Chapter Text
It doesn’t take long for Zane to notice something isn’t right. He can feel the waves rolling through the darkness even when busy with his newest shoot. The link connecting him to his darling moves along with it, thins so much it almost snaps. The only sliver of light in all that Zane is blinks and dims. He turns where it is leading, expecting to see some apparition there. Maybe a Moira with a knife. But the silver line disappears in the darkness like it always does. Only know it fills him with dread.
He waves his hand, and the surrendering shades fade into nothingness. For a second, the face that used to belong to Barbara lingers, looking at him knowingly. Her dark hair melds with the darkness, surrendering them. Her eyes stand out in the paleness of her face. He ignores it. He isn’t her Thomas Zane. Not any longer. He is left alone in the dark forest created from a nightmare he saw in his and Darling’s neighbors' dreams.
The dampness of the grass soaks his shoes as he pushes through the tree line. He follows the feeling guiding him to where he wants to arrive. Doors appear in the middle of his path. He opens them and enters the dimly lit motel hallway. He doesn’t have time to enjoy the usually welcome feeling of wrongness the place has. The doors close behind him with a click.
He needs the keys to access the Oldest House. That’s where his darling should be. If only this place belonged to his shadows, he would just will it be. But he isn’t Door, and this isn’t his. He must follow the rules, even though some can be bent. With grim determination, he presses the bell sitting on the front desk. One of the doors opens. He checks the room's contents and returns to press the bell again. Another door. Only this one isn’t as normal. A spiral is drawn across the wall, and a silver necklace is attached in the middle. He knows it isn’t real. He cannot feel any attachment to it. Yet it makes him snarl. The motel is taunting him. Maybe getting back at him for recreating it back in the Dark Place. Perhaps it just has one of those days.
He turns around to press the bell again but makes sure to close the door behind him with a thud. The last door opens. He approaches it with weariness. He can see the keys with a black pyramid on the desk. Only next to it is his darling’s photo, taken somewhere in the Oldest House. Darling is looking at the camera with a smile, his eyes crinkling.
“What do you want?” Zane asks the empty room. “To take him away? He is mine. He promised himself to me. An artist and his muse. A scientist and his perfect opposite.” He snarls. “Find yourself one of your own. You aren’t getting mine.”
The room doesn’t answer him, but he can feel its indignation. A misreading on his part? Behind him, he hears the wending machine come to life. He takes the keys and comes back to the lobby. Next to the vending machine, he can see a pack of sweets lying on the ground. Darling’s favorite. The part of him that used to be Thomas steers.
“Are you worried about him?” It makes him ask.
The lights brighten. He hisses. They quickly dim, almost like an apology.
“I will take that as a yes then. Fine. So you will let him in if he is somewhere you can reach?” What follows feels almost like a shrug. The whole corridor shifts in place and returns where it is supposed to be. “Great. Thanks.” Not a no, then. More like an uncertainty. Maybe he is beyond its grasp? It feels even more worrying.
Zane picks up the bag of sweets and goes to open the door leading to the Oldest House. His truce with the motel lets him traverse it wherever he is, making getting anywhere much more manageable. He is still miffed about Darling’s description of the metro. The perfect darkness destroyed by so much light. Also, there are so many people.
With a click, he opens the door. Inside the dark room, he sees a picture of an office. An office with a tall chair and a wide desk in front of it. He has a sneaking suspicion about where he will end up once he goes through. He could have guessed that the motel would still play favorites. With a scowl, he tugs the cord three times. Each one makes what is supposed to be his stomach lurch. Finally, he is there, inside the Oldest House. The Director sits before him, going over a set of files. When he appears, she just picks up her gun and aims right between his eyes in a matter of a second. She pauses when she notices who is standing before her.
“Zane?” Her aim doesn’t weaver.
“A pleasure to see you, Director.” He bows mockingly but then catches himself. He isn’t here to taunt her. “It seems like you have lost something of mine.”
Jesse frowns. She isn’t stupid.
“Are you talking about Dr. Darling?”
“Of course.”
“Then, as far as I know, he is working today. I don’t follow FBC employees around, but he should be somewhere in the labs.”
“Hm. Funny thing. If I were you, I would have ensured that wherever he was didn’t disappear from your House.”
