Talisman Chapter 11
After a great set at the Rat's Nest, Galen and Flash begin to exhibit strange behaviour. Can Rob figure out how to help them before he falls victim to what's affecting his brother and friend?
Characters used with permission. For Muffy Morrigan's birthday.
Featuring Galen, Rob, Parry and Bobby Emrys, Flash Lynch, Rhiannon, Becci, Sarah and Mike.
xposted at fanfiction.net
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters property of Muffy Morrigan. Used with permission.
Author's Notes: Written for Muffy's birthday few months back. Thanks for letting me play in your sandbox for a while, my friend.
Talisman
Chapter 11
By infinite shadow
Rob slowly pulled a sweater over his head. He knew it was warm, but there had been too many moments of chills for him not to wear it. He’d take the too warm moments over the oh gods, it’s freaking freezing in here moments.
The air seemed to shift then shimmer as Parry came into view.
“I was wondering if you were still here,” Rob said softly as he pushed the heavy knitted sleeves up to his elbows, crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.
“We have some things to talk about,” Parry said.
Rob shook his head slightly. “Nah. We’re good,” he said, trying to remain calm as he felt anger slowly begin to burn inside.
“Rob,” Parry said as he smiled slightly. “I wish I didn’t have to choose between you two when you were younger. You were gone before you’d even had the chance to be here.”
“Look, dad, I understood, I did, well, not right away but I did later. Sure, it hurt,” he said with an indifferent shrug. “Got over it.”
“No.” Parry frowned. “I don’t think you did.”
Rob paled slightly. He couldn’t do this. “Don’t,” he said flatly as his stomach fluttered uneasily.
“We need to, son,” Parry said softly.
“I really need a coffee,” Rob said flatly as he pushed up from the wall. He really didn’t want to deal with this now, or ever. Never would be perfect.
“Don’t walk away from me, son. Please, give me a moment, let me try to explain.”
Rob froze at his father’s pleading tone and closed his eyes, trying to hold onto his tenuous control of his emotions. Suddenly the anger flared and shot sharply into fury. He spun around, Rob’s eyes blazing as he glared at his father.
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“Flash! Oh, man, I hate you so much right now!” Galen exclaimed as a hot blush rose from his neck all the way up his face. He tried to stay serious, but burst out laughing seconds later. “Dude! You swore to never, ever, on pain of death tell that story to anyone!”
“Well, yeah, but this is different. I just told Rhiannon,” Flash said with a smirk, his eyes twinkling as he glanced over at the woman behind the counter. “And she is certainly not just anyone.”
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “Well it’s just a bit more to add to the fodder to torment you with now and again.” She took a moment to just look at Galen. He looked so much better than he had a few days ago. The bags under his eyes were still there, but his colour had returned nicely and he was laughing so hard that a few laugh lines crinkled around his eyes.
Flash and Rhiannon tensed as Galen suddenly froze, paled sharply, and moaned softly as he reached a hand to his head.
“Galen!” Flash yelled as he surged forward to grab him as his friend swayed and staggered back a step.
“Whoa,” Galen muttered. Closing his eyes he took in a sharp breath. He leaned towards his friend, allowing Flash to help steady him when he realized his legs felt like jelly.
“What’s wrong?” Flash asked softly, refusing to let his friend go. All sign of merriment was gone off his face, making him look as haggard as he felt.
“I… just … give me a sec,” Galen said as he carefully let go a breath. His system jolted as another burst of anger flowed directly into him. He was barely aware of his surroundings through the assault of emotions but could feel Rhiannon was now one of his sides with a firm hold on him. His head fell down to his chest as his friends guided him behind the counter to sit down.
They kept their hands on him and their concern made it almost too much. “Let go, please,” Galen said softly. He could feel their concern coming off them in waves and it was mixing with the all-out fury … and mind numbing fear coming from Rob through their Gift.
Galen took a deep steadying breath. As much as he hated to do so he closed down the link slightly so he could get control of himself. ‘Rob, what’s wrong?’
Flash and Rhiannon both looked at the curtain that led to the steps into the apartment. Rhiannon looked back at him with the question clear on her face as to whether to go upstairs or not. Flash frowned and considered it for a second, but shook his head. If Galen made the slightest move towards the back he would be upstairs in a second.
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‘Rob? What’s wrong?’
The anger flared sharply as he glared at his dad. His cheek muscles jumped as he ground his teeth together, trying to rein in some control. Explain? His father wanted to explain? “Nothing to explain. Really, dad. It was nothing,” he said with a calm he didn’t feel. He was breathing heavily, his shoulders going up and down with each breath as he tried to hold down his temper.
“Rob,” Parry tried again.
‘Rob?’ Galen said at the same time Parry did.
‘I’m fine. G’way, Galen,’ he snapped heatedly through their link.
“It’s not nothing, son,” Parry tried again.
‘Dude, you tell me what’s wrong! If you don’t I’m coming up. Without your coffee,’ Galen said.
