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Chapter Text

He was not entirely sure when he had come into being again— into thinking and being aware of the weight pressing against him.  In the black, surrounded by dark, damp earth thinking was all he had.  The dirt pressed against his eyes and kept them shut as it filled his mouth.  It felt like it should have filled his chest but it only had trickled in to join his tongue and teeth when his lips had been left parted in the stiffness that comes after death ( rigor mortis ).

Then he was inhaling only to get dirt sliding into his throat and choking him.  He coughed and spluttered which only invited the earth further down his throat and lungs.  It coated his tongue and stuck as grit between his teeth.  He had died and been buried.  Breathing was not something that he had to do anymore but it was what his body was used to.  In the unfamiliar environment of a grave, it was what his body would try to do.

His lungs did not burn from lack of air but they itched, stale air and earth filling them.  Something small with many legs wiggled through the dirt next to his cheek.  He wanted to jerk away and scratch at his skin until the feeling of little creatures scuttling across his skin was gone.  He couldn’t scream for help.  There was no coffin to bang his hands and feet again.

It was only him and the cool dirt on all sides.  It was only him and the darkness around him.

Then the earth shifted above him, the weight starting to lighten.  He could feel the dirt sliding before being pulled away.  Warm hands grabbed onto his shoulders, pulled him upright— pulled him out of his shallow grave, and his eyes fluttered open, dirt on his eyelashes, to see the bright world of the living.  Then he was coughing dirt out of his lungs, his body gasping for breath that it didn’t need but felt like home (a home that he couldn’t remember what it looked like anymore).  There was a firm hand against his back, propping him upright.  Someone was speaking, their voice a low rumble of words he could barely differentiate from the noisy world around him.

The person moved and he caught sight of a bright cloak and dark skin in the corner of his vision.  He blinked quickly, tears dripping down his cheeks and snot dripping from his nose, both laden with dirt that managed to slip into his eyelid and nostrils.  His hands were shaking beside him, earth packed under his nails and into every line in his skin.  He shook his head and dirt shifted in his ears.  It was between his teeth and under his tongue, his throat was dry but his lungs had stopped burning.  He was still breathing and air circled uselessly through his chest.

“Are you OK?” asked the person as they knelt before him.  Their face was covered by a grey wolf mask with orange glass covering the eyeholes.  He caught a glimpse of sharp teeth behind scared lips.  Their hair fell around their wide shoulders in tight curls, black and shining in the sunlight.  The hand they stretched out was huge and callused, fingers tipped in claws covered in small scars.

He blinked at them before spitting out a clump of mud.

Their pointed ear twitched before they smiled slightly. “That’s fair, I did just have to dig you up.  How did you get there in the first place?”

His tongue darted over his teeth, tasting the dirt and grit still stuck in them.

“Water?” the person asked.

He nodded, taking the canteen they offered him with shaking hands.  He struggled momentarily with the lid before the stranger took pity on him, unscrewed it, and handed it back.  The water felt blissfully cool in his mouth.  As much as he wanted to swallow his first mouthful he swished it around before spitting it out.  Then he took a small sip, feeling it slide down his throat and wash away more of the dirt.  He took another sip.

“You can call me Fenris,” said the person before pausing. “Uh… he/him— who are you?”

He cleared his throat roughly, licking his dry and chapped lips only to taste grit and salt. “Rae,” he forced out after a moment. “I’m Rae.”

Fenris nodded, his mouth twisting into a frown. “OK Rae, how did you find yourself here?”

“I– I don’t know where here is.” He glanced around, taking in the overgrown graveyard and the fresh dirt surrounding them.  The tombstones scattered across the fenced-in clearing were crumbling, some covered in vines and bushes.  It was familiar in a strange, hazy way that made the back of his throat burn with tears.

“Well…” The man sat back on his heels. “We are in a graveyard a few days travel away from the town where my boyfriend and I live.”

Rae nodded, fiddling nervously with his hands and brushing a grey-white substance off of his skin ( adipocere , his mind supplied unhelpfully, corpse wax ). “What’s the town’s name?”

“Lodestar Grove,” Fenris said. “Do you feel like you’re able to walk?  If not I can help you… or carry you?”

“How far?” he asked softly, his limbs tingling painfully like they had fallen asleep.

“We’ve made camp close by, it’s just a bit down the road and into the woods for some shelter.  I don’t mind carrying you if you can’t make the walk.”

Rae pushed himself to his feet, feeling dirt fall from his clothes.  It felt weird to be upright and standing after potentially years spent underground.  But he needed to get moving— to get the blood in his veins flowing again.  It felt like his skin was going to cave in if he didn’t. “I can walk,” he said even as it felt like his legs would collapse under him.

He needed to do this.  He was alive.  He wasn’t buried anymore.  He wasn’t one of the dead.  He wouldn’t be one of the shambling dead.  Fenris saved him from drowning in the earth because he had been alive.  The dead don’t worry about being unable to see or breathe from the dirt.  He needed to walk and see the living world.  He needed to ignore the fact that he didn’t need to breathe.  That was unimportant.  He needed to ignore the fact that the dirt under his nails felt natural.  It was supposed to be there.  It was earth from his grave.  It was supposed to be there.

The man named Fenris led him out of the graveyard and down the road heading through the forest.  He could hear the bugs buzzing in the bushes, his pointed ears twitching at the humming and dislodging more dirt.  It felt weird— no, he hated the feeling of earth falling from his body (from his lashes, nose, mouth, and ears, packed under his nails and between his teeth, turning to mud under his tongue and eyelids).

It reminded him of being dead and he wasn’t dead.  He wasn’t dead, he would never be dead again.  He wouldn’t allow it.

Then he stumbled on a tree root and Fenris' hand darted out to steady him, curling around his upper bicep— warm and living with blood pumping under his skin.  He was so cold but he didn’t shiver.  In the process of being buried (of being returned to the cold earth), his muscles had forgotten how to shiver, his teeth had forgotten how to chatter… his fingers, already pale and tinted ( bruised ) purple-blue-black from his blood not flowing, had forgotten how to redden with the dropping temperature.

“Are you OK?” asked the man beside him, voice soft and gentle, filling the air around them with a low rumble.

“I’m fine,” Rae said, earth threatening to clog his vocal cords. “I just didn’t expect a root to be there.”

Fenris chuckled. “I see, a root just appeared right where you were stepping.”

He nodded once, feeling the invertebrate in his neck pop at the movement.  It only made him think of how stiff the rest of his body felt.  The sun was setting, the shadows lengthening and darkening, the entire world under the trees slowly losing its color and turning shades of blue and grey.  There was a flicker of firelight through the trees and he froze for a moment.  Then Fenris' hand on his back gently urged him forward once again.

The clearing was small, trees crowding on all sides, branches reaching out to block the sky.  There were low, starting-to-rot stumps from where trees had been cut down to create the camp.  In the rough center, set in a divot and surrounded by rough stones, a fire flickered, lighting up the area and providing warmth.  However, that warmth was not needed as far as Rae could tell.  He could not tell how cold it was.  He was cold but it felt comfortable.  He was always cold.  The chill of the earth ( of his grave ) had left its mark.

A man was sitting by the fire, purple eyes fixed on the flames and a stick in hand, prodding at the burning logs.  Rae saw pale purple scars stretching across his arms shine in the firelight, shifting in color and visibility with the constantly changing light.  As those scars got closer to his hands they got darker and the scar tissue on his hands themselves was nearly back.

Necromancy always left such a vivid mark.  The sight of the man’s scars brought Rae’s gaze flicking to his fingertips, stained black to nearly his palm like he had dipped them into ink.

“Centross,” Fenris said as he stepped fully into the clearing.

The man (Centross, another necromancer) glanced up and his eyes immediately landed on Rae. “Who’s that?”

“This is Rae.” His hand landed on Rae’s shoulder, guiding him fully into the clearing. “I found him in the graveyard by the road.”

“There wasn’t anyone there when we passed by earlier.”

Fenris shrugged. “We stopped to make camp this afternoon and the sun is currently setting, that’s long enough.”

Centross’s gaze flicked over him, lips pressed into a thin line.  He pushed himself to his feet easily, moving like a fighter— like he knew exactly his strengths and weaknesses and how to attack best… or maybe protect. “Why is he covered in dirt?”

“I found him in the graveyard.”

“Another grave robber?” he asked as he crossed his arms, staring Rae down.

Rae glanced away quickly, shoulders rising as he ducked his head, deliberately avoiding his gaze. “Sort of… yeah.  Let’s go with that.”

“Necromancer?” Centross raised an eyebrow at him. “Or working with or for a necromancer?  Usually, those are the only people who go into the effort of digging up bodies in such an old graveyard though they’re rare nowadays.”

“I wasn’t digging around,” he said, following Fenris' lead and sitting down, folding his stiff legs under his body.  The pressure against his skin, muscles, and bones could almost be the weight of the earth pushing him down.  It was familiar.

“Like I said… I found him in the graveyard.” Fenris pulled a bag close and brought out smaller wrapped parcels. “I walked in, looking for stuff for you, Centross, and heard him struggling in a grave.  Jerky?”

“In a grave?” Centross asked, his voice rising a bit with surprise. “ In a grave?”

“Under the earth, surrounded by dirt.” Rae ran his fingers through the long, ragged black hair falling on his face, grimacing as dirt fell from the tangled strands. “Buried like the dead.”

The man’s purple gaze snapped to his black stained fingers (black like ink or the pooling of blood in the extremities that occurs after death— livor mortis ). “You’re a necromancer?”

He nodded.

Fenris' expression twisted into a deep frown, sharp fangs peaking from between curled lips, the colored glass in the eyes of his wolf mask shifting from orange to red for a moment. “We heard nothing of towns nearby finding a necromancer and deciding to execute him.”

(There was a belief that necromancers were harder to kill than other magic users.  People whispered that they’d heal snapped necks and expel water from their lungs even after they were supposed to be dead.  People whispered that their hearts would still beat and their ribs snap back into place after they were crushed.  People said that the only real way to kill a necromancer and make sure they stay dead was to drown them in the earth… to bury them.)

Rae shrugged. “I’m glad you found me.  I would hate to be there for any longer than I was.”

“What was it like?” Centross asked with the horrified fascination of someone who knew that they could experience the same thing if people who didn’t like their form of magic got a hold of them.

He couldn’t help his shudder which only dislodged more dirt, his voice coming out raspy in memory of the earth clogging his throat. “Drowning blindly.”

He didn’t need to breathe anymore… he hadn’t needed to breathe for a very long time but he still panicked when he was unable to breathe, his body still remembering that awful feeling of suffocation.

“Well–” Fenris' voice was hard and sharp, anger making his words like shattered glass. “You can come with us.  We live in a small town of magic people.  No one will try to bury you again for being a necromancer.”

“No one needs to know that you’re a necromancer,” Centross said.

Shaky fingers reached up and curled around the silver chain hanging from his neck— curled around the small locket hanging from the necklace. “That would be nice,” Rae said as he held the only pieces of his past life that he had left.

“Maybe get you a little cleaned up first?” Centross asked with a grin. “You’re covered in dirt and you look like a corpse.”

He had been a corpse.

“Food first.” Fenris handed him some jerky. “Eat this and I have more water if you want.  We’ll get you better food once we reach Lodestar Grove.”

“Thank you.” Rae took it and chewed on the strips of meat, swallowing a mouthful of food and dirt.

Fenris passed him a canteen of water which he took and drank from.  It felt weird to eat.  It was a thing living people did.  It was a thing he didn’t necessarily have to do anymore but it felt good, it felt natural… it was something comfortable and familiar.

“Then we can go down to the river and get you cleaned up slightly.”

“Water will be cold,” Rae said. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d rather wait until I can have warm water… and fresh clothes maybe.  These are filthy.”

“I think those are more mud than cloth.” Centross chuckled slightly.

Fenris' head shifted slightly like he rolled his eyes. “That’s fine.  We can get you a hot bath once we get home.”

Rae gave his shirt a shake, his nose wrinkling as dirt fell from it but the fabric was still caked in mud and stained brown. “Maybe multiple?”

Centross laughed.

“We can do that,” said Fenris with a nod.

“Thank you.” He brushed more dirt from his skin with a grimace.  It smelt like home in a painful, lonely way.  It smelt like his mom kneeling in the garden, humming as she planted vegetables in the spring.  It smelt like his granddads laughing with each other in the kitchen as they prepared a meal.  It made his throat burn with unshed tears.

Later Fenris blanketed the fire and Centross settled down for first watch.  Rae lay down, pulling the blanket he was given over his shoulders, trying to get comfort on the hard ground.  He didn’t sleep that night, staring up at the little bit of the sky he could see through the tree branches.

The next morning Fenris gave him a cup of tea as he and Centross packed up camp.  Rae sat on a stump, sipping it slowly, finally starting to feel a bit more like a person who hadn’t just crawled out of his own grave.  He could feel the heat of the tea through the mug but it didn’t burn.  It felt good.  It felt alive.

Once he was done Fenris rinsed out the cup with water from his canteen, dried it with his cape, and packed it away into his bag which he swung onto his shoulder. “Ready?”

“I don’t have anything besides the clothes on my back and my…” His hand went to his side like he was going to pat a bag there only to hit nothing.  Then he spun, unneeded air catching in his chest as his lungs spasmed, looking around desperately for the old bag he always carried with him.  One of the only things he had left of home.  He needed it more than he needed to never return to the grave again.

“A bag?” Centross asked, his attention drawn from where he had been stomping out the very last of the embers.

“I don’t have my bag,” Rae whispered, throat burning. “I don’t have my bag, I need it.  I don’t know where it went.”

“Hey.” Fenris reached out and warm, living hands landed on the smaller man’s shoulders, forcing him to go still. “Did you have it with you when they buried you?”

“I don’t know,” he forced out. “Yes– maybe?”

“It’s common to bury a necromancer with all their stuff so they don’t feel like they need to leave the grave to collect their possessions,” Centross said. “Good chance your bag is still in the grave.  We can go back and check, right?”

Fenris smiled quickly at his boyfriend. “Of course, we can go back and check.”

“Thank you,” Rae murmured. “Thank you.”

Fenris told him not to worry about it, Centross said that he didn’t need to thank people as much, and then they were backtracking their steps to the graveyard.  Rae heard Centross suck in a sharp breath when he saw the mess of freshly overturned earth next to his grave.  However, he didn’t care as he kicked through the dirt, scanning desperately for the slightest hint of leather.

The sun was starting to peak over the trees and light up the small graveyard.  Rae turned, ready to admit defeat and mourn the loss of everything he had, when he caught the glint of metal in the morning light.  It was the buckle of his bag.  Carefully, with trembling fingers, he pulled his bag from the pile of dirt that had covered it, brushing earth and rocks and a bug from the outside before unclasping the flap and opening it.  The inside was untouched and barely looking worse for wear thanks to the runes he had so carefully stitched along the seams with thread dipped in lapis and blood.

Fenris smiled slightly as he closed the clasp again and slipped it over his head so the strap reached across his chest and the bag hung at his hip.

“Good?” Centross asked.

“Yeah,” Rae murmured, fingers darting across the constellations lovingly sewn across the flap with silver and white string.  He remembered when his mom had given it to him as a birthday present.

“Then let’s go.” He turned and walked out of the graveyard, heading in the direction of his home. “I want to go home and see my dog.”

Fenris chuckled, his voice just loud enough for Centross to hear and his tone teasing. “Sometimes I think he cares more about that dog than he does me.”

“Hope is a very good girl!!” he yelled back.

Rae laughed slightly as he followed the two out of the graveyard —away from his grave— and toward the town —his second chance at life.

Rigor mortis

The stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body a few hours after death, usually lasting from one to four days.

Rae stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the colorful building.  Fenris, when talking about it, had called it a bed and breakfast.  Centross had said something about “Athena” and their bleeding heart.

Fenris glanced back. “It’s OK, Athena’s really nice.”

“I don’t want to be a bother to anyone,” Rae said softly, his hand moving up to rub nervously at his collarbone.

“I promise you you aren’t going to,” he assured. “We don’t have enough people coming through here to make Athena and Jamie busy.  And , even if they were, this is a place for people who are traveling or don’t have a place to stay in the town.  It is literally their job to help you.”

“Helping someone who just crawled out of a grave is a little bit above how much they’re paid.”

Fenris shrugged. “Then I’ll pay them more.”

“I—”

Centross interrupted him by patting him on the back. “You need to calm down.  We’re doing this because we want to.”

Fenris nodded in agreement before knocking on the door and calling out. “Athena?  Jamie?  Are either of you in?”

Rae heard a rush of footsteps and then the door swung open, revealing a young person with pink hair, flour-dusted hands, and a pink and blue elbow crutch. “Hi, Fenris!” the person exclaimed with a grin, revealing sharp teeth. “How can I help you today?”

“Hey Athena,” Fenris said, grinning back. “I found a man in a grave and he needs a place to sleep… and a bath.”

Athena’s gaze snapped to Rae, mismatched gold and red eyes widening in surprise. “Oh!  Hi!  I’m Athena.”

“Rae.” He couldn’t help but smile back hesitantly.

“You are covered in dirt.”

“I pulled him out of a grave last night,” Fenris told them.

Athena nodded, long ears flicking as they brushed the flour off of their hands. “Bath, fresh clothes, and a meal probably.  Fenris, he’s going to be too small for your clothes.”

“Mine would probably fit,” Centross said.

They rolled their eyes. “We are not subjugating the poor man to wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans.  He’d think we’re crazy.”

“My fashion is not that bad!”

“Of course it isn’t, love,” Fenris rumbled.

“Hey!”

Athena turned back to Rae. “Come inside and I’ll get lunch ready while you wash up.”

He nodded and followed them inside, wincing as he tracked dirt across the clean, wood floor.  They snapped their fingers at the fireplace which flickered to life, flames leaping from the coals and spreading over the logs.

“Fire magic,” Fenris told Rae. “Athena is from the nether and uses all pronouns.”

Rae nodded again. “Right.”

“Follow me!” Athena chirped, climbing the spiral staircase to the second floor. “The bathroom is right through here, I’ll show you how to turn on the water and then I’ll get you towels.  There should be soup, shampoo, and conditioner already in the tub.  Let me know if you need anything else.”

