[PRP] Silent Flight (Lawrence + Malkam)

[Baneful]

Lingsberg – Sweden

It was night time when Lawrence made his way through the portal and on the other side it was cold. Sometimes in the division you stumbled across something you couldn’t really reasonably ignore, this time it had been an old book, nestled inside another book he’d taken from the library to read, it contained lines of verse which someone had annotated in faded red, they appeared to be a continuation of another poem and referred to something ancient and powerful hidden in a place where the original poem was found. Fortunately, his mysterious benefactor had also noted a few potential places where the item could be found.

He’d though that it wouldn’t hurt to make sure that they had actually survived to explore the locations they mentioned. The poem mentioned a light only visible beneath the moons light so night had seemed reasonable. Unable to go alone, and looking to spend a little time in the company of his son, he’d invited Malkam, and hoping to get him to talk to him rather than his brother on the trip hadn’t invited Mikael along. It seemed like a harmless venture, a retrieval of something that probably had been retrieved a long long time ago.

It was also cold, hovering around 28F, the air crisp and sharp.

“This should be the place.” He said, casting torchlight across the long and unruly grass, they appeared to be on the edge of a large field and in a place which on the whole seemed unremarkable.

“This document says that the ground should respond to those with the sight to see. Presumably referring to hunter abilities.”  

[Toshihiko Two]

Malkam wasn't sure why Lawrence had asked him, and just him.

He was Mik's dad.

Then again, if he'd wanted to drag Mik somewhere, Malkam would have wanted to go too. But, still. It was like a weird...backwards wanting approval thing. Malkam had on his regulation cloak, and was sulking in it like a Kingdom Hearts character.

"Great," he said, kicking at some of the grass. "Are we going to be attacked by raptors?"  

[Baneful]

Lawrence gave Malkam a look beneath the cloak of his hood, it wasn’t mean but it was as always as if he’d simply forgotten to choose an expression. He didn’t know what to do about Malkam, he wanted him to like him, at least a little bit, but there was so much between them that was problematic and unspoken.

“No raptors.” He said. “I hope, no promises though.”

He turned to the fence and climbed over it carefully, as always obviously only leaning on his right arm, stepping out into the field.

It was still and clear, with barely a breeze, the frost gathering in the field.

“I’d undo it all you know.” He said, seemingly out of nowhere. “Melody, leaving, all of it. I took a lot of spite regarding my own family out on people who had nothing to do with it, and too many times let the grass being greener on the other side lead me to horrible things.”

It was difficult to see over the low rolling incline of the land even with the torchlight casting beams across it.

“But I want to make things better, not to undo what is done. I know that happened and nothing will make it all right. I just want a chance to do something different, to /choose/ the right things.”

He fell silent for a time, the grass rustling as he cross the field, the moon lighting the area around them strangely.

“I love you, your brother and melody too. As much as it might seem like it was never really true.”

And he knew Malkam wouldn’t buy it, because he’d never have believed Luke if he’d changed his mind (he never had).

“I’m glad you came out to help me.”  

[Toshihiko Two]

Malkam followed, finding the climbing easy. He started getting fit when he was 16, but Jorm gave an extra edge of power and invulnerability to even small stuff. It was nice.

He knew for Lawrence, it must be triple that. Even with his missing hand, he made it look easy.

He listened sullenly to Lawrence.

"It doesn't matter now," he said. "You can do what you want. Just don't get Mik killed."  

[Baneful]

Lawrence's expression finally narrowed into a frown. "Me doing what I want has always been the problem. I am asking for help from you, though I know it probably is inappropriate to do so. You are able to be my harshest critic."

"Look for any raised stones."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"You don't get it," Malkam said. "That's his thing. Forgiveness and moving on and doing the right thing. I get you want to show your next ex that you're a team player, even if you're not. But I don't care about any of that."

He scuffed at the ground.

He didn't care about the rocks either.

He spitefully wished Lawrence wouldn't find whatever he was looking for.

"It's not going to help Mel." He gritted out, "Nothing. You do. Will ever. Help her."  

[Baneful]

"This isn't about Rodney." he said calmly though the comment about next ex stung quite a bit. "It's about you. I want to try to change, I want to move on from the horrible things in my past. You are one of my most honest critics and I actually appreciate your insight."

He sighed "I can't undo the past and I won't for a moment pretend that I can. I cared about Melody too, though I won't insult you by comparing it to the love that you and Mikael are capable of. I love you both too though. If you want me to leave you alone and are certain you will never ever change your mind about me and that there is nothing I can ever do then tell me and I will. But I'd rather not, I hated my father and it's never been a pleasant chain of events."

He shook his head. "As for Melody though, I don't want to mar the memory of her either, it's why I've never pursued the fact that somewhere out there in Halloween that there might be some echo of her, or at the very least her death."

