Save fae-ce
Part 3/3
Summary: Bernard commits treason.
Pt 1 Pt 2
If you had asked Bernard Dowd, one week prior, what he thought he was going to be doing that day… well, he would have answered something along the lines of ‘grieving his best friend’. Because, while Tim Drake wasn’t dead, he was about as good as. After all, he was going to be gone, past a wall that Bernard could barely even get near, much less get past.
He would not have guessed that ‘breaking into the Drake house’ was on the agenda, nor that this was going to be one of the less stressful parts of the day.
But you probably want more context. After all, why break into a house that should be so utterly devoid of anything he cared about?
Well, you would have to go back to just the night before. Tim’s parents were back, bearing gifts that were all taken with ginger, but greedy, hands. The young faerie hugged the new pieces of jewelry to his chest, his eyes gleaming with what might have been tears as he leaned in for another hug from his parents.
And then it was time for dinner.
The air while they ate was… charged, to say the least. Even if Tim’s parents hadn’t been able to sense the boy’s nerves when they had first gotten home, what with the excitement of seeing his parents at least briefly overshadowing his anxiety, they could definitely tell now. Forks and knives clinked against bowls, and everyone was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Tim picked at his food. And Bernard had to give it to him, Tim was a far better actor than he had ever given him credit for. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought that his hesitance to eat had only to do with the anxiety radiating off of him in waves, and not that he couldn’t eat without having to suppress a grimace.
Bernard toyed with his own food, chewing more on his lip than on any bite he took. He wondered whether it was torture for Tim to watch them all eat when he couldn’t.
Probably. Tim was nearly out of his rations from the forest, and a kind of gauntness was already starting to hollow his cheeks.
But, finally, Bernard had set down his fork and Tim’s parents seemed to get that this was going somewhere because they put their silverware down as well, and so Tim pushed himself to his feet.
“I – um – have something I need to tell you.”
Bernard shifted awkwardly in his seat. He knew that Tim had asked him to be there, but it had been a while since they’d talked about it, so he might as well give him an out: “Would you like me to go?”
“No,” Tim breathed, practically lunging to catch hold of Bernard’s hand before the boy could even really commit to leaving. His eyes snapped towards those of his friend, and found him looking at him with so much desperation that Bernard couldn’t imagine going at all. “Stay. Please.”
Bernard nodded just slightly, setting his hand atop Tim’s, letting his fingers dig into his sweater if that was what he wanted to do.
Tim smiled, however weakly, and then turned back to his parents. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. His gaze fell away as he reconsidered whether telling them was really what he wanted to do. Bernard had been used as a soundboard for these thoughts many times over the past few weeks, and could almost tell which ones he was thinking just by the expressions on his face.
Maybe it was better to let them all have this one night where they could pretend it was all okay. Maybe it was better to let things end on a high note before Tim disappeared into the night to become one with it. Maybe –.
“We know,” Mr. Drake said, holding up a hand with a placating kind of smile. “And we accept you.”
“You… know?” Tim asked, looking torn between hopeful and confused. Hopeful, because being known and accepted would make things far easier on every side. Confused, because how could they have known?
Sure, Bernard had figured it out on the first day, when Tim had come back from a long trip into the woods, seemingly unable to be sarcastic (for sarcasm hinges on lies, even if it is done for comedic effect), wearing a clothing item that he hadn’t entered with, glowing with a hint of unearthly beauty, evading questions instead of simply lying as he normally would. But Bernard was also around Tim far more, so it was no surprise that he was quick to notice that he was a fae. This was different? How could they have known?
Well, they hadn’t.
“That you two are dating,” Janet clarified. Except it wasn’t much of a clarification at all, because what?
Bernard nearly choked on his own spit.
Tim didn’t seem to be doing much better. Just slightly too sharp fingernails were digging into the fabric of Bernard’s sweater, deep enough that it became concerning. His face was a pretty shade of red, but this was not the time to admire his friend’s slightly enhanced beauty. Mainly because he could feel pinpricks of blood beginning to well under his clothes and, oh yeah, his friend’s parents thought they were dating.
“No, we’re not –.” Tim gave a short puff of laughter, as if the hilarity of the situation had finally caught up to him. “That’s not what I wanted to tell you guys at all.”
Bernard was not focusing on the fact that Tim had cut himself off before saying that they weren’t dating. Because that was a dumb thing to focus on when his friend was trying to tell them all that he was a faerie.
