Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jordan thought losing his leg at age 22 was the worst thing to ever happen. 

Jordan thought getting honorably discharged from the Navy at 22 was horrible.

He never thought losing his twin at 23 would be any worst. 

That morning he had started put his routine like normal. Get up at six, grab his cane, hobble to the bathroom, and then put on his prosthetic leg. 

He went for a walk, leaving his phone on the kitchen table. An hour-long walk always seemed to wake him up and was peaceful to the young veteran. 

When he got back home, he started working on breakfast, cooking a pan of a few eggs. Then he heard his phone start to go off in the dining room, buzzing loudly. 

"What…?" Quickly putting the eggs off the hot eye, Jordan walked over to the table. The screen was lightly up quickly, the picture of his mom flashing on the device. A dozen missed calls, the phone read. "What could Mom want?" 

He hit answer. "Hello?"

A relieved sigh could be heard on the other end. "I've been trying to reach you for hours, Jordan," his mom's soothing voice said. The man could hear a hint of stress in her voice and a sad tone. "You wasn't answering and I got worried and-"

"I went for a walk, forgot my phone, sorry," he hurriedly said, trying to calm her. "Mom is something wrong?" 

"....your sister was in an accident."

That caught his attention, quickly sitting down at the table. "What happened?"

His mom went on to explain. 

Earlier that morning, Kathlin (his sister) was driving Tubbo to a doctor’s appointment. The small three-year-old has slept the whole way until someone decided to speed up and try and get into the other lane. 

The lane his sister just happened to be in. 

From what his mom told him, Kathlin had been hit right on the driver’s side. Causing her to go off-road and into a ditch, and into the tree line. Right into a tree.

“She’s in surgery right now,” said his mom, breaking him from his thoughts. “Tubbo is fine, just a little bruised up. Wondering where his mom is…”

He pulled himself to his feet, heading to his room. “Mom, I’ll be there in a bit, just text me the address and I’ll be there soon.” Jordan was already trying to shove his shoes on his fake foot. "Is Red over there yet?"

"He got here before me," she told him. "Andrew is waiting outside of the waiting room, waiting to hear how her surgery went. I’m in Tubbo’s room. The poor boy is asleep right now but got worried when his momma wasn’t here to tuck him in.”

Jordan took a deep breath, trying to think of something. His sister was stubborn, a trait they both shared. A little car crash couldn’t take her down.

...could it?

He shook that thought away, grabbing his red jacket off the back of his desk chair, shrugging it on as he hobbled to his car, grabbing his keys off the rack. He needed to see his sister.

The drive to the hospital was taken in silence. Jordan sat with his thoughts, mine racing almost like the moving traffic around him. The radio sang out a familiar tune, but his brain was working a little too much to try and figure out the song.

He parked outside the hospital, right when the radio clock hit noon. Jordan took a deep breath before getting out, looking up at the tall hospital. It was too sunny, too bright for the news that the short man had gotten that morning. 

The nurse at the front desk looked up at him as he entered, hobbling his way over to her, coming to lean on the desk. She was dressed in pale blue scrubs, pale blond hair tied up in a bun. There was a pair of reading glasses on the tip of her nose. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” 

“I was told my sister and nephew were here? My mom told me she was up in surgery.”

“What’s your sister’s name?” she looked down at her computer, clicking away. “And what’s your nephew’s name?”

“Kathlin Maron and Tubbo Maron,” he told her, shifting in his stance. He hasn’t stood up this long in a while. It was starting to hurt his leg.

The woman looked up from her computer, a smile on her face. “Your nephew is up in the children’s ward, and your sister is still in surgery. She should be out soon, I believe. Tubbo is in room 230.”

Jordan thanked her before making his way to the elevator, trying to pay no attention to his sore leg. He looked over at the map of the building before pressing the 

The elevator was empty besides a lone doctor, sipping on a smoothie of some sort. A mango one if he had to guess from the color. The doctor was looking down at his phone, most likely on a break. 

He quickly pressed the second floor, and leaned against the wall, taking the weight off his leg. God, he missed his own forking leg. The feeling up the elevator lifting, jolting him from his thoughts. The doors opened and the man had to quickly hobble out before the doors could close again. 

With a quick glance over at the directory, Jordan made his way down the hall to room 230, dodging nurses and doctors along the way. The children’s ward of the hospital was brightly colored, almost like they wanted to be cheerful and not as sad as hospitals usually were.

The door was open when he found the room. 

It was painted a light green, almost a teal color. There was a soft beeping from a heart monitor in the corner, filling the room with a white noise of sorts. On the hospital bed, a small lump was curled up with a few wires sticking out from here and there, was a small boy with a mop blond hair. 

