Chapter Text
Yellow light pulsed into the cracks of Evan's breaking body, heaving it's way into the places that threatened to fly apart. His eyes slammed closed without permission and when he opened them again, he was elsewhere entirely. A giant presence pushed in around him, the feeling of an enormous goat without the sight of one.
“Well. Shit,” said Evan.
“Hello, Evan.”
“Hello, the Qohyle,” he sat straight down on the ground which wasn’t actually ground probably. “I was getting married next month.”
“I know,” the Qohyle said.
“Right. Sam texted you and you’re an all knowing being. By the way, she’s sad you didn’t text back. I know you’re a concept, but ghosting is rude for the record. Which you should know, all things considered.”
“I am still thinking about it,” the Qohyle breathed out, something like a sigh. “I believe I owe you a question.”
“How do you figure?” Evan had been in unbearable pain moments before. The sadness was waiting for him, but he was in the gap of terrible happenstance and consequence at the moment, that silent waiting pocket.
“As you pointed out once before, I never gave you a real answer. So. Question. You may have one.”
Evan had considered what he would ask if given a second chance. How could he not? It was the kind of thing he rolled around in his mind frequently in quiet moments. Today though, he didn’t want to circle through riddles and mazes.
“May I wait with you for the others?”
The Qohyle went quiet, “Wait for what?”
“For them when their time comes. I won’t be a bother. I just want to say goodbye. If I could watch that’d be nice, but I don't have to if that's weird. I don’t want to haunt anyone this time. But it would be- I want to say goodbye.”
“Why do you think it would be goodbye?”
“If I had lived any other life, I think I’d be atheist. I’m set up well for it,” Evan shrugged. “But I’ve seen hell and I’ve been a spirit before. Am again. I think I have to admit some kind of organized afterlife exists and there’s no religion on Earth that would send me to the same place as Jammer or Sam or K. I know that. I accepted it a long time ago.”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions.”
“Yeah, maybe. Question remains the same.”
The Qohyle must’ve sat down next to him, the feeling of a large creature lowering itself and settling itself beside him shifting the air.
“You’re not dying, Evan Kelmp. Not today. Your crew is already hard at work doing everything you trained them to do in a crisis. You’ll live.”
“I will?” Evan sat up straighter. “Oh...oh thank fuck. Why am I here then? Not existentially, to be clear. Please don't answer that existentially.”
“You were in a great deal of pain and close enough to death that I could take you out of your body for a minute to bring you some relief. Think of it as a wedding present.”
“That’s a great present. Thank you,” Evan could relax now. He wasn’t going to die. He wasn’t going to leave Sam before she’d even be a proper widow. “You should still tell her if you’re coming to the wedding or not. You can bring a plus once.”
The Qohyle nudged Evan’s shoulder, nearly knocking him to the ground. “You’re a pushy little thing.”
“Built that way. Actually- okay. I’m asking a lot more than one question today, but you’re letting me so I’m going to push my luck. I don’t have a way to reach Tadershecourt. Can you tell him he’s invited to? He can bring a plus one too.”
“Two favors,” the Qohyle snorted. “I will consider it.”
“Thank you,” Evan wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his chin on them. “It’s warm in here.”
“No longer an iceberg at all.”
“The islands should’ve disappeared after what we did.”
“I know a question even when it’s phrased as a statement.”
Evan grinned. “Yeah, well. Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
The space trembled a little. The Qohyle shifted. “You’ll be returning shortly. I don’t think it will be very pleasant.”
“That’s all right. I know how to work with unpleasant.”
Another tremble, voices coming through, panic and command. Jammer. K. Penny. Autumn. His people.
“An answer. Yes. I will come. With a plus one. Tadershercourt, I can make no promises, but if I can aid his arrival then I will.”
Pain seared through Evan’s chest, a pulsating agony that ripped him from the last of the yellow light. But as he went, the Qohyle’s voice followed:
“And to your other request. When your time truly comes, Evan, then yes. You will wait with me, but not because it was a favor. But because Jammer put it into the magic. A kind voice to greet them.”
“What?” Evan asked. Or tried. His mouth was full of blood. Coughing, a spasm, brought another wave of pain, a little less acute then the last.
