Legacy, part 5
Part 4
Jared has been home for half an hour when his phone buzzes with a text from Jensen. He snatches it up eagerly.
Jeff's dead.
Jared stares uncomprehendingly at his phone. Without really intending to, he's been formulating possibilities in his head of why Jensen's been avoiding him and what he might say if he broke the silence. The reality is so foreign to his expectations that, at first, it doesn't even register as having meaning.
After an eternal second, his brain kicks into gear and informs him that it has to be exactly what it looks like. Jensen wouldn't jerk him around like this, he just wouldn't. So that means Jeff is dead.
Jeff is dead.
He texts back, where are you?? and grabs the jacket he left hanging over the back of his desk chair.
234 Aspen. Behind the 7-11
i'll be right there.
Jared thunders down the stairs, trying to remember where in the shed he left his bike and whether Greg would have moved it. His mother is in the kitchen cutting vegetables.
"Mom, I have to go out, I'll be back," he says, and she puts down the knife and turns to look at him severely.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
It's like hitting a brick wall. He somehow forgot that he's still fucking grounded.
He cannot be grounded.
"Mom, you don't understand. I have to go. Jensen needs me."
She smiles sadly. "I know you want to spend time with him, honey, but I just feel better when I know you're home and safe." Jared opens his mouth, but she cuts him off. "Remember what happened the last time you were out with Jensen."
Jared could scream.
"Mom. Jensen's having a family emergency. I need to go and be with him, and you can't stop me." He heads for the door.
"At least take the Jeep," she calls after him, sounding defeated. "So I know you're not out on the street alone."
He grabs the keys off the shelf by the door, gratitude leaking in past the edges of his frustration. "Thanks bye," he calls.
"And I want you home by ten!" Jared hears, as the door swings shut behind him.
He tries not to speed, because obviously it would suck to get pulled over, but he's pushing thirty-five most of the way. It takes him less than five minutes to get to Aspen Road and another minute or two to find 234, which turns out to be a tiny brick house on a dead scrap of grass that barely qualifies as a yard.
When Jared tries the doorbell he doesn't hear anything, so he raps on the door. Footsteps approach, and then the door opens and Katie is standing on the other side.
"Come in," she says.
There's a corner of Jared's mind that's staring blankly at Katie and asking why Jensen is at her house. Most of him just wants to get to Jensen.
Katie moves back to lead him through the narrow front hallway into the living room. Jensen is there, sitting on a threadbare brown plush couch with his elbows on his knees and his phone in his hand. He looks up when Jared enters.
"I'm going to finish up outside," Katie says, and disappears.
Jared stands awkwardly in the doorway looking at Jensen. Jensen drops his phone on the coffee table and gets up from the couch. His jeans are bloodstained and torn, and he isn't wearing a shirt.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you," Jensen says, and it's so completely beside the point that Jared is jarred out of his uncertain stasis.
"Shut up," he says fiercely, and steps into the room.
Jensen meets him halfway and walks right into his arms, pushing in close, no barriers, locking his arms around Jared like the last two days of radio silence never happened. His back is tense under Jared's hands and his grip on Jared trembles slightly.
"Hey," Jared says, smoothing one hand carefully along Jensen's back while the other rests at the base of his neck. "Jensen, hey. It's okay. I'm here. Let it out." Jensen takes a huge shuddering breath. Jared says, "It's okay," one more time, and Jensen keens into his shoulder and finally breaks down.
He cries into Jared's jacket, huge choking sobs, and Jared hangs on, holds Jensen through it, repeating, "It's okay," and "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Jensen," until finally Jensen's cried himself to exhaustion. It doesn't take that long. He looked close to exhaustion to begin with.
Jensen pulls back a little, not far enough to break Jared's hold, and wipes his eyes with both hands. "Sorry I got your jacket gross," he mutters.
"Hey." Jared jostles him a little. "Stop apologizing for shit that doesn't matter."
Jensen ducks in to rest his forehead against Jared's collarbone. "Sorry," he repeats, and Jared can't help smiling a little in spite of the situation, squeezing Jensen almost involuntarily.
"Come on, you should probably sit down."
The couch is more comfortable than it looks, and long, almost long enough that Jared could stretch out comfortably on it. There's a box of tissues on the corner table and Jared grabs a handful for Jensen and shrugs off his jacket before sitting down at the end of the couch with Jensen squished up against him.
"We don't have a lot of time," Jensen says after he's finished blowing his nose. "Katie figures midnight, tops, before we're in trouble again."
"You can take ten minutes and tell me what's going on, though, yeah?"
"Yeah." Jensen insinuates himself under Jared's arm, and Jared pulls him close. Jensen's bare skin is smooth and warm, but it doesn't take much effort for Jared to will away the urge to touch more. Taking advantage of grieving people is pretty much the epitome of a jerk move. "Short version: the Mogs found us. Jeff died, and one of them got away. He'll be back with more, so we have to get the hell out of Dodge." Jensen speaks quickly, like he's not thinking too hard about what he's saying. Jared aches. "Oh. Also, Katie's one of us."
"One of...?"
"I'm Four; she's Six."
"Oh." Jared processes this. Katie is one of the nine that Jensen told him about. This explains how she was unfazed by Jensen's display of powers outside the corn maze. They're the same; she probably also has powers. She's not a pathetic ignorant human like Jared, who's barely poked his nose into the mysteries of life from other planets. And Jensen said "we." They'll be on the run together. Probably better for Jensen to have someone with him who knows what's up, who can fight and be an ally, instead of being stuck with some loser from Ohio who can barely throw a punch. "Wait," Jared says, remembering. "Don't you all have guardians? Where's hers?"
"Dead."
Jared flinches. "God. Sorry."
"Now who's apologising for stupid things?" Jensen shoves into him "Sam being dead doesn't affect" he cuts himself off. "Just. Forget it, it's fine."
No it's not, Jared thinks. This whole situation is so very far from fine.
"Look," Jensen murmurs, barely audible, "I should tell you why I was ignoring you, but" He breaks off uncomfortably.
"Hey, man, it's okay," Jared says, disregarding the flash of hurt it still causes him to think about it. He really wants an explanation, but it's kind of the least of their worries at the moment. "You don't have to tell me right now."
"Too much shit, not enough time," Jensen mutters. "Katie's calling a strategy meeting at 6. That gives us, what, an hour and a half?"
Jared digs his phone out and checks the time. "About that, yeah."
"Okay. I'm going to sleep. I think I drained my powers setting people on fire." Jensen yawns as Jared boggles.
"You never told me you could do that," he says.
"Just found out." He shifts. "Stay with me?" he asks, and his voice is small.
"Of course."
They rearrange, a bit awkwardly, until they're both lying down, Jensen tucked in between Jared and the back of the couch, back to chest. Jared wraps one arm around Jensen's body and hesitantly lays a hand over his bare chest; Jensen puts his hand on Jared's and tangles their fingers together, relaxing back into Jared.
Jared didn't think he'd sleep, but now that his adrenaline spike's faded and he has Jensen safe and close, he's surprisingly prepared to drop off. Before he gets too far under, Jensen says, "Jared."
"Mnh?"
"Thank you."
Jared doesn't say anything, just pulls Jensen closer and sinks back toward sleep.
Jensen wakes up feeling about a thousand times better. He went to sleep feeling hollowed out and hopeless, and he wonders how much of that was due simply to Legacy fatigue. Jeff would know.
He pushes the thought of Jeff aside for the moment. There's not time right now for him to be constantly taking grief breaks; he supposes he will process it in chunks, whenever his self can take the time. All at once would be like swallowing an elephant.
Instead, he focuses on here and now, taking his comfort as it comes. He feels remarkably warm and safe, tucked between Jared and the back of the couch with Jared's arm secure around him and Jared's warm breath on the back of his neck. He doesn't want to move.
Jared's breathing changes subtly; he's awake now. He doesn't move, perhaps not wanting to wake Jensen if he's still asleep.
Jensen shifts, removing any doubt.
"Hey," says Jared softly, voice low and rough with sleep, and Jensen squeezes his hand.
"Hey," he answers, just as quietly. "Time is it?"
"Lemme check." Jared pulls away and sits up.
Jensen makes a small noise of displeasure. "Cold," he complains, rolling his upper body back into the warm spot Jared left, his legs colliding with Jared's hip. Jared puts down the phone in his hand and looks down on Jensen fondly.
"You're such a baby," he says, shaking his head. "Here," and he leans and grabs his jacket off the floor where he dropped it earlier.
Jensen sits up facing him and pulls the jacket on. It's blue and smells like Jared and it's a little too big. Perfect. He can't even complain about the crusted snot on the shoulder; that was all him.
"It's quarter to," Jared says.
Jensen nods. Almost time to figure out what to do next. They'll be leaving, he knows, he and Katie have to get out of here and regroup. Jeff's gone, his home is compromised; he's got nothing left here but Jared, and as he thinks about leaving, that familiar panic rises up in him again, clinging to Jared and digging in its heels.
Jensen swallows.
"Jared," he says. He might not get another shot at this. Maybe he has no choice but to go, but if he leaves without telling Jared, he will never forgive himself.
"Mm?" Jared's still sitting on the edge of the couch, near the middle. He has one foot on the floor and he's so close to Jensen; their faces are maybe half a yard apart.
"I said I'd tell you why I was ignoring you," Jensen says. "It's kind of stupid, but I didn't know how else to handle it, I just kind of freaked out and yeah."
"Handle what?" Jared just looks curious, not upset, not judgemental, and Jensen takes a deep breath.
"I didn't even figure it out myself," he says, looking at the back of the couch so he won't look at Jared's mouth. "Jeff had to tell me. I guess I'm really obvious, but... I didn't see it."
"See what? Jensen, come on." Jared ducks his head into Jensen's sight line, trying for eye contact. Jensen caves and gives it to him.
"I-" His voice sticks in his throat. He is suddenly terrified, heart kicking in his chest, and Jared is sitting there in front of him, looking at him, and Jensen loves him so much it hurts. He has no idea what's on his face, but Jared sucks in a breath.
"Jensen, you-" He stops, swallows. "Say it, man, you have to say it."
"Jared." He has to reach out, then, put his hand on Jared's face, just touch him. Jared pushes into the contact, and Jensen feels too big for his own skin, too full of everything. "This is what I found out," he says, and he leans forward and puts his mouth on Jared's.
Jared lets out a quiet wounded noise and his mouth goes soft under Jensen's, accommodating, and then he's kissing back.
Jared is kissing him back.
Jensen's eyes fall shut as Jared's hands come up to cup his face, Jared's huge hands that can cradle Jensen's whole head. He strokes at Jared's cheekbone with his thumb, brings up his other hand to hold on to Jared's shoulder, to clutch at his t-shirt, as their lips move together. It's inexpert and hesitant and the best kiss Jensen has ever had.
When they break apart to breathe, Jensen's forehead resting against Jared's, Jared makes this amazing sound, this tiny shred of a laugh that's completely suffused with joy.
"Really?" he asks.
"Yeah," says Jensen, "really," and he pulls back so he can look at Jared properly, because this deserves eye contact. "I love you," he says. "Jared. I'm in love with you." It's surprisingly easy to say it now. He wants to keep saying it until he runs out of voice, until the whole universe knows.
Jared's face is glowing, split into an incredulous grin. "I was hoping you were going to say that." He presses in to kiss Jensen again, short and tantalizingly sweet. "I'm in love with you, too."
Even though it was obvious from Jared's reaction, it still makes Jensen's stomach swoop to hear Jared say it out loud. He crowds back in for another kiss, and then another, and he loses track of long minutes just kissing the boy he loves, the boy who loves him.
The front door slams, making them both jump.
"Five minutes," Katie calls, passing the doorway without stopping. Jensen groans softly and drops his head down to hide his face in Jared's neck, the reality of their situation settling back onto his shoulders.
"Hey, for the record?" Jared says, and Jensen lifts his head back up to face him. "You're an idiot. I can't believe you started avoiding me over that."
"It was really sudden!" Jensen protests. "I didn't know how to talk to you anymore, I didn't want to just spill it out and wreck our friendship."
"So smart," Jared marvels, "yet so dumb. Jensen, I've been in love with you since the fair."
