How lovely the silence of growing things

[Rhys McCabe]

Why on earth was Raphael smiling at him like that? Over a stupid admission? And why did his smile make him feel like his heart was melting a little? Or like it was softening him up even more? Even with his face a mess from crying uncontrollably, the smile was... nice to see. It was better to see Raphael smiling than heartbroken.

It was... okay to cry, though. Rhys wasn't telling him not to cry; emotions were emotions and he was slowly understanding that. It was just that, it actually hurt a part of Rhys to see Raphael in pain. If they weren't surrounded at every turn, he might have been even nicer to Raphael but as it was, he only turned his gaze away in embarrassment and cleared his throat. He didn't know why he felt like the rest of the room even cared what was going on in their corner of the couch. One glance said they didn't care.

Rip was somewhere else. His gaze was haunted, far away. He seemed to ignore the last buzz of his phone but it was probably his new friends telling him they were coming (hopefully). Ken and Niall... Niall wasn't crying anymore but he was leaning against Ken and stroking fingertips over his arm, drunkenly rambling quietly about somebody named Lorcan.

So, since nobody was even paying attention, Rhys oh so awkwardly placed an arm around Raphael's shoulders.

[Raphael Malai]

Rhys loved him. That was the clear takeaway in all of this: Rhys loved him very much and the sight of Raphael crying distressed him because he cared. A lot. In so short an amount of time, Rhys had learned to comfort Raphael when he cried and to care about him when he was heartbroken and sobbing his heart out.

That was real progress!

Everyone else was otherwise preoccupied, and so was Raphael. He couldn't remove his eyes from Rhys and he openly admired him. Rhys was never more handsome, more desirable, more lovely than in that moment. As soon as his arm slid around Raphael's shoulders, he leaned in to kiss him. No one was going to mind! Ken was holding Niall the way Rhys cautiously held him, letting Niall speak uninterrupted. Rip was... clearly distraught but there was nothing Raphael could do for him in that moment, when he seemed so far away.

But he could do something for Rhys and for himself. For them. For the budding romance that awkwardly blossomed between them. Raphael didn't go far even after their brief kiss ended. He knew Rhys didn't like PDAs but a little kiss was okay, right? "I love you, Rhys," Raphael whispered only to him, grinning like a fool.

[Rhys McCabe]

Yikes, not what he expected when he did something as relatively innocent as putting an arm around Raphael. Not yikes. Whoa? He didn't know what went through his mind, but it wasn't bad. The kiss wasn't an especially deep or lengthy one but it still made him feel... a mixture of things. Affection? Was that... affection? Bashfulness? Rhys never thought of himself as shy but maybe he was. He didn't even know who the true Rhys was; the only Rhys that Rhys knew was one with every part of him suppressed.

Before this, before when he was an emotionless shell of a fairy, Rhys never would have been called shy. He had his consorts, those people whose spot in his bed usually ended up fickle and short lived. Rhys mostly did it out of boredom and a biological need. There was nothing to be shy about.

"I... I know," he said and he didn't know if he wished he had something more suave to say or more nerve to say something more. Did he love him? Raphael? The forming wings said that he did. He had to feel something strongly for that to happen. Was it even a question at this point? Still, as if anybody cared what they said to one another, Rhys leaned in to whisper directly into Raphael's ear for nobody else to hear, "I love you, too."

There was no point, logically, not to say it if he felt it. And... Raphael could use good news when everything else felt like it was crashing around him.

[Raphael Malai]

Ooh—the whisper made his whole left side tingle but the words sent his body heat skyrocketing. Raphael could hardly believe it! He had only been waiting, hoping, dreaming, daydreaming, pining and praying for this moment! And for Rhys to say it only to him, like the words weren't even meant for anyone else to hear, made the moment so much more special.

It briefly overshadowed his grief. The sadness and the weight on his soul wasn't gone and could never be fully dispelled if Brayden couldn't be saved, but in this dark cloud there was one bright silver lining. There was always something good to happen out of misery and sadness, Raphael always believed that.