“Uh… so… remember how I used to not believe in the fae?” Tim began, smiling nervously. “Well, it turns out, I ate their food by accident and now I kind of am one. So, like, I believe in them now!”
Jack and Janet Drake’s mouths dropped. In surprise or horror, it was hard to say, because they had yet to make a sound.
Tim filled the silence with a nervous little laugh. “It’s, um, not something that we can just ignore, really. It’s hard to hide, considering…”
He removed his hat, revealing a set of nubby little horns that were, honestly, a little bit cute.
And then he shrugged off his jacket. Bernard stared, blankly, at the band wrapped around Tim’s chest, until he removed the belt and a tail fell into view. His own mouth dropped to the floor to join Jack and Janet’s. Solidarity, he supposed.
Tim gave an awkward smile. “So, uh, before I get caught by the guards and all… I really need to go.”
This seemed to finally snap his parents back to reality.
“You can’t,” Janet breathed. “Tim, darling, you can’t.”
“I have to,” Tim said, his eyes falling to the floor. “I’ll starve without faerie food.”
Jack shook his head. “No. You said that you only turned into a fae because you ate some of their food. There’s some in this world. We can find it. You’ll be okay. Please.”
“Not enough,” Tim said. He wrapped his arms around himself, as if trying to recreate the comfort and safety of the hug he had received just a few hours prior. His tail fell to curl around his leg, squeezing tight. “I can’t stay.”
“You can’t go.”
“I must.”
“But we’ll never see you again,” Jack said, tears welling in his eyes.
Tim bit his lip. “I know. I’m – I’m sorry.”
And, just like that, the air around them thickened. A chill fell over the room. Tim’s eyes widened in abject terror, and his hand flew up to his mouth.
Jack’s gaze slowly lifted to meet Tim’s. His expression was a strange mix of several different things, all warring with each other, but his voice was surprisingly calm when he asked:
“You’re sorry?”
Tim nodded, but it was jerky, as if someone was physically grabbing him by the cheeks and forcing his head up and down.
“Then stay.”
And what could the indebted faerie do but nod?
So, now Bernard was scaling a house. It would have been so much easier if Tim was anywhere near poor, because then he would be on the first floor. The town had grown quite a bit since they had built the fence around the village all those years ago, but the fence had not been lengthened. For the people of their village were nothing if not superstitious, and they believed that opening the gate up even slightly, even if just to expand, would allow the fae to get in.
Instead, they had started cramming the new houses in. The poorer areas of the village were like a jigsaw puzzle of small, strangely shaped houses. Ghosts of the past remained in the form of windows that lead to nowhere, unless you count the wall centimeters away as a place. But that was all that remained of the old inhabitants.
That, and their stories warning of the fae, of course.
Lot of good that had done them, Bernard thought, somewhat bitterly.
But was the bitterness not justified when he was currently hanging twenty feet in the air, arms wrapped desperately around a drainpipe, trying to help his faerie friend get out of the walls he had been trapped in?
Frankly, Bernard would rather be doing just about anything else. But hey, he would also rather not have Tim starve to death because his parents were grieving (which Bernard could understand, of course, he didn’t want Tim to go, either… the thought of never seeing him again ached in a way that Bernard couldn’t quite explain… he just wanted him to live more).
This just might not be his week.
Honestly, maybe he should have figured that out before he decided to dangle from great heights, but better late than never, right?
And he was practically okay now, swinging his leg up over the sill and lifting a trembling arm to rap on the window as he worked at trying to perch himself on the thin beam of wood. He was not a squirrel and, as such, he would much rather stay firmly on the ground. Twenty feet up in the air was not his domain, thank you very much.
But enough about that, Bernard had finally reached a somewhat stable position – thank whatever was up there for that – and Tim had noticed him.
Grey eyes found their way to a shock of golden hair, and he gasped, stumbling over, nearly slipping on his own blanket a few times before giving up on it entirely and letting it fall in a heap. Only slightly less unsteady legs than before threw him across the room and, after knocking his fist against the glass once and making several clumsy attempts with hands that seemed to move faster than his brain could ever hope to process, he managed to lift the window enough for Bernard to slide his fingers under and make a gap wide enough for a person to get through.
Bernard panted for a moment, leaning heavily against the sill, and Tim had clearly tried to be patient.
But he was also sick, tired, hungry, and in desperate need of a hug.