The bathroom was larger than what Rae was used to, the toilet against the far wall with a cabinet next to it, the combined shower and tub built into the wall so it didn’t stick out, and the sink right by the door.  Athena showed him how to turn on the water, adjust the temperature, and drain the bath before leaving to get towels for him.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” she told him as they set the fluffy towel on the toilet seat. “Fenris is getting you fresh clothes and will leave those just outside the door for when you’re done.  Feel free to drop your dirty clothes on the floor and I’ll bring them to Ocie, she’ll get you new ones that fit or try to fix these up if you really want to keep them.”

“Thank you,” he said softly as he set his bag to the side. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure, Rae.” They smiled brightly at him, showing off sharp fangs and small tusks, his entire face scrunching up with the force of their smile. “I’ll just be downstairs so shout if you need help with anything.  If the water randomly stops working just kick it.  Jamie needs to get their aunt to look at the pipes.”

Rae smiled back.  Then Athena left, closing the door behind them.  He listened to her footsteps trotting downstairs before turning away from the door.  He caught a glimpse of someone in the mirror… someone who should have been him because the person was standing where he was.  His stomach twisted into a sour knot as he stepped toward it.  His reflection was gaunt and worn, eyes set deep into their sockets with dark bags, skin pale and stretched over his bone structure, his cheekbones sharp without any fat to soften them, lips that were pale and cracked, and mismatched eyes.  One was a pale, milky blue, clouded white with dead.  The other was largely cloudy white and blue, the iris disappeared within the haze of death and the pupil faded into the sclera.  The corners of his eyes were dark and red from broken blood vessels that bleed deep scarlet and black into his sclera.  It created a sharp contrast between his two eyes, one that put him even more on edge as he reached out to pull his eyelid down to see where delicate skin had started to erode and rot.  The skin around his ruined eye wasn’t damaged to the same degree but there was a slight discoloration surrounding his eye socket, blood vessels broken beneath his skin and causing angry, red-purple lines across his face.  It crawled with death magic that promised eventual healing.  The skin around that left eye was discolored to a deep purple stretching up to his hairline.  He curled his cracked lips back to reveal his teeth, gums tightened around them to make his teeth look longer and sharper than they should.  He knew the same thing had happened with his nails.  His hair was a mess, hanging in tangled clumps around his shoulders and down his face, dull and covered in dirt.  Part of him was scared that it would all fall out if he tried to wash it.

So he turned to the shower and turned it on like Athena had shown him, testing the temperature with his wrist until it was hot enough.  Then he pulled off his filthy clothes, dropping them in a pile by the door.  Without the protective layer, it was easy to see the mud that caked his body.  Under it all, his skin was pale, almost translucent in places.  His chest was still, ribs and collar bone showing easily.  He could turn his head over his shoulder and count every vertebra down his spine.

He looked dead.  He looked like a corpse.

Rae shook that thought away as he stepped under the stream of water, feeling it roll down his body, watching the water around his feet turn black with filth.  He took a rag, wet it, rubbed soap onto it, and dragged it over his skin, scrubbing until his skin turned red under it.  He started at his shoulders and moved down his body, twisting so he got every part of his back, bending down to wash the dirt from his legs.  It meant constantly rinsing out the rag and adding more soup before moving on to the next section of his body.  Then he repeated the process, scrubbing harder with more soap, refusing to feel like he had missed a single speck of dirt.  He wasn’t a corpse anymore.  He could be clean.

Fenris knocked on the door and said that clean clothes were outside.  He thanked the other man.

When the water was running clear down his body he set the rag to the side and took a deep breath.  Then he picked it up again, added soap, and scrubbed at his face, repeating the same process that he used when washing his body— forehead, rinse and add soap, left eye, rinse and add soap, right eye, rinse and add soap, right cheek, rinse and add soap, left cheek, rinse and add soap, chin and jaw, rinse and add soap, neck (front and back), rinse, and toss the rag to the side, skin burning.

Rae tilted his head back to let the water run through his hair.  He knew it was black with earth.  He kept his eyes closed so he didn’t have to see it.  He scrubbed at his scalp with his nails, dislodging the dirt there.  He ran his fingers through the strands to detangle it as well as he could and shook out more dirt.  He took shampoo and washed his hair.  He rinsed it out.  He watched the water run through it, took a deep breath, turned the temperature up, and washed his hair again.  He added conditioner and washed his body again while it was sitting.  Then he rinsed out his hair again.

Finally, he rinsed out the tub, plugged it up, and let it fill.  Once the bath was full enough he turned off the water and sat down, watching the water sloshing around his body.  He closed his eyes, taking an unneeded breath before lowering his head under the water.  He did not need to breathe.  He did not need to fear drowning.  He could stay there, cracking his eyes open to stare at the ceiling through the water.

Rae sat up fully and washed his body again with one of the scented body washes Athena had given him and a fresh rag, taking his time to enjoy being as clean and alive as possible.

Athena knocked on the door. “When you’re done food is ready,” they said.

“Thank you,” he responded, giving his body and hair a final rinse before reaching down to unplug the bath.

Carefully he stood up, stepped out of the rub, and grabbed a towel.  It was warm and soft against his skin.  The air was cold around him.  He dried quickly, eager for fresh clothes and food.

The clothes Fenris had gotten him were slightly too large for him: pants with a belt to keep them up and a soft, baggy shirt.  Rae pulled them on over slightly damp skin, squeezing water out of his hair so he could brush it and braid it back.

Athena paused at the top of the stairs, smiling at him through the open bathroom door. “Perfect, I was just going to check to make sure you hadn’t accidentally drowned.”

He couldn’t drown.

“No, I’m good,” Rae said, flicking his braid over his shoulder and adjusting his shirt. “You said that there was food?”

“Yeap!  Just downstairs.”

He followed her down and to the bed & breakfast kitchen, sitting down at the table where she pointed.

“I think we’re going to have to get you smaller clothes,” Athena teased, setting a plate of sliced bread down on the table next to a small plate of butter and a jar of jam. “Water?”

“Please,” Rae murmured, his throat scratchy.

“Of course!” They reached up to grab three mugs. “I hope you don’t mind drinking from a mug.”

“As long as I can drink it.” He took the water-filled mug from her gratefully, sipping from it.

“Jamie, my boyfriend, is going to be joining us for lunch,” Athena said.  He grabbed three bowls and spoons, setting them down next to the pot on the stove.

Rae nodded as he took another sip of water. “OK.”

“Jamie is a bear.”

“OK?”

They smiled widely and scooped the soup into the bowls. “I hope rabbit stew is good.”

“Athena,” Rae said very seriously. “I will eat anything you put in front of me.”

The nether hybrid laughed at that. “Well, I promise I am an amazing cook so I’m not going to feed you anything bad.”

The back door leading from the kitchen to the garden outside opened and in came a bear.  Rae blinked at them.  Huge, black eyes blinked back.

“Who is the guest?” asked the bear, brushing dirt off of their paws on their pants.  

“Jamie!” Athena set the bowls on the table. “Our guest is Rae.  He will be staying with us for a bit.  Rae, this is Jamie.”

“You are a bear,” Rae said.

Jamie smiled. “I’m a bear!”

“Right.” He nodded. “Of course.”

“I’m Jamie, he/they.  It’s nice to meet you.” They held out their paw for him to shake.

Rae shook it. “Rae, he/him… I think.  I’m sorry, I seem to have forgotten some of my manners.”

“Rae was found in a grave,” Athena said. “Food is also ready.”

Jamie blinked at him. “I think that’s weirder than my origin story.”

The nether hybrid rolled her eyes. “You two can share stories once you’re eating lunch.”

“Sorry!  Sorry!” They laughed as they sat down. “This doesn’t smell like your usual curry.”

“I don’t want to poison our guest.”

Rae watched them chatter silently, taking slow mouthfuls of the strew.  He felt like he was holding his spoon wrong but his muscles couldn’t quite figure out the right position.  It was still weird to eat, he wasn’t used to it, but he liked the repetitiveness of it.  It was one of the things he would have to get used to because he was a living person again.  Eating was something that living people did.

“I introduced Caspian to Joshua,” Jamie said. “I don’t think they get along at all.  Cas seemed suspicious about the new pen in front of his house.”

“You put Solaris in his yard without telling him,” Athena laughed. “The egg sheep is wandering around his house and that sheep is just wrong… not to mention the hole.”

“I didn’t put the hole there!”

“At least he doesn’t have Martin and Impossible Whopper.”

Jamie scoffed and helped himself to a slice of bread. “Cas would be delighted to have Martin and Impossible Whopper in his yard.”

“I think most people would be delighted to have them in their yard.” He paused, tilted her head to the side with a frown, and corrected himself. “Well… maybe not everyone.  Momboo, Cas, you, and I would be delighted to have them.”

“We have them.”

“Clearly we’re better than everyone else,” they giggled, tail flicking happily. “Rae, do you want more soup?”

Rae glanced up in surprise. “What?”

“Do you want more soup?” Athena asked. “There’s also bread if you want… butter, jam, and honey to put on it.  Water?”

“Oh no,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I’m good— thank you though.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.  I don’t think it’s a good idea to eat a lot right away, I don’t want to get sick.”

Jamie nodded. “That makes sense.  When you have an animal that’s sick, Athena, you have to slowly introduce them to food if they’ve been throwing up or if you’re giving them a new type of food.  Digestive tracks can be sensitive.”

“I–” Rae paused and huffed, setting his bowl down on the table. “I don’t know if I like being compared to an animal.”

“Sorry,” they apologized with a nervous/awkward laugh. “I’m kind of an animal mage-ish, I use magic a lot with animals but not like an animal mage mage.  I created life with magic, specifically animals and usually larger animals like Joshua or Solaris or even the egg sheep.  And I can talk to animals.”

“That’s cool.”

“We think it’s because I once was an animal and an actual walking-walking-around-on-all-fours and unable-to-speak-a-human-language animal.  Then my mom, Momboo, apparently found me as a normal bear in her pantry and kissed my forehead and then I was a person like this.”

“But still a bear,” Athena added.

Jamie nodded. “But still a bear but able to do human things like speak and eat human food and wear clothes because I get embarrassed if I don’t and— I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

Rae blinked quickly before shaking his head, holding back a soft laugh as he waved away their worry. “No, it’s fine.  Magic is weird like that.  I am fully aware of that.”

“You also brought Martin back to life,” Athena said. “Rae, are you sure you’re full?”

“I did do that.” Jamie nodded.

Rae passed his bowl to her when she reached for it. “I’m sure I’m full… you brought a person back to life?”

“No, no no no.” They shook their head quickly. “No.  Martin is a cow and so is his boyfriend, Impossible Whopper.”

He nodded slowly. “Gay cows that came back to life.”

“Exactly!” Athena set the bowl in the sink.

“I brought Martin back to life,” Jamie said. “An accident happened and he was killed.  I figured that since I could create new animals out of pretty much nothing it wouldn’t be that hard to bring him back to life.”

Rae nodded again. “How did it go?”

“It went well, I think, I haven’t done something like that before so I don’t have any phase of reference and I have no plan to do it again.  He came back and he’s clearly alive, heartbeat, breathing, eating, and all that.  I can still talk to him so he’s still an animal and he still remembers his life before.  I was worried about both of those going away.”

“Do you remember what you did?”

“No, the entire night is a blur and I just did what felt right.”

“Instinct?” he asked.

Jamie grinned, relieved that he could understand. “Yeah, exactly.  I don’t think I could do it again though.”

“Some magic—” he said carefully, tracing patterns on the wooden table. “Some magic is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence to no fault of the user but it still happens.”

“Have you ever had that happen to you?” Athena asked as she walked back over to the table.

“I don’t think so… I don’t know.  I might find out later.” He shrugged.

“You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need to,” they said after a minute of silence. “I’m not going to kick you out and the people here are always happy to answer any questions that you have.”

Rae smiled slightly. “Thank you… who is Caspian?  Jamie, you mentioned him.”

“Oh!” Jamie straightened with a grin. “Caspian or Cas is one of the people who live nearby.  His house is by the tree and down the hill, I have a pen for Joshua, Solaris, and the egg sheep in his yard and a bridge dog outside his house.”

“Who are Joshua and Solaris?” he asked.

“A camel and a sniffer.”

“I– I don’t know what either of those are.”

“Right.  A camel is like a horse, you do know what a horse is, right?”

“I know what a horse is.”

Jamie nodded. “Good.  A camel is like a horse but larger.  It has really long legs, a long neck, and a hump in the middle of its back.  It can also carry two people at once and can just step over fences which is annoying when building a pen for it… but it’s really slow.”

“What is a sniffer?” Rae asked hesitantly.

“A walking bush.”

“Excuse me??”

“It’s big and has fluffy, green fur, and like six legs.  Also, its face is yellow and large.  Solaris uses it, I think, to dig up seeds.”

Rae nodded slowly. “OK.  I don’t think I like that.”

“If it helps, Caspian doesn’t like them either.”

Athena cleared their throat. “I’m going to drop your clothes off with Ocie, Rae, do you want something in the same style or do you want Ocie to see if they can be salvaged?”

“Whichever one makes more sense and is easier,” Rae said. “I’m not overly attached to those clothes but I like my style.”

She nodded. “Of course.  Hopefully, we’ll get you new clothes soon.”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“In the meantime, if you’re feeling up for it, Jamie could show you around town.  Jamie?”

Jamie nodded. “I don’t mind.”

“That would be nice.” Rae gave them a small smile. “Thank you.”

“OK!  Both of you have fun!” Athena left, heading upstairs, his cane tapping against the wooden floors.

The bear got to their feet. “Do you feel up to walking around?  We don’t have to go that far.”

“Thank you.” His blackened fingers spread out across the table as he moved his chair back and got to his feet, legs trembling under him for a moment.

“Of course.  Let’s go.”

Livor mortis

The passive process of blood accumulating within the blood vessels in the dependent parts of the body as a result of gravity, causing a discoloration of the skin that varies from pink to dark purplish.

Rae almost wanted to crawl back into his grave when they got back to the bed and breakfast.  At least when touring around the small town he and Jamie hadn’t run into anyone.  It was a small relief when he had barely spent a single day alive.

Sometimes it still hurt to breathe.  Sometimes his heart, sitting cold in his chest, ached behind his ribcage.  Sometimes he wasn’t used to walking and his muscles spasmed painfully.  He didn’t want to worry Jamie so he grit his teeth and kept walking.

He knew it would fade as his body got used to his new existence.

“Good evening!” Athena called as he and Jamie entered the building. “Did you two have fun?”

Rae smiled thinly as he sat down, stretching his legs out beneath the table. “Your group has built up a lot here.  It's impressive.”

Jamie laughed. “Rae found the tree fascinating.”

“As he should!” Athena exclaimed. “It’s so cool!”

“I also thought the library was cool,” Rae said softly.

“There hasn’t been anyone taking care of it since we’ve come,” Jamie told him. “If you want I’m sure that you could take it over.”

“Probably ask the others first.” The nether hybrid said as she poked at the fire with their foot, smiling as the flames leaped up. “Because I know that Cas and Icarus and Centross and Momboo have all been here longer, they might have some opinions about what happens to it.”

Jamie nodded. “I’ll ask them then.”

“Thank you,” Rae said softly.

“Of course Rae!” Athena said, smiling widely at him.

He smiled back hesitantly, his fingers tapping nervously against the table.

“I think you might actually have to ask Ari,” Athena said to Jamie. “They have the library key last I checked.”

Jamie nodded, his eyes lighting up and their black nose twitching. “Yeah!”

“Ari?” Rae asked softly with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah, Ari or Arisanna,” said Athena with a bob of their head. “She has the library key and I’m pretty sure their mom was the person who ran the library before it was abandoned.”

He nodded slowly, lacing and unlacing his fingers together, fiddling nervously with them. “Why was it abandoned?”

“Death?” Jamie suggested with a shrug. “Soraza, Ari’s mom, kind of just disappeared one day.  We weren’t here but Ocie told us about it.”

“Disappeared?”

“How…” Athena paused. “I don’t know how to politely ask this question…”

Rae raised an eyebrow, chuckling softly. “What is it?  I’m sure I’ve heard worse.”

“Fenris said you were found in a grave.”

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “I was.”

“And judging how covered in mud you were and how destroyed your clothes were I assume you were covered with dirt.”

He nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Were you dead?” Athena asked after a minute, their voice hesitant.

Rae saw Jamie’s ear perk up and he tilted his head with a frown, leaning back in his chair. “I was.”

The nether mage inhaled sharply and her eyes widened. “How long?”

“I–” he paused, frowning. “I don’t know.  I was dead.”

“Kinda hard to track time?” Jamia asked with a nervous laugh.

Rae nodded, snorting in laughter. “Yeah, though I think it’s been a very long time.”

“So you’re not up to date on events.”

“It depends on how I’ve been dead for.”

“Oh!” Athena’s eyes lit up and he leaned close. “Have you ever met a necromancer?!”

He blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

“A necromancer— have you ever met one?”

“Did something happen to them?” Rae asked carefully.

Athen and Jamie exchanged a glance before she said. “There was a purge of sorts maybe twenty years ago.”

“Momboo told me about it,” Jamie said.

“Yeah, Len had to go into hiding and that’s where he was when he got me.” Athena’s ears flicked back, tail swishing back and forth nervously. “I guess people suddenly hated necromancers and decided that all of them had to be killed.  Centross is one of the only ones alive that I know of and that’s because he was just a kid when it happened and neither of his parents were necromancers.”

“Len?” Rae asked. “Who’s that?”

She smiled quickly. “Len is the person who raised me and he’s a necromancer and a really powerful one.”

“I see,” he said with a smile.

“Did Centross bring you back?” Athena asked.

“As far as I’m aware… no.” He shook his head. “Fenris found me, Centross didn’t.”

“Maybe it was Len,” Jamie said. “But then it doesn’t make sense that he just left you in the grave.”

Athena shrugged. “I mean, it isn’t that important because you’re alive now.”

“I much prefer being alive.” Rae pulled his legs back and folded them beneath his chair. “I won’t question it too deeply since I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Have you met a necromancer?” Athena asked again.

“I had some family members who were necromancers,” he said. “Does that count?”

“Yes!” She nodded quickly. “Did you ever see them perform magic?  What was it like?  How did it work?”

“You’ve never really seen necromancy, have you?” Rae asked genuinely confused. “I thought Centross was one.”

