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 Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:19 am
The smile was contagious.
As soon as Chad–Atticus’–face lit up, Devyn’s did too.
For all the hardship he’d endured, all the bad luck, all the unfairness, all the cruelty, he could still smile. Devyn had spent the past day and a half worrying for him in one way or another and it was good to see him smile.
“It does sound nice. I think it suits you. And if Atticus works, you’re already halfway done with a new name. The rest will fall into place.”
Devyn was still smiling, but he wasn’t the least bit worried about looking silly.
“We’ve got a few days to focus on rest and relaxation. We’ve got plenty of food, and when you’re feeling better, I can show you around a bit. There’s a lot of artwork here. A lot of history, too. I used to come here when I got hurt, I always healed better after spending some time in the Springs. I also had someone remind me that I needed to slow down and let my body take some time to heal. So if I fuss about you taking it easy on yourself, know that it’s only because I learned from the best. And he’s not here to help so I have to do my best to give you the full experience and make sure you’re taking it easy. Besides, you could use a little bit of pampering. You’ve had a rough time, Atticus. Have you ever been on vacation before?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:40 am
Being called something else, something that he chose was… strangely invigorating. Even more so when Devyn continued to call him that name. He once thought that keeping his name and living with it was just polite because it must have meant something to someone. But the only person still alive who had any association to it always said his name in a way that made it sound like venom. Like he should be ashamed no matter what.
Now? He wasn’t going to let his father-- the man who claimed to be his father at least -- ever speak his new name. His name.
Atticus nodded, still smiling, and maybe a little brighter as Devyn smiled at him.
“No, not really. I mean, my--... sometimes I was brought along, but had to stay in the hotel room. But that was fine. It was time to myself.” He was sure if they could get away with it, they would have left him at home, or dropped him off somewhere else to be watched, but obviously couldn’t risk him saying anything. Atticus didn’t realize how wrong they were to do things like that until now.
“I would like to see everything. This… is this where Percy got his power from?” he asked as gently as possible, and then remembered to take another bite of his granola bar.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:58 am
“Yeah, this was his. And he did a good job taking care of it. Sessrumnir was a notoriously picky Wonder. It wouldn’t have just any Knight protecting it, it needed someone special. It’s a place of learning, and healing. It’s alive, in its own way. All Wonders are. They’re connected through the Code. It’s something like a magical battery. It gives the Knights their power, so they can protect their Wonders. But this place is magical even aside from that,” he explained, and settled himself in because he was obviously passionate about it.
And, Atticus was eating, so he wanted to keep him comfortable and give him all the time he needed to go slow.
“Let’s make a vacation out of this. I used to come here on vacation all the time, so I know all the best places. Things have changed a bit, but the current Knight of Sessrumnir has been very kind to me. He’s my very good friend, he brought us here. Helped stitch you up and make sure you’d be okay. He’ll be back in a few days.”
It still felt like so long away, but he was glad that Atticus was awake now.
Glad that he was up and eating and talking.
“Until then, we can just take it easy. Sessrumnir is beautiful. Definitely a good vacation spot if you don’t mind the rain.”
He minded, but his chest had settled into a comfortable ache. He had it mostly under control, now. Although, it was a little worse when he thought about how long it had been since he’d seen Michael. The rain hadn’t really done that to him before, but maybe it was just because Sessrumnir’s storms were a little different.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:03 am
Atticus did his best to keep up and process everything he was being told, but magic and things like Wonders and the Code were completely new to him, so he did his best to retain everything. Maybe one day he would be able to talk to Elliot about all of this, so he had to make sure he got the details right.
He glanced down at his side again when Devyn talked about his friend, and wondered if it was sad knowing that someone else was taking the place of someone he loved. But no, maybe it wasn’t quite like that. As long as Devyn and others held Percy dear in their hearts, he could never be replaced.
“Okay,” Atticus agreed, even if he wasn’t really sure what a vacation entailed. “I’ll get to meet your friend, won’t I? Oh… is… is he the wolf?” Well, no, Atticus remembered Devyn calling the wolf a she, but… Maybe he was not remembering correctly.
Another crash of thunder shook the cavern, but not enough for anything to move, just a subtle vibration in the air.
“Are all worlds like this? I mean… I’ve never heard of there being places where people could live on Jupiter.” He didn’t even think it was possible and yet here they were. With glowing crystals and healing water and thunder that sounded like it could knock down trees with just the sound.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:12 am
Devyn smiled again, fond of Atticus’ questions. There was something easy about them, but maybe it was just because he knew the answers. He wasn’t the one asking questions, trying to figure out how to fit in on Earth or meet anyone else’s expectations.
