.

          Eggsy had never been touched by an Old Spirit before; they liked to keep their distance, unlike the younger ones who’d been elated by Harmonic Convergence, and he felt as if he’d been stuck into an electrical socket as the appendage finally pulled away. Considering Harry looked no worse for wear, maybe it was something you got used to, but the unexpected company kept Eggsy from speaking until Harry did.

          Merlin raised a single finger toward them before pressing it to a spot on his desk, no different than any other until that moment as it lit up in a series of symbols Eggsy barely recognised, and the humming he’d come to associate with Kingsman cut out entirely. He could see, just through the two-way glass that was set along one of Merlin’s walls, that nothing had changed; the tubes and vials and wires that channelled the forces that brought them to life and manipulated technology on a scale Eggsy had never dreamt of previously were bright and moving just as they always had- but the ones inside the room did not. Within these walls, Eggsy could now see, they all stopped and looked like nothing more than grout between brick.

          ‘Now that we have no prying eyes and ears, why have the two of you darkened my doorstep when you could be off gallivanting around the city?’

          ‘Considerin’ you shut off whatever it is that makes this place sing, I’d say you’ve got an idea already.’

          ‘Sing?’ It wasn’t Merlin but Wan Shi Tong who asked, head tilted as he stood at what seemed to be a reasonable height, and Eggsy was grateful that he’d never been particularly cowed by powerful people. Beings. Whatever.

          ‘Yeah, you can’t tell me it ain’t on purpose, it’s right distractin’. All that stuff movin’ through the walls, hummin’ and harmonising; it’s a song, yeah? The walls sing.’ Eggsy didn’t look away from Wan Shi Tong’s gaze, didn’t hunch his shoulders or jut his chin out- if he was going to be a Kingsman Agent, then they were going to work together and be somewhat-equals. Why would he back down from an honest question, or become defensive when explaining? 

           ‘Fascinating. I am not sure if you know, Mr. Unwin, but the ability to hear this… “singing” as you call it has not been noted in any but our Spirit members. You must be quite Spirit-Touched to not only recognise it, and where it comes from, but be distracted by its volume.’ Wan Shi Tong blinked at him and turned his head the other way, as if trying to see things from another angle would reveal some secret Eggsy wasn’t aware he was keeping.

          ‘Oh. Well, I didn’ know that, but that don’t matter as much as Harry and I bein’ here, yeah? We can figure that shit out later.’

          ‘Quite right. Merlin, did you receive any of my messages?’ Harry tapped at the edge of his watch band, though Merlin wasn’t looking at him and was, instead, focused on one of the myriad screens before him.

          ‘What messages?’ Attention never wavered, but the ear facing them twitched. Suddenly, Eggsy wondered if one could bend by simply wiggling their ears, and filed that away for experimentation later.

          ‘Well, that answers that. Eggsy and I spent the morning with the Dragon.’ Merlin straightened in his chair and hit a key that shut all his screens down. His face didn’t seem any different than any other training day, and yet Eggsy got the distinct feeling he was incredibly worried. Wan Shi Tong didn’t react, though whether that was because he was still thinking on Eggsy or was simply incapable of expressing surprise was anyone’s guess.

          ‘Did you, now?’

          ‘Yes, we’ve been there since around eight this morning after a short trek through the Wood-Between and returned just now- it’s only noon. You can imagine how productive we were.’

          ‘With you it’s a toss up between incredibly or not at all, but feel free to indulge me.’

          ‘Valentine’s workin’ with Koh.’ Eggsy interrupted, immediately feeling awkward for it but unwilling to let the back-and-forth continue for ages more and waste their time. Well, his time. Merlin snapped his head toward him, one brow raised, as Wan Shi Tong looked up at the ceiling. ‘And prolly Vaatu. And kidnappin’ people.’

          ‘ Ah . That would explain it.’ The great owl breathed, shifting what Eggsy would have called shoulders before looking back at Harry and Eggsy.

          ‘Explain what?’

          ‘This,’ Merlin turned one of his blackened screens and pressed something that lit it up, revealing a pai sho tile with the Red Lotus symbol on it. It was a deep, dark red and seemed slightly transparent, but what was truly shocking were the bright red numbers on either side noting Spirit energy fluctuations.

          ‘We have been discussing this little disc since your dinner, Galahad, and though the initial readings hadn’t flagged anything I took a look anyway. The entire room is filled with Spirit energy, Eggsy,’ Merlin explained, ‘so no one thought it odd to have high readings when looking at this tile- but when I isolated the tile itself, these were the results.

          ‘I don’t believe we cover this in training, but Spirits can tell where every bit of themselves is- no matter how small, or what it has been hidden behind. I could take a single droplet from a Water Spirit, tuck it into platinum, and hurl it into the far reaches of space- but they could locate it and follow the path it took unerringly to the last centimetre. A Spirit is never truly destroyed- they are simply biding their time between reformations.’

          ‘So what you’re sayin’ is that this tile’s made up of Spirit pieces?’

          ‘Just so. And the intensity of these readings imply it is a very Old Spirit indeed, though nothing more solid than that, and Wan Shi Tong and I have been trying to discover who it could be- the mystery you and Harry have likely solved for us.’

          ‘What does it mean , then? If they c’n find any bit of themselves wherever, then doesn’t that mean-’

          ‘Kingsman is compromised, then,’ Harry said it like one would notice they’d burnt dinner, but the way he slumped in his chair gave his worry away, ‘through the actions of myself and Iseult.’

          ‘No, Galahad, this compromisation is in no way solely caused by yourself and Iseult. Not the least because you did not make the decision to attend that evening of your own accord. However,’ Wan Shi Tong tossed a tablet into Harry’s lap, ‘if you look at these readings, you’ll see something far more concerning.’

          Eggsy got out of his chair and stood to lean against Harry’s, peering over his shoulder to look at the screen. On it was a map of Republic City, and the outlying towns that surrounded it, with easily a thousand pinpricks of red overlapping one another. Eggsy sucked in a breath, seeing a handful scattered around his own neighbourhood, before jumping to a conclusion and acting upon it without thought.

          He’d known Kingsman was international, that the only borders it recognised were those between true good and evil, but the scale of information at his fingertips was astonishing. He reached out and tapped a different map's icon, one of the Fire Nation, and flinched at the number of markers there, before doing the same to the Earth Kingdom. And the Water Nations. The Air Temples had far fewer markers, but there were still a handful at each one. Not even the Foggy Swamp was spared.

           And then, with another press of keys, the red specks were joined by swaths of blue shading, the text on the edges indicating that those were places with recorded sudden fluctuations of Spirit energy over the last several years. At least one in every Nation, always where the red dots were densest.

           ‘...The whole world’s compromised, innit?’

           ‘Yes, young Mr. Unwin, it is. So what we need to focus on now is discovering the purpose of these tiles, and how we can at least lessen it. If not, by some miracle, stop it entirely.’ Wan Shi Tong bowed his head, suddenly seeming just as small as the mortals in the room, and Eggsy felt the chill of fear run down his spine.

Chapter Text

            Having given whatever information they had to offer to Merlin and Wan Shi Tong, Eggsy and Harry said their goodbyes. They hadn’t left empty handed; a watch on Eggsy’s wrist where there hadn’t been one previously, and a book for Harry that claimed to be about Avatar Kuruk but Eggsy was certain actually held something far more interesting. Merlin had taken a moment to explain the basics of the watch, more specifically the watch band, to Eggsy- though it was not filled with amnesiatic drugs or electrifying darts, like the face, the band itself allowed simple communication between others like itself. Four of a kind. 

          Eggsy wasn’t sure what to do with the trust he was being shown, considering he was still a trainee and not guaranteed Knighthood, but was determined to use it well. To prove them right. He could show them that his being an Agent would be good for everyone, even if, as Harry and the Dragon had said, he did not end up one as Lancelot.

          They made their way out from HQ and back to Harry’s house, where they ate a filling lunch and made some drinks, before deciding to venture out again. It was only the middle of the afternoon, and Eggsy wanted to have something lasting from his time. He didn’t know if they’d let him remember Kingsman if he chose to leave entirely (honestly, what kind of secret organisation would rely on an NDA when they had literal amnesia darts at their disposal?) or what would happen if he got it, but he didn’t want to forget this moment. How he felt here, accomplished and trusted despite everything that had happened in his life before.

          ‘What’d you say if I asked to get to a tattoo parlour?’ Eggsy kicked a spare pebble on the ground, idly wondering how far he’d have to kick for it to form a perfect sphere.

          ‘I’d ask what madness has befallen you before adjusting our course. Why?’ Harry took that to mean Eggsy was, in fact, asking; which he didn’t really mind, even though he hadn’t fully decided yet. Worst case, they’d wander away and do somethin’ else.

          ‘I think I’d like to get somethin’ done to remember this whole thing. Nothin’ obvious o’course, and nowhere people’d see it unless I was showin’ off, but…’ Eggsy trailed off, ‘I’ve done a lot. Learnt a lot, both ‘bout me and about other people and things and I know we ain’t guaranteed to get through life without damage. I know. But I also know that all the ways I’ve changed are things I was already trying to do- you just gave the opportunity to just. Do it. Take the chance.’

          ‘And the Air Nation’s always been more drawn to permanent reminders than the others- your symbols of mastery, for example.’ Harry peered at Eggsy from the corner of his eye, softly smiling.

          ‘Yeah, that’s part of it. Always confused me, before, why the people most likely to leave behind everything they had and knew to explore got tattoos more than anyone else. But I get it, now; when you’re leaving, when you’re exploring and changin’, all you’ve got is yourself. You’ve got what you carry with you, and there’s no way to lose the things you etch into your skin. Yeah, I did my trip to the Western Temple and sat through the ritual of getting my arrows, cos I earnt ‘em. I’ve also spent way too much time coverin’ them up and pretending to be somethin’ I’m not. An’ I’m done with that.

          ‘I’m done with hidin’ away what should be somethin’ celebrated- nevermind somethin’ common enough not to be notable. I’d do it for missions, if it was asked of me, but no more on the regular. An’ I don’t want to hide the ways goin’ through these trials have changed me, neither.’ Harry nodded, though he didn’t reply verbally, and Eggsy appreciated that. They walked in companionable silence until they came to their destination, lanterns a soft green and the lights inside revealing art on the walls through the windows. Thin, fine, lines and bright colours, a series of harsher, darker pieces to one side with bold strokes- the artists here balanced one another, from the dichotomy of the displays.

          ‘So, which’ve you am I bleeding today?’ The voice came from the door that they had yet to go through, a man with waves across one brown and a single Air arrow curled around his arm leaning against the gap. Both visible pieces were done in black, though the edges of the tail of the arrow faded into his skin like smoke. Thin, barely there and hidden between the hairs until they faded from view entirely.

          Eggsy pulled his dad’s tile from where it always hung beneath his shirt, and he could hear the sharp inhale Harry took at the sight of it, and pulled it over his head. He gripped it tightly, feeling the familiar way the grooves and swirls pressed into his palm, closed his eyes, and grinned.

          ‘That’ll be me.’

—

          ‘I’d say that I can’t believe you just got a tattoo while on the cusp of becoming a secret agent, but I’d be lying. It’s not as though you’re unaccustomed to covering them from prying eyes,’ Harry peered over his glasses, which he hadn’t taken off since Merlin’s pronouncement of compromisation, ‘though I do wonder at your choice.’

