Work Text:
Taako is pretty sure that his eyes are playing tricks on him, with flashes of color in his peripheral vision that shouldn’t be there, not against the pink tourmaline that surrounds them or Lucas’s messy lab space. It’s maddening and distracting, which is something Taako really can’t afford when there’s virulent amethyst crystal everywhere, Lucas fucking around, and he’s staring down, y’know, the Grim fucking Reaper.
Granted, it’s through a blue sapphire window into the Astral Plane. But the Grim Reaper is also really unfairly hot. So, some mixed feelings there.
“Boy, you’re not intimidated by me at all, are you.” Kravitz’s voice makes it clear that it isn’t a question. Taako would answer anyway, in the negative, natch, but he’s distracted by a burst of sunshine yellow seeming to come from... Magnus? It’s practically radiating off of the human fighter to twist its way over to Taako and Merle.
“Let’s see. Let’s see. Taako. We’ll start with you.” Kravitz says, and Taako glances back to the sapphire window. Kravitz is looking into some spectral book, nothing particularly interesting there.
Still, Taako replies, “Hell-o.” He might be enjoying just the smallest bit that it distracts the Reaper. Meanwhile, orange seems to trace a line out of the figure in the amethyst stalactite, moving downward.
“Taako...” Kravitz flips a few more pages.
“Hell-o.” Taako replies again, still distracted by the line, now joined by a persistent green dotted with Black that makes its way to twine around Lucas.
“You’ve died 8 times.”
“That… that tracks.” Taako still isn’t paying full attention. Gray surrounds all three of them, Taako, Magnus, and Merle, wrapped around their chests over and over again going nowhere, like something was severed, something very important. He stops paying attention to the conversation.
Taako is eventually pulled back into the present fully as Kravitz begins to lose his temper, handsome face angry and growing gaunter every second until only a skull, eyes blazing a burning furious red, remains. He extends a skeletal hand, long and tattered black robe flapping in a breeze none of them can feel, and a scythe appears in Kravitz’s hand. However cliché, still looks pretty deadly.
“You know, I will say, if you wanted to lure me in there, you should have stayed handsome, my fella.” Taako declares, watching in fascination as a thin tendril of radiant violet, so close to the amethyst color as to be almost unnoticeable, traces its way between him and Kravitz, even through the sapphire that represents the boundary between their planes. It’s impossible to say where it started, or even if it hadn’t been there already, but as the conversation continues it only strengthens, flaring when Merle pronounces then “Taakitz.” Huh. How about that?
The ribbons and flashes of color are soon forgotten when they’re confronted with a pile of ghosts in the form of a gargantuan skeleton. It’s understandable. After all, why would they be there to begin with?
Taako is through the elevator doors as soon as they open, ready to drop everything and sleep for a week. It has been, both literally and figuratively, an exceptionally long day. He shrugs off the near pointless Cloak of the Manta Ray and hangs it, along with his hat, up on the cloak rack, with a pat and a “Someday you’ll be useful, old friend.” He rather doubts that though. Neither Magnus nor Merle’s shit are here, and, where they are, Taako has no idea.
A flash of purple and maybe even a hint of yellow gets Taako’s attention, and a vague memory starts taking shape in his mind as he turns. Kravitz, wearing a human form and a black suit, is sitting in their living room. He stands once he sees Taako, a wry smile on his face. The flash of yellow brightens a hair. “Well, we need to talk, don’t we? ‘Cause you boys... you’ve added quite a bit to your death count, haven’t you?”
It takes a moment for Taako to form words. “...That one’s on me.”
Kravitz approaches, and Taako backs up. Kravitz might be looking all normal and gorgeous and not have a scythe in hand, but Taako is well-acquainted with the fact that this can change rapidly. “I, uh, well, I’m here to talk about what happened in Refuge. And, uh, specifically the fact that you three... died eleven more times.”
