Chapter Text
Barry wakes up to the sharp blaring of a horn all around him, which ends the moment he lifts his head off the steering wheel. Slamming his foot on the breaks earns him an indignant meow from the backseat and a wave of abrupt motion sickness, and he panickedly scans the road. He hasn’t gone off the road, thank goodness, and there aren’t any other cars visible on the dark, snow-powdered highway.
It’s the same road he’s been going down for hours, based on directions from yet another random stranger. If it doesn’t get him to the right place--and it’s really looking like it won’t--then it will have been the fifth person today to give him wrong directions to Phandalin.
Well, yesterday, technically. It’s 2:17 A.M.
Minutes later, he sees the sign for the next exit and turns towards it. Not wanting to risk any more driving in his state, Barry pulls into the nearest gas station parking lot and stops there, probably halfway over a line. Under the light of a few streetlamps and a smattering of stars, he turns off his truck and drifts off.
A knock on the window right by his face snaps Barry awake again. It’s still dark, but now there’s a human face outside the window, bushy with sideburns and smiling in a way that looks immediately trustworthy. Barry takes hold of the rotating lever inside the door and rolls down the window, awkwardly and slowly, shivering as the cold air seeps in.
“U-Uh,” he croaks, and then coughs to get his voice back. “Sorry. Hi, c-can I help you?”
“Heya! Are you Barry Bluejeans?”
Barry blinks. “Y...yes? I mean, what’s… How do y-you… know that?”
“Recognized your truck from the description,” the man says. When Barry keeps staring blankly, he adds, “Oh, sorry! I’m Magnus Burnsides. I’m from Phandalin.”
“Oh,” Barry says, and then perks up as he processes the statement. “Oh my god, Phandalin? I-I’ve been trying to find--I’ve been getting shitty d-directions all day, I--thank goodness…”
Magnus grins. “Yeah! I can take you there now, if you’re ready!”
“Actually,” Barry says apologetically, “I’m… exhausted. N-Not sure I’ll--I don’t think I can drive any m-more tonight.”
“I actually don’t have a car with me,” Magnus says, “But I can drive you! Then you can sleep and still get there.”
“You’re h-here without a car? We’re… within walking distance?”
Magnus shakes his head. “Uh, no, I got here by… I don’t really know how it works, actually? Fisher… did something…”
Barry just stares. “Fisher?”
“I honestly don’t get it myself. Lucretia can explain way better when you meet her.”
“Okay,” Barry agrees, certain he’s going to forget this by tomorrow morning.
He and Magnus stare at each other for a few more moments. “Right, so, uh. Y-You’re gonna… drive my truck, then?”
“If you’re alright with it! I actually have a pickup truck too, so I know how to maneuver ‘em.”
Barry nods slowly. It’s either trust this dude or wait even longer to find Phandalin, and he’s had a terribly long day searching for it so far. With that in mind, he opens the door and steps out of the car, handing the keys to Magnus as he walks past him, and around to the passenger door. The winter night air stings his skin, but he’s too tiredly numb to care.
There’s a hissing from the backseat as Magnus gets into the driver’s seat. Barry twists around to face the prickly orange furball that’s in a crate on top of several boxes. “It’s okay, bud.”
He faces forward again and leans back in his seat. “That’s Garfield. He’s usually, uh, better with s-strangers. Probably just grumpy. It was--It’s been a long day f-for us both.”
“No worries,” Magnus reassures him as he starts the truck. “He might also be smelling dogs on me. I have a lot of ‘em.”
“Oh?” Barry asks, despite every nerve in his brain begging him to end the conversation so he can go to sleep. “How many?”
“Four! And I dogsit for a few other folks, too. I’ll introduce you sometime!”
Magnus pulls out of the gas station, back onto the road. Barry watches the snow-covered trees pass by in a mesmerizing pattern.
He’s nearly asleep when Magnus says, “Hey… Might be too early to ask, but what’s your thing?”
“My thing,” Barry repeats, turning the question over in his head. “Uh... biology?”
“No, no, uh… Everyone in Phandalin is like…” Magnus stares out onto the road like he’s trying to find the words out there. “Weird! We’re all weird, like, I’m a werewolf! So you’re not alone.”