Jensen blinks. Well, there were indicators. But there was the whole alien disclosure thing, and he didn't want to make assumptions when Jared had a concussion, and-
Okay, yeah. He's an idiot.
He smiles ruefully. "Well, it's not like we wasted years or anything, at least," he says, and ducks in for one more lingering kiss before reluctantly pulling away. "It's almost time."
"Yeah." Jared's face is flushed pink, his mouth kissed red, and the thought of leaving him creates a physical ache in Jensen's chest. He takes Jared's hand as he gets up, unwilling to be separated before it's absolutely necessary.
"Six o'clock," Katie calls from the kitchen, and Jared stands up too.
"Okay," he says quietly. "Let's go."
Inside Jared, a minor war is being fought.
On one side is the grave reality that Jeff is dead and evil aliens are coming and sober strategizing is about to take place.
On the other, the giddy high of knowing that Jensen loves him back.
It's a strange feeling, attempt at serious focus constantly interrupted by this winged sensation inside him, and they've only just made it into the kitchen. Jared might come apart at the seams before this is all over.
When they've sat down at the table, Katie says, "I scouted your house," all business, no preamble. "There's a stakeout."
"In case Jeff comes back," Jensen says, nodding. "Little do they know." He's keeping up a pretty good front. It sort of breaks Jared's heart.
"Just two guys, though," Katie goes on. "They raided his computers and some other stuff earlier, I think, but if you stop by there you should be able to sneak in and grab some clothes and whatever you need."
"Okay." Jensen is still holding onto Jared. Their joined hands are lying out in the open on the table and Katie doesn't even seem to care.
Katie's awesome.
Jensen squeezes Jared's hand and asks, "Did you see a dog anywhere around the place?" Of course. Sadie. She'd be treated as a stray.
"Hiding under the porch," Katie reports. "They missed her. She yours?"
"Yeah." Jensen sounds relieved. "I'll get her when I go back. What kind of timeline are we looking at?"
"Last I checked, the Mogs had their mobile camp about five hours south. The four we took out plus the one that got away were probably an advance guard, thought they were just going to be dealing with Jeff initially. Assuming ranged communication capabilities, the absolute soonest they can get backup here is two hours from now. It's possible they might want to take their time mobilizing, since they suffered a really unexpected defeat and they might want to take care."
"But?" says Jensen.
"But probably they'll just want to get here and crush us as fast as possible," Katie says with a shrug. "So we need to be gone and traceless in an hour just to be on the safe side. Can you do it?" She fixes Jensen with a serious gaze. Jensen meets it head-on, his grip on Jared's hand like a vise.
"Yeah. I can."
"All right." Katie flicks a look at Jared. "So we're gone as of 1900."
"I'm coming with you." Jared is surprised to hear himself speak the words, but he realizes that it's not quite as impulsive as it seems. He made the decision fifteen minutes ago on the couch.
"What? Jared, no."
"Why not?" Jared demands. "Am I going to slow you down, is that what you're worried about? Because-"
"Of course not," Jensen interrupts. "Jared, I just, you have a life here. Your mom's here. You're gonna leave everything and come on the road and maybe get killed? It's not worth it."
"Don't tell me what it's worth," Jared snaps. "You don't get to make that decision for me." Their hands are going to break soon, grip on each other tightening like some kind of contest. "Besides," Jared says, a little more evenly, "I'm not leaving everything." He looks directly at Jensen as he says it, and he can see it when Jensen gets the message. His eyes go wide, and he looks almost frightened.
But all he says is, "I guess not," easing off his grip, and Jared feels a measure of tension drain out of himself.
"If that's settled," Katie says pointedly, "we need to figure out where we're heading."
"I guess 'away' is insufficient," Jared hazards, feeble attempt at humour rewarded with a brief smile from Jensen.
"Yeah, if we're going to try and find the others, we should probably have some idea where to start."
"I had a look through that stuff," Katie says, indicating the file box sitting on the side of the table. "Looks like it could be helpful, but it's all pretty obscure."
Jensen nods. "Yeah, Jeff was working on it, but he hadn't found any specific leads that I know of."
"What's in it?" Jared pulls the lid off and stands to peer inside. Jensen's hand tightens reflexively on his.
The box is full of paper, newspaper clippings, reams of handwritten notes and computer printouts, all in a messy heap. Jared, sifting through, has a growing sense of familiarity as words jump out at him here and there, place names and descriptions, and then he comes across a photograph that brings it all into focus.
"This is my dad's," he says blankly. "These are my dad's notes. This was us in Texas, this is his research." The research he would have left behind in his office. Something snaps into place, and he pulls his hand out of Jensen's. "You broke into my dad's office. It was you."
"It was Jeff," Jensen says, but he doesn't sound like he's trying to defend himself. "I knew about it, but he wouldn't let me go with him."
"You knew who broke into my dad's office and you never told me? That news story brought so much shit down on me, you have no idea." God, that week had been horrible, the whispering, the snide comments, the false sympathy, all of it bringing up pain he'd thought he'd dealt with and buried. Jake had honestly been a drop in the bucket. And Jensen knew, the whole time, was complicit.
"I'm sorry, Jared," Jensen pleads, "I didn't know the paper would pick it up, I didn't know it would be that bad for you"
"But you'd have done it anyway, wouldn't you?" Jared demands.
Looking caught, Jensen nods slowly. "Jeff needed to know what your dad was onto. I'm sorry."
"And you never told me."
"You didn't know!" Jensen cries. "How was I supposed to bring that up, Jared? 'Hey, by the way, the person who broke into your dad's office was actually Jeff, he wanted to find out what your dad knew about aliens because we're from another planet'? Yeah, that would have gone really well."
"You could have told me after the fair." Jared knows he's being stubborn, but he really feels like he has a right to be upset here. He feels blindsided, caught off guard, deceived. It doesn't feel good, especially coming from Jensen.
Jensen laughs shortly. "I kinda thought we had other things to worry about."
And that's true. Jared sighs. "Can you just let me be angry for a bit? We're holding up the works."
Jensen looks like he wants to say something, then glances away. "Okay, fine," he says.
"Thank you," says Katie. "So we have all of this stuff and not much idea what it means."
Jared continues sifting through the box as he listens, reading a sentence here and there, finding a few more photographs.
"Jeff seemed to think he was missing some key element of the research," Jensen says, "maybe data on a computer or something, because what's in the box doesn't add up."
"Maybe we can interpolate the missing element," Katie says, but she doesn't sound hopeful.
"Hey," Jared says involuntarily, surprise making him interject. "I have one of these." He pulls out half a geode, fair-sized but small enough to fit comfortably in his hand. The crystals inside are huge around the small hollow in the centre, and they sparkle blue.
Katie sits up straighter. "Show me," she commands, reaching out. He hands her the geode and she examines it closely, holding it up to the light, then under the table. Her eyes are speculative.
"What?" Jensen asks.
"I think I know what this is." She turns back to Jared. "You said you have another? Where did you get it?"
"From my dad. I think it came from one of the Texas trips, why?"
"Because we need it. When you go home to pack, get it. Bring it with you." She looks at her watch. "Okay. It's ten after. Jared, go home, get what you need; Jensen, go back to your house, get your shit. I'll clear out of here. Let's meet in half an hour at Beacon Point."
Jensen clears his throat. "Um, I don't know where that is."
"Remember when I took you to my spot and we took the dirt road south?" Jared says.
"Yeah?"
"You go north there, you hit Beacon Point."
"Got it."
"Good." Katie takes over again. "We'll head north to start, just to get some distance, and then figure it out from there." She looks around the table. "Objections?" No one speaks. "Okay. Half an hour, no later. Get going."
It's strange, returning to the house. It was only home to Jensen in so far as Jeff was there, but it's weird to look at the house he spent the last month and a half in and feel nothing at all.
He's careful, skirting the surveillance through long sunset shadows and using the back door. He can't turn on any lights, and the darkened house after the brilliant turquoise sky outside is a difficult adjustment even for his eyes. He takes the steps with caution. In his room, he ditches his backpack and pulls out the duffel from under his bed, then grabs clothes more or less at random. Jeans, socks, underwear, it doesn't matter what any of it looks like as long as it keeps him covered. T-shirts. He has no sweaters. He was going to buy some, maybe, if they stuck around. He'll have to get some later. All he's got is t-shirts and his blue hoodie.
He pulls on one of the t-shirts and the hoodie and then puts Jared's jacket back on. He wouldn't die without, but it's turning chilly with the onset of evening.
There's nothing else he cares about here except the dog. He exits as carefully as he entered and creeps around toward the front, keeping as low a profile as he can. For a few seconds he's afraid he's going to have to call out to Sadie, maybe the deputies on stakeout will hear and he'll be made, but before he even gets around the house there's a rustle in the dead swathes of unmowed grass and then Sadie's at his feet, winding around his legs, and he drops into a crouch immediately. She whines and licks him urgently, then settles in to follow him, ready like she knows what's going on.
Jensen creeps back the way he came, once again circumnavigating the car containing the sheriff's men. It's dim in the woods around the house, slanting rays from the low sun only confusing visibility, but Jensen knows these woods, has trained in these woods, could navigate these woods again if he left and returned in ten years.
He's not worrying so much about stealth now that he's away from the house and the surveillance team, which is why, when he comes out onto the road near where he stashed Jeff's truck, he doesn't have a prayer of escaping the sheriff's notice. Sheriff Abel, of all people, who, damn Jensen's horrific luck, wasn't even waiting for him. It's not even like he was hanging out by the truck because he recognized it as Jeff's and he knew someone would be by to claim it. No, he very clearly has just arrived on the scene, and is as surprised to see Jensen as Jensen is to see him.
Jensen considers his options. The sheriff wants Jeff, and will therefore want Jensen to tell him where he is. Jensen could tell him the truth, and be disbelieved. He could tell part of the truth, and slightly decrease his chances of being disbelieved. He could run. He could launch a pre-emptive strike.
He has somewhere to be. He doesn't have time for this.
All of these thoughts take a second or so at most, during which time the sheriff startles and tries to pretend he didn't. Sadie's on guard immediately, stiff-legged and bristling, growling her tiny puppy growl.
"Back, Sadie," Jensen orders, sick with fear that she's going to get shot or something. He wouldn't put it past the sheriff. Sadie stands down reluctantly and goes to heel behind Jensen. Before he can decide on the best way to get himself and his dog out of this situation, the sheriff's got his radio out and is saying, "Found the kid," and giving the location, and shit, shit, he's calling for backup, he's going to arrest Jensen, not just question him.
He could run, but the sheriff is between him and the truck, and he's armed. Jensen might be fast enough, but then again, he might not. A brief delirious thought skitters through his brain, that maybe today will be the day he finds out whether he's bulletproof.
"It'd be best for everyone if you came quietly, son," says the Sheriff, and Jensen's anger snaps to life like a signal flare.
"I'm not your son," he spits.
"No, you sure aren't," the sheriff agrees, unhooking the cuffs from his belt, and Jensen's about to do something stupid when he registers movement in the sun-gilded treetops just up the road.
It's sheer instinct that puts it together fast enough, and by the time he's yelled, "Look out!" and tackled the sheriff flat to the dirt of the road, a large black shape has detached itself from the treetops and is skimming above Jensen, outstretched claws just missing their target. "Fuck." Sadie's bolted for the tree line and that looks like a fantastic idea.
"What in the name" Sheriff Abel starts, but Jensen hauls him to his feet and bundles him in among the trees.
"Go, go, go, get off the road, stay in the trees, it doesn't want you," and Jensen shoves the sheriff further into the woods and peers back out to see the creature wheeling for a second pass, the Mogadorian rider clearly silhouetted against the flaming sunset sky.
The huge gun is still in Jeff's truck.
Jensen swears again and makes a dash for the truck, wrenches the door open, makes a grab for the rifle and swipes at what he thinks is the safety, praying he got the right impression of its workings when he looked at it earlier.
The Mog and his steed bear down on him with terrifying swiftness, deceptively smooth movement from such a bulky creature, and Jensen has time only for the most cursory sighting as he aims and pulls the trigger.
