Chapter Text
The worst cycles were the ones where only two of them died.
They hadn’t intended to become a trio, but despite the twin’s surprise Barry just sorta slotted right in with them. It felt like it shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. The person they had first met during IPRE training had been nervous and shy and so outwardly a huge dork it was ridiculous. He was aware of that fact, and had accepted it. None of that had changed when the world ended and they all ended up on some planet ruled by animals. When Taako and Lup had said they were going to learn the language here Barry excitedly grabbed a notebook and asked to join. He wanted to learn about this world and that was the perfect way.
They let him tag along, because he was amusing to tease and watching him flinch away from the cute little mongooses was hilarious. That’s all he was though, something amusing and distracting and someone willing to actually do the work of writing shit down for them.
Except then one day when they three were about to head out, Barry took a deep breath. Pulling out a bottle of fucking whisky from nowhere, he downed the thing before demanding they ‘let him at those mongooses. Fuck it he’s gonna pet one today and nothing was gonna stop him.’
Taako and Lup had shared a look then and they hadn’t needed to say anything to know they were both thinking the exact same thing.
This nerd was hilarious and ridiculous and he was theirs now.
And that’s how it was after that. The apocalypse came and went and came again and again and again. It was strange how close you got to people when they were the only thing you could be sure would still exist in a year.
Barry had admired the twins since he first met them. They were a force of personality that seemed unstoppable, beautiful and clever and so much more intelligent than they tried to let on. He’d thought they’d be impossible to approach, and there was a way in which they were. Despite that, he somehow found himself with them again and again, year after year. It made sense, they were co-workers, the three of them were the most adept at the magic that could help them through this endless journey. It only made sense to work together on this.
But it was becoming more than that. Conversations about work and magic and the light shifted to talking about their lives and what ridiculous things were on whatever world they were in at the time and ‘what do you mean you’ve never had a real quiche before Barold? What no that’s not a quiche that’s a cheesy rice casserole there aren’t even eggs in it holy fuck study time is over. Kitchen now.’
It was nice. Having the twins around was nice. Barry had never had siblings, but he was starting to feel like he had a brother now with Taako. And Lup.
Lup was just.
Yeah.
He’d gotten used to having the two of them around. More than used to, he enjoyed it. Looked forward to spending time with them. The nervousness he’d originally felt around the two unapproachable, beautiful elves faded with time. It faded with each time he saw Lup fallen asleep at the table, having got too caught up in some project and left drooling over important research. And it faded each time he managed to get Taako to burst into an inelegant laugh, one time when he was drinking and he had to hold a hand up over his face as juice dripped all over him and he swore about cutting the legs off of all Barry’s pants between bursts of laughter.
Despite how close he’d gotten to the two though, Barry wasn’t surprised when one cycle he was left alone.
Their mission was dangerous, it was only to be expected that sometimes more than one person would die in a cycle. Taako and Lup were a set too, and even though no one had said it out loud, everyone had figured that the first time one of them died would be the first time both of them had.
It was almost six months into the cycle. Nearly halfway over Barry had to keep reminding himself. They’d be back before he even knew it.
It was one of the first times someone had died before they were running to escape though, and so at that moment six months felt like an eternity.
They had finally managed to find the light of creation. It had fallen in a range of craggy, black mountains. Lucretia, Merle and Davenport had elected to stay back at the ship while the other four, Lup, Taako, Barry and Magnus scaled the jagged rocks to retrieve the light.
The journey up had actually been uneventful, almost pleasant. They had to watch their steps, as the stones were more like broken glass or knives, so they made falling a bitch, but after a while they got a decent rhythm.
It was when they finally reached the light that problems began. Magnus had rushed forward to grab it from where it was sitting on top of a shiny black column, and the next thing Barry knew they were surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of earth elementals, all made of the same jagged black material as the mountain.
Somehow, Magnus managed to grab the light. Barry and the twins burned through spell after spell, trying to get them all out of there. Magnus tried to fight too, but every hit with his axe or his fist sent shards flying back at him.
They got out of the encampment of earth elementals, but there was a whole goddamn mountain to go down now. And then they heard it.
Barry wasn’t sure what the elementals had done, but it looked like the whole top of the mountain was falling towards them.
“Lup, I’m outta spells here,” he remembered Taako saying, sounding breathless and in pain. When Barry looked back, the elf was doubled over his sister, both of them bleeding and clinging to each other to stay upright. Barry knew he and Magnus weren’t in any better shape. He didn't know how they were going to get out of this.
He remembered watching as Lup looked at them and then looked at the encroaching wall of black dust and stones. “No worries, I got it covered,” she’d said, and the next thing Barry knew a shimmering sphere enclosed around him and Magnus.