He was tucked into the thin blanket. The kid’s small arm wrapped around a large, knitted bee. It was almost his size. And hobbling over to the bedside, Jordan could see a few small cuts and bruises, and a small patch on his forehead, almost being blocked out by the boy’s shaggy hair.

“He fell asleep about an hour ago,” said a voice behind him, startling the man. Looking over, Jordan let out a sigh of relief. “What? Not happy to see your mother, Jordan?”

Sitting in the corner, in a plush looking chair, was his mother. Her hair died purple, Jordan could see her gray roots showing through. His mom wore a purple blouse, and a pair of faded jeans. She looked like she had just gotten off work, or more likely, had gotten ready for work. His mom had a cup of coffee in her hand, phone in the other.

He gently sat at the end of his nephew’s bed, glancing down at the small boy. “Any word on Capsize?”

A childhood nickname, he remembered. His sister and he used to always be team captains back during PE. Soon people just started to call them Captain Jordan and Captain Kathlin. Then it changed to Captain Sparklez and Captain Capsize, after some...pranks that happened in their teen years. 

His mom sighed. “None of the doctors will tell me anything, just that she’s in surgery.” the woman’s green eyes looked at the sleeping form of the boy with concern. “Couldn’t even tell Tubbo that his mom was ok…”

Jordan sighed. “We can only-”

There was a knock at the door.

Looking over, the man saw it was a tall woman, where a pair of scrubs. She looked tired, lines of stress on her forehead. And if you asked Jordan, it looked like she wanted to just drop. 

“Ms. Kathlin Maron’s family?” she looked at the two adults, a frown marking her face. “May I talk with you out in the hall?” 

Jordan saw his mom trying to stand up, placing her cup of coffee on the window. “You stay with Tubbo, honey. I’ll talk with the doctor.”

The man wanted to protest, but the boy in question started to wake up, shifting in his sleep. Tubbo looked at him with tired, baby blue eyes. They look so much like his sister’s eyes, and Jordan smiled sadly at him. “Hey Tubs, how you feeling?” 

“Icky.”

Jordan rubbed at the toddler’s arm, smiling slightly. “Yeah, I figured as much buddy…”

Then he felt like his heart torn in half. The sound of sobbing coming from the hall. 

He stood to his feet, telling Tubbo he would be right back. Jordan found his mother crying into the doctor’s arms, as the young woman tried to get the purple-haired woman. He knew what that meant, and his fake leg gave out from under him, as he fell to his knees. Tears running down his face.

Jordan thought losing his leg at age 22 was the worst thing to ever happen. 

Jordan thought getting honorably discharged from the Navy at 22 was horrible.

Jordan never thought he would be losing his twin sister would be the worst of them all.

Chapter Text

He leaned against the door frame, a frown on his face as he watched the small boy sleep. 

Watching as Tubbo curled up in his pale green comforter, his bee plushie tucked under his chin, a soft snore coming from the boy. He looked peaceful, content. The first time Jordan had seen him so content in the last week.

The week began with him talking with both the police and a social worker, about what happened with his sister. It happened on the highway, there were no cameras recording the accident. No one with a dashcam came forward with evidence that could be charged with Kathlin’s death. No one that they could blame for all of this. No one to blame for making his nephew an orphan.

The next few days were the funeral and getting Tubbo settled into living with Jordan. 

They had spent the last day painting the boy’s room, which was now a dark green, like a forest. Over the past few days, Jordan had packed up most of Tubbo’s old room and moved most of the boy’s belonging into his house. 

He didn’t want to go through his sister’s things just yet. Not yet, at least.

The room wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t really what a kids bedroom should look like. It had Tubbo’s bed and a pile of boxes they needed to through. There was a dresser a friend was dropping off in a few days. And one friend offered to come to paint a few little bees on the walls. 

A knock from down starts startled the man out of his thoughts. Pushing himself from the door frame, the man took one last glance at his nephew before hobbling his way down the stairs. His leg was starting to hurt after standing on it all day long. 

“I’ll be there in a minute!” he called, quickly doing down the stairs, almost tripping in his efforts. And a glance out the window in the living room, it was late, the world already wrapped in a blanket of darkness. He opened the door and blinked in surprise. “Tom?”

Standing on the other side of the door, looking to have been just asleep in his pinstriped suit, was one of his best friends. The blue-haired man looked like he had rushed over, a backpack hanging off one shoulder. There were dark purple bags under his eyes, and Tom looked like he hadn’t slept in a few days. 

The man smiled. “Jordan, mate, how you doing?” 

“What on Earth are you doing here Tom?” 