So, he only got a few seconds to prepare himself for what was definitely going to be a tight squeeze, before thin arms grabbed him by the shirt and started tugging at him insistently. Bernard just… let it happen. If Tim needed comfort, then he was perfectly willing to ragdoll for a few minutes and cuddle with him. Honestly, Bernard deserved this.
Tim was startlingly cold to the touch, but when someone has just done more physical exercise than they had ever done in their life, collectively, this was a plus more than anything. A tail, scaly and, most importantly, cold, wound itself around him, and he was happy to let it.
“Will I die in here?” Tim breathed, his voice cracking with more than just dehydration. “Is that what you’re here to tell me?”
A chill that he would have welcomed just a few seconds prior ran through him, and now he missed the horrible heat.
He drew back, just slightly, his hands on Tim’s shoulders. Halfway comforting, halfway just trying to make sure the boy didn’t collapse the moment they were apart. For he was deathly pale, too skinny, with a glaze over his eyes and lips that were cracking from a lack of drinkable water.
“I…”
And thank god Bernard could lie, because it meant he didn’t have to mention how Tim was far more out of it than he had thought he’d be while plotting out ways to help him escape.
“I have some ideas. We’re getting you out of here, okay?”
Tim looked at him, and Bernard tried for a winning smile. Whether or not Tim believed him, the fae slumped against him again, a cool face coming to nuzzle in his neck. The only reason Bernard didn’t panic was that Tim’s tail was curled around him so tightly that it was almost hard to breathe, which meant that there had to be some strength left in the frail, little body that he was holding so close.
“When your dad told you to stay, he never gave you a time limit,” Bernard began. “It’s been about a week, so maybe it’s worn off?”
Tim shook his head. “The thing I apologized for was terrible, so the debt is too big to go away that easily.”
He swallowed thickly. Yeah. He’d expected that that would be more complicated. If the faerie could simply halfway repay their debts, they wouldn’t be known for cheating people through loopholes. They would be known for half-assing things. But it was worth a shot.
Bernard ran a hand through his hair, almost relishing in the tiny knots his fingers found because at least the tiny pinpricks allowed him to focus on something other than the sheer hopelessness of the situation.
“Then… maybe you can use your dad’s name to make him let you go?”
Tim winced. “I’m not going to do that.”
Bernard bit back the retort of but they did that to you, because maybe that was the reason Tim was refusing. Maybe he didn’t want anyone else to experience what he was going through.
Which made his next, and last, idea much harder to say:
“Well, I could try using your name and seeing if that overpowers it,” Bernard mumbled.
Tim went very, very still.
And then he pulled back. Bernard fought back a wince. He squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see the betrayed look on his friend’s face, but didn’t he owe him that much?
Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes again.
Only to find Tim far closer than he had thought he’d be.
Tim’s forehead came to rest against his own.
“I trust you,” he mumbled.
Bernard felt his face heat up, and quietly hoped that Tim was too close to see the reddening of his cheeks.
From the slightly dopey smile on his face, Bernard figured that might be too much to hope for.
“Okay,” said Bernard, starting to draw back.
The tail wrapped around him didn’t give much room for him to do so.
Neither did the lips that came to press against his own.
And Bernard knew he shouldn’t. Tim was leaving, Bernard would be lucky to even get over the fence to give him a proper sendoff. There was no idea that was more terrible than this. It would only make things harder, would only make saying goodbye thousands of times more painful.
But it was really hard to remember all of that when the guy you’ve been crushing on for ages decided to finally kiss you. When kissing back felt so right. When he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if – when faerie and dragons were confirmed to be real – soulmates were such an unbelievable concept?
Maybe he was just a teen, maybe he would regret this in a few hours, but for now, he was happy to cradle Tim’s face, was perfectly pleased by the hands that came to rest upon his chest. For now, it was just them two, in a place where they both shouldn’t be for two completely different reasons, pressed together in a way that was almost desperate.
The kiss ended far sooner than Bernard would have liked, but maybe it was better to not suffocate.
Future kisses were possible that way.
If you exist in denial. Which Bernard was currently doing.
So, he smiled at Tim as they broke apart.
“Maybe I should break into houses more often,” Bernard breathed.
Tim gave a quiet laugh, and finally let him go, even giving him a little shove as both reprimand for the dumb joke and reminder that they couldn’t just stay there forever. “Dork.”
“But I’m your dork,” Bernard couldn’t help but tease.
Tim smiled. He winked, pressing a finger to his lips. “Maybe you shouldn’t say things like that to the species known for stealing people away.”