          Harry had elected to remain in the lobby of the shop, claimed to be squeamish which made the artist chuckle as Eggsy gaped at him, and had sat perfectly still on the other side of the building while Eggsy was under the gun. Harry hadn’t seen the stencil, or listened in on the conversation of what Eggsy’d decided upon, though he had silently gripped his shoulder when it was over and done with, much like that day so long ago at the Black Prince, and healed him.

          Eggsy had never really envied Waterbenders their healing, but he certainly appreciated being able to be unconcerned with a new open wound and instead able to simply enjoy the feeling of rightness in his skin.

          ‘You have any tattoos?’

          ‘Do I seem the sort of person who would have tattoos, Eggsy?’

          ‘I don’t think you seem like the kind of person to care about appearances or “shouldn’ts.” I think you’d enjoy havin’ a bit of ink just to make Merlin huff at you. B’sides, are tattoos even permanent, for Waterbenders? Y’could just pull the ink out. Or in, I guess.’

          ‘You know, Eggsy, I don’t think I’ve ever tried removing ink from skin.’

          ‘So you do have one, then.’ Harry sighed and moved his umbrella to a wrist while pulling at his opposite sleeve. He took a moment to pull out his pocket square, and rubbed at an area just beneath the cuff of his right wrist for a moment before extending it to Eggsy. 

          Eggsy held in a chuckle as he spied the familiar Kingsman pai sho tile, the lotus with its tiny sideways K in the centre. Harry’s tattoo was barely visible for how light a blue was used, paler than his own arrows, and Eggsy took a moment to unbutton his collar and pull it to one side, revealing the same design albeit in the same shade as his mastery tattoos.

          ‘Great minds think alike, then.’ Harry’s eyes were looking quickly between the two, his arm flinched in Eggsy’s grip, but he didn’t let go. ‘How old’s yours, then?’

          ‘... Seventeen years.’

          ‘That’s ‘round when my dad died.’

          ‘Yes.’

          ‘You get that for ’im, then?’

          ‘Yes and no,’ Harry adjusted the umbrella to be able to trace the ink on his own skin, ‘Initially, I thought I did it because I did not wish to ever forget the sacrifice he made. Not that it would have been easy to do so- there is something to be said for knowing your every breath is thanks to the actions of someone else. Makes you grateful in a way I haven’t the words to properly express. But,’ Harry pulled one end of his mouth up, brushed the edge of the circle, ‘it evolved into being a reminder of the things that I am willing to do. The sacrifices I have made and will continue to make for as long as I am able to do so for those who cannot protect themselves. At least,’ Harry locked eyes with Eggsy, ‘not from the things I know of. The things your average person never knows about.

          ‘The acts of a Kingsman Agent are never truly celebrated. They are, at best, congratulated in the manner Merlin congratulated you for making it to this point, and at worst they are seen as having not been enough, even if the objective was achieved. Or, perhaps, that is simply how I view them when lives are lost that I believe I could have saved. Nevertheless, after the objective has been achieved it is back to the grind, on to the next catastrophe to prevent. It is not an easy life, Eggsy- but I do think it is a worthy one.’

—

          They’d returned to Harry’s home after, Eggsy was absolutely exhausted once he realised how long he’d truly been awake- breakfast, what felt like half a day in the Spirit World, the trip back to HQ, the trip back to Republic City, the hour and change the tattoo had taken… it was a lot, and Eggsy’s body was ready to take a leaf from Avatar Aang and have himself a hundred-year nap.

          ‘Anythin’ you can tell me about the last test without breakin’ the rules?’ Eggsy rolled his head over the back of the sofa, looking at Harry upside-down.

          ‘I can tell you that it’s different from all of your previous tests.’ Harry smirked from behind his martini. ‘And I suppose that I can tell you that it’s about teamwork. And trust.’

          ‘Haven’t all the tests been about that?’

          ‘Well then, I guess you’ll pass with flying colours and I have nothing left to teach you.’ Eggsy righted himself, but turned over to hook his arms over the back instead, knees on the cushions, and he could see Harry rolling his eyes even as his lips twitched.

          ‘Somehow I doubt that.’

Chapter Text

          Eggsy was standing in a room he’d never seen before, tucked around a series of turns at the very end of the medical wing. He and Roxy had clasped wrists tightly once they’d been close enough to do so, grinning all the while, before separating and standing at parade rest. There was a room on the other side of two-way glass, dark though visibly split down the middle, and they were alone on their side of the glass until suddenly they weren’t, the wall behind them shifting to allow Arthur and Merlin inside. 

          The former was empty handed, and the latter was holding a pair of metal cubes- Eggsy noted the humming from them was different from the rest of the room. Dissonant. Arthur sat himself in one of the armchairs he and Roxy had ignored when they arrived, as Merlin approached them directly. He handed each of them one of the boxes, and allowed them to inspect for a moment before speaking.

          ‘This weapon is live.’ Both he and Roxy froze and looked up at him, fingers reflexively tightening slightly against the metal. There was a shifting of energy behind them, and when Eggsy looked back the two-way glass now revealed a pair of Spirits on either side of their divide. One a tangle of glowing vines, and the other a cluster of icicles. Both were still, did not move about as if confused, and in fact (if Eggsy could hazard a guess) seemed quite content to be where they were. 

          ‘What kind of weapon is it, Merlin?’ Roxy didn’t let her confusion show in her voice, but her eyes were locked onto the box. She hadn’t looked back up at the glass, didn’t know there were occupants where there had just been none, even though Eggsy couldn’t bring himself to look away.

          ‘A live one.’ Eggsy couldn’t help the way he rubbed his wrists together, wanting to wring them without dropping the box and then remembering the watch in the way of the path his hand would normally take, all the while looking at the Spirits in the room, looking for all the world content to be there.

          But why were they there?

          The boxes seemed to hiss as they opened, in unison, and Eggsy heard their humming in discord, two clashing notes forced too close to one another like microphone distortion. He flinched, wishing he couldn’t hear the way the two objects didn’t match. Roxy hadn’t reacted beyond a widening of her eyes.

          Trust and teamwork. Trust. Teamwork.

          How did the two Spirits fit into that- how did this situation fall into those categories? He and Roxy knew that only one of them would get through, and the room on the other side of the glass was split down the middle. Each of them had been handed a separate device, and had not been told what to do with them besides the implication to handle with care as they were live. 

          ‘Pull the trigger.’ Eggsy’s wrist felt numb, tingling from how hard he was gripping the box. White knuckles and deep creases where the edges dug in. Fingers nowhere near the revealed switches.

          It was Arthur’s voice from behind them, from the comfort of his seat, and this snapped Roxy from her trying to figure out the weapon and Eggsy from the glass.

          ‘What?’ Trust and Teamwork.

          ‘Pull the trigger.’ Trust.

          ‘But sir, we don’t know what these will do-’ Teamwork.

          ‘That’s not what I asked, girl.’ Trust.

          ‘You didn’t ask anythin’, sir.’ Teamwork.

          ‘I have no need to ask- if you’re a Kingsman then you’re a Knight of my Realm. As Arthur, that puts all of you under my command. Now, I will not ask again- pull. The. Trigger.’ Well fuck that noise. If that was all the reasoning he was going to get as a Knight then he didn’t want to be at his beck and call. Eggsy had opened his mouth, intent on telling him as much, when his wrist tingled.

          No, not his wrist. The watch band, the bit of weight he consistently forgot about in the 26 hours he’d had it on and yet hadn’t been able to bring himself to remove. Despite barely knowing how it worked.

          One of them was trying to get his attention.

          ‘Merlin,’ Eggsy began, ‘have you given us all the information you can?’

          ‘That is insubordination, boy-’

          ‘Sir, with respect I’m not gonna pull the trigger on an unfamiliar weapon without ensuring I know as much about it as I can. I will not risk any of Kingsman by not having all of the information that was available to me.’ Roxy nodded along in agreement without looking away from the box she shifted between her hands, likely trying to use her seismic sense to see what was encased within the metal while Eggsy spoke up against the leader of (hopefully) their organisation.

          ‘The weapon is live, and will complete a cycle that has been in process since before you started your trials. It is a fitting conclusion for the process at hand, and has been completed hundreds of times since the inception of Kingsman. All members of staff know and understand the way it works, and those who do not understand do not remain at Kingsman for long.’ Eggsy and Roxy nodded before turning back to their boxes, careful to avoid the switches within with their fidgeting.

          Well that was a whole lot of nothing, for the most part, but Eggsy understood that the Spirits in glass both knew what was happening and were good with what was going on. The dissonance between the boxes and the rest of the room was well on the way to giving Eggsy a massive headache, and he took a moment to try and push the sensations away. He held his empty hand out to Roxy, who looked up briefly before pressing her box to his hand without a word, and took his in equal silence. The two sounded different, but equally wrong, and it didn’t help Eggsy to have the other in his hand. 

          Trust.

          Roxy held out both hands, and Eggsy switched the hand the box was in to press it to her empty one. She didn’t remove her hands, and neither did he, instead curling them together in such a way as to have both of their thumbs against the triggers. He could feel her shaking fingertips, and tried to press some steadiness to her. She’d looked up and pursed her lips at the glass before looking back down at their entwined hands. Was what they knew enough to follow orders?

          Teamwork.

          Eggsy felt the watch band vibrate again, softer than before, and took that to mean he was on the right track. That they were on the right track. They locked eyes, and in unspoken unison flipped their switches.

          Trust.

          The boxes shook in their combined grip, the lids coming back and over their fingers before falling back open over and over again. The humming grew to a crescendo, and Eggsy felt more than saw Roxy turn slightly toward Arthur and Merlin. Eggsy resisted, somehow knowing that it was far from over. The room beyond the glass suddenly burst into vibrant gold, the Spirits within a bright ball of light before disappearing from view entirely as he’d been forced to close his eyes. 

           The music shifted, new notes joining the chorus, and suddenly the dissonance was over. The shaking stopped. The rooms faded back. Whatever it had been, causing the clashing of energies, it had resolved with the pressing of the switch.

          When Eggsy opened his eyes to Roxy, whose eyes were also screwed shut, he couldn’t help but shake their hands a bit. She opened one eye, then the other, and grinned at him. They’d taken the chance and were none the worse for it. Eggsy resisted looking to see how Merlin and Arthur responded, if they’d passed the test, instead looking to the glass, and froze.

          ‘Where’d they go?’ Roxy looked back at the glass and shuddered in a breath- she hadn’t seen them fade from view, how focused she had been on the invigilators for their test. She hadn’t thought it would truly cause damage, likely thinking it would be like the previous exams with some trick at the end- but they’d been told there would be no further failsafes. Maybe she’d thought that, in and of itself, had been a trick.

          ‘They finished the cycle of all Spirit Agents here at Kingsman. They will spend the time between now and their reformation keeping Kingsman safe and secret from prying eyes.’ Merlin spoke up, a heaviness to his speech, and Eggsy couldn’t help but join in mourning the loss of those two individuals he hadn’t known, even if it was impermanent, before growing angry at the role he played in it.