Jesse finally lets her gun fall to the desk. She lets it go, and instead, she picks up a radio. With a few words, she gets the information about where Darling is supposed to be and a notification that he hasn’t ever arrived there. During her conversation, Zane looks around the room. The walls are adorned with photos of previous Directors. Most of them stand still, staring at the camera with a frown. They really fit the decor of the place. From what his darling told him, the previous Director was as much of a stubborn man as his pictures made him seem. Jesse’s photo isn’t much better, although next to it, he can see another one taken with Emily Pope at her side. They look disgustingly in love.
“Come on,” Jesse calls to him. She gets up, makes her gun disappear into some other dimension she usually carries it, and walks towards the door.
Zane trails after her. It doesn’t feel good to be right about something this dangerous.
“And what did you learn, oh powerful Director?” He asks.
Jesse ignores his ridicule. “The part of the House is still in place, but we have clear footage of Dr. Darling going through the door leading to one AWE but never getting out. The camera on the other side didn’t show him coming closer, only the one filming him from the back.”
“So it’s one of your items that took him?”
“Possible. But we cannot say until we get to the sight, and I can see it.” Jesse hesitates. “Listen. This is an FBC affair. We will make sure to bring Dr. Darling back. You don’t have to follow me. Especially when…” She glances at his face. He looks paler than before. Maybe it’s the stress of losing Darling, but it may have something to do with the intense lights they are under.
“Would you choose a safety net that traps you and kills the thrill? Thin weave of wires slices your flesh. I must prefer the dark air in-between. ”
“What?”
“It may be your mess, Director, but Casper is mine. And I don’t leave what is mine behind. Besides, it’s been a while since there was some excitement.”
“Alright.” Jesse takes them to the nearest elevator. On the ride down, she tries again. “Just try not to spook other agents too much. I’ve already gotten complaints about Dr. Darlings… new guard dog.”
Even with the rolling worry, Zane cannot help the roar of laughter that bursts free.
“They say that I’m his pet?”
Jesse shrugs. “Are you not willing to do everything for him?”
Her pale eyes reflect the light, making her irises seem translucent. Zane is reminded that he isn’t only talking to her, but another being is listening. Something even more powerful than him. At least here in the light. He would still bet on himself in the Dark. Or at least if he was whole once again, which wouldn’t be possible until Alan grows bored with his human sensibilities. Then maybe Scratch would help, and this weird mathematical shape surrounding the Director would be pushed back. For now, though, it is better to be seen as just a pet.
“I didn’t know you were soo interested in what we do in the bedroom.”
Jesse just shrugs. She knows he is avoiding the topic. She lets him. She’s heard how his comments have already helped with some of the more tricky projects Emily’s been tackling. Of course, only after she solved the riddle he’d given instead of an answer.
“Just follow me.” She tells him.
So he does. Everyone greets the Director with a nod or addresses her with an unmistakable touch of respect. They mostly ignore him, but he does notice a few dirty looks. He smiles at them. He can feel parts of him slipping a little at the hate he sees in their eyes. It fuels him, makes his smile wider, his teeth sharper. Only Faden’s pointed look keeps him from slipping into one of their minds to see for himself if they’ve really seen his darling. And also snacking a little on their dreams. His movies are always in need of new material.
They end up in front of the door leading into the hangar. The inside is even more brightly lit than the corridors. At the end of it, Zane can feel a presence he knows very well. But somehow twisted into a new shape, something that vibrates on a different frequency than it should. For now, though, Zane is more focused on the doorway through which Darling went. It looks and feels normal. He touches the metal. It’s cold underneath his hand.
Jesse stands nearby doing her own reconnaissance. The perfect mathematical being that always accompanies her comes forth. Zane can feel her presence crawling through the space.
“We are looking at a tool, not the cause.” He interjects before she tries to crawl inside him to set him right.
There is poetry in mathematics, but he prefers the beauty of dark forests and lakes. It’s just integrated into what he is. Jesse grunts. She still takes time to look over the entrance. Once she is satisfied, she turns to him.
“Come on then.” She moves forward with purpose.
Zane trails after her, seemingly more laid back. He can feel the traces of darkness lingering in this place. The metallic taste on his tongue turns acidic as they near the suspended carriage. The unpleasant smell left over by the Hiss warps what he knows into a new, unpleasant mixture. His eyes narrow. He can sense the aftertaste of Hiss in every part of the Oldest House. But here, it feels at least twofold. Jesse also seems weary. She slowly approaches the train, ready to act at any moment. She ignores a scientist waiting nearby, too focused on the strange thing in the middle of the platform.