The kick of the weapon almost knocks him off his feet and the flying creature sails past him to crash into the trees in a deadfall. The sound of the impact must carry for miles; surely the stakeout has heard. Jensen spares a thought to hope the sheriff's gotten out of the area. Abel can explain this however he wants to in his own mind, to his own people, and Jensen doesn't mind him getting a little traumatized, but asshole or no, the sheriff doesn't deserve to die.
He waits, breathless, to see if anything moves. A moment of quiet hammers into Jensen's ears as he strains to catch any noise, and then there's the sound of movement and he turns to face the Mogadorian coming out of the woods beside him, knife at the ready.
"Oh, come on," Jensen groans. The Mog's almost inside his combat zone already and looking confident, and Jensen wonders if this guy even heard the report from the earlier survivor.
Jensen drops the gun, useless in close combat, and throws out his hand, hurling the unprepared Mog backward and pinning him to a tree. In the same gesture he rips the knife out of the Mog's grasp and stabs him with it, through where he thinks the heart should be. A gurgle and flail later, the Mog is dead.
It's not the kind of thing that would work if he had to deal with more than one attacker at a time, but Jensen just managed to kill a Mogadorian with the bastard's own weapons. He rolls his right shoulder a little gingerly, the one that took the recoil from the gun. He should have used the other hand to focus the telekinesis, but there wasn't time to be deliberate about it. He'll just be sore for a bit. He's kind of proud of himself, and his first instinct is to find Jeff, say guess what I did and maybe I can handle this fight after all, but that can't happen. That can't happen because Jeff is six feet under in Katie's back yard.
He shoves down the grief again and puts the gun back in the truck, safety re-engaged. Sadie appears out of the woods and comes trotting over to climb up into the passenger seat, and Jensen closes the door carefully once she's inside. Shit, he's lost track of the time. He fumbles for his phone and discovers he has just over five minutes to get to Beacon Point. There are noises in the woods, sounds of movement and breaking branches, but he doesn't have time to find out if it's the sheriff or his backup or what. He has to go.
He shouldn't have slept. They could have been gone by now and it wouldn't have mattered that Katie forgot to take flight speed into account. If he hadn't slept, they'd be on the road, and
And maybe they would have been overtaken by the flying scout anyway, and Jensen would still have been drained from the earlier fighting, and it might have gone very much worse.
It is what it is. Jensen puts the truck in gear and throws up gravel as he goes, determined not to make Katie and Jared wait for him.
Jared's mother is out when he gets home.
He makes it there just fine, parks carefully, puts the keys back on the shelf, and then registers how quiet the house is.
His first thought is well, that makes it easy, immediately followed by a wave of self-castigation. No time to dwell on it; he needs to pack.
He looks for the geode first of all, isn't sure he knows exactly where it is anymore. It turns up under a pile of papers and random objects on his desk, in with other rocks and odds and ends that he acquired over the years, from trips he went on himself or from Dad's solo excursions, brought back as consolation souvenirs. They all look cool in some way, oddly shaped or interestingly veined, but probably none of them means anything.
Except the geode.
He dumps the school books out of his backpack and sticks the rock in one of the small zip pockets, then starts shoving in clothing more or less haphazardly. Winter is coming, so he'll definitely need long sleeves, some sweatshirts. He pulls one on over his t-shirt and makes a mental note to grab his other jacket out of the downstairs closet.
He hesitates briefly before stuffing in his current sketchbook, only three pages used and all full of Jensen, and his pencil case. It feels self-indulgent and beside the point to bring them along, but the idea of leaving them behind just feels wrong.
Checking that his wallet contains everything it should, he wonders whether he shouldn't maybe grab a few more pairs of socks, and then mentally shakes himself, remembering the clock.
The house is still empty when he goes back downstairs. He stands by the hall closet for a few precious seconds, frozen by the enormity of leaving without a goodbye.
Jensen's waiting for him.
That thought gives him enough impetus to get out of the house. In the shed, he fumbles his bike out from behind the lawnmower, swearing when the pedal gets snagged on something. He finally gets it free and leaves by the back gate, taking the bumpy alley too fast, but he doesn't, can't care, he needs to go quickly or he will stay.
He slows to make the turn out of the alley onto the road. Suddenly a figure steps out of the shadow directly into his path. He curses, swerves, almost falls off his bike as he stops to make sure he didn't actually hit the guy.
"Shit, I'm sorry, are you" He cuts off when he recognizes the person who just got in his way.
"Fagalecki," says Jake with a wide smile. "Awesome to see you."
"Wish I could say the same." Jared prepares to leave again. "Bye."
"Not so fast, there, champ," says Jake, stepping in front of his bike again. "I think you and I have a little unfinished business."
"We really don't," Jared says, despair washing over him as he realizes he's not getting out of this confrontation. The only thing to do is get it over with as fast as possible. "Far as I'm concerned, you had your fun, you took your lumps. Now you're in my way. Move."
The direct approach doesn't work well on Jake. Jared should really remember this.
"No," Jake says, "no, I see it differently. I see a debt accrued, and I think you need to pay up."
"Oh, are you wanting that kiss back?" Jared asks in a flash of desperation. "I'm sorry, you're too late. I already gave it away."
Jake's expression turns murderous. "You wish, fag," he spits out. "Like anyone would want to kiss your disgusting mouth."
"I don't know, Jensen seems to like it," Jared muses. He thinks maybe he's lost his mind, but he has a small, shining hope that if he gets Jake mad enough, Jake will get sloppy, and then Jared can get past him.
Jake's mouth drops open, a flush rising in his face, and Jared just has time to think, huh, that's interesting, before Jake makes an incoherent noise and lunges at Jared.
On a reflex born of very basic self defence training, Jared makes a palm heel and aims it at Jake's face. It's clear that Jake isn't anticipating any physical resistance because he has no guard up at all; Jared connects solidly with Jake's chin, snapping his jaw shut and his head back.
Jake goes down like a felled tree.
Jared just stares for a second, dumbly shocked, shaking out his hand. He wonders briefly if the football team knows their quarterback has a glass jaw. Then his urgency rears up and reminds him that he has less than five minutes to get out to Beacon Point and there is no way in hell he's going to make it in under ten.
He stands on the pedals and goes.
Jensen is late.
Only by a minute or two, but Katie is pacing, helmet in hand, her blonde curls falling restlessly around her shoulders like they want to be gone as much as she does. She'd heard him coming, was still and watchful when he pulled up, but as soon as she saw there was only him in the truck, she started moving again. She's worn a dim flattened trail along a dozen or so yards of dead grass. Beyond her, the ground drops off, resuming with woods and farmland rolling away to the north and west. The setting sun throws its rays upwards, painting Katie and her bike and the grass with luminescent gold, while behind Jensen lies deep shadow.
He parks and gets out of the truck, nearly shutting the door on Sadie as she slips out after him.
"You're late."
"I know, sorry." Jensen glances around, but it's abundantly clear that Jared isn't there.
"I said half an hour, no later," Katie mutters. "Did I not say no later?"
"Hey," Jensen says, trying to calm himself as much as her, "he'll be here."
"Will he?" She stops in her tracks and looks at him. "I'm trusting you here, Jensen. I don't know him like you do. I was this close to going to look for you, shit." She starts pacing again.
"He'll be here," Jensen says, firmer this time. "Oh, but hey, just so you know, I ran into another of those flying scouts. Took him out," he says quickly, as Katie's attention snaps toward him, "but I thought you should know. You know, for next time, I guess. Flying's apparently faster than you counted on."
Katie frowns. "No, but" She snaps her mouth shut and her eyes go flat. "They moved base camp. They must have."
"What?" This throws off the whole timeline. "Why? How do you know?"
"Those things are no good for distance flight," she explains. "Remember the semi? I should have realized what was in it." She shakes her head. "I've seen them before for any serious travel they have to be carted, but they're fast and more agile than they look, so they're excellent for short distances and fighting."
Jensen can practically see the conclusion coming together in his own brain; it's like he's watching himself process things at half speed, sudden fear replacing all his mental workspace with liquid honey.
"That wasn't a loner I took down," he says. He wishes it were a question, wishes she could deny it, but it's the only thing that makes sense.
"No," she says crisply. "It wasn't. And I don't know how many they'll have sent, but I'm going to guess somewhere between eight and ten, minimum, now that they know there are two of us."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
Where the fuck is Jared?
"Jensen, I don't know if we can outrun them," Katie's saying, "not if they're already here. Maybe we need to let them come to us, just take them out now. I think we can. Bright side, I doubt they'll have any more fliers. They're..."
But Jensen's distracted, because Jared's just appeared from between the trees a little way down the slope, wheeling his bicycle doggedly. Sadie runs toward him and rubs up against his leg, almost tripping him up.
"You made it." Jensen's in front of Jared before he realizes he's moved, and Jared hugs him with the arm that's not holding his bike. "Come on, get that in the truck," Jensen says.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Jared says to Katie as he hefts his bike over the side of the truck bed. "I ran into Jake on the way here, you know how he gets."
"What happened? Are you okay?" Jensen demands, wondering if he's somehow missed some new mark on Jared.
"I, uh, knocked him out," Jared says, running a hand through his hair self-consciously.
"You" Jensen can't help it, he has to kiss Jared.
Jared pulls back laughing and Jensen turns to Katie, remembering what she was trying to say earlier.
"One problem with staying here," he says. "Jared's vulnerable."
"Wait, sorry," Jared interjects, "can somebody fill me in quick?"
"Short version is my time estimate was off and backup will be here any minute. If we want any kind of control over this situation, we have to choose the battleground, and that means we let them come to us here," Katie says.
"But you're not a fighter and you're human," Jensen adds.
"So we give him the gun."
"Can he use it?" Jensen counters. As far as Jensen knows, Jared has no combat experience or training, and giving someone a weapon they don't know how to use is a really good way to get them killed. He turns back to Jared, who, if he's anything but perfectly calm, is hiding it well. "Have you ever shot anything before?"
"Sort of?" Jared hedges. At Jensen's eyebrow he shrugs. "I spent a lot of time in arcades when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure I can aim, at least."
It's so far from ideal. But
"Give him the gun," says Katie. "Look, it's now or later, and we're only going to get worse off. I pick now."
Before Jensen can come up with a suitable resolution to the warring factions within him, the logic of Katie's position clashing with his need to keep Jared away from danger, Jared touches his back and says, "I'll try to stay out of the way. Sadie can protect me." At Jensen's unamused look, Jared says earnestly, "Just get it over with if you can."
Jensen sighs, shallow and tight, and says, "Fine. We make our stand here. Jared" he grabs the gun out of the truck and holds it up. "This is the safety," he says, indicating. "You slide it like this, and you're good. Trigger like every other gun ever. It fires compact energy bursts. Oh, and it kicks like a fuckin' horse, so brace for that."
"Wait," Jared interrupts, "wait, did you actually get your hands on a real live plasma rifle?"
Jensen looks at the weapon in his hands. "Yes," he says after a moment, "yes, I think I did." He holds it out, offering it to Jared. "And it's all yours." Jared takes it reverently and Jensen says, "Now don't say I never gave you anything nice." Jared turns and shoulder-checks him, attention still fixed on the damn plasma rifle. Jensen turns a glance toward Katie and finds that she's watching Jared with an unusually soft expression on her face.
He hates to break it, but they need to be prepared. "Katie," he says, and watches with expected dismay as her face closes. "Plan?"
Jared isn't scared, not really. Not yet.
He's holed up between a giant double-trunk monstrosity of a tree and some very dense shrubbery, crouched uncomfortably so his head doesn't poke up and become a target. He's seen enough action movies to know more or less how not to be stupid about this. Action movies don't tell you what to do if your leg falls asleep, though, and Jared's is definitely going to if he doesn't get to move soon. He rubs at it as surreptitiously as he can, trying to keep the blood flowing. His middle aches slightly, leftover bruising from Jake's fist protesting his cramped position. Sadie, curled up next to him, nudges his leg with her nose,
Through a gap, he can see out to the clear crest of the hill, where Jensen is waiting in the open by the truck. Katie's bike is hidden in much the same way Jared is, so hopefully the Mogadorians won't expect her to be lurking in the trees. Jensen-as-bait is the smartest approach, and Jared's logic accepts this, but he's vaguely aware of a major freakout just lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to reduce him to blithering incompetence.