          ‘Is this meant to make us trust you, Arthur? Blindly following orders that could cause the death of a member of your Realm ?’ Eggsy spat the last word, unable to conceal the way he simultaneously understood and was disgusted by the way this had been brought about. Sacrifices were necessary, especially in a line of work like this, but they shouldn’t be tricks or tests of fealty- they should be moments of immense gratitude. Though, he guessed, he had no way of knowing if they hadn’t already had those moments before entering the room.

          ‘Kingsman only condones the risking of one life to save another. Hopefully more than one. Sacrifice is part of playing gods, of deciding what is right and just no matter what others may say. You must trust in Kingsman, in every Agent from the head of the Table to the Lake, to have provided you with the pertinent information. To be giving you the best direction, no matter if you understand it or not, and act without hesitation or doubt.

          ‘You must set aside your own doubts until the objective has been met, until you are back within our walls and able to safely review. You will not have the luxury of questioning directives when out in the field. Hesitation costs lives.’ Merlin was firm, though his eyes were soft, and both Eggsy and Roxy nodded with determined looks. It was something they’d known as a concept, as something they’d be willing to do, but hadn’t known how it would actually affect them in the moment. When push came to shove. You could talk a lot of shit, but until you’d actually done it it was nothing but a bunch of empty words.

         ‘Technically,’ Arthur spoke up, face twisted as if he’d bit into a raw lemon, ‘both of you have passed this test. Which has not happened since the last time we ran Lancelot trials. Therefore, also similarly to the previous Lancelot trials, we will be bringing you out into the field, at least one Knight and Merlin accompanying if not handling from afar. He will note your behaviours, your contributions to the mission, and will evaluate your suitability for the realities of Knighthood without ,’ he looked between them, ‘one another. You will be fitted for glasses in the coming days, though they will remain here at HQ until your Knighting, they and any other equipment will be provided at the start of any mission and collected at the end.

          ‘Dismissed.’

Chapter Text

           Eggsy didn’t know what would change, if anything, in the wake of the “final” Lancelot test- but he’d expected something . He and Roxy had returned to the same dorm they’d lived in for the past year, the same sterile walls and open toilets, and went back to their daily routines. Sparred and studied and teased one another, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and explored when they couldn’t sleep that night. The next morning greeted them with familiar faces, Percival and Galahad at the foot of their beds poised as if to yank the bedding from their bodies like schoolchildren. 

           They went off with their respective mentors, both still on edge and equally unwilling to admit it. Harry brought Eggsy back to his home, an increasingly familiar setting, and once they were safely within its doors and Harry had put his glasses away Eggsy could no longer hold himself back.

          ‘Did you really kill a Spirit to become Galahad?’

          ‘Yes. Even though at the time I didn’t fully understand that it was temporary. I’d had minimal interactions with Spirits prior to Kingsman, you see, and presumed they functioned much as humans when it came to life; mortal, even if incredibly difficult to truly harm. But,’ Harry mused, swirling a glass he’d just poured, ‘I was trusting. Perhaps too trusting, too easily led, as I didn’t question anything beyond what direction to flip the switch in, my hand already in motion. Never really found out if both directions did the same thing, though I’d assume so.

          ‘It was a console, if you were wondering; the kind you’d only know from museums and old Earth Kingdom airships, with flat switches and no markers. Myself and the other candidate side-by-side, though we’d not become friends the way yourself and Roxanne have. It is rare for candidates to see beyond their own success, to celebrate the strengths of others.’

          ‘It didn’t make you angry? Or guilty? To have killed them just cos someone said to?’

          ‘Of course I felt guilty for ending a life entrusted to me. I felt betrayed and frustrated by being asked to do so- but I assumed there was a good reason, though I didn’t need to know it to act upon that assumption. It took me several years to begin questioning why an order came the way it did, to demand information before acting, or going off-book to seek it out myself if it wasn’t provided to me.’ Harry smirked, ‘I have become an exceptionally difficult Agent to Handle, Eggsy- I question and push back and demand because, at this point, I’ve proven myself to be capable and have only regretted not doing so sooner. Arthur despises my mission reports and methods, but cannot deny that I accomplish what is set out above and beyond expectations- just with more headaches.’

          ‘I don’ think he likes me much. Arthur.’ Eggsy slumped into a chair, ran one hand through his hair as he looked away. As if it were a personal failing to have failed to win over the leader of their organisation.

          ‘Arthur is wholly displeased with both of the candidates that have made it to the end. He has a woman and a man from outside his own social class- he has no option that keeps to his increasingly conservative sensibilities; keeps him from causing some form of change to the way Kingsman has been during his entire tenure. And, unfortunately for you, Eggsy, I have also not been quiet about your father’s suitability in the time between. I’m afraid that that’s made Arthur predisposed to disliking you- not anything you’ve done, specifically, but for what you represent.’

          ‘So I didn’t do somethin’ to piss him off?’

          ‘Oh, I’m certain you’ve managed to do a great many things that have made him dislike you all by yourself at this point- but you should know that it isn’t all your fault.’

          ‘Thanks?’

          ‘For example,’ Harry put his glass down and leant his forearms against the table, ‘the final task. First, I must congratulate you for having passed the test- I had little doubt that you would, but that does not mean it is not worth celebrating. I know it is not an easy decision to make.’

          ‘I almos’ didn’t. Almost yelled at Arthur before one of you messed with the band an’ I came back to myself. Started askin’ questions instead.’

          ‘Then I’m eternally grateful to Merlin for having stayed your tongue, as I wouldn’t put it past Arthur to have dismissed you based upon mouthing off alone. As it was,’ Harry chuckled, ‘you managed to hit on something he was already quite put out about due to actions from myself and Wan Shi Tong with your polite phrasing.’

          ‘I made him mad by bein’ polite?’

          ‘You frustrated him by using the phrase ‘with respect’ when acting in opposition to what he was demanding or thought he was implying.’

          ‘They hadn’ said we weren’t allowed to ask questions!’

          ‘Arthur is not used to being questioned, or having to give reasons for his orders. It doesn’t help that Wan Shi Tong doesn’t use his title, either.’

          ‘He just calls ‘im by his name?’

          ‘Certainly. You see, to Wan Shi Tong titles are earned. And not just the once,’ Harry interrupted Eggsy, who had opened his mouth in askance, ‘but over and over again. Like respect, to Spirits a title is a fickle thing that must be defended with both word and action- and when they feel there is a lack, well…’

           ‘They stop usin’ it.’

           ‘Precisely. Though Wan Shi Tong is the only one to do so to his face, a large number of our Spirit Agents call him Chester when he is not physically present. Though he did a great deal as Arthur when he first ascended the throne, as it were, he started falling short of that a few years ago. The fact that it has gone on for this long makes me wonder if he truly realises what it means, for Wan Shi Tong to address him by name no matter the audience.’

          ‘So I didn’ fuck up by askin’ questions?’

          ‘No, Eggsy, you did not “fuck up” by asking for information- nor did you by exchanging with Roxanne or flipping the switches together. You followed the directive you were given, eventually, and used the parameters- or lack thereof- that had been provided to you. Arthur simply doesn’t appreciate people who can use their brains when he doesn’t ask them to.’

          ‘That’s stupid as fuck. Ain’t the whole point of these trials to find someone who c’n think on their feet ‘nd solve problems?’

          ‘That is some of the point, yes- but, again, as we have established Arthur is at somewhat of a crossroads between who he was and who he’s become. He was a very forward, innovative, leader when he became Arthur- but things have changed. I’m not even certain which things, it was, that have set him off his previous path- just that some collection of happenstances have shifted his course and, thus, the course of Kingsman.’

          ‘And Wan Shi Tong an’ Merlin just… keep lettin’ this happen?’

          ‘I’m not sure what you’re implying, Eggsy;’ Harry blinked doe eyes at him, eyebrows pulled too far up his forehead, ‘in what way could Merlin or Wan Shi Tong have curtailed such a thing?’

          ‘I know you’re just bein’ a shithead, but you an’ I both know that a Spirit like Wan Shi Tong only lets some human be in charge cos he wants to. It’d be easy for ‘im to do everythin’ Arthur does- and prolly loads faster, too, since Spirits don’ need to eat or shit or anythin’ like that.’ Eggsy sat back, ‘An’ you just told me that he don’ use Arthur’s title- but he does Merlin’s. So that means he prolly trusts or respects him a bit, yeah? Lets shit lie cos he thinks Merlin can make up for what Arthur fucks up, or the two of ‘em are in cahoots abou’ something. Come to think of it, though,’ Eggsy tilted his head, and smiled, ‘He used yours, too.’

          ‘Very astute of you, Eggsy. And yes, Merlin and Wan Shi Tong have decided that it’s best for Arthur to remain where he is- even if most of the authority he wields has been made superficial at this point, he doesn’t know that. Your candidacy has come at an unfortunately tumultuous time within the walls of Kingsman, though if any besides Merlin asks you if I said so- no I didn’t.’ Harry’s eyes lost their humour, as he set his glass down, ‘There are a few of us that have been aware of such shifts, for a handful of years, but without irrefutable evidence any change is difficult at best and impossible at worst.

          ‘Once, Kingsman was a solitary institution, operating from the shadows of Republic City so as to have connections with all the Nations. But that is no longer the case; we have branches on every continent, and at least one whose location even I couldn’t tell you. Unfortunately, the expansion has been both blessing and curse- for all that HQ is the centre, the right kind of strain could fracture us and destroy the very legacy we’ve spent nearly 300 years creating. In many ways, we are as fragile as spiderfly silk.’

          ‘An’ you think it’s worth the risk, then? Whatever it is that Merlin and Wan Shi Tong are handlin’ behind the scenes?’

          ‘I know it is, because I trust those two more than words can express.’

          ‘Fair ‘nough.’ And that would be enough for Eggsy, who had come to realise that he trusted them as well. In some ways, he thought he always had with Wan Shi Tong, at least- he hadn’t felt judged once, had felt witnessed , sure, but never judged. He knew the feel of his eyes on his back, had known he was being watched by more than cameras several times, and couldn’t help that he was repeatedly impressed by the Spirit who held so much knowledge in his grasp. Eggsy had risked his freedom, had made the call that got him into Kingsman in the first place, because he’d valued one of Wan Shi Tong’s own- and he felt like that meant something. 

          Or maybe he was putting too much importance into their few interactions. Eggsy didn’t really think it mattered if he was- it was his brain, he could feel what he liked.

          And to be honest he didn’t much like Arthur, either. Their reasons for the mutual dislike were wildly different- but he felt a bit justified, especially in light of all this.

          ‘Yes, Merlin?’ Apparently Eggsy had mused enough to miss Harry putting on his glasses, but the unexpected name pulled him from his thoughts. ‘Immediately?’ Harry stood, placed his empty glass in the sink, and collected Eggsy’s cup as well. ‘I see. Ready a plane, I’ll be there shortly.’

          ‘You headin’ out, then?’

          ‘Yes, Eggsy; it seems I must go out for the next portion of the Valentine mission. I’m headed to the western coast of the Earth Kingdom, as it seems there have been some unfortunately familiar fluctuations of Spirit Energy that need to be investigated. I’ll set you up in my office with a computer; you’ll be able to view what I am doing but not communicate with me directly- though you will be able to speak to Merlin and submit messages for review.’