It’s not how she remembers it. Even after it was changed a year prior, it seemed to lay dormant. Now, though, it pulsed just like it used to before she took care of the original carriage. Yet even that isn’t good. She moves forward to touch the surface and to quiet it once again with Polaris’s help.
Just as her hand reaches out, she is pulled back. Zane’s skin doesn’t touch hers, but even through the clothing, she can feel it. Completely different than the Hiss or alerted item but still alien to this plane of existence. Black ink rushing under the skin instead of blood. Hunger. So much hunger. Only kept in check by what is left of someone long dead, an intention of a lonely man stuck in the darkness writing himself a friend and a weird love for someone as odd as it is.
“Director, I appreciate your eagerness to help, but my darling would be a little bit sad if he found you dead when he came back.”
“This wouldn’t have killed me.” Jesse says more sure than she really feels.
Zane lets her go. Instead, he comes closer to the train. He is more cautious than Jesse. He knows that if this would have to work, it would need a proper ritual. He recognizes the carriage. He saw it back in the darkness not too long ago. He tries to feel it up. What does it need? To do things in a particular order? To sacrifice something or someone?
Inside the train, the darkness starts to rise. It answers him, but not in the way it should. It doesn’t listen to him, nor does it welcome him. With a red tint in it and the organic quiver, it pushes him away. Whatever ritual might have worked for it before would now only feed that things twisting it.
His grin is more of a threat than a show of emotion. He bears his teeth at it and steps closer. He will make it listen even if it doesn’t want to. He will make it give him his darling back. He can feel the thin rope connecting them strengthen whenever he steps closer. This thing is keeping Darling hostage, and Zane doesn’t like it one bit.
“How I hate your kind.” He tells it with a feeling.
The dark figures left inside the train started to stir. Good. Soon, they will know not to touch what is his.
“To think that brute force is all you lot can think about.” A calm voice brings him out of his mental preparations.
Next to the young scientist who has been patiently waiting stands another person. A woman in her forties observes the situation with a skeptical look.
“Dr. Underhill. I didn’t know you worked in this section.” Jesse greets her.
“I don’t. But I’ve heard Darling got himself snatched minutes after we ran into each other. I wanted to know what kind of scientific failure could lead to that.”
She takes the file carried by the younger scientist.
“Good thing I did since it looks like if you two were left with it, Darling wouldn’t live to tell the tale.”
“What?” Zane doesn’t step back from the carriage. Not when that would mean being untethered again.
“You were going to destroy it, correct?”
Zane doesn’t answer, sensing a trap. His silence is enough.
“If Darling is lost somewhere inside, that would very well mean destroying him too. We don’t know enough about this specimen to make any assumptions.”
Zane grits his teeth. He cannot say if she is wrong, which fills him with even more frustration. Seeing something of his own so twisted fills him with enough anger to want to destroy it, and this woman isn’t helping.
“Do you have any other idea?” Jesse steps in.
“Well, we can start by figuring out the necessary rituals that can quiet this thing.” Raya sniffs. “I never really paid them that much attention, but Darling does love them.”
Zane knows they will be wasting time.
“It won’t work.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I can feel it.”
She sends him a dubious look. Zane ignores it. Since the scientist may be right about brute-forcing the issue, he addresses Faden next.
“Call Alan.”
“Will he know the right ritual?”
“Probably. It's not like it’s going to help us. This thing has a new master now. But Alan can make it obey if he writes a way out for Casper.”
“The help of a parautilitarian can also be helpful. Although he could also cause more damage.” Raya interjects.
“He created the thing. He can whisper to it the right words to bring it back. Or write it back.” With instructions shared, Zane loses interest in their conversation. He focuses on the silver rope keeping him and Darling connected. He touches his necklace.
