Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Something was wrong. Something was so, so wrong and Taako didn’t know what had happened. It had been going great. His show had been a hit, his magic had enraptured the crowd, and by the time he was done everyone was just about jumping for the free samples.

It had been after giving out the samples that things had gotten irrevocably fucked up. He’d been out in the front, chatting up folks and trying to push his cookbook sales when the first people started getting sick. Once that happened it was a quick fucking degradation of chaos.

Before anyone could try to grab him, before they could realize what was happening, make the connection that the food must've been poisoned, he ran to the back cart to get Sazed. They needed to go. They had to fucking go. He didn’t know what had happened but he’d fucked up. He fucked up somehow and people were sick and dying and they needed to go and-

When he burst into the back cart where Sazed was there was a sight he couldn’t quite comprehend. Sazed wasn’t the only one back there. Sazed also wasn’t on the ground, some invisible force holding him up against the wall where he was struggling. Taako couldn’t say shit, mouth opened in quiet shock. He should have screamed as some red robed ghost hovered there, arcane energy crackling off of him. Instead he stood frozen, too many things going through his head at once.

“What did you do?” the red robed figure growled, the voice echoing around them despite not being very loud. Sazed had stopped trying to get out of whatever invisible grasp was holding him in place, and he looked fucking terrified.

“I- I- I fuck, I’m sorry! Let me go!” he yelled, starting to struggle again. Whatever force was holding him seemed to tighten, and there was another wave of red bolts that shot off of the ghost.

“What. Did. You. DO?” it shouted now.

“I poisoned the food! I’m sorry! It was arsenic I put it in the chicken and I’m sorry! I didn’t think- I didn’t know he’d hand it out! Please don’t kill me!” Sazed said, speaking a mile a minute closing his eyes as he turned as much away from the red ghost dude as he could in his position.

Despite the panic that had gripped Taako, that was still gripping him, he was freaking out, that knocked him out of his frozen state.

“You did what?” he managed to say, his voice not even sounding like himself. It was at that moment that he realized neither of them had noticed him yet. Sazed’s eyes shot open and he still looked terrified as he stared at Taako. The red figure turned towards him as well, and he could see where his face should have been. Instead of a face there was darkness in his hood with a bright white light in the center.

“T- Taako I-” Sazed started to stutter. Even though that red robed thing was staring at him how it hadn’t dropped Sazed any.

“You did what?” Taako repeated, the reality of the situation starting to crash down around him. Sazed poisoned his food. People were dying and Taako had thought it was his fault and Sazed had been trying to poison him.

“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t-” Sazed continued, but Taako couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so viscerally angry.

“Get out,” he snapped, and he was fucking shaking now. Sazed stayed there gaping at him, and Taako was gritting his teeth and he could barely even see straight past the rage and the fear. “Get out!” he shouted again.

“I- I can’t,” he said, struggling some against the force that was keeping him in place. Which, okay, Taako might’ve forgotten about that for a second. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d been so mad. He completely forgot about the arcane force of power hovering between them.

Taako turned back towards the thing he could still only qualify as like, a fucking ghost. He didn’t know what it was or why it was here but it caught Sazed for some reason. So he’d go as far as saying it probably wasn’t an enemy. For now, at least.

“Hey, Red, think you could get rid of this fucker,” he said, trying to sound a lot more confident and casual than he felt right now. It didn’t work all that well, his voice was shaking, but the specter nodded.

And then with a fucking blast of energy stronger than anything Taako had ever seen before, Sazed was knocked out of the open back of the stagecoach. Which hadn’t been what Taako was expecting but he supposed he could take it. When he glanced out he could see Sazed slowly and painfully getting to his feet. So he wasn’t dead and that- that was fine. He didn’t have time to deal with Sazed anymore right now anyway. Being shot out of the back of a stagecoach would have to be enough.

The ghost was still here, and Taako could feel the panic starting to grip him again. He still needed to leave. He couldn’t get caught here, there was no way anyone would believe that he hadn’t had a hand in this.

The red robed figure nodded at him, and began to fade away and Taako jolted, stumbling in a panic over to them.

“Wait! Fuck wait a minute, don’t leave yet,” he said, and he wasn’t even sure why he wanted this creep to stay other than the fact that they had saved him. Sazed had been trying to kill him. He never would’ve told him what really happened. Taako never would have guessed it was him in a million years to even begin questioning. He never would have thought.

“I- I’m sorry Taako, but I need to go,” the ghost said. Before he had sounded terrifying and his voice booming, but now he just kinda sounded like a guy. He sounded nervous, almost panicked, and it wasn’t like Taako couldn’t understand the feeling.

“But you - fuck, okay I don’t know who or what the fuck you are but you just did me a major solid. I don’t- please just fucking help me get out of here, they’ll never fucking believe me,” Taako said, well aware he was basically begging right now. He didn’t have any other options. He was too proud to do a lot of things, but begging for his life wasn't one of them.

The ghost stared at him for a moment, and it was literally impossible to tell what it was thinking without a face. After a minute though it nodded, much to Taako’s surprise. He didn’t expect it to actually help him anymore than it already had.

“Alright, but we need to be quick, and then I need to go,” he insisted and Taako nodded, not giving a shit as long as he got the fuck out of there.

He wasn’t sure what this dude was gonna do to get them out of there, but Taako was impressed when he turned both of them and the whole fucking Sizzle It Up cart and even the goddamn horse invisible.

From the way he had effortlessly taken out Sazed, he figured the guy was strong. A show of magic like that made everything Taako had done in his show look like party favors. Fuck, they were party favors.

Taako wasn’t sure how long they were on the road for. He was pretty sure he passed out after some point, but when he came to consciousness again they were still moving. The red specter was sitting up in the front seat, and Taako could see bony hands holding the reigns. Literally bony, they were just bones with dried, thin skin stretched across them like a mummy or some shit.

They were moving at a much slower pace now, and the invisibility had dropped so he guessed they were pretty far from Glamour Springs by now.

“How long was I out?” he asked, trying to force himself completely awake.

“About five hours. You can rest more if you need to,” the specter said, but Taako shook his head. That was honestly longer than he expected, it’d have to be enough for now.

“I uh, I can’t really remember everything that went down, but uh, I guess I should thank you. You saved my ass back there, and like, it’s a damn fine ass that the world would be poorer for losing,” he said, slipping into humor because he was still terrified. To his surprise the ghost or whatever actually laughed at that.

“It’s pretty good, but I’ve seen better,” he said, and Taako didn’t even have to fake the offended look on his face at that.

“Rude! Okay, thanks redacted, fuck you ghost boy,” he said, and said ghost boy just laughed a bit more at that. Then he stopped abruptly, and Taako wasn’t sure how something without a face managed to look nervous, but somehow it did.

“We’re almost a two days straight ride from Glamour Springs now, you should be safe. I uh, I need to go,” he said, and Taako frowned. The panic of this thing leaving him alone was gone but he still didn’t- Taako didn’t know what the fuck was going on or why this guy had decided to save him. He wanted some fucking answers.

“Now hold on there kemosabe. I appreciate everything you’ve done so far of course, but like, I’m still pretty damn confused here. Like, who the fuck are you and why did you help me?” he asked.

“It’s- that’s complicated Taako. I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you everything,” he said, and that wasn’t an answer even remotely helpful.

“Okay, then how about not everything. How about a fucking name there, red?” he asked, because this fucker still hadn’t even given him that. He knew Taako’s name, and he’d assumed it’d been from the show but now he wasn’t sure. ‘I wish I could tell you everything’ wasn’t typically something you said to complete strangers.

“Uh, unfortunately that’s one of the things I definitely can’t tell you,” the ghost said, and Taako groaned. Of course not.

He should probably be scared of this guy. He was clearly powerful, more powerful than Taako considering what he’d done to Sazed. He wasn’t though, not at all really. He guessed it was because this guy had helped him and every time he talked to him he sounded like a nervous dork.

He’d been utterly terrifying when shouting at Sazed. Taako would rather not think about that though.

“Fucking fine, I guess you’re just gonna have to be Red then,” he said.

“Uh, if we’re going with a color actually blue would probably be more fitting,” the ghost said. Taako stared at him for a long moment, giving him a very slow and deliberate look over as he raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Blue?” he asked, his voice flat as a rug, and he swore the dude fucking snorted as he laughed.

“Yep,” he said, and he didn’t have a face but Taako could still hear a smile in his voice.

“That’s fucking stupid Red,” Taako said, and the specter burst out laughing again. It was a nice laugh, it was-

Taako didn’t know what, but he liked this guy.

“We can go with Red if you want. It’s- it doesn’t really matter,” Red said, and Taako guessed that settled that. Still didn’t tell him anything about this guy, but at least he could stop thinking of him as ‘the ghost’ and shit like that. Then he sighed, and pulled the cart over to the side of the quiet road they were on. Taako didn’t have any idea where they were, but he’d have to ditch the cart as soon as possible.

“Or well, I suppose it won’t matter what you call me since I really won’t be around anymore. Honestly, it’s best if you forget about this whole encounter Taako. Safer,” he said, and that wasn’t reassuring. It was the opposite of reassuring. It was ominous as shit.

It was probably because he had fucking nothing anymore. He just lost his show, and the only person he’d had with him for the past five years was gone. Tried to fucking kill his ass. He was alone, and that wasn’t anything new for him but it was still fucking terrifying.

He didn’t want this guy to leave him too.

“Dude, don’t- come on, you can’t expect me to just forget this shit. Tell me what’s going on. Why did you attack Sazed? What the fuck are you?” he pressed. If he was going to leave no matter what Taako figured he at least deserved some answers.

“It’s- I’m a lich Taako, to give you some idea of how dangerous this all is,” Red said, and Taako froze at that. He knew what liches were. Or at least, he'd heard of them. Couldn't remember where, probably picking up a random necromancy book when he meant to be studying spells for his show.

Liches were mindless sources of destruction, unrelenting evil magic users who got way in over their heads. There was no redeeming them, and they killed indiscriminately and with malice.

This guy made a joke about Taako’s ass and saved his life. He didn’t even kill Sazed when he had the chance, even though he’d seemed pretty damn pissed.

“You’re a fucking shitty lich my dude,” he told him bluntly, and Red laughed. Which was only adding to the weirdness of all this. Liches don’t laugh.

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that,” he said, and then he floated up out of the seat. He didn’t really have legs, and Taako hadn’t noticed until then how he’d been kinda phased through the seat instead of actually sitting in it. Which was such a fucking dork move, holy shit.

“Goodbye Taako,” the lich said, and he started fading away again like he had that last time. It was stupid, but Taako could feel the panic gripping his chest at him leaving.

“Wait!” he shouted again, trying to reach over and grab at about where a wrist would be in his sleeve. Taako’s hand went straight through him, but it was enough to get him to stop.

“Taako, I’m sorry but I-” Red started to insist, but he kept saying he needed to go but wouldn’t so it must not be that urgent.

“Don’t leave. I can- I promise I can make staying worth your while. I can, fuck, I don’t know if you can eat, but my food is to die for,” he said, and then winced. “Okay, fuck, too soon, even for me,” he added

“Taako, I-” Red started, and he actually sounded torn up about this. “I can’t stay, I wish I could but-” he started, and then he seemed to go almost deathly still. “Shit.”

“What’s up homie?” Taako pressed. He didn’t know what kind of shit could make a lich actually seem worried, but whatever it was he didn’t want to see it.

“I’m sorry. She found me, Taako I really can’t stay any longer, she’ll… I’m so sorry,” he said, and he was sounding kind of panicked now. Taako didn’t even fucking know this guy’s real name, he was a lich! Who fucked cared if he helped get rid of Sazed’s ass. By every right Taako should be terrified of this dude and trying to get him to leave, not stay.

“Alright. Okay I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but you can get lost if you need to I guess,” he said, and it almost looked like the lich’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Thank you Taako,” he said with a sigh.

“But!” Taako cut in before he could go off on his disappearing act again. “Maybe like, check in? If you’re ever in the area. Or like, whatever area I’m in, I’m sure as fuck not gonna stay here either. But like you’re a lich so I figure you got boatloads of way to find people,” he said, and he didn’t know why he wanted to see this guy again but he did.

“I’ll… see what I can do. Goodbye Taako,” he said, starting to fade again finally.

“Later Red,” Taako said, and this time he was gone. The night road was quiet, and Taako was alone.

Sighing, he grabbed the reigns from where Red had placed them and starting pushing the horse forward once again. He had to keep on moving away from Glamour Springs after all. He couldn’t risk someone trying to catch him and put him in jail or fucking kill him for something that hadn’t even been his fault.

Hopefully he’d run into that friendly lich again, but he tried not to get his hopes up. He seemed pretty intent on leaving and not ever acknowledging that any of this ever happened.

Still, Taako found himself wanting it anyway.

He was probably just lonely.

——

Barry had several rules laid out for himself when it came to his mission. If he didn’t follow these tenets, it wouldn’t be long before everything else came crumbling down around him even more than it already had. He could not, no matter how much he wanted to or how dire the situation seemed, break these rules.

First of all, he could not lose control. That one always went without saying, if he lost himself then he had no hope of seeing this through. He wouldn’t be able to help anyone, and all the effort he’d put in thus far would be a complete waste.

Tied directly into not losing himself was the second rule. He could not give up, he couldn’t stop looking for Lup. He had to believe she was still out there somewhere, that he could find her. If he stopped believing there was some way out of all of this, gave into the idea that he would never see the love of his life again, he knew it’d only be a matter of time before he was lost. And if she was out there, something having gone horribly wrong, he couldn’t risk leaving her like that. He had to make sure, no matter what, that he did everything in his power to save her.

The next one was a little easier to follow than the first two. He couldn’t let Lucretia stop him. He loved her, she was his family, but there was no denying that they were on opposing sides right now.  Roles neither of them took any joy in, but ones they were in none the less. He understood her reasoning, but he couldn’t let her go through with her plans.

The last one was the hardest to follow by far. When he was busy, out in the world searching for answers or when he was clueless, lost and unaware in a living body, it wasn’t too much of an issue. It was in those months without leads, the agonizing long waiting periods growing a new body, that made it hurt the most.

In those times he could almost trick himself. Say he was checking in for their safety, and not to try and appease the crushing loneliness he felt.

It wasn’t like it would help. He knew that watching, even from a distance would only serve to make it worse.

He could not see his family. He could not talk to them, or try to make them remember. It would only make everything harder.

He’d managed five years. He got five years before he finally caved, before the opportunity was too close, too tempting.

It was a good thing, until it wasn’t.

Barry knew he should not under any circumstances interact with Taako again. It was bad enough that he’d seen him attacking his assistant. Even worse that he’d stuck around long enough to get him safely away from town and then have a full conversation with him. Long enough even for Lucretia to get a bead on him again, which meant more hiding before he could try any sort of outing at all.

It was all too risky. Taako didn’t even know who he was. Dragging him into all of this when there was no way to even let him know the full story wasn’t right. He couldn’t even tell Taako that he still hadn’t managed to find Lup.

It was too dangerous and too unfair.

So it was real fucking dumb that he was currently hovering hidden in the alley behind the inn Taako was currently staying at.

He wasn’t planning on showing himself. He just wanted to make sure Taako was still doing okay. That no one caught him and tried to pin all those murders on him.

It went directly against his last rule, not seeing his family. Not putting himself and them in that sort of risk.

But he couldn’t even fine Magnus or Merle anywhere. He had no fucking clue what happened to Davenport. Lup was still…

The least he could do was keep an eye on the one bit of his family he’d managed to find.

A part of him just really fucking missed his brother and wanted to be sure he was okay. Talking to him that night had been like a breath of fresh air after not even realizing how long he’d been drowning for so long. He fucking missed Taako, and he really couldn’t risk talking to him again but he could at least make sure he wasn’t going to be thrown in jail for a crime he never meant to commit.

Once he actually caught sight of his brother though that resolve not to interact began to waver.

If there was one thing Taako had never been, it was unremarkable. Taako always drew attention, was always calling all eyes onto himself. It was something that Barry had taken a while to really appreciate, but as it was now it was something about him and Lup that he wouldn’t change for the world. For any world.

So seeing him, slumped in a corner of a tavern, his clothes dark and subdued, his whole form blending into the background just felt wrong. He could understand why Taako was doing it. He couldn’t risk people seeing him and realizing who he was and trying to arrest him. It was smart, and if there was one thing Taako was above dramatic, it was smart.

It still fucking sucked to see, and even though there wasn’t anything he could do Barry wanted to help.

He watched invisibly as Taako hung around the tavern for a few hours before heading back up to his rented room. Barry hesitated before following him up. It was a bad choice, because seeing Taako sigh and collapse onto the shitty rented bed made his heart hurt.

It was a dumb, dumb dumb move, but Barry let the invisibility drop.

Immediately Taako sprung up from his bed, wand in hand and pointed at him in a panic.

Then he seemed to recognize him, and he lowered his hand and Barry hated that he was surprised to see Taako smiling at him. It shouldn’t be such a shock, but he had no reason to trust Barry anymore. He had no idea who he was or why he was here. If a lich suddenly appearing in his room freaked him out Barry couldn’t even blame him.

“My dude! I was starting to think you weren’t ever gonna show your weird glowy not-face again. It’s been like a fucking month,” Taako complained, and Barry laughed at that. Of course Taako wasn’t afraid of him. It was- he was his brother. Lucretia might’ve been able to erase their memories, but she couldn’t take that away.

If he still had eyes he probably would have just started crying.

“Sorry for taking so long. It’s uh, I really can’t come often. It’s complicated,” Barry apologized. He shouldn’t be coming at all, but as long as it was quick, it wasn’t like Lucretia could keep an eye on him all the time. She was obviously pretty busy with her new pet project after all.

“Yeah, I figured as much, what with you being a fucking lich and running off because someone was apparently after you last time. You gonna explain any of that by the way or am I gonna be in the dark here forever?” Taako asked, and Barry could understand why he’d want some answers. Barry wanted to give him answers. He wanted to tell Taako everything and ask for his help because Barry had been trying to figure this all out on his own for so long.

He couldn’t though, because Taako wouldn’t be able to understand any of it.

“Unfortunately I really can’t tell you much. Sorry bud, if it was up to me I woulda filled you in a long time ago,” he said. Taako still looked pretty put upon with that answer, flopping back down on the bed.

“Of course, don’t know why I expected anything else from you Red,” Taako said, and Barry couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“So we’re really doing that? The Red thing?” he asked, and Taako nodded like it was a dumb question.

“Of course. You won’t tell me your real name and I’m not fucking calling you blue dude. That’s stupid,” he said, and if Barry had a mouth he’d be smiling right now.

“Well I think it’s rather fitting, but if you prefer Red I guess that’s fine too,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes at that. “So uh, how’ve you been?” Barry asked, and it sounded awkward, mostly because it was. Still, he genuinely wanted to know how Taako was doing.

“Uh, pretty fucking shitty my guy. Everyone thinks I killed that whole town which like, I guess it was partially my fault but fuck. I didn’t know Sazed was gonna get that fucking crazy over not getting a part in a goddamn cooking show,” Taako said, and oh. So that was why he’d been trying to poison Taako. Barry had never actually managed to get a why out of him before Taako showed up and told him to get rid of the guy.

“I’m sorry, that has to be tough,” he said, and Taako shrugged, like he was trying to make it seem not that big a deal. It was obvious that Taako was a lot more closed off than he used to be, and that was saying something, but he could still notice his tells pretty well. This was bothering him a whole fucking lot.

“It’ll blow over eventually. It’s just a lot of bullshit in the meantime,” he said, and Barry nodded. “So uh, what about you? I don’t even know what liches do,” he said, and honestly that was a good question.

“I mean, I can’t speak for all liches, but I’ve been looking for something. Someone,” he said, and he could see the barely hidden interest on Taako’s face at that.

“Oh yeah? Anyone cha’ boy might know?” he asked, and  the irony of this situation felt like a knife in a chest he didn’t even have anymore.

“No one you would remember,” he answered. Taako gave him a look like that was a weird answer, which Barry supposed it was. It was the truth though, and it wasn’t like he could say much more than that.

“I mean, are they a floating red specter like you? Cause I’ll probably notice if I end up running into another. I could send em your way if you want,” Taako offered, and talking about this hurt but there was still something nice there. He’d been wishing for Taako’s help on this again for so long now. He knew he couldn’t really have it but the sentiment was still there, despite everything.

“She might be. She might not be though, it depends on what she’s been up to,” Barry told him, and he could see the look of annoyance on Taako’s face at the vague answer.

“Why are you looking for this person?” Taako asked, and Barry was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what he could say.

“She’s my wife, the love of my life and something horrible must’ve happened to keep her away for so long. She’d promised she’d be back soon, but it’s- it’s been almost six years now Taako,” he said, and he could see the look of awkward sympathy on his face at that. Of course this was a little much for a Taako who barely knew him to handle, but this was the first time he’d been able to speak to anyone about this since that horrible, horrible day.

“Shit, well I guess I asked so can't really fault you for answering. Uh, sorry dude. I’m um, I’m sure you’ll find her soon,” Taako said, and Barry hoped he was right about that. It still felt like he was running around in circles and barely making any progress though.

Which was probably why he was taking this risk to see Taako again. He felt like he was barely holding on, and seeing Taako still trusting him, it helped. Strengthened a tether he hadn't even realized had already worn so thin.

“I can’t stay long. I’ve been- someone is after me and when I spend too long in one place she’s able to find me. I just thought I’d help you out a bit though,” Barry said, changing the subject. Then he pulled out a small box from a pocket dimension and floated it over to Taako. The elf immediately scrambled to open it up and looked flabbergasted at the contents.

“Holy shit Red! And I was starting to run out of Sizzle It Up savings, hell yes,” Taako said, starting to count the about 100 gold pieces inside. He typically left similar money filled chests for his living self, but he still had enough time before his new body was complete to get another one.

“I figured you’d be running low by now, yeah,” Barry said, and Taako was smiling now. If there was any way to endear yourself to Taako Barry knew that paying for his shit certainly helped.

“You’re a life safer my dude, multiple times over now. I uh, fuck. Thanks,” Taako said, clearly not sure of what to actually do here.

“I need to get going soon, but it’s- would it be alright if I checked in on you sometimes? I can understand if you’re not comfortable with a lich around but…” he asked, and Taako scoffed at that.

“Hey man I don’t judge. You might be a lich but you’re nicer than most of the living people I’ve met. Feel free to come hang whenever, Taako could use the company,” he said, and Barry wished he could smile right now.

“Thanks Taako. I could too if I’m being honest,” he said, and then a thought came to him. “It’s- I just need you to promise me something though,” he said, and Taako finally stopped messing with the coins and looked back over to him.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I need you not to tell anyone about me. It’s- it’s so important Taako. I can’t risk being found, you have no idea how much is riding on this,” he said, and he felt relief wash through him when Taako nodded.

“Sure thing Red. It’s not like I’m talking to a lot of people anymore anyway, and I doubt a lot of people would be thrilled to hear that a lich that might just appear at random,” he said, and Barry laughed some at that.

“Yeah, you got a point there. Um, I guess I’ll see you around then,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“See ya Red,” he said, and with that Barry went back invisible and floated down through the floor before leaving the inn entirely.

He was probably making a really bad decision, choosing to reveal himself, but Taako was his family. As long as he had his help, he could get through this.

It was a risk, but as far as Barry was concerned, the benefits far outweighed the negatives here.

Chapter Text

There was a part of Taako that had thought the ghost that had helped him the night of Glamour Springs had just been a hallucination. His brain freaking the fuck out over what had happened and offering him comfort in the form of a bright red spirit with a bad sense of humor and mismatched voice.

Then he showed up again about a month later, and it seemed like the dude was definitely real. Or at least, the money he’d given Taako was real and paid for food and nights at an inn just like any gold would.

Taako still didn’t know why this lich was helping him, or what his real name was, or anything useful really, but he wasn’t going to question it. He was having some downright shitty luck and if one single thing wanted to go right in his life he wasn’t going to jinx it. He had a shitty lich who would check in on him every couple of weeks or so, ask how he was doing, talk a bit while saying absolutely nothing useful about himself, and then head off again.

A weird arrangement, but Taako liked it. Friends weren’t really a thing he tended to do, and if this was as close as he was going to get in that regard, it was fine. It was a creature that should have been unrepentant evil, that could kill him without a second thought, that snorted when he laughed and would wax poetics about his missing wife.

It didn’t make any fucking sense, but Taako guessed his life had stopped making sense a while ago. Thinking back, he wasn't sure if he could think of a time when things had ever felt right.

Taako hadn’t realized how much time had passed going on like that. Red stopping in every so often to hang. Taako traveled a lot, he had to keep moving so that no one recognized him from his show and tried to turn him into the militia or whatever. Plus, it wasn’t like there was anywhere for him to stay even if he wanted to stick in one place. He was used to moving around. It was good for him.

Somehow it was never an issue for his lich buddy. He always seemed to be able to find him without any real issue. Taako didn’t think much about it, he was a spooky, powerful lich, the fact that he could find Taako didn’t seem that strange.

He was on the outskirts of some podunk backwater town when Red appeared this time. The place wasn’t even big enough to have an inn. It was easier to camp out instead of trying to find a room he could rent, especially since he wasn’t planning on sticking around long.

There wasn’t any big show of power or dramatic entrance whenever the lich appeared. One minute he wasn’t there, and the next he was, sitting as well as an apparition could on the log on the other side of the fire across from Taako.

“Sup Red, been a while this time,” he said, and he could see Red nod. It took a little while to figure out exactly what all his little movements meant. It was hard to make out body language in nothing but a robe, but Taako was pretty sure he’d gotten the hang of it by now.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been- I thought I had a lead,” he said, and Taako didn’t need to ask him for a lead on what. There was only one thing Red ever mentioned specifically to be looking for. Dude was on some endless quest to find his wife, and Taako didn’t have the heart to tell him it was probably a lost cause. If someone had been gone for so long, they were probably dead or something.

Well, he guessed Red was dead too, so maybe that wouldn’t actually be much of a problem.

“Didn’t pan out?” he asked, and he could see some hesitation there now.

“No, well, not exactly. I’m still on the trail, technically. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I- well, I might not be able to stop by again for a while,” he said, and Taako frowned at that. It wasn’t like Red hung out every day, Taako didn’t think their meet ups were super common, so he probably really did mean a while.

“How long we talking here my dude? I get that you gotta keep up your spookums aesthetic but a time table is pretty cool for us regular people,” he said, poking the fire with a stick some to get it to burn a little brighter.  Red laughed and shrugged a little at that.

“I don’t really know. It’s uh, it’s-” he started, but Taako cut him off.

“Complicated. You’re always saying that,” he said, because it was true. He didn’t know what was so complicated because Red wouldn’t give him the first fucking clue on it, but apparently it must’ve been some fucking astrophysics level of confusing from how often he said it was complicated.

There was so much Taako didn’t know, so much this lich was keeping from him. Things that should by every account make him suspicious, worried that he was dealing with something evil. For some reason, it didn’t. Red didn’t seem like an evil guy. He was just trying to get his wife back.

“Sorry, I know you’d probably like something a bit more concrete,” Red said, and then it almost seemed like he was contemplating something. Taako didn’t say anything, cause maybe if he didn’t pressure him he could get a real answer out of the dude for once. It’d be a blessedly rare occurrence, but it was worth a shot.

“I’m going to go into a living body. Not like, possessing anyone, it’s my own body, I uh, I cloned it. While I’m alive though I won’t be able to remember you or anything I do when I’m like this. So like, I probably won’t be able to come visit you until I die again,” Red said, and okay. Alright, Taako had been hoping for answers, but he hadn’t quite expected something like that.

“Holy shit, you really are some necromantic fucking lich, aren’t you?” he asked, and that got a full laugh out of Red. Taako didn’t think it was his fault though, he didn’t act like some evil lich. Cloning bodies and shit was weird, he hadn’t considered that being a thing he could do. Well, maybe could wasn’t the right word. Would.

“Yeah, I told you Taako. People aren’t typically willing to you know, shoot the shit with me when I’m like this. I’m really glad you’re different,” he said, and Taako made a face at that. Red got all weirdly sentimental a lot, not that he could ever understand why. He’d be hard pressed to even say they were friends, let alone good friends.

Still, he guessed it made sense, if Taako was the only real interactions he was having with people.

He tried not to think about the fact that Red was also the only person he spent any amount of casual time with now a days. That was temporary. Someday the damage from Glamour Spring would blow over and he wouldn’t have to be running and hiding all the time again.

Not that he spent a lot of time with people before either. There was Sazed, but he’d been an employee. Taako had thought they were friends, but he’d clearly been wrong on that front. He couldn’t really remember a time when he’d had anyone constant in his life. He guessed it made sense that it wouldn’t change now.

“Death might take you a while, yeah,” Taako muttered, figuring it’d be a good long while before he saw Red again now. If he did at all. He wasn’t even sure what race the dude was, or how old he was. He would probably be gone for a least a couple decades.

Taako was pretty surprised when Red let out a slightly bitter laugh at that.

“It probably won’t be too long. So far the longest I’ve managed to go since I’ve started cloning was about a year,” he said, and Taako snorted at that.

“Fuck my dude, is that all? You had me worried there for a second,” he said, only realizing afterwards that was admitting to worrying about Red not being around anymore. Which was more care than he meant to have, but for some reason it didn’t feel as bad admitting that as he thought it might.

“I’m kinda an idiot when I’m in a body. I don’t know I can do magic, but uh, I guess being a little cavalier towards death manages to stick through. I’m not all that cautious,” he explained. Fuck, there was a part of Taako that almost wanted to see what Red was like when he was alive. It sounded like a fucking shit show.

“You sure you can’t tell me who you are? I promise I won’t use the information to figure out all the embarrassing ways you’ve probably gotten yourself killed,” Taako said, and Red laughed again at that.

“Nah, sorry bud. As tempting as that is,” he said, still chuckling.

“What about race?” Taako asked, because honestly he’d basically been friends with this guy for a while now. If he wasn’t going to see him in fuck knows how long he could at least give him a few basic facts about himself. “Like, I promise I’m not going to be knocking down every firbolg I meet trying to find you or whatever,” he added. Red seemed to think it over before shrugging.

“I’m a human. I guess that’s not really anything special or too descriptive,” he said, and yeah, he guessed that made sense. He’d figured probably human if he had to make a guess.

“So, what about your wife? She human too?” he asked, and Red shook his head.

“No, she’s an elf,” he said, which was a little surprising. Not that he was married to an elf, but maybe it was that a bit. More so Taako was surprised that he was actually answering his questions for once.

“You two planning on having some cute half elf devil ghosts kids whenever you find her?” Taako asked, taking a drink of his water to hide the amusement on his face when the lich actually started sputtering.

“What? Oh gods- No- that’s not- I mean. That isn’t really something we’ve been able to, uh, think about, in any sort of realistic manner, I guess. Maybe someday, if uh, if she wanted to,” he said, and Taako was still grinning when he pulled the water away from his face. Super deadly necromancer or not, he was still a huge fucking dork.

“Well, you’d probably make a good dad if it ever does happen. You got some strong dad energies there,” he said, not really thinking about it. Somehow, it was pretty easy to tell when Red was embarrassed, even if there wasn’t one single thing Taako could point to that showed it. The lich couldn’t blush or anything like that, but there were still little ticks, the way the energy crackled off of him showing his emotions.

“That’s- thanks, Taako,” Red said, and Taako shrugged. He’d only been saying shit that was true, he wasn’t even sure if ‘strong dad energies’ counted as a compliment. If someone told him he had that he certainly wouldn’t take it as one.

It was quiet for a moment, and Taako started to get the feeling that Red was going to head off soon. He never did stick around for too long after all, and after a bit he saw him rise up from where he’d been sitting on the log.

“I should get going,” he said, just like Taako figured he would.

“I guess good luck not getting yourself killed too fast,” Taako said dismissively. Red laughed and nodded, and Taako tried to ignore the part of him that wasn’t happy about not being able to see him for who knows how long. He was used to being alone, he could go a couple months without Red. Or a year, or however long he was off doing whatever the fuck he did when he wasn’t hanging around Taako.

It took a moment for Taako to realize that throughout all of this, he’d never had any doubt that he would see Red again. Even when he figured it’d be decades, the idea that he’d forget or decide not to check up on Taako again never even occurred to him. That wasn’t a certainty Taako was used to, and he sure as fuck didn’t know how he felt about it.

“See you later Taako,” Red said, and Taako just gave him a little wave, and then he was gone.

And Taako was alone once again.

——

Barry left Taako’s campsite, quickly heading off into the woods. He had a teleportation circle set off a good distance away, and he needed to get over there soon and head back to his cave. His new body had been done for a bit, but he’d been pushing his time in his lich form. He knew it was mostly so he could spend time with Taako, but he needed to get back on track. He had a lead, and he needed to see if he could find Lup.

Once he had her, they could take Taako and figure out how to save this plane and the rest of their family.

He must’ve stayed out too long. He always did whenever he went to visit Taako. He could feel it helping to keep his mind intact, helping to keep his tethers strong, even when cut off so completely from everyone else, so he couldn’t regret it.

Even still, he cursed in frustration when he heard the tear through the planes behind him. Thankfully he was far enough away that Taako shouldn’t be in any danger, and he’d already started channeling the teleportation circle.

“Barry Bluejeans, by order of the Raven Queen I charge you with profaning the laws of life and death, seventeen accounts of death without checking into the astral plane, as well as necromancy up to-” the reaper started, but Barry cut in.

“Up to and including becoming a lich. Buddy, you say that every time, I know why you’re here,” he said, and he could feel the irritation coming from the reaper at that.

“Well, if you know perhaps you could make this easy and just come with me for once. There's no need to be so difficult,” he said. He had his scythe out, but he hadn’t jumped straight into attacking him yet. Barry couldn’t blame him too much for that. They’d fought several times already, and well, he hadn’t managed to catch Barry yet.

“Yeah, sorry but the answer’s still no,” he said, because there was no way he was going to let himself get taken in for necromantic crimes now. Not when he was starting to feel like he could do this again. When he actually felt like he could have some help, even if Taako didn’t even realize all the good he was doing just by existing and trusting Barry.

“That’s what I figured you’d say,” the reaper said, and with that he attacked. Barry was already ready for him though, and as soon as he was within range set off a thunderwave he’d been silently preparing. It took the reaper off guard just enough for Barry to finish the teleportation spell and get the fuck out of there.

He’d made sure that there wouldn’t be any way to follow him back to the cave via the spell, and once he was alone Barry sighed. He hated having to piss off the reapers and god of death in this world even more than they already were, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

Well, they wouldn’t be a problem once he was in a body. It’d be much harder to track him that way, even if it was also harder getting shit done in general. Still, this was the best option he had.

Maybe one day, he could get Taako to help out a bit more. He would hate to drag him into anything too dangerous when he didn’t know enough magic to defend himself though. Taako wouldn’t be coming back if he died, and Barry didn’t think he could handle losing him too. Losing him permanently. He still had the chance to get the rest of his family back. He could still get Lup back.

He focused on that, and let the static take his mind as he sunk into his new body.

Barry ended up lasting a bit longer in that body than usual. Nearly nine whole months. It still wasn’t as productive as he would’ve hoped. The lead he’d been following had turned out to be a dead end, and flesh him wasn’t that great at finding new ones. He always got antsy and reckless when it started getting near the end of the year too.

He figured it must be some sort of residual memories that Lucretia couldn’t quite take. The feelings they all had couldn’t be stolen by fisher after all.

Whatever it was, it meant he usually didn’t end up spending too much time wasting away in a flesh body without any leads. Dying was still painful and frustrating and awful, but the rush of getting his memories back was always the worst part. And the best. Knowing what he had and knowing what he lost was such a double edged sword, he had to be careful not to let it consume him every time he died.

It was the slightest bit easier this time. He had something to look forward to, even if he had no new leads on Lup.

Nine months was a long time. He hoped Taako was still doing alright.

It didn’t take too long to find the elf. He was keeping a low profile, but Barry knew the kinds of places he tended to stick to, and once there he could search around until he caught the telltale signature of his brother, and then follow it.

Taako was asleep when he found him, which made sense. Barry had been killed in the night, some thief trying to rob him while he slept. Except Barry woke up, and then things went very bad for him, and then a lot worse for the thief.

He probably should’ve waited until morning to come visit Taako, but he needed to make sure he was okay. After not seeing him in so long, he didn’t want to wait any longer.

Barry let out a sigh of relief when he saw him sleeping peacefully in some dingy tavern. He wasn’t even in a room though, just curled up in a booth in the back corner, hat pulled over his head while he was out cold.

Barry went invisible, tried to mask his signal as much as possible, and waited.

The first few streaks of light were coming into the bar when Taako finally started to stir. There wasn’t anyone else in here. It was so out of the way that it was possible the barkeeper hadn’t even noticed Taako before heading in for the night as well.

He watched as Taako yawned, stretching his arms up over his head in an exaggerated motion. Then Barry dropped the invisibility, and Taako practically jumped out of his seat. It was hard for Barry not to laugh at that, even though he knew it wasn’t fair. A lich suddenly appearing in front of you would be pretty damn scary.

“Holy shit!” Taako yelled, and Barry put up a skeletal finger to where his lips would be. “Holy shit,” Taako repeated in a whisper, and that got a snort out of Barry. Then Taako was looking around, and when he stood up he sort of motioned for Barry to follow. Barry nodded to show that he understood before going invisible again.

He followed Taako out of the bar and down the street, until eventually they were alone and Taako hopped up to sit on some little stone half-wall. Barry let himself turn visible again, and Taako was smiling.

“I guess you fucking beefed it, huh?” he asked, sounding more amused by that than the subject probably warranted. Then again, death hadn’t been too much of an issue for all of them for a long, long time now, even if Taako couldn’t remember that fact.

“Yeah, I kinda hit a dead end anyway though. I can get more research done like this, so small blessings, ya know?” he said, and Taako laughed at that.

“Hell yeah dude, silver lining this shit, I’m into it,” he said. There was a part of Barry that was worried Taako would’ve realized the kind of danger he could be in by being friends with a lich. That he would come to his senses and be afraid of Barry whenever he ended up coming back.

But Taako actually seemed happy to see him. Relieved almost. Barry had a long time to learn how to see through both of the twins walls, and without Lup, Taako’s walls were all a bit off. A bit to the left of what he was used to, but he could still make out enough.

Taako had actually missed him, and that helped more than he expected.

“How’ve you been?” he asked, and Taako looked a little surprised at the question. Like he hadn’t expected the conversation to get turned to him.

“Oh, good, good. Just ya know, more of the same I guess. Nothing real exciting on my end,” he said with a dismissive shrug. If Barry had to guess from the fact that he’d been sleeping in the front room of a bar, Taako was probably only scraping by. He’d have to stop by with some money and supplies later on.

“So, how’d you kick it?” Taako asked, changing the subject. Barry let him, since it wasn’t like they were actually that close anymore. Not in the way Taako could remember and not in any way Barry could remind him.

“Pretty boring this time. I slept in the wrong place and when I woke up some guy was trying to rob me and uh, shit went south. First for me, and then for him,” Barry explained. Taako snorted at that last part, looking extremely amused by the idea.

“Holy shit, that must’ve been fucking incredible. Damn I wish I knew what you looked like. You sound like a nerd, do you look like a nerd?” he asked, and Barry couldn’t even try and be offended by that.

“I’ve been described as a nerd, yes,” he said, and Taako let out another laugh at that.

“Okay, okay so- fuck. This dick, he’s creeping around your camp, stealing whatever weird necromantic dork books you got or whatever, and then you wake up. And so he’s just like ‘oh I can take this nerd, no problem’ and fucking kills you. And then nope, it’s lich time motherfuckers,” Taako said, barely able to get through a sentence without dissolving into more laughter. It was infectious, and Barry found himself snickering as well.

“From the look on his face I’d say he definitely hadn’t seen it coming,” Barry said, and Taako was laughing again.

“Fuck Red, that’s so good,” he said, and if Barry could smile he would be right now. He couldn’t ever remember what was gone when he was in a body, but he still missed his family so much. His heart still ached to see everyone else, to have Lup back, but at least he wasn’t completely alone anymore.

“I just came to let you know I was back. I need to go and get some stuff done but god, it’s good to see you again Taako,” he said, and he wasn’t surprised when Taako looked a little uncomfortable at that. He knew Taako didn’t do all that great at the whole genuine emotions deal, especially not anymore.

“Yeah, chill seeing you too dog, I guess. Sorry you died? But you’re fine so I guess it’s not that big a deal,” he said with a shrug.

“I appreciate it, but yeah, not exactly the end of the world,” Barry said, not quite laughing at his own joke. No one else would understand anyway. “See you Taako,” he added, and Taako gave him one more casual wave. With that, Barry disappeared and made quick work getting back to his cave.

He really should’ve come here first, but a few hours hadn’t hurt anything. He quickly checked on the status of the latest clone, and it would still be a while before it was ready for him to inhabit. That wasn’t much of an issue though, he had a lot of research he could do in the meantime.

He needed to find some new leads on Lup, and on the relics. Also, it had been a while since he’d heard anything from Lucretia. She tried to keep her activities as secretive as he did his, but they were both pretty good at tracking each other by this point. He’d had almost no sign of her for a while now, it was worrying.

Well, he had some time to figure it all out.

Chapter Text

Taako knew that Red had said he’d be a while this time. That he wouldn’t show up again until after he died, and that probably wouldn’t be something he’d do all willy-nilly. That was fair enough, he couldn’t blame the guy for that. Even if dying seemed to be a minor inconvenience for Red at best, he’d guess that it was still like, painful and shit.

So, Taako told himself to forget about it. He had no idea when or even if he’d come back, despite the strange certainty in his chest that Red would, so it wasn’t something to mark on his damn calendar. He wouldn’t even if he did know how long it would be. It wasn’t like they were close friends, even if Red tended to act like they were sometimes.

If those nine months seemed to drag on like crazy, it was because his life was kinda shit right now. He had no consistent source of income, and he had to be careful of the jobs he did take. Couldn’t do too much cooking shit, or else people might start to get suspicious. He wasn’t good at anything else. He’d been better at the thievery stitch when he was a kid. People paid more attention to adults, and it was dangerous without someone watching your back.

So, he wasn’t having the best time trying to make it on his own. He wasn’t starving (yet) but he sure as fuck wasn’t doing great either, and he had to forgo inns for camping out in the cold most of the time.

Winter had sucked. Winter had really fucking sucked.

By the time spring came back around he had put the weirdly chill lich out of his mind. Or at least to the back of it. Taako had to focus on Taako, and anything else that happened could be dealt with when it became important.

When Red had showed up suddenly one day as he woke up after spending the night in a bar, he’d just been happy for the change of pace. He wouldn’t go so far as to say he missed the dude, but he couldn’t say having him back hurt any either. He wasn’t able to stay long, which wasn’t a surprise. He never was. This time was even shorter though, barely constituted an actual visit.

Apparently he wanted to make sure he was okay. For some reason he had decided to give a shit about some washed out chef and incredibly shitty wizard.

For the life of him, Taako couldn’t say why. He couldn’t complain either though.

He also couldn’t complain the next time Red showed up. The first thing he’d done was toss Taako another small chest. Opening it up, Taako grinned at the gold inside. He’d been camping instead of staying at an inn again, but maybe he could actually have a night fucking inside for once now. Okay, scratch the maybe. He was definitely spending the next fucking week in a bed.

“You know, a guy might start to think you’re just trying to buy my friendship,” he said, still counting up the gold. Red laughed, settling down on a tree stump.

“Is it working?” he asked, and Taako snorted.

“I mean, obviously,” he said, grin maybe a little too genuine. Taako quickly put the money away, not quite sure what to do now. It hadn’t been as long as usual since the last time he saw Red, but last time hardly counted as a real visit. “So uh, how’s it going?” he asked, suddenly feeling awkward.

“Not great,” Red said simply, and Taako just kinda nodded in an attempt at sympathy. Dude certainly seemed like he was going through some shit after all. “I just… I wish I could do more,” he added.

“I mean, you’re a lich. Kinda seems to me that you can do a whole fucking lot of shit,” Taako said, which got kind of a harsh laugh out of Red.

“Well, you’re not wrong about that,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. That vanished with a long sigh, and Taako wasn’t even sure if the lich breathed. He was pretty sure he didn’t. “But it’s not enough. I still can’t figure out a way to actually fix any of this,” he said.

“What are you trying to fix? Like, I thought you were just trying to find your wife,” Taako asked, curious despite himself. Honestly he shouldn’t care all that much, and he didn’t. There just wasn’t that much else to talk about and he wouldn’t mind getting some answers from Red for once.

“I wish I could tell you Taako, I really wish I could,” Red said, a solemn, hurt tone to his voice, not that Taako had the faintest clue as to why. He didn’t know why this guy wanted him to know shit or hung out with him at all, or fucking anything, really. Taako had to keep reminding himself of that. He didn’t know what his name was even, and everything he did know was suspect as fuck. Dude was some terrifying lich, a necromancer with power Taako could only imagine.

It should be setting off every single alarm bell Taako had in his idiot brain. He wasn’t a smart dude, but he had some pretty damn good self-preservation instincts.

“Ugh, fine, be like that. Fuckin- drama queen. I just asked a question,” he grumbled, pouting and being generally obnoxious about all this. He wasn’t surprised when it got Red to laugh. He was pretty fucking good at making the dude laugh.

“You’re calling me a drama queen? Really Taako?” Red asked, sounding incredibly amused by the idea. Taako huffed, an offended look on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to imply by that, but yes, I am calling you a drama queen. You’re a ghostly red specter of death that speaks in cryptic rhymes and refuses to say their own goddamn name. I would say that is a little bit dramatic my good sir,” Taako said. Red didn’t have a face, but Taako was still pretty sure the dude was smiling.

“Yeah, yep, okay. Can’t fault you there, that is definitely a little dramatic when you put it like that,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes. He could pretend he didn’t realize what he was doing was extra as fuck, but Taako wasn’t buying it. There was no way you go through with all of that without being at least somewhat aware that you’ve got an aesthetic going on.

“You know,” Red said after a moment, and it was hard to tell how the dude was feeling. His voice usually gave him away, but right now it was carefully blank. “You’re always asking me about my past, but I’ve never asked you about yours,” he said. Taako raised an eyebrow at that, not sure if he was chill with the turn this conversation had taken.

“There ain’t much to really talk about bubala,” he said with a shrug.

“Where’d you grow up?” Red asked anyway. It was a fair enough question, not that it mattered any.

“New Elfington,” Taako answered automatically and with ease.

“Bullshit,” Red said immediately, not sounding convinced for a second. Taako couldn’t blame him, although people didn’t usually call him out so fast. Taako tossed another stick into the fire in front of him, not appearing bothered at all by Red’s prying.

“It’s true. Built right on top of the ruins of Old Elfington. Knocked it down cause no one could figure out why it was called that,” he lied, which got a snort out of the lich across from him.

“How’d you get your cooking show?” Red asked next, apparently deciding to let the last one slide. Taako could tell he didn’t actually believe any of it, but it wasn’t like that really mattered.

“Hard work, natural talent and good old fashioned elbow grease,” he said. He wasn’t sure how something without eyes so thoroughly managed to convey the feeling of someone rolling their eyes, but Red had mastered it. It wasn’t like he needed to answer his questions, Red never answered his after all. Maybe it was time someone gave him a taste of his own cryptic medicine.

“Have you always been alone?” Red asked next, this question tinged with an air of seriousness that hadn’t been there in the others.

“Always,” Taako answered without hesitation, just like this others. It was the truth this time though, there wasn’t any reason to lie about that.

“There wasn’t anyone?” Red pressed. Taako shook his head, throwing another stick in the fire, maybe with a little more force than was necessary that time. A small burst of sparks flew up into the air, but Taako ignored them.

“Nope, cha’ boy works better alone. I guess there was Sazed for a while but fuckin, look how that turned out,” he said. The hood that Taako generally assumed was Red’s head cocked to the side in confusion at that. “The dickhead you threw out of the back of my caravan,” he explained.

“Oh! That douche,” he said, and that actually managed to get a snort of laughter out of Taako. Almost immediately Red's mood seemed to drop again, letting out a long sigh. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, and now Taako was frowning. Red got weirdly sincere all the time, and every time Taako really didn’t appreciate it.

“I mean, I guess you could’ve killed the dude, but I don’t really give a shit. If he fucking- I don’t know, tries and kill more people that’s on him, not Taako’s responsibility no more,” he said. Part of him would have felt, fuck, guilty? He guessed? If Red had killed Sazed. Sure, there was no reason for him to, the dude tried to murder him, had poisoned a bunch of people in the botched attempt. If anyone deserved to beef it, it was Sazed.

It was still kind of Taako’s fault though. If he’d been less of a fucking oblivious douche he might have been able to prevent any of that from happening to begin with.

“No not- not about that Taako,” Red said, and Taako really hated when he got like this. He guessed part of him had missed having the dude around, but yeah, he forgot about all the weirdness. Well, not all the weirdness, he didn’t mind a lot of the weirdness. The ghost junk and undead shit didn’t really phase him, although it probably should have.

It was the emotional weirdness he forgot about and wasn’t too pleased at being reminded of. The way the dude would talk with this pain in his voice and this care that was directed at Taako for fuck knows what reason. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do with all of that. Probably nothing.

“Then I ain’t got a clue what you’re talking about,” Taako said after a moment. Red sighed but seemed to get the picture, nodding slightly. Then it was quiet, the crackle of the fire and a silence that really should have been more awkward than it was. Taako didn’t know why shit was always that little bit more relaxed with Red than he expected.

“Shit,” Red said after a moment, floating up slightly. Taako recognized the urgency in the dude, and he wasn’t disappointed.

“Gotta run?” he asked, and the lich nodded somewhat sadly.

“Yeah, sorry I can’t stay longer bud,” he said, but Taako waved him off. It wasn’t a big deal, sure as fuck wasn’t like Taako wasn’t used to being on his own.

“Sure, sure. Get lost, I don’t want you bringing whatever thing’s got you scared down on my ass after all,” he said. Red laughed at that, like the idea was a little ridiculous. Taako wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t gonna question it.

“See ya Taako,” Red said, and with that he disappeared in his usual fashion, and Taako was once again left alone. Which was fine. It was like he told Red, he’d always been alone.

Picking up the camp, Taako quickly put out the fire and started walking off in the direction of the nearest town. If there was one thing he was always pretty grateful to Red for, it was the cash. At least now he could spend a couple days in an inn and stick around in one place long enough to actually look for some half decent work.

He still didn’t get why, but he guessed it didn’t really matter. Whatever his reasons were, it wasn’t like he was ever going to tell Taako about them.

And honestly, that was fine by him. He was probably better off not knowing.

———

Sometimes it felt like Barry was barely making any progress at all. A lot of the time, actually. Sure, after so long at this he was well aware that it tended to be a one step forward two steps back kind of process, but it was fucking hard.

It was hard, sitting in front of Taako and watching him say with the utmost confidence that he’s always been alone. That he’d never had anyone before. That he’d never had Lup.

It wasn’t like Barry didn’t know what it was like, the way their minds had been shaped by Lucretia’s redaction. Every time he went into a body he lost all the memories he had of Lup and his family and their mission. He hated it, the unnameable emptiness it left in him.

He couldn’t even image how bad it must be for Taako, having something so constant in his life taken away like that. As much as it seemed to pale in comparison to the century he’d lived on that ship, Barry had lived a life without Lup or the others in it. It felt hollow and empty compared to the connections he had now, the bonds that held his soul together like glue. Still, he lived it before, and he could live it again.

Taako had never lived a life without Lup. Except now he was under the impression that he had.

There wasn’t any way for Barry to fix it yet though. He couldn’t do anything until he managed to find Lup and convince Lucretia to not go through with her plans.

He still had a bit of time before his new body was complete, and he needed to use that time wisely.

His last lead on Lup and the gauntlet had been a dead end, so he needed to find a new one. He was also trying to figure out what Lucretia was up to. The first few years, he’d seen almost nothing from her. There was a while where he had no idea if she had been effected along with the rest of them or not. She hadn’t and now he had a solid idea of her goals. It didn’t take a lot of guess work once he found out she was the only one who could remember. He knew she was trying to enact her barrier plan.

They’d been keeping careful tabs on each other since then. He knew she was still watching him, could feel when she managed to scry in on his location. Lately though, she’d been particularly secretive. It was obvious that she was working on something, and he had no idea what yet.

He could deal with that later. The most pressing issue at the moment was getting another clue on where Lup could have hidden her gauntlet. He knew she must have succeeded in hiding it somewhere. He’d managed to somewhat track the appearances of all other other circulating relics (Magnus’s never showed, Lucretia’s was back with its creator, his was… secure enough) and finding Lup’s should have been simple. Hers was always so obvious and telling when it reappeared, and it would do so regularly.

Ever since Lup left though, there’d been no sightings of it. She had to be the reason for that.

If he found where she’d taken the gauntlet, he could hopefully figure out where she was now. He needed to find out where she was now.

So, he started looking again. Started his search from ground zero just like he’d done so many times already. Pouring over his maps and diagrams, reading over reports and news stories and dissecting the local gossip. Anything that could give him his next path in his search.

His visits to Taako were still short and infrequent, but they were regular enough. As much as the elf tried to act like he didn’t care, Barry could tell that he appreciated the visits too. He hated being alone just as much as Barry did.

“I found another place to check out,” Barry announced the next time he stopped in on Taako. He was staying at an inn this time, and had been complaining to him about all the fucking dishes he’d been forced to wash all day. How he should be above washing dishes and gagging at the overwhelming smell of shitty pasta sauce. He was right of course, to say he was overqualified would be a preposterous understatement. Barry had nodded along and listened sympathetically until his complaints finally lulled.

“For your wife?” Taako asked, still trying to mask his curiosity. He knew Taako wanted to know more about the stuff Barry was keeping from him, and it wasn’t like Barry didn’t want to tell him. He just couldn’t.

“Yeah,” he said simply, and the part of him that insisted on keeping Taako as distant as possible for his own safety was arguing with the side of him that said fuck it, he’d come this far. After a moment Taako’s expectant staring waiting for more answers was what tipped the scale. “It’s some sort of ice dungeon, way up north in the mountains. Might be the kind of place that could hold her for so long,” he explained. Taako looked surprised, clearly still unused to Barry actually giving information, as little as it was.

“Ice dungeons sound pretty nasty, yeah,” he said, and Barry knew this stuff wasn’t Taako’s wheelhouse anymore. There wasn’t much he could say to really aid him on this quest. Still, there was something good about being able to share his plans with someone. To know that if he fucked up, if he really screwed himself and didn’t- didn’t come back like Lup hadn’t, someone would realize. Taako would know something was wrong. There would still be hope, however slim.

“You’d like her, ya know?” Barry said suddenly, before quickly shaking his head. “No, no that’s not- you’d fucking love her,” he corrected. It hurt, trying to talk to Taako about Lup. He couldn’t not though. He had to at least try and tell him something, even if he couldn’t understand it, not really. Taako didn’t have the words to even realize what was missing from his soul, Barry was trying to help fill a hole he didn’t know was there.

“You’ll have to introduce us when you find her then Red. If she’s had you searching for over half a decade she must be pretty fucking special,” Taako said, and Barry let out a slightly broken laugh at that, nodding.

“Yeah, she’s- I’ll do that,” he said, and there were some good parts to not having a face. He couldn’t freak Taako out with how serious his expression would be as he continued. “I’m gonna make sure you see her Taako, I promise.”

“Looking forward to it Red,” Taako said, more sincerity in his voice than Barry expected. There was a simple certainty there too, like he didn’t doubt it at all, even though all he knew was that he’d been looking for six years and every lead had turned up empty. It didn’t last long, Taako almost immediately changing the subject.

“So, this ice prison or whatever, you said it’s far?” he asked, and Barry quickly nodded, pulling himself back to the moment.

“Yeah, way out in the Nether Mountains,” he said, and Taako just hummed in response. It occurred to Barry that he probably had no idea where those actually were. Locations were always so hard when he was in a body, this wasn’t the world they grew up in.

“This another long term leave then? Last time you gave me any sort of concrete answers you were gone for almost a goddamn year. Gotta say, definitely missed the gold from my sugar buddy. Hate to lose it again so soon, but do what you gotta do,” Taako said, and Barry couldn’t help bursting out laughing at that.

“Sugar buddy?” he managed to ask in between bouts of laughter, and if he could smile he’d be grinning wide right now. He knew Taako more than well enough to know that was him being as honest and forthright as he could to admit that he missed him and didn’t want him disappearing off again for so long already.

“I mean, yeah. I listen to you wax poetics about your lost love, you get all this,” he gestured broadly at himself as he laid out on the cheap inn bed, “as some excellent company that you obviously need, and in exchange you toss me some gold for a dry room and a warm meal. Everyone wins,” he said, and Barry was still chuckling.

“I mean, okay, you’re not wrong,” he managed, and Taako lifted himself up onto his elbows and grinned at him.

“Of course I’m not wrong,” he said, and if Barry had eyes he’d roll them.

“But uh, no, I don’t think it’ll be anywhere near as long this time. Probably still a little bit longer than usual so like, don’t worry if I’m not around when you expect, but I uh, I don’t anticipate lasting too long there,” he said, and Taako nodded, a small frown on his face now.

“You doing the body thing again?” he asked.

“Yeah, the new one's just about ready.”

“So you’re just expecting to die then,” Taako said, and it was straight to the point but it was the truth.

“Yeah,” he said, and it wasn’t like Barry enjoyed going on suicide missions. Still, it was better to keep himself out of sight from Lucretia and the enforcers of life and death in this world. He couldn’t look for things if he was constantly trying to hide, so he’d have to deal with it.

“That hurt, dying? I imagine it probably stings like a bitch,” Taako asked, and Barry chuckled some at that.

“It depends on how you die. It’s- the faster the better. Being left to bleed out sucks. At least for me, no matter how many times it happens and like, even when you know you’re gonna be alright you can’t help but panic, ya know?” he said. When he looked back over at Taako he had a grimace on his face.

“I mean, I wouldn’t know, but I don't doubt you on that one,” he said, and right, Taako wouldn’t know, not anymore. “And you’re just, throwing yourself into that? Knowing you’re probably gonna die if you go to this weird ice palace?” Taako asked, and Barry nodded.

“It’s the only way I have any chance of finding her,” he said, and Taako was looking at him with a somewhat disbelieving expression.

“She really means that much to you, huh?” he asked, that same mix of awe and incredulous in his voice. Barry knew why, knew he couldn’t remember, but it was still so wrong.

“Absolutely,” he said, trying to put forth how much he meant it, pack all his love for Lup into that one word and coming up so lacking. He turned to look at Taako closer, and not for the first time his heart won out over his head. “And- and as much as I love her, and I don’t- I couldn’t survive if she was really- if she wasn’t coming back, it’s not just her. I need to find her because I can’t- I’m trying to do something Taako. My family, they’re in danger, and I can’t save them on my own,” he said.

“Shit,” Taako said, and there was a conflicted look on his face now. Barry knew he was telling too much, this was exactly what he was worried about doing when he gave in and started talking to Taako again. He needed to be careful so he didn’t put him in danger. Didn’t hurt him by unintentionally drawing up too many memories that couldn’t exist in his mind anymore.

“I mean, like, okay I’m not exactly lich levels of power for sure, but I’ve been brushing up on some more uuuh, offensive spells and shit. If it’s that dangerous to go alone I’m not really, ya know, doing anything right now,” Taako continued. Barry felt his shoulders slump, hating how much he wanted to take him up on that offer. Still, he shook his head almost immediately.

“No, I’m sorry Taako but absolutely not. There is no way I’m dragging you into something so dangerous. I’ll be fine, this isn’t anything new,” he said. Taako shrugged, flopping back down on the bed like it wasn’t any big deal what he just offered.

“Listen you don’t gotta tell me twice Red, I just thought I’d throw it out there,” he said. Barry decided not to call Taako out on the fact that he’d just offered to risk his life to help him, letting him keep up the act like this was all not a big deal.

“I really do appreciate it Taako,” he said, and then he sighed. He always wished he could stay longer, but even if Lucretia was too busy to look for him at the moment, there was always the reapers to be worried about. He definitely didn’t want to drag Taako into the middle of that whole mess.

“Well, better get going and start on that whole family saving mission of yours then. You know how to find me,” Taako said, and Barry wasn’t surprised that he’d managed to pick up on the cues for when he had to get going.

“Right. See you soon Taako,” he said, and he started to disappear from his brother’s view.

“Try and die in a cool way this time! Strike a pose or something!” Taako shouted after him, and Barry couldn’t help bursting into laughter, which continued as he dimension door’d out of the inn and into a nearby alleyway.

As he started to head back to his cave, Barry pulled out his coin and began recording.

“Your name is Barry Bluejeans. You are afraid of the dark. Your very favorite thing in the world is swimming in very cold water on a very hot day…”

Chapter Text

Barry Bluejeans woke up in a vat of brackish green fluid. The panic that ran through him at not being able to breathe was short lived, whatever strange membrane that held the liquid ripping apart as soon as he thrashed against it. Falling to his knees, he didn’t spent as long coughing as he thought, his breath catching surprisingly fast. Within moments he was looking around, dazed and confused, at the inside of a cave.

Which… was probably weird, right? Like, he was no expert, but this didn’t strictly seem like something that happened to normal people on the reg. He had no goddamn clue how he got here, and even less of an idea of what to do now.

Well, first things first. He was naked as a jaybird and he would very much like to not be that anymore. Doing another quick sweep around the room he saw a white cotton shirt and a pair of bluejeans, both looking to be just his size, sitting folded up on a nearby chair. Getting to his feet and heading over he quickly threw those on.

When he patted at his pockets, it was more out of instincts than actually expecting to find anything of use in there. Still, he ended up coming out with a coin, a little larger than a typical money coin and not any currency he recognized. Thinking about it though, he couldn’t quite remember what the gold looked like here. Here? Where even was here? There was a map hanging up on the wall over a desk, and he started heading over there to get a better idea.

Before he could though, the coin in his hand started to speak.

“Your name is Barry Bluejeans. You are afraid of the dark. Your very favorite thing in the world is swimming in very cold water on a very hot day. You get ill when you drink milk or anything with milk in it. Your father Gregor died when you were too young to know him. Your mother, Marleana, had soft gray hair when you were born and was the most wonderful woman who ever lived.”

“You remember them but you have forgotten so much. And right now, in this moment, you feel a dull weight in your chest. It’s the weight of a love that defined and redeemed you but you’ve forgotten who that weight belongs to. Barry, I’m you, just moments ago and I remember who that weight belongs to, and I can help you remember it too.”

Barry was staring at the coin, a dumbstruck look on his face. What it said was true, and it sounded like him. It was him, he knew it with a certainty he couldn’t place or name.

His held his hand, the one not holding the coin, up to his chest and he took a deep, shuddering breath. Trying to feel the weight this him he couldn’t remember was talking about.

And he could. He should have been terrified of what was going on, panicking and scrambling to figure out where he was, how he’d gotten here, if he was in danger. The most he could drum up was a resigned confusion. And loneliness. He had no idea why, but he was real fucking lonely.

“Y-yeah. Alright,” he said, not sure if the coin was waiting for some sort of acknowledgment or not. Probably not, but after a few more seconds it started speaking again.

“I can’t explain much. The thing that is keeping you from remembering this, remembering who you truly are, is still in effect. There’s an item, something incredibly powerful. It should be able to lead you to where the one we’re missing is. There’s an ice dungeon way up in the Nether Mountains. I’ve secured us passage up north, but you’ll have to follow the map I’ve provided to actually get there. Keep this coin on you, I’ll keep giving you instructions where I can,” it said, and Barry found himself nodding along.

Looking around the room, it didn’t take long for him to find the right map or the train ticket. From the very clearly marked calendar, it looked like he had about a day to get himself situated and to the train station.

Barry wasn’t sure if he’d ever been on a train before. Maybe he had, but it seemed his memory was pretty spotty.

The rest of the packing was easy enough. There were a few more instructions he got before he left, the biggest being to leave a bit of blood in that weird pod that he’d come out of before. The only explanation he got was for ‘if shit went south.’ He guessed it would have to be enough. Before Barry could start second guessing any of this strangeness, he started off towards the direction of the station.

He managed to get there with almost no time to spare, despite having a whole day to manage it. Thankfully mysterious coin him had left plenty of money for him to buy food and shit, and he might’ve overslept the morning of the departure.

But look, he managed to grab a bagel and still get on the train before it left the station, so the coin could stop insisting how absolutely vital it was that he be quick on this thing. Thankfully, it did seem to be pretty quiet now. Barry wasn’t sure how he would explain a talking coin to people otherwise. That was something he was gonna try and keep under wraps if he could.

Looking over the route, it was a long train ride. There were a couple stops, but his was the last one. It would take about seven hours with all the stops too. His ticket hadn’t included any sort of sleeper car, so he couldn’t hide away from other people during the whole trip. At least the train was pretty empty at the moment, but Barry figured it would fill up some as more people got on at future stops.

Taking a seat by the window, Barry pushed his bag under the table in front of him and prepared himself for a pretty long journey. He was glad he decided to grab some books from the cave. Most of them were magic stuff he couldn’t make heads or tails of, but there were a couple novels that he’d snatched up. Picking one at random, he opened it and started reading.

Barry had been right about the train getting crowded as they stopped at more stations. At one point the attendant came around with a food and drink cart and by then Barry was very thankful for lunch. It was some sort of fish dish that he was honestly a little leery of, but tasted fine enough.

He wasn’t paying much attention at the third stop they made. There were still two more before his final one, and then he’d really have to take a look at that map he left himself. He wasn’t sure how good he was at following maps, but he’d give an honest crack at it.

“You mind if I take this seat my dude?” someone asked, and when Barry looked up there was an elf standing in the aisle, pointing down at the seat across from him. A frankly gorgeous elf, who was looking pretty uncomfortable with having to talk to him.

“Yeah,” Barry blurted out, before the question actually processed in his head. “I mean no, no shit, I don’t mind, yeah it’s- it’s fine,” he managed. The elf was frowning slightly, but he didn't do anything other than rolling his eyes before sitting down. He had a hat pulled down over most of his face, and started staring out the window. He seemed pretty intent on completely ignoring everyone else’s existence for the remainder of the trip.

Which, that had been Barry’s original plan as well. His thoughts still felt… cloudy. Not really in the best position to be making casual conversations with strangers, especially not when he was being sent on some strange quest to find himself and a lost love he didn’t remember having.

But for some reason, he kinda wanted to talk to this guy.

“So, where are you heading?” he asked, figuring that was a safe and normal thing to ask someone on a train. The elf’s eyes flicked over to him, before he went right back to looking out the window.

“Stilbank, up near the Nether mountains,” he answered, which was honestly more of a response than Barry was expecting. He couldn’t actually remember the name of the town he was getting off at, but he knew the mountains, that’s what the coin had been so urgent about.

“Oh yeah, same here. What uh- what brings you all the way out there?” Barry asked, hoping that was a normal way to refer to that place. It was a long trip, but god for the life of him he couldn’t remember which way it was pointed on the map. East? If he made a huge blunder the elf didn’t seem to notice it.

“Meeting a friend,” he said simply, which Barry supposed was fair enough. Couldn’t blame this dude for not wanting to share his whole life story with some complete stranger. He still wasn’t even sure what had possessed him to try and strike up a conversation with this guy. Sure he was like, objectively beautiful, but typically that would scare Barry off more than make him approach someone.

And besides, he was pretty sure whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t like that. It was just-

There was that weight in his chest, heavy and dull. As soon as he’d seen the elf, it shifted. It wasn't like it got lighter, but tightened into an almost physical ache.  

“Oh right, I’m Barry by the way. What’s your name?” Barry asked, figuring that like, introductions were a good thing to do. Maybe he was wrong though, because when he asked for the elf’s name he saw his eyes widen, a brief flash of panic running across his face as he sat there in silence for several long seconds.

“Justin. It’s Justin,” he said finally, and like, okay. Barry knew he was still kind of getting his head back on straight, but he was pretty dang sure that was a lie.