He ran a hand through his fading blue hair. “Oh you know, heard some stuff happened and came to check on you,” Tom tried to explain, looking a bit like he was about to drop. “You mind if I come in? I need to talk...I think it has something to do with your sister.”

That caught the veteran’s attention. “Yeah sure.” he opened the door, gesturing for him to enter. “You go sit down, I’ll go fix a pot of coffee. Are you hungry? We still got a few slices of pizza from dinner if you want.”

Tom grimaced at the thought of food and then Jordan remembered. 

Back in high school, during their freshman year, Tom had been told he was half-zombie, a curse of his family really. To have a hostile mob as your other half. His twin brother, Mot, was half creeper and had a short temper. Tom, on the other hand, would either had fazes of madness or just not eat for a long period of time.

It seemed like today was one of those days.

“Coffee is fine,” he gave a small smile before coming in, sparing a glance at his friend before making his way into Jordan’s living room. 

A little while later, Jordan made his way into the living room, two mugs of coffee in his hands. He was quick to gently sit the cups down before sitting himself down on the other side of the couch. The man looked over at his friend, looking at him with a frown. 

Jordan watched as the zombie hybrid scratched slightly at a few scars on the side of his face, memories of a few times the man had gone a bit crazy in his zombie induced state. He was sure that a few of those scars were from Jordan himself if he remembered correctly. 

And he was regretful of that.

“So what was this about my sister?”

The zombie hybrid looked up at him, and Jordan could see the red that sat in his dark brown eyes. Could see the blue and green skin on the left side of his face, where his skin had tried to heal after it went a bit rotten.

“So you know how I told you I was working with a company that dealt with some...not great people?” he inquired, uncertain. When Jordan nodded slowly, Tom took a deep breath. “Well, I sorta lied. And what I am about to tell you, you can’t tell anyone, alright? Not even your mom or brother. Or even Tubbo.”

A frown made his face. “Tom, what did you get wrapped up in?”

“Do you remember that guy from high school, Jay Schlatt?

“Tall, ram hybrid Schlatt?” he raised a brow. “The same guy that tried to sell stuff to the freshmen, Schlatt? The same guy?”

His friend nodded, before grabbing his cup of coffee, holding it gently into his lap. “Yeah, he heard I was kinda good with computers and that Mot was good with, um...weapons. He recruited both of us to join his...business.”

“Did you join a cult?”

“What? No, I joined a mafia-” 

“Tom, that’s-that’s even worst! That is so dangerous, dude.” he’s eyes went wide, and he started to wilding wave his arms around. “YOU COULD DIE DOING THAT!” 

“I know, and I knew that when I agreed when both my brother and I signed up, Jor,” he sighed, staring at the still-steaming coffee. “We knew what we were getting into and I’m glad I did so I can tell you what I think happened with Kathlin.”

Jordan sighed, rubbing a hand over his face before looking down at the coffee table. His own cup sat forgotten, the porcelain mug staring up at him. “Alright, but we’re not done with this conversation Tom.”

“Ok, that’s understandable.” The sound of tom’s cup being placed down. “Two weeks ago, I over Schlatt talking with his hitman of sorts. I don’t know what his name is, he kinda shows up sometimes and does what the boss man asks. And I’m pretty sure I heard him tell the hitman your sister’s name the other day. But she wasn’t supposed to die, just take her and tubbo to some location. Said something about seeing if Tubbo was his kid or not.”

“But no one knows who Tubbo’s dad is though."

"Has anyone ever gotten him tested for hybrid genes?" 

"Well, it’s a theory that he has some slime in him like me and Kathlin." The fact of him being part slime wasn’t as widely known as maybe Tom's zombie half. Both he and his sister liked to keep the fact their slime hybrids. "Even mom hasn’t thought of him being another kind of hybrid." 

"Jor you might need to get him tested...I mean he could actually be Schlatts kid," Tom almost sounded scared, he looked nervous. His hand had gone back to his scars, scratching at them. Jordan was half-minded to yank his hand away and stop the zombie before he reopened one of the marks. "If he finds out Tubbo is really his kid, he could try and take him from you.”

“Then I’ll make an appointment to get him tested,” he said, a frown on his face. Jordan glanced down at his now, most likely cold coffee. Neither of the two of them had even drunk any of the caffeinated drinks. “Gods I hope this is just to be careful… I don’t want to explain to Tubbo his dad isn’t dead and isn’t a good guy.”

“Well Schlatt’s more of a neutral party then it comes to most things,” Tom said, causing the man to look over at his zombie friend, before snapping his fingers into a point at Jordan, a light seeming to light up in his eyes. “Wait don’t go to a doctor, I think I might know someone who can help us.”

