Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pulling away from the house, the ambulance picks up speed heading to the hospital. 

“Do you have any idea what’s wrong?” Magnus yells from the driver's seat.

Lup removes her hand from the patient’s wrist. “Barry, I can’t find a pulse. I need you to double check for it before I charge up the Fantasy AED.”

“Of course” Barry replies hurriedly, reaching to see if he could feel a pulse on the patient. He turns to Lup and shakes his head no. “Charge ‘er up.”

Lup quickly turns away from the man lying on the stretcher between her and Barry, grabbing the fAED off the wall of the ambulance beside her. She turns on the fAED which starts flashing with a red light and telling her what to do. “Barry, you need to scoot back so you aren’t touching the stretcher. This may not be the best idea in a moving vehicle.”

“Holy shit! You’re right.” They hear Magnus yell from the front seat. “Let me know when so I can slow down before you shock the poor guy.”

 “It may not be the best idea, but he doesn’t have a pulse. Just... do it.” Barry replies hastily opening up the patient’s shirt and shifts away from the stretcher.

“CLEAR!” Lup yells and they feel the ambulance slow before placing the electrical pads onto the patient’s chest. They watch him convulse from the electrical current, and Lup sets the fAED down. Barry and Lup simultaneously reach for his wrists and in unison say “You will not die under our watch tonight. Come back.” Something sparks red under their hands. They look at each other nervously before Lup yells “CLEAR” again. They watch him convulse then sputter into a cough and start breathing as they feel his pulse come back.

Lup whispers under her breath, “I can’t believe that worked.”

She and Barry reach over the now-stable patient and entwine their hands smiling at each other in awe and disbelief. If it weren’t for the flash of red light still blinking off the fAED, you could almost see blushing beneath the sheen of sweat on their faces.

-

A plane away, a man-shaped being stands in a room of opulence and shadows, leafing through a book. If he had a face it would be twisting incredulously. He flips each page slower, reads even closer. Eventually, he stops. Sighs. Looks up into the dark mass looming over him, a raven skull twice his size cocked inquisitively in his direction. 

"My Queen." 

His voice is flat, but pleading.

"What the fuck."

***

Taako was gone. No one really knew how to take it. A note reading “Back Soon - Ko” left on the kitchen table was almost two weeks old now. Taako was never gone this long, especially not without Lup. But he was. The rest of the IPRE didn’t know what to do. Lup, Barry, and Magnus were on the ground searching through the remains of the cities following the use of the philosopher’s stone. Lucretia, Davenport and Merle stayed on the ship, analyzing the most recent intel on where the different artifacts had been used hoping to catch a trail of something distinctly Taako… but that trail never came. 

Months later Lup and Barry were still searching, spending almost every day on the ground helping the inhabitants of Faerûn following the use of the artifacts they had created. Merle joined them following particularly gruesome encounters where people needed both physical, but also spiritual healing. Magnus. Oh Magnus. He tried to be everywhere at once. He spent time on the Starblaster, analyzing data and trying to get a step ahead. He would spend months on the ground with Lup and Barry. There were times when he would disappear for a couple weeks at a time, helping rebuild villages after the wakes of destruction the artifacts caused. Davenport coordinated the search party for Taako but after the first couple months had passed, he focused his efforts on how to best guide those unfortunate enough to wield an artifact, in the hope that he could help curb the death toll of their creations.

On the one year anniversary of Taako’s disappearance, Lucretia made the executive decision. She was going to reclaim all of the artifacts to gain enough power to cut off this plane from the Hunger. After spending the last 6 months carefully combing through her duplicate notebooks of the past 100 year journey, she finally had the tale redacted enough that she could feed it to Fisher in order to give them all a life on the surface while she made things right. Merle got a home on the beach, with a large dwarven family that accepted him as their own within moments of meeting him. Davenport’s life was the mission, so he had to stay by her side. Fisher took everything from him. Lucretia found him lying on the floor next to the chess board he and Merle had been playing unmoving. Lucretia had to reteach him everything. How to talk, count, read. But that was too hard sometimes. So Lucretia kept him close, hoping to protect the once mighty captain of the ship from himself.

Lucretia enrolled Magnus, Lup, and Barry in Neverwinter’s best college and let them choose the path they should have had the chance to choose a century ago before signing away their lives to one of the weirdest existences to have ever happened. 

Magnus lasted a year. He started working as a part-time firefighter two months into classes and somehow made it through his first year before dedicating himself to working full time as a firefighter.

Lup switched majors five times within her first year before “settling” on trying to get a nursing degree to see if the medical field was right for her before jumping on the MD train. Barry took all of two steps into the medical building to realize he was going to be a doctor.

***

It wasn’t until the end of their first semester of school that Lup, Barry, and Magnus all met at a CPR/fAED course.

Barry arrived at the classroom about eight minutes before the course was set to begin. Glancing around the room he took note of the instructor and three other students. He was caught unaware of the impending attack on his personal space as a large burly human with red hair and sideburns charged up to him yelling “BARRY! I SAW YOU WON THE ELECTION FOR STUDENT BODY REP FOR NEXT YEAR! CONGRATS!” and gave him a huge clap on the back. 

Barry straightened his books in his arms and looked up at the man in front of him wearing a white, clearly DIY muscle tee with the Fantasy Costco logo and grey sweatpants. 

"H-Hello. Hi. Yes. That’s me. I’m glad to be of service...um, and you are?”

“MAGNUS!!!”

“Hey there, big guy! High Five!” Barry heard from directly behind him and quickly sidestepped as a woman walked in the door. The woman and Magnus high fived but then proceeded to do another ten steps of a secret handshake as Barry watched transfixed inches away from their meticulous dance, ending with a hip bump. 

Magnus took a step back and asked “Lup what’s up ? Your outfit looks AMAZING. It’s always fun to see you out of scrubs.” 

He was right. Barry took a moment to take in the woman standing in front of him. A woman slightly taller than him with curly bleached blonde hair with red tips tied back in a ponytail, a red crop top graphic tee with the image of Fantasy Elmo burning in the fires of hell, a pair of tight, high-waisted black leather pants held up by a jeweled belt and heeled black combat boots. She looked put together, horrifying, and hot as hell. 

“Wait. Scrubs?” Barry asked, slowly coming out of his awestruck trance.

Lup turned, “Yeah. I am hoping to be a doctor, but I'm taking the nursing route for now. We'll see where I end up.” She took a second to size him up. “And what are you…another student. Obvs . Jeans and white tee means put together but not too much flavor, so anything artsy or people-ly is out the window. I’mma guess something sciency or hands-on. Wait. Is that the Fundamentals of Nursing by Yoost and Crawford? Are you going for Nursing? That would account for bland clothing choices 'cause scrubs are the uniform, but man I would hate to look that drab all the time. You gotta have flair when you can m’dude.”

Barry reached to scratch the back of his neck. “Not quite. I’m actually hoping to become a doctor in the long run, but you know. Undergrad, gotta get those prereqs out of the way, amirite? It seems kinda like we are following the same general path...”

Magnus elbowed her in the side, “Come on Lup, be nice to the guy. He’s the new student body rep for our class!” Lup glanced up at Magnus in disbelief and then at Barry who half-waved with a pile of books in his hands. And then Lup broke down laughing.

“Of course! That’s where I recognized you from! ‘When you’re BARRY’d in schoolwork, let me give you the tools to make getting your BLUEJEANS dirty worth it!’” She doubled over. “I can’t believe you posted that ALL. OVER. CAMPUS.”

Barry swallowed dryly. “I’m not a marketing or graphic design major for a reason. I asked my roommate to make me a campaign slogan and signs for me to put up and then the next day they were everywhere . Without executive approval.” He chuckled a little under his breath, “I mean. I didn’t have to waste my own printing money, and you recognized me... for better or worse.” 

“I’ll give you that. I’d rather die than be known for that sign, but to each their own.” Lup replied stifling back laughter.

Magnus turned to them. “We should really sit down, the CPR course is going to start in a minute.”

“Ok, ok. Lead the way, big fella.” Lup said and followed him to the second row of the classroom.

Barry didn’t know if he was actually invited to sit with them so he just followed them and went to sit a row directly behind Magnus and Lup. Just as he slowed to go into the row behind them, Magnus turned around and said “Where are you going? There’s a seat for you right here!” and pulled out a chair beside him. Barry took another couple steps to the pulled out chair, set down his books and looked over at his two new acquaintances. 

“Thanks for letting me join you guys,” Barry whispered as the class was starting.

“Of course. Nerds are welcome here anytime.” He heard Lup snicker on the other side of Magnus who elbowed her.

Magnus turned to look directly at Barry. “We mean it. If you want to study or hang out after class I’d love to show you the rec room at the firehouse.”

Barry was taken aback by the offer. “Uh...sure?”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe you freaked out when you realized you might end up breaking someone’s ribs when you’re doing CPR,” Lup said to Barry as the three of them stepped out of the medical building and started walking toward the quad.

“I mean. I’m not surprised, but I didn’t expect that the mannequin would actually make a noise as if you broke a rib. That was not a sensation nor a sound I was expecting from a machine. It threw me off guard.” Barry replied defensively.

“It was kinda funny watching the teacher’s face as you yelped and fell over.” Magnus chuckled and turned so he was walking backwards facing Barry and Lup. “She looked so broken.”

“How was I supposed to know it was supposed to do that and I wasn’t just breaking the machinery inside?” Barry said, dead inside.

Lup wrapped her arm around Barry’s shoulder. “Hey. It’s okay. They really should give a disclaimer that those things are unbreakable. Either way. It was funny and hey- we got certified anyway, didn’t we?”

Barry looked down at the card in his hand, “We did... somehow.”

“I really enjoyed hanging with you both, and if you’re free I’d love for you to join me, but I have to go to the firehouse. I’m on call tonight so I need to be on the premises in case a call comes in.” Magnus told Lup and Barry as they reached the quad. “Like I said before class started, there’s a rec room at the firehouse where we can hang out or study or whatever. The offer stands. I understand if you’re busy and need to study or have other plans, but the door is always open at the firehouse, and if you can’t find me on campus, that’s where I’ll be.”

“You know I’m always down for some foosball, my man!” Lup replied with a huge grin and then turned to look at Barry. “You in, my dude?”

Barry looked down at the pile of books in his arms which were going to accompany about ten hours of homework that got assigned that day, and were going to be due Monday. “I have a whole weekend. These books can wait one night.”

“Hell! Yeah!” Lup pumped her fist in the air. “Foosball tourney tonight!”

***

Barry followed Magnus and Lup to the firehouse two blocks from campus. From across the street Barry took in the two-story, red brick building with two huge bay doors for the firetrucks to enter through, a smattering of windows on the second floor, and a normal person-sized door to the right of the bay doors. When they got into the firehouse one of the firetrucks was already gone, so there was a huge section of the main floor empty. About three quarters of the way back was a fire pole. The far back of the firehouse had two offices bookending a staircase that lead upstairs and another door on the far left. 