He didn’t know this guy though. He had no obligation to give Barry his real name. If he didn’t want to, he wasn’t going to call him out on the obvious lie.

“It’s uh, it’s real swell to meet you then Justin,” he said, and ‘Justin’ shrugged.

“Likewise,” he said simply, not actually sounding all that believable. Barry didn’t take offense though, it was pretty obvious this guy wanted to be left alone. So that’s what he did, opening his book back up and continuing to read. Every so often he would glance up at the elf, but for the most part he looked bored, staring out the window. And nervous, but it wasn’t like Barry had even the slightest idea why.

A little while after the next stop the food cart came around again, mostly for the new passengers. ‘Justin’ got some cheese and broccoli soup that had sorely tempted him before, but he figured it’d probably be best not to get sick right before whatever it was he was about to do. Even still, since the cart was here Barry grabbed a big cookie as well to snack on.

“So,” the elf said suddenly as they ate, “what brings you up to the mountains?” he asked. Barry blinked in surprise, not expecting him to try and strike up any kind of conversation after all that.

He hoped the blank stare he had on his face for far too long was taken as surprise like that, and not Barry frantically needing to try and think of a reason that wasn’t ‘a magic coin with my voice told me to.’

“Family,” he blurted out finally, and the elf hummed softly, not actually seeming all that interested. Barry figured that was most of a lie on his part, but not entirely. He figured, whoever this love of his he was missing was, he considered them family.

“Mhmm, you know the area then?” Justin asked, and Barry figured he’d have to get better at the whole lying this. That or die.

“Yeah,” he responded instantly, trying to sound confident. That quickly fell through when he realized that most people only asked if someone knew an area because they wanted directions. “I mean, no. Not uh, not really. Haven’t been here in a, in a real long time. Haven’t seen my family in a while,” he said.

“Uhuh, nevermind then,” the elf said, turning back towards the window and looking like he was all set on ignoring Barry again. For some reason he still wanted to keep talking to this dude though.

“I mean, I have a map! I have a- here, lemme get it, where you looking to go?” he said, quickly scrambling through his bag until he found the map he’d set out for himself. By the time he got it spread out across the table Justin was turned back towards him, slowly looking over the map now.

“Not real sure, gonna have some time to kill before my friend shows his ugly mug. Figured I’d ya know, see the sights,” Justin muttered, and so far this guy had seemed really aloof. Right now though he was looking over the map intently, like it was a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out. “Where’s this go?” he asked after a moment, pointing at a very clearly detailed path drawn into the mountains. The path the coin had told him lead to some weird ice prison or something.

“Nowhere,” he answered, perhaps a little too quickly. Definitely a little too quick, if the raised eyebrow Justin was giving him was any indication.

“Why you got a path out there then my dear Barold?” he asked, and normally a nickname like that would fluster Barry at least a little. He’d barely even noticed it though, probably because of the panic.

“Jog- no, hiking. It’s a hiking trail,” he lied. Justin was still starting at him with a lot of skepticism, so Barry continued. “Yeah it’s just, real nice out in the mountains this time of year ya know? I’m a real outdoor- outdoorsy dude, so I figured, go see the wife and um, kids. And take em all out hiking,” he said, rambling and not even trying to stop the lies from building up onto each other anymore. Talking had been a very bad idea.

“The family you haven’t seen in a real long time is your wife and kids?” Justin asked, definitely some befuddled amusement in his voice now. It would have been nice if it wasn’t directed at Barry’s complete panicked bullshit.

“I’m a bad parent, and partner. Not really great at the whole person thing either if I’m being honest,” he said. Justin was shaking his head, and Barry was just praying that he didn’t try and poke anymore holes into this already lace patterned story.

“I mean, fucking fair enough my dude,” he said, and Barry tried not to look too relieved at him letting this whole thing go. Justin was still looking over the map, and it almost looked like he was looking for something. After a moment though he leaned back in his seat, seeming done with it.

“So uh, that help any or…” Barry trailed off, rolling the map back up. The elf nodded, seeming kind of surprised that he was still talking to him.

“Oh yeah for sure my dude,” he said, in an overly positive way that made Barry think it didn’t actually help at all.

They didn’t end up talking much for the rest of the train ride. Barry had finished the book after a bit, and felt kind of weird about immediately grabbing another one out of the bag. He didn’t want to look like a huge nerd in front of this guy for some reason. He guessed to be fair he didn’t like looking like a huge nerd in front of a lot of people.

Barry felt equal parts relieved and equal parts some emotion he couldn’t quite place when they finally pulled into their stop. He quickly gathered up his bag while Justin stretched and slung his own rather small pack over his shoulder.

“Well, it’s been real, and it’s been fun,” Justin said, looking ready to head off. The fact that he said anything at all caught Barry by surprise, who quickly nodded.

“Yeah for sure, it’s been a fucking laugh and a half,” he blurted out, which actually got the elf to snort in amusement. Giving Barry a grin, he pulled the hat back down over his face and made his way off the train.

Barry ended up standing there for a few more seconds than was necessary after Justin left. He knew he wasn’t the sharpest dude at the moment, or like, ever, but that still felt particularly dumb on his part. Shaking his head, Barry started off the train himself. By the time he got out he didn’t see Justin anywhere in sight, which was probably for the best. He had some weird destiny instructions he had to follow after all.

Pulling out his map, it didn’t take too long to find out which way was towards the trail he had marked out. Taking a deep breath, he started off to go find whatever it was creating this ache deep in his soul.

And then he stopped and turned back around towards the town. He’d get to the magical destiny soon. He just needed to buy like, a good coat first. And maybe some trail mix for the hike.

———

Taako wasn’t sure what the fuck has possessed him to catch a train and come all the way out to some cold ass mountains in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he wanted a change of pace, and it was far off enough that he shouldn’t have to worry about anyone recognizing him. He definitely never made his way out here with Sizzle It Up before, he tended to ignore the perpetually colder areas as much as possible.

Red had said no to his extremely generous and one time offer of some help, so it wasn’t that. Taako probably would have found a way to back out if the lich actually had accepted his offer anyway. He wasn’t gonna go all ghost if he died after all, and Taako wasn’t risking that for anyone, let alone some weird specter and his dead wife.

So that had absolutely nothing to do with why he was here. He just was. Even if the train tickets had cost a pretty copper. He had plenty from Red and actually managing to catch some work here and there.

Getting off the train, Taako didn’t think twice about the dude he’d ended up talking to there. He was a little weird for sure, but none of it was any of Taako’s business.

There was something familiar about his nervous stuttering and awkward laugh, but for the life of him Taako couldn’t place where it was from. At first he’d thought it might have been someone he’d seen at one of his shows. If he was, it didn’t seem like he recognized Taako either at the very least.

This town was big enough to justify having a train running to it, so it wasn’t too hard for Taako to find a cheap inn to stay at. Took a couple days before he managed to get some work, and laundry wasn’t glamorous but it paid. The worst part was how pruney and dry his hands were all the fucking time now.

Every so often he’d have a day off, and he wasn’t exactly a wood elf, but the scenery around here was nice. On nicer days it didn’t hurt to go off into the woods a little, wander up some mountain paths.

Maybe a part of him wanted to see what an ice dungeon looked like. He wasn’t going to go inside, even if he did manage to find it. Maybe he wanted to see what Red looked like as a person, if just so he could make fun of him when he came back to the dead.

He didn’t manage to find either thing of course. It was only two weeks later when he went up to his room one day after work only to open the door to a bright red apparition floating in the middle of his room, billowing sleeved arms crossed.

“Oh wow, you weren’t joking about this one being a quick run. Is that a record for you, or have you managed to speed run your death even higher tha-”

“Taako,” Red cut him off, a distinctly annoyed tone to his voice.

“Yeees?” Taako asked back innocently, making sure he closed the door behind him before anyone could see Red. He should be worried about locking himself in a room alone with an angry lich.

He wasn’t.

“Taako, I specifically told you I don’t want you getting dragged into anything dangerous,” Red said. Taako threw his hat to the ground, going and collapsing onto his bed casually.

“The only thing I’m in danger of is losing all moisture in my hands permanently. If you wanna protect me from that bud go right ahead,” he said. Red sighed, and when Taako glanced up he was pinching a skeletal hand about where the bridge of his nose would be, if he had a face.

“Don’t play dumb Taako,” Red insisted.

“But I am dumb, I’m friends with you my dude! Doesn’t get much dumber than that,” Taako said, with got a few crackles of that red arcane power buzzing around the lich.

“You’re not dumb! You’re one of the smartest, creative, most insightful people I’ve ever- arg!” Red shouted, throwing his arms up in frustration. This was honestly the most non-sad emotion Taako had ever seen from the guy. It would be hilarious if it wasn't directed at Taako, and if everything he said wasn't completely inaccurate.

“I think you might’ve mistaken me for someone else my dude! Not sure how, this face is pretty one of a kind, but you’re delusional if you think that shit describes me,” Taako said. Red looked ready to keep arguing, his robe all billowing around him and a skeletal hand held up and pointed at Taako accusingly.

And then the wind was knocked out of him. His cloak fell flat and his shoulders seemed to droop, and when he spoke again it was in that sad, wistful tone he’d get.

“Right. Right no of course. Of course you’re not- you’re just a chef. You’re just a normal person and I shouldn’t be- this was a mistake. I’m so sorry Taako, this was a huge mistake,” Red said. For some reason Taako hadn’t wasn't the least bit phased at all throughout the argument, but now panic was gripping at his chest because it sounded like Red was going to leave. Leave and maybe not come back.

“Hey hey hey, hold up now kemosabe, just relax a minute. I’m not sure what it is exactly you’re falling over yourself to apologize for, but it’s chill. There’s no problem here,” Taako said quickly, and it seemed to at least be enough to get him not to leave immediately.

“I shouldn’t be dragging you into this. It’s not fair,” Red insisted, which was fucking dumb. Taako couldn't understand this guy sometimes.

“You’re not dragging me into anything, alright? I don’t know what the hell gave you that impression but cha’ boy’s an adult. I can make my own damn decisions,” Taako said. It was true, Red had given him every possible opportunity to cut this shit off and never see him again. For some reason that was beyond Taako, he never let him.

He didn’t want to. Taako couldn’t do anything simple and have regular ass people for friends. He had to go with the creepy emotional cluster bomb of a lich.

“Listen,” Taako continued when Red didn’t say anything, still drawn in on himself and crackling with panic like the world was going to end and it was all his fault. Which might not be that inaccurate, actually. “I won’t… follow you… again, alright? That was my bad. Just figured it wouldn’t hurt to be close by when you beefed it, alright? I wasn’t going to go risking my neck without any back up, I’m stupid but I’m also selfish as fuck,” he said. He felt stupid admitting to have followed Red all the way out here, but it seemed like he was starting to calm down now.

“Yeah, alright,” Red said softly after a moment. “I’m sorry for all that. Things have been pretty stressful for the past, uh, decades,” Red said, and Taako nodded, trying to ease back into something more casual.

“Yeah yeah no, I can image. It’s cool. We cool, my dude?” he asked, and Red chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah, we cool,” he said, and Taako grinned at that.

“Good, good,” he said, letting himself relax back down on the bed since it seemed like Red was no longer at the edge of a breakdown. “Now that that’s out of the way, one, any new info on the whereabouts of the elusive Mrs. Red? And much more importantly, how’d you get yourself got this time?” Taako asked, the second question getting a laugh out of the lich.

“There was no sign of her there, unfortunately,” Red said, sobering somewhat as he did. Taako could understand why. “And uh, as for the death, it was uh, there was this ice ogre and- you’re gonna laugh at me,” Red said, cutting himself off.

“Yes, I am,” Taako said, which got a snort out of Red.

“At least you’re honest. Fine, okay so there was this ice ogre, and like, it tried to kill me? So I ran away because uuuuh, fuck that shit, but the ground and all the stairs were made of ice, who makes stairs out of ice?” Red said, and Taako could feel a grin spreading across his face.

“My dear, sweet Red-ginald, did you die by falling down the stairs? ” Taako asked, not able to hide the amusement in his voice.

“I was being chased by an ogre! You can’t blame me for trying to move fast and- did you just call me Red-ginald?” Red asked, breaking into laughter.

“Maybe,” Taako said, which only got more laughter out of the lich. “You still haven’t given me a name my man, I have to make due with what I got,” he added, and at that Red nodded.

“Fair enough,” he said, a smile in his voice. “I really missed you Taako,” he added, and Taako shrugged.

“It’s barely been three weeks my dude,” he said, and Red sighed.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, and it should have been awkward. There were a lot of things that shouldn’t be the way they were with Red though. Taako was learning to not give a fuck about how things were supposed to be anymore. “I need to-” Red started, and Taako knew that apologetic tone so he raised a hand and waved him off.

“Yeah, yeah, get going my dude. I'll see ya when I see ya,” he said, and Red nodded.

“See you soon Taako,” Red said, and usually with that he would be gone. This time he wasn’t though. “And… thank you. I know I got mad, but it really- it means a lot. So, thank you,” he added, and Taako sighed.

“Don’t be getting mushy on me. Get lost before you bring down the armies of the nine hells on us or whatever the fuck,” he said. Red snorted and nodded, and this time he disappeared from the room.

Red was probably right about this all being a mistake.

But Taako was past the point of backing out now.

Chapter Text

Barry wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. He couldn’t cry though, so that only left laughing as an option.

He couldn’t believe how shitty- how amazing? How cruel his luck was. It wasn’t enough that he ended up on the same train as Taako while he was alive, they even ended up talking some. It’d been awkward, Barry had no earthly idea what he was doing or why he’d wanted to talk to the elf, but he’d just… ran into him. So casually. Taako hadn’t even realized who he was.

Another dead end. Traveling all this way had been for nothing, and he almost dragged Taako into it too. He shouldn’t have told him where he was going, but it was just… he hadn’t thought.

Taako couldn’t remember. Taako without Lup was so obviously a warped shell of himself, closed off and cold to a degree he’d never been before. Barry thought that would keep him safe. That even if he let things slip here and there, the caution Lucretia’s redaction had amplified in him would make sure he wouldn’t stick his neck into anything too serious.

And he wasn’t entirely wrong. Taako didn’t follow him all the way to the ice dungeon, but he hadn’t known how to find it either. He’d told Barry, without realizing who he was, that he was going to meet a friend.

He might have been trying, that whole time, to find him. He probably was, as much as he wouldn’t admit it.

It had almost been enough to get Barry to back away from all of this. To go back to doing everything by himself and cutting off any connection he had left to his family. The thought of Taako wandering into some place, defenseless and alone, in a misguided attempt at trying to help was too much. Of losing his brother for good and one day finding Lup and having to tell her that Taako was gone because Barry hadn’t been strong enough to hold himself together on his own.

Maybe that was still the smarter choice. It wasn’t too late after all, all he had to do was not come back. There would be no way for Taako to find him after all. It would be simple enough.

The last thing he’d said to Taako was see you soon, and he couldn’t... he couldn’t make him go through that again.

He was going to be stuck as a lich for a while. He’d barely gotten a few weeks out of that last body, the next still had a lot of time before it would be complete.

It used to be that Barry would have had no problem staying in his lab, working on projects for months on end and barely ever seeing the sunlight. That had changed though, over the hundred years they’d spent searching for the light. Going out and exploring new worlds and seeing how much there was to actually living life and not just observing it.

It had changed when he met Lup, when she would complain about feeling cooped up and needing to go out and get something done. When she’d drag him out of his lab saying ‘I know necromancy is kinda your whole deal but you’re gonna start looking like a vampire if you don’t get into some sun babe.’

It changed when Lup left. When suddenly Barry couldn’t stand the thought of having to stand still, restless down to his very soul with a need to find her. To make sure she was safe, to find out what went wrong, what was keeping her so long, why she didn’t just bring someone along.

As much as he only wanted to be out searching, he couldn’t. These long stretches of being confined to his cave were torture, but they were also useful. He couldn’t keep searching blindly, he needed to try and have some sort of plan.

So as much as it pained him, it also forced him to sit down and to think. He had time to figure stuff out. Maybe not all the time in the world, not anymore, but he still had time.

And right now, he had the time to figure out what he was going to do about this. He wasn’t sure if he could keep moving forward the way he was now. He didn’t want to risk Taako getting it into his head to follow him again, but he wasn’t sure how well he would be able to keep his big mouth shut either.

The next time he visited Taako, he was no longer in that town at the base of the mountains. He’d started moving back down south again, much slower this time without a train to catch. Barry couldn’t blame him for not wanting to blow the money twice.

“Oh, you’re back,” Taako said, and there was an edge of surprise in his voice. Barry couldn’t exactly blame him for that either.

“I mean, if you’re gonna be like that I can just leave,” Barry teased, and instead of giving in Taako huffed, gesturing carelessly with a spatula. He was cooking something over his camp fire that looked like soup, and god, Barry missed the twin’s cooking. That was one of the worst things about this dumb lich body.

“No one’s making you stay dog, just surprised you actually came back after that meltdown you had last time,” he said, and Barry laughed awkwardly at that.

“Yeah, I really bugged out there, didn’t I?” he asked, Taako nodding before going back to stirring his soup. “That’s actually um, something I wanted to talk to you about, as much as I can that is,” he added. Taako raised an eyebrow at that, a cautious look on his face.

“What about it? Cause I had assumed we’d gotten shit all nice and settled,” he asked. Barry shrugged, sitting down as best he could by the fire.

“I mean yeah, but I just- I want you to know what you’re getting yourself into, and there’s something… preventing me from fully explaining it to you. From fully explaining it to anyone. But I want to try my best,” Barry told him. This was the best he could do. He needed to be open about all of this.

“Yeah alright, if that’s what you want I’m all ears Red,” Taako said, his ears twitching for emphasis, which got a laugh out of Barry.

“Okay, okay so let me just figure out my words,” Barry said. He guessed he shouldn’t be surprised that he wanted to actually listen, since he’d been so curious for answers ever since he they first ‘met.’

“Take your time,” Taako said, pouring himself some of the soup he had. Barry was pretty sure he was being sarcastic, but he didn’t comment.

“Okay, so you know I’m looking for my wife and my family, who are in danger,” he said, and Taako nodded, starting to eat as he listened with pretty obvious attention. “Right, so they’re in danger, actually the whole world, all of existence is in danger. If I’m not able to stop this thing that’s causing it, everything will be destroyed,” he said, and Taako’s eyebrows raised up at that.

“And that would be bad, right?” he asked, and Barry snorted at that.

“Yes Taako, that would be very bad,” he said.

“Well dunk,” Taako said, and Barry nodded.

“Yeah it’s- it’s not great. So I’m trying to stop it, I’ve been trying to stop it with my family for, gods, Taako, over a hundred years, we’ve been at this. And we almost had it this time. We had a plan and- and it worked. But it wasn’t- the consequences were terrible, but it was the best we had in a hundred years, we had no choice,” Barry explained, feeling himself starting to get carried away. He needed to stay focused, he had to be careful of how he worded things.

“It sounds like you all did what you had to,” Taako said, and Barry nodded.

“We did, but- but something went wrong. L- my wife disappeared. She went to go try and fix what we’d done, I know it. While she was gone I was separated from the rest of my family. One of them, I love her and I know she’s only doing what she thinks she needs to do, but she’s trying to undo the protection we had in place for this world. She thinks her plan is the only way to save everyone, but even if she manages to get it off before the thing that’s going to destroy everything gets here, it’ll just end up slowly… suffocating the whole world. Everything will still die,” Barry finished.

Taako was staring at him in silence, his mouth hanging open and his soup momentarily forgotten.

“I’m not gonna lie Red, that’s some pretty uuh, heavy shit, you just dropped here,” he said, and Barry nodded.

“Now you know why I didn’t want to drag you into all of this,” he said. To his surprise Taako shrugged, starting to eat again.

“I mean, I’m kinda already involved, aren’t I?” he asked, and Barry felt a twinge of panic and hope run through him at the casual tone. There was no way he managed to figure it out, right? Fisher’s block wouldn’t let him. But maybe... maybe there was some work around, some way he could get close enough to the thought without actually having it.

“What do you mean?” he asked, trying despite everything not to get his hopes up.

“I mean, this shit you’re talking about could destroy the world. I kinda die along with everyone else if you don’t manage to get a hold of this shit,” Taako said. Barry felt his form slump, trying his best not to let it be too noticeable. Right, yeah no of course. Of course that’s how Taako would take it, there was no other way for his brain to conceive of all this.

He tried to convince himself he was relieved and not painfully disappointed.

“You got me there,” Barry said, and he wished he could take a deep breath to steady himself. Instead he thought about the meals Taako and Lup used to make for the rest of them, letting the fond memories even him out. “God, I would die to have some of that soup right now. Not even exaggerating, I’d stick a fireball right down my throat if it meant I could taste for five minutes,” he blurted out, which got a sudden surprised laugh out of Taako.

“I mean, I certainly can’t blame you for that,” Taako said, obvious delighted pride in his voice. “You like, can’t right? Eat that is. I just kinda assumed, since you’re all phantom zone and shit,” he asked, and Barry shook his head.

“No, only when I’m alive,” he grumbled.

“Still not gonna let that happen, huh?” Taako asked, and it took Barry a moment to realize what he meant.

“Yeah, sorry bud no can do. It’s- It’s not even that I don’t want to, but flesh me is kinda disposable? And I don’t want you going to the places I send him. Plus, he wouldn’t even know you if you did meet,” he said, and Taako was frowning in confusion at that.

“You mentioned that before my dude, what the fuck does it actually mean?” Taako asked, and Barry sighed.

“It means exactly what it sounds like. When I’m alive I can’t remember who I really am, I don’t know anything I’ve done when I’m a lich, I don’t- I can’t even remember my wife, or my family at all. It’s all gone. The one who’s trying to undo our safeguard? She… did something, and now as long as I’m alive I forget everything. I have to leave myself trails and instructions to get any sort of work done,” he explained. Taako looked pensive, clearly thinking all of this over.

“So, let’s be clear it’s not that I don’t appreciate finally getting some answers, even if you are still being vague as fuck about it all,” he said after a moment, and Barry shrugged sheepishly.

“Sorry, part of the constraints. Even like this I can’t tell anyone anything too specific,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Sure sure, it’s some magic bullshit, I get it. Like I said, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the explanation, but uh, kinda sounds like you’re trying to get at something here. If you wanna stop being around the end of the world bush,” Taako said. Barry sighed, and he supposed he should have expected this.

“What do you mean?” he asked, because he wanted to be absolutely certain he knew what Taako was thinking before speaking.

“I mean, you never explained any of this before. Figured there’s a reason you decided to crack open the floodgates now,” he said. Which was fair, he should have known Taako would be smart enough to pick that up.

“I’m not asking you to do… anything. I really meant it when I said I don’t ever want to drag you into danger you aren’t prepared for,” Barry said. Taako nodded along, clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“I guess a part of me was just… tired, of not having anyone to talk to about this. It’s- I’m a lich, and to keep my mind intact, to keep me me, I need an anchor. Something to keep me grounded, and my family is that anchor. But gods, Taako, I haven’t seen them in over six years. It’s… hard, some days. Keeping myself together. Talking to you, just having a friend, it helps,” Barry said.

Taako was quiet for a long moment, and Barry wasn’t surprised. He should have known this would be too much for him to take in. Even with Lup at his side it had taken Taako so long to open up to the rest of them. Having all of this dumped on him was only going to make him draw away, and maybe that was for the best. At the very least Barry would know he was safe.

“I mean,” Taako started finally. “I’m not gonna go exploding into magic ouchy dust or whatever if I don’t get hugged often enough or whatever’s going on with you, but I guess there’s some mutually beneficial junk to this here arrangement. Can’t complain too much there,” he finished, and Barry couldn’t keep himself from perking up in surprise.

“Wait, really? You’re not totally weirded out by all this?” he asked, and Taako scoffed at that.

“Oh no, I’m completely weirded out my dude! This shit is freaky as fuck and honestly, I'm not a fan of the whole doomsday apocalypse thing either. No fucking clue why you decided to put all your mental health eggs on some outcast shitty cooking wizard either. That seems like a real dumb move, but that’s on you,” he said, and Barry snorted.

“Yeah, that’s fair, kinda a dumb move on my part, for sure,” he teased, wishing he could grin at the offended look on Taako’s face at that.

“Rude! True, but rude,” he grumbled, then he sighed, and Barry could tell that he didn’t exactly want to say this next part. “Listen, cause I’m only gonna say this shit once. If you don’t want me following you off into dangerous fucking, murder dungeons, you’re good! Don’t gotta tell Taako twice! We are good on that front,” he shouted, and Barry laughed. “We’re also good on the whole… friends front, or whatever you want to call it. It’s cool that it helps keep your soul from exploding and shit, but I'm pretty sure that’s just how most people work. But if you need to hear it from me or whatever, yes, we’re friends, I want to keep being friends with you, don’t you ever make me say it again,” Taako said.

“Thanks Taako, that- I really appreciate it,” Barry said, hoping the smile came through in his voice. Taako’s face was a bright red and his ears were twitching, and Barry was trying his best not to laugh at him. This was a level of honesty it had taken Taako literal years to work up to on the Starblaster, he wasn’t going to make fun of him for it.

Maybe after this all settled, when Taako could remember again. At that point it was all fair game.

“Yeah well, I really appreciate the world not ending! So you better get on fixing your family drama so that doesn’t happen,” Taako said. Barry couldn’t help it anymore, laughing at that.

“Fucking fair enough bud. Believe me, I’m working on it,” he said. Taako just rolled his eyes, scrapping the bottom of his bowl some with his spoon.

“Hey, shouldn’t you be getting gone soon? You usually don’t stay this long,” he asked after a moment, and Barry groaned.

“Shit, right. Sorry Taako, I really can’t risk-” he started, but Taako waved a hand, cutting him off.

“I get it, that one family member of yours, she’s the one you’ve been hiding from?” he asked, and Barry nodded, and then hesitated.

“Well, she’s one of them. I’ll explain later. I really don’t want the other ones to find you,” he said, and Taako looked curious at that, but didn’t question him on it at the moment.

“Sounds about right, later Red,” Taako said, and Barry rose up from where he’d been resting on the ground before.

“See you soon Taako,” he said, and with that he disappeared.

It didn’t take Barry long to get back to his cave, and when he did he immediately went and checked the cloning vat, just as he always did. And just as it always was, there was almost no noticeable difference from when he left it. He still had a long time waiting before he could get back out on the search.

There was still that restless drumming deep within his soul, but it was a little calmer now, a little more steady. He could do this.

He wasn’t alone anymore.

———

To say Taako’s life had gone off the rails was a vast understatement.

His life had left the rails in a running leap that night at Glamour Springs. He’d still been in a sort of grassy field though, so the train of his life was able to keep chugging along, and he figured hey, this might not be so bad. If he kept up this course surely eventually he’d find some new rails and things could go back to basics.

Now though, now he had left that grassy field. His life was hurtling down a craggy and broken mountainside with only pure luck being the reason it hadn’t completely tipped over yet.

So Taako’s new friend, because that was a thing now, was trying to prevent the end of the world. Or something. It was vague, shit was always vague with him. They managed to stop the end of the world before but one of them decided to reverse it, which was why he needed to find his wife, so they could stop that one from stopping their other thing.

It was really hard to wrap his mind around, especially without any specifics. Normally Taako would call something that grandiose and unclear bullshit.

Liches had a hard time keeping their minds in tact, Red even admitted to it being hard on some days. The whole thing could have just been the delusions of some unstable lich trying to cling onto whatever purpose their mind had set out for them for as long as possible.

But fucking, damn it. Taako believed him. Red claimed that the world was going to end if he didn’t stop it and Taako just nodded because, yeah, that sounds about right.

Maybe he was the one losing his marbles.

Taako picked up camp once Red left. He’d been here longer than usual, and he was always so paranoid about something finding him. Apparently multiple things, some of them worse than others. So Taako wasn’t going to take any chances, getting up and continuing his way towards the next town. He'd been lucky he’d come up here when it was getting onto summer. It was warm so he didn’t mind the trip that much.

As he walked, it was kind of hard to focus on what Red had told him. As much as he believed the dude for some fucking reason, it was also hard for it to feel real. The world ending, that wasn’t a thing that just happened after all. Trying to fix that shit certainly wasn’t in Taako’s pay grade.

Plus, Red wanted him to stay out of it. As far as they were both concerned, Taako was the emotional support elf. Here to make sure shit seemed a little less bleak and hopeless while Red did all the heavy lifting. Sure, Taako wasn’t typically a super peppy person, but if his brand of bullshit was what got the lich through the day, who was he to judge?

It took about four days for him to reach the next big town. There were a couple rinkydink villages scattered here and there, but he didn’t spend more than the night there before moving on again. In that time, Taako wouldn’t say he’d come up with any sort of plan per say. He figured it was best to leave that to the super powerful century old lich to figure out. He was just an idiot wizard and a washed out chef, it didn’t make any sense for him to be caught up in any of this really.

He didn’t think about that. For some reason, he wasn’t thinking about why Red would choose him of all people to unload this on. Why he had decided to save his ass that night in Glamour Springs instead of just moving on his way. Why he had even been there to begin with.

Was he a lich the whole time? Or had he eaten some of Taako’s food and been one of the first victims. He didn’t know, and frankly he didn’t want to know.

So he ignored all those questions that kept pulling at the edges of his thoughts before dissolving into static.

The world was going to end, and Taako was- what? He couldn’t fight against that, fuck no. He didn’t even know in what manner the world would end, maybe the whole shit would explode and it’d be game over. Maybe they’d all be sucked into a giant black hole or it’d be engulfed in fire or turned into a solid ball of chocolate for some god dragon to eat. Red wasn’t giving him the deets on this one.

The world could end however it wanted to, but there was probably still some time before it actually happened. Red didn’t seem to be in too huge of a time crunch yet, so Taako figured there was still plenty of time.

Time for what, he wasn’t sure,and honestly he didn’t want to die finding out. And as much as Red was trying to keep him away from all this, it was pretty obvious that just knowing the dude was putting him in danger.

Taako hadn’t been lying about brushing up on some more offensive spells, but really he only knew like, two. That probably wasn’t going to be enough to protect anything, let alone himself.

Like he’d been hoping, this town had a library. It was pretty small, but there was a section on magic. Sure, it was only one bookshelf, and about half the books were either theoretical bullshit or shit way out of his level, but Taako managed to find about three books with spells he could learn.

Holing himself up in a corner of the library, this place was pretty empty. Which Taako appreciated, he wasn’t exactly the smarted dude in the world, but magic came easy enough to him. Taako hadn’t thought to get a proper spellbook before all of this, so instead he started writing in the margins of one of the random books he’d kept from his caravan. It didn’t matter once he had the spell down, he tended to be able to memorize them after a few tries.

Maybe once he learned enough shit to not seem like a complete dumbass, he could ask Red to show him a thing or two. He’d love to learn whatever spell he’d used to hold Sazed up in the air like that. Had that been Bigby’s hand? Taako had been a little too panicked and furious at the time to really take note.

Well, he had some time to think about it. Red probably wouldn’t be back for a little while.

And until then, Taako guessed he was hitting the books like some kind of fucking nerd.

Chapter Text

The one thing about Red was that Taako could never tell exactly when he was going to show his ugly mug. Sure, he had down a general pattern, it was typically every few weeks or so. Sometimes a little sooner, sometimes a little longer. Usually in the early evening, but that was far from a hard and fast rule.

Which was to say, Taako had no way to prepare himself for when the dude would show up. Sometimes he’d already be in his room before he came back, sometimes it was obvious he’d just showed up in the middle of Taako lazing about.

Now was one of those ‘showing up when Taako was kicking it’ moments, except Taako wasn’t kicking it. He was hunched over a spell book he’d found tucked in the wrong section of the library, focused intently on copying down the charm person spell inside. It seemed like it would be useful as fuck in his every day to day life if he was being honest.

“Charm person huh? That’s a fun one,” Red said, right next to his fucking ear. Taako jerked back, nearly falling out of his chair and throwing his pen directly at the lich. It passed right through, flying off until it eventually clattered to the floor.

“Holy shit my dude, sneak much?” he snapped, turning away and quickly closing the spell book he’d found. Red was chuckling, not seeming bothered by his outburst in the least.

“I mean, I know a bit of rogue shit. When you’ve been around as long as I have you pick stuff up,” he said, like that was even remotely the point. “Here’s your pen,” he added, and Taako’s pen was in fact floating across the room to hover in front of his face. He grabbed it, putting it back down on the shitty creaky desk they had shoved up here. Taako swore he thought the thing was going to fall apart from him looking at it the wrong way, but so far it was holding steady.

“So, how’s the whole stopping the apocalypse thing going?” Taako asked, wanting to change the subject. Red sighed, hovering over to the bed and doing his best impression of sitting down on it.

“Could definitely be better. I’m trying to get a few other likely places lined up before the next body’s ready. Nothing’s jumping out at me yet though,” he said, and Taako just hummed. There wasn’t much he could do on that front, he was always terrible with geography. “Why are you learning charm person? You’re not having problems with anyone, are you?” Red asked, sounding concerned.

“It’s more of a preventative measure. Can’t a dude just want to expand his magical repertoire some every now and then? I can’t cook anymore, besides my looks it’s all I’ve got left,” he said, trying to sound dramatic with that but maybe coming out a touch too sincere.

“I’d argue that you’ve got more than that bud, but can’t fault you for wanting to learn more, for sure,” he said. Taako rolled his eyes at that but didn’t argue, because then it would be a thing. “Ya know, if you want some stuff, I’ve got a bunch of like, spellbooks and shit. I can throw some your way,” he added.

“Yeah alright, how many of those books are suspect to rend my soul from my still living body?” Taako asked. Red snorted at that.

“Only like, two, tops,” he joked. Or at least, Taako was pretty sure it was a joke. “I’ve got stuff other than necromancy Taako, if you want I’ve got some transmutation and uh, evocation stuff I think you’d really be interested in,” he offered. Taako hesitated for a moment before shrugging.

“Sure, why not. Just bring em whatever you next visit, no rush,” he said, and Red nodded.

“Will do,” Red said. Taako wasn’t sure if he was going to say anything else, make some more book recommendations or something. If he was, he didn’t let him, barreling ahead with the conversation. Couldn’t have anyone thinking he was a nerd after all.

“So, when you left last time you mentioned maybe explaining what it is chasing you that’s got you so paranoid? You said it wasn’t just your friend, right?” Taako asked. It wasn’t so much of a wince, but Red’s form shuddered in such a way that got the feeling across pretty well.

“Right, that. I did say I’d explain that, didn’t I?” he asked, and Taako nodded.

“Mhmm,” he hummed helpfully, waiting for Red to make with the whole exposition business.

“Ugh, alright. So you know how I’m dead, right?” he asked, and once again Taako nodded.

“That does seem to be the case, my man,” he said.

“Yeah, so I’m dead, except I’m not, since ya know, lich. Sentient arcane undead like liches, ghosts, zombies, uh, vampires, those guys, they’re not really like, allowed? Okay, let's start- how much do you know about gods?” Red asked, and Taako shrugged.

“Think they’re kinda overrated honestly. I mean, they can do magic, I can do magic, what’s the big deal?” he said, which got a snort out of Red.

“Should have known you’d say that. Well, the god of death in this world really doesn’t like things like me that uuuh, kinda make a mockery of the whole dying deal. So, I’m kinda being chased by like, the grim reaper I guess?” Red said, and Taako’s eyes widened, and he could feel his damn ears perking up in shock.

“Wait wait wait, you’re being chased by Death? Like, capital D Death?” he asked, and Red shrugged, seeming all too cavalier about the whole thing.

“Yeah, I guess? He’s tracked me a few times now, hasn’t actually caught me yet though, uh, obviously. I’ll give him one thing, he’s a persistent asshole,” Red said, and Taako let out a laugh that was maybe just a little bit hysterical.

“I mean, I would hope so!” he said. It was- okay. Taako knew Red was strong. Conceptually, he understood this fact. He was a lich, he had magic Taako couldn’t ever dream of, even if he tended not to use it much around him. He knew that Red was not one to fuck with.

Hearing that he’d fought, had multiple fights with , the literal embodiment of death and won, it was- it was honestly a little intimidating.

“He’s just doing his job, I can’t fault him for that, but I’d really prefer it if you never end up meeting him. I can defend myself perfectly fine, but I wouldn’t want to put you on his radar or anything like that,” Red said, and Taako quickly nodded.

“Yeah, okay no. You do not need to tell me that twice my friend, I promise I’m not gonna go chatting up fucking death in my spare time,” he assured.

“I mean, you’re friends with me. I’m not sure how much I can trust your decision making skills,” Red said, and Taako rolled his eyes at that.

“Please, have some faith. So far having a lich as a best friend has had like, zero downsides. Couldn’t have been too horrible of a choice,” he said. Red didn’t say anything for a minute, and when Taako looked over at him he was just floating there, staring at Taako.

How in the world something without a face managed to have a shit eating grin, Taako would never know.

“Oh fuck you. It’s not exactly a steep competition! The only one you had to contend with was the dude who tried to murder me for my cooking show,” he shouted, and Red was just laughing. “There a point to any of this?” he huffed, and Red shook his head, floating off the bed and heading over to hover by the desk instead.

“Nah. Hey, hey Taako. Can I- can I tell you something?” he asked, leaning forward some and Taako did not like that conspiratorial tone of voice.

“I’m going to regret this but sure,” he said.

“You’re my best friend too,” he fake whispered, and Taako groaned, chucking the pen at him again. It flew right through and clunked against the window. Red was chuckling, and Taako turned sharply away from him. He could still see the lich moving a little out of the corner of his eye, going and leaning as much as he could against the window.

“I take it all back, I hate everyone and everything,” Taako grumbled. It didn’t seem to dampen Red’s mood any and well, he guessed that was a good thing. That was the arrangement they had. He kept Red’s spirits up, Red worked on a way to make sure they weren’t all going to die in the near to immediate future. Taako definitely had the easier part of the deal.

“I’d apologize but I’m not really… not really all that… s-sorry…” Red trailed off, a weird shift in his voice all of a sudden. Taako turned back, and he was staring out the window. It was hard to tell, but Taako was pretty sure he was looking up at something.

“Red?” he asked, trying not to show too much concern in his voice. Red had gone strangely still though, it was a little concerning.

“What… the fuck… is that?” he asked, definitely staring up at something now. “Taako, Taako come over here,” he said, and instead of opening the window the dude phased the whole front half of his body out of it.

“Nope, fuck no. Anything that gets that kind of reaction out of you cha’ boy wants nothing to do with,” he insisted. Red stuck his head back in, still seeming pretty insistent.

“No, no it’s not a danger, I think? It’s- I need some living eyes,” he said, and Taako winced at that. Even still he started walking over, very sure he was going to regret the fuck out of this.

“Hate the way you phrased that, but fine,” he grumbled. Red moved over the slightest bit so Taako could get a clear view out the window, and he looked up. He expected to see some giant beast or hellish storm closing in on them from the horizon, but the night sky was quiet and clear. “I don’t see anything.”

“Nothing?” Red pressed, and he pointed up towards the sky. “I mean it real literally Taako, tell me everything you see up there,” he insisted, and Taako shrugged.

“Uh, the sky? The moon, the uh, the other moon. Some stars?” he said, and Red seemed a little frantic now.

“Okay, okay, you see two moons, right?” he asked, and Taako nodded. “And how do you… feel about that?”

“Uh, no strong feelings one way or the other? It’s just… the moons,” he said, and Red got weird about a lot of things, but this was definitely one of the stranger ones.

“Odd question, but just roll with me here. Have there always been two moons?” Red asked. Taako went to answer, and then he paused, thinking the question over. It shouldn’t be a hard question. He glanced up at the moons again, and there were definitely two, and that felt… normal? He guessed. It did not not feel normal.

“Yes?” he said finally, not anywhere near as confidently as he’d hoped.

“I… cannot believe… did she just- what did she feed him to do that? Why- a moon! Why a moon? She knows right? She’s gotta know that if I died I’d be able to tell! It’s not- It’s not subtle! It’s a moon! Why is it a moon Taako? ” Red was rambling, not that it made any fucking sense.

“Buddy? You sound fucking insane right now,” Taako said, in as gentle of a voice he could manage while struggling not to laugh. This probably wasn’t something to laugh at, but it was still kind of hilarious. Red took a deep breath despite not having lungs, seeming a little bit more steady after that.

“Yeah, yeah I know. It’s fine. Everything’s fine,” he insisted, and Taako wasn’t sure how much he believed that but he nodded none the less.

“Okay, okay that’s good. Do you wanna like… go yell at the moon some more bud? We can yell at the moon if you want,” he offered, and Red chuckled and shook his head.

“Nah, but I appreciate the offer,” he said, and Taako shrugged. Then he sighed, glancing out towards the sky again. “I think I need to go though. It’s- I’ve got some stuff I need to check out, I guess,” he added.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just watch yourself or whatever? Not sure what you’re planning but the middle of some lunar related breakdown probably isn’t the best time to be making decisions,” he said. Red seemed to laugh a little at that before nodding.

“That’s fair. I promise I won’t do anything stupid,” he assured, which was good enough for Taako.

“And don’t forget the books next time, you said it so I’m expecting them now,” he said, which got a laugh out of Red.

“I won’t forget. Later Taako,” he said, and Taako waved as he did his whole disappearing act.

“See ya Red,” he said, and then he was gone. Taako moved to pick up the pen he’d sent over to the window, and he found himself looking up at the moons again. He didn’t know why Red was freaking out about them. It was weird. Something felt off as he stared up at the sky, spinning the pen between his fingers. Like a nagging half formed feeling of forgetting something in the back of his mind.

After a moment he shrugged, heading back over to his desk to finish copying down the charm person spell. Whatever it was, it wasn’t coming to him, so he doubted it could be that big of a deal.

————

Barry had been wondering what Lucretia had been up to. She’d disappeared off his radar for quite a while, and he knew she was working on something. Her search for the relics seemed to be on hold for whatever it was, and that only made him more nervous. He knew she’d only gotten hers back so far, and he couldn’t risk her getting more and rejoining the light. He couldn’t risk her going after them on her own and not- and not making it out again.

They were on opposite sides right now, but she was still his family as much as the rest of them, even if she had torn them apart. It’d been long enough now, six long years, that he’d had plenty of time to think about her reasoning. To know that all of this, it was her attempt to fix things. To keep them from the pain of what they’d done by making them forget that pain was ever there at all.

It wasn’t that simple, ignorance wasn’t bliss it was just… hollow. But he couldn’t hate her for that, for trying.

A moon though. Barry had theorized, had tried to anticipate her next move. After living with someone for 100 years, you get pretty good at learning their thought patterns.

But a moon? As he stared up at it after leaving Taako, he started to laugh in disbelief. He couldn’t say it was completely out of character for her even, it was just that part of Lucretia that always took the rest of them off guard. That dry and serious delivery as she suggested that Merle seducing the Hunger could be plan F for Fuck It. That unexpected flair of dramatic that was done with so little fan fair everyone just accepted it without a second thought.

Fuck, he missed her so much.

And she’d made a second moon. Once the befuddled and panicked confusion had subsided, Barry felt a pang in his soul looking at it. Like a negative of the world they’d come from so long ago. He could see the symbolism in the act, and Lucretia had always been an excellent storyteller. He knew the meaning behind it had been intentional without a shadow of a doubt.

He promised Taako he wouldn’t do anything stupid, and he was trying very hard not to. It had been so long since he’d seen Lucretia though. She had to know if he was a lich he’d be able to realize where the sudden addition to the night sky had come from.

Despite the tracking and caution they were taking around each other, Barry had not gotten a chance to actually speak to her since before she had redacted their lives. Maybe… maybe if he could just talk to her, she would listen. She had to be just as lonely as he’d been, before he’d taken that chance on Taako.

It was worth the risk, and he started up to the fake moon.

It wasn’t as high as a real moon, and he hadn’t expected it to be. It was surprisingly hard to tell from the ground though, even without Fisher’s influence on his mind. He still wasn’t sure the exact phrasing she fed to him to get this to be unnoticed. From Taako’s reactions when he questioned him about it, ‘there is only one moon’ was probably his best guess.

Flying up over the construction of a moon for the world below, he saw a base. He guessed he shouldn’t have been surprised at the size of it, he saw how big the moon disguise had been after all, but it still left him a little speechless. There were large lawns and over half a dozen domed buildings, clearly the set up of something much larger than a one person operation. He didn’t see anyone around at the moment, but Barry felt what was left of his heart start to sink.

Gods, what in the world was she planning?

He had to talk to her before she did something stupid. Before she dragged even more innocent people into their problems. They’d already screwed up with world enough, and Barry wished it didn’t have to be that way, but trying to fix it would only make it worse. That’s how it’d been so far and he couldn’t really see that changing at this point.

He didn’t end up getting very far. Maybe a dozen feet from the base he slammed into something hard. It sent a searing pain through his whole form, like his soul was being burned. He managed to yank himself back, an anguished scream escaping him due to the pain. His form was an unsteady crackle for just a moment as it reformed itself from the blast of holy energy.

Barry wasn’t sure how long he stayed hovering there, trying to get a hold of himself. It couldn’t have been any longer than a minute or two before he heard footsteps running towards him, and he realized someone must have heard his scream.

When he looked back down at the base, he saw Lucretia, but she was wrong.

She was older, and it wasn’t like that wasn’t something he hadn't prepared for. After a century of not aging, he knew that even six years would result in so many changes. Even Taako, despite being an elf, had little differences here and there.

But this wasn’t six years. This was so much more than that. She looked older than him now, which was an uncanny sort of mindfuck he didn’t know how to process. This was his little sister, and something had happened to her. Something horrible, something-

He felt his form shudder as he attempted to keep himself together at the realization. There were precious few things that could do something like that to Lucretia, precious few that she would put herself in in the line of fire for. Despite his attempts to keep calm, he could see large streaks of red arcane energy curling off of him and hitting the barrier around the moon base with sizzling crackles of power.

This was his fault. All of this was his own damn fault.

Lucretia was staring up at him, a look of horror and regret plastered clear as day across her face.

“Lucretia… please. You have- you have to stop this,” he managed to stutter out, his voice broken and distorted as he still struggled to keep himself together after the hit from the ward and the wracks of guilt running through him.

He saw the pain on her face deepen as she shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“I’m so sorry Barry,” she whispered, and then she was raising her staff. The Bulwark Staff.

The pain cleared in a flash as panic overtook him. He couldn’t be caught. Before she could set off whatever spell she was channeling, he teleported away in a blast of flames. Not far, just down to the ground again, but enough to put some distance between them.

He couldn’t get caught. He couldn’t. He knew she’d be trying to track him as soon as she recovered from his flash, and so he used was struggling power he had to get himself back to his cave where he’d be safe.

And once he was there, alone and protected with his wards, he let himself break down as much as he could without crumbling completely.

He couldn’t cry in this damn form, and gods he wished he could.

Barry knew he should have waited longer. It wasn’t safe for him out there right now, especially not with Lucretia surely on the look out for him after that stunt.

But it was so quiet alone in his cave. The only sound himself and the occasional bubble of air rising up in the tank in the corner. He felt suffocated in his thoughts, in the churning horror of what must have happened to Lucretia. In the panicked uncertainty of if she managed to pull it off, if they were already on a time limit.

So the very next day, he headed out again. First, to take a quick stop at the Felicity Wilds. Some of his fears were quelled at seeing the garish, flashing tent still standing in the middle of a large valley.

Then he went to go see Taako again.

“Whoa, you’re back early. Miss me that much huh?” Taako asked, and there was some worry in his voice. Of course there was, Taako was smart enough to realize something must have gone wrong if he came back so quickly.

“Yeah,” was all Barry managed to choke out though. Taako’s nervous smile dropped fully into a concerned frown at that, and he turned away from whatever it was he was cooking. Barry wasn’t even sure where they were, some kitchen in the back of a dingy inn.

“Hey, you okay man? You know I don’t mind the company, but you were acting weird yesterday and it ain’t like you to be back so soon,” Taako asked, and Barry sighed, trying to pull himself together.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m- it’s fine. Oh! I brought you that book you wanted,” he said, thankful at remembering that distraction. Waving a hand he pulled a lower level spell book out of a pocket dimension. He floated it over to Taako, who carefully scanned the cover. “Do- do you think I could just, hang here for a bit and watch you cook? Promise I won’t get in the way, you don’t even gotta walk around me,” he asked before Taako could say anything, trying for a joke with that last part. Taako laughed, but it was a little forced. He put the book down on the counter and nodded though.

“Of course,” Taako said simply, turning back towards the stove without another word. Barry stayed hovering in the corner of the kitchen for as long as he could, just watching as Taako worked. It was so similar to how he used to cook in the Starblaster, down to the pauses and way he would reach around for items, as if working around another person.

Like somewhere, deep inside, he knew that he wasn’t supposed to be cooking alone. Barry wasn’t sure if that thought helped or hurt him more, a sharp stab of bittersweet.

He managed to stay until Taako finished cooking, and it was nice. It was a calm and familiar scene that for a moment Barry could almost pretend that his whole world wasn’t slowly falling apart around him.

He couldn’t give up. He needed to keep believing that there was some way to fix this, to bring his family back and undo all the horrors they’d done. All the horrors he caused.

“I’d offer you some, but that just seems kinda cruel at this point,” Taako said as he started serving himself a plate of some delicious smelling pasta. Barry chuckled, moving from the corner for the first time since he’d come here.

“Yeah, food’s not really applicable in this form, but I appreciate the sentiment,” he said, and then he sighed. “Besides, I need to go,” he added. Taako just nodded, not seeming surprised or annoyed by this.

“Go get yourself lost Red,” he said, and Barry chuckled at that. “And if you ever need to hang like this, it’s- I’m down, not a bother,” he added.

“Thanks Taako,” Red said, and he just shrugged. Taking that as his cue to leave, Barry headed back to his cave.

It was still all too quiet once he was alone, but it was just that little bit less suffocating. And that was all Barry could ask for.

Chapter Text

Red was particularly withdrawn for the next month or so. Taako wasn’t sure what had set it off, no matter how much time he spent staring up at the moons trying to figure out what was so strange about them. Nothing he could put his finger on, and he guessed in the end it wasn’t technically any of his business. Sure, they were friends now and apparently in this whole ‘trying to save the world’ thing together, but Red didn’t have to tell him every aspect of his life. Not life. Whatever.

Point was, Taako was letting Red have his space to mope about the moon, even if he was kinda curious about what the fuck had caused all of this in the first place. It was kind of frustrating, every time he thought he was figuring this shit out it turned out there was even more he didn’t know. Still, Taako wasn’t pressing him on it. He was just that good of a friend, he should get a medal or something.

Over the last two visits or so Red was starting to get back to his old self some though. Which wasn’t exactly free of the occasional bout of emotional drama or deep sadness he sometimes fell into, but it was still better. He was talking more about his plans on how to find his wife, joking around with Taako, shit like that. To say it was a relief would be admitting that he was worried about the dude, so Taako wouldn’t go that far. Still, it was definitely an improvement from all the quiet moping.

In that time, Taako had started focusing on his magic more. It was something that seemed to distract Red from whatever drama was going on in his head while also benefiting Taako pretty well. Red had brought a few more spellbooks after that first one, and he hadn’t been lying about having shit other than creepy necromancy stuff.

Taako wasn’t real sure where he’d gotten these books, but there was something about the way they were written and explained magic that made sense in his head. More so than the spellbooks he’d been finding in libraries and such at least. The ways they explained magic reminded him of the bits and pieces he’d tried to pick up as a kid. It made it click more than the other ones he’d tried.

There was also the fact that Red could go on about magic for literal hours. That made learning quite a bit easier. Typically it was about stuff that was well fucking above Taako’s skill level, but he could hound Red into dumbing it down for him every now and then.

That’s what they were doing now. Taako wasn’t sure what Red got out of helping him through level 1 and 2 spells, but he wasn’t going to turn down the help or the free components.

Usually Taako wouldn’t be caught dead letting someone else teach him magic. He figured it didn’t quite count though if the one teaching him was dead. Or something like that.

“This one should be easy for you. You’re great at transmutation,” Red said, and Taako nodded as he read through the incantation for reduce.

“I mean, yeah natch,” he said, pointedly not telling Red that he’d spent almost every spellslot he had yesterday practicing before he managed to get it anywhere near consistent. Instead he said the incantation, pinching his fingers together and focused on the pot set out on the tree stump in front of him. It quickly shrunk down to half its size, and Taako grinned, leaning back against a tree.

“See? That’s what you call natural talent,” he said. Instead of rolling his not-eyes like Taako expected Red nodded enthusiastically. It was kind of weird how excited and happy he always seemed watching him learn magic. Taako was trying to learn to just accept the whole deal with Red being overly invested in his shit though. That’s how it’d been since they first met after all.

“Exactly, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you Taako that you’re good at th-” Red started to say, before cutting himself off, going very still. They’d been at this for a while, Taako hadn’t actually been paying attention to how long. Longer than Red tended to stay out though, if he had to guess. “Shit.”

“What’s up? I was enjoying the praise,” Taako said, trying to keep this light even though he could see Red starting to panic.

“Stayed too long, I need to go. You should too,”  Red said all in a rush. That wasn't exactly what he expected, and Taako pushed himself off of where he’d been leaning against the tree.

“Wait, me too? Where the fuck should I-” he started to ask, but before he could Red disappeared in a crackling arcane flash. Dimension door, if he had to guess, which meant he wasn’t too far. There was a part of Taako that was real fucking curious about where Red was now.

He’d been pretty damn spooked though, and Taako knew the guy had some downright nasty dudes after him. If Red was saying to get the hell out of dodge, he wasn’t going to ask twice. Scrambling around, Taako started picking up his camp as fast as possible. It was already pretty late in the day, he’d just gotten everything settled down to sleep for the night, which was frustrating as fuck.

Taako just about had everything when he heard a crash, from not too far away in the woods. He couldn’t see what caused it, but straining his ears he could faintly make out the faint buzz and pops of spells being flung. He was dumb as a box of rocks, but even he could put two and two together there.

Taako knew he should turn tail and head in the exact opposite direction. That wasn’t even a question, he needed to get the fuck away from whatever was going on over there. Red could handle himself. There sure as fuck wasn’t anything an idiotic magical chef like him could do to help.

“Oh god damn it,” he grumbled, grabbing his shitty wand and running off in the direction of the noise.

It got louder as he got closer, and he could clearly hear the sound of offensive spells being flung and crashing into trees. Hopefully trees. Taako picked up the pace, and he could hear the occasional clang and slash from some sort of blade only moments before he could see it.

Red was fighting someone. He was holding his own well enough, sending crackling blasts of necrotic energy at the guy. Said ‘guy’ was a skeleton, in a long, flowing black cloak with a feathered collar, a huge scythe in his bony hands. He spun the blade through the air effortlessly, Red obviously on his toes to dodge the attacks.

Red was fighting death, and he wasn’t doing half bad.

Taako should leave. Neither of them had noticed him yet, if he ran now he might still be able to get out of there unscathed. Red would probably be fine, this wasn’t the first time he’d apparently fought the grim fucking reaper after all.

It seemed like he was on the defensive though. It wasn’t clear if he was going to win or not

And for some reason truly beyond him, Taako didn’t want to take that chance.

“Hey thug fuck off before I barbecue your dick!” Taako shouted, sending a volley of magic missiles into the grim reaper’s side. It certainly caught his attention, his head spinning towards Taako, scythe still poised for an attack.

It also drew Red’s attention.

“Taako what the fuck are you doing?!” Red shouted, reaching forward and grabbing the grim reaper’s wrist while he was distracted, sending a draining pulse of necrotic energy through him.

“I don’t know!” Taako shouted back, trying to throw a fire bolt at the reaper and missing by a country mile. Shit. The reaper quickly managed to recover from Red’s attack, swiping at the lich with his scythe and managing to put some space in between them again.

“Taako, is it?” the reaper said, and Taako wasn’t sure what he was expecting the grim reaper to sound like, but it wasn’t that. He probably would have laughed if he wasn’t completely fucking terrified. Instead he stopped, and held up his hand in a half hearted wave.

“Hello,” he said, trying to sound a hell of a lot more cheerful and casual than he felt. It almost got the reaper to pause. He had the majority of his attention on Taako now, but instead of attacking he held out a hand, a large glowing book hovering above it.

“No- don’t even think about it. Don’t you touch him,” Red snapped, sending a blast of fire at the reaper. He managed to dodge though, even with his attention split between the two of them and whatever he was looking for in the book. This was a bad idea.

“Aha! Taako, here you are. That would be eight counts of-” he started to say, getting cut off by Red sending a blast of sickly green energy at him, the reaper having to dismiss his book to get out of the way, focused back on the fight at hand.

“Kravitz I said leave him out of this!” he shouted, and Taako had heard Red mad before. This was mad, but it was also mixed with something else, a terrible sort of desperation. Taako figured he should be terrified, instead he just sort of snorted.

“Death’s name is Kravitz?” he asked in disbelief. Neither of them payed his question any mind though.

“If he has a bounty then you don’t get a choice in what I do with him, my man. That’s not how any of this works,” the reaper insisted, sounding incredibly frustrated. Taako had no idea what he meant by any of that, but he didn’t like it. Red didn’t answer him, instead lunging forward in an almost animalistic attack, crackles of necrotic energy coming off of him in waves.

“Taako! Leave! Now!” Red shouted, slashing at the reaper with claws he’d definitely never had before. They didn’t quite hit their target, tearing at the reaper’s long cloak. Instead of leaving, when Kravitz moved out of Red’s range Taako sent a blast of burning hands at him. It clearly wasn’t doing much to the embodiment of death, Taako wasn’t exactly a ferocious magic warrior, but it was something.

“Uh, no? He’s trying to kill you dog!” Taako insisted.

“I’m sorry, in case you weren’t aware he’s already dead. Several times over even! I’m just trying to bring his soul where it belongs,” the reaper said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. He barely managed to finish his sentence before Red was lobbying a round of scorching rays at him. Taako saw at least two hit, knocking the grim reaper back some.

“Yeah, still not too cool with that,” Taako said. He started to prepare another spell, wishing that he hadn’t spent so many slots practicing today. Before he could get it off though there was a weird arcane buzzing sensation around him as Red basically grabbed him as well as he could.

“You’re a real stubborn jackass, you know that?” he snapped, sending one last powerful blast towards the reaper as he tried to rush for the both of them. Then there was a surge of arcane energy, and Taako stumbled slightly, disoriented as the scenery around them changed in a sudden flash.

It was dim, but his dark vision made sure that wasn’t much of a problem. They seemed to be in some cave, with a desk and maps hung all over the walls and some weird green glowing pod in the corner.

Most importantly, it seemed safe. Taako let out a somewhat hysteric laugh as he let himself slump down onto the cool cave floor.

He’d never been in a fucking fight like that. The most dangerous thing he’d ever been around was Sazed. Or at least, most dangerous thing that wanted to hurt him. The adrenaline was leaving his body in a rush, but he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Haha holy shit! Looks like we’re in the clear Red, good thinking,” Taako said, giving the lich a hesitant grin. Red just stared down at him, the ends of his robe flicking out in irritation like an angry cat tail. Yeah, he was not happy.

“What in the world were you thinking? You could have been killed!” he snapped, which was fair. Taako had been trying not to think too much about that, but it was kind of hard not to when one was literally staring at death.

“But I didn’t?” he tried, and Red sighed.

“I told you to leave, I would have been fine,”   R ed insisted. Taako figured he was probably right about that. After all, he managed to get the two of them out of the fight pretty dang quickly. It dawned on Taako that Red might have only been sticking around to fight the reaper so that he could have time to escape. He ignored that thought for now.

“But what if you weren’t man? I don’t know how to go about saving the world on my own,” Taako said. He could see Red’s frustration crackling around him slowly starting to fizzle out as he sighed.

“Do you have any idea how much more complicated you just made everything?” Red asked, and Taako shrugged because well, he didn’t.

“Not really, but I got a feeling you’re about to explain it to me,” he said, and he’d gotten his barrings enough to start looking around, slowly pushing himself back to his feet. He started moving towards the weird glowing pod in the corner but before he could get close Red was in front of him again, cutting him off.

“Nope, that’s off limits. So many things in here are off limits, gods, this is a disaster,” Red groaned. Taako decided to leave the pod alone for now, since this was honestly probably a big deal. It seemed like Red had taken him back to whatever weird base of operation he had. Considering how secretive he was about everything, that had certainly not been in his plans.

“Okay, let’s just take this one step at a time then, what’s so bad about me being here?” Taako asked. Red somehow managed to give him an incredulous look without a face.

“What’s so bad? What’s so bad Taako? So many things! It’s- you can’t know about any of this Taako. God, and now you’re on his radar!” he said, and Taako winced a little at that.

“Yeah, uh, so death huh? What uh, what’s that about,” he said, and Red sighed, going and slumping in a chair at the desk as much as he could as a ghost.

“I mean, I already told you basically. Bounty hunter for the Raven Queen, but now he’s gonna try to come after you too,” he said, and Taako felt his eyebrows raise at that, the blood draining from his face at the thought.

“Me? The fuck did I do? I mean, I attacked him sure, but does death really keep goddamn grudges?” he asked, and Red shook his head.

“No, it’s not- honestly, Kravitz isn’t that bad of a guy. It’s nothing like that. You’re just… associated with me now. And I’m kind of a super wanted criminal,” he said, and Taako winced at that.

“Well I mean, that makes two of us my man,” Taako said, and Red seemed to be staring at him in confusion for a moment, before chuckling slightly.

“I guess you’re not wrong about that,” he said, and Taako grinned before glancing around the cave again.

“So uh, where are we exactly?” he asked, and Red sighed.

“My hideout, lab, base… thing. It’s safe here, Kravitz won’t be able to find us, or anyone else for that matter,” he said, and Taako nodded. It was pretty drab, definitely giving off the dark necromancy vibe thing. “You should get some sleep. It’s- I’ll try and figure out what we’re doing about all of this in the morning,” he said. Taako nodded, glad he grabbed most of his shit before Red teleported him away, because he didn’t seem to have a bed in here.

“Sounds good my dude. Don’t be getting too attached to any of your plans though, cha’ boy would kind of like a say in what’s going down next,” he said. Red seemed vaguely surprised by that before shaking himself out of it and nodding.

“Right, yeah no of course. I won’t decide anything without your input,” he said. Taako had rolled out his sleeping bag by this point, throwing his hat down on a nearby chair and shaking his hair out.

“Excellent,” he said, lying down. It was quiet for a moment, and Red had turned towards his desk and seemed to be working on something. “So, death huh? Not what I was expecting. You think that accent was for real, or what?” he asked, which got a surprised, snorting laugh out of Red.

“Go the fuck to sleep Taako,” he said, not answering his question and causing Taako to laugh as well.

“Fine, miss out on this riveting conversation, see what I care,” he said. Red didn’t seem particularly moved, but Taako was getting pretty tired anyway. It wasn’t very long before he managed to get to sleep. Hopefully Red would come up with an idea of what they could do by morning, because as it was Taako was at a loss.

——

Barry could not believe this fucking happened. Except he could, because it was exactly the thing he’d been so worried about happening since he first decided to break his rule.

He’d stayed out too long, attracted too much attention while he was with Taako. It wasn’t from Lucretia, but it was arguably much worse. Taako could be in considerable danger now. The enforcers of death would never have a fondness for any of them in this world, but now Taako was linked to him.

Barry had shown himself to care about him. He didn’t know how dirty someone like Kravitz was willing to play, but he sure as fuck didn’t want to risk Taako’s life like that.

And of course, throughout it all Taako never seemed to understand how much danger he was in. He was obviously trying, but it didn’t quite seem to stick. As afraid as he was, he didn’t even hesitate to put himself back in the line of fire. He refused to leave while he thought Barry had a risk of being truly killed.

It was as touching as it was incredibly goddamn frustrating.

He’d managed to get them both out safe, but now he was in a whole other kettle of fish. He didn’t know where else to take them, where else they would for sure be safe.

So now Taako was sleeping on the floor of his hideout, just a hairs breadth away from every shred of proof Barry had managed to keep from a century of their family running from the apocalypse.

He had no fucking idea what he was supposed to do.

At this point, he might not have a choice but to let Taako help him. He didn’t want to put him in that danger, but he seemed pretty damn determined to throw himself into the fight anyway.

It might be easier to keep him safe if he could keep him close. Barry didn’t have many other options left.

The time it took for Taako to wake up seemed to drag on forever, but Barry knew he was just being impatient. He felt like he was impatient so often now a days. He always wanted to move forward, he hated being trapped the way he was. Still, eventually Taako started to wake, seeming confused as he looked around himself for a moment before his gaze fell on Barry and his memory started to jog.

“Morning Taako,” he said, and Taako nodded groggily, still blinking himself awake.

“Mornin’ Red, how’d you sleep?” he asked, and Barry snorted at that.

“Fucking terrible,” he said, and Taako just nodded.

“Yeah, figured,” he said, digging around in his bag and pulling out some sort of wrapped baked good. God, Barry missed the twin’s food. It was so unfair being able to see it and not have a damn mouth. “So, you figure out a game plan or what? And if you did, don’t tell me for like another twenty minutes I’m still tired as shit,” Taako added, and Barry wasn’t sure what else he expected.

“Not sure on anything too specific, but I’ll give you ten before we start hashing everything out,” he said, and Taako frowned, raising an eyebrow at that.

“Excuse you, I specifically asked for twenty,” he said, and Barry shrugged.

“That’s a real shame bud,” he said, which got an annoyed huff out of Taako. He didn’t seem genuinely mad though, which was about what Barry expected.

In the end, Barry ended up waiting about fifteen minutes before actually starting to talk. Split the difference.

“So like, you’re just not gonna listen to anything I tell you to do, are you?” he asked, and Taako gave him an offended look at that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he insisted, and if Barry had eyes still he would roll them.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, letting sarcasm drip from his every word. Before Taako could respond though he continued. “Look, it doesn’t really matter if you listen to me or not anymore. You’re in danger now, and so it’s- we’re in the shitter together. We gotta work with each other on this,” he said. Taako had crawled out of his sleeping bag now and had taken a seat on a nearby chair. He crossed his arms, frowning slightly at that.

“I mean, I thought we were already working together, but yeah sure. Guess we’ll start that now,” he grumbled, and Barry shook his head.

“No, not like that. We were, we are, it’s just- god Taako, there’s so much you don’t know,” he said, trying not to let himself get overwhelmed by the idea of it all. By how he was going to bring Taako into this without him even knowing. Without him being capable of knowing.

“I mean, tell me then? I’m already in this deep, and now I’m apparently fucking marked for death! Nothing you say, especially after the whole apocalypse bomb you dropped before is gonna be the thing to scare me off,” Taako insisted. Barry sighed, running a bony hand down his non-existent face.

“I wish it was that easy bud. It’s not- when I say I can’t tell you, I mean I literally can’t tell you,” he said, and Taako didn’t seem all that deterred.

“Yeah, you explained that already. Some magic bullshit your family member did. The bad one, the- damn, you really can’t give me names can you? How am I supposed to keep this shit straight,” he said, and Barry laughed at that, but it was a fair point. He couldn’t blame Taako for being annoyed and confused on that.

“I guess you could call her like a sister. She’s like a little sister to me. And she’s not bad, she’s just… trying to fix something that can’t be,” he said, his soul aching as he thought about Lucretia as she was now. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by that though. Someday, hopefully, he would get to apologize to her.

“Okay, the misguided one or whatever, still some bullshit your little sister did. What happens if you just try though?” he asked, and as much as Barry was worried about pushing things, he was kind of in too deep at this point.

