Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Josiah let out a small sigh as he filled his backpack with his communicator, engineering tools and medical equipment. He looked around the main room to see the other members of his team doing the same.

He got up from his crouched position on the floor and stepped up on the orange octagonal platform in the centre of the room, leaning slightly against the M.O.M’s main circular control system with his arm.

Josiah looked up to see the control system’s large projector that was held up by four black, wire-covered pillars diagonal of every corner in the room. He could overhear Elijah and Shiloh bantering near the monitors to his diagonal left. They were both seated on the grey, concrete floors while they argued over who gets the bigger backpack. 

Micah, Michelle and Judah were sitting close by on the far wall, actually packing their things (surprisingly) . The trio were leant against the cyan walls of the space next to the parallel silver tubes that went down to just below the lights that were placed on the middle of the wire-covered pillars. Josiah could see that Judah was trying not to bump his head on the big, octagonal light on the wall above him.

Gala was seated on the stairs that lead to the tall platform in the bottom-right corner. There lay the sliding, octagonal doors that granted the team access to the rest of the agency on the back wall. She was tying her shoelaces, and with the light that waa diagonal to the identical one above Judah, Josiah thought he had died and went to heaven for a moment while staring at the ex-princess.

…

He was snapped out of his trance by an agent typing furiously away at the monitor on the platform with long, straight, purple lights on either side of the table it sat on, which was leant against the right wall. Right of the platform, sat the large table of monitors arranged in a semi-circle that they usually used for their main duties. Josiah could also see several agents writing endless lines of code into the computers.

The TV screen on the left wall displayed the energy system of the realo they were headed out to. Just by looking at the energy waves that were being displayed on screen, Josiah could tell it the area was slightly unstable but still safe to travel to. 

“Alright!” Shiloh said loudly, standing up and walking in front of the TV screen with her preferred backpack in toe, Micah quickly on her heels at the call to attention. Josiah, along with the others, stood towards them in a straight line when the duo turned to face them. “Our mission is to reach the urgent distress signal coming from this realo!” Shiloh raised her arm up to the TV screen, drawing attention to the information displayed on the monitor.

“After several of our agents gathered some information, we know that most who’ve gone into this realo, have gone missing unexplainably. So, it’s very important that we stick together as a group!” Micah announced, clapping his hands once for effect.

“Your communication devices will show a compass that will lead us to where the distress signal is coming from. We don’t know what’s causing these disappearances, but we’re gonna find out while also helping the people of this realo. We want to remain cool, calm and collected for this mission. ” Shiloh said. Josiah internally doubted that the group would remain ‘cool, calm and collected’ when faced with whoever lived there.

“Let’s do this, people!”

At Shiloh’s call, the group rushed forward towards the arxis room. Josiah glanced at the rusty walls and beige flooring before turning his attention to the main attraction. He glanced to his side to see an agent pressing various buttons on the control panel, before colours of black, yellow and grey swirled into vision between the arxis’s exterior.

Shiloh, Elijah and Judah stepped into the portal first, quickly followed by Gala and Michelle. Before going into the portal from himself, Josiah was stopped by the feeling of Micah gently grabbing his shoulder. He turned around to see his brother’s slightly uncertain expression. 

“Is it just me or does this just not feel right? I mean- something just seems off about how all these people who go into realo go missing. Seems fishy, or something.” 

Josiah turned around to face him fully, “Don’t worry, how bad can it be? Your gut has been wrong so many times before.”

“Hey!-”

“Remember that time in the courtroom where-“

“Okay, okay! I really don’t wanna relive that…” Micah shuddered.

“Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay. You’re so paranoid. Absolutely nothing's gonna happen.”

Micah sighed, “Alright, let’s just go.”

Josiah gave an agreeing nod and stepped through the portal, willing himself to whatever was on the other side. 

As he manifested into the realo, he was surprised to find that the area around them was just…a normal village. Albeit a very large village, but still a village nonetheless. Compared to all the missing people reports, it looked relatively normal. Josiah still made an effort to keep his guard up regardless of the seemingly peaceful area. He heard Micah step out of the portal behind him before it closed with a big swoosh. 