“Welcome to my second home.” Magnus turned to Barry as they entered the main bay of the firehouse. “The main truck is out as you can tell, so it’s really good I’m here now, cause we need at least two to operate the truck. There are two offices in the back.” He turned and pointed. “The one on the right is the Chief’s and the one on the left is our 'headquarters' where we hold meetings, post news, check in when we are on-duty, and all that jazz. The far left corner has the one and only bathroom in the joint, so remember that before you set up camp. We're gonna head upstairs, cause that’s where the rec room is. Also, as you can tell, there isn’t much to do down here other than clean.”

They made their way upstairs, which had a small foyer with the fire pole followed by four rooms on either side of the hallway with different name placards on each one. At the far end, the front of the building, there were two more rooms. Magnus led them down the hall. 

“Each firefighter who volunteers eight or more hours a week gets their own 'office' to do with how they please,” he said and gestured to the second door on the right which had “Magnus Burnsides” on the placard. “Like I said before, when I’m not on campus, I’m basically always here.” He opened the door and Barry looked in. At first glance, it looked like an office with a desk and a lamp, but upon further inspection he saw a cot in the back of the room with a sleeping bag and an open suitcase on the floor. 

Magnus closed the door again, led Barry and Lup further down the hall, and stood between the two doors at the end of the hallway. “To your right is the kitchen. There’s a fridge, microwave and sink. If you need anything else, ask. There are so many cabinets in there.” Magnus said with a forlorn expression on his face “ So many. To your left is the rec room! A-K-A the best room in the firehouse,” Magnus said with glee, running into the room, and the next thing Barry and Lup heard was the sound of a weird crounch. Lup ran in after him and Barry stepped into the room just in time to see Lup airborne about to crash into a huge bean bag. “Welcome to my humble abode! What do you think?” 

Barry paused for a moment to take in the “rec room.” He didn’t quite know what to expect when Magnus said the words “rec room.” Was he expecting a huge room with a full gym, concession stand, and computer lab? Of course not. Was he expecting a room just slightly larger than his dorm that somehow crammed in a circle table with chairs, two bean bags chairs currently occupied by Magnus and Lup, a giant bookshelf filled with board games and a singular row of books on the top shelf, a small radio and a full foosball table all in a very tight space? Also no.

“It looks amazing, Magnus,” Barry replied. “Honestly I was afraid it was going to be a weight lifting room or something. I mean, I know Lup said foosball, but one can never be too sure.” 

“Hey!” Lup laughed “ I mean what I say and say what I mean.”

“You did once tell me that the dried fettuccine in the lobby of Fantasy Olive Garden was supposed to be an appetizer.” Magnus shot her a glare. “IT TOOK ME MONTHS OF VISITING FANTASY OLIVE GARDEN AND ANOTHER ACTUAL FRIEND TO CALL YOU OUT ON YOUR BULLSHIT!” He finished with a shaking full-body laugh.

“Like I said. I say what I mean. I meant with every fiber of my being that you should eat it as an appetizer because I could not WAIT to see your face when you found out. I just left that second part out.” Lup had doubled over in her bean bag chair at this point from laughter as Barry set down his books onto the round table and joined in with their laughter at this ridiculous story.

“You can’t be serious. You did that to Magnus?” Barry managed to get out between fits of laughter. “What did he ever do to you for that level of betrayal?” 

“It was the first time we met okay? How was I supposed to know he had never been to a Fantasy Olive Garden before? That he would actually fall for it?” Lup wheezed out. “After it was said, it was too late. Magnus the Munch Munch Boi had reached a level of legend that even I could only aspire to attain.”

The rest of the night passed in a blur. Lup came out the foosball champion, but only barely, as Barry had given her a run for her money, which she did not expect. They had Fantasy Chef Boyardee and gummy owlbears for dinner as they talked about school, Barry and Lup’s ambition to become doctors, Magnus’ turmoil about possibly dropping out of school and working as a firefighter full-time or staying in school and working part-time, all with spattered stories of embarrassment, hilarity, and chaos from throughout their lives.

Chapter Text

With the end of the first semester of college quickly approaching, Lup and Barry often frequented the rec room at the firehouse to study and spend time with Magnus. 

“It’s not that I don’t like my roommate, but he just doesn’t focus on school? I can understand that he wants to party and stuff, and yeah that’s fine, but I need to get good grades in these classes, because if I don’t get a 3.25 GPA average for these core curriculum I won’t be accepted into the pre-med program.” Barry started ranting as he walked into the rec room after a long day of classes. He threw his books and backpack on the table, and flung himself onto one of the bean bags in the back of the room. “I can’t study when he’s bro-ing out in the dorm room before a party. Or just in general when he’s in the room. He’s just straight up obnoxious.”

“I’m sorry to hear that bud,” Magnus said loudly from the kitchen next door. “Do you want some signature Magnus de-stress mac-n-cheese with corn and Fantasy Velveeta? Or the microwave delicacy, Fantasy Hot Pockets?”

Barry gagged involuntarily at the mention of the mac-n-cheese with corn and Fantasy Velveeta, but then the ever so strong urge for creamy cheese possessed him, and ignoring his best judgement he replied, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your so called ‘signature mac-n-cheese’ please.”

“Hell yeah! I’ll get it started. Lup always goes crazy for it too, so I’ll just make a triple batch!” 

“T-triple?” Barry muttered under his breath in what could only be described as fear as he saw Lup make her way to the top of the stairs.

***

Magnus walked into the rec room with a giant -and I mean massive- bowl of mac-n-cheese and headed to the round table where Lup and Barry were sitting and quizzing each other using flashcards. “Grub’s ready!” he said as he set down the bowl in the middle of the table, pulled out three spoons from his back pocket, and handed one to each of them. “It’s best when it’s all nice and fresh and gooey. I recommend not waiting too long to eat it.”

Lup glanced at Magnus as he pulled up a chair across from them at the table, and started digging right in. “Thanks Mags. Our resident nerd has three more flashcards left and then we’ll eat.” Glancing away from the food, her stomach growled loudly as she read the flashcard she was holding in her hand “Okay. Where is the Brachiordoris?” 

Barry paused for a second, then muttering to himself, ran his hand along the outside of his forearm, stretching it out with his thumb facing away from his body. “It’s the most exterior of the three muscles in the forearm.” He moved his pointer finger an inch toward the middle of his forearm. “The middle one is called Flexor Carpi Radialis and the one following from the pinky is called Palmaris Longus.” He looked up at Lup nervously, and with a crack in his voice asked, “Right?”

Lup flicked through the last two notecards then looked at Barry with genuine excitement, “Congrats! You got them all!” She set the last cards onto the inch-tall pile on the side of the table. She opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

A tall, buff tiefling woman with deep blue-brown skin, black hair tied back in a tight, intricately braided bun with two small horns poking out from the front of the braid, stood in the door frame of the rec room. She was wearing a loose blue flannel, white tee, black pants with a simple black belt, and some Fantasy Crocs. “I thought I smelled your..um… I guess you could argue it was cooking, even though we don’t own a stove, Magnus?” 

He paused with the heaping spoonful halfway up to his mouth, and then lowered it. “Chief Andrea. This is another friend of mine from college, Barry.” Barry gave a small wave. “Barry had a rough day so I offered to make him my signature mac-n-cheese with Fantasy Velveeta and corn, while they memorized veins or muscles or something.”

“I’m sorry to hear you had a rough day, Ba- Wait... Magnus? Did you just say you put corn in the mac-n-cheese?” She looked at him with pure horror as she stepped into the room to get a good look at the chunky, vibrant yellow sludge he had just been shoveling into his mouth.

Magnus set his spoon on the table and pouted, “Yeah... It’s how my mom used to make it. I know it’s not for everybody, but it’s a Burnsides comfort food.” He looked back up at Chief Andrea, and asked with clear excitement, “Would you like to try some?”

“You have no idea how torn I am,” Chief Andrea replied with a chuckle. “ My mom used to make mac-n-cheese with Fantasy Velveeta. That’s what I smelled in my office and why I came up… but corn? Corn? ”

Magnus grabbed the spoon he had placed next to Barry, then reached to hand it to her. “Don’t knock it till you try it, Chief. Like I said, I know it’s not everyone’s taste, but I've introduced this to lots of people and only one hasn’t liked it.”

She cautiously grabbed the spoon Magnus was holding out to her and walked up to the table, looked down at Magnus, then the bowl, and then slowly scooped up some of the mac-n-cheese. She eyed the vibrant yellow monstrosity over one last time before she put it in her mouth and chewed it slowly.

“I’ll say, it’s in-tere-sting . The texture is kinda odd... but I don’t hate it.” Chief Andrea sat down in the last empty chair at the table, and dipped the spoon in the bowl to take another bite. “I can’t believe I’m saying this about mac-n-cheese with corn... but this might be one of the best mac-n-cheeses I’ve ever had.” 

Lup took that comment as invitation to start chowing down, as Magnus dug his spoon back into the bowl as well.

“Hey. Um. Magnus?” Barry asked quietly, “Where do you keep the spoons?”

“Oh. My. Goodness .” Chief Andrea tried to say, a spoonful of food in her mouth, then continued horrified, “He gave me your spoon. And I didn’t even think twice.” She set her spoon down on the table and stood back up, “I’m so sorry, Barry. Let me go grab you a spoon.” She looked around the table, “Anything else you guys need from the kitchen?”

Both Lup and Magnus shook their heads no as they continued to shovel the mac-n-cheese into their mouths. Barry just shrugged his shoulders.

“O-Kay then. I’ll be right back,” Chief Andrea replied and left for the kitchen. 

From the kitchen, Barry heard the sounds of drawers opening and closing, and utensils clattering against each other, before she returned in a huff. She handed a comically large spoon to Barry with a remorseful look. “This was the only spoon left in the drawer.” She shot Magnus a disheartened yet amused glare, “ Usually there are enough spoons for all the firefighters on duty to eat, without us having to eat with a serving spoon but our chef apparently likes to have a wide variety of cooking utensils.” 

“See, I cooked a triple batch. If I’d known that you’d be joining us, I’d’ve made a quadruple batch and saved you a spoon.” Magnus jokingly retorted, “I was Deliberate. And Thoughtful. with the use of each and every spoon. You’re the one who tipped the mac-n-cheese equilibrium on its head!” he finished with a chuckle and another spoonful.

Chief Andrea chuckled, “O-Kay. That’s fair, Magnus.” 

Before scooping up another helping of mac-n-cheese, she turned to Lup and Barry and asked seriously, “So, correct me if I’m wrong, but your names are Barry and Lup, right? Like Fantasy Blue Barry Frööt Lup s?” 

Lup snorted, “That is genuinely the wildest way I’ve ever heard someone remember my name. I don’t know about you Bar, but that was just...buck wild.”

“Hey, it worked though,” Chief Andrea said, proud of herself. “It’s a new technique I’ve been trying, in order to remember people’s names better. My goal is to try and know people’s names after only being introduced once , and it has been about a week since I met you.” She paused a moment and turned to Barry, “So, how did you meet these two characters ?”

“HEY!” Magnus and Lup exclaimed.