“Let’s see I guess. Taako I’m from a̡n̸̢ot͢͝h̡͜͜ę͢҉r ̕͜w̡or̷̡ļ̕͝d̴̸͘.̵ ͏W̸e̡͜ ̡b̸ot͢͢҉h̡ ̴̷a̴͘r̵͝e.̶ W̢e͟͠ ̨c̶҉re͘a̧͞t͏̡e͞ḑ s̸̛e͢v̛ȩ̶n ̴̛p͡ǫ͏w̷̕e̕r͘͢f̸̨u̧̕l͏̢ ͠r͢͠el̛͢͝i̴̵̢c͢͞s̨͟ ̨u̸͞s͏̛͏in̵̢g ͜s̢̢o̡m̶et͏h̶i͝n҉g͢ ͏͟cą͡ll̛ed͟ ҉t͟h̢̡e͠ ̸͠͠L͏̡͟i̢g̷̷h̴͞t͏̷̨ o͏͝f͠ C͠r҉̸͜e̷̡a͟͞t̷i̴̕o̸n.͟ ̡͘You͜͡ w̷͘e̸̸r̷̡e̴ ̵̴͢o̢n̸e̛͠ ̴o͞f̛ ̢ų̸s̡,̛͞”̴ he said. Barry knew his words fell on deaf ears, Taako staring at him with confusion.

“Okay… so I got like, none of that,” he said, and Barry sighed.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” he grumbled. Taako still didn’t look any less determined to figure this out though, and Barry couldn’t help but appreciate that. It was hard sometimes, convincing himself to keep moving forward after all this time. It helped to see someone still certain they could figure out a plan.

“Well, that’s not gonna work then. I guess I just won’t know shit, not like that’ll be much different from how I exist on the day by day anyway,” he said. Barry couldn’t help but be frustrated at Taako continuing to put himself down like that, but he let it slide for the moment. It wasn’t exactly his fault after all.

“And you’re really okay with that? With putting yourself in danger, even if you don’t know the full story?” he asked, and Barry couldn’t pretend to be surprise at Taako’s hesitance at that.

“I mean, what kinda danger we talking here? Cause like, the goal in helping you is making sure I don’t die, ideally,” he said, and Barry nodded.

“I don’t ever want to put your life at risk like that. But like, death is kinda ya know, an active issue. In that he’s actively a pain in my ass all the goddamn time,” he grumbled, getting a laugh out of Taako.

“Fair enough. Yeah alright, fuck it. Not like I’ve got any better options, what’s the plan?” he asked. Barry couldn’t help but feel like he was smiling down in his soul hearing that. There wasn’t going to be any coming back from this. It would still be complicated, he would still have to be cautious in what he let Taako know, in how much he hinted at things. He didn’t want to overwhelm him, he didn’t know what would happen if someone pushed at the static too much, and he wasn’t going to hurt Taako in order to test it out.

“Same as it always was. We find my wife, and with her help we try and convince L- my sister that she’s making a mistake and we get her to fix the thing keeping my family from remembering,” he said. Taako nodded, seeming to follow along pretty well.

“Cool, cool. So, how do we do all that?” he asked. Barry was quiet for a moment as he thought the question over, his posture serious and calculating.

“I got no fucking clue my dude,” he said with a shrug, which got a loud, disbelieving laugh out of Taako.

“Awesome! Excellent! This is gonna go great!” he said, sarcastic and sounding just the slightest bit panicked. Barry couldn’t exactly blame him for that, they definitely didn’t have the most concrete plan for moving forward.

Still, Barry felt a hell of a lot more confident now than he did before. He had his brother helping him. One of the smartest, most creative and accomplished wizards in all of existence. The one person they could always turn to for finding a new way to tackle a problem.

“We’re gonna fucking die. Gods, Red, I’m gonna die and you’re going to double die,” Taako said, obviously starting to panic now.

It was going to be fine. He had one of the brightest people in existence on his side now.

Even if said elf didn’t know it.

Chapter Text

Taako was pretty damn sure he was going to die.

He guessed he shouldn’t be too surprised by that. He'd been on a road leading directly towards his doom the second he decided the best course of action was befriending the local benevolent lich. He couldn’t even blame this on Red, because like, the dude had fucking warned him it was bad news. Had tried to get him to turn back every single step of the way.

And Taako couldn’t rightfully put words together for why he decided to go along with all of this despite that. He had to have a reason, he didn’t do shit like this, not out of the damn goodness of his soul.

But instead of any answers, there was a vague feeling of static and a word on the tip of his tongue, wrapped up in the knowledge that despite everything, he trusted Red.

There wasn’t much he could do with any of that, so instead he tried to turn his attention onto some more practical things.

They needed a plan, but Taako couldn’t exactly contribute to that much with the weird block preventing Red from telling him literally anything of importance. So he’d have to leave that one to the lich.

“So uh, where exactly are we? We’ve talked a lot of big picture stuff, but I wanna get down to the details,” Taako said, starting to move about the cave now. He stayed away from the weird glowing pod in the corner, but Red seemed nervous just about everywhere he went. Which was probably fair, Taako had no idea the kind of freaky stuff he got up to in here.

“I mean, we’re in my hideout,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes at that. 

“Yeah, knew that one homeslice, but where? Is this cave just floating out in space or we got a location on our hands?” he asked, and it seemed to click for the lich pretty quick.

“Oh! Right, yeah no that’s fair. Uh, lemme see,” he said, heading over to a map he had hung up above a desk. There were strings and pins connecting a bunch of different places, but to what end Taako had no fucking clue. “The closest town to us is Phandalin. It’s only a couple hours walk. From there it’s not too far to Neverwinter, maybe a day’s cart ride,” he explained, and Taako nodded.

“Never heard of Phandalin, but alright,” he said, and Red nodded. 

“Yeah not surprise. I think it used to be a mining town? Honestly, I haven’t spent a lot of time there, other than when I’m alive and confused,” he said. Taako was still pretty damn curious to see Red in the flesh, but it would probably be a bit before he’d have that privilege.

“So like… what now?” Taako asked, not liking how much his voice betrayed how fucking lost he felt right now. He didn’t know what he was doing, he couldn’t know, and to say he was in over his head was the understatement of the century. Red sighed, seeming to understand how Taako felt and also how much he didn’t want it addressed.

“Right now, I think we lay low. My cave is protected from the Reaper’s sights, as well as my sister’s. As long as we’re in here, no one should be able to find us. It won’t be as easy for them to find you as it would be for them to find me, since you’re not like, a giant ball of necromantic energies, but it’s still best to play it safe for a bit,” Red explained and Taako nodded. That was something, at least.

“Okay, some hiding out, I can deal with that. For how long?” he asked, really wanting to know how long he was going to be confined to some dark, necromantic lair.

“Could you do a month?” Red asked hesitantly, and Taako groaned, throwing his head back.

“You’re killing me my dude!” he complained, and Red just crossed his arms, not looking particularly moved.

“This wouldn’t be an issue if you’d listened to me in the first place and ran!” he countered, and Taako just made an unintelligible grumble at that. Like, he wasn’t wrong.

“Ugh, this is the worst. Yeah, fine, I still prefer my head being attached to my body, if only barely,” he grumbled. Giving another look around the cave, it was in a very new light with the thought that he was going to be staying for a month. “But I demand a bed.”

“Oh, yeah no for sure. Didn’t really have much of a need for that, with the whole uh, lich thing,” he said, and Taako nodded, cause that was fair enough. “We’ll get you a bed, even though you’re a goddamn elf and can just meditate. You’re lucky I like you,” he added, and Taako gave a very offended look at that.

“Fuck you, like you wouldn’t sleep if you could!” he argued, and Red laughed at that.

“Yeah, yeah you’re right about that. I’m real fucking tired,” he said, and there was a heaviness to his voice at the end there. It was something Taako figured he couldn’t even imagine, going on with this impossible task for as long as he’d been. Still, he found himself nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, I know what you mean man.”

Red did end up getting him a bed pretty damn fast. Taako wasn’t too sure how he managed to get most of the shit he had, but it never seemed hard for him to pop out in flashes and come back with some basic ingredients so Taako could cook and such. He insisted on not doing it often. He couldn't drawn attention to himself again, but there was enough stuff that the cave was comfortable over the next few weeks of staying there.

Comfortable and fun were two totally different things though, and Taako was slowly losing his goddamn mind. There wasn’t much to do besides work on his magic, and like, he was doing that for sure. He was getting pretty good if he did say so himself. Red seemed pleased with his progress at least, even if he was still all insistent that Taako could do so much more if he put his mind to it. Taako didn’t take it as much more than vague encouragement.

There wasn’t anything else to fucking do though. Red spent a lot of time working on something, like fuck Taako knew what. There were books and notes and maps, but he couldn’t make any sense of the mess. There a lot of books he couldn’t read at all. Some of the were in other languages, he could clearly identify that. Some were just… off. There were bits and pieces here and there he could grasp, but the majority of it was indecipherable.

Red still wasn’t letting him sneak a peak at whoever was behind the glowing green pod of door number three. He’d tried to of fucking course, but even in the few times he’d managed to get a look at it when Red had to run out for food, the liquid inside was too thick for him to get much of a clue. The most he could confirm was that he’d been telling the truth about being human.

They were starting to slowly work out the next steps of a plan too. Nothing Taako could know too in depth, of course, but still something. Red had another lead, but it wasn’t on a place for his wife. Taako wasn’t sure what it was, he couldn’t understand it when Red tried to explain. The most he could get was that it was something similar to what his wife had disappeared looking for. One of the things his sister was after now. He needed to get out there and hopefully move it somewhere else before she could get it.

The month was coming to an end, and Red’s body was getting close to finished as well. Taako was going to leave first, Red would drop him off in Phandalin, and then the next day or so he’d go into his new body and go after this lead. Taako was just supposed to kick it and keep his head low until Red came back from the mission. Simple enough.

Boring, but at least he wasn’t going to have to stare at these fucking cave walls for much longer.

When Red had gone out to get them some last minute supplies, Taako had written down a note. He didn’t have anything as fancy as a magic coin, and he’d probably get chewed out by Red once he died again, but he couldn’t resist leaving something for the dude. If just because he was bored and writing some dumb letter to someone who would be even more confused than Taako had been during all this was kind of cathartic.

It was the day he was gonna head out, and Taako made sure to fold the letter up and stuff it in one of the pants pockets that Red was leaving himself. That was another thing he knew about Red now, some fucking tragically bland fashion sense.

“So, you ready to get going?” Red asked, and Taako nodded, checking his shit over for like the twentieth time. He had no idea how to find this place again once Red brought him out so he didn’t want to forget anything important.

“Yeah alright, free me from this fucking dungeon,” he said, holding out an arm for Red to take. The lich chuckled, and when he linked his robed arm with Taako’s he could feel the crackles of arcane power that made up his form, setting Taako’s hair on end. It didn’t last long though, Red quickly setting off the transportation spell.

There was that same sense of dizzying confusion at the sudden shift in surrounding, but it wasn’t as bad as doing it in the middle of a fight. Red only kept a hand on him long enough to make sure Taako wasn’t going to fall over before moving back. Looking around, they were in some back alley, and it was early morning, the air cool and damp, the sun just having peaked over the horizon.

“I’m dropping you off in Phandalin. If you wanna chill out here for a bit that’s fine, it’s a pretty up and coming town. If you wanna move on and head up to Neverwinter or some other place that’s alright too. Just please remember to be careful Taako,” Red said, and Taako nodded, throwing his hat back on. He didn’t want it to fall off during the teleport and end up on another goddamn continent or something. He had no idea if that was how teleportation worked. He kinda doubted it.

“I’m probably gonna chill out here for a bit. Might fuck off if you take too long, who knows,” he said and Red nodded, not seeming particularly bothered by that. He was still just hovering there waiting though, in a way that would be super fucking creepy if Taako hadn’t gotten used to Red’s spectral form hovering ominously by this point. “And yes! God, I’ll be careful, happy now?” he asked, and Red chuckled at that.

“Yeah, and remember your other promise,” Red said, and it took Taako a moment to actually figure out what he was talking about. Right though, he had made another promise that was kind of pertinent to this situation.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll stay away, won’t go looking for you. You’re officially free of all things Taako for as long as you manage to keep yourself from getting offed, congrats,” he said. He knew the vague area Red was heading in this time, but he meant to stand by what he said and not head over there. He wasn’t about to screw shit up by being in the wrong place at the wrong time again. Red seemed to believe him, or at the very least they were running out of time before he had to get back to the cave.

“See you soon Taako,” he said, and Taako nodded, tossing his bag over his shoulder.

“Hopefully not too soon, at least make an effort to stay alive dog,” he said, and Red snorted. He nodded after a moment though, which was good. Taako was pretty damn sure it wasn’t healthy for someone to be so chill with dying over and over again, even if it wasn’t that much of a problem practically.

“I will, later,” he said, and with that he was gone in another burst of teleportation magic. Taako didn’t stay in the alleyway long, checking his bags one last time before heading out into the town. He couldn’t help but be a little relieved at being back in the sunlight and around people again. 

Red was right about it being an up and coming town, although more on the start of the whole up process from what Taako could see. Moving out, Taako figured first things first. Red had left him with a cool chunk of cash, and so find a place to stay, grab something to eat, and maybe if he felt like it start looking for a job.

He just had to lay low for a while. He’d been doing a pretty damn good job of that after Glamour Springs. This should be a piece of cake.

————

Barry tried to convince himself that he didn’t need to worry. Or well, that wasn’t exactly true, there were so many things he needed to worry about. He didn’t need to worry about Taako specifically. He’d given him as much information on the situation as he could, and he knew what kind of danger he could be in if he messed up. He doubted Taako would get into too much of a mess immediately after having to hide in a cave for a month at the very least.

Thankfully that whole disaster had gone about as well as it could have. Taako didn’t get into anything that would try and jog too many memories, and hadn’t been able to get a clear look on Barry’s body either. At least, as far as he could tell.

He tried to shift his thoughts from his brother and towards the task at hand. He knew Lucretia was going after the relics, and he didn’t know what she was going to start planning with that new moon base. He’d heard word of impossible storm and trees so tall they seemed to stretch up into the heavens down in the South Woods. Pretty clear work of the sash if he had to make a guess.

He still couldn’t let Lucretia gather the relics. He had a feeling they were going to start kicking things into gear now that her moon fortress was complete. So the best bet he had now was to head her off before she could get there.

Barry spent the rest of the day setting up everything for his living self to find, and all of the explanations required. He wasn’t pleased with having to go after a relic in his living body, but he especially couldn’t risk it now. Not when he knew Lucretia and death’s agents were going to be on his trail for a while. He just had to have some faith in himself.

Well, at least it wouldn’t be too much longer before he could see Taako again, because he was absolutely going to die.

Barry woke up in a vast of brackish green fluid, inside of a strange cave, by himself with no idea how he got there or what he was supposed to do. A coin with his own voice spoke to him, described a loss he couldn’t remember but could feel in his chest as readily as his own heartbeat, and told him he needed to to follow its instructions.

And well, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

He had no real idea what he was doing as he gathered up maps and supplies he couldn’t remember setting out for himself. Had to go out to some forest down south and look for, he wasn’t sure. Some big trees? Bad weather? The coin sounded like it knew what it was talking about, and assure him he’d know it when he saw it too.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Barry started out of the weird occult cave he was in, waving his hand slightly to try and get rid of the sting from the cut. For some reason coin him was really insistent on leaving some blood in the weird pod, and well, he was already in this far. Might as well go all the way and do some weird blood sacrifice for good luck or whatever.

Shoving his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t keep messing with the cut, he felt something in there. Not the coin, he’d already discovered the coin a while ago. Pulling it out, it was a small folded up piece of paper. Stopping to lean against the cliff face outside of his cave, Barry unfolded it, frowning in confusion as he read the note inside. Or well not a note, more like a letter.

Yo Red,

Wait, that’s not your real name. Well tough luck, I’m stuck calling you that until you tell me that little secret. You’re probably confused which is a nice change of pace for once if I do say so myself. I’d say sorry about being boring with a letter but we don’t all have cool magic recording coins, some of us have to go the old fashioned way a la pen and paper. I’ll send you a goddamn postcard next time if you want something a little more fancy.

Anyway, you said you wouldn’t remember me once you’re alive again. I kind of just wanted to see how true that was. If you’re confused as fuck right now, I guess pretty damn true. Well Red, to alleviate some confusion it’s cha’ boy, Taako. You know, your best friend I guess? Shits weird, I get it.

I got this far and I don’t actually have a point to writing this, other than undying, crippling boredom. Be careful I guess? Try not to beef it too bad? Remember to wear sunscreen and always look both ways when crossing the street.

Just don’t be a dumbass, alright? That’s my job.

I hope you find her soon,

Taako~

Barry stayed there for a good long while, reading the letter over and over again, trying to make any fucking sense of it at all. So far he’d got nothing. The most he could get out was that there was someone named Taako, who knew him during those times he couldn’t remember and called himself his best friend, despite not even knowing Barry’s name. Even all that felt kind of tentative.

Carefully he folded the letter back up and stuck it into his pocket before moving on. 

Her. He had to assume her was the person he was missing, the one that left that dull ache in his chest. That didn’t give him much though, and the rest of the letter was downright inscrutable.

It was a long way down to the southern woods or wherever he was heading, and the coin insisted he try to move fast. Even still, Barry found himself with a lot of downtime. Most of his traveling was done alone, and when it wasn’t he tried to avoid the other people around him as much as possible. His brain felt like it wasn’t quite working right, like there was just nothing in place of common things he should know.

It was better to keep to himself than to risk looking like a complete dumbass.

Sometimes when he was off on his own he’d reread that weird letter. It never ended up making anymore sense than it had the first time.

Sometimes when he was around other people he’d keep his ears open, try and look around and listen in for signs of anyone named Taako. That didn’t seem to get him anywhere either.

He didn’t have much of a choice but to continue forward on the path the coin had laid out for him.

He’d been traveling for a good long while when he finally got to the edge of the South Woods. For most intents and purposes it looked like a regular forest. Or at least, it did other than the thing going on at what had to be around the center of the forest. It was almost hard to comprehend what he was seeing, it was like his head couldn’t crane up high enough to get the whole picture.

Those were some fucking big ass trees.

Well, the coin had said he’d know it when he saw it, and it hadn’t been wrong yet. Taking a deep breath, he tried to steel himself as much as possible before starting into the woods and towards the strange growth of fuckoff tall trees.

Moving through the woods was harder than he expected, but also not as hard as he feared. There were storms and wild animals every so often, but it still only took like, a day or so to get to the center. When he finally got there though, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

First of all, he wasn’t the only person there. There were three others, one up in the largest tree, two others trying to reach them. The one in the tree seemed to be the one in control of all of this, although Barry had no idea how. Still, they seemed embedded in the tree, the wood growing up around their legs and waist. The two others were climbing, clearly desperate to reach this person, weapons drawn.

Well, this sure was a shitshow he’d wondered into.

“Uh, hi everyone,” he called, not sure what else to do. Immediately three sets of eyes were on him, and he could see the people a bit clearer now. He couldn’t make out much of the person stuck in the tree, but the other two were a tabaxi and a gnome, both wearing matching silver bracers on their wrist. All three seemed equally surprised and confused as fuck at the sight of him. “I’m uh, I’m a little lost.”

“Lost!” the one in the tree bellowed, and whoa, that wasn’t a person voice. “This fool is lost! Wandering into my domain and-”

The wind had started to pick up as the person spoke, storm clouds swirling overhead. Barry had started taking a step back, rightfully pretty fucking terrified and not wanting to be smote by some scary nature god.

Their attention had been on Barry, and he hadn’t noticed the tabaxi use the distraction to climb around the back of the tree. Or at least, he didn’t until the tree person was suddenly cut off, a choked sound coming from them as a knife plunged into their back. In a swift instant the tabaxi pulled a wooden reed belt off of them. Barry hadn’t noticed it before, and immediately the storm clouds lessened and the winds died down.

“Holy shit, it worked! I can’t believe that actually worked! Whoever you are man, we owe you big-” the gnome started to say, clearly excited. Barry hadn’t taken his eyes off of the tabaxi though, who was staring down at that weird belt with a look he really, really didn’t like. As the gnome kept speaking the tabaxi slowly tied the belt around their own waist.

“Hey bud! I think something’s wrong with your friend!” he shouted. Immediately the gnome’s attention turned back to his friend, a look of terror and… and something like anger suddenly on his face. 

“What are you doing? Hey, stop-” he started to climb again, but the tabaxi just grinned, holding out a hand toward the gnome, a sudden large bolt of lightning hitting them. Barry watched as they fell off the side of the tree, a charred and unmoving form as they hit the ground. Shit.

And then their attention turned toward Barry.

“Shit, I uh, I think I’m gonna like… go,” he said, starting to take a few steps backward.

He didn’t get very far.

Luckily, once he was dead, they didn’t either.

Glaring down at the sash in his bony hands, he’d marked out a few places to hide it before coming on this mission. He had a feeling he wouldn’t have survived actually collecting it after all.

Barry didn’t have a lot of time before he had to get back to his hideout, someone sure to notice him. Even still, he grabbed a few things from his broken body before carefully going over to inspect the other two bodies, the ones from the people trying to get the relic.

Their clothes were similar, almost looking like some sort of uniform, and there was a marking on the matching silver bracers. He wasn’t sure what for exactly, but he jotted it down in his memory for now.

He headed out far into the desert, away from where most people would go, and stashed the sash away. Hopefully that would be enough to keep it out of Lucretia’s grasp for the time being. He wished he could do more, but that was the whole issue. There was so little they could do, they didn’t have any other option.

Leaving the sash hidden away, he started back to his cave. On his way he pulled out one of the things he’d grabbed from his body. The letter Taako had written. He should probably be mad, but all Barry could do was shake his head and laugh. 

Taako had always been real fucking shitty at pretending he doesn’t care.

Chapter Text

Taako really didn’t have much of a plan for while Red was gone, other than trying to reacclimate to fucking society. Phandalin was a simple enough little town to do that in. Kinda a shithole, but Taako was used to shitholes, so it didn’t bother him that much.

It was easy enough to get a room at an inn for the next few weeks, then look around town to try and find some work. He wasn’t looking particularly hard for a job, only grabbing something so he could have a thing to do. Otherwise he’d get bored as shit just waiting around. Red had given him enough money to live off of, but not enough to have fun, so he figured that would kill two birds with one stone.

There were a few listings for adventuring jobs, and Taako kind of filed that away for later. He’d have to suggest it to Red, but it could be useful. Maybe he could find something related to whatever it was they were looking for on a job like that. At the very least, Taako was getting better at magic and those jobs tended to pay pretty well.

For now though, he figured it would be best to stay in Phandalin. He got a part time gig at some new tailor place, and he wasn’t great at it but no one here needed super fucking high end shit. The prices were cheap enough that Taako didn’t feel bad about handing back the occasional garment with a wobbly hem or lopsided stitch. If he sucked too bad they could just fire his ass.

It’d been about a week after Red left on his latest mission when Taako was leaving the tailor shop. Someone was leaning back against the wall of the building outside, looking like they were waiting for someone. Their eyes glanced towards Taako as he walked through the door, and he perked up almost as soon as he caught sight of him.

“Oh, excuse me,” he said, and when Taako glanced over at the dude he couldn’t help but pause. Hot damn, that was certainly a person who knew he looked good. Taako put on an easy grin as he turned fully towards the hells of handsome dude standing in front of him.

“Hello, my man, if you’re looking for a tailor you should just keep walking. That suit looks way too expensive for the idiots in this joint to get their mitts on. Trust me, I’m one of them,” he said, which got a laugh out of Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome, who quickly shook his head.

“No, although I appreciate the advice, as well as the modesty,” he added, and something about the smile on his face changed, but Taako couldn’t place what. “I was actually looking for you,” he said, and Taako blinked in surprise at that. He quickly scanned this guy, trying to figure out if he recognized him. Surely he’d remember looks like that, but something about the voice was pretty familiar, now that he was thinking about it.

“Well, you found me I guess?” he said, caution starting to build back up, especially as this guy took a step forward. Shit, shit. Was he a cop? Did he come from Glamour Springs? Taako needed to think of some way to fucking disengage, fast.

“That I have. You know, that little spectral ‘friend’ of yours has given me no end of trouble. I was hoping he’d be around too, but I guess I’ll just have to make due,” he said, and Taako felt his breath catch in his throat as he suddenly recognized exactly where he knew that voice from.

“Fuck. Kravitz,” he said, fear gripping his chest. The reaper reached for him, trying to grab his wrist. In a desperate fumble Taako grabbed his wand, shooting out a thunderwave. It knocked fucking death back, as well as the door to the tailor clean off its hinges, several people shouting in fear. Well, there went that job, not that it mattered. Taako didn’t stay to see the resulting chaos, turning on his heels and fucking booking it.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Taako shouted with every breath as he ran, turning down alleys to try and lose this guy. After one turn he heard something like a tear behind him, and then a few feet in front of him it looked like a portal was opening in the middle of the alley. Kravitz stepped through and Taako didn’t have enough time to stop himself, barreling right into the guy.

It sent them both tumbling to the ground, but before he could get back to his feet Kravitz managed to snap a cold as fuck hand around his wrist. With a look of annoyance Kravitz dragged them both back to their feet, snatching Taako’s wand away from him and throwing it off down the alley, the shitty thing clattering against some trashcans.

Taako might have been hyperventilating the slightest bit in a panic, struggling to get out of his grasp and kicking him when that didn’t work. It didn’t seem to be affecting Kravitz very much, the dude sighing like this was all just a minor inconvenience.

“Would you please give it a rest? You’re not getting away. Honestly, I expected this to be a lot more difficult,” the Reaper said, and Taako kicked him extra hard for good measure.

“Fuck off!” he shouted instead, Kravitz rolling his eyes in response. Taako was trying to look pissed and stay angry, but as it became clear that Kravitz wasn’t letting go, that no one was gonna come to save him, that Red would have no idea he was even in danger, the anger he’d been feeling quickly started dissolving into terror. Taako could feel his hands starting to shake, and he couldn’t bother to keep himself standing. He slumped to the ground, his one arm still held up by the Reaper. He wasn’t sure what his reaction was to all of this, not caring to look up at him.

It wasn’t fair, Red should have warned him death was fucking gorgeous. He would have at least tried to keep his guard up around beautiful strangers then.

“Um, are you alright?” Kravitz asked, and Taako wasn’t so despondent that he couldn’t scoff in anger.

“No! What the hell tipped you off genius?” he snapped. Kravitz sighed again, frowning down at him in confusion and what could probably pass as vague concern. He doubted death was too worried about his health though.

“Look, there’s no need to be so dramatic about all of this. I can understand it’s not ideal but-” Kravitz started, but Taako cut him off, trying and failing to yank his hand away once again.

“Not ideal? Yeah, it’s not fucking ideal! You’re gonna kill me and I haven’t done shit to deserve it!” he shouted. Maybe if he was loud enough someone would come save him. He doubted it though. Whoever came along would probably just get killed too. “And- and  ya know, neither has Red for that matter,” he added. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt important. Dude clearly didn’t understand how important the shit they were trying to do was, and sure, neither did Taako. Didn’t mean he didn’t believe it was still true.

“Red?” Kravitz asked, a befuddled look on his face, and Taako sighed. His arm was getting tired. This sucked. He wasn’t blinking back tears, his eyes just stung from running through this shitty dusty town.

“The lich. My little specter friend or whatever you called him,” he muttered. Realization seemed to dawn on Kravitz after that.

“Oh! Why are you calling him Red? I mean, other than the obvious reason,” he asked, and Taako figured this was stupid, chatting up death before being dragged to hell. Still, when all else failed Taako always had his charm. He really didn’t think it would work this time, but he had no other options. If he could keep them talking long enough, maybe he could think of some way out of here. 

“Cause I don’t know his name. He won’t tell me it,” Taako muttered. That seemed to surprise Kravitz, when he opened his mouth to speak though Taako cut him off. “Don’t! Don’t fucking tell me, that seems like some major invasion of privacy shit, and cha’ boy ain’t about that,” he snapped. Maybe all this angry grumbling and snipping wasn’t gonna do anything to get him out of this situation, but it felt good. Kravitz shut his mouth, seeming to think that over for a moment before nodding.

“Alright, I can respect that,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes. And then he rolled his wrist, starting to feel pins and needles in his hand from having it raised up so long. Kravitz either didn’t notice or he didn’t care.

“Great, so good to know that in my dying moment I’m gonna be respected,” Taako grumbled. The reaper still didn’t look particularly moved by his plight.

“It’s not like you’re actually surprised by any of this, right? You had to of known the bounty on your head,” Kravitz said, and Taako raised an eyebrow at that.

“I don’t have a single fucking idea what you’re talking about. I know Red did some shit to get himself on like, Death’s bad side, with the whole lich thing. He had a good reason though, and I didn’t do shit!” he insisted. Sure, he was helping Red now, but nothing they’d done was like, necromancy. Except maybe Red possessing his own bodies, but Taako didn’t have any hand in that either. Kravitz was staring down at him skeptically.

“That’s- alright. Let me just…” he said, and with the hand not holding onto Taako’s wrist he summoned up that big shiny book again, the thing floating in front of him as he flipped through pages. After a few seconds he must’ve found what he was looking for, because he stopped and pointed down at a page. “Taako, you have been changed with nine accounts of dying without entry into the astral plane. You have died Taako, and I don’t know how you’ve managed to come back undetected so many times, but that certainly isn’t ‘didn’t do shit.’” Kravitz said.

Taako blinked in befuddled confusion at that. Using Kravitz’s hold on him he scrambled back up to his feet to get a look for himself. There was his name, in some shimmering golden light, with a charge of 8 deaths.

“That’s not… that never happened. I don’t know what the fuck that is,” he muttered, reading it over again and again to try and make sense of it. He couldn’t though, because he’d never died before.

“You don’t?” Kravitz asked, and Taako scowled at him, shaking his head fiercely.

“Of course I don’t! I never fucking died!” he shouted, and Kravitz was looking at him skeptically. “It’s- okay, I know it’s a bad look, what with my best friend being a lich and all. I fucking swear though, I’ve never done any necromancy,” Taako insisted, and Kravitz sighed. It wasn’t an annoyed sigh, but Taako was too distracted to really take note of what it was. There was something here he couldn’t think of, like a name on the tip of his tongue but stronger than that. There was something going on here but he couldn’t make the connection.

“Obviously I don’t believe you,” Kravitz said, and that was about what Taako expected. “But this matter is strange enough that I’m willing to hold off on taking you straight to the eternal stockade if you would be willing to explain as much of the situation as you can to me,” he added, which wasn’t what Taako expected. He didn’t say anything for a moment, making like he was thinking the offer over, which in a way he supposed he was.

It was probably a trap. Kravitz had never said that he wouldn’t take him off to spooky sounding death jail, just that he would hold off on it. He also didn’t say exactly what kind of information he wanted, and Taako wasn’t about to sell out Red, if that was the deal. Still, he didn’t have a lot of options if he wanted to find some way to finesse himself out of this one.

“Well, first things first then. If you want to hold a dude’s hand you should at least offer to buy me a drink first,” he said. To his surprise Kravitz actually glanced down at where he was still holding Taako’s wrist, before quickly letting go and taking a step back.

“Oh! I’m so sorry,” he apologized, actually seeming flustered. Taako should have taken the moment to run for his wand so he could at least attempt to fight back. Instead he was staring in shock that it had actually worked. It’d been a goof and he half expected the dude to get mad at him.

Kravitz must’ve noticed his disbelieving stare though, because his embarrassed expression slowly shifted to realization and then annoyance.

“That was- I wasn’t holding you hand Taako! I was detaining you!” he snapped, and okay, this was all too fucking weird for him to process anymore, Taako bending over in laughter. Kravitz huffed in annoyance, but he didn’t try to grab him again, which was a start.

Red had mentioned a couple times that Kravitz wasn’t actually a bad guy, just doing his job. It seemed like he was right about that at least.

“Alright, here’s how we’re gonna do this,” Taako started, leaning back against the alleyway wall once he’d stopped laughing. Kravitz was still frowning at him in annoyance.

“You’re not in that much of a position to barter, but go ahead,” he said.

“First of all, if you’re gonna ask me to sell out Red, tough luck. I don’t actually know where he goes or where he is now, and if I did I’m not that much of a scumbag anyway. Second, I want my wand, if you can’t deal with a couple second level spells being flung your way that’s on you for being a shitty reaper. And third,” he said, counting on his fingers as he spoke, “can we have this discussion someplace that doesn’t smell like back alley garbage. I just got off work so if you are down for buying me a drink or some lunch that would go down great right now,” he finished with a grin.

The reaper stared at him for a moment, if Taako had to guess in surprise at the request. After a moment though he actually started chuckling, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Alright, I suppose none of those requests are out of the question. It would be nice to get some work done in a nicer venue for a change,” he said. Taako grinned widely at that, pushing himself off the wall and trying not to show how shocked he was at how well this was going.

“Hell yeah. In that case there’s an excellent little sandwich shop not too far from here,” Taako said, heading over and grabbing his wand. The reaper didn’t stop him, and instead followed along politely as Taako started leading them off to grab some lunch.

There was still a lot of very obvious tension in both of them, each playing a lot more casual than they actually felt. Taako could see the way Kravitz was carefully eyeing him, as well as the surroundings, probably on the look out for Red to come dropping in at any moment. Taako kept an easy smile on his face, and his hand was gripping his wand like his life depended on it, trying not to let his eyes off the reaper for any longer than necessary.

Eventually though they got to the sandwich place, and when Taako ordered his food Kravitz actually paid. Not long after that they were sat at a table, secluded but not too secluded if Taako needed to start screaming. It was pretty damn awkward as they waited for the food to get there, and after what felt like an eternity it finally came. Kravitz hadn’t ordered anything, but he wasn’t really alive. As Taako started eating the reaper finally cleared his throat to speak up.

“So… Taako,” he said, and he nodded.

“Mhmm?” he hummed between large bites of his sandwich. If he was going to die he was going to die with a full stomach.

“Now, you’ve said you have no memory of dying, and you’ve never done any necromancy?” he asked, which was a simple enough question. Taako took a quick drink before speaking, because this was probably pretty important.

“Correct on all accounts,” he said, and at least the reaper wasn’t outright calling him a liar so far.

“In that case, why and how have you become friends with- with the lich you know as Red,” he said, clearly cutting himself off before saying Red’s name. Taako could actually appreciate him trying to follow through on his request there. He took another bite of food as he thought over how to answer that one.

“I mean, he kinda saved my life. I uh, I used to have a cooking show,” he started once he finished chewing. “I had an assistant, real big asshole. He poisoned the food I was cooking one day, and uh, shit went south. Real south. Red caught him though, helped me get outta there before the blame could be put on me, and like, we’ve just kinda gone from there,” he said. Honestly, it was more than Taako wanted to tell anyone, but if it would keep him alive then whatever, Kravitz could know. Kravitz seemed surprised by that, leaning forward on the table slightly.

“And did he ever tell you why he saved you?” he asked, and Taako shook his head.

“I don’t got any clue. I think he just needed a friend. Bonds and shit, they help keep him him, ya know?” he said, and from the look Kravitz was giving him he did not know. Welp, Taako had kind of figured that was basic lich stuff.

“Are you saying this lich manages to sustain himself on friendship?” he asked, like the idea was incredulous. Taako nodded, really hoping none of the stuff he was saying could be used against Red.

“That’s how I understand it. Friendship and like, love,” he said, and Kravitz raised an eyebrow at that.

“Love?” he asked, and he was staring at Taako carefully now, squinting a little like he was trying to figure something out. “Does that- pardon me for asking, but are you two well, together?” he asked, his voice obvious that he was asking if they were Capital T Together, and Taako choked on the next bite of his sandwich.

“No!” he managed between coughs. He quickly took a swing of his drink before speaking again. “Oh god, fuck no my dude. Guy’s my best friend, but floating, dark as the void and spooky ain’t really my type. Plus, Red’s married and like, hopelessly fucking in love with his wife, it’s actually kinda sweet,” he said. Kravitz looked equal parts amused and intrigued by the outburst.

“I just thought I’d ask,” he said, and Taako nodded, trying to get some bit of control back in the conversation.

“Fair enough, but no worries. Cha’ boy is totally single,” he said, giving him a wink for good measure. He couldn’t tell if the dude was blushing or not, or if he was even capable of blushing, but he still managed to look a little flustered.

“Irrelevant information, but I’ll make a note of it anyway,” he muttered, and Taako let his grin widen the slightest bit more. He really hadn’t thought he’d be able to talk his way out of this one, but he might have actually been wrong there.

“Anyway,” Kravitz said after a moment, clearly trying to turn the focus back to the topic at hand. “Your claim is that you have no idea how you got those deaths on your record, and you just so happened to become friends with a lich with very similar charges out of pure happenstance? And now you’re buddies with no ulterior motives? You must understand why that’s hard to believe,” he said, and Taako’s shoulders slumped a bit at that. When laid out in front of him yeah, it sounded like complete and utter bullshit.

“I mean, we’re not just fucking around for no reason right now. We’re trying to do some pretty important shit. Red’s been working at it for a lot longer than me, and I don’t understand a lot of it, but ya know, we’re figuring it out,” he said. Taako could see the curiosity forming on Kravtiz's face again.

“Alright then, just what are you trying to do?” he asked, and god, Taako wished Red was here. He had no fucking idea how much of the plan he was allowed to spill. Probably none of it, but also Taako wanted to live. It wasn’t his fault the grim reaper managed to find him so fast, he had to do what he had to do.

“Um, listen, I’ll tell you, but you’re probably not going to believe me,” he said. Kravitz didn’t look too impressed with that, simply letting his head rest on his hand, his elbow propped up on the table.

“Just humor me then,” he said.

“We’re trying to save the world?” Taako said, although it sounded more like a question than anything. Kravitz’s face stayed pretty impassive, simply raising an eyebrow at that.

“Oh? From what?” he pressed, and yeah, Taako got the distinct feeling that he didn’t believe a word.

“I don’t actually… know,” he said.

“You don’t know?” Kravitz asked, and Taako shook his head. “How exactly are you planning to save it then?” he pressed.

“Uh, we gotta find Red’s wife, she’s been missing for a couple years or something. Also some specific items, I think? Some real big magic boys,” he said, and Kravitz was looking less amused and more concerned by now.

“What items?” he pressed, and Taako gave him a big old shrug at that. Kravitz sighed, running a hand through his locks. “What do you know then?” he asked, which was a good fucking question.

“Not a lot my dude. I’m just an idiot wizard and a chef,” he said, and once again Kravitz was looking at him like he didn’t quite believe that, and so Taako sighed. “I know he’s telling me the truth, okay? Red and his family got separated a while ago, but before that they were working on saving the world. Something went wrong and now it’s in danger again, and his family is lost? He can’t tell me any specifics, because there’s a sort of magic block or something. Whenever he tries I just hear static, apparently only the dead can think past it,” he explained as much as he could.

Kravitz was staring at him, clearly thinking this all over, making connections in his mind that Taako couldn’t guess at.

“How can you be so sure he’s telling the truth if you can’t know the full story?” he asked, and Taako shrugged, picking at the last little remains of his sandwich.

“Fuck if I know. Can’t you ever just tell when someone’s telling you the truth? I trust him,” Taako said. Kravitz stared at him with suspicion for another long moment, before slowly nodding.

“Alright, I think that’s enough for now. I’m going to have to go back and double check some things with the boss of course, before coming to any final say,” Kravitz said suddenly, standing up from the table. Taako quickly stood up after him, not sure what was going on.

“Yeah no of course,” he agreed despite his confusion. “So uh, does that mean you’re not dragging me to ghost jail?” he asked, which actually got a chuckle out of the reaper.

“No, not at the moment, at least. You brought up enough unknown factors that I’m going to have to do some more research first. It might all be bullshit, but I feel like you’re telling the truth,” he said, and Taako couldn’t help but grin at that, following Kravitz out of the sandwich shop.

“For sure, for sure,” he said, his grip still tight on his wand, but Taako was actually starting to think he might get out of this one alive. “A deal then? You don’t try and kill me or my lich buddy, and we keep on trying to save the world and like, try and find some way to prove we’re telling the truth?” he suggested. Kravitz turned towards him, still looking a bit skeptical.

“I wouldn’t call it a deal so much as a temporary truce,” he said, and Taako shrugged.

“Good enough for me,” he said. With that Kravitz put out his hand, a large beautifully carved scythe appearing in it, and Taako couldn’t help but stagger back. Kravitz quickly noticed, pulling the scythe away from him with an apologetic look on his face.

“Oh no, this isn’t for you. I just need it to get back to the astral plane is all,” he said, and Taako nodded, still keeping his distance.

“Cool cool, well uh, later then,” he said, trying for a casual smile and probably coming across a lot more nervous than he wanted. Thankfully Kravitz seemed to take a hint, moving a few more steps away and turning his back on Taako before swinging his scythe, opening one of those weird portals that he quickly stepped through. As soon as he did it closed, and Taako was alone again.

That... 

That honestly went a lot better than Taako could have expected.

He might make a note to leave Phandalin in the morning though. He had no doubt that the reaper would probably be able to find him again, but still, better safe than sorry.

And besides, if the reaper didn’t end up killing him, Red sure as fuck would when he found out what happened.

Chapter Text

Once Barry was back at his cave, he started tracking where Taako was. He’d gotten real good at tracking people over the years, so it wasn’t hard to find him. He wasn’t in Phandalin anymore, but he had said that he might head out if he got bored, so Barry didn’t think much of it. Giving himself a day or so to make sure it was safe to go out, Barry went to meet up with Taako again.

It hadn’t been very long, but he figured he should let him know he was back. He would fill Taako in on everything he could, and they could start hashing out the next steps.

Plus, he needed to give Taako shit about that letter he’d written him. He wasn’t actually mad, but it would still be fun to tease the dude some.

When he appeared in the small room Taako was staying at in Neverwinter, he didn’t expect the elf to jump quite that much at the sight of him. It’d been a while since his presence had been the slightest bit startling to Taako, and it wasn’t much, and Barry knew Taako a lot better than he realized. The grin that made its way onto his face a few seconds too late wasn’t entirely genuine, and definitely covering something up.

“Oh hey! You got back fast,” he said, and Barry nodded.

“Yeah, told you it wouldn’t be a long one. Uh, a success though, as much as it could be at least. Didn’t find her, but ya know, did the thing with the item I wanted to do,” he explained, which he knew wasn’t much, but Taako nodded along anyway.

“Cool! Cool, we’re all good here too. Nothing, absolutely nothing of note on the eastern front,” he said, and okay. Barry recognized this, this was very clearly a Taako trying and failing at hiding something he knew someone wouldn't approve of.

“Uhuh,” he said, not very impressed. He did a quick scan of the room, and then a quick magical scan, to see if it was something physical he was hiding, but both things came up empty. “So, I guess you got bored of Phandalin?” he asked, and Taako nodded a bit too quickly, and he had kinda started to pace now.

“Oh yeah, total- total snooze fest that town. Left real quick. Not for any particular reason, just, ya know, wanted to mozey on outta there,” he said, and it was kind of a downside the way Barry couldn’t show how amused he was with Taako’s frantic attempt at deflecting.

“Right, of course,” he agreed, like he wasn’t suspicious in the slightest. Taako seemed to relax some at that, nodding in agreement.

“Yep, just… so bored. Nothing to do ever, totally uninteresting and uneventful,” he said. Barry kind of wanted to roll his eyes.

“Taako, what the fuck did you do?” he decided to ask bluntly, the method surprising Taako. His brother flinched, looking like he was caught red handed, which he kinda was.

“Nothing!” he insisted, and Barry wasn’t convinced in the slightest. Taako quickly realized this, his resolve fading as Barry floated there, staring at him. “It wasn’t my fault, okay? You didn’t tell me he was hot!” Taako broke suddenly, and that wasn’t what Barry expected. He couldn’t help the surprised burst of laughter at that, no fucking clue what was going on.

“Okay, you’re gonna have to explain this one to me. Causes I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I know it’s not me. I didn’t see you when I was alive, and I’m really not your type, I promise,” he said, which got a snort out of Taako.

“Yeah, no shit you’re not,” Taako said, with more confidence than he probably should have had considering the mind wipe. It was kind of nice knowing that Lucretia hadn’t managed to quite take everything away. Small bits still broke through every now and then, and each one felt like a breath of fresh air. 

“Okay, you’re gonna have to tell me who is though, and why I would have to warn you about them,” Barry said, still pretty amused by all of this. Taako was in front of him, and he could tell that overall he was fine. If something real bad had happened, he’d know, but Taako seemed more flustered than anything.

“Don’t freak out, okay Red? I feel like you’re gonna freak out,” he said, and Barry sighed.

“I’m not gonna freak out,” he assured Taako, who still didn’t look very convinced. It seemed to be enough to get him to come out with whatever it was though, taking a deep breath before speaking.

“You never fucking told me Kravitz was hot over all those bones! I didn’t have time to prepare myself!” he said, and all of the amusement left Barry in a cold rush. He could tell Taako noticed too, the dramatic flustered annoyance he had before suddenly a lot more subdued. “You said you wouldn’t freak Red,” he added quickly, glancing down at some of the small strings of arcane power starting to peel off of him, and Barry forced himself to nod.

“I’m not freaking. I’m very reasonably panicking over the fact that you saw death while I was gone. How- how the fuck are you still here?” he asked, floating over to Taako and starting to look him over. He was still solid and so very much alive, and Barry had to reign himself in more so that the buzz of arcane energy around him didn’t zap Taako too bad during his inspection.

“We kinda worked out a deal, I guess?” Taako said, and Barry paused at that, now suddenly worried in a whole knew way.

“You what? What the fuck Taako! I gave you one job! Stay away from this dude,” he snapped. Now that he was sure that Taako was still real and here he could panic in a way that was a little less likely to leave his soul in shreds.

“You didn’t say he was hot! I thought he was just a rich dude looking for some tailoring!” Taako insisted, and Barry shook his head, flabbergasted.

“I don’t know what he looks like Taako! I’ve only ever seen him in his reaper form! Or as giant elementals and shit!” he said, and he could see that got Taako to pause some.

“Oh. Huh,” he said, and Barry wasn’t sure what was so weird about that for a moment, but then it clicked. “Wait, you saw him like, as a normal person?” he asked, and Taako nodded. Then he paused a moment, a thoughtful look falling over his face. Or no, not exactly thoughtful. More distant than anything.

“I mean, I wouldn’t exactly call it normal. Like, listen, it takes a lot to get me distracted by looks, and this guy was very distracting,” he said, and Barry sighed, running a hand down the front of his hood.

“But he was a person? He wasn’t trying to kill you?” he asked, and Taako shrugged, looking a little more unsure about that.

“I mean, he kinda attacked me. He didn’t hurt me though, mostly seemed like he wanted to talk. He uh,” Taako paused there, a deep confusion and uncertainty on his face now. “He said I died? Like, a lot? Eight fucking times, according to his weird big book,” he said, and Barry felt himself freeze up.

That was exactly the kind of shit he’d been trying so hard to keep from Taako.

“Oh,” he said simply, and he guessed that wasn’t the answer Taako was looking for, because he was immediately looking at him with suspicion.

“What’s that mean? You’re smart, and like, know shit that I can’t. Is that fucking true? Because cha’ boy sure as hell doesn’t remember dying,” he said, and Barry groaned. This was not the conversation he’d been hoping to have first thing back from this mission.

He guessed he took too long to respond, because a look of certainty passed over Taako’s face. No answer tended to be a pretty good answer.

“Oh my god. It’s fucking true?” he asked, and Barry shook his head.

“No, no it’s- listen, Taako this isn’t something you should be sticking your nose into,” he said, which only got him an angry scoff in return.

“Do you even hear yourself right now? Not stick my nose into it? I don’t think I could get a topic that concerns me more if I tried!” Taako snapped, and Barry couldn’t blame him. He really couldn’t, but that didn’t make this whole thing any less frustrating.

“I know okay? And I've told you a million times that I want to tell you Taako, but I can’t! All of this, it’s too much, and if- if you try and figure it out, I know you will. You’re real fucking smart, if I tell you much more you’ll figure it out, and I don’t know what will happen to you at that point because you can’t understand it, okay? You can’t think about it, and I’m not gonna let you risk fucking up your brain trying,” Barry insisted. Taako just stood there, glowering at him the whole time and clearly not pleased with this answer. Barry couldn’t blame him. Of course it was frustrating! Of course he was pissed that all the answers were right in front of him and he couldn’t know them.

Barry was pissed too, but he couldn’t dwell on that. They had to keep moving forward.

Taako still didn’t say anything, and after a minute or so Barry sighed.

“What else did he tell you? Why did he let you live?” he asked, and Taako still didn’t look very happy, but he took the change of topic well enough.

“Not much, honestly. He was mostly asking questions. I uh, I tried not to tell him too much either? It’s not like I know a lot but ya know, I was very literally staring death in the face, so I had to give him something,” Taako said, and Barry could feel his panic starting to rise again at that, quickly looking Taako over some more. He genuinely didn’t seem upset talking about this meeting though, so Barry forced himself to relax some.

“I mean, it seems like you don’t really mind staring at his face,” he joked. He could see the surprise on Taako’s face at that, which quickly turned into a laugh.

“Yeah, fuck off, it’s a nice face. I can just say I can understand the appeal of wishing for death even more now,” he said, grinning. Then his face turned serious again as he walked over and sat down on the bed. “I mean, I don’t remember dying, and I fucking told him that. I don’t think he believed me? Um, what else. I told him how we met, and uh, that we’re trying to save the world. Don’t worry, I didn’t give him all the pressing details I know,” he explained, and Barry snorted at that, despite feeling a little bad.

“I mean, it’s certainly one way to keep a secret, even if I’d rather not,” he said, and Taako nodded. He seemed to be debating something, before finally speaking again.

“I uh, kinda told him about how you run on like, the power of friendship I guess? It just kinda slipped out. Sorry if that’s like, personal,” he said. He actually sounded genuinely worried about that, and Barry sighed, shaking his head.

“Nah. I mean, ideally I’d like for this guy to know as little about me and how I work as possible, but if that’s the worst you said well, it’s certainly not the end of the world,” he said, chuckling at the joke he knew Taako couldn’t understand.

“That’s pretty much it then. He said he needed to check in with his boss, but he thought I was telling the truth. Haven’t seen him since,” Taako said. Which okay, that was good. That could have gone so much worse.

He could have come back to Taako gone. Barry wasn’t sure if he would have been able to handle that. He didn’t want to think about it.

“I’m glad you’re safe bud,” he said, his voice sincere. Then he floated up some, doing his best impression of straightening a spine he didn’t have and giving a serious expression with a face that no longer existed. “But we gotta get serious now. We gotta be- we can’t risk him finding you again, so uh, we gotta take some precautions,” he started, and Taako groaned loudly, throwing his head back.

“Are you serious?” he asked, and Barry nodded emphatically.

“Of course I’m serious! Now, I could make another hideout, one specifically for you that’s not like, a cave I guess. Ugh, I’d really hate to have to get that much blood again though…” he said, and his mind was running now, trying to think of some way he could keep Taako hidden.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what blood?” Taako asked, but Barry wasn’t paying too much attention to him now.

“For the protection spell. To keep a place from being spied on, duh. Can't have people just scrying on you whenever the hell they want,” he said, and he was trying not to be to exasperated. It wasn’t Taako’s fault he lost all of his magical knowledge after all, and he was really coming along.

“Yes, I figured that my dude. Where did you get the blood the first time?” Taako pressed, and Barry waved the question away, moving to the other side of the room and rifling through a desk until he found some paper. He didn’t have a map on him but he could start to layout some potential good spots to hide Taako.

“Gerblins,” Barry answered, ignoring Taako as he leaned heavily on the desk he was using to work. Or well, if he had a body. He was kinda just fazed partway into the desk like this. He’d written out a few potential spots when suddenly the paper he was writing on was yanked out from under him. When he looked up, Taako was giving him an incredulous look.

“Where. Did you get. The gerblin blood. Red?” he asked, and Barry sighed.

“Looks, it’s- I’m not proud of it, alright? The cave I’m in now used to be some gerblin hideout, and well, now it’s not,” he said, because that was the long and short of it. He tried not to use that kind of dark necromancy often, but there were some things that simply weren’t strong enough without a little bit of a sacrifice.

They’d already been the cause of so many tragedies, what were a few more deaths, really? They passed the point of keeping blood off their hands way too long ago.

“That something you do often Red?” Taako asked, and there was something different about his voice now. When Barry really looked up at him, he could see that his whole form was a little more guarded than he was used to. “Cause like, I’m not gonna lie, I put in a good word for you with Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous. Gonna feel like kinda a tool if you turn out to be evil homedog,” he said.

Barry forced himself to stop for a moment as Taako's tone cut through his single-minded focus on keeping him safe. Shaking his head he tried his buest to bring himself back in. God, he hadn’t even realized…

“No, no Taako, I’m not evil. I’m not-” he paused, sighing heavily. “Fuck.”

“Hey man, I don’t actually think you’re evil. That’s kinda just how it goes, ain’t it? You grind up by killing shit until you’re all ultimate wizard like you, it’s chill,” Taako said, and the thing was, Barry could tell he wasn’t just trying to make him feel better. That a part of him really did believe that whatever Barry had done was justified.

And it fucking sucked.

“Taako, I haven’t been totally honest with you,” he said, and Taako scoffed at that.

“Yeah no kidding. I know you can’t tell me jack or shit,” he said, but Barry shook his head.

“No, I mean, that too. It’s just… I’ve done some bad things. Some really bad things Taako. And I swear, every single one of those decisions was made with the hopes that they would save more lives in the end, but that doesn’t excuse anything. I need you to know that I’m not innocent in all of this. It's... a hell of a lot of it is my own damn fault,” he said. It was quiet for a moment, and Barry couldn’t bring himself to look at Taako. He didn’t know what he was thinking.

“God you just, never fucking quit with the tortured soul bullshit, do you?” Taako asked finally, and it was unexpected enough to get a laugh out of Barry.

“I guess not,” he said, and when he looked over at Taako he rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Listen, whatever bullshit you’ve done, it sounds like your heart was in the right place. Plus, I’m sure saving the world will make up for all that,” he said, and if Barry could smile he would be right now. “So just chill. As long as I know you aren’t casually murdering a fuckton of people on the reg for spell components, we’re good,” he finished, and Barry nodded.

“Yeah no, it was only the once,” he said, and Taako nodded decisively at that.

“Cool, and more good news, it’s only ever gonna be the once, cause I’m not letting you lock me up in some bloody cave dungeon,” he added, and right shit. Barry had almost forgotten the whole reason he’d gotten on this train of thought.

“I can’t just have you running around when Kravitz has already found you once! It’s too dangerous!” he insisted, but Taako shook his head, sitting firmly on the shitty bed.

“Krav and I worked out an arrangement. It’s fine,” he said, and Barry swore, his brother could be so fucking stubborn and infuriating sometimes.

“An arrangement? He’s death!” he said, not that it seemed to sway Taako in the least. “It doesn’t have to be a cave. I could probably do it on like, an apartment,” he tried, knowing even as he said it that this wasn’t going to work.

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to your cave soon? Before anyone notices you?” Taako asked, and Barry was left speechless for a moment.

“I’m a necromancer Taako, do not forget. If you die, I will bring you back to life just to tell you I told you so and then kill you again for being a jackass,” he said, which only got a smirk and a little wave out of Taako.

“For sure, I’ll hold you to that,” he said, and Barry sighed.

“Just be careful Taako,” he said, and Taako ginned and nodded.

“You got it my dude,” he said. With that Barry knew he really should be getting back to his cave, and he resisted the urge to drag Taako along with him. He wasn’t going to kidnap his brother if it wasn’t an immediate dire situation. If he said he had a deal with Kravitz, he would just have to believe him.

“See you soon Taako,” he said.

“Later Red,” Taako replied, and with that Barry cast a quick invisibility to leave. And then a thought came to him, and he immediately dropped it again, levitating a ratty pillow off the bed and chucking it at Taako’s head.

“And that’s for the confusing letter! I thought I was having a damn stroke trying to read that thing!” he shouted, getting a loud, delighted laugh out of the elf. Barry used one skeletal hand to flip Taako off before disappearing for real that time.

Returning to his cave, Barry still felt abuzz with worry for Taako’s safety. He’d trusted his family this far though, there was no reason to stop now.

——

Honestly the conversation with Red had gone a hell of a lot better than Taako was expecting. Sure, the dude had gotten a little overzealous at first with wanting to protect him, but they managed to smooth it over pretty well.

It probably would be easiest to let Red put him up somewhere protected by a bunch of less than scrupulous wards. He wasn’t real thrilled with the idea of being caged up though, even for his own safety. Maybe if Kravitz hadn’t become significantly less terrifying after giving into Taako’s demands for lunch, but as it was he was pretty sure he could reason with the dude enough. Still wasn’t safe by a long shot, but it would have to be enough because Taako was not living with the boredom of being cavebound or whatever. Not again.

The next few times Red visited they didn’t bring it up much. Taako just assured him that no, he hadn’t run into the grim reaper yet, he’ll be sure to keep him updated on that front. He could understand the lich’s paranoia, but shit really was fine.

After a while though, Taako figured that maybe it had been long enough for him to bring up that idea he’d had before. He was still pretty sure Red wouldn’t be super thrilled about it, but the worst he could do was say was no. Taako didn’t even have to strictly listen to him if he did too, because he was his own fucking person. Sure, Red was a super powerful lich who could probably kill him with a single word, but he wasn't ever going to so that was sort of a moot point.

The timing ended up being pretty good, as Taako was looking over a small notice the next time Red appeared.

“Hey bud, everything still- still smooth sailing over here?” he asked, and Taako nodded.

“Oh yeah for sure,” he said, and yeah, might as well get it over with now, or else he never would. He didn't ever know how long Red would be able to stick around after all. “Actually, I’ve been getting pretty fucking bored. Was thinking of going down a new career path,” he said, holding out the paper. Instead of reaching over with his not quite solid hand Red made the thing float over to him, hovering in the air above his face.

“An adventuring gig?” he asked, befuddlement clear in his voice. Taako shrugged, trying not to look too invested.

“Yeah, just like, escorting some people down to Hilltop, I saw folks doing that kinda shit all the time when I was traveling around with caravans. It’s typically an easy couple of gold,” he explained. It was true, from what he saw these level jobs usually weren’t that big of a deal. Sure, when they went bad they tended to go bad, but that was rare.

Red didn’t have a face, but Taako could still tell that he was nervous from the way his robes flicked about.

“I don’t know bud, it sounds like it could get kind of dangerous. You sure you don’t wanna try and find a job that’s less likely to make you run into like, dragons and shit?” he asked and Taako rolled his eyes at that.

“Please, I better be getting paid a hell of a lot more than five gold if there’s even the slightest chance of dragons,” he said, and Red shrugged at that. Taako bit his lip some, debating on whether or not to say this next thing. It would probably make Red even more against the idea, even though that was the opposite of what he was trying to do here.

“Besides,” he continued after a moment, “I figured it might be like, a good way to put some feelers out. I don’t got a single fucking clue what you’re looking for, but if I hear about any super dangerous shit out on the road or whatever I can always send that info your way,” he said. He saw Red’s immediate reaction to shoot that idea down, but he paused after a moment. Taako was kind of surprised by that, fully expecting him to not think twice about saying no.

“I don’t know…” he said finally, still sounding hesitant. It was still a lot more willing than Taako figured though, so he decided to jump on it.

“No, no listen, it’ll be fine! Like fuck am I gonna risk my neck on anything serious, it’ll just be easy shit and listening for, I don’t know, stuff I can’t understand? The chances of me actually finding something is basically none, but it doesn’t hurt to give it the old college try, right?” he said, and after a moment Red sighed.

“I guess I can’t physically stop you,” he said, and Taako snorted at that.

“I mean, you absolutely could. I don’t think you’d even have to move,” he said, and Red looked a little exasperated at that.

“Yes, okay but I’m not going to,” he said, and Taako just grinned, kind of surprised he managed to win so easily. He guessed they were trying to work together though, and he didn’t know why Red would ever want to go along with his dumb ideas, but he was. The dude was such a pushover. “Just try to be-” he started, but Taako cut him off.

“Careful. Yeah yeah, don’t gotta tell me twice my dude. I’m not that eager to get another look at Death’s handsome face,” he said, which got a little laugh out of Red.

“Sometimes I’m not sure,” he said, and Taako scoffed at that. Still, he got the message well enough. Red was going to trust him on this one.

Hopefully he wouldn’t screw it up.

Chapter Text

Taako wouldn’t say he was taking to adventuring like a fish to water, but he wouldn’t say he was a complete failure at it either. Basically, he was passable and that was all he was trying to be.

The jobs he’d started taking were easy, tame little things, and he claimed that was to make Red feel less paranoid about the whole arrangement. In reality it was more because Taako was smart enough to know risking his neck too much when death was already on somewhat high alert for him probably wasn’t the best idea. He didn’t want to actually die after all.

So, safe mostly escorting jobs for him. They didn’t pay the greatest, but it was a step up from the nothing he’d been making before. Sure, Taako wasn’t bothered in the slightest having Red pay for all his shit, it wasn’t like the dude had to eat most of the time anyway. It didn’t hurt to bring in some of his own cash though, just in case Red ever went on one of his long away missions and he on his own again. It was bad news to ever depend too heavily on any one person. Or on other people in general, Taako had already learned that lesson.

Still, the jobs had been going well, or about as well as they could be. Boring as shit for the most part. Also, completely devoid of any sort of usefulness when it came to Red’s whole case.

Taako was on the look out, as best as he could be at least. It wasn’t like Red could tell him what he was supposed to be looking for after all. He just had to keep an ear tuned to Weird Shit, and so far there’d been a frustrating lack of anything that actually managed to follow through. At first it was a few months of trying, and Red insisted it was fine. He certainly didn’t expect Taako to come up with anything by pure happenstance so soon. Taako figured he didn’t think it would work that way either.

And then a whole fucking year went by, and as far as Taako could tell, they’d made exactly zero progress. Taako still couldn’t know jack shit and was stuck traveling around doing odd jobs. Red was still in his routine, leaving for weeks to months on end while in a living body, before coming back as empty handed as when he left. Every time he assured Taako they were getting closer, that they had to be getting closer.

Taako wasn’t sure how much he believed that.

Despite everything, he still wasn’t willing to give up on this. There had to be some way to get past this stupid block, they just hadn’t figured it out yet. Taako guessed it made sense, Red had been in his routine for fuck knew how long now. He’d impressed that it’d been a pretty long time though. They just had to figure out a new approach.

Taako had been trying to think of what the ‘new approach’ could be for a couple weeks now, and still had diddly-squat to show for it. Red was currently off in a living body somewhere doing who knows what, but Taako had kind of lost hope for him actually finding anything meaningful. Taako was between jobs, and he wasn’t particularly interested in finding a new one before Red came back. It seemed useless, and the excitement of being able to make his own money again had worn off in the past year.

He’d known Red for a while now. They’d been friends for just about as long, even Taako could admit that. He’d gotten very used to a powerful undead entity suddenly appearing in whatever room Taako was currently lounging in. Still, he’d gotten use to a very specific ghost like creature appearing in his room, and Red’s entrances were always pretty damn understated. Suddenly he would just be there. Sometimes, if Taako was particularly tired or zoning out, it kind of felt like he’d always been there.

The way this particular powerful undead entity entered his room was a lot more showy. A loud rip appearing in the middle of the room, Taako stumbling back and tripping over a chair as a scythe cut a hole in space, a cloaked skeletal man stepping through.

It’d been almost a year since he’d seen Kravitz as well.

“You know, I had thought our last chat had gone pretty well, so I really don’t know why you felt it necessary to go so out of your way to hide like that,” Kravitz said as he closed up the portal behind him. The scythe disappeared from his hand as well, and his bones were quickly covered with flesh and very good looking skin. Once he had a face Taako could see the annoyance on it.

“Oh uh, hey there my dude! Long time no see,” he said, more than a little confused by this comments. Taako quickly pulled himself up from where he’d fallen to the floor, trying to regain some sort of composure. “Uh, what do you mean, hide? I wasn’t hiding?” he asked, and Kravitz huffed, gesturing at him.

“Care to explain the obscuration spell then?” he said, and Taako paused, looking himself over. He couldn’t see anything, and he certainly couldn’t feel anything.

“There’s a spell on me?” he asked, spinning around like he was trying to see some rune someone had drawn on his back in his sleep or some shit. Kravitz looked a little less annoyed now, turning over into confusion.

“Yes? It’s a fairly advanced one, took me months to figure out what was going on there,” he said. With a wave of his hand Taako suddenly become aware of a slight blurred glow encasing him.

“Seriously? I fucking told him I had it handled!” he huffed, trying to wave the blur away with no luck. Huffing in frustration, he turned back to Kravitz. “Hey Krav, think you can dispel this shit?” he asked, which clearly seemed to take the reaper by surprise.

“Wait, you really didn’t know about it?” he asked, and Taako nodded, turning the chair he’d fallen over back right side up and sitting down in it.

“No, I did not. Red got a little paranoid when I told him we talked, which is pretty understandable considering you’re Death and all. I told him I had it covered, but I guess he decided to put a little bit of extra protection in place,” he explained. Kravitz nodded, and with another wave of his hand the strange little barrier disappeared.

“Okay, that should do it,” he said, and Taako let out a sigh of relief at that. He knew Red meant well, but he needed to ask before doing magic on him.

“Alright then, with that out of the way what’s up my dude? Please tell me I didn’t snap my neck tripping over that chair or some bullshit like that,” he said, and Kravitz chuckled, thankfully shaking his head. At least now that he knew Taako hadn’t ghosted him on purpose he seemed a little less annoyed.

“Well, I had been hoping to talk to you for a while, to continue our previous conversation,” he said, and Taako nodded quickly. It had been a pretty damn long time ago, but he could still remember most of it. Telling Kravitz about how they were trying to save the world, Kravitz telling him he’d died a bunch, all that junk.

“Cool, cool. Well, if you were hoping for some sort of breakthrough on my end you’re unfortunately shit out of luck,” he said, and Kravitz didn’t look too surprised by that.

“No, I figured about as much,” he said, and Taako couldn’t help but huff at that, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence my dude,” he grumbled, and to his surprise Kravitz actually looked sheepish about the misstep.

“Oh that’s not- I didn’t mean, this whole thing is just very complicated and-” he tried, and Taako wasn’t able to hold in his snickering. Kravitz noticed and started glaring at him, although there wasn’t much heat behind it. “What I’m trying to say is that your story checks out,” he said, which immediately stopped Taako’s laughing.

“Wait, seriously?” he asked, and a part of him really didn’t expect it to work. Sure, he believed it, but he was willing to accept that he’d lost his fucking mind along with his cooking show and never looked back.

“Yes, or at least, despite your numerous crimes against the laws of death, it seems that fate has her own say in the matter, so the whole thing is officially out of my jurisdiction,” Kravitz explained. He seemed equal parts relieved and annoyed by this, and Taako figured he didn’t get the significance of what he was saying, but knowing he was off death’s shit list was good enough for him.

“Oh hell yeah my dude,” he said, jumping up from his seat with a grin. “Appreciate you getting this whole mess taken care of,” he said, and he guessed he shouldn’t have been too surprised when Kravitz shook his head.

“Hold on a moment, you’re not getting out of this without any consequences,” Kravitz said, and that did make Taako pause in his excitement. “Now, we have no records of you ever going to the astral plane, which means you haven’t technically escaped, so we can write your bounty off on a technicality,” he said, and Taako nodded along. So far sounded pretty good to him. “But your friend, ah, Red was it? Red is a lich. We can’t just ignore that,” he said, and Taako was frowning now.

“What are you gonna do about it then?” he asked, and Kravitz sighed.

“For now, apparently, nothing,” he said, not sounding happy about that in the least. “He still has a role to play with something, but it won’t be for forever. He will have to answer for his crimes,” Kravitz finished. Taako took a moment to let that sink in, pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to talk Kravitz into changing his mind on that one. At least they had some time now, for whatever reason.

“What kind of time frame are we working on here?” he asked, and this time Kravitz was the one to shrug.

“I have no idea. Fate doesn't tend to be so clear cut,” he said, and alright, at least Taako wasn’t the only one clueless for a change.