He deliberately cultivates the calm he found after knocking Jake out. The more he can delay the freakout, the better; nothing's even happening yet.
For all Katie's urgency, it feels like eons that Jared is crouched waiting before the Mogadorians show up. In reality it's probably not that long, but the suspense is going to kill Jared before the Mogadorians even get the chance.
Then everything seems to happen at once. One moment Jensen is checking his watch with (probably) feigned anxiety; the next, he's dodged behind the truck and there's a smoking hole where his feet were a split second ago. It's a moment before Jared registers the sound of the weapon firing, and another moment after that before he realizes he's stopped breathing. He forces himself to start again.
Meanwhile, Jensen is calling, "I thought you people had rules of engagement, asshole!"
Dark and shredded-sounding laughter comes in response. Jared cranes frantically around, trying to stay hidden and catch a glimpse of the approaching enemy at the same time, and it's such a frustratingly hopeless endeavour that he wants to cry. He doesn't even know what they look like, and they might kill him before he finds out.
"We do," says a voice, strongly accented but perfectly intelligible. "That was a warning shot."
"Yeah? Not sure it counts when you aim right at the guy you're trying to warn."
"When the guy can dodge like you can, of course it counts." And yeah, apparently the Mogs know exactly what they're up against. Great.
"If you don't know what's coming, there is no fun in killing you," explains a second voice, not as deep. Maybe a female? Jared can't see.
"I disagree," says Jensen, and all hell breaks loose.
For a little while all Jared can hear is the sound of fighting, loud and confusing and utterly terrifying, and the action moves in and out of view. He sees a Mogadorian fall and lie still; she never gets up. Jensen is moving faster than Jared can track and Katie's out there too now, and it's all happening so fast.
Then something hard presses up against the base of Jared's skull and everything stops.
"I've seen you," says a voice behind him, and if this were a video game Jared would laugh at how obviously creepy the guy sounds. Like, it's too over the top and the accent sounds like fake Russian, it shouldn't be scary in real life, except that's almost certainly a gun of some kind prodding at the back of Jared's head, and yeah. Jared has never been so afraid in his entire life. "You're close with Number Four. I think he should get to watch you die." Jared's whole body locks up, even as the voice says, "Get up," and the gun or whatever jabs him hard.
Sadie was cowering by his leg, last Jared saw, but as he tries to comply, he doesn't see her anywhere. Then he hears her growl and looks around; the pressure on his skull eases slightly as the voice behind him laughs, but then the growl begins to grow and Sadie bunches up and unfurls into something huge and impossible. Chest broader than a car, legs like tree trunks, a jaw like the world's biggest bear trap and wicked claws. Her ears are shorter, less likely to get in the way, Jared's brain catalogues, and he can't see a tail from this angle at all. Maybe this form doesn't have one.
The Mog behind Jared stops laughing. The weapon leaves Jared's skull and he looks around in time to see it swing toward the giant creature before it lunges, pounces, and gets its jaws around the Mog's neck. There are several sickening cracks and a tearing sound, and the Mog lies still with his head at an implausible angle, leaking dull yellow. Jared stares in horrified fascination as the creature Sadie, Jared reminds himself, that's probably still Sadie, he watched it happen with his eyes lifts her ochre-stained muzzle and regards him calmly. She rubs her face into the undergrowth and it comes out a bit cleaner, and she produces an irritated shrug-yawn that Jared recognizes as one of her puppy mannerisms. God, Jared is having the weirdest day.
Now that his life is no longer in immediate peril, Jared turns back to the fight out past the trees. He counts four Mogadorians still on their feet; there's blood on Jensen and Katie both, but they're still moving too fast to follow, so they can't be too badly hurt.
"Should we go help?" he demands of Sadie. She looks at him, looks out at the fight, and doesn't move. "Okay, yeah, they probably have this covered." Another Mog goes down just then, but the fighting has migrated so close to the cliff edge that the momentum of his death carries him into Jensen and takes them both over the edge.
Jared slaps both hands over his mouth to keep from yelling Jensen's name. The cliff isn't sheer. Jensen's probably not dead yet. Then Katie and the other Mogs follow after, and everyone is out of sight and the sounds aren't as clear and Jared has absolutely no idea what is going on.
"Come on," he says, and goes to lead Sadie out of the trees. She can follow him or not, whatever, but he's going.
Sadie's got other ideas, and shoulders in front of him. At first he thinks she's blocking him, but she's actually just taking point herself.
"Fine. Let's go."
As Jared nears the cliff edge, Sadie suddenly shoves him with her huge foreleg. He tumbles off his feet but jerks his head around in time to see a huge shape whip through the air right where his head used to be. It clips Sadie hard in the shoulder and she lets out a vicious whine. Blood wells up immediately and her foreleg buckles. As the huge flying thing starts to bank back towards them, wobbling in the air a little like it's already hurt, Jared picks up the huge-ass gun from where he dropped it and makes himself pay attention to precisely undoing the safety with shaking hands before he scopes the beast.
It's coming fast, faster than he'd have thought, but he's reverse-strafed enough virtual aircraft that some reflex he didn't realize he had kicks in and he lets off a shot that gets the ugly thing right in the underbelly.
The kickback knocks him flat and he might have dislocated his shoulder, but the thing crash-lands just shy of the tree line and Jared can't believe he actually just did that.
"Are you kidding me," he whoops, turning to Sadie. She's not looking at him, though, pointed at the cliff's edge and growling at the massive Mogadorian that's hauling himself up over the edge. Oh, excellent. And he can't get another shot off; Jared can barely lift his arm.
But Sadie stands as steady as she can, as big as she can, which, shit, is really freaking big, taller than the Mog, even, and he's probably the tallest human-looking person Jared has ever seen. He's wearing thick gauntlets that look like they're actually made out of metal, and his fists are almost as big as Jared's head. He's grinning.
"Come play, little one," he says to Sadie, and Sadie snarls at him and lunges forward. He's ready, landing a punch somewhere in the vicinity of her sternum, and it actually kills her momentum. She shakes out her head, digs her claws into the ground and goes in again.
Jared is probably in about seven kinds of shock right now and he's not sure he could move if he tried. All he can do is watch the fight play out. Sadie's warier now, more careful of the gauntlets, and the Mog is like a scaled-down freight train but he's not very agile. Sadie feints in and out a few times, taking some more blows, once to her injured shoulder and oh, that looks like it hurts, but Jared's not quite sure what she's after until the Mog goes in for a punch to her throat and leaves the back of his neck unprotected, and Sadie ducks her head around like a snake and grabs him by the spine, shaking him until he cracks, until he starts leaking, until he's definitely, definitely dead, and then she drops him and collapses onto her side.
Jared runs to her, ignoring the viscera. "Good girl," he says stupidly. It's all he can think to say. He puts his good arm as far around her neck as he can and she snuffles at his hair. "Good girl."
Then he doesn't have an armful of neck anymore, there's just a little beagle puppy limping bloody into his lap, and he cuddles her up with his good arm and gives up on not hurting his bad arm and just sits there rocking. If anyone else comes at them they're going to die, but he's done. They're done.
Jensen scrambles up the near-vertical cliff face as well as he can with his knee kicked to shit and bruises forming all up his side from landing badly earlier. And the gash in his ribs. And a few other things. Turns out he can't shield against physical attacks. He's kind of battered, but there is one Mogadorian left fighting Katie and the biggest got away up the cliff, and Jared's still up there. Katie can fight. Jared can't.
When he clears the edge, the first thing he sees is Jared, slumped on the ground with Sadie in his lap. There's blood. Then he registers the huge Mog lying dead nearby and the huge flying creature lying dead over by the trees and his whole body buckles. He barely catches himself from falling.
"Jared," he says, and Jared looks up. His face looks tight, probably with pain, especially considering how his arm is hanging, but as soon as he sees Jensen he looks so relieved and happy that Jensen has to get to him immediately, drops down to his knees next to Jared and reaches out to just touch, hand to face. Jared leans into the contact instantly, eyes blinking shut for a moment before he opens them again.
"Katie?" he asks.
"Finishing up. She'll be okay. I had to make sure you what the hell, Jared, this guy looks like something tried to eat him. What happened up here?"
Jared laughs a little shakily. "Sadie happened. I, uh, think she might be one of your kind. Did you know she can transform?"
Jensen stares. "What."
"Right? But she's badass, Jensen. You should've seen her." Jared tightens his arm around Sadie and she nuzzles into his elbow. Jensen strokes gently at the fur around her shoulder, matted with blood, parting it as well as he can to see the wound. It's not pretty, but it's not bleeding much anymore. They should clean it, but she seems stable.
"What about the flyer?"
"Oh, that. Um, I shot it." Jared grins. "I hope you know how to relocate a shoulder."
"I don't think that's how you say it," Jensen says, "but yeah. Hang on." He moves into position behind Jared and braces him, taking Jared's forearm. "Breathe out?" he says, and when Jared does, he quickly bends Jared's arm and turns it, popping the shoulder back in.
Jared's breathing goes briefly ragged, but then he sighs deeply and says, "Thanks."
"Of course." Jensen folds Jared's arm in to his chest and keeps his own arm over it, hugging Jared. Jared leans back into him.
Katie finds them that way a minute or so later when she appears at the cliff edge.
"Done?" Jensen asks.
"Done," she confirms. "There's a med kit in my bike, do we need it?"
"Yeah."
They get everyone cleaned up, Jared's arm into a sling, and then they kind of just stare at each other.
It's Jared who voices the obvious question.
"What the hell do we do now?"
"Exactly what we were going to do," says Katie, as if it's obvious.
"But we still don't know where we're going," Jensen points out.
"Right." Katie pulls out the half-geode. "That's where this comes in, I think. Jared, where's yours?"
Jared fumbles in his backpack until he comes out with his half. "I'm really confused right now," he says, "for the record."
"That's fine. Give it to Jensen."
Jensen takes the geode curiously.
"I might be wrong," says Katie, "but I think if we" She holds her half out toward Jensen and he takes the hint and does the same. The halves meet in the middle and seem to snap together and lock. Jensen gasps, startled.
"This is," he begins, but then the geode starts to glow, and all of a sudden he sees faces, locations, names, routes, streaming into his perception and imprinting his mind with indelible knowledge. He can feel, all over the world, where those locations are, where the other six are, more than he ever really thought he'd live to see but still so few, and he knows that he will keep that extra sense forever, in the place where his Legacy lives. He can feel Katie across from him, joined through the geode with the power of their Legacies, and they are already so strong together, he can only imagine how strong they will be when they join with the others.
Then as quickly as it began the transfer of information halts and Jensen jerks, opening his eyes. The geode has faded, but it remains a whole stone, joined back together by whatever just happened. Jensen can still feel Katie, and, if he reaches, the others. He lets go, and Katie takes custody of the stone.
"North, then," he says, and Katie nods.
"Hi," says Jared, "human here. Sorry, I need more words."
"We know where the rest are," Jensen says. "I can feel them. We can go find them now. Number Eight lives in Saskatchewan; she's closest. That's where we're going next. If you still want to come, that is," he finishes. It's suddenly occurred to him that maybe Jared would rather not risk his life on a regular basis, now that he's had a brush with death.
Jared steps up in front of him so he can't avoid looking at him. "One of these days," he says softly, "you're going to start trusting me." Jensen wants to protest, to tell Jared that he does trust him, but Jared shakes his head and continues, "Not like that. I know you do. What I mean is, just because you can't ever stop loving me, you shouldn't assume that I'll eventually stop loving you." He smiles crookedly. "You're stuck with me."
Jensen has a thousand possible responses stacked up inside, too many for any one to make it out. So instead, he pulls Jared in and kisses him. Jared wraps his arms around Jensen's waist immediately, pulling their bodies flush, and Jensen presses in as close as he can physically get.
After far too brief a time, they pull back to just breathe, mindful of Katie. Jensen drops his head onto Jared's shoulder, hiding a smile
"Okay," he says quietly. "I can live with that."
The sky is dark and freckled with stars when they drive away, Jensen and Jared in the truck with Jared's bicycle in the back, Katie leading on her bike. The alien bodies littering the moonlit landscape are no longer their concern.
They're still alive, and they're going to find the other Legacies. It's time to make a stand.