Malkam's scuffing dislodged a clod of grass and underneath something bright was glowing.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"This part of the ground is glowing, I guess," Malkam said, hating that it did.

He looked at Lawr suspiciously, as if the comment about love was a dig.

He hated Granda Luke. Like Granda Luke hadn't done everything he could for the family. If Malkam hated Lawrence, it was because of what he'd done to their family, and for the fact that he still didn't accept any blame for it.

"Whatever. Like the horrible past is some unfair burden on you. It's not about the scams, or the violence. You always take it all out the people close to you, on your family. You should use it to protect the family, and turn the rough parts outside. Never inside."

He seemed startled at the comment about Melody, though.

"Some...part of her? In Halloween? She's dead. Why...would she be there?"

He backed off from the glowing part of the ground.  

[Baneful]

Lawrence saw a lot of Luke in Malkam and it slightly irritated him, in some ways it felt to him like the other man had managed to raise his children for him, leaving him with nothing more than resentment and the cold shoulder. He'd spun his own lies and left no room for Lawrence's very rare honesty.

He shook his head. "It's not an unfair burden. It's what I deserve, and if I shouldn't take it out on the people close to me I'm /entirely/ capable of taking my boredom out on those who are not close by, to protect. There was just something in me that was bitter maybe, that Maja left me, when I'd tried to do everything right but messed up anyway."

Leaning down he pulled up some of the grass in his hand, unveiling a long thread of white light. He kept going until it resolved into a lit runic image of what appeared to be a bird.

"And yes, from what I've been able to research sometimes there are creatures in Halloween which seem to correspond with the dead. There isn't much written on it, but it might be something to look into. They have ghosts after all. But I wouldn't expect to find anything to undo what was done, or anything that would be her."

He moved to a circle of light on one side of the image he'd uncovered and gestured to the other. "There." he pointed.


 

[Toshihiko Two]

Right, he was just bitter and that's why what he'd done to Maja was okay.

Malkam felt himself shaking at his side comment about Melody. "What," he demanded, "What, like, because of what happened to her...there's some chance they've got her now too?"

He didn't even look where Lawrence was pointing.  

[Baneful]

"Perhaps. The research seems to indicate it. It wouldn't be her though." He wanted it to sound incidental, like he'd found it entirely by accident and not like he'd been trawling through book to try to understand how it happened, when it happened and how to tell. "No one has her any longer." he said. "I like to think so anyway. I didn't want to lose my only daughter. I came from a rational world, I assumed it was still rational. There were rules." And for once there was a faint edge of desperation in the way he said it.

"Now there aren't any. This shouldn't even be happening, where we are right now, it shouldn't be possible. How it is even glowing?"

He tried to push the whole thing aside and pointed again.

"You need to stand there. Please."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Malk shook his head, not getting it.

"I thought you said...whatever. As long as they don't have her. And she's..." He got quieter, hands in his pockets, "at peace, wherever she is."

Where nobody could get her or hurt her again.

Malk was ruffled, but did slowly go to stand where Lawrence indicated, his glowering looking more gloomy.
 

[Baneful]

Lawrence was convinced that on the island anything at all was possible, in a world where he had been both 14 years old and a cat there was theoretically nothing that couldn't be done. "There might be some way to bring her back." He said with a shrug. "There are ways to do everything else, why not that? I have been looking into it since everything happened, though of course I haven found much other than what I told you about Halloween yet, because I'd need to find that part of her to even begin.

He shrugged his shoulders, feeling that everything had gone as badly as could be expected as usual.

When both of them stood either side of the runes there was a flicker and they went out. For a moment it looked like they'd failed before there was a strange grinding sound of stone on stone and the owl panel slid away to reveal a spiral staircase leading down into pitch blackness. Lawrence didn't even demonstrate the usual level of animal caution people tended to when faced with something strange but headed straight down into the darkness.  

[Toshihiko Two]

"Just leave her the ******** alone," Malkam said, violent emotion sparking at the idea that someone could drag Melody back from the grave. He'd thought at least she was past suffering. That nobody could hurt her anymore.

He tamped down on the outburst, though, squeezing his fists in his pockets.

He was supposed to be nice. Nice for Mik. Nice to the man who'd gotten Mel killed.

He didn't even bother with a flashlight. He didn't care about the dark.

At least, until the moonlight from outside started fading away. He called Jorm, and her runes cast a little light down the treacherous stairway.  

[Baneful]

Lawrence picked up on the anger but didn't understand why it was there in the first place, he backed off, feeling that somewhere along the way he'd made a mistake in how he spoke to Malkam. He didn't know how to salvage it.

Instead he made his way down the steps in silence, watching the beam light the dusty and ancient stone. They spiralled down and down for a long way until they reached the bottom.

There was a dripping sound and the light skimmed the surface of knee high water pooled on the lowest level and Lawr's stomach twisted up behind his ribs enough that he stopped dead without warning.