“Well, hopefully we’ll have enough time to come to another arrangement before then,” Taako said, although Kravitz looked a bit less willing to humor the idea.

“We’ll see,” he said, and then he actually started to look a bit awkward. “And that was uh, everything I had to tell you. So I suppose I’ll, you know, go now,” he said, and Taako snorted at the sudden shift from decently intimidating reaper to complete dweeb.

“What? No lunch this time?” Taako teased, thankful for the chance to break the tension with a whole new type of tension.

“Um, I mean, is it lunch time?” Kravitz asked, which made him seem a hell of a lot more open to the idea than Taako expected. He’d honestly just been making a goof, he didn’t expect anything to actually come out of it.

“Closer to dinner now actually, but I’m not picky,” he said with a grin. Taako expected Kravitz to stutter out some excuse and bounce, so he was pretty surprised by his actual answer.

“Well, I don’t have anywhere to be at the moment,” he said. Taako tried not to show how that had thrown him, instead giving Kravitz an easy grin and moving to grab a hat he had hung up by the door.

“Alright then, my treat this time,” he said, heading out with the grim reaper in tow.

This was certainly a change of pace from what he was used to.

Maybe they could build on it.

———

Another year, and Barry was sure they had made some progress. He knew it didn’t feel like it, for every step they took it always seemed like they were knocked back just as much. For Taako, every answer led to twice as many questions. It seemed like an uphill battle that they had no hope of winning. An infinite mountain with a peak too shrouded in clouds to ever be reachable.

But they had made progress. He could feel it. He could see it. Every X on the map, knocking out another place he knew Lup wasn’t. Every trek out in his living form, narrowing down the possibilities. He knew it felt hopeless, but they just had to be patient. One of these times, they were sure to get it right.

Of course, he knew Taako was utter garbage at staying patient. Even still, he didn’t expect to come back from his latest excursion to find a protective barrier he’d made around Taako just… gone.

“Did something happen?” he asked, giving him a quick look over. He seemed perfectly fine, but he shouldn’t have had magic strong enough to get rid of the cloaking spell himself. He shouldn’t have even known about it.

“No? Why, something up my dude?” Taako asked back, and Barry was about to explain about the missing protection spell when he paused. He wasn’t sure how thrilled Taako would be to find out about the magic.

“Uh, no?” he said, not sounding anywhere near as confident as he would have hoped.

“Cool, then we’re both good here,” Taako said, an almost too casual tone to his voice that immediately caught Barry’s attention. “Also, I got us off the hook with Kravitz,” he added, and Barry damn near got whiplash at the sudden topic change.

“What the fuck Taako? Is that why the protection spell’s gone?” he asked, the question spilling out now. Not that Taako seemed surprised by it, and yeah, he must’ve figured out it was there.

“Yeah! Don’t fucking cast secret spells on me my dude,” he snapped, and Barry felt his form slump at that.

“I was just… worried about your safety. And I promise no one had to die for that one,” he tried to assure Taako, who still didn’t look pleased by the whole deal. Barry couldn’t exactly blame him, although he was still sure that Taako had no real idea of the danger he was putting himself in.

“Cool, cool, still fucking ask first next time Red, seriously,” Taako said, and Barry sighed.

“Yeah alright, that’s more than fair,” he said, and his mind quickly switched back over to the whole Kravitz thing. “So you saw him again?” he asked, and Taako nodded.

“Uhuh, he wanted to stop by and let us know that the story checks out and we’re like, off the hook until we save the world I guess?” he explained, and that took Barry by surprise.

“Wait, seriously?” he asked. Taako nodded, and it didn’t seem like he was trying to pull his leg or anything like that.

“Yeah, basically? Something to do with fate. According to Kravitz I’m off the hook, shit’s more complicated for you cause of the whole ya know, lich thing. Apparently for now though, shit’s out of his jurisdiction until some unknown point in the future,” he elaborated, and Barry did not expect the rush of relief that flooded through him at that. One less thing he needed to constantly worry about then.

Because of fate. Fate might actually be on their side, just this once.

That gave him more hope than he'd been willing to entertain for a long, long time.

“Uh, you okay Red?” Taako asked, and Barry hadn’t realized he hadn’t actually responded.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s- everything’s fine. That’s just a relief is all, simplifies a lot of junk,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Oh, good,” Taako said, and it was obvious that he’d actually been a bit worried there. There also seemed to be something else on his mind. Thankfully, he didn’t have to actually press before Taako continued. “So, there’s something else I’ve been thinking of lately,” he said, and Barry missed having facial expressions. Despite the lack of nonverbal cues, Taako seemed to understand his curiosity and went on. “I think we need a change of pace.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, and Taako shrugged.

“I don’t know yet, but it feels like we haven’t figured out shit yet,” he said, and Barry supposed he should have seen that coming.

“Taako, I swear, we’ve been making progress. We're getting closer, we can’t just give up-” he started, but Taako quickly cut him off.

“I’m not talking about giving up. I’m just talking about taking a new approach. I’m sure your way is working fine, but no reason why we can’t try and figure out something better,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong there. It certainly wouldn’t hurt if they could find a more effective way of doing this shit.

Barry was so fucking tired. He wouldn’t mind a change of pace.

And it could just be a coincidence. But still, the fact that Taako had suggested it right after bringing up the concept of fate. Maybe they did need to try something different.

“You have something in mind?” he asked, but Taako shook his head.

“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

They ended up thinking of something about a month or so later. Barry had honestly almost forgotten about the conversation. He’d come to see Taako before heading back into his next body. He had a lead. It wasn’t even far away this time. Some ancient vault, it could only be opened with blood from a specific family. People always got on him about the necromancy thing, but Lup was just as much of a necromancer as he was. It was exactly the kind of place she would hide the gauntlet.

“Let me come with you,” Taako said as Barry was explaining everything to him, or well, as much as he could explain that was.

“Taako, I can’t. You know it’s too dangerous,” he said, shutting it down without a second though. It didn’t look like Taako was going to be very easily swayed this time though, crossing his arms and frowning in defiance.

“Dude, we talked about needing a change of pace. Maybe living you would do a little bit better with someone who had half a fucking idea about what was going on, and sure, we don’t have that, but I could pass for one in a pinch,” he said. Barry sighed, rubbing at where his temples would be in his hood.

“I’m not going to let you risk your life. I always die Taako, I won’t let that happen to you,” he said, hoping that would be the end of it. He couldn’t be surprised when it wasn’t though, Taako seeming no less determined.

“You die because you don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on,” he insisted.

“I have a coin?” Barry tried, but Taako rolled his eyes at that.

“Red, just let me help you,” he said, and there was a surprising amount of sincerity in his voice. It caught Barry off guard, and he knew he should keep arguing. He shouldn’t let Taako endanger himself for this.

But they were looking for Lup. If- when they finally got rid of Fisher’s interference, he doubted Taako would be happy at Barry keeping him out of this so much. He knew Taako would risk his life just as much as Barry was if it meant finding her.

And Taako was putting so much faith in him. It was probably time that Barry return the favor for once.

“Alright. But we gotta set a few ground rules,” he said, and a large grin stretched across Taako’s face at him finally giving in.

With that, Barry brought them both back to his cave, laying out said ground rules as they went. Taako needed to stay out of danger. The place they were looking for was Wave Echo Cave, and he was not to set fucking foot in it. If shit started to go south, he needed to get the hell out of there and leave it for Barry to deal with.

If they found the item they were looking for, Taako could not use it under any circumstances.

Taako nodded along, agreeing to every rule without any sort of argument. He honestly did not seem to want to risk his life, and that was the only thing actually making Barry consider going through with this. Taako would stay out of the way, and he was probably right. It might actually be helpful for living him to have someone around he could actually talk to who had an idea of what was going on, and not just a coin that popped in to give him cryptic messages every so often.

As he started getting ready to go back into his body, he could tell that Taako was getting excited. Barry was confused for a moment, before he realized what was going on.

Taako still had no idea who he actually was.

“Oh, damn it,” he said out loud suddenly, which caught Taako off guard.

“What’s up homie?” he asked, and Barry sighed, running a skeletal hand down where his face was supposed to be.

“I was trying to keep my identity a secret from you, but like fuck is that gonna work if you’re gonna meet living me. Dude can’t keep an alias to literally save his life,” he said, and Taako gave what was probably supposed to be a thoughtful nod at that.

“Oh huh, yeah you’re right I didn’t think of that,” he said, and Barry didn’t believe him for a second.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, looking over at the glowing green pod in the corner. Taako had technically met his living body before, and it didn’t seem to stir anything. He didn’t know how he’d take knowing he was a lich, but he just had to hope it wouldn’t mess with fisher’s static too badly.

“Well, in that case it might be best for you to tell me ahead of time. You know, so I can convince amnesia you that we’re on the same side and all that junk,” he said, and Barry sighed.

“Yeah, fine, just because of that, I’m sure. I’ll have to make some adjustments to my coin too,” he said. Taako nodded, trying to look casual about it but clearly impatient. Barry considered dragging this out for as long as possible, and the only thing that prevented him from doing just that was that they really did need to get on with this next lead soon. This one required working with other people, which was always the hardest part.

“My name’s Barry,” he said, and immediately the excited grin on Taako’s face dropped.

“Barry? You’ve kept me waiting for like two years for fucking Barry?” he asked, clearly disappointed by the reveal, which got a loud laugh out of Barry. “Fuck that, I’m sticking with Red, Red,” he said with a pout.

“It’s actually Barry Bluejeans, if you wanted my full name,” he said, getting an even more disgusted face at that.

“I’m calling Kravitz up right now and telling him to throw your spectral ass into ghost jail,” he said, causing Barry to laugh even more.

“Hey, I tried to tell you blue would be more appropriate,” he said, but Taako didn’t seem inclined to listen, instead flipping him off. “I suppose now’s a bad time let you know you actually met living me before too,” he added, Taako’s head whipping back up to look at him again.

“I what now?” he asked, and Barry shrugged casually.

“Remember a while ago? That first time you followed me up north? There was a really awkward guy who started talking to you on a train,” he said, and he could see Taako’s eyes moving around as he tried to place the memory, and then the moment when it clicked.

“That was you!?” he asked, the question coming out in a squawk and Barry laughed again as he struggled to nod. “Fucking hell, I knew you were a dweeb, but that bad, huh?” he asked, and even though he didn’t have a mouth Barry could still hear a smile in his voice as he responded.

“Yeah, I’m kinda a mess, even more so without my memories,” he said, and Taako nodded in agreement.

“I’ll say. Thankfully, this time you’ll have me to help even out the dork scale,” he said. Barry could argue with that, tell Taako that he was pretty much a dork too, but they didn’t have a lot of time left. They needed to get going or they would miss their chance.

“I appreciate it,” is what he said instead, before sighing, getting himself back under control and quickly recording a message into his coin for living him. Hopefully that would get him on board to at least listen to Taako, although Barry doubted it would be too hard. It seemed that despite everything Lucretia managed to erase, she couldn’t quite get rid of that century of trust their group had built together.

With that, he started floating towards the green pod, turning back towards Taako before he went in.

“Hey bud, think you could grab me some clothes out of that chest? I’m gonna be naked as a jaybird when I come out of here,” he said. Taako rolled his eyes but nodded, heading over and pulling out the clothes as Barry sunk down into the tank.

The last thing he heard before the static overtook his mind was Taako scoffing at the selected outfit.

“Really now? I don’t care if you cover your whole damn body in blue jeans, I’m still calling you Red.”

Chapter Text

Barry woke up in a vat of brackish green fluid, the membrane encasing him breaking and spilling him onto the floor the moment he started to panic. He was only left coughing for a moment, managing to catch his breath much faster than he anticipated. He had no idea how he’d gotten there, or why. He’d barely managed to take in the fact that he was on a dirt floor of a dim room, completely naked, before he looked up to get a better idea of the situation.

And he immediately looked up into the face of a beautiful elf, staring down at him with disinterested amusement.

“Uuuh,” he stuttered out, starting to climb to his feet. Before he could get all the way up the elf tossed an outfit at him and turned around. He wasn't saying anything, so Barry found himself struggling to fill in the silence. “Right, clothes, that’s a good- one step ahead of me, uh…” he said, scrambling back up and throwing the clothes on as fast as possible “So, who’re you?” he asked, failing to remember how the fuck he got here. So far there was absolutely nothing coming back to him, his brain felt like it was completely coated in fuzz.

“Huh, you really don’t remember, do you?” the elf asked, and even though whoever this was didn’t sound particularly surprised by this Barry immediately felt a little shitty about it.

“Sorry, that’s uh, I’m drawing a big old blank on that one. Must’ve partied pretty hard this time,” he said, finally clothed. “Did um, did something happen?” he asked a bit sheepishly, and the elf scoffed at the question.

“God, no, don’t get your hopes up Red you are so not my type,” the elf said, and Barry did not understand that nickname. Did he get sun burned again somehow? They were in a dark cave, but he had no idea what had happened beforehand. He wasn’t all stinging and in pain barely able to move though. So probably not sun burn. “Plus, you’re married,” he added, and that drew him out of his previous rambling thoughts of sunburn and made Barry’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Oh god what did I do last night?” he asked, and the elf was snickering at him now. Barry genuinely couldn’t tell if the dude was fucking with him or not. He should probably be scared of this guy if he was smart. He’d woken up in what looked like a spooky cave with a bunch of ominous magic stuff he couldn’t make heads or tails of, and this elf was obviously a wizard. He might have been experimenting on him or something.

But for some reason, none of this raised the alarm bells they should have been. He was just real damn confused.

“It’s been a hell of a lot longer than a night bud, but we’ll get to that later. First thing’s first, cha’ boy’s Taako. You should have some magic coin that’ll start us off with the whole explaining shit,” the elf, apparently Taako, said. Barry wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he patted his pockets and low and behold, there was a large coin in one of his pockets. Once he pulled it out he flipped it over in his hand as he inspected it, and then suddenly, it started speaking. It was a voice Barry recognized, because it was his own voice.

Your name is Barry Bluejeans. You are afraid of the dark, your favorite thing is swimming is very cold water on a very hot day. Your father Gregor died when you were too young to know him and your mother Marleana had soft gray hair when your were born. You remember them, but you have forgotten so much, and right now you feel a dull weight in your chest. It is the weight of a love that redeemed and defined you, but you’ve forgotten who that weight belongs to. Barry, I’m you, just moments ago, and I remember who that weight belongs to, and I can help you remember it too.

The elf with you right now is Taako. You can trust him, and he might be a jackass- “Rude!” -but he’s one of the very best friends you've ever had. There’s so much going on, and there’s so much we can’t remember, but I promise, we can figure this out together. Listen to Taako, he’s smarter than he says he is.

I’ll chime in with help when I can. Good luck.

With that the coin seemed to go dormant again, and Barry spent a long moment staring down at it as he tried to process all of that. It was a lot, and it didn’t make a lot of sense, but none of it felt like a lie. He found himself believing every word, despite there not being much backing to any of its claims.

Putting the coin back in his pocket, he guessed it only gave him one thing to do for now. Listen to Taako.

“So uh, what are we doing? Coin said you’re the boss so I guess fill me in,” he said. For some reason the elf looked taken aback by that, like he didn’t expect him to go along with all of this so easily.

“Oh, right. Fuck, I’m in charge. You’re the one who always knows what the fuck we’re supposed to be doing,” Taako said, mumbling half of it to himself, and that didn’t forebode well. Barry didn’t exactly consider himself a smart man. He couldn’t imagine always being the one who knew was anyone was supposed to do about anything.

“Well uh, do you know what, or um, who I forgot? That seemed kinda important,” he said, and that seemed to jump the elf’s mind some, tapping his fist into his palm as he nodded.

“Right! So, yeah that’s your wife,” Taako said, so casual like that was a thing he could just drop. The idea that he had a whole ass wife he couldn't remember.

“I’ve never been married?” he tried to, well not argue, but reason. Because well, that seemed kind of like an important fact. He couldn’t have a wife if he’d never been married.

“Dude, what part of ‘forgot a whole fucking bunch of junk’ do you not understand?” Taako asked, and it was fair enough. Still, Barry was having a hard time believing this. Like, he didn’t think Taako was lying, it just didn’t seem like it could possibly be real. He had to be mistaken somehow.

“That seems like a pretty big thing to just forget though?” he said, and Taako shrugged.

“Hey man, that’s on your swiss cheese brain, not mine,” he said, and it seemed like he was starting to get a footing on whatever he wanted to explain to Barry now. “So, your wife you can’t remember is gone, and we’re trying to find her? Apparently that’ll help you get your memory back, and uh, hopefully mine too?” he said, adding that last part on a little hesitantly.

“You’re also missing a wife?” Barry asked, and the elf rolled his eyes in what was definitely an exaggerated manner.

“I better fucking not be,” he said, which was fair enough. “I meant memories. Everything’s real complicated in the memories department around these parts,” Taako continued. That seemed fair enough, although it wasn’t the most reassuring thing that the person he was relying on was also apparently missing important blocks of information.

“So uh, how do we find her then?” Barry asked, having to say ‘her’ because the idea of saying ‘my wife’ was still way too fucking wild for him. Taako headed over to a desk, grabbing a large map and laying it out between the two of them.

“There’s an item, I don’t really know what it is but apparently it’s real powerful and we should know it when we see it. According to smarter coin you, if we find this item we should be able to find her,” he explained, and that seemed simple enough. It wasn’t the best thing that neither of them knew what type of item they were looking for other than ‘big and powerful magic stuff.’

“I don’t suppose any of those maps show us where we should look for this mysterious item, do they?” he asked, and Taako grinned at him at that. It was a strangely infectious grin, and Barry expected to be a hell of a lot more nervous around this guy than he was. There was something about him that just felt natural to be around though. The coin had said he was one of his best friends though, even if Barry couldn’t remember ever meeting him a day in his life before.

“Not exactly, but one of them should lead us to where we can find a map,” he said, turning back towards the one he’d pulled out before. “You explained it to me before, and good news for you, I actually bothered to try and pay attention this time. So, we’re heading to Neverwinter. Not too far from here, we gotta leave soon though to get there by tomorrow. Gonna meet some dwarf there, and then we have to convince him to hire us to go to this magical cave mine or whatever with him. The item should be in there. We need the dwarf though, apparently his blood will like, let us get into the vault,” Taako finished explaining. Barry took a moment to take that all in.

“Do we… do we gotta kill the dwarf?” he asked, not too sure how he felt about that. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to agree to murder like, fifteen minutes after waking up with no memories with a guy he only just met who claimed to have all the secrets to his life or whatever.

He kinda trusted Taako though, so like, if they had to kill the guy…

“I don’t think so? Probably doesn’t require that much blood,” Taako said, which was a relief.

With that the two of them started getting stuff together to go off to this Neverwinter town. Apparently Taako had been there a couple times already, so getting there shouldn’t actually be an issue. As they packed up the magic coin would chime in with commands every now and then. Its last one before they left was for Barry to put some of his own blood back into that strange glowing pod he’d come out of. Taako also seemed to stress the importance of doing that, so whatever, weird blood ritual done.

The silence between them as they walked was awkward. Not quite as awkward as Barry had expected it to be, but it was still certainly not totally chill. At least as far as Barry’s end was concerned, he was super fucking awkward.

“So uh, we gotta get hired by this dude, right?” he asked after a long stretch of silence. Taako nodded at that, not bothering to look over at him as he answered.

“Yeah, you said that would be easiest,” he said, and that led pretty well into Barry’s next question.

“Okay, so uh, what’s our cover story then?” he asked. Taako stopped walking, blinking like he hadn’t really considered that part yet.

“Uh, I think you said he was looking for body guards?” he answered, and Barry frowned a little at that.

“We’re not exactly the strong men type,” he said, and immediately Taako waved away his concern, starting forward again.

“I’m a dope ass wizard man, or at least, I can fake it well enough. And uh, as for you…” he said, finally looking over at him again, taking a long look down his form as he sized him up. “We can grab you some armor and like, a big sword or something. Just act the part,” he said, and Barry didn’t feel too confident of this plan.

“I guess if that’s our best bet,” he said, and it was silent as they walked for a bit longer, before Barry spoke up again. “What about like, our cover story?” he asked, and Taako gave him a befuddled look at that.

“Dude, we just went over that. Don’t tell me your brain is that fucking full of holes,” he said, but Barry shook his head.

“No, like, how do we know each other? I uh, I don’t really think we can tell people we met like, a day ago, me naked falling out of a glowing pod and you explaining my life to me,” he said, and Taako snickered some at that.

“We could if you weren’t a coward,” he said, but he nodded afterwards, seeming to think it over a bit more seriously. “I mean, we’re just friends? Do we need more of a cover story than that?” he asked, and Barry frowned. He guess that was true, but he was still curious.

“How did we meet for real though?” he asked, and Taako looked like he was about to answer, before he suddenly stopped himself.

“I uh, I’m not sure I can actually tell you that? I guess long story short, you kinda saved my life,” he said, Barry blinked in surprise at that. It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting, and neither was the suddenly genuine tone to the elf’s voice. He had no idea how someone like him could end up saving someone’s life, especially someone who seemed as full of life as Taako, even in the little bit of time he’d known him. Or well, could remember knowing him. It didn’t seem like he was lying though.

“Maybe something else,” he said after a moment, and Taako nodded silently in agreement.

“…brother?” Barry suggested after another long stretch of silence. Taako turned and gave him a purposefully blank look, before twitching his long elven ears. Oh, right. “…adopted?” he added, and Taako seemed to think that one over before snorting in amusement and nodding.

“Yeah alright, that works. Your wife is an elf too ya know,” he said, and Barry really didn’t know how he was gonna survive Taako continuing to drop things like that on him.

With all that figured out though, they continued on their way to Neverwinter. They ended up having to camp out for the night, and Taako was a lot more skilled at that than Barry expected him to be. He guessed there was the whole don’t judge books by their titles or whatever saying, but yeah. He was a hell of a lot better at this junk than Barry was. It was probably because of Taako that they didn’t end up horribly lost or anything in the time it took them to get to Neverwinter.

“So, this guy we’re looking for…” Barry started, and Taako was studying a smaller map, just of Neverwinter, as they continued to move through the streets.

“Gundren Rockseeker or whatever, yeah. You managed to like, set up a meeting with him before you went all brain dumb,” Taako explained.

“Rude, not wrong or anything, but rude,” Barry replied. Taako didn’t seem phased by his complaining at all, and Barry couldn’t say he was surprised by that.

It was about noon when they got to the tavern, and luckily, it was a pretty empty one. It didn’t take too much looking around to actually find the right dwarf.

“So, uh, you must be Gundren!” Taako said, suddenly all smiles and charm. Barry didn’t have any doubts that he could turn it on like that, but it still took him off guard. In the like, day that he could remember knowing the dude, despite what first appearances would have him believe he seemed actually pretty subdued as a person.

“Yeah? Who’s asking?” the dwarf ask, seeming just the slightest bit paranoid.

“Uh, we were interested in the body guard position? We talked before, it’s uh, Barry and Taako?” Barry said, since Taako had said he was the one to set up the meeting with this guy. That seemed to catch his attention, and some of the suspicion on his face faded away.

“Ah, right. You said you two were qualified?” he asked, and Barry nodded. They had stopped to get the whole armor and sword deal, and he felt awkward and clunky walking around it in. Still, he tried not to show it as he rested a hand on the hilt of the sword now hanging at his side.

“I’d say this isn’t our first day at the whole body guard rodeo,” he said, no idea if that actually worked. It didn’t seem to make Gundren think they were less capable at least, as he nodded.

“Take it your some sorta magic user then? You got a specialty?” he asked, turning towards Taako.

“Evocation my dude,” he said, twirling a small wand, and Gundren nodded approvingly at that. He ended up asking them a few more questions, and somehow between the two of them Barry felt like they actually managed to bluff their way through this shitshow without revealing how little they knew what they were doing.

“Alright,” Gundren said at last, having seemed to come to a decision. “Here’s the deal boys. We’re gonna be heading to Phandalin first, and then to Wave Echo Cave,” he started, and by now they had moved to a private room. As soon as Gundren had wanted to talk about the specifics of the mission, he wanted to move to a place with less listening ears. “Should be a pretty simple trip, no one knows about the cave so we shouldn’t have to face much resistance,” he continued, and that sounded good to Barry. Not having to prove himself as some grand warrior would be nice. “There’s one catch.”

Of course.

“I’m having my cousin bring some supplies, him and some other extra muscle, just in case. I wanna get out to the cave asap, but it’d be best if one of you stayed behind with them, to make sure they didn’t do anything too stupid,” Gundren finished. Barry hadn’t expected that, he hadn’t thought about the possibility of having to split up from Taako. He couldn’t say he was particularly thrilled by the idea. Sure, he couldn’t remember knowing the guy for all that long, but he was also the one who actually knew what they were doing here. Or at least, more than Barry did, that’s for sure.

“Of course! That’s completely understandable,” Taako spoke up before Barry could. It was probably a good thing, because Barry wasn’t sure if he was actually gonna agree to that. He wasn’t sure why he was agreeing to any of this, other than the fact that it felt right. “Barold, you’re good to go ahead with our good friend Gundren here, right?” he added, and damn it. He was putting his trust in Taako, but that didn’t mean he had to like any of this.

“Yeah, yeah for sure, I guess,” he said, trying to sound way more confident than he felt, which would be like, any amount of confidence at all. Gundren nodded though, already starting to pick up his things.

“Good. In that case I’ll drop you off with my cousin, let you see the cart, and then we can get going,” Gundren said, and oh shit. This was happening very fast. Thankfully Taako seemed to be thinking the same thing, despite the way he nodded along.

“Excellent! If we could just have a moment to get some things situated before leaving, that’d be swell,” he said. Gundren paused a moment, seeming a little annoyed about the delay, but nodded none the less.

“Alright, you two figure out whatever you have to. Meet me outside of the tavern in five minutes,” he said, leaving the room without another word. That wasn’t a lot of time, but it was better than nothing.

“Why do I have to go ahead? You’re the one who like, knows shit,” Barry complained as soon as Gundren was out of the room with the door shut behind him. Taako huffed, looking a little annoyed with his whining.

“Don’t go making the mistake of thinking I know what I’m doing either bucko. I’m just as clueless about most of this shit as you are my friend, I’ve just been confused for longer” he said, and yeah okay, he also definitely wasn’t happy about the whole split up either. “You need what we’re looking for more than I do. It’s just better if you get there first,” he added, and Barry supposed that made sense.

“Taako, why are you like… why are you helping me? If you don’t need whatever’s at the end of this,” he asked, and the elf seemed taken a little off guard by the question.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s some definite benefits for Taako,” he said, and Barry just raised an eyebrow at that. “Like, the world not ending, for starters.” Okay, that was a new one.

“Wait, what?” he asked, but it seemed like Taako was already trying to move past that kettle of fish.

“Listen, I’ve already had this conversation way too many times with you when you’re not all flesh and shit. Point is, I’m helping and you’re just gonna have to deal with it,” he said decisively, like this was an old argument. From the sound of everything, it probably was.

“I mean, I’m not gonna be throwing a fit at you helping me, was just a little curious is all,” Barry said with a shrug. He could let this topic go for now, since Taako definitely seemed done with it. “So uh, I go ahead with this guy and hopefully find whatever weird magic item will help us find the uh, person I’m missing?” he asked, and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, basically. Just be sure not to actually use whatever weird magic mumbo it is. Oh also, try not to beef it before I get there,” he said, and Barry frowned heavily at that second part.

“Gonna try not to die at all, like, ideally,” he said, and the way Taako nodded at that felt way too dismissive.

“Oh yeah, for sure, for sure,” he said, and yeah, he wasn’t too fond of how that sounded. Taako seemed to notice his discomfort, giving him a smile that Barry genuinely couldn’t tell if it was reassuring or taunting.

“Listen Red, I promise you this. No matter what happens, you’re going to be okay,” Taako said, putting a hand on his shoulder. It should have felt like an empty promise, but for some reason Barry believed him.

“What’s with that name?” he asked, his brain catching on the strange nickname again. Taako frowned in confusion, clearly not getting what he meant by that. “You keep calling me Red? What’s with that?” he explained, and that seemed to clarify things.

“Oh! That, yeah don’t worry about that. It’s just a nickname,” Taako said, which explained exactly jack and shit. He guessed his annoyance showed on his face, because Taako only grinned at him as he started to lead him out of the room by the shoulder.

“Relax, will you? You’re just gonna have to accept some things on faith my dear Barold,” he said. Barry crossed his arms, not actually trying to resist moving along as he did. They had to get back to Gundren before he got pissed and tried to leave without them or something after all.

“I’d say I’m taking a hell of a lot on faith right now, probably gonna get me killed,” he said, and Taako shrugged at that.

“Correction, probably gonna get both of us killed,” he said. Barry rolled his eyes, but there was a smile starting to tug at his face now. At least they were relatively in the same boat there.

With that they headed out, and Barry wished they had more time to talk or at least a little bit more time to prepare, but Gundren already seemed impatient when they got there. He didn’t so much as introduce Taako to the other dwarf and what looked to be a human fighter as he just left him with them. At least it meant Barry didn’t have to try and have an actual conversation with even more people. He wasn’t the sharpest knife in the toolbox, and conversing wasn’t his strong suit.

As soon as that was done though Gundren headed over to a couple of horses, Barry following along. It didn’t take too long to head out, mainly because Gundren was in such a rush. Thankfully Taako was still close by once they were actually leaving, and Barry turned back towards him.

“See you when we get there bud,” he said. The elf nodded, giving him a half hearted wave as he turned back towards the inn he’d be staying in for the night before following them in the morning.

“Later my dude,” he said, and then he and Gundren were on the road. It was quiet for a long while, and Barry hadn’t realized how comfortable the silences between him and Taako were until he was in a silence that very much wasn’t comfortable.

“So, how’d you two start working together anyway?” Gundren asked after a moment. It was a slight break in the tension, and Barry was thankful that they actually bothered to come up with a cover story.

“He’s my brother,” he lied, and he couldn't blame Gundren for the look he gave him at that. "Adopted," he added, and at that the dwarf nodded.

“Huh,” he said simply, and that was the end of the conversation. Once again they fell into that awkward silence.

It was going to be a long trip to Phandalin.

Chapter Text

God, this whole thing was so fucking weird.

Taako wasn’t used to Red like this, and don’t get him wrong, it wasn’t like he was completely unrecognizable. He still sounded like himself, there were still bits here and there where he could see Red peeking though. How he would roll his eyes or glare in frustration the way Taako always imagined he would have if he had a face, and the occasional blunt, dry sarcasm among the stuttering.

He was so fucking different though. He didn’t know shit, which he had warned Taako about and all. It was different actually seeing it though. Sure, he’d said it’d be everything, but Taako hadn’t realized just how much that was.

His whole attitude was just different. Taako wasn’t sure what to think about it.

Still, it would only be temporary, and it wasn’t like the guy was unbearable, even if Taako did not trust himself to be the one in charge. Despite the total lack of brain cells between the two of them, they seemed to be handling the situation well enough so far. They got the job, and Taako wasn’t thrilled at having to split up, but having Red go up ahead was probably their best bet. He’d been pretty insistent that Taako let him take the lead into danger.

Of course, that meant that Taako was stuck behind with these two bozos. He hadn’t gotten much of a chance to actually interact with the two of them, Gundren not the best at introductions it seemed. That night he managed a quick ‘see ya in the morning fellas’ before heading off to grab a room at the inn once Red had rode off.

The next morning however they were on the road, and being stuck in a caravan with the two did not lend well to avoiding conversation. He expected it to be awful, and it kind of was, but not as much as he anticipated. Instead, Taako actually found himself laughing and cracking jokes with the two, mostly at the expense of the dwarf along with them, Merle. It had almost gotten comfortable after riding with them for the better bit of the morning and well into the afternoon.

The jokes stopped when they came upon a couple of dead horses, making quick work of the gerblins that had caused the scene. Which Taako wouldn’t have cared about that much if it wasn’t for the fact that he recognized some of the shit on the horses.

“Fuck, I turn my back on him for less than a day,” he snapped, already starting to look around the area. He didn’t see a body, so that was a good sign. Meant he might not have immediately offed it. Sure, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he did die, but it would make this whole attempt pretty fucking pointless if he died before they even got to the place they were going.

“You think these big dead dogs were Gundren’s and Barry’s?” Magnus asked, and Taako nodded, pretty certain about that.

“Sure does look that way,” Merle agreed. By now Taako had found a trail where they must’ve been dragged, and started following it without a second though.

“Looks like the idiots got taken this way,” he said as his only explanation. He didn’t get very far before the other two were calling him back, which was annoying. He really didn’t want his first time actually helping Red with this shit to end before it started. “What?” he asked, turning back to them.

“Uh, we should probably hide the cart first, right?” Magnus said, and oh yeah, Taako had almost forgotten about that. A little bit reluctantly he went back to help them cover the cart in the underbrush. It didn’t take long, but Taako kept expecting a spectral hand to suddenly fall on his shoulder like the ghost of Candlenight’s fuckups.

Somehow that didn’t happen though, and they were moving along to hopefully rescue those two before it did.

“You know Gundren’s other bodyguard, right Taako?” Magnus asked as they followed the path.

“Yeah,” he said, and they’d come up with a cover story but it didn’t feel necessary to drop it if they didn’t need to.

“Do you have any idea why someone might’ve attacked them?” Magnus asked, and Taako tried not to let anything show on his face. There were certainly people who were after Red for a variety of reasons it seemed. Less so now, since he got things cleared up between them and Kravitz, but still. Probably no one who would resort to hiring a bunch of random gerblins though.

“No fucking clue, but we probably should make sure the idiots don’t die,” he said, moving further into the woods. It didn’t actually take very long for them to come across a cave. Some blundered deception checks, a few backhanded deals and a charm spell later, and they seemed to have the issue mostly under control. Klarg was on their side for at least another few minutes, and most of the gerblins were gone and they had a lead on who might’ve attacked them and taken Gundren.

They also had Barry back, which Taako tried not to look too relieved by as he shoved a healing potion into the idiot’s mouth. He wasn’t that worried, he just didn’t want this whole thing to be for nothing. As soon as Barry’s eyes were blinking open Taako patted his cheek a little too hard and stood up. The dude seemed more confused than anything, quickly downing the rest of the healing potion before speaking.

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much for this T-Tayko? This was absolutely the right decision,” Barry said, and Taako had to resist cringing at the screwed up pronunciation of his name.

“It’s Taako, you hit your head my dude,” he said, which seemed like a reasonable enough excuse for the dude who was supposed to be his brother forgetting his goddamn name. Thankfully Magnus and Merle didn’t seem to think anything of it, immediately going along with the concussion idea.

“You remember your own name?” Merle asked. Barry nodded, slowly climbing back to his feet now, using the sword they’d grabbed to help with the whole bodyguard disguise to pull himself up.

“Oh yeah, my name is Barry Bluejeans and I’m ready to kick some gerblin ass. Let me at em, where’d they go?” he asked, and Taako snorted as he rolled his eyes. At least he seemed to be getting back into the swing of things and was embracing his role again.

“All the asses have been kicked, dear Barold,” Taako said, patting him on the shoulder. He was pretty sure Barry wasn’t acting when he slumped and looked over at him in indignation.

“You didn’t save me one ass?” he asked, and Taako shook his head sadly.

“There’s probably a few out in the weeds if you want,” Merle suggested, and to Taako’s amusement Barry actually looked like he was considering it. This was fucking why the dude died all the goddamn time. He looked like he could barely stand, let alone go scrapping with gerblins when he didn’t even know any magic or how to hold a sword right. 

“Hey, we should probably get out of here before that spell you put on Klarg wears off,” Magnus spoke up, and right. Shit, that wouldn’t be going for much longer. Thankfully Barry was nodding as well, already helping to gather up the few things he had.

“Yeah let’s get out of this cave, I am not a big fan of this cave,” he said. With that they were rushing out, and Taako couldn’t help but burst out laughing when they heard the spell time out, thankfully a far enough distance away that it could be funny. From there it wasn’t a long run back to the cart, and then they were heading back towards town as Barry tried to fill them in on what happened.

“It was real shitty, and if you asked me I would not like to do it again,” he started out with. Not the most helpful by a long shot.

“Who’s the Black Spider? Klarg said that’s who took Gundren,” Magnus asked. It was a fair question, but Taako already knew that Barry had no fucking clue about any of this junk. Taako was a bit surprised though, because he didn’t flounder as much as he expected him to.

“I don’t know who the Black Spider is, but if they took Gundren they must be after the mine,” he said. Normally Taako would be not so thrilled about giving information like this out to a couple of strangers, but he figured Magnus and Merle could help. At the very least, he figured they wouldn’t fuck this up any, and they could certainly use some extra hands. Sure, Red was usually against the whole accepting help thing, but he’d left Taako in charge of this one.

“Then we should probably get back to town and figure out where this mine is,” Magnus said, and Barry nodded enthusiastically at that.

“I would love to get back to town, yes,” he said. They’d been getting pretty close to town when they came upon the horses and had to stop in the first place, so the rest of the ride didn’t take too long. As soon as they pulled into Phandalin they went to one of the crappy inns, grabbing a room and some drinks before sitting down. Taako only caught Barry giving him one nervous glance before starting into an explanation with a hell of a lot more confidence than someone who’s continuous memory stretched back like, a day and a half should rightly have.

“Okay, so Gundren and his brothers, they have a claim to this mine. Apparently there’s a vault in the thing that’s chock full of magic weapons and gold and shit that was locked away when the cave was lost after a bunch of orc marauder attacks. They want to get back to the cave, yadda yadda yadda. Magic map should be able to show us how to get there,” he said, digging around in his bags until he found the map Gundren had showed them earlier.

“Uh, it’s blank,” Magnus pointed out, and Barry nodded, continuing to dig through his bag.

“Yeah, it’s- what part of magic did you not get? So this map, and you guys are gonna love this, the real map is inside that goddamn dwarf!” he said, and even knowing what he was talking about Taako couldn’t help but think that was not the best way to put it.

“Ew,” Merle said, and Barry quickly shook his head.

“No, not like that. The real map is his blood. Isn’t that the greatest thing you ever heard?” he asked, and he sounded a bit too enthusiastic to be fake. God, he was still a weird fucking dorky necromancer, even with his memory wiped clean.

“Still pretty gross my dude,” Taako supplied, and Barry waved him off, his search through his bag starting to get a bit more frantic.

“Well, I think it’s neat. Anyway, I got a bottle of his blood here. So we should… uh, be able to…” he trailed off, dumping the rest of the contents of the bag onto the table. “Okay, I might not have a way to find him. Taako, you didn’t keep any spare dwarf blood on you, did ya?” he asked, and Taako shook his head.

“Would a cousin’s blood work?” Merle asked, and there was a beat of silence before a large grin stretched over Barry’s face.

“You know, that is an excellent idea.”

It turned out that a cousin’s blood did work, and then there was some quick planning to figure out how to get there, which honestly wasn’t much planning at all. They unloaded the cart so that they could use it, and once they were done Taako noticed that Barry wasn’t exactly moving to get going.

“What’s up with you?” he asked, and they were far enough away from Merle and Magnus that they could talk at least a little openly for the moment. Red gave him a weary smile, and he almost looked as tired as he sounded sometimes.

“Oh I mean, just getting the shit kicked out of me three ways to Sunday. Listen, Taako, I know this is like, a big important thing, but I think I’m gonna need to sleep this one off,” he said. It made sense, the dude did look absolutely wrecked even after the health potion.

He should have insisted that he suck it up and keep moving. He was pretty sure that’s what lich Red would have told him to do. Make sure he went ahead, because his death didn’t matter, and they were about to go into something real fucking dangerous. He’d been real fucking clear about making sure he took the lead into anything that might end bad, and this certainly might end bad. If anyone should be staying behind, it was Taako.

Red looked half asleep already though, and Taako kinda doubted he’d be much help. They couldn’t put off going either, Red had been insistent they move fast on this one. They had to get going now if they had any hope of figuring this shit out.

“Yeah fine, go take a nap. I’ll just go figure out your whole tragic backstory and missing wife without you. I’ll fill you in on all the details when I get back,” he said. Barry smiled at that, giving Taako a pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks bud, appreciate it,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes.

“Yeah whatever, you owe me,” he replied. With that Taako headed back to the other two, Barry giving the three of them a wave before heading back into the inn. Taako couldn’t be surprised when Magnus and Merle looked a little confused at that.

“Wait, is he not coming with us?” Magnus asked, and Taako shook his head.

“Nah, lazy ass decided to go take a nap instead,” he said. There wasn’t much left to do there though, and with that they rolled out the weird blood map and started off towards Wave Echo Cave.

The ride was long, about a day or so. Hanging out with Magnus and Merle continued to not be the worst thing Taako had ever had to do, and he could almost say he liked them. What he didn’t like was when they actually got to the cave and started making their way through it. It was definitely a bit above the easy escort jobs and such that he’d taken before, and as nice as it was to have back up it was pretty clear that Mags and Merle were as new to the whole serious adventuring thing as he was.

Somehow they were managing though, getting through the cave without dying. Taako almost felt like it was too easy. From the way Barry usually described the shit he’d go through, he expected to be fucking dead by now. Maybe it was because he was always going in alone and defenseless. He could definitely see Red being a smear on a wall at this point if he’d come here by himself.

So far there wasn’t anything leading Taako to believe there would be some big, life changing answers in this cave though. Of course, most of Red’s missions turned out to be dead ends. He seemed positive about this one, but he’d probably been pretty positive about others in the past that ended up being huge wastes of time. He was starting to get worried that this was one too, and Taako had risked his life and probably pissed off Red once he came back for no reason by going off alone.

And then they ran into the orc woman.

Taako didn’t think too much of her at first, other than the fact that she was large and seemed to be in a rush and had a huge crossbow pointed at the three of them. All pretty important stuff, but nothing that made him think she might be related to everything Red was after. She was clearly here for a reason though, and seemed pretty damn suspicious of them. Taako was not looking forward to having to fight her if it came down to that.

“Are… you here… for the p̶̧͡͡h̕͠͏ǫ̶͢͝͡e̵͘͠n̴̢̨͡i̡͡x̕ ͞͏f̶͟͝͠i͢͡҉r̴͟͢͟e̡͟҉ ͠҉͠g͜͠͞a̶̶͞u̡͘͜͜͝n̶̷̕͟t̢̕͘l̨͠͡ę̡t̴̵̕͘͢?͡͏̕ ̛ ” she asked, and Taako felt his body freeze. He tried not to show it though, he didn’t know where the fuck this was going to lead. It was pretty unmistakable enough, he’d heard that sound before. Red tried not to talk in it too much. He seemed to be worried about what might happen to Taako if he heard it too often, but still, he knew that static. It always came when Red talked about things Taako couldn’t know.

They were in the right place.

“We are not SHhdkkshdfafkk hunters!” Merle said, and the orc lady was looking at them very unimpressed.

“Okay, I just heard a sort of staticy thing, which honestly tells me all I need to know,” she said, and okay. More important information, she was totally aware that the static was here. As far as Taako could tell though, she wasn’t some sort of weird ghost. Red had said his wife was an elf too, not an orc, so this probably wasn’t who he was looking for.

He wanted to ask, but Taako kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t sure what to think, but he wasn’t going to risk blowing up their spot of this was… someone else. One of the people Red couldn’t trust anymore.

That seemed to be a pretty good decision, because the next thing she did was sick a giant grinder on them. Definitely not fun, but Taako was surprised how fast they managed to take care of that thing.

When they got to Magic Brian, it took significantly longer to get rid of him. Taako had no idea if they could trust this Killian lady, but she knew what was going on and wasn’t actively attacking them anymore, so he helped her. He was pretty damn sure whatever this static thing they were talking about was, it had to be what Red was looking for.

He could almost laugh. The dude was going to be so pissed when he died and realized he fucking slept through finding the first solid clue to what happened to his wife in a damn decade.

Taako was pretty excited to get a look at this thing, to hopefully get some goddamn answers. So when Gundren woke up and offered to explain shit to them, Taako followed along happily. They were heading towards the vault, and sure Killian had told them to stay where they were while she got her stuff out of the hole, but Taako had waited to figure shit out long enough.

His excitement died considerably when they reached the room with the vault. Immediately his eye caught sight of the flash of red in the corner, and for a second he thought something must’ve happened back at town. That somehow Red died and had just been waiting for them to catch up like an asshole the whole time.

Then he got closer, and he could see that the red cloak sitting in the corner of the cave wasn’t a specter. It was a body, skeletal now, with what looked to be only a red robe remaining. His smile completely faded as he leaned down in front of the form, which was resting almost casually against the cave wall, some kind of cane poking out of their robe. Or her robe, if he had to take a guess. Up close he could see for sure, her robe was the same exact style as Red’s.

“Shit…” he said softly, and it wasn’t- he fucking figured it’d be something like this. She’d been gone for a damn decade, and from how fucking in love Red was with her Taako doubted she wouldn’t come back if she could.

He had no fucking idea how he was going to break this to the guy though. It seemed like all he had was his hope that he’d be able to get her back someday. That she was still out there and he could find her. As far as Taako could see though, that wasn’t gonna be the case.

She was holding some type of cane, and Red had never mentioned what kind of spell focus she had, but he figured this was it.

“Whatcha find out there Taako?” Merle shouted across the cave, and Taako had to resist the urge to snap at him. None of them knew this was kind of a big deal. They’d found loads of Merle’s dead cousins as they made their way through this dumb cave, finding a weird skeleton of someone Taako didn’t even know really shouldn’t have been a big deal. He couldn’t explain why it was either, because he didn’t know who he fuck Red would trust with that. Definitely not Gundren, probably not Killian either.

“Just some dead thug,” he said, and he could see the two of them coming over to check it out now.

“Got any cool loot?” Magnus asked, which, considering they’d been looting all day made sense. Even still Taako couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit protective. He’d hear a million fucking stories about how great and wonderful and amazing this lady was, how Red was so fucking sure that Taako would love her too, and now she was just a dusty old skeleton. It felt a little cruel.

He hadn't even realized it until now, but he'd been kind of excited. He was looking forward to finally finding and meeting her. This really wasn't the introduction he'd been hoping for.

“Just some weird cane,” he said finally, reaching out to grab it for himself. He didn’t want one of them to try and take it, and he needed to get it back to Red anyway. If this was his wife, he deserved to get the only remaining object it seemed she had. He was sure Red would want to come back to this place, especially once he kicked the bucket and could remember everything, but it would probably be best to have some proof.

Taako wasn’t expecting anything to happen when he grabbed the handle, so of course something happened. Immediately a burst of energy seemed to come from the staff, it and the whole skeleton crackling with strands of red arcane energy, so similar to the kind that came off of Red when he had one of his breakdowns. Taako didn’t know what the fuck to do, so he kept pulling out the staff. The further it came out though the more he could see it wasn’t a staff. Instead, it was the handle of an umbrella.

Once he had it fully out it popped open, and when he looked back at the skeleton it crumbled away into dust, cloak and all. Taako couldn’t help wincing at that. He really hadn’t meant to do that. He intended there to be at least a body that Red could come back to. There was a part of him that hoped with all the magic energy that maybe he was awakening her spirit or something, but that did not seem to be the case.

Magnus and Merle were staring at him, which was probably fair considering what the fuck just happened. Taako tried to play it off, and it didn’t take much to stare down at the umbrella dumbfounded.

“So now I have an umbrella…” he said. It seemed to be the most any of them could make out of the event after all. Almost as soon as he finished talking Gundren started up, and Taako reluctantly tore his eyes away from the remains of Red’s wife and followed the dwarf back towards the vault. He kept a tight grip on the umbrella as he did. He needed to get it back to Red. It was the only proof he had now.

Or at least, it was until Gundren opened the vault and there was another weird super magic object locked away inside. Red had talked about how they were looking for powerful magic items, and if they found a certain one, they would be able to find his wife. Taako didn’t have much proof looking at the thing that it was the item he was talking about, but then Killian came back and started insisting they get away from it, that it was incredibly dangerous.

Taako had a feeling she was right. It gave him a bad vibe, and he didn’t know what it was but he did not like it.

And then Gundren threw the damn glove onto his hand, and his whole body went up in flames. It would have been nice if that just killed him, or at least a lot simpler. Of course it didn’t though, and the only thing the four left could do was watch in vague horror as the now flaming dwarf flew out of the cave.

Taako’s grip tightened on the umbrella, and he felt his heart sinking in his chest as Killian started ushering them to go after Gundren. This was bad. This was real fucking bad.

If Taako didn’t die trying to stop this, he was pretty sure Red was going to kill him himself. He’d probably deserve it too.

Chapter Text

They had to haul ass back to Phandalin. Taako was trying not to look as invested in this as he actually was. He had no idea how well he was managing, but hopefully everyone was too distracted to notice if he was acting weird. At the very least, Taako told himself they could chalk it up to him being worried about Red. Or well, Barry. He wasn't going out of his way to explain anything though, just letting them think whatever. 

That Killian lady still seemed a little suspicious of their help, and Taako couldn't rightfully blame her all things considered. She definitely knew what kind of danger that glove could bring, and Taako had heard enough from Red to know it was a big fucking deal. They couldn't waste any time.

So he was pretty frustrated when they stopped to help some burned out caravan and an ungrateful orc kid.

Whatever though, it was done now and they were on the move again. Luckily the trail was a pretty easy one to follow, what with all the fire.

The bad news was they didn't manage to get to Gundren before he reached Phandalin. The somewhat neutral news was that they got there before he destroyed the whole place.

Even though he knew he'd just come back, Taako couldn't help but feel a little relieved when Barry came running out of the local bar, his shirt and hair only slightly scorched.

"You're alive! Holy shit!" Red shouted, nearly barreling into Taako as he ran up. "Taako I don't know what the fuck's going on. He's all fiery and angry, we gotta stop it," he said, and Taako nodded at the same time Killian did. Okay, at least they all seemed to be on the same page when it came to stopping this.

"We can't fight him, right now he is more powerful than anyone you've ever met in your entire life. We need to find some way to get him to take the gauntlet off," Killian said, and that sounded easy enough.

It wasn't actually easy, but for a moment it seemed like they were doing it. Merle was calming him down, they were actually making progress.

And then that fucking kid from before. None of them had managed to see him before he shot the arrow and pissed off Gundren all over again.

"WHO DID THIS?" Gundren shouted, and Taako should have been keeping a better eye on Barry. Red had insisted he was a dumbass when he was alive, but Taako was so used to him always knowing what to do. Always knowing what to say. Because of that, Taako wasn't close enough to slap a hand over his mouth as he spoke up.

"Wasn't me!" he said, and before Taako could even slap his own forehead in frustration Red was engulfed in flames.

And then the flames kept growing. They were spreading and starting to jump from house to house as the dwarf shouted. Killian was already running, yelling for them to get to the well.

“I’m not leaving with all these people here!” Magnus shouted, and for some reason Taako wasn’t surprised by that.

“And I’m not leaving without Barry!” he added, staring in worry and anticipation at the bout of flames where his body used to be. He’d never actually seen him die before. Couldn’t say he was a fan of it. He had no fucking idea how long it took for his specter lich form to rise either. Was it supposed to take this long? Red had said these things were super fucking powerful, but surely it wasn’t strong enough to destroy him outright with one blow.

“Pretty sure he’s dead!” Merle injected helpfully. Taako didn’t know what to do, but the flames were starting to get way too much. He wasn’t about to die here, Red would kill him if he did, and Taako did not want to get wasted by a flaming dwarf. So he turned tail, running after Killian.

“What about the others?” he asked, pausing at the top of the well. She gave him an unconvincing smile as she hit herself and him with a spell from her feather duster.

“They’ll be fine,” she said, and Taako gave her a flat look at that.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?” he asked, and she was well into the hole by this point as she shouted up.

“Of course I’m lying!” she said. Taako knew couldn’t wait long, but he managed to stay up there just long enough to grab the two idiots as they finally gave up and came to the well, pulling them both inside with him.

It felt like for fucking ever as they sat at the bottom of the well, the heat still scorching around them as the flames ravaged up above.

When it was over, there was a lot of awkward jokes, trying to make light of the situation. Killian was out cold, and it took quite a bit of effort to get her back up the well with the rest of them.

The town was gone when they got out. It was just gone. Taako couldn’t describe it in any other way. There used to be a town, and now there wasn't. It was only a circle of solid black glass where the ground used to be, and a charred dwarven body standing with its arm raised in the center of it. A gauntlet shining in the sunset.

When Taako looked around, there still wasn’t any sign of Red. Surely it didn’t tend to take this long? He was absolutely a hundred percent dead by this point, so he should be a ghost or some shit. Was he just not showing himself because others were around? Taako would have liked a heads up if that was the plan, because this shit wasn’t cool.

He didn’t get to stick around to see if he’d show up though. Killian woke up, and when she found out they hadn’t tried to use the fire death glove said that they could reclaim it. Immediately Taako was over grabbing the thing, not wanting this shit to get into anyone else’s hands. He’d rather not have another flaming dwarf flying off or a flaming human or orc or whatever the fuck.

Then Killian was talking about her organization, the one that was completely blocked out by all that static, and saying that they could use people like them. She was calling a ball, and Taako didn’t know what the fuck to do. He didn’t know who these people were, but he sure as fuck didn’t know if he could trust them.

Fuck, why the hell hadn't Red come back yet?

Okay, he had to think this through, in whatever short amount of time he had. Red would probably be cool with him checking this out, right? Taako wasn’t about to run off with the glove, that was a surefire way to get Killian to try and kill him. Plus, they could understand the static too. If he could get to them he could maybe get some fucking answers, and then they could be back in business.

If Red came back at all, Taako wanted to have something for him other than the former resting place of his wife’s corpse and an umbrella. Maybe if he went to their base he could actually get some answers too.

So, he let himself go along with these guys. It was hard to think, especially when they got up to their base, which was on the moon apparently? One of the moons. That was a little concerning, considering Red’s whole breakdown about the moon a while ago. It probably explained some things, but Taako was having too much trouble thinking to actually come up with anything.

They weren’t on the moon long before they were brought down to… something. Taako had no fucking idea what it was, he couldn’t even see it properly. It was just there, and yet it wasn’t.

The some bard named Johann gave them a weird vial of ink, and Taako really wasn’t thrilled about having to drink it. He let Magnus drink it first, since it never hurt to have a test subject. Experiments had never been a strong point of his but he knew that from Red at least. When it looked like it wasn't going to immediately kill Magnus and then he started speaking in the static too, Taako got fed up and took a swing.

It was pretty immediate. He could see what was in the tank now, some huge fuckoff jellyfish. He could remember music he’d forgotten about despite heading only a few minutes ago. He could remember what the glove was called, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet.

And he could remember more past that. Things Red had tried to tell him that had been blocked out before. About having to create powerful artifacts, and starting a terrible war because of it. The horrible things it had caused, the source of all that grief and regret he carried around all the time. It wasn’t much, Red always tried not to talk about it, but it was there. It was something.

But it wasn’t everything. Taako could still remember Red trying to tell him some things, parts that continued to stubbornly not fill in. He didn’t know what to think of that, but he didn’t bring it up for now. Instead, he just tried to keep his mouth shut as Johann explained about the voidfish. It was the thing that had erased this information from the world, and was the reason the wars for the relics had stopped. It had been what was keeping that information from them.

Taako wasn’t a very smart elf, but he could connect two dots when he saw them.

It was the thing keeping all of Red’s information blocked away.

After that they were led to the Director, and Taako figured he couldn’t be certain. But considering that they were the ones keeping all of this secret, that they were the ones on the moon Red had flipped out about before, the moon that definitely hadn’t been up in the sky before that night, Taako figured he could take a pretty educated guess.

“Welcome, the three of you, to the bureau of balance,” the woman who had to be Red’s sister said. Taako wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting before, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t it. She seemed… a lot more sensible than he had imagined.

Taako was pretty sure this was bad though. Red had been pretty insistent about keeping Taako away from her. She didn’t seem evil though, and he supposed Red had never said she was. If anything, he was always trying to insist that she wasn't. Still, everything she was saying about gathering and destroying the relics so they could not wreck anymore damage on the world made sense. The destruction of Phandalin had been pretty absolute. Not letting something like that happen again was probably good.

Red had been so insistent that the relics needed to exist though. That they had put them out there for a reason, that the fate of the world hung in the balance.

And then there was that next part.

“The grand relics were created by a band of rogue wizards and warlocks and other magic users that… refused to limit themselves in their creation. Their experiments led to the creation of the grand relics,” she said, and Taako raised an eyebrow at that, trying not to look too intrigued.

“Are they still out there?” he asked, which seemed like a pretty reasonable question if anyone asked him. The director shook her head though.

“The order of wizard, the Red Robes that is, as they were known for the signature bright red robes they wore, were all believed to be… destroyed, in the initial fight for the relics. So no, they should all be gone now,” she said. Taako couldn’t even say for sure if she was lying or not. He couldn’t find any tell, if he didn’t know for sure that she was wrong he would have believed her. As far as he knew, she actually did think they were all gone.

Taako didn’t expect to be so annoyed with someone calling Red evil. He kind of was though, and the worst part was he couldn’t even say anything about this. He certainly couldn’t question her on the story of the Red Robes too much, or else she’d probably get suspicious. He was lucky as fuck that no one realized he was with Red, that no one knew what he looked like when alive apparently.

He didn’t want to give up the relic. He didn’t know what they were going to do with it, if they were actually destroying it. Even still, he was pretty sure whatever they were planning on doing wasn’t as good as they were making it out to be.

He was stuck on a moon base with everyone expecting him to hand the glove over though. These people who would be fully convinced that he was fucking possessed by its power or some shit if he didn’t do what they said. Who would probably kill him without a moment's notice if he tried to resist.

Handing over the relic, Taako had so fucking much he was gonna have to apologize to Red for the next time he saw him. Watching the relic get destroyed by bright beams of light, there wasn’t much he could do at this point. He just had to wait for Red to show up again so that he could explain everything.

And so he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And Red didn’t show up.

Taako tried not to be too worried about it. He told himself he was stupid for worrying, the dude was some ultra-powerful lich. He had to be fine, he was just taking his sweet old time getting around to visiting Taako again. Maybe he was too pissed to after the absolute disaster of their last mission. Maybe he was too busy looking into some of the stuff, taking a look into the cave for himself and all that junk.

Maybe he felt it was just too dangerous to try and visit Taako on the moon. It did seem to be right under the nose of his sister, the one he did not seem to be on the best of terms with at the moment, to put it lightly. He was probably just biding his time and making sure nothing would spiral out of control if he tried to come up.

Taako told himself he just had to be patient and keep waiting. Red would come up to see him when he damn well could, and once he did they could get some fucking stuff out in the open.

As the days went by, Taako was very quickly running out of patience.

——

It took so much more effort to reform than Barry was used to. He wasn’t sure why, until he finally came up and realized he’d been pulling himself out of a circle of solid black glass. A giant, half mile wide circle where the town of Phandalin used to be.

Barry was a fucking idiot.

His human self was, at least, and there was a moment as everything that had happened came crashing down on him that he just screamed. Shouted and tried to keep himself from coming apart at the seams.

He couldn’t believe he let Taako go after the gauntlet alone. Or well, he could, but he was pissed that Taako let him. He told the dude to make sure he always went on ahead, but considering everything he couldn’t even be that surprised. Taako was a bit softer hearted than he let on, so of course he went and let him rest when he was beat all to shit. It was still frustrating as fuck on top of terrifying, because there was no way to know that Taako was going to come back.

There was no way to know if Taako was still- no. No, he had to still be okay. He had to of gotten out of the blast in time. Barry had seem that woman with them, and he hadn’t noticed it when alive, but now that he was thinking back he recognized the bracer on her wrist. The symbol of Lucretia’s organization. She had to of had a way to get out of there. Even if the last thing he wanted was for Taako to get dragged into all of this again from Lucretia’s side of things, it was better than him having died. It was so much better than that.

Cautiously, Barry tried to put a location out on the elf. A part of him was terrified of doing so, of not getting any sort of signal and having to face the idea that he might be gone. He wasn’t sure if he could take that kind of revelation right now. He couldn’t just ignore it either though, he had to know.

Thankfully, he could feel the modified locate object he’d created go off. He sure as fuck wasn’t thrilled by the answer, but it was an answer.

He was up on the moon. That meant Lucretia must have something planned. She wouldn’t have brought all of them up there without one.

Which- fuck. Barry started to head back to his cave, not wanting to risk being out for so long, but his mind still abuzz as he went over the few days he’d been alive. It’d  been such a short time, one of his fastest deaths in the books. So fucking much had happened though, it was a little unreal.

Magnus and Merle were there. All four of them had been together, and Barry would bet good money on them being up with Taako on the moon now too. It had to be Lucretia’s doing. She must’ve had a plan, and Barry was terrified of what it might be.

Especially now that she had two relics. Fuck, the gauntlet had been there. It had been there and Barry didn’t even fucking go. Which-

Shit.

Lup.

As soon as the thought came to him Barry changed direction. He didn’t care about getting caught at this point. He was sure Lucretia had to be distracted with her ‘new recruits’ or whatever she was doing right now, and Taako swore he’d worked out a deal with the reaper. Even still, he teleported to cut off some time, making his way with lightning speed to Wave Echo Cave.

She had to be there. The gauntlet was there, so she had to be too. There had to be some sign, some clue to let Barry know where she’d gone and why she didn’t come back for so long.

Barry tried to ignore the nagging in the back of his mind. If they had come here and got the gauntlet, why hadn't she come back with them to Phandalin? She wouldn’t have chosen to stay if she’d seen Taako, right? And even wiped like he was, Taako would have- he’d at least know enough to realize she was the one he was looking for. Maybe- maybe he just didn’t have enough time to say something, to explain the situation to him. That would make more than enough sense, they were kinda in crisis mode, and it’s not like living him would’ve understood shit anyway.

When he got to the cave Barry scoured the place. He followed the blazed trail first, all the way back to the vault that must’ve been keeping the relic hidden all this time. There was nothing else inside, and nothing outside of it either. When he couldn’t find anything there he kept looking. He swore he went through every nook and cranny of that damn cave system. He even gave a desperate search under water, where the pools that gave the cave its name collected. He found a lot of weird shit, some clear signs of Taako, Merle, and Magnus having come through, and the body of at least one of Lucretia’s former employees, but no sign of Lup.

Where was she?

He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know what to do and Taako was- Taako was out of reach. He was out of reach and Barry had no idea what Lucretia was telling him. Probably not the truth, but… it wouldn’t be hard. If she wanted to cast him as the villain. He’d tried not to do the same to her, but he understood the split they were in right now. Lucretia was doing what she felt she needed to do.

Barry just wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stand it. If this whole- if ten years of searching came up to an empty glass room, and Taako was turned away from him. If he lost the last tiny bit of family he managed to build back.

Before he was able to get wrapped up in these thoughts too much, there was a sound behind him. It was probably a good thing, Barry knew he couldn’t afford to start spiraling, but even still he couldn’t help groaning in frustration.

“Damn it Kravitz, not now. I thought Taako said you guys worked out a deal or something,” he said, not even bothering to turn around. He knew he should have his guard up around a reaper a bit more, but despite everything he still trusted Taako. If he said he worked something out with Kravitz, and genuinely seemed to trust the guy to hold up his end of the deal, Barry believed him. At least enough to not think the reaper would immediately stab him in the back without a word.

“Oh, yes, we did,” Kravitz said, and he sounded a little taken aback by this. Needless to say though, Barry wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with a dude who was typically trying to throw him in ghost jail. “I’m gonna be honest, I was just curious. I noticed you were well, that I could notice you. You didn’t disappear immediately like you normally do, and so I kept waiting but you were still here, so I thought I’d check it out. See uh, see what the problem might be,” he explained, and alright. Barry guessed that made sense. It was better than him coming to try and double kill him again.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m looking for something. It should have been in this cave, but it’s not ,” he said. He finally bothered turning around at that, and to his surprise Kravitz wasn’t in his reaper form. It was the first time Barry had seen the way he’d apparently been appearing to Taako and… yeah. Yeah alright, he could understand where Taako was coming from now. That made a lot of sense for Taako.

“Okay, that makes sense,” he ended up blurting out, and Kravitz raised an eyebrow at that.

“What does?” he asked, and if Barry wasn’t feeling so fucking hopeless at the moment he might have actually risked teasing the dude a little. As it was though, he was still feeling pretty exceptionally shitty about the current situation.

“Don’t worry about it bud. You’ll figure it out sooner or later,” he said, which only seemed to confuse the reaper even more. That wasn’t Barry’s problem though, and if he didn’t already know Taako thought he was hot that was on him. Taako was pretty obvious about that sort of stuff. “Anyway,” Barry continued with a sigh, “if you’re not here to try and kill me, and the… thing I was looking for isn’t here anymore either, I need to get going.”

“It does feel a little wrong, just letting you go off without trying to capture you even a little,” Kravitz said, and Barry was pretty sure he was trying to make a joke. Gods, him and Taako really did make out some sort of deal.

“Yeah, maybe next ti-” Barry started to say, before stopping suddenly. An idea came to him, and he’d never trusted the reaper enough to ask him before, but maybe now… He’d never thought he was a bad guy after all, and his work was important. Barry was very aware that most liches weren’t like him and Lup, those definitely needed to be taken out.

He might know though. He knew about Barry, and he knew Taako's death count too. He might be able to tell him something, and this might be one of the only chances he had to ask.

“Hey. Look, I uh, I know that even with whatever deal you and Taako came to, we’re definitely not on like, the best terms,” he said, and Kravitz nodded his head cautiously. It was probably pretty obvious that Barry was leading up to something.

“Yes, that’s one way to put it,” he said.

“Right, but it’s- I need to know about another bounty you have,” he said, and oh yeah, there was the suspicious glare. Barry couldn’t blame him, but it sure was inconvenient.

“Why would you need to know about that?” Kravitz asked, and he could try to be subtle. After the fucking day he had though, subtle felt like way too much effort. He just needed answers, because who fucking knew how long or even- or even if he was going to get them from Taako.

“It’s my wife. Obviously, the only reason you would let me keep existing is if I’m here for a reason, and she is my reason. I don’t know- I can’t do what I’m supposed to do without her, and I just… I need to know if she’s in the astral plane,” he explained. If Lup was gone Barry didn’t know what he’d do. He didn’t think he could survive. He didn’t mention that to Kravitz. He’d find out if that was the case, and if Barry was going to lose himself, he’d honestly rather it be in front of a reaper. In front of someone who would make sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Kravitz didn’t say anything for a long moment, seeming to debate in his head. After a few excruciating seconds he sighed, putting a hand out and a shimmering book made of light appeared hovering over it.

“What’s her name?” he asked, already starting to flip through the pages.

“Lup,” Barry answered, terrified but needing to know the answer at the same time. It didn’t take long at all for Kravitz to find the page after that, and from the look on his face he definitely knew who Barry was talking about.

“She’s not in the astral plane. She appeared along with the rest of your little group, but I’ve not seen hide nor hair of her in all this time. I can’t image it’s been easy as a lich, even you appear on our radar regularly enough,” he explained. Barry didn’t know whether to let out a sigh of relief or just be drowned in more confusion and worry.

She was still out there. They had no fucking idea where, but she wasn’t gone. She couldn’t be.

“Thanks Kravitz,” he said, and the reaper looked a little uncomfortable at that. Probably didn’t get liches thanking him very often. “I’m gonna go now, before you get bored and try to attack me,” he said, and the reaper rolled his eyes at that.

“I’m not going to attack you because I’m bored,” he insisted. Barry wasn’t sure if he believed that. “But you should probably get out of here anyway,” he added, and he almost snorted at that.

“Noted,” he said, and with a flash of arcane fire Barry teleported out of Wave Echo Cave and back into his own lair. It was quiet and cold inside of it, which honestly wasn’t any different from the cave he’d just been in. When he looked at the tank in the corner, his heart sunk. It would be so long until his next body would be finished. He’d barely lasted a few days.

He’d just have to keep waiting. Waiting for his body to finish, and waiting for Taako to come back with news.

