Chapter Text
That night, they had stopped in Tango's hometown for a little while. The pair were very kind, and Scott and Martyn ended up staying the night in their barn. It was smelly and rather noisy (there was a large cowpen in there), but it was a roof over their heads and a chance to sleep. Even if the roof was old and falling apart in some places. The moonlight poured in from the rafters, hungrily sneaking its way in through the gaps.
It also helped that they had not gone into town, so the local authorities should have no idea they were there. Two hunters were bad enough. Scott couldn't wait for them to get out of Dogwarts so they could stay in towns for longer. They wouldn't be entirely safe for a while, but at least they had much less to fear on foreign soil.
"So," Scott flopped onto a pile of hay. "Your story about how we supposedly met?"
"Okay," Martyn groaned, setting aside the lantern they had been graciously lent. Besides the moon, it was their only source of light. "So maybe that was partially true."
Scott rolled over to face him, grinning. "What parts?" He drew out the last word, making Martyn look at least a little uncomfortable.
"Well, I did think you looked cute when I first met you," Martyn looked like he'd rather be gutted by one of the hunters than keep talking. "But that is how I met my actual soulmate."
Actual soulmate. Scott had never heard Martyn talk about a soulmate. He had assumed they had never met before. But why weren't they on the run with him? What had happened?
"What are they like?" Scott asked.
"Spiteful," Martyn answered immediately, and Scott laughed involuntarily. "But in a good way! They do metalwork for the king. Finest armor I've ever seen. They're the head of an entire guild, built themselves from the ground up." His face fell even more. "They probably hate me now. I know I would."
Scott laid back in the straw. He didn't know the situation, and he didn't know if he really had the skills for this sort of advice or comfort. But he may as well try. Martyn was clearly being vulnerable.
"What did you do?"
Martyn didn't speak for a long moment. "I met them a month before…" Each word sounded like it was being pulled from him against his will, each syllable a step in a death march. "I ran away. We got along great. But I didn't think they could handle life on the run. So I left them a note the night before I went. Never said goodbye or anything."
Scott winced. He knew Martyn wasn't the best person by any means. But that was one hell of a decision to make.
"They would have tried to come with me!" Martyn said. "Especially since Dogwarts… doesn't care which soulmate they kill if one of them's on death row." Yeah, he wasn't looking any better. "But they clearly are okay. I think. If Dogwarts was planning to kill them, they would already be dead by now. Besides, I'm better off working a-" Martyn cut himself off, looking away from Scott.
Scott didn't need to hear the end of the sentence. He was going to say 'alone'. But him trying to spare Scott's feelings on the matter was new. Then a realization struck him.
"Is that one of the reasons you didn't want me around?" Scott asked.
"Is what one of the reasons?" Martyn questioned.
"Because you wouldn't even let your own soulmate come with you."
"That thought crossed my mind." Martyn leaned against a post. "I think that's enough from me. I'll take first watch. You can go to sleep."
Scott closed his eyes. "For the record," He said. "I'm glad we're together."
He heard Martyn respond, but fell asleep before he could register what he had said.
Scott was not woken up by the sun, but by shouting.
His eyes shot open, and he rolled to the side before he registered what the threat was.
Joel's knife sank into the hay, right where his heart had been only seconds ago. If he hadn't woken up right then, he would have died. And he wasn't out of the woods yet, either. Far from it.
At the edge of the lamp's small circle of light, Martyn was grappling with Etho, and the two of them seemed pretty evenly matched. Etho had speed and finesse, but Martyn seemed to predict his movements and struck with a strength and ferocity Scott had never seen a person possess before. Martyn had clearly paused to wake Scott up and was paying for it with a shallow cut to his arm. Scott also noticed that the right side of Etho's face was still irritated and pink. Whoops.
Joel snarled and lunged for Scott again, and he stepped back, making the hunter fall on the floor. Scott was no fighter, but he managed to stumble his way to the farm equipment. He fumbled in the dark until his hand closed on an ax. It would have to do.
Even armed though, Scott didn't think he stood a chance. So, like a good coward, he jumped right into the cowpen. It smelled awful, and Scott didn't like to think about what he was stepping on, but it provided a cover for any noises he made. In addition, if Joel wanted to get to him, he either had to throw his weapon or vault over the entrance, where Scott could ambush him rather easily.
Scott needed to find a way out of this barn, before the hunters got the best of them. He may have bought himself a few seconds before Joel made a decision, but he hadn't really gotten that much time.
All of a sudden, there was a gleam of metal in front of him, and Scott stepped back. He hadn't even noticed Joel get so close to him. It was inhumanly fast.