‘I’m fine! Shut up for a minute,’ Rob sent back then forced himself to take a breath. ‘Sorry man. Just... Give me a few, ok? Really I’m alright just need a few minutes.”
‘Five minutes or I’m coming up.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
Rob took another breath before he turned back angrily to his father. “Look, its fine. I’ve dealt with it. Sure, it hurt. Galen was dead and with the link severed I felt like I didn’t belong in my own skin. My father who I’d never needed more in my life sent me away and didn’t want me. When I called, sure you’d talk to me for all of two minutes before you were gone again. Why should that have hurt me?”
“Rob,” Parry said stricken, each word a blow against him he felt with all of his son’s anger.
“No, I got it. Without Galen I was nothing,” Rob said before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I got it loud and clear. I was useless, which truly I believed for a long while.”
Parry gasped.
“Figured it out, eventually, that I was wrong and I could still be useful as a scholar. My grades had dropped, but I worked hard to pull them back up. Soon as I graduated high school I was gone, didn’t want to continue to be a burden for my foster parents. I mean the deal was to keep me till I was of age to start training. Stayed years past my welcome.”
“Rob, they didn’t mind. They loved you like you were their own son.”
He nodded. “Yeah, they did, but I wasn’t theirs, I was yours. I’ve kept in touch with them, still do,” Rob said quietly.
Parry’s eyes were shining with unshed tears as he fought to keep control. “Do you think it was easy? To just let you go like that?”
“Wasn’t it?” Rob asked quietly the anger suddenly gone, making him feel exhausted. He didn’t want to do this. He really just wanted to be left alone.
“Gods, NO!” Parry yelled then pulled back on his anger as he watched his younger son flinch. He took a steadying breath, taking that moment to study his son. He was still pale with dark bags under his eyes. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes looked empty. Parry cleared his throat. “Rob, you needed to be protected. I wasn’t sure Bobby and I would be enough. The house you grew up in was protected in every way possible and then some. I didn’t know if the evil would come back after you. Severing your connection with Galen was the only way to hide you. They would always know where Galen was.”
“The scar,” Rob said softly as he looked up.
“Yeah. Severing the bond, Galen dying, was the only way to keep you safe and alive. Gods, I never wanted to let you go, but I didn’t have a choice.”
Rob snorted. “Sure, you did. The choices just sucked.”
“Son, if I thought, dreamed, there could’ve been a chance of keeping you with me, and safe, I would have never let you out of my sight.”
Rob swallowed heavily and smiled weakly. He’d been ignoring Galen’s constant talking at him, demanding to know if he was ok. ‘Yeah, I’m ok. I’m talking with dad.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah. Just gimme a few.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes, mom.’
Rob could feel the anxiety ease through their link and an added feel of wry amusement. He cleared his throat. “Wish I’d known that when I was a kid, but it helps, dad. It really does.”
Parry nodded sadly. He knew his youngest son spoke the truth but no matter what he said it was a hurt in him that couldn’t be totally taken away.
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Several hours later the Apothecary had been closed. Parry and Bobby were gone until the next time they were called. Rhiannon and Flash had gone home.
Rob was lying down on the couch in the living room watching a documentary on Ireland.
“Hey, make some room,” Galen said.
Slowly Rob sat up and glanced up at his brother. “Where’d you go?” He asked as he took the beer Galen was holding out to him.
“Took Flash home,” Galen said.
“Was that a wise choice?”
“Yeah. I think the worst was over for us yesterday. I can look at my guitar, and as much as I want to play a little, mess around with chords and stuff, it’s just as easy to walk away. Same goes for Flash. All the same, we kept his guitar for now,” Galen said with an easy smile as he sat down next to his brother. “So, what are we watching?”
Rob sighed as he twisted the cap off his bottle. “Not sure. I mean its Ireland but I haven't been paying attention.”
Galen nodded as he took a pull of his beer and waited for his little brother to do the same. “So. What happened with dad?”
Rob picked at the corner of the label on his beer. “Nothin’. Just cleared the air a bit.”
“Dude, if that was just clearing the air a little you need to do it more often,” Galen said, then bumped his brother’s shoulder with his own.
“Shut up,” Rob sent back half-heartedly.
Galen smiled sadly. Rob didn’t know that some of the conversation had filtered through to him when he’d been so angry. It came through as if he’d been in the room with his brother at the time. ‘It wasn’t just, dad, Brat.’
Rob stilled for a moment before he turned to look at his brother. “What?” he whispered.
Galen sighed. His kid brother really had no idea. The shock and surprise and vibrated sharply through their link told him that. And he wasn’t sure his little brother was ready to hear what he had to say, but Rob needed to know. He owed him that much.
“It actually wasn’t dad’s idea. Or Uncle Bobby’s, for that matter,” Galen started, then paused not sure if he could keep talking.
“What? No,” Rob said as his head shook in denial and his eyes widened in shock. “No. You wouldn’t, couldn’t have.”