Barry ate another bite of mac-n-cheese and replied, “They kind of adopted me into their group after meeting me at a CPR/fAED class. Lup and I are both going the medical route in school, thus the muscle flashcards beside you, and honestly, it’s nice having a study partner. And I mean, no one beats Magnus for moral support, comfort food, and quality distraction.”

“Huh. So both of you are going into the medical field?” Chief Andrea asked, “Would you be interested in some real-world experience?”

Barry and Lup looked at each other inquisitively then turned to Chief Andrea, and Lup asked, “What are you thinking of, Andy?” 

“I’d rather you don’t call me that. If anything, Chief will do. Anyways, our EMTs who had worked at the station for almost 15 years just retired and moved to Phandalin, so the firehouse is in desperate need of EMTs for local calls. This is a volunteer firehouse, but we do compensate what we can for people who work here full-time. It’s not great , but you’d be doing a major service for our community, and get to put your CPR certification to good use.” Chief Andrea explained. 

“I understand you're in school and all, but planning ahead to next summer… I'd be willing to front the costs to get you EMT certified. You would already have completed some of the requirements given the classes you're taking in school, so there’s a good chance that between that and the little bit of swing I have with the local authorities that we could have you certified before the spring semester is up,” she said with a smile. “I’ve known Magnus long enough to know that he would only bring good people to the firehouse, so the offer stands. I'll give you a week to think it over, which would give me enough time to talk with the commission and get you into the spring certification classes... It would be nice to have a semi-complete staff again.”

“I’m in,” Lup replied without a moment’s hesitation. “If I can help others and get some experience under my belt, I’m in.” 

“Glad to hear it!” Chief Andrea said with a smile.

Barry paused for a moment, processing everything she had just said.

“Like I said, you have a week to think it over. There’s no rush in deciding now, Barry.” Chief Andrea continued, “You have many options as a student and I want you to feel like you’re making the right choice.”

“Thanks,” Barry smiled back at Chief Andrea, “I’ll let you know within the next couple of days, I just want to sit with the decision for a bit to make sure I won’t regret it for any reason.”

“I’m always happy to hear that,” Chief Andrea replied, “you know where to find me when you decide.” Standing up from the table, she took the now empty giant bowl, collected everyone’s spoons, and started to walk out toward the kitchen. “I’ll let you continue studying and chatting. It was great to see you again Lup, and meet you Barry. I look forward to seeing you around the firehouse,” she finished as she left the room.

***

Two days later, Barry walked back to the firehouse in the middle of the day between classes. He went straight to Chief Andrea’s office, which was standing empty, and left a note reading: 

“I’m in. See you soon. - Barry”

Chapter Text

Summer had come and Chief Andrea kept her side of the bargain. She paid for Barry and Lup to get EMT certified, just in time for the end of the spring semester. She gave them the offices to the right of Magnus’ leading toward the rec room. They were set to start working full-time on-call for medical emergencies from the firehouse that evening.

Barry and Magnus had their last final early in the morning, so they spent the day playing basketball in the bay of the firehouse while one of the firetrucks was out getting washed. Lup’s last final was in the early afternoon. Magnus was mid-shot when the door swung open and Lup walked in carrying three bags of groceries and yelled, “EVERYBODY! FINALS ARE OVER! LET’S FEAST!”

The basketball swished through the hoop and Magnus cried out. “Hell yeah!” and jogged over to Lup to give her a hand with the bags.

The three of them and Chief Andrea made their way up to the kitchen, bags in hand, and then started spreading out the food across the counters. 

Barry watched as Magnus and Lup started unpacking the bags in a fervor. Lup pulled out different chips, candies, chocolates, popcorn, and other munchies. Magnus pulls out a variety of pop and energy drinks. Chief Andrea looked over at the wide variety of unhealthy snack foods laying out across the counter with a chuckle and pulled out a roasted chicken from the grocery store along with potato wedges and coleslaw. 

“I brought a side of meal to go with your main course of snacks ,” Chief Andrea said as she pulled plates and silverware out of the drawers and set them on the counter, “Dig in.”

With those two words, Magnus did not hold back. Lup and Chief Andrea took a step back as they realized out of nowhere, Magnus had pulled out a knife and was carving the chicken, taking both drumsticks for himself, cut open the bag of potato wedges and poured them onto his plate until it was almost half full, and finally grabbed one of the bags of popcorn and a pop while gleefully strolling out of the kitchen heading toward the rec room. 

“Well shit.” Chief Andrea commented under her breath, “I know he’s a hungry boy, but usually he isn’t quite as ravenous.” Raising her voice she called after him, “MAGNUS? Where did you get that knife?”

Barry and Lup just looked at eachother, then suddenly burst out laughing, because as horrifying as that was, they had never seen anything quite so Magnus .

“You all should go next, you bought everything.” Barry said to Lup and Chief Andrea.

Chief Andrea shook her head, “I appreciate the offer boy-o, but I’m gonna pull the adult card. You go next. While you may be slightly more civil than Magnus, you are still a hungry boy in college.” She took a plate and handed it to Barry. “Besides, after you’ve taken what you want, Lup and I can just claim all the rest.” She smiled at Lup, who shot her back finger guns.

Barry filled up his plate, grabbed a drink, and made his way to the rec room, followed shortly thereafter by Lup and Chief Andrea.

Lup ripped open a can of Fantasy Monster and raised it in the air, “Cheers to the three of us! On all future applications that ask for our highest level of education we can now check ‘some college’!” 

Barry and Magnus followed suit, raising their respective drinks in the air. With his mouth full, Magnus replied “Here, here!” and clinked his drink with Lup’s and Barry’s. 

Barry felt a rush of pride. He had done it. He had gotten a student rep position, got into the pre-med program, and most importantly he had made friends. Barry went into the school year focused entirely on classes. He had repeatedly caught himself thinking I don’t need friends. Just get positions, get noticed on campus, get the degree, and make a difference while you can throughout the first semester. But now? He looked at the people he was sitting around the table with. Magnus, a burly man who had a bigger heart than anyone he had ever met before. Lup, a ferociously energetic, caring, and absolutely insane girl who he couldn’t wait to get to know better. And Chief Andrea, who had taken them under her wing, let them become at home in the firehouse, watched over them, and celebrated with them through it all. “We did it.” Barry said, full of thankfulness and accomplishment.

***

It was the second week of the summer, and Barry and Lup had tagged along with the firefighters to a couple of house fires. They tended the wounded and lended a helping hand in processing the trauma. They helped clean some cuts and scrapes, put on a splint for a broken arm, and helped bring a patient to the hospital after getting a concussion. Today was seemingly no different than any other day at the firehouse. Barry, Lup, and Magnus were sitting around the table in the rec room playing Fantasy Monopoly when their first call came in. 

Through their stones of farspeech, Barry, Lup, and Magnus all heard the panicked voice, “Hello? EMTs? I need help! My brother-” The three of them stood up, grabbed their stones of farspeech and started jogging down the hall to the firepole. The voice continued, “He ate some of the elderberries I had on the counter that I was going to use to make jam tomorrow. But they were uncooked! He’s vomiting and having trouble breathing.” Sliding down the firepole, Lup yelled to Magnus to run and start the ambulance while Barry and Lup grabbed the medkits. “ Please come quickly! I don’t have the antidote for cyanide !” They heard the voice crack as it rambled off their address.

Chief Andrea stepped out of her office and told them, “I’ll call ahead to the hospital and let them know you’re coming. Do you have the antidote in the medkits?” 

Lup and Barry were running full speed to the ambulance as Lup yelled back, “ Yes, but if they ingested it, there’s no knowing how fast it’s going to react. So we need to get there. Now. ” They jumped into the ambulance and closed the door just as Magnus hit the acceleration.

Barry took a second to orient himself on the drive. He pulled out the antidote he had in his medpack and said over the sound of the sirens, “Lup. Magnus. I have the antidote right here. It’s hooked up to an IV solution, so we need to get him on a stretcher and get the IV in him as soon as possible. Then we need to get to the hospital. Lup, cyanide poisoning leads to asphyxiation, right? We should ready an oxygen tank.”

Lup quickly grabbed the oxygen tank out from a side compartment, and hooked up a mask to it, in case it were to come to that. 

“We’re here!” Magnus shouted from the driver’s seat, hitting the brakes in front of a small one-story house.

All three sprung from the vehicle. Barry and Lup ran up to the door of the house, and Magnus circled to the back of the ambulance, opening the back and readying the stretcher. Just as Lup went to knock on the door, it flew open and a younger elf woman cried, “Follow me!” 

They didn’t have to follow her far to make it into the kitchen, where they saw a younger elven man laying on the floor curled up vomiting into a bucket. He looked sickly pale and had blood running down his nose. 

Barry quickly knelt at his side. “Hey. My name’s Barry. Your sister told us you accidentally ate some elderberries,” he said in a soothing voice, “I’m going to put in an IV to counteract the cyanide in the elderberries, okay?” He uncurled the man’s arm from around the bucket, handed Lup the IV bag, and took the cap off the needle. He quickly scanned the arm and saw veins clearly rising from the skin, “This is just going to be a quick prick. I promise.” Barry carefully inserted the needle into the man’s arm and attached the IV fluid. “See, that wasn’t too bad.” 

Barry looked up at the elven woman standing above him. “We are going to take him to Neverwinter Hospital. The antidote should work, but there may be complications depending on the amount of berries he ingested and how his system is reacting to them.” Just then Magnus entered the kitchen with the stretcher. Magnus and Barry carefully moved the young elven man onto the stretcher as Lup held the IV. 

Lup turned to the elven woman, “Is there anything else we should know? Underlying health history? Allergies? Unusual behavior, besides the obvious?”

The woman shook her head. “He decided to surprise me today by making us a fancy dinner to celebrate Faerûn Twin Day. I had just gotten back from work and he was in the kitchen chopping up veggies for shepherds pie.” Lup handed the IV bag to Magnus as they wheeled the man out. Lup walked beside the woman as she kept explaining faster and faster, “He mentioned his hands feeling like they were going numb and then said he didn’t feel good. It was only a couple minutes later that he collapsed on the floor holding his stomach so I grabbed him a bucket to throw up in and I noticed the bowl of elderberries I picked yesterday was half empty. That’s when I called you,” she said a mile a minute with tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t expect him to come over, otherwise I wouldn’t have left the berries on the counter. I usually have a bowl of berries for snacking on the counter. He didn’t know better.”

Lup asked softly, “Can I touch your back?” The woman nodded her head, so Lup placed her hand on the woman’s back and started rubbing it slowly. “It’s not your fault. Everything should be okay. We gave him the antidote, so he should come to within an hour or two. He should be just fine. You can ride in the ambulance with us as we go to the hospital. Would you like that?” 

The woman nodded, so Lup led her to the ambulance, still talking softly to her. She helped her into the passenger seat next to Magnus, who turned to her, “We’re gonna get him to the hospital as fast as we can. I’m going to need you to buckle up so you can stay safe. Lup and Barry are gonna take care of him in the back while we drive.” She nodded again and got buckled in. Lup hopped in the back with Barry and the stretcher and closed the doors.