“Who?”

“Sonja Firefox.”

Chapter Text

“Yep, differently a hybrid."

"Do you know what kind?" Jordan asked nervously, hands picking at a strand on his jeans. He glanced at his nephew, watching him as his friend looked over the boy. "Should I be worried about anything?"

"Jor, calm down," said the woman, smiling as she gave Tubbo a piece of candy. "It'll take a few minutes before my computer to give me any results on the kid’s blood work, just hang on."

Sitting beside Jordan, Tom gave one of his shrill laughs. "He's being the worry-wort he always is, Sonja. This is like when Tucker broke his leg back in high school. Always worrying."

The woman snorted, reaching up to tighten her ponytail. Rust-colored fox ears twitching when the zombie hybrid laughed, making the toddler of the group laugh as well. 

"You guys get hurt a lot, not my fault you all make me worry," the man muttered, smiling slightly as his friends and nephew continued to laugh. 

Sonja glanced down at her laptop, fingers moving quickly. "So, am I allowed to ask who this kid's dad might be? Just for the files imma setting up for future use."

Tom and Jordan glanced at each other. "Well, my boss," the undead hybrid told the woman. 

"Do you have a name for him or just boss?" 

"Um, Jay Schlatt."

"The Schlatt that we went to high school with?" She looked a bit taken back, glancing at Tubbo who was enjoying his candy. "He's his father?"

"Yeah, I think my sister and him had a one-night stand and well…," Jordan looked over at his nephew. "Here we are."

"Does Schlatt know?"

Tom shrugged. "I think he does, considering I overheard him tell someone to get Kathlin and Tubbo and bring them to him," his tone was sober. "I don't know his name, but I think he's the one that ran Kathleen off the road."

"Oh gods," Sonja said, frowning.

"Uncl Jor?" It was Tubbo who asked, the small boy looking up at his uncle. "Can I hav' a snack?" 

"Sure, buddy," he stood up, picking the boy up when Tubbo reached out with his hands, the universal sign of "pick me up please", resting the dirty blond boy on his hip and smiled at his friends. 

When the two had hobbled off to the kitchen, Sonja looked over at Tom. "If Schlatt finds out Tubbo's his son-"

"Then Jordan is in trouble. And big time." 

"What do you think we should do?" 

"Well, maybe I can convince my brother to help me set up a safe house or something." 

"He could come live with me back in Canada."

"I'm not running." The two looked up and saw Jordan hobbling back in, prosthetic leg acting as a peg leg of sorts. "Can't if I wanted to. I would rather face Schlatt than try and hide. No one moves on when they try and hide from anything."

Tom stood to his feet, bright red and blue eyes staring at his best friend. "He could kill you, you know. I don't want to lose my friend, Jordan."

"Then-" the man was cut off when the laptop that sat on the coffee table gave out a loud ping. 

Sonja began tapping away at the device, frowning. "My system says Tubbo's a ram hybrid, and like 15 percent of slime hybrid in him" the woman muttered. "There isn't a lot of ram hybrids in the city. There's a possibility-" 