Josiah scanned the area around him, seeing bustles of villagers with pointy-ears and animalistic features pushing carts around, selling stuff, all the medieval things you’d see in movies. It seemed like they were at the front of the village, neutral-colored cottages and stalls placed on either side of them. The tan stone path they were standing on seemed to stretch on through the considerably long village. 

“Wait…” Josiah said aloud, turning around to face Micah, “Where are the others?”

Micah furrowed his brows, turning around and seeing nothing but the endless sight of oak trees. “Did they go on without us or something?”

“Nah, they wouldn’t have enough time without us seeing them…” Josiah trailed off, taking a small step forward. “What happened?”

“Did the arxis, uhh…, malfunction or something?” Micah weakly asked, coming up to Josiah’s right. 

“We just got it fixed up yesterday, that can’t be it. We checked it before going too!” 

Josiah tugged the strap on his backpack absentmindedly, “It must have something to do with the realo itself.”

“And doesn't Judah have the beacon..?” Micah stated in cold realization. “Are we stuck here? Oh god, just when everything was going good!” 

Micah closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose while Josiah quickly threw his backpack off his shoulders and began to rummage around in it. He pulled out his communicator and stood up straight again, flipping the monitor open and pressing the ‘on’ button. 

When the screen lit up way too brightly, he scrolled down to Shiloh’s contact and tapped the ‘select’ button, stretching his arm out. Micah leaned over Josiah’s shoulder to see the call pinging. 

The phone rang once…

Twice…

Three times…

“Please pick up…” Josiah pleaded under his breath. 

Four times…

Micah shifted nervously on his feet. “What if they’re-“

“Josiah? ” A radio-muffled voice came from the device, making Micah violently flinch. “Are you okay? Is Micah with you?! I- “

“Y-yup, we’re okay!” Josiah quickly interrupted, “Uh- Micah’s with me! Uh- S-say hi?”

“Hey, Shiloh!” Micah awkwardly waved before realizing you couldn’t display holograms on the small, circular devices, unlike most of the communicators from the M.O.M Agency. 

“Are they okay? ” A muffled voice came from the screen, the sound steadily growing louder as the person approached. 

“Yeah they’re fine just.. ” Shiloh muttered to the other person, her voice getting caught in her throat. “Where are you guys?! ”

“Are you guys in a safe area or- “ Elijah blurted out. His voice was fast-paced and stutter-y, Josiah could practically hear the worry on his brother’s face just from his tone alone. 

“Yeah, yeah, we’re in some kinda…village.” Micah responded, taking a double take of their surrounding area. 

“PLEASE, HELP US! ” An unfamiliar voice echoed, making Josiah and Micah turn their heads at one another in confusion. “Something's wrong here! Everything is out of order, time is going insane and-"

“Okay, uhm, elf-looking-lady? Can you PLEASE shut up for a minute? ” Michelle’s distant voice hissed.

“Who was that?” Josiah asked, bringing the communicator closer to his body.

“Just some crazy old lady ranting about how this ‘evil prince is gonna challenge great Queen Holora to the throne’ and ‘how he’s gonna be at the castle any minute’ or something like that .” Judah’s voice answered. “It doesn't seem that important so… ”

“...That does seem pretty important, to be honest.” 

“Well, I mean it IS important, but we have to find you guys! ” Shiloh urged. 

“We don’t want you guys to get hurt. ” Gala chirped. 

Josiah blinked at the sound of Gala’s voice. He felt his brain turn to mush and his stomach devolve into butterflies.

“We can meet up-“

Josiah covered Micah’s mouth with his hand and shoved him backwards. “No- no, don’t worry! We'll be totally fine on our own! I’m strong- and I’m brave. We can totally do this ourselves! Right, Micah?”

“N-“ Micah tried to interject from where he was sitting on the floor, but Josiah quickly nudged his stomach with his foot and gave him a stern expression. “I-I mean- yeah, sure, we'll be totally fine by ourselves!”

“Are you sure? ” Judah asked, “We could always- “

“No, no, it’s fine!” Josiah assured while Micah picked himself from off the floor. “We could always come to where you guys are at. Can you tell us your location?”