As the ambulance pulled away from the house, Barry watched in horror as the elven man laying on the stretcher started to convulse, choking. “LUP. OXYGEN. NOW.”

In the front of the ambulance, the elven woman tried to turn to look into the back, panic setting in, “Is he okay? What’s-what’s happening???” 

Magnus lowered his voice and started talking to her to calm her down, after a moment he said louder, “Now. Here. Can you help me name the streets as we pass them?” 

Lup quickly grabbed the mask she had prepared and placed it over his mouth. She took in a shaky breath and looked Barry in the eyes. “What went wrong?” her voice wavered, “What’s happening?” 

Barry shook his head, “I… I don’t know. The antidote works relatively quickly, but what we gave him should have stabilized him.” 

The man’s eyes opened wide as he started gasping for breath, grabbing at the mask trying to get it off. 

“Sir. The mask is giving you oxygen . It’s trying to help you,” Lup said with a panic in her voice that Barry quickly picked up on. 

Barry looked the man in the eyes, “Sir. We are almost to the hospital. Hold on,” then turned to the front of the ambulance and shouted, “MAGNUS! WE NEED TO BE THERE. NOW .” 

He felt the ambulance gain more speed as Magnus yelled back, “We’re five minutes away! I’m going as fast as I can!”

Lup looked at the man gasping for breath who seemed to be getting weaker and weaker by the second and whispered, “Fuck. Bar. What do we do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if there is anything we can do. The effects of the elderberries would have stopped. This has to be something else, but I have absolutely no idea what it could be.” 

The man thrashed for a moment looking wildly around the ambulance, unable to breathe. 

Lup placed her hand on his shoulder and said softly, “Hey, look at me.” The man locked eyes with her as his eyes started to unfocus. Lup took a short breath, “It’s okay. We’re right here. We’re gonna get you the help you need.” Barry watched as the man’s eyes completely glazed over as Lup talked to him. She didn’t stop talking to him even after the man stopped moving, even after Barry reached over and held her hand. 

They felt the ambulance slow and heard the doors swing open. Trauma nurses rolled the stretcher out of the ambulance and Barry quickly followed. Lup took a moment longer to pry herself from her position and followed Barry to stand beside him. He opened the passenger door, and guided the elven woman to follow him into the hospital. Barry passed her off to one of the nurses and quickly returned to the ambulance where Lup and Magnus were waiting. 

Lup looked at Barry and Magnus, and asked with forced energy, “I guess we head back to the firehouse now, huh?”

Barry and Magnus both took a beat. “Yeah, I guess so,” Barry responded, then walked to the back of the ambulance as Lup sat in the passenger side with Magnus.

Barry felt a pit in his stomach, looked down at his hands and around the cabin before glancing to the front of the ambulance where he could see the silhouettes of his two friends. Magnus and Lup, the two lighthearted, kind, and funny people he’d grown to know and love, sat silently, staring out the windshield as they drove back to the firehouse.

***

They arrived at the firehouse and got out of the ambulance without a word. 

Chief Andrea stepped out of her office upon hearing the ambulance’s doors open and shut, and seeing their vacant expressions whispered to herself, “Oh shit,” then retreated back into her office and turned on her hot pot to make some tea.

Barry watched Lup walk upstairs by herself. He didn’t know what to do. Should I follow her? Should I give her space? He paused at the base of the stairs and watched as Magnus walked over, and gestured for the two of them to go into Chief Andrea’s office.

They stepped in just as she set down a third glass of tea at the edge of her desk, and took a sip of her own. She paused for a second and walked over to the door of her office. She turned to Barry and Magnus concerned, “Where’s Lup?”

Barry exhaled, “She went upstairs. I didn’t know if I should follow her or give her space, then Magnus waved me in here.”

“Yeah,” Chief Andrea said with a sigh, “Let’s give her a couple minutes to process but then one of you needs to go up there and make sure she doesn’t spiral.” She took another sip of her tea, “I’m gonna take it that things didn’t go well.”

Magnus looked at Barry worriedly, “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it either, but when we got in the ambulance it seemed like he was going to be fine…”

Barry took a deep breath, grounding himself, “We thought it was the elderberries, but there was something else that had similar effects. The antidote would have worked, but whatever else was in his system killed him before we could get to the hospital.” He took another breath and a sip of his tea before continuing, “It was almost like Lup went into a trance, she started talking to him just as he was losing consciousness but then didn’t stop until they pulled the stretcher out of the ambulance. She…it’s like she didn’t want to believe what had just happened.” Barry looked down at the floor, “There wasn’t anything we could do.”

Chief Andrea set down her mug, “Barry, look at me.” He looked up. “You have to believe that. You did everything in your power to help. You aren’t fully trained doctors. You are certified and licensed EMTs, which means that you did more for him than myself or Magnus could have. You did everything you could.” Barry nodded.

She turned to Magnus, “You know Lup better than anyone, who would be best to approach her right now?”

“Honestly? Probably me. She knows we can just sit in silence and that’s okay. She might feel like you would be pressuring her to talk if you went in. I’ve got this.” Magnus gulped down the rest of his tea and refilled the mug before grabbing the mug that had been made for Lup and heading upstairs.

***

Lup sat silently on the cot in Magnus’ office. She could have gone to her own office, but she felt safer here. Magnus always made her feel safer.

Magnus knocked softly on the doorframe of his office, “Hey Lup, you don’t need to talk or anything, but are you okay if I come and sit with you?”

He heard a mumble and the sound of her shifting on the cot and took that as an invitation to enter. Other than the mound of blankets - and presumably Lup - on his cot, nothing else in his office was out of place. He made his way over to the cot, sat down next to her, and asked quietly, “Can I touch you, Lup?”

She nodded, and then fell onto her side, her head resting in Magnus’ lap. He slowly began to rub small circles on her back and held her close.

It wasn’t until maybe ten minutes later that there was another knock on the door, and Barry leaned in, “Hey Lup, I know you have Magnus to lean on, but I just want to let you know. I am here for you too. I care about you a lot, and I hope you know that what happened today wasn’t your fault. It never was and never will be.”

“Get over here you doofus,” Lup murmured.

Barry quickly made his way onto the cot as well, and they all just sat together. Holding each other. Being . With each other.

***

A plane away, a man-shaped being in a black brocade suit stood at the edge of an iridescent sea. Before him was a line of souls, all varying in translucence but equally tired. He flipped a page in the tome he was holding and looked up at the young elven man at the front of the line.

“Please tell me your name and cause of death," he droned, glancing down again at the book.

“My name's Darrin, and I’m guessing elderberry?” the elven man replied.

The man-shaped being flipped another page, tracing the list of names with a bony finger.

“Darrin...Darrin. Ah. Here you are. Cause of death, Aconite? What? What even-?”

Darrin gave the man-shaped being a hazy, confused look, “Dude, I have no idea what that is. My sister is into Druid shit like foraging for food and I wanted to do something nice, so I like grabbed some veggies from the forest and was making her a shepards pie when I felt a weird numbness? I'd been snacking on some berries she left on the counter and when she noticed she flipped her shit and called the ambulance. She said that the berries were elderberries and you can't eat them raw, so I guess that’s what killed me? The EMTs gave me an antidote, but it didn’t seem to help.”

“No, you idiot. Of course it didn’t help. You were dying by the time you got to her house .” The man-shaped being huffed and shook his head, the clatter of bone against bone disdainful.

“Does no one teach people which plants are poisonous anymore?? For fucks sake. There was no chance anyone could have saved you.” He paused for a moment, giving the impression his brow would have been furrowing if he had one, “Wait. What are EMTs?”

Darrin gave a ghostly, incredulous laugh, “They’re...the Emergency Medicine Team? If you call for a health problem they’ll come to help and like, take you to the hospital.”

“Huh. That’s a new development on the Material Plane. I’m going to have to look into it.” The man-shaped being gestured for Darrin to walk forward.

Darrin stepped into the sea and dissolved into the swirling iridescence that filled this plane, leaving one last, joyous laugh to ripple through the Sea of Souls.

"Next," the man-shaped being called, and the line of souls advanced.

Chapter Text

Barry and Lup sprung out of the ambulance running toward a two-story house, medkits in hand. A tiefling woman opened the door as they approached and waved them in. “My spouse is in here,” she said in a rush, leading them to the living room. On the floor next to a chair, a tall but skinny tiefling had seized up, their face completely swollen and gasping for air. 

“Xaran was snacking on some cashews and there was a peanut inside. They’re deathly allergic to peanuts,” the tiefling woman whimpered. 

“Has Xaran ever had a reaction like this before?” Barry asked quickly.

Horrified, the tiefling woman shook her head, “Nothing like this. They had gotten hives from touching one before so we went to the doctor, who warned us that something like this could happen.”

Barry watched as the tiefling stopped moving or gasping for air.

Lup immediately pulled out a Fantasy EpiPen from her medkit and crouched beside the tiefling, and stated, “You’re in anaphylactic shock. I’m going to give you a shot with epinephrine to stop the allergic reaction. Your swelling will go down and you’ll be able to breathe.” She took the cap off the Fantasy EpiPen and stabbed it into their leg. Barry and Lup both looked at the tiefling, who didn’t so much as move a muscle. 

“Lup,” Barry’s voice hitched, “their pulse stopped.”

Magnus came jogging into the room with the stretcher ready. 

Looking down at the tiefling, Lup snarled, “Abso lute ly not. You are not dying under my watch, Xaran. Not. Today.” She started giving the tiefling CPR, breathing air into their mouth and doing chest compressions. After two breaths, the tiefling’s eyes shot open and they started gasping for air. 

“Oh thank the Gods,” Lup murmured under her breath.

Barry turned to the wife as Magnus and Lup started moving them onto the stretcher, “We’re going to take them to the hospital so the doctors can make sure they recover fully.”

She glanced over at her spouse and then nodded her head, “I’ll follow right behind you.”

***

A plane away, a man-shaped being sat at a desk, stacks of paper several feet high strewn across it. A nameplate reading 'Kravitz' in elegant copperplate teetered at the top of a pile. In front of him was a tome, propped precariously against yet another stack. Kravitz flipped through it until he reached today's date and ran a bony finger along the list of those-to-die.

His finger stopped, arrested by the strange change in the name below it. The magical inscription reading “ Name: Xaran. Cause of Death: Anaphylactic Shock . Deathdate: The 12th of Elient of the Present Year ,” began to pool and run like fresh ink across marble. 

The page beneath began to glow an unsettling purple-black. The words metamorphosed until they read:

“ Name: Xaran. Cause of Death: Transfiguration into Peppermint Candy. Deathdate: The 3rd of Flamerule, Four Years from Now.”  

The glow receded, the inscription bleeding into the paper and drying as if it had always read as such. Kravitz murmured, "Now, that can't be right," as he ran his finger across it again. He flipped forward four years and found the same entry halfway down the page.