He really fucking hoped Taako came back.

Chapter Text

It’d been two weeks, and Taako was officially tired of waiting.

Sure, he told Red that he wouldn’t go looking for him again, but he felt like this was sort of extenuating circumstances. Taako had information now. Real fucking important information he had to get to the guy, and he couldn’t just sit around twiddling his thumbs until that ghosty asshole decided to show his face.

And maybe he was a little worried. Maybe he wasn’t sure how Red would have reacted after this. After Taako broke all the rules they set in place right out of the gate, threw his life into danger, and then fucked off to the moon. Red was pretty clear about the fact that he wasn’t the most mentally stable guy around, and shit could set him off.

Plus, would Taako kind of like some answers too. As much as he had to tell Red, he had just as many questions to ask. He could know a hell of a lot more now that he drank that nasty fish juice, so he’d like some things cleared up. He didn’t- Taako didn’t believe what the director was saying, about Red and his family being a bunch of evil villains just testing their power. That didn't add up in the slightest.  He needed to know how much of what she said was right though. She obviously knew some things, and he couldn't tell how much was lies and how much was her stretching the truth.

All of that wasn’t what tipped Taako over the edge of decided he needed to go back down planetside and find Red. What finally convinced him was the realization that Red hadn’t seen him survive. He might not ever be coming, if he didn’t realize there was someone still left to go back to. He’d died before Phandalin was completely destroyed, and Taako didn’t see him reform before they left. He might have died and by the time he was able to perceive again Taako and the whole town was just gone.

The second Taako realized that he was making a plan to go back down to Phandalin. Making sure to grab the umbrella, which was apparently called an umbrastaff, he headed over to the hanger. He didn’t know what the protocol for leaving the moon was, but he figured they weren’t like, being held hostage here. This wasn’t a prison, even if the shitty dorm room they were staying in at the moment certainly felt like one.

“Hey man what’s up?” Avi said as he came into the room, an easy grin on his face. Taako didn’t mind Avi. Honestly, most of the people at the bureau weren’t completely awful. They all seemed to think that they were doing a good thing here.

Taako just had no idea how much he was buying into any of that yet.

“Avi! My dude, could you do an elf a favor?” he asked, giving the laid back guy a smile right back. He wasn’t trying to be too suspicious, he didn’t want anyone knowing about this until he was sure it would be safe for Red. He had a pretty damn good feeling it wouldn’t be, if he was being honest.

“Oh yeah for sure, whatcha need?” he asked, seeming chill with helping.

“I was wondering if you could shoot me down near Phandalin?” he said. Avi nodded, looking a bit curious about the request. As far as Taako could see though it wasn’t in a suspicious way, just in it being a bit odd or whatever.

“For sure, what you gotta do down there?” he asked, already starting to get the canon into motion. It was pretty close below them, so it seemed like he wouldn’t be in the canon very long. That was probably a good thing, a faster trip meant he’d have more time to find Red.

“Pay respects,” he blurted out, and this was the part of the lie that he hadn’t quite managed to get down pact. “You know, for all those people we accidentally killed with all the fire,” he added, shrugging in a very 'what can you do' way. Taako wasn’t sure he could blame Avi for giving him a bit of a look at that, but he didn’t seem to question it too bad, nodding after a moment.

“Oh yeah man, do what you gotta do,” he said. Taako nodded, not trusting himself to speak and ruin what little credibility he had. Thankfully Avi seemed just about done with setting up the cannon, and then he started going into explaining to Taako how to stop it and everything. Seemed simple enough, there was only one lever he needed to pull after all.

It should have been at least, but it turned out the thing went quite a bit faster than Taako expected. He might have pulled the handle a bit later than he should have, the ball landing somewhat harder than it probably should have and rolling a good distance after that. Thanks to the seatbelt Taako was only a slightly disheveled mess when he climbed out of the ball, which currently had the door fucking up on the top now. He nearly fell on his ass climbing down the side, cursing to himself the whole way down.

The whole time Taako had kept the umbrella clutched to his chest, trying to keep it as safe as possible. If nothing else, he had to get this back to Red, and he wasn’t about to ruin it like he had everything else. The dude deserved to have something of his wife back.

Once he managed to get out of the cannonball and situated, it took a moment for Taako to figure out which way to go. He needed to head back to Red’s cave. He knew which way it was from Phandalin, but it was a little difficult to figure out exactly what side of Phandalin he was on now. Most of the landmarks weren’t exactly around anymore.

After some guessing he started off in what he figured was the best direction. He guessed that it was better than sitting around not doing anything at the very least. Thankfully, he didn’t actually end up having to get very far. He was barely out of Phandalin and into the surrounding woods when Red nearly barreled into him. Not that it would have been much of an issue if he did, since he wasn't corporeal.

“You’re okay! You’re okay, right? Fuck, you came back!” Red shouted, checking him over like he couldn’t believe he was there and alive and shit.

“Of course I came back, what made you think I wouldn’t?” Taako asked, trying to swat the lich away to no real effect. Red almost looked sheepish now, floating back slightly so he wasn’t practically fazing through him. It was a lot easier to imagine what types of expressions he would've made now that Taako knew what he looked like. He still couldn’t believe what a disaster and goober the dude was, except that he absolutely could believe it.

“I didn’t- I wasn’t sure what you heard. I didn’t know if it would, you know, change anything. About how you felt about this whole arrangement,” he said, and okay, that made sense. Considering what the bureau had tried to tell him, Taako could understand the dude being worried about him believing them.

“How many times do I gotta tell ya you’re a shitty fucking lich? You couldn’t convince me you’re an evil mastermind if you tried, and the same goes for the dorks up there,” he said, and Red let out a huge relieved laugh at that. Fuck, the guy must’ve seriously been freaking out these past two weeks. “Why didn’t you just come and check on me yourself? I was fucking waiting for you, we got shit to talk about,” he added, letting himself sound as annoyed as he felt.

“I couldn’t Taako. There’s an anti-lich field around the moon, I can’t step foot on there when I’m like this,” he said, and whoops. Now Taako was the one to feel kinda like an idiot.

“Oh. That makes sense,” he said, and Red waved his concern away.

“I didn’t tell you, I honestly didn’t think it was going to come up,” he said, which was also fair. Taako also did not think that he was going to end up on the fucking moon in a goddamn secret society or whatever the hell was going on with that. Despite how much Red seemed to know, Taako couldn't blame him for not seeing that one coming.

“Yeah, shit kinda happened fast,” he said, and Red agreed.

“What happened? Taako please what- what did they tell you? What do you know?” he asked, and okay. They needed to get into this now.

“Maybe we should head back to the cave first? So you aren’t caught?” he suggested, and Red seemed surprised by that. He quickly nodded, his whole form once again betraying just how relieved he was.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, hold on,” he said, putting out a spectral arm for Taako to hold. As soon as he did a teleport spell went off around them, and when he blinked they were back in Red’s dimly lit cave. “Now, tell me everything,” Red said, and so Taako did.

He might not have told him about it in the order it all happened in though. He started when Red's memory ended, with his death. Taako went into going up to the moon, telling him about the weird voidfish, the story the director had told them all about evil red robes. It wasn’t hard to notice the slight crackles around his body at that part. He continued quickly talking about how he had to give up the relic to them, how he didn’t think he had any other choice. That he hadn’t said a single damn word to them about him, he didn’t trust like that. Through it all Red remained silent, taking it in and nodding along almost expectantly.

The whole time Taako kept the umbrella hidden under his robe at his side. He didn’t know how to drop that one yet.

“So, the Director. That’s like, your sister right? The not-evil one?” Taako asked after a moment, and Red nodded, seeming to come out of his thoughts a little bit.

“Yeah, that’s her. I really… gods, this just got so much more complicated,” he said, and Taako couldn’t blame him for that. Shit certainly seemed complicated, and there was still more stuff he felt out of the loop on. “So, you understand some stuff now, but not… not everything?” he asked, and Taako shook his head.

“No, I mean, it’ll take a hell of a lot more than some weird fish juice for me to understand everything. For like, the current situation though, still feel like I kinda don’t get shit, if I’m being honest,” he said. Red was pacing around now, or pacing as much as a lich could, floating around back and forth as he seemed to think.

“Yeah, I don’t… no idea how she managed that. Shit, this is just… fuck,” he said, mostly muttering to himself from what Taako could tell.

“What do we do now my dude?” Taako asked, and that got Red to stop for a moment, seeming to really think the question over.

“What do you want to do Taako?” he asked, and the question seemed earnest. Even though it shouldn’t it kind of took Taako by surprise.  He knew that was just how Red was, but Taako didn’t expect to have that big a say in this. It was Red’s family, he’d been the one working forever to save the world. Taako was just some weird chef he’d picked up along the way. Which… still didn’t make a lot of sense. He just had no idea how to make it make sense though.

“What’s gonna happen now that she’s got one of the relic?” Taako ended up asking instead. He didn’t know how to make a decision unless he knew what they were heading into. Red sighed at that, an obvious worry to him.

“It means we’re probably on a time limit now. I can’t be certain, if we’re lucky a little over a year or so?” he said, which, fuck. Taako sure as fuck wasn’t expecting that.

“Wait, are you serious? We’ve got a fucking year until the end of the goddamn world?” he asked, and Red didn’t seem quite as concerned about this as he should have been. Of course, he figured the dude had a bit of time to come to terms with this fact.

“Maybe longer, but I wouldn’t count on it,” he said, and now Taako was the one pacing around the cave.

“Would it help to keep the other relics away from her? Like, fuck, should I just not go back up? They’ve got this damn bracer on me though, and apparently it’s immovable but we could probably figure something out,” he asked. Red didn’t glance long at the silver bracer as Taako held out his arm, not seeming too surprised by the thing.

“Keeping her from getting the relics wouldn’t stop the process. It… might actually be for the best. If we can get them all together when the time comes it’ll at least give us some options,” he said. Taako wasn’t sure what he was talking about with that, but he trusted Red enough to go with it.

“In that case, it might be good if I stick with the bureau for now, make sure we get all the danger items,” he said after a moment of though. Taako could see the uncertainty on Red’s face at that, clearly unsure of the idea.

“Are you sure? Going after those things is incredibly dangerous. You saw what happened to Phandalin. That wasn’t a one off, they’re all that bad,” he said, and Taako couldn’t say he was surprised that Red was worried about that. Dude was always pretty concerned for his mortality, which was fair. An immortal being that took death as a mild inconvenience was probably pretty horrified that some people could die and not get back up again.

“Yeah man, like, I don’t have anything better to do,” he said, and it didn’t seem like Red was going to take that excuse. Taako couldn’t even blame him for that, it was a pretty flimsy one. “Look, if the world’s going to end and getting the relics together might give us some options for that not happening, I’m gonna fucking help with the dumb scavenger hunt for the death bombs, alright? Might as well be dead either way,” he said, and Red seemed to pause for a moment before ultimately nodding.

“Alright, just… please be careful Taako. I know emotions and junk aren’t your cup of tea, but I don’t think I can stand to lose you too,” Red said. It wasn’t like the dude hadn’t implied that kind of stuff before, but this was the first time he'd come right out and said it.

Taako was suddenly very aware of the weight up the umbrella against his side. He didn’t want to bring it up, he wanted to pretend it never happened and just keep looking for his wife like there was still hope of finding her. He couldn't though, and now seemed like as good a time to bring it up as any.

“Hey, yeah so about that? There’s something I need to tell you, and I probably should have lead with this but I was pretty sure you wouldn’t be up for conversation afterwards so I figured I’d just get all the other important stuff out of the way first,” he said, speaking a little too quickly and definitely getting Red’s attention.

“What’s up?” he asked, still surprisingly casual for all of this. It wasn’t like Taako could blame him, he never did super serious all that well either.

Still, Taako didn’t say anything as he reached under his robe, unclipping the umbrella and holding it out for Red to see. Immediately the lich froze, and Taako could tell he was staring right at it despite not having any visible eyes.

“I uh, I found this. In that cave with the gauntlet. There was uh, a skeleton, not a lich like you, just a normal dried up old dead body. And it was wearing a robe like yours and holding this,” he said. As he spoke Red slowly reached out, clearly trying his best to keep himself together. A few of the crackles of arcane energy got close enough to Taako to nearly singe him, but he tried not to let Red notice as he carefully took the umbrella out of his hands and looked it over.

“Where was… I looked. I went back and looked, I didn’t- I didn’t see her anywhere,” he said, and Taako couldn’t help but wince at that.

“By that big vault door. I’m like, really sorry. She just kinda… turned to dust when I took the umbrella. I didn’t know it would happen, I just wanted to bring you some proof,” he said, and Red’s entire form slumped at that. The skeletal hands he had were shaking and almost incorporeal at this point, Taako was a little surprised he was able to still hold the umbrella.

There was a long moment where Red didn’t say anything, staring at the umbrella and looking like he was holding on by a thread. Taako honestly wasn’t sure what he'd been expecting, but this was pretty close. He wasn’t sure what kind of news he’d just delivered, but it was very possibly ‘your wife is dead and gone forever here’s the only thing left everything else turned to ash’ which was definitely not great.

“She’s still… something must’ve went wrong,” Red said finally, a note of almost desperate determination in his voice. “That was only her physical body, and Kravitz… he said she wasn’t in the astral plane. She’s still out there somewhere, something must’ve gone wrong,” he said. Taako perked up a little bit at that. He wasn’t sure how much he believed it, but Red wasn’t completely falling apart. He hadn’t just irrevocably broken his best friend.

“You talked to Krav?” he asked, and Red almost snorted at that. Maybe Taako sounded a little eager, but it was just because he was pretty sure Red wasn’t going to combust anymore.

“Yeah, not a lot, but uh, I guess you were right. About the truce thing,” he said, and Taako grinned a bit at that. At least this seemed to be getting his mind off of the whole thing with the umbrella. Well, not really, he still seemed to be gripping it like his life depended on it, and knowing how he survived off of emotions it probably did, but he was talking. He was talking and not dissolving into madness or anything like that.

“Of course I was right, you should never doubt me,” he said, and it almost seemed like Red was smiling now. Or well, as smiling as best as he could without a mouth.

“Right, of course,” he said, and then he sighed heavily, looking back down at the umbrella. “Thank you Taako,” he said, the emotions all thick in his voice again. Taako had the instant urge to take a step back, make a joke to try and break the tension, but he forced himself not to, made himself stay in the serious moment despite how uncomfortable it felt. 

“No problem buddy,” he said instead, trying to sound even half as sincere as Red did. It was quiet after that, and Taako was trying not to look completely and totally out of his element. He was though, he had no idea what to do. Red seemed to realize that, and took pity on him. Although Taako certainly hadn’t expected his next course of action.

“Here, you should hold onto this,” he said, suddenly shoving the umbrella back into Taako’s hands. It was so unexpected that the elf nearly dropped it like a fucking scolding piece of iron, before immediately gripping onto it afraid it would fall and break or something. He was not about to ruin the last thing Red had of his wife. Which, speaking of that-

“Are you fucking insane? It’s yours!” he said, trying to shove it back at him. Red just floating back though, holding his hands up and shaking his head.

“No, no it was hers. You should have it,” he insisted, and Taako knew he was looking at Red like he’d grown a second head, although honestly that would have made more sense than this. Maybe he was wrong about not breaking Red completely, maybe he had in a different way he wasn’t expecting.

“Dude, my dude please. This was your fucking wife’s. You know, the one who’s been missing for like a decade or some shit? Maybe you should keep her junk instead of pawning it off on some shitty wizard,” he said, trying to talk some sense into Red over this. He didn’t get how the guy could not want to cling onto it like his life depended on it. He’d basically already had been, with the way he’d been clutching the thing moments before he tried to shove it at Taako. Red just sighed though, running a skeletal hand over his hood and seeming almost frustrated as he continued.

“I know, okay? I know it doesn’t seem to make any sense, but just… trust me on this one Taako. I knew- I know her. And I know she would want you to have it, at least until she gets back, alright?” he said, and he was almost pleading with Taako at the end there. A desperation in his voice that he didn’t expect.

He was right. It didn’t make any fucking sense.

But he guessed there was no point in turning it away, if this was what Red wanted.

“Fine, alright. If you’re gonna fucking insist about it. I’ll uh, I’ll try and keep it safe, I guess. Until she comes back,” he said, and Red nodded, seeming relieved that that.

“Thanks Taako, I know you will,” he said, and Taako grumbled under his breath. 

“Yeah whatever, you fucking weirdo,” he said, and it seemed like Red was in the slightest bit of a better mood now. Taako couldn’t for the life of him understand why, but at least it was something. He’d been kind of worried that this conversation would not end well. He was really trying not to think about the possibility of it ending without Red being himself again at all.

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Red said, not seeming ashamed of that. Taako didn’t exactly expect him to, he was pretty apologetically a fucking freak. It was part of why Taako liked him.

“So uh, how should we like, handle everything moving forward? If I’m sticking with the bureau for now and you can’t come up there,” Taako asked, and Red seemed to take a moment to think about that. Taako hadn’t thought about it before, but he hadn’t known Red couldn’t come up there either. It seemed like they weren’t supposed to stay up there all the time, since Avi had no problem sending him down. Still, he knew Red was pretty paranoid about being found, and Taako couldn't blame him for that.

“We’re just gonna have to try and keep in touch when we can. I trust you to make the right decisions, but please be careful,” Red said, and that seemed sensible as anything. It was basically the only thing they could do, so Taako nodded.

“I’ll be fine, you saw the meat shield and well, I wouldn’t really call him a cleric, but he can heal somewhat. They got picked up too, it should be fine,” he said, and Red nodded at that. He seemed pretty amused by the whole thing, and Taako knew he hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with them when he was alive, but that little bit had still been pretty entertaining. Especially the part where they got Merle to stab himself with a fork to make a map.

“Yeah, they’re good dudes. Try and take care of each other, alright?” he said, and it was that voice he tended to use again. The one with a bunch of barely held in emotions and care that Taako didn’t know how to process. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever heard it used for someone that wasn’t him or when Red was talking about his family.

“I’ll let em take care of me, that’s for sure. I guess they can’t do that if they’re dead though,” he said, and Red chuckled some at that and nodded.

“Good enough,” he said, and Taako was starting to think that he should head back up to the moon base soon. It was weird, having to be the one to leave for a change. He couldn’t disappear in a cool burst of magic either. At least not yet.

“I should probably head back before anyone starts missing me too much,” he said, and Red nodded. He didn’t look surprised by that, if maybe a little disappointed. “Oh, they got a big library and a buncha spellbooks and shit up on the moon. I might go cracking at some of that, see if they have sending in one of them or something,” Taako added, trying to be casual about it. If Red saw through it he thankfully didn’t call him out on it.

“Yeah shit, sending is a good one. It’s too bad we’re too far for message. We need to get you a stone of farspeech or something,” he said, and right. Those were a thing.

“I’ll see if they have some at the Fantasy Costco,” he said. Then Taako paused, looking down at the umbrella he was still holding. It felt fucking weird, taking it when it should have been Red’s. Despite that there was a part of Taako that was kind of relieved at not having to give it up. It was a really cool spell focus, but it felt kinda selfish to want it only for that. It meant so much more to Red. “Are you really sure about this?” he asked, gesturing towards the umbrella. Red nodded, seeming to almost smile.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, and he did seem about as sure as anything.

“If you say so,” Taako said, and with that he figured he should leave. Red kept insisting he be careful and all this stuff. Taako kept fucking telling him he’d be fine and all that junk. Red didn’t follow him any further out than the end of his cave, worried the director would be able to detect his presence and realize they were in contact.

As soon as Taako was close to the place he’d landed he called another weird cannon and headed back up. There was relief and confusion and feelings Taako couldn’t ever quite put a finger on whenever he ended up talking to Red.

At least he was somewhat more in on the loop now. At least they had something of a plan now.

They only had a year or so though. Who fucking knew if they could manage to save the world in time.

Chapter Text

Taako was kind of expecting everything to fall apart the second he got back up to the moon base. They would corner him and say they knew exactly where he went, that he was working with the ‘evil red robes’ before trying to attack and kill him. At the very least try and capture him for information. The higher the ball he was in went up and the closer he got the more panicked he became, to the point that he was suddenly wondering if there was some way to turn these damn things around. There did not seem to be, for all the checking he’d managed to get done in the short amount of time he was inside.

But when the door opened and he was back on the moon there was no line of guards waiting for him, no the Director standing impassively in the front. Instead it was just Avi, leaning on a podium and looking up with mild interest as he stepped out.

“Hey, how’d your trip go?” he asked, in that very casual genuine small talk kind of way. Taako tried not to let the second it took for his brain to recognize that he wasn’t about to get jumped show, giving Avi a grin and shrugging.

“Eh, big old giant disk of glass. Is it too macabre to say it’s kinda peaceful down there?” he asked, and Avi seemed to genuinely think that question over for a moment.

“I mean, it makes sense. Definitely a little dark, but uh, as long as you’re not doing anything disrespectful to the hundreds of people who died there I sure they wouldn’t mind you hanging out or whatever,” he said, and Taako nodded in agreement.

“True, true, well later Avi,” he said, already starting out of the hanger as Avi shouted a goodbye after him. When the door closed behind him the rest of the bureau was exactly as he’d left it. No one the wiser that he’d just gone and visited with what was technically this whole operation’s sworn enemy.

Sweet.

Taako wasn’t about to get cocky, or at least he was gonna try his best not to. Still, it did fill him with some confidence, knowing that no one seemed to suspect him of anything yet. He still couldn’t go down and visit Red as often as he might like, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t gone long periods of time out of contact either. He did need to get a stone of farspeech though, just in case of emergencies. If he actually did get found out, so that Red would know something was wrong.

He needed to learn sending in case of an even bigger emergency, and they found out and got his stone away from him before he could get a message off.

Thankfully, there were a hell of a lot of spellbooks and arcane tomes all over the moonbase, the library truly a sight to behold. It was kind of disappointing that Red couldn’t go on the moon, because he probably would have loved the place. The books there weren’t quite as natural to learn from as the ones Red had gotten him, but it didn’t hurt to expand out some, especially since he should probably keep Red’s books out of sight. He didn’t want the Director to see them and risk her recognizing them and realizing what was up.

They had already been on the moon base for a few weeks before he went down to meet up with Red the first time, and he didn’t quite have the time to learn sending before they were sent down again. This time it wasn’t on Taako’s own though. This time it was for another relic.

They couldn’t know what this one did, of course. They couldn’t know anything useful about this mission from the sound of it. All they knew for sure was that it had been put on a train, and the other reclaimer who’d been trying to transport it (and probably fell into the thrall and was trying to make a quick getaway) had been murdered, and so now they needed to go grab it.

It seemed like a simple enough mission. It frankly sounded like a mission Taako could spend half of it sleeping through. At least until they got to the station and actually had to get the thing out of the box.

Of course, it ended up not being simple in the slightest.

The first not simple factor; the Leeman Kessler murderer was apparently still out there, murdering people who weren’t even Leeman Kesslers. The second not simple factor; some weird kid that was totally suspicious as fuck was also on the train. It got even more complicated when the kid turned out to be a detective, calling them out on their bullshit almost immediately.

The last not simple factor; the murderer turned out to be Jenkins, although that actually did simplify some things. That meant they didn’t have to worry about it being any sort of competent wizard.

It was getting a little hairy by the end of the mission though. Taako wished that he had gotten a chance to see Red before this. He hadn’t even managed to tell the dude he was coming down planetside. He had a stone of farspeech, but he hadn’t gotten a chance to see him so he could actually connect their frequencies. Until he did that the thing was pretty damn useless.

Man, Red was going to be pissed if he actually managed to get the relic, and then died in a goddamn train crash because they couldn’t stop the thing. Thankfully that didn’t happen, those of them left alive on the train managing to come together with a plan to hurl the train into Jenkin’s shitty garden using the teleport wand.

Taako just needed to be the one to cast the spell. 

Which, honestly that part was more terrifying than Taako was willing to admit. He was the most competent magic user on the train though, it wasn’t like they had any other choice. So he jumped off, trying to cast the spell to the best of his ability. He was pretty thankful he was alone when it worked, so that no one else could see the relieved shock on his face that he’d actually managed it.

When he looked back, everyone else was slowly starting to make their way towards him. He was the closest one to Neverwinter having jumped off the train last. Taako couldn’t help but wince when he saw the way Magnus was being carried along by Jess and Gram, clearly out cold. The boy detective was walking along side of them, watching with mild concern.

Oof. Yeah, they needed to stop by a competent healer or something before heading up to the moon.

Thankfully it didn’t take them long to get to Neverwinter, and once they were at the station they managed to get someone to take a look at Magnus. The boy detective was off talking to the militia so that they wouldn’t all get arrested, and it seemed like things were starting to chill out.

“Hey bud, you got a minute?”

A familiar voice echoed in Taako’s head. He instantly recognized who it was, and he looked around for the source while trying not to be too noticeable.

“Yeah, where the fuck are you?” Taako thought back, because he was pretty sure this was message. If it was message then he could respond, and Red had to be pretty close.

“Behind the train station, try not to let anyone see you head over here,” Red replied. Taako nodded, giving a quick look around himself to make sure no one was paying attention. Merle was with Magnus, trying to explain to the healer patching him up that yes those spell slots really did have to be used for zone of truth, and everyone else seemed to have wandered off. So Taako started walking off as casual as anything, stopping to look at a few stands as he did to make it less obvious.

When he got there, for a second the alleyway behind the train station was empty. Then a moment later and Red appeared, somehow managing to look a little more paranoid than usual.

Taako couldn’t put a finger on it, but it didn’t seem like he was doing all that great. He didn’t try to let the worry show on his face though, if he had to guess that would make the whole thing even worse. Besides, Taako didn’t worry like that about people.

“Did you get the relic?” he asked, his voice a lower whisper than it usually was. Taako guessed there was no way Red could feel safe, knowing that other people working for the Director were just around the corner.

“You know it, and no one important died. Hell, didn’t even have anyone use the thing. I still don’t know what the fuck this one even does,” he said, and there definitely seemed to be some relief in Red after hearing that.

“Good, that’s good. The Oculus can be a nasty one, it’d be better if it was sealed away before anyone got their hands on it,” he said. Taako couldn’t help but be curious now, but he doubted Red would actually let him play with the thing. “And you’re okay?” he asked, and Taako scoffed at the question.

“Of course my dude! This one was a fucking cake walk,” he said, and he didn’t mean to twirl the umbrastaff in his hand like he did. It was just sort of instinct. He talked with his hands a lot, and since he started using the umbrella the gestures had started to become second nature. It had clearly drawn Red’s attention to the item though, and as much as he was trying to play it cool Taako could see his focus immediately turn to the staff.

“Right. Of course, I know you’d all be able to handle it,” he said, his voice wavering slightly. It was pretty damn obvious just how strained this conversation was for Red. Taako gave up on the pretend casualness of the situation, sighing and his shoulders slumping as he dropped his arms to his sides.

“Fuck, Red, are you okay?” he asked, and it was obvious that the question took Red off guard, like he somehow thought he was fooling Taako with his pathetic act.

“What? Of course. I’m- I’m great. I’m doing fine Taako,” Red said, and he sounded a little more convincing by the end, but the whole thing just made it so obviously an act that Taako couldn’t buy it for a second.

“My dude, you look like you’re falling apart at the seams, literally. Something’s clearly fucking you up,” he said, and Red shook his head.

“That’s not- I’ll get through it,” he conceded, and okay, at least he admitted that something was up. There was a large part of Taako that wanted to keep pressing. To insist he tell him what exactly was up, but he had a feeling that wouldn't work out super great. Instead he let his mind shift to some other topic, any other topic.

“Shit right! I got a stone,” Taako said suddenly, the thought coming back to him in a flash and he immediately started digging through his bag. Red was looking at him, a little confused by the sudden change in topic. “A stone of farspeech, ya know? I’m still working on sending for emergencies, but this way we can talk sometimes and maybe your brain won’t be fried as much from your crippling loneliness or whatever,” he explained, holding the stone out for Red to see.

“Oh. Oh that uh, that might actually help some, yeah,” Red said, taking the stone and attuning it to his own before handing it back to Taako. “I’m not dying from crippling loneliness or whatever though, it’s- there’s just a lot right now,” he added. Which was fair. Taako tightened the grip on the umbrastaff, not knowing what to say.

And then before he could blink Red was suddenly gone. Normally when he disappeared he sort of faded out, but this one was like a hard cut. Taako nearly called out for him on instinct, the sudden disappearance catching him way off guard.

“What are you doing back here sir?” a voice called from the end of the alley, thankfully a moment before Taako had started shouting for Red. He didn’t quite manage to keep himself from looking suspicious as fuck as he winced, turning around in a flash and giving a way too fake wide smile at the boy detective watching him curiously from the street.

“Not a thing little man,” he said a little too quickly, starting to make his way out of the alley. Angus was definitely giving him a suspicious look, and Taako couldn’t even blame him all that much for that. Taako was acting hella suspicious right now.

“Were you talking to someone?” he asked, and Taako shook his head.

“Nope, just taking a leak,” he lied, and Angus gave him a disgusted look at that. Taako had reached the end of the alley by now, and there was little chance of him getting to see Red again before they left. At least he’d gotten his stone of farspeech back right before he did his sudden vanishing act. Maybe he could try and contact him later tonight, when he was sure he was alone and everyone else was asleep.

“That’s gross sir, there are bathrooms inside of the train station,” the kid said, and Taako shrugged.

“Hey, I don’t tell you how to do your business,” he said, and Angus rolled his eyes at that. For all that this kid was kind of a brat, Taako almost liked him. Hell, that was probably exactly why he was tolerating the kid.

“Well, I just wanted to say thank you for helping me solve this case, and if you’re ever in need of some more help solving crimes and cracking clues, feel free to contact me,” Angus said, holding out a small business card for Taako. He took it, and it just said ‘Angus McDonald’ across the front, with no other sort of contact or way to get in touch with the kid. He didn’t point that fact out, instead nodding and throwing it into his bag.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” he said. With that Angus gave him a nod and a big grin before turning and heading off. Taako didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care enough to ask, probably to his dying grandpa or whatever.

“Cute kid. Seems like a brat too smart for his own good. Reminds me of someone else I know,” Red’s voice echoed in his head, and yeah, Taako had a feeling he hadn’t actually gone all that far.

“Yeah fuck you too,” he said, throwing a middle finger up  at nothing. He had no idea where Red was, and he was pretty sure the people across the street were looking at him like he was insane, but Taako didn’t care much. Red chuckled in his head before the voice disappeared completely, and Taako was pretty sure he was gone then.

At least he seemed to be doing a little better. Taako fucking worried about that dude sometimes.

Heading back to the others, Magnus seemed to at least be up and moving again, and Merle was fine. There was nothing left to do but to head back to the base and get the relic destroyed.

Well, probably not destroyed, but whatever they were doing with these damn things.

——

Barry was having a rougher time than he was willing to admit.

He kept telling himself that Lup had to be out there, but the issue was he had no idea how to find her now. They had such a shorter time limit now on top of that. The hunger's scouts were going to find this world soon, now that Lucretia had several relics together. Hell, that was if they hadn’t found them already. Barry had to spend more of his time in his cave to keep from being tracked by Lucretia, he might have missed the moment they spotted this world.

They didn’t have a lot of time, and Barry was at a loss for what to do to fix all of this.

He was trying not to let that show to Taako though. He knew he was counting on him to keep it together. They all were, whether they knew it or not. They’d been working too hard for too long for it all to come crumbling down now, and as much as he loved Lucretia she was making a mistake. He couldn’t let her do this and cut them all off.

Barry guessed he wasn’t doing as good of a job hiding it as he might have liked though. They found the next relic quicker than he expected, only a week or so after he’d last talked to Taako. After he found out that Lup was- that she wasn’t where he thought she was. That she had definitely died at some point, and he had no idea how to track her now. He tried to push all of those thoughts to the back of his mind though. To focus on watching and making sure Taako, Merle, and Magnus were alright and made it through gathering the relic safely.

Thankfully, he didn’t end up having to step in. It was a little hard to figure out if he should near the end, mainly because it was kind of difficult keeping up with a moving train. He guessed they managed to deal with it though, disappearing the train off to who knows where before it crashed and hurt anybody. The relic didn’t even get a chance to get used again, and that was definitely a blessing.

With it returning to Lucretia, their signal would be even stronger. There was no way the hunger wouldn’t be on its way now. They were on a time limit.

Still, Barry tried to talk to Taako once the mission seemed to be over. He knew it was a risk, and it wasn’t even necessary. He could see from a distance that he was fine, could tell from the gentle tug on his mind that they had the relic on them. Everything had gone well, so he could have waited until the next time Taako made his way planetside to get filled in on all the details. It would have certainly been the safer option.

Despite that, Barry sent a message and had Taako meet him back behind the train station. He knew it was stupid, but he could feel himself fraying. He was trying not to show it, but fuck. It’d only been a few weeks since Phandalin. Since a decades worth of searching had turned out to be a single step in whatever mystery Lup had left them. Since they were officially on a time table again.

And now another relic so soon. More fear about his family going into danger. More uncertainty about the future.

It was nice, to get to talk to Taako for just a few minutes. To be reassured that he was alright and they still had each others back. That Taako still trusted him, despite what Lucretia was surely telling him.

They didn’t get to talk for long though. As soon as Barry saw someone rounding the corner he threw up an invisibility as fast as he could. It seemed to do the trick, the kid not seeming to have noticed anything once he finally looked down the alleyway and saw Taako. He was someone who’d been on the train with them, and it wasn’t hard when you knew Taako to know when he had a soft spot for someone. He was definitely humoring the kid more than he needed to, even going so far as to put the rather useless looking business card into his bag instead of throwing it over his shoulder after a glance.

With that though, Barry knew he couldn’t stay long. After the kid left, so did he, moving a fair distance out of the city before teleporting back out to his cave. As soon as he was there he headed over to a list he’d written up of the relics, scratching off the oculus with a sigh.

There were only five left to go. It was so much faster than he expected, after so long of getting nothing done. Or at least, that was how it felt. He told himself it hadn’t been nothing. Him and Taako had been making progress, and they still were. This was just a change of pace. They had both agreed they needed a change of pace. It was a little more change than he’d been expecting, but Barry told himself that he’d have time to adjust.

They could still find Lup. As soon as they had her back, they could figure the rest out.

Barry was well aware of how much of his sanity he was resting on the idea of getting Lup back, but there was nothing else he could do. She was his strongest tether. Not his only one, but she was the beam the rest of them spun around. He needed her to know who he was. To remind him just how much of the world was worth saving.

It wasn’t as long as he expected before his stone of farspeech lit up. He figured Taako would wait some, not wanting to risk anyone overhearing him or getting suspicious or anything like that. Taako was typically pretty good about that sort of thing. Plus, he still wasn’t sure how often he even wanted to talk to him. It was always Barry going to him, not the other way around.

It was only a day and a half later though when his stone lit up, and there was only one person who could possibly be calling him.

“Red? You there?” Taako’s voice came through, clearly in a bit of a whisper.

“You know my name now. You can call me my name if you want Taako,” Barry said, although it was probably a good thing he was using the nickname. It wasn’t the most subtle one, what with the apparently name Lucretia had decided to give their little ‘organization.' Still, it was better than anyone overhearing him talking to Barry Bluejeans.

“I fucking told you my dude I am not calling you that stupid name. Now, are you there or not,” he said, and if Barry had eyes he would have rolled them.

“No, I’m not here. You’ve reached the automated and sentient voice mailbox, leave a message after the damn beep,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

“Great, so how you’ve been my dude?” Taako asked, sounding intentionally cheerful, probably just to offset his own tone. Barry couldn’t help it, snorting a little in laughter.

“I’m fine Taako, I told you before that I’m doing alright,” he said, and he was at least trying to sound convincing. He told himself he really was fine, this was just a bit of an adjustment period. An adjustment to new information, an adjustment to Taako’s situation, an adjustment in time frame. Lots of little things that were piling up.

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe a word of that because you were clearly lying, so I’m asking again,” Taako said, and Barry could feel a smile pulling at his soul. Sure, he could read Taako a hell of a lot better than most people could, but it sure as shit went both ways.

“It’s just been a lot. I don’t… I don’t know where to look for her now,” he said, and Taako was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. Barry couldn’t blame him, there was no real answer to that.

“Do you want me to like, look for some answers here? Your sister might know something,” he offered, but Barry quickly shook his head even thought Taako couldn’t see him.

“No, it’s too much of a risk. If you start snooping around someone might realize something’s up. It’s best if you just lay low for now, and beside, she wouldn’t… if Lucretia knew where she was, she would do something about it. She wouldn’t just leave her,” Barry said, and he had to believe that. He knew Lucretia missed Lup just as much as the rest of them. He had to believe that she wouldn’t do anything to actively hurt any of them, and keeping Lup locked away somewhere? That would be an active malicious thing.

And Lucretia wouldn’t do that to them. He refused to believe it.

“The director’s name is Lucretia?” Taako asked, and Barry winced at that. Fuck. He hadn’t meant to let that slip.

“Shit, yeah,” he admitted, and he was a little surprised that she hadn’t just told them herself. It was just her name. He knew she was a part of this huge organization and the others didn’t actually remember that they knew her anymore, but it felt bizarre that she would close herself off so completely like that. “Don’t uh, don’t let her know I told you that,” he added, and he could practically feel Taako rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.

“Yeah, no shit my dude,” he said, and that was probably fair. “Anyway, I just called to make sure you weren’t like, falling apart at the seams or whatever. You seemed kinda out of it last time,” Taako added.

“Right I uh, thanks Taako,” Barry said, and he really was thankful. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he didn’t have his brother breaking him out of those spirals every so often. “I’m doing a lot better now.”

“Good, can’t have you freaking out on me now,” Taako said, and it was fair. It was a positive, they were getting closer. To what, Barry couldn’t say it was actually good. It was something though, that was the most important thing. “I should get going soon, uh, kinda hid away to make this call,” he added, and Barry laughed a little at that, quickly nodding.

“Alright, talk to you later Taako.”

“Later Red.”

Chapter Text

They didn’t find the next relic as quick as they did the second one. Taako guessed that was to be expected, it usually was a while between Red’s missions, and those weren’t even all for the relics. Like over half of those were just looking for his wife, and it still seemed to take forever for the dude to pinpoint places to look.

Or at least it used to. Taako wasn’t sure how much the guy was searching now. He still was, it was clear he was still trying to find her, which was a good thing. Taako was pretty sure Red couldn’t give up and still continue to be himself. So the fact that he was still looking was good.

It did seem to have slowed down some as he reconsidered exactly what his options were with finding her. He no longer had the gauntlet as his apparent beacon for her and was kind of lost on the next move. Taako was trying not to press him on it, which considering the fact that the world apparently road on this was exceedingly generous.

All that was to say that it took the bureau a bit of time to find the next relic, and Taako should have expected that but was left extremely bored in the interim. Sure, there was more shit to do on the moon than he expected, and Magnus and Merle were easier to hang out with than he ever thought. He actually found himself enjoying his time around the two of them, mostly fucking off and annoying other people at the bureau. They clicked in a lot of the same ways Red did, and Taako had to stop himself from mentioning him every now and then.

Sometimes he caught himself a little too late, and there’d be a moment of panic as he tried to cut himself off. He was trying real hard not to let anything slip when it came to Red, but these guys brought down his guard in a way he didn’t expect. It was just natural, which made it all the more disarming.

After a few close calls though Taako realized something. He’d at least always made himself call Red by his actual name in front of these people. As much as he insisted on only calling him Red when it was the two of them, Barry was the name the others knew him by. That was the name he’d agreed to call Red in front of people, at least when they were planning on going after these things together for for small time they had.

The three had been crammed in their dorm room, and Taako actually found himself laughing and talking. Some dumb story Magnus had said had reminded him of something, and without thinking he started on his own.

“Oh man, you guys would not believe what fucking Barry did one ti-” he said, cutting himself off and wincing as soon as he realized what he was doing. He expected the two others to be looking at him with suspicion, there was no fucking way they hadn’t noticed that after all. When he chanced a glance through they both looked nervously at each other before turning back to him.

“Hey uh, Taako? We’re real sorry about your brother,” Magnus said after a moment, actually looking somewhat guilty. Which was pretty weird.

“Oh. Uh, why?” Taako asked, not able to hide the genuine confusion in his voice. This wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d been expecting. Magnus and Merle looked even more confused and concerned though, which was honestly a little uncomfortable. Taako liked these dudes, but it had taken him like over a year to get used to Red’s genuine affection and shit, and even now he wasn’t all that great at it. He wasn’t really ready for getting this shit from multiple sources yet.

“Well, the dude beefed it pretty bad back in Phandalin,” Merle said, a little too blunt to be any sort of comforting, which Magnus swiftly elbowed him in the side for. Taako stared blankly for a moment, before blinking and realizing what the fuck was going on here. Right, his supposed adopted brother fucking up and died. And now he seemed to be cutting himself off and and wincing while refusing to talk every time the guy came up in casual conversation. 

Most sane people would probably take that as ‘dude’s real broken up about his family burning in front of him’ and not immediately jump to ‘this guy’s hiding a lich who is working in opposition to the organization we belong to now.’

“Right, it’s uh, it’s chill. Dude was always getting himself into stupid shit and nearly dying. Honestly surprised he managed that long,” Taako said, trying to play it off like it wasn’t that big of a deal. He didn’t actually want them to get all worried about him and shit, even if it was the easiest course of action to take. Magnus and Merle seemed to at least recognize the redirect, even if they probably didn’t believe him all that much.

“Well, just let us know if you need anything buddy,” Magnus said, and Taako nodded a little too quickly to be natural.

“Sure, sure,” he said way too casually, just kind of wanting this conversation to be over now. It wasn’t that he felt bad about making people think he was upset about his close family dying when the were actually fine and a ghost in a cave and also not technically even really his family. He just didn’t want to get even deeper into the lie than he already was, cause that made for so many more ways to fuck it up. Thankfully, the two bone heads seemed to get the picture, moving onto another topic and saving Taako from this torment.

Taako tried his best to make sure he didn’t ever accidentally bring up Red again after that. Sometimes it still slipped out, when it was just him and Mags and Merle, but he had a tight grip on it any other time. He sure as fuck made sure not to mention him ever in front of Red’s sister. He wasn’t about to risk his lie in front of her. Thankfully, neither of the chucklefucks made any comment about him pretending like Red basically never existed. He was lucky, that whole ‘brothers’ lie had been more useful than he expected, even after his ‘death.’

It also made sneaking down to see Red a lot easier too. He guessed Magnus or Merle must’ve mentioned something to Avi. Probably Magnus, he seemed like the kind of guy to actually talk to people about this sort of stuff to try and help with like, emotional shit. Either way, the next time Taako tried to go down to the planet, asking to be put down near Phandalin, Avi didn’t question it. He just gave him a nod and a sympathetic smile as he said a quick ‘sure thing bud.’

If people thought he was going to visit the grave of his dead family, he might as well let them keep at it. It was close enough to the truth that Taako didn’t even need to feel guilty for lying.

It was hard to tell if Red was doing better when he saw him. The dude was still struggling, but he wasn’t quite as broken as the first time Taako had seen him after joining the bureau. That made sense, Taako hadn’t given him anymore mind-shattering revelations since then, but still. Red was clearly still adjusting somewhat from the last one.

Taako tried to keep the umbrella out of his sight. He never took it off his person, he wasn’t going to risk losing it or it getting stolen or anything like that. Still, he tried not to wave it around too much in front of Red. It felt too much like taunting him, or just reminding him of some shit he needed a break from for a bit. Even if they couldn’t afford a break at the moment.

It was maybe a month and a half, almost two months after they found the second relic. Taako was adjusting the to bureau, despite still not trusting it. He guessed he was doing a pretty good job of hiding that fact so far, because no one had called him out on it yet. They definitely didn’t seem suspicious when they called him and tweedledee and tweedledum down to the Director’s office to start their next mission.

Their next target was apparently a sash, with the power to control nature like a god or some shit. Sounded pretty dangerous, but maybe not quite as dangerous as the fucking fire gauntlet. Taako needed to sit down with Red one of these days and have him explain to him what each of these fucking relics did. He could understand now after all, and Red would be the one to know.

Speaking of Red, after they got the go for their mission, Taako slipped away. He didn’t have a lot of time, but hopefully no one would notice if he was gone for five minutes. If nothing else, he could say he had to go to the bathroom before they went and got killed by a bunch of weird plants.

“Hey, you there Red?” he asked, having hidden himself in a storage closet as he whispered into his stone of farspeech. There was a short moment, and then a crackle on the other end of the line as Red picked up.

“Taako? What’s up?” he asked, sounding curious. Just curious, not panicked or like he was struggling to keep himself together, so it must be a pretty good day. That was probably lucky, Taako wouldn’t want to drop this on one of his bad days. Even though Red was dealing with everything well enough, there were obviously days where his mind was worn down worse than others.

“Hey, can’t talk long. Director’s having us go after another relic, some plant belt down in Goldcliff,” Taako said, wanting to get the most important shit out of the way first in case he needed to cut off the conversation quick. Even though Taako couldn’t see him, he could hear the change in Red’s mood at that. The sudden stiff interest and concern.

“Oh, shit, okay. Right, that makes sense,” he said, and Taako wasn’t exactly sure in what way it made sense, but he figured he could drill Red on it later.

“Just thought I’d give you a heads up, since I didn’t get a chance to with the last one,” he said. Taako could imagine the way Red would nod at that, the cowl of his robe bobbing with nothing but shadow and bone underneath.

“Right, thanks Taako. I’ll try and do what I can, but please be careful,” he said, and Taako nodded. He couldn’t say he was surprised by Red’s warning. He knew this shit was fucking dangerous, he was just real lucky that he had Red on the backburner if things went real bad. They didn’t want to play that card yet though, that would definitely raise some questions. Apparently the Director didn’t even think he was still around anymore, so him showing up to suddenly help would draw some attention for sure.

“Will do, catch you later Red,” Taako said.

“Good luck bud,” Red replied, and with that Taako quickly shut off his stone of farspeech. Listening outside of the storage closet for a moment, Taako waited until he was fairly sure the hall was empty before stepping back out. Elven ears were pretty damn useful, because the coast was indeed clear as he headed out. Slipping the stone back into his pocket, he made his way to the hanger.

Magnus and Merle were already there, but it didn’t seem like they’d been waiting an obnoxiously long time or anything like that. Even still, they gave Taako a bit of a questioning look as he met up with them again.

“What took you pointy hat?” Merle asked, and Taako waved off the question, the umbrastaff twirling in his hand as he did.

“Just getting a few things ready before we got killed by a bunch of plants. Had to be sure my will is all up to date, that sort of thing,” he said. Merle shrugged, not seeming to want to press it, and Magnus had a somewhat thoughtful look on his face.

“You know that’s probably a good idea, I need to make sure Steven goes to a loving home if I ever die,” he said. Taako snorted at that, and then Avi was starting to direct them towards the cannons to get this show on the road. Taako kept a tight hand on the umbrastaff as they headed down, trying to convince himself it would be fine.

Hopefully, gathering these fucking things wouldn’t backfire too spectacularly.

——

Barry had figured it was going to happen soon, so he couldn’t say he was exactly surprised when Taako called him with the news. He hadn’t hidden the sash as well as he would have liked, he’d been pressed for time and didn’t have a lot of options. He’d tried to put it as far away from civilization as he could, so he wasn’t thrilled to know it had gotten back to a major city.

There wasn’t much he could do about that now though. There wasn’t anything they were supposed to be able to do with the relics, the original plan had hinged on letting them stay out in the world and be sought after. It was rough, rougher than any of them had anticipated, but it was the only way it would have worked.

Of course, none of that mattered now. Lucretia already had three relics, the only thing they could do now was hope that they could gather all of them before the hunger came. If they had the light of creation back together then maybe it would at least give them some options.

They had to get to that point first though. So Barry headed to Goldcliff, and he was hoping he could stay out of the way for this one. He’d managed to hang back for the whole incident on the train while they were getting the oculus, which was a relief. He didn’t want to raise Lucretia’s suspicions if he didn’t have to. He couldn’t just sit back in his cave and hope they would be okay either though. Barry had to be there, make sure he could step in if they really needed his help.

This one turned out to be harder than the oculus. Barry supposed that made sense, someone was actually using this relic, and it wasn’t as fast as the gauntlet was. As terrible as Lup’s relic was, it was always over so fast. A burst of power that lit up the world for a moment before going dormant again. The rest of their relics weren’t like that. They tended to fester, to twist and corrupt and spread.

There was more than one time when Barry almost jumped in to help. It was hard as fuck staying on the sidelines. It was fucking torture if he was being honest, having to watch his family risk their necks out there. Not being able to help them, looking on as they were at only a fraction of the power he knew they were capable of. Wondering if they’d managed to recover enough of their skills to manage this.

He wondered if Lucretia was watching too. If she was having the same feelings of helplessness as he was, watching their family struggle against the powers they created. Getting the same swirls of pride whenever they managed something tricky or dangerous. He was sure she was. As upset as he still was with her, as much as he knew she had brought this upon herself, a part of him wanted to fix that too.

Barry managed to hold back for almost the entire misadventure though. He wasn’t able to watch everything, as much as he wanted to. He couldn’t risk it, he needed to make sure he stayed hidden, that Lucretia didn’t realize how close he was. Still, some parts were hard. He could see the pain on Taako, Merle, and Magnus’s faces as the two racers transformed. It was a beautiful sight despite how unfortunate, and honestly Barry wasn’t sure how much he could have helped there anyway. Healing had never been a particular specialty of his. He tended to work with things that healing wouldn’t have much of an effect on anymore.

He thought that was it though. They managed to get the relic, and despite the few casualties they did have, it wasn’t as bad as Phandalin. Barry figured they could chalk it up as a success. They just needed to get back to the base and get the relic to wherever Lucretia was holding them. He knew she wasn’t destroying them, not really. There wasn’t a way to destroy something like the light of creation.

He’d mostly been watching for a chance to check in with Taako. He didn’t know the guy they had gone with, so he was trying to make sure he didn’t try anything either, but Barry didn’t think it was actually something he would have to step in for. He figured the hard part was over.

Maybe he overreacted. He hadn’t exactly been in the best head space lately to make these kinds of decisions, and he’d been kind of on the edge of jumping in all fucking day during that race. The other closest time had been when Taako was forced to jump off the wagon without his harness. Barry was halfway through a teleport to grab him before he saw the bugbear speeding up to catch him instead. He might have been a little jumpy since then.

And when Barry noticed the poison, it might have sent him over the edge. He couldn’t- this wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone attempt to poison his family, and just like the last time he found himself acting before he could think. In a flash he was possessing Captain Captain Bane, smashing two of the glasses before forcing the guy to drink the third one himself. It was harsh, and maybe he would regret it later, but the only thing he could think of at the moment was that this man was a threat to his family and needed to be gone.

Captain Bane’s body fell, and when Barry stopped seeing nothing but red he could see Taako, Merle, and Magnus staring at him in confusion and fear.

Shit.

Taako also looked afraid, but Barry was pretty sure it was in the ‘what the fuck is this idiot doing’ kind of way.

Before Barry could think about what to do, Magnus was swinging an ax at him. It went straight through his spectral form, so it wasn’t really an issue. It also gave Barry a few more seconds to figure out how the fuck he was gonna handle this.

“Do not be afraid,” he said finally, making his voice rasp and echo. Magnus and Merle had met him in his living body, he didn’t want them recognizing the voice.

“Are you guys afraid? I’m not afraid,” Magnus said, and Merle and Taako both shook their heads. It didn’t even seem like a boast or like they were trying to front, after the initial shock they really did seem to have chilled out with his presence. He expected that from Taako, but not so much from the other two.

“Well, good,” Barry said, immediately feeling a little stupid for that. He couldn’t act chummy with them, not with Lucretia possibly watching. Still, it was hard to think straight, and he needed to play this part he had no idea how to actually do. “Or wait, no, be afraid,” he added quickly, feeling even more like a dumbass.

“But you just told us not to be!” Merle complained, and Barry huffed slightly.

“Well I misspoke. You should be afraid,” he said. It was pretty obvious that he’d lost any sort of intimidating factor he could have hoped for, but he just had to keep going at this point. “You should be afraid, but you’ve forgotten how to be afraid,” he said, holding out a hand.

Above it, he started projecting the images of several faces. He knew he couldn’t make them remember, but maybe he could sow the seeds of distrust. He hated doing that to Lucretia, but he couldn’t let her go through with this. He had Taako on his side, but Magnus and Merle probably saw him as a monster.

“Gundren Rockseerker, Magic Brian, Jenkins, Sloan, Captain Bane. This is the true nature of man. The want, the hunger, it consumes everything it touches. It cannot be stopped or changed,” he said, letting the images fade before turning directly towards the three.

“Be careful who you trust. This is your first lesson.”

Before he could screw up any more, Barry disappeared in a small burst of flames.

He couldn’t say he was exactly surprised when his stone of farspeech started going off very late that night. He might have been waiting by it a little impatiently, although he couldn’t blame Taako for wanting to wait as long as possible after all that.

When he answered the stone he couldn’t even get a single word out before Taako started going off. Barry also couldn’t blame him for that, all things considered.

“What the fuck was that? I thought we were being stealth! In what reality is killing a dude and then rambling on some weird monologue stealth Red? Because it sure ain’t this one!” Taako shouted. Or well, shouted as much as he could, it kinda sounded like he was still trying to whisper, which was fair. Barry sighed, running a hand down his non-existent face.

“He was trying to poison you all. I panicked,” he said, which wasn’t the best excuse in the world, but it was the truth.

“And the grand speech you gave up there? Real cool power point by the way, not creepy at all,” Taako said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. It wasn’t like Barry didn’t deserve all of this, but even still he sighed, trying to get some control of the situation back. He liked to think that he hadn’t completely ruined this whole thing after all, there had been a bit of a method to his madness, once he got on a roll.

“I was trying to cover my tracks,” he said, and he could hear Taako hum unconvinced on the other end of the line.

“Explain,” he demanded simply.

“Lucretia already thinks I… I’m pretty sure she thinks I’ve lost it. That I’m not really there anymore, after everything that happened. The last time she saw me I didn’t exactly look… great. I figured spouting off a bunch of cryptic nonsense and being all threatening and stuff would help uh, keep that image up,” he said, and there was a long moment where Taako was quiet before finally sighing.

“Okay, shit that kinda makes sense. I’ll say for one thing you certainly convinced me you lost your damn mind, so it probably worked on her too,” Taako said, and Barry chuckled a little at that. “She was real uh, I don’t know if pissed is the word? Upset though, with the whole show. I don’t think she suspected me of anything, and we got a cool new promotion, but ya know,” he added. That was a relief, they’d be in so much fucking trouble if Luce started to get suspicious of them.

“Promotion?” he ended up asking, because like, he knew Lucretia was running an organization. He understood it conceptually, that Taako and the others were employees of that organization. It still felt kind of hilarious thinking of them getting a promotion.

“Yeah, new bunks and everything. Finally got my own room, so that might help with calling you and shit. Won’t have to go hiding in closets and bathrooms like the most suspicious person on the planet,” Taako explained. Barry chuckled a little at that, although it was fair. If anyone found him doing that often it would definitely look suspect.

“Good to hear,” he said, and even with Taako having his own room, they still shouldn’t talk for long. Especially after the shit storm that had happened that morning. Taako was probably able to tell what he was thinking from the pause, sighing after a moment.

“Well anyway, I should get some Zs. Exhausted as shit after all that,” he said, which made sense. The day had definitely been busy for them, and then he’d stayed up late to get a chance to call him.

“Right, go get some rest bud,” Barry said, and there was a quiet pause on the other end of the line for a moment. He couldn’t be entirely sure why, but he knew Taako well enough to be able to think of a couple different possibilities. Whatever it was though Taako didn’t bring up, continuing on after a few seconds like nothing had happened.

“Later Red,” he said, and then the stone went dim. Barry stared at it for a moment before disappearing it into a pocket dimension with a wave of his hand. With a sigh he headed back over to his board, where he’d already crossed out the gaia sash.

Four now. Four items he didn’t want to even think about his family going near. Forcing his attention away from that, he looked at the map he had hanging up by the list of relics instead. The map full of lines and Xs, marking all the spots he’d looked for Lup. There was a big circle over Wave Echo Cave, with a question mark inside. She’d been there. Sometime after she disappeared, she went there and died hiding her relic away.

“But where did you go after?” he asked. The only answer was his own echo ringing out dimly in the dark cave. They needed to find her soon.

They were running out of time.

Chapter Text

For all that Taako boasted about getting in his beauty sleep and making sure others did the hard work for him, he didn’t actually know what to do with his down time. Or well, with a lot of down time that is.

He’d never had that problem before. There was always something to do. Before it had been traveling around trying to survive, and then it had been working on the show, going from town to town and raking up praise at a lightning pace. And then after that all crashed and burned, it was still constant moving. Constant vigilance, making sure no one recognized him, that he wasn’t going to be caught or spotted.

None of that was necessary up here though. Sure, they had training they had to get to, and there were things to do between all that. After getting back from the last mission a lot had changed. The director had been pretty pissed when they got back from getting the sash. To be fair, Taako was still kind of reeling from the whole... incident. He didn’t know what Red had been thinking, showing himself like that. Just fucking killing a dude. Sure, he’d been trying to poison them, but still.

God, Sazed really had gotten off easy as fuck, if that was how Red typically dealt with dudes who tried to poison people he cared about.

When the Director pulled them into her office, Taako didn’t try to hide anything. Magnus and Merle were going to tell her about the incident, so he did as well. He could see the shock there, at the mention of a Red Robe. The confusion as they explained what he’d said. The barely concealed panic as she insisted they not try to kill him if they ever come in contact with him again. The continued insistence that he was pure evil.

It was all a lot to take in, and Taako hoped there was enough going through the Director’s head that she didn’t notice everything going through his.

The topic changed fast after that though. He couldn't blame her for needing to regroup her thoughts after learning all that. Distracting them with surprise good news was a decent enough strategy. They got a new place to stay, a fancy new dorm room with actual private bedrooms and shit. That kid detective was also back. Apparently the brat was good enough to actually track down the bureau, so now they were stuck with him.

Despite all of those changes though, it didn’t take long to fall into a routine again. The new rooms were good, meant he had more privacy. When he was out and about Taako spent a lot of time chilling with Magnus and Merle, and none of it was particularly bad. Most of the time, as long as he was doing something Taako was honestly fine. More than fine. He was having a good time.

There were too many down moments though. Too many bits of time in between where he was allowed to chill off on his own, and those were the moments where it started to bother him.

It felt like they were wasting time.

He couldn’t blame Mags and Merle, because they didn’t know. As far as those two dunderheads were aware they had all the time in the world to gather the relics, a small ASAP slapped onto that since they were all dangerous and crap. Still, there was no set date, no literal giant ticking clock.

He couldn’t tell if the Director knew or not. Red insisted that she had to, and Taako was fairly sure he could see it in her urgency sometimes. Still, it wasn’t something he could exactly talk to her about, not without risking their whole deal.

Red insisted that with this part, they had to trust her. They couldn’t let her go through with whatever her final plan was, but as for gathering the relics, they had to believe the bureau could help them gather the items fast enough. They had to trust that him and Magnus and Merle could actually fucking be competent enough not to get boned on one of these missions and doom the whole damn world. That one Taako had a harder time believing, but they didn’t have much of a choice.

It’d been over a month since they got the last relic, and there still seemed to be no sign of the next one. Sure, Taako wasn’t too plugged into the goings ons with the seekers, but the Director hadn’t said anything about heading down for a mission in a while. Their training was starting to pick up a little bit again, which was probably a good sign pointing towards one coming soon. It still seemed to be taking forever though. Taako was getting impatient. He didn’t know how to just wait around like this.

He hadn’t been down to visit Red in a while. They talked on the stone sometimes, more often now that he had his own room, but Taako still tried not to call too much. He didn’t want anyone overhearing.

It’d probably been long enough that he could chance another visit. If only to keep himself from going fucking stir crazy.

He’d managed to get sending down in the past month though, so he sent a quick warning down to Red that he’d be showing up in like fifteen minutes before going to the hanger. It wasn’t Avi manning it this time, which meant Taako had no idea who they were. That was a little annoying, but he guessed Avi had to take breaks sometimes.

They didn’t bother to question Taako though, sending him down a little outside Phandalin without much of an attempt at conversation, thank fuck. They did have a decent amount of clout in this whole organization thanks to gathering two of the relics already, which certainly did help.

Once he moved a decent distance away from where the transport canon had put him down Red showed himself. Taako wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been watching the whole time and picked a safe distance before actually dropping the invisibility. Taako had come to visit him only a few scarce times so far, they didn’t want to risk shit. Even still, it had somehow fallen into a bit of a routine. Without a word Red reached out a spectral arm, and as soon as Taako took it he teleported the both of them back to the cave.

“So uh, how’ve you been bud?” Red asked once they were in the safety of the hide out. Taako let out a loud groan, immediately moving over to flop down on the shitty excuse for a bed he had in here. “That bad, huh?” he asked, chuckling somewhat. Taako grumbled, flipping around and moving the shitty pillow he had up against the cave wall so he could sit up some.

“Bored as shit my dude,” he said, and he could see Red nodding sympathetically at that. “Just, ya know, can’t help but feel like I’m sitting around wasting time up there,” he added. The amusement that had been in Red’s form before dropped some at that, which was fair. Taako was sure the time limit was wearing on Red just as much as it was on him.

“I get it Taako, but we have to be patient,” he said, and Taako had heard that one already. He understood it too, as much as he could understand anything about this situation. It didn’t mean he had to like it though.

“I’d rather not just patiently wait around for the apocalypse to show up thank you very much. I’d kinda like to be prepared to blast it right back where it came from once it shows up actually,” he said, and Red sighed. It wasn’t like this was the first time they’d had this conversation. Hell, Taako had been on both ends of it by this point. It was just so frustrating waiting, even though they both knew it was their only option at this point.

“I promise, we’re not doing that. We’re- we’ll be ready when it comes,” Red insisted. Taako believed him, he had to believe him, but he still huffed, slumping up against the wall a bit more.

“Still feel like we’re not getting anything useful done right now,” he grumbled. There was a long moment where it was silent between the two, and it was surprisingly easy for Taako to pick up what kind of silence it was. It wasn’t an awkward quiet, or a guilty quiet, or even frustration. When he glanced over at Red, the spectral dork had this look about him. Taako waited, not sure what he was thinking but figuring he’d decide whatever it was he was contemplating on soon enough.

“Well uh, I guess there is something we could do right now, if you really feel like being productive. It’s um, I’m not gonna lie my dude, it’s a little weird though,” he said. Hearing that from an actual, literal lich should have been off-putting, and it definitely caused Taako to hesitate slightly.

His boredom and curiosity quickly won though, and Taako shrugged, pushing himself up slightly.

“Weird how? Whatcha got in mind my dude?” he asked. Red floated over closer to him at this point, doing his best impression of sitting down on one of the shitty little wooden chairs he had in here. Taako guessed he couldn’t blame the guy for wanting to pretend to do regular person stuff every so often.

“So uh, I don’t want to do anything too dangerous. Like I said, we need to be patient, not about to blow our cover or anything, but it would be like, real helpful if I could get a look of the moon base. I know you’ve been there and everything, and I trust your judgement. It’d be good for planning though if I could see what we’re up against for myself,” he started, and Taako raised an eyebrow at that. Made sense, Red would be able to tell more shit from seeing it than from Taako’s haphazard explanations and such.

“I thought you couldn’t get on the moon though? There’s like, some sort of barrier or something, right?” he asked, and Red nodded at that.

“Yeah no, can’t get close to the thing when I’m in my lich form,” he said, and it was obvious that Red was leading up to something. Taako had said a lot about being bored and wanting to get something productive done before, but he was starting to feel some hesitation now.

“I take it you’ve got some sort of workaround in mind then?” he asked, and Red nodded.

“That’s the weird part,” he said, and Taako couldn’t help but snort at that. God, this was probably going to be an absolutely terrible idea. He should abort.

“Yeah alright, fucking shoot my dude,” he said, and he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it sure as fuck wasn’t the question that came.

“Would it be cool if I possessed you for just like, a little bit?”

—

Barry could not blame Taako for getting frustrated at the presumed lack of progress. Barry was also extremely frustrated by all the waiting they were being forced to do while searching for the relics. It felt agonizing, and they both could use something to take their minds off the current lack of options.

He wasn’t sure how much Taako actually liked his suggestion though.

“What the fuck?” he asked, and it was a bit of a struggle to keep himself from laughing. He kind of expected that kind of reaction, but that didn’t make it any less amusing.

“I mean, I warned you! I told you it was gonna be weird!” he said, and Taako huffed in indignation. It was true though, Barry was a lich. If he said something was gonna be weird, it was gonna be fucking weird.

“Is that even a thing you can do? How do you know it’ll let you get on the fucking moon?” Taako pressed, and both were fair enough questions. Barry was kind of shocked that it wasn’t just an immediate no. He’d honestly been expecting that more than anything.

“I mean, yeah of fucking course it’s a thing I can do. I’m a god damn ghost. Why else would I suggest it?” he asked bluntly. He didn’t get on Taako about anything that might have been lost in Lucretia’s redactions, but ghosts being able to possess people just made sense. “And uh, it should work. As long as I’m in a body it should be enough to get me through the barrier she has up, it doesn’t matter what body,” he added. He could see the clear skepticism on Taako’s face, and he was still surprised that he hadn’t immediately started shooting the idea down yet.

“Okay but how possessed are we talking? Is it like, total control sorry Taako is no longer in there total possession? Or is it more of a body share thing? Or what?” he asked, and okay, that was way more consideration than Barry actually expected Taako to give to this idea. It almost sounded like he was considering it.

“Well, I can do the whole total control nap time for you thing but I’d rather not? I’m pretty sure I can have it so that you can still think and see and stuff inside. And like, communicate with me,” he explained. There was a long moment where Taako didn’t say anything, clearly thinking this whole thing over with a lot of internal debating. Barry was genuinely a little shocked when he finally threw his hands up, giving a large exaggerated shrug.

“Yeah, alright! Fuck it! Not like my life can get any fucking weirder!” he shouted, and Barry couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that. He probably should have expected it, but he hadn’t.

“Are you sure? Like if you’re uncomfortable with the idea I get it, it’s cool,” Barry tried to insist, but Taako was already nodding, pushing himself back up off the bed. He seemed determined in a way of wanting to get this over with, and Barry couldn’t blame him too much for that.

“No, fuck it we’re doing this. But I swear you try anything funny and you’re out of there, alright? No messing with the money maker,” he said, and Barry quickly nodded. If he could smile right now he would, just at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

Also at the trust he knew this had to require from Taako. He knew Taako trusted him yeah, but this was a whole other level.

“Of course, don’t worry. This might uh, this might feel a little weird,” he said, and Taako nodded. He stood up straight, standing like he wasn’t sure what to do with his arms. Barry didn’t do anything showy, figuring it would be best to keep this as simple as possible. He simply floating into the place where Taako was standing, and where he could feel Taako’s soul inside of him Barry let his own fill in like a blanket around it.

Immediately he was aware of sensations he hadn’t felt since the last time he was in his own body. It was cold, the air damp and moist as he breathed in. He was breathing, and his body was warm.

It wasn’t exactly like in his regular body though. He could see in the dim lit back corners of his cave like he never could in his own body, and he could hear the slight bubbling drone from the cloning pod in the corner clear as anything. He could also move his ears, twitching them experimentally for a moment before chuckling. It wasn’t his own voice that came out though, instead Taako’s much higher pitched one.

‘Having fun there?’ a thought in his head that wasn’t his own sounded, and it was clearly Taako’s. Barry nodded, and he felt a little bad about all of this. He was sure it had to be super fucking weird for Taako.

“Yeah sorry, elves are weird,” he said, lifting Taako’s arm up to get a better look at the bracer on it. It was a simple enough enchantment, and Barry was pretty impressed with the spell Lucretia had used to seal it. He wasn’t sure she’d quite thought that one through, but hopefully that was something they could talk about some day in the far future.