~the end~
Jared has been home for half an hour when his phone buzzes with a text from Jensen. He snatches it up eagerly.
Jeff's dead.
Jared stares uncomprehendingly at his phone. Without really intending to, he's been formulating possibilities in his head of why Jensen's been avoiding him and what he might say if he broke the silence. The reality is so foreign to his expectations that, at first, it doesn't even register as having meaning.
After an eternal second, his brain kicks into gear and informs him that it has to be exactly what it looks like. Jensen wouldn't jerk him around like this, he just wouldn't. So that means Jeff is dead.
Jeff is dead.
He texts back, where are you?? and grabs the jacket he left hanging over the back of his desk chair.
234 Aspen. Behind the 7-11
i'll be right there.
Jared thunders down the stairs, trying to remember where in the shed he left his bike and whether Greg would have moved it. His mother is in the kitchen cutting vegetables.
"Mom, I have to go out, I'll be back," he says, and she puts down the knife and turns to look at him severely.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
It's like hitting a brick wall. He somehow forgot that he's still fucking grounded.
He cannot be grounded.
"Mom, you don't understand. I have to go. Jensen needs me."
She smiles sadly. "I know you want to spend time with him, honey, but I just feel better when I know you're home and safe." Jared opens his mouth, but she cuts him off. "Remember what happened the last time you were out with Jensen."
Jared could scream.
"Mom. Jensen's having a family emergency. I need to go and be with him, and you can't stop me." He heads for the door.
"At least take the Jeep," she calls after him, sounding defeated. "So I know you're not out on the street alone."
He grabs the keys off the shelf by the door, gratitude leaking in past the edges of his frustration. "Thanks bye," he calls.
"And I want you home by ten!" Jared hears, as the door swings shut behind him.
He tries not to speed, because obviously it would suck to get pulled over, but he's pushing thirty-five most of the way. It takes him less than five minutes to get to Aspen Road and another minute or two to find 234, which turns out to be a tiny brick house on a dead scrap of grass that barely qualifies as a yard.
When Jared tries the doorbell he doesn't hear anything, so he raps on the door. Footsteps approach, and then the door opens and Katie is standing on the other side.
"Come in," she says.
There's a corner of Jared's mind that's staring blankly at Katie and asking why Jensen is at her house. Most of him just wants to get to Jensen.
Katie moves back to lead him through the narrow front hallway into the living room. Jensen is there, sitting on a threadbare brown plush couch with his elbows on his knees and his phone in his hand. He looks up when Jared enters.
"I'm going to finish up outside," Katie says, and disappears.
Jared stands awkwardly in the doorway looking at Jensen. Jensen drops his phone on the coffee table and gets up from the couch. His jeans are bloodstained and torn, and he isn't wearing a shirt.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you," Jensen says, and it's so completely beside the point that Jared is jarred out of his uncertain stasis.
"Shut up," he says fiercely, and steps into the room.
Jensen meets him halfway and walks right into his arms, pushing in close, no barriers, locking his arms around Jared like the last two days of radio silence never happened. His back is tense under Jared's hands and his grip on Jared trembles slightly.
"Hey," Jared says, smoothing one hand carefully along Jensen's back while the other rests at the base of his neck. "Jensen, hey. It's okay. I'm here. Let it out." Jensen takes a huge shuddering breath. Jared says, "It's okay," one more time, and Jensen keens into his shoulder and finally breaks down.
He cries into Jared's jacket, huge choking sobs, and Jared hangs on, holds Jensen through it, repeating, "It's okay," and "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Jensen," until finally Jensen's cried himself to exhaustion. It doesn't take that long. He looked close to exhaustion to begin with.
Jensen pulls back a little, not far enough to break Jared's hold, and wipes his eyes with both hands. "Sorry I got your jacket gross," he mutters.
"Hey." Jared jostles him a little. "Stop apologizing for shit that doesn't matter."
Jensen ducks in to rest his forehead against Jared's collarbone. "Sorry," he repeats, and Jared can't help smiling a little in spite of the situation, squeezing Jensen almost involuntarily.
"Come on, you should probably sit down."
The couch is more comfortable than it looks, and long, almost long enough that Jared could stretch out comfortably on it. There's a box of tissues on the corner table and Jared grabs a handful for Jensen and shrugs off his jacket before sitting down at the end of the couch with Jensen squished up against him.
"We don't have a lot of time," Jensen says after he's finished blowing his nose. "Katie figures midnight, tops, before we're in trouble again."
"You can take ten minutes and tell me what's going on, though, yeah?"
"Yeah." Jensen insinuates himself under Jared's arm, and Jared pulls him close. Jensen's bare skin is smooth and warm, but it doesn't take much effort for Jared to will away the urge to touch more. Taking advantage of grieving people is pretty much the epitome of a jerk move. "Short version: the Mogs found us. Jeff died, and one of them got away. He'll be back with more, so we have to get the hell out of Dodge." Jensen speaks quickly, like he's not thinking too hard about what he's saying. Jared aches. "Oh. Also, Katie's one of us."
"One of...?"
"I'm Four; she's Six."
"Oh." Jared processes this. Katie is one of the nine that Jensen told him about. This explains how she was unfazed by Jensen's display of powers outside the corn maze. They're the same; she probably also has powers. She's not a pathetic ignorant human like Jared, who's barely poked his nose into the mysteries of life from other planets. And Jensen said "we." They'll be on the run together. Probably better for Jensen to have someone with him who knows what's up, who can fight and be an ally, instead of being stuck with some loser from Ohio who can barely throw a punch. "Wait," Jared says, remembering. "Don't you all have guardians? Where's hers?"
"Dead."
Jared flinches. "God. Sorry."
"Now who's apologising for stupid things?" Jensen shoves into him "Sam being dead doesn't affect" he cuts himself off. "Just. Forget it, it's fine."
No it's not, Jared thinks. This whole situation is so very far from fine.
"Look," Jensen murmurs, barely audible, "I should tell you why I was ignoring you, but" He breaks off uncomfortably.
"Hey, man, it's okay," Jared says, disregarding the flash of hurt it still causes him to think about it. He really wants an explanation, but it's kind of the least of their worries at the moment. "You don't have to tell me right now."
"Too much shit, not enough time," Jensen mutters. "Katie's calling a strategy meeting at 6. That gives us, what, an hour and a half?"
Jared digs his phone out and checks the time. "About that, yeah."
"Okay. I'm going to sleep. I think I drained my powers setting people on fire." Jensen yawns as Jared boggles.
"You never told me you could do that," he says.
"Just found out." He shifts. "Stay with me?" he asks, and his voice is small.
"Of course."
They rearrange, a bit awkwardly, until they're both lying down, Jensen tucked in between Jared and the back of the couch, back to chest. Jared wraps one arm around Jensen's body and hesitantly lays a hand over his bare chest; Jensen puts his hand on Jared's and tangles their fingers together, relaxing back into Jared.
Jared didn't think he'd sleep, but now that his adrenaline spike's faded and he has Jensen safe and close, he's surprisingly prepared to drop off. Before he gets too far under, Jensen says, "Jared."
"Mnh?"
"Thank you."
Jared doesn't say anything, just pulls Jensen closer and sinks back toward sleep.
Jensen wakes up feeling about a thousand times better. He went to sleep feeling hollowed out and hopeless, and he wonders how much of that was due simply to Legacy fatigue. Jeff would know.
He pushes the thought of Jeff aside for the moment. There's not time right now for him to be constantly taking grief breaks; he supposes he will process it in chunks, whenever his self can take the time. All at once would be like swallowing an elephant.
Instead, he focuses on here and now, taking his comfort as it comes. He feels remarkably warm and safe, tucked between Jared and the back of the couch with Jared's arm secure around him and Jared's warm breath on the back of his neck. He doesn't want to move.
Jared's breathing changes subtly; he's awake now. He doesn't move, perhaps not wanting to wake Jensen if he's still asleep.
Jensen shifts, removing any doubt.
"Hey," says Jared softly, voice low and rough with sleep, and Jensen squeezes his hand.
"Hey," he answers, just as quietly. "Time is it?"
"Lemme check." Jared pulls away and sits up.
Jensen makes a small noise of displeasure. "Cold," he complains, rolling his upper body back into the warm spot Jared left, his legs colliding with Jared's hip. Jared puts down the phone in his hand and looks down on Jensen fondly.
"You're such a baby," he says, shaking his head. "Here," and he leans and grabs his jacket off the floor where he dropped it earlier.
Jensen sits up facing him and pulls the jacket on. It's blue and smells like Jared and it's a little too big. Perfect. He can't even complain about the crusted snot on the shoulder; that was all him.
"It's quarter to," Jared says.
Jensen nods. Almost time to figure out what to do next. They'll be leaving, he knows, he and Katie have to get out of here and regroup. Jeff's gone, his home is compromised; he's got nothing left here but Jared, and as he thinks about leaving, that familiar panic rises up in him again, clinging to Jared and digging in its heels.
Jensen swallows.
"Jared," he says. He might not get another shot at this. Maybe he has no choice but to go, but if he leaves without telling Jared, he will never forgive himself.
"Mm?" Jared's still sitting on the edge of the couch, near the middle. He has one foot on the floor and he's so close to Jensen; their faces are maybe half a yard apart.
"I said I'd tell you why I was ignoring you," Jensen says. "It's kind of stupid, but I didn't know how else to handle it, I just kind of freaked out and yeah."
"Handle what?" Jared just looks curious, not upset, not judgemental, and Jensen takes a deep breath.
"I didn't even figure it out myself," he says, looking at the back of the couch so he won't look at Jared's mouth. "Jeff had to tell me. I guess I'm really obvious, but... I didn't see it."
"See what? Jensen, come on." Jared ducks his head into Jensen's sight line, trying for eye contact. Jensen caves and gives it to him.
"I-" His voice sticks in his throat. He is suddenly terrified, heart kicking in his chest, and Jared is sitting there in front of him, looking at him, and Jensen loves him so much it hurts. He has no idea what's on his face, but Jared sucks in a breath.
"Jensen, you-" He stops, swallows. "Say it, man, you have to say it."
"Jared." He has to reach out, then, put his hand on Jared's face, just touch him. Jared pushes into the contact, and Jensen feels too big for his own skin, too full of everything. "This is what I found out," he says, and he leans forward and puts his mouth on Jared's.
Jared lets out a quiet wounded noise and his mouth goes soft under Jensen's, accommodating, and then he's kissing back.
Jared is kissing him back.
Jensen's eyes fall shut as Jared's hands come up to cup his face, Jared's huge hands that can cradle Jensen's whole head. He strokes at Jared's cheekbone with his thumb, brings up his other hand to hold on to Jared's shoulder, to clutch at his t-shirt, as their lips move together. It's inexpert and hesitant and the best kiss Jensen has ever had.
When they break apart to breathe, Jensen's forehead resting against Jared's, Jared makes this amazing sound, this tiny shred of a laugh that's completely suffused with joy.
"Really?" he asks.
"Yeah," says Jensen, "really," and he pulls back so he can look at Jared properly, because this deserves eye contact. "I love you," he says. "Jared. I'm in love with you." It's surprisingly easy to say it now. He wants to keep saying it until he runs out of voice, until the whole universe knows.
Jared's face is glowing, split into an incredulous grin. "I was hoping you were going to say that." He presses in to kiss Jensen again, short and tantalizingly sweet. "I'm in love with you, too."
Even though it was obvious from Jared's reaction, it still makes Jensen's stomach swoop to hear Jared say it out loud. He crowds back in for another kiss, and then another, and he loses track of long minutes just kissing the boy he loves, the boy who loves him.
The front door slams, making them both jump.
"Five minutes," Katie calls, passing the doorway without stopping. Jensen groans softly and drops his head down to hide his face in Jared's neck, the reality of their situation settling back onto his shoulders.
"Hey, for the record?" Jared says, and Jensen lifts his head back up to face him. "You're an idiot. I can't believe you started avoiding me over that."
"It was really sudden!" Jensen protests. "I didn't know how to talk to you anymore, I didn't want to just spill it out and wreck our friendship."
"So smart," Jared marvels, "yet so dumb. Jensen, I've been in love with you since the fair."