“ No one can be in the book twice," Kravitz exclaimed with an outraged rattle. "You can’t die and go to the Astral Plane twice . What's happening ?” Kravitz furiously flipped back to the entries for Today, The 12th of Elient of the Present Year and Xaran was nowhere to be found.

“This is fucking new. ” Kravitz hissed and stood, throwing up a flurry of papers. Grabbing his tome, he strode through the door of his office into the court of his Queen.

***

On the edge of the Sea of Souls, Kravitz let out another angry, hissing rattle. He turned on his heel away from the calm, iridescent swirling souls and grabbed his scythe from the air.

“Whoever the fuck is rewriting the Laws of Death? I’m coming for you. ”

Kravitz swung his blade, tearing a portal to the Material Plane. He strode through without a backwards glance.

***

Kravitz stepped out of the Astral Plane and into a white-tiled, antiseptic-smelling bathroom. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he quickly put his skin on and his scythe away. He brushed off his suit before stepping out into what should be Xaran’s hospital room. 

Kravitz looked around the empty room and pursed his lips. He turned at the sound of someone stepping inside the door.

A tiefling woman paused in the doorway and asked,“Oh- uh. Hello? My spouse, Xaran is out for tests right now. Can I… help you?”

“Ah. Yes. I’m... here to document what happened to them this evening.” Kravitz said, putting his work accent on halfway through.

“Yeah,” the woman sighed and passed Kravitz to sit down in one of the chairs. “Xaran was eating cashews, but somehow a peanut got in the package and they ate it without realizing it. Their entire body swelled up and they couldn’t breathe. That’s when I called the EMTs from the firehouse. They came, gave Xaran a shot which didn’t work, but then one of them did CPR and Xaran started breathing again. The EMTs rushed them here right after. They’re basically completely stabilized, but the doctors want them to stay here for another couple hours for observation.”

Kravitz narrowed his eyes and flexed his fingers. “Hm. The EMTs from the firehouse were the ones who saved him and brought him here?”

The woman nodded.

“Well. Thank you for your time.” He gave a polite half bow and briskly walked out into the hospital hallway. With a quick glance around to ensure he was unwatched, he cut a portal to the nearest firehouse.

Chapter Text

A blade tore through the air. In an empty alleyway, Kravitz stepped into the Material Plane, dressed for work. He put away his scythe before straightening his most boring, work-standard suit. Looking at the tome in his hands, he frowned at it briefly before it morphed into a nondescript clipboard. Tapping his face to make sure he put it on correctly, he strode to the mouth of the alley, a block away from the nearest firehouse. 

Time to find out what the fuck is going on in this city.

Five firehouses later, Kravitz hid in yet another alley and ran his hands down his suit, over and over, smoothing it in frustration. Stifling his grumbles, he re-manifested his disguised tome and made sure he was presentable before walking up to the next firehouse. 

As Kravitz approached, he heard a crash, and someone called out a stuttered greeting. The large doors were open and sudsy water ran out from underneath a large red vehicle parked just outside. Kravitz pursed his lips and took a step back before the water could touch his shoes. A cute, built, drenched redhead with extravagant sideburns leapt up from the stone, scattering water everywhere, and asked in a low, gravelly voice, “How can I help you?” 

Kravitz cleared his throat and put on a work accent. “Hello. My name is Inspector… McCracken. I’m here to… inspect… your EMT certification?" 

“Oh,” the redhead said, “then you’re here to see Barry and Lup.” He gestured at the two people walking towards them, an extremely average looking human man in jeans with black chunky glasses and a blonde elf woman fixing her t-shirt that was printed with ‘Furby Blood Runs Through My Veins’. They were dressed very… normally. Most of Kravitz's targets at least had a cloak. Damn. Fuck. If these EMTs aren’t necromancers I’ll have to start over. He thought as the redhead kept talking.

Kravitz tuned back into the conversation when the elf woman, Lup, asked something about grabbing a kit. Clearing his throat to hide the fact he wasn't listening, he said “Ah. No. I mean. Yes? I’m Inspector McCracken...” Kravitz attempted to ignore the interplay between the mortals while he flipped forward in his internal script.

“...I’m here with the Neverwinter EMT Certification Board. We do rounds every two years to… make sure equipment? And certifications? Are up to date?” Somehow they believed this, and he was glad that in his past five firehouse confrontations he had come up with something plausible.

The average man, Barry, raised his voice over Lup's muffled laughter, and said  “Of course! Just tell us what you need and we will happily help in any way we can. We just finished restocking the ambulance. We were certified just a couple months ago, so all the questions and training are still pretty fresh.”

Kravitz glanced down at his tome like he was supposed to know what he was inspecting. “I understand two days ago you helped Xaran who had an episode of …” He ran his fleshy finger down Xaran's page on his disguised tome, squinting a little at this very medical word, “ana..phil.. lack tic? Shock.”

Lup lifted her chin, proud. At her skill as a medic? Or at her skill as a death-criminal? “Yep. His heart stopped due to the extreme stress on his respiratory and cardiac systems. I successfully performed CPR, his vitals stabilized, and we brought him to the hospital.”

They definitely are the right people, if they gave medical aid to Xaran. Is she lying? Is only one of the EMTs a necromancer? Is the driver a necromancer? Kravitz felt his face do something strange before he could put it back under control. The only way to tell would be to see them in action. He ground his molars together and said, “Yes. In the report it seemed like he would have been too far gone, but you did a miraculous job. The... Board , would love to see you in action.”

"Sure, Inspector McCracken , ride along with us on the next call!" Lup said, grinning sharply. "Barry, sweetie , come over here."

Before the suspects could leave, Barry said, “Is there anything we can do for you right now? You’re more than welcome to take a look around the firehouse and the ambulance. I feel pretty comfortable that everything will be up to your standards, but if there is anything out of place or you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you want, Magnus or I could give you a guided tour?”

The redhead, Magnus apparently, chirped, “I’d love to! Let me just run upstairs and get changed and I’ll show you around the place!” 

His enthusiasm was adorable, but Kravitz very much did not want to let any of these people out of scythe's length. Unfortunately, it seemed he would have to, as he was blanking on ways to keep them there.

“Of course. I’d appreciate that very much, Magnus.” Kravitz replied, then turned to look at Barry, “If I have any questions he’s unable to answer, I’ll come ask.”

Magnus nodded and turned to go inside, “I’ll be back in a jiff!”

Lup chuckled again, “Oh. Don’t worry. He knows absolutely everything about this place inside and out.”

Kravitz narrowed his eyes at the retreating figure. Is he changing? Or is he running away? His fingers twitched. This lack of concrete evidence was frustrating, and he couldn’t gather evidence if the suspects got away .

“Again, if there’s anything…” Barry was cut off by a series of thumps. Magnus crashed back outside, still pulling his shirt down across his toned stomach.

“Guys! Call came in. A kid fell off the roof and is on the ground unable to move. We haveta go.” Magnus shouted as he sprinted back inside to the white vehicle close to the large doors.

The other two ran after him. Kravitz inhaled sharply and followed, picking up speed as Lup called behind her, “Well, here’s your chance Inspector! Let’s get a move on!” 

Now here is an opportunity . 

***

Kravitz had never ridden in such a bizarre vehicle. The walls were covered with boxes, cabinets, and machines that glowed and beeped, seemingly at random. Bench seats took up the rest of the space along the walls. The middle was occupied by a stretcher. As they passed through the doors of the firehouse, a blaring noise startled him almost out of his skin. Before he could recover from that , the ambulance suddenly swerved left and sent him careening into Barry. Kravitz sat upright, teeth chattering, as the ambulance sped up.  

Lup was shaking and making strained mirthful noises in the seats across. Barry touched Kravitz’s shoulder to get his attention and told him “It’s best to brace yourself. Magnus is a great driver, he can just be a little aggressive especially if a kid’s life is on the line.” Kravitz fixed his suit and reminded himself that he was already dead. Searching the seats for some kind of way to steady himself, Kravitz barely noticed Barry bracing beside him before the ambulance came to an abrupt stop.

“We’re here. The kid is out back,” Magnus called out from the front seat.

Lup and Barry jumped out of the ambulance quickly, followed by Kravitz who wobbled slightly behind them.

They made their way around the back of the stone brick house to a tableau right out of basic reaper training. A parent was hovering over their son who was laying on the ground curled on his side, looking very corpse-like. The parent, hyperventilating, looked up at them as they approached and cried, “Riffin just. All I heard was a shriek so I ran outside… he’s not moving. He’s breathing, but he’s not moving. I don’t know what happened.”

“He was trying to flyyyyy,” said one of the children off to the side, creepily. 

Barry started doing medical things while Lup stepped off to the side to interact with the siblings. Kravitz edged closer to the parent beside Barry and asked “What’s his name again?...I’m doing...documentation.” The parent looked up with a panicked glare and snapped out “Riffin, Riffin Galbagg”, swiftly turning their attention back to their injured child. Stepping back from the scene, Kravitz quickly flipped to the R’s, picking through them quickly as the other children chattered. Found it. “ Name: Riffin Galbagg. Cause of Death: Ruptured Spleen and Intracranial Bleeding. Deathdate: The 13th of Elient of the Present Year .” Today. Quite sad, for such a young child . If these suspects were the necromancers he was seeking, it would almost certainly guarantee him the evidence he needed. 

Kravitz cleared his throat to get Barry’s attention and asked, “Barry, how is he doing?” 

Barry refrained from looking up from whatever frantic inspection he was performing as he said, “He’s breathing. I’m gonna guess that the levitation spell didn’t work at all, and it was just a 15 foot drop directly from the roof. We need to get him to the hospital.”

Lup addressed the parents, “We’re going to take him to the hospital. One of the parents can ride with us in the ambulance. The other can stay behind or ride separately. I wouldn’t recommend the siblings joining us in the hospital until a first diagnosis can be made.”

Magnus came running into the back yard with the stretcher and laid it out next to the child. Kravitz made very sure that he was out of the way as the child was transferred onto the stretcher. Barry was speaking softly to the still gasping parent, but Kravitz could make out him saying that the child was stable and inviting one parent to come with them to the hospital. He stepped up to the stretcher while everyone was arranging who goes where. Looking down at the child, Kravitz nudged a hair out of his face gently. Unconscious and dead looked much the same. Magnus grabbed one end of the stretcher and motioned for him to grab the other. Trying to look like he knew what he was doing, Kravitz imitated Magnus’ grip and together they made their way to the ambulance.  

***

None of the suspects spoke as they wove madly through the streets to the hospital. Kravitz, pressed as close as he could against the divider between the front and back sections, questioned the parent in the passenger seat for names as quietly as he could. With each name received he flipped to their page and made a note of how they related to this case, squinting queasily at the cursive. Building a web of relations could be important evidence later on, but mostly Kravitz just did not want to think about how fast they were going. At least he had found one of the handles to secure himself. 

One of the machines started screaming. Jumping slightly, Kravitz pressed himself further into his corner. The beeping that he had regulated to the background sped up swiftly. Barry and Lup became a blur of frantic action. Kravitz flipped back to Riffin’s page and prepared himself for necromantic spells to start flying. 