“He doesn’t use magic that much though.  He brought Hope back to life and gave Ulysses a skeleton cat.  However, that’s all the magic that he’s used as far as I’m and I didn’t get to see either.”

“Ah… I knew someone who brought a cat back to life and kept it around to hunt the rodents getting into the pantry.” He smiled softly at the memory, running his fingers over his necklace. “I knew someone else who used their necromancy to bring back all the butterflies and bees that died in their garden back to life.”

“Just causal use of necromancy?” Jamie asked, their eyes widening slightly.

Rae shrugged. “Yeah, there were only a few people in the area where I lived that hated necromancers and most of them weren’t law enforcement or anything dangerous.  We didn’t have to worry about people trying to hunt necromancers down just because they performed their magic.”

“How easy was it for them?” Athena leaned forward, clearly excited judging from how fast her tail flicked back and forth.

“Easy,” Rae scoffed. “They didn’t have to put any thought or effort into it, probably just as easy as you can light the fire in here.”

They gasped. “Really??”

“Yeah, doesn’t all magic come that easily?”

“Back to the magic purge that happened…” Jamie cleared their throat roughly. “All the necromancers were hunted down and killed along with any strong magic users they could get their hands on.”

“That’s why Len had to raise me, my parents were being hunted.” Athena’s ears flicked down and their shoulders slumped. “Soraza fled and no one’s heard from her again.  Fenris talked about how he had a partner who was killed because of it.  Ocie had family who disappeared after that… they’re probably dead.”

“Oh dear,” Rae murmured. “I’m so sorry.”

She shrugged. “I never knew my parents.”

“I don’t think that makes it any better,” he said.

“I know but I never got a chance to have anything about them that I miss specifically.”

Rae nodded. “I’m still sorry.”

“Thanks.” Athena took a deep breath. “But a lot of powerful mages disappeared or were killed and a lot of magic knowledge was lost.  Even now the level of magic that we perform doesn’t match what Len, Momboo, Ocie, or Fenris has said that they saw, we don’t perform to the same scale out of fear of it happening again… if that makes sense.”

He shrugged. “It does.  Fear is a powerful thing and difficult to conquer.  It’s able to completely rewrite how people exist.”

Adipocere

A grayish waxy substance formed by the decomposition of soft tissue in dead bodies subjected to moisture

Chapter Text

Isla ruffled his hair as she entered the house, dirt under her nails and the basket hanging from her arm filled with root vegetables. “Hello, little star.”

He smiled brightly up at her. “Mama!”

Her fingers brushed against his cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. “Do you need something?”

“I found this in the basement.” Rae pulled a dead mouse from his pocket and held it up to her. “Bring it back!”

Isla set the basket down on the countertop before kneeling to carefully take the small, brown body from him.  She gently petted the fur between the mouse’s cloudy black eyes, the creature’s whiskers and nose motionless in death. “The poor thing,” she murmured. “Do you think Bucket got it?”

He shook his head. “No, he would have eaten it.”

“Mhm, seems like it just died of old age.”

“Bring it back!” he pleaded.

She laughed softly. “Rae no.  We don’t know why it died so we’re not going to do that.”

“But you just said that it died of old age,” he whined, tugging on her arm. “Mama please!”

“Rae, darling, that’s enough,” Isla told him firmly. “Do you know why things die of old age?”

Rae paused and shook his head with a frown.

“Things die because their bodies and their organs can’t support them anymore.  Your Grandpa and I can bring things back to life through healing their wounds and giving their heart a little kick start again but that doesn’t matter when their heart is so old it can’t beat anymore.”

“So you can’t bring it back?” he asked softly, his shoulders slumping.

“Not when it probably died from old age.” Isla cupped his cheek in her hand, her voice soft. “I’m sorry, little star.  Magic can’t fix everything.”

Rae frowned at her. “That’s stupid.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged as she stood straight. “However, star, that’s how it works and we don’t fully understand that.”

“What are you going to do with the mouse?”

Isla smiled at him. “Well, I was hoping you’d help me bury it outside.  I don’t think Bucket will want to eat it.”

“He doesn’t after something once it's dead,” Rae said as he followed her out into the back garden.

His mother picked up her blue skirt to kneel on the ground without dirtying the fabric too much. “Raemond keeps him well-fed enough that he doesn’t feel the need to eat anything he ends up catching.”

He sat down next to her, helping her dig a small hole in the soft dirt.  The earth felt good under his nails— it felt right from helping Mom in the garden, Grandpa in the kitchen, or Poppop in the workshop.  It showed that he was alive.  He poked at the mouse’s small body with a frown.

It didn’t deserve to die.  It deserved to live.  It deserved to run around on its little paws and steal bits of feed from Mom and Grandpa’s chickens.  It probably had a family.  Did mice grieve?  Did they understand loss?  He didn’t want to give mice a chance to understand death yet.  They were tiny and cute and didn’t deserve it.

Rae stroked his finger down its head and spine, feeling the tiny bones shift under his finger even with his light touch.  It was so small and frail.  He didn’t want it to be dead.  His skin was warm and it would be easy to transfer some of that warmth to the little mouse’s body.  He petted it again.

Under his touch that tiny heart started to beat again.  Blood moved through the body, lungs inflating as the mouse took a hesitant breath.  Its whiskers twitched as it sniffed.  He giggled as those long, thin whiskers tickled his palm.

Isla glanced over, her eyes widening slightly as she saw the living mouse sitting in the palm of his hand. “Rae!” she exclaimed, not angry but more surprised.

Her son looked at her before smiling widely and holding up the mouse for her to see. “Mom look!!  I brought it back!”

“Can I see?” she asked, unable to hide her smile as Rae carefully put the mouse into her hands.  She brushed her finger across its side and down to its stomach, feeling its heart beat rhythmically.

The mouse stared at her for a moment with huge black eyes before nipping at her fingering and jumping from her hand.  Rae let out a startled shriek when the mouse landed on the ground.  Isla couldn’t help but laugh at his expression as the small creature disappeared into the garden.

“I’m sorry,” Rae said a moment later, ducking his head as his shoulders rose, refusing to look at her. “You said not to bring it back.”

Isla smiled at him as she chided him gently. “Rae, I told you not to bring it back because its body wouldn’t be able to support life.”

He shrunk into himself and his eyes started to fill with tears.

“However.” She filled in the unused grave, patting the earth down. “It seemed healthy.”

“I did something good?” Rae asked softly.

She kissed his forehead. “Why did you bring it back, little star?”

“I didn’t want its family to miss it,” he mumbled. “It probably had a husband and children and friends.  I didn’t want them to miss part of their family.”

“That is a very good reason to bring creatures back to life…” Isla cupped his cheek in her hand. “Never forget that, OK?  That’s why you should bring things back to life— not out of personal gain but for kind, selfless reasons.”

Rae nodded, leaning into her touch. “OK.”

“We’re going to have to tell your grandfathers, aren’t we?  They’ll want to know.” She got to her feet, straightening her skirt. “And besides, we have vegetables we need to clean.”

“Will you teach me to bring more stuff back?” Rae asked as he followed her inside again.

Isla smiled at her son. “Of course.  Raemond and I will teach you everything we know.  You’ve been blessed with very special magic that deserves to be learned.”

He smiled back brightly before stretching to turn on the sink to wash his hands. “OK!!!”

“Go tell your grandfathers,” she said, guiding him to the door leading deeper into the house with a hand between his shoulder blades. “Poppop is in his study, don’t forget to knock on the door before you enter, and Grandpa should be in the library.”

Rae giggled as he ran deeper into the house to get the rest of his family, magic swirling under his skin.

In the garden, the mouse nibbled at a berry before skittering back to its little hole, fully alive and nowhere near death.

The library door screeched as Rae pushed it open, rusty metal hinges making their displeasure known loudly.  He winced at the noise before stepping fully inside.

The library's main room was divided into first and second floors, the upper level forming a balcony with the middle open to reveal the high, domed roof with windows on the front wall, back wall, and around the base of the dome.  Light filtered in through the dusty windows— high lighting the dust suspended mid-air, making the cobwebs everywhere glow gold, and casting long strips of light across the worn wooden floors.  The walls were white, the floor and wooden decor dark, and the domed ceiling copper faded from blue to orange.  The bookshelves were heavy, covered in dust, webs, and dead bugs, still covered in books.

As Rae walked further into the building he could see the protective runes etched carefully into the shelves, pulsing faintly blue like the building had its own heartbeat.

(In some ways the building was more alive than him.  It had a heartbeat when he had none.)

“Here.” The woman (Arisanna) dropped a heavy key into his hand, wings fluttering slightly behind her and causing slight disturbances to the dust floating through the air. “The key.  Have fun with the old place.” There was a harsh dryness to her voice —a lack of care about the building that her mom had supposedly created.

Rae saw Fenris bristle slightly at her tone and he laid a hand on the man’s arm, feeling the warmth of his living skin seep into his palm.  The blood witch glanced at him with a raised eyebrow as he shook his head.

Then he turned his attention fully back to Arisanna, his fingers curling around the key. “Thank you.”

“Yeah sure,” Arisanna said. “Don’t know why you’re so invested in the place but knock yourself out I suppose.  I don’t care.”

Rae took a deep ( unneeded ) breath, taking in the smell of old books and a building closed up for years.  It was comforting in its age, reminiscent of the study that his grandpa had built in one of the rooms of his childhood home.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked.

“Ah… no.” Rae offered her a soft smile that she did not return. “Thank you for your help.”

Arisanna waved away his gratitude with a strained expression before turning and leaving, the door shutting heavily behind her.  Then it was only Rae and Fenris in the building.

“Pleasent woman,” Rae said as he put the key into his pocket.

Fenris frowned and crossed his arms, watching the door almost sadly. “She wasn’t always like that.”

He stopped by the shelves and seats at the center of the room, staring up at the dome. “People change with time.”

(He had watched a society change from general indifference toward his form of magic to burning hatred toward it.  He knew how time and fear could change something so easily.)

“I don’t think I could call it time.” Fenris started to walk along the edge of the room, his gaze on the walls and windows like he was inspecting them for cracks. “There was an accident with magic and she stopped caring about things.”

Rae frowned at the witch, fingers drumming a pattern against his collarbone in a pitiful imitation of a heartbeat. “Were you two close before?”

His smile was sad, shoulders slumping. “I thought she was my sister.”

“Ah…” He paused, tilted his head, and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Fenris said. “She’s been like that for a while now.  I’m used to it.”

“I don’t think that makes it any easier.”

He changed the subject. “The library doesn’t look like it’ll need much work to fix up… a good dusting and sweep but there aren’t any giant cracks in the walls or windows and I haven’t found any place where the floor needs to be replaced.”

“I think most of it can be traced back to the protective magic built into every corner of the building.  Every shelf has hundreds of runes to keep the books from being destroyed and there are also runes across the general building.” Rae frowned at him but went along with it.

Rae paused at a shelf, tilting his head to the side to read the book titles, lightly tracing his fingers over the golden lettering of ‘A Fairytale, A Fable’ .  There was a thick green book with pink flowers sewn onto the spine called ‘The Lady of the World’ .  A red copy of ‘ Aesop’s Fables’ sat next to it.

“Where did Soraza get all these books?” Rae called up to Fenris.

Fenris appeared on the balcony, leaning against the railing. “Just on her travels as far as I’m aware.  I wasn’t around but—” He shrugged. “Momboo and Ocie were here if you want to ask them though I don’t know how much they would remember.”

He nodded and turned back to the books as he walked down the next aisle. “Mhm… that’s fine.”

“It seems like most regular books are down there.” Fenris walked down the stairs. “Only books related to magic seem to be upstairs.”

Rae nodded again, sliding another fairytale book from the shelf and flipping through the pages.  They were a pale cream color, the ink a deep blue with beautifully drawn sketches at the top of each page, highlighting the scene happening on that particular page.  He paused on a page of a princess dressed in a blue dress dancing with a prince.  The next page was taken up solely by the face of a clock striking midnight.  Carefully, he closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

“What’s over there?” Fenris asked.

“Stories,” Rae said softly, his fingers covered in dust from the shelves.  He paused when he came into contact with a dead moth, magic dancing easily between him and the small body.  He couldn’t help but smile when the insect’s legs uncurled and it fluttered its wings.  Then it was flying. “Fairytales.”

The necromancer crossed over to the next second and brushed the dust off of the sign hanging from the ceiling. “Language… this place needs to be dusted.”

“Wanr me to call for help?” Fenris asked with a quick grin shot in his direction (Rae didn’t see it, too busy running his fingers across the dusty book spines, seeing the titles spelled out in languages he didn’t understand). “Or do you think you’ll be able to do it yourself?”

That made Rae look up with a huff and roll of his eyes. “If you want me to do it myself you’ll have to give me a week at least.  All these books need to be taken off the shelves and checked for damage.  The shelves need to be dusted, wiped down, and repaired where necessary.  The runes along them also need to be touched up and that can only be done once the shelves are clean otherwise dust is going to mess with the magic.  The signs and labels need to be dusted, polished, and maybe repainted.  The window sills and windows need to be dusted and cleaned.  Cobwebs need to be cleaned up.”

He raised his eyebrows. “That’s a lot of work… I have confidence in you.  However, it seems like a job fit for a village.”

“You shouldn’t bother people just to take care of an old library especially since no one’s used it so long it's fallen into this disrepair.  That’s unnecessary, I’m sure.”

Fenris shrugged. “I’d be surprised if anyone gets offended for being asked.  I’m not going to force them to come here and help.  It’s up to them completely.”

Rae frowned but nodded as he crossed over to the next section.  There the books were heavy and thick.  The dust built up more than in the other areas told a story of these books not being used as much.  Rae picked one up, grunting slightly at the weight, and saw it was a medical textbook.  It seemed like the rest were all related to the sciences in some way: textbooks, encyclopedias, lab reports, dictionaries, journals, and notebooks.  It made him wonder exactly how much knowledge was hidden away in the library.

“I’ll invite people over, bring some food, and we can call it potluck with work,” Fenris offered gently.

He glanced up, brow furrows and lips twisted downward. “I—”

“If not that’s fine.  You’ve only been here a few days so I don’t want to overwhelm you.” His voice was soft as he leaned against the shelf, arms crossed. “I can just invite a few people over… Centross, Athena, Jamie, and Caspian maybe?  You haven’t met him but he’s nice, if you’re fine with meeting more than one new person then we’ll also invite Aax, Cas’s boyfriend.”

Rae ducked into the fourth section of the first floor, inspecting the books there as an excuse to avoid Fenris' golden gaze.  He pulled ‘Common Meals of the Nether’ from its spot on the shelf and leafed through the pages just to have a few more moments without answering the other man.

“Rae?” Fenris asked softly.

For a moment it felt like dirt was suffocating him again, his fingers (stained purple and black with pooling blood) shook as he slid the cookbook back into place, and he bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood.  Then he took a deep, unneeded breath just to remind himself that he wasn’t in his grave anymore and that he could breathe even if it wasn’t necessary for his survival anymore. “That would be nice,” he forced out. “I’d like to start meeting new people if I’m going to be staying here longer and…” He paused and stepped back from the shelf, running his hand through his long hair. “I’d rather meet people when there are people here who I already know?”

“That makes sense.” The blood witch shrugged. “Will you be OK here while I get them?”

Rae looked up, finally meeting his gaze, and nodded. “I’ll be fine.  I’ll be right here.”

“Of course,” Fenris said with a grin as he turned and headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

The door closed behind him, leaving Rae alone in the old building.  He stared for a moment at the door and traced the delicate woodwork with his gaze, taking in the patterns carved lovingly into the wood.  He knew, hidden amid the swirling vines and flowers, there were runes of protection burnt into the door with blood, sweat, and lapis.  He could feel that magic (he was sure most people who passed by could feel it and maybe that was why the library had sat abandoned for so long) bubbling like painful, unshed tears in the back of his throat, daring someone —anyone— to attempt to bring harm to the building and the precious knowledge resting inside.  He could almost understand Arisanna’s fury at Soraza for putting more power into protecting the books than herself or her daughter.

Rae left the fourth section and walked through the doorway to the left of the one Fenris had left through.  He stood on a balcony, at the top of steps leading to the floor another story length below him.  The ceiling was another dome, though smaller than the one in the main room, made of colored glass.  There were windows near the ceiling on all three walls, set into stone and separated from the usual white walls by blue-green copper.  It drew one’s attention upward from the eye-level walls covered in paintings, maps, and murals to the giant snake-like skeleton hanging suspended from the dome.  Part of him wanted to reach out and touch the ancient bones… call life forth from the skeleton… use his magic and reform tendons and ligaments, blood vessels and muscles, to create a beating heart to sit protected behind those giant ribs, add scales that shifted color in the light— that protected the great beast from anything that tried to attack it.

However, he wouldn’t.  He couldn’t.  He wouldn’t disrespect the library like that.  He wouldn’t disrespect the life of that ancient creature probably designed for a much different world and environment than the one around him.  Mom and Grandpa had taught him the dangers and glory that came with his magic better than that.

He missed his mother and granddads too much to disrespect them like that.  He needed to bring them back.  They didn’t deserve death.  They deserved a better future than one spent buried six feet under… assuming they were given the dignity of a grave… assuming people were kind enough to bury them.  For all he knew their bodies had long since rotted on the side of a road.  Maybe they had been burned.  Maybe they had been tossed in a body of water and forgotten.

It made him furious.  It made his hands form fists and shake, nails digging roughly into his palms.  They deserved better.  They deserved to be alive and happy and see the glorious world around them.  He’d bring them back to life.  They might be able to create a home in the village where the people didn’t see to shun necromancy the way the rest of the world had.

Was it too much to ask for peace?  Was it too much to ask for in life?

“Rae?” The door to the library opened and closed behind Fenris. “Where did you go?”

Rae pushed himself off the railing, stepping back into the main room of the library. “Right here,” he said. “There’s another section of the library I was just looking at.”

The large man nodded. “The others will be here soon.  Athena and Jamie are bringing snacks.  Centross said he’d bring some cleaning supplies from our house.  Aax and Caspian are also coming, they’re excited to meet you.”

“OK.” He crossed the room, skirting around the seating built into mostly empty bookshelves in the center of the room, right under the highest point of the arched roof to enter the doorway on the other side.