“Don’t move,” Penny’s voice in his ear, her small hands on his arm. “Please, don’t move. K has you, okay? Jammer took care of the creature. Autumn and I are okay. All you have to do is lay here and let K work.”
Evan couldn’t nod. His eyes reluctantly opened. Above him was Penny’s face, pinched in worry and behind her, a wall of feathers. The bracelet burned around his wrist, asked and answered. He could feel the throb of amplification magic, K’s magic, pressing against him. His own magic resisted it by nature. With returning strength, Evan seized it and peeled it back to let K work. He watched a flash of gold, until it resolved into a needle. K’s hand, their nails painted black, flashed through the air, sewing something invisible back together. The pain ebbed a little, his mind clearing.
“Tell Sam-” he started.
“You’re not dying,” Penny said. “You don’t have to tell her anything. You’ll see her soon and you can tell her yourself.”
“Tell her,” Evan spat up something disgusting. “Fuck. Tell Sam that the Qohyle RSVP’d.”
“Evan, what the fuck?” Jammer demanded.
“I know, right?” he coughed and then started laughing, even though it felt like a thousand stinging needles. “He’s bringing a plus one. K, he-”
Very tenderly, K said “Shut up, idiot.”
Evan shut up. The gold flickered through the air, seeming to weave between Jammer’s feathers. It was very beautiful. Agonizing, but beautiful. He could feel the press of every one of Penny’s fingers.
“Autumn?” he asked.
“Shut up!” They all chorused, but Autumn appeared on his other side and slid her hand in his, holding it tightly, so he got his way.
“I’m okay, boss. Just had to secure the perimeter. Did I tell you I got a date for my surgery? You have to pull your shit together or w ho else will growl at the doctors for me?”
Evan grinned at her. There was probably blood on his teeth. Slowly, the pain abated and the gold stopped flashing.
“That’s pretty good,” K’s face swam into his vision. “Evan, do you feel like your guts are in the right place?”
He blinked slowly at them, then took stock. “Yeah, mostly. Thanks, K. That’s a damn good needle.”
“I’m proud of it,” they said and then kissed his forehead. “You fucknut, stop doing that.”
“I swear it's not on purpose.”
Jammer’s hand came into range and then K was gone, helped to their feet.
Then Evan was being hauled upward which was nice. Was this how Sam felt when he carried her to bed? It was really good.
“Heeeey, man,” Evan rolled his face against Jammer’s chest.
“Did you dope him up?” Jammer asked.
“Not intentionally,” K said. “But it’s not a fully tested item.”
“I feel wild,” he told them both.
“I’ll bet,” Jammer shifted his grip and Evan felt a weird upheaval. “Do not throw up on me.”
“Noooo promises,” Evan admitted.
“And we’re getting you home.”
The world disappeared and then consolidated. They were in the Nerdy Asshole office, formally Penny’s bedroom. She’d moved out six months ago then half moved back in, using the twin bed in the office as much as in her apartment. There was whispered conferring and then Evan was set down the bed, presumably on the spare thick blanket they used to turn it into a hospital cot on the rare occasions it was needed. He sighed and let his eyes fall shut again for a bit.
When he next opened them, K was sitting in a desk chair beside him, tablet dark-screened on their knees, their stare somewhere beyond. He watched them for a minute, taking in the small changes of time: the way their face had sharpened a little, emphasized by a hair chopped into a severe bob on one side and entirely shaved on the other. Tattoos curled down their arms, watercolor images that moved ever so slightly if one trained their eyes on them. Their red eye pulsed in the dim light of the room.
“You’re beautiful, K,” he said, low and his voice rasped a little, too dry. “I don’t think I’ve said that recently.”
They startled, chair rolling a little. “Evan! Hey, hey, hey,” they reached out and slid a hand around his wrist as if to feel his pulse, then not letting go. “Hi. Do you still feel...anything? Weird? Pain?”
He shook his head slowly. “I feel okay. Mostly. I don’t know if I super want to get up right now, but it’s way better than before. Thank you.”
“I owed you one,” they gave him a half-smile. “A big one. I worked that needle spell for over a year, sewed up every hole in everyone’s clothes I met, then started sewing together small magic. Preparing. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but...”