“Yeah, well,” Galen said softly, then took another long pull off his beer. His eyes were unfocused, as he thought back to that day in the hospital. “I did it when Dad and Bobby weren’t in the room. I did it without really telling them anything. I just did it.”
“Why?”
“You told me we wouldn’t serve as Keepers together. I knew that I had the power to save you, to keep you alive and safe. I wanted you to have a life, to live, to … I don’t know what, I really just wanted you safe,” Galen whispered, then sighed as he rubbed at his eyes. “I never thought dad would actually bring me back. It didn’t even occur to me.”
Rob shook his head. “You did it? Not dad?”
Galen nodded. “Yeah,” he said as he sighed.
“But… I always thought… I mean,” Rob shook his head again, not able to get the words out.
“We couldn’t tell you. Gods. It was so hard and yet easy to stay away. I wanted to see you, to talk to you, to be with you. But keeping away kept you safe. Except for the one time. I had to bring you back after the accident. I couldn’t stay away,” Galen said, then leaned his head back onto the curve of the back of the couch. “Your anger with dad is misplaced. It should have always been directed at me.”
Rob was silent as he digested the information. He was stunned. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. He felt like he needed to get out of their apartment but he couldn’t seem to move.
‘I couldn’t not do it, Brat. I needed for you to live, even if it meant I died.’
“Gods,” Rob whispered and ran a hand over his face. “Galen… I don’t… I need…” He stopped again. He had no idea what he needed. He was shaking badly.
‘I’m not sorry,’ Galen told him gently. ‘I’d do it again in a second if it would save you. Rob, you have to know that. I don’t regret dying. I regret not being in your life all those years. I’m sorry it’s hurting you so much.’
Rob leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. A moment later he was pulled back against his brother’s side.
He could feel his little brother shaking, the surprise of the information hitting him hard. Galen put an arm over his shoulder, trying to give him a little comfort, even if his words never would. “Take it easy, Rob. I’m not planning on doing that again. It hurt me too, but I had to. I wish you would understand.”
“Why?” he whispered.
Galen was quiet for a moment. He had to make sure this came out right. They had been through a lot in the last few days, and Rob was at a point where he was doing better, but really couldn’t take much more.
“Galen, why?” Rob asked again.
“At the time I … Gods, Rob, I knew from our conversations that we’d never serve together. You had seen that. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of what it would be like being a Keeper. There was talk of the Legacy and all of it seemed so monumental, so overwhelming…,” Galen sighed and shook his head. “This isn’t coming out right at all.”
“You were afraid,” Rob said after a minute. “I was too.”
“I couldn’t be a Keeper and even if I wanted to be just a normal person, which wasn’t possible either,” Galen admitted. “It seemed like the only solution.”
“Dying,” Rob said. ‘Leaving me.’
“Yeah,” Galen said softly around the heavy lump in his throat.
Rob felt numb. All he could do was sit there and breathe. Galen hadn’t wanted the job, to meet their destiny. On one hand being a Keeper was overwhelming at times. It could be fun too, but it wasn’t easy.
Galen had been a few days shy of his eighteenth birthday when he’d gone to pick up Rob, who was going to turn thirteen, both on Halloween. Knowing his big brother as well as he did, Galen had taken on Rob as a responsibility as well as both of their training.
But Galen couldn’t be a Keeper because of what Rob had seen and he’d been afraid. Was it just an easy way out? Dying for a few moments, breaking the bond, their connection, before being brought back? Then end up fighting evil anyway?
After a few minutes, Rob found he did understand and the bottom line was Galen had given him up so he could live. Afraid or not he’d made the decision on how much he’d loved his little brother, enough to give his life for. He blinked at the far wall as he came to another realization.
He turned slowly as his eyes narrowed. “You didn’t want dad to bring you back, did you?”
Galen worried his bottom lip between his teeth before answering. “No. If I had stayed dead you would have been in no danger from the evil that tried to take you before. I should’ve stayed dead. But it was also the reason dad had to keep you at arm’s length. I was living here. If you had showed up it would have all been for nothing. You can’t stay angry with him, Rob. It wasn’t his doing.”
“I’ll think about it.” Rob sighed wearily. “Gods, Galen.”
Galen just nodded knowing it was all his brother was ready to give him. He could feel the shock of the information beginning to settle in his brother. Whether it was good or bad was yet to be decided.
Rob sat up and glared at his brother. “Never again, though. You hear me. Never. Again.”
“Rob,” Galen said as he felt anger and fear and confusion stemming off his brother in crashing waves.
Rob shook his head. “Never again. Say it!”
“Never again,” Galen said with a sigh.
Rob nodded. “Good. Ok,” he said and stood up. He headed down the hall to his room and closed the door quietly behind him.
“Well that went so well,” Galen muttered to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. Then downed the rest of his beer in one go.
Chapter 12: http://infinit-shadw.livejournal.com/7985.html