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The manor had been quiet recently, Aleha now distant and busy, C gone. But Wilbur walked down the hall to Saoirse's room, passing the now empty room Sterling and his family had lived in. His heart ached, but he brushed it off, well used to it as he knocked on his oldest childs door
"Saoirse?" He waited patiently. "Do you have a moment?"
Looking up at the sound, Saoirse puts down the book they had been reading before getting up. It hadn't been long since they got back from a trip, nor since they got a new arm. They reach for the door and open it giving their father a smile. "Hi dad, I was just reading. Something up?"
He smiled back down at them, looking out the window behind them at the gentle sunlight filtering in. "Just- I haven't seen you in a bit, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk and see if we can't find somewhere new?" He leaned back slightly, brushing his hands over his waistcoat, he had found comfort in the clothing after everything, the happy memories he had from Kara.
They give him a hug, and smile softly. "Yeah, let's do that. A new place for us, I'd like that a lot." The manor was no longer home to them, but Wilbur still was. They cherished the memories here but it was time for them to move on.
With Wilbur they walk outside the manor and sigh softly. It was still a very nice place, just no longer holding the emotional ties. "Which direction do you wanna start in?"
He hummed, rocking slightly, then looking for anything he recognized the least, before nodding in a direction. "Let's go this way for now, if we start to recognize where we are we can take a turn." He starts to walk forward, looking at Saoirse with a calm smile.
Saoirse stays a few steps behind him before jumping beside, smiling at him. "That sounds like a good plan. So what did you get up to while I was gone dad? I don't think I was gone that long, but a lot still happened."
Wilbur's smile falters slightly, and he glances to the side. "Well.." He looks out across the forest as if to try and find something else to talk about. "As I'm sure you know now, C and Aleha got divorced. It was... not a good time to be in the manor."
With a almost sad laugh, he turned to look at them. "But I offered them the Atum name, since they lost the Eryl one."
Saoirse nods. "I was with Aleha after the divorce. I missed C during my travels with Aleha." They sigh softly. "It was a very interesting time, but it felt like she didn't care so much anymore."
Memories of the trip come back, and they glance down at their right arm. "I wish I stayed here with you guys a little. I learned stuff on the trip, but at the same time, it was not the best time."
Wilbur nodded, resting a hand on their shoulder and squeezing gently, before dropping it back to his side. "Aleha has been quite distant since. I can see what you mean." He hummed. "It would have been nice to have you here." Pausing, he frowned slightly, looking out at the wilderness, uncertain at his unexplainable uneasiness but ignoring it the best he could.
"I was asked to be the Avatar of gods during that trip." Saoirse looks around, glancing for anything familiar. "It was concerning. I'm confused as to why he wanted me to be an Avatar for him and the others." They hum softly and look at Wilbur. Growing up they always thought Wilbur was very scatter brained but loving, they wish those years lasted longer. A loving family with both their dads and their younger brother is something they miss dearly.
He blinked, processing that for a moment. "Well that's... exciting?" He gave them a concerned look. "Everything turned out okay, yes?" They may be an adult at this point, but as his child, he could never quite shake the protective urge. Especially when it had to do with powerful beings such as that.
The redhead nods "Was concerning honestly, I'm not part of that world, nor do I wish to stay there. I'm thankful to have Titan, he made it so it would be harder for other gods to take me."
"Titan? The man who spoke with flowers?" Wilbur stared into the distance in thought. "I suppose that's not the worst, he seemed like a nice person."
He shook his head slightly as if to refocus. "I'm glad that it will be harder for gods to claim you, beings with that much power tend to be arrogant."
“He said something similar. Titan at least cares about me, he wants me to be safe and I know that with him, I will be no matter what.” They rub their arm slightly, the feeling of the nether plants still very strange to them.
Wilbur looked down at them with a soft smile, eyes catching on the arm before internally shrugging "I assume the arm has some part of it, but I wont question it too deeply." He gazed back out in front of him. "You seem happier for it after all."
"Yeah has something to do with it. I am much happier though." They gaze forward and sigh softly. It was nice to just walk with their dad. "What kind of stuff should we look out for?"
He shrugs, "I'm not sure, I suppose we'll know when we find it." Wilbur looked to the side a bit, feeling the uneasy feeling rising again, but trying to ignore it at finding nothing.
"Alright!" They nod their head "Are you doing alright though? You seem a little off?"