Taako gulps, looking for an escape route. He did not die eleven times today to have the plane’s most beautiful Reaper kill him a twelfth. No way. Taako’s very much good here in the Prime Material Plane. Nothing of interest over in the dead zone. Not even Kravitz, nope. “Listen, we got everyone else to stop dying, so don’t we get some sort of amnesty shit? Or like, we work for Istus now. You know Istus, goddess of fate, always knitting, hella cryptic? Can’t my boss talk to your boss or-” Taako cuts himself off as he’s distracted by lines of yellow and green and blue and even some orange tracing outward and upward from him, through the walls and ceiling. Kravitz has no other lines, just the purple and yellow joining them.
“Taako? Hey, Taako?” Kravitz puts a hand on his shoulder, and Taako jumps, jolted back to the conversation at hand. Specifically, Kravitz’s hand, inexplicably cold on his shoulder.
“Nope, nuh uh, you can’t kill me now; I’m... busy.” He blinks, watching the glint of purple and yellow between them. The lines had grown thicker as Kravitz came nearer.
“What? No. Taako, I’m not here to... well, I’m probably not here to kill you. I’m mostly here for... an explanation.”
“Right. Right.” Taako is still somewhat distracted as he turns, stepping out from Kravitz’s icy touch -do they keep the fantasy air conditioning on blast all the time in the Astral Plane or something?- and steps into the kitchen. Tea. Tea is a good idea. You have to listen while someone is making tea. It’s downright rude to kill someone making tea.
So Taako, shooing Kravitz to sit on one of the bar stools at the counter, busies himself filling a kettle and setting it to boil.
“So, uh, about that death count...” Taako starts, opening the cabinet with all the mugs. He takes down his own ironic “World’s Okayest Brother” mug and Magnus’s Goldcliff souvenir mug, pilfered during a planetside visit with Carey a few months back.
“You’re at 19.” Kravitz says, bluntly albeit calmly. Taako still jumps. The yellow flares again. How is Kravitz not noticing? Or is Taako just exhausted and losing his mind? Dying is not exactly a pleasant experience; perhaps that has something to do with it.
Taako takes a deep breath. “Listen. Listen. It’s like this.” And Taako launches into a full explanation of the day, the twelve hours spent in the time loop, the people of Refuge, June and Isaak, the Temporal Chalice and the purple worm... they’re interrupted only by the whistle of the kettle signaling that the water is ready and Taako asking what of Magnus’s extensive tea collection Kravitz is interested in. Taako doubts Magnus will object if keeping the Reaper happy means they stay alive.
By the time they’re drinking their tea, Kravitz is explaining, while Taako watches a beautiful sapphire blue join the purple and yellow, that as good as their intentions were, they’ve still died an additional eleven times after being explicitly told not to, while the folks of Refuge have died thousands. And, well, someone has to answer for that. Taako opens his mouth to argue, the faces of Ren and Paloma and Roswell and June at the forefront of his mind as he does, when Kravitz himself startles, nearly taking flight at some unseen call.
“So sorry, work business, you know how it is.” Kravitz says hurriedly while just as hurriedly attuning the Stone of Farspeech Taako had handed over without objection when he’d asked to Kravitz’s own. “I’ll, I’ll call you about, uh, finishing this conversation.” Kravitz tosses over his shoulder as he materializes his scythe in the living room. Taako backs up just as he did when Kravitz first approached him, but Kravitz merely uses it to tear a hole in the fabric between planes with a rip not unlike that of scissors through paper. And the glimpse that Taako catches of the Astral Plane isn’t as dark and melancholy as he’d expect. Instead, the watery surface of the soul sea is a riot of those same colors Taako sees around himself now and more, iridescent waves piercing through gloom. For some reason that Taako can’t quite put his finger on, it’s oddly comforting.
Before he goes through, Kravitz turns, and his face falls, the colors between them momentarily dimming as he sees how far away Taako has gone. “I’ll... good night, Taako.”