That room was smaller than the library’s main room, a bit longer and more narrow, the roof lower.  There were more windows and shutters over some of them.  There was an old couch pushed into the corner with a low table before it.  There were more tables around the room, books stacked on top of them along with what Rae knew to be book-binding materials from his Grandpa’s study.  It smelt like glue and paper.  It smelt like his Grandpa.  It smelt like home.

‘It smelt like home’ stabbed him through the heart, painful like a sharp knife, making his throat and eyes burn with sudden tears.  Rae took a deep breath and moved further into the room.  His hand brushed against the nearest table, taking in the leather and papers and ink and quills and glue and brushes and colorful glass bottles of paint and string and sewing needles.

“I love you,” Rae whispered into the silence, squeezing his necklace.

“Hi, Fenris!” Athena’s bright voice came from the main room of the library. “We brought food!”

“Hey Athena, Jamie,” said Fenris.

Rae walked back to the main room, pausing in the doorway. “Thank you both… for being willing to come over and help.”

Athena waved at him widely with a basket held tightly in their other hand. “We wanted to.  We also brought snacks.”

Behind her Jamie stood silently, looking around the building, his muzzle curled slightly.  In the light pouring in through the tall windows the guard hairs of their fur looked golden and his eyes were deep, black pools.

“We brought muffins and cookies as snacks.  I also have some sun-baked potatoes cooking so if we want to take a break and eat an actual meal later.”

Fenris smiled slightly. “Thank you, Athena, you’re amazing.  Jamie, are you OK?”

The bear shook themselves and chuckled. “Yeah, I’m fine.  It’s just really dusty in here and smells weird.”

“There’s a lot of dead things here,” Rae said, his voice soft. “And the protective runes are strong despite not being touched upon recently.  It’s an old building full of magic that’s been shut up for years.  It’s bound to be giving weird vibes.”

“Weird vibes?” Fenris asked with an eyebrow arch.

Jamie nodded. “Weird vibes.”

“You don’t have to stay if it makes you feel weird.  I don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Rae told them.

They shook their head. “It’s fine.  I’m getting used to it already.  It just wasn’t expected.”

“Well.” Fenris cleared his throat. “Rae, where should we start?”

The necromancer looked around the room, chewing on his lip as he thought. “We’ll work vaguely down: cobwebs, support beams, signs, top of shelves, railing, window sills, and then sweep the floor.”

The other three nodded and Fenris grinned. “It sounds like a plan.”

Life and Magic: An Exploration of the Consequences, Coincidences, and Conflicts

Pg. 3

A necromancy practitioner, more commonly known as a necromancer or a death witch, is a magic user with the unique ability to interact with the dead in ways that the rest of the magical or non-magical community can not.  This strain of magic does not present at the same level of strength for all necromancers.  Some can only communicate with the dead through ghosts and spirits.  On the other side, some can completely bring the dead back to life though reports of this are unverified.

Rae was balancing on a box, stretching up to dust the top of a support beam when the library door swung open.  Centross had gotten to the library a few minutes earlier with cleaning supplies and glow berry juice that Fenris had confiscated from him immediately.  Rae could hear the other necromancer complain about it on the other side of the room.

“Fenris?” asked the newcomer as the door closed behind them. “We made it.  Holy shit, it's dusty in here.”

Fenris stepped into the main aisle and smiled. “Caspian!  I’m glad you could make it.”

Rae stepped off of the box, nervously wiping his dusty hands on his pants.  He knew the second shorter person was watching him behind red-tinted glasses.

Caspian (the taller, the one with a grey-white streak through fluffy brown hair, the one with deep red eyes that didn’t quite have any life behind them, the one with life and death magic swirling unnaturally around him) smiled back. “We’re always happy to help.”

“Meet Rae,” Fenris said, gesturing for Rae to walk over. “He’s the one who’s taking charge of the library.”

“Caspian or Cas,” said the man, sticking out a scared and callused hand for Rae to shake. “He/him.”

Rae shook it. “Rae… he/him also.”

Caspian’s companion stepped forward with a wide smile, holding out their small hand with weirdly smooth skin. “I’m Aax!  I use any pronouns!  It’s nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too,” he said quickly. “Thank you for coming to help with this, I promise you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

Cas waved away his concerns, smiling gently. “We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to help, I promise Rae.”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah OK.”

“What do you need us to do?”

“We’re working on dusting and cleaning stuff right now, kinda starting at the top and working our way to the bottom: cobwebs, support beams, signs, top of shelves, railing, window sills, and floor.  We got rid of all the cobwebs in this room and are currently working on dusting the support beams.” Rae exchanged a glance with Fenris. “The second floor still needs the cobwebs cleaned up though.”

“I can start on that then,” Fenris offered. “Aax, want to replace me in helping Centross?  He is complaining about glow berry juice so fair warning about that.”

The small, amphibian-like man nodded, red and blue ear fins/fronds (almost like an axolotl) waving gently at the movement. “Yeap!”

“Rae, what were you doing?”

Rae frowned. “I had started on the support beams in this corner.  Why?”

Fenris shrugged. “I thought that maybe you could use the company and Cas could help you… only if you’re both comfortable with that of course.”

“I’m fine,” Caspian said, raising an eyebrow at Rae. “You?”

“Yeah—” Rae nodded quickly. “Athena and Jamie brought snacks if you want some.  Those are in the basket on the chairs in the middle.”

Then Fenris and Aax walked away, leaving Rae and Caspian alone.  The necromancer stared at the other man for a moment before going back to the box he had been standing on.

“What do you need me to do?” Caspian asked from behind him.

Rae didn’t look up from where he was dipping his rag in water. “Grab a rag and a box.  We’re wiping down the entirety of these support beams— which means bottom, top, and both sides because Centross was seemingly having trouble understanding that.”

He nodded and left to grab a rag.  A minute later he was back and pulling a box under the next beam to start dusting it.  They worked in silence for a few minutes, cleaning the beams, signs, and top of shelves as they moved around the section, often pausing to clean their rags in water and go over places multiple times.

Then Caspian spoke up. “How has your time been here so far?”

Rae jerked his head up, nearly spilling his water. “It’s been good—” he said after a moment. “It’s been good, I’ve enjoyed it.  People are nice.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Only a few days.” Rae frowned as he scrubbed at a piece of dust that had gotten stuck in a sliver of wood. “Why?”

Caspian shrugged. “I figured that if you’re going to be staying around for longer I’d want to get to know you better.  I can stop with the questions if you want me to… I really don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine, I’m just not used to talking with people again.” He shook his head.

“Understandable,” he laughed slightly. “But I’m glad you’re enjoying being here.”

“Beats being buried.”

His dark eyes widened slightly. “Right… I think either Fenris or Athena mentioned that… what was it like?”

“Be buried or being dug up?” Rae asked with a sharp glance at him.

“Sorry,” Caspian apologized quickly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.  It’s not my place and you probably don’t even want to talk about it.  Gods know it took me forever to feel comfortable talking about my own experience with death.”

“You died?”

“Yeah, I feel like I owe you an explanation after my question.” He huffed, seemingly annoyed with himself. “I died and Momboo brought me back to life which is why I have this stupid white streak in my hair.”

“I think it looks nice,” Rae offered gently.

He smiled. “Thank you.  I have mixed feelings about it.”

“I didn’t realize Momboo was a necromancer.  Jamie’s told me about her but I got the impression that she was a nature witch of some kind.”

“Oh, she isn’t a necromancer.”

Rae paused in his scrubbing and turned to stare at Caspian. “Excuse me?”

Caspian also paused. “Momboo isn’t a necromancer but she’s a powerful nature witch.  We joke about her being part of the earth given a human body because of how strong her magic is.  She brought me back to life.”

“Like Martin?”

“Did you just compare me to a cow?!” The man raised his voice but there was no anger there, just faking annoyance.

Rae laughed. “Yeah, I did.  And?”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe this.  You’re a cruel person, Rae, did you know that?”

That made him laugh harder. “I can’t believe this.  We’ve known each other for not even an hour and already you’re insulting me.”

They lapsed back into comfortable silence until Rae broke it, his voice quiet. “Neither experience was fun…”

Caspian looked over but didn’t say anything, his expression pinched into a frown.

“I don’t fully remember being buried, I know I was alive for it but…” he shrugged. “I do remember coming back to life in the grave and the overwhelming panic I felt.  I would have died had Fenris not found me.”

“I’m sorry…” he said softly. “You didn’t deserve that.”

“I survived and I won’t have to go through that ever again.”

Cas nodded. “It doesn’t seem like something that Len would do.  Did Centross bring you back?”

“It was only Fenris, Centross was back at their camp.” Rae shook his head.

“Huh…” he paused, frowning. “So someone else?”

“Certainly seems like it.”

They went back to silence as they cleaned the next section.  Caspian was on his tip toes on a box when he decided to speak again. “Do you have magic?”

Rae raised an eyebrow at him, his arms crossed. “You’re going to fall if you’re not careful.”

“I’m fine.” He tightened his grip on the support beam. “I’m not going to fall.”

“Sure.”

Caspian ignored his doubt and asked again. “Do you have magic?”

He paused and stared at the other man, silent.

“I don’t, I’m literally just a dude.” He knelt down to rinse his rag. “I’m good with my hands and mechanics but that’s just skill, not magic involved.”

“I—” Rae frowned. “I can perform some magic.”

“But not some specific magic like Fenris or Athena?”

“No magic like them sadly.”

“That’s a pity.” Caspian smiled quickly at him. “I always wanted magic.  My boyfriend, Aax, is a water mage which is cool as fuck.”

“What kind of magic do you want?” Rae asked.

He shrugged. “Now?  None but as a kid I always to be able to fly.”

“Cas!  Rae!” Athena called. “Want to take a break and get food at our bed and breakfast?”

The two exchanged a glance before Caspian shrugged again and called back. “Yeah sure, food sounds good.”

Rae found himself once again sitting in the bed and breakfast kitchen, holding a mug of hot chocolate as Caspian and Centross bickered over the soup they were both trying to work on.  Fenris was standing at the sink to wash fruit, watching the two with amusement.  Athena sat next to Rae, her crutch set to the side, as they picked the dust out from under his nails.  Jamie was getting the potatoes from the protected drying rack out in the garden.  Aax was sitting on the floor, petting a cat whom Rae hadn’t been introduced to yet.

“You two are going to burn yourselves if you aren’t careful,” Fenris said, sounding concerned but not angry. “Centross, love, you’re making a fool of yourself.”

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do,” Centross grumbled as he slapped Caspian’s hand away from the pot. “Don’t touch it!  You’re going to fuck it up!”

Caspian stuck his tongue out at him. “You’re going to burn it if you don’t stir it.  You’re not going to serve Rae burnt soup are you?!”

“Are they always like this?” Rae asked hesitantly, watching the pot worryingly.

Athena shrugged. “They won’t burn themselves, I enchanted all the pots.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “That’s smart.”

“I have enough people in and out of here and I’d feel bad if people burnt themselves in here.”

“To answer your question, Rae,” Fenris spoke up. “They are.  We’ve had breakfast with Caspian and Aax before and those three are bickering like there’s no tomorrow.”

“And you grumble and huff every time.” Aax raised his head, grinning. “Yet you’re trying your hardest not to laugh.”

“Lies and slander,” he huffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Athena giggled, hiding his smile behind his hands.  Aax scoffed before pouting as well as he could when the cat got out of his lap and hopped onto a kitchen chair with a meow.  Rae watched as the olm hybrid got to their feet, finned tail swishing behind him.  They walked over to where Caspian and Centross were squabbling, jabbed Centross in the back, and stole the spoon from him when he was distracted.

“Do we want to stop them?” Rae asked as the sound of Centross and Aax’s bickering filled the air.

“They’ll wear themselves out,” Fenris said. “It’s fine.”

“As long as they don’t spill the soup.” Jamie entered the kitchen and set the potatoes on the counter.

“They better not, that’s dinner.” Athena got to their feet and grabbed her crutch, walking over to help Jamie with the potatoes.

“What can I help with?” Rae asked as he pushed himself to his feet, uncomfortable with just sitting around while the people who had spent most of the day helping him.

Fenris pushed him back into his chair before putting a bowl on the table. “Sit and don’t worry about it.  Centross, come help set the table, Cas and Aax are taking care of the soup.  They don’t need your help.”

The other necromancer rolled his eyes but kissed Fenris' cheek as he passed.  He grabbed plates and bowls from a cabinet. “Fine.”

“Here.” He passed Rae a knife and two apples. “Cut these up while I help my idiot of a boyfriend.”

Rae took them, grateful for something to do (and something so familiar with Mom pulling up a stool so he could reach the counter as a little kid, teaching him how to cut the apples on the wooden cutting board Poppop had made or Grandpa sitting him at the table before handing him an apple and a knife when he got hold enough or Poppop telling him to cut apples for dinner).  With steady hands, he guided the knife through the apple’s pale flesh, cutting it in half and then splitting those halves evenly.  He cut out the bit of the core at each slice’s center, setting those to the side, before putting the slices in the bowl on the table.  The knife went on the counter next to the sink and the inedible parts of the apple were tossed into the compost bin just outside the door.

Caspian dolled out the soup into bowls that Aax set on the table.  Centross finished setting the table.  Fenris filled the cups with water.  Athena put the sun-baked potato slices into a bowl and set them on the table.  Jamie cut up bread for dinner.  Rae washed fruit juice off his hands, watching the people move around him, allowing himself to hope that he could make a life there— hoping that he’d be allowed to be part of them— praying that he couldn’t drive them all away with what he had to do.

That afternoon he had found a book on the library’s upper floor, bound in dark leather with a beautiful golden decoration, the title spelled out carefully in Latin down the spine and across the cover, protective runes painted across the inside of the cover.  He hadn’t dared to open it, only dragging his cold, dead fingers across the letters.  He was sure there were more books on necromancy in the library but that was the first one he had found.  That one gave him hope that he could bring them back.  That one promised that his mom and granddads weren’t gone forever.  He had brought himself back to life.  He would bring them back to life also.

Chapter Text

Rae found his grandpa standing by the counter in the sun-soaked kitchen, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hands resting on the edge of the sink, his blonde hair (starting to grey at the roots) tied out of his face.  He hummed along to the record playing softly from the jukebox Poppop had installed.

“Grandpa!!” he spun into the room, his hand grabbing onto the doorframe to keep himself from slipping and falling on the smooth wooden floor. “Grandpa Raemond!!!!”

He looked up, cloudly blue eyes landing on him. “Yes, Rae?”

“Poppop kicked me out of his workshop,” he said with a huff as he crossed the kitchen to stand by his grandpa’s side. “And Mom’s at the village, I’m bored.”

Raemond chuckled and reached out to ruffle his hair. “And why were you kicked out?”

He shrugged before scrambling up to sit on the counter, swinging his legs. “I dunno, he was trying to fix the grandfather clock that’s supposed to be in the hallway.”

“I think he was just busy, kiddo, and trying to focus.  Were you bothering him?”

“I wasn’t!!”

Raemond laughed. “Mhm.”

“I wasn’t!!” He pouted, crossing his arms with a huff. “I promise!”

“OK kiddo, I believe you.  Do you need something to do?”

Rae paused for a moment before nodding. “Yes, please?”

His grandpa crossed the kitchen to the bookshelf by the doorway and grabbed a thick cookbook. “How does baking sound?  Maybe we can have some fresh bread for dinner tonight?”

“I’m pretty sure we already have bread that Mom made a few days ago,” he said.

“It’s a few days old and probably won’t be good for much longer.  It might get used as part of something else or we’ll tear it apart and toss it to the birds.”

Rae nodded. “OK…”

“We don’t have to make bread if you don’t want to, Rae,” Raemond said softly. “We find something else to make, we could go to my study and do something there, or we could go out to the garden.  You also don’t have to do anything with me if you don’t want to, I promise.”

“No!!  I want to make bread.” He got off the counter, staring up at Raemond. “Please????”

He laughed, walking back over to him and setting the cookbook down on the table. “OK, OK, OK, we can make bread but only if you really want to.”

Rae whined as he tugged on his arm. “Grandpa please, I want to make bread.”

He laughed harder. “Find what recipe you want to use, sparrow.  I’ll get the flour out.”

The youngest member of the household opened the cookbook, flipping through the stained pages with a concentrated frown, trying to decide which bread he wanted to make.  As he did that Raemond wiped down a section of the counter and dried his hands before getting the flour from the cupboard.

“Have you decided on what bread you want to make?” Raemond asked.

“This one?” he said hesitantly, pointing at the recipe.

He looked over his grandson’s shoulder at it and nodded. “Good choice.  Do you want me to braid your hair back before we start?”

Rae paused for a moment before he nodded. “Please?”

“Sit down at the table, kiddo.” Raemond pulled out a chair for him, running his fingers through Rae’s hair once he sat down.  With practiced ease, he split Rae’s hair into three parts and braided them quickly, tying it off with the strip of leather Rae offered him. “Thank you… there you go.  Good?”

“Thank you.” He reached back to pat the braid, smiling quickly at his grandpa.

“Of course.  Wash your hands before we start cooking, who knows what grime you have under your nails from your Poppop’s workshop.”

Rae bounced to his feet and turned on the skin, washing his hands under the water with the lavender soap Everett had made. “You have to wash your hands too.”

“I will, I will.” He washed his hands once Rae was done before drying them on the rag hanging from a hook set into the windowsill above the sink. “There.  Tell me what we need for the recipe.”

“Um… water, yeast, honey, oil, salt, and flour,” Rae said. “It says that the water needs to be warm.”

Raemond nodded. “Flour is already out.  Can you get the yeast from the fridge?  And the honey in the cupboard.”

“OK!” He grabbed both, grimacing slightly at the residue left on his hands from the honey. “Grandpa, my hands are sticky.”

“Wash them again then if you don’t like it and use a wet rag to clean the honey bottle.” He pulled out the oil and salt before getting a bowl and spoon. “Rinse the rag out once you’re done and hang it up to dry… there you go.”

“Bread time.  What do we need to do?”

“Read the recipe out loud to me,” Raemond said with a chuckle.

Rae nodded. “Water, yeast, and a bit of the honey go into the bowl… that has to sit for a couple minutes until it foams up.”