Time moves strangely inside the darkness. Darling knows it. He’s spent years in it, which sometimes felt like a second, while at others made him feel ancient. Now, though, he can only measure the amount of time that’s passed by how many loops of the same hour he went through. The first loop he is conscious of goes pretty quickly. He scouts the terrain around the train but finds nothing. The usual data collection equipment is where it is supposed to be. Every employee has their ID with them. The train looks as charred as it did when he came inside the hall. No one else seems conscious of the loop - they all stare at him strangely, like he is testing them or like he just went mad. Sam is the most patient out of all of them, happy to tell him all about the AWE and how it changed. Darling is sure the young scientist doesn’t actually believe him. Still, he uses his help.
“So after Director Faden calmed this AWE, no replying loops happened? Even after the new version of the train appeared?”
“No, sir. It’s been quiet. The bodies that we can now see only moved when they first arrived. Since then, nothing.”
Darling writes it down. His notebook doesn’t seem affected by the loop - unlike other items. He wonders if it’s because Zane gave it to him.
“And what did the Rangers that went inside experience?”
“Nothing more than what we can see. They just walked from one part of the train to the other.”
Another note. This phenomenon seems to be focused on him. If he were right about the train being connected to the Dark Place, it would mean that his own connection triggered something.
“Thank you.” He pockets his notebook and comes closer to the train. With a little bit of strength, he opens the door. It leaves dark marks on his skin. He takes a step inside, expecting… something. The view of the train does waver in front of his eyes, but it quickly settles. He is just standing in a burnt carriage. He walks to the end of it and looks from the window. The hangar looks the same. The bodies move around him like they want to grab him, only to be pushed back at the last second. He stares ahead, making sure to ignore them. He tries to ignore the whispers of his own imagination about the smell and sounds that Sam and others must have witnessed.
A shudder runs through him. He turns, and just like he expected, the door is closed. The footprints he’s left in the dust are also gone. He goes back to the entrance and opens it.
“Doctor Darling?” Sam looks surprised to see him getting out of the train. Darling just smiles at him and starts walking towards the entrance to the hangar.
“Dr. Darling? How did you get here?” Sam runs after him.
“It’s nothing really. Continue your work. I will get back to you if I need anything.” He doesn’t waste time on explanation. He has around an hour until the places reset again.
He starts by going to the other nearest AWE to check if something has changed there. A quick reconnaissance tells him everything is in order according to the employees. Their supervisor went to a meeting, but he should be back in the next two hours. Darling notes it down and moves on. He goes through the office space, looking for any abnormalities. Nothing. A loop or no, the people who have avoided his eyes before continue to do so. It is a strange comfort.
Darling doesn’t consider himself a petty man. Still, for one of his experiments, he uses one of those people to spill water over their shirt. They are passing him when he pretends to trip with a cup of water in hand. They jump in surprise at the cold water touching their skin.
“What the…?”
“Sorry, sorry. Just feeling a little clumsy,” He says with an apologetic grin.
They huff something under their breath and exchange a look with a companion before excusing themselves to go to the bathroom. Darling leaves them be for the moment.
He is in the middle of questioning another employee when he feels a telling shudder run through him. Then, in front of him, everything moves back. Like a cassette being rolled to the start, he can see the blurred events being brought back to their beginnings. He stays still fascinated by what he is seeing. He can hear the sound of people talking, but it’s not backward. It is similar to the chanting of the Hiss. This proves his cautious hypothesis that this isn’t the Darkness he knows that pulled him in. No, this thing has evolved into something different.
The rolling stops, and people freeze for a second before starting to move in the right direction again. The person who was just walking next to Darling jumps when they notice him. They clutch their heart.
“Dr. Darling! You gave me a scare.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.” He reassures them.
They nod at him grimly before hurrying on their way. Darling leaves them be and goes to find the person whose shirt should be, according to the laws of causality, wet. He finds them in the break room, in a clean and dry shirt, talking to the same companion they would later be walking with. Darling checks on his notebook. It is still full of the notes he has made in the last loop. Amazing.
He decides to try and contact the Director if he doesn’t find a way out… after five loops. After all, there should be a way of breaking out on his own. Instead, he goes towards the Firebreak. There should be a maximal distance the phenomenon reaches, and he is eager to know where it is. He wanders through the corridors when he feels the light tug on his necklace. Like someone is pulling it down. He automatically reaches for it to ensure it is secure around his neck. It is just where it is supposed to be. With his hand around it, he takes the next step only to find himself turning in place. Instead of moving towards the Firebreak, his own feet point him towards the Eagle Limited Awe. He frowns and lets go of the necklace. Without touching it he can freely move where he wants. Once he focuses on the warm metal, he can feel the nagging need to return to the carriage. As it is another present from Zane, he is almost sure where that feeling comes from. He follows its pull. He is so focused on maneuvering his body despite the need to go straight ahead through the walls he runs straight into another person. As luck would have it, Raya is hurrying to the Firebreak.