Jensen blinks. Well, there were indicators. But there was the whole alien disclosure thing, and he didn't want to make assumptions when Jared had a concussion, and-
Okay, yeah. He's an idiot.
He smiles ruefully. "Well, it's not like we wasted years or anything, at least," he says, and ducks in for one more lingering kiss before reluctantly pulling away. "It's almost time."
"Yeah." Jared's face is flushed pink, his mouth kissed red, and the thought of leaving him creates a physical ache in Jensen's chest. He takes Jared's hand as he gets up, unwilling to be separated before it's absolutely necessary.
"Six o'clock," Katie calls from the kitchen, and Jared stands up too.
"Okay," he says quietly. "Let's go."
Inside Jared, a minor war is being fought.
On one side is the grave reality that Jeff is dead and evil aliens are coming and sober strategizing is about to take place.
On the other, the giddy high of knowing that Jensen loves him back.
It's a strange feeling, attempt at serious focus constantly interrupted by this winged sensation inside him, and they've only just made it into the kitchen. Jared might come apart at the seams before this is all over.
When they've sat down at the table, Katie says, "I scouted your house," all business, no preamble. "There's a stakeout."
"In case Jeff comes back," Jensen says, nodding. "Little do they know." He's keeping up a pretty good front. It sort of breaks Jared's heart.
"Just two guys, though," Katie goes on. "They raided his computers and some other stuff earlier, I think, but if you stop by there you should be able to sneak in and grab some clothes and whatever you need."
"Okay." Jensen is still holding onto Jared. Their joined hands are lying out in the open on the table and Katie doesn't even seem to care.
Katie's awesome.
Jensen squeezes Jared's hand and asks, "Did you see a dog anywhere around the place?" Of course. Sadie. She'd be treated as a stray.
"Hiding under the porch," Katie reports. "They missed her. She yours?"
"Yeah." Jensen sounds relieved. "I'll get her when I go back. What kind of timeline are we looking at?"
"Last I checked, the Mogs had their mobile camp about five hours south. The four we took out plus the one that got away were probably an advance guard, thought they were just going to be dealing with Jeff initially. Assuming ranged communication capabilities, the absolute soonest they can get backup here is two hours from now. It's possible they might want to take their time mobilizing, since they suffered a really unexpected defeat and they might want to take care."
"But?" says Jensen.
"But probably they'll just want to get here and crush us as fast as possible," Katie says with a shrug. "So we need to be gone and traceless in an hour just to be on the safe side. Can you do it?" She fixes Jensen with a serious gaze. Jensen meets it head-on, his grip on Jared's hand like a vise.
"Yeah. I can."
"All right." Katie flicks a look at Jared. "So we're gone as of 1900."
"I'm coming with you." Jared is surprised to hear himself speak the words, but he realizes that it's not quite as impulsive as it seems. He made the decision fifteen minutes ago on the couch.
"What? Jared, no."
"Why not?" Jared demands. "Am I going to slow you down, is that what you're worried about? Because-"
"Of course not," Jensen interrupts. "Jared, I just, you have a life here. Your mom's here. You're gonna leave everything and come on the road and maybe get killed? It's not worth it."
"Don't tell me what it's worth," Jared snaps. "You don't get to make that decision for me." Their hands are going to break soon, grip on each other tightening like some kind of contest. "Besides," Jared says, a little more evenly, "I'm not leaving everything." He looks directly at Jensen as he says it, and he can see it when Jensen gets the message. His eyes go wide, and he looks almost frightened.
But all he says is, "I guess not," easing off his grip, and Jared feels a measure of tension drain out of himself.
"If that's settled," Katie says pointedly, "we need to figure out where we're heading."
"I guess 'away' is insufficient," Jared hazards, feeble attempt at humour rewarded with a brief smile from Jensen.
"Yeah, if we're going to try and find the others, we should probably have some idea where to start."
"I had a look through that stuff," Katie says, indicating the file box sitting on the side of the table. "Looks like it could be helpful, but it's all pretty obscure."
Jensen nods. "Yeah, Jeff was working on it, but he hadn't found any specific leads that I know of."
"What's in it?" Jared pulls the lid off and stands to peer inside. Jensen's hand tightens reflexively on his.
The box is full of paper, newspaper clippings, reams of handwritten notes and computer printouts, all in a messy heap. Jared, sifting through, has a growing sense of familiarity as words jump out at him here and there, place names and descriptions, and then he comes across a photograph that brings it all into focus.
"This is my dad's," he says blankly. "These are my dad's notes. This was us in Texas, this is his research." The research he would have left behind in his office. Something snaps into place, and he pulls his hand out of Jensen's. "You broke into my dad's office. It was you."
"It was Jeff," Jensen says, but he doesn't sound like he's trying to defend himself. "I knew about it, but he wouldn't let me go with him."
"You knew who broke into my dad's office and you never told me? That news story brought so much shit down on me, you have no idea." God, that week had been horrible, the whispering, the snide comments, the false sympathy, all of it bringing up pain he'd thought he'd dealt with and buried. Jake had honestly been a drop in the bucket. And Jensen knew, the whole time, was complicit.
"I'm sorry, Jared," Jensen pleads, "I didn't know the paper would pick it up, I didn't know it would be that bad for you"
"But you'd have done it anyway, wouldn't you?" Jared demands.
Looking caught, Jensen nods slowly. "Jeff needed to know what your dad was onto. I'm sorry."
"And you never told me."
"You didn't know!" Jensen cries. "How was I supposed to bring that up, Jared? 'Hey, by the way, the person who broke into your dad's office was actually Jeff, he wanted to find out what your dad knew about aliens because we're from another planet'? Yeah, that would have gone really well."
"You could have told me after the fair." Jared knows he's being stubborn, but he really feels like he has a right to be upset here. He feels blindsided, caught off guard, deceived. It doesn't feel good, especially coming from Jensen.
Jensen laughs shortly. "I kinda thought we had other things to worry about."
And that's true. Jared sighs. "Can you just let me be angry for a bit? We're holding up the works."
Jensen looks like he wants to say something, then glances away. "Okay, fine," he says.
"Thank you," says Katie. "So we have all of this stuff and not much idea what it means."
Jared continues sifting through the box as he listens, reading a sentence here and there, finding a few more photographs.
"Jeff seemed to think he was missing some key element of the research," Jensen says, "maybe data on a computer or something, because what's in the box doesn't add up."
"Maybe we can interpolate the missing element," Katie says, but she doesn't sound hopeful.
"Hey," Jared says involuntarily, surprise making him interject. "I have one of these." He pulls out half a geode, fair-sized but small enough to fit comfortably in his hand. The crystals inside are huge around the small hollow in the centre, and they sparkle blue.
Katie sits up straighter. "Show me," she commands, reaching out. He hands her the geode and she examines it closely, holding it up to the light, then under the table. Her eyes are speculative.
"What?" Jensen asks.
"I think I know what this is." She turns back to Jared. "You said you have another? Where did you get it?"
"From my dad. I think it came from one of the Texas trips, why?"
"Because we need it. When you go home to pack, get it. Bring it with you." She looks at her watch. "Okay. It's ten after. Jared, go home, get what you need; Jensen, go back to your house, get your shit. I'll clear out of here. Let's meet in half an hour at Beacon Point."
Jensen clears his throat. "Um, I don't know where that is."
"Remember when I took you to my spot and we took the dirt road south?" Jared says.
"Yeah?"
"You go north there, you hit Beacon Point."
"Got it."
"Good." Katie takes over again. "We'll head north to start, just to get some distance, and then figure it out from there." She looks around the table. "Objections?" No one speaks. "Okay. Half an hour, no later. Get going."
It's strange, returning to the house. It was only home to Jensen in so far as Jeff was there, but it's weird to look at the house he spent the last month and a half in and feel nothing at all.
He's careful, skirting the surveillance through long sunset shadows and using the back door. He can't turn on any lights, and the darkened house after the brilliant turquoise sky outside is a difficult adjustment even for his eyes. He takes the steps with caution. In his room, he ditches his backpack and pulls out the duffel from under his bed, then grabs clothes more or less at random. Jeans, socks, underwear, it doesn't matter what any of it looks like as long as it keeps him covered. T-shirts. He has no sweaters. He was going to buy some, maybe, if they stuck around. He'll have to get some later. All he's got is t-shirts and his blue hoodie.
He pulls on one of the t-shirts and the hoodie and then puts Jared's jacket back on. He wouldn't die without, but it's turning chilly with the onset of evening.
There's nothing else he cares about here except the dog. He exits as carefully as he entered and creeps around toward the front, keeping as low a profile as he can. For a few seconds he's afraid he's going to have to call out to Sadie, maybe the deputies on stakeout will hear and he'll be made, but before he even gets around the house there's a rustle in the dead swathes of unmowed grass and then Sadie's at his feet, winding around his legs, and he drops into a crouch immediately. She whines and licks him urgently, then settles in to follow him, ready like she knows what's going on.
Jensen creeps back the way he came, once again circumnavigating the car containing the sheriff's men. It's dim in the woods around the house, slanting rays from the low sun only confusing visibility, but Jensen knows these woods, has trained in these woods, could navigate these woods again if he left and returned in ten years.
He's not worrying so much about stealth now that he's away from the house and the surveillance team, which is why, when he comes out onto the road near where he stashed Jeff's truck, he doesn't have a prayer of escaping the sheriff's notice. Sheriff Abel, of all people, who, damn Jensen's horrific luck, wasn't even waiting for him. It's not even like he was hanging out by the truck because he recognized it as Jeff's and he knew someone would be by to claim it. No, he very clearly has just arrived on the scene, and is as surprised to see Jensen as Jensen is to see him.
Jensen considers his options. The sheriff wants Jeff, and will therefore want Jensen to tell him where he is. Jensen could tell him the truth, and be disbelieved. He could tell part of the truth, and slightly decrease his chances of being disbelieved. He could run. He could launch a pre-emptive strike.
He has somewhere to be. He doesn't have time for this.
All of these thoughts take a second or so at most, during which time the sheriff startles and tries to pretend he didn't. Sadie's on guard immediately, stiff-legged and bristling, growling her tiny puppy growl.
"Back, Sadie," Jensen orders, sick with fear that she's going to get shot or something. He wouldn't put it past the sheriff. Sadie stands down reluctantly and goes to heel behind Jensen. Before he can decide on the best way to get himself and his dog out of this situation, the sheriff's got his radio out and is saying, "Found the kid," and giving the location, and shit, shit, he's calling for backup, he's going to arrest Jensen, not just question him.
He could run, but the sheriff is between him and the truck, and he's armed. Jensen might be fast enough, but then again, he might not. A brief delirious thought skitters through his brain, that maybe today will be the day he finds out whether he's bulletproof.
"It'd be best for everyone if you came quietly, son," says the Sheriff, and Jensen's anger snaps to life like a signal flare.
"I'm not your son," he spits.
"No, you sure aren't," the sheriff agrees, unhooking the cuffs from his belt, and Jensen's about to do something stupid when he registers movement in the sun-gilded treetops just up the road.
It's sheer instinct that puts it together fast enough, and by the time he's yelled, "Look out!" and tackled the sheriff flat to the dirt of the road, a large black shape has detached itself from the treetops and is skimming above Jensen, outstretched claws just missing their target. "Fuck." Sadie's bolted for the tree line and that looks like a fantastic idea.
"What in the name" Sheriff Abel starts, but Jensen hauls him to his feet and bundles him in among the trees.
"Go, go, go, get off the road, stay in the trees, it doesn't want you," and Jensen shoves the sheriff further into the woods and peers back out to see the creature wheeling for a second pass, the Mogadorian rider clearly silhouetted against the flaming sunset sky.
The huge gun is still in Jeff's truck.
Jensen swears again and makes a dash for the truck, wrenches the door open, makes a grab for the rifle and swipes at what he thinks is the safety, praying he got the right impression of its workings when he looked at it earlier.
The Mog and his steed bear down on him with terrifying swiftness, deceptively smooth movement from such a bulky creature, and Jensen has time only for the most cursory sighting as he aims and pulls the trigger.
