Chapter Text
Objectively, this is a very bad twenty-four hours for Angus. It starts bad and it ends just as badly. There’s a happy ending in there somewhere, but it’s somewhat overshadowed by the copious amounts of shit on the way.
It starts with a briefing. The Reclaimers are going to retrieve the Animus Bell. Three Reclaimers are going to come down, and one of them isn’t going to come back. Angus’ hands are shaking, clenching the edges of his notebook too tightly. The Director doesn’t seem to notice his anxiety, her face grave and her own worry plainly visible. The Reclaimers are taking it way too lightly, joking as they always do, pretending that they aren’t nervous about their upcoming mission.
Angus bounces his knee and looks towards the door, just a glance. Then he stares.
Magnus is there, alive and in the flesh, kicking the door open. Angus would have considered this to be a past vision, except for one small detail: Magnus has the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom in his hands. The same sword that Angus knows that Magnus does not currently have. And if he’s leaving on the mission right now, that leaves less than an hour of time where Taako would give him the sword and where he would come rushing in, but that doesn’t make any sense . And it can’t be after they return from their mission, because Magnus dies in Wonderland-
He shakes himself. He can deal with that later. Right now, he needs to make sure he gives Taako and Merle all of the information they could possibly need, so at least they make it out alive.
The vision doesn’t shake off. Angus turns back to the Director and the vision sticks. She’s surrounded by a barrier, her staff in her hands and the Animus Bell on the ground, which means that this is future, which doesn’t make any sense-
Angus stands. The vision doesn’t end. He blinks, shutting his eyes tight and opening them again. The vision stays. But now it seems faster, seems like it’s going through several minutes at once, like Angus has jumped forward, watching everything in slow motion, until the vision slows back to normal time.
“Ten.” Tears are streaming down Taako’s cheeks. He raises the Umbra Staff to point at Lucretia. “Nine.”
Taako’s crying and Angus is terrified of this vision now. He wants this scene to end right now . He doesn't understand what’s happened, but then Magnus says something that he doesn’t quite catch, something that’s meant to be soothing, he thinks, a scrap of a name. Angus frantically looks around, looking for clues despite his apprehension, looking for anything that might help him prepare for this, that might let him understand.
There’s a man in a pair of bright blue jeans with a flask in his hand, passing it to Carey and Killian. They drink and hold their heads. Voidfish ichor. There’s another Voidfish. This man seems familiar. Something about that flash of blue and white and red seems familiar, like he’s seen it before, falling, falling-
There’s another Voidfish. This is not surprising to Angus. He is the world’s greatest detective. And even if he wasn’t, this still would not be a particularly earth-shattering revelation. There isn’t anyone else in this vision-room that he doesn’t recognize.
The Director. Taako, Merle, Magnus. Davenport, who seems different. Carey, Killian, Noelle. This denim-clad man. Himself, carefully levitating furniture to block the door. He doesn’t look any different than his present self.
The Director. The Animus Bell. Angus’ breathing picks up in realization. He’d suspected for a while now, but he’d never known. The Director-she-
Taako’s tired, he looks exhausted and furious and he’s grieving for someone-
Merle’s injured and he can’t seem to heal himself, he can’t seem to do anything-
Magnus is here, but he's also dead-
Angus, he’s wearing the same exact clothing as his vision counterpart, down to his bright blue argyle socks and the dark blue bow tie, his dark gray sweater vest. This isn’t just the future, this is today or tomorrow at the latest. This is now.
“-dispel the damn magic!” Magnus’ voice, fuzzy but real in his ear.
“-not magic, I already told ya, you numbskull! Whatever’s goin’ on here with him, ‘s not magic!” Real Taako, sounding curt and worried. But it’s better than being upset, because that’s what going to happen-
Taako and Merle slipping into the Director’s private office. A different vision, too quick, and he flinches at the whiplash, at the sudden lack of commotion in the room. He looks over his shoulder in the scene and sees himself stealthily follow-
The Director, alone, and she looks so young, so alone. She’s in her office, but key details are missing: the large painting, some of the gadgets on the desk. Past vision. The staff in her hands seems a little dimmer, and has Angus really never noticed it getting steadily brighter?
A broken wand in Angus’ hands. He doesn’t have another one, he doesn’t have an extra, how is he supposed to cast magic now-
Something whaps against Angus’ head in real life.
It’s okay, you’re going to be okay, a voice says in his mind, a feminine voice that sounds kind of familiar in an odd way. Not like he’s heard the voice before, but like he’s heard something similar.
It’s enough to snap him out of it, like someone’s pushed him into a very cold lake in the middle of a very hot day. He finds himself on the ground in Magnus’ arms. Angus can’t help but cling, because this might be the last time he ever sees Magnus. Maybe. His latest vision has cast a bit of doubt about that. Magnus is rubbing circles on Angus’ back.
