[closed] they told me all of my cages were mental

[ordinar]

Who: Wilhelm & miscellaneous
When: throughout October & November
Where: Thorne, Horizon
What: Catchall for dramatic bitch fall
Warnings: will adjust as needed


Closed starters to follow. Maybe some open starters eventually.

Comments

[blackeyedprince]

"A ward," Kell replies, staring at the door. "I got repelled by a stupid ward."

It could have been a whole host of reasons. His mark could have been disturbed. It is more difficult to create doors within worlds than between. It could have been that he was trying to take Wilhelm with him. He knew it will be difficult. He should have remembered his first try at the Lunar Pond. Lunar Pond. Does this world really hates this kid so much? Kell's only blunders somehow always involve Wilhelm. Really, someone needs to watch over him. But even he is not cruel enough to say something like that out loud.

"Clearly, they don't want us inside. You said something about the study, maybe we should try there..."

Then he looks at Wilhelm, all pale and wide-eyed, and it makes him stop mid-sentence. Sanct! He screwed up again. Maybe, he's the one that needs supervision.

"Or I should go myself. You need to rest. You don't look so well."

[ordinar]

"I'm fine," Wilhelm snaps.

Though, his unsteady voice doesn't lend much credibility to his claim. That and the fact that he's still crumpled up on the floor. Pulling himself up to his feet, he pushes his hair back from his face with more aggression than necessary.

"Let's go. I can...I can be the lookout or something."

Let him be anything but useless. He's tired of not being able to do a damn thing. It could be that Kell, because he'd borne witness to Wilhelm's fuck up at the Lunar Pond, exacerbates his frustration with his own limitations. That night, he'd thought he could finally do something right, he could finally be more than dead weight — and then it had all gone up in flames. He wants to prove to Kell, and to himself, that this monumental failure is not all he amounts to.

[blackeyedprince]

"Very well," Kell declares with more confidence than he has in reality. He clears his throat, lest the guilt will leak through in the tone of his voice. "I could use help anyway."

All this is his fault. He brought them here with no plan, on sheer drive to do something, anything, other than sitting in the room with Rhy so deep asleep it almost looks like death. Shame and guilt burn like acid in his stomach. He's so used to the feeling that he forgot what it's like to experience crossing the barriers for the first time. Frightening. Disorienting. It's too late for a warning now.

"Do you remember which part of the castle this study was in?"

Because he doesn't. The only thing he remembers is that it was underground. There's a certain chill and staleness to the air that never actually leaves a room that's dug deep into the earth. No matter how thick its walls are. It was a detail odd enough to stick in his memory. The directions there? Not so much.

[ordinar]

Wilhelm stares down the dim corridor first in one direction, then the other, as if this might help him reconstruct the path to the study in question. Back then, he hadn't paid much attention to where he was being led. He'd been preoccupied with looking over his shoulder for the shadowy nightmare entity that borrowed his brother's deathly pale face.

"I'm not sure," he finally admits.

Desperation seizes his expression; it's the look of someone who knows he's hit a dead end but doesn't want to turn back. Pacing and chewing on the edge of his thumbnail, he tries to dredge up anything useful from the muck of his memory.

"There was a staircase that came up by the dining hall."

Which he recalls because he'd made quite a few trips there, fetching coffee for the more magically inclined members of the group.

wrap on your next one?

[blackeyedprince]

"Staircase, yes, I remember that!"

No, he doesn't. It's a blatant lie, but also something he can latch on. Enough of a clue to hold on to, to not let the despair sink in, to let him go looking for something tangible. It was underground, so it had to have a staircase.

"Let's start with dining hall."

They do. Kell leads them straight to it. At least that's his plan. Just as he's about to turn the corner, he hears what he was afraid to hear from the very beginning of their ill-advised excursion. Footsteps and voices. Unfamiliar voices. Kell stops and holds his hand up for Wilhelm to stop to.

"Some idiot tried to sneak into the library again." The guard's voice rings loud and clear.

All colour drains from Kell's face when he realizes what that woman is talking about. Sanct! How could he's been this reckless?!

"You'd think they'd be smarter." Another voice, a man, joins in. "Being students and all. Next thing you know, they invent a stupid dare like that."

That alone is enough to bring back some long-lost common-sense to him. With the Queen being already this dungeon happy he really shouldn't be wandering the castle halls at strange hours. Nothing screams suspicious activity more than this. And he's dragging Wilhelm with him! What was he thinking?!

"Come," he whispers to Wilhelm, hoping he's not already run out of luck. It's true miracle they weren't caught at the library. "We need to go back."

the end

[ordinar]

Wilhelm nods wordlessly as fear tightens his chest and arrests his breath. Those bodiless whispering voices speculate on what would happen to him if the guards ever snatched him up. What secrets they would pry out of him, what punishments would fall on his head.

Thus ends their haphazard attempt at playing heroes.

Back at the door to his room, Wilhelm lingers to watch Kell continue down the hall. He doesn't try to comfort him with words or touch this time, but he can't help but worry about him. What must he feel, returning alone to the room where his brother lies so silent and still?