The kick of the weapon almost knocks him off his feet and the flying creature sails past him to crash into the trees in a deadfall. The sound of the impact must carry for miles; surely the stakeout has heard. Jensen spares a thought to hope the sheriff's gotten out of the area. Abel can explain this however he wants to in his own mind, to his own people, and Jensen doesn't mind him getting a little traumatized, but asshole or no, the sheriff doesn't deserve to die.
He waits, breathless, to see if anything moves. A moment of quiet hammers into Jensen's ears as he strains to catch any noise, and then there's the sound of movement and he turns to face the Mogadorian coming out of the woods beside him, knife at the ready.
"Oh, come on," Jensen groans. The Mog's almost inside his combat zone already and looking confident, and Jensen wonders if this guy even heard the report from the earlier survivor.
Jensen drops the gun, useless in close combat, and throws out his hand, hurling the unprepared Mog backward and pinning him to a tree. In the same gesture he rips the knife out of the Mog's grasp and stabs him with it, through where he thinks the heart should be. A gurgle and flail later, the Mog is dead.
It's not the kind of thing that would work if he had to deal with more than one attacker at a time, but Jensen just managed to kill a Mogadorian with the bastard's own weapons. He rolls his right shoulder a little gingerly, the one that took the recoil from the gun. He should have used the other hand to focus the telekinesis, but there wasn't time to be deliberate about it. He'll just be sore for a bit. He's kind of proud of himself, and his first instinct is to find Jeff, say guess what I did and maybe I can handle this fight after all, but that can't happen. That can't happen because Jeff is six feet under in Katie's back yard.
He shoves down the grief again and puts the gun back in the truck, safety re-engaged. Sadie appears out of the woods and comes trotting over to climb up into the passenger seat, and Jensen closes the door carefully once she's inside. Shit, he's lost track of the time. He fumbles for his phone and discovers he has just over five minutes to get to Beacon Point. There are noises in the woods, sounds of movement and breaking branches, but he doesn't have time to find out if it's the sheriff or his backup or what. He has to go.
He shouldn't have slept. They could have been gone by now and it wouldn't have mattered that Katie forgot to take flight speed into account. If he hadn't slept, they'd be on the road, and
And maybe they would have been overtaken by the flying scout anyway, and Jensen would still have been drained from the earlier fighting, and it might have gone very much worse.
It is what it is. Jensen puts the truck in gear and throws up gravel as he goes, determined not to make Katie and Jared wait for him.
Jared's mother is out when he gets home.
He makes it there just fine, parks carefully, puts the keys back on the shelf, and then registers how quiet the house is.
His first thought is well, that makes it easy, immediately followed by a wave of self-castigation. No time to dwell on it; he needs to pack.
He looks for the geode first of all, isn't sure he knows exactly where it is anymore. It turns up under a pile of papers and random objects on his desk, in with other rocks and odds and ends that he acquired over the years, from trips he went on himself or from Dad's solo excursions, brought back as consolation souvenirs. They all look cool in some way, oddly shaped or interestingly veined, but probably none of them means anything.
Except the geode.
He dumps the school books out of his backpack and sticks the rock in one of the small zip pockets, then starts shoving in clothing more or less haphazardly. Winter is coming, so he'll definitely need long sleeves, some sweatshirts. He pulls one on over his t-shirt and makes a mental note to grab his other jacket out of the downstairs closet.
He hesitates briefly before stuffing in his current sketchbook, only three pages used and all full of Jensen, and his pencil case. It feels self-indulgent and beside the point to bring them along, but the idea of leaving them behind just feels wrong.
Checking that his wallet contains everything it should, he wonders whether he shouldn't maybe grab a few more pairs of socks, and then mentally shakes himself, remembering the clock.
The house is still empty when he goes back downstairs. He stands by the hall closet for a few precious seconds, frozen by the enormity of leaving without a goodbye.
Jensen's waiting for him.
That thought gives him enough impetus to get out of the house. In the shed, he fumbles his bike out from behind the lawnmower, swearing when the pedal gets snagged on something. He finally gets it free and leaves by the back gate, taking the bumpy alley too fast, but he doesn't, can't care, he needs to go quickly or he will stay.
He slows to make the turn out of the alley onto the road. Suddenly a figure steps out of the shadow directly into his path. He curses, swerves, almost falls off his bike as he stops to make sure he didn't actually hit the guy.
"Shit, I'm sorry, are you" He cuts off when he recognizes the person who just got in his way.
"Fagalecki," says Jake with a wide smile. "Awesome to see you."
"Wish I could say the same." Jared prepares to leave again. "Bye."
"Not so fast, there, champ," says Jake, stepping in front of his bike again. "I think you and I have a little unfinished business."
"We really don't," Jared says, despair washing over him as he realizes he's not getting out of this confrontation. The only thing to do is get it over with as fast as possible. "Far as I'm concerned, you had your fun, you took your lumps. Now you're in my way. Move."
The direct approach doesn't work well on Jake. Jared should really remember this.
"No," Jake says, "no, I see it differently. I see a debt accrued, and I think you need to pay up."
"Oh, are you wanting that kiss back?" Jared asks in a flash of desperation. "I'm sorry, you're too late. I already gave it away."
Jake's expression turns murderous. "You wish, fag," he spits out. "Like anyone would want to kiss your disgusting mouth."
"I don't know, Jensen seems to like it," Jared muses. He thinks maybe he's lost his mind, but he has a small, shining hope that if he gets Jake mad enough, Jake will get sloppy, and then Jared can get past him.
Jake's mouth drops open, a flush rising in his face, and Jared just has time to think, huh, that's interesting, before Jake makes an incoherent noise and lunges at Jared.
On a reflex born of very basic self defence training, Jared makes a palm heel and aims it at Jake's face. It's clear that Jake isn't anticipating any physical resistance because he has no guard up at all; Jared connects solidly with Jake's chin, snapping his jaw shut and his head back.
Jake goes down like a felled tree.
Jared just stares for a second, dumbly shocked, shaking out his hand. He wonders briefly if the football team knows their quarterback has a glass jaw. Then his urgency rears up and reminds him that he has less than five minutes to get out to Beacon Point and there is no way in hell he's going to make it in under ten.
He stands on the pedals and goes.
Jensen is late.
Only by a minute or two, but Katie is pacing, helmet in hand, her blonde curls falling restlessly around her shoulders like they want to be gone as much as she does. She'd heard him coming, was still and watchful when he pulled up, but as soon as she saw there was only him in the truck, she started moving again. She's worn a dim flattened trail along a dozen or so yards of dead grass. Beyond her, the ground drops off, resuming with woods and farmland rolling away to the north and west. The setting sun throws its rays upwards, painting Katie and her bike and the grass with luminescent gold, while behind Jensen lies deep shadow.
He parks and gets out of the truck, nearly shutting the door on Sadie as she slips out after him.
"You're late."
"I know, sorry." Jensen glances around, but it's abundantly clear that Jared isn't there.
"I said half an hour, no later," Katie mutters. "Did I not say no later?"
"Hey," Jensen says, trying to calm himself as much as her, "he'll be here."
"Will he?" She stops in her tracks and looks at him. "I'm trusting you here, Jensen. I don't know him like you do. I was this close to going to look for you, shit." She starts pacing again.
"He'll be here," Jensen says, firmer this time. "Oh, but hey, just so you know, I ran into another of those flying scouts. Took him out," he says quickly, as Katie's attention snaps toward him, "but I thought you should know. You know, for next time, I guess. Flying's apparently faster than you counted on."
Katie frowns. "No, but" She snaps her mouth shut and her eyes go flat. "They moved base camp. They must have."
"What?" This throws off the whole timeline. "Why? How do you know?"
"Those things are no good for distance flight," she explains. "Remember the semi? I should have realized what was in it." She shakes her head. "I've seen them before for any serious travel they have to be carted, but they're fast and more agile than they look, so they're excellent for short distances and fighting."
Jensen can practically see the conclusion coming together in his own brain; it's like he's watching himself process things at half speed, sudden fear replacing all his mental workspace with liquid honey.
"That wasn't a loner I took down," he says. He wishes it were a question, wishes she could deny it, but it's the only thing that makes sense.
"No," she says crisply. "It wasn't. And I don't know how many they'll have sent, but I'm going to guess somewhere between eight and ten, minimum, now that they know there are two of us."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
Where the fuck is Jared?
"Jensen, I don't know if we can outrun them," Katie's saying, "not if they're already here. Maybe we need to let them come to us, just take them out now. I think we can. Bright side, I doubt they'll have any more fliers. They're..."
But Jensen's distracted, because Jared's just appeared from between the trees a little way down the slope, wheeling his bicycle doggedly. Sadie runs toward him and rubs up against his leg, almost tripping him up.
"You made it." Jensen's in front of Jared before he realizes he's moved, and Jared hugs him with the arm that's not holding his bike. "Come on, get that in the truck," Jensen says.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Jared says to Katie as he hefts his bike over the side of the truck bed. "I ran into Jake on the way here, you know how he gets."
"What happened? Are you okay?" Jensen demands, wondering if he's somehow missed some new mark on Jared.
"I, uh, knocked him out," Jared says, running a hand through his hair self-consciously.
"You" Jensen can't help it, he has to kiss Jared.
Jared pulls back laughing and Jensen turns to Katie, remembering what she was trying to say earlier.
"One problem with staying here," he says. "Jared's vulnerable."
"Wait, sorry," Jared interjects, "can somebody fill me in quick?"
"Short version is my time estimate was off and backup will be here any minute. If we want any kind of control over this situation, we have to choose the battleground, and that means we let them come to us here," Katie says.
"But you're not a fighter and you're human," Jensen adds.
"So we give him the gun."
"Can he use it?" Jensen counters. As far as Jensen knows, Jared has no combat experience or training, and giving someone a weapon they don't know how to use is a really good way to get them killed. He turns back to Jared, who, if he's anything but perfectly calm, is hiding it well. "Have you ever shot anything before?"
"Sort of?" Jared hedges. At Jensen's eyebrow he shrugs. "I spent a lot of time in arcades when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure I can aim, at least."
It's so far from ideal. But
"Give him the gun," says Katie. "Look, it's now or later, and we're only going to get worse off. I pick now."
Before Jensen can come up with a suitable resolution to the warring factions within him, the logic of Katie's position clashing with his need to keep Jared away from danger, Jared touches his back and says, "I'll try to stay out of the way. Sadie can protect me." At Jensen's unamused look, Jared says earnestly, "Just get it over with if you can."
Jensen sighs, shallow and tight, and says, "Fine. We make our stand here. Jared" he grabs the gun out of the truck and holds it up. "This is the safety," he says, indicating. "You slide it like this, and you're good. Trigger like every other gun ever. It fires compact energy bursts. Oh, and it kicks like a fuckin' horse, so brace for that."
"Wait," Jared interrupts, "wait, did you actually get your hands on a real live plasma rifle?"
Jensen looks at the weapon in his hands. "Yes," he says after a moment, "yes, I think I did." He holds it out, offering it to Jared. "And it's all yours." Jared takes it reverently and Jensen says, "Now don't say I never gave you anything nice." Jared turns and shoulder-checks him, attention still fixed on the damn plasma rifle. Jensen turns a glance toward Katie and finds that she's watching Jared with an unusually soft expression on her face.
He hates to break it, but they need to be prepared. "Katie," he says, and watches with expected dismay as her face closes. "Plan?"
Jared isn't scared, not really. Not yet.
He's holed up between a giant double-trunk monstrosity of a tree and some very dense shrubbery, crouched uncomfortably so his head doesn't poke up and become a target. He's seen enough action movies to know more or less how not to be stupid about this. Action movies don't tell you what to do if your leg falls asleep, though, and Jared's is definitely going to if he doesn't get to move soon. He rubs at it as surreptitiously as he can, trying to keep the blood flowing. His middle aches slightly, leftover bruising from Jake's fist protesting his cramped position. Sadie, curled up next to him, nudges his leg with her nose,
Through a gap, he can see out to the clear crest of the hill, where Jensen is waiting in the open by the truck. Katie's bike is hidden in much the same way Jared is, so hopefully the Mogadorians won't expect her to be lurking in the trees. Jensen-as-bait is the smartest approach, and Jared's logic accepts this, but he's vaguely aware of a major freakout just lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to reduce him to blithering incompetence.