He ruffled his grandson’s hair before helping him measure out the water and yeast. “Both hands on the cup, sparrow, so you don’t spill the water all over yourself.”

“What happens if I do?”

“You’ll have to take a break to dry yourself off, that’s all.  Pour it in slowly or else you’re going to splash everywhere.  There you go, just like that.” Raemond smiled. “Good job.  Now we have to leave it alone for a minute.”

“Fine…”

There was a meow from the doorway and Rae spun, his expression brightening as he saw Bucket rubbing against the frame.  The fluffy white cat meowed again before trotting into the room and winding through Raemond’s legs, purring loudly.

“Good afternoon Bucket,” Raemond said with a laugh, stepping over the cat to look at the recipe his grandson had picked.

Rae knelt, picking Bucket up and scratching under his chin, giggling when he pressed into the touch. “Can we teach Bucket how to make bread?”

“Do you want cat hair in your food?”

He shrugged. “He likes to curl up on my pillow and cover my bed in fur.  I’m used to it.”

Raemond chuckled. “And I suppose you don’t spend five minutes spluttering whenever you get cat fur in your mouth?”

“I don’t,” he huffed, pouting as he stared up at his grandpa.

“Put the cat down, wash your hands, and help me with this.”

Rae set Bucket down on a chair before washing his hands again and rolling his sleeves up to his elbows just like Grandpa.  Bucket made his displeasure with being set down clearly and loudly, crying as Rae walked away.

Raemond raised an eyebrow at the cat. “You are being overdramatic.”

“You keep talking to him like he’s going to understand you.”

“He’s a smart cat, he knows what’s going on and what I’m saying,” he said, smiling as Bucket jumped down and went into the garden. “There he goes, your mother will be upset if he starts digging in her flower beds again.”

“Mom put something on the dirt that he doesn’t like the smell of.”

Raemond nodded. “Probably pepper.”

“Poppop said we should put a sprinkler system there that’ll turn on when Bucket gets too close.”

“I’m sure he just wanted to design something like that,” he said with a laugh, brushing his fingers over his marriage ring. “But we want Bucket in the garden to keep little pests away from the vegetables.  I brought him back for that after all.”

Rae shrugged. “I like him better when I get him to chase me around the house with a bit of string.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Can we finish making the bread now?” he asked. “Is the yeast ready?”

Raemond glanced over at it before nodding. “Yes, get the measuring cup and one of the butter knives for the flour.”

“You’re trusting me with a knife?”

“Do I need to revoke your apple-cutting privileges?” he asked with an eye roll and a smile. “And a dull knife, Rae.  You don’t need anything sharp for flattening the flour.”

He laughed as he grabbed both things and joined his grandpa at the counter again. “Can I put the flour in?”

“Can I trust you with a knife?”

Rae stuck his tongue out at Raemond. “Yes!”

“OK then, you’re in charge of the flour.”

They worked in relative silence, bird song floated through the open window and the record player still spun in the corner.  Rae got flour on his face accidentally and made his grandpa laugh.  When it came time to knead the dough Raemond slipped his ring off and put it on his necklace before splitting the dough in half so they could each work on it separately.

After a few minutes, Rae paused with a huff. “Grandpa, my hands hurt.”

“That’s fine,” Raemond said. “You did a good job.  It takes a lot of work, doesn’t it?”

He nodded, humming in agreement.

“I’ll finish with these while you grab a dish towel, OK?”

“OK!” He opened a drawer and grabbed one of the clean dish towels from it, holding it out for Raemond.

“I’ll be ready for that in a second.” Raemond put the dough back into the bowl before taking the towel from him and covering the bowl with it. “Thank you.”

“Now what?”

He rinsed his hands quickly in the sink before poking at the embers under the oven. “We have to stick it somewhere warm for an hour or two while the dough rises.  Then we can bake it and it’ll be ready in time for dinner.”

“OK,” Rae said with a nod.

Raemond set the bowl on top of the oven. “There we go.  Wash your hands and find something to do while we wait, I’ll get you once it's ready for the next step.”

He nodded again and washed his hands. “Promise?”

“I promise, kiddo.  Go play.”

Rae smiled before darting out of the room, running somewhere else in the house.  Raemond watched him go with a soft laugh before cleaning up the supplies from making the bread.

“It’s OK to go back to the bed and breakfast or the library,” Aax told him with a slight smile, their ear fins’ fronds waving in the soft breeze moving through the area at the foot of the giant tree. “No one’s going to judge you.

Rae twisted his fingers together but shook his head. “I’ll be fine— it’s fine.  I think I just need a minute… there’s a lot of people here.”

“That’s fine!” they chirped as its tail curled around his leg for a moment before pulling away. “I get it.”

He missed the weight of their tail around his leg. “I’ve met everyone here.  It’s fine.”

Aax nodded. “You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to.  We can just get food and hang out at the bench.”

“These are your friends.  I don’t want to pull you away from them.”

“Rae, it’s fine.  I’d rather you be comfortable.”

He looked at the olm for a moment before nodding. “Ok.  I’m ready.”

“Perfect!” Aax grinned at him, showing off all their sharp teeth before turning.

Rae followed Aax into the lantern-lit clearing.  Fireflies flittered in the grass and bushes surrounding the clearing.  The air buzzed with magic radiating from the tree and the bugs hiding in the foliage.  It made it so much easier to breathe.  It felt like he was inhaling pure magic that could carefully stitch together his broken and rotting insides.  Caspian waved at him from where he was messing with the jukebox in the corner and Rae waved back.

“Here.” They stopped in front of the hanging bench built under a canopy of vines and climbing flowers that were blooming thanks to Momboo’s magic (her magic that made Rae’s skin burn when he shook her hand for the first time). “We can sit here until you’re ready to get food.”

Rae folded a leg beneath him as he sat down on the bench and leaned against the wooden slatted back, feeling the edge of the planks dig into his spine, ribs, and muscles with a pressure others may have called painful.  It felt good like his leg trapped beneath his body weight, Aax’s tail around his leg, Fenris' hand brushing against his back, Caspian tucking a strand of hair behind his ear when his hands were full, Athena brushing against him as they passed each other on the stairs, or Jamie bumping into him as they moved stuff around the library.  Above him, the visible sky was painted with twinkling stars where the tree’s leaves didn’t manage to cover with its massive canopy.

“Rae?” Jamie asked, sounding surprised. “I didn’t expect you to make it.”

He lowered his gaze from the stars to look at them and smiled gently. “Hi, Jamie.”

“I had to drag him out of the library,” Aax told them. “But I wouldn’t let Rae spend the evening holed away there while everyone else hung out.”

The bear’s eyes lit up, ears turning slightly to focus fully on Rae. “Oh!  How’s that going?  I’m sorry I haven’t been able to help with it the past few days.”

“It’s going really well.  I finally finished with the first floor’s main room this afternoon.  I’m just trying to decide the next part I’m going to tackle.  I want to finish the workshop because there are books that need to be fixed but I shouldn’t start fixing books until everything’s cleaned up.” He shrugged. “However, the second floor has all the books on magic which I really want to look through which I can do as I clean up there.”

“That’s good,” Jamie said. “I should be able to help tomorrow, I promise.  I’ve just been busy with a few other projects.”

He shook with head with a smile. “Don’t worry about it, Jamie.  I appreciate it that you’re taking time out of your day to help me with it already.”

“Thanks for understanding.  I’ll see you later!” Then the bear was trotting away, going to join the rest of his family at the very base of the tree.

“They care about you,” Aax said from beside him, sitting so their legs were on the bench, effectively talking up its seat and the middle seat, pushing Rae to the other side of the bench… not that the necromancer cared all that much when Aax smiled at him in their weird, tight-lipped way, pale eyes scrunching up (its red sunglasses hanging from his partially unbuttoned shirt because it was dark enough for him to see easily) and ear fins spreading, the fronds waving in a rippling pattern.

“I suppose so,” he agreed halfheartedly.

“Hey.” Its tail nudged his leg. “No talking like that, Rae.  You’re a good person whom both Jamie and Athena really like.”

If only Aax knew that rotting magic that kept him together and alive.  If only they knew of the selfish plans he was making.  If only they knew…

Instead, Rae said. “Thank you.”

“They’d never not want to hang out with you,” they continued. “We’ve yet to have any bad interactions with you.”

“You–” He pointed an accusing finger at them. “You have yet to see me caffeinated.”

“Good to note, don’t give the librarian coffee,” Caspian teased as he walked over. “Aax, scooch over so I can fit.”

“That seems wrong.” Aax moved into the middle seat, his legs going into Rae’s lap. “Librarians seem like people who’d need coffee and caffeine.”

He sat down where Aax had been, smiling when the olm leaned back against him, head falling onto his shoulder. “Noncaffeinated coffee then.”

Rae scoffed, sure that if he was alive he’d be blushing. “What’s the point of drinking coffee if I don’t get caffeine from it?”

“It tastes good,” Cas protested.

The magic used between them snorted. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Your taste buds are just fucked up.”

“To be fair,” Aax said, pointing a finger into the air. “My taste buds and my digestive system is fucked up.  Get it right, babe.”

“Oh no.” Caspian leaned down and kissed their forehead. “I’m sorry.”

Watching them, Rae couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous though he wasn’t sure who’s position he’d want to take.  He would content himself with the position he had been given though.

“I forgive you.” The olm’s thin, scared fingers tapped a pattern against their knee. “What did people bring for food?”

Cas glanced over at the table. “There’s sun-baked potatoes, fresh bread, bacon, curry of some kind, and a whole basket of fruit.”

“I think I can correctly guess who brought what.”

“Yeah, baby?”

They nodded. “Mhm.  Sun-baked potatoes are Athena and Jamie.  I know Fenris brought the bread.  Bacon Centross.  Curry is either Ulysses or Athena.  The basket is Momboo probably.”

“That seems about right.  I don’t know though, I wasn’t watching the table that hard.”

Aax gasped, their hand pressing against its chest. “Caspian!  How could you?”

Rae found his focus captivated entirely by the way that the lantern light turned the flyaway strands of Caspian’s brown hair to hold or the way it made his red eyes sparkle like precious gems.  He watched dry lips curl into soft smiles as the man stared down at his partner and— he stopped.  Rae rested his arm on the back of the bench, laying his head down to watch Caspian and Aax chatter softly.  The leg not folded under him sat on the floor to keep the bench rocking slightly.  He got to see Aax’s eyes… pale blue and watery, beautiful like melting ice but so much warmer than that.  He got to see Caspian play with the long magenta strands of hair falling over the olm’s shoulders.  He got to watch.  He would be content watching.

“Are you hungry?” Caspian asked, breaking the silence after a few long, peaceful moments. “I feel like it’s food time.”

Aax huffed. “I don’t feel like getting up.”

He chuckled softly. “I’ll get you food, don’t worry darling.  Rae?”

Rae raised his head before getting up. “Yeah… food sounds good actually.”

“Cool.” Cas smiled at him. “Come on.”

He followed the shorter man across the area to the table with the food everyone had brought.  Rae took the plate Caspian handed to him and looked across the table, chewing on his lip as he tried to decide what he wanted.  Next to him, Cas filled up a plate with bacon for Aax.

“Can you hold this while I serve myself?” Caspian asked. “Unless you know what you want, then I can wait.”

Rae took Aax’s plate from him. “You go first.”

“Thanks.” He served himself food, taking a little bit of everything. “I’ll take Aax’s plate now, thank you.”

He watched as Caspian walked back over to Aax before turning back to the food and serving himself.  Then he joined them at the bench, Aax sitting cross-legged in the middle, Caspian next to them, both of them waiting patiently for Rae to settle down before they began to eat.

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” Rae told them as he balanced his plant on his knee. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

Aax shrugged. “But we wanted to so we did.”

He frowned for a moment before grinning quickly. “I’m sure it must be hard for Caspian to stay up for food so late past his bedtime.”

“Because of his great age,” the olm said with a nod. “Yes, yes.”

“Hey!” Caspian protested. “Fuck you!”

His boyfriend patted his head. “You’ll survive, darling.  It’s OK to age.”

“And you’re aging very gracefully for the most part,” Rae said.

Cas raised an eyebrow at him. “Where the fuck am I not aging gracefully??”

“I thought it was obvious?  When you deny how old you’re getting.  Denial isn’t a good look on anyone, to be honest.”

He leaned back, scoffing. “Unbelievable, both of you.  I can’t believe this.”

“Don’t worry, Caspian,” Aax said easily. “We still love you.”

Rae smiled thinly as the man snorted in laughter, starting to eat.  There was silence as they all ate, the bench creaking slightly as one of them shifted and accidentally rocked it with a foot against the ground.  He could see himself making a life for himself in the town surrounding the giant tree.  He could see himself finishing up with the library and making a job out of its upkeep.  He could see himself building a house for himself, Isla, Raemond, and Everett.  He could imagine Grandpa taking over the bookbinding for the library.  He could imagine Poppop and Caspian working together on something to do with the redstone they both loved so much.

He hoped that they would still accept him after he raised the dead.  And properly raised the dead too— no hungry husks shambling around— nothing that could pass as a living person but was a mindless puppet— but a living, breathing person with free will.  He knew he could do it.  He hadn’t done it on himself but no one hand brought themselves back to life.  If he could raise the dead while dead then he could bring someone back to life.

He could have Mom back.  He could have Grandpa back.  He could have Poppop back.  He could have his cat back.  He could gain a life back he thought was torn away from him.  He had the power, he could do it.  It would take so much work though.  He would have to make sure they all had a place to stay once it was done.  He would have to make sure they could run if need be.  The town was accepting of their necromancer but they didn’t know he was one and the magic he was planning to do was so much stronger than bringing a dog or a bone cat back to life.

“Hey,” Fenris said. “Mind if we sit with you?”

Caspian said. “Not at all though I don’t think you’ll fit on the bench.”

Rae blinked and looked up to see Fenris settling himself on the ground, legs folded neatly under him.  Next to him, Centross kind of just folded in on himself, legs crossed weirdly, to sit down, skin stained black and purple from his magic shifting in the lantern light.  His gaze was drawn to his black, blue, and purple fingers.  If he squinted he could pretend he had dipped his fingers in ink.

“How have you two been?” Aax watched.

“Good,” Centross said, stabbing a fork into his potato.

“Darling…” Fenris sighed at him and shook his head. “We’ve been good.  I’ve been working on expanding the stables, adding another stall or two… might enlarge the pasture slightly.  Centross has been hollowing out the mountain beneath us.”

The other necromancer scoffed. “I have not been.  I’ve been exploring and mapping the caves.”

“And enlarging them.”

“Unimportant.”

Fenris rolled his eyes. “Sure Centross, sure.”

“Anyways,” Centross said. “What have you guys been up to?”

Caspian smiled, setting his empty plate to the side. “I’ve been working on planting a forest outside our house, just a bit down the hill.  Momboo’s been helping me with that to get the trees to grow.”

“So you can enjoy the forest in a week instead of five years?” Fenris asked with a quick grin.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “There was a pond there that I made look pretty and enlarged.  Forest is going around that with my workshop and writing shed on the edge of it.”

“That’s cool.  Aax?”

The olm shrugged, his tail curling into their lap as it fiddled with his glasses, his hands unable to stay still for very long. “I’ve been fishing from the dock, nothing super interesting.”

“You found a new axolotl,” Caspian reminded them gently, nudging their shoulder.

“Oh right!” It grinned, ear fins waving excitedly. “I did!  I don’t know what I’m going to name it yet but it’s yellow and has a funky back leg.”

“Yardstick,” Centross suggested.

“Excuse me, love?” Fenris asked, turning to face him. “Excuse me??”

He glanced around quickly, eyes going wide. “What!?  Yardsticks are three feet, right?  Right?”

“Yeah,” Rae said with a nod. “They are.”

“If the axolotl has a funky foot then name it yardstick,” Centross said.

“It feels cruel to name it after a defect.” Caspian raised an eyebrow at Aax. “Up to you though.”

Aax smiled. “I like it!!  When you guys come over next I’ll show you Yardstick.”

Fenris laughed even as he shook his head. “Of course, I don’t know what else I expected from you.  Centross, Aax, you two are meneces.”

“We shouldn’t be left unsupervised,” it agreed.

“Of course not.” He turned to Rae. “How has the library been going?”

Rae’s head jerked up and he accidentally made direct eye contact with the man before looking quickly at the grass underfoot. “It’s been good,” he said. “Aax and Caspian have been helping with it mostly and Athena’s helped where she can but she struggles a lot with the heavy lifting when we’re moving bookshelves around or repairing a few things.”

“I hope there isn’t much that needs to be repaired,” Fenris said.

“No, no.  There wasn’t much and nothing major for structure.” He shook his head. “I think we replaced a floorboard and a couple of stairs.”

“Put it new fencing along both balconies,” Caspian added.

Rae smiled quickly at him. “Yeah.  It didn’t seem like it was going to fall but we honestly didn’t want to risk anyone leaning against it and falling.  It seems like bad luck or something.”

Centross spoke up, asking. “What’s the next part for it that you’re going to work on?”

“Um…” He paused, frowning for a moment. “I don’t know if I want to work on the second floor or the workshop next.”

“Pros and cons?” came Fenris' gentle suggestion.

Rae nodded. “Mhm.  If I finish the workshop then I’ll have a place where I can start repairing books which takes time.  Thankfully the protective on the shelves seems to have protected most of the books there’s still going to be stuff that needs to be fixed.”

“And the second floor?”

“I’ll know more about the books there and have a better idea of the books that need to be repaired.  However, they’re magic books and I’ll want to read all of them and I won’t have a place to repair them as needed.”

“Makes sense to take care of the workshop area first then,” Caspian said. “But what about the other section?”

Rae laughed slightly. “That looks a lot more like a museum than anything.  I’ll tackle that once I’m done with everything else.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“I might clean up the work area next even so I have a place to put books that need fixing.  And get book repairs started while cleaning the second floor.”

Fenris smiled slightly. “Well… I am also more than happy to help.  I’m sure Centross is as well.”

The other necromancer shoved his boyfriend’s shoulder with a scoff, his words biting but his tone joking. “I better not get any fucking dust in my face that’s going to take multiple showers to wash it all out of my hair.”

He laughed and kissed Centross’ cheek. “You’re being overdramatic, love.”

“I am not!  There’s too much fucking dust in that library!  Rae, I have no idea how you’re not constantly covered in dust at the end of every day.”