Kravitz steps through, the tear seals, and Taako leans back against the kitchen counter, exhaustion returning in full force. After a moment, he straightens, washing the dishes if only because a chef does not leave their kitchen in disorder. He doesn’t notice the faint hint of red near his mouth, where it’s been since he subtly tasted the tea before handing it over to Kravitz. Can’t be too careful, even if your guest is undead. Even if you weren’t responsible for killing those 40 people.
The Chug and Squeeze is absolutely filled with colors that shouldn’t be there. Either Taako is seeing more of them, and more easily at that, or there are just a lot of bonds between the people in here. Because that’s what Taako has realized, sometime between the conversation with Kravitz and this… conversation coming up, that they represent bonds. Why he’s seeing them now, Taako is unsure, but… well, he is, and not much he can do about that, can he?
That being said, there is a whole lotta red in this room. And Taako is here… alone. Waiting. Waiting to see if Kravitz will show. Waiting to see if Kravitz will show and attempt to reap him.
This seems like an excellent start to… whatever this is going to turn out to be.
With some faint glowing of purple, yellow, and blue bonds to warn Taako, Kravitz walks in a few ticks of the clock before the class is actually set to start and stops, looking around in bewilderment. Whatever he was expecting, this is not it. Which, fair. He sees Taako though, and there’s a flicker of light again before Kravitz makes his way across the room, dropping into the seat next to Taako with a huff. He’s wearing a suit again, though he loses the jacket and rolls up his sleeves as soon as he sees the incredibly messy activity before him. Taako spares a moment to thank Istus when he gets a clear look at Kravitz’s forearms.
As they talk, as they sculpt vase and bowl, clarifying that none of them, not Taako or Magnus or Merle or anyone in Refuge for that matter, is on the Raven Queen’s shit list anymore, the bonds grow brighter, stronger. Taako has to go back and smooth out bits of his bowl every time he gets distracted by them. And then Taako and Kravitz are honest with each other, too, Kravitz about his earlier dream of being a conductor and Taako about his fear that no one else would even have him. It’s… it’s nice. It’s more than nice. Taako gives in to impulse, goes to help Kravitz with shaping his vase. And even though it’s like touching ice, Taako doesn’t let go.
And when Taako takes his hands away from Kravitz’s again, a new strand of red connects them. Taako blinks, surprised but not too surprised, before he looks at Kravitz. Kravitz, it seems, has noticed as well, staring down at his hands, a small crease between his brows indicating confusion. Perhaps he doesn’t know? Honestly, Taako doesn’t even remember how he knows.
And it’s not like it always makes sense. After all, the Umbra Staff is constantly glowing with bond energy that never extends out to anything. And, uh, somehow Taako doubts that eating the arcane foci of wizards like Jenkins is responsible for that.
So maybe… maybe it’s just chance. Maybe.
Or maybe not, not when Kravitz seems just as eager as Taako to sort out if this was just to clear up what happened with the Temporal Chalice or if there’s something else there entirely. And Taako’s tongue is clumsy, and the Umbra Staff very nearly scorches Kravitz, but there is something very honest and earnest and hopeful in Kravitz’s voice, free of his work accent, as he says, “Taako, it’s- I’ve had a very- I’ve had a lovely evening… do you think I’ll be hearing from you again any time soon?”
“Ah, yeah!” Taako nods eagerly, hat flopping. “I mean, as long as I don’t… you know… die again.”
Kravitz’s face falls, and he almost starts pouting. “Well, even so, we have, we have ways of dealing with that.”
“Well, yeah, that’s pretty much the best excuse I ever have, so I think you’ll definitely be seeing me again, for sure.”
And both of them are smiling widely, upturned mouths lit faintly by the light of the bonds between them, as Kravitz chuckles and says, “Well, if that’s the case, then hopefully not too soon. Goodbye, Taako.”