After a stunned moment of silence, he hugged Rhys tight. Tight. Tight. All that came out of his mouth was a squeak of joy which he muffled into the crook of Rhys' neck because it... seemed insensitive to be expressing happiness in a time like this. Maybe the others would think he was crying again, or that he had gone inexplicably insane over Brayden's death.

Raphael didn't come up for air after that; he clung to Rhys until someone buzzed to be let in, and even then he didn't get up. Normally Raphael was the over-eager doorman but this time he let Ken get it, and Ken said that it was the person called Mik. Eventually a knock came at the door and sheer curiosity pried Raphael off of Rhys to see what this Mik person looked like.

It turned out...

He was incredibly handsome. Raphael gaped. He had never seen anybody more handsome in his life!

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip didn't know what he wanted to do when the door opened and Mik and Cori and Lieve came through the door. A part of him wanted to leap up and just embrace Mik as if he could absorb his ready warmth for himself. His heart even skipped a beat when he saw him. But that was it; he couldn't even make himself get up. Because the rest of him felt so numb.

And Cori... But Cori... Rip looked at him sadly, hopefully, wistfully. Cori really was strong. Maybe he could fix this terrible mistake Rip made. Oh, if anybody could, it was him. Rip was struck again by his pure innocence. But now he seemed even more pure than Rip remembered.

Lieve stayed close to Cori. He introduced himself to Ken, and the others and then he wanted to know where Brayden was. Rip felt a terrible tremor in his soul at the sound of his name and he quickly looked down, hands wringing so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"He's in the bedroom," Rip said suddenly. When he looked up, it was at Cori. "Please... help him. I don't think there's much time."

[Raphael Malai]

Oh.

Oh!

There were others with Mik!

Raphael didn't even notice them because all he saw was that handsome person and he sort of stopped paying attention to anyone surrounding him. Not that he was madly in love with Mik! He didn't know Mik existed before today! But somebody as handsome as that really deserved to be admired!

When he finally noticed the others, it was to discover that they were also attractive. Lieve was tall and willowy, very graceful—a fae! But one more connected with nature, he instinctively felt. Something about him was light and airy just like the way he moved. And Cori! Nobody could miss Cori, he had the dark curls and hazel eyes too!

And his power was overwhelming. Raphael actually edged away from him when he entered, squashing up against Rhys. The power pressed in against him almost with a physical force, it was so strong. So this was a celestial... No, half-celestial. A full celestial would probably have made his brains leak out of his ears...

The first thing Mik did after the introductions were over was walk over to Rip and hug him tight. Raphael made a little "Aww..." sound, which got him Cori's attention. He shut up and buried his face into Rhys' chest out of sheer embarrassment!

"Don't worry Rip, I'll do my best." Cori smiled a little. "C'mon Lievie, let's go see." They moved off towards the bedroom and Raphael snuck another peek at handsome Mik. Ooh he and Rip looked good together!

[Lieve Averesch]

Rip... did not look good. Despite all his misgivings and doubts about him, he couldn't help but feel at least a little sorry for him--and a little sorry for being so harsh on him when they first met. But at the same time, were his worries unfounded? Rip was involved in what? Killing somebody? It was just as well that Lieve had been suspicious from the start. And he kept Cori close, glad that he didn't go rushing off like Mik, to go hug the golem. To hug Rip.

To his credit, Rip seemed wracked with guilt over what he had done. Almost the second Mik's arms were around him, he started to cry... which was new to Lieve. He didn't think golems even had the capacity to cry. But it wasn't a loud weeping wail. It was a silent kind of cry, where tears just fell and eyes squeezed closed and he held onto Mik like he was his last lifeline.

And maybe he was; Lieve... personally did not trust Rip. Not all the remorse in the world changed the fact that he had been forced to do something awful. Just like Lieve had warned Mik. And it wasn't like he wanted to be right about this; there was no gloating, no lording it over. He didn't even mention it on the drive here. Mik probably already thought about it. He probably already felt shitty enough about it.

Sighing, Lieve took Cori's hand as they made their way down the hall and into the bedroom, leaving the others behind.

He didn't like this. He didn't like coming here with Rip clearly still connected to an evil creature and he didn't like Cori being asked to do something he'd never done before. If he failed, were they all going to turn on him? Lieve squeezed Cori's hand briefly, just before they entered the bedroom.