“Darling!” She doesn’t sound happy to see him. Maybe because she stumbled backward after he ran into her.
“Raya.” He grins at her. “You won’t believe what’s happening.”
“What?”
“We are stuck in a loop! And I am the only one who remembers it. We’ve already met today, but you don’t remember it.”
Typically, people would stare at him after hearing something like this. But not Raya. The reason why they worked so well together was how her mind was capable of fully following his.
“What?” Darling blinks.
This isn’t supposed to be how she reacts.
“What are you talking about?” She continues, clearly irritated.
“Ah, I apologize, nothing important. Tell me, are you going to the next conference in Chicago? The one in the fall.”
Raya frowns but takes her time to answer.
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t made any decision yet.”
Darling nods. Of course. It is that easy to catch it.
“Keep me updated. I would hate to go there alone!” He smiles at this version of Raya and continues his way to the Eagle Limited Awe. He can feel her eyes on his back. It must have noticed that he knows. As his steps take him further and further, it’s not only her that stares. Each person he passes turns to look at him. He clutches the necklace and hastens his step. They don’t try to chase him. Instead, they just observe him.
He is lightly jogging by the time he reaches the hangar. The tape rolling starts again, so he stands still and waits for it to finish. It could be troubling to collide with one of the moving characters. Only when the loop starts again, it is not the well-lit hall that greets him but a total darkness. Then he can hear it. The same sound he heard years ago when the Hiss came out. It’s quieter, but it makes the Darkness so much darker. It twists it into something that Darling cannot find in any way comforting. He turns back, but there is nothing behind him. He is alone in the dark. He takes a step forward. He falls down. And down.
Until he crashes into another dark surface. He lands down on his back, pushing his breath out of his lungs. Staring right up, he can see what he assumes to be a ceiling of wherever he is. There is at least some illumination in this place. Red swirls dance across the floor. He gets up, and brushes his trousers. He looks around. There is still darkness around him, but for now, he at least can see where he can put his foot without falling again. He starts moving towards what he assumes to be the way where the train was before.
Suddenly, he can hear another sound. Footsteps other than his. Heavy stomping sound that doesn’t belong to a human. Then a roar - like a stuck record player. The footsteps start coming closer. Darling starts to run.
He catches the necklace hanging from his neck. He isn’t a believer, and no god ever helped him in the darkness. Instead, he had one savior there and hopes he would help him again.
Just like before, the necklace guides him. He follows its pulls. He can hear the sound of the monster following him. He wonders if it can see the light reflecting of the whiteness of his coat. He doesn’t have time to get rid of it. In his hurry, he overlooks the darkness coalescencing in front of him. He bounces back from the wall. His nose hurts from hitting his face against it with full force. Tears gather in his eyes. He touches the wall with his hand and starts running parallel to it.
The thing going behind him also reaches the wall not that much time after. He cautiously turns back to see what it is. The lights that illuminate the darkness bath it in red. A tall thing with too many limbs and teeth in places there shouldn’t be. He doesn’t see any eyes on its head, but it turns what he assumes to be its head towards the side he is running. It tips its head back and roars again. Then it moves again.
Darling turns his head away and wills his legs to move faster. The hand he’s been using to trail against the wall falls into a void. A corridor in the darkness. He doesn’t have time to make a decision. The necklace almost chokes him when it pulls him into it. He gasps for air, but it doesn’t let him slow down. A turn in the darkness. Than another. A fork in the road. The necklace tells him where he should be going. He can no longer hear any sound from the creature chasing him, but still, the chain around his neck doesn’t let on. He is pulled and pulled until he runs into another black wall.
Only this one gives way. Darling is falling again. He quickly finds himself kneeling on a wooden floor. He looks up and finds himself staring into a face he knows well.
Only it’s not exactly the person he expects wearing it.
The click of the writing machine brings him out of his reverie. The man behind the desk finishes the last words on the page and stands up.
