marlowemuses | A cruel reality when you've had too much to dream

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A cruel reality when you've had too much to dream

On most days, Adam thought he knew all there was to know about himself. He had studied his skin and the capabilities of his muscles. He had interrogated every thought inside his own mind. He knew the depth of his capacity for exhaustion, and how much he could do on how little sleep.

He did not know, on the afternoon of the prince's eighteenth birthday, that over the course of the day things had been learned about him, through spell and revelation, that he did not know about himself.

Adam knew that there were celebrations throughout the kingdom for the prince, but Adam had no time for them. He had the day off of work at the shipyards, but that only meant that he had time to catch up on his chores at home, which would allow him some time to catch up on his studies. He knew that the royal family was magic. A fairy king and his family, and the middle son, the magic son, who would inherit everything. He knew, esoterically, that the fairy-dreamer kings of their realm took magic consorts who aided and increased their power.

Adam had no interest in any of it. This was mostly due to self-preservation for his pride and his heart. He knew he was not magic and did not belong in that world. Nothing he could do would ever produce an aptitude for that kind of magic. So he forbade himself from wanting it.

And if, in the months since his own birthday, he'd found lost things easier and broken things were more swiftly fixed by his hands, he attributed it only to his own intelligence and aptitude. If the weather suited itself to his mood and the flowers grew around his parents' house in a riotous profusion that he'd never seen before, Adam thought little of any of it. All these things had logical explanations, or they were mere coincidences.

He did not know that the king had cast a spell for his son, and his face had appeared in a basin of water, and a map had glowed to mark his home and the back field where Adam was hard at work repairing a broken fence.

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Ronan's imagination was not unparalleled-- after all, he was his father's son-- but it was extraordinary. And yet all his previous attempts to picture a demon fell short of what this was. Just staring at it, Ronan felt inside him how wrong it was. He felt it so keenly he was sure that it wouldn't subside even if he closed his eyes. If closing his eyes would stop him from seeing it at all. Maybe he would still see the black nothingness that was the demon.

Ronan swallowed. He kept staring at it and then slowly stepped forward. "First time for everything," he said quietly.

He stopped closer to the demon this time. It wasn't moving quickly, just as they'd said.

"So if you-- stand close to me, I guess." They hadn't figured out how to work together yet. Ronan only knew that the connection was supposed to be instinctive, at least start with. He also knew that physical touch helped, especially at first, but he wasn't about to ask for Adam to hold his hand... even if he wanted him to.

"I'll stay close," Adam murmured, and he did, close enough that their shoulders brushed. He stayed a little bit behind Ronan, since he didn't know what they were doing and hoped Ronan had some idea of a plan.

Nerves roiled in his belly, and he wanted very earnestly to press Ronan on the topic, but Adam didn't have anywhere near enough information to make a plan for him, and Ronan's lack of certainty worried him. Especially since Adam still had no confidence whatever in his own magical abilities, even if he was just here to support or amplify Ronan.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet because he didn't want any of the villagers to realize how clueless the two of them were.

"As long as it's not too powerful, I can zap it or--" He took a moment to double check his own memory. "Create some kind of magic feedback loop then overload it? But..." He studied the demon closer. "It's too big for that now."

Actually, it looked like maybe it was a bit too powerful to outright kill. When the villagers described it, it sounded terrible but smaller. This had grown.

All the more reason not to wait before a sacrifice was needed.

He folded his hands together and focused on the small sliver of space between them. He filled that space with a crackling energy until he had to spread his hands to make more room for it.

Adam's mouth went dry at the sight of the sparkling energy between Ronan's hands. He wanted so badly to have magic like that. To be something rare and special like Ronan was. Adam still couldn't come anywhere near believing that he belonged by the side of this beautiful, capable prince, and he hated the certainty in his belly that sooner or later Ronan would realize what Adam had told him from the first, that he'd picked the wrong boy and Adam wasn't anything special.

But he couln't resist the chance to test it. If his presence helped strengthen Ronan, if he had even that much magic, that might be enough.

Adam curled his hand around Ronan's arm, ignoring the way his cheeks heated at the feeling of warm skin and strong muscles beneath his palm.