A smooth cold hand against his forehead. Merle’s soulwood arm. “He’s not burning up or nothin’,” the cleric gruffly says, standing just to Angus’ left. “Must of had a fit or somethin’.”
Taako’s standing above him next to the Director. He’s half-heartedly scolding his Umbra Staff, muttering something about not hitting small children in their heads without his permission. The Umbra Staff must have acted on its own, and maybe that’s where the voice he heard was coming from, maybe there’s someone inside the umbrella somehow-
He holds his head. That was not a good thought to have.
“Angus?” The Director sounds worried, tired, concerned. “Are you alright? What happened?”
“I-I’m fine,” he hisses, rubbing his eyes, sending sparks through his skull. “I-I’m fine, I just, uhhh…” He has no good explanation for this. A vague one will have to do. “It’s a genetic condition, I think, my grandpa used to have fits too.” Maybe he doesn’t have to lie. There’s a chance he could just blurt out the truth. But that seems too dangerous.
After all, he can’t trust the Director anymore. She’s been lying about the Relics, she’s been hiding the second Voidfish, she’s done something that would make a future Taako very upset at her.
He’s still half-out of it, his eyes finding it difficult to focus. He tries to stand up and wobbles, one hand on Magnus’ broad shoulder for balance. “Go on your mission. I’ll be fine, I’ll just, uh, rest in my room until you come back.” Really, he wants nothing more than to investigate, but he has a feeling that he’s not going to accomplish anything in his current state. “G-Good luck on your mission, sirs!” His voice cracks.
“Mm-mm, not letting you walk all the way back to Casa del Ango when you look like you’re two seconds away from passin’ out, my dude,” Taako asserts. He levitates Angus into his arms. “Just Sleep.”
And he does.
They return. Magnus is “dead”. The Relic is “destroyed”. And when Merle and Taako slip away, Angus knows to follow.
He sees it when he’s casting Zone of Truth, out of the corner of his eye, while Merle and Taako easily pass their saving throws. There’s another man here- Barry, his mind supplies- but Angus ignores him in favor of this brief second of future-vision.
There are guards. A lot of guards, leading him and Taako and Merle and Barry back down the hallway. All of them look to be in a state of semi-shock. They’re going to get caught.
“We need to hurry up, sirs,” he quickly says, leading the way down the hallway towards the vault door. “We’re going to get caught in a few minutes.”
Taako doesn’t question him. He takes out his Hole-Thrower and then they’re in the room. The journals, the holy symbol, the maps, Angus ignores it all in favor of crossing to the tank in the room. There’s a second Voidfish, and it’s probably in here.
He drinks.
And now everything he’s seen makes sense. Then Taako drinks, then Merle, then Barry, then the doors burst open and they’re caught.
Lup. That’s one of the first things that Angus truly understands, picks out from the tangled mess of things he’s seen but not comprehended. The weight of this truth makes him stumble. His left hand, the one not holding his wand, grasps Taako’s right hand over the handle of the Umbra Staff. The umbrella. Lup.
Then Angus sees Lup. Or, rather, he sees himself see Lup, and she’s in the middle of the room, in her lich form, smiling and laughing with Taako, and the Hunger is gone from the chamber, and everything’s okay, just for a second, everything is still.
“It’s going to be okay, Taako,” he whispers, interrupting the conversation around him. He hasn’t even been paying attention while Lucretia recounts their journey, while Magnus groans in pain and Merle is silent, shocked, and Taako is upset, so angry and sad and every other emotion that comes with the sudden realization that one’s other half has been dead for years.
Lucretia looks down at him, frowning, leaning on her staff. “Angus. What have you been remembering? Why did you even have anything to remember?”
He ignores her in favor of sidling closer to Taako, looking up into his mentor’s hopeless eyes. “You’re going to find her. It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to turn out okay, Taako, sir.” He swallows hard before the next words are forced out of him. “You’re going to find Lup and then you’re going to find Kravitz, then you’re going to save the world. And that’s not-that’s not optimistic bullshit, sir. That’s just what’s going to happen.” He squeezes Taako’s hand, white-knuckled around the crook of the umbrella. “Just trust me, sir. Please.”
“You’re a Seer,” Barry quietly says.
“You-you saw-” Taako’s voice breaks. “You saw it all turning out okay?”
Angus nods. “We just need to make sure that happens-”
The ceiling shakes and collapses. The Hunger has found them. Taako is just quick enough to shove Angus backwards, taking the hit from the falling glass and rubble.
And then there’s a rhino and a hand and so many enemies, and then he gets hit and then his wand breaks , and then there’s the Umbra Staff at his feet. Then he’s picking it up and raising it and he feels something come from it that is not his magic.
Then he sees Lup. For real this time. Then it’s calm and then it’s not, then it’s searching and reuniting and one final stand and a vision that they can all see.
And then a happy ending.