“We’re at the big, grey castle in a large village called…Fleylia. ” Shiloh answered.

“Oh, no way!” Josiah said, looking at the dark brown wooden sign to their right with big, bold letters carved out in the middle of it. “We’re at Fleylia too! Now where is..”

Josiah looked up to see an incredibly tall and large castle north of the duo. Waves of houses spun about before it finally reached the distant castle. Josiah concluded that it had to be at least a 2 hour journey to get there. 

“Oh no.” Micah muttered under his breath.

“What’s wrong? ” Michelle quickly asked, “Are you guys okay?!"

“Nope, nope, we’re fineee!” Micah quickly countered, waving his right hand dismissively. 

“Alright, while you guys find a way to us, we’ll see what that elf was talking about. Sounds good? ” Shiloh announced.

“Perfect…” Micah winced.

“Alright, see you guys soon! ” 

When Josiah heard the call end, he closed the communicator’s circular monitor and stuffed it in his bag, zipping it up. 

“What have you done?” Micah huffed. 

“I have no idea.” Josiah groaned, putting a hand over his eyes. 

Micah stared at him grumpily for a moment before grumbling and picking up his brother’s backpack. Josiah gratefully took it and threw it over his shoulders.

“Let’s get moving, then.” Josiah sighed, taking a big step forward and onto the journey to the castle of Fleylia.

Chapter Text

Josiah huffed, staring at his communicator’s empty inbox. Micah trudged next to him, eyeing the nearby cottages and stores as they went. The realo’s hot sun beat down on their faces mercilessly, making their clothes stick to their bodies with sweat. Despite the fact that they were only 20 minutes in, Micah had taken his green coat and grey hoodie off, leaving just his green shirt, black pants and the hoodie wrapped around his waist. Josiah’s black jacket was off and the sleeves of his black shirt were pulled up to his elbows. 

“Hang on a sec, I needa grab some water.” Micah said, his steps slowly coming to a stop. 

Josiah absently hummed, following Micah to the right side of the pathway they were walking on. When Micah stopped in front of a random building. Josiah leant against the back of the, what Josiah assumed it to be due to it’s dark brown color and structure, church.

Josiah sighed as Micah shrugged his backpack from off his shoulders and knelt down to zip it open. He closed his eyes and let his head fall against the wall. “It’s so hot.”

“Tell me about it..” Micah agreed, fishing out his abnormally large water bottle. 

Josiah opened his eyes to see Micah taking a swig of his water bottle, him nearly downing the whole entire thing like it was the last water on earth. 

Josiah leant off the wall and straightened his posture, rolling his sore shoulders slightly as he took stock of the environment around the duo.

Brown cottages, begging store owners, monsters, guards, carts, a random person in a dark cloak staring at them…, a bakery.

…

Oh, wait.  

At the corner of his eye, Josiah spotted a tall and lanky figure that wore a dark, covering most of their body as they peeked around the corner of a small blacksmith. Underneath the cloak lay a dark sea of brown waves, no inch of skin was visible below the neck. Their hood covered their face, leaving only the glowing yellow Egyptian symbols along their cloak as the only noticeable feature.

Josiah’s eyebrows furrowed as he turned back to look at Micah, who was zipping his backpack closed. He whipped his head back around to the unknown individual, but found nothing but dirt and rocks in the space they were previously in. 

Josiah took an unconscious step backwards from where the figure was formerly  standing, drawing the taller’s attention. “What’s wrong?”

Josiah turned around to face his brother, reaching out an arm which Micah gratefully took, pulling him up from the ground. “Okay, uhh, don’t freak out…”

The tall brunette raised an eyebrow, adjusting the straps on his backpack and bending his arm with his hand shaped as a fist resting on his hip.

“But there’s someone following us.”

Micah stood still for a moment, his eyes steadily widening.

Then all hell broke loose.

“THERE’S SOMEONE FOLLOWING US?! WHO- WHAT- WHEN- HOW-“

Josiah aggressively shushed him and whisper-shouted, “I don’t know!? Some kind of cloaked guy!?”