Ronan doubted the tingling sensation where Adam touched him had anything to do with magic, even when the magical energy between his hands sparked and doubled in size. He started. The glow of the energy lit up his surprised face, then the laugh that followed it.

Any time he'd done this before, it had been a struggle to maintain. But this? This was easy. He pulled one hand away and balanced it so it hovered over one hand. This time he'd shaped it as a ball of lightning but it no longer felt right. It changed into pure light. Magic often reflected one's mental state and he could think of no better way to kill a demon than with... the way he felt. Which he promptly denied to himself once again.

"Wow," he said, still smiling. "I don't know what you did but keep it up."

"I'm not doing anything," Adam insisted, but he shifted a little closer, chest brushing Ronan's arm and hand curling a little tighter. He could almost feel it, the magic in Ronan's hands. He wanted to touch it.

Ronan's laugh made something in Adam's belly flutter. He slid his hand down Ronan's arm, palm against the back of his hand and then fingers woven through Ronan's so that he could feel the energy of it pulsing against his fingertips.

"Now what?" he murmured against Ronan's ear, close enough that his breath stirred Ronan's hair.

A shiver spread through Ronan's body the light flared, the edges of the orb turned to flame or at least something like it. It didn't burn his hand. With Adam this close he could barely breathe. He struggled to remember how to.

Then Adam spoke and Ronan remembered why they were here.

"Now, we throw this at it. Light it up." He turned his head in Adam's direction. At this angle, he couldn't see his eyes, but it did bring their faces closer, almost cheek to cheek. "Ready? he asked.

Close and intimate as they were, Adam couldn't help but think of the tendency--the tradition--for royals to marry their magicians. His chest felt warm, and he got butterflies in his stomach at the feeling that Ronan could want him.

Together and trusting like this, Adam's cheeks reddened as Ronan turned toward him, so close that Adam had a sudden whim to kiss Ronan's cheek, and only barely resisted it. "Do it," he said, suddenly skittishly nervous about the touch and the intimacy and wanting to retreat so that he could process and cope with all these feelings.

Ronan focused his attention back on the demon. With Adam by his side, it no longer seemed so disturbing. That said, he no longer felt quit as warm when he stared at the blackness.

He raised his hand and threw the magical energy. It arced toward the demon, trailing a brilliant light behind it. The demon recoiled a moment before impact. There was a brief burst of light that blinded Ronan. The next moment, he heard not something but nothing. A distinct absence of sound as the blackness rippled. The demon shrank back away from them, revealing barren earth. Chunks of a wall that it had touched crumbled.

"Alright, looks like we need to hit again."

The demon retreated, and Adam knew that he ought to feel a thrill of success, but he only felt a wave of nerves and self-doubt instead.

Ronan might want him--shouldn't want him--Adam might not have a choice if Ronan wanted him, and he hadn't had a choice up until now, easy though Niall had made it all sound.

They needed to do it again, they needed to do more. The demon had retreated, but it was still massive, and the ground it had touched was bare and dead.

Adam pulled his hand away in order to stare at the results, but when Ronan reminded him of their task, Adam put his hand back on Ronan's arm. Doubts assailed him, and he wanted to withdraw and retreat. Not from the demon, but from the unknown precipice of his own feelings.

Emboldened by the first attempt, Ronan started off the magic as he did before but stronger. But he knew body language well and he felt the change in Adam. He just didn't know why. Doubt didn't creep over him but flowed, steadily growing.

Did Adam expect someone more powerful? Had Ronan let him down. Shit, he had.

Instead of a ball of light, this magic was all fire and flame. Ronan threw it at the demon as soon as he could. This time, black ooze surged out of the demon, swallowing the flame and following its trail back to Ronan's hand. Instinctively, he jerked his hand away but it had coiled tightly around him.

Ronan swore as he struggled to free himself.

The demon surged toward them, winding around Ronan's hand, and Adam felt a rush of horror at the thought of Ronan being dead and withered the way things were where the demon had touched him. "No," he growled, determination surging, and he wound an arm around Ronan's chest and pulled him back. The demon wasn't going to have Ronan. Adam wouldn't allow it.

Ronan didn't know how to describe what happened after the demon took hold off him. He was struggling, shocked, and then there was this piece of nothing inside of him.

