daybreakacademy | Snow in the Summer

"I'm not sure what you think you're going to be able to do, but thanks, I guess." It's only half sarcastic, but the bite to his words makes it hard to tell.

"I know you're used to hanging out in freezers and all, but do try not to do anything stupid."

"I don't know," He admits, staring up at the iced-over Museum. He can't tell if Avery's words are all sarcasm (they might have even stung if not for the fear) but he answers lie they're not. "Whatever I've got to, I guess. We've both made it this far. That's got to say something. You in your forest, me in the Outlands..."

Yeah, he's not very confident. But he wants to look out for Avery bad enough. And for that matter, keep himself present too.

"I do a lot of stupid stuff but I got my girl. I don't forget that."

"Good. She has enough toys in that dollhouse."

Some part of him understands that Héctor is trying to make him feel better, but the shadow looming before them is deeper and darker than any Avery himself could hope to cast.

He rubs at an eye. "Honestly, I don't understand why we can't just leave her to it."

He winces but says nothing. He can see what horror is before them but he knows this is something that's haunted Avery for longer than he can really fathom. He can't make this easy. He can only keep trying.

"She followed it all," He says. She's trying to follow Avery. "She'll just keep killing. It's like what I told you, with your forest. Someone's going to look for loved ones. And so will theirs and theirs... And everyone's whose family loves them that comes by chance or dare or job to start with. That, and it's not the first time we've been hired clean up crew."

He looks tired. More than he's ever been.

"I don't care about them, Héctor. They aren't my problem." She is. But she won't stop until he's hers again, will she? Not until she has her perfect prince back.

"I don't even like the people who stole my belongings."

"I know that," he sighs. "But you're with Daybreak and Daybreak cares." At least on some level. It was hard to tell how the higher up in Daybreak really felt about things sometimes. Least of all because he hardly sees them.

"I'm not going to say you shouldn't have come. I would have too, in your place, even if I wouldn't be on this mission if not for you." A hero he is not. But he couldn't have walked away from something so personal. ...Nor could he have done what they're asking if it were him. "This doesn't mean you've got to handle it personally. If that's not why you came, then none of us are going to ask for it."

He doesn't respond, instead staring silently up at the manor.

And then he turns to walk off without another word.

He wasn't quite expecting that. He really should have but time has proven again and again that he's not that bright.

He starts forward and reaches out, grabbing Avery's shoulder. "Hey, wait, wait! At least tell me where you're going. If you're going. I don't know what's happening right now, is this you saying you're done with all this or done talking to me? Dios, Avery, give me something."

"Both," he replies flatly, giving a little dismissive wave of the hand. "Can't exactly head back to the plane if I'm still talking to you here, can I?"

He sighs and shrugs. "I'm done. Gone. Put." And he takes great care to pronounce that "t."

"You all have fun playing with Vanessa! I'm going somewhere warm and not filled with madwomen, thank you!"

As Avery begins walking away, it caught the eye of a certain vampire. He'd been keeping an eye on this situation from afar for awhile. Not enough to hear what was being discussed, but given the behavior of his lawyer friend, he wasn't too surprised to see something like this happen. And while he might normally be loathe to jump into his friend's business... well. He is still a daemon, and this was a job they all came to do.

A pillar of darkness appeared in front of Avery as he walked away, a swarm of bats heralding Valvatorez rising from the ground like he was emerging from an elevator. And despite his small size, he was putting his commanding voice and charisma to work here.

"No, you are not. We have a job to do, and we're going to see it through. Like it or not, you are the one with the most knowledge to put a stop to this. Besides, do you think running now will set you free of this? ...It will chase you. Forever." A flick of his cape, and a further steeling of his voice. "Stop being the hunted and show everyone who should really be feared around here."

"Her," Avery replies dryly. "She should be feared. She's completely off her rocker, totally obsessed, and unlike you people, I won't get the luxury of death out of it."

Hee leans forward and jabs his finger in Valvatorez's direction. "You may be the King of Fear, but she's something else entirely."

He grins. It's bitter and icy as the world around them. "Soulmates, am I right?"

For all the bitterness, chill, and spite in that smile, the daemon is frankly unshaken and unmoved. Not surprising, considering it takes a lot more than that to rattle him. If anything, it merely got him more excited.

"I see. So it's like that." He chuckled, somewhat bitterly. Not directly at Avery, but certainly at the cruelty of the situation. It was as though this whole scenario might've been devised by a daemon, and the orchestration was almost praiseworthy in its deviousness. "The world's quite a twisted place, isn't it?"

Still, that sparkle, a mixture of battle-lust and determination, in his red eyes didn't fade for a second.

"Then you need not deliver the divorce papers personally. If need be, I can act as your disinterested adult to serve them directly." It's... about all he can do, really. It's a dark, grim business, but it has to be done.

"Great. Now you want to fight her even more, don't you?"

He shrugs and shakes his head. "Don't let me stop you! You want to let her know we've been divorced for 400 years, be my guest."

He still doesn't plan to stick around.

And there's that chillingly evil, albeit corny evil laugh of his. "But of course. When have you ever known me to back down from a real challenge?"

Still, Valvatorez wasn't done and not about to back down from this challenge either.

"But you know very well I'm not letting you leave, one way or another. I'll drag you in there kicking and screaming if I must. A good quarterly appraisal depends on it, and the Seers are very good at figuring out when people are slacking off. You don't need a threat of breach of contract hanging over your head, do you?"