          ‘Aren’t we supposed to be doin’ shit as a set? A dynamic duo?’ Eggsy tilted his head with a wide grin, an image not unlike the comic books he'd once devoured flitting through his brain.

          ‘Arthur has decided that only new missions count for the furthering of your trials. I suppose I can understand, it would be difficult to brief an established Knight this far into the game, and as far as he knows you don’t know anything about this, or Valentine’s aspirations, since neither Merlin or I have seen fit to reveal our being so candid about an active mission with a mere candidate;’ Harry smirked, ‘and Arthur has been actively watching this mission, since Lancelot’s unfortunate demise put us all on high alert. I’ll wrap this up, and the next one can be our adventure.’

          ‘I’ll hold you to that.’

Chapter Text

          What he had come to call the Valentine mission had taken Galahad up and down the western coast of the Earth Kingdom over the course of the last few months. A fluctuation here, a strange occurrence there, and all the while he’d felt as if he was being led by the nose- or, an unfortunate probability, that they were on the wrong track entirely for what they were actually looking for. But Arthur had said to stay the course, and the Lake had not been able to contradict him with any updated information, so they continued along the otter penguin chase with little to show for it.

          Today’s venture had brought him to a temple in the Hu Xing province, derelict and seemingly repurposed to house those who believed all their troubles could be solved by undoing Harmonic Convergence and living as entirely separate peoples once again. Not solely the separation of Spirit from Living, no, but borders between the Nations themselves unheard of since long before Avatar Aang’s time. There were mild Spirit fluctuations around the complex, despite no spirits being visibly present, that matched the previous readings of the Red Lotus pai sho tiles and the global readings they’d reevaluated in light of that recent discovery.

          Harry loved his job. He loved being able to make decisions that impacted the world with none of the masses the wiser. He loved the opportunities he had to experiment and really push himself to his limits- both as a man and as a bender. He loved knowing that shitty people got what was coming to them because he delivered it personally.

          But Galahad was certainly not always a fan of the routes he took to make those deliveries. Today was one of those days.

          Harry Hart had hardly happened upon a more horrid happenstance than this house of horrendous humans. He chuckled to himself, thinking of the bit from My Fair Lady, and adjusted his glasses as he sat in the crowd. For all the vitriol being spewed, the people he was surrounded by seemed alarmingly normal. The true horror he was faced with day in and day out was that truly monstrous things were done by startlingly average people.

“Do I even want to know what you’re chuckling about, Galahad?” Merlin pinged, text appearing at the bottom of his lens.

          “Nothing to concern yourself with.” Harry didn’t pay the first speaker any mind, it was the same tripe that had been spewed since the dawn of time. Things were wrong, and the only way to make them right was to follow and act upon the direction of this person or this ideal that was so shallow one couldn’t call it a puddle. A desire for something different that always culminated in pain, and loss, and then the cycle began anew in the opposite direction. On and on it went, regardless of languages and cultures and bending styles- with unreachable goals, things fantasised by children… but belief persevered.

          Belief was the most enduring fuel; simultaneously the best and worst thing ever gifted to sapience, and Harry was certain Wan Shi Tong agreed.

           “If you could do more than stare blankly into space, I’d appreciate a full visual of the premises.” Again the text at the bottom of the screen instead of any audio. On the one hand, Harry appreciated the visual reminder; on the other, he could have used the voice of someone with a modicum of sanity while he was forced to listen to the speaker at the podium spew senseless hatred.

          Galahad took a moment to peer about the room and spied a handful of security cameras in the corners as most any establishment had, along with a handful of people dressed in deceptively simple jumpsuits. On second glance he could see fine metallic lines leading toward hands, and what seemed to be a power bank at the back of their belts. Or perhaps they were threads of metal just waiting to be released. Either way, those were people to be aware of if anything were to change.

          ‘What are you looking for?’ The voice was harsh, cut through the speaker and the idle conversation that always popped up at public speaking events and the roars of approval that came and went like ocean waves. He turned to look at the man beside him, met with jade eyes and tan skin, and took a moment to send a silent apology in the general direction of Merlin before opening his mouth. 

          ‘Was rather hoping for more action than pretty words- looking for someone worth having a party for.’ Galahad smirked, ‘but no such person to be found, I’m afraid. I’ll have to take my boredom somewhere else.’ He made to stand, one hand on the back of the pew but arse still firmly in place, when his watchband vibrated. Just the watchband, no notification that Merlin was typing, and Harry closed his eyes with a sigh.

          Of course Eggsy had found a way to talk to him, or at least make sure he did not forget that he was watching, despite all attempts to the contrary. There was a reason Arthur wasn’t aware of their little network, and thus Harry had no way to respond while his wrist was within his eyeline; he readjusted in his seat, rubbed at his wrist, and shifted to stand again.

           There are some things that are nearly impossible to explain if the other person can’t experience it. You cannot explain the way chi moves through the body in a way nonbenders could feel, just in the ways one would find in a textbook. Cold, calculating, and distant. A Waterbender could no more describe the ocean’s pull than an Earthbender could teach an Airbender seismic sense. For all the connections that had been forged between humanity in the last few hundred years, all the merging of nations and families, there were things that would always keep them apart; the things that made them unique.

          There were also things so obvious to those same groups of people that they were never explained. No words were ever assigned to their meaning, and the sensation of them was all there was. Sayings would allude to the way humanity was controlled by things they barely understood- Firebenders that rose with the sun without prompting, or Waterbending healers who worked exclusively with the moon’s light and slept the morning hours away. You could teach many things- but… sometimes, just sometimes, it was simply something you were born with.

          Harry couldn’t remember a time without the thrum of the world at his fingertips.

          His father hadn’t understood what he was asking after, when he was a child trying to explain. His father had spoken of the moon and the tides and Tui and La and for all Harry had learned he didn’t feel understood . He’d asked his healer mother, and she had spoken of chi and the way it flowed through the body, and see, here, feel the way it’s moving and threading together? See the way the sinew flows over bone and forms into flesh, see the way the new skin shines in the moonlight? This, he found, was closer to what he was looking for- but still didn’t feel quite right.

          Years later, in a feat of unthinking desperation after a night of drinking far too much, he’d flung a hand trying to pull water from the air itself against an assailant he’d been woefully unprepared for. When the man had flown directly into a wall with a sickening crunch instead, he’d been horrified- but beyond thankful. He’d convinced himself that that had been what he had hoped to accomplish all along, and not what he’d feared from the old stories told around the fire on too-cold evenings. The way a cat would miscalculate a leap and then pretend they’d intended to fall the whole time- obvious deflection.

          Harry heard commotion the way you heard sound through water- garbled, fading in and out like shafts of light through leaves, and utter nonsense. There were words in there somewhere, but none he cared to understand.

          The world around him remained crystal clear, movement unhindered by whatever it was that kept sound at bay. The jade-eyed man made to throw a punch, but he leant away; a woman pulled a thread of steel from her belt and sliced it through the neck of the man next to her with a grin, and barely flinched as her face was splattered with red. The thread continued on with a spin of her arms. A few pews down someone fired a small gun, swiftly blocked by a pillar of stone, before that, too, collapsed into a series of projectiles, which embedded themselves in the shooter. The floor was getting hot, unnaturally so, and Harry spared half a thought to his feet within his shoes and felt it leave him be as he stood.

          The people from the doors, in their gear and silence, began to prowl around the room like shirshu seeking out prey, leaping at people as they passed who did not rise from where they had fallen, barely twitching before laying still. The room grew hot, encroaching steam from a quarrelling waterbender and firebender across the room, and a sharp inhalation was all the warning he had before a far wall burst outward in the wake of a woman’s body, and in spilled more people who were more than intent on joining the chaos as the steam escaped. A gust of wind threw someone into the remaining rubble, before the rubble itself joined into the fray and crushed them. A pair of men grinned at one another before leaping at each other as they turned away. He could hear someone suffocating behind him, a familiar weakening sputtering for breath.

          There was something to be said for chi-blocking, Harry mused as he used a series of jabs to turn someone’s arms from weapons to pudding, and he thanked whatever was left of James for teaching him what he had. It should be required, he decided, of all Kingsman, actually, to have not just any skill with martial arts, but specifically chi-blocking; there were few things more effective than disarming a foe, in at least two senses literally, in their line of work.

          Harry twitched an ear and a jet of water shot down someone’s throat before freezing, the sound of their choking secondary to the thrill of choosing to be their death or salvation. He winded a man with his elbow before backhanding an approaching woman, someone in-between became collateral to their falling bodies, a twitch of his foot had someone impaled upon a series of icy spikes before they melted away.

          The ice melted from the near-forgotten throat, a brief salvation before their spine was crushed by a smoking body as Harry’s tongue ran across his teeth, and their gasping for air quickly faded back into the background.

          There was someone yelling his name, somewhere, but it wasn’t as important as what was before him. He’d get back to them later, and apologise for the delay. 

          Harry ducked, and dodged, and ignored whatever trivial injuries he received in return. He worked his way out of the pews, to the centre of the room, and felt no remorse for the hands and feet and chests and throats he stepped upon to get there. The speaker of the house was still, propped up by a spear of ice through the top of his skull. Gaudy. A stone broke through the fog and struck the back of his head, and for a moment he looked around in horror. Lifted a shaking hand to his head. 

          ‘Mer-’ There was a metallic clink as a bit of metal hit the edge of Harry’s glasses and scraped his cheek, and Harry turned to face a man with knives held between his teeth, eyes wide and fearless even as he gasped for breath.

          Harry lifted a hand, and the world stopped.

Chapter Text

          Eggsy couldn’t bear to watch in the same way he couldn’t bear to look away. It wasn’t so much the violence as the ways it was obvious no one was truly in their right mind. The thoughtless way bodies were trampled over, the too-fluid way they moved from one target to the next, the way everything seemed to centre on the temple despite it having been of no particular importance before the violence had started.

          He also couldn’t unhear the desperation in Merlin’s voice as he called for Galahad, and then Harry, repeatedly. He’d heard the same change in pitch when his mum tried to stop Dean from going at him. That edge of grief laced with fear, knowing that there was so little you could do but bear witness. And then the quiet- well there would be quiet, but Merlin hadn’t quite moved past the point of trying to divide attention.

          ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,’ Merlin muttered beneath his breath as he typed a flurry of text that was left equally unread by Galahad and Arthur alike- and only one of them had an excuse.

          ‘What c’n we do, Merlin?’ Eggsy was surprisingly calm, for what he was witnessing. On the one hand, that was an invaluable trait for a new Knight; on the other, it meant that he’d already been exposed to things such as this and thus wasn’t shocked. Merlin wasn’t sure how much he appreciated knowing that about Lee’s kid.

          ‘I’m doing it, lad- there’s no way we can risk sending backup without knowing how this is happening. For all we know, anyone within a certain distance loses all sense and goes on rampage. So, I can try and get his attention, I can hack cameras, I can look at the Spirit readings and see if I can isolate the frequency that’s causing this and neutralise it, and I can warn others of what is happening in the hopes of it not happening again. Wash, rinse, repeat.’ Merlin didn’t stop typing, tapped a brief code on his watchband as he took a sip of builder’s brew, and nearly sloshed it on himself in his haste.

          ‘And me?’