Rae rolled his eyes. “I don’t stick my head in cobwebs.”

“I don’t either!!  One must have moved.”

Aax grinned quickly. “Of course.  Because magical moving cobwebs are common in magical libraries.”

“How many magical libraries have you encountered?” Centross asked. “They may be!”

“Right… right.”

“And besides,” he scoffed. “The library has favorites.”

“It’s an inanimate building,” Caspian said. “It doesn’t java favorites.”

Centross rolled his eyes. “It certainly has least favorites.”

“Yeah sure, OK Centross.  We’ll go with that.”

“I can’t believe you don’t believe me,” he said.

Fenris chuckled lightly. “It’s a building, Centross.”

“I don’t care!!  It doesn’t like me!!”

“It does like you,” Rae said. “The library is full of magic, it's not that inanimate anymore.  It’s not going to start moving or talking but…” He shrugged. “I guess it’s kind of like you brought some statute to life.  It’s not alive but it has personality and things it likes to do but not going to start doing random stuff.”

Caspian raised his eyebrows. “Magic is weird.  I’m honestly kind of glad that I don’t have to deal with it that often.  No offense, Fenris or Centross.”

“None was taken,” said Fenris easily, Centross nodding along. “We understand, trust me.”

“Cool.  Good.”

Rae smiled as he tuned out their conversation, turning his head to stare out across the town, seeing the lanterns dotting the paths illuminate the surrounding buildings, some of which had lights glowing in their windows.  It was peaceful.  It was nice.

After a while Fenris got to his feet, brushing dirt off of his pants. “Well,” he said. “It’s been nice talking to you all but I’m going to head home.  Centross, you coming?”

Centross shook his head but stood up. “I’ll be home later.  Icarus, Ocie, and I are stopping by the tavern for a bit.”

“OK.” He nodded. “Message me if you need anything.  You three, I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow.  Rae, will you be working at the library?”

“Yeah, plenty of dusting needs to be done in the workshop,” Rae said with a nod.

Fenris smiled at him. “I’ll bring cleaning supplies by again.”

“I think we left a large portion of them at the library still.”

“Rags then, I think I brought them all back to wash.”

“OK.” Rae smiled quickly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Fenris nodded before walking away, pausing briefly where Jamie, Momboo, Athena, and Easton were sitting to say goodbye before leaving.

“I probably won’t be by the library tomorrow…” Centross chuckled slightly. “At least not in the morning.”

“Have fun with Icarus and Ocie,” Caspian said as Centross walked away.

Aax yawned as he leaned against Caspian’s shoulder. “It’s getting late.”

“Mhm.” He pressed his lips to the other’s forehead. “Everyone’s getting ready to head home.  Are you ready?”

He nodded. “Yeah.  Bed seems nice.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Rae?” Caspian asked as he got to his feet.

“Yeah.” Rae smiled. “See you tomorrow.”

Aax got to their feet, stretching with a groan. “I probably won’t be there.  Ocie and I are doing some exploring.”

“Are you heading back to the…” Cas trailed off with a slight frown, exchanging a glance with Aax.

“The bed and breakfast?” Rae finished. “Yeah, probably.  I’ll see if Athena and Jamie need any help here first.”

He nodded. “Right.  You don’t have to say yes and there’s no need for you to answer right now but we have space in our house for you to stay if you want.  There’s a guest room that could become yours.”

“Oh.” The necromancer paused, eyes wide. “Are you sure?”

“We are,” Aax said with a nod. “We wouldn’t ask you if we weren’t but yeah, we have space and we’d like for you to join us.”

“Just think about it,” Caspian’s words came out quickly. “You don’t have to say yes.  You don’t have to answer right away.  Just something for you to consider.”

Rae smiled quickly at them. “Thank you.  I’ll think about it.  Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, Rae.” His eyes were beautiful and serious, nearly black in the half-light filling the clearing. “We like being with you.”

Aax smiled quickly at him, heading ducking and making his fins shift, the lantern light against his skin almost making it look like he was shining— shimmering— glowing. “We want you to feel at home here.”

“Thank you,” Rae said again before the two of them walked away.  He was left sitting on a bench, in the half-darkness, watching them go, his cheek burning, his stomach feeling like it was full of butterflies.  Without them, the night seemed colder— stranger— less welcoming.  The lanterns didn’t burn brightly with the same golden light as they had before.  The fireflies were still there but their flight patterns and little blinking glow didn’t remind him of stars dancing in the grass anymore.  He could hear the buzz of bugs in the bushes and the low rumble of conversation from the people still in the clearing but it was quiet and he was alone.

His ink-stained fingers twisted together— twisted into his shirt— twisted around his cold necklace.  They had asked him to live with them.  They seemed uncertain that he would say yes.  He would say yes a thousand times because it meant he got to share a space with the sun and the moon and— oh fuck…

He was in love, wasn’t he?

Rae took the steps two at a time going down in a way he knew would make Mom watch him like a hawk.  Bucket trotted right behind him only to stop two-thirds of the way down and meow pitifully.  He reached the first floor of the house and spun into the hallway stretching from the front door to the kitchen at the very back, the wooden floor warm underfoot.  Bucket meowed at him again, winding around the banister’s supports.  He rolled his eyes but grabbed the cat and let it climb up to lay across his shoulders.  Rae walked down the hallway, slower this time to not risk dislodging Bucket and not get claws sunk into his skin.  The cat’s long, fluffy tail tickled him as it flicked.

“Poppop?” Rae asked as he poked his head into Everett’s workshop.

Poppop looked up and pushed his glasses further up his nose. “Rae?”

“Are you busy?” he said with a quick smile. “It’s Mom’s birthday in a week.”

The older man spun on his stool to look at the calendar hanging from his wall. “So it is, very observant.  Do you need my help with a birthday gift?”

Rae glanced down at his feet, shuffling. “Please?”

“What’s your plan right now?” Everett asked, setting his notebook to the side and turning his full attention to his grandson, resting his chin on his palm.

“Grandpa wants to rebind her storybook.”

“Mhm.  The one that’s split in half and missing a cover?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“So what do you want to do?” he asked.

“A skirt?” he said hesitantly. “With big pockets?”

Everett smiled softly. “That seems like a wonderful idea, Rae, do you have any idea what you want it to look like?”

His face lit up and he nodded. “Yeah!  I made some sketches… those are in my room.  I’ll be right back.” Rae bent forward quickly, sending Bucket to the floor before straightening and leaving the room.  He darted up the stairs and across the hall to his room.  His notebook sat on his desk where he had left it.  Rae grabbed it, ran back downstairs, and spun into the workshop again.

“Got it?” Everett asked.

He set it down on the table, opened it. and flipped to some of the last pages he had been working on. “Yeap!”

“I’ll close the door so Isla doesn’t walk in and hear our super secret plans.”

Rae smiled and climbed onto Everett’s stool when the older man got down to close the door. “It would be very sad if she found out.”

He nodded. “We’d have to find something new to make for her birthday.  You stole my chair.”

“You have another one!”

Everett chuckled, shaking his head as he grabbed the other stool in his workshop and dragged it over to the table where Rae sat. “OK, show me your plans.  I’m sure I have Isla’s skirt measurements around here somewhere.”

“She has notes on everyone’s in her room,” Rae said. “I could always borrow those.”

“You little thief.”

“Only if necessary and only if I’m caught.”

He laughed. “Mhm.  Show me your designs and talk me through what you like about them.  You know I’m not as good as your Grandpa with fashion.”

“I like the length of this one,” Rae said as he started pointing at them. “And the design of this one.  And for this one, I like the pocket placement.”

“You know where the fabric is kept, choose a pattern.  I’ll get out the mannequin,” Everett said, smiling as his grandson hopped off the stool and ran from the room, the workshop door hitting against the door stop roughly. “And careful with the doors, sparrow!!”

“Sorry Poppop!” he called back.  A few minutes later Rae came back with an armful of fabric which he dumped on the floor. “I got it.”

Everett turned to give him his full attention and smiled slightly. “OK.  Show it to me.”

“OK so!  Green?  I don’t think Mom has many green skirts and I like the color.”

“She’ll love anything you give her, Rae,” he said gently. “Remember that.”

Rae nodded. “I know… I just want it to look good.”

“Kiddo, she’ll love it.  I promise.  Why don’t you get the measurements from her room and then we can get started, yeah?”

“OK!”

Everett couldn’t help but smile and shake his head as his grandson went running through the house, Bucket running at his heels judging from the sound of Rae’s laughing ringing through the building and the cat’s loud meow.

Chapter Text

“Rae, baby?” Isla paused in the doorway.

Rae got up quickly when he saw how worried she looked. “Are they here?” he asked. “We’re supposed to have more time?  They weren’t even supposed to come.”

“I know, I know.” She handed him his cloak. “Grab your bag.  I have food and water prepared downstairs for you.”

He slipped it over his shoulders, tied it across his chest, and grabbed his bag, following her downstairs.  Bucket meowed loudly as they passed, swiping at Isla’s skirt. “How close are they?”

“The warning came that they’re down the road by the village— 30 minutes away at most, it's a two-mile walk and it takes a minute for the bird to get here.” Raemond was lacing his boots up in the kitchen. “They have weapons with them.  The sheriff is leading.”

“Fuck,” Rae swore.

Isla picked up a small bundle from the counter, shooing a tiny, skeletal mouse away from it, and handed the cloth to Rae. “Food for a few days.  Get your shoes on.”

He took the food from her, slipping it into her bag before grabbing his shoes from their spot by the door.  His hands were shaking as he pulled them on and tied the laces, making him redo the knots a couple of times.

“Come here, Rae,” Raemond said gently, his voice somehow calm despite the threat of death hanging over all of them. “Your hands are shaking, I can help.”

Rae sat down next to him, letting him lean down to finish lacing up his shoes. “You’re the one supposed to have shaky hands, Grandpa.”

“And you’re supposed to still be a little sparrow… not a full-grown adult already.”

Everett appeared in the doorway. “Raemond, love, are you ready?”

“Yes, I am.” Raemond stood, cupping Rae’s cheek in his hand as he pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll see you soon.  I promise.”

Rae got to his feet quickly to hug his grandpa. “Where are you going?”

“Everett and I are taking the horse further down the road,” he said gently as he rubbed his grandson’s back. “We’ll meet you at the tree.”

“We’ll see you again, I promise,” Everett said, pulling Isla close and kissing the top of her head. “We’ll be safe, don’t worry.”

Isla hugged back with a soft smile. “I know.  We’re all going to worry about each other regardless.”

Raemond laughed as he pulled away from Rae and kissed his daughter on the cheek. “You’re smart and strong, you’ll be fine.  Rae’s had a wonderful mother and teacher, he’ll be fine.”

“I know,” she said. “Dad, you have to go now.  We’ll see you in a couple of days, I promise.  Take your time.  Don’t rush and don’t do anything stupid.”

Bucket meowed loudly as he jumped onto a chair, drawing Rae’s attention. “Grandpa, what about him?”

Raemond turned to the cat, his expression sad as he brushed his fingers down the animal’s back (Bucket arching into it with a purr). “Go lay down in your bed,” he commanded the creature he had raised from the dead. “Rest.  Sleep.  You don’t need to be a subject of their anger.”

They all watched as the cat jumped down from the chair with a soft “mrrrp” and trotted upstairs, moving out of sight.

“We’ll come back for him, right?” Rae asked.

Everett nodded. “Of course, we will, once it's safe.”

He nodded and hugged the older man. “OK.”

“We might have to build a new home but we can do that,” Isla said. “They’re not going to be able to ruin this one but it won’t be safe anymore.”

Rae nodded.

“Everett, we need to go,” Raemond said sternly.  There was a moment of silence in the kitchen and then Everett nodded.  The two of them left quickly through the back door into the garden.  They disappeared quickly into the darkness of the forest there, helped by protective magic.

Rae turned to Isla, his voice soft. “Mom?”

She crossed the room quickly to pull him close, cupping his face in her hands and leaning up to kiss his forehead. “I love you,” she said. “I’m proud of you.  You’re going to be OK.  I promise.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hid his face in her shoulder. “I love you too.”

“We’re going opposite directions,” she told him. “I’m crossing the road while you go deeper into the forest.  You know how to navigate.  You know how to cast spells to help.  Don’t draw attention to yourself.  There’s enough food for a few days but it’s OK to stop if you need more.  Be careful when you go into towns, please .”

Rae nodded. “I know, Mom, I know.  I love you.”

Isla stepped back with a soft smile. “I love you too, my little star.  I’ll see you in a few days, I promise.”

“I know.”

She glanced toward the front door and frowned. “We’ll go out the back.  They shouldn’t been here yet but still—”

“Can I have a house key?” he asked softly as he stepped into the garden, pulling his cloak tighter against the cold night air. “Please?”

Isla’s expression nearly crumpled as it landed on her son, now in his twenties, standing on the back steps, heavy cloak wrapped around his shoulders, staring up at her with so much trust and love. “Of course,” she managed to say.  She took the last key hanging by the backdoor and handed it to him. “Keep it safe, Rae.”

“I will,” he promised.

“I know.” Isla closed and locked the door behind her. “Go.”

Rae stared at her for one more moment, taking in her pale blonde hair braided out of her face, her cloudy blue eyes, the green skirt that he had made once for a birthday gift, the house key hanging around her neck, and her own cloak with the light blue ribbon woven in along the edge.

“Go,” she repeated.

He nodded and turned, walking down the garden path, stepping through the gate, and heading into the forest, snapping his fingers to summon just enough light to not trip on the roots underfoot once his house was out of sight behind a thick line of trees.

Rae put his few belongings in his bag before he swung it over his shoulder.  The room in the Bed and Breakfast he had spent the last few weeks in was as empty as it had been when he had arrived.  The bed was made neatly and the windows open to let in a warm summer breeze.  He tightened his bootlaces before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

Caspian was standing in the kitchen, chattering softly with Athena, and looked up as Rae got to the first floor, smiling quickly. “Rae!  Got everything?”

He nodded as he patted his bag. “I do.”

“Cool.  Let’s go then.”

“Athena.” He turned to the fire mage with a soft smile. “Thank you for letting me stay here, it was really nice.”

“Of course Rae,” they chirped, smiling back. “I’m glad that you have a more permanent place to stay and if it doesn’t work out with Aax and Caspian, which I’m sure it will because my uncles are amazing, you can always come back here.  Or we’ll help you build your own place to stay.”

Rae laughed. “Thank you.”

“Can I hug you?” Athena asked. “Please?”

“Of course.” He opened his arms and they moved forward quickly to wrap her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.  He hugged back before kissing the top of her head hesitantly.  When they started to purr he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Thank you,” they whispered as they stepped back.

Rae shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me, Athena.  You’re the one who gave me a place to live.”

“Wolf would have built you a room if we couldn’t help you.  You wouldn’t have a place to live.  You’re the one who’s spearheading the entire library project.”

“You have done amazing things with that,” Caspian agreed. “No one else would have started that.”

“Thank you…” Rae smiled quickly at him before pulling back from Athena.

“We’ll see you later,” Cas told Athena as they headed to the door.

The two adults left the bed and breakfast, Rae turning back to wave goodbye to Athena.  It was a nice day, the sun high over the world and the tree casting a large part of the village in cool shade.  A breeze danced through the hair, ruffling the bushes and banners, and caught stray locks of hair, making Caspian’s hair blow around his face at every sudden gust.  Rae was captivated by the way the other man kept brushing his hair back, unable to stop imagining what those brown strands would feel like if he got a chance to play with them the same way he had seen Aax do.

They walked down the stairs leading to Aax and Caspian’s sprawling property.  There were the small stables/barn set closest to the stairwell.  The house was built out of the mountain, slanted roof and sturdy walls protruding from solid stone draped with moss.  A river emerged from an undergrown spring, forming a small pond by the stables before pouring into a larger pond right past the house where a dock sat.  Across the small waterfall, crossable by a bridge, there were animal pens and gardens.  Past that, a forest of cherry and azalea trees blocked the majority of the shimmering ocean from sight.

Aax was at the dock, fishing pole in hand as it sat on the edge, legs dangling over the water with their red sunglasses and wide-brimmed hat on to combat the bright sun.

“Aax!” Caspian called when he reached the bottom of the steps, following the path past his house to where his boyfriend sat. “Look who I got!!”

Aax looked up and fuck — Rae saw how the light shone against his pale skin, reflected from the water below him, making him look like some ethereal sea creature, equal parts beautiful and dangerous (Grandpa had been good with poems, he had enjoyed reading and writing them.  Rae inherited none of his talents and was stuck captivated by the way Aax made the world around them glow).

“Rae!” Aax set their fishing rod to the side and scrambled to its feet, running over. “Rae!!”

“Hi—” he managed to get out before the olm was hugging him tightly, barely coming up to his shoulder.  Rae stumbled back to keep his balance but hugged back.

“I knew you’d come!” It was saying, tail flicking back and forth with excitement. “I knew it but Caspian was being worried and overthinking it.  He didn’t think that you’d want to live with us.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to live with you two?” Rae asked, glancing at Caspian. “You have been such good friends to me.”

He told himself he imagined the flash of disappointment that flashed across Caspian’s face.  He told himself he imagined how Aax pulled away quicker with his words, ear fins flicking down for a moment.

Then Aax was excited again (so quickly he must have been imagining it). “See?!  I told you, Cas!”

“Yeah.” Caspian smiled. “We’d feel bad if you had to spend more time at the bed and breakfast— not saying that Athena and Jamie are amazing hosts.”

“You should have your room,” Aax told him, their voice firm. “You’re not someone passing through quickly.”

Rae nodded. “Thank you, both of you.”

“Don’t mention it.” He grinned brightly. “House tour time?”

Caspian rolled his eyes as he headed to the front door, holding it open for Aax and Rae to enter. “Maybe we should give Rae a chance to set his bag down first.”

“It’s not that heavy, I’m fine,” Rae said, stepping inside the house.

The floor was one open room, the front door set above the main area by a few steps.  The ceiling was high and, on either side of the room in the smaller alcoves, there were huge windows.  To the left was the kitchen, small and cozy, and to the right was the dining room table, shoved almost comically into the small place with chairs surrounding it.  In the center of the room, there was a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and a fluffy rug.  On the back wall, there was a door leading deeper into the mountain, a spiraling staircase to the right going down, a large stairwell to the left going upstairs, and a dog bed tucked into the area under the stairs.