Jordan shook his head, glancing back to the kitchen. He could see Tubbo sitting in a high chair, giggling as he nibbled on a few crackers. "Tom, think you can help me get a meeting with your boss?" 

~~~~

He shivered, pulling his red coat tighter around him as he hobbled down the sidewalk. Beside him was Tom, his ash blue coat held tightly around him. It was chilly as the sunset, the only sound was their footsteps and the wind. 

"You sure this is the place?" Jordan asked, looking up at the small coffee shop in front of them. "Doesn't seem like a place someone in a mafia would hold a meeting." 

Tom nodded. "Was a last-minute pick and the boss said he felt like trying coffee or something."

The bell above the door rang as the two walked in, and people glanced up. A few seemed to give Tom the stink eye, the zombie hybrid frowning. There was a group of people in the back, hunched around a table. 

"I'll tell him we're here, go buy something so we don’t look weird," the blue-haired man muttered to his friend. "And can you get me a hot chocolate? I'm freezing."

Jordan snorted, watching as the man walked quickly to that group of people at a table. He was quick to make it to the counter, smiling at the teen who worked at the register. 

"Welcome to Evergreens Coffee and Co., how can I help you?" The girl asked, looking like she could go for some caffeine. 

"Two hot chocolates, please."

"That would be four dollars," she told him, as he gave over the money. "It'll be ready in about five minutes. Can I have a name for the order?" 

He nodded, before seeing Tom wave at him from the corner of his eye. He looked a bit frantic, trying to get him to hurry up. "Jordan." 

The teen nodded, writing that down, and gave his change back. The man thanked her before hobbling off to the back. 

Tom grabbed his arm, pulling him along to the round table.

Around the table, was a group of men and women. Most of them looked to be human, but Jordan knew looks could be deceiving. Some people could hide their hybrid features like he could hide his slime side when he wanted to. There was a woman with scales like freckles across her cheeks, her eyes dark and piercing as she looked across the table. Sitting on the other side of the table was a man that had a pair of wings on his back. Brown feathers that twitched like he wanted to fly off. 

There was one man, sitting near the back of the table, and he’s the one that had an aura of power. He had wavy brown hair and wore a suit, red tie seeming to gleam like the power that rested in his eyes. What set him apart from the rest of the table, was a pair of horns that sat on side of his head. 

He was sipping on a cup, of what looked to be coffee. Jordan had to guess this was Schlatt. He looked different than he did back in high school, more stressed at least.

“Jordan, long time no see,” the ran hybrid said, looking up from his drink. He gestured his hand out to the empty seat that sat across from him, grinning at him. “Sit down, sit down. You hear to talk, yes?”

He glanced back at Tom, who was standing in the corner of the, looking just as nervous as Jordan felt.

“I’m here about Tubbo.”

“Capsize’s kid?”

Jordan heard his name get called, and glanced over at Tom, who nodded. The zombie was quick to go get their drinks and get back. He held his stereophone cup to his chest, watching as Jordan fiddled with his cup. 

He nodded, before pulling out his phone. A few of the people around him tensed, hands moving to either their sides or the front of their jackets. The woman with scale-like freckles hissed, showing off her fangs, a clear warning.

Schlatt held out his hand, calming the group and letting Jordan dig his phone out. The red-coated man was quick to scroll through his phone before sliding it across the table towards the ram hybrid.

“That’s Tubbo, my nephew, and my sister,” he told the man, watching as he picked up the device. “Apparently, from what I can gather, someone ran my sister off the road and killed her, about a week ago. One of your men did that.”

Schlatt looked down at the photo, frowning. The picture was taken around a month before, back when Jordan’s sister was still among the living. She looked happy, holding Tubbo close to her side as they both grinned. 

“I remember asking… Furia, to bring them both to our little HQ,” he held out the phone back to Jordan. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That’s he’s your son?”

The group surrounding the table looked at Schlatt, watching, seeing what he would do. Schlatt’s expression went blank, staring at Jordan. 

“She told me about six months ago,” the ram confessed, which surprises both Tom and Jordan. The boxy-eyed look of the man looked down at his coffee, sighing. “Kathlin wanted me to be in his life, but… I can’t.”

“Why not?” it was Tom to ask, shrunk back when the snake lady cast a glare his way. 

“I’m a mob boss, not a father,” he muttered, before looking at Jordan. The man looked him right in the eye, a look that didn’t seem right on the man. “Take care of him, yeah? Do what I can’t, what I wish I could. But with this line of work? Not in this lifetime.”

“Boss-” the lady with scale-like freckles tried to say but was shut down.

“Fani, you have problems taking care of your son, I’m trying to do what I can for my own,” he cast a look at the woman, who huffed but backed down from fighting with her boss. Schlatt’s eyes bore into Jordan. “Listen, Captain, can I call you Captain? I’m a man who isn’t fit to raise or even be in a kid’s life. You're more suited for it. I remember your sister telling me about how you're looking into adoption, yeah? Well, think of this like that. You get to raise a kid, and maybe you might adopt your kid one day. Who knows.”

“Schlatt-”

“I can’t be in the kid’s life, Jordan,” he stood up, causing his group of people to follow suit. “Maybe one day. But now? … Take care, Captain.”

Before Jordan could say anything else, Schlatt picked up his now cold coffee and motioned with his hand at the door. As his people started moving out of the coffee shop, the ram hybrid looked back at Jordan. “Good Luck taking care of the kid, Jordan. Stay safe, yeah?”

Tom and Jordan watched as the group left, leaving the two of them at the round table.

“So that went well.”

“Could have gone better.”

Tom placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Time to get going?”

Jordan nodded, picking up his now warm cocoa, before looking down at where the group had left. “Guess so,” he sighed, shrugging. “Come on, I think we left Tubbo with Sonja for too long. The kid is probably getting on her nerves.”

“If she could tolerate both me and Tucker for an hour alone, she can handle the kid,” the zombie hybrid tried to joke as the two started to leave the small shop. They both let out laughs, smiling as they walked down the sidewalk again, heading to the car to get home.

Home, where Jordan is gonna take care of his nephew because he promised his sister. And he’s not gonna break that promise.