At this Wilbur hesitates, not wanting to worry them. "I'm fine, it just... something feels off." He laughs awkwardly, trying to look nonchalant but failing. "It's probably nothing, some animal watching us or something."
Saoirse stops and takes his arm. “If something is watching us and you’re on edge would you like to head back? Personal experience it is never a good thing to have that.” They look at him with a worried expression. “We can look later.”
Wilbur turned to face Saoirse directly, ignoring the alarm bells now ringing in his head. "No no, it's fine really, I'm sure it's just my mind acting-" Hearing a familiar sound behind him, quiet but haunting, he started to turn, grabbing Saoirse's arm and pushing them back slightly as-
He stumbled with a soft gasp, staring down at the sword now speared through almost the center of his chest, blood gently dripping down, staining his clothes. He swore he could feel the blade scraping against a bone and he wasn't sure if besides that, he could really feel what had just happened. The feeling of pins and needles flooded his legs as more blood dripped down, and distantly, he fell as his knees buckled with a pained cry.
He was finding it hard to breathe
Saoirse stared as their father crumbles before them. Fear filling them as they step back slightly. "Dad?" Their eyes dart from the sword to the spot it was thrown from. Tears start falling down, what could they do?
Saoirse runs forward to their father, "Dad!" Their hands shaking as they touch the sword. "I can heal this- please let me heal this for you. I can, I promise I know how." Magic forms at the tip of their fingers waiting for the okay, but they know he might not agree to it, he had been alive for so long, lost so many. They need him though. "Please- I don't want to lose you."
There was something so much more painful than the sword, with how terrified his child sounded, and how deep down, he knew he couldn't agree no matter how much he loved them. He stared up- and how funny was it to be able to? Kneeling in his blood like this- at them, the faintest blurring of vision at the tears he could feel welling up.
"Saoirse." He gave a pained wheeze, trying to smile at them despite the pain. "I can't let you." He gasped in a breath, almost choking on the blood at the back of his throat, feeling it start to fill his mouth. "I'm sorry. I love you, I love you all- so, so much"
He could hear footsteps on the grass, a voice that should almost be familiar, but he couldn't place at all. Jerked at the feeling of the sword being grabbed, shifting and scraping against his spine. Saoirse startled, staring behind him.
"I really didn't think I'd land that throw, you always seemed so untouchable before." The man behind him gave a cruel laugh, and yanked. It was strangely painless, besides where it had been scraping against his bones, but he could feel the warm gush of blood start to pour down his chest, each breathing beckoning the flow further. "Glad to see that isn't so!"
Saoirse stares at the man and then their father. Rage and sadness filled them as tears began flowing freely, so much began going through their mind as the man sounded so cruel to Wilbur.
"You asshole!" The younger walks away from their father, arm burning slightly as their rage started to become more than their own. "Who are you? Why did you do this?!" The whites of Saoirse's eyes begin to tinge black, the rage they want to let out being held back slightly. Wanting answers as to why this man was out to kill their father.
Wilbur turned, pained and almost collapsing forward as he looked towards the two, the man grinning victoriously as he now pointed the bloodied sword at Saoirse without threat. He already was getting what he wanted after all, and what did a grief-stricken child mean to him? Especially one, as far as he knew, had never taken up a blade in their life.
"I do this because your father is a deserting piece of trash, and to do that to a kingdom his husband served no less?" He sneered, looking them in the eye as he spoke, uncaring for the lives he was destroying. "I honestly don't know how you can care to stand in his defense."
“He lost someone! He is allowed to grieve! Who cares how long it takes?" They stare down the blade pointed at them. It wasn’t their first time staring one down, it was different this time though, they knew how to fight back now, they knew in an instant Titan would also take control and help them. For now though, they needed answers. "Who are you anyway? Who are you to take away my family?”
He laughed at that. "He's grieved enough, I always thought that stupid law should be overturned." His eyes glittered with malice. "Besides, as a human, he barely had any more time to spend on this plane as is."
Wilbur wheezed through clenched teeth, finally placing the voice as one he hadn't heard for over six years. One he had never liked. "Aventus." How unpleasant to be able to put a face to the name.
Aventus gave Wilbur a cruel smile, appearing pleased at being recognized. "How kind of you to remember!" Now ignoring the furious Saoirse, his sword dipping at his inattention.