          ‘Unfortunately, Eggsy, all you can do is-’ All at once Harry’s feed froze. Well, that’s what it looked like, but Merlin could see the minute shifts that came with Harry taking deep breaths, and knew it wasn’t truly so, ‘-Hedylogos you absolute bampot, you’re gonna regret that,’ Merlin growled.

          ‘Hedy-what now?’ Eggsy was wracking his brain on what he could do from his spot in Harry’s office, if he was able to do anything at all. His mouth moved without his brain’s prompting, even as his eyes were locked onto the frozen screen. ‘Wait, Merlin, what happened? Why ain’t they fightin’ anymore?’

          ‘They can’t.’

          Harry’s feed shifted, moved slowly around the room and looked up and down the statuesque crowd before lowering. The bottom of the feed briefly showed a shoe, and Eggsy realised Harry had sat and crossed his ankle over his knee. The screen suddenly split, and Eggsy could see the view from the front of the room- probably from a camera behind the stage. Harry, who was sitting in the front pew with a small smile. The extent of the chaos and carnage unfolded behind him, and it revealed a good score of people stuck mid-action, remnants of their elements scattered around them; a puddle, a boulder halfway between two bodies, a small bit of melted earth, scorch marks and singed eyebrows…

          After a moment, Harry bent down and loosened his laces, took off his jacket and stood to place it on the coat rack that had somehow been missed near what used to be a door, and rolled his sleeves with a grin that was all teeth while walking back to the centre of the misplaced moment in time. He lifted both hands, lowered his head in a loose parody of a bow, and flicked his wrist just as a bolt of lightning zipped past his head. He laughed and lowered the opposite hand and a boulder sang through where it had just been. Shifted his feet just as the space they had been on melted away. 

          ‘This… is going to be fun.’ Galahad grinned, and began conducting the world as it re-exploded into action.

          Valentine had no clue what was happening anymore, but had no intention of stopping the test now. He’d never been cursed with the ability to Bend, had instead spent his days mastering the arts of mental manipulation. He’d learnt to speak the words someone needed to hear, had allowed himself to become brash and then coy and all the while never let the truth of his desires see the light of day. Well, never until Gazelle had managed to speak the same language despite the oceans of differences between them. 

          They were like two sides of the same coin; she was a Bender where he wasn’t, she had a thirst for the realities of violence where he only really wanted the end result; and where he had come from everything people were told to desire, she had come from nothing. He’d had people begging to be associated with him, and she’d relied on Spirits to learn how to speak; he hadn’t known that until recently, actually- she wasn’t one to offer things about her past and he was always looking to the future. They balanced each other out, that way.

          But, none of that shit explained what was happening in the Hu Xing temple he’d spent the last several months scouting out. Setting the stage for what was to be the final test before actually setting off the plan he’d been putting together for the past decade. Oh, he knew that Harry-supposedly-descended-from-Unalaq from the dinner was there, and that he was a spy, but there was nothing that man could do to stop this once it had started. Valentine had every possibility accounted for.

          Or so he’d thought, before everything had stopped like he’d hit pause on an action mover. The Spirit that Vaatu had assigned asked to accompany them to this last test shook their head when he’d asked if anything had changed, nodded accordingly when asked if they were still doing what had been agreed upon for this test, and had shrugged when the nothing continued to occur. Valentine was about ready to kill someone. Well, to have Gazelle kill someone. Same difference.

          Harry remained standing in the middle of the room, fully exposed and not looking at all concerned about that, the dramatic asshole bowing before things started up again. Except, not the same as before- nothing touched him. He was the eye of a perfect storm of paired-off Benders who switched partners again and again until they returned to where they’d begun, increasingly bloodied and frail. His arms waved about in a parody of classical conduction and miraculously was hit by none of the chaos that he’d seemingly put into motion. 

          Valentine had spent years courting Spirits and inventors alike, determined to accomplish the feat Zaheer and the rest of Red Lotus had failed to accomplish, back when the world relied on the Avatar instead of themselves to solve problems. Politicians were just as corrupt now as they had been then, and technological progress aside it was the same facsimile of freedom that people lived in. Simply a more gilded cage, with the barest ideas of more fueling them. Yes, Harmonic Convergence had changed the world- but had it, truly, done more than provide new ways for humanity to harm itself?

          Valentine had poured everything he could into reviving the group, had taken it from a handful of people left with nothing but dreams to a solid foundation that had actions and plans with real potential, and here at the homestretch of all the work… this?

          This is what was going to undo all his progress?

          ‘This isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. Let’s change the key, shall we?’ And now the dude was talking to himself, one hand stopped as the other continued to gesture around the room. Each jolt of his movement punctured by crashing or crumbling or a scream that cut itself short. Valentine glared at the back of the Spirit, at Gazelle, at the screen that showed the feed from the temple several blocks away, and grumbled beneath his breath about false promises while careful to keep his eyes from the screen. His sensitive stomach made witnessing the fruits of his labours difficult at best.

          Harry, contrariwise, couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so free. Not that Kingsman had ever truly stifled him, not on purpose, but he had always known that he had to hold himself back. People with abilities like his were feared at best and hated at worst, with “manipulated by others into doing awful things” falling somewhere in between; it was simply the safest and sanest option to keep himself in check. What was it that Disney mover had said? Something about concealing- not that important. 

          What was important was the ease with which he slid in and out of their bodies, The slick-cool feel of his will overriding their own, the rush of guiding elements so unlike his own to fruition. The way that the ever-present thrum of the universe sang not just around him but through him and this had to be what people meant when they spoke of feeling limitless. When they tried to describe the breathlessness that came with the first views from space. He twisted a wrist and someone’s waist followed suit, he could gesture toward the ground and they would fall to their knees before him or just as easily have them simply stop- but why would he want to stop these petty people from destroying one another?

          And did it truly matter all that much if he was behind the wheel, so to speak, if the end result was the same?

          It felt like stretching after a long while of doing nothing, using his birthright. Bloodbending was a skill he’d had to fumble with in the dark, and the spotlight was a welcome relief he hadn't known he needed.

Chapter Text

           Merlin and Eggsy hadn’t been able to look away from their respective screens, and Arthur still hadn’t opened his messages from Merlin- it was late in the evening, and Merlin said he kept himself to business hours, but Eggsy thought the leader of a bloody spy organisation would be on call for a mission like this. He just kept finding reasons to dislike the man. 

          Wan Shi Tong had come to Merlin’s office shortly after the conducting had started, and had attempted to send one of his Knowledge Seekers into the fray- but their arrival was interrupted by a dark spirit, a clash of violet and brown, and they’d been injured in the scuffle. From their journey, though, the agents back at HQ could see that the temple was surrounded by dark spirits, just out of view. There were other spirits drawn in by the commotion, curious, who were either attacked or subdued and changed and added to their ranks. As if they were shoring numbers, preparing for something more. The Seeker kept their distance, after their clash; another spectator, easily dismissed- not that there seemed to be any other people left in the town.

          Inside the temple, there were a paltry handful of benders left in the room and Harry was pulling blood from stone. His tie was loosened, but in the way one did so when out for drinks after a long day. His skin was clear of blood or sweat, but his hair still fell loose into his eyes. His smile was broad, almost unnaturally wide, and with a jaunty wave he addressed a camera that he’d seemingly just noticed.

          ‘I hope you’re enjoying the show!’

          ‘Who the fuck is this guy, and why isn’t he dead?!’ Valentine threw a nearby cup at the screen from across the room, having drawn away when the blood had truly begun to spill. He may have few qualms with violence in the abstract, but the few Air morals he had left made the realities of bloodshed more sickening than anything else. Gazelle was watching with unbridled glee, and their Spirit accomplice had moved from the confines of this building once it had become clear that everything was going according to plan. They’d desired a better view, though held back from their normal course of action when some poor unfortunate soul caught sight. Better things than a handful of lives had been promised with the things to come- and it had been such a long time since they’d tried something new .

          ‘Fucking hell, that is rank Harry!’ Eggsy’s mouth ran off without his brain from across the comms, but Merlin couldn’t bring himself to care. He tapped at his wrist endlessly, whispered Harry’s name with a throat that had long since gone hoarse, and silently prayed to the Eternal Flame that some miracle would save his friend. 

          The two watched through Harry’s eyes as he swat the air like warding off a buzzing eaglebee, and the last earthbender joined the remaining living attendees. Through the remaining temple cameras they saw Harry lift one hand in a great crescendo, the last airbender pulled the breath from the waterbender, the last of the supposed guards twitched as a wall collapsed upon them, Harry’s other hand gestured to the remaining audience and with a laugh he ended the piece. Fist held aloft, grin upon his lips, they fell, and Harry was left in the combined wreckage of sinew and stone, seemingly at ease, until he suddenly looked around the room as if suddenly realising where he was. 

          Harry looked down at his hands, pristine above the carnage, which began to shake violently. On Kingsman screens, the spirit energies levelled out, and Merlin seemed to deflate where he sat. Eggsy sat at attention in Harry’s office, wishing he didn’t have the experiences that told him that it was nowhere close to over. He hoped to be wrong with everything he had.

          ‘What have I done? ’ Harry whispered, barely audible over the comms, and Merlin wished fiercely that he could embrace his friend. 

          ‘Nothing you were in control of; nothing you can be held accountable for.’ Merlin whispered, and typed through the glasses, to which Harry scoffed and shook his head. He stumbled his way out of the temple, unable to help looking down at the bodies he’d left in his wake, revealing that each had their eyes closed. A small mercy he’d bestowed, even in the midst of his madness.

          Valentine didn’t know what, exactly, was going on in the temple at this point- Gazelle had gasped, which he’d never heard her do genuinely, so it had to have been exciting. But shortly afterward there was a disappointed huff, and a voice like smoke coming in from the window.

          ‘The test has been completed, and with such interesting results.’ The Spirit faded from view, but Valentine continued to hear his chuckles fade into the distance. He could ask the Spirit to follow his lead, but it was a suggestion at best. They had followed and continued to follow Valentine’s directive for the day to the letter, if not the spirit of it- he had not partaken in the subjects of their test. All of their victims were identifiable, which would lead to questions, which would lead to more people being angry about nothing being done about it, which would lead to-

          It fed into his plan, is what Valentine meant, for the Spirit to hold back. The long game he played each day relied on his pieces playing as they should.

          ‘Then let’s get down there!’ Gazelle made her way to the remains of the temple first, practically skipping as she pulled the rooftops of nearby buildings to hide the greatest bits of violence that had escaped the confinement of the temple. They’d take some proper photos to document their success after they tied up their loose ends.

          Valentine followed at a more sedate pace, idly looking at the wreckage to the surrounding area and making brief eye contact with the Spirit that Vaatu had said would be most useful to their plans, who had settled upon the top of the temple. There was a noise from inside the building, like someone tripping over a stone, and the mystery nuisance stumbled out from the wreckage, sleeves rolled up and hair askew but nothing but wrinkled cloth to show for the chaos he’d left. A bit of dust on his shoes.

          The test was supposed to end when all inside were dead- but he guessed he could forgive Gazelle and their accomplice for deciding to play with their food.