Pure anguish was palpable from the moment they stepped inside. It was all around them, emanating from the man who looked so like Rip. He sat in bed with his lover cradled in his arms and his eyes rimmed red. This must be Jack. The resemblance was definitely uncanny. Say what else you wanted about this deplorable Keith person but his skill in creating golems were clearly unmatched.

"Jack?"

He looked up and his expression didn't even change. No surprise, nothing.

"We're here to help your--here to help Brayden." He didn't know if this was the right time for it or not but he added, "This is Cori. We're told he's your brother?"

Still Jack's expression didn't change.

"And his mother is celestial. So we think he can help."

Finally, something in Jack changed. "Are you a soul weaver?" he asked. "Brayden said he needed a soul weaver. I don't know what that is, honestly... I'm new to this magic thing..."

[Cori Viera]

Cori looked over his shoulder just before they entered the bedroom and he saw everyone sitting together, holding each other. Mik was guiding Rip's head onto his shoulder and hugging him tight. And for a few seconds, his light--weaker than the others' because he was human--beat in time to Rip's light. Then they separated, pulsing gently to their own slightly mismatched beat.

That didn't seem like a terrible thing to Cori, the fact that Mik's light was starting to beat with Rip's. He looked again; the others' lights were much more in synch, much closer in their brightness and color. Theirs were like his and Lieve's so he assumed that they were soul mates.

Once they passed into the bedroom, all else was forgotten. Cori was nearly overwhelmed by the amount of grief radiating off of the man in the bed holding on to Brayden Smith. Jack. His brother. Cori squeezed Lieve's hand tighter as they approached but he didn't say anything. There was nothing he could say to comfort someone in such an advanced stage of grief. Even his light was dim, as though it, too, had started to give up.

"I-I'm not sure what I am," he said softly as he gripped Lieve's hand. Maybe Lieve could see the faint light too, in Jack's chest. There was nothing in Brayden Smith, though. Cori sensed that he wasn't fully dead because there was still a kind of gentle, pure aura coming from him but he... he sure looked dead.

"I can try to help. Um. Maybe if I can touch him? Is that okay?" He didn't want to lay hands on Brayden Smith without Jack's permission--that just seemed like an insensitive thing to do.

[Lieve Averesch]

Jack seemed to study Cori critically for a long moment but Lieve was unconcerned; anything Jack saw in Cori couldn't be bad. There was no bad seed inside of him, despite whatever evil his father might have tried to impart into him. Maybe Cori got the best of his father. The part of him that he must have been before he had fallen. Giving Cori one last gentle squeeze of the hand, Lieve let go of him to allow him to do what needed to be done.

For Jack's part, he seemed to come to the same conclusion as Lieve. That Cori could be trusted. He nodded after a moment, moving aside but staying close, fingertips brushing through his lover's hair so tenderly that it almost hurt to see it.

"Yes," Jack said softly. "It's okay."

There was hope now, mingled with all that anguish and despair. Hope in his tone, hope in his eyes, in his heart. Jack's aura was such a strange one; Lieve had never felt one so pulled in many different directions. Maybe this chaos was made from what happened to his lover. For that, Lieve could sympathize.

[Cori Viera]

"Okay." Cori gulped nervously and looked back at Lieve when Lieve let go of his hand. He didn't drop it, though. He just let go, like... like a mama bird gently letting go of her baby bird so that it could learn to fly on its own.

Honestly Cori didn't know what a soul weaver was or even how he was supposed to bring someone back from the dead! But so much of what happened to him that exposed his powers involved touching things. People. Touching lights, touching peppers that blew up. Touch and imagination seemed to be his conduits so he thought it wouldn't hurt to touch Brayden Smith and see what happened.

Slowly he approached the bed. The grief and sorrow became overpowering but he imagined himself with a shield in front of him, and the sensations dimmed. Okay... good. Cori clambered onto the bed (having toed his shoes off at the door like a good boy) and sat on Brayden Smith's other side. Poor Jack--his brother, which was weird to think of--looked so heartbroken and miserable that it made his own heart throb.