It takes a bit to hold back the laugh when he says 'as a human'. Wilbur was far from human, but that was a secret only few knew. "Maybe your family should grieve you instead of you coming to kill someone." Saoirse grabs the blade of the sword with the nether hand. The sharp edge of it cuts slightly into the palm of their hand, their blood joining what is already on it.
"You are a fool Aventus." The whites of their eyes turn fully black, their rage joining another's as they give up control of their own body. "Saoirse may not kill, but I will." The voice that now comes out of them is deeper, and has a sadistic tilt to it. “...Aventus, was it? I will paint the walls with your blood, and decorate the halls with your Screams.”
Wilbur watches as Aventus falters, snapping his eyes back over to ~~Titan~~Saoirse in a sudden panic. He had always been a coward when it came down to it, and Wilbur tried to find it within himself to feel pleased at his fear. But his ears started to ring, and he struggled to continue focusing on the world around him.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Aventus sounded like he was trying to hide the tremor in his voice. "The deserters child some kind of possessed freak?" He tugged futilely at the sword, panic rising on his face
"You've pushed them to want you dead Aventus. As I said, Saoirse doesn't kill, but I will." The sword is pulled out of his grasp as the being walks forward. The smirk on Saoirse's face was foreign, this was the first time Saoirse had given Titan control since the day they became his Avatar.
Vines tangle around Wilbur, protection incase anything else came to attack while this was happening. Titan would stall, get what he needed from the man before returning the body to Saoirse.
The next voice that came out of Saoirse was their own, albeit slightly distorted. "I am a worshipper of a very angry god, and you have hurt one of his." The sword is flipped in their hands so they're holding the hilt. They slash at Aventus, not aiming to kill yet, just wound and scare, Titan had a plan and Saoirse would agree it was fitting for the man who has tried to kill their father.
Aventus staggers back, holding the stinging cut on his chest, a rabid sort of fear filling his eyes. He had never been a religious man, but even he knew that gods were real. He knew what happened when mortals overstepped their boundaries.
"Wh- what do you plan to do then huh?!" He tried to hold onto the slowly dissipating rage he'd carried throughout this journey. "You can't fix this! He's going to die, I made sure of it!"
"We know he won't," The voice that comes out was mix between the two, though not a perfect one. Titan's overtook Saoirse's voice, the rage he felt overtaking the sadness of the mortal. "I can at least make you pay for hurting my faithful."
They step forward, the free hand reaching out for Aventus' neck grasping with an unmatched strength. One that Saoirse shouldn't have. "Tell me now Aventus, and I might go easy on you, what is your last name." It was clearly a demand, one that if denied, would cause more pain to him.
Wheezing slightly, Aventus's mind raced. On one hand, he was surely going to die here, on the other, he had already won.
He had won.
Grasping onto that thought, letting it fuel him and bring him forward. He gave a shaky smirk, staring the god in the eyes. "C- Covett." His body trembled slightly, knees slightly weak, but he held out, wanting to see how his life was going to end.
The smirk on their face grew. The grip on his neck tightened, the bones in Saoirse's hand breaking at the foreign strength. "*Fuck*" It's just Saoirse's voice this time, as they pull away from the man and stare at him, their eyes turning back to white, Titan returning control.
Saoirse steps back, staring at Aventus, holding their injured hand close to their chest. Waiting for Titan to do something.
A gate opens, a voice booms in it. "Oh Aventus Covett, your fate is sealed, mortal. You will suffer for your crimes against my faithful. I will make you pay for every moment of pain you have inflicted upon them." A crimson vine wraps around Aventus's neck, stronger than what Saoirse had on him. "Your screams will echo through the halls of eternity, and your agony will be a testament to my power. You will beg for mercy, but there will be none. Your punishment will be slow, and it will be excruciating. You will suffer until your very soul is consumed by my wrath." He is pulled into the gate, the entrance closing just as soon as it opened before disappearing into nothingness.
Saoirse turns to face their dad, the pain in their hand taking second to making sure their dad was still there, that he wasn't gone. That they aren't alone without a parent. They sit down and pull his head into their lap, tears streaming down their face as the pain hits them from moving him. "Dad please, please let me do something. I don't want to lose you too."
At this point, Wilbur was struggling to hear them, their voice echoing and mixing with the ringing. But he pushed though, likewise pushing through the encroaching darkness that ate away at his vision.