“The wolf is my friend, but she’s not the one who patched you up. Her name is Princess, but she’s not here right now. She’s back on Earth, keeping an eye on things. You’ll get to meet my friend. He’ll be very happy to hear that you’re awake. Actually, I should send him a message.”
He pulled out Soleiyu’s little device and angled it so he could see the screen. Carefully, slowly, he began typing to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes. If he didn’t have the phone to correct it, he wanted to take the time to make sure he sent something legible–especially so he didn’t waste time making Michael wonder what he was trying to say.
It was a brief message–’He’s awake, doing okay. Going to make dinner soon.’
Though, make dinner was probably not going to be more than heating up something canned, but he suspected Atticus wasn’t going to be picky as long as his stomach was full.
When he finished sending his message, he continued answering, “All worlds are different. Jupiter’s pretty stormy, but it’s not so bad once you get used to it. The good news is, the weather’s so bad that there’s always something to do inside. Hard to get bored here. There’s a lot that people on Earth don’t know. I don’t know if it’s because they’re not looking hard enough or they just haven’t figured things out enough, but lots of people used to live here. But there are some paintings of Percy’s here, of some of the places we’ve gone. I can show you, I’ll tell you about them. I’ve been to all sorts of worlds, but anything worth visiting, I went to visit with him. When my world is better, I’ll show you, too. I’ve just gotta get rid of that Chaos, first. Right now it’s stormy. Dark, and unpleasant. But when it’s healthy,” he exhaled and leaned back again.
“Well, I think it’s the most beautiful world I’ve ever been to.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:19 am
Atticus watched curiously as Devyn pulled out the device to type something. He chewed on his lip as he waited, still working things out in his head. Devyn told him about Percy and about Princess and about his friend… a friend that Atticus might have already met before, even if Devyn wasn’t calling him by name. Was it because his identity was secret like Devyn’s?
“Is it Michael?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t overstepping, but he wanted to make sure he was able to thank him properly. Along with whatever other friend of Devyn’s that made the pen for him, and would be helping him figure out what to do when they were back on Earth.
Worried that he might have been asking more than he should have, Atticus took another bite of his granola bar and looked around, clutching tightly to the borrowed sweater from Elliot.
“I would like to see everything. And I would like to see your world, when it’s safe. It’s the same thing that made that person who attacked me like he was, right? Oh… the first one… unless the second, too? I’m not sure. He could do weird things like the first one. He disappeared and then reappeared. I don’t like it. If I can do anything to help you get rid of Chaos, then… I want to help.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:31 am
Devyn really didn’t want to lie to him, but Michael had said his identity was important–and it was one thing if he gave away his own identity, he didn’t want to give away Michael’s. He had a life. Family. People he cared for. The only person Devyn had any strong ties to on Earth was Michael, so if he’d had to get a new identity, everyone else who knew him–well, except for the Reids–were powered, so they’d understand.
“It’s complicated,” he answered at first, but then just smiled. “I’ll tell you all about it later. But Michael knows we’re here. I’ve been sending him messages. The Reids know you’re in a safe place, just in hiding.”
He squeezed Atticus’ shoulder reassuringly before he got up.
“I’m going to get started on dinner. We’ve got some canned peas, can you eat those? It’s going to be a weird meal. I want you to eat some raisins, too. It’ll help you get some iron in you. I’ve got some canned meats. I don’t know if any of this is going to taste good, but I’ll see what I can do. I’m used to living off of scraps, but I want to make sure I don’t feed you something to make you sick.”
There was a collection of food nearby and he seemed to be picking out a few things so he could get started, but he wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything Atticus couldn’t eat before he did so.
“You’re right about that Chaos, though. Sort of. There’s a lot of different types, unfortunately. You ran into the Negaverse on Earth. I don’t think that’s what’s on my world. The Chaos on Earth affects people. They work for some dark organization, they drain energy, take people’s starseeds–that’s their life essence. Their soul, basically. Your body can’t function without it. You can’t be reborn without your starseed, so it’s a dirty end, and they don’t care. And they use those youma–monsters, people whose starseeds were so corrupted that they broke and turned into something evil. I don’t know what they think is worth doing all that for. But the Chaos on my world, it’s just–it’s made everything sick. My world can’t function. Plants die, the air’s thinned out, it’s always storming, always flooding. There are these shadows that creep out of nowhere, they swallow everything up.”