Micah turned his head around in all directions but quieted his voice, “Why would something be following us?! We haven’t even done anything on this realo yet!”

“Wait!” 

Micah made panicked  eye contact with him through their awkwardly crouched positions.

“Like- what if they think we’re super attractive and they just wanna get to know us?”

Josiah got a deadpan look in return, “That would never happen - at least not for you anyways,”

“Hey-!”

“Are they still following us?”

“I mean, maybe? I don’t know, probably?” Josiah answered.

“Oh my god, we’re gonna die…” 

Josiah loudly shushed him, “It’s okay, we just have to lose them. Uh- follow me.” Josiah quickly skirted around one of the buildings, Micah quickly following him, on his heels. 

The two walked for about 5 minutes, making twists and turns wherever they went. Eventually, they hid inside a random store at the side of the street to make sure the cloaked figure wouldn’t catch up to the duo. “Okay, I think we lost ‘em…” Josiah panted, his hands on his knees. Micah stood behind him, his breathing matching his brother’s.

“Ay! Wosji souses perta me ami hortaq, eh?”

Josiah looked up from his crouched position to see a large, tan and muscular person with his arms crossed sternly. The hunk of a man stood tall and intimidating with a gruff and angry voice.

“Putasne stolidi peregrini modo huc ambulare et capere quod vis, jure? Sllities yedses esse.”

…

“…What?” Micah blurted out. 

“O stupidi advenae, qui in meam penam veniunt et nihil emunt?!” The man yelled, raising up an intimidating and shaking fist. Josiah looked up at the man who wore a pale beige lace-up front shirt with brown, baggy pants and some kind of brown boots. When looking around the store, Josiah could see this room was some kind of carpentry store. Colourful carpets and tools lined the floors with just a single wooden table in the middle of the space, most likely where this man would collect his trade. 

Josiah let out a nervous chuckle when he noticed that this man’s anger seemed to be entirely directed at him. The way he forced eye contact and his now visible shaking, Josiah realised that one of three things could happen; 1) he gets beat up, 2) he gets beat up and 3) he gets beat up. 

Josiah heard his brother let out a grunt before a hand was on his shoulder, pushing him just outside the store where Micah originally stood. “Look man, I don’t know what your deal is, but-“

“Tua foeda praesentia non est ius intrandi humilis tugurium meum!”

“He seems uhh- pretty angry.” Josiah whispered, taking a small step forward and putting a hand on Micah’s left shoulder, silently begging him to back out. The man continued his mutterings, taking a small step forward. \

“ Okay… , you know what,” Micah said, raising his hands up in surrender. “We’ll just leave! That’ll be fine, right? And then-“

“Non solum fugiendum a me bobolynes!” Suddenly, the man’s fist extended forwards, making direct contact with Micah’s right eye. Micah fell backwards at the attack, making Josiah quickly reach out, him managing to hold his hands underneath the younger’s underarms. 

“Ow, what the heck dude?!” Micah growled, holding a hand up to his wounded eye.

"Exia de copia poul!"

“You can’t just-!” Micah argued, quickly steading himself while leaning an arm on his brother’s shoulder.

The bald man’s fist clenched angrily, a vein popping near his eye.

“…Or we can just leave!” Micah decided. Without breaking eye contact with the man, he pushed Josiah backwards with an air of urgency. 

“Yep, yep, yep time to go!” Josiah agreed, grabbing Micah by his left forearm and quickly sprinting north of the store. 

Josiah let go of his brother and spared a glance back to see the aggressive man in a powerful stance, his first noticeably shaking. “Yikes,” Micah breathlessly murmured, flying around a corner to a new street of the exact same-looking architecture. 

When they were out of sight from the assailant, they slowed their paces to a speed walk. “We may have barged in his store, but he didn’t have to punch me!” Micah complained, removing his right hand from the eye that received the blow. “ Gah , this hurts.”

Josiah looked up at his brother’s face and stopped abruptly, making Micah follow his brother’s movements to stop confusingly. “What’s wrong?” 

He stepped up closer to his brother, his eyebrows furrowing. “How do you already have a black eye?”