Bernard hesitated, the words what if I want that on the tip of his tongue. Because… he shouldn’t say that. He really, really shouldn’t. It was what everyone expected of him, for one. The child interested in the creatures of the night becomes one, it was a tale he had been warned of since he’d ever asked his first question. And… well, he wasn’t stupid. Being stolen away didn’t guarantee a happy life. Belonging to a faerie, especially one that was so closely linked with dragons, could be dangerous.
So, he said nothing. He leaned in for one more quick kiss before heading back to the window.
And then he started on the process down. Whether it was the kiss giving him more energy or gravity doing well more than half of the work, it was far easier to get down than it had been to climb up, and he smiled when he reached the ground.
But the smile was quick to fade.
Time for the moment of truth.
“Timothy Jackson Drake,” he said, his voice low even when there was no one around to know and no one awake to be angry at him. But it felt like something that should not be said too loudly, a secret that he wasn’t actually supposed to be aware of. Something that only one person should hear.
And said person appeared at his side.
Tim groaned a little, nearly stumbling, a heavy bag of things clutched to his chest and the sudden displacement throwing him off.
Bernard caught him.
Only to drop him instantly. For holding Tim in that moment felt like sticking his hands into a pot of boiling water. Already, blisters formed on his hands, and he strangled a scream.
But this was nothing compared to Tim. His knees went crashing to the ground, but he almost didn’t seem to feel it amongst everything else. His head snapped towards the house, neck cracking in its haste to whip around and stare at the door. A wretched sound tore itself out of Tim’s throat. Light flickered beneath the faerie’s skin, washing the night in the color red. The air around them was burning hot, and Bernard thought that he might just be consumed within flames he couldn’t even see.
And then, as suddenly as it had happened, it was over.
There was a few moments as the pair of them stood there, trying to process what had just happened, trying to get their footing in both a literal and metaphorical way.
The debt had been large, but what happens when a name was invoked? From the day they’d learned to respond to them, they’d been told one thing: names were a powerful thing.
Debts were huge, but so were names. When directly contradicting each other, which would win?
Both, apparently. Tim had paid for his transgressions, the debt had made sure of that, even if it didn’t go in the way that Jack Drake had intended… but, in the end, Tim was there.
Tim was there.
Despite himself, Bernard broke into a smile.
He knelt beside his friend, not touching him for fear of overwhelming him so soon after an event like whatever that was, waiting for him to get his bearings again.
Besides, it gave him a little bit of time to think.
Something about the loophole that Bernard had found was so faerie that he almost wished he’d tried it earlier. Of course the fae had a failsafe, of course the answer had been staring at them all along.
But there was little time to dwell on that, because they needed to go. Even Tim, shaking and exhausted as he was, knew that. Jack could notice at any moment. They could be seen by anyone that wished for a late-night stroll. They needed to go, while they still had the chance.
They only had one chance.
Tim swung his bag over his back, and they both took off running.
“What’s the plan?” Tim asked.
Bernard gave his best winning smile. “I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think I’d get this far.”
Tim gave a startled kind of laugh, quickly followed by a groan. He pressed his lips together thinly, thinking hard.
He must have come up with something because the faerie nodded to himself, firmly.
“Alright… let’s go to the nearest entrance. The break in the iron should be enough for…” he sighed. “Well, it’s our best chance at getting help.”
The gap in the gate wasn’t far. Some might even say too close. For they had already come within sight of it, and that meant there wasn’t any time to explain.
The two guards manning the gate’s eyes went wide as they looked at the pair. A faerie – horns on display, tail swinging back and forth to maintain his balance as he ran – and the one person the town was most concerned about, barreling towards the gate at top speed.
“Jason Todd!” Tim hissed.
For just a second, nothing happened.
And then, in the next second, before the guards could even get a word out, they were both on the ground.
A large being with black, feathered wings stood over them, his expression cold in a way that Bernard had never seen before. If he hadn’t known any better, didn’t recognize the name Tim had used, if the man had opted to carry a scythe, he would have thought that the being in front of him was Death himself.
Then he rushed forward to check Tim over for injuries, green eyes alight with worry, and the thought was quickly dismissed from his mind.
“What happened to him?” The faerie hissed, hugging Tim close to his chest.
It took a moment for Bernard to realize that the faerie was talking to him. He gave a weak smile and a shrug that felt too little for a being such as this. “A lot. You should ask him, not me.”
Jason opened his mouth, seemingly annoyed.
And then he decided against it. Nodded.
“Let’s get him home. He has to be starving. C’mon.”