Swallow everyone up.
“The lights chase them away, and my home is still safe. The Chaos hasn’t broken through yet, and I’m not going to let it. I’ve got lights–big lights, now, all over the place. Every time I visit, I take more. And one day–getting closer to it, now–I’m going to figure out how to strike back at the Chaos. Whatever’s causing it, I’m going to destroy. And I’ll need all the help I can get. I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. Yet. But I’ll tell you when I figure it out.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:45 am
“I’m not a picky eater,” Atticus promised as he slowly turned to watch what Devyn was doing. Peas didn’t bother him, although he’d never had them with raisins. Canned meats were better than nothing.
He was still curious about Devyn’s friends, but didn’t push the topic when it didn’t seem like he wanted to confirm or deny that the new Knight that took Percy’s place was Michael. That was fine. Atticus wasn’t going to continue asking questions about it.
Instead, he tried focusing more on what Devyn was saying about Chaos and the different types. The Negaverse and youma and shadows that swallow everything up.
Atticus shivered at the thought. He didn’t like the idea of something being so powerful that it just consumed everything in its path. Having light was good, but there was only so much that light could do. He was definitely going to want to help when Devyn figured out what to do.
It was better than trying not to think about what Elliot was doing at the moment. Was he worried about him? Was he staying safe? What if one of those monsters-- youma… tried to attack the Reids? Or one of the people who attacked him?
“Is there anything I can do to help now? I… I know I’m supposed to be resting, but…” He wasn’t used to people taking care of him. He felt like he was doing something wrong by just sitting there.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:56 am
“I’m not a picky eater either,” Devyn said, but he still couldn’t bring himself to think about trying to feed Atticus the things he might have eaten himself.
“For right now,” he hummed thoughtfully as he began to set things up. He had some space set up to cook, though it seemed as though he’d snacked more than cooked anything here so far.
“Well, I think the best thing we can do is find you something to do where you don’t have to move much. If you want to help, we can pick a room and maybe you can help me dust a bit? There are a lot of books that could use a little extra care. I can move them off the shelves and bring them over to you, you can help me clean them off while I get everything organized?”
It was a little bit of busy work, but it was important, too. He wanted to get all of Sessrumnir freshened up. “We can take a little walk around, too. It’ll be good to get your blood moving. There’s a lot this place needs. Some plants that could probably use some watering. I don’t know if anything needs any repairs but I haven’t found anything broken yet.”
When he rolled up his sleeves to start prepping something for them, he was still wearing the necklace he’d been given the other day and it didn’t seem like he’d taken it off at all.
“It’s much work for now, I want you to eat before we do anything strenuous. And, to be fair, we should see how you feel after a dip in the springs. Sometimes I just want to nap when I get out.” Maybe Atticus had enough napping, though. “Do you want to read your book while I get dinner ready for us? I think we’ll do some of this beef stew. With extra peas. And crackers. And for dessert, raisins. No, we’ll have cookies or something. But the raisins will help make sure you get all the nutrients you can out of the rest of this.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:48 pm
Dusting? He could do that! He didn’t mind. Atticus perked up a bit when Devyn suggested him being able to do something, because anything was better than just sitting and making Devyn do all the work for him.
But he made a good point about how he should probably wait to eat. He was feeling a bit drained even with the granola snack, so he chewed on a bit more and picked up the book that had been saved when they left his--
When they left the house he’d been staying at.
It wasn’t lost to him that Devyn was still wearing the necklace he’d given him, although he hadn’t seen it until Devyn rolled up his sleeves. Atticus smiled and ducked his head down to hide the heat that rose in his cheeks, obviously pleased with himself for his gift.
His arm was bandaged too, he suddenly noticed. Atticus lightly touched the place where it had bruised a bit from what was likely a needle, and then glanced over to Devyn…
They were on Jupiter, so there weren’t exactly any places they could get blood from, and Atticus knew he’d been losing a lot. He could feel the cold setting in as his blood pressure dropped.
He didn’t want to pry. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to know, or maybe it didn’t matter as much to Devyn as it mattered to him, but he couldn’t help but smile again as he thought about everyone who was taking care of him. He just wished he didn’t have to almost be killed to really appreciate it.
“Thank you, Devyn. Cookies sound better than raisins, but… we should split them, if that’s okay?” Because if Atticus needed some of the extra nutrients, then he wanted to make sure Devyn got some as well.
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