“It’s nice in here,” Rae said, stepping away from the front door and following Aax.

“Thanks.” They grinned quickly at him. “Caspian built most of it.”

“You helped.” Caspian rolled his eyes as he closed the front door behind him. “We’ll show you your room so you can drop off your bag.”

Aax bounced on his feet. “Then house tour!!”

“Which also includes a meet and greet with all his axolotls along with seeing every inch of the mess that is the yard, including the weird sheep and the hole,” he said, feigning annoyance though his smile gave him away.

“Thank you,” Rae told them.

Cas waved it off. “Don’t mention it.”

Aax opened the doors leading deeper into the mountain to reveal a hallway. “Guest room is right there to your right but your room is at the end of the hallway on the left.”

Rae pushed open that door, stepping into the room.  The bed was pushed against the wall to the right, deep purple fabric forming a canopy to keep it out of sight.  There was a massive window with a couch directly under it.  There were empty bookshelves that he could fill with his stuff.

“Do you like this?” Aax asked hesitantly. “We got Wolf to help design it.”

“You—” Rae was at a loss for words as he turned to see them standing awkwardly in the doorway.  He swallowed hard before laughing. “Like it?  I love it.  Oh my god— Aax, Caspian… all this just for me?”

“We wanted to,” Caspian told him with a smile. “We wanted you to feel comfortable here.”

“Put your bag down!  I want to show you around!” Aax said, his fins vibrating with excitement.

“He might want to unpack first—”

Rae laughed as he set his bag on the couch. “It’s fine, Cas.  Show me around., please.”

“Follow me!” Aax chirped, heading back down the hallway. “Upstairs is our room.  Cas, is Atlas up there?”

Cas shook his head. “No.  Jamie took her to play with a bunch of the other dogs.  She’ll be back later though.”

“Cool.  Rae, you’ve met Atlas, right?”

“I have,” Rae said, following Aax up the stairs after a moment’s hesitation.

Their bedroom was the only thing on that floor with a massive window showing off the gardens and the pond outside.  They had a porch that went down a small flight of stairs to the outside path.  Rae decided that their bed looked very comfortable.

“You saw the kitchen, dining room, and living room already,” Aax said. “There’s the storage room on the bottom floor which leads out into the main bathroom and a lush ravine.  Then we have to show you all the animals.  I think you’d like Solaris and Polaris.”

“Who are they again?” Rae asked.

Caspian grinned slightly. “Solaris is a walking bush and Polaris is a fox.”

“Right… I think you’ve told me about them.  And about Joshua.”

“Joshua is a character,” he said, displeasure clear in his tone. “Jamie insisted on keeping them in our yard.”

“Not the weirdest thing that’s in there,” Aax protested. “The hole is weirder.  Solaris is weirder.  The sheep are weirder.”

“Do I want to meet the sheep?” Rae asked.

“No,” Caspian said quickly. “No, you don’t.  They’re creepy, honestly. I don’t like them.”

“Show me anyways.” He grinned at them before laughing as Caspian groaned loudly but led him outside.

An hour later Rae was finally alone in his room with the door shut and locked behind him.  He took a deep breath as he started to unpack his few belongings.  His spare clothes went in the drawers under the bed.  The two books he was reading through went on the shelf.  His notebook and quill were placed carefully on the desk.  His cloak was hung up along with his bag.  He pulled off his boots and unbuckled his bracers from around his forearms to toss them onto the couch.  Then Rae flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the canopy with a heavy sigh.

He felt exhausted for a dead man, tiredness pulling heavy on him in the same way it did after he spent all day working in the library.  It was a good type of exhaustion he decided, tracing constellations from memory in the smooth fabric.

“Oh god…” he trailed off, one arm thrown over his eyes as he groaned. “Fuck.”

He could easily imagine his mom sitting on the other side of the bed, humming softly as she played with his hair.  He didn’t dare open his eyes because that would mean she would disappear.

He had to go back to the home he had grown up in only to be chased out.  He had to bring his mom and granddads back.  But first, he had to have dinner with Aax and Caspian which was somehow more nerve-racking.

They would never hate him but he wanted them to like him.  He didn’t want them to regret inviting him to stay but more importantly, he wanted to be with them.  He didn’t know how to deal with that.  He wasn’t sure how he’d deal with that.  He’d ask Mom, she’d know or she’d have some idea.

“Gods, Rae,” he said to himself. “Dug yourself into a hole, haven’t you?  I don’t have time for stupid crushes, you fool.”

The guard grabbed his shoulder roughly, yanking him back against the stone wall.  He hissed in pain and tried to pull away from them. “Hey!  What the hell?!”

“Rae Morningstar,” the sheriff purred as she stepped into the alleyway, blocking his exit. “What a lovely surprise to see you here.”

He spun, eyes widening when he saw her. “Sheriff Perix?”

“Hello.” She grinned. “Did you really think you’d get away?  Do you think that I’d just let you and your family go free?”

Rae swallowed hard and took a step back. “We don’t want any trouble, Sheriff.  I think you made it pretty clear we weren’t welcomed so we decided to leave.”

The shadows around her deepened, reaching out towards her, little stars barely visible in the darkest part like a part of the night sky was visible (without all its usual color, only the white stars and blue-black expanse left).

“You and your magic are a danger to all the living,” Perix hissed.  Her eyes, glowing sickly green in the shadows, darted to the guard standing behind Rae. “You are dismissed.  I will deal with the necromancer.”

“Sheriff–” protested the guard only to fall silent when she bared her teeth at them.  They nodded before walking past Rae and her to get to the street.

“You won’t kill me,” Rae said as he took another step back. “You wouldn’t dare.  Mom will find out.  Grandpa and Poppop will find out.”

That made her laugh— sharp, cruel, and cold. “Oh Rae,” she purred condescending. “Why do you think we knew where to find you?”

He took another step back, cold horror starting to curl in his stomach. “You—”

Perix’s smile was dangerous. “We found your beloved ‘grandpa and poppop’, you may be happy to know that Raemond put up a fight.  You necromancers are so stubborn when it comes to dying.”

He took another step back, panic making his heart beat against his ribs like a caged bird.  He had to leave.  He had to tell Mom what happened.  He had to make sure Mom was OK.  He couldn’t be the last of his family.

“But I have ways of making people spill secrets even if they don’t want to.  You’re going to the tree.  Isla’s supposed to meet you there.  I have people out looking for her now.  She can’t get far.”

“You monster,” he hissed before he turned and ran.  He didn’t know the town’s backroads as well as the sheriff did and that would be his undoing.

“You can’t run, Rae Morningstar,” Perix called after him.

There was a sickening squelch from behind him, the air filled with the scent of rot and sickness, and the sunlight faded from view.  Rae gasped for breath as he stumbled into a low wall, scraping the skin from his forearm against the rough stone.  He could barely see.  Shadows filled the world around him.

“Rae.” There was her voice from somewhere close by.

He could hear a heartbeat.  He could hear ragged, wet breathing— see the flash of a star-filled night sky painted with blue-black mold.  Sculk oozed from the stones underfoot in a macabre physical manifestation of the sheriff’s magic.

“You can’t run, Rae,” said the sheriff, sounding pleased with herself. “I will find you and I will make sure you’re buried.”

“Please,” he whispered with one hand on the wall to guide him further away from where the sheriff stood. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Your grandfather said the same thing.” She was toying with him.  She found it amusing when he ran and pleaded. “But you’re a necromancer.”

He was standing by someone’s backdoor, next to where they dumped their scraps, he realized as the darkness pulled back slightly, the sculk still lurking in the cracks between stones.  The sheriff stood only a few feet away, her smile sharp.

“Done running?” she asked when he stopped.

There were bones in the scraps.

“No,” Rae said. “I’m not.”

Perix raised an eyebrow. “Then what do you think you’re doing?”

The bones flew through the air like sharp daggers, interlocking into the rough shape of a bird skeleton.  It didn’t grow flesh and become indistinguishable from a living bird because it was simply a hawk made from the bones of chickens and rabbits.  Then it dove at Perix, talons made from broken ribs scrapping down the arm she raised to keep it away from her eyes.

“You—” she snarled and, with a flick of her, called the sculk to rise and engulf the skeleton, bashing it against the wall.

The small, delicate bones broke at contact.  Rae was thankful he didn’t feel the flash of pain or fear that came when something he brought fully back to life died again.  It was a small mercy.  The bones twisted again, obeying and bending to his will.  He hated using his magic like that.

The sculk burned where it wrapped around him, digging painfully into exposed skin and dragging him closer to the sheriff.  He kicked at it. “Let go of me!”

“This would have been much easier if you had come peacefully when I first found you,” the sheriff said. “I do not tend to be a merciful person.  You should have taken advantage of that mercy when I offered it!”

Rae scrambled back, his shoulder collided with a wall, and he was cornered by the sheriff who planned to bury him alive and the sculk she commanded.  He could hear her laughing as the sculk wrapped around his throat, choking him.

“Please,” he gasped out.

She yanked him to his feet as the sculk pulled back, disappearing under her armor. “We’re going to my office,” Perix told him. “Struggle and I will break your head open.”

Rae nodded quickly, wincing as her grip tightened on his wrists, still fighting for breath. “Yeah— OK.”

“Perfect.”  The sheriff marched him through the streets to her office.  The door slammed against the wall as she forced him through.  The front room was mostly empty, except for a few chairs and a table, and Perix brought him through the other door and deeper into the building.  They passed a room labeled as her office, stopping finally in front of a cell.

The door creaked as Perix opened it.  Its hinged screamed as it was closed roughly behind him.

“You’re not going to take my stuff?” Rae asked, turning to face her again.

Perix raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you want me to take it?”

He pulled his bag against his chest protective, face burning when she laughed at him. “Just like I thought,” she said. “You’ll get it back anyways when it’s time to bury you.”

There was fresh blood in the cell that he could smell.

“Make yourself comfortable, Rae Morningstar.  Be grateful for your window, it’s the last sunlight you’ll ever see.”

Then the sheriff walked away and he slumped against a wall, blinking back tears.  Raemond and Everett had been there before him, Poppop dying and Grandpa trying desperately to keep him alive.  They had only spent one night there.  Everett had died when Raemond was pulled away for his own burial.  The only mercy their captors gave them was laying them to rest together in one grave.

The house didn’t look the same as it had been Rae left it.  Nothing had broken down but it was overgrown.  It was empty.  There wasn’t any of the life he remembered surrounding it.  Mom’s garden was wild and merging with the forest, nearly overtaking the garden wall though in a few places he could catch glimpses of moss-covered stone.  He had circled the house, stood for a few minutes at the head of the path leading to the front door, and decided to use the back door instead.  The key was warm and heavy in his grasp.

He was shaking slightly as he unlocked the door and stepped inside.  The hall that he used to race Bucket down was dusty, the grandfather clock set between the living room entrance and the door to Poppop’s workshop was silent, its soft and steady ticking no longer filling the house.  Rae stood in the doorway to the kitchen, staring at the cobwebs stretching from the window sill to the sink to the nearest chair to the bookshelves.  Everything was covered in dust.  There was a bird skeleton in the sink… maybe it died of old age, maybe it had flown into the window.

He walked further into the house, past Poppop’s workshop, and paused between the living room and dining room.  On his left was the living room, floor-to-ceiling windows, bookshelves on the interior walls, two couches set around a table, a piano pushed into a corner, a painting that Grandpa made hanging over it, a fireplace with a painting by Mom (the night sky painted with greens, purples, blues, oranges, and pinks with pale floating islands in the center, a half-finished puzzle on the table, and a messy painting of a flower Rae remembered starting but never finishing.  There were paint splatters on the floor where the easels stood.  All of Mom’s nice paints were probably dried up.  To the left was the dining room, one of the only rooms in the house they rarely used unless there were guests over (gathering as a family in the living room and eating in the kitchen), with the heavy table in the center and six chairs around it.  The white tablecloth with the colorful pictures of birds and flowers was faded and yellowing from age and sunlight flowed in through the stained glass windows along the front wall.

Rae walked upstairs, his hand trailing along the wall.  The second step from the top creaked under him like always.  To the left, above the living room was his Mom’s room.  Grandpa’s study and the library were next to Mom’s room above Poppop’s workshop.  His room was across from Mom’s room with his granddads’ room next to his.

He couldn’t bear to look in his room.  It felt wrong to peek into Mom’s room, staring at the carpeted floor, dappled with early afternoon sunlight.  Her room was just like he remembered it: canopy-covered bed set to the side, a dresser at the foot of it, shelves against the far wall, and a desk under the windows.  Dusty fabrics were still draped messily across the desk, sketches and measurements were pinned to the wall, and a mannequin stood to the side, fabric half pinned and half sewn into the rough shape of a dress on it.  Gods , he missed her.

In his granddads’ room, the cobweb-covered bed was set in the middle.  The shelves and desks were cluttered with half-finish redstone inventions and books.  Holding his breath, Rae stepped into the room.  There was a form curled up on Grandpa’s pillow.  It was Bucket, his body strangely small and still in death… so different from the cat that raced him around the house and yelled until someone picked him up like a baby.  Rae stroked him gently, glad that he was rotting, but unnerved at how cold the cat was.

Then he left the room and went to the library.  The protective runes along the door shimmered as he pushed open the door.  He stared at the books, frowning as he brushed the dust from the spines to read the titles, looking for any books on necromancy.  There was one, thick and dusty with silver decoration along the cover.  Rae slid it from the shelf, dusted it off, and put it in his bag.

Stepping out of the room he glanced back toward his granddads’ room and snapped his fingers, calling softly. “Bucket, venire , come.  We’re going home.” He waited for a moment before smiling as the cat darted from the room with a meow. “Hi, baby.”

Bucket meowed again before purring as he rubbed against his leg, leaving a smear of dust behind.  Rae laughed softly as the cat shook a cloud of dust from his fur.  He headed downstairs, heading for the front door.

“Rae,” Momboo said from where she stood at the back door.

He paused before spinning to face her. “Momboo?”

“Hello, Rae,” she said as she stepped into the house and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing?”

The necromancer tilted his head with a frown. “Why are you here?  This is my house.”

“What are you planning?  That cat wasn’t alive a few minutes ago.  Nothing living was here before,” she said.

“What do you want from me?”

Momboo frowned at him, her arms crossed, the sharp energy of their magic polluting the air. “I want you to keep my children out of it!”

“I not involving them in anything,” he said sharply, Bucket yowling from his spot on the stairs.

“I know people like you, Rae,” she hissed. “I know people like you who aren’t happy with the second chance with life they got and always want more.  That is going to do nothing but hurt you and the people around you.”

“It won’t.  I know what I’m doing.”

“You died and somehow you got a second chance.  No one else gets that.  That’s not how life works.  Dead things should stay dead.”

Rae scoffed. “Are you saying that I should have stayed dead?”

“I don’t know!!” She sighed heavily. “Rae, listen, I am very happy that Jamie considers you a friend and the work you’ve been doing in the library is amazing.  I don’t want you to lose that.  I don’t want Jamie to lose that.  I don’t want them hurt either because you’re not content with what you have now.”

“I just want my family back.”

“They’re dead.  They can’t come back from that like you remember them.  It doesn’t work that way.”

“And I suppose you’re the expert on how necromancy works?!” he snapped at her, his tone accusatory.

Momboo laughed sharply. “I know how life magic works!  Your necromancy can’t fix anything.”

“I just want my family back, Momboo,” Rae said. “I just want to see them again.  Is that too much to ask?  They didn’t deserve to die.”

“Very few people deserve to die.”

“They’re only dead because of people like you.”

She paused, taking a step back, her eyes widening.  Then her cheeks flushed in anger. “How dare you accuse me of being anything like those monsters?!” she yelled. “How dare you!!!!”

“You don’t like necromancy,” he said. “That’s how it started.  First, necromancers were a little weird and a little odd with their magic but useful and friendly.  Then people didn’t like necromancers and they were shunned, kept around because they could be useful.  Then the posters looking for people to hunt dangerous magic users started popping up.  People targeted necromancers because they were easy.  Then it became something celebrated.”

“They went after all the powerful magic users,” Momboo said.

“They went after me and my family first!!  Did you forget that in the process of making yourself the victim in this situation!?”

She sighed heavily. “That is beside the point.”

“Then what is your point?” he snapped.

“I know you’re planning to bring your family back to life,” Momboo told him. “I know that doing so will take away what you care about here.  What about your friends here?  What about the library?  What about your own life?”

“I’m not fucking alive! ” Rae yelled at her, flinching back when her magic flared in the air uncomfortably. “I don’t have a life!  My heart doesn’t beat!  I am here and pretending to be alive only because of my magic!”

“You’re being a fool.”

He scoffed. “I am doing my research.  I am making sure I know what to expect and I have what I need.  I am not jumping into this head first.  I will not be stupid and blind about something involving my family!  I will not put them at risk like that!!”

Momboo frowned at him before sighing heavily and shaking her head. “Rae… this is only going to end badly.”

“Why the hell do you not want me to do this?  It won’t affect you!”

“You’re going to destroy everything you care about,” she hissed at him. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

From the stairs Bucket hissed, the fur on his back standing on end.

He rolled his eyes with a scoff, reaching out to soothe the animal. “I do know what I’m doing, thank you very much.  Do you need anything else or did you break into my house for no reason?”

“Don’t rope my family into this,” Momboo said, her voice hard. “Do not endanger them because you’re being selfish.”

“ Selfish? ” he asked coldly, the bird skeleton in the sink twitching and hopping out of it, bones clicking together as it started to fly.  The bones flew at Momboo, narrowly missing her and embedding themselves in the door behind her.  Rae glared at her. “Get out, Momboo.  Don’t talk to me like you know anything about what I’m doing.  Get out.”

She stared at him for a moment before turning and leaving quickly, the door slamming behind her.  He watched her disappear into the forest, the plants moving to hide her from view quicker than normal.  Bucket chittered at Rae before biting his hand gently, clearly wanting attention.

Rae sighed heavily. “We should head back, Bucket.  We have work to do.”

“Morningstar,” said the sheriff coldly as she opened his door. “Come on.”

Rae glanced up at her before standing, pulling his bag over his shoulder again. “And if I don’t?” he asked.