And Bernard followed.
Have you ever heard that, when you’re scared, time moves faster? Bernard’s parents had told him once or twice, but Bernard had never quite understood.
But now he did. Because Tim was about to leave, and Bernard was about to stay, and the inevitability of it all felt suffocating. Because they were at the clearing, at the mushroom ring, before he had really had enough time to realize that they were in the forest. Because a large faerie with bat wings had come bearing food for Tim to eat to get his energy back before they traveled over.
Because it was all going to be over.
But was there anything he could do, really? Time passed, there was nothing that could stop that, and he couldn’t stay here in this moment forever. He could stay here, at the ring, with the fair folk, perhaps, but he couldn’t. Bernard couldn’t leave. He had to stay in the village. He had to.
So, why did a traitorous voice in the back of his head keep whispering that he was outside now?
He wasn’t outside for himself. He was outside for Tim.
His eyes caught on a flower. One that he had never seen before, one that he was pretty sure wasn’t supposed to be on this side of the ring. But it was there, and it was beautiful. Like a star that had fallen to the Earth, with petals splayed out like beams of light and a center that glowed a pale yellow.
It was gorgeous.
He never wanted to leave it.
He never wanted to leave.
But he had to, right?
“They’re not going to like that you took him here,” the older faerie said, his eyes drifting over to Bernard.
Bernard’s jaw tightened, and he gave the slightest of nods. The people at the gate had seen him.
“They’re going to think that you’re one of us.”
He nodded again. The people of the town were a suspicious lot.
There was a few moments of silence, as the two considered everything. Bernard still wasn’t looking at the faerie, but not because of the fear that had plagued him when he had stepped into the clearing. No, now he was watching the edge of the clearing like a hawk, the line of his body tense, as if he were waiting for one of the townsfolk to jump out of a nearby bush and attack him.
“You don’t have to go back, you know. You can come with us, instead.”
Bernard’s shoulders jumped just slightly. He looked at the faerie like the man had grown a second head. This wouldn’t have actually been all that surprising, coming from a fae, but it still would have been sudden. Which was exactly how Bernard felt about this entire thing. The faerie known for stealing children from the village was asking someone to come with them, who could be surprised by that? But that didn’t mean he had ever thought it would happen to him.
The townsfolk had always insisted that this day would come, but he had never believed it. Despite Tim’s claims of him being a conspiracy theorist, Bernard was realistic about some things. The chances were low, and Tim was the one set to be taken from this generation. Why would he ever think that they’d ask for him as well?
Even when he had been thinking about Tim leaving, the option of Bernard following had never really occurred to him. Not really. Not except for that short moment after their kiss.
But he had been tempted.
He wetted his lips.
Bernard knew the scriptures more than anyone, knew that going with the fae didn’t guarantee anything good for him, but neither did going back. He was faced with two terrible choices, and it became a question of the devil you did know and the devil you didn’t.
As he glanced at the faerie standing there, large bat wings hanging from his back and too-pale skin and a kind smile that didn’t quite hide the calculating gleam in their eyes… he wondered if the old stories about devils were actually just stories about fae that had been misidentified.
The thought sent a tiny shiver running down his spine.
But how many choices did he have?
Well, at least he knew the answer to that, if nothing else:
Two.
He could go home. Beg forgiveness, claim enchantment. It might work. He wouldn’t even see much change in his daily life, though there would probably be far more effort put into making sure that he never even saw what the gate looked like ever again.
Or.
His eyes slid past the faerie, to where Tim was devouring everything that came even close to him. Tim seemed to sense his gaze through his hunger, though, because he looked up. He hesitated, thinking, or perhaps just swallowing, before he slowly got to his feet.
The moments where he trudged across the clearing felt like an eternity, but it was worth it when Tim said this:
“I care for you either way. Obviously, I want you with me, but I want you to be happy, too. I’m not my parents. I won’t force you to be with me. You should do what you want.”
Bernard bit his lip.
He looked up at the older faerie, trying to seem larger than he really was even if he was still far smaller than the faerie had likely ever been.
“Promise that none of you will hurt me.”
The faerie tipped its head to the side. “I can’t quite promise that you will never be hurt, but I can promise that I will prevent it to the best of my abilities.”
And, well, this promise was far more than he could hope to get from the townsfolk. The faerie couldn’t lie, and this wasn’t a debt. This couldn’t be taken back.
So, when Tim offered him a bite of the apple he had been eating, Bernard took it.
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