The next moments were vague, broken among lung fulls of muddied water and desperate struggles for an elusive surface. Darkness took Victor in brief flashes before he slipped into its throws completely, the lingering notion that this could very well be his last moments of consciousness were quickly overridden by the burden and comfort of sleep.
He found himself back in the ambient blue glow of New York penthouse, the walls shifted with the passing of fish and he felt a sense of calm settle within him, a deep longing for the comforts of home. Despite the vividness of the dream he knew it was exactly that, a figment of his mind, conjured only because it was easier than his current reality. There was a distant recognition of the need to wake from the dream, but instead he found himself once again following the path down the hallway towards the balcony door, and the greenhouse beyond. He never made it past the first door, the ethereal visions ended as abruptly as they began, the world rushed into perspective in a dizzying gallop, the sudden ability to see was blinding and Victor was met with the flood of light which left him scrambling to cover his face.
He gasped and noted the ripping nature of the lingering water and muck in his lungs and attempted to rid the burning sensation with a few hearty coughs.
“You absolute imbecile, you think that you are impervious to death or do you really just not care that much?” The voice was familiar, gravely and weathered by frustration, the british accent tempered by time spent in the east; but it took a moment to place who it was knelt over the sputtering black mage.
Neal clearly had no time for the recognition to settle, Victor was pulled up into a sitting position by the collar of his shirt swaying like a drunkard before pushing the invading arm away from himself.
The overhead light was scarce, but Vic seemed parked under a particularly bright bulb, swaying nauseatingly overhead. It was enough light to make out the warehouse he lay in, the concrete floors scattered with wood and debris from transactions past, the windows dingy, tinted yellow by grime or broken out entirely.
However, it was none of these details which struck him as particularly potent, instead it was the hulking mass huddled in the corner- indistinguishable as anything but homunculus flesh. It rose and fell, a heaving mountain of restful breaths.
“How…’ Victor started only to realize he had a lot of ‘how’s that needed answering. His vision had only just begun to settle back from blurry but he was quickly sent reeling again by the conundrum of it all.
“How did you find me?” Was the decidedly more pressing issue considering the beast was clearly subdued.
Neal sighed, taking a few steps away from Victor to allow the younger man to gain his footing and rub his face as he replied.
“You act like it has ever been that hard to track anyone down. I would wager that Wyatt knew where you were the whole time…”
Surely Neal was wise in that summation, Wyatt had always been Victor’s quiet subservient guardian angel. Perhaps out of some misplaced sense of dept or affection.
“Well convenient enough timing, were you just waiting for me to fail? So you could swoop in and save me?”
“Yes.” Neal scoffed with audacious awe, “I had forgotten how dense you could be. We were trying to figure out what in the name of the divine you were doing out here, alone. And why you felt like you didn’t need to contact any of us!”
Neal often spoke in gruff clipped sentences, quick and utilitarian with language; but his anger was full bodied and brimming despite the desperate state of Victor, barely dried and caked in mud and grime.
“It has been nearly six months, Blood, and you have not so much as called your brother.”
There it was, the root of Neal’s vehement anger, how dare any man endanger a child.
Victor had been prepping his back lash, the argument in his head mounting but it was ground to a startling halt at the mention of his brother, an invariable truth. The younger Blood boy was Victor’s ward, his responsibility.
Victor’s blue eyes fell away- ashamed.
“I know, you’re right.” And it was Neal’s turn to fall into a shocked silence, surprised by Victor’s willingness not only to be criticised but more pointedly to agree with the criticism.
Silence settled among the two men, the broken boards, abandoned boxes and dusty debris were only moved by the static white noise of the beast breathing restfully in the corner.
“You said we… who else is here?” Victor asked in an attempt to give both men an out of the difficult conversation, unsure how to handle the response Neal acquiesced, at least for the time being while he better assessed the state Victor was in.
“Iain, and Azrael. They are making sure nobody is going to disturb us.” That was enough to receive a puzzled look from Victor who had been at odds with Neal before and suffered his wrath, though he was not usually one to preface an assbeating with explination.
“I don’t want anyone walking in on your new pet.” Neal grunted with a jerk of his head in the relevant direction. Vic nodded slowly, “And how in the hell did you manage to get that thing under control?”
Neal laughed, a short condescending bark. “You really think yourself so powerful huh? more hands make less work Blood, maybe one day you will learn that.”
Victor had started to shuffle slowly towards the beast, watching it breathing with weary blue eyes.
“I don't mind the work.” he murmured, “it has kept me busy…”
“and busy is what matters to you?” Victor stopped, midway between the alchemist and the Ahuizotl and hung his head back, examining the dusty rafters in petulant discomfort.
“Yes.”
“Really?” Victor felt his teeth groan in refute of the tension he held there.
“fuck, no, is that better?”
“Better? Victor there isn’t a right answer. I just want to know the damn truth. Is that really so hard for you? Objective truths?”
“You really want to get into this, right now?” Victor laughed, humorlessly.
“No, I'd have liked to weeks ago. But you have been globetrotting about on your heartbreak tour and haven’t given a single other person any thought, including your very own brother, who depends on you.”
"oh good gods…” Victor whined, fully prepared to avoid this introspective discussion with a tantrum.