‘Rude!’ Taako’s voice shouted in his mind.

“Are you sure this is okay though? If it’s too much we don’t have to do it, I can leave you right now,” he said, and it was weird as fuck talking with Taako’s voice. His head nodded without his permission, and he could feel Taako’s surprise at that.

‘Oh hey, still got some control I guess. Yeah no, not the worst fucking thing in the world. Just don’t get comfy my dude, this is a one time deal,’ he said, which was more than fair. Even still, Barry couldn’t help but grin a little at that.

“Okay, cool. In that case we should get going. I want to see as much of the base as possible and also eat like, so much fucking food,” he added, feeling Taako’s indignation at that second thing. 

‘Excuse you! Eat in your own damn body,’ he insisted, and Barry pouted. He knew Taako couldn’t see him right not, at least without a mirror, but he could still feel him.

“I’m a lich Taako, I can’t eat it in my body,” he complained. There was wordless grumbles of annoyance from Taako at that, but nothing actually outright telling him not to again. With that though he did a quick look around the cave, making sure that Taako hadn’t left anything, before moving to cast the teleport spell.

It was only then that he realized he was holding Lup’s umbrella. There was a pang in his chest at that, a pain that felt so much more physical when in a body. He tried to ignore it though, push it to the back of his mind.

They would find her.

Casting the spell, Barry knew about where Taako landed and was picked up by the bureau. As he pushed the button on the bracer, he took a deep breath. It was kind of nice, getting to breathe again.

‘Hey, can you hear me like this Taako?’ he thought as he waited for the weird canon thing to get down here. He did not want to be stuck talking out loud every time he needed to say something to Taako. That might get a bit weird.

‘Yeah, I got you,’ Taako replied, which was a relief. Barry could see the sphere heading down now, and well, he certainly couldn’t knock Lucretia for all the decisions she’d made in the past decade. Giant fuck off canons as the main mode of transportation was definitely one of her better ideas.

‘Sweet, well, here we fucking go then bud,’ he thought, heading into the sphere when it landed before him. He didn’t have much of a formalized plan for this one, if he was being honest. He just wanted to get a general idea of the layout of the place. He sure as hell wasn’t going to risk putting Taako in any sort of off limits areas, that would raise too many questions. Still, he could at least get an idea of maybe where those off limit places were, and he could build from there. It might also help just knowing what exactly Lucretia was working with.

When they got onto the base it was pretty similar to what Barry remembered it being, from the brief glance he’d gotten his only time risking getting close. There were more people around though, the place damn near bustling.

‘Oh thank fuck, Avi’s not back yet. You don’t gotta talk to any of these scrubs,’ Taako chimed in in his mind, and that was good to know. Barry nodded the slightest bit at the people as he passed, walking out of the pod with a purpose, swinging the umbrastaff lightly in his grip.

After a hundred odd years of living with a person, it wasn’t exactly hard to imitate them.

‘So uh, where are we going here? Got a plan or we winging this?’ Taako asked, and it was a good question.

‘I guess the most important places to see would be where Lucretia’s office is, and fis- the voidfish,’ Barry thought back. If he couldn’t see into Lucretia office, he’d at least like to know where it was in the base. At least that way he could try and formulate some sort of plan later.

Fisher’s location was important too. He’d never been as close to the animal as Magnus or Lucretia had been, but it was still their companion for over half a decade. They were all attached to the thing, even beyond what a terrifying powerful and useful creature it was.

‘Okay uh, in that case we can probably just walk by the Director’s office on our way to the voidfish. This way,’ Taako’s voice sounded in his mind, and the body Barry was possessing started moving on its own again, leading him in the right direction. It didn’t last for very long though, Barry feeling himself back in control after only a few moments. ‘Okay, don’t like that. Kinda hard for me to do shit with you in here,’ Taako added.

‘Yeah, sorry bud. I promise it won’t be for long. Just tell me which way to go, alright?’ Barry told him. So Taako did just that, leaning Barry through the bureau. He tried his best to make it look like a casual, mostly mindless stroll, and he was pretty sure it worked for the most part. No one seemed to bother him or second guess what he was doing, even when he walked right up the the Director’s office, taking a moment to stop and stare at the door.

He imaged she was probably right behind this door. He had no doubt she was working right at this moment. They had to be getting close to finding the next relic, and if they weren’t that was all the more reason for her to be doubling down. It would be so easy to go in there and see her, see another member of his family after so long.

As tempting as it was, it wasn’t hard to turn and keep moving. He didn’t handle it all that well the last time he saw her, and he had more cover this time, sure, but he didn’t know if he could handle a conversation. Especially a conversation trying to be someone he wasn’t. Trying to be a Taako that wasn’t really the Taako they both knew.

They didn’t stay to see Fisher for very long. Honestly, they weren’t staying anywhere very long. Barry didn’t want to risk getting into any sort of conversation with people if he could help it. Still, there was some relief to see that the big old jellyfish was doing alright, even if there wasn’t anything he could do for it at the moment. At least it seemed like Lucretia was taking good care of it, although Barry had never doubted that.

‘Okay, we should probably wrap this up soon I guess,’ Barry thought, because he didn’t want to push his luck. Plus, he was pretty sure Taako wasn’t super thrilled with the whole feeling of being possessed.

‘Sounds good my dude,’ Taako replied, and Barry stopped walking for a moment. They were back up in the main part of the bureau now, and he leaned casually against a tree. There were a few ways he could get out of here without being blasted by Lucretia’s shield, he just needed to think of one that wouldn’t be noticeable.

“Hello sir!” a chipper voice knocked Barry out of his thoughts, and there were a lot of things he figured would surprise him on Lucretia’s secret moon base. The fact that there was an actual kid up here was certainly one of them.

“Oh uh, hey there kiddo,” Barry said, trying to keep up a casual air to himself. ‘Taako the kid is talking to you,’ he thought, like he somehow wouldn’t have noticed.

‘Fuck that’s bad. Abort mission my dude,’ Taako thought back immediately. There was some obvious panic there, and while Barry couldn’t blame him he felt like it wasn’t that serious.

‘He’s just a kid, I think I can handle him for a minute,’ Barry insisted.

‘Your funeral,’ Taako replied, with a certainty there Barry didn’t really expect. He vaguely remembered this kid, he had been with them when they were getting the oculus. He didn’t get much of a chance to see a lot of him though.

“Are you doing alright sir?” the kid asked, and Barry wasn’t sure if he’d call it suspicion, but he definitely seemed to be examining him. It was pretty easy to tell that this kid was sharp.

“Oh yeah, just peachy my dude! Why do you ask?” Barry said, and knowing someone for over a hundred years really did help with having to pretend to be them. Even if Taako as he was now wasn’t quite the same as the one he spent all that time with, it was close enough.

“You just seemed a little distracted is all,” he said. Barry shrugged, pushing himself off of the tree with an easy air. Taako and Lup were always so much more graceful than he was, but he could at least somewhat mimic it when in their body.

“Oh yeah, guess I am pretty starving,” he said, not bothering with the fact that the two topics had basically nothing to do with each other. “You wanna grab some lunch kiddo?” he asked, and simultaneously the boy’s face lit up with excitement while Taako protested in his head.

‘Hey! What did I just say about Ango being bad news? The kid’s smart as shit he’ll notice something’s up,’ Taako shouted in his brain.

“Really sir?” Angus was asking though, any suspicion he might have had before seeming to be replaced with excitement.

“Yeah why not, fuck it,” Barry said, starting off to the direction he was fairly sure the cafeteria had been and throwing the umbrastaff over his shoulder for good measure. ‘I’m pretty sure the kid just wants to spend time with you Taako,’ he thought, getting a grumbled annoyance from Taako in return. 

‘Well maybe I don’t wanna hang out with the brat,’ he complained. For some reason Barry didn’t fully believe that, even if now was probably the worst possible time for the kid to show up.

‘It’ll be a few minutes at most. Don’t worry about it bud,’ Barry tried to assure him.

‘This is the worst. I’m in hell.’

Chapter Text

Walking into the cafeteria, Barry was thankful that Taako could be as lazy was he was talented sometimes. It probably didn’t make it look that weird when he was just grabbed some food instead of cooking for himself. At the very least, the kid he was with didn’t comment on it, grabbing a tray as well and following along to go sit down at a nearby table.

There weren’t a lot of food options, but Barry still chose the one with the most amount of cheese and creamy sauces. There was no reason to pass up an opportunity to eat that kind of stuff without getting sick when he could after all.

He might have been eating a little faster than he strictly needed to, but he had said he was fucking starving. He just didn’t get the chance to enjoy food often enough anymore. Sue him for not being able to really savor it. 

“So, how has your day been so far today sir?” the kid asked. Barry remembered his name was Angus, Taako had mentioned him a few times here and there, but somehow Barry hadn't made the connection that he was at the bureau. So far it didn’t seem like he was suspicious of anything, although there really wasn't any reason why he would be. Taako seemed pretty paranoid about Angus catching on, but there weren’t a lot of things to tip anyone off. Barry had made sure of that.

“Boring as shit little man,” he said, shoving another spoonful of creamy soup into his mouth.

‘You know, you’re unnervingly good at this. Why are you so good at this?’ Taako asked in his head, and it was a fair question. Just knowing him, Barry figured impressions probably didn’t seem like they’d be one of his top skills. He wasn’t exactly a bard.  

‘You’re a very distinct person. Not too hard to pick up,’ he lied. Or well, it wasn’t a total lie, but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth either. Still, Barry couldn’t spend too much time focused on that internal conversation, Angus continuing to speak in front of him.

“Sorry about that sir. Can I ask you something?” he said, and Barry shrugged, having to take a moment to swallow the food in his mouth. He was starting to run out and that was sad. He wished he’d gotten the chance to eat some of Taako’s cooking while he had a body, but that probably wasn’t in the cards. Next time. Maybe actually in his own body too, instead of hijacking someone else’s.

“Shoot,” he said casually once he could speak.

“Why do you keep taking all those secret trips down to Phandalin sir?” Angus asked, his tone still chipper as anything. The last bit of sandwich Barry had been eating immediately got lodged in his throat, and he fell into a coughing fit for a few moments. The whole time Taako was shouting in his head, which certainly wasn’t helping anything.

‘I told you! I fucking told you the kid was too smart!’ he kept insisting, and Barry finally managed to take a long drink of water as he got himself under control.

‘How does he know about that? I thought you were being careful?’ Barry asked, patting his chest a few more times for good measure and also possibly to buy himself a bit more time.

‘I am! He’s a good fucking detective okay,’ Taako said. Barry knew that he was taking this seriously, he wouldn’t let some random kid catch on like this. Hell, Barry was sure Lucretia wouldn’t just let some random kid wander around up here, so there had to be a reason for that. If he was seriously that good they might be in a bit more trouble than he expected.

“Are you alright sir?” Angus asked, and Barry quickly nodded, taking one more deep breath to get himself back under control.

“Just perfect. This is why we chew our food properly,” he said, taking another drink for good measure. Angus nodded, looking both a little concerned and a little more suspicious now.

“I suppose that’s true sir. So um, about those secret trips you’ve been taking?” he asked, and yeah, it was obvious he wasn’t going to let that go. They needed to think fast.

‘Hey Taako, how much have you talked to people about our cover story?’ he thought quickly.

‘Uh I mean, I’ve mentioned it to Merle and Mags? I mostly try not to tell anyone about you, don’t wanna risk your sister hearing and shit,’ he said, which was fair enough. The last thing Barry wanted was for Lucretia to hear his name being thrown around and think something was up. Still, they didn’t have too much of a choice in this situation.

‘Cool, we’re going with the sob story then,’ he said, not waiting for Taako’s approval or not. He couldn’t really, with the kid staring at him and waiting for an answer. Despite that Barry spent a minute not looking at Angus and poking around the remains of his food with his fork, trying to look like he was thinking over even answering the question.

‘Man, not the sob story. No one can know I have emotions,’ Taako complained right as Barry finally started to speak.

“I mean, I didn’t think it was any sort of secret,” he said finally, although Barry had no idea how true that actually was. He knew Taako always came down in the transport canon though, and people had seen him come back up. As careful as Taako was being, it wasn’t like people weren’t aware he was leaving the base every so often.

“Oh, why are you going down there then sir? As far as I’ve been able to see there isn’t a lot left,” he said, and the kid had a point. There really wasn’t anything left of the town. Barry hummed, and it was hard trying to match the closed off way Taako would get whenever he was truly upset about something. He guessed if he seemed a little awkward and uncomfortable that only added to the act right now.

“Yeah no, ain’t really shit worth seeing down there now,” he said, taking another bite of food and then groaning in frustration. “Look, can’t you just ask Magnus or some shit instead?” he huffed. Taako said that they knew about the cover story after all, so they would be the only other people who could probably come to this conclusion.

‘Okay, now it’s getting kinda freaky. How the fuck do you sound so much like me?’ Taako asked.

‘It’s your voice bud,’ Barry replied.

‘That’s not what I meant and you know it,’ Taako complained right back. It was true, but Barry really couldn’t explain that he’d dealt with Taako’s deflecting and distrust for a century. Even after he opened up to the rest of them, he got more and more closed off from everyone else, and Barry watched that.

“It seemed rude to go behind your back instead of asking you directly,” Angus said, which was fair enough. He couldn’t blame the kid for that. Sighing, he put the spoon he was eating with down with a small clunk.

“It’s none of your damn business, but if you’re gonna pry fine. Someone I, ya know, actually gave a damn about didn’t make it out of Phandalin. There’s not exactly a grave to visit so I figure that’s the next best thing,” he said. Immediately Angus’s face shifted from suspicious to guilty, which Barry felt a little bad about. Not bad enough to not go through with this ruse, but the world was kind of on the line, so there wasn’t much of a choice to begin with.

“Oh, I’m sorry sir. I didn’t know,” he said. Barry shrugged, finishing off the last of his soup and standing up. He didn’t bother grabbing his tray, leaving it on the table. Under any other circumstances he absolutely would make sure to put that away, but he doubted that would be something an angry and upset Taako would consider.

“Well, now you do,” he said. Barry knew he could leave it at that, but the kid looked all sad. Neither him or Taako were actually upset, just fucking on guard that this actual child managed to notice something that no one else had yet.

So, when he walked by Barry reached out, roughly ruffling Angus’s hair as he passed.

“Later pumpkin,” he said, moving out of the cafeteria now. He could just catch a glimpse of the kid’s confused expression as he left.

“Oh, bye sir,” he called after him. With that he let the cafeteria door close behind him, and he could hear Taako grumbling in his head.

‘Hey, no one gave you permission to be nice to the brat as me. What if he starts expecting it now,’ he complained. Barry rolled his eyes at that, starting down to Taako’s dorm. He had a rough idea of where it was from when they were walking around. His personal room seemed like the best place to be alone for Barry to actually leave.

‘Sorry, I’m sure that would be just terrible,’ he said, hoping the sarcasm came through mentally. He was pretty sure it did.

Getting down to Taako’s room, Barry didn’t spend a lot of time actually checking it out. He’d already spent more time in Taako’s body than he intended, and he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Plus, they really did have to be careful. The longer they waited the more they risked someone actually finding out.

Since they were alone, Barry went with the safest way to get him out of the base. Well, other than Taako leaving it completely and releasing the possession there. Him leaving that many times in one day would definitely be a little suspicious though, so it would be best to avoid that one. It felt weird, holding Lup’s umbrastaff, preparing to cast with it.

“Well, catch ya later bud,” he said, finishing the set up of the transportation spell. It was definitely tricky, having to be sure to teleport himself but not bring Taako along for the ride.

‘Yeah yeah, get the fuck out of my body already,’ Taako said, and it wasn’t too hard to tell he wasn’t actually all that annoyed. Barry was still kind of surprised by that, but he guessed even if he couldn’t remember everything, this was still by far not the weirdest thing to happen to Taako.

“I’m going, I’m going,” he insisted, flicking Taako’s ears as he started to cast the spell, just because it was fun and Barry knew it would annoy him.

‘Later, you fucking dork,’ was the last thing Barry heard before the teleport went off, no actual bite in Taako’s voice in the slightest. In the next moment, Barry was alone again, back in his cave. The warmth and feeling from Taako’s form was gone, replaced by the cold numbness and arcane power of his lich form. It was a feeling he was used to, but at least this time it wasn’t too bad. At least there wasn’t the pain and rush of memories that came with his deaths.

This at least was something that Barry could manage.

—

Taako still couldn’t quite believe they managed to pull that one off without anyone noticing. Sure, he doubted a lot of people were on the lookout for anyone being possessed by a friendly lich, but still. That didn’t seem like something they could just get away with, and yet that was exactly the case. It probably helped that Barry had been like, frighteningly good at mimicking him. Angus hadn’t even noticed anything was up, and the kid had already been suspicious of them.

He had no idea how Barry managed that, but he guessed it didn’t really matter.

As it was a few days and then a few weeks passed, and it seemed like everything was fine. Angus didn’t even bring up the conversation he’d had with ‘Taako’ again. It was hard to tell if the kid had actually dropped the topic, but at the very least he wasn’t pushing it anymore, their reasoning enough to sate his curiosity. Which was good, because Taako really didn’t want to pretend to be upset about someone dying again.

The point was though, things were actually going kind of smoothly. They weren’t trying to push it, Taako hadn’t visited Red much since Angus had called them out. If he noticed, other people might, and they didn’t want to risk that. They could probably fool most people, but if the Director took note that would be bad fucking news. So instead they mostly stuck to talking on the stone of farspeech and that sort of junk. It worked well enough for the most part, even if Taako still felt antsy every so often with what seemed to be this wall they'd hit in the search for the relics.

He was trying to ignore that right now though, because it was Candlenights. He’d never payed much attention to the holiday before, but Magnus wanted to have a party in their dorm for it. Which, sure why the fuck not. It wasn’t like Taako had anything better to do.

He’d have to get down planet side at some point he figured. Probably not right on Candlenights, that might look suspicious, but still, maybe sometime next week or something. He doubted Red would mind his gift being late. Taako wasn’t sure what one got a lich for a present, but he was sure he could think of something.

That was a problem for later Taako though. Right now he was enjoying their holiday party, handing out some fucking fantastic macaroons. The director gave them a bonus, and they got some other dumb presents from a few other people there. Taako gave Angus a couple of spoons back, mostly as a bribe to get the kid on his good side in case of any future incidents of course. All in all, it was going pretty well. Not the worst party Taako had ever been to, at any rate.

So of course that was when another relic came to light. Sure, Taako had been feeling pretty anxious with how long it’d been since they’d gotten the last one, but they were actually doing shit tonight. He didn’t get why this kind of junk didn’t happen on the days he was bored as shit.

They got a general rundown of what was going on though. The philosopher’s stone, could turn anything into any other material. Was currently on Lucas’s lab, because of course they had to deal with that jackass again. If his lab touched the ground the whole world was gonna be sparkling and pink in the worst way possible.

The plan was pretty simple. Get down there, find Lucas, get whatever was using the philospher’s stone to stop, and bing bang boom, problem solved. Of course, it was probably gonna be hells of a lot more complicated than that, but Taako could pretend.

Taako didn’t have the time to run off to make a call to Red. The Director was fucking pissed at Lucas, and the whole base was running around for this one, trying to get everything in place to get them over to Lucas’s lab. The most he could manage was ducking into a corner after getting their null suit on, casting a quick sending down to Red.

‘Found a relic. Heading to take care of it now, will try to keep you updated.’

Immediately he heard a reply from Red in his brain.

‘Thanks for the heads up. I’ll try and keep an eye out where I can. Be careful Taako.’

Taako nodded, even though there was no way for Red to know. Still, that would have to be enough for now, Taako running to catch back up with Magnus and Merle at the hanger. The regulators were there as well, and it wasn’t long before the Director was ushering them into the gondolas and they were sent off to the lab.

Of course, shit decided to go south almost immediately, and all they could do was watch as the regulators boat floated up and over the lab in the winter storm. Theirs thankfully landed safe enough, and after a bit of trial and error all three of them made it down into the conservatory. The whole damn place was indeed made of solid pink tourmaline, and it was actually kind of pretty. If the crystal wasn’t a terrible curse that transformed everything it touched, Taako would have definitely tried to snatch some of it.

They weren’t in the conservatory for very long before something happened, because of course. Something was always happening. The three of them watched as a weird rift opened up in the middle of the room, large chunks of crystal forming into some sort of giant golem around a small ball of light. 

There was something familiar around that rift, but Taako didn't have much time to think about it before the golem turned to him. It seemed to almost freeze at the sight of them, and Taako gave it a nervous smile. No one said it necessarily was hostile after all. No need to immediately jump to fighting.

“Hail and well met! My name is Taako and you look like you’re made of salt,” he said. The golem kept on staring, and Taako wasn’t sure how something with just a solid sheet of rock for a face managed to look so goddamn befuddled. Its whole giant head tilted to the side though, moving closer like it was doing a double take.

And then it spoke.

“Taako?” it asked, sounding just as confused as he looked. There was a second where Taako started to process the fact that its voice was real fucking familiar, and then the golem fell away. That little ball of light was left in its place, but only for a moment. A black swirling mass of feathers quickly formed around it, and when those fell away it was Kravitz, floating in front of him and looking absolutely fucking flabbergasted.

“Oh shit! Hey my dude, I didn’t recognize you under all that uuuh, rock,” Taako said with a grin, leaning forward on the umbrastaff. He had no fucking idea why Kravitz would be here, but it wasn’t the worst person they could have run into. At least they had a deal.

“Uh, Taako? Who is the handsome floating rock man and how do you know him?” Magnus asked in an attempt at a whisper that could still be heard by everyone in the room. Which, yeah shit. This might be kind of hard to explain. When he said that Kravitz wasn’t the worst person to run into, that didn’t mean he was the best either.

“Right, this is Kravitz. He’s uh, he's just a dude. Who I know,” he said, knowing full well that that answered fucking nothing. Looking over a Kravitz, he seemed to be at a loss for what to say as well. They did have lunch a couple of times, but shit had been kind of busy after Taako joined the bureau. Those had mostly been negotiations for his and Red’s souls though.

“I suppose that works for now. Taako, what are you doing here? And who are these other people?” Kravitz asked, and god, this was going to get very complicated very fast.

“Kinda a work thing?” he said with a shrug. Before he could introduce the other two they started speaking for him.

“My name is Magnus Burnsides! Always nice to meet a friend of a friend,” Magnus said.

“Merle Highchurch, are you an angel?” Merle asked, and Taako rolled his eyes at that. He expected Kravitz to brush off the question or get to the actual reason he was here, but instead he froze at their names. With a wave of his hand that large glowing book appeared again, and Taako groaned. God fucking damn it.

“You cannot be serious. Is fucking everyone in that damn book of yours?” he snapped, but Kravitz was already flipping through the pages.

“ I can’t be serious? You can’t be serious! We had a deal Taako, and now I find you with two more bounties! You’re buddies with Merle fucking Highchurch now?” Kravitz snapped. Taako wasn’t sure what he expected, but this wasn’t it.

“Bounties?” Magnus asked, and Taako shrugged heavily.

“It’s complicated. Look, Krav can you just tell us why you’re here? I don’t know what fucking bullshit these two might’ve gotten into, but we’re kinda in a bit of a pickle and I promise we can work out a deal as soon as we’re done with the crystal crisis we got on our hands,” Taako said, really fucking hoping the good faith he’d managed to work up with Kravitz would last here. The last thing he wanted to do was get into a fight with this guy. For one thing, he wasn’t sure if they could actually beat him, and for another, he didn’t dislike Kravitz. He was actually a pretty nice guy. He might even kinda like him. Taako could see him debating, sending a particularly nasty glare over at Merle before sighing heavily.

“I’m here on a bounty Taako. You never told me exactly what brings you here as well though,” he said, which was fair. It wasn’t a complete yes to them hashing this out afterwards, but it was a start.

“Well, you know those like, super powerful magical items I talked to you about before? One of them is here, and we need to get it and destroy it, before this base touches the ground and turns the whole world to crystal,” Taako explained. He could feel the other two boys staring at him, which was probably not great.

“Wait, Taako you’ve told this guy about the relics?” Magnus asked. Yeah, this was looking so fucking bad for him. 

“Kinda? Anyway, we just need to stop this Lucas guy and we’ll be right outta your hair babe,” Taako said, and that seemed to catch Kravitz’s attention.

“Hold on, are you talking about Lucas Miller by any chance?” he asked, and Taako nodded, because honestly fuck that guy. He had no obligation to try and help him out of Kravitz’s bad side like he had for Magnus or Merle.

He guessed he didn't have obligations for them either, but Taako liked the two well enough. They kept him alive on these missions, for the most part.

“Yeah, he’s the one with the relic,” he said. Kravitz put a hand to his chin, clearly debating a bit more before nodding.

“Alright. Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. Lucas Miller is the bounty I’m after right now. If you three can help me apprehend him, we can all have a civilized conversation about your own bounties afterwards, and see if we can’t work something out. How does that sound?” Kravitz asked, and Taako immediately nodded.

“Works for me,” he said, and he would have hoped that the other two would get the picture and jump on board, but he couldn’t say he was too surprised at their hesitance.

“What bounties though, who do you work for?” Magnus asked. Taako couldn’t blame Kravitz for turning towards him with a bit of a skeptical look at that. He was still floating up off the ground, which was good because Taako wasn’t sure what that crystal would do to his body, even if it wasn’t quite real. Because of that though Kravitz had to lean down slightly as he whispered to him.

“Do they… do they really not know?” he asked, and Taako sighed.

“Yeah no dog, this ain’t a goof,” he said, and well, there wasn’t much Taako could do but get this over with. “So, uh, let’s do that intro again. Mags, Merle, this is Kravitz. He’s Death,” he said, and god. This was not how Taako wanted the night to go.

“Wait, did we know Taako knew Death?” Merle asked, and Magnus shook his head.

“Pretty sure this one is new,” he said. Kravitz sighed, looking very tired and a little bit annoyed.

“I’m not death. I’m a bounty hunter for the Raven Queen, the goddess of death. Sure, some people call me death, but it’s not technically accurate,” he elaborated. Taako guessed he couldn’t blame him for wanting to clarify, but that didn’t seem like the most important thing right now.

“Dude’s the actual grim fucking reaper. Look, we gonna go get Lucas or not? Krav, we’re totally down to help you catch this fool, and I promise I’ll explain everything later. In private,” he said, stressing that last part. Reaching out, Taako put a hand down on Kravitz’s own, giving him a pleading smile as he did. He could see the surprise on his face at the gesture, but after a short moment of debate Kravitz nodded.

“Fine, but I do expect you all to help me with this,” he said, and Taako was relieved when the others nodded along as well.

“Sure, fuck it. If Taako’s vouching for you why not. What did Lucas do to get him on death’s bad side?” Magnus asked.

“We’re still gonna get to kick his ass, right?” Merle asked, and Taako definitely noticed when that got the smallest smile out of Kravitz. He was definitely trying not to show it, but it was there.

“I don’t see any reason why not. Lucas has profaned the laws of life and death by breaking his deceased mother out of the Eternal Stockade, a prison she had been in for attempting to escape the astral plane,” Kravitz explained. Most of those words didn’t make a lot of sense to Taako, but it sure didn’t sound great.

“Uh, hey guys? You get down here yet? Haven’t really heard from you all in a while,” Lucas’s voice suddenly came over the stone of farspeech.

“Yeah don’t worry about it!” Magnus practically shouted into the stone. That wasn’t suspicious at all.

“Alright then. Well uh, you guys should be able to just head through the first airlock, I’m stuck in the med bay,” Lucas said, and Taako could see the air lock he was talking about. Magnus continued talking to the guy as they started heading over, and as they moved Kravitz was still floating next to him. He couldn’t blame the guy for the confused look as he leaned down again, whispering to Taako to avoid being overheard by Lucas.

“Why is he helping us get to him?” he asked, which was a fair question.

“He doesn’t know we’re gonna arrest his ass as soon as we get the stone safe,” Taako whispered back. There was definitely a little bit of amusement on Kravitz’s face as he gave a little half shrug at that.

“Well, whatever works I suppose,” he said. They were a bit behind the other two, who had just entered the airlock. Grabbing Kravitz’s arm, Taako stopped him for a moment. He doubted they would get much alone time during this mission and he had to make something clear.

“Hey, big favor? Don’t mention my… friend. Around any of these guys, okay? I promise I’ll give you the run down as soon as we’re alone, alright?” he asked. He had no fucking idea how much he could trust Kravitz with this, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He really wanted to be able to trust this guy. Taako could see the curiosity there, the way he obviously wanted to ask why, but after a moment he nodded.

“Alright, but it sounds like we’re going to be having a very long conversation later,” he said, and Taako couldn’t help but grin in relief at that.

“We’ll have to make a date of it then,” he said, enjoying the flustered look on Kravitz’s face at that. He didn’t get to appreciate it for very long though, Magnus sticking his head back out of the airlock to call after the two of them.

“Taako! What’s taking you so long?” he asked, and Taako quickly started heading over to the airlock, Kravitz following along.

“We’re coming, cool your jets my dude,” he said, heading into the airlock. Okay, at least they’d gotten all that taken care of. This mission might not actually be too bad, having the actual grim reaper helping them out and everything.

At the very least, this could have gone so much worse.

Taako just hoped it didn’t all blow up once they got back to the base. This was gonna require a lot of explaining.

Chapter Text

To say having the grim reaper helping them out made the whole mission a bit easier would probably be an understatement. Like, it wasn’t a cakewalk, some of the bullshit in Lucas’s lab was not above safety board in the slightest. The dude knew how to spell aarakocra though.

The only issue was that Lucas was on the line for most of their journey through his crystal death lab, and it would be bad to tip him off that they were literally bringing death to his door. So instead of speaking out loud like a normal person, Kravitz had to spend most of the time, hovering next to Taako, leaning over and whispering into his ear.

Taako wasn’t sure how magical Kravitz was, but he figured probably enough to know how to cast message . He didn’t point out that option though, this one was funner.

The hardest part had been trying to explain who he was when they ran into Noelle. She’d been pretty concerned about him crystallizing without a null suit, which would have been fair if he was a normal person.

“No, no it’s fine. He’s uh, he’s part… rock,” Taako said, and it wasn’t his best lie by far. He wasn’t even sure how a robot without a face managed to look confused, but Noelle pulled it off.

“You mean you’re like, an earth genasi?” she asked, and it wasn’t hard to feel the begrudging resignation to this whole ruse as Kravitz nodded.

“Yes,” he said, and Noelle still didn’t seem very convinced, but Kravitz assured her that as long as he kept levitating it should be fine. With that she seemed alright to let Kravitz come along with them.

"We're going to have to talk about her as well after this," Kravitz added as they left the room. Taako raised an eyebrow at that, and he had no idea what Kravitz meant when he gestured to Noelle. They were already moving on though, so he just nodded and figured they'd work it out later.

They were getting pretty close to Lucas now, and Taako was starting to think that they should get some sort of plan. As they had made their way through the lab Taako had gotten into the habit of grabbing Kravitz’s arm whenever he needed to get his attention. It was safer than calling his name, less chance for Lucas to overhear. He had to reach up a little to do so, since the dude was all flying and shit a little bit above him.

“Hey Krav?” he whispered, Kravitz pausing to look down at him. They were standing a bit away from Magnus and Merle, who were currently trying to help Carey and Killian out of some sort of weird ice room. “What uh, what’s the plan when we find Lucas?” he asked, and Kravitz looked a little confused by the question.

“I don’t imagine he’ll be a very tough fight between all of us? He’s a necromancer, but he doesn’t seem to be the very offensive type. I don’t think he’ll be swinging any power word kills at us,” Kravitz whispered back, which was a fair and accurate assessment. That wasn’t quite what Taako was getting at though.

“No like, I mean, are you just gonna go in their scythe blazing? Cause like, that’s cool if you gotta do what you gotta do, but you think there’s any way we could like, try and get some information out of him first?” he asked. Kravitz seemed a little surprised by that, and maybe a little disappointed. Taako was the feeling he had absolutely been planning to go in their and immediately wreck Lucas’s shop.

“What kind of information are you looking for from him?” he asked, and that was a good question. Taako shrugged, because he wasn’t even all that sure.

“I don’t know, but this whole thing doesn’t sit right with me. He’s obviously been lying, just wanna know exactly what he was doing with the philosopher’s stone and what the fuck’s using it now,” he said after a moment. Kravitz paused for a moment, seeming to think it over before nodding.

“Alright, I won’t take him in until we know what exactly he was up to. I mean, I’m pretty sure it was whatever allowed him to break his mother out of the astral plane, but I don’t have any idea how he managed to do that. It would certainly be beneficial for us as well to know how he did that,” Kravitz said, and Taako grinned at that.

“Excellent,” he said, and it was at this point that Carey and Killian had finally been freed from the ice room. Taako had seen the rifts Kravitz could make, he was pretty damn sure the dude could have let them out with a single swipe of his scythe and just… didn’t. Which was pretty hilarious. What was also hilarious was their faces when they saw Kravitz, because oops. No one had bothered to actually tell them about him.

“Uh, who is that?” Killian asked. She had an ax in her hands, and Taako knew it was from having chopped up all that damn ice. It was pretty obvious that she wasn’t above making the weapon a bit threatening at the sight of a stranger here.

“Oh uh, this is just Krav,” Taako said, and it was real clear that wasn’t going to fly. He still had a hand resting on Kravitz’s arm, who was hovering real close from the previous whispering. “My boyfriend.”

“Wait, what?” Carey asked, and Magnus and Merle looked like they couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. Kravitz had suddenly gotten a lot more stiff up against him, obviously thrown by the ruse. Oh well, it had been the first thing to come to Taako’s head.

“Uh yeah, he’s just, ya know, here to help,” Taako tried to assure them. It didn’t look like it was working very well, which he should have seen coming.

“Taako, you can’t just bring your boyfriend on a reclaimer mission. How did he even get here?” Killian asked. Before Taako could think of a somewhat believable lie Magnus was leaning over to Killian, a hand on the stone of farspeech so that Lucas couldn’t overhear.

“Taako’s dating the grim reaper,” he said, and from the sound of it he definitely didn’t think the dating part was a lie. Well, that’s going to be a fun thing to have to explain later. As it was Carey and Killian turned back towards Kravitz was even more shock and incredulous. At this point Kravitz was smiling nervously, and Taako guessed he’d gotten over the shock enough at this point to at least try and play the part.

“Hello, uh, pleasure to meet you all,” he said. When he gave a little awkward wave the flesh melted from his hand, revealing a bony skeleton underneath before coming back again. “My current job happened to overlap with, my uh, dear Taako’s here, so I thought I’d give you all a hand,” he added.

“Well, I guess we can’t really argue with death? Can we?” Carey asked, and Killian looked like she was seriously thinking over the question.

“Maybe? But I guess we should just get this all over with first and then argue later, since we’re on a time limit and all,” Killian said. Taako grinned widely at that, figuring it was the best he was going to get.

As they headed to the med bay, Kravitz stopped. Taako had been holding onto his arm and keeping up the dumb unnecessary boyfriend ruse, since they told them he was the grim reaper anyway. Still, it might actually be helpful, since Taako couldn’t tell anyone the real reason he knew Kravitz after all. When he felt the reaper stop though he looked back in confusion.

“I just figured it might be best if Lucas doesn’t know I’m here yet. He’ll talk more freely if he thinks it’s you all here to help him,” he said, and Taako nodded at that. With that Kravitz’s form fell away until he was only a small ball of light. Said ball then flew down, going and hiding in Taako’s bag.

“That works,” Taako said. With that, they went to the med bay, finding Lucas inside. His head was wrapped in bandages, but otherwise the scene was pretty calm. Lucas was immediately on the move, rewiring the rest of his lab to give them some more time and get their null suits back to full.

It wasn’t too hard to get the nerd to tell them what the fuck he was actually doing with all this shit. Magnus yelled at him about some compact he’d found in his room, and then they were being led to some place called the cosmoscope. Inside of it there were these giant circular gemstone mirrors, and Lucas began to explain how his mother had used them to see the whole of the planar system, and that this was what he’d been creating with the philosopher’s stone.

He said he’d broken the mirror to the astral plane, and Taako had a feeling that was a big fucking lie.

He was going on about bigger and bigger things though, and so Taako asked the logical question when they got to the whole of the planar system.

“What’s bigger than this?”

And then the room froze.

A voice repeated Taako’s question from behind him, and it wasn’t the exact voice he recognized. He was putting on another act, but he still knew exactly who he was going to see as he turned around.

Red was there, and Taako had told them where they were going to be, yes. He had shown up during their last mission too, but that had been to save them. As far as Taako could tell, there was no immediate threat here. This was just a risk, and Taako couldn’t understand why he was taking it. He had the grim reaper in his pocket and sure, they’d worked out a deal but this was kind of pushing things.

He couldn’t be surprised when Magnus tried to chop him again, and he almost laughed at Barry’s annoyed sigh when he floated up above his head. He raised a hand, and then there was a strange red glow over most of the room, similar to what Hodgepodge had made to keep their stones of far speech from working.

“Sup,” Red said after a long, silent pause, and Taako couldn’t help laughing a little at that. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one. It was better if he wasn’t the only one who found this funny.

“The last time we spoke, I warned you about the hunger of all living things,” Red continued, and even though he was using a fake voice Taako recognized that tone. He knew when Red was very carefully picking his words so that he could understand. Whatever he was trying to tell them about was important.

“You did?” Magnus asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Yes,” he said, already seeming pretty exasperated.

“When did that happen?” Magnus questioned, and it took a lot of self control for Taako to not roll his eyes at that.

“In the office building! With Captain Bain, he tried to poison you,” Red said, and Magnus sputtered at that. Taako was fairly sure he was just fucking with the dude at this point. He couldn’t blame him, Red was fun to fuck with. It was still kind of surprising though, he didn’t expect other people to agree that the super powerful lich was a nonthreatening dork.

“He did?!” Magnus said, and Red sighed at that, pinching about where his nose would be if he had one.

‘Okay, a lot of things went unnoticed there. Well, take it on credit, I warned you about the hunger of all living things,” Red said, and when he gestured towards the circular mirrors hanging around them. “This is the power it seeks. The power of creation itself. A billion, billion lives have been lost in its pursuit,” he continued. When he started making an illusion of something dark, with colorful strands of light inside of it coming out and consuming all the planes, Taako felt sick to his stomach in a way he couldn’t explain. He didn’t know why, a kind of dread and de ja vu swirling around in his chest.

“This world is life’s last chance. You three are the only ones who can stand in its way. We’re running out of time,” Red finished, disappearing in a small burst of flames. With that immediately everyone was unfrozen, Lucas repeating his original question with no idea what had just happened.

They went along with the whole thing, not bringing any attention to the lich that had been there. Noelle had noticed him on the scan, but Taako was relieved when Magnus and Merle seemed as willing to keep the whole incident as under wraps as he was. 

He really wondered if Kravitz had been aware for all of that. He had no idea if Red would have had the thought or even the ability to freeze him like everyone else. He was just glad the dude hadn’t gone back on their deal and popped out to attack Red.

When they went to head down to the main room where Lucas said one of the robots had taken control of the philosopher’s stone, things started to get a little more complicated. Carey and Killian took that as their moment to arrest Lucas, and so Kravitz took that as his moment to come out of the bag, so to speak.

“Lucas Miller, by order of the Raven Queen you are under arrest for assisting your mother in breaking out of the Eternal Stockade and escaping the astral plane. Your mother was in prison Lucas, and you can’t just break people out of prison,” Kravitz said, holding that big glowing book up in front of him again. Lucas was cowering against the closed elevator doors, and that was probably his best option.

“W-what’s going on here? Did you guys know he was here?” Lucas asked, and they all nodded a little sheepishly.

“Yeah, sorry not sorry,” Taako said, grinning and giving Kravitz a little pat on the arm. He couldn’t feel how cold he was through the null suit, and he was kind of having fun with the whole ‘dating the grim reaper’ act. “Babe, you think you can grab this nerd so we can go save the world?” he asked.

“My pleasure,” Kravitz said. When he lifted up his scythe though, the doors of the elevator opened up behind Lucas, the dork falling back into it and out of the way of Kravitz’s swipe. He was up, closing the doors too fast for anyone to follow after him, and Kravitz huffed in frustration. “You all head down this way, I think I might know another way to get right to where he’s heading,” Kravitz said. Opening a rift, he disappeared before any of them could ask what he was talking about.

The rest happened fast. They were fighting ghost robots, and then they found Lucas. Kravitz had found another way in, appearing in the astral plane mirror that Lucas had set up down there. There was another robot, this one with his mom inside of it apparently. As Lucas started to explain the full, true story, something started happening in that big prison behind Kravitz.

“Kravitz, hand!” Taako shouted. The reaper looked extremely confused for a moment, before looking behind him. He managed to jump out of the way of the reaching hand at the last moment, but by this point more and more souls were pouring out of the stockade.

They could only see Kravitz’s side of the fight for a moment, before Legion was blocking the view by forcing its way through the mirror. At some point Taako let the robot mom out of her crystal stalactite, and Magnus managed to convince her to hand over the philosopher’s stone. Then Merle managed to banish Legion after Magnus broke the mirror. All in all, a pretty successful mission.

When Kravitz came back, Maureen was willing to give herself in. They let Lucas off with a promise not to do anymore necromancy, and they told the director he was dead. That just left Noelle, and Magnus and Merle.

With a sigh, Kravitz turned towards him.

“You said you needed to destroy that relic first, right? It’s late, and I don’t want to be around for however you manage that,” he said, which was fair, Magnus had eaten the damn thing. “Plus, there’s going to be a lot of paperwork after that whole break Legion pulled,” he added, summoning his scythe. “I’ll be back to talk to all of you about what we’re going to do tomorrow,” he finished. That seemed good enough for Taako.

“Sounds good, catch ya later babe,” Taako said with a grin and a wink. He was really enjoying the flustered expressions he could make Kravitz have. With that though Kravitz nodded, opening a portal and then stepping through to the astral plane, Maureen coming with him.

The ride up to the moon base was pretty awkward. Taako was fairly sure that everyone wanted to ask him about the whole grim reaper thing. He was just glad they were apparently holding off on that for now.

Getting the stone out of Magnus ended up being both easier and more horrifying than Taako expected. It really was getting late as fuck, and Taako was kind of hoping that they would be able to get out of there without anymore bullshit.

He couldn’t exactly blame Magnus for telling the Director about Kravitz though. Some sort of warning was probably a good idea in the long run.

“Director, while we were down there, we had some, uh, help,” Magnus said, and the Director nodded.

“Yes, I heard how Noelle had helped destroy like, a dozen robots,” she said, and Magnus nodded, and Taako could already tell what he was trying to lead into.

“Oh yeah no, Noelle was great. Uh, other help though. Taako? You wanna uh, explain what was going on with that?” Magnus asked, and immediately Taako could see the Director’s intrigue. And concern. There was definitely a mix of emotions there, not all of them he could pick out clearly.

“Did something happen?” she pressed, and Taako sighed. He was only somewhat regretting the boyfriend lie, and he was definitely going to have to thank Krav majorly for all of this later.

“No, everything’s good, we got the stone didn’t we? My boyfriend just helped out a little,” Taako said, trying to play this whole thing as casual. From everything Taako knew about the director from personal experience, plus everything he knew about her from Red, he doubted that would actually work. Still, it was worth a try.

“Your- I’m sorry, your boyfriend helped out?” she asked, and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, his boyfriend Death!” Merle added, not sounding very happy about that still. Taako guessed it made sense, Kravitz had not been a big fan of him throughout the whole mission either. The Director simply looked confused through.

“Your boyfriend… died? I’m sorry? But I also don’t see how this relates to the mission you went on,” she said, and Taako sighed heavily. Before he could even get the chance to just dive right into this, rip off the bandaid himself, Magnus did it for him.

“Taako’s dating the grim reaper,” he supplied helpfully. Before the Director could question it Taako nodded.

“Yeah uh, long story, but Krav, that’s his name, the grim reaper’s name is Kravitz. He showed up looking for Lucas, and helped us get the relic and shit. There’s just uuuuh, one little catch,” Taako said, and he could see the Director thinking. He couldn’t tell what conclusions she was coming to, but it was obvious she was trying to piece as much of this together as possible, and Taako couldn’t blame her. Shit made no goddamn sense.

“What catch?” she asked finally, obvious caution in her voice.

“Mags and Merle apparently got bounties too? Like, he’s a bounty for the Raven Queen, I don’t know a lot about that side of things, but apparently these two chucklefucks have died a boatload of times. He’s gonna stop by the base tomorrow to work everything out. But don’t worry, he promised we could like, handle this civilly, with words and everything,” Taako said, trying to assure her of that. He really didn’t want the bureau trying to kill Kravitz or anything like that.

The Director just stared at him for a moment, looking flabbergasted and… afraid. After a few long seconds through she seemed to pull herself together, nodding slowly.

“Alright. Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to convince him not to take our dear friends Merle and Magnus off to the astral plane,” she said, and it sounded a little forced. “It’s been a long night. You should all get some sleep. Taako, can I speak to you privately a moment before you go?” she asked, and yeah, he’d been afraid of this. He tried not to show it though, shrugging noncommittally.

“Sure,” he said. With that the rest of the people in the room started heading off to bed, and Lucretia took him back to her private office. Back there it was just the two of them, and Davenport. The Director sat down behind her desk, and now that they were alone her act dropped, and Taako could see just how fucking tired she looked.

“Taako, I need you to be honest with me. How do you know a bounty hunter for the Raven Queen?” she asked. It was a fair as fuck question, although Taako had no intent of being completely honest.

“I mean, I told you. Dude’s my boyfriend. Didn’t think we had to like, have our relationships vetted by you or anything,” he said, and she sighed at that, shaking her head. She was almost slumped on her desk, her head in one hand and her other gripping her staff tight.

“No, no that’s not- you are free to have whatever personal relationships you wish. I don’t mean that. How did you meet him Taako? And what does he know about us?” she pressed. Which, yeah, made sense to question.

He wouldn’t be able to completely bullshit this. He knew she was too fucking smart for that. He’d had to give at least some of the truth.

As long as he could leave Red completely out of it, maybe that would be enough.

“I mean, I don’t really get it. I don’t remember ever dying, and that’s what I told him, but yeah. He showed up one day just like, wanting to arrest me for death crimes. Said I died eight or nine times or some shit. We worked it out though,” he said with a shrug, like this whole thing wasn’t that big a deal. It honestly wasn’t, in the grand scheme of things. It hadn’t been all that hard to work out a deal with Kravitz once he sat down and talked to him, and he was sure the same thing would be true for getting Merle and Magnus out of hot water.

It was hard to tell what the director was thinking, her face a careful mask under the heavy lines of concern etched into it.

“And then you… started dating?” she asked, and Taako nodded, then paused, shrugging a little sheepishly.

“I mean, wasn’t fucking immediate. I may be an idiot but I’m not stupid. This happened a couple years ago, the dating this is uuuh, a lot more recent,” he said. So recent it hadn’t technically happened yet he supposed, but no one needed to know that. The Director nodded, and that actually seemed to make her a little less nervous.

“And how much does he know about our organization?” she asked. Taako guessed it was fair, this was probably something of a security breach. Not the biggest one she had by far, but he wasn’t about to let her in on that.

“A little? I mean, the voidfish doesn’t work on him I think. Since he’s dead and all,” he explained. The director nodded shallowly at that, before letting out a deep sigh.

She looked real fucking tired, in the same way that Red always sounded tired. Taako knew what Red looked like now, and even though the two were both humans they definitely didn’t look related in the slightest. Despite that, Taako could still see the similarities. Her shoulders weighed down in the same way Red’s was, even when he was a lich. Especially when he was a lich, if he was being honest.

“Alright, and you said he’s coming here tomorrow? To discuss the apparent bounties he has on Magnus and Merle?” she asked, and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, shouldn’t be like, an issue though. I’ll explain the whole shebang, Krav’s a real reasonable guy,” he tried to assure her. She didn’t look all that convinced, which made sense. Considering how worried Red had been about Kravitz, even after Taako told him shit had been handled. He didn’t think the Director was like, also a lich, but who fucking knew at this point. He might be a lich for how much he understood the situation.

“Hey uh, maybe you should get some rest too? Just saying it’s been a long fucking day for everyone,” Taako added. The Director lifted her head up a bit at that, having apparently not noticed how slumped and tired she looked.

“Yes, I suppose it has been,” she said after a moment. She pushed herself up from her chair, leaning on her staff a little more than Taako suspected was usual. “We should both get some sleep. Goodnight Taako,” she said, and he nodded.

“Yeah, right back at ya,” he said, started to head out of her office. Before he managed t leave though she started speaking again.

“Oh, and Taako? If you could let your boyfriend know I would appreciate speaking to him in private first tomorrow, that would be extremely helpful,” she said. Taako wasn’t sure what the exact reason the Director would want to talk to the Grim Reaper privately would be, but he could hazard a few guesses.

“For sure,” he said. She didn’t stop him as he went to leave this time, and it was real fucking quiet as he walked back towards his dorm through the base. Considering it was like fuck o’clock at night, that was to be expected. Taako hadn’t been lying about it being a long day either, he was fucking exhausted.

When he got back to his dorm, Magnus and Merle were still cleaning up the remnants from their earlier party. Taako didn’t say much when they asked him about what had happened with the director, instead reluctantly starting to help them put things away.

That weird fuse that Lucas’s mom had given them fell out of his bag in the process. Something inside of it started speaking, and they all just stared kind of dumbly as it did.

‘I saw all of existence, all at once. I saw a dark storm. A living hunger, eating it from within. But I saw a brilliant light heralded by seven birds, flying tirelessly from the store. I saw seven birds. The twins. The lover. The protector. The peacemaker. The lonely journal keeper. And the wordless one.’

It repeated that same thing several times, and Taako wasn’t sure what the fuck it meant.

Red kept talking about a Hunger. The word felt like a bad itch in the back of his brain. He was too tired to think of what it meant though, and Taako had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to piece it together anyway.

So instead he just went to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow would go well, and he could get a chance to go visit Red again sometime soon.

He had to make sure the dude wasn’t losing his mind after all. These fucking arcane power point presentations he kept giving weren’t exactly slick after all.

Chapter Text

Despite how tired Taako was, it didn’t feel like he’d gotten very much sleep. Which was bullshit, because he shouldn’t even have to be the one dealing with all of this. He still had no idea how he was connected to it all, but honestly, he was finding it harder and harder to believe that there wasn’t a connection. He just couldn’t understand it yet. Whatever it was that kept him from understanding shit, a second voidfish or who knows what, it wouldn’t let him figure it out. Which once again, was bullshit.

Or maybe it wasn’t anything like that, and he was just an idiot who couldn’t put two and two together. Or there was no connection at all and Red accidentally dragged some innocent bystander into all of this.

Yeah, that last one was sounding less and less probable by the day.

Dragging himself out of bed, Taako had no idea what time Kravitz was actually planning on stopping by. He didn’t have a stone of farspeech the last time they’d gone out to lunch, so he hadn’t been able to ask for his frequency. If Kravitz even had one, being the grim reaper and all. He might go old school and only be summonable by like, ancient bone circle rituals.

Taako had been too fucking exhausted to take a shower before bed, even after running around in a weird jumpsuit thing all night, so he immediately went to clean off now that he was a little more rested. The shower definitely helped with that as well, washing away a lot of the general bullshit from last night.

As he went through the motions of getting ready for the day, Taako tried to think of how he was going to handle all of this. It would be real helpful to get to talk to Red first, but like fuck if he had the time. He didn’t want to risk blowing anything right now either. They were lucky as fuck the Director hadn’t questioned them about the ten minutes of silence that must’ve happened over their stones of farspeech. He’d just have to deal with this on his own and hope he didn’t fuck anything up too spectacularly.

Taako was thankfully fully dressed, drying his hair with his towel when he heard a somewhat familiar by this point rip in the fabric of space. He couldn’t help but grin as Kravitz stepped through, able to pinpoint the moment where he noticed him and got flustered.

“Hey my dude. I know I told everyone else we’re dating but you might wanna check in before you show up unannounced in someone’s room. A few minutes earlier and you woulda got a show,” he teased, and Kravitz looked halfway to creating another portal and disappearing into the ether.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean- I can come back,” Kravitz said quickly. Taako shook his head, tossing the towel onto the back of a chair and heading past him to grab a hairbrush off his desk. He would have been pissed if Kravitz actually did come in when he was changing, but as it was this was actually convenient.

“Nah, just gimme a few minutes to finish up and then we can go grab everyone else and get down to business. Actually wanted to talk to you a bit beforehand anyway, so this works,” he said. Kravitz nodded, seeming a lot more comfortable as Taako mentioned the whole reason he was here.

“Right, you had quite a few things to explain, if I remember correctly,” Kravitz said. Taako gave a sheepish grin at that, turning towards the mirror he had set up to start doing his hair. He could still see Kravitz behind him in it, which was good. He didn’t think Kravitz would try anything, but it was always safer to be able to see people, no matter how much you trust them.

“Yeah, for sure. First things first though, uh, major thanks for playing along on the whole cover story thing. Kinda panicked and was already hanging off your arm like a goddamn mistress anyway,” he said, and Kravitz nodded, looking all flustered again. Taako wasn’t sure how someone both so hot and so dangerous also managed to be cute, but Kravitz pulled off all three.

“Yes, that. I was honestly a little too blindsided to really argue with that one. I suppose there’s an explanation for why you couldn’t tell them the truth?” he asked, and Taako nodded. He was taking his time getting his hair done, going with one of him more complicated braids. You basically needed four fucking hands to do it properly, but he’d managed over the years. It should give them plenty of time to get some shit straight, at least.

“It’s uh, let’s just say it’s complicated,” Taako said, and god Red used to use that one on him a lot. He still used it on him a lot if he was being honest. “Like, okay, all that stuff we talked about before? Me and Red trying to save the world, that’s still happening. Still a thing. These people here on the moon? Also trying to save the world. Kinda doing the same thing Red and I were doing, in a round about way,” he explained. By now Kravitz had moved from standing awkwardly in the room to going and sitting in Taako’s desk chair, waiting patiently for him to finish his hair from the looks of it.

“All sounds pretty straightforward so far,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, it would be, if it wasn’t for one little thing,” he said, cursing under his breath when he dropped a strand of hair. Muttering a quick incantation, he got another mage hand to help out.

“Everyone here thinks Red is the bad guy who caused the problem in the first place, and he kind of is? But it was to keep out a bigger evil, and now that they’ve started to ‘fix’ what Red did that thing’s gonna be here in less than a year, and probably cause the end of the fucking world,” he said. He could try and beat around the bush, give Kravitz half truths and things like that, but they didn’t have a lot of people they could count on right now.

Kravitz had believed them so far. And maybe there was a bit of self interest in all of this, but Taako really fucking liked this dude so far too. Maybe nothing would come of it, but if there was a chance for something Taako didn’t want to ruin it by lying about this shit.

For his credit, Kravitz was trying his best to keep a straight face during all that. A valiant effort, even if he didn’t quite manage it.

“I don’t suppose you could give me some more details on that?” Kravitz asked, and Taako gave him a little grin through the mirror. Every other time he’d asked for details, he’d had to shoot it down like a rock.

“For once, yeah,” he said.

So he told Kravitz what he knew. Yeah, it was probably shitty of him to spill all this without Red’s say so, but this seemed like an important enough issue to go ahead anyway. He sure as fuck didn’t want Kravitz dragging Merle and Magnus to ghost jail, and he didn’t want him accidentally spilling to the Director that Red was involved in all of this.

It was safer if they just told the truth here.

And he did, telling Kravitz about how Red and his family had created the relics. How it had been a sort of protection against something even worse, something they had spent a century fighting against and failing. How the relics had actually worked, until one of them had gotten too distraught by the suffering they brought to this world. So she set about to stop it. That’s when Red’s wife went missing. And now the Director had started gathering the relics, breaking the protection this world had. Now they were on a time table for the start of the apocalypse.

Their best bet was to keep gathering the relics, to have some sort of option when the apocalypse came. So right now, they were on the same side, but the Director couldn’t know. No one could know.

Taako had finally finished his hair at this point, turning around and leaning back against his dresser as he stared at Kravitz. He’d been basically silent throughout the whole explanation, and now there was a deep, concerned look on his face.

“I’m not going to lie Taako, this is a lot you just told me,” Kravitz said finally, and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, I fucking know my dude! And you’re the grim reaper! You at least deal with kinda big picture shit every day, imagine how it had to be for me? I’m just a chef and a shitty wizard!” he said, and Kravitz was giving him a look now. It was extremely skeptical, but not in a way where he thought Taako was lying. That was the best he could define it.

“That’s- I mean, I’d be hard pressed to call you just anything, but you know that can’t possibly be true right?” Kravitz asked, and Taako couldn’t help but smile a bit at the little compliment thrown in there, like Kravitz barely even realized he’d said it. The second part caused him to sigh though, because that was something he was trying not to think about too much.

“Yeah but, nothing else makes sense? I don’t think anything else can make sense. There’s still too many missing pieces, ya know?” he said, and slowly Kravitz nodded.

“Alright then. I might… might try and see if I can talk to your friend later, just to corroborate this story,” he said, which was reasonable enough. “I do believe you though Taako, so I suppose the question is what do we do now?” he asked. Taako still wasn’t fucking used to being the one to call the shots, but at least he had a pretty clear goal to stick to here.

“I mean for starters, not dragging Mags and Merle to ghost jail would be kinda nice. Would be real helpful if those two dunderheads could stick around,” he said, and Kravitz sighed heavily at that.

“The Raven Queen is going to think I have ulterior motives if I keep pardoning bounties for you, you know that?” he said, and his voice was trying to sound annoyed but there was definitely a smirk on his lips.

“Is it better or worse if she’s right? Can’t imagine gods like to be wrong all that much,” he said with a grin. Kravitz had stood up by this point, although he was still keeping a pretty respectful distance between them. Less fun, but made sense. Kravitz seemed pretty old school.

“She’s a very understanding goddess, despite most people’s perception of her. I’m sure she’d understand either way,” he said, and he didn’t move back when Taako walked forward, closing the distance between them. It honestly wasn’t a lot, he didn’t exactly have a huge room.

“Cool, cool. So uh, I’ve got a lot of shit to keep straight in my head. Lots of half truths and white lies, you know, all to make sure the world won’t be destroyed in half a fucking year. And I can absolutely handle one more, no problem. So if you wanna keep up with the whole ruse telling everyone we’re dating thing, that’s cool. Just, ya know, would be easier to keep track of if it was true,” he said, sounding more nervous than he meant to. Kravitz either didn’t notice or didn’t care, an absolutely overjoyed smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around Taako’s waist.

“Well, if it makes everything easier,” he said, it real obvious that that wasn’t anywhere close to the actual reason. Taako didn’t respond, instead tilting his head up to capture Kravitz’s mouth in a kiss. The cold temperature caught him off guard for a moment, but he quickly got over that.

God. Red was going to fucking kill him for this.

It felt too soon when Taako had to pull away, but he was pretty sure he was the only one who needed to breathe, and therefore had to be the one to make the call. Also, there was still actual shit they needed to get to.

“Shit, I almost forgot. The director wants to talk to you in private for some reason,” Taako said. Kravitz frowned a little at that, but he nodded and Taako could see his quick fumbled attempts at returning to a professional air. It was real fucking cute, and now Taako could appreciate it without any shame.

“Right, no of course. We should get that all uh, squared away. I’ll need to speak to Merle and Magnus once more before I officially call off their bounties as well,” Kravitz said. It made sense, and Taako was trying not to get too relieved yet. They weren’t completely out of the woods, but this was something. This was a lot of somethings, and he was pretty damn happy about most of it.

Taking Kravitz’s hand, Taako started to lead him down to the Director’s office. They could talk to Magnus and Merle afterwards. The Director had been pretty clear that she wanted to talk to him first after all.

If he seemed in a better mood than the situation warranted when they got there, that wasn’t anyone’s business but his own.

“Hey Director, we got the shit with Magnus and Merle squared away,” Taako said as they went into the office. He wasn’t surprised to see her sitting at her desk, a firm grip on her staff. She stood up as soon as they entered the room, and it was hard to read her expression. Sometimes it was harder to tell what she was thinking than the faceless floating robed figure.

“Thank you. Kravitz was it?” she asked, and Kravitz nodded as he gave her a polite smile.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you Director,” he said, and then he frowned. Taako could see the look of concentration on his face, and weirdly enough his eyes were darting between the Director and Davenport in the corner. When he let go of Taako’s hand, he could see him make a familiar motion. Before that weird glowing book could appear though the Director started speaking again.

“Taako, if you wouldn’t mind giving us a moment alone,” she said, her voice a little more curt than it usually was. He tried to look like he didn’t notice. He’d gotten real good at looking like he didn’t notice things lately.

“Yeah I mean, he’s my boyfriend, but sure go nuts,” he said, already started to head back out of the office. Before he was fully out of the room though he turned back, giving an easy smile to Kravitz. “Go easy on em babe, hearts in the right place and all that junk,” he said. Kravitz chuckled and nodded, and with that Taako let the door close behind him.

It was definitely some kind of torture, waiting outside that room with absolutely no idea what the two were talking about in there. Taako wanted to believe he could trust Kravitz not to spill anything, especially now. He was pretty sure he’d be genuinely upset if Kravitz spilled shit immediately after deciding to make things official.

The parts of him that weren’t worried about what Kravitz might be saying were worried about what the Director might be saying. At the very least, she had to know as much as Red did, which was way fucking more than Taako did. What if he believed her story over theirs? Taako wasn’t even sure he could blame him if he did. The Director was working on destroying terrible magic weapons of mass destruction and seemed to be pretty objectively a good person.

Red had admitted to creating those objects, and was a lich.

It felt like an eternity when the office door finally opened again, and Taako practically sprung to his feet. He hadn’t even noticed how tight his grip on the umbrastaff was until he loosened it at the sight of Kravitz walking out, looking a little tired and frustrated, but not like he was reconsidering any recent life choices.

“How’d it go?” he asked, seeming a little more eager than he intended. This shit was pretty sigh stakes though, for both the world in general and Taako in particular. Kravitz gave him a reassuring smile though, and it didn’t look like he was faking it, at least not too much.

“Well enough, we managed to reach an accord,” Kravitz said, which okay, seemed good. Taako turned back to the office, sticking his head into the door to check on the Director. She was sitting at her desk still, looking tired as always. She looked up when the door opened though, and the small smile that spread on her face at the sight of him was genuine enough.

“Krav said we’re good, we good Director?” he asked, and it was a relief when she nodded.

“Cool, cool. Well, later then,” he said, pulling his head back out and closing the door behind him as the director gave him a little wave. As soon as it was closed and they were alone in the hallway Taako turned back towards Kravitz. “So, what was that about? Come on gimme all the deets,” he said, and Taako wasn’t exactly thrilled by the hesitant look Kravitz gave him at that.

“I mean, it was mostly business. I’ll be honest Taako, she didn’t exactly give me a lot to work with,” Kravitz said. They had started walking at this point, mainly because Taako didn’t want to have this conversation right outside the Director’s office. He had no real destination in mind, letting Kravitz take his arm as they started off.

“Yeah, but why did she want to talk to you alone? Don’t tell me the Director has a bounty too,” Taako said, and then he paused, thinking about it for a moment. “Actually, she’s a part of Red’s family. She definitely has done, doesn’t she?” he asked. Looking up at Kravitz, he was trying to avoid eye contact, and it was almost enough to make Taako laugh. For the grim reaper and all, he wasn’t a very good liar.

“She requested that most of our conversation remain… confidential,” he said after a moment. Taako sighed, leaning a bit more heavily on Kravitz’s arm. It wasn’t like he wasn’t already used to things being kept secret from him.

“Fine, I guess I’ll live,” he said, and Kravitz chuckled a little at that. It was quiet for a moment as they walked around the courtyard, and this was also something Taako was pretty sure he could get used to. It was nice.

“You’d tell me though, right? If there was something big going on that I didn’t know? Like, gonna be honest, you’re the only person who knows besides Red. Putting a lot of faith into you bones,” Taako said after a moment. It was as close to vulnerable as he was willing to get right now, but it seemed important that Kravitz know. There were a few long moments where Kravitz didn’t say anything, and then he paused.

“Yes, I mean, I would if I thought it was, you know, something you could understand,” he said. Taako raised an eyebrow at that, frowning. Kravitz seemed to get the picture, quickly elaborating. “I mean, not like I thought it was too complicated and would go over your head, you’re not- I don’t think you’re stupid or anything like that. It’s just- you said yourself that there were things you couldn’t know,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Is there something you think you get that I don’t with all this?” he asked, because that’s kind of what it sounded like. From the look on Kravitz’s face when he asked that question, he was probably right.

“I mean, maybe? It just makes sense and I can’t really see any other way you wouldn’t make the connection,” he said. Taako was frowning now, because it was one thing when Red knew shit he didn’t. He lived through those secrets that Taako couldn’t hear. Kravitz piecing something together was just irritating, because he wasn’t even as involved as Taako was. The fact that it was apparently so fucking obvious but Taako couldn’t think it was frustrating as shit.

“What is it?” he asked, and Kravitz looked apprehensive.

“I don’t- it doesn’t mess with you or anything, does it? If you can’t understand something?” Kravitz asked, clearly concerned. It was pretty cute, and under any other circumstances Taako would take the time to appreciate it. As it was now though he was too focused on this, and he quickly shook his head.

“Nah, I just hear static instead of the thing you’re trying to say,” he said, and Kravitz paused for another moment before sighing.

“I mean, it’s just, you have to know that y̕͝͠ou̧'̕͘re̵̶͠ ̕͟a̕͟͞ ̶̕͝p̶͜ar͢t҉ ͢o̡҉f̴̢̡ t̸͞h͠e̢ ͜͏f̷̶͞a͢҉m͜i̵l̛y͘ R̷e̵d̨͘҉ ̛͘i̶̛ş ҉a̕̕l͞w̷̛a̢y҉s̷ t̵͞a҉͜l̛ki̢n̨g͟͠͏ ̕͠a͘͜b͏o̷ut͞҉,͝"̶̡ Kravitz said, and even though Taako wasn’t surprised by the words dissolving into static, he was incredibly irritated.

“Yeah, looks like you’re right, can’t understand shit,” he said. Kravitz was frowning, but it seemed to be more in sympathy than anything else.

“I’m sorry, I swear Taako, I would tell you if I could,” he said, and Taako nodded. Taking Kravitz’s hand again, he tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. There wasn’t anything he could do about them now after all, and he had better things to focus on at the moment.

“Well, it’s the thought that counts. We’re working on a solution, no worries,” he said. Kravitz seemed surprised by Taako taking his hand for a moment, before smiling softly.

“In that case, I hope you manage to figure it out soon,” he said, and Taako grinned a little at that, nodding in agreement. He didn’t bring up the fact that the only had a little bit of time left to solve this shit after all, not wanting to bring the mood down that much.

He really needed to get down to Red sometime soon though.

They had so fucking much to discuss.

——

Barry knew they had to be cautious.

But he also knew that they were running out of time.

The move at the lab had been a risky one, and even more it was a risk they didn’t strictly need to take. He hadn’t had a choice when Captain Bain had tried to poison his family, or at least he didn’t feel like he did. There was no threat to try and protect them from though, not an immediate one anyway.

And despite that, he took it anyway. He tried to make it as safe as possible, had cut off access to their stones of farspeech in that room so that Lucretia couldn’t overhear. It probably wasn’t enough to completely erase suspicion, but he wanted them to be as prepared as possible. They couldn’t remember, but Magnus and Merle needed to have an idea of what they were going to have to face in less than a year too.

When the mission was over though, he waited to hear from Taako. He expected it to be a lot like the last one, where he would not be super happy about his surprise appearance.

Barry waited a day for Taako to call him. And then two. And three.

He was starting to get pretty damn worried by the third day.

Finally, on the fourth day his stone of farspeech started to light up. Immediately Barry grabbed it, answering the thing as fast as he could.