“Yeah,” Evan turned his hand so he could grasp their wrist back. “I’m okay. You did good.”
They leaned forward, bringing their joined hands to their forehead. “Jammer thought faster. I panicked.”
“Everyone panics. And it’s not like you two don’t have preexisting trauma with my bloody corpse.”
“Not a corpse,” they scolded without looking up. “You’re not a corpse.”
“No, not today. What happened, anyway?”
Their breathing was a little fast, their shoulders tense. Teddy clamored out of a pocket to their shoulder, nuzzling in. They brought their other hand up to cup his small body and hold him there.
“You stepped on this thing. This kind of... mine.”
“How did we miss him developing mines?” Evan muttered, already pouring over the facts.
“Evan,” K breathed out harshly and he refocused on them. “Please, I- Penny already rounded up the team. They’ll figure it out. Please. Just...just be here?”
“I’m here, sorry,” he squeezed their hand.
“It could’ve been worse, but it split you open. I think your shielding absorbed a lot of it.”
“K, does Sam...”
“We told her to wait outside until you came back around,” K swallowed hard. “We came as soon as you called and she was on set. We told her there was an incident, but not how bad. Jammer sat with her while I sat with you.”
“Ok...ok.” He pushed himself up onto his elbows and while he felt a certain seasickness, there wasn’t a wave of agony. His shirt was gone, the familiar planes of his own chest before him. An angry red seam wove his way from below his ribs, across his stomach, trailing around the side. Already he could tell the redness would fade, more a byproduct of K’s magic then a scar. They lifted their head to follow his gaze.
“I think I fixed it.”
“You did,” he said softly. “You did. It’s okay.”
K started to cry and he tugged them in. They curled up against him, head on his chest and maybe, in a different friend group or a different time, it would’ve been awkward. Instead, it was only familiar to hold them close and let their tears drift hot and wet where blood had been not long ago. When they had cried themselves out, Evan asked,
“Can you get me a clean shirt and Sam, please? In that order?”
“Yeah, you got it,” K wiped their face on their own shirt and went to his backpack, pulling out the clothes that tended to stay close to the top. Jobs were reliably messy.
Carefully, Evan pulled it on, acutely aware of a tugging sensation around the seam like a new tight scar. K reached out and adjusted it a little, sweeping their hands over his shoulders, then nodding as if to themselves.
“You did it,” Evan affirmed. “You fixed it.”
“I did,” they breathed out. “Okay. Sam! I’ll get Sam.”
K blinked out and barely a second later, Sam blinked in. She hugged him immediately, holding him close and Evan hugged her back with all the ferocity of months away.
“Sorry,” he said into her ear. “I’m so sorry, Sam.”
“You lived, so you don’t have to apologize,” she pulled back enough to study his face. “You know that, right?”
“I know,” he stroked her back with one hand and reached out to wipe away a smudge of mascara with the other. “I think we can finalize the guest list.”
“What?”
“Talked to the Qohyle, didn’t Jammer tell you?”
“No, babe, he was too busy telling me that you weren’t dead and I shouldn’t freak out,” Sam smiled around a choked back sob. “You saw him?”
“We had a chat and no one threw punches.”
“Good work. Did you tell him he had a plus one?”
“Yeah. He said he’d bring one.”
“We’ll put them at the table with Dr. Boodle. That should be interesting.”
“Awesome.”
Sam searched his face and Evan let her look, unsure of what to provide. “What did you ask him?”
“About the wedding?”
“Evan.”
“Sam.”
“Spill.
“You know me too well.”
“No such thing. Tell me.”
“I asked him if I could wait. For you and Jammer and K.”
Sam huffed a sound and then kissed him. “Good question. What’d he say?”
“Yes,” Evan told her. The rest of it was hazy and he wasn’t sure what it even meant, so he kept it tucked in close to his heart. Another day, another time. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I should talk to the team.”
“Probably,” she kissed him lightly and pulled away a little. “I’ll give you some room with them. Come out when you’re done? Jammer might want to do some yelling, but then we're all going to fuss over you for a bit, so prepare yourself.”
“It would be my pleasure to get yelled at.”
