Reunited [Sjira/Kail]

[qhostqrowls]

Kail sat alone, arms crossed and shoulders tense, in the last place in the city he had ever expected to find himself. The WDSA HQ. He'd passed the looming skyscraper countless times, watching the flow of people enter and exit, and had figured the only way he'd ever pass through its doors would be in handcuffs or a body bag. But here he was, warily watching the door and waiting impatiently for the surprise Sohl had promised. 

Usually he could wheedle an answer out of the seraph, but this time around he'd been solemn and steadfast in keeping his secret. Some small, untrusting part of him had hissed that it was a trap - a clean, bloodless way for Sohl to have his maneating, agent-killing friend arrested and rehabilitated. In the end, it had been the look in the Icarims eyes, and his own growing sense of apathy, that convinced him. 

His boot tapped against the ground as he swiveled in his chair, pale eyes passing across the room for the hundredth time since Sohl had left. The clock on the wall ticked quietly away, and he slouched back, picking at the hem of his hoodie - nondescript and boring, just like his glamour disguise. 

He hated being alone at the best of times, but after Sjiras death it had become truly unbearable. Every minute alone was a minute spent agonizing over what he could have done differently. Thinking back on memories. Of every time his teasing made a flash of hurt cross the dragons face, or his comments had come out so much more cruelly than he'd meant them to. Even his happy memories were tarnished by grief, and a longing for something that was never coming back. 

His anger at the situation hadn't faded, but as the days passed it became overshadowed by other emotions. An overwhelming sense of sadness and regret he couldn't shake, no matter how much he hunt or fought or tried to distract himself. He hadn't seen the spirit since their fight, and Hunt was too young to really understand what had happened. Abby had appeared sympathetic enough, but in the cold, detached way fae always seemed to be. He hadn't found comfort or closure in any of them, and he only had himself to blame for that. 

Kail curled his fingers into his fist, feeling the bite of his nails against his palm. In an effort to distract himself, he tried to think of what the surprise would be. Sohl could have met another wendigo. Found something about Hunts parents, maybe. His thoughts were dispassionate and clouded, and he watched the clock hand quiver as the seconds dragged by.

[Sharei]

The door creaked open and a small, mousy looking young man stepped into the room. He wasn't anyone that Kail knew, at least not by his appearance, and he cast a quick look around to ensure they were alone before he finally turned to the wendigo. Behind him the door locked, and Sjira let his glamour drop.

Like the figure from before it wasn't immediately recognizable. The scrawny body had filled out some, and the hair and height had changed. But it was still Sjira's face, still his eyes - though sharper and more world-weary than before. Still the same freckles hiding behind a new blue scarf. He fidgeted as he checked Kail's reaction. It probably didn't help the facial recognition that Sjira was supposed to be dead. Why look for familiar features when you weren't expecting them to be there? Should he say something to go along with his sudden surprise revival? It wasn't every day your friend came back from the dead.

And Kail... Sjira had no doubt that Kail had suffered under that illusion. The juvenile smiled faintly, not able to summon enough good cheer to be enthusiastic. It was good to see him again, of course, but also a little alarming after what had happened with Casmir. That happy reunion hadn't gone the way he'd wanted, and the anger still curled against his insides weeks later.

But no, this was Kail. Kail, who had never given Sjira reason to suspect his motivations. There had never been any secrets between them - until now.

"... Hi," he said. Still hadn't figured out how to smoothly break the ice.

"It's um - me. Sjira. I uh."

Trying to explain Azho's token straight up didn't seem like a good idea. It would probably just confuse him. 

"I got better."

Not great. Sjira winced.

"Wait, I mean- I got brought back. After - what happened. Don't be mad. I should have come to see you but I couldn't leave the building."

[qhostqrowls]

Kail’s expression was cold and decidedly unimpressed when the man entered the room. This was who he’d risked arrest for? The strangers appearance shifted, as he turned, and the wendigo suddenly found himself looking into a pair of very familiar eyes.

Kail did a double take and stared, hard, at the person in front of him. It was undeniably Sjira, even with all the little changes. Someone who had been dead and gone for months. The shock of it stung, and his expression hardened, his nose wrinkling in the beginnings of a snarl - was this a joke? A shapeshifter, or some other thing mimicking his friend?

But then he spoke, and the awkwardness and tone was so familiar and so Sjira that he knew it couldn’t be anyone else.

“Sjira!?” he stood abruptly, disbelieving and hopeful all at once. “Sjira - it’s actually - you’re actually - you’re not -“

The wendigo’s voice, already thick with emotion, finally broke. His expression crumpled with it, and he stepped forwards to fling his arms around his friend, hugging him more tightly than he ever had before. It felt like the room was spinning, like his heart was going to burst, like Sjira was going to disappear if he ever let go. It was all too much, and before he could stop himself or even realise it was happening, Kail burst into tears.

[Sharei]

Let me explain. I can explain everything! Just don't look at me like-

Then Kail moved. Sjira flinched at the abrupt motion, but it was more out of surprise than any real fear.  