Either the demon let him go or Adm successfully wrenched him away. Ronan's legs gave out. He felt cold as death. Shortly after thinking that, he realized that was what the demon wanted. This emptiness inside him began to suck in the rest of his being.

The same blackness that belonged to the demon began to trickle down his nose.

Adam dropped to his knees beside Ronan, hands still on Ronan even as they both dropped to the ground. Breathing quick with panic, Adam tried to assess the situation. The demon was close, and growing closer. Ronan was infected or poisoned by it, and Adam didn't have any way to help.

He'd told them that he wasn't a magician, and now he'd tried and failed and he would be blamed for the prince's death. This was Adam's punishment for daring to believe that he was anything other than a worthless burden.

"Ronan," he insisted, trying to find some shred of steadiness for his voice. "We have to retreat. Can you walk?"

Ronan opened his mouth and more black ooze ran down his chin. He barely heard Adam. Simply keeping his eyes open was a struggle and one was losing. Ronan didn't know why he did it, but he reached for his own energy to fill whatever gap the demon was creating. It drained that too but more slowly. In the meantime, his hands flickered with magical energy.

"No," he whispered. He grasped Adam's arm, thinking he could use him to support his weight, but his legs wouldn't respond to his commands. "Run."

Adam didn't know what to do, and he wasn't sure if Ronan was dying, but Adam definitely wasn't about to abandon him to the thing. Ronan's size and muscle weight was more than Adam could lift, but Adam was stubborn. Stepping behind Ronan, he hooked his hands under Ronan's armpits and dragged him backward, getting a few feet of space between them and the demon. It was slow-moving, at least, aside from the way it had lashed out. Adam put fifteen feet between it and them, and then let go of Ronan. "I'm getting help."

Not waiting to hear what Ronan thought of this plan, Adam went to find the villagers. They weren't far, just around the side of a house, watching from a safe distance. "You," Adam said, pointing at one of the more solid men. "Help me carry him."

Working together, they were able to carry Ronan into one of the houses and set him down on a bed. "Send to the castle," Adam commanded, sitting down on the edge of the bed by Ronan and trying not to think about the nightmare encroaching outside. "Tell the king to send help."

Ronan didn't have the energy to fight Adam on this. Actually, he thought Adam was doing a good job. His father was right to get him to convince him to come back to the castle after all. Even if Ronan died, there had to be some position Adam could fill.

He felt a chill run down his spine when he realized what he'd thought. If he died. His magic flickered out for a while. He couldn't breathe until he forced more magical light back into the world, lighting the tips of his fingers.

He reached for Adam. Wrapping his fingers around his wrist, this time the magic lit up the room for a brief moment before it faded again. Now Ronan was glowing although he still looked deathly pale.

"Maybe we should have waited," he said weakly.

"Next time I'm in charge of making the plans," Adam said, showing a dry humor and resting his hand on Ronan's chest. The black ooze leaking from Ronan was viscerally horrifying, with an inherent wrongness so intense that it was hard to believe that anyone could fight or survive it. And yet Ronan was glowing. It was beautiful, despite the black liquid. He was beautiful.

Adam didn't know anything about this demon and how badly Ronan was infected. He didn't know if Ronan would survive long enough for help to come. It felt unjust to think that the kingdom might lose Ronan to this demon. Adam was the one who should have fallen prey to it, if anyone. Adam couldn't do magic, and no one would miss him.

Except maybe Ronan, who believed that Adam was a magician. And with that belief, they'd driven back the demon for a moment.

"Do you believe I can save you?" Adam asked, hoping that it might be enough. No one had ever believed in Adam before. He'd had to believe in himself, but there was only so much determination he could muster, and sometimes it flagged into self-doubt. If Ronan believed Adam could do magic, then Adam was determined to make it true. He leaned into that determination, let it surge through him, felt the tingle of it in his fingertips as he focused on the glow in Ronan's body and made it flare.

Ronan was not a liar, so he couldn't say that he had complete faith in Adam. He had only recently met him, which had not gone well. Then they'd fought a demon, which had gone even worse. Up until the moment Adam lent him his strength, he had little hope he would get out of this alive. And damn what anyone else might call it, it was strength he felt flowing back into his body, and he burned bright enough that the sight hurt his eyes. That changed everything.