He deliberately cultivates the calm he found after knocking Jake out. The more he can delay the freakout, the better; nothing's even happening yet.
For all Katie's urgency, it feels like eons that Jared is crouched waiting before the Mogadorians show up. In reality it's probably not that long, but the suspense is going to kill Jared before the Mogadorians even get the chance.
Then everything seems to happen at once. One moment Jensen is checking his watch with (probably) feigned anxiety; the next, he's dodged behind the truck and there's a smoking hole where his feet were a split second ago. It's a moment before Jared registers the sound of the weapon firing, and another moment after that before he realizes he's stopped breathing. He forces himself to start again.
Meanwhile, Jensen is calling, "I thought you people had rules of engagement, asshole!"
Dark and shredded-sounding laughter comes in response. Jared cranes frantically around, trying to stay hidden and catch a glimpse of the approaching enemy at the same time, and it's such a frustratingly hopeless endeavour that he wants to cry. He doesn't even know what they look like, and they might kill him before he finds out.
"We do," says a voice, strongly accented but perfectly intelligible. "That was a warning shot."
"Yeah? Not sure it counts when you aim right at the guy you're trying to warn."
"When the guy can dodge like you can, of course it counts." And yeah, apparently the Mogs know exactly what they're up against. Great.
"If you don't know what's coming, there is no fun in killing you," explains a second voice, not as deep. Maybe a female? Jared can't see.
"I disagree," says Jensen, and all hell breaks loose.
For a little while all Jared can hear is the sound of fighting, loud and confusing and utterly terrifying, and the action moves in and out of view. He sees a Mogadorian fall and lie still; she never gets up. Jensen is moving faster than Jared can track and Katie's out there too now, and it's all happening so fast.
Then something hard presses up against the base of Jared's skull and everything stops.
"I've seen you," says a voice behind him, and if this were a video game Jared would laugh at how obviously creepy the guy sounds. Like, it's too over the top and the accent sounds like fake Russian, it shouldn't be scary in real life, except that's almost certainly a gun of some kind prodding at the back of Jared's head, and yeah. Jared has never been so afraid in his entire life. "You're close with Number Four. I think he should get to watch you die." Jared's whole body locks up, even as the voice says, "Get up," and the gun or whatever jabs him hard.
Sadie was cowering by his leg, last Jared saw, but as he tries to comply, he doesn't see her anywhere. Then he hears her growl and looks around; the pressure on his skull eases slightly as the voice behind him laughs, but then the growl begins to grow and Sadie bunches up and unfurls into something huge and impossible. Chest broader than a car, legs like tree trunks, a jaw like the world's biggest bear trap and wicked claws. Her ears are shorter, less likely to get in the way, Jared's brain catalogues, and he can't see a tail from this angle at all. Maybe this form doesn't have one.
The Mog behind Jared stops laughing. The weapon leaves Jared's skull and he looks around in time to see it swing toward the giant creature before it lunges, pounces, and gets its jaws around the Mog's neck. There are several sickening cracks and a tearing sound, and the Mog lies still with his head at an implausible angle, leaking dull yellow. Jared stares in horrified fascination as the creature Sadie, Jared reminds himself, that's probably still Sadie, he watched it happen with his eyes lifts her ochre-stained muzzle and regards him calmly. She rubs her face into the undergrowth and it comes out a bit cleaner, and she produces an irritated shrug-yawn that Jared recognizes as one of her puppy mannerisms. God, Jared is having the weirdest day.
Now that his life is no longer in immediate peril, Jared turns back to the fight out past the trees. He counts four Mogadorians still on their feet; there's blood on Jensen and Katie both, but they're still moving too fast to follow, so they can't be too badly hurt.
"Should we go help?" he demands of Sadie. She looks at him, looks out at the fight, and doesn't move. "Okay, yeah, they probably have this covered." Another Mog goes down just then, but the fighting has migrated so close to the cliff edge that the momentum of his death carries him into Jensen and takes them both over the edge.
Jared slaps both hands over his mouth to keep from yelling Jensen's name. The cliff isn't sheer. Jensen's probably not dead yet. Then Katie and the other Mogs follow after, and everyone is out of sight and the sounds aren't as clear and Jared has absolutely no idea what is going on.
"Come on," he says, and goes to lead Sadie out of the trees. She can follow him or not, whatever, but he's going.
Sadie's got other ideas, and shoulders in front of him. At first he thinks she's blocking him, but she's actually just taking point herself.
"Fine. Let's go."
As Jared nears the cliff edge, Sadie suddenly shoves him with her huge foreleg. He tumbles off his feet but jerks his head around in time to see a huge shape whip through the air right where his head used to be. It clips Sadie hard in the shoulder and she lets out a vicious whine. Blood wells up immediately and her foreleg buckles. As the huge flying thing starts to bank back towards them, wobbling in the air a little like it's already hurt, Jared picks up the huge-ass gun from where he dropped it and makes himself pay attention to precisely undoing the safety with shaking hands before he scopes the beast.
It's coming fast, faster than he'd have thought, but he's reverse-strafed enough virtual aircraft that some reflex he didn't realize he had kicks in and he lets off a shot that gets the ugly thing right in the underbelly.
The kickback knocks him flat and he might have dislocated his shoulder, but the thing crash-lands just shy of the tree line and Jared can't believe he actually just did that.
"Are you kidding me," he whoops, turning to Sadie. She's not looking at him, though, pointed at the cliff's edge and growling at the massive Mogadorian that's hauling himself up over the edge. Oh, excellent. And he can't get another shot off; Jared can barely lift his arm.
But Sadie stands as steady as she can, as big as she can, which, shit, is really freaking big, taller than the Mog, even, and he's probably the tallest human-looking person Jared has ever seen. He's wearing thick gauntlets that look like they're actually made out of metal, and his fists are almost as big as Jared's head. He's grinning.
"Come play, little one," he says to Sadie, and Sadie snarls at him and lunges forward. He's ready, landing a punch somewhere in the vicinity of her sternum, and it actually kills her momentum. She shakes out her head, digs her claws into the ground and goes in again.
Jared is probably in about seven kinds of shock right now and he's not sure he could move if he tried. All he can do is watch the fight play out. Sadie's warier now, more careful of the gauntlets, and the Mog is like a scaled-down freight train but he's not very agile. Sadie feints in and out a few times, taking some more blows, once to her injured shoulder and oh, that looks like it hurts, but Jared's not quite sure what she's after until the Mog goes in for a punch to her throat and leaves the back of his neck unprotected, and Sadie ducks her head around like a snake and grabs him by the spine, shaking him until he cracks, until he starts leaking, until he's definitely, definitely dead, and then she drops him and collapses onto her side.
Jared runs to her, ignoring the viscera. "Good girl," he says stupidly. It's all he can think to say. He puts his good arm as far around her neck as he can and she snuffles at his hair. "Good girl."
Then he doesn't have an armful of neck anymore, there's just a little beagle puppy limping bloody into his lap, and he cuddles her up with his good arm and gives up on not hurting his bad arm and just sits there rocking. If anyone else comes at them they're going to die, but he's done. They're done.
Jensen scrambles up the near-vertical cliff face as well as he can with his knee kicked to shit and bruises forming all up his side from landing badly earlier. And the gash in his ribs. And a few other things. Turns out he can't shield against physical attacks. He's kind of battered, but there is one Mogadorian left fighting Katie and the biggest got away up the cliff, and Jared's still up there. Katie can fight. Jared can't.
When he clears the edge, the first thing he sees is Jared, slumped on the ground with Sadie in his lap. There's blood. Then he registers the huge Mog lying dead nearby and the huge flying creature lying dead over by the trees and his whole body buckles. He barely catches himself from falling.
"Jared," he says, and Jared looks up. His face looks tight, probably with pain, especially considering how his arm is hanging, but as soon as he sees Jensen he looks so relieved and happy that Jensen has to get to him immediately, drops down to his knees next to Jared and reaches out to just touch, hand to face. Jared leans into the contact instantly, eyes blinking shut for a moment before he opens them again.
"Katie?" he asks.
"Finishing up. She'll be okay. I had to make sure you what the hell, Jared, this guy looks like something tried to eat him. What happened up here?"
Jared laughs a little shakily. "Sadie happened. I, uh, think she might be one of your kind. Did you know she can transform?"
Jensen stares. "What."
"Right? But she's badass, Jensen. You should've seen her." Jared tightens his arm around Sadie and she nuzzles into his elbow. Jensen strokes gently at the fur around her shoulder, matted with blood, parting it as well as he can to see the wound. It's not pretty, but it's not bleeding much anymore. They should clean it, but she seems stable.
"What about the flyer?"
"Oh, that. Um, I shot it." Jared grins. "I hope you know how to relocate a shoulder."
"I don't think that's how you say it," Jensen says, "but yeah. Hang on." He moves into position behind Jared and braces him, taking Jared's forearm. "Breathe out?" he says, and when Jared does, he quickly bends Jared's arm and turns it, popping the shoulder back in.
Jared's breathing goes briefly ragged, but then he sighs deeply and says, "Thanks."
"Of course." Jensen folds Jared's arm in to his chest and keeps his own arm over it, hugging Jared. Jared leans back into him.
Katie finds them that way a minute or so later when she appears at the cliff edge.
"Done?" Jensen asks.
"Done," she confirms. "There's a med kit in my bike, do we need it?"
"Yeah."
They get everyone cleaned up, Jared's arm into a sling, and then they kind of just stare at each other.
It's Jared who voices the obvious question.
"What the hell do we do now?"
"Exactly what we were going to do," says Katie, as if it's obvious.
"But we still don't know where we're going," Jensen points out.
"Right." Katie pulls out the half-geode. "That's where this comes in, I think. Jared, where's yours?"
Jared fumbles in his backpack until he comes out with his half. "I'm really confused right now," he says, "for the record."
"That's fine. Give it to Jensen."
Jensen takes the geode curiously.
"I might be wrong," says Katie, "but I think if we" She holds her half out toward Jensen and he takes the hint and does the same. The halves meet in the middle and seem to snap together and lock. Jensen gasps, startled.
"This is," he begins, but then the geode starts to glow, and all of a sudden he sees faces, locations, names, routes, streaming into his perception and imprinting his mind with indelible knowledge. He can feel, all over the world, where those locations are, where the other six are, more than he ever really thought he'd live to see but still so few, and he knows that he will keep that extra sense forever, in the place where his Legacy lives. He can feel Katie across from him, joined through the geode with the power of their Legacies, and they are already so strong together, he can only imagine how strong they will be when they join with the others.
Then as quickly as it began the transfer of information halts and Jensen jerks, opening his eyes. The geode has faded, but it remains a whole stone, joined back together by whatever just happened. Jensen can still feel Katie, and, if he reaches, the others. He lets go, and Katie takes custody of the stone.
"North, then," he says, and Katie nods.
"Hi," says Jared, "human here. Sorry, I need more words."
"We know where the rest are," Jensen says. "I can feel them. We can go find them now. Number Eight lives in Saskatchewan; she's closest. That's where we're going next. If you still want to come, that is," he finishes. It's suddenly occurred to him that maybe Jared would rather not risk his life on a regular basis, now that he's had a brush with death.
Jared steps up in front of him so he can't avoid looking at him. "One of these days," he says softly, "you're going to start trusting me." Jensen wants to protest, to tell Jared that he does trust him, but Jared shakes his head and continues, "Not like that. I know you do. What I mean is, just because you can't ever stop loving me, you shouldn't assume that I'll eventually stop loving you." He smiles crookedly. "You're stuck with me."
Jensen has a thousand possible responses stacked up inside, too many for any one to make it out. So instead, he pulls Jared in and kisses him. Jared wraps his arms around Jensen's waist immediately, pulling their bodies flush, and Jensen presses in as close as he can physically get.
After far too brief a time, they pull back to just breathe, mindful of Katie. Jensen drops his head onto Jared's shoulder, hiding a smile
"Okay," he says quietly. "I can live with that."
The sky is dark and freckled with stars when they drive away, Jensen and Jared in the truck with Jared's bicycle in the back, Katie leading on her bike. The alien bodies littering the moonlit landscape are no longer their concern.
They're still alive, and they're going to find the other Legacies. It's time to make a stand.
~the end~