“Taako, is everything okay?” he asked before Taako could even get a chance to speak. He knew there were a lot of reasons why the elf would take a bit to call him, but he couldn’t help but go to the worst case scenario, especially after the scene he’d kinda made. It was a massive relief when Taako answered him, sounding just fine.

“Yeah, we good. We need to talk, I’ll be down in like fifteen minutes,” he said, and that wasn’t really what Barry expected. They tried not to actually meet up too close to their reclaimer missions, but it had been a while since they last saw each other. He certainly wasn’t going to complain if Taako wanted to come down though.

“Alright, see you soon bud,” Barry said. With that Taako hung up his side of the stone of farspeech and Barry let his disappear back into a pocket dimension. Giving a brief look over of his cave, he started out towards the spot he typically met Taako at.

It sounded like Taako had a lot to fill him in on.

Chapter Text

Barry was worried as he waited for Taako to show up. They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk since the events with the philosopher’s stone, and it sounded like Taako had a lot to fill him in on . He told himself it would be okay though. He doubted there was anything that Taako could tell him that would be completely out of left field. He knew his brother pretty well.

He was relieved when he saw the transport canon come down into the fields surrounding Phandalin, and even more so when Taako came stepping out . As soon as Taako caught sight of him he smiled, but there was definitely something off about that smile. It was a lot more nervous than Barry expected it to be.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, floating up to Taako as he stepped out of the sphere. The elf nodded, and Barry was paying attention now. He always payed attention, but he was specifically looking for anything off with Taako, any sort of changes . He wasn’t under any sort of charm, and Barry doubted Lucretia would stoop to something like that, even if she found out that Taako had been working with him all this time .

There was definitely something different though. There was no doubt about that, Barry just couldn’t put his finger on what yet.

“Yeah no, everything’s chill. Uh, kinda got a lot to talk about though, and don’t think I forgot about that fucking stunt you pulled in the weird crystal lab,” Taako said, and that kind of surprised Barry . Not the fact that Taako had remembered, instead he was surprised that wasn’t the main thing he wanted to talk about.

“Right, let’s get to it then,” he said, holding out an arm for Taako to take. As soon as he felt the elf’s grip on him Barry teleported them both back to his cave. At this point he was pretty sure Taako knew how to get to it by walking if he needed to, but this was faster and easier. They never had a lot of time to visit after all, it was important to make the most of it.

“So uh, what’s happening?” Barry asked once they were alone. Taako sighed heavily at the question, and it was weird. He knew the dude real fucking well by this point, and Taako looked more embarrassed than like he was trying to gear up to tell him some bad news .

“Oh you know, not much. First things first I guess though, get the unimportant stuff out of the way. You remember Kravitz?” Taako asked, and it wasn't the question Barry had been expecting, but it wasn’t like they didn’t have to deal with him often enough .

“I mean, yeah. Of course I remember Kravitz,” he said, his voice a little more blunt than it needed to be. Taako nodded quickly at that, and yeah, there was something weird going on here for sure.

“Good, good! So, a few updates on that front, but I got em mostly all squared away so no worries. Turns out he had bounties on Magnus and Merle too, but we talked it out, got them called off. I had to tell him like, the full story and everything though, uh, what else? We’re dating now. Oh, he pardoned the Director for her bounty too I guess,” Taako said, speaking fast and listing things off on his fingers as he did .

Barry knew what he thought about knowing his brother and not being taken by surprise, but that made him do a double take .

“Wait, wait what? What was that?” he asked, cutting Taako off. He was still holding up a finger, and the smile he gave Barry was definitely fake in how casual it was.

“He pardoned the director for her death crimes too?” he asked, and Barry shook his head. Sure, that was real good to know. He definitely didn’t want any of his family to get dragged to ghost jail, but that one was in the ‘Taako is a lot more competent than he thinks and of course would be able to work out a deal with death’ category that Barry had come to appreciate .

“The thing before that,” he said.

“I had to tell him the full story?” Taako tried, like he didn’t know exactly what Barry was trying to get out.

“The dating thing! What the fuck Taako?!” Barry shouted. He wasn’t upset so much as he was completely mystified. Like, yeah, the dude was hot and definitely Taako’s type, that didn’t make this any less fucking bizarre. This wasn’t the sort of thing Taako did, not in a hundred literal years. He didn’t make those kinds of connections anymore, those bonds. He said it himself, everyone but the seven of them was just dust to him. 

Except he didn’t remember that anymore, did he?

“Okay just - just listen and don’t freak! I know you guys had like, your differences and shit in the past, but I swear he’s not after my soul or anything like that. He’s just ya know, a sweet guy. And also the grim reaper,” Taako said, and it was more obvious as he specifically talked about Kravitz. The difference there that Barry hadn’t been able to clearly identify before.

He actually looked happy. It had hidden under the nerves, but now that Barry knew what he was looking at it was obvious how damn excited he was about this .

Taako was fucking smitten with this guy.

“Shit…” he breathed, and Taako somehow managed to look even more worried.

“You’re not gonna go all crazy hyper-protective of me again, are you Red? As much as I appreciate the concern I’d rather you not try and give a shovel talk to the grim reaper,” Taako asked, his voice cautious despite the obvious attempt at lightening the mood . Barry shook his head, actually laughing a little as he covered his non-existent face with his hand.

“No, no you don’t gotta worry. I’m not gonna freak out and try and fuck up your relationship, I promise,” he said, and Taako relaxed considerably at that. Barry guessed he couldn’t blame him for being nervous about telling him this, all things considered. He probably should be worried about him dating literal death, but he’d met Kravitz quite a few times by now. He definitely didn’t seem like the kind of dude to manipulate someone like that, for any reason. If he was dating Taako he was probably as into it as the elf was, maybe even more so, considering that Taako was a former death criminal and best friends with a lich and all that. Barry doubted the relationship would be a good look for his career. 

“Good. I mean, like, that’s good. I guess, like I said it’s not really too big of a deal, who knows if it’ll even work out, it’s been a while. Hell, probably won’t even have the time to figure it out since the end of the world is going to be here in like, six months or some shit,” Taako said, and he was trying so hard to be casual . None of it quite landed right, and without thinking Barry reached out, grabbing Taako’s shoulder the best he could .

“You will,” he said, trying to sound as certain as possible, definitely more certain than he felt.

“What?” Taako asked, his confusion obvious.

“You’ll have time to figure it out. Fuck, Taako I’m so happy for you, and I promise no matter what I’m going to make sure you have time to be in love,” he said. Immediately Taako was pulling out of his grip, his face a bright red and ears pointing up in embarrassment .

“Whoa! Okay let’s pump the breaks a little there! It’s been like three days my dude, no need to be moving at fucking light speed,” he said, and Barry felt a little bad about laughing, but not enough to not laugh . Taako huffed in response, and it was funny seeing his brother so goddamn flustered. It definitely wasn’t Taako’s usual state of affairs.

“Yeah, no of course. Well, either way I wanna make sure you have enough time to figure it all out and junk,” he said, maybe brushing off the idea that it wasn’t love a bit too casually for Taako’s taste . Barry didn’t think anyone could blame him though. A hundred years knowing someone, this was some pretty big news.

“Ugh, you’re the fucking worst. I never should have told you shit,” Taako grumbled, and when he turned to look back at him he somehow managed to look even more offended . “You don’t even have a mouth! How the fuck do you have such a shit eating grin right now?” he complained, and Barry practically doubled over laughing at that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, and Taako didn’t look like he believed him for a second.

“Yes you do and you know it,” he insisted.

“Yeah okay, probably,” he admitted, and then he sighed, trying to bring himself back down some. This definitely wasn’t what he’d been expecting, but it was almost better. It was something just good for once, getting to see his family happy like this, even if he was trying to play it off as casual. “Look, not to get all weird again, but I mean it. I’m real happy for you, and I really hope it works out with Kravitz,” he said. Taako shrugged, crossing his arms and refusing to look directly at Barry.

“Fucking thanks I guess? Are we done? We’re done talking about this now, it’s not even that big of a deal,” he grumbled. Maybe he was right, maybe it wasn’t. Barry kind of got the feeling that Kravitz didn’t exactly date often either though. He was pretty sure this was a big deal. Still, he supposed he’d let Taako have this respite for now.

“So uh, you said there was other stuff we needed to talk about then?” he asked, and it was obvious how fucking relieved Taako was to have that escape from this conversation offered to him .

“Yes! What the fuck was that goddamn nightmare horror show of a powerpoint you decided to give back at the lab? Was there a point to that or were you just bored?” he asked, and yeah, Barry had been expecting this. Much more than he’d expected anything else that had happened so far if he was being honest.

“Yeah, okay, that probably looked pretty weird, huh?” he said, and Taako nodded in a much more exaggerated manner than he strictly needed to.

“I’d say so, yes,” he said, and Barry sighed.

“I know, and I’m not sure I can really explain why I did it, but I swear it was important. It’s- it’s stuff you need to know, even if you don’t really understand it yet,” he said, and Taako didn’t look very convinced.

“Then why not just wait and tell me when we’re alone? Sure, the mirrors were cool and all, but you could have just made a damn illusion of the room if the layout was so important,” Taako said . It was a fair enough point, but Barry shook his head. It would certainly be easier if he could do that, but in the end he knew this wasn’t going to be something him and Taako could handle on their own .

“Because, I meant what I said back there. Magnus and Merle, we’re going to need them too. You three are the only chance this world has right now,” he insisted. Taako didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring at him with this expression, Barry not able to tell exactly what it was he was thinking . Eventually he sighed, shaking his head and starting to pace around the room.

“Krav said it was obvious,” he muttered, and Barry cocked his head to the side at that.

“He said what was obvious?” he asked, and the laugh Taako gave was bitter and frustrated.

“I have no fucking clue my dude,” he said, and it was clear how badly whatever he was thinking about was bothering him. The shift in his mood from before was pretty drastic, a bubbling frustration that boiled over almost immediately . “I don’t know what the fuck he was talking about, but whatever it was he was right on the money, because it fucking staticed out,” he continued, and that definitely caught Barry’s attention . Before he could ask what he meant though Taako kept on talking. “I have no clue what he said, but it’s- I should. I’m not an idiot! I can put two and two together, and you say these things and I look at you and it’s like… it’s like…” he trailed off.

“Hey, hey bud. Maybe it’s best to just give it a rest for now,” Barry said, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on Taako’s shoulder. He didn’t even seem to notice it though, staring right at Barry as he tried to piece together a puzzle with what might as well been invisible pieces .

“It’s like I should know this already,” Taako said finally.

He had no idea how right he was.

“You should probably head back up to the base soon. Before Lucretia gets too suspicious,” Barry said after a moment. The obvious annoyance and frustration on Taako’s face at Barry brushing past all of that hurt, but there wasn’t anything they could do . Taako couldn’t know, no matter how goddamn much Barry wanted him to. Not yet. After a few seconds though that anger faded and Taako nodded.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. She was kinda on edge after the whole Kravitz thing, so I might not be able to come back down for a little while,” he said. It made sense, and Barry tried to hide his disappointment at the news.

“You sure you’re just not gonna be too busy with your new boyfriend to hang out with boring old me anymore?” he teased, very entertained by the shade of red Taako’s face went almost instantly .

“Fuck you! You know what, yes, that is the reason now. Krav would never do me dirty like this,” Taako said, and Barry laughed at that.

“Hey, as long as you’re happy bud,” he said, which only caused Taako to huff even more.

“I’m leaving! I’m already going, I’m gone!” Taako shouted, starting to walk down towards the entrance of the cave. Barry laughed, only halfheartedly chasing after him.

“Taako, Taako please. At least let me teleport you back to Phandalin. Taako,” Barry called after him in-between bouts of laughter. It took a few more minutes, but eventually Taako stopped, letting Barry catch up to him.

“Only because I’m too lazy to walk all the way back and I’m not dumb enough to drop a transport canon right on top of your secret base,” he said . If Barry had a face, he would have grinned brightly at that.

It was the second time today Taako had insisted he wasn’t an idiot. It was so different from how he’d been when he first met up with him again, and Barry couldn’t be happier to hear it.

“I appreciate that,” he said simply , taking Taako’s arm when he held it out for the teleportation. In a flash they were back on the outskirts of what used to be Phandalin, and Barry let go of his arm. “Keep me posted,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Will do as always, my dude,” he said, a little more serious now. When he pushed the button for the transport canon Barry knew he should be heading back. Giving Taako a simple nod, his brother waved back before Barry cast the spell again. Once he was back in his cave Barry sighed, and for once it wasn’t a bad one.

Sure, it was fucking wild, but it was real nice seeing Taako so happy. It was real nice getting to laugh about something with his brother like that again.

If they could just find Lup, then it would be almost perfect.

——

When Taako got back to the moon base he let out a sigh of relief. That had gone better than expected. A lot better than expected. He had been pretty damn sure that Red was gonna freak out and try and lock him up in some protective blood cave when he found out about Kravitz, but it was basically the opposite . Dude seemed over the moon at the news, and Taako had no idea why.

He had no idea why for a lot of things, and it was really starting to grate on him. He got it, there was something making it so that no matter how hard he tried, nothing was gonna make complete sense. So he should stop trying, it would be the easiest thing. It would have been his first option in most cases.

But he couldn’t just ignore this. It was eating away inside of him, and maybe he was just anxious because the world was going to end, but it felt more than that . It felt like… it felt…

Red had told himself through the coin that there was a dull weight in his chest. That was the best way to put it. And it shouldn’t have anything to do with this, Taako had always felt that way, but where his heart should be there was nothing . He used to almost not notice it, but lately it was this gaping hole that Taako felt like he was constantly having to step around, getting tripped up over it whenever he wasn't looking .

“Good afternoon sir!” a chipper voice knocked him out of his thoughts, and Taako didn’t mean to jolt as much as he did. When he looked down, Angus was frowning with concern. “I’m sorry, is everything okay?” he asked, and Taako quickly nodded.

“Oh yeah, shit’s fucking golden. What’s up with you?” he asked, trying to brush off any lingering weird feelings from before. He was in a good mood after all, shit was actually going pretty good right now.

“Not much sir. I just saw you come back from one of your trips down to the planet and thought I’d say hi,” Angus said, and it sounded innocent enough . Couldn’t say he was exactly thrilled at the kid continuing to watch him leaving the base. Red seemed to think that whole situation was handled , but he wasn’t so sure. “Can I ask you something about that sir?” he added, and of course.

“You’re just going to anyway, so sure,” he said. It was better to have Angus ask instead of trying to brush him off and have the kid try and investigate on his own. They could get into some serious hot water if that happened.

“Were you using Phandalin as an excuse to go see your secret boyfriend sometimes?” Angus asked, and Taako paused at that. It wasn’t the case, but hey, if Angus was going to give him the excuse, he was willing to take it. After a moment he nodded, trying to look a bit begrudged at being ‘found out.’

“Yeah, alright you got me. It was all a clever ruse so no one would know about Kravitz, you really are a great detective,” he said, and it maybe wasn’t his most convincing performance in the world . Angus somehow looked even less certain than he had before Taako had said anything, which wasn’t exactly great . He needed a distraction.

Not just for Angus either. Taako really needed to clear his head. It was full of static and it was making it real hard to think.

“Hey, you like magic?” he asked, and the question took Angus off guard. He still looked a little suspicious as he nodded.

“Yes, I love magic sir, why?”  he asked, which was fair enough. It certainly hadn’t been connected to anything they’d been talking about before.

“You ever think about learning some?” Taako said, and Angus still looked real confused as he nodded.

“Of course sir. I’ve tried to learn on my own, and I know a lot of the concepts and such, but there’s not a lot of beginner magic books here on the moon and for some reason no matter how hard I try I just can’t get the magic to come out,” Angus said, and Taako almost rolled his eyes at that . For such an observant kid, shit really did fly over his head sometimes.

“Might help if you got yourself a proper teacher,” he said casually . He could start to see the gears turning in Angus’s head now, the kid starting to put the pieces together. Even still, he sounded cautious as he spoke next.

“Sir, it’s… would you mind teaching me some magic please?” he asked, and Taako sighed heavily before shrugging.

“Ugh, yeah alright I guess. It’s not like I’m doing anything important,” he said, acting like it was some big favor he was doing the kid and not like he wasn’t the one to basically suggest it. Either way, Angus immediately had stars in his eyes, a huge excited grin on his face.

“ Really sir?” he asked, and Taako shrugged, starting to walk off.

“Yeah, we’ll hit it first thing tomorrow. Make sure to get yourself a wand,” he said, and hopefully this would be enough to get Angus’s mind off of his frequent trips down planetside . He and Red had to be more careful. Shit was getting closer and closer, they only had to hold off a little bit longer.

“Sounds good sir! Thank you so much!” Angus said.

The good thing about the magic lessons ended up being that they did actually take Taako’s mind off of everything for a little while . Angus was a fast learner, a lot of natural talent even if he didn’t see it right away. Taako had intended to only give him a couple lessons, get the kid rolling and then let him figure out the rest on his own, but he honestly didn’t mind the lessons as much as he let on .

They had been at the lessons for almost a week when Angus asked to learn prestidigitation. Taako wasn’t thrilled about casting on food, even if he knew that magic had never actually been an issue in that regard . He didn’t bring it up though, and when Angus asked him to use prestidigitation to make the macaroons taste better, he shrugged and went to cast the spell .

What came out of the umbrastaff was not prestidigitation.

Taako did his best to keep as firm of a grip as he could on the staff as he could, not wanting it to fly out of his hand and break or something . He didn’t know what the fuck was happening, but it wasn’t the first time the spell focus had acted strange. Sometimes it was more powerful than it needed to be, than Taako had any right being at any rate.

This was different that a supped up spell though. All Taako could do was watch in confusion as the umbrastaff blasted several letters into the wall before seeming to almost shut down again .

“That wasn’t me,” he muttered, and Angus was already up at the wall, inspecting what the staff had written. “L, U, P?” he asked, reading the letters. When he looked back down at the umbrella, it seemed perfectly normal. “Lup?” he asked a little quieter, and he didn’t know what that meant.

He knew who would though. This umbrella wasn’t even supposed to be his. Red should be the one to have it, he would know what all this weird junk meant. It belonged to his wife after all, if anyone could figure this out, it would be hi- wait.

His wife.

Shit.

“Thank you for the magic lessons sir, but I think you just -”

“I gotta go,” Taako said, cutting Angus off before he could finish whatever it was he was saying. As fast as he could Taako started grabbing the stuff he’d had out for the magic lesson, throwing it all back into his bag. He didn’t dare let go of the umbrastaff the whole time, keeping as tight a grip on it as he could. “I can’t- fuck,” he said, his hands shaking.

His heart felt like it was trying to beat out of his chest and he wasn't even sure why.

“Sir?” Angus asked, and Taako only paused for a moment. The kid was smart, he obviously realized something was up. If Taako was smart, he would put this off for a little while, so that Angus wasn’t so suspicious.

But Taako wasn’t smart, he was panicking.

“Don’t follow me,” he said, and immediately Angus’s expression went from concerned to suspicious and calculating .

“Why? Where are you going? What does Lup mean? Sir-” Angus asked, and Taako didn’t have time to answer these questions. He wasn’t even sure of what was going on, but he needed to get to Red to figure this out now. He didn’t have time to deal with Angus.

“Hey Ango? I’m wicked sorry about this,” he said. Lifting his wand, he saw the brief flash of panic on Angus’s face before he went and cast the spell. The kid was unnaturally good at resisting magic sometimes, but thankfully this time it seemed to stick . As soon as the spell him Angus dropped to the floor in a heap as it took effect.

Taako went to start running, but he paused when he glanced back at Angus one last time. Cursing under his breath, Taako undid his cloak of the manta ray and threw it over the kid so that he at least didn’t look so goddamn sad . 

As soon as that was done Taako ran. At first he was heading to the hanger, but then he stopped. He didn’t want anyone to know where he was going. He didn’t know what the fuck was happening, but it felt kind of big. At the very least, what he just did to Angus was probably gonna get him in some trouble for sure. He couldn’t bring that trouble back to Red.

And Lup. Whatever that was, whatever it meant, he knew Red would know. Which meant the Director would also know.

There wasn't any way this was going to end well for him if he stayed here now.

Heading to the edge of the moon bases, Taako paused as he looked down. It was a long fucking drop. His grip tightening on the umbrastaff, he glanced at the seemingly innocuous umbrella.

“Hey, we’re gonna get to Red and figure this out together, alright? So just uh, work with me here for a little bit longer, okay?” he said, very aware he was talking to an umbrella. Taking a deep breath, Taako took one more moment to steal his nerves.

And then, casting feather fall on himself, he stepped off the moon base.

Chapter Text

It had been barely a week since Barry had last seen Taako. He hadn’t thought much of it, it had been the plan and for once he had been in a mostly good mood. Sure, not entirely, it was still hard. Everything was still hard, and with how much was going on Barry knew that Taako wouldn’t be able to come down and see him as much. He figured he’d have to prepare for a good long period without seeing his best friend.

Not the best thing when the stress of the end of the world coming again was starting to mount, but Barry told himself he’d deal. They had no choice after all, they would just have to make due. He would just have to make due. If Lucretia found out what was going on that would be so much worse.

So, Barry was very concerned when not even a week later he felt a very familiar presence walking towards his cave. Or not walking, running. He startled away from the map he’d been looking over as he tried to think of some new place to search for Lup. Pulling out his stone of farspeech, it didn’t look like anyone had tried to contact him.

Taako always called before coming down, but that was definitely Taako he was feeling barreling this way.

Preparing for the worst, Barry teleported out of the cave to about where he felt Taako’s presence. He’d already managed to make his way pretty close to the cave, and Barry made sure he was invisible when he first showed up. If anyone was following Taako he didn’t want to immediately give them away. From what he could tell though Taako was alone. He didn’t look hurt or like he’d been in a fight or anything, but it was pretty obvious something was wrong. Everything about him was ruffled and there was obvious panic as he clutched the umbrastaff as close to his chest as possible.

Dropping the spell, Barry rushed over to him. As soon as Taako caught sight of him he stopped, and the relief on his face was clear as day.

“Shit, okay good, you’re here,” Taako blurted out, and Barry cocked his head to the side at that.

“Where else would I be? Taako, what’s going on? I felt you out here, why didn’t you call first?” he asked, and Taako had to take a moment to catch his breath. It was obvious he’d been running all the way from Phandalin, no wonder he was exhausted. He held up a hand for Barry to wait, and so he did. A part of him wanted to teleport them both back to his cave, but it felt like he should get some idea of why Taako wanted to see him first.

“Didn’t have time. Something happened and it just- figured I should get down here as soon as possible,” Taako said, and immediately Barry looked up. The moon was hovering above them, and it didn’t seem like anything was too wrong yet. At the very least, he couldn’t see anyone trying to come after him, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t soon.

“We should get back to the cave,” he said, and he was surprised when Taako shook his head.

“No, no just- just wait a minute. I gotta ask you something first,” he said, and Barry hesitated. He did a quick detect magic, and it didn’t seem like Taako was possessed or anything. He certainly didn’t think that he would try and lead him into any sort of trap. A little reluctantly despite that he nodded. If Taako thought this was urgent, then Barry would trust his judgement.

“What is it?” he asked, and he could see Taako trying to figure out how to word whatever it was he was trying to ask. He bit his lip, and he still had a death grip on the umbrastaff.

“What was your wife’s name?”

The question hit him like a sack of bricks and Barry felt his whole form slump. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting Taako to ask, but it wasn’t that. The question felt like a knife in his heart, every instance of Taako talking about his twin without realizing it always did. His soul stinging with the reminder that Taako couldn't even know her name.

“I don’t- I don’t know if it’s a good idea for you to-” he started, but Taako didn’t let him finish, not minding the pain in his voice as he cut him off.

“Was it Lup?”

Barry felt his whole form freeze, his very soul stuck in place as he tried to process those three simple words.

“W-what?” he managed to ask after a moment, his voice shaking. He didn’t know what was going on, but it didn’t- none of it made any sense. How did he...

“Was her name Lup?” Taako asked again, sounding a little more urgent. Barry could feel little bits of himself unraveling, and he was trying his best to keep himself together.

“How- how do you know that? I don't- how do you know her name?” he asked, reaching out and clutching Taako by the shoulders. It didn't seem to bother or scare him, even as his robe billowed all around him. There were bits of red arcane power coming off of him, so close to striking Taako at times that the light of them reflected against his face every so often. Barry knew he had to get a hold of himself, but he didn’t know what was happening, and hearing Taako say his sister’s name after a decade felt like someone bringing him back to life just to kill him again.

“The umbrastaff,” Taako said, and Barry had to back up when he brought the spell focus up between them. “It- it spelled out her name? It cast a spell all on its own, and it just fucking blasted her name into the wall with fire. I don’t know what the fuck it means, but I figured you would,” he said. He was still holding the staff out in front of him, and without saying a word Barry took it gingerly.

“It… it spelled her name?” he asked, and he didn’t have to look up to know Taako was nodding. His hands were shaking as he stared down at the umbrella, trying desperately to figure out what the fuck this meant. How the staff would have managed to do that on its own, like- like it had some sort of sentience inside of it. Some sort of memory of her.

“Shit.”

He didn’t bother giving Taako any other sort of warning. Without any hesitation Barry lifted up the umbrastaff, snapping the spell focus in half.

Immediately fire was swirling around them, and Barry couldn’t cry, not in this form. Despite that he still let out a choked sob as the flames burned so hot he could actually feel their warmth even as a lich, but nowhere near enough to cause any sort of pain.

When the flames cleared, there was Lup, her arms flung out around her, her entire form resplendent and full of joy.

“Took you long enough!”

——

Lup was finally out of that damn umbrella.

It had taken months to gather up the strength to put out that spell, and thank every god she could think of that it was worth it. She’d been so fucking worried that it wouldn’t work, that Taako wouldn’t understand. She could tell from what little she’d been able to overhear that something was wrong. Not specifics, but still something. It was such a relief to hear him still with Barry, to be able to see that Magnus and Merle were safe too.

But it was obvious that something was so very wrong. Taako seemed confused and not like himself. Whenever he talked about her, it was only in relation to Barry. And he wasn’t the only one. Magnus and Merle were off, and that wasn’t even getting into what little she’d seen of Lucretia and Davenport.

The one thing she’d been able to figure out for sure while inside of that damn umbrastaff was that Lucretia was trying to enact her plan. They had to figure out a way to stop her. Before she could do that though she had to figure out a way to get her boys to realize where she was and let her out.

It had worked though. She hadn't been able to tell exactly what had happened after she cast out the scorching ray, her energy spent. It had broken through whatever strangeness was going on with Taako though, and all of a sudden the black curtain walls that had encased her all this time were tearing away, and Lup didn't hesitate to burn the rest up as her energy returned to her.

When she let the fire die down around her, and she could see Taako, sitting in the scorched grass staring up at her. Barry was floating above him to the side, his lich form shaking and crackling with barely contained enery.

“L-Lup? Lup is it- you’re really-” Barry stuttered out, slowly floating closer to her like he couldn't believe she was real. Lup knew how much she missed him. How much she missed both of them, her whole damn family, but somehow seeing them right there, so close and finally acknowledging her almost made the pain worse. Made it all that sharper.

“Hey babe. I knew you guys would figure it out,” she said, and there was no physiological reason why her voice sounded so choked up. She couldn’t cry. That didn’t seem to matter much now.

Instead of saying anything else Barry flew to her, crashing into her with a hug that sent them both flying back. Lup was instantly laughing, only getting herself situated enough to hold Barry’s face as much as she could in this form. Feeling things didn’t work quite the same way as a lich, but the power of Barry’s arcane form was buzzing underneath her hands, mingling with her own as she pressed her forehead against his the best she could manage.

“I knew- I knew I’d see you again. I never stopped looking. When I was a lich I knew you were gone, and it was more than I can take, and when I was alive I never knew you existed which was more than I can take. Gods, Lup, I missed you so much. I love you so much,” Barry said, speaking a mile a minute and clinging onto her as hard as he possibly could.

“I know, it’s- sorry babe. Didn’t mean to be gone so long,” she said, taking another moment just to hold him. She had no idea how long it had been, except far too long. Long enough that she could have spent the rest of the day and night continuing to hold Barry as close to her as she could, so tight their forms were fazing together and mingling with small shocks of arcane power.

She could have, but Barry wasn’t the only one she’d been missing all this time. As much as it pained her to pull away from him, every second she kept going without her heart was a second too long. Looking over at Taako, he was still sitting where her exit had pushed him back, staring up at the two of them in disbelief.

Taking Barry’s hand in hers, she didn’t let go as she floated down to be in front of her brother. Taako’s eyes stayed fixed onto her, and once she was close enough she held out her other hand to help him up off the ground.

“Hey Taako,” she said, and the worst part of being a lich was that she couldn’t give her brother a hug. “Heard you’re dating the grim reaper,” she added, because if she couldn’t hug him the least she could do was tease him. Taako laughed, and immediately the sound sent a twist through her soul, because it was wrong. He sounded nervous, not taking her hand as he got up off the ground.

“Yeah uh, that’s definitely a thing. Didn’t- didn’t realize you could hear inside that thing. Guess that means introductions aren’t really necessary. Sup? Red’s sure told me a lot about you I guess?” Taako said, and his words didn’t make any sense. She could tell that something was wrong with him, but she didn’t- it was hard to piece together the details in there.

She didn’t think it was this bad. Her spell had- he had to of recognized her name. He had to recognize her, but he wasn't... He didn’t... he was acting like he had no idea who she was.

“Barry?” she asked, turning back to her love, her hand gripping his even tighter as she tried not to panic. “Barry, babe why is he acting like that? What’s going on? I could tell something was wrong, but this doesn’t- is this Fisher?” she pressed, getting more and more panicked as Taako stared at her with increasing confusion. It wasn’t just that, she could see it now, and it made it hard for her to keep herself held together at the realization.

He didn’t recognize her. Taako didn’t recognize her.

“Lup, hey, hey Lup, it’s okay. Just look at me, it’s okay, I’m here. We’re both here,” he said, and Lup nodded a bit feebly. It didn’t feel like Taako was here, not when he was looking at her like she was basically a stranger. “It’s- yeah, it’s Fisher. Lucretia did something, but Lup I swear we’re going to fix it. I promise I’ll explain everything later, but it’s still him. He’s still in there, he just doesn’t remember,” Barry said, holding onto her, grounding her. She took a deep, unnecessary breath and nodded one more time, a bit more forcefully.

“Okay. Okay,” she said, telling herself she could handle this. Barry was right, Taako was still here, and she had to believe that they had some sort of plan. She could handle this, she needed to if they were going to be able to actually help Taako.

“Uh, maybe I should head out. I’m sure you both got a lot to catch up on,” Taako said, and any calm Lup had managed to work up for herself was gone in an instant.

“No!” she shouted, although she was somewhat comforted by Barry echoing her panic exactly. Taking another moment, she tried to pull herself together again. “No, it’s- you should stay. Sorry if this is weird for you,” she said, and was relieved when Taako nodded. It was clearly a little reluctant, but he wasn’t going to leave.

“I mean, a little weird is the standard around here at this point, so don’t even sweat it,” he said, and it was a little forced but Lup managed to laugh at that. Before she could think it over too much and talk herself out of it, Lup closed the distance between them, wrapping her spectral arms around Taako and pulling him into as much of a hug as she could manage.

“I know this probably doesn’t make much sense to you, but I’m so fucking happy to see you, you dingus,” she said, because Taako needed to know how much she missed him. He was stiff and awkward in her hug, not making any motion to hug her back, which killed her just that little bit more. What did Lucretia do?

“Well uh, you’re right about that, but I’m just gonna assume all liches are this instantly friendly when they aren’t crazed murder souls. Trying to think of anything else is giving me a headache,” he said, and a little reluctantly Lup pulled back.

“Yeah, that’s not surprising. It’s-” Barry paused, looking up at the sky. When Lup followed his gaze she saw the moon hanging up above them. Or well, two moons. Right, there was something with that, Taako went up to some place a lot when he wasn’t with Barry. “Lup, I just- I could stay here and hold you for a century, but we should get back to the hideout. There’s so much we need to fill you in on,” he said, and yeah, that was certainly accurate. She grinned as much as a lich could, trying to bring some levity back into all of this.

“You guys have a hideout?” she asked, and it was like she was somehow falling in love with Barry all over again at his sheepish laugh.

“Yeah, it’s- I mean, it’s nothing spectacular. It’s safe though, and close,” he said and Lup squeezed his hand a bit tighter.

“Sounds fantastic, lead the way babe,” she said, and then she paused, looking back to where Taako was still standing. He was watching them both with a mix of bewilderment and endearment. From what she’d managed to overhear stuck inside that staff, it sounded like him and Barry were still close. Even if he couldn’t remember her, he seemed happy to see her. To see Barry so overjoyed.

“You coming Ko?” she asked, a part of her terrified that he would want to hang back. She didn’t want her brother to leave, not yet. Not ever at the moment, if she was being honest. Thankfully he gave her a quick nod after processing the question.

“Oh for sure,” Taako said, seeming to jolt back to attention as he moved to follow along after them. Barry said it wasn’t far to the hideout, and Lup figured they could teleport but she was kind of thankful they weren’t. After spending however long it had been locked up, she was grateful to have the chance to be under the open sky again for once.

No matter how bad things seemed right now, she was just so grateful to be out. Now, she could focus on helping fix all of this.

—

Well, that just happened.

Taako had a splitting headache, but he was trying to ignore that as he followed the two liches back to Red’s hideout. He should be trying to ignore a lot of things, like the way his chest had swelled and tears had welled up in his eyes when Red’s wife was freed from the umbrastaff. Or the way she had freaked out when he first said hi to her, panicking over the way he was acting for some reason Taako couldn’t place. Or the way Red had calmed her down afterwards, insisting that he was still there, he just didn’t remember.

Remember… remember fucking what?

Fuck, his head hurt. He needed to stop thinking about these things.

It didn’t actually take them all that long to get to Red’s hideout, Taako had made it most of the way there before he’d come out to meet him. Before they went into the cave Taako paused, giving one last glance up at the false moon. Red and his wife were a bit of a ways in front of him, holding hands and being sickeningly sweet to each other. They had been like that since they managed to free her, and as much as it wasn’t strictly Taako’s style, he couldn’t say it wasn’t good to see. It was a relief.

Red was his best friend, he’d never seen him this happy. It was like he was a whole different person, grounded and solid in a way Taako hadn’t even thought possible. This was it, the thing they’d been trying for since Taako first met the guy. They had Lup back, and now that they had her they would hopefully be able to take on this whole stopping the apocalypse thing a hell of a lot easier.

He made the right choice.

Tearing his eyes away from the moon, he started into the darkness of Red’s cave.

By the time he reached the main chamber the two liches had already made themselves at home. They were still holding hands, which was a little amusing considering Lup was rushing all around, like she couldn’t look at everything fast enough. Red was letting her drag him around the base, and god, it was so easy to see just how much he loved her.

“Oh damn babe, where’d you get one of these?” Lup asked, looking at the weird cloning pod in the corner.

“Found it when I was looking for your relic. It’s come in uh, it’s come in handy quite a bit. My new ones still growing, but when it’s done maybe we can…” Red said, trailing off. Lup seemed to get what he was talking about, nodding before moving off to look at the next thing. Taako let Red give his wife the grand tour of the place, instead going over and laying down on the shitty mattress they had shoved into the corner. It didn’t get a lot of use, especially since Taako had joined the bureau.

That was probably going to change.

“So, these is all the places the relics have been?” he could hear Lup asking. When he glanced over at the two liches, they were by some of the maps Red had hung up on the cave wall.

“Yeah, well, the black pins are for the relics. The red ones are you, or ya know, places where I was looking for you,” Red explained. Their voices were getting lower, but Taako was an elf and the cave echoed, it wasn’t hard to pick up what they were saying.

“How many does Luce have now?”

“Five. The only one’s left are M͟͝a̸͜g̷͟͞n̸͘u҉͠s̵̡'͢͜͢s͏̶ ̡ and mine I think,” Red said, and Taako couldn’t help but perk his head up at the presence of static. Neither of them seemed to notice, Lup’s robe billowing out in the way Taako had learned from Red meant he was worried. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same for her.

“Wait, how long do we have until-”

“Four months? Give or take a week or so,” Red answered before she could finish her question, and yeah, that was definitely worry there.

“Shit. Kinda on a time crunch here babe,” she said, and Red nodded.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t realize where you were sooner,” he said, the remorse in his voice clear as day. Lup just waved it off though, and despite having been the one trapped she didn’t seem all that torn up about it.

“I was inside an umbrella Bear, can’t fault you for not looking there,” she said, her voice light all things considered. Then her voice lowered again, and Taako was pretty sure she glanced back at him, but it was hard to tell without any real eyes. Either way he tried to pretend that he didn’t notice. He had one arm held up above him as he lay on his back, twisting it back and forth as he inspected the silver bracer there.

“And he doesn’t… there’s nothing?” she asked, and even though it was obvious she was talking about him, he didn’t know about what. Red shook his head though, glancing his way as he whispered.

“It’s not nothing, but everything about t̴ḩ̸͜e̵ ̢I̧͠P̧̡҉R̢E͝҉̸ ͘͟m̵̡i͝ş͠sio̢͟n, and- and you, it’s not there. It’s gone for everyone, even when I’m alive Lup, god, it’s terrible,” he said, and he paused for a moment. When he spoke next his voice was so low Taako could barely make it out, only able to because he’d already been paying so much attention. “He’s grown so much Lup. When I first found him, it was like he was a different person. He still remembers though, deep down, she couldn’t take the important stuff. I swear I’ve seen it in him,” he said.

None of it was in static, but Taako’s own thoughts had dissolved into a fuzz. He could kind of understand why Red had been so concerned about trying to reveal too much to him beforehand. It seemed like there wasn’t much of a choice with Lup back, but that didn’t make this any more pleasant. Focusing back on his bracer, he tried to think about that instead of all the weird shit the two liches were whispering about him.

“Do either of you have a spell that could cut through this thing?” he asked loudly. It clearly caught the two’s attention, and they looked back at him. He still had his one arm held up, and while Lup looked a little confused Red was definitely a little worried.

“Lucretia’s bracer? Why?” he asked, and Taako pushed himself back up so that he was sitting and could look at the two properly.

“There’s a tracer in it. It’d be bad if they found this place through it, right?” he asked, and Red nodded slowly.

“Yeah but, won’t they be suspicious about where it went once you go back? That’s why we’ve never tried getting it off before,” Red said, and that was true. They had accepted it as a necessary risk beforehand, but shit was different now. He glanced over at Lup, and he wondered how much she had managed to see while trapped inside of the umbrastaff. It didn’t sound like a lot, and if he had to guess that scorching ray had probably taken all her energy. There was a pretty high chance that she hadn’t seen anything after casting it, which meant he was the only one who knew the fallout from all of that.

“Right, about that,” he said, trying not to shrink under the liches stares. They weren’t anywhere near as creepy as they should be, but it was still a little unnerving. “I’m not sure if going back is gonna be like, an option,” he said, and yeah, there was the panic he’d been expecting.

“Wait- what? Why not? What happened?” Red asked, and Taako tried to stay calm through all of this. It honestly wasn’t anything that bad, but it still felt like something he couldn’t walk back from.

“Well uh, I had been with Angus when Lup did her whole scorching ray act and burned her name into the wall. You remember him, right?” Taako asked, and Red nodded. From the looks of it, he was already starting to understand how this wasn’t great. “Yeah well, as soon as I figured out like, that it had to do with your wife I tried to leave immediately. I knew the kid would try to follow though, so I kind of cast sleep on him,” he said, and he did feel bad about that last part. He didn’t have any choice though, and he already told himself he’d made the right decision.

“So yeah, considering the Director definitely knows who your wife is, it probably doesn’t look great that I blasted her name into the wall like a lunatic, put Angus to sleep, and then jumped off the side of the moon before anyone could ask what was up,” he said. All this time, he’d been getting on Red’s case about taking crazy chances and blowing their cover.

There was no fucking way the Director didn’t think he was in league with the ‘Red Robes’ after that.

He might as well let her be right.

“Shit,” Red said, and Taako nodded in agreement.

“So yeah, about finding a way to get this bracer off?” he asked. It was quiet for a moment, and then Lup sighed, waving her hand and making a few spellbooks start floating towards her.

“I’ll start hitting the books,” she said, an exasperated fondness clear in her voice.

“’ppreciate it,” he said with a grin, and despite how fucking balls to the wall crazy this day had been so far, he realized that Red was right. He couldn’t even properly explain why, it was like when he’d met Red but ten times stronger.

Red had said he was going to love her, and damn it, Taako was pretty sure he already did.

Chapter Text

Lucretia supposed she should have known it would all come crashing down around her eventually. She'd certainly worried about the possibility. Had nightmares and panics over the slightest chance that she had missed something, that this would all be for nothing, that she would come up short of saving the world and her family.

They were so close at this point though. Just a few more relics, and they had been doing so well.

She should have seen this coming, but there was no way she could. When she saw the familiar name burned into the wall of the cafeteria, her blood ran cold. There was a moment where she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move at all as she stared as the three simple letters, almost crudely marked into the wall in flame and ash.

Lup.

It was Davenport who knocked her out of her stupor, his voice concerned. Immediately Lucretia shook her head, not actually making any more to answer him back or explain the situation. Her grip was tight on her staff, and she started to move further in, to get a better look at the sight. To try and figure out what had happened. How this had happened.

“Davenport!” Davenport shouted suddenly, catching Lucretia off guard when he quickly grabbed her and pulled her a bit to the side. She immediately had her staff out in front of her, looking around for some sort of threat. When she glanced down at Davenport though he simply shook his head before pointing towards something on the floor.

“Angus?” she asked, falling to her knees to inspect the child. The terror in her was short lived when she realized he was simply asleep. Taako’s cloak was wrapped around him, and she immediately started shaking his shoulder to wake him up. “Angus, are you alright? What happened? Angus?” she asked, relieved when he started blinking his eyes open before pushing himself up.

“Director?” he asked, clearly confused as he readjusted his glasses. “What’s going on?” he asked, moving to pull the cloak closer around him before stopping as he realized what it was. She watched as he took a moment to stare at it in confusion, like he wasn’t sure how it had gotten there.

“Angus, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” she said, clasping the boy by his shoulders so that he was facing her. He nodded, a serious look falling over his face as the sleepiness from before quickly left him. “Tell me everything that happened before you fell asleep,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. Trying to pretend she still had some sort of control over the situation. 

“I was having a magic lesson with Taako,” Angus said, seeming to take her demand seriously. “He’s been teaching me magic, and it- it was going normally? Then I asked if he could teach me prestidigitation, and something weird happened,” he paused, this time actually pulling the dark blue cloak tighter around himself. “His staff started acting weird, and instead of prestidigitation he cast scorching ray, and it burned- it burned that into the wall,” he finished, turning and pointing at the name still hovering above them. It was no longer smoldering or anything like that, Lucretia had no idea how long ago it had happened.

“And then what happened? Where is Taako now and why were you sleeping here?” she pressed. She had let go of Angus’s shoulders at this point, instead clutching her staff to try and hide how much her hands were shaking.

There was no way. She’d erased it all.

“It- he got really freaked out? He said he needed to go, but he wouldn’t say where. Then he apologized for some reason, and I don’t- I don’t remember anything after that,” he said, and it was obvious that he was making the same connection in his head as she was. “He must’ve cast sleep on me. He didn’t- he told me not to follow him, he sounded scared,” he continued. Lucretia nodded, slowly using her staff to stand back up. Angus also quickly scrambled to his feet, keeping a tight hold on the cloak of the manta ray the whole time. Even when he was standing a part of it was dragging along the floor behind him.

Taking a deep breath, Lucretia tried to appear as composed as possible as she reached up and touched her necklace, activating the stone of farspeech inside. Saying a quick internal prayer, she hoped beyond hope that this wasn’t irreparable.

“Taako? Taako come in. Status report, Taako? This is an emergency, please confirm your location and safety. Taako?” she tried, keeping her voice as professional as she could manage. Despite that there was still an edge of panic around it as they went longer and longer without any sort of response.

After a minute or so of nothing there was a loud crunching sound, and then static.

Closing her eyes, Lucretia shut off the stone of farspeech. Releasing the necklace she let her hand close into a fist, barely holding back the despair deep in her chest.

“Madame Director? Is Taako gonna be okay?” Angus asked, fear and worry in his voice. When she opened her eyes again to look down at him she almost regretted it, that same fear plastered all over his face. It would be so much easier if she was able to comfort him and insist that Taako was going to be fine. That they’d get all of this figured out and he’d be back home with them before they knew it.

Despite how much she wanted to though, she couldn’t do that this time.

“Unfortunately, whether or not Taako is alright is no longer any of our concern,” she said, not letting any emotion leak into her voice. The immediate panic that fell over Angus’s face was expected, and he was clutching the cloak of the manta ray so tight now that Lucretia was almost worried he was going to rip it.

“What are you talking about Madame? We gotta- he seemed really freaked out when he left! We need to make sure he’s okay! Something was obviously wrong and I don’t know what Lup is but we need to find him and-” Angus started, but Lucretia shook her head, not letting him finish.

“This confirms that Taako is affiliated with the Red Robes,” she said, immediately cutting Angus off. The absolute look of devastation was far from the hardest thing Lucretia had ever had to stomach, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. “We cannot trust him. We cannot risk him getting anymore information from us and giving it to them than he already has. As far as we know right now he is a danger to the rest of the world,” she said. Turning away from Angus, she made her way over to the burned marks in the wall.

She had no idea how this had happened. She had no idea what she could have possibly missed, but there was no denying the proof when it was in front of her. No denying the clear answer in the silence from Taako’s stone of farspeech.

“Madame Director, what does Lup mean?” Angus asked after a moment. It was obvious how much this hurt him, despite the way he was able to rather impressively compose himself so soon. Lucretia sighed, wiping some soot away from the wall, not turning back around as she spoke.

“Lup is one of the Red Robes. The fact that Taako recognized her name and attacked you to prevent further questioning means we can only assume the worst,” she said.

“Attack… but he didn’t- he wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Angus insisted, but Lucretia shook her head, taking one more moment to try and compose herself again before turning around. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Taako had not tried to hurt Angus. The fact that he had gone so far as to tuck the boy in with his cloak was clear enough proof of that. That didn’t matter though.

“I know how much you care about Taako Angus. This isn’t- this is hard for me as well. None of us wanted this, but we cannot compromise the safety of the world for one person. You understand that, don’t you?” she asked, and reluctantly Angus nodded.

“I get it madame,” he said, and Lucretia tried to give as comforting a smile as possible as she clasped Angus on the shoulder.

“You’ve had a long day, maybe you should go get some proper rest,” she suggested, and it was obvious that wasn’t what Angus wanted to do. After a moment though he sighed and nodded once again.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea,” he said. Angus still had a tight grip on Taako’s cloak, no sign that he had any intention of letting it go. Lucretia debated for a moment on insisting he hand it over. Any fondness left there could be something Taako could exploit, some entry for him to stop everything she’d worked for to try and save them all.

Reluctantly she decided to let it go. The fondness would still be there whether or not there were physical items to remind them of it. Making Angus give it up would only serve to upset him more.

“Davenport, why don’t you walk Angus back to his room,” she said instead. Angus looked a little surprised by that, but didn’t argue when Davenport nodded. Staying in the cafeteria, she watched as the two walked out, letting out a deep sigh once she was alone. She knew it wouldn’t be for long though, it was only a matter of time before some of her employees started to show up for dinner.

Tapping her staff on the ground, she cast a quick and effective mending on the wall. Immediately the charred scars there sealed over, and once the ash was gone it was as if the wall had never been damaged. It felt a bit wrong, knowing how thoroughly everything had changed with that one word, which was now completely erased.

Heading back to her office, Lucretia let herself have just a moment. An even five minutes where she simply sat in her chair, head in her hands as she tried desperately not to cry. She could have a proper break down over this later.

Once the moment was over she pulled herself back together again. Wiping at her eyes, she hadn’t cried but it felt best to take the precaution anyway. Then she grabbed a small device on her desk, speaking into it to send a message across the bureau.

“Will the reclaimers Magnus Burnsides and Merle Highchurch meet me in my office immediately,” she said. Lucretia couldn’t say she was surprised when it took a bit longer than ‘immediately’ for the two to show up in her office. Normally, even when she was calling them in for reclaimer missions, they were all goofs. There must have been something about her expression, because the regular smiles they had dropped pretty quickly as they looked at where she stood behind her desk.

Before she could say anything Magnus was looking around the room, and she could see the confusion forming on his face.

“Hey, why isn’t Taako here?” he asked, and well, at least they could get straight to the point.

“Unfortunately, Taako will no longer be joining us,” she said, and it had been a very long time since she had seen her family this serious. She hated that it was happening now. She didn’t stop to let them question her though, continuing on without hesitation. She had to seem in control of the situation. She couldn’t afford to lose them too.

“It’s come to our attention that Taako is in league with the Red Robes. We have no idea how much information he’s managed to leak to them, but we must take the utmost precaution from now on,” she said, turning around as she spoke to look up at the large portrait behind her desk. As soon as she finished speaking she could hear Magnus and Merle stammering behind her.

“Wait- Director, you can’t be serious!”

“Taako? Like, we’re talking about the same Taako, right?”

Turning back around, she tried to convey just around serious she was with her stare. It seemed to work, because they both stopped talking.

“We cannot trust him. The fate of the world depends on it.”

——

“Taako, are you really sure about this?”

It was maybe the third time in as many minutes that Red had asked him that. He was obviously freaking out a little, and Taako supposed he couldn’t blame him all that much. This was kind of a big change. It was putting a lot of their cards on the table, and they wouldn’t be able to go back from it.

Taako was pretty damn sure they were already past the point of no return through, so like every other time beforehand he nodded.

“Uh, yeah dog, I’m pretty fucking sure about this. It’s not like we have any other choice anyway,” he said, and Lup was still looking for a way to get the bracer off of him. Every so often she’d grab his arm, not bothering to ask as she looked it over before going back to some quick research. It should have been annoying as fuck, but Taako found himself barely noticing it, letting the other lich maneuver him around however she saw fit.

“You don’t know that for sure though. We might be able to rectify this. If we just get you back fast enough we might be able to smooth it over before Lucretia-” Red tried, and Taako was already prepared to shut that idea down. Even if they could get rid of the evidence before the Director saw, Angus had been there for the whole thing. The kid would be suspicious as fuck, and Taako doubted he’d trust him after all of that.

Before he could even get an opportunity to make those arguments though, there was the sound of a crackle. Immediately everyone in the cave went deathly silent as the sound of the Director’s voice came in over his stone of farspeech.

“Taako? Taako come in. Status report, Taako? This is an emergency, please confirm your location and safety. Taako?”

There was a long moment as the Director spoke, and Taako could tell that the two liches were staring at him, waiting to see what he would do. It was hard to tell, but he was pretty sure neither of them were worried about him betraying them, although maybe that was wishful thinking.

No matter what they were thinking, Taako slowly put the stone down on the ground as the Director spoke. Picking up one of the spare spell focuses lying around the cave, it wasn’t hard to cast a quick shatter on the stone. In a loud crack, the stone was destroyed and the Director’s voice cut out.

“You were saying?” he said, and Red’s shoulders slumped in resignation.

“Yeah… yeah I guess there’s no coming back from that,” he said.

“Lucretia…” Lup spoke up after a moment, and Taako wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t for her to sound so hurt. “She sounds so different,” she added, and Red nodded. He floated over to her, wrapping his arms around her as much as possible, and Taako was struck with the thought that there was gonna be quite a lot of third wheel moments in his immediate future.

“A lot has changed since you left. I’m so sorry,” Red said softly, and Taako wondered what the Director used to be like. He had no way of knowing, or even a strong idea of a guess.

After another moment Lup started to straighten up from where she’d slumped in Red’s hold, and he pulled back some. It was almost funny how reluctant he was to let go of her, like he was afraid she’d disappear into smoke if he moved too fast. Taako guessed considering how long it had taken them to find her, it was a pretty reasonable fear.

“Alright, let’s get that thing off of you. I think I got an idea with only a low risk of hand loss,” Lup said suddenly, seeming to pull herself back together pretty quick. It was kind of obvious it wasn’t all totally genuine, but Taako figured it wasn’t any of his business to try and pry. Instead he tried to keep the tone light, pulling his hand close to his chest in a somewhat over-dramatic protective manner.

“Hey now, I demand 100% guarantee Taako gets to keep his hand at the end of this. No arm removal here, y’all are both powerful as shit liches you should be able to handle this complex puzzle. Red, tell her she’s gotta be sure to keep my hands intact,” Taako said, maybe whining a little bit. Red chuckled a little, and he was at least pretending to be somewhat more at ease.

“We’re not gonna cut off your hand Taako,” he assured. Taako didn’t actually have much worry that they would keep all his appendages attached to his body, but it was still good to hear.

“Red?” Lup asked, and it took Taako a second to realize she wasn’t just addressing the other lich. There was a bit of amusement in her voice, and he wasn’t sure why until she continued. “That’s a fun nickname, how’d that one happen babe?” Lup asked, and Taako almost laughed at that. Right, he forgot sometimes that it wasn’t just his name.

“Oh uh, I mean, it seems pretty self-explanatory. I told him blue would be more appropriate but he insisted,” Red said, sounding all sheepish and shit. Taako scoffed, rolling his eyes at that.

“This fucking dork refused to tell me his name for like three goddamn years. I had to make due with what I could,” he said, and it was hard to tell which of them Lup was laughing at. Probably both if he was being realistic. After a moment she got herself back under control again, wiping at where her eyes would be if she actually had any.

“Fuck, I missed this,” Lup said, and Taako wasn’t sure what she was talking about specifically, but he didn’t bother to ask. He had a feeling that a lot of the specifics in things were just going to be lost on him from now on. At least until they managed to fix whatever it was they needed to fix.

With that though they started to get back on task of getting the bracer off of him. It took a few different tries to actually get the thing off. Their first idea was to cast enlarge on the thing so that it would slip off with no problems, but it seemed like the Director had already thought of that workaround and put in some sort of charm to keep that spell from actually taking effect. Trying to teleport the bracer off of him also proved to be fruitless.

In the end, Taako sat very still with his arm held out on a table. Lup hovered over him, a small but powerful flame emerging almost like a blade from her hand, slowly and careful cutting through the metal.

“If you burn me one of y’all better know some healing. I don’t care that you’re wizards or whatever you better have fucking multiclassed at some point,” he said, maybe rambling a little bit in his nerves. Lup just shushed him loudly, not losing focus as she cut through the metal. Despite how slow the flame seemed to be moving, it was all over relatively fast, and once it was cut through Taako was able to maneuver his hand until he got the bracer off.

Without a word he handed it over to Red, who disappeared the thing off somewhere. Probably one of the little pocket dimensions he seemed to keep all his shit in. Taako really needed to see if he could teach him that spell at some point, cause it seemed handy as fuck.

It was done though. Taako was officially no longer a member of the bureau.

Fuck.

“So uh, what now?” he asked after a moment, trying not to let on how panicked he was suddenly feeling. This was his fucking choice after all, Red tried his best to talk him out of it and convince him to go back before it was too late. He made this bed, he could lie in it. “What’s our next move?”

“I… I don’t know,” Red said, and welp. That sure wasn’t a good sign. He must have noticed the worry on Taako’s face because he quickly continued. “It’s just that! I don’t- I spent so long focused on finding you Lup, and so now that you’re here, I’m not… I don’t really know what to do next,” he said. It was fair enough, Taako had a feeling that Red hadn’t planned out a lot of stuff past ‘find wife’ but it still wasn’t doing a lot for his confidence.

After a moment Lup started laughing, shaking her head in what Taako could only describe as fond amusement.

“Alright, well lucky for you two doofuses I’m here now. Let’s figure this shit out,” she said, coming over and wrapping an arm around each of them as best as she could. It felt weird, being treated with as much familiarity as she was treating her fucking husband. It didn’t feel wrong though. Just weird. “What’s most pressing right now?” she asked, and Taako didn’t have to think long to come up with an answer.

“Pretty sure that would still be the relics,” he said, and Red nodded.

“Right. Lucretia’s been gathering the relic. She’s trying to do her plan, and it’s- we can’t let her, but if we can get the light back together before it comes I figured that would at least give us some options,” he said, and Lup nodded, seeming to understand the plan so far. Taako still wasn’t too sure what he meant by light, but he had learned a while ago to just sort of go with these things.

“Seems pretty solid so far babe,” Lup said, and Taako agreed with that. There was just one new hitch in that plan.

“Uh, yeah so about gathering the relics and all that. Kinda worried about Mags and Merle, ya know, doing all that shit on their own now,” he said. He’d been trying not to think about it, but it was kind of hard not to. They’d already all nearly died on most of those missions, he doubted the last couple of them would be a cakewalk. He had sure as fuck saved those dorks asses more than a few times.

He didn’t mind so much having to leave the Bureau. He had never brought into what they were doing fully after all, so leaving the organization hadn’t been that hard of a choice.

He was worried about leaving the other boys. He’d feel a little shitty if they ended up dying on one of these missions because he wasn’t there to pull them from the fire.

The two liches glanced at each other for a moment, and it was pretty obvious that they weren’t too pleased by the idea either. After a moment Red spoke up, patting Taako on the shoulder as much as he could as he did.

“We’ll just have to keep an eye on them, make sure nothing bad happens. It’s- Lucretia already has to know we’re out here. If we need to step in, then we need to step in,” he said. That was more comforting to Taako than he would like to admit, but even still he nodded. He got a feeling it didn’t matter what he said after all, he already knew Red could read him like an open book. He got the feeling he wouldn’t be able to hide shit from Lup either.

“Sounds good,” Lup said, and it did. It didn’t sound great, it wasn’t much more than what they were already doing, but it was a start. It was fucking something, at least.

Standing up, Taako stretched his arms up above his head until his back cracked, twisting the wrist the bracer had been on a bit dramatically afterwards. It felt weirdly light without it anymore, although he had long since stopped noticing the weight. Looking around the dimly lit cave, he sighed.

“Well, guess I’m gonna have to start getting used to cave life again. Gotta admit can’t say I’m the most thrilled,” he said, and Red chuckled sympathetically at that.

“Yeah, sorry bud. We’ll get it fixed up for you again,” he assured, and Taako nodded. He paused, his eyes falling on the bright red robe that was left slung across the back of a chair. It was an actual piece of clothing, although Taako couldn’t remember if he’d ever seen Red wearing it when he was alive. He was pretty sure he hadn’t.

It was cold in the cave, although he doubted either of the liches could feel that. He’d left his old cloak with Angus, which had probably been a mistake. Walking over, he didn’t say anything as he started inspecting it. It wasn’t magic or anything like that from what he could tell, it was just a robe.

Well, if they were going this far, might as well commit to the aesthetic too.

“Can I borrow this?” he asked, and it was hard to tell what the two liches were thinking at his question.

“Uh, yeah sure? But why?” Red asked, and Taako was already shrugging the thing on. It fit well enough, and it was warmer than he expected. Catching his reflection in the weird glass pod in the corner, Taako paused. The sight filled his mind with static, almost as much as Lup’s appearance had at first. Shaking his head, he tried to push that all away.

It looked good. It felt right.

“Because it’s cold as shit in here,” was what he said though. Neither of the liches called him out on it, although Taako had no doubt that they could if they wanted to.

He appreciated them letting him have this.

Chapter Text

Taako kind of expected dramatically switching sides and cutting off any ties he had to the bureau to feel… bigger than it actually did. Sure, it definitely felt like a big decision when he made it, and it sucked more than he expected to not be able to talk to Magnus and Merle and some of the other bureau members like he used to.

When he was just chilling in Red’s cave though, watching as the two liches worked over some map to find the next relic, or when they fussed at him to eat or sleep, or started humming music that quickly turned to static in Taako’s head, it didn’t feel big. It didn’t feel like some dramatic switch. It felt more natural than he could properly put into words, which he tried not to think about too much.

There was just one problem still hanging over his head, and he was having a hard time trying to figure out a way to fix it.

He’d been with Red and Lup for four days now. Or Barry and Lup. It was a little weird, having another person around who actually called him by his name. Taako still preferred his nickname, and it wasn’t like Lup didn’t use a plethora of petnames herself. Still, it was more than Taako had grown used to. It was another thing that was weird, but not necessarily bad.

Four days though, and even if the whole thing had felt way easier than Taako would have ever expected, it still took some adjusting. The actual living in a cave part wasn’t too bad. They’d fixed it up a lot from the last time Taako had to crash there, and Lup seemed determined to build on those improvements.

Which yeah, Lup was… Lup was a lot. It was kind of hard for Taako to be alone with her, if he was being honest. It was like when he first met Red times a fucking million, and he wasn’t even sure what that meant. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, that sure as fuck wasn’t it.

But sometimes he would look at her, or she’d say his name in a certain way, or she’d start laughing at one of his or Red’s stupid jokes and it would all be too much. His heart felt like it was going to burst and he’d be blinking back tears and he had no idea why other than the fact that he was real fucking happy.

It didn’t make any sense but it all made perfect sense. Sometimes spending time with Lup felt like he was choking on his own heart, and he didn’t know what to do with that. So right now, he was trying his best to just ignore it. Focus on another problem instead. A more immediate one, one he could actually try and fix and not one he wasn’t even sure was a problem in the first place.

“Hey Red, you got any idea on how to attract a reaper?” he asked suddenly. The two liches had been working on their own thing. Taako wasn’t sure what, their voices dipped into static too often for him to make much sense of it, so he wasn’t trying to. Red looked over at him at the question though, an obvious amusement in his form. It was strange, how drastically Red’s whole demeanor had changed after getting Lup back. More solid and confident than Taako had ever seen him.

It was nice.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure you’d know a hell of a lot more about attracting reapers than I would,” he joked. Lup snickered and Taako rolled his eyes. For some reason Lup was fucking fascinated with the idea that he was dating the grim reaper, like she wasn’t one half of an old married couple of undead abominations.

“Well yeah, if we’re talking about that kind of attraction then no shit, don’t need any help there,” he said, trying to sound a bit more confident than he felt at the moment. He had no idea how Kravitz was going to react to all of this, which was part of the reason he needed to figure this out soon. “But uh, I broke my stone of farspeech so the bureau couldn’t get in contact with us. So I don’t really have any way of calling him normally,” Taako added, and that seemed to get the point across.

“Oh shit, yeah I hadn’t thought of that,” Red said, looking thoughtful now. “Do you need to contact him like, immediately?” he asked, and Taako shrugged.

“I mean, I’d kinda like to fill him in on all this sooner rather than later. Also, it’s really not a good look that I completely dropped off the face of the earth like a week and a half after we started dating,” he explained. He was kind of feeling bad about that second part a lot. He’d already ghosted Kravitz once before (although not on purpose) and they hadn’t even been dating then.

He really wasn’t sure how Kravitz would feel about him disappearing and then coming back with two lich friends. Double the liches he was already putting up with. Taako had put off telling him for four days now, but if he waited any longer shit was gonna start getting bad, and he didn’t want that. He kind of really wanted to at least give this whole thing a try, while the world still existed and all.

“I could probably attract a reaper pretty dang quick,” Lup said, a grin in her voice. It hadn’t taken Taako long at all to learn her tells, even if they were slightly different from Red’s. Her whole form was a bit different from Red’s, despite them both being liches in bright red robes. Lup’s form was more like a flame, her robe constantly flicking out like a steady and solid fire.

“Lup, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Red asked, immediately sounding pretty anxious. Taako couldn’t blame him, the last thing either of them wanted was to lose her again now that she was finally back.

“It’ll be fine. You’ve held your own against this guy plenty of times from what I’ve heard, and Taako’ll be there. You won’t tell your boy attack me, right Ko?” Lup asked, and Taako nodded. This probably wasn’t the best idea, but it was definitely the easiest.

“Yeah no, it’ll be fine,” he insisted. Red didn’t look super convinced, but after a moment he nodded.

“You guys want me to come with?” he asked, and Taako was the one to shake his head on that. He’d rather Lup not even stick around once they actually got Krav’s attention, but he didn’t mention that yet. He figured he could just shoo her off when he needed to.

“Nah, I think one lich will do the trick. You can keep working on your static plans,” he said. That seemed to jolt Red’s brain back to whatever their previous topic had been, looking down at some papers they had scattered on the desk in front of them.

“Right, yeah Lup I’ll keep working on this. Just call me if either of you need anything, alright?” he said, and they both nodded.

“Will do babe,” Lup said, floating back over to him and doing the best approximation of giving him a kiss on the cheek as a lich could muster. With that Lup came back over to him, and when she put an arm out Taako took it, the two teleported out of the cave almost immediately. They ended up in the fields outside of Phandalin, which wasn’t too much of a surprise.

“How much could you see in that thing?” Taako asked, not sure what to do now that they were out there. He figured it was on Lup to actually attract a reaper, and from the looks of it she was starting to channel up some sort of spell. She cocked her head to the side, looking kind of confused. “The umbrastaff. Like, just asking cause this is where Red usually drops me off and shit,” he clarified. Lup nodded, turning her back towards him and sending out an arcane blast. Where it hit all the grass instantly dried up and died.

“Not enough,” she answered, still not looking at him as she fired off another spell. This one a sickly green swirl of energy that she shot into the sky, not actually hitting anything. She sighed, going and sending another necrotic blast at the grass. “I mean, I saw some things. I could hear more than I saw, sight took a lot of energy,” she started to elaborate. “I missed a lot though. I could hear you and Barry, and I could pick out like, the mood I guess? But individual words were hard sometimes. I’d only get bits and pieces unless I was really focusing,” she added.

“Makes sense, can’t imagine reception is very good in an umbrella,” he said, and Lup laughed at that.

“You have no idea,” she said. Taako wondered if it would be weird if he asked more about what exactly she was able to get while in there. It probably wouldn’t be, she’d been kinda invading his privacy to start with, even if it had been unintentional by all parties. Before he could through Lup let off another necrotic blast into the sky, and then Taako heard the familiar sound of a rip in the fabric of the plane.

Kravitz was in his reaper form as he stepped through, scythe in hand, obviously prepared for a fight.

“Krav! Hey babe!” Taako shouted excitedly, waving a hand to catch his attention from where he appeared facing the lich. Immediately Kravitz’s head spun towards him, seeming even more on guard for a moment, and then very confused.

“Taako? What’s going on? I haven’t been able to get in contact with you, I was getting worried. Why are you with another… oh,” Kravitz started to ask, and Taako could see him trail off as he took in Lup. They had mentioned her to him before, and it was pretty obvious that she was connected to Red in some way, what with their identical robes.

“Yeah uh, so big news! We found Red’s wife! Sorry, it’s been real busy the past couple days,” Taako said as he ran over to him, and he actually was sorry. He’d been hoping that Kravitz would be too busy being death to notice that he hadn’t contacted him the past few days, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

“I can see that. Lup I presume?” Kravitz asked, obviously a little guarded and uncertain about the lich. Which was fair, he was supposed to destroy or capture or whatever these sorts of things. Taako really fucking appreciated that he wasn’t, but he guessed that made the whole thing a little awkward.

“Sup ghost rider!” Lup said, a grin in her voice. “Sorry about the necrotic fireworks, but my br- my uh, my bud here. Taako thought it would be the easiest way to get your attention,” she finished, and there was obviously a hiccup there. For the life of him Taako wasn’t sure what it was about, her mood dropping suddenly. She seemed to hide it easily enough, but the tells were there.

“Right, that’s- Taako, why didn’t you just call me?” Kravitz asked, and Taako sighed heavily at that.

“Yeah, stone kinda broke. Or well, I might’ve destroyed it. It’s been a long fucking week my dude,” he said, and yeah he should start explaining everything. It was hard to resist the urge to slump against Kravitz, but Lup was still hovering around. Despite the weirdness from before there was something about her that seemed delighted at Kravitz’s presence. Maybe being a lich and knowing the Grim Reaper wasn’t going to kill you because it would make his boyfriend sad was funny. Actually yeah, that sounded a little hilarious.