He dragged his hand up, just enough to rest atop his childs, the strain almost making him unable to even hold their hand, weakly squeezing. "I'm sorry Saoirse, I can't let you. I'm tired." He tried to smile reassuringly up at them, ignoring the blood that welled at the back of his throat. "I love you, you and your brother, please, just promise you won't join me up there. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I failed that badly."
They nod, voice breaking when they answer. "I-I promise I won't." Their heart was breaking at this moment in time, so much that they held dear was slowly slipping away, their dad was leaving them and they couldn't do anything about it. They could so easily ignore what he wanted, heal him, keep him with them, but they couldn't do that, it wasn't fair to him.
Magic filters through them to him, not to heal him, but something to make it easier for him to pass, one that just removes the pain as best they can. Concentrating is hard when tears are streaming down one's face. "I love you so much dad." The magic that fills him is cold but loving, similar to the embrace of the moon.
The sun is no longer showing, the stars shining bright in the sky, but they weep alongside the pair. A gaze Wilbur should be familiar with staring them down as he comes closer to the end.
"It hurts to lose you." Saoirse whispers, at this point they're sure he cannot hear it, but they can't bring themself to say it louder.
Wilbur slips to the stars.
The stars embrace Wilbur like an old friend. Saoirse screams, pure anguish filling the forest as they hold onto the body of their father, wrapping their arms around him and crying. They cry for what feels like an eternity, before moving him back to the ground. The pain in the right hand, the broken bones they forgot about, no longer something they can ignore. A healing spell, the weakest one they have, is enough to fix the bones but not take away the pain entirely. It's fine. They will deal with the rest later, but they have a job to do.
They stand slowly, blood staining their clothes, staining their hair, the blue strands looking slightly purple. Oh, it hurt to see their dad laying on the floor like this. Everything about this hurt. They did their best to lift him up, to carry him back to the manor with them, they couldn't leave him in the woods.
It's a slow walk, one they wished they didn't have to make on their own. The flower that was invisible on the trip out now floating close behind, a view point for Titan. It brought them some comfort to know he was watching. A whisper into the link, that Wilbur was dead, was all Saoirse could muster on the way back to the Manor.
The Manor. A place that was once home to them. They dreaded going back to it, going back and seeing their grandparent, telling them that Wilbur was dead, an attack from someone from Aursaule, oh, how they feared that reaction.
They've never been one to kill, but even now they wish they did more than just let Titan take control. But they wouldn't have been able to live with the knowledge they took a life.
The darkness almost hides the bodies lining the way to The Manor. Almost comical, how an attack happened here, and to Wilbur at similar times. It takes a bit before they see them, and when they notice their blood runs cold. A fight here, the werewolf not out visibly protecting them. Oh. Everything hurt more suddenly. "C?" They call out bringing Wilbur to the porch and setting him down gently. "Please..."
Saoirse stops walking for a moment, using magic to summon four floating orbs of light and spreading them across the area. What they aren't expecting, was to find was all the corpses leading up to a werewolf. They feel happy for a second, seeing their grandparent, before seeing the pool of blood under them, cheer plummeting.
Dread. It's all they feel as they slowly walk over to the corpse. It feels as if time has stopped entirely when they reach them. Their left hand reaches out to touch the wolf. Cold. How long had it truly taken them to get back to The Manor? How long had C been alone fighting while Wilbur and Saoirse had gone out to find a better place to live? How much of this is their fault?
"I'm so sorry C..." They try to pick the wolf up, move them close to the manor, just make it so they aren't by themself anymore. It's hard, but they manage it. They set C down near Wilbur. Pain fills them as they realize just how alone they now are in The Manor.
A star shoots across the sky, followed by another. Soon the sky is filled with shooting stars. "Ha..." Saoirse sits down and just curls into themself. The blood on their clothes has dried to them, they need to bathe but can't find it in themself to care. They will do more in the morning, but for now, they rest.
It would be a night under the stars, something Saoirse had gotten used to when traveling with Aleha. Thinking on it, they're mad Aleha hadn't come back to the manor when they did. It would have hurt both C and her, but at least Saoirse wouldn't have to be alone.
Morning comes almost in an instant. The warmth of the sun bearing down on them. Moving is hard, the blood dry yet still slightly sticky. They glance at the bodies near them. Tears well in their eyes and they shake it away. No. They need to bury them first, they can cry later.
Saoirse heads inside the manor, to their room. They peel the bloody clothes off and put on something else. They need to bury their family first. They need to. Nothing else really matters to them. Give them rest.