She laughed, less wetly and they kissed again, before she drew away. In her absence, Evan gathered himself and slid his feet onto the floor. They were still in his mud and blood caked on his boots. With a frown, he closed his eyes and held out his hand. It took more effort then he’d like, but he pulled the muck off them and out of his jeans too while he was at it. He rolled it all into a ball and deposited it in the waste bin, sending it to the bottom, well hidden. Then he ran a hand over his hair, settling everything where it belonged.
With a deep breath, he got to his feet. For a moment he wavered, then found his balance. He had a feeling that K’s healing had not replaced the blood that he’d lost.
His phone was in his pocket and it took him a moment to send the text, hands still a little shaky.
Group Text: Nerdy Assholes
Crow:
Team meeting stat.
They blinked in one by one, barely a second apart. Penny first, though she must’ve been in the house, then Jake, then Autumn and Jude last, stumbling a little. Blinking was rough on her, unbalancing something in her that they couldn’t pinpoint. The apparatus that Penny wore for Jude’s video comms unit was still affixed to her forehead, the crude unblinking third eye taking them all in. Dry where Penny’s real eyes were damp.
“Failure point one,” Penny said before anyone else could move or speak, “the detection apparatus was too shallow to pick up on the mines. Failure point two-”
“I didn’t design it right,” Jake choked. “It’s on me-”
“I didn’t do enough research, I knew it,” Jude said over him.
Autumn’s mouth opened too.
“Stop,” Evan said quietly and the room fell silent. They stared at him, none of them touching, feet apart. “K told me there was a mine and nothing else. But I’m going to tell you what happened anyway.”
“I-” Penny started.
“Here’s how it went,” Evan met her eyes. “I dropped and called for Jammer. Before my body hit the floor, you were on me, Pen. Threw up a shield and held me together to the best of your ability. Jude, you were watching through Penny’s Eye and you immediately SOS’d K. Once they arrived on scene, Penny read them both in. Jammer went on offensive and K started working on me. Before they even made their first stitch, Autumn and Jake refocused the detection apparatus and started defusing the other mines. How many were there? Ten? Fifteen?”
“Twenty-three,” Autumn whispered.
“Twenty-fucking-three. No one else will get ripped to shreds by those. Jude, you shut down calls out and redirected traffic away from the site, then started funneling out the target’s funds which are now in our bank accounts, probably with a hazard bonus in mine. Did I miss anything?”
Four heads shook slowly.
“I’m alive,” Evan went on. “The target is dead. No one else is hurt. There’s no failures here. I’m still here because you’re all fucking amazing at what you do, okay? We’ll learn a few lessons from this one, but not because any of you did one fucking thing wrong. I’m so proud of you all.”
Jude started to cry. “Don’t do that again.”
“I don't make promises that I can't keep,” Evan told her gently. “Come here.”
He had been inviting Jude, but the whole group surged on him. At least he had some experience with group hugs and he managed to get his arms around all of them to some extent. Penny’s hand fisted into the hem of his t-shirt, Autumn’s hair got in his mouth and Jake was still apologizing in senseless waves.
“Jude, you put back that extra money. I had the easiest job today. Everyone else gets a bonus.”
“No,” she said into his shoulder. “Fuck you, boss.”
“Fuck you too, kiddo.”
They dispersed, but not quite as they came in. Penny and Jude walked out together. Autumn and Jake held hands as they blinked home.
Evan fell back on the bed, heavy and tired. He had to gather himself up again and quick, but he let himself have a moment just for himself. Closing his eyes, he let his senses go dark one by one and he reached out with the only thing left when there was no sight or sound or smell. Alone, in himself, Evan took inventory and found everything right where it belonged. He was all right. He had survived this one no worse for wear internally. His shadow lay down beside him, their shoulders overlapping.
Slowly, he became aware of his wrist. The one K hadn’t held. It throbbed a little.
Holding it up, he opened his eyes. The bracelet Jammer had given him was no longer loose. It was no longer separate from him at all. Gold links glimmered under his skin. The nameplate still sat above, but looked more like a tattoo than jewelry. When he touched it, he could feel the gold though it read more as a patch of scaly skin.
With a smile, he got to his feet and walked out of the office.