          ‘What did you do to me?’ Valentine smirked, leant against Gazelle with an arm around her shoulder without a care in the world. Merlin couldn’t find a way out of this, could barely think beyond the pain in Harry’s voice. Eggsy tapped out the word “please” on his wrist over and over again. ‘I had no control; I- I killed all those people, and I enjoyed it- what did you do to me? ’

          ‘Well, simply put, it’s a spiritual influence that triggers aggression and removes inhibitions in a controlled environment. Our control, not yours, but same difference.’ Valentine shrugged, seemingly entirely at ease. Eggsy tasted blood from biting his own cheeks. Merlin could do nothing but whisper for forgiveness as he wracked his brain for a way to get Harry out of the predicament, fingers twitching above his keyboard.

          ‘Focused through your pai-sho tiles, I presume?’ Harry’s gaze trailed over the rest of the town, looking for signs of life. A handful of spirit vines curled around buildings, reaching toward the sky, and in their tangles he could see the edge of a dragonfly bunny’s ear, shaking. There were toys in some of the yards he could see, vehicles parked nearby, rubbish bins on the pavement, but no one in the windows. No children peeking through blinds, people sweeping their lawns or vacuuming their porches to get a look at the drama, no. No one was around, save for the remnants within the temple and a handful of Dark spirits flanking Valentine and Gazelle.

          What an immaculately laid trap.

          ‘Of course- it’s a beautifully effective way to identify like minds, is it not? On their own it’s like a voice in the back of your head, but bring enough of them together-’ Gazelle grinned, spread her fingers wide and gathered them together, ‘and you get precisely what we need. A solution to overpopulation. To dissent and needless violence, as it’s simply channelled to where we need change most! Survival of the fittest; and fewer people means more resources to go around, more opportunities to explore the stars and-’ 

          ‘As great as you’re saying it will be for society as a whole, I fail to see the specifics of how.’

          ‘Harry you’re more than one cube short of an ice tray if you don’t get how utterly fucked you so please shut the fuck up.’ Eggsy seethed from Harry’s office, and he could hear Merlin huff a reluctant laugh. He knew Harry couldn’t hear him, and assumed Harry was still cut off from Merlin, but staying silent was simply not an option in this moment.

          ‘You know, in movers people always point out that monologuing is how the villain gets caught, how their plans get foiled- but I don’t got that problem. See, I got plans for my plans, man, and I have the strongest allies covering my bases and there’s no way to stop them, no way to end them, and thus,’ Valentine’s smile widens, ‘no way to stop me .

          ‘But I’ll tell you, Zaheer had the right of it; humanity’s truest form is chaos and we were wrong to move away from it. It’s burning day, we’re ready to blow, and the world that comes after will be the fresh start that existence needs. Guru Laghima himself said that the new can’t exist without the destruction of the old, and honestly,’ Valentine lowered his glasses slightly to look over them, ‘wouldn’t life be better with less stress? We have beings in our corner that can eliminate so many of the things that we struggle with- and who are we to continue to fight it?’

          ‘You truly are entirely mad, aren’t you?’ Harry breathed, ‘You’re talking about the destruction of society like a child’s playset! As if it could be pulled apart and rearranged at whim!’

          ‘But it can be, from a certain point of view. History is the story the losers settled for; it says the victorious were in the right no matter the overarching consequence. The masses all laugh and scoff until the deed is done, and then they change their tune to fit the new narrative to continue on. So feel free to laugh, it just means I’m going in the right direction.’ Valentine paused and squeezed Gazelle’s shoulder, looked up, and turned to walk away while calling over his shoulder- ‘Tie up our loose end, would you?’ 

          Koh the Face Stealer landed silently between Harry and the departing Valentine, and in the space of a breath their screens went black.

Chapter Text

          There were unwritten Rules, things that kept the universe in Balance with or without the help of those who lived within it. The power of Belief was the most important to the Spirit Realm, as it was one of the few ways their population changed; unless you were Tui and La, it was the only way it changed. Those two had simply always had a lust for danger and the dramatic, choosing to stay in the Living Realm in mostly mortal bodies. Belief was where Spirits gained and lost their power in equal measure; the changes to who and what was worshipped in the Living Realm directly impacted the Spirit Realm’s most powerful inhabitants. 

          Local fauna and the by-some-definition-sentient flora were not a part of this cycle- the energies of their World simply needed to always be in motion. Shifting from one shape to another with no thought beyond the moment they were in, instinct driven, even the very ground beneath them and skies above were simply their energies made manifest. They did not have Death as humanity understood it- but there was still the cycle of life-change-rebirth.

          Unfortunately, a decrease in Belief was not an absence of it. Even one person, one story, could keep a Spirit alive, once they’d been formed- it was only the initial Birth that required more substantial numbers. Spirits were steadfast in their substance, built from their core outward, and without purposeful Intent a new concept or idea’s Belief was far more likely to Create someone new instead of add an Aspect to someone already present.

          Humanity built temples and prayed to Spirits whose strengths were like the tides, ebbing and flowing as Belief waxed and waned, entirely oblivious to that fact. Names held by a multitude of Spirits instead of just one, Power shifting from one to another as Belief emphasised one concept over another. Hei Bai had been the protector of a single forest, and yet he was called upon to protect forests far and near his original home; where once there had been a single panda in a clearing now sat a collection of black and white Spirits- a flying lemur, badgermole, otter penguin, komodo rhino- all sharing the name and Power that came with it. Not all changes were so peacefully handled, the bloody end of what had remained of General Old Iron an easy example. Sometimes, violent ends were necessary- the gaps left behind obvious enough for unsure newcomers to find and fill. Not all were Born with boundless confidence and knowledge of where they belonged.

          Vaatu and Raava had never known uncertainty; they had always known precisely where they belonged and what their purpose was. To know such things does not make them any easier to bear, however, and a longing for change was natural.

          Vaatu knew boredom, as an old friend and only companion. Honestly he may have named the concept himself, but if he had that was a memory he’d long since discarded as unimportant. He knew the far reaches of his own mind well, knew the difference between idle imagination and active scheming, between realistic plans and idealistic dreams. He had far more of the latter than the former, but he liked to believe it was because he put so much time into planning. Not because of the ingenuity of those on the opposite side.

          That was not to say that he was not impressed by the ways Light developed to confine him, but that he saw them as opportunities for improvement. From the ashes of disaster bloom the roses of success, and perhaps that success was short lived but it still happened . He was built from lack and loss and the rage that came from such things, but the problem with volatile fuels was that they burned bright and quick. The goal was remembrance, to survive in memory long enough to inspire and start the cycle anew. Tui and La, Light and Dark, Peace and Chaos; Vaatu and Raava were always pushing and pulling at one another as time continued its journey onward.

          Vaatu had found fleeting joy in a handful of humans in the most recent millenia he’d been trapped in the great Tree, but most of the time they were pests. What was a handful of decades compared to the aeons he knew? What could they possibly know of life and experience, when exposed to such a small portion of it? Raava was buried somewhere within one of them, and perhaps that being would be less predictable than the others, but he’d been hiding away for generations at this point. Humanity had stopped looking for him, had stopped valuing what the Great Light could do, which also meant that Vaatu had fallen from the radar. Mostly.

          While it was good to be underestimated, it was awful to be forgotten. A handful of tomes scattered across the world, stories passed from elder to child ever shifting through their ever-evolving languages, was not enough. One could argue that peace was the truest desire of humanity, but Vaatu would assert that it was more the idea than the reality of it. Peace could not be appreciated without chaos to compare it to; without organic conflict, people became increasingly restless until they manufactured it themselves. He knew his place in the great cycles of life and death, the universal concepts that even Spirits believed themselves above until truly irrefutable evidence showed otherwise.

          Once, someone had argued that he was stronger than Raava because Darkness was always gone by the time Light arrived. He’d appreciated the sentiment at the time, but wondered if they’d truly thought about it beyond that idea. There was no true gain or loss between the two, the universe was ever expanding and for each moment of ‘light overtaking dark’ or ‘hate overwhelming hope’ elsewhere and elsewhen the opposite was true. For every birth there was a death, and for every loss there was a victory, just not always in the ways that humanity understood.

          Still, it was fun to push at buttons, to remind the simpler folk that there were things beyond their comprehension, even with all the things that they had learned and continued to discover. 

          He’d taken advantage of travellers, of those who came to gawk at his supposed prison, by filling their heads with stories so contradictory they convinced themselves they were true- for who would imagine something so convoluted? By offering knowledge he claimed was thought lost to time and was instead simply a result of randomly pulling words together. By retelling some conflict from ages past that had never been recorded in text entirely incorrectly, taking inspiration from Avatar Aang’s handling of the Gan Jin and Zhang peoples. Humans were easy to impress, and history was easy to manipulate when one had little beyond time and imagination to plant the seeds of falsehood.

          Vaatu had spared a moment’s thought to Valentine’s claims, that it would be sooner rather than later that humanity would find a way to tarnish the Spirit Realm, before agreeing to help, to point them in the ‘right’ direction and offer so-called guidance. It was barely a second, passing through his mind in an instant, as he dismissed it as bravado and saw that the Soul before him was as deep a scarlet at its core as he himself was. Valentine hadn’t been entirely incorrect in his assertions, but his understanding of how it would occur was woefully limited. Humanity had grown beyond their bounds, had created things that there were no equivalents for in the Spirit Realm, and each time their Belief revealed someone new, someone old Faded. There was no way to know who had elected to sequester themselves away and who had Faded; or which of their numbers had, in hopes of gaining strength, ventured to the Living Realm and simply never returned.

          Soon, if things remained as they were, there would be none left who remembered Before in the Spirit Realm. Vaatu would truly be singular- which was a fate he would wish upon none.

          Valentine had selfish desires for chaos and fancied himself as the top of a proverbial food chain, but pressed his forehead to the ground readily when it was demanded of him. The woman beside him was an almost familiar lavender, her speech perfect in a way visitors never managed, and she met his gaze fiercely- her shoulders bowed and head tilted to show her neck but eyes never leaving his own. A greeting from one powerful Spirit to another, though still deferential to his strength. It was intriguing, for this young human to have known their ways so well, a bell that rang too far off to be fully recognised. A mystery to unravel after this bit of entertainment had run its course. 

          He opened a window to the Living realm, watched idly as his pair of humans walked through carnage as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience to their path, as Koh followed and played with his new face as he carried the mass of what could only be the body he’d stolen it from. The body was tossed unceremoniously into the back of their vehicle, and they left the wrecked town behind them. He guessed that the centipede enjoyed playing with his food, to bring along the dead weight after taking what he wanted. For all that the Spirit claimed otherwise, his collection revealed just how much he longed for connection to his mother. It was too bad that she barely recalled his creation.

          Now that he thought about it, Vaatu wasn’t sure if Koh himself even knew why he took the actions he did, anymore. It had been many hundreds of thousands of years since the two had parted ways, since Koh had named himself and discarded the one bestowed upon him, and though time meant little to Spirits as a whole its effects were still present. Only so much space in a finite mind- perhaps it was another story lost to time’s unfeeling graces.

          Vaatu opened another window, this one to the mountainside that Valentine had dedicated to his request all those months ago, and hummed to himself at the visible progress made. At the charts and graphs and intricate designs etched into the hulls, at the mathematics breaking down the construction of a Portal, at the humans and long swaths of violet and burgundy Spirits working their ways around the hangar. The universe was an ever-expanding thing; Humanity had long since begun exploring the stars, and it was only fair for Spirits to make a similar mark upon the cosmos.