"Ah-!"

The juvenile raised his arms to meet Kail's hug, more catching than embracing, and pulled the wendigo tightly against him. He pet Kail's back, but when the wendigo's waterworks started Sjira was unable to prevent his own. They cried together in that office, alone and undisturbed, and it was probably the most cathartic moment of his recovery. Sarkany had helped him cope with his trauma. Sohl had helped him cope with his fear. But the grief hadn't had anywhere to go - grief for himself, for his friends, for the suffering and anguish of all involved. 

And the pain. The memories. The things that would last forever. 

When finally the tears had been mostly spent Sjira stepped back and wiped his eyes on his sleeve and the heel of his palm.

"Yeah," he said, managing a more genuine smile. "It's me. I'm not dead. Though, I did - I ah. I did..."

He waved a hand between them as if he could wave away the words, or perhaps the meaning behind them.

"I was declared dead. That did happen, so you're not going crazy."

[qhostqrowls]

As fast as his tears had come, Kail managed to choke them back. He was the last to let go of the hug, and he wiped roughly at his eyes as he stepped back, swallowing hard.

Usually he would’ve been horrified at such a show of emotion, but he was too giddy with relief to really feel embarrassed. He sniffled, but he was smiling when he looked back to his friend.

“Yeah, what the fuck?!” His foul mouth hadn’t changed while Sjira had been gone, and he gestured up and down the dragon incredulously. “How - how are ya back? What happened? Have ya been here this whole time? Are you - okay?”

He spoke haltingly, suddenly uncertain. What did you say to someone back from the dead? Of course he wasn’t okay.

[Sharei]

The dragon's smile wavered and for a second there was a shadow, a haunted darkness behind it that sharpened the edges of his expression. Sjira hesitated, then walked Kail back to the chair he'd vacated. It was probably best if they sat down.

Pulling up a second chair, the juvenile perched on the edge of it. Where to start? Kail already knew the story of Atol, Kanagi, and Azho. How they'd saved him from Atol's hunters after Atol had descended on his mountain aerie and decimated the hundred=strong dragon clan. How Kanagi and Azho had fought Atol off and sent him packing, at the end. How Kanago and Azho had left to be far-away hunters after that.

"Do you remember how I told you that my father and his partner, Azho, returned to their own world after saving me?"

'World' wasn't right, but it was the only real way to describe it to someone who didn't have the whole picture. For now, it was better to ignore the little details of the Rimguard than try and iron them out.

"Before Azho left she gave me a feather. She said it would 'keep me safe', though it never did seem to work. I kept it anyway."

Sjira's hand went unconsciously to the new blue scarf around his throat. The ends dangled into leaf-like points, or a bird's pinions perhaps, and he flattened one between his palms. The scarf had been hers too, and Kanagi had graciously given it to him as a keepsake. She was long dead now, but it helped him feel connected to her. A reunion he'd never gotten to have.

"She was a being that could alter the state of things," he said. He still didn't quite understand the full scope of a Dreamer despite a devoted study of the concept, and he suspected he might never fully grasp it. It was so abstract. "Change things to how she wanted them, sort of. The token was a failsafe - if I ever died it would restore me to my last previously healthy state."

He rubbed the cloth between his palms, using the texture to steady himself.

"My dad knew I had it, so when he found me, after Atol had... had taken me apart-"

Sjira swallowed hard. The memories of the event were hazy and indistinct now, but there were parts of it that stood out in sharp relief. The feel of the knife, a pain so sharp it had temporarily returned lucidity. The stare of those very red eyes into his own.

"He knew what was going to happen once I succumbed to the injuries. He took me to the WDSA, where they tried to help me, and I passed anyway. But before I could be 'revived' he took my 'body' to a safe place and I've been hiding there ever since. Only a very select few people know I'm alive, and the secret has to be really well kept. Dad fears that if Atol finds out that he failed to kill me that he'll come back to try and finish the job."

[qhostqrowls]

Kail, who could never seem to sit still or take things seriously, sat silent and attentive throughout Sjiras explanation. There were times where he furrowed his brow in confusion, or went to say something, but by the end he’d grasped the gist of it. The one-time token had worked, and that was what mattered. He didn’t care about the intricacies of it - his friend was back.

His expression soured at the mention of Atol, and he crossed his arms across his chest.

“I won’t tell nobody.” He said, and that was a promise. “I get why ya gotta be careful, Atol, he…”

The wendigo curled his nails into his palm, taking a steadying breath. This was not the time to get angry, but his emotions were still raw and it took visible effort for him to wrestle down a snarl.

“Yeah. We don’t want none of that.“

There was a long beat of silence as he looked at the dragon, studying his face, his new clothes.

“Sohl’s known this whole time?” His tone was cautious, and devoid of any of the anger Sjira might have worried he’d hold for not being told earlier.

[Sharei]

Sjira shook his head.

