Chapter Text
Thadwick had a plan. It wasn’t perfect but it would work. Hopefully.
Ever since he had told Neil to go away no one had bothered him leaving him time to think.
Other than Cassandra but that was just typical. At least he’d managed to ward her off with his aura.
She still insisted on sitting guard outside his room. He’d only managed to convince her to stay out by giving a sense of overwhelming exhaustion and continued to send an aura signal he was “trying to sleep”. Thad’s work, obviously. She’d never listened to him properly before.
Which was strange considering, he had a way of getting people to barge into his life propriety be damned.
It also had the inconvenient side effect of making Thadwick’s life harder when he was just trying to get space.
The Church of Purity had tried to Starseed Thad. They’d succeeded except Thadwick had done something. Pressed the big red button he remembered Mara Tia telling him not to worry about as he would never need it. Well, probably never need it.
Beyond that it was a haze of pain and exhaustion and fear. Before waking up here.
Thadwick hated being frightened. Hated feeling helpless. Even worse, he hated the memories of the girl with the golden hair staring up at him. Well, Thad but it was still him.
Her anger, her rage. He couldn’t remember much of the chamber but he could remember her dismissive stare. The small quirk of a smile as Thad had begun to scream.
He wondered what she had gone through to make her like that. The sad broken girl into the cold one. The one he saw himself in like he was the one reflected from her eyes had changed. Only instead of the companionship and recognition they had shared a kiss over, a shattered reflection staring back now. Only cutting him deeper the harder he tried to grab for them.
Maybe he should have let Thad have those memories. Maybe that would have been the smart thing. Maybe that would have helped him save her. But that would have meant… sharing their night. Sharing it with someone who wouldn’t… couldn’t understand.
Thad was a… a gem. The sort you found in a dumpster that followed you home despite you forgetting you pocketed it and then suddenly you were attached and couldn’t toss it out. Thadwick didn’t know what his life before was like. But surely, he didn’t know what it was like to be turned away at every turn that should have been yours. To be denied from your destiny. To struggle your whole life to be seen as you are and to finally, finally find someone who understand you. Someone who gets it.
He never forgot Anisa. Never forgot her smile. Cold or warm. Never forgot what she meant to him. She might not know it but he could never forget her even if he tried. Not that he would.
So what if she betrayed him? How else was he supposed to… if she couldn’t change, if she couldn’t get a chance— How the hell was Thad supposed to fix him if he couldn’t fix her? How could he protect her from Gellers blade if he couldnt stop Thad, nonetheless himself, from walking into the Builders clutches. Now that Thad was gone, how was Thadwick supposed to manage anything when all he’d apparently succeeded at was messing up everything he touched.
Thadwick pushed down a pang at the thought of Thad. The idiot wasn’t here. There was silence. He couldn’t feel him. Though he was kind of too scared to look for him. What if he was gone? What if Thadwick was stuck all alone with his stupid body and the stupid star seed and his stupid life that he would inevitably wind up fucking up because he was never good enough for anyone.
His best bet was to check the interface. Maybe he and Thad had changed places? He’d spent enough time behind that stupid desk and screen.
He pulled up the interface. All the usual options were there. Except the one he used to connect with Thad and send him messages.
He did notice a blinking icon next to the messenger profile option. It meant he, or well Thad, had a message.
He pressed on it.
A picture of Mara Tia popped up.
“Thadwick Mercer you absolute buffoon, what made you think that pressing that button would work? We’re just lucky this actually worked instead of your soul literally burning out in the astral, getting stolen by the Builder, or running out of determination before you made it into Thad’s soul. Do you have any idea what a mess you’ve made?
“The Reaper is in active negotiations with the Builder right now over you stealing a star seed for your own purposes. Don’t think this won’t be added to your soul debt. When you get back, this is absolutely going to wind up in your annual review.
“For now, focus on avoiding getting caught until the Healer gets put in charge of removing Star Seeds. Otherwise odds are both of you are going to an early reunion with the Reaper and I won’t be coming to bail either of you out.”
The message closed asThadwick let out a sigh of relief.
He had a goal. A time frame. He just had to hold out long enough until people found out that Purity was working with the Builder.
Once that happened, he could let his family know about the star seed and let them extract it. Safely. And return to his nice safe spot behind the desk.
As for his task, he’d already started that. His instincts had served him right. He just had to pretend to be Thad for a bit. Maybe he could even help raise suspicions about the Church of Purity early. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already started.
“Alright that’s long enough, I’m coming in!”
“Cassandra!” Thadwick yelled back. Jumping out of bed and slamming against the door. Ignoring the shock of pain as he forced his body to move. His iron rank did nothing to prevent a determined bronze rank sister.
His feet moved backwards.
“You’re out of bed. Good,” Cassandra declared. “Davone made it sound like you were dying.”
“How many times have I told you not to barge in?! This is my room. Yours is down the hall.”
“Oh did my little brother remember basic geography?”
Oh gods, Thadwick had tried to forget about that “phase”. Back when Thad had been a stubborn annoying prick who’d refused to integrate the memory files for some stupid reason about not wanting to lose himself.
Unfortunately, that meant Thadwick had to pretend it wasn’t someone else in charge of his body causing that scene.
“Are you ever going to let that slide?”
“You mean am I going to let my brother getting a brain injury, acting weird, forgetting how to navigate his hometown go? I think the better question is what makes you think that you coming home greviously injured, refuses his healer, and shuts down is something I’m just going to let go.
“I’m fine,” Thadwick rolled his eyes.
“Like hell you are. If you’re fine why haven’t you healed yourself up yet? Since you apparently refused to let your very talented healer that you’re totally not dating fix you either. Please don’t tell me you two are on the outs? I do not want to deal with a break up on top of you nearly dying, again. Mother was furious when the healers insisted that they couldnt heal you further until you woke up. She nearly murdered Davone when she found out he got kicked out before you let him heal you either.”
Thadwick looked down at the cuts and injuries covering his body. “Oh uhhh… I was waiting till I was more settled to do that.”
Right Thad got that healing ability. He’d totally forgotten about it.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow.
Thadwick rolled his eyes in response as he stated the spell.
“Oh gentle breeze, ease our pain. Also, we’re not dating. You seriously think Davone is my type?”
He was Thad’s type. Not Thadwick’s. Though he was supposed to be Thad so maybe he was supposed to pretend to be Thad and pretend to be into Davone. Though maybe Thad would have gotten defensive to and—
His healing power awakened and Thadwick nearly groaned with relief. He nearly fell over. If it weren’t for Cassandra catching him, he would have.
Cassandra’s eyes flashed like she’d caught him stealing cookies.
“That’s it. I’m bringing you to Davone. You are going to sit there and let him heal you. You are not going to say another word. You are not going to be mean to him again. You are not going to snap at him. And when you’re all nice and healed, you are going to tell him thank you and resolve whatever relationship spat you two are going through. Otherwise I am going to beat you up so badly in our next training session you run off to become a priest.”
She didn’t wait for a response and instead grabbed his hand and frog marched him out of the bedroom.
He barely had time to grab a blanket to wrap around himself for modesty.
“Cassandra! Ow!!! Stop it!!”
His muscles screamed at him.
Cassandra didn’t listen. She never had before. Why would she—
Cassandra yanked him forward as she stopped and suddenly he was swooped up in her arms.
“If you’re going to make such a fuss about walking I’m going to assume you’re too injured to walk.”
She princess carried him, protesting, the rest of the way.