“I-” Barry stuttered, clearly panicked, “Th- There might be some internal bleeding? His lungs weren’t punctured, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to breathe, but. He’s-” Barry scrambled for something as Lup started hooking up more monitors to the child. Kravitz tensed as the ozone scent of magic rose.

“Barry- his blood pressure has dropped.” Lup said in a low calm voice as Barry looked frantically around the ambulance.

Finding what he was looking for, Barry pulled a box off the wall as the ambulance lurched to the side. Kravitz fell forward slightly, just enough to break his concentration. When he looked back up Barry had pressed his hands on the child’s face and chest and started chanting. Clicking his teeth, he tried to place the spell. It seemed to not be one he knew. Licks of crimson sparks started trailing across Barry’s shoulders as he chanted louder. Kravitz pursed his lips as he tried to parse what Barry was saying. It was gibberish syllables, like no spell or even language he had heard before. Nonetheless, this was clearly necromancy. 

Lup stepped up to the stretcher and began to cast the same spell as Barry sped up the chant. As she joined in, the red sparks became red lightning, crackling down their limbs onto their hands. Sparks flew up from where their hands touched the child’s skin. Their skulls began to glow bright through their faces. Barry faltered, his mouth stuttering to a stop. His eyes flew open, glowing red. Lup took the lead, chanting louder and bringing the spell to a close, sending their gathered lightning into the child’s chest. 

The ambulance slammed to a stop, throwing Kravitz hard back into his seat. The shockwave of magic forced the back doors open, shattering the lock. As more medical personnel flooded into the ambulance, Kravitz stood shakily, holding himself up with a bone-cracking grip on the handle. The child was awake, responding, and certainly alive. As Barry, Lup, and Magnus conferred with their colleagues and the child and parent were ushered into the hospital, Kravitz grinned. 

Got you.

***

“Are you guys ready to head back to the firehouse? I don’t know what machine you used back there, but it sure had some weird side effects.” Magus called to the back as the ambulance pulled away from the hospital. Kravitz held himself as still as he could as he flipped through his tome, ignoring his steadily rising queasiness in the face of imminent victory. Marking their pages was the last thing he needed to do to get the proper paperwork in order before he could bring these death-criminals in. There was a surprising number of people with the same first initial when sorted by living first. Damn. What were their last names again?

Magnus continued, “I mean, I don’t know why you put on a sound maker, but it sure didn’t cover the sound of the door flying off its hinges.”

“It was.... Well. Let’s just say... erm. I. I don’t know how that happened,” Barry replied, sounding confused and sheepish. 

Anger shot through Kravitz at that clearly fake denial. He wants to lie? Time to stop playing nice. Looking up from the B section, he sent a glare at Barry and said “Barry. State your full name.”

Barry’s eyes widened as he quickly responded, “Barold J. Bluejeans?” Kravitz flipped ahead to his page. “Name: Barold J. Bluejeans. Cause of Death: Varied. Death date count: 25 times.” What the fuck. What? Kravitz squinted at Barry. He marked the page and held it open with a finger as he flipped ahead to the L’s. 

“Hmm.” Kravitz really should have done this first. He asked, “Lup?”

Lup sounded concerned as she replied, “Lup Taako... T-double A-K-O.”

Kravitz flipped to her page. “Name: Lup Taako. Cause of Death: Varied. Death date count: 33 times.” He did a double take at the number of deaths. That seems slightly excessive. He glanced towards the front, his question preempted by Lup saying “His full name is Magnus Burnsides. Inspector... What are you looking for? I mean. You go from having nothing on your clipboard to giant stacks. Where are the papers coming from? What’s going on? You realize we don’t know what just happened right? Barry? Can you explain what happened? Why was there static when you spoke? I swear, Inspector, this is not how things usually go. This has never happened before.”

Kravitz quickly found Magnus Burnsides’ page as Lup spoke, his teeth grinding as she clearly lied about not knowing what they did. His gaze rose to meet hers, and he did not bother to keep the angry rattle of bone from his voice when he said, “you use magic unknown to this plane of existence, then lie to me about not knowing what you said, what you DID? I thought I was onto something with Xaran. You will be going to the Eternal Stockade, necromancers. Death. Criminals.”

“EXCUSE ME, WHAT?” Magnus yells from the front seat, “Death WHAT?”

“You heard me, Magnus Burnsides! You have died nineteen times, yet you’ve never checked into the Astral Plane. That is going to change.”

“Oh hell no. You aren’t going to accuse me or my friends of things that aren’t true when I’m driving and can’t look you in the eye.” Magnus snapped. The ambulance lurched to the side as he brought it to a stop, sending Kravitz into the back of his seat with a clatter of bone. “We are taking this conversation outside.”

Chapter Text

Barry and Lup made themselves busy, taking inventory and restocking the ambulance while Magnus had the unenviable task of washing the firetruck. Barry glanced over his shoulder out the bay doors at Magnus, mildly concerned.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help eventually,” Lup snickered.

“I mean. I just don’t want him to like… strain something? You and I both know he tries to contort himself to scrub the weirdest places, then gets worn out because he’s hurt himself,” Barry replied anxiously.

Lup grimaced, glancing over at Magnus again. “You’re not supposed to get gremlins wet remember?” She pointed down at her shirt which read ‘Furby Blood Runs Through My Veins.’

“You definitely act like a gremlin.” Barry deadpanned, “But first off, Furby is NOT one contrary to popular belief, and second off, I don’t think that water will make you start duplicating.” 

Lup looked smug, “You have no proof!”

Just as they were finishing up taking inventory, they heard Magnus yelp, followed by the loud clatter of his bucket falling over. “H-hi,” Magnus said loud enough for Lup and Barry to hear. The sound of him struggling to exist made Lup and Barry start chuckling under their breaths. Barry swiftly climbed out of the ambulance as Lup tried to pull herself back together. 

An elegant, tall, dark-skinned man with dreads pulled back in a ponytail, took a step back to avoid the water that was slowly spreading across the floor. He was wearing a pressed black brocade suit and carrying a matte-black, empty clipboard. Magnus hurriedly got to his feet, “How can I help you?” He quickly wrung out his shirt and brushed off his drenched pants, futilely.

The man cleared his throat, and spoke in a slightly off-putting unplaceable accent, "Hello. My name is Inspector... McCracken. I’m here to… inspect… your EMT certification?"

“Oh,” Magnus exhaled in relief, “then you’re here to see Barry and Lup.” He gestured over toward Barry and Lup as they made their way toward them. “They’re our EMTs, I just drive them around when I’m not called to be in the firetruck,” he gestured up at the giant truck with a chuckle.

“Is someone hurt?” Lup exclaimed as she neared Magnus and the well-dressed man. “I heard something about us being EMTs... Do we need to go grab our kits?” she asked with a furrowed brow. 

“Ah. No. I mean. Yes?” The man cleared his throat again, seemingly uncomfortable. “I’m Inspector McCracken...”

Lup stifled a laugh at the mention of his name and side-eyed Barry, who gave her a look back.

Inspector McCracken stared dead-eyed at them and continued with an entirely blank expression, “...I’m here with the Neverwinter EMT Certification Board. We do rounds every two years to… make sure equipment? And certifications? Are up to date?”

Barry immediately chimed in over Lup’s attempt at muffled laughter, “Of course! Just tell us what you need and we will happily help in any way we can. We just finished restocking the ambulance. We were certified just a couple months ago, so all the questions and training are still pretty fresh.”

Inspector McCracken glanced down at his clipboard, “I understand two days ago you helped Xaran who had an episode of …” he ran his bony finger down the white sheet of paper now affixed to the clipboard, “ana..phil.. lack tic? Shock.”

Lup looked proudly at the Inspector, “Yep. His heart stopped due to the extreme stress on his respiratory and cardiac systems. I successfully performed CPR, his vitals stabilized, and we brought him to the hospital.”

The Inspector’s left eyebrow raised with a look Barry couldn’t quite read. “Yes. In the report it seemed like he would have been too far gone, but you did a miraculous job. The... Board , would love to see you in action.”

"Sure, Inspector McCracken , ride along with us on the next call!" Lup said, grinning sharply. "Barry, sweetie , come over here."

Before Lup could pull him away, Barry posited, “Is there anything we can do for you right now? You’re more than welcome to take a look around the firehouse and the ambulance. I feel pretty comfortable that everything will be up to your standards, but if there is anything out of place or you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you want, Magnus or I could give you a guided tour?”

Magnus immediately chimed in, “I’d love to! Let me just run upstairs and get changed and I’ll show you around the place!” 

Inspector McCracken seemed slightly frustrated, but Barry couldn’t quite figure out why.

“Of course. I’d appreciate that very much, Magnus.” Inspector McCracken replied, then turned to look at Barry, “If I have any questions he’s unable to answer, I’ll come ask.”

Magnus nodded then ran inside to change his clothes, “I’ll be back in a jiff!”

Lup chuckled again, “Oh. Don’t worry. He knows absolutely everything about this place inside and out.”

This time it was clearly disappointment that Barry read on Inspector McCracken’s face. “Again, if there’s anything…” Barry was cut off by the sound of Magnus running back outside while hurriedly pulling on his shirt.

“Guys! Call came in. A kid fell off the roof and is on the ground unable to move. We haveta go .” Magnus shouted as he sprinted to the ambulance.

Lup and Barry started bolting to follow him. “Well, here’s your chance Inspector! Let’s get a move on!” Lup called, glancing over her shoulder as Inspector McCracken started jogging behind them.

***

It was very clear to Barry that Inspector McCracken had never ridden in an ambulance. If him jumping at the sound of the sirens turning on wasn’t a strong enough hint, as they pulled out of the station, Magnus made a hard turn to the left and hit the acceleration and Inspector McCracken slid hard into Barry not realizing he needed to brace himself. 

Lup looked at Barry with wide eyes trying so hard to stifle laughter and Barry shot her a warning glance. “It’s best to brace yourself. Magnus is a great driver, he can just be a little aggressive especially if a kid’s life is on the line,” Barry told Inspector McCracken who just nodded with visible fear in his eyes. Barry watched as Inspector McCracken straightened his suit and started searching for a handle but was a moment too late as Magnus hit the brakes hard. 

“We’re here. The kid is out back,” Magnus called out from the front seat.

Lup and Barry jumped out of the ambulance quickly followed by Inspector McCracken.

They made their way around the back of the house to a truly chaotic scene. A mother with red hair was hovering over their son who was laying on the ground curled on his side unmoving. Another mother, this one with blonde hair was corralling two younger children onto the swings of their playset. The redhead on the ground looked up at Lup and Barry as they approached, “Riffin just. All I heard was a shriek so I ran outside… he’s not moving. He’s breathing, but he’s not moving. I don’t know what happened.”

“He was trying to flyyyyy,” one of the children on the swings immediately responded in sing-song.

Barry knelt down and started to look over the child as Lup took a step toward the playset. “He was trying to fly? That sounds like fun!” she replied in a childlike tone.

Barry vaguely heard Inspector McCracken turn to the parent beside Riffen, “What’s his name again?...I’m doing...documentation.”