“It’s good to see you in one peace, Doctor Daling.” He gets closer and extends his hand.
His touch is warm, and when he helps Darling stand up, he looks the doctor over.
“It seems everything turned out like it should.” He concludes.
“I… You must be Alan Wake!” Darling can’t stop himself from grinning.
“Yes.” The writer nods. He takes a step back, but Darling follows him. He shakes the hand that Alan took back.
“It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I have so many questions! Did you help me just now? How? What can you do? Is it one of your new abilities? Have you tested your limits?”
Alan lets him shake his hand with an air of patience. His gaze travels over Darling's shoulder, and he lightly shakes his head.
“Shouldn’t you be getting back?” The voice that speaks up from behind him sounds similar to Alan’s. But it is different enough for anyone paying attention to notice the difference. Underneath the words, a growl can be heard. It reminds Darling of Zane.
He lets go of Alan’s hand and turns. Another version of Alan stands there frowning. If the voice gives him slightly away, the artificial perfection is a dead giveaway. Scratch has his hair brushed back, his beard perfectly combed, and clothes closely tailored to his figure. No human would be capable of looking that well. The darkness that seems to radiate from him doesn’t help.
His eyes aren’t looking at Darling, though. He is looking at Alan standing behind him. Silent communication travels between the two. A blink and Scratch is gone from where he stood.
“Zane informed us you needed help. Or Jesse Faden from the FBC did, but he was the one who sent the message.”
Alan explains. He moves towards the door leading outside the small room with the writing machine and dimmed windows.
“We should have something to drink.” He opens the door. A corridor outside opens to a small house. Darling follows after him, still buzzing with questions.
“So you got me out of that place?”
“You are the one that got out. I only showed you the way at the end.” Alan leads him into a kitchen. The shutters over the windows make the room dimmer, but there is enough light for Darling to find a chair. Alan busies himself with making coffee.
“Oh, well, I was mostly following Tom’s present.”
That makes Alan pause. He turns from the coffee maker and looks back at Darling. At the clear question in his eyes, Darling gets out a necklace he’s been carrying under his shirt. Alan gets close enough to glance over it but doesn’t touch it. A small smile stretches his lips.
“It’s a good thing that you two found each other.” He tells Darling and goes back to making two cups of coffee.
“Yes, he appeared just when I needed him. I was this close to losing everything in back there in the Darkness. But there he was!” Darling leans back against the chair. “I still find it fascinating you’ve managed to stay there thrice as many years.”
“I did lose my mind along the way, several times.” Alan shrugs. “But I had people I needed to get back to. And at the end, the Darkness was no longer a threat to me. It was me who was making things difficult.”
“So what helped you get out?”
“Well, mostly getting over myself.”
“The reports mentioned a bullet of light.”
“That also, but without me accepting Scratch, it would have just put me back at the beginning. It did many, many times.”
“At the beginning of the loop, creating a spiral.”
“Yes.”
Darling brings out his notebook. He scans the notes he’s made during his stay in the loop.
“Did any of your loops involve a burnt train carriage?”
Alan brings two cups of coffee and sits opposite him.
“It did. Faden mentioned that was the thing that probably pulled you in.”
“I assume you know I’ve been stuck in a loop. Maybe you saw it with your… abilities.”
Alan takes a sip of his coffee. “Yes, it did feel familiar. Although different. That thing doesn’t belong to my story any longer. I can manipulate it, but it feels like…” He looks for the right word. “Making a dog that doesn’t belong to you sit. You know how to work with yours. You have taught it yourself. You know its tells. But now you have a different animal in front of you that should listen to the same command, but you aren’t really sure.”
“Fascinating,” Darling notes down the observations. “It would benefit all of us if you ever visited the Oldest House. We could take a read on what you are describing. It would help us so much with seeing how this all works.”
Alan smiles a little ruefully. “I know. Agent Estaves has been mentioning that. Constantly. But we need to stay here for a little bit longer. We are still taking care of the last remains of the Taken.”
“Can’t you dispose of them with your writing?”
“It’s not that easy…” Alan hesitates.
He looks at Darling. His blue eyes seem too knowing. Darling can feel that the man before him is not a human. Not any longer. Not fully. He feels closer to Zane than to any other being the doctor has met before. If Scratch was too perfect to be human, Alan is perfectly human. A god hiding in the body of a man.