Cori looked at Leive again as though looking for guidance--but really he just wanted some kind of visual moral support. And then, after taking in a deep breath, he reached out and lightly slipped his fingertips over the inside of Brayden Smith's wrist.

And then the entire room went dark and Cori fell onto the bed beside him in a heap.

[Lieve Averesch]

Even Lieve couldn't tell whether Cori was a soul weaver or not. The fact of the matter was, the two of them were still learning what kind of abilities Cori had. Not wanting to overwork him or overwhelm him, Lieve helped him daily but tried to make the exercises easy ones that would slowly ramp up to more difficult ones. Cori was getting better every day; he was so powerful but he was learning how to rein it in so he wouldn't accidentally use those abilities against somebody. (Which was Cori's biggest fear, it seemed, and Lieve wasn't about to let it get into his head.)

With every success, he swore that he could see Cori growing more confident; this was the point of starting easy and slowly ramping up. It gave Cori a clear line of progression to look back on. It gave him a foundation to work with. And luckily for him, Cori wasn't one of those impatient people who found the "easy" work boring. But... well, this was Cori. And Cori was such a people pleaser at heart.

Lieve watched Cori with his breath held in his lungs, not even really thinking about it. He was anxious for him. But he believed in him. If anybody could do it, Cori could do it. When they held hands earlier, he saw no light at all inside Brayden, which didn't seem normal or good. And Jack's was so weak, threaded and throbbing with what Lieve could only imagine was his grief.

But... it wasn't irreparable... was it? Maybe normally. But... Cori was powerful. Realizing he was holding his breath, Lieve let it out and then sucked in some air, clutching his hands to his chest worriedly as he watched. He didn't know what he expected when Cori reached out to touch him. Maybe that Brayden would be suffused in a celestial golden glow that would heal him from the inside out.

That was not what happened.

As soon as Cori dropped, Lieve was leaping onto his side of the bed and holding him, looking at his face and gently patting his cheeks to try and wake him up.

"What happened?" he demanded of Jack and Jack looked every bit as stricken by what happened as Lieve did, minus the thread of protective anger. 

"I--I don't know. I don't know anything about magic except what I've been learning about dreams and visions..."

"Cori? Cori! Cori, wake up!" He didn't appear to be dead. He still had a pulse. But Lieve's heart was racing triple time with fear. What happened when a celestial touched a dead person? How would Lieve know? This was, simply put, out of his depth.

Jack swiftly leaned down to give Brayden a kiss he probably didn't even feel before leaping out of the bed and running to the door. "Ken? We could use your help, please!" At Lieve's distrusting expression--who was Ken again?--Jack added, "He's--he knows the most, I think, out of everybody here."

[Kenneth Branagh]

"Yes, yes I know, love. I know." Ken was hunched over in an awkward position comforting Niall but he barely felt it. His thumb gently caressed the swell of Niall's cheekbone as he listened to the half-incoherent mumblings. Death. Lor. The things that Niall never sought help for formed the demons that chased him and no matter how far or how hard he ran, he could never escape. Lorcan's death affected them all but it broke something permanently inside of Niall.

He sat there with Niall in silence, letting his voice trail off as he quieted down and calmed down. Brayden's death hit them all suddenly so it was natural for Niall to... over-react. And Ken hadn't meant to shock him this way, but he needed them to know what happened so that they would be at least prepared. Carrying Brayden's body in through the door to shock everyone wasn't a much better alternative in his opinion.

Gently he kissed the top of Niall's head. "I'm sorry, love," he whispered, so as not to break the silence in the room. Raphael was whispering into Rhys' ear, cozied up with him at the other end of the couch. On the love seat, the young man called Mik was holding Rip and stroking his hair and kissing his temple, letting him grieve.

The silence was only broken by someone calling him--Jack--and he sat up. "Something's wrong." Ken could sense it in the panicked way Jack called his name. He disengaged from Niall and strode quickly into the bedroom, squeezing Jack's shoulder in passing. On the bed, the kid--Cori--was laying beside Brayden and both were terrifyingly still.