They see each other a few more times after the date at the Chug and Squeeze. Not, not quite as often as either Taako or Kravitz would actually like, given Taako’s now busy training schedule thanks to the Director or Kravitz’s need to sometimes back out of plans with a sheepish smile and an apology and a promise to reschedule over business from the Raven Queen. More often they just talk over Stone of Farspeech, more laughter and honesty. But they do see each other in person when they can, and both of them, usually when they think the other isn’t looking, marvel at the bonds growing between them, quickly overwhelmed by the brightest of reds. They don’t mention it. After all, they have time.
And then, the day before the summer solstice, the Director calls Taako, Merle, and Magnus into her office. And not long after that, Taako sees Kravitz fighting, Kravitz drowning in a turbulent oil-slicked sea. The once vibrant bonds of the Astral Plane have been muted to nothing under a storm dark sky. The only light at all comes from the bonds between Taako and Kravitz, little more than a match in a hurricane as Kravitz sinks beneath the surface again.
Determined, power coursing throughout, bonds bursting forth, more of them, glowing more brightly than they have in years, extending all over Faerun and across multiple planes, Taako places his hands on the circle of black glass once more. Time to get one of those people, in one of those other planes, back. Plus, you know, they could use the help.
The glass is sapphire, smooth and shining and blue as soon as he touches it. And that’s all the warning he gets before a massive wind knocks him back thirty feet, ass over teakettle, hat thrown wide. As he tumbles, he can already see that the grass is growing greener with each passing moment. Lup is shouting again, but Taako can’t hear her, because he’s watching, waiting, holding his breath, as large, ghostly forms emerge from the blue sapphire surface. And Phandalin, spectral and brilliant white, shimmers, reformed, rejoining the scorched but still standing counterparts that survived the fire over a year ago.
And more than that, more than Phandalin and the broken hold of the Hunger that severed them from the other planes, more bonds extend outward from Taako, vibrant and strong and very much present. Purple, yellow, blue, green, and, above all, vivid crimson extend outward from him, straight into the heart of Phandalin. Straight to Kravitz.
And then Taako is running, sprinting across sapphire through the spectral city, watching as the bonds grow thicker, stronger, and more brilliant the closer he gets.
Kravitz tries to warm his face up before Taako kisses him. Taako wouldn’t have minded either way. It’s nice. It’s so nice. It’s more than nice.
And there’s no flicker of doubt either, not in the bonds nor in Kravitz’s face, when Taako dispels the disguise spell. If anything, the bonds grow brighter as Kravitz says three seemingly small words that send a tidal wave of warmth and happiness through Taako. And while the end of the world is a great time for confessions of love, it really isn’t. But the red bond between them is still visible even as Kravitz soars away with Legion to go fuck up one of the judges in their quest to save the world. So that’s pretty rad.
When it’s over, when it’s really all over, and the world is safe and the world is celebrating and mourning and rebuilding all at the same time, they find each other again. How could they not?
“So, listen, uh, just, just to clarify… you can see this, right?” Taako points between himself and Kravitz and at the bonds between them.
Kravitz smiles, wide, and Taako could swear his heart might combust. “Yeah. Yes. Guess that means it’s it, right?”
“…Huh?” Taako tilts his head, ears perked up, curious.
Kravitz’s smile grows a bit confused. “’Is… is that not normal for you? I mean, the story did talk about bonds being visible on your home world, and I thought… Taako, um, I mean, it’s rare here, really rare, but, uh… here seeing bonds means you’ve found your soulmate.”
“Wait, what?” Taako nearly screeches. Kravitz’s face falters, and Taako forces himself to calm down. After all, he can see what’s literally right in front of his face, even if it was a bit… unexpected. It really doesn’t change a thing, not when both of them had already made their choices. “So, uh, soulmates, huh? Guess I really don’t need to worry about anyone else having me then.” Kravitz’s face lights up again, as bright and warm as the bonds between them. “That’s nice,” Taako finishes, with a brilliant grin of his own.
It’s so much more than nice.