At the same time the other child chimed in cheerily as well, “He can do magicks! He said if he started on the roof, levitating would make him fly!” Lup looked over to Barry, who was still inspecting the child, with wide eyes.

Inspector McCracken cleared his throat, “Barry, how is he doing?” 

Barry didn’t look up, “He’s breathing. I’m gonna guess that the levitation spell didn’t work at all, and it was just a 15 foot drop directly from the roof. We need to get him to the hospital.” Barry gestured over to Lup beckoning her to hurry. He glanced over at the children swinging about 30 feet away, someone needs to stay with the kids, he thought. 

Lup nodded toward Barry then turned to address the mothers, “We’re going to take him to the hospital. One of you can ride with us in the ambulance. The other can stay behind or ride separately. I wouldn’t recommend any siblings joining us at the hospital until a first diagnosis can be made.”

Magnus came running into the back yard with the stretcher and laid it out next to the child. The mother with Barry helped move the child onto the stretcher with Magnus’ added help. Barry spoke softly to the mother so that the children couldn’t hear, “He broke multiple bones, but the fact he’s breathing at all makes me think he didn’t puncture his lungs. His heart rate is stable. Given he’s not responding, he probably hit his head very hard and suffered some type of brain injury. We’re leaving for the hospital now. You have about a minute to discuss with your wife if either of you would like to ride with. Once we are all loaded into the ambulance, you have about 30 seconds to make sure you’re aboard.” The mother nodded, then quickly got up to confer with her wife as Magnus and Inspector McCracken lifted the stretcher and started moving toward the ambulance.

Lup moved over to stand at Barry’s side, “You saw him flipping through his clipboard right? Our dear Inspector started flipping through pages of his clipboard once the mom mentioned the kid’s name. That’s weird right?”

Barry looked at Lup, incredulous, as they started rounding the house, “I mean… apparently he’s the EMT inspector. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just him looking up protocol for the situation? The weirder thing is how the pages on his clipboard keep appearing and disappearing.”

Lup looked at him skeptical, “I don’t know Bar, something about this Inspector just doesn’t feel right.”

They watched as Inspector McCracken awkwardly tried to help Mangus put the stretcher in the back of the ambulance then half-struggle to get in.

Lup whispered to Barry as they got closer, “Best case, he’s rusty. Worst case, he’s not who he says he is.” 

Barry grabbed her arm, “What the hell are you implying ?”

“I’m just- I’m keeping an eye on him. That’s all.” 

Barry let her go and they swiftly hopped into the ambulance as the mother who had been at the kid’s side jogged out of the house and climbed into the passenger side seat across from Magnus. Barry and Lup quickly got a pulse and oxygen monitor hooked up to the young boy and made sure he was secure before Magnus pulled away from the house.

***

They rode in relative silence, broken only by the soft beeping of the heart rate monitor and Inspector McCracken periodically asking the mother for her name and the names of the rest of her family. With each name he would haphazardly flip a couple pages on his clipboard and make a note with an iron grip on the handle next to him. All the while Lup and Barry exchanged concerned glances.

The calm of the ambulance was shattered as a sharp alarm went off from the heart rate and oxygen monitor. The soft beeps marking each of Riffin’s heartbeats grew faster and louder. Barry and Lup sprung into action as Inspector McCracken flipped through the sheets of paper on his clipboard.

“I-” Barry began slightly panicked, “Th- There might be some internal bleeding? His lungs weren’t punctured, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to breathe, but. He’s-” Barry scrambled to find something that could help, as Lup started hooking up more monitors to the child.

“Barry- his blood pressure has dropped.” Lup said in a low voice to calm Barry down, who was still looking frantically around the ambulance.

Barry pulled an emergency surgery kit off the wall. This can’t be happening. I told his parents that he was stable. This can’t be happening. We don’t know where he’s bleeding FROM. It could be his brain. Oh my god. If he’s bleeding from his brain. He’s going to die. Fuck. FUCK. If it’s his spleen he could die in minutes.

The ambulance lurched to the side as Magnus sped around a corner, making Barry drop the kit. He looked down at the child, whose skin was becoming more pale by the second. 

As if falling into an old rhythm, Barry placed his hands on the kid’s cheek and chest. He closed his eyes and started to murmur under his breath. After a couple of moments he realized both his thoughts and the words he was saying had turned to static. 

His eyes shot open. He saw red lightning crackling down his arms into his hands, which sparked where he touched the boy. His jaw dropped at the sight before him. He stopped talking, but the static didn’t. Barry looked toward the sound. He watched Lup’s lips move but the words she was saying- they were coming out as static. Her eyes were closed and she looked serene, except for the red electricity that crackled around her entire being. 

All within the span of a moment, the ambulance jerked to a halt as a bolt of lightning shot down Lup’s arms into the child’s chest where her hands rested parallel to Barry’s. The sound of a loud crack rang through the ambulance as the back doors flew open, the lock keeping them closed shattering. 

The boy's eyes flew open.

What the fuck just happened, Barry thought as he took the child’s vital signs again, his pulse was stablized, his breathing was normal. What the fuck. Barry looked up as Magnus came around the back of the vehicle and started pulling the stretcher out with the help of one of the hospital’s nurses. Barry spoke to the nurse in a daze, “The child fell off a roof. He’s stable. There might be internal bleeding, I’m guessing some cracked ribs, and a concussion.” The nurse nodded as she started jogging, rolling the child into the hospital with his parent in tow.

***

“Are you guys ready to head back to the firehouse? I don’t know what machine you used back there, but it sure had some weird side effects.” Magus called to the back of the ambulance, shifting it into gear and pulling out of the ambulance bay. 

Across the way, Barry watched as Inspector McCracken flipped through page after page of the papers on his clipboard, as if searching for something important. 

Magnus continued, “I mean, I don’t know why you put on a sound maker, but it sure didn’t cover the sound of the door flying off its hinges.”

Lup and Barry looked at each other, confusion, fear, and shock still painted on their faces. “It was.... Well. Let’s just say... erm. I. I don’t know how that happened,” Barry replied, rubbing his neck.

Looking up from the massive stack of papers on his clipboard, Inspector McCracken gave Barry a glare, “Barry. State your full name.”

Barry’s eyes went wide, “Barold J. Bluejeans?” 

Inspector McCracken flipped through about four or five pages before he stopped. He squinted at Barry with a furrowed brow, marked the page, and placed his finger between the sheets to hold it. 

“Hmm.” Inspector McCracken murmured, “Lup?”

Lup met Barry’s eyes with growing concern, “Lup Taako... T-double A-K-O.”

Inspector McCracken flipped through another set of pages and found something, doing a double take. Then he glanced up toward Magnus, but before he could ask the question again, Lup interjected, “His full name is Magnus Burnsides. Inspector... What are you looking for? I mean. You go from having nothing on your clipboard to giant stacks. Where are the papers coming from? What’s going on? You realize we don’t know what just happened right? Barry? Can you explain what happened? Why was there static when you spoke? I swear Inspector, this is not… how things usually go. This has never happened before.”

The inspector raised his gaze toward Lup, “Do you mean to tell me,” his voice vibrating with anger, “you use magic unknown to this plane of existence, then lie to me about not knowing what you said, what you DID? I thought I was onto something with Xaran. You will be going to the Eternal Stockade, necromancers. Death. Criminals .”

“EXCUSE ME, WHAT?” Magnus yelled from the front seat, “Death WHAT? ”

“You heard me, Magnus Burnsides! You have died nineteen times, yet you’ve never checked into the Astral Plane. That is going to change.”

“Oh hell no. You aren’t going to accuse me or my friends of things that aren’t true when I’m driving and can’t look you in the eye.” Magnus snapped. The ambulance lurched to the side as he pulled it off the road and placed it into park. “We are taking this conversation outside."

Chapter Text

Magnus pulled open the back doors of the ambulance for Barry, Lup, and Inspector McCracken to step out. “Come on. Let’s get some air. No one is going anywhere.”

Barry and Lup quickly jumped out of the ambulance, making way as Inspector McCracken’s skin fell away from his bones. Barry, Lup, and Magnus watched in horror as a skeleton in a pressed black suit with a large tome and scythe stepped out from the ambulance.

“Wha- What the FUCK?” Lup shrieked, stepping slightly behind Magnus and Barry.

“I thought I made myself clear before Magnus so rudely cut me off. You’ve all died an absurd number of times and never once checked into the astral plane. You clearly performed necromancy unlike anything I’ve ever seen on a child , in broad daylight no less, and ,” he paused as the group watched Inspector McCracken grind his molars together with a wretched sound, “You thought it prudent to lie. To me. ”

Magnus took a step forward to put himself between Inspector McCracken and his friends. “Inspector?” Magnus took a deep breath and scrubbed his face with his hands, “I’ll take this one item at a time. I have never died, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing in front of you. That doesn’t make any sense. I fight fires for a living. Yes, I realize that’s a dangerous line of work, but when you die you die. There’s no coming back from that. I’m breathing air right now, standing in front of you, and unless this is one joint hallucination, sir, you’re a skeleton… so this whole necromancy...death... thing you’re accusing us of? Whack.

“Point two: You seem very wise, do you genuinely believe that if Barry and Lup had a clue about what just happened they would be lying about it?” Magnus continued, “Do you think I would have asked what had happened with the noise maker? Before you even said a word, Barry said he didn’t understand how whatever happened happened . I know these two and nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Barry fidgeted with his glasses as Magnus spoke to Inspector McCracken. He took a second to look over to Lup who was watching everything with unadulterated fear in her eyes. Reaching over, Barry took Lup’s hand in his before speaking, “Inspector McCracken. Your tome… it was your clipboard, yes?” The skeleton took a step to the side in order to look Barry straight on as he continued to speak, “You clearly know magic. You clearly think you know what’s going on. That makes a grand total of one of four people here with a single clue about what’s happening.” 

Barry’s voice broke, “I’m a medical student, I just finished my first year of school. Magic is not in the medical school curriculum! I’ve never done magic in my life ! All I remember was laying my hands on Riffin, and closing my eyes, and then everything went static.” His mind started racing, speaking faster and faster “When I realized that all I could hear was static I opened my eyes and saw Lup crackling with electricity. She was saying something . All I could hear was static. Next thing we know the ambulance doors flew open. Lightning hit the kid AND THEN HIS EYES OPENED??? Inspector. Excuse my language, but what the FUCK just happened?”

Lup’s grip on Barry’s hand tightened as she started to speak to herself quietly, “I saw Barry place his hands on Riffin and when he didn’t tell me what he was checking for I mirrored him, only for him to start speaking in static! I couldn’t figure out what he was saying so I just kept looking at his lips trying to lip-read and next thing I know it felt like all the hair on my body was standing on end. The doors to the ambulance were open, and you and Barry were staring at me. I don’t know what I did. I don’t know what… what happened.”