"What happened?" Ken didn't touch them as he approached--not without knowing why Cori collapsed. "What did he do?"

[Jack Ripley]

"Nothing. All he did was touch Brayden and suddenly, he collapsed."

Jack felt jangled up, his nerves were getting the best of him. This was the ideal moment for something strong--really strong--to settle him down. But there were no drugs in the house since he'd gone off them years ago. And the alcohol wasn't going to help; it wasn't enough. Besides, Brayden... Brayden... if he--when he woke up, wasn't going to want to learn that he'd pushed Jack back into his vices.

But damn if he couldn't at least do with a cigarette right about now.

"Should I try to... go into vision? And find them?" Jack asked, although he hated to ask it and he didn't even think it would work. Brayden was the dream walker. He could walk through the unconscious minds. Jack could just see visions of the past and future... not much help in this case. He shook his head at himself.

"Never mind, that won't work," he muttered, pulling a hand through his hair in agitation. He turned to the other person in the room.

"Do you know how to fix this?"

The one who called himself Lieve when he entered took a deep breath and drew closer to the bed.

"No... But he... might have to do this in order to bring him back." He had a fuck I hope so look on his face that Jack could totally understand.

"Do you know what a soul weaver is, Ken?" Jack asked. "You were there... Brayden said the celestial had to be a soul weaver... Maybe this one's... not."

[Kenneth Branagh]

Ken checked both Cori and Brayden for a pulse, startled to find that Cori's was growing weaker by the moment. Then--stronger. Then weaker again. It kept ebbing in and out, as though Cori was here but also not here, fighting to keep a hold over his earthly body and to keep it running. He heard Jack's muttering but he shook his head. "No, don't. We shouldn't do anything without a plan."

Going into this blind was a terrible idea. Ken thought they knew what they were doing--Cori seemed so confident when he walked in. And... admittedly he was more concerned about Niall and how Niall was faring up, and he failed to go through his usual procedure of grilling the newcomers. Damnit.

"A soul weaver..." Ken paused and walked out without explanation, only to return with a small silver instrument. He began to turn it on and to tune the delicate blue dials. "A soul weaver is someone who exists at the boundary of life and death. They can access both worlds, and pull souls from either... dimension." The instrument beeped once. Ken cursed softly under his breath and began tuning it again.

"They call them soul weavers because they can connect souls from the land of the dead to living bodies. As in they weave souls into things--actual bodies, living clay, what-have-you--and they can grow them without that soul's mate. They are extremely powerful and extremely rare. I've not encountered one in my entire life."

So the chances of Cori popping up and being one was... unlikely. Hence. Telling everyone Brayden Smith was dead--because he was virtually doomed. But at the time Ken didn't say anything for obvious reasons. He twisted a dial minutely and the instrument hummed. Ken placed it over Cori's heart, then over Brayden's, then Cori's again.

"He's... His light is here but it's dimming. I don't know where his soul went but it's... not here."

[Lieve Averesch]

"Are you kidding me?" Lieve's voice rose. He didn't often get angry but lately, with everybody thrusting his Cori into harm's way constantly, he couldn't help it. That was the one thing he couldn't abide by! People wanting to harm Cori! Or people harming him through ignorance! His nostrils flared and his jaw set.

"You're telling me that I brought Cori here to die?"

If his soul wasn't there, then he was as good as dead, too, was he not? The panic was starting to take hold, over the anger. And he was the fool who thought it was fine to let Cori make the call, knowing full well he couldn't be ready for something like this! He'd never even practiced such a thing on something smaller, like a small mammal or a bird! And they thrust him into this without the slightest clue as to what could happen!

Breathing heavily, Lieve turned away from the others, trembling with anger and fear. He knew he shouldn't have got involved with this bunch. That they should have left well enough alone, that they shouldn't have-- NONE OF IT. They should have lived as they were; they were happy together. As happy as they could be, given the circumstances with Cori's mother. Cori's mother. He would get to that in a minute but--

"Wait," Lieve said. "Wait. So... This Keith. Is he a soul weaver, then? How did he weave a soul into a golem? Or did he have somebody else do it for him? And who did it?"