Walking back downstairs, they realise that they'll need a shovel. They find one in the green house, grabbing it as they head to the flower forest nearby. They would both be happy there.
Once they get there, they start to dig. They aren't sure how long it took, but what they are sure of is Titan tried, several times, to get them to stop, to talk about what happened. He was ignored every time but the last. "Titan, let me do this for my family. Please." Were the first, and only words Saoirse had said to him since he gave them back their body. He relented, and went back to dealing with Aventus.
Hours had passed since they started digging the graves, but they finished around midday, working nonstop in the summer sun. There's a chance they'd regret that later but for now, they don't care, they still had to get the bodies and lay them to rest properly. Wearily, they start the trek back to the manor.
It's a slow walk back, one they aren't happy about, the closer and closer they get, and yet they still cannot accept the fact they're about to bury their family alone. Sterling is gone, and would Aleha even care? Probably, but only for Wilbur. It hurt to think about that.
Saoirse arrives at the manor, stopping and staring at the bodies, it still didn't feel real to them. They touch each of them, warm from the sun but still so cold. "Ha..." They take Wilbur and lift him up as best they can, before pausing. The waistcoat he had on, covered in his blood, was one they could make whole again.
Sure, they feel a little bad stealing clothes off their dead father, but it's comforting in a way, to have something he made. They take the waistcoat and put it to the side before walking with him in their arms to his grave. In this moment they distantly wish they had a spell, or something to make it easier to move him.
They return to the flower forest. The walk there taking longer while carrying Wilbur, but they get there. Saoirse tries to be gentle in lowering him, trying to not just drop him in. In the end, he's facing them, eyes slightly opened. If it wasn't for that and the blood, he could almost be sleeping.
The first clump of dirt is dropped on him, nature coming to life after being muted to Saoirse for so long. Why now? Why as they bury their father does the sound of the world come back?
It takes to long to get the last of the dirt on him. Too long to do everything, as the sun reaches the evening sky, they make their way back for C.
The wolf is much harder to move than their father. Muscle versus skin and bone, after all. But they manage, for their grandparent, making it back to the gravesite when the sun starts setting. Stars just barely showing in the sky. They'll finish this under the moonlight, they don't care. They throw out the same spell they used when they found C's body, four glowing orbs lighting up the area.
C is placed as gently as they can into the hole, they're tired at this point but won't stop until they are both at rest. They begin to bury them.
Midnight creeps close as they finally finish burying C. Saoirse is covered in dirt, sweat, blood that isn't theirs, and blood that is. From their pockets they produce a rose, one given to them by Titan. They place it down between the two graves. "I won't always be here to watch over you, but Titan will." Tears start to fall again, emotions finally able to run free.
The final walk back to the manor is rough, the lights both bobbing alongside them, and leading the way back. Tears come and go as they walk. It hurt so much do this.
Once at the manor they grab the bloody waistcoat, left on the porch hours ago, and bring it inside. Shutting the door, they collapse, exhaustion hitting them hard. They lay on the floor and fall into sleep.
Morning comes and goes again, and they do not wake until noon. They are sore, the pain in their right hand worse than it had been before. But they ignore it the best they can.
They begin to mend the shirt with magic, removing the blood as they go. Saoirse stands, heading to their room and starts to pack a bag, there is only one place they want to go, one place they can. Items they cannot leave behind go in, some clothing, and a few books. They're quiet as they go through the motions of it. No one left to talk to, no one to listen.
When the bag is packed they realise they should finally deal with the fact they're still covered in blood and dirt. A bath, quick enough to deal with all the grime correctly.
They steal a grey button down from their dads room, pulling it on and pulling the waistcoat on over. It's comically big on them, their dad being 6'7 and them being 5'10. But the comfort trumps any fashion sense.
Once dressed, and once their bag is retrieved from their room, they walk outside and stare at a tree. Their voice is quiet and hoarse from how little they had used it recently. "Titan, can you let me in?" A door appears in the tree, and swings open. A familiar form greeting Saoirse, as he ushers them in.
With one last glance towards the Manor they take a step into the door, arms wrapping around the god and holding him close. Finally sobbing after trying so hard to not. He was comfort, he was safe. Iris is comfort, Iris is safe too. In the next few days they will make their way back to Kara, back to someone who means a lot to them.
But for now, for now Saoirse will rest with someone who will protect them.