Either Joel had put on a serious burst of speed, or he had used his gift.
From the other side of the barn, he heard Martyn shout, but he didn't dare to look over. They would have to take care of themselves right now.
"Would," Joel stabbed at him again. "You. Hold. Still!"
"No thanks," Scott said, though he was quickly growing tired. "Why are you even after me, anyways? Martyn's the one you're here for!" Eventually, Joel made another plunging strike, and Scott saw his window of opportunity. He brought the ax down on Joel, right at his shoulder blade. But before it could sink in, Joel… melted into the shadows.
Scott felt a stabbing pain in his arm and looked to see Joel behind him, with a knife in his arm. He screamed from the pain. "It's for the best!" Joel explained. So it was settled, it was a gift of Joel's.
If it was, then why hadn't he used it before now? What was different?
And what did he mean, it was for the best?
Scott tried to think through the pain, even as Joel pulled the knife out and Scott stumbled out of range into a square of moonlight.
Joel ran towards him, but did not teleport. Scott almost laughed. He got it now, or at least the gist of it. He was moving through shadows in some way.
Scott spared a second to look at Martyn. He looked angry, and a little confused. "They're moving through the dark!" Scott shouted at him, right as Etho materialized in front of Martyn.
"Thanks!" Martyn yelled back and Scott saw him move towards the lamp. Scott grabbed his ax with his undamaged hand and, in a stupid move, chucked it in Joel's general direction.
He didn't hear it connect, but he certainly heard Joel curse very, very loudly. Scott took that as his opportunity to run. That's when he heard a loud sound like glass shattering and whipped around.
The lantern was in pieces on the floor. The straw covered floor, which was now catching fire at Martyn's feet.
"Can't teleport if there's no dark, huh?" Martyn said as he backed away from the rapidly growing fire.
Unfortunately for all of them, the lantern was close to the entrance of the barn. Meaning if any of them wanted to get out of there alive, they would have to brave either the flames, or get out some other way.
Scott had experiences with animals and fire. He knew that manure would go up in flames very easily. So, ignoring Joel (who seemed too distracted by the new development anyways), he jumped out of the pen and into a still unburned part of the barn, pulling his shirt over his mouth and nose.
Martyn ran next to him, shirt also covering the lower half of his face. "Okay," He said, watching an entire hay bale ignite. "So maybe I miscalculated."
"You think?" Scott whisper-yelled at him. On the other side of the barn, Etho was using his gift to move up to the rafters, clearly more focused on getting out of there than anything else. Joel was right behind him, and Scott saw that his ear was bleeding very heavily. So that was what he had hit with his ax.
"We need to get out of here," Martyn said.
"How?" Scott replied. "The entrance is blocked."
Martyn looked around. "It might be our only option."
The heat was growing, and Scott could feel himself starting to sweat. The smoke was making it hard to see as well. But he could feel a part of himself reacting to it. Like it was pushing to the surface.
"We go together?" Scott asked. He had just thrown an ax at someone, and it could have hurt them really badly. Even if they were trying to kill him, that was awful.
Martyn looked at Scott, and held out his hand. "Together."
Scott felt something tingling in his fingertips, like they had fallen asleep, or like there were bugs crawling on top of them. However, when he looked, he saw that they had no such issues. He took Martyn's hand (feeling the tingling spread), and they both set off into the fire.
The heat was unbearable, the smoke even worse. Scott felt like he was on the verge of coughing, moving fast enough that he needed to breathe more than usual but still trying to control how much smoke he inhaled.
But he then noticed that he and Martyn were not catching fire. In fact, all his clothes felt very wet where they met flames. There were rivulets running down his skin, evaporating under the heat. His hands were tingling like there were little sparks under his fingers, waiting to ignite.
He was going to question that when he was safely out of the fire, though. Martyn's hand stayed tightly gripped in his, slightly sweaty fingers digging into his palm.
They ran out until they were out of the barn, where they both did an instinctive once-over. Joel and Etho were nowhere to be seen. Likely because they needed to patch up the former's ear before it got too bad. Otherwise, they would have probably been waiting outside to jump them.
Scott didn't know how to feel about that. He had done an objectively bad thing, but it had saved his life. He had no other option. It was for the best.
Then again, that was what Joel said about killing him.
"We have to go," Martyn said, voice raspy from the smoke, and Scott realized they were still holding hands. Now that he looked down, he saw that they were well and truly soaked, though he didn't know why. Then Martyn took a long look at his face. "And is something up with your hair?"
"No?" Scott answered, and brought his hand up to it. It felt same it had always been. "Let's just go." And they set off into the woods.