“Honestly, I haven’t been among too many people in the last thirteen years.” Alan shakes his head. “I am slowly getting used to being on this side of the lake. A journey to New York can be… too much for now.”
And Darling understands him as best as he can. Only his own love for his work makes him leave the house on certain days. On others, he stays curled with Tom. And he’s been stuck outside of their plane for only four years.
“Of course. If we can help in any way…” The fragile god sitting before him smiles at his proposition.
“You can stop calling us.” The growl under Scratch’s voice is unmistakable.
Darling doesn’t have time to answer because his necklace tugs again, and soon, his lap is full. Tom clings to him like he never wants to let go. Darling carefully deposits his coffee on the table before he hugs him back. He can hear the quiet murmuring next to his ear. He doesn’t know the language, but based on experience, he can guess it is Finnish.
“I’m here, I’m alright.” He tries to reassure him.
It makes his partner move back far enough that he can look him in the face. He turns Darling’s face from side to side looking for any wound. When he finds none, he kisses him softly.
“Uh.” Scratch makes a sound from where he is standing by Alan’s side.
The writer looks up at him disapprovingly. The being shrugs, but the wordless communication between them ensures its silence. Alan reaches back to it, and it is mellowed down by holding his hand.
Zane pays them no mind. His kisses turn as desperate as his embrace. It finally makes Darling come back to himself. He gently pushes his partner away. His glasses have almost fallen off, and he is breathless. Zane looks ready to devour him.
“I… Am also happy to see you.” Darling finally manages.
Zane laughs, although there is no humor in his tone. There is only dark longing.
“I should have kept you back home.” He tells Darling. “I should never let you leave.”
This makes the doctor chuckle. “Yes, today wasn’t my best day.”
“It’s been two days.” Zane frowns. “You’ve been gone for two whole days.”
“Really? This means that space can also change the perception of time! Fascinating. If we study its properties, we could learn so much about the possibilities of time loops.”
“Don’t get your hopes up.” Scratch drawls from where he is still hovering over Alan.
“Huh? Why?”
“Once your boy was sure you were out, he destroyed everything. Even Faden was surprised when I got there. In full light? You may have some explaining to do, doctor.” Scratch moves forward so he is leaning against Alan’s chair.
Darling looks back at Tom. The being in his lap shrugs unapologetically.
“It knew you belonged to me but wouldn’t let you go.” Which Darling feels is an answer he should have expected.
“It is also safer for you, Doctor Darling,” Alan adds with an air of someone who also has experience with overeager dark beings.
One of them is silently nuzzling against his brow, observing the other pair with contempt. Or mostly watching Zane like an unpleasant family member, you aren’t happy to see during family dinner but would still help if asked.
“True. A pity still.” Darling sighs. “Well, I will rely on my notes then. Ah. I must thank you, Tom. Without your presents, I wouldn’t be able to take any. Or find a way out. The necklace truly came in handy.”
Tom smiles down at him. His eyes crinkle. It only shows how much different he looks from Alan.
“Of course, my darling.”
Scratch makes a sound at the back of his throat like he wants to say something, but Zane’s quick look quiets it down. Or maybe Alan’s sharp look.
Out of all of them, Darling stays the only one happily unaware of the forty-eight hours Zane spent sitting in the light, carefully guiding his partner back. The lights stayed on so as not to give more power to the train, but they dimmed them a little so Zane wouldn’t evaporate in place. As time went on, people around him seemed to change their attitude. It all came to a head when an umbrella opened over him, and Raya Underhill stood with him until someone brought a stand.
“Well then. You can stay here as long as you need. We have a guest room upstairs that you can use before returning to New York.” Alan offers them easily.
Scratch doesn’t look as happy with the proposition, but he doesn’t voice his opinion.
“And we are in Bright Falls, correct?”
“Yes, although you need a car to get to the center. We can give you a tour if you want.”
What Casper would like the most would be to get back to his lab and write down everything he knows. Then, to secure all that is left of the train, and go through as many experiments as he can with what is left of it.
He looks at Zane, still clinging to him. Zane who huffs like a cat at Scratch and avoids Alan’s eyes but still comes to them when he needs help.
“Yes, I think we will stay a little bit. I still have some vacation time until I return to work.”
Compromises.