“Then I’ll make you.” She grinned sharply at him, a flash of sculk moving down her arm visible for a moment. “I’d hate for you to be dragged out of the cell when you’re going to die in an hour.”

His gaze flicked to the bit of night sky visible outside his window.  Then he took a deep breath. “I’d rather not be dragged.”

Perix held open the door and gestured for him to walk out. “Try to run and I’ll bury your dead body.”

“I understand.” Rae left the cell, shuddering when her hand landed on his shoulder, guiding him roughly down the hallway and to the exit.

There was a cart waiting outside, drawn by two horses with some random townsperson sitting in the driver’s seat. “Got him, sheriff?” they asked.

She nodded. “In the cart, Morningstar.”

The townsperson raised an eyebrow at him when he climbed onto the cart and spat at him. “Fucking necromancer.”

Rae glared at them for a moment, grinning when they shuddered under the weight of his dead, cloudy gaze.  Then Perix shoved him hard and made him fall.  He hit the floor of the cart with a grunt, the air knocked from his lungs and a splinter embedded into his palm.

“Ready, sheriff?” the townsperson asked.  When Perix nodded sharply they snapped the reigns with a sharp whistle, getting the horses moving down the street.

Rae sat up fully, leaning against the cart side to watch the town disappear behind them as they went deeper into the forest, away from his home and, ironically, closer to where he was supposed to meet his mom and granddads.

After a bumpy cart ride down the road and seemingly into the middle of nowhere the townsperson pulled the horses to a stop. “Sheriff.”

Perix got to her feet with a grin at Rae. “Get up, necromancer,” she said. “Time for you to finally rest.”

“It’s a kindness no one thinks you deserve,” mutters the townsperson. “Be glad we haven't started just burning your kind.  Then we could make it a celebration or something instead of driving to the graveyard in the middle of the night.”

“Enough,” she snapped, hopping down from the cart. “Come on.  Both of you.”

Rae got to his feet and followed her, inhaling sharply when her hands closed around his wrist, sculk curling up his arm.  The townsperson tied up the horses, grabbed a shovel, and followed them into the graveyard.  He tried to breathe normally— tried to hide his panic— didn’t want to give either of them the satisfaction of seeing him scared.

In the far corner of the fenced-in graveyard, there were three unmarked graves: two empty and one freshly covered up.  Rae felt like throwing up.

Perix forced him to his knees before his grave, her grip on his shoulder painfully tight, her smile cruel. “Any last words, necromancer?”

They had taken his name.  They had taken his voice.

The townsperson pushed the shovel into the waiting pile of dirt. “Start praying to whatever unholy god you believe in for mercy.”

The sheriff shoved him in and let out a sharp laugh when he yelped in surprise.  The dirt was cool and damp where it pressed against his cheek and palms.  The townsperson grabbed their shovel again.  He rolled over, staring up with wide eyes, the sculk wrapped around his wrist keeping him from running.  He didn’t know if he could run even if he wanted to.

Flight or fight and Rae was not a violent person.

“A small mercy for his kind,” the sheriff said as the first shovel full of dirt fell.

Rae hummed as he carefully layered glue onto the book spine, the jukebox in the corner spilling soft music into the air.  Bucket rolled around in a patch of sunlight in the workshop and occasionally batted at the specks of dust floating through the air.

“What are you doing, cat?” Rae asked, glancing up from his work to look at the animal who meowed at him. “Right, of course, carry on.”

The library door slammed over and Fenris’ voice roared through the library. “Rae!!!!?”

Bucket jumped from his spot and darted under the table, tail fluffed up.  Rae jerked his head up, eyes wide. “Fenris?” he called as he set his work to the side. “What’s going on?”

“Fenris!” Athena’s voice was softer and shakier, the nether mage clearly near tears. “He’s dead.  It’s too late!”

“No,” snarled the blood witch, the air around him filled with the scent of iron, eyes glowing red, lips curled to reveal sharp fangs, his nails lengthed and sharped into claws. “Rae!!”

Rae stepped from the workshop and into the main library room. “Who’s dead—” His voice cut out when he saw Centross, laying limp in Fenris’ arms with his skin pale and chest still. “Oh.”

“ Fix him .”

He nodded and hurried upstairs. “Set him on the clear table in the workshop.  I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Fenris, he’s dead.” Athena tried again.

There was the low, rumbling growl of Fenris’ words, fury making them sharp and dangerous. “I don’t fucking care!”

“I think you should sit down.” There was Jamie, near tears and worried, scared for their partner and friend. “People know, they’re coming.  You don’t have to be alone for this.  Please .”

“Fenris please!” The temperature flared for a second, driven and heated by the nether mage’s emotions. “This isn’t helping.  Rae can’t bring him back.”

Rae swept past them and into the workshop, books clutched in his blackened fingers. “Put him on the table.”

The blood witch lowered his partner gently on the wooden table, scarlet eyes snapping up to meet Rae’s gaze, his voice little more than a wolf’s snarl. “Can you bring him back?”

“Rae please—” Athena tried.

Rae met Fenris’ stare and nodded. “I can.”

“Good.” Finally, the blood witch— the wolf— Fenris stepped away from the lifeless body of his partner.

The necromancer took his place, letting the thin, gold-embossed book fall open. “What happened?”

“Hunters, necromancy hunters,” Fenris spat. “They buried him.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Athena told him. “Rae, what are you doing?”

Rae glanced up at them with a thin smile. “Athena, there are candles in the drawer over there.  Please get them for me.  Jamie, fresh water and a clean rag, please?”

“Yeah.  Sure.” Jamie’s voice was thin and slightly frantic. “OK.”

He turned back to Centross’s body, pressing both hands against his chest and frowning.  His heart did not beat, the body’s heart did not beat, but the magic in the library pulsed like a heart.  It would have to be enough for both of them.

“What are you doing?” Fenris’ voice was still a low snarl, ears pressed back and tail flicking nervously.

“Checking for internal damages that need to be healed.” He looked up as Jamie silently passed over the water and rag, setting those to the side. “Thank you.  Athena?”

The nether mage held out the candles and a lighter, his hands trembling.

Rae frowned. “Athena?  Are you OK?”

“Mhm!” they nodded quickly before moving back to lean against Jamie, watching with wide, tear-filled eyes.

“What else do you need?” Fenris asked desperately. “What can I do to help?”

“Rae?  Fenris?  What’s going on?” Caspian asked from the doorway. “Jamie said that Centross—”

Rae didn’t look up, muttering under his breath as he drew protective runes with ink up Centross’ arm, the skin of his fingertips starting to crack and leak old, black blood and stain the quill in hand.  Magic —his magic— swirled like an angry storm in his chest, lightning racing down his arms and through his veins instead of blood.  His blood dripped onto his friend’s skin.

“Rae?  What are you doing?” Cas asked again, stepping close.

“He said he could bring him back,” Fenris said sharply.

“He’s not a—” He cut himself off, watching with wide eyes. “You’re not—”

Rae cleared his throat roughly, finding it hard to speak with death magic clawing up his throat— threatening to consume him.  He would talk to Caspian later about it assuming there was anything left of him afterwards.  He could destroy himself to bring back Centross if it meant they all would stop grieving. “Later, Caspian, please.  I’m busy.”

Caspian nodded quickly. “Right… OK… what do you need?”

“Make sure I don’t crack my head open if I fall, please?” he asked.  He could heal himself eventually but it would be slow and painful especially if he spent all his energy bringing the fool back to life.  Rae took a deep, unneeded breath, feeling his friends’ watchful gazes on him (would they still consider him a friend once they saw what he could do?  Would they still be kind?).

“Rae, what are you doing?” Jamie asked, voice sharp with worry— anger— fear.

“Please,” he whispered soft enough that only Fenris heard. “Please work, you asshole.”

Rae glanced at the book and traced over the runes, his fingers still cracked and bleeding, his chest burning. “ Revenite , you fool, vos postulo ut respirare.  Dic cor tuum ad pulsandum, dic pulmonem tuum ad tussim usque lutum.   Breathe, you fucking idiot.”

For a moment he could breathe— for a moment he was alive— for a moment his heart beat (only once and it hurt )— all for a moment and then he was pressing his hand over Centross’ heart and commanding it to beat .

Centross didn’t know how the townspeople had snuck up on them.  He remembered being grabbed, burning life magic pressing against his throat and making him freeze, trying not to breathe too deeply because that stupid enchanted knife hurt where it was held against his throat.  It was wrong.  It was so wrong.

“Get away from him!” Fenris yelled, jerking forward only to be pulled back, snarling loudly in fury. “Get the fuck away from him.”

One of the godsdamned townspeople flicked their hand and uncovered an empty grave.  Centross’s throat went dry. “Let go of me,” he hissed, finally starting to struggle when they tried to drag him closer to it. “Let go!”

The dead were locked away under six feet of earth around and unable to help him.  Fenris was held back, though barely, by a sharp blade at each of their throats and the promise of a lot more violence.  Scared people were willing to do anything.  Though, Centross could see how his boyfriend fought against the magic surely rushing through his body, blood red leaking in his golden eyes, and teeth and nails sharpening into fangs and claws.

“Don’t struggle,” spat the leader.  When Centross bared his teeth they frowned. “Knock him out.  It’ll be easier.”

He snarled at him, a half-rotten bird diving bombing the leader only to fall limp onto the grass when one of the people holding him slammed the hilt of their sword against the back of his head.  He went limp as blinding pain raced through his body.  They dragged him towards the grave.  He could feel blood trickling down his neck as he fought for breath, his arms feeling like they were going to be pulled out of their sockets.

“How dare you!?” Fenris roared, finally shifting from a man to a wolf, fangs bared as he snarled at the people blocking his path to his boyfriend.

“Toss him in,” said the leader coldly.

(Perix had simply shoved Rae in when he had been buried but her actions and laughter had been just as cold.)

Then, for a moment, he was weightless only for his back to collide against the bottom of the grave after a six-foot fall.  He blinked up a the sky, unable to focus on the people leering down at him.  He could barely breathe.

(Rae had been buried before the sun had risen.  It had just been him, the sheriff, and the nameless townsperson who was so casually cruel towards him.)

Centross could vaguely hear his partner’s furious howling.  But it didn’t matter because the earth was starting to fall.

(Rae didn’t remember the feeling of dirt starting to cover him when he had been buried.  It was a small mercy.)

The dirt was cold and damp, small sticks and rocks hidden amid the clumps.  Strangely, the smell of it was comforting like the world after a rainstorm or him and Fenris working in the garden.  Centross wanted to cry.

( Rae blinked back tears as he pressed his hand harder against Centross’s chest, gritting his teeth.  Bringing back animals was easy but here he fought against his magic just as much as he fought against Death which refused to let Centross go without a fight.)

A townsperson said softly inaudible.  Then the pile of dirt fell into his grave, crushing him— suffocating him.  He couldn’t breathe.  Dirt trickled past his lips.

(Rae couldn’t breathe, he didn’t need to.  He needed to bring Centross back to life without having control over him.  His magic fought against the idea.  It knew how to bring back to life and control… to give the illusion of control to what it brought back but Rae wanted none of that.)

It pressed against his eyelids and went up his nose.  He couldn’t move, stuck screaming in his head for help.  He couldn’t hear the outside world.  He couldn’t breathe.  He—

(Rae bit his lip until it bled, pushing away the memory of Centross dying, pushing away the memory of his own death.)

Rae felt a pulse under his hand.  Then Centross was jerking upright, dirting spilling from his lips as he fought for breath.  He stepped back from the table and grabbed the water Jamie had brought, holding it out for Centross to take. “Here, rinse your mouth out.”

Centross’s hand was shaking as he took it, his voice rough. “Sorry about your floor?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, tasting iron on his tongue. “How are you feeling?”

He took a small sip of water, swished it around his mouth, and spat it out. “Like shit.  My chest hurts.”

“Centross?” Fenris asked softly, his voice trembling. “Love?”

His head jerked up and his eyes widened when he saw Fenris.  Then he was on his feet, stumbling slightly at the sudden movement, only to be steadied by Fenris pulling him close. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Shit, Fenris, I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK, love,” murmured the blood witch, the red finally draining from his eyes as he held Centross. “It’s OK, I’ve got you.  You’re back, that’s all that matters.”

Rae leaned against the table, his bloodied hands trembling where he pressed them against the table.  He couldn’t breathe.  He didn’t need to but for a moment, in Centross’s memories, he had and that hurt.

“Rae?” Jamie asked.

He looked up, meeting their gaze before looking away quickly. “Yeah?”

“You’re a necromancer,” said Athena after a moment’s silence. “You just brought Centross back to life.”

He didn’t even dare to look in Caspian’s direction, too scared to confront the anger and betrayal he was sure the other man was feeling. “I am.”

“You didn’t tell us…” His voice trailed off.

“Athena,” Rae said softly. “I died the first time because of hunters.  I don’t want to die again.  You guys seemed fine with Centross but…” He shrugged.

“We were new.” They seemed so sad.

“... I’m sorry.”

“I’m going to make sure no one thinks that Centross is still dead,” Jamie muttered as they left, the library door swinging closed behind them.

Rae stared at the floor, silent.

Athena watched Jamie go with a frown before turning back to Rae, their tone lighter. “I’m just glad you’re able to bring him back.  It was amazing and cool!  Slightly terrifying but amazing!” He paused. “I’m going to go check on Jamie but I’ll see you soon to help with the museum, if you still want help, yeah?”

He wasn’t blind to the olive branch Athena was offering him… giving him the chance to easily ask for space if needed.  He smiled quickly at their words as his shoulders slumped, part of the weight and fear being lifted from them. “That might have to wait a bit longer, I think I’m going to crash right after this but yes, I’d love to get your help on it.”

Then the nether mage was gone with a quick wave, following after their partner.

“Can we head home?” Centross asked, his head still resting on Fenris’ shoulder. “I want a shower… and Hope.”

“Of course love,” Fenris murmured into his hair. “We can do that.”

Rae watched them go, seeing Fenris shift into a wolf once outside so Centross could climb on before running off in the direction of their house.  He grabbed a rag, holding it to his fingers, trying to get the skin to stitch itself back together again before he dripped blood on his books.

“Necromancer, huh?” said Caspian, leaning against the workshop doorway. “That wasn’t really what I was expecting from you.”

Rae watched his skin meld together and the thin scars fade.  He wiped the remaining blood onto the rag before setting it down on the table. “Yeah…”

“I suppose it makes sense why Fenris had to dig you out of the grave if you brought yourself back to life.  How the hell did you even manage that?”

“I can’t tell if you’re furious with me or not.” He grabbed a broom to sweep up the dirt Centross had coughed up.

Caspian shrugged. “I don’t think I am.  Impressed?  Yeah.  Grateful?  Yes, you brought my friend back from life.  A little bit terrified?  Also yes.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Rae,” Cas said, his voice soft. “Look at me.”

The necromancer glanced up.

“You’re amazing.  What you did was amazing,” he said with a gentle smile. “But right now you look dead on your feet—”

Rae snorted with laughter. “Yeah?”

Caspian rolled his eyes with a scoff. “Shut up!  My point is you look tired.  Let’s get you to bed.”

“I have to finish up here first,” he protested. “I don’t want to leave it like this.”

“Fine.  What can I do to help?”

Rae wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve someone like Caspian in his life.  He hoped that maybe he wouldn’t drive him and Aax away when it came time to bring the rest of his family back.  Hopefully, bringing one family back wouldn’t lose the one he had found.

Chapter Text

That evening Rae sat on the couch in his room, legs folded under him and the stars shining above him.  His shirt was tossed to the side as he pressed his blackened fingers against his side, feeling his ribs under his skin.  His chest ached, his bones threatening to buckle under the magic filling his rib cage.  They were old, dead, and fragile.  There was only so much they could withstand without crumbling under the pressure.

He took a slow breath in, forcing his ribs to expand and his lungs to fill with air.  It hurt so badly, dead organs made to pretend they were alive and take in air.  The death magic embedded in every fiber of his being that kept him awake revolted against it.  Rae let the breath out just as slowly, his head falling back against the cushions as his magic stitched his body back together.

Finally, the pain that danced through his fingers like static electricity faded and the taste of blood on his tongue left.  It was easier to breathe even if he didn’t need to.  It felt like a weight off his chest.

There was a knock on the door and Rae glanced up quickly, his voice quiet as he called out. “Who is it?”

“Caspian told me what happened… I have hot chocolate if you want some.” It was Aax.

He pulled his shirt on again. “Yeah, come in.”

Aax opened the door, smiling at him. “Hi.”

“Hey…” Rae said. “Do you want to come sit?”

The olm’s smile brightened and they sat down next to him, holding out the mug. “Here!”

He took it, cold, stiff fingers curling around the clay. “Caspian told you…”

“Was he not supposed to?” Aax asked worriedly, fins pressing back against its head for a moment.

“No– it’s fine that he told you,” Rae said quickly. “I just wanted to confirm that you knew, that’s all.”

He watched as the water mage curled up against the couch cushions, tail tucking neatly around their legs, the fins waving slowly like the ocean’s tides.  In the starlight, his red-tinted glasses were gone and their pale eyes glowed like twin moons.  Rae really wanted to kiss them.  Instead, he took a sip of hot chocolate.

“I’m glad you were able to help,” Aax said after a few minutes of silence. “Centross is a really good friend of mine, I’m glad he isn’t dead.”

Rae took another sip of hot chocolate. “It’s the least I could do.”

They frowned. “You could have done nothing, you could have kept it a secret.  I wouldn’t blame you.  It can be scary when you don’t know if the people around you will see you as a monster or not.”

“Fenris knew I was a necromancer.  He could have told people.  I wouldn’t blame him especially if I refused to bring back Centross.”

“Fenris is too kind to do that,” Aax said. “And bringing people back like that isn’t something that’s supposed to be possible.”

Rae ducked his head, grateful for the dim light hiding his blush.

“You’re amazing, Rae,” their voice was soft and warm, its tail reaching out to briefly curl around his legs. “What you did was amazing.”

“It was the least I could do—”

They interrupted him with a slight smile. “It was brave of you.”

Rae glanced up, met their gaze, and smiled back. “Thank you… for the hot chocolate and checking on me.”

“I know Caspian did earlier but you mean a lot to me, Rae, and I want to make sure you know that.”