"Not the whole time. In the beginning, it was just dad who knew. I needed... I needed time. I wasn't well and-"

The juvenile lifted both hands as if to juggle the words, trying to figure out what to say.

"We told Sohl as soon as I was stable. Then you and another."

He couldn't help the hint of a growl on the word another.

[qhostqrowls]

Kail nodded in response, looking awkwardly away for a moment. That was fair. He didn’t know what to respond with, so said nothing as the dragon kept talking.

“Who?” He said, gaze flicking across Sjira’s souring expression. Marchelute? He knew Sjira spent time with the old demon, and the rest of his bunker pack. Why would he be upset about that?

[Sharei]

"It was..."

A hunter. That was the only way Sjira could think of him now - a threat, an enemy, not the friend he had once been. Probably because that had been no friendship at all, just a deception to maneuver him into place.

"Do you remember that hunter I told you about? The one that saved my life from the other, younger ones? Casmir. He's the blonde guy I was with when everything..."

He gestured with both hands to indicate the incident.

"Only it turns out he's also the one who used me as bait to lure out Atol in the first place. He knew going in what would happen and didn't say a damn thing."

[qhostqrowls]

Recognition lit up in the depths of Kails icy eyes, and a snarl etched its way across his features at the familiar name.

“Yeah. I fought the motherfucker. A few days after - after ya died. If I’d known - if I’d known this, I would’ve fucking killed him!”

The wendigos voice was a low, malignant hiss, and it was clear he meant what he said.

“He might as well have cut ya heart out himself! He’s gonna pay for that, mark my words. He’s a dead man walking. This is why ya can’t trust them, Sjira. None of them.”

He gestured sharply at the dragon, almost helplessly. Beneath the rage, there was concern, sympathy; but he didn’t know how to express it, or untangle it from the easier, more direct emotion of anger.

[Sharei]

Sjira turned his head away at the accusation. Kail wasn't wrong - Casmir was living proof of that. But his father had urged him to treat the humans of the WDSA in a more peaceable manner, and despite his own personal opinions about the majority of humanity, he wanted to at least try to be practical about it. And there were a couple that he could say he even almost liked.

"They aren't all bad," Sjira countered, waving one hand gently. "The people here have been protecting me. It isn't... It isn't all Casimrs all the time, Kail."

[qhostqrowls]

“That’s the bare minimum, Sjira. You’re a kid. You’re the last of ya kind. They knew Atol was after you, and they did fuck all about it until you were already dead.” He said sharply, still angered by the revelation. This was a Hunter the WDSA actively worked with. Knew about. And yet he still roamed free. They would’ve shallowly mourned the loss of a species, and they would have gone straight back to working with the man.

The wendigo swallowed his rage, taking a second to calm himself. It didn’t really matter what he felt about the situation. This was about Sjira.

“Anyway…when can ya get outta here? I’ve really missed having ya around, ya know. You must’ve been bored shitless in here.”

He reached out for an awkward, but gentle shoulder push. The answer would probably be when Atol was dead, he realised belatedly, and cringed a little internally.

[Sharei]

"Hold on," Sjira said, putting a hand up to stall Kail's tirade. That, at least, he couldn't let sit. "No one here in the WDSA knew about Atol until it happened. Casmir was the only one who knew and he didn't say shit to anyone. He admitted that he kept it quiet because he was worried someone would come and warn me and I'd go to ground. If I wasn't around to be bait his plan wouldn't work."

Sjira kicked a foot out and hit the edge of a chair. The force of the blow knocked it over.

"Ugh. And to think when Decker asked me about him I vouched for him to the WDSA."

With another irritated noise somewhere between a growl and a gurgle Sjira slumped down the back of his chair.

"I'm hoping to be out soon, but dad says probably not until the Atol thing has been dealt with. I'm helping plan the attacks and stuff but... yeah. Being stuck in a pseudo prison because some crazy mage wants to kill you isn't great."

Then, hitting upon a thought, Sjira brightened suddenly and smacked Kail in the knee with the back of his knuckles.

"But hey! Sometimes I have to leave to hunt. Maybe we could meet up for a hunt! But we've got to keep it on the down-low - you know, obvious reasons."

[qhostqrowls]

Kail’s scowl deepened once again, and he had to bite down hard on his tongue to curb his anger. He’d missed his chance to kill the man. Thinking back on the fight only made him angrier - the way Casmir had spoken like he was Sjiras friend when all the dragon had ever been to him was bait.

“Let’s jump him once you’re out,” He mumbled, slumping back in his chair. The man certainly deserved another beating.

He brightened at the offer, smiling crookedly.

“Yes, dude! I’m always down for a hunt. Can you come see the cabin after? I fixed the loft, and the fireplace is working again so ya won’t be cold no more. Oh, and I got a bunch of gold that I meant to give you, before…”

He paused, his expression crumpling around the edges for a split second. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to pawn it, and it had sat in a sad little pile on his table ever since. But then his smile was back in place, and he pushed at Sjira’s shoulder again.

“Anyway, good thing I held onto it. Lucky you, hey?“