“Huh?” Micah straightened his posture, gently feeling around his slightly swollen under eye. Josiah saw shades of dark purple and red surrounding the eye like a dark and angry storm.

Josiah batted away Micah’s hand prodding at his eye, who grumbled in protest, and crossed his arms. “Black eyes usually appear after a few days, right? How did…?”

“...Hey, you think it has something to do with the realo? Like- y’know how we teleported in a random place?” Micah asked, stepping back slightly with his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, wait!” Josiah called out, “Remember how that lady on Shiloh’s call said everything is out of order, like time and stuff? Maybe this is what she meant!” 

“I don’t remember a word that crazy woman said but i'll take your word for it.”

“…Anyways, l’ll take a look at your eye and we can get back in the road. When Shiloh calls us, we’ll tell her about all this.” Josiah announced, sparing a glance at their surrounding area. 

“Okay, just don’t tell her about my black eye. I don’t want the others to worry.” Micah said, giving a slight nod. Josiah gave an affirmative hum and waved him over to a space between two cottages, looking to be around three meters. 

They walked to the very end of the alleyway-like space where they laid at the back of another cottage. Josiah grimaced at the dirt-covered ground before reluctantly kneeling down and rummaging through his backpack.

He caught a glimpse of Micah sliding down the wall not far from where he was, sitting down with his knees out in front of him, one arm thrown over his lap and the other holding his wounded eye.

Josiah pulled out his red first-aid-kit and pushed his backpack aside. He pulled the container’s lid up and it opened like a briefcase. A very confusing briefcase. Josiah stared at the items before him cluelessly, eventually spotting a white rag at the top-right corner of the box. 

He undid the blue strap holding the rag and grasped it just below his face to make sure it was the item he needed. He reached for his bag again and pulled out one of the many water bottles he’d taken on the trip. He awkwardly turned backwards from where Micah was sitting and unscrewed the bottle’s lid. He tilted the bottle downwards in front of the rag, drowning it in cold water. When its surface was entirely drenched, he placed the water bottle on the floor, next to his bag.

He turned to Micah who gave him a grimace. Josiah, in turn, gave the other a deadpan look. Josiah kept that look painted across his face until Micah eventually relented, reluctantly removing his palm from the eye that took the blow.

Josiah scooted closer and reached for Micah’s eye with the hand that held the cloth, gently reaching it up to the injury. Micah hissed when it made contact, subconsciously shifting back impossibly further into the wall behind him.

“Sorry, sorry!” Josiah winced, putting his hands up in front of him. When it seemed Micah had recovered, Josiah moved the cloth back up to his eye. Micah gave a small grunt but didn’t move, which Josiah counted as a small win. He gently dabbed the cloth over Micah’s eye for a few seconds before motioning him to hold onto it. Micah grabbed the cloth and let out an involuntary shudder at the coldness of it. 

“We’ll stay here until you’re feeling better, then we’ll get back on the road.” Josiah announced, getting up and sliding down the wall beside Micah with his arms by his side and his legs crossed in front of his body.

Micah rested his head against the wall behind them, tiredly sighing. He pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his free arm over his knees.

Josiah turned his head to the left, eying the slight curve of his brother’s spine, showing some kind of exhaustion etched deep into his muscles and bones. “You okay?”

Micah looked up and blinked. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. It’s just…” He trailed off, fixing up his posture to rest back against the wall. “These missions…they just get really tiring, y’know?”

Out of all the things Micah could’ve said, Josiah couldn’t guess those were the words that would come out his mouth, but…he did understand the feeling. “Yeah, I get tired from the missions all the time. But, what we’re doing is a good thing, right? We’re out here saving lives…Where did that come from, anyway?”

“Oh, nothing.” Micah quickly dismissed, rising to his feet. “We should get going.”

Josiah wordlessly agreed, leaning a hand against the wall to stand up. He packed away the medical cloth and screwed the bottle’s lid on, stuffing them back into his bag. “We’ll call Shiloh and the others in about 20 minutes to see how they’re going.”

“Alright.” Micah responded, leaning against the wall behind them.