Chapter Text
Agnes hasn’t seen her brother in exactly seven months, two weeks, and six days since he started his ‘secret case’ earlier in the year. It’s also been exactly seven days since the apocalypse happened and all things considered, she’s doing pretty well. The hospital was a little damaged, everything in Neverwinter is at least a little damaged after all the chaos but the Birds held the line--Or so everyone keeps saying.
She’s not sure how she feels yet, she spent most of The Day in a basement with everyone else from the Children’s Ward. It’s just a lot to process.
She’s thankful beyond anything when she finally gets a letter in their code saying to meet in their usual place in Neverwinter. She doesn’t hesitate in the slightest at sneaking out of the hospital, she’s having a good day so it’s not very hard.
Their bench is destroyed, and so is most of the park but Agnes sits under a nearby tree, shuffling her cards and wondering if she should have brought her good blanket so she could scam some folks with phony readings. Neverwinter is always good for that, with the disaster it’s harder to gauge but she thinks she could get some pity silvers and coppers.
Every little bit helps, even with Angus sending money the hospital is expensive.
She kicks her feet a little, she’s crushing a very crunchy leaf when tiny hands cover her eyes and a familiar voice asks, “What’s the password?”
“Caleb Cleveland is a big nerd .”
“You’re supposed to say Caleb Cleveland is the best but it’s been a while so I’ll let it slide this time.” She can hear the pout in his voice, and she laughs louder and freer than she has in months. She turns her body, not too fast because she doesn’t want to get dizzy and latches onto Angus like a limpet.
“You’re a big nerd too, I missed you.”
“Aggie, I’ve missed you so much, I’m sorry I couldn’t come and see you sooner but everything’s been crazy and no one at the bureau’s let me go anywhere. I had to lie and say I was going to the library to come see you.”
“The library got crushed by a weird mushroom monster.”
“Yeah, but Taako and Magnus don’t know that so as long as they don’t crosscheck with Madame Director Lucretia I should be good for at least a few hours.”
“I knew you had something to do with that big moon cult as soon as I saw it in The Story. That had ‘Angus McDonald, World’s Greatest Detective’ written all over it.”
“Of course you knew, that has ‘Agnes McDonald, World’s Greatest Clairvoyant’ written all over it.”
Angus tells her about his past year, both the little bit before when he’d been tracking the Rockport Slayer and everything afterward. Most of the stories are fun, the train ride is exciting, the crystal lab is a little scary but she knows it turns out okay so it’s not so bad, and everyone at the bureau does sound nice.
They took care of her brother, she’s happy he has people like she has her nurses and the other ward kids.
“You’ve gotta come meet them! I haven’t said anything yet but I figured it would be a cool surprise. Like, we could dress the same and do the thing we used to do where we both hide in different parts of a room, pop out, and say something clever then pop back into our hiding spot. We can see how long it takes them to figure out I’m not teleporting or casting duplicity!”
Agnes frowns, she hunches over slightly--She doesn’t let go of Angus because she can’t yet, it’s been too long so she practically curls into his side, “Meet them? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Angus seems utterly baffled by her question, blinking wide-eyed as he processes it, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Agnes sighs because she always has to be the responsible one, the one who tells Angus when he’s being too ambitious, “Because you lied to them? I mean, we agreed not to tell people about me until I’m out of the hospital ‘cause it’s dangerous but that seems like it’s a big deal not to tell your cult friends about me.”
“It’s only sort of a moon cult--And it’s only a lie by omission, that barely counts.” Angus counters, clearly exasperated with her arguments. Which isn’t fair, because she’s probably right, he’s lived with them for months without mentioning her. The militia is at least vaguely aware of her, mostly because of the time she’d had to be put under temporary protection from the remnants of a gang Angus had busted. That case had been the reason for their rule in the first place, a precaution to prevent any repeats.
Agnes pulls Angus closer, pressing her face into his collar. He smells different, like cookies instead of old books. She’s not sure how she feels about that, but she knows how she feels about Angus.
“I don’t wanna ruin this for you, they like you so much but what if they don’t like me.”
Tiny hands clutch at her back just as surely as hers clutch his. Angus’ voice is so tiny like he’s trying to soothe a startled animal but the undercurrent is as confident and fierce as her brother always is in the face of a mystery.
“Taako’s a twin too! He’ll get it, Aggie,” Angus insists as his palms rub circles on her back, “I haven’t known Miss Lup for as long but she seems really nice too.”
“I mean, yeah, I guess they seemed nice in The Story and they like you but I’m...I’m different .”
“You’re my sister .”
“I’m sick. Not everybody likes sick, Gus.”
Angus pulls away and gets that look on his face, the one where he has a clever idea that Agnes knows she’s not going to like. He grins brightly, “What if you don’t meet them as Agnes.” Her brother moves quickly, taking off his hat with one hand and gathering up her curls with the other before summarily shoving them all under the cap.
“ Angus !” She yelps, her own hands snaking up to adjust her tugged locks. She puts on her most disapproving face, the one with the pout and puppy dogs eyes that works on every single nurse at the hospital.
Angus is completely unphased.
“Just listen, it’s a good plan! You can pretend to be me for the day, just like we used to and then you can see how nice they are. Give it a few hours and then you can decide if you want to meet them as Agnes or not. It’s completely foolproof!”
“Are you sure?”
“I swear on my signed Caleb Cleveland boxset!”