Barry watched as the Inspector threw up his hands with a hiss before pointing a skeletal finger at the three of them. “You three are going to stay exactly where you are. If you are telling the truth - which I don’t believe is the case - then there is something going on here that’s bigger than meets the eye. If you are lying to me, which I do believe, then there is a price to be paid.” A loud tearing noise rang throughout the park as Barry watched the skeleton’s scythe slice a portal to somewhere beyond. “Don’t even think about running away,” the Inspector spat, “I know exactly who you are and I will find you in the blink of an eye. I will be gone for only a moment.” 

What the fuck was that . Barry thought as he watched the skeleton step through the portal, which promptly vanished behind him. 

***

Kravitz sliced his way directly to the throne room and stumbled slightly at the influx of rainbow light. The black stone walls were now pale white, the elegant dark tapestries now pastel knits. The black marble of the floor now replaced with opal. From high above, a yarn and crystal chandelier sent rainbows dancing across it all. Kravitz deflated slightly. He hated to interrupt tea time. It felt so rude. Kravitz set his shoulders and straightened his suit. Answers outweighed having to make small talk with his queen's paramour. 

He walked towards the thrones set around a low table, his footsteps sending ripples of black marble across the floor. Kravitz bowed low to his queen, a towering figure of bones and feathers sat on a throne of blackened metal, and gave a slightly higher bow to the woman reclined on a beanbag who was knitting, surrounded by balls of yarn. 

As he rose from his bow, Istus said, “We were just talking about you, Kravitz.” 

"Ah- erm. How so, Lady Istus?" He hoped it was at least related to the bewildering necromancers he was dealing with and not another conspiracy to get him to take a vacation. 

“I gather you met some rather interesting characters today?” She spoke in a soft, cheerful voice.

Kravitz drooped a little in relief that he wouldn’t have to deflect the conversation, “Yes. That’s actually why I’m here-” 

Istus interjected over Kravitz, “Barry, Lup, and Magnus, was it?” She asked more to herself than anyone else as she wrapped the working yarn around her finger and began to purl another stitch, “The three of them are just so special.  You know that right? Like, our existence is made up of countless realities where the same people are just doing the same actions at the same time in parallel worlds throughout the echoes of creation--except for THEM! The-the three of them are the only three of them that there are, doing the things that the three of them do here in this world. I--w--when I say that they’re unique, I’m not being flattering, I’m being quite literal.”

“... so what are you saying?” Kravitz clicked his teeth, a little frustrated at her meandering. 

“Krav, these three have been preventing things that go against the designs of fate from happening for almost their entire lives; stopping powers that would reshape reality used by people who shouldn’t be using them! And—and that’s my whole jam.” Istus said cheerily, “They’re going to be amazing.”

“Just to be clear. These three… have died a combined seventy seven times and you don’t want me to bring them to the Eternal Stockade, where they will stop interfering with the established laws that I am bound to enforce? Where they will stop interfering with the timeline you have foreseen? , ” Kravitz brandished his tome at her. “You’d rather they keep altering people’s lifelines?! Is that not ‘reshaping reality’ ?” 

“Kravtiz, I understand that this is going to be frustrating for you to hear. But you need to leave these three to their devices, whether that means they elongate or shorten people’s lives. Each soul will find their way here to the Astral Plane someday. What is important is that these three… they are going to make all the difference in the planar system…” Istus looked up at the Raven Queen who cocked her head to the side with a rustle of ossified feathers. Istus nodded at what she saw there and pulled at where her knitting disappeared into the air, gathering a long curl of the multicolored fabric. 

“You know that the pattern that has been knit is stable, just as you know that the yarn yet to be knit can be changed until the stitch is made. Each second those three are re-writing fate. They have stopped innumerable ills from overtaking our plane, and they have yet to finish the journey they’ve started. I know the pattern they make will be the most beautiful thing ever created. I trust them with the world. That said," she twisted the knitting between her hands, bringing up a row of stitches between her thumbs, “two years ago, there was a day in which hundreds of thousands of names, dates, and deaths were changed.”

Kravitz straightened his spine in indignant confusion, “What do you mean? I would have notic-” The Raven Queen leaned down with a clatter, bringing her bleach-white skull down to his height. 

“Kravitz, to say that these three are integral to the fate of our planes doesn’t begin to cover it. In the entirety of your time in my service there has been but one time that I forced you to take a day off…” The Raven Queen said with the slow grind of her beak, “I took your tome from you that day so you wouldn’t try and sneak paperwork, remember? Had you revisit where you grew up, the memories you had while you were alive on Faerun. You were far too close to burning out to have to deal with that shitshow.” 

“Krav,” Istus said, making a valiant attempt to sit up on her beanbag, “I welcome you to keep an eye on them. Keep them safe. But don’t impede whatever they are doing. They aren’t the type of ‘death criminals’ that you need to drag to the Eternal Stockade. In hmm…” Istus hummed, sending a searching glance across the ball of yarn fallen into her lap, “about a decade’s time, they are going to do something that has never been done before. And you need to make sure you stay out of their way so they can learn and grow and develop into exactly who they need to be.”

“I-'' Kravitz turned to the Raven Queen, sending her a look that was as flabbergasted as a skeleton could get. “So. Just leave them be? What about the tome? If the deathdates keep changing…”

“Krav, honey. You’ve seen the names change. If the fate couldn’t be altered, the book wouldn’t be able to change either. Trust me . It will be worth the wait.” Istus said with a soft smile, knitting another stitch.

“So,” the Raven Queen said, rising back to her full height with a creak of metal and bone, “I would recommend that you let them know that they are free to continue with their line of work. I give you permission to get to know them better, help out, if need be,” she cocked her head at Istus again, her voice taking on an amused echo, “but otherwise let us see what they do.”

Kravitz stood as straight as he could. He would never defy such a direct order from his queen, even if Istus was being annoying about it. “Thank you both for clarifying the situation. As you said, I should return.” 

Kravitz took another deep bow to the two women and spun on his heel to leave. As he readied his scythe, Istus called with an audible smile, “Don’t forget to put your skin back on. And oh yeah Krav- have fun .” 

He deftly put his skin back on, which he had remembered to do before that reminder, obviously, then tore a portal to the Material Plane.

***

Inspector McCracken was true to his word, he was back within the span of about three minutes. Barry and Lup had found themselves seated on the wooden bench overlooking the jungle gym, and Magnus was doing pullups on a tree. They heard the same loud tearing noise and the portal opened in front of them. The tall, elegantly-dressed, dark-skinned man they first met stepped out of the portal with his tome in hand. 

The Inspector deadpanned, looking Barry, Lup, and Magnus in the eye, “I don’t have answers for your questions about what happened.” He grumbled, clenching his jaw, “I seemingly know just as much about the magic you cast as you do. For now, you are free to work with supervision . Once we get back to the firehouse we can hash out what that supervision will look like.” The Inspector said with finality, walking toward the ambulance.

“Wait. What? ” Barry exclaimed.

“Nuh, uh,” Lup interjected, “You’re not getting off that easy ‘ In-specter’ ” Lup said snidely with air quotes. “Who exactly are you?” She gestured wildly at his scythe, “You sure as hell aren’t a normal EMT inspector.”

“Normal....” the Inspector echoed, looking down at the scythe in his hand. He wove his hand and the scythe vanished into thin air, “No, I wouldn’t say I’m a normal... EMT inspector… but I am one nonetheless. Let’s just say I have… duties on more than one plane of existence, and that means that I have special... skills that help me fulfill those duties.”

“Ha! I’ll say.” Lup interjects, and Inspector McCracken shot her a glare before continuing.

“At this point, there is no bounty out for you and I have been… assigned… to make sure you don’t fall out of line.” He continued toward the ambulance. “Now, if I remember correctly, you will want to return to the firehouse to restock and get situated in case another call comes in?” He turned to look over his shoulder at the group, “ Right ?”

“I mean… yeah .” Barry replied, as they all started following him to the ambulance.

***

As the ambulance pulled back into the firehouse, Barry, Lup and Inspector McCracken climbed out of the firetruck and took a deep breath. Inspector McCracken took a moment to get his feet back under him and take in his surroundings yet again. Glancing over, he met the group’s gaze and narrowed his eyes as he quickly ran his hands over the front of his suit. 

“Well?” Lup chirped nervously, breaking the silence, “when it came to the normal medical stuff, did that meet your expectations for protocol?”

Barry watched as Inspector McCracken flexed his jaw, and turned to face Lup. “You both followed... protocol… and your professionalism in explaining what was happening to the family was well done.” He paused for a moment and flipped through a couple pages on his tome then continued without looking up, “ Because you are both new EMTs, I’d like to join you for a couple more calls, just to make sure that you are comfortable with the wide variety of calls you might encounter.”

Lup raised one eyebrow and shot Barry an dubious glance, “Is there something we need to improve on? Or is-”

Lup was interrupted by the booming voice of Chief Andrea as she exited her office into the main floor “Oh hello! You must be Inspector McCracken. I’ve heard you’ve been making the rounds!”

Inspector McCracken’s eyes widened in alarm and he quickly transmuted the tome back into his clipboard. “Yes, hello. I’m here with the Neverwinter EMT Certification Board. We do rounds every two years to… make sure equipment… and certifications? Are up to date?” 

Chief Andrea furrowed her eyebrows and looked him up and down, sizing him up. “That’s interesting, the Board never sent anyone out here to check on Elyn and Gerard in their 15 years here.”

Lup shot Barry a furtive glance and mouthed ‘ I told you something was up’.

Inspector McCracken cleared his throat. “Er, traditionally... we’d do pop up inspections to random firehouses every two years, so there is a possibility that we simply didn’t draw this one the past seven rounds. As of this year we decided to start inspecting EMTs every two years.”

“Uh-huh.” Chief Andrea replied slowly, mulling over Inspector McCracken’s explanation. “So. I gathered you joined them on the call? How did they do?”

“They did... very well. They followed protocol and seemed to be… in control of the situation. Simply because they are new EMTs, I want to join them for another couple calls just to see how they respond to the wide variety of calls that come in.” He side-eyed the trio. 

Chief Andrea shrugged, “Hm. I mean. I don’t have much power over the EMT Certification Board, so I guess if this is the only way to make sure they keep their certifications, then go for it. We desperately need EMTs in Neverwinter and these two have stepped up to the plate and been excellent .”

The Inspector reached out his hand for a handshake, “I appreciate your permission and cooperation Mx…?”

“Oh boy. I’m sorry for not introducing myself. I’m Chief Andrea. I’m the one in charge of all the personnel here. And I’m proud to call these two part of my crew,” she replied, shaking his hand. 

“I’m glad to hear it. I have to return and complete some paperwork, but I’ll be back tomorrow.” Inspector McCracken turned back around to face Lup and Barry, “When do you two start your shift?”

“Technically we are on call 24/7, but we prefer to start our mornings around 8 or 9am,” Barry responded.

Inspector McCracken turned to leave the firehouse with his clipboard empty and by his side. “I’ll be here at 9am.” 

Chief Andrea, Lup, Barry, and Magnus all watched as the well-dressed man walked out of the firehouse and turned to walk down an alley.

“Well,” Chief Andrea said after a moment, “that’s different .”