Chapter Text

          Spirit energy was a finicky thing to work with; it didn’t necessarily follow the known laws of science, except when it did, and what rules that could be discovered didn’t seem to apply for very long. There were hundreds of papers from thousands of scientists trying to document precisely how it worked, but within a few short years their observations were no longer accurate. Somehow it was unthinkable that a by-all-accounts living energy could learn. How arrogant of humanity to think it could quantify such a thing.

          Still, it was entertaining enough to watch them try.

          Not that Li was one to talk, having dedicated his life to such fruitless studies. The stars themselves could be quantified and predicted, had been mapped and charted for hundreds of years, and yet he simply couldn’t help but be enamoured with the mystery. Happy as could be to report “I have no clue how, but it’s working… for now!” each time Valentine requested an update, which seemed to be good enough for the man.

          Did he want to know why they were isolating Spirit frequencies? Why Valentine was spending his seemingly endless amounts of money to examine how the energies differed between vines and rocks? Why he paid hundreds of people to spend their days experimenting on the changes between those collected in the Living world versus the Spirit one? Was Li ravenous for the opportunity to actually fine tune his focus to only one realm of these experiments? Of course! But he wasn’t paid to ask questions, just solve problems that he hadn’t been aware existed, and it all still fed into his overarching obsession with how in one way or another… so he couldn’t be too disappointed with his lot in life.

          Some folk never found their purpose, but Li had. Who was he to care about what got between him and his purpose? Or who?

          Unfortunately, no amount of fulfilment could make up for the madman you needed copious amounts of patience to deal with.  Patience was a hot commodity that Li had depleted too soon in this project- not that he’d known how long term this experiment series would be. As a fellow nonbender Li could appreciate the amount of time and research Mr. Valentine had spent trying to figure this out. He could see without question that he truly was doing what he thought was best. He’d gathered the best and brightest he could get his hands on through currency and no small amount of promises he likely could never fulfill when his initial pitch wasn’t received well. The latter seemed to be a fancy way of saying blackmail, from what Li heard tell around the lab, but there’d been no need for it with him.

          Li wanted nothing more than to explore the unknown, whether or not his name was the one people associated with the discoveries. Harmonic Convergence was a phenomena that had changed the worlds of science forever; each new Spirit Portal was a chance to examine a potentially infinite and clean energy resource, something Bending had never mastered. Something their society desperately needed, with the rate that their populations were growing and changing. Li wanted to save the world, and it was something he had in common with Mr. Valentine, though they disagreed on what that looked like. Not enough for Li to try and leave, mind, but enough that Li didn’t spend all of his waking moments dedicated to the project anymore. He had when this had started, some handful of years ago as a thought experiment, but now it was routine to let the work remain in the lab as he made his way to his rooms.

          Lavish though they were, by some standards, they were still secluded and controlling. Li had no way to contact relatives that had not been previously approved without observation, and those who were living in the area were one of two categories: coworkers or prisoners, neither of which were viable candidates for companionship. And, sure, one could argue that he was just as much a member of the latter- but they were trapped within very different cages. His was gilded, chosen, and expansive, while theirs were small and tricked upon them- whether by Valentine or those close to them. He tuned out the muffled thuds and screaming as he always did, and idly wondered how long it would be before these people, too, became as silent as the rest as he meandered around the base.

          There truly was little to do besides work, and walk, in the base. Yes, there was a library- but he’d exhausted it many moons ago. He missed Wu-Tube, V-Mover was a paltry substitute that was populated by a bizarre combination of conspiracy theorists and cooking shows. Which he had, also, already exhausted. His scientific journals were brought in with regularity, a benefit of Valentine regularly leaving the base and interacting with the outside world, but they were simultaneously a source of great joy and frustration. Joy in that there were still studies happening, discoveries being made, ancient knowledge being uncovered; frustration in that he was entirely unable to contribute no matter how groundbreaking his own discoveries or how correct his objections. He couldn’t cite his sources, couldn’t publish papers, and to be entirely technical about it all the work he did while in Valentine’s employ belonged to that man, who had no desire to share even the discarded scraps from his endeavours. 

          For all of his internalised complaining, though, Li could not say that he was unhappy. He’d been blessed with purpose and they always said that if you loved what you did you never worked a day in your life… except. Except he was bored of doing the same thing repeatedly, only to get results that were just different enough to be of value to Valentine each time. He wanted things to stabilise in one realm so he could get back to making actual progress elsewhere, to making something better, or at least different. Different wasn’t boring. But bored wasn’t unhappy- was it?

          Either way, boring or interesting, there was nothing to be done for it now. He’d long since used and discarded any good will between himself and his coworkers; he had never seen the point in building connections in temporary spaces. To be frank, he hadn’t seen the point in building connections with people at all until recently. Hindsight truly was 20/20, so he was left with his mind and his journals and the stacks of rebuttals that would likely never see the light of day. Not just because of his inability to publish with his current employment, but also because he couldn’t stop editing them. He continued to go back and extend and revise in an endless cycle of “and another thing!” until what was left was honestly incomprehensible.

          Li may or not have been slowly losing his mind over the last few years. But not enough of it that he wasn’t able to do his job, so on and on it went.

          He wandered for a while, idly hummed along to a song only he could hear while tuning out the background noises of the base, before he eventually arrived at his own door. Which was open. Not the state he’d originally left it in, but also not entirely novel- Valentine was a man prone to thinking to the future and leaving the present behind him, which included things like closing doors. Kept many beings employed, that mindset, but it was nigh infuriating at times. Luckily for Li, thievery was impossible on the base- those who tried were quickly made examples of, which also nipped any form of pranking or playful trickery in the bud.

          There was not much laughter, while in Valentine’s employ. Screams of frustration, celebration of each success, the not-so-infrequent sound of glass shattering or metal clashing, sure- but laughter was reserved for movers and v-tube shows.

          ‘By King Kuei’s Bear what the fuck could he want now?’ There was an envelope on his bed. On the pillow, propped up as if left by a lover who’d had to leave before dawn, ink a vibrant gold against the black paper. He kicked the door shut behind him, tossed his coat onto the rack and tucked his shoes on the shelf beneath before making his way across the space and sat upon the bed.

           You are cordially invited to the kickoff celebration of-

          What was Valentine trying to pull, holding a celebration for a project that was nowhere near completion? In a handful of days? As he unfolded the rest of the note a separate bit of paper fell out, folded in half and stark white, which he snatched up as if it would disappear if left upon the bedspread.

           Li, my man, I know you’ve been stressing this whole Spirit ship thing, but it looks great! My sponsors think this whole thing is ready to go, and I’m gonna agree with them- it’s not like they need life support and shit, we just gotta keep that portal going and they can take care of the rest, right? So we’re done! Just gotta turn the whole thing on and throw a party- plan on it happening in two days, man.

          Now, I know I don’t have to tell you not to talk about this to anyone- there’s a lot of stories out there (and, yes, I know them all) but they all serve a purpose. Stories spread and transform and get thoughts into peoples’ heads. But the truth? That’s a gift, and one given to the chosen few.

          The progress we’ve made will only continue once this project is done; I got no intentions of stopping just because we met our initial goal. There’s so much potential in Spirit Energy that society’s morals have kept us from exploring, and I hope you’ll continue to help me when this bit is out in the universe.

-V

          Li wished for firebending with a ferocity he didn’t know still lived within him. 

          He’d always known that Valentine was a bit off in the head, that genius often gave way to madness and that Valentine toed that line more frequently than many others, but he didn’t realise to what extent. To call the project complete was to call an egg an ostrich horse- perhaps it would one day be true, but at present it obviously wasn’t. It could become so, but it was not anywhere near there- there were stages to go through, to grow through, that were entirely being skipped in favour of this sponsor’s evaluation as a layman.

          On the one hand, Li knew that he was on the opposing end of the masses when it came to progress. When it came to exploration. It was what had gotten himself this far in Valentine’s ranks, despite not having much to offer in ways of currency or influence. His intelligence was vast and he was willing to hear things out and act upon ideas that made others flinch and shy away. He wasn’t ashamed of it.

          In the abstract.

          In this moment, however, he cursed himself for thinking there would be logical use of his rationale by Valentine. He turned his reports in on time, he provided his reasoning and was seemingly met with understanding. This was not that. This was delusion, plain and simple, and it was one he wanted no part of.

          Except he didn’t really have a choice, did he? He’d tethered himself to the force of nature that was Valentine long ago. This was just the consequence of that decision he’d made on a night he could barely remember. Li dropped the offending bits of paper to the floor, let himself fall back on the bed, and smashed a pillow to his face. He wished he could release himself from the mortal realm, but knew he wasn’t built like that. He would continue, and endure, and perhaps he would perish in the pursuit of knowledge but it would not be by his own hand. Not directly. Instead, he screamed, loud and long until his throat was raw.

          Unseen by the screaming man, a Knowledge Seeker picked the discarded papers up from the ground and ducked back out the thin window. They kept to the shadows as they made their way down the icy mountain, kept their face blank and their body loose, for all the world simply running an errand. Entirely supposed to be there, of no consequence to any who happened to spot them, even as they made their way far beyond the base to the rest of the icy landscape beyond. It was lucky that spirits did not tire, or feel cold, as the fox Spirit swiftly made their way to the Spirit Portal.

          This could make a difference, if it got to the right person.

Chapter Text

          Eggsy couldn’t tell you how long he stared at the screen in hopes of something changing, but the black had revealed blue and clouds that continued to make their crawl across the sky. The voices of Valentine and his allies had long since faded away.

          ‘Fuck.’ Wan Shi Tong was the last person Eggsy expected to curse, and he huffed a laugh out of shock more than anything else. ‘Well, Merlin, where do you suggest we go from here?’ Merlin took a shaky breath and cleared his throat.

          ‘Arthur must be informed of our fallen Knight, and the proper protocols followed. Including,’ Merlin paused, ‘the Knighting of both Roxanne and Eggsy. Then we’ll run this spider rat out of existence.’

          ‘What c’n I do, Merlin?’

          ‘Make your way to HQ- you weren’t technically supposed to be observing this mission, but it isn’t unusual for Knights to watch each others’ feed when they aren’t off on their own missions, and you were left in Galahad’s home with permission to do so. We can use that as a loophole should he make a fuss. However, Arthur cannot know that you have been communicating with the two of us about anything further than this. It is imperative that you present yourself as confused and unsure of what else is going on, or what will happen from here.’

          ‘Understood.’ Eggsy closed the computer and took a deep breath, stood and shook himself loose. There was something to be said for being given a task in the wake of tragedy, having something solid to accomplish to keep from entirely breaking down. Harry-

          Harry was gone, and now Eggsy was left to figure out whatever came next. He’d be Knighted, exactly what he’d wanted. He couldn’t find any joy in the notion. But he wasn’t going to spit upon everything Harry thought he was capable of. He’d wear the mantle proudly, and do it justice.

          He paused at the decanter, poured himself a too-fancy glass and took a breath. There wasn’t time for him to mourn, but he could toast the fallen. Surely the world would hold itself together long enough for that?