“Everyone depends on me….” He threw his hands out, the hike in his volume enough to send a stabbing pain through his forehead, moving to cradle his now throbbing head in his hands he added in petulant grunts.
“And that is why they will always be let down.”
Neal laughed again, short and sharp and without any joy.
“Good to know you haven’t grown up any over these last few months.”
“Oi! VICKY” The tension snapped like a cold rubber band, the dusty warehouse suddenly felt less rigid and confining, Iain had the ability to do that.
He moved in long sweeping strides, longer than was natural for his height giving him a vigour and motivation to his movements, he brought energy into any room he entered with his sandy blond hair, forest green eyes and weathered clothes.
He was a stark contrast from Azrael, her eyes were a dark chestnut, black in the right light, and perfectly matched her ebony hair and the dark cloth that bound her in criss cross patterns as if a corpse being sent to the gods, wrapped in gauze.
The only things left uncovered were her bare feet, hands and face, the olive tones stark against her dark attire.
She, in accordance with her comparative style, said nothing to Victor as they came through the rickety door, instead the two crossed the open dusty expanse to meet the battered and disorientated mage.
“Iain, Az…” despite the tension of his unfinished conversation with Neal he felt a rush of familiarity, warmth at the sight of his friends.
“That all yah got to say then?” Iain’s boisterous tone was only lifted by the filigrant measures of his Scottish accent, and when he drew close enough he took Victor by the shoulder pulling him down and into a full bodied hug.
Victor couldn’t help the small genuine smile, though he was notably stiff in the friendly action. “Hi. It’s nice to see you. I have missed you two….and…” he threw a glance towards Neal then the creature that still slumbered amiably in the corner.
“And thank you for saving my ass, as I am sure you will all do again.”
Azrael made no moves to hug Victor, only gave him a nod of recognition and settled her own eyes on the animal in the corner.
“Undoubtedly.” Neal murmured but threw his hands up in resignation when Victor cut him a glance.
“Aye,” Iain agreed with a good natured grin, “undoubtedly we will again, it is kind of our jobs- ain’t it sunshine?” he nudged Azrael in the side to prompt her agreement and she rolled her eyes but offered a dismissive nod.
“Sure is…” She mumbled and her dark eyes wandered away from the other men in every effort of avoiding further engagement. Victor did not push any more talk on it, he took the opportunity to instead move towards the stirring beast in the corner- it tossed restlessly for a moment before settling back into a rhythmic drifting slumber.
Sleeping the beast looked almost benign, a large exotic wolf or cat of some kind, the tail looked like that of a male tiger, resembling a tuft of hair rather than the appendages Victor knew them to be.
“Well wonderful,” Victor murmured, his voice dripping with ire as he closed the distance between himself and its heaving form.
In the dim light Victor recognized the faint glimmer in the atmosphere from a containment spell, likely the same one keeping the cryptid asleep. The others followed in his shadow, Neal lingered the furthest back, arms crossed in perpetual dismissal; watching Victor study the sleeping form with the same interest the younger man held for the beast.
“Mighty convenient of you all to show up right at the nick of time.” Victor quipped, much to everyone's dismay. He didn’t raise his head from where he was crouched but Iain and Azrael stopped their own advances, a low noise of dissent leaving the scotsman.
“aye… mighty convenient, les’, chalk it up to that then yeah?”
Neal rolled his eyes, “Don’t bully them Blood, we’ve been over this. You can’t expect to disappear without represcussion, you can’t expect us to sit by while you do stupid things for the sake of your fragile male ego."
Victor looked up then his gaze spiteful, “I asked for friends not babysitters, and I asked for time not constant monitoring.” He stopped and shut his eyes, severing the severe gaze and sighing.
“I am happy to see you all. And I am thankful of your help I just…” He trailed off and stood from his crouch, clearly finished looking over the magnificent cryptid before him.
“I just don’t appreciate being monitored like a child.”
Neal found this to be a reasonable argument and therefore did not dignify it with a response, instead busying himself by checking the state of their inbound extraction.
Iain on the other hand felt more responsible to reply to his friend and defensively offered his palms in surrender as he mustered something up.
“I hear yah Vicky. And don’t get me wrong, it ain't like we were just watching you on the satellites or anything but...you know Wyatt. He worries. And with Johnny we just wanted to be sure you were safe. Honest the longer you were gone the more we were just worried this little vacation of yours wasn’t….healthy.”
He seemed sheepish to admit it, this was not their normal grounds for conversation. Despite considering Victor to be like a brother, he knew the young man was not privy to personal criticisms- certainly not ones which questioned his mental wellbeing.
Neal interjected before Victor could respond much to his irritation.
“Helicopter is going to get the big guy out of here, it is on the way. But our car is here. It will take us to the plane. Whatever your reasons and complaints for staying away, you are going home now.” The elder alchemist left no room for the younger witch to argue and instead turned, the naval duster sweeping behind him.
Azrael held her own arm and stared vacantly at the rise and fall of the beasts breath, but avoided the conflict entirely; it was only a quiet awkward moment after Neal’s departure that she too made the move for the door.
Iain was not so quick and instead attempted again, “For real Victor, we only came for you because we were worried.”
Victor scoffed and shook his head, brushing past the scotsman to make his way to the car.
"Fine. You win. And frankly by all accounts you are right. Vacation is over."
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