"I really think you can," he admitted. The ooze creeping down his mouth had slowed.

Forget the demon. When he looked out at the world it glowed and Adam shone most of all.

Adam made it as bright as he could, focusing on all that strength and light to burn away the demon, but it faltered quickly and then faded, and Adam wasn't sure if he'd done any good at all.

"How do you feel?" he asked, trying not to think about the demon that wasn't very far away, that was growing and consuming more life with every passing moment.

"Still alive," Ronan said. He wrapped his fingers tight around Adam's hand. The warmth surging through him might have been from the magic or the contact, but Ronan wondered if it was something else altogether. "I'm glad my dad talked you into this." He smiled weakly.

The surge of emotion in Adam's heart was completely unfamiliar. His cheeks flushed at the way Ronan looked at him, like he was something special and valuable. No one had ever looked at him like that in his life, and Adam squeezed Ronan's hand a little tighter, wanting to stay close to this boy who believed that he mattered. "Turns out that babysitting you isn't such a bad gig after all," Adam murmured, soft and very dryly teasing.

"You say that now," Ronan joked. At least he joked as much as one could when slowly dying.

He couldn't say much after that. Even though he focused everything into fighting the demon, he felt the demon sap his strength away. The process had slowed thanks to Adam, but he was losing.

Ronan didn't keep track of time but he knew it had to have been at least an hour before his father came. By that point, his eyes had blotted over with ooze and even more of it slid from his ears. So he didn't see the panic in his father's eyes and only barely heard it in his voice. The same could be said for his mother only she didn't say anything more than his name, softly.

Neither of them paid much attention to Adam save for getting more information. The gratitude came after they'd removed the demonic taint. Niall thanked Adam in the way only he could, knowing just what buttons to push, and all the while secretly relieved that not only was his son alive but he was getting along well with his magician.

Ronan slept through it all. He slept for most of the next day too. Finally, he came out to look for Adam. He hadn't actually thanked him yet.

The feeling of uselessness rose steadily in Adam as he sat beside Ronan waiting for assistance. Ronan only seemed to grow worse, and Adam’s ability to push it back only faded until he couldn’t seem to make anything happen at all, and his insecurity began to tip toward despair.

It was a relief when Niall and Aurora appeared. Adam stood out of the way as they took his place by the bedside and worked together to cast out the demon from him. Then they stayed behind, sending Adam and Ronan back to the palace. Niall’s thanks and praise rung hollow in Adam’s ears, despite the skillful way that Niall appealed to Adam’s pride and his craving for approval. It was hard to accept thanks for helping Ronan hold out a little longer when all Adam could think was that Ronan’s real magician would have been able to save him without assistance, and if Niall and Aurora hadn’t been a mere couple of hours away, Adam would have failed him entirely.

While Ronan recovered, Adam settled in. He was fed generously and provided a room that was larger than most houses Adam had seen. The steward seemed to intuit that Adam wouldn’t seek out food while he was working, and perhaps this was common for magicians, because meals appeared on a regular schedule wherever Adam was, so that he never had to stop what he was doing in order to eat. He spent most of his time in the library that he was told was his now, the magician’s library. Aurora or an advisor might occasionally seek to reference a tome, but most of it was meant for magicians in training, and therefore it was his to explore.

With Aurora and Niall busy dealing with the demon and no one else adequately familiar with the workings of magic, Adam was left almost entirely to his own training. He picked stacks of books from the shelves and curled up in a chair for hours at a time reading. If he was a magician, and if he was all that Ronan had, then it was his duty to gain skill as quickly as possible so that he wouldn’t fail again. He glanced up when Ronan walked into the room, stomach clenching with relief that Ronan was awake and ambulatory and not some nightmare version of himself.

“Your parents are holding back the demon,” he explained, eyes a little bit wary as he studied the prince. “Our job is to study and improve as quickly as possible so that if they need aid we’ll be able to offer it.”

"Oh, if that's all." Ronan leaned against the wall. He studied Adam for a few moments. He looked well physically but there was something about his eyes that showed the demon had worn him down, even Ronan had been the one it tried to devour. No, obliterate would be the better word. Ronan pushed the thought away.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He picked at the wall though his fingers could find no purchase against stone. It was something he could do, however ineffectual.

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