"That's low," Avery growls out. "You're seriously going to hold my professional reputation hostage like that?"

"I'm not holding anything hostage, but just reminding you what will happen if you do bail at this point."

...So yes, and no. He won't be the one to rat you out, Avery, but the Seers will doubtlessly figure it out anyway.

"I'm not going to make you fight if you really don't want to, but like it or not, your expertise is key to this mission. And the sooner we get this done and over with, the sooner we can just get back and forget about it."

That means helping them fight her.

Potentially, that means helping them kill her.

The way that thought makes his guts twist is positively disgusting.

"Fine." The word is practically hissed out, his voice low. "But my expertise is all you're going to get. I want nothing to do with the woman herself."

It was a dirty business sometimes. And it sometimes meant doing things that you hated doing. The price for failure here was already too high, and Vanessa's damage and rampage was already problem enough. At this point, expedience demanded a price, and this had to be it.

And it was price he didn't want to pay. That was obvious. But Valvatorez wasn't going to waste Avery's time with platitudes or well-wishes or regrets. There'd be time for dealing with fallout later.

"Deal."

With that settled, Valvatorez started walking back toward the museum.

The moment Valvatorez appeared from the ground-- like Avery had once, a shadow preventing him from leaving Daybreak for the only one in his world who'd really mattered-- he steps back. At first, he's simply startled, but then as Valvatorez goes on his head hangs, shamed.

He hadn't considered the knowledge Avery has on Vanessa. He'd already know that this would haunt Avery, but that part he's not sure is changing. But one way or another, it still means his "help" is less than worthless.

He watches Valvatorez walk back, not quite able to muster the nerve for anything. He can only turn again to Avery and say, "Sorry. Unless you want to save her or you think you can get through to her... I don't know what else we can do."

And the real question is whether Avery even wants to do those things.

"Trust me. We can't. The time for that would have been ages ago." Before she locked him up. Before she cut his hair while he slept.

"It's not like I care whether or not she lives or dies anyway."

A voice in the back of his mind calls him a liar.

For a moment his eyes close. His brows furrow. Even from Avery it feels harsh.

"Don't say that. You know that's not true." Couldn't be further from it. He watched Avery stab at that portrait, every swing down missing her and taking his image instead. He's lived memories so bitter and yet, seeing her...

Quieter, for no one else to hear, he says, "I don't want to lose you today, Avery. I don't just mean in the obvious ways. I know you're not going to be okay after this and I don't know that I can help but... I don't want lose my friend. So, please, don't bury him when you grieve."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Another lie. And then something resembling the truth: "There's who I thought she was and there's... this." He gestures to the manor.

"I have no reason to grieve that." And he'll say it however many times it takes for his useless, traitorous heart to recognize it.

Edited 2019-08-21 13:56 (UTC)

"You can grieve who you thought she was," He says. His throat goes tight, voice a little rougher than he wants. He doesn't want to think of Ernesto now. This isn't the time and place for his petty little loss. But sometimes, some of this...

"You can grieve what you lost, what you hoped for," He goes on. "You make a space for someone in your life, worse when you cut pieces of yourself to do it, trying to fit them, to make them happy... it's going to hurt when that space is empty. It doesn't matter if that person was... terrible for you. Or to you. You still made that space. You held all those things you dreamt for each other and felt. You can't stop wanting that person you believed in to be real because it's- ha, it's impossible to stop wanting to heal." Human nature. Even when they weren't all human anymore.

"Once you... see them again and things get confirmed or... once she's gone... that's it. There's no more hoping for things to change even with that small stupid part of you." He can't meet Avery's eyes. "But if you shut up that stupid little part then you're never going to give anyone another chance. I know you'll think it's safer that way, but I'll ask you again; please, however long you have to take, even if its ages, don't shut us all out for good when this is over. Don't- don't shut me out. I really don't want to lose another friend."

He stares at Héctor. It's a long, uncomfortable silence.

Somehow the thought of Héctor going through something similar to what he had is more sickening than whatever "feelings" lingered toward Vanessa, but at least it's a sick feeling that makes some small measure of sense. He can wrap his head around it, no matter how much he hates it.

Avery scoffs and turns his head away. "Like I'd really just leave you to rot. If you haven't gotten it through your skull already, you're stuck with me until the very fiber of your being crumbles to dust."

He can feel Avery's eyes on him. He still can't quite look up. Part of him is waiting for it, being told off, told he's stupid, brushed off, something. He doesn't know what's the sort of thing Avery do and what he's just learned to be used to in the moment.

He winces at the scoff, bracing, breath held.

And then his head lifts. He looks breathless, and then almost like he might cry before a grin blooms upon his face. The relief hits in a rush. He wants to rush forward and hug Avery, but even he's got the sense that doing so before they face his ex isn't the best idea. He reaches out, instead gently tapping the back of his hand to Avery's hand or arm, whatever he can.

"Thank you, mi amigo," He says. It's the most Avery's openly admitted. It means the world. More than heaven and earth. His hand draws back. "I'll wait for you when this is over. Whatever you time you have to take. Hell, whatever I can do. You're more than owed a few stupid decisions after this. Or just to... sit somewhere and we don't even have to talk. I'll be here."

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