“What? Why are we in a bubble?” Magnus asked, exhausted and confused, the light still held tight in his arms. It dawned on Barry a second too late what was happening. A resilient sphere.
“Lup, Taako, no what are you doing?” he asked in a panic. The avalanche was nearly deafening at this point, he almost didn’t hear the answer.
“Get the light back and don’t go starving while we’re gone,” Lup said, smiling despite the blood caked on her face and the way her legs were shaking.
Barry didn’t have a chance to say anything else. No one did. He could only watch in horror as the twins disappeared in an instant in the dust, the avalanche slamming into the side of the bubble next, pushing them roughly down to the base of the mountain before the rocks finally stopped and the spell came to an end.
Magnus was up on his feet in an instant, but Barry couldn’t do anything but sit there, his entire body shaking.
They were gone. They’d be back but they were gone.
“Barry, fuck Barry are you listening to me? We gotta go back! They might still be up there!” Magnus was yelling, and he’d only just noticed. Slowly he got to his feet, not bothering to remove any of the sharp blades of stone jabbed in him. They could have Merle look at them when they got back.
“Let’s head back to the ship,” he said simply, trying to ignore the enraged look on Magnus’s face.
“Barry, what the fuck? They might need our help!” he yelled but Barry shook his head.
“They’re dead. Lup said to get the light back, we’ll see them next year,” he said, starting to walk back. Who knew if the earth elementals would try and come look for the light now that they thought they were dead. They had to get out of there.
“But…” he could tell Magnus wanted to argue, but there was nothing to argue. There was no way for them to have survived.
“We’ll see them next year,” Barry repeated. He kept repeating it, over and over again in his head. Next year. Next year. Next year.
The walk back to the ship was silent and slow and painful. The three relieved faces that greeted them when they got back with the light in hand quickly shifted to horror at their state and the distinct lack of half their party.
They’d see them next year.
Only six months away.
They’d saved this world, and they’d be back soon.
There was a part of Barry that bitterly wanted to leave the light behind, that didn’t want to save this world that had taken away those bright, wonderful elves. Took the two who were always so full of life and energy and magic and left them broken and crushed and empty on the side of some damned mountain.
But no, even if Taako would have probably joked along with the idea, Lup would have been furious to know he’d even considered it. Besides, it was what they died trying to do, and Barry could at the very least pull his weight and see it through to the end.
Goddamn though, if those six months didn’t feel like six years.
It wasn’t like he didn’t get on well with everyone else on the ship, not at all. Both Davenport and Lucretia were a delight to be around, especially when Barry needed a break and felt like talking to someone with some sense. Merle, as odd as he was sometimes, had become like a father to him in a lot of ways. Magnus had become like a younger brother to everyone on the crew (although his usual humor wasn’t quite there in those remaining months. No one needed to ask why, and if Barry saw him come back more than once, covered in black dust and cuts, he didn’t tell).
None of that changed the facts though, and those facts were that he’s gotten so much closer to the twins than he’d even realized and he wanted them back already. It was impossible to do anything without being reminded of them and their absence.
He tried to research the light, but the silence in the lab was overwhelming without Lup beside him, so instead he took what research he could to his room. He ate less, because even though Lup had said not to starve while they were gone, it felt wrong to be in the kitchen without Taako leaning over his shoulder, critiquing his food choices while he ate cereal directly out of the box. At least with the reset they’d never know how much weight he’d lost.
The end of the world couldn’t come soon enough.
When it finally did Barry found himself more anxious than he had in a long time, even compared to the cycles where they hadn’t gotten the light.
They were coming back. They were coming back. Oh gods, what if they didn’t come back?
Not ten seconds after he had that thought, they were breaking free of this planar system and white threads of light shifted them all back to their recorded positions. Barry watched with a flood of relief as the white threads coalesced into the forms of the twins, the two nervously having a hand on each other as they always started out.
It was dumb, he knew they were coming back, but before they could even let go of each other Barry had an arm around each of them. Bear hugs were more Magnus’s deal than his, but he didn’t care.
“Haha, whoa Barold, what you miss us or something?” Lup asked, and god it was so good to hear her voice again, not pained and hiding fear like the last time she’d spoken.
“I mean can you blame him? I’d miss us too,” Taako joked. Barry pulled away after another moment, sure his face was beat red with embarrassment.
“Sorry, I- welcome back,” he stuttered out after a moment, not sure what else to say. Taako shrugged, looking awkward and uncomfortable with the obvious care. Lup smiled at him, hey eyes soft in a way that made Barry’s heart practically melt.
It wasn’t the last time both twins would leave him alone. They were more often than not a packaged deal after all. It never got any easier, if anything it just got worse as somehow Barry found himself getting even closer with them. As they truly became his brother and his love.
The rest of the crew was always good about giving them a moment when the twins returned for Barry to give them a hug and welcome his family back.