Barry laughs, though the joke isn’t really coming together for him. He’s too tired to parse this. “It’s nighttime and you’re h-human, though.”
“Yeah, I’m only a total wolf at the full moon,” Magnus says, sounding far too honest. “I just get kinda hairy on nights close to it.”
The man looks plenty hairy on this new moon, frankly, but Barry just says, “Huh. W-Wouldn’t expect it to, uh, work like that.” He pulls the lever by his seat to let himself lean back.
“Yeah, so…” Magnus says, “Are you…?”
“Well, I-I’m not a werewolf,” Barry says. There’s an endless amount of things he could pretend to be here, but for some reason, the thing that comes to mind is his one party story (which hasn’t actually seen the light of many parties).
“I’ve d-died three times.” Clinical deaths, brought back by CPR or hospital equipment each time. “A-And I’m still, uh, here. And you’d think, y’know, third time’s the charm, r-right? But death failed th-the third time, so…” There’s a snort from Magnus that he quickly tries to hide by pretending to sneeze. “...So I’m immortal.”
“Damn, that’s cool,” Magnus says. “I don’t have nearly as good a story about why I’m a werewolf.”
The lights flying by outside the windows are starting to blur together, and Barry’s eyelids are heavy. “Oh yeah? What’s yours?”
“I got bitten.”
Barry laughs, weak and breathy, about ready to drop out of consciousness.
And then he does.
--
The truck pulls into Phandalin. Barry stares out onto the street, which is empty and quiet and lit by the stars. The only person outside is an elf, and she watches silently as they pass. Magnus doesn’t acknowledge her, and Barry is too nervous to ask. He feels a prickling heat where the chill of goosebumps should be.
She is brighter than her environment, illuminated by a warm flickering of light and shadow that doesn’t seem to come from anywhere. Barry stares into her piercing eyes, and he’s sure she’s staring into his, but it doesn’t feel quite like their eyes are meeting.
The elf grins, and he catches a glimpse of her fangs just as he wakes up.
The truck’s engine has stopped, and Magnus is shaking Barry’s shoulder. Barry blinks awake and peers through the windshield. The house is surprisingly tall, and it looms in the darkness. In the rearview mirror, a winding driveway stretches out behind them, bringing the house further from the main road than Barry expected.
The two men hop out of the truck, and Barry quickly pulls his coat out of the backseat and puts it on. Magnus whistles. “Neat place! I haven’t actually gotten a look up close.”
“Th-This is my first time with--seeing it in person, too. Was crazy cheap for the size,” Barry says. On account of probably-ancient utilities, and the fact that someone apparently died there. “I d-doubt I’m--doubt I have enough furniture t-to make this place feel, uh, not empty.”
Magnus perks up at that. “Stop by the Hammer and Tongs sometime! We’d be glad to make you some new stuff to fill out your new place. I’ve got a sick chair proficiency!”
Barry laughs. “Sure, I-I’ll check it out.”
“Oh!” Magnus looks back at the truck, with its backseat and flatbed crammed full of boxes and furniture. “Let me help you get your stuff inside.”
“Oh, gosh, I-I couldn’t ask you to--not after everything you’ve already--it’s so late--”
“No, please, I’d love to help! I’m a night owl anyway.”
“Thought you were a wolf,” Barry jokes.
Magnus laughs. “An owl that turns into a wolf! But really, where would you sleep without at least getting your mattress inside? You do have one, right?”
“Alright,” Barry concedes, “Yeah, i-it’s in the back. I think there’s, uh, a bed frame in the house a-already.”
“Cool!” Magnus is already sifting through the back of the truck, wiggling the mattress out from under some boxes.
Barry’s nearly asleep on his feet by the time Magnus agrees to take a break from bringing his stuff inside, with the promise that he’ll be back tomorrow to help with the rest. Barry can’t stop rambling his tired thanks as he gets Garfield into the house and free of his carrier. Magnus just keeps smiling and saying, no, it’s nothing at all, don’t worry about it.
It turns out the bed frame in the house is far too big for his mattress, so Magnus laid it on the floor next to the bed frame. Barry sinks into it, leaving the bedroom door open so that Garfield can come in if he pleases. And for the final time that night, he falls asleep.