“Hey Lup, think you could give us a bit? I can get back to the cave from here on my own, it’s cool,” he said. Her form seemed to deflate somewhat, but she nodded without much pause.

“Oh yeah. No problem,” she said, and then she turned towards his boyfriend. “It’s Kravitz, right?” she asked, and he nodded.

“That’s right.”

“We’ll talk later,” she said bluntly, a surprisingly serious tone to her voice. It didn’t seem to take Kravitz off guard though, instead simply nodding again. Without another word Lup teleported away in a small burst of flames, and it was just him and Kravitz.

“I’m gonna have to tell another goddamn lich not to try and give the grim reaper a shovel talk, aren’t I?” Taako complained, a grin starting to pull at his face despite his attempts at sounding annoyed. Almost as soon as Lup was gone Kravitz was shifting out of his reaper form, a look of amusement on his fleshy face.

“Probably,” he said with a grin. Taako was relieved when he actually moved to close the distance between them, looking him over with slight concern. “Now please Taako, tell me what happened. You’ve got to stop disappearing like that. It’s- I was starting to get worried that you had second thoughts,” he said, his hands resting on Taako’s shoulders now.

“Yeah, sorry babe. Real bad timing for shit to all go down, I know,” he said with a sheepish smile, and Kravitz nodded. His focus had shifted down from Taako’s face, and he felt him pluck at the robe some.

“This is new,” he said, and it could have been a casual comment, but Taako knew it wasn’t. He knew the robe was pretty much identical to the ones Lup and Red wore, or well, that basically made up their whole damn form. Wearing it was a pretty damn obvious statement, even if Taako tried not to think about that too much.

“Right, that. So I guess long story short, I’m not really working with the bureau anymore,” he said. With that he started to get into the actual long story, telling Kravitz about how Lup had been in the umbrella. It going off and burning her name in the wall, then how he had made some real sketch moves before running off. How they definitely all thought he was in line with the ‘evil red robes’ and it wasn’t like he was going to argue because they weren’t wrong. How he got rid of his bracer and destroyed his stone of farspeech so that they couldn’t track him.

“So yeah, like I said, kinda a lot,” he finished. By now the two had sat down, the area around Phandalin were small sprawling hills full of tall grass and wheat fields. It was nice, especially letting himself slump against Kravitz and word vomit all the weird and shitty and surprisingly nice things that had happened over the past few days.

“You certainly weren’t lying about that,” Kravitz said, having wrapped an arm around Taako’s shoulders. It was starting to get warm as spring started in fullest, so with his suit Kravitz was a nice cool instead of cold. “What’s the plan now?”

That was a damn good question.

“I don’t know. Lup and Red are working on something. Red’s doing a lot better with her back, I don’t think I ever realized how fucking bad off he was,” he said, and Kravitz nodded. It was quiet for a moment, and then Taako sighed again, absently reaching and entangling his hand with Kravitz’s. “We still need to get all the relics together. So I guess right now the plan is to make sure the bureau is able to do that without dying. It’s all cha’ boy is gonna focus on at least cause like hell do I know anything else. Gonna try and keep Mags and Merle from beefing it, even though I doubt either of em is gonna trust me worth shit after this,” he added.

It wasn’t like Taako could blame them, but it still bothered him. They weren’t the bad guys here. There was just bigger shit going on, and he’d had to make a choice.

“I’m sure they’ll appreciate your trying, even if they don’t understand the larger motivation,” Kravitz said, and Taako shrugged. He guessed it made sense, and it wasn’t like Magnus or Merle were really ones to hold grudges all that much. He was sure they’d understand once all of this was over. Or at least, he hoped they did.

“We’ll see,” he muttered, and they’d spent too long talking about all this serious shit. Taako wasn’t good at serious shit. “So like I said before, my stone. Haven’t gotten a chance to get a new one yet, and I’d really like to not have to ask a lich to burn half a dozen spell slots to summon you every time I wanna chat,” he said, and Kravitz chuckled at that.

“Would you like me to get you a new stone of farspeech Taako?” Kravitz asked, and Taako grinned brightly at that.

“I mean, I definitely wouldn’t hate it,” he said. Kravitz still had a look of amusement on his face as he reached out the hand Taako wasn’t holding, pulling a stone of farspeech out of some pocket dimension and handing it over to him.

“Can you do that with anything?” Taako said, immediately looking over the new stone. It wasn’t anything fancy, but most of them weren’t. It would do the trick, and no one from the bureau would have this frequency for sure.

“No,” Kravitz answered bluntly, and Taako huffed a little in exaggerated disappointment.

“You’re no fun,” he grumbled, not meaning it in the slightest.

“You don’t seem to mind it all that much,” Kravitz said, and Taako snorted in amusement at that. He certainly wasn’t wrong.

Taako figured he should get back to the others soon. He didn’t have the same problem as they did with getting noticed if he stayed out too long, but he knew they would start to get worried at some point.

He could probably stand to wait just a little bit longer though.

“Thanks, by the way,” he said after a moment, maybe a little quieter than he normally spoke. “For getting it and not being pissed about the whole lich thing. I’m pretty sure you understand better than I do at this point,” he explained.

“It’s definitely a lot to take in, and we’re gonna have to talk about it… afterwards. Once everything is settled and the world isn’t in danger of ending,” he said, and Taako nodded.

“Right, we’ll figure it out afterwards,” he said. It felt like they were jinxing it by making these sorts of plans. It was kind of nice to hope though.

Taako really wanted there to be an after to all of this.

——

It really did feel like Barry was alive again.

Not literally he supposed, he was still very much dead. Having Lup back though, having Taako with them even if the circumstances weren’t the best, he couldn’t put words to it all.

Lup was back, and she wasn’t going anywhere. If he didn't have the motivation to figure out a way to save them all and end the ceaseless running before, he sure as fuck did now. He already had two members of his family back, he wanted the rest. He wanted them to be themselves again.

With Lup and Taako’s help, he was going to fucking make sure that happened.

He was studying a map of potential places they might be able to find Magnus’s relic. The chalice was going to be the hardest to find by far. It had never showed up after he got rid of it the first time. The sound of a teleportation spell going off behind him distracted Barry from his research, and when he turned Lup was there again, notably without Taako. Before he could ask she must have noticed his quick glance for her brother.

“He wanted to talk to his new boy for a bit,” she explained, and Barry nodded. It wasn’t hard to see that something was bothering her, and Barry didn’t need any excuse to go over and wrap his arms around Lup’s spectral form. It was like hugging a flame in the best way possible.

“Whatcha think so far?” he asked, curious about how Lup was taking everything with Kravitz. Barry supported it, but he also knew Kravitz pretty well at this point. He’d had more time to adjust to this new person Taako was too.

“Not the worst yet. We’ll see,” she said, and Barry snorted a little at how reluctant she sounded to admit that. It was obviously a bit played up, but after a moment she sighed, leaning into him as much as she could in this state. “It’s just… really different,” she added.

“I know,” Barry said quickly, because fuck did he know. “Even if he can’t figure it out though, like I said it’s still there. Lup, the first time we met I was about to kill his assistant and instead of being scared of me he was fucking begging me not to leave. You know Taako doesn’t trust people like that. It’s all still in there,” he tried to assure her, and he could feel her nod against him.

“You’ll have to tell me why you were trying to kill that guy at some point for sure babe,” Lup said, which was fair. They should probably do that when they were sure Taako would be busy for a while. Barry hadn’t killed him because he didn’t want to freak Taako out any more than he already was, but he had a feeling Lup wouldn’t be super happy knowing the guy was still alive and out there somewhere.

“I know he’s still Taako. Like, he’s not unrecognizable, he’s still my asshole brother,” she added, sighing again after a moment. “I don’t know why him wanting to talk to his boyfriend without me there hurt so much. He’d probably still want to do that even if he knew who I am! It’s just… fuck, I don’t know,” she said.

“It makes sense Lup, it’s- it hurts. At the beginning it… it almost broke me a few times. Seeing him like this. He was worse, some of the things he would say… it makes sense that this is hard for you,” Barry insisted. It really was hard, even after all of this time. Having Lup back made it all worth it, but seeing Taako look at her without real recognition chipped away at the happiness like an ice pick.

“Yeah,” Lup sighed, and Barry wished there was some way he could help more. They were already doing everything they could though, and it honestly wasn’t going terribly. Sure, it could be a lot better, but compared to what it could be, they were doing all right.

“A boyfriend though? I mean, you’re definitely right about it still being Taako, because he would be the only one crazy enough to meet death incarnate and decide to put down the moves, I swear,” Lup said loudly and suddenly, and Barry couldn’t help but laugh. She wasn’t wrong.

“Kravitz isn’t so bad. Considering the circumstances he’s been uh, real accommodating,” Barry said, and Lup huffed, slumping further against him. He could tell this wasn’t the main thing bothering her, it was just the easiest one to focus on at the moment.

“He just better be prepared for us to stick around if he has any plans of staying in Taako’s life,” she said, which was fair.

“I’m sure he’s at least put some of that together by now,” Barry tried to assure her. It was definitely a conversation they were going to have to have, but they could put it off for now. It was just another thing they would get to figure out if they actually managed to save this world.

“I’m sorry,” Lup said quietly, her voice nearly a whisper.

“What for?” Barry asked, because there wasn’t anything for Lup to apologize for. She was back and that was the only thing he cared about and couldn’t image why she would feel the need to say sorry for that.

“I shouldn’t have gone. Not on my own. If I’d just been there I could have… I don’t know. But at least the two of you wouldn’t have been alone,” Lup said, and oh. That made sense. They hadn’t actually gotten much of a chance to talk about it. About her leaving. Barry didn’t want to think about it now that she was back, but he was smart enough to know it wasn’t something they could ignore forever.

“You were just trying to do the right thing. And- and Lucretia, she’s just trying to do the right thing. Fuck, we’re all just trying to do the right thing Lup, I can’t- I can’t begrudge any of us for that,” Barry said, speaking the truth. He wasn’t mad at Lup for trying to fix their mistakes. He wasn’t mad at Lucretia for trying to save the world. They were all working towards the same goals. They just had different ideas of what could actually get them there.

“I love you babe,” Lup said, moving away from him enough to shift so she could press her forehead against his. Barry had never let himself believe that he wouldn’t get the chance to hear her say that again. Actually hearing it and only believing he would were two totally different things.

“I love you too Lup,” he said, and the words couldn’t possibly convey everything he felt, but he knew she understood despite that. After a moment she seemed to pull herself back together, straightening up and almost seeming to solidify back into a solid burning flame in the shape of an elf.

“Alright then. Back to looking for the cup?” she asked, and if Barry could have smiled he would have. He resigned himself to nodding.

“Sounds good,” he said, turning with her back to the map and all the notes they’d already made about possible locations. They would find the cup eventually, and if they didn’t Lucretia would, and they could follow that instead. Still, it’d be nice if they could find it first, so that they could be prepared.

Hopefully Taako would be back from talking with Kravitz soon, and they could all work together on this. Despite everything, it would be kind of nice. Searching for a piece of the light with the twins both at his side. No matter how different things were now, it reminded him of old times.

Chapter Text

Barry was trying his best to make sure everyone was adjusting well as they moved forward. It was a little strange, being the one who could actually offer support for a change. He certainly wasn’t perfect, the rest of his family being out of reach still felt like a gaping hole in his chest.

He’d been on the brink for so long though, his mind hanging on by tattered shreds. Actually having Lup back, having that anchor, made everything so much more solid. He wasn’t totally solid, but he was at least sturdy enough for someone else to lean onto for a moment.

He was trying to make sure that Taako and Lup were able to lean on him now.

Lup was taking the opportunity, like Barry had hoped she would. Those moments when Taako wasn’t around, or when he was meditating or asleep, she’d take the chance to open up about how fucking hard all of this was. How it felt like it was whittling away at her soul to watch her heart be so distant from her. There wasn’t anything he could actually do to help it, not yet. All he could do was listen, let her know how determined Taako had been to find her despite not being able to consciously remember her, let her know how loved she still was.

He hoped it was enough. Lup kept assuring him that it was enough.

Taako wasn’t as open, but Taako had never been as open. It was surreal though, coming to terms with the fact that he was coming to him before he went to his sister. They’d been best friends for decades at this point, but that was never how it worked.

As far as Taako knew though, Barry had been his closest friend for several years at this point, who he’d been working with all this time to save the world. Lup, while someone he instantly clicked with and clearly cared about more than he let on, was still new. It was bizarre, but the last thing Barry was going to do was push him away. Not that Taako came to him all that much to begin with.

He insisted he was fine, that leaving the bureau was the right choice. Maybe he was right, but Barry could see how it affected him. Could see that he was still worried about Magnus and Merle and everyone else up there.

And it was obvious that it was getting worse the closer they got to finding the next relic.

Lup was out right now. It was rare that Lup was out, but they had a bit of a lead on a possibility for the next relic. At the very least, it was clear that Lucretia’s organization thought it was a lead, and so that was what they needed to follow at this point. It was definitely too much of a risk for the both of them to go out there, and it was too far for Taako to travel without their help anyway. Lup offered to go, since they still weren’t sure if Lucretia knew she was around again. She might not be on the look out for her.

So it was just him and Taako for the moment. Taako was reading one of the arcane tomes they had lying around, but Barry was pretty sure he’d been on the same page for a while. It didn’t look like he was all that focused, his fingers tapping along the edge of the book and one of his ears twitching intermediately.

“You doing alright there bud?” he asked after a few more long seconds of silence. Taako nodded, not looking up from the book in front of him.

“Oh yeah for sure, why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, finally turning the page. Barry kind of doubted he’d actually absorbed any of the information on the last one though. He knew that look and that annoyance from experience.

“You just seem a little anxious is all,” he said, and Taako huffed a little at that, pulling the book a bit closer to him.

“Anxious? What reason would I possibly have to be anxious?” he asked, sarcasm clear in his voice. Barry couldn’t blame him for that, and he told himself this was good. This was Taako pretty damn close to opening up, even if he was trying his best to be prickly enough that Barry would back off. Luckily it’d been a long time since that worked on him.

“You know you can just say you’re worried about Magnus and Merle,” Barry said, because he was pretty damn sure that was the heart of this. Taako huffed, finally putting his book down and looking up at the lich.

“I mean, I was talking about the impending apocalypse but yeah, I guess there’s no reason why we can’t worry about those two chucklefucks too,” he said. It was certainly fair, and at least Taako hadn’t completely shut down the idea that he was concerned about them.

“Do you think they’ll be able to do it without you?” Barry asked, and it was the first time he’d actually asked Taako that since he defected. It had been at the forefront of their minds, but none of them had actually put the question out there. Taako was quiet for a long moment, before finally shrugging.

“I don’t know,” he said, a sigh in his voice. “I don’t- what’s even left? You haven’t really told me. What’s this one Lup is looking into?” he asked.

“The cup, or uh chalice I guess? It’s…” Barry paused, and it was important Taako know what they were up against. Still, he’d been worried about Magnus’s relic since they first put it out into the world if he was being honest. Time was… difficult. It was a terrifying force and more tempting than any of the others, if he was being honest.

Taking a deep, unnecessary breath, he tried to get his words in order.

“It lets you control time. Go back, change the past, and- and other things. Honestly, I don’t know the extent of it’s powers. We never- we lost track of the relics after we put them out into the world, and we weren’t ever able to see the cup being used, because well, you can’t exactly see time,” he explained. Taako nodded slightly as he listened, his full attention on Barry as he spoke.

“Sounds handy,” he said after a moment. Barry nodded because, well, it was. But that wasn’t the point. All of the relics were ‘handy’ in their own ways.

“I just hope that whenever they manage to find it, they don’t use it,” Barry sighed. A part of it was purely selfish. They’d come so far, they had Lup back. He didn’t know what he would do if he suddenly lost all of that progress. He wouldn’t know, not really, but he didn’t know about Lup or his family or the hunger when he was in his body either, and that offered no comfort. Not knowing was never a comfort now.

“Yeah,” Taako muttered, no longer looking at Barry. It was quiet for a bit, neither of them really sure what else to say. The silence was broken when a teleportation spell sounded in the central chamber of the cave. They shared a quick look before starting to head over, and it was hard to resist immediately pulling Lup into a hug as soon as he saw her. So he did, because Lup was here and that was still incredible. Lup laughed, taking a quick moment to squeeze back as much as she could.

“How’d it go?” he asked, his voice a bit happier than it should be given the situation. He knew it’d been a few weeks by this point, but it was still better than he could put into words having her back.

“Well, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. Luckily, to make it all real easy it’s the same news,” she said. Barry cocked his head at that, and he could see Taako standing a little ways off, watching with confusion and interest.

“And that would be?” Barry asked, although he already had a pretty good idea.

“It’s the cup,” she said, and that was what he’d figured.

She was right about it being both good news and bad news.

——

Well, they found another relic.

If he was still with the bureau, shit would be simple and clear cut. He’d go down to whatever weird locale the director pointed them at, and fuck around until they either got the thing or died, preferably the first one. They had a pretty good track record by this point, so he wouldn’t have even been that worried.

The problem was he wasn’t with the bureau anymore. He was with Lup and Red. Or Lup and Barry he guessed. It was still… it was easier to call him Red. Kept his brain a little clearer. The point was, he was with them and not with the bureau. It would have been nice if that meant it wasn’t his problem anymore, didn’t have to worry or think about it. He could let the other knuckleheads deal with the whole relic retrieving process and just kick it.

Except he knew they weren’t going to exactly get a replacement for his disappearance. They didn’t have anyone else who could resist the relics for some fucking reason. Magnus and Merle were on their own.

It shouldn’t have bothered him. He hadn’t even known them for that long.

It was bothering the fuck out of him.

“Any idea when they’re going to go after it?” Red asked, and Taako tried to pull himself out of his head to actually be able to participate in this conversation. There would have been a time where he’d have no fucking idea how he could have possibly contributed any help to two ultra powerful liches, and that probably should have still been the case. They were both always so insistent on taking his opinion into account though, he’d kind of grown used to it.

“There was a guy there inspecting the site. I heard him talking on his stone to Lucretia,” Lup started, and Taako couldn’t help being a little intrigued by that. Lup must’ve noticed, because continued. “Seemed pretty friendly, dark hair, kinda scruffy, drank from his flask probably a bit more than he should have while on the job,” she said, turning towards Taako with a someone questioning look.

“Sounds like Avi,” he said with a nod.

“He said he should have everything set up by tomorrow. There’s a barrier, I’m not too sure how the cup made it. I wasn’t able to get close enough to really inspect it, but he had this huge fucking canon thing pointed right at it. I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that’s probably how they’re planning on getting the other boys in there to find the relic,” she explained. From what little Taako knew, it made sense.

“Avi does all the transportation and junk, he’s pretty chill,” Taako said. From the way Red’s robe was flicking out at the end it was easy to see that he was getting even more worried than he’d already had been.

“Tomorrow? That doesn’t give us a lot of time,” he said, and that sure was the truth. The plan since they started with the bureau was that Red hung back in case of emergencies while Taako and the others got their hands dirty. They couldn’t do that this time though.

“I don’t know how to get in that bubble, other than the canon they set up. It sounds like it’ll require a tremendous amount of force and speed at exactly the right time. We could try it ourselves, but there’s no way we wouldn’t be noticed,” Lup said. Taako didn’t like the sound of that. If they couldn’t get in, they couldn’t watch. If they couldn’t watch, then Magnus and Merle would truly be on their own for this one.

“Those idiots are going to get themselves fucking killed,” he said. It was the truth. He knew what Magnus and Merle were like when they were on their own. Sure, Taako wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but he sure as fuck knew more about what was going on than either of them. He couldn’t count the amount of times his magic had saved their ass.

The one time he left those two dorks alone to share a sandwich with Kravitz in the crystal lab they were almost killed by a cockroach of all things.

“At least one of us will have to find a way in there,” Red said after a long moment. He was right, they couldn’t let them go in alone, not if they wanted them to come back out again.

“They won’t trust either of you. I mean, let’s be fucking real here, they’re not gonna trust me either, but-” but what? Magnus might not immediately try and chop him in half? Merle might forget for a minute that he’s the enemy now? That wasn’t really much. “But it’s better than nothing,” he finished. Red nodded in agreement, so Taako was kind of surprised when Lup cut in.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa now! I’m not- Ko, I’m not about to have you go in there on your own,” she said, which really wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

“I mean, I’ll have the boner squad. We’ve done this before, tell her Red,” he said, turning towards the other lich. He didn’t think there would be much argument on this. When it was him and Red he was always the face if they needed to actually interact with other people, on account of, ya know, having a face. Red nodded, floating towards Lup and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s- I know you’re worried Lup, but they’ve managed it before. We can trust them,” he tried to assure her. It really didn’t look like Lup was having much of it though.

“You just said that Magnus and Merle might not even trust you anymore. It’s fine if we can be sure you’ll all be able to work as a team, but we can’t be. You’re not going in there alone Taako, I’m not- we’re not making that mistake again,” she said, a finality in her voice that Taako didn’t think he’d be able to argue with. It seemed like Red thought the same thing, sighing and nodding as he took Lup’s hand again.

“You’ve got a point there. I’ve always been able to step in if things go too out of hand. With that barrier though there’d be no way,” Red said, which was also fair. Taako already super wasn’t a fan of that bubble.

“We still don’t even know how we’re gonna get me into that thing, let alone either of you,” Taako spoke up. There was a long moment where all three of them were silent, thinking the predicament over. Then Lup looked up, and Taako wasn’t sure how he was able to tell that she had a shit eating grin on her face, but he could.

“I’ve got a cunning plan.”

Taako had a feeling he wasn’t gonna be too thrilled by this plan.

He was right.

Still, after a whole day of thinking and debating and arguing, it ended up being the best one they had. Maybe if they had some more time they could have come up with something else, but that wasn’t an option. They had to work with what they got.

So they next day, Taako followed along as Lup and Red teleported them out to some place called the Woven Gulch. They appeared far off from the bubble, up on a nearby cliff side so that they could see what was going on. It didn’t look like a cannon had come down yet, so they still had a bit of time to set everything up.

Taako stretched as he looked around, shaking off the last tingles of teleportation magic. It was warmer here than it’d been in Red’s cave, although Lup had mentioned that when they were making a plan for the day. He still had the robe on, but his clothes underneath were a lot more suited for the climate. He hadn’t gotten a chance to grab his shit before jumping ship, so he’d ended up borrowing a lot of Lup’s clothes. Apparently Red had been keeping a lot of her shit on him in a pocket dimension as he searched for her, and it wasn’t like she could wear any of it now. The bright orange skirt and matching top weren’t exactly his style, but he could make it work. 

“Are you guys sure you’ll be good on your own?” Red asked as they all got settled, obviously still nervous about this whole thing. Taako couldn’t blame the dude too much for that, he knew how being alone fucked with him. The two of them going off probably wasn’t the best for his brain.

“We’ll be fine babe. Just keep watch out here if anything goes wrong,” Lup said, moving over and giving a lich’s best approximation of a kiss on the forehead. Red took her hands, and it was almost disgusting how fucking in love the two were. Like, it was sweet too, but damn.

“Alright, just please be careful. I can’t lose you again,” he said, and Lup nodded.

“Never again,” she promised. Taako had very pointedly turned a bit away from them by this point, staring down at the giant bubble below. Thing really was huge, there was no telling what could be inside of it.

“You gonna be good Taako?” Barry asked after a moment, drawing his attention away from the scenery and back to the two liches. They were no longer being quiet so sickeningly sweet, although they were holding hands. They tended to hold hand most chances they got though, Taako had very quickly gotten used to it.

“As good as I can be. If we’re doing this we’re doing it,” he said, and his eyes were quickly pulled away from the two and up towards a small item moving through the sky. He recognized it immediately, and the two noticed his gaze and followed it as well. Taako couldn’t help but wince slightly at the kinda rough landing, the big glass ball rolling quite a ways before finally coming to a stop outside of the bubble.

“Well, guess that’s our cue to start getting things rolling,” Lup said, and Taako nodded. He wasn’t looking forward to this. It wasn’t too weird last time with Barry, but it was still pretty damn weird.

“Right, uh, I’m ready whenever I guess,” he said. It kind of felt like he should hold his arms out or something, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t necessary. Lup gave Barry one more hug before floating over to him, and then she didn’t stop. Taako was filled with a now familiar sensation of arcane energy engulfing his body. It wasn’t the exact same as the time Red had possessed him. Lup’s power was… warmer. Like a barely controlled fire just below the skin, but it didn’t burn.

He felt a grin stretch over his face, and it was hard to describe the exact sensation of having someone else controlling him. Not entirely, but enough that he was kind of pushed to the back, like he was still looking around from his own perspective, but through someone else’s brain as a filter.

Lup spun them around in a circle, a laugh escaping her, and that was another thing. He’d noticed it with Red, but he tried not to comment on it. It was so fucking easy to feel what they were feeling when they had control of his body, he nearly found himself smiling on his own with how infectious her delight was.

“It’s not perfect, but still feels pretty damn good. Fuck, I forgot how nice it feels to be alive,” Lup said, stretching their arms up above them and cracking his back some.

“You doing alright in there still Taako?” Red asked, and it wasn’t too hard to nod. He wasn’t the one at front and center in his body anymore, but he could still do things. It just seemed to take a bit more effort, a bit more conscious thought.

“Freaky as fuck, but what else is new,” he said. Red chuckled a little at that, and Taako felt himself turn to look back down at the bubble. He couldn’t tell if it was him or Lup who tensed up at the sight of something digging under the ground towards the group, but it was definitely Lup who started moving forward. Thankfully she didn’t get far before Red put an arm out in front of them, which was enough to get her to pause.

“We can’t step in yet,” he said, and Taako could feel how reluctant Lup was to stand by and watch. She didn’t argue with him though, and thankfully the fight didn’t last long. Magnus and Merle seemed to be able to drive back the giant worms without too much trouble, although Taako was pretty sure they got some hits in as well. They were alright though, and after a quick rest it looked like Avi was starting to show them into the big metal ball for the huge canon.

“Okay, looks like we’re on. Love you more than life and death itself babe,” Lup said, and Taako could feel her moving in to try and kiss the dork or something. Thankfully he had enough control to keep them right where they were.

“And Red I appreciate your friendship and am very happy with my boyfriend, who can I remind everyone is the actual literal grim reaper,” he cut in. It was enough to get Red to laugh, and he was obviously still nervous, but he seemed to be able to push that down for now.

“Fair enough. Be careful, both of you,” he said. They both went to nod at that, and when they turned back towards the group on the ground, Magnus and Merle were climbing into the canon. Lup held up the new spellfocus Taako had started using. It wasn’t anywhere near as inconspicuous as the umbrastaff had been, but it still seemed pretty damn powerful. The gold glaive with gems embedded along the blade and down the staff was certainly showy and expensive as fuck. The two liches hadn’t hesitated at throwing it at him when they realized his main spellfocus was gone though, so Taako sure as fuck wasn’t going to complain.

Lup quickly cast invisibility on them, and then teleport in quick succession. In the blink of an eye they were in that sphere down on the ground, and had to scramble to get into a seat before the thing took off. They barely managed it, the seatbelt around their waist about half a second before they heard Avi’s final call, and then everything went very fast.

Taako didn’t know what to think when they were suddenly out of that sphere and in some sort of white space. The most he could tell was that it didn’t feel like teleportation did, and then he was focused on the old woman in front of them.

And then, they were on the ground. When Taako opened his eyes, or maybe Lup opened his eyes for him, he could see the sky up above them. It wasn’t quite clear though, and it took a second before he realized just what it was. They were inside the bubble now. It worked.

“Taako?!”

Shit.

He felt his body moving without his permission again, which meant Lup was still in there. She quickly had them sit up, and Magnus and Merle were already up, staring at him with suspicion and shock. He looked down at himself, and yep, he was visible.

‘The fuck Lup?’ he asked, very careful not to actually say that out loud.

‘It’s hard keeping up concentration on so many things at once! I’m rusty!’ Lup shouted back in his mind. Magnus and Merle were still looking at him, and Magnus’s hand was on the handle of railsplitter, but he hadn’t drawn it yet. Merle’s shock had faded and he almost looked excited now. This was good. This was better than it could have been.

“Haha hey guys, uh, long time no see, right?” Taako said, appreciating that Lup was letting him do the talking here.

“Hello visitors! Please identify yourselves!” another voice said, and all three of them turned towards the source of it. A huge person was standing at the gate, and beyond the rustic wooden gate was a small town. Taako took a deep breath, standing up and dusting off his clothes, shaking out his robe some for good measure.

Magnus and Merle were clearly staring at the bright red fabric, and maybe it had been a bad idea to wear it here. He couldn’t really do anything about that now though.

“We’ll catch up later, alright fellas?” he said, hoping beyond hope that they would go along with this for now. The two glanced over at the hulking person in front of them, and it was hard not to let out a sigh of relief at Magnus’s small nod, letting go of his hold on railsplitter. Merle didn’t seem bothered at all, turning to talk to this new person.

“Merle Highchurch at your service.”

“Uh, Magnus Burnsides, birdsides,” he said, and right, it did kind of seem like the bird on their shoulder was the one speaking.

“And I’m Taako, pleasure to meet you,” he said with a grin. So far, this was going better than he expected it to.

Hopefully they could keep the ball rolling.  

Chapter Text

The construct that was stationed in front of the town was called Roswell. The town itself was called Refuge, and unsurprisingly they hadn’t had any visitors for a little while. As Roswell showed them through the town, leading them to the sheriff’s office, Taako kept an eye on Magnus and Merle. They both looked fine, looked as good as Taako remembered at any rate.

They were keeping their distance from him, and Taako couldn’t exactly blame them for that.

All three of them stopped when a statue came into view, and that statue sure was something. Usually Taako wouldn’t care, but there was a particular figure in the statue that his eyes were pretty immediately drawn to. He definitely noticed the way everyone ended up looking back between him and the statue.

“Roswell, that’s a lovely statue, excellent craftsmanship. If you don’t mind me asking, what does it depict?” Magnus asked, being all folksy polite. Roswell started going into details about the statue then, and it was all pretty vague. Some visitor bringing the father and daughter to their town, and the whole sacrifice thing again. Taako was unsurprised when Roswell turned towards him.

“Excuse me, Taako was it? That robe of yours looks just like the one the visitor has. Did you three know him?” they asked, and he could feel the real questioning stares Magnus and Merle were giving him. They obviously thought he was a red robe. The only thing keeping them from calling him out on it was probably Roswell.

“Not personally. Friend of a friend,” Taako said after a moment, figuring that was the closest to true as he could get. The suspicious stares from the other boys got even worse. Yeah, calling the red robes friends, not a good look there.

‘Who’s that? Doesn’t look like our Red,’ Taako asked as they started walking away. Lup had been pretty quiet since they were caught, she had given Taako almost complete control of his body back, just staying a small, warm ball in his chest for the most part.

‘Like you said, a friend. Great guy, gives excellent hugs, reckless as shit, you’d like him,’ Lup explained. Taako took one glance back at the statue as they left, and it was definitely weird. He knew that Red and Lup had more family, that Lucretia was apparently just one other member of their group.

They never talked about finding the rest though. Never made any comments except vague things about keeping them safe, needing to protect them from the hunger. Taako hadn’t thought about it before, but if the director was telling the truth then there had to be at least four people unaccounted for. And there just happened to be a goddamn statue of one of them in the middle of this little town. Shit was bizarre.

Finally they got to the sheriff’s office, and Taako tried to get a good look at the map up on the wall as Roswell insisted they wait around for Sheriff Issak to show up. It sounded like as good of a plan as any to Taako.

Then there was the sound of something going on at a bar down the street, and Roswell was insisting they stay as they rushed off to go take care of it. That left the three (four including the secret lich hiding in his chest) of them alone, except for some woman locked up in one of the jail cells.

Shit.

The second Roswell was gone Magnus and Merle were on him, and it’d been a bad idea to be near a corner. There wasn’t any easy immediate exit unless he wanted to attack these fools. He honestly would rather not do that.

“Taako what the fuck!?” Magnus shouted, aaand he had his ax out now. Not attacking yet, but it was definitely in his hand.

“Is it the robes? Because we can get cool robes too buddy,” Merle added, and okay at least he was a little less mad. That was pretty unsurprising though, considering it was Merle.

“Okay yes, I will be totally honest here and say, this looks bad,” he said, putting his hands up in an attempt at being placating.

“The director said not to trust you anymore and Taako, I didn’t- we told her she was wrong! We fought for you! But now you show up here dressed as a red robe and you’re calling them your friends!?” Magnus shouted and that- yeah, that honestly wasn’t too surprising either. He should have known Magnus and Merle wouldn’t just accept him going awol like it was nothing.

“I’m just here to make sure you two don’t get yourself killed getting this thing. As soon as you have it you can take it back up to the moon, we don’t even want them,” Taako tried. It seemed to work somewhat, giving the two pause at least. It was clear that they were still suspicious as fuck of him, and yeah that probably wasn’t going to go away.

“We? So you really are with the Red Robes?” Magnus pressed, and Taako figured he could try to lie. He doubted it would work, and there really wasn’t much point to.

“Yeah. Yeah I am.”

“But… why?” Merle asked, and it was a damn good question.

‘How much should I tell them?’ Taako asked Lup quickly, figuring he should at least get some sort of second opinion before spilling everything.

‘We’re real fucking close Taako. Luce already knows shit’s up, she’s gonna be suspicious no matter what we do. It’s your call,’ Lup said, and that was still strange. Having a super powerful lich deferring to his judgment.

“They’re not evil. Like, yeah they made the relics, and that definitely sucked. They feel really sorry about that, but they didn’t do it for shits and giggles. Something’s coming and the relics were like, uh, protection,” he said, trying to explain as much as he could.

“What kind of something?” Merle asked, and it was hard to tell if they were believing him or not.

“The end of the world?” Taako said, wishing it didn’t sound so much like a question when he spoke. There was a long moment where neither of the two said anything, and then Magnus sighed, putting railsplitter away.

“Taako, you sound insane,” he said. Okay, not believing, but also not attacking.

“Yeah, I’m with Mag’s here bud. How do you know these Robe guys aren’t just using you?” Merle asked.

“Believe me or don’t, it doesn’t really matter. We just didn’t want you two knuckleheads getting killed trying to get this thing, so that’s why I’m here. Can we just collect this cup together like old times, and then you can go back to the moon and I’ll go back to being all evil in my cave lair I guess,” Taako said, maybe huffing that last part a bit. He couldn’t blame them for not trusting him, but he didn’t have to be happy about it either.

Magnus and Merle stared at each other for a moment. Taako didn’t think they would decide to kill him, but he was still relieved when Merle shrugged and Magnus sighed.

“If you make a move for the relic-” Magnus started, but Taako quickly put his hands up and shook his head.

“I won’t! You guys have full dibs on the relic, I’m just here to hel-” Taako tried to insist. His words cut off with a yelp as the room around them started to shake. It became pretty apparent pretty quick that it wasn’t only the room though, but the earthquake was short at the very least.

“Alright,” Magnus said once it died down and things were quiet again. “We need to figure out what’s going on here, Taako if you want to help… I won’t stop you,” he finished. 

“Hell yeah!” Taako said, or well, it looked like Taako said, Lup punching his fists into the air in triumph. ‘Sorry,’ she added quietly in his head afterwards.

With that, they started trying to figure out what the fuck was going on in this town. They started by trying to interrogate the woman in the jail cell. That didn’t last long though, since the earthquake had cracked the wall to the outside. It didn’t give them a lot of time to figure anything out when she was actively escaping.

That lead gone, they decided to go find Roswell again. They ended up being in some shop, helping clean up things that had been knocked down in the earthquake.

“Roswell, what’s going on?” Magnus asked as they came up. The elemental seemed a little surprised to see them, but apparently not mad that they left the sheriff’s office.

“I don’t know, this isn’t normal. All of this started when you guys showed up, so I think I should be asking you what’s going on,” they said, which honestly was fair.

“We don’t know either. You’re saying nothing like this has ever happened before?” he asked, and Roswell shook their head.

“Earthquakes? No, we’re a mining town it’d be pretty well documented if there were earthquak-” they started, getting cut off by a very loud explosion coming from the bank. “Oh, what the fuck!?” they shouted, immediately running off. The rest of them ran after them, and the bank was in flames when they got outside. “What did you three bring with you?”

Instead of answering they all ran towards the bank. Taako found himself looking down at the bodies on the floor, but before he could focus on them too much Lup was in control. “I got this!” she shouted, raising Taako’s new glaive and casting some sort of advanced version of spell shaping if Taako had to make a guess. The flames that had been raging towards the back of the bank started smothering and dying down, which certainly seemed to help.

When Magnus grabbed some dwarf woman out from behind the teller window, Taako ran out with him, or maybe Lup was the one having them run. Either way she was definitely the one casting out spells to quell the spreading fire.

“I’m heading back in for Roswell,” Magnus said, not giving them any time to argue before running right back to the bank. Merle started healing the woman, who was apparently named Brogden. It wasn’t long before both Magnus and Roswell came running back out of the very shaky looking bank.

“I need you three to tell me what the fuck is going on now!” Roswell shouted, their halberd already out and at the ready. Taako really didn’t want to have to fight this cat, but it didn’t look like they were going to have much choice.

Or well, that would be the case, if at that moment the clock tower hadn’t started to ring. At that, there was another earthquake. Except it wasn’t just an earthquake. The ground didn’t just shake, it buckled underneath them, pitching up, breaking as huge bursts of heat and fire started to billow out. Taako could feel Lup’s panic as much as he could feel his own, could feel her trying to weave the fires safely around them.

It wasn’t fast enough, the flames and rocks crushing them. Taako could feel himself dying. Something about it felt familiar, but he wasn’t conscious long enough for the static to start to overtake his mind.

And then they were back in that white space.

——

Lup could feel her brother dying with all the certainty and familiarity as if she herself was dying. She might as well been, crying out in desperation as she tried to save him and their friends. She’d seen them all die before, but they couldn’t- they couldn’t here. This world was it, there wasn’t any redo this time.

She barely registered being shuffled into some sort of white space, her mind unfurling at the edges before she felt her eyes opening. Or not her eyes, she wasn’t in her body.

She was in Taako’s. His living, breathing body.

“Taako!” she shouted, shooting out of his body. When she turned to actually look at him, he was alive. He was fine. Lying in the dirt, the town behind them back together, and Magnus and Merle on the ground next to him.

She might have missed the varying looks of shock the three were giving her, wanting to cry as she immediately rushed forward and wrapped her brother in as much of a hug as she could manage.

“You’re okay! Fuck, fuck you’re here . Damn it Ko, don’t scare me like that! You died I thought I was going to break. I thought I was going to lose you,” she said, speaking rapidly as she tried to convince herself that it was okay. Her brother was still here, her friends were still here.

“Yeah uh, sorry? The world kind of exploded. Hey, can we maybe do this later?” Taako asked, and reluctantly Lup drew back.

And then she saw the absolutely incredulous faces of Magnus and Merle. Right. Shit.

“Whoops.”

“Seriously?” Magnus shouted, gesturing a bit wildly at her. Which was fair, considering everything Taako and Barry had explained to her about the story Lucretia had made up. Or, not entirely made up. Re-contextualized. They barely even trusted Taako thinking he was affiliated with them, this definitely hadn’t been the best move.

“Greetings visitors! Please identify yourselves!” A chipper voice called out to them, and Lup really winced at that. Taako was giving her a very unimpressed, exacerbated look. She couldn’t blame him.

Instead of wasting any more time though her brother pulled himself up off the ground, putting on a smile and walking up to Roswell like nothing was strange at all. Acting like he belonged here, claiming that sheriff Isaak guy had called them in. Lup wasn’t too surprised when Roswell was still really fucking confused, even as Magnus and Merle slowly got on board to go along with the ruse.

“Okay, I guess that all tracks? But uh, what is that?” Roswell asked, pointing right at her.

“ She,” Taako started before Lup could get a single word in, “is… my… familiar!” he finished. It didn’t sound the most convincing, mainly because it wasn’t the most convincing.

“Aren’t familiars supposed to be like, little animal companions?” they asked, and Taako nodded quickly.

“Yes, most are! But I am a very powerful wizard, and I give my familiar freedom to look however she wants, and she wants to look like an ominous… red, floating… ghost,” he said, trailing off a bit at the end there.

“I reserve the right to look bitching,” Lup said, because apparently they were going with this. Sure, familiars couldn’t speak, but Roswell had definitely already heard her. They seemed to think this over for a moment before sighing.

“Alright, well I suppose that’s fair? Maybe it’s best if we get you all back to the sheriff’s office so that we can wait for sheriff Isaak there,” they said. Thankfully the other boys also seemed down with that, and Lup stuck close to Taako as they walked through the town. Roswell pointed out the similarities of Taako’s robe to the ‘visitor’s again, and Lup was real thankful she didn’t have much of a face as a lich. That meant she could stare at Magnus without him noticing all that well.

It didn’t seem like there was any recognition at all though. She knew she should have expected that, Barry had explained the situation. Hell, she could see it in Taako every single day. But it was still weird, that was him and he was eyeing it with suspicion and distrust.

And uncertainty. It was easy to see just how conflicted both of the boys were about all of this.

When the bar fight happened again, Lup would have preferred to follow along with Roswell. She couldn’t say she was surprised when the other boys decided to hold them back though.

“Seriously Taako?” Magnus asked, pointing at her once they were mostly alone in the office.

“We thought it might send the wrong message,” her brother tried, not that it seemed to sway either of the boys much.

“You brought a Red Robe with you! Taako, you’re my friend, I want to trust you! But you have to tell us the truth,” Magnus argued, and despite how upset he was that actually put Lup’s mind at ease. She shouldn’t have worried, of course Magnus still considered Taako his friend, but everything was so different. She wasn’t sure if his trust in Lucretia would trump everything else.

“We are telling the truth. Now. I swear there’s no more secret red robes or anything hiding out. Well, there’s Red, but he’s outside the bubble and I swear that’s it,” Taako said, and Lup wasn’t worried about him giving away where Barry was. Even if they didn’t know what Lucretia would do right now, none of the had any way of contacting her while they were in here.

“Hey, I got an idea,” Merle spoke up, not waiting for anyone to ask him what said idea was. “Why don’t we ask the Red Robe about all of this?” he finished, and Lup definitely perked up at that.

It was weird, standing back while the rest of them discussed things. Usually she would be right in the middle of it, but now… after being in that fucking umbrella, she was so used to being cut off. To not being able to do anything but listen.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Lup said, and she’d taken to just sort of slumping over Taako’s shoulders. Maybe she was still a little shaken by the fact that they’d all died and there was nothing she was able to do about it. Maybe she was thinking about the fact that it was probably going to happen again by the time the hour ended and as many times as it would take before they managed to get the cup. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind to actually focus on convincing Magnus and Merle they could trust them.

Or if not trust, just work with them for now.

“Okay fine. If Taako’s actually telling the truth then why do you want to help us get the relics?” Magnus asked, and from the position he was in it was a real good question.

“Not really my choice. At this point it’s best if they’re all together, since you’ve already got most of em,” she said with a shrug. That seemed to confuse them a bit, which was probably fair. “Like Taako said, we didn’t create the relics to destroy the world, we did it to save it. They needed to all be in play though, and now that they’re not cleaning up the messes they made certainly doesn’t hurt,” she added.

“You’re not the other Red Robe, right?” Merle asked, and Lup grinned at that, because at least that was an easy and straightforward question to answer.

“Oh no, the one you met before is my husband,” she said, and that definitely seemed to take them by surprise. After a moment Taako sighed, starting to head out of the office.

“Listen, I know you don’t trust us but we’re kinda on a time limit here so-” he started, Magnus cutting him off.

“I trust you Taako, I just don’t trust her!” he said, pointing at Lup. She could feel the edges of her robes flicking out with greater frequency, but she tried not to show it. Instead she wrapped the arms she still had around Taako’s shoulders tighter, in an attempt to ground herself. This wasn’t really Magnus talking. This wasn’t the best friend that she had died alongside of multiple times saying that to her.

“Then you don’t trust either of us, alright? Packaged fucking deal here,” Taako snapped, angrier than she expected him to be. Pretty sure it was angrier than he himself expected to be.

Barry kept insisting that they were all still in there, and Lup couldn’t help but be thankful that was shining through right now.

“Okay, how about we all go and try and figure where this dang cup is before the world blows up again, alright?” Merle said after a small stretch of awkward silence after Taako’s outburst. The other two boys seemed to reluctantly agree, and with that they started out into town.

As they were heading out of the office though Lup stopped. Taako looked back at her in confusion, and she grinned at him as best as she could.

“I just thought, that familiar lie is a pretty good idea, and we don’t want to attract too much attention,” she said. Taako raised an eyebrow in question, and instead of explaining any more Lup let herself transform. It wasn’t too hard changing her appearance with a somewhat modified version of polymorph. The large bird she turned into looked like it was made out of fire, long tail feathers flowing down when she quickly went and perched on her brother’s shoulder.

“Huh, nice,” he said. Lup was a little surprised that Magnus and Merle had actually waited for them, but the two were still standing at the bottom of the stairs when they made their way down.

All in all, they didn’t end up getting a lot done this cycle. Taako ended up talking to a drow woman who had seen his cooking show, and Lup tried to stay out of the conversation as much as a familiar typically would. She might have made a comment here or there, but honestly it just made Taako look like an even better wizard than he already was.

They managed to go see the fortune teller in the woods, while Merle went to go see what Cassidy was up to. They barely got back to town by the time the bank was falling, and Lup wasn’t able to do as much damage control this time.

She wasn’t able to do anything to stop the town from being destroyed. Nothing but cling to Taako as much as she could as they were burned and crushed.

And then they were back at the start of the hour. Lup was once again lightly possessing Taako, and they were all alive.

She forced herself not to leave this time, to stay hidden and not cause any extra suspicion or trouble with meeting Roswell. She might have taken a moment to wrap Taako’s arms around himself, tightly holding him and reminding herself that he was there. Trying to remind him that she was there too.

‘You good Lup?’ Taako asked, and it looked like Magnus was taking the lead on this one, overwhelming Roswell with the amount of stuff they knew about their town. She could feel the concern from her brother, he couldn’t hide his feelings from her right now. She couldn’t exactly hide hers either though, which wasn’t great.

‘Can’t say I’m a fan of watching y’all die. I know- I know it’ll be fine, it just resets, but it just… it brings up bad memories,’ she said, wishing she could explain more than that. Wishing she could tell him how she thought they had finally left all of that behind them, the dying over and over and over again. The helplessness of not being able to save her family. What was the point of being here, of being a lich if she couldn’t protect them? If she couldn’t save them.

Of course she couldn’t say any of that, Taako wouldn’t understand. Or worse, he’d understand just enough to hurt himself trying to piece together the rest.

‘Yeah can’t fucking say I’m too pleased about the whole thing either. Let’s just try and get this done fast and get the fuck out of here,’ Taako said. They weren’t following Roswell this time, instead heading straight to the quarry. As they were walking into town Lup left Taako’s form, using the same flaming bird form to perch on his shoulder instead. If nothing else, it seemed to make Magnus and Merle a bit more comfortable.

Getting into the quarry wasn’t too difficult, Taako using some item he’d gotten right before he abandoned Lucretia’s ship to make a big hole in the cave in. Once they climbed in, it was a long elevator ride down to some sort of locker room.

“So, what exactly are we looking for again?” Merle asked, and Taako shrugged. Lup ruffled her wings somewhat as the motion almost dislodged her.

“Something we’re not ready to face apparently,” he said.

“Speak for yourself. I’m raring to fuck this town destroying abomination up,” Lup said, because she really was. She was a lot more patient than most people gave her credit for, but most of that patience went out the window when something killed her family multiple times.

She hadn’t been paying attention to what Magnus was doing. Taako had been inspecting some name cards, and so she had been too. She’d barely registered the creaking of one of the lockers opening before there was a pop and the room was engulfed in an explosion too fast for her to react.

When the blast cleared, her family was gone. Again.

But she was still here.

The scream she let out was blood-curdling, her familiar disguise gone as she sat curled up on the floor. She could feel herself slipping, and she couldn’t- she couldn’t-Taako wasn’t- he would come back but…

Barry.

She made herself focus on him. Barry was still waiting for them. She couldn't lose it.

Barely managing to bring herself back together, Lup blasted down the door that led to the elevator. She followed it down, heading alone down the darkened mine shaft. That earthquake hit as she moved forward, and the swarms of bugs that came from the walls kept a wide berth around her, seeming repelled from her light. She let herself burn a little brighter in response, shining like a raging fire.

There was another locked door at the end of it, but she blasted that away too. It caused another explosion, and she filed that away in her brain for next time.

She ended up in a cavernous room, an enormous hole in the center. There was a door along the edge, and a hole up near the top, both blocked off by bubbles that looked exactly like the one closing off the town.

There was another bubble, in the center covering up that giant hole.

Inside of it, moving so slowly with flames gradually filling up its mouth, was a purple worm. As Lup watched its movements started to become faster, the monstrosity breaking out of whatever hold the chalice had on it.

Screaming in a rage, Lup sent an unrelenting blast of fire at the beast, large enough to fill up the whole room. She could hear it scream now, could barely hear the chiming of the clock tower over the creature breaking free, over her own attack.

When the world reset, Lup had no idea if she or the worm had won that battle.

“What was that dingus?” Taako snapped, and she was back with him. He’d sat them up, turning towards Magnus in frustration.

“I leaned away! I don’t know what else you want me to do!” Magnus shouted back.

“I’ve got a spell that can find traps? Do you think that would help when we go back down?” Merle asked, already filling through his extreme teen bible.

“It’s gotta be better than Magnus’s method of finding traps, which is to lean away!” Taako huffed.

“I leaned away!”

Lup wasn’t sure why that was the thing that broke her. It was just so familiar, so normal and she missed them so fucking much.

She started laughing, the laughter quickly turning to sobs and she’d barely registered that the fact that she could actually cry meant she was still in Taako’s body. She could feel her brother’s rapidly mounting concern, could hear him asking what was wrong in her mind, but she couldn’t focus enough to answer.

“Taako? Shit, you okay?” Magnus asked, sounding terrified and concerned which of course he was. Taako didn’t break down like this.

“Hey, just let it all out bud,” Merle said, awkwardly patting their shoulder. After a moment she managed to shake their head, quickly wiping at her tears.

“Nope, sorry. You’ve got Lup on the line this time,” she said, and she could see the shock on their faces at that. Magnus still looked like he was trying to figure out how to comfort her though, Merle didn’t let go of her shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady herself. ‘Sorry Ko,’ she said, before quickly leaving his body again, taking up the bird form on her shoulder.

“I’m gonna have a fucking headache from that, thanks a lot,” he huffed, patting her head despite that. She could tell he wasn’t actually mad.

“Gr-greetings visitors? Uh, are you all… good?” Roswell asked, and Lup almost laughed again.

Right.

They should get a move on.

Chapter Text

Well, the start of this loop had been… rough.

Convincing Roswell took a little bit longer than the last one, mostly because they were a little concerned that from the looks of it, Taako had started off breaking down into tears for no fucking reason. Which yeah, he found himself having to rub at his eyes and his nose some as they made their way back down to the mines.

Lup was resting on his shoulder right now, pretending to be a familiar. She seemed fine, but that was probably due to the fact that she was in the form of a spectral fire bird. Taako was pretty damn sure that she wasn’t actually fine.

He’d had no idea what to do when she broke down like that. He tried to ask what was wrong, hell he even tried to comfort her, but it didn’t feel like it had done much good. He didn’t-

He could fucking feel what she was feeling. The overwhelming terror and hopelessness and relief. He didn’t know how the hell to handle that, he didn’t know how she was handling it. No wonder she started crying like that the second she had some eyes that could actually cry. If she was feeling so much like that all the time he didn't know how she didn't lose herself.

“The lockers are trapped. The door is too, I could blow it up but that’ll just set it off, so we need to figure out some way to disarm it. After that there’s a long tunnel, when the earthquake hits it releases some sort of swarm of insects, but I think they’re repelled by light, so stick by me and we should be fine. There’s one more door after that, it’s also rigged to explode. Again, could blow it up, but then everything explodes so we should try and be smart about it. That last room has the thing causing all of this,” Lup said as they made their way back down to the lockers. Her voice was a lot steadier than Taako expected, a lot emptier. Like she was solely focused on getting through this.

Well, he couldn’t really blame her for that.

They ended up blowing up the lockers one more time before they actually cracked the code. Somehow though they didn’t die, Lup barely managing to weave the blast around them enough for them to live. It got them through to the next room, but they weren’t able to reach the end before the world exploded.

Back at the start, Taako could feel Lup’s frustration as readily as his own. At least she didn’t cry this time though.

Heading back into the mines, they managed the locker trap on this go. When they got down to the long mine shaft the earthquake hadn’t happened yet, and they were waiting for Merle to fix the cart so they could get going.

“Hey, Taako can I talk to you a minute?” Magnus asked, and honestly Taako was kind of shocked they were still going along with everything. He really didn’t expect any sort of trust to still be there, but maybe Magnus and Merle were even dumber than he gave them credit for.

“Yeah for sure,” he said, and he definitely saw the way Magnus's eyes flicked to where Lup’s bird form was sitting on his shoulder.

“Uh, alone. If that’s okay,” he said. Taako couldn’t help but frown, and like, he got it. He knew why they didn’t trust Lup, but for some reason it still pissed him off.

Before he could complain though he felt Lup ruffle her feathers and nod.

“Don’t go far. I’m not gonna be stuck with Merle until the hour resets, alright?” she said, obviously trying to make a joke out of it. Taako nodded, and with that she quickly flew over and landed on the dwarf’s head. Merle for his part didn’t seem to mind all that much.

“What’s up?” Taako asked as they took a few steps away from the others, his arms crossed and maybe not looking too happy. He couldn’t be sure this wasn’t a trap, although there’d really be no fucking point. They would still be stuck in these loops and their best chance of getting out of them was working together. He trusted Magnus and Merle to at least understand that much.

“Was- was that really the Red Robe crying back there?” he asked, and that wasn’t the question he’d been expecting.

“Uh, yeah? It sure as fuck wasn’t cha’ boy,” he said, because he thought that was obvious. He guessed the whole possession thing was a little weird, probably made it hard to tell who was doing who, but they were pretty clear about which one of them had been doing the crying.

“Okay, then why?” Magnus asked, and he sounded… really conflicted.

It made sense. Magnus was a loyal guy, he said he fought with the Director over whether they should trust him. He probably still believed she was telling the truth about the Red Robes though, or at least he was trying to believe her.

But Lup wasn’t acting the way some evil lich creating weapons of mass destruction should act.

“I don't know, she doesn’t like to see me die. They’re both stupidly protective of cha’ boy,” he said, because that had been the only real answer he’d been able to get out of Lup. From the looks of it Magnus wasn’t super satisfied by that.

“By both, you mean the other red robe too?” he asked, and Taako nodded. He could see Magnus thinking it over, and the dude really was an open book. It was obvious that he had no idea what to do.

“How do you know it’s not all one big trick? How do you know they’re not using you Taako?” Magnus asked, and it was a good question. He was kind of surprised they hadn’t actually asked that. Taako didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to figure out some way to put words to that feeling he had in his gut that said without a shadow of a doubt that he could trust them.

Red had said that they would need Magnus and Merle’s help too, before this was all over. He didn’t want to mess this up.

“Because they told me not to,” he said, and he could see the confusion on Magnus’s face at that. “Every single step of the way Red tried to keep me out of this, okay? I wasn’t even supposed to go with you to wave echo cave, I was supposed to stay back at the town to stay out of danger. I know this isn’t some trick because if those two got their way I would be living as a chef in Neverwinter instead of risking my neck trying to make sure you idiots don’t die getting these last relics,” he explained. Magnus was quiet for a long moment, and then he nodded.

“Alright. Then in that case, what do we tell the Director?” he asked, a surprisingly serious tone to his voice. Taako couldn’t really believe this was working out.

“Nothing. Lup and I weren’t here, you never saw us. We still got one more of these bad boys after this, can’t screw it up yet,” he said. By now it looked like Merle had finished fixing up the cart, and Magnus nodded once more.

“Okay. I’m trusting you Taako,” he said, heading back over to the others.

It took two tries to get through the door, but Lup was prepared with a protection spell when the first blast hit. When they finally got into the room, it was pretty damn clear was the source of the town’s destruction was. Now they knew what they were up against, and they knew where it was, they just needed to figure out how the fuck they were supposed to deal with it.

The next loop, and Magnus and Merle were leaving it up to him and Lup to find a way to get some diamonds. Heading into the Davey Lamp, it wasn’t hard to convince Ren and the other elf in there to sign up for a ‘seminar’ on magic for a small, small price. Especially once he showed off his cool talking familiar, don’t you want to learn how to make a cool talking familiar?

The two prophecies they intended to get from Paloma seemed pretty standard. The extra one not so much. It definitely seemed to unnerve Lup some.

“A third option,” she mumbled as they left the cottage to go meet up with Mags and Merle again.

“She was talking about the apocalypse, right?” he asked, and Lup shifted out of her bird form, since it was just the two of them as they walked back.

“Yeah, it’s- either the hunger or Lucretia’s plan. A word of darkness or ash,” she said, and Taako was not feeling either of those choices. He didn’t even know what the hunger really was, but it didn’t sound good.

“So, we just need to figure out what this third option is, right?” he asked, and Lup seemed to perk up a little as she nodded. It might have been somewhat forced though, Taako could tell that her mind was still spinning.

“Right, we know the option's there now. We just need to find it,” she said, and Taako had a feeling that would be one of those things much easier said than done.

When they went to the temple they ended up meeting a skeleton in the cave, and Taako swore he might know more undead people than he did living ones at this point. The cycle reset, but they had a game plan for the next one. Find Luka’s brother, get him to help them raise the temple.

That also ended up being a lot easier said than done. Of course his brother was the one responsible for the bank blowing up every cycle, and he was not easily convinced to stop with that whole plan.

Lup managed to help Magnus and Merle hold off Roswell long enough for Taako to read the journal though. Which gave them just enough time to get the brothers and get to the temple, the town starting to fall apart again as they rushed inside.

And then they were in front of a god. Which honestly, Taako had been dealing with super powerful liches and shit for a while now, he was kind of used to this. Especially the whole going on about how special he was without offering any sort of clear reason about why that was.

“I’m asking the three of you, Magnus, Merle, Taako, to make it official. I want you to become my emissaries. To stop those who would try and reshape the world in their image, and not as fate intended,” Istus said, and all in all it sounded like a good gig. There was just one problem.

“Hey, I think you’re missing a name from that list,” Taako said, and he didn’t know how a god would react to the lich next to him. He knew they got some clearance from Kravitz, but he had no idea how far that reach went. Lup had been pretty quiet since they’d gotten into the church, floating in her true form next to him. Istus smiled gently at him before turning towards Lup.

“That is no mistake. Lup, I know you have done so much work to protect this and every world. This isn’t an admonishment against you. It is simply that another god has, well, I suppose you could say called dibs when it comes to you,” she explained, and Lup perked up at that.

“Oh shit, are they cool?” she asked, and Istus looked amused by the question.

“I think she’s pretty cool, yes,” she said, and it wasn’t hard to tell that Lup was grinning at that.

“Hell yeah then, that’s fine by me,” she said. An idea seemed to come to Magnus then, the dude practically jumping up.

“Hey wait, you’re a god! We can just ask you,” he said, and Istus raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh right, well first of all yes I think we would all be honored to be your emissaries. You do fate though right, and since you’re trying to make Taako your emissary too and aren’t trying to uh, smite Lup? I guess? Does that mean we can trust them?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you what you should or should not do,” Istus said after a moment.

“I mean, you’re a god. You kinda can,” Merle muttered, which was a fair fucking point.

“Look in your hearts, do you think you can trust these two?” Istus asked, gesturing towards him and Lup. Magnus and Merle turned to look at them, and in response to having everyone staring at him, Taako threw up some finger guns. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lup very quickly dab.

“Yeah alright, I trust em,” Merle said with a shrug, and Magnus nodded.

“Me too.”

With that the conversation went back to the whole emissary thing, and the three of them agreed. Istus gave them some pretty dope gifts, and then she disappeared for a moment for some final gift in the future.

Then they were back at the beginning of the cycle.

And this time they knew what the needed to do.

It didn’t take long at all with the chance lance to get back down to those closed off rooms. They took Roswell down with them, and when Magnus popped the bubble to the second shaft they weren’t surprised to see a guy down there with June.

“Taako, Merle, Magnus,” Sheriff Isaak said, his eyes then lingering on the lich for a moment longer. “Lup,” he continued. “Come on in. You want a smoke? I’ve only got two left but if you wait another hour I’ll be back to having three,” he finished.

Before anyone could say anything else he was outlined in a red glow, and Lup’s hand was outstretched as she lifted Isaak up off the ground. Taako could see him trying to go for his wand, but he wasn’t fast enough as it was suddenly flung across the room.

“This has been a very bad day, and I have had a lot of bad days in my time. So I need you to listen to me. We are going to take that cup, we are going to save that girl in there, and we’re going to make sure this whole fucking town does not blow up for the twelve hundredths time this week, and you are going to help us do that, understand?” she said, and Taako wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Lup mad before. He’d seen Red mad, and it was terrifying.

Lup was also pretty damn scary, but Taako was honestly more afraid of the fact that he was pretty damn sure this was her holding back. Isaak certainly seemed to get the message that he wasn’t in the best scenario, trying and failing to get out of the hold she had on him.

“You can’t- you can’t have it. You’re connected to the visitor in some way, right? I can’t let you take it, it makes you do unnatural things,” Isaak insisted, but it was obvious to Taako that Lup wasn’t having any of that.

“You think I don’t know what that stupid cup is capable of? The visitor made the damn thing, and now I’m taking it back for him, understand me?” Lup said, and that at least seemed to get Isaak to pause in his struggling.

“You- y'all are responsible for this thing?” Isaak asked. Magnus quickly shook his head, and Taako couldn’t blame him too much for that.

“Nope! No just the spooky lady in red. The rest of us are more of uh, a clean up crew? We’ve been dealing with items like that for almost a year now and making sure they can’t do anymore damage,” he said. Isaak looked from Lup, back towards the rest of them, and then at Lup again before finally ceasing his struggle and nodding.

“Alright. Alright, if y’all think you can actually stop this, I don’t have any other options left,” he said. Lup nodded, and as she lowered him down Taako watched as Magnus hefted the chance lance back, tossing it at the bubble that was holding June.

And then everything went white.

——

Lup didn’t want to listen to the cup’s offer. She knew they couldn’t use the relic, and hearing what it could do would only serve to put doubt in their heads.

But they needed to make sure June got out of this safely. So now Lup was in a white space alone with that cup, still in possession of June, and slowly scrolling back through her memories.

Fast through ten years of nothing, sitting in a black curtained room listening to the sound of waves and barely holding onto her sense of identity. Then slow through the night she decided to leave. An agonizing, painful rewind through all the cycles, the cup stopping and starting so fast like she was barely able to take in it all.

“It’s- your memory’s clear. The other three had lost all this time, why haven’t you?” the cup asked, slowing through the day her and Barry had become liches together. Their performance. Every time she and Taako had died side by side. Every time Taako had died without her.

“Some perks to being dead,” Lup said, wanting to close her eyes and ignore all of this around her. She couldn’t though, because she didn’t- she couldn’t miss all the good parts too. The year at the beach, the moment she realized she was in love, finally learning the animal language from the mongooses.

And then before that, her and Taako joining the IPRE together. Back father, to the two of them traveling from caravan to caravan. And then they were children, being passed around from relative to relative, learning cooking together from their aunt.

Taako couldn’t remember any of it. All of this, any bits he had she wasn’t there.

Finally, the cup started forward again.

“Lup, no one has ever lived a life like you before. It’s- the amount of hardship you’ve faced is, well it’s unthinkable,” she said, moving through a hundred years in the span of a few short minutes. As they got to the end of it, she started to slow. “You worked so hard, your plan had worked. Maybe not the way you wanted, but you saved the world,” she continued.

Lup knew where this was going to end up before it had even started. She wasn’t surprised to see herself, sitting on the edge of her bed on the Starblaster. Barry was sound asleep on his side, and the cup had paused in the middle of Lup putting her shoes on. There was a piece of paper on the side table, but no note had been written yet.

“You shouldn’t have left that night. You thought you were doing the right thing, but your family was lost without you. They were torn apart with you gone,” the Chalice said.

“But it hasn’t happened yet. Not here, not yet, not now. Lup, take me, and we can fix this. You can be alive again, you can have your family back again, Lup.”

Then they were back in that fake version of the Davy Lamp. Taako was at her side again, Magnus and Merle sitting with them at the table. June was a young girl once more, the cup still in her hands, resting on the table.

Lup could barely pay attention as the Chalice started going over the rules. Her mind was stuck on the offer the cup had made her, playing that night over and over again in her head. Playing everything that had happened after it. Ten years alone, her brother forgetting her, Barry struggling on his own for all that time, her family destroyed.

“So, will any of you take it?”

“Merle, Taako… Lup, I can imagine that whatever you saw in there, it was just as moving as mine was, and we can talk about that later, but what I saw in there. It was everything I wanted for… a long time, and it would mean I wouldn't be there to protect people who really need it, and I don’t care, because it’s what I want. But… it’s not what Julia would have wanted, so I’m gonna have to pass,” Magnus said. The small part of Lup that could still focus on what was going on around her and wasn’t just staring at that fucking cup was drawn with curiosity to the name Julia. She wondered who she was, who had become so important to someone in her family.

“Eh, I’m not really one for regrets. You make decisions with the information you have and live with the consequences, that’s a little Merle pearl for ya. I’m not tempted, sorry strange little girl with a chalice,” Merle said, and Lup wasn’t surprised. Merle didn’t look back.

Lup turned towards Taako, and she realized with horror that she didn’t… she had no idea what his regret was.

“So, here’s how it shook out for Taako, and we can talk about this more later, but I can’t say that I want to change how things shook out. I mean, it’s shitty but I don’t think I can go back without losing everything I have now, and I don’t really want that,” he said. Lup could see him turn towards her, and the somewhat carefree look on his face shifted into a bit of a frown. There was concern there, and Lup wondered what she looked like right now.

“Lup?” the cup asked, and she could feel herself start to shake.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out, keeping her arms wrapped around herself as much as possible. “I’m so fucking sorry. Taako, Magnus, Merle, I can’t- I can’t do it,” she could see bits of arcane energy peeling off of her, but none of the items in the room were real and didn’t seem bothered by the burst of power. She could see the others looking at her, the terrified expressions there.

“Lup, we promised,” Taako said, and she took a shuddering, unnecessary breath.

“I’m so sorry, I can’t fix this,” she said, before turning back to the cup. “I’m not taking the offer and I’m so fucking sorry.”

The chalice was obviously disappointed by their decision, tried to tempt them one more time. Lup could barely speak as she watched Phandalin get burned, watched Barry die at the hand of her own relic. All she could do was hold onto Taako and force herself to say no. To not let herself do what every fiber of her being wanted to do and just fix all of this.

They got the cup, and Lup was thankful for the distraction of the purple worm. She could focus on that and not on the way her soul wanted to tear itself apart in regret, helping her family and Roswell get out of this terrible fucking town.

And it worked. Soon enough they were out of the town, and Istus was telling them to watch as she got the whole place back up to speed. So they did, and Lup told herself, watching this, that it was worth it. This was worth it.

It felt hallow, the regret seeping through her form like weeds.

When the bubble was down they got drug back into the town, and Lup knew they should head back to Barry. They needed to get out of here before Lucretia’s organization became too aware. It was bad enough that that Avi guy had definitely seen them as they came out.

But she couldn’t really get herself to move for a while, following Taako around on autopilot. Thankfully, her brother seemed to have a pretty clear idea of what he was doing. He saw Ren and Paloma, and there was a moment where him and Magnus were whispering about something. Lup wasn’t trying to listen in, even though she probably should have.