—

          If Spirits felt exhaustion as humans did, it would be less noteworthy that the Knowledge Seeker in Merlin’s office was panting. Merlin tapped Wan Shi Tong’s frequency onto his watchband as he knelt down, reaching for the papers that had fallen from their mouth. The door opened and shut again, and the great owl loomed over their companion, a yellow and blue haze moving through him and into the fox Spirit as Merlin stood again. There was little he could do, personally, for their Spirit agents, but they had their own forms of healing. The Knowledge Seeker stood gracefully, shaking themselves from nose to tail before trotting off through a hole in the wall. Wan Shi Tong did not immediately straighten, which kept Merlin’s attention from the paper in his hand.

          ‘Well?’ There was a great sigh, and Wan Shi Tong seemed to shrink, his eyes level with Merlin’s as he straightened.

          ‘Those came from a scientist high in Valentine’s circles, whom Azeri watched have what I believe you would call a breakdown upon reading those missives earlier today. They did not read them themselves, but if it causes a human with whom he is allied great frustration I can only imagine what it spells out for us.’

          ‘Will Azeri recover fully from the journey?’

          ‘They already have- I do not offer my own energy lightly, but Azeri did us a great service in bringing this to us when they did. Seems only fair to repay that effort, and it is not as if I am without skills I do not need Spirit Energy to utilise.’ He stretched his wings, still able to touch the walls, before quirking his head toward Merlin’s hand. ‘Now, what is it?’

          ‘It seems,’ Merlin’s eyebrow lifted, ‘that Valentine believes his project is at an end. At least this bit. Official launch date in two days. It also says that he’s intending to continue experimenting with Spirit energy no matter how this project wraps up. It’s good to know that the pitch given to Galahad at that dinner was genuine, though the scale of it seems much larger.’

          ‘Based upon that information, Arthur should have no issue with a more overt form of problem solving when it comes to Valentine. Perhaps, even, a permanent one.’ Wan Shi Tong sounded hopeful, which gave Merlin pause. It wasn’t often, in his experience, that Spirits sought revenge, or justice, for human acquaintances. Harry had made more of an impact, it seemed, than he’d ever know.

          ‘With the loss of Galahad, we can only hope.’

—

          ‘Arthur, Harry’s dead.’ Eggsy used every trick he had for keeping himself together, already expecting derision from the man without being outwardly broken by that fact. He’d flown to the bookshop from Harry’s, still had his suit snapped together as he ran through the inside before he’d thrown open the doors, startling Arthur who’d sat at the head of the table. There was an empty glass before him, a decanter and empty glass an arm’s length away on a tray, a file and set of pens within reach. He looked as if a long meeting had just come to an end.

          ‘Galahad is dead,’ Arthur corrected calmly, ‘thus the toast we’ve taken for him. The title, however, lives on;’ he gestured with one hand in Eggsy’s direction. ‘As both you and Roxanne passed the final test, it is my… pleasure… to offer you the title of Galahad. Roxanne shall be Lancelot, and Kingsman will continue on.’

          ‘This really the time for that, Arthur? Valentine an’ Gazelle could be settin’ off all those tiles at any time! Any of ‘em- all of them- who’s to say there ain’t some in Kingsman right now?!’ Eggsy didn’t have to feign his hysteria- his family was still out there, and knowing Dean he’d have got one of those tiles cos he was a right bastard and what would happen to Daisy? He knew he couldn’t do anything about that right now, not on his own, but that didn’t make it less terrifying. Logic always fled in the wake of fear.

          ‘And thanks to Galahad’s work and recordings, we have been able to isolate the readings in question and pass the information to the proper authorities. They are being collected and eliminated as we speak.’ That didn’t sound right- it’d been less than an hour since Galahad’s feed had gone skyward. What authorities? How could they have gotten all of that in motion in the time it took Eggsy to get here? Spirits or not, global access or no, there was just no way- nevermind that they couldn’t really be destroyed, bein’ made of spirits and all. ‘This success is a fitting legacy for our fallen friend.’

          ‘An’ that’s it? We just… move on to the next thing, when Valentine’s still out there pullin’ shite like this?’

          ‘Come, Galahad, have a seat.’ Eggsy knew he couldn’t show how uncomfortable being addressed as such made him. The grimace he fought off his face. He walked on weakened knees to the seat on Arthur’s right, and collapsed into it readily. ‘We’ve had our toast to Harry, and though I understand that it does not feel like much, it is what he would have wanted. For us to continue on with the work left.’ Arthur reached a hand out to the file, sleeve riding up just enough to reveal a distinct lack of watch and what looked like a smudge of something where the face of one would normally sit. Curious. 

          Eggsy took a moment to examine the man, hopeful for reasons beyond his own understanding that there would be more signs of bedragglement, that he was less put-together than he seemed, that Harry had been more than a worker drone to a queen scorpion-bee for this man. The lines of his suit were perfect, tie immaculate, hair entirely in order- but a different pocket square. Not a crisp white but instead a deep maroon, faint silver thread weaving an intricate pattern difficult to discern in the flickering candlelight, folded up into a layered point instead of the neat edge barely peeking out of the pocket. A statement piece, though the message itself was a mystery.

          ‘It pains me to admit that you show promise; I know that I am not a kind man, and I am disappointed that my candidate failed where you have progressed, but there is nothing to be done for that now. Though you have not been Knighted as of yet, this occasion has me willing to… bend a few rules. I have here the contracts for your future at Kingsman. A house, allocated funds, along with a special exemption-’ Arthur turned the folder, pen placed atop, and pressed it in Eggsy’s direction, sleeve pulling up further, ‘-to read your family in on your father’s death. No specifics on Kingsman itself, of course, but more than they were given with the tile you still hold.’ Eggsy nodded his head, eyes locked downward- not on the papers before him, but on the hand still placed atop them. Eggsy reached slowly for the pen next to that hand, hoping beyond all reason that Arthur would excuse the shakiness as nerves for the new position.

          There on his wrist, in faint silver like old scars, was the emblem of the Red Lotus. Just like the tiles. It could be nothing else, and Eggsy’s mind tried desperately to keep his body from responding to the reality of this situation, tapped the pen against the table and tucked his tongue between his teeth as he pretended to read through the documents. The bit of red fabric had the same, the candles having brightened as Eggsy reached for the folder and made the shining threads easy to decipher if you knew what to look for.

         He and Harry had known Kingsman was compromised, had brought that information to Wan Shi Tong and Merlin, and none of them had known how far into the roots the rot was. Arthur had been an annoying figurehead, not a possibility of true destruction, and Eggsy hoped beyond reason that Merlin had tapped into Arthur’s feed or the Dining Room cameras. Had somehow known something wasn’t right here the way Eggsy hadn’t until just now.

          ‘Arthur, Harry told me that you didn’t like to break rules… so, why now?’ Eggsy looked up from the file, eyes curious but jaw tight. Pen in a white-knickled grip that he hoped was ignored or simply missed entirely. 

          ‘It has come to my attention that the world is changing, Eggsy; and for Kingsman to continue to do what it was built for we must adapt with those changes. We must be willing to sacrifice the few for the many, to compromise our individual values for the good of the world. This is merely the first step of many such changes in Kingsman’s future, changes I’m sure we can come to see eye to eye on.’ Eggsy clenched a fist beneath the table, nails biting into his palms, the pain grounding him. Arthur lifted his brows, candles in the room brightening for a moment before settling again, and Eggsy broke his gaze to look back down at the folder. 

          What was he going to do?

          ‘Well? Are you a Kingsman, Eggsy?’ Eggsy suddenly remembered that Arthur was a firebender as the room became hotter, and sent a silent apology to his mother’s teachings and his father’s ideals and Harry’s memory. There were very few ways to curtail the element of power, after all, and only one that he had access to.

           ‘Kingsman may be about doin’ the greatest good, an’ that may mean we make sacrifices, but somehow I don’ think this’ what they meant. You want people that’ll follow your orders withou’ question, and that just ain’t me. I’d rather be with Harry. Thanks.’ Eggsy closed the file and began to pull the air from the room slowly, though the candles were snuffed out in an instant. 

          He watched dispassionately as Arthur cursed and thrust a fist in his direction, fear entering his gaze when nothing happened. The sharp movements that accompanied lightning resulted in more of the same. His breathing became heavier, sharper, as he grew paler and all the while Eggsy sat back loosely and raised a brow. ‘Performance issues, guv?

          ‘Y’know Harry mentioned that there hadn’t been an airbender at the Table before, said any who came for the Trials ended up in the Lake. Think I understand why, now, cos I dunno anyone else in the air nation that’d have both their morals and no problem endin’ you where you stand. Or,’ Eggsy smirked, at ease in the lack of air, long used to the thinness of altitudes beyond Arthur’s reach ‘sit, as it is. But I’m plen’y familiar with ends that justify means, and trust the rest o’ this place to fill in the blanks.

          ‘Kingsman’s changin’ alright, just not the way you was hopin’ for.’ Arthur collapsed against the table, eyes falling shut and breath more than shallow. Good enough- Merlin and Wan Shi Tong could make the choice from there. Eggsy took the glasses off of Arthur’s face, placed them upon his own, and looked down at a persistent beep from a pocket- a cell phone, screen blinking with the now familiar brand and a timer at the base. Coordinates if he swiped across the screen- shit’s getting serious, then.

          ‘Merlin?’ Eggsy did not look away from the phone in his hand, tapped the leg of the specs again, ‘Merlin, d’you hear me?’

          ‘Eggsy, dare I ask the reason you’re on the Arthur line?’ Merlin sounded stiff and stressed, and he couldn’t blame him, but unfortunately he was going to be adding more stress to that. Solved one problem only to reveal a thousand more.

          ‘It’s rot all the way down, Merlin; check the footage from the Dining room for the last… eh, fifteen, twenty minutes or so. I’m taking the train, see you soon.’ Eggsy tucked the phone into his pocket and made his way to HQ.

          Merlin heaved a sigh, rubbed a hand at his temples, and disconnected from the cameras. Eggsy had seen something the rest of them had missed, or simply dismissed as part of his being stuck in the past, and made a call few would have in good conscience. He’d even done so without actually killing the man, a feat of self restraint that Merlin was unsure he’d have had in the same circumstances. He was tempted to finish killing the man now, to simply prevent him from waking at all, but knew that was his anger talking. Kingsman wouldn’t survive without answers, which were something only a living Arthur could give them. Instead, he released an anaesthetic gas cocktail through the vents and cut the Dining room from the rest of the Shop; it would keep Arthur out long enough to be secured. Hopefully.

          ‘Percival, Lancelot, I need you to turn on the Cooler and collect a full set of Platinum cuffs. Check with me for further instruction after that.’

          ‘Yes, Merlin.’ Percival replied, followed by a confused Roxanne who only followed with a tug to her hand.

          Merlin knew that Eggsy would not regret his actions, no matter the consequences that befell him- he saw little worth in regret, and was willing to take on all kinds of unpleasantness for those he cared for. It was lucky that Kingsman had made its way onto that list.

          ‘Perhaps we miscalculated, Wan Shi Tong, with letting Arthur continue on without closer observation.’ The great owl sighed, brushed one wing across Merlin’s shoulders, and turned the screen so he could watch Eggsy’s progress toward HQ.

          ‘Perhaps. Or, perhaps everything is progressing precisely as it should be.’