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Barry awakens to darkness.
In this lightless place, he can’t see anything, but a tether hangs between him and his own lifeless corpse, even if he can never inhabit it again. He still knows exactly where it is, and exactly where it will be for every single day until the cycle begins anew.
What that doesn’t account for, however, is the body right beside his.
The feel of the magic is familiar, but not incredibly so. There are few chances to get so close to someone that their very aura is easily recognizable. He doesn’t even have that with Lup yet, no matter how much the two of them want it. But the distance between them, Lup’s difficulty in trusting others, isn’t an easy hurdle to overcome.
Barry creeps closer, slowly becoming aware of a powerful force enveloping the person in its own energy.
The Light of Creation.
Things come back to him, piece by piece. It’s always right after dying that his memory is the haziest, where he needs a moment to get his bearings before he can continue whatever it was he was doing. Not great in high stakes situations.
He takes a moment to search his memories. He and Taako went spelunking for the Light of Creation. Whatever was lurking down here attacked. Taako dropped like a stone, Barry not soon afterward.
“Taako?” Barry creeps closer still, trying to figure out if the faintness of Taako’s power means he’s unconscious, or if the magic is leaking out of him like a dying star. “Oh, please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.”
Taako’s brow furrows at the noise, his body shifting like it does when he comes out of a long sleep. When he shifts, the Light of Creation falls out of the wraps of his robe, casting blinding rays of light over the dim cave walls.
Taako groans, the bright light in his face the final push he needs to wake up. He lifts his head, coming face to face with Barry’s lich form, and lets out an earsplitting scream.
Barry flinches back on instinct. “Whoa, Taako! Watch it! It’s me, Barry!”
Taako scrambles into a sitting position, fumbling to get his wand out of his satchel. “Back off, or I’ll blast you so far back in time you’ll be watching fools invent the wheel!”
“Hey, I’m backing off!” Barry throws his hands up, but he realizes a second too late it looks a little like a threat. “Taako, it’s Barry! Whatever got you got me too. Just calm down!”
Taako backs himself into a corner, looking nothing short of a frightened animal, ready to lash out at anyone who comes too close.
“I-I don’t know where I am!”
“You don’t…” Barry lets his arms fall to his sides. Did Taako hit his head or something? Because not only does he not know where he is, but he doesn’t seem to recognize Barry either.
God, if only Lup had ended up here instead of him. Barry doesn’t feel like an adequate caregiver on the best of days, but he’s utterly out of his depth at the moment. Because if he’s not mistaken, Taako sounds half-small about now.
“Where’s Lulu?” Taako glares at Barry down the length of his wand, and Barry has no doubts he’ll start firing if he doesn’t get the answers he wants.
“Lulu’s back at the ship.” Barry explains, trying to keep his voice gentle. He realizes a moment too late that Taako would probably find that patronizing. “Do you remember the Starblaster?”
Taako narrows his eyes and scowls. “Okay, now I know you’re just putting together late-season idiot plots. What are you talking about?” The magic around him flares stronger than ever, as if he’s preparing to fling out whatever attack he thinks might hit a lich. “Where’s my Sissy?”
That gives Barry pause. So he’s definitely regressed. Taako almost never calls Lup “Sissy,” but especially not out of headspace. That wouldn’t explain him being so disoriented, but maybe it’s part of it?
“Are you… are you regressed right now?” Like everyone else on the Starblaster, he’s had his fair share of time with little Taako, but he can count the number of times he’s been alone with the kid on one hand.
Ever since he and Lup had their talk and became official, regressed Taako’s become a little warier of him. Because as happy as big Taako might be for them, Barry gets the distinct feeling regressed Taako still isn’t quite ready to give up his Sissy.
Taako blinks tears from his eyes, trying to hide them under a façade of fury. “No.”
Barry fights back a sigh. That’s a yes if he’s ever heard one.
It’s not like Taako to be regressed on a mission, even if he did get hit on the head. Worry niggles at the back of his mind, telling him that something much worse is going on.
But Barry can’t worry about that now. He has to gain Taako’s trust first. Then they have to get out of these caves with the Light. Then he can worry about getting Taako’s head checked out.
“You can’t lie to me, kiddo. I know you better than that.”
Taako scowls. “Don’t ‘kiddo’ me, hoss!” He backs up again, and suddenly becomes aware of the Light tucked against his chest. “I’ll use whatever the fuck this is and blast you right back into The Nightmare Before Christmas!”
Shit, shit, shit. That was the wrong move. Barry scrambles for a new line of conversation, anything to keep Taako from blasting him. With Taako as confused as he is, it wouldn’t be good to leave him alone with the Light of Creation. Not to mention that whatever attacked them is still lurking around.
“What can I do to gain your trust?” Barry asks.
Taako tenses, looking like a coil ready to spring. “You’re a red-robed floating skeleton, my dude.”
And despite himself, Barry can’t help laughing. “You got me there, I guess.” He pauses to scratch at the back of his nonexistent neck. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
Taako shifts. “I dunno… Something about a spaceship? I think Lulu and I were applying for a program or something.”
So before the Starblaster, then. He might not recognize anyone if that’s the case.
“That was a few decades ago.” Barry explains.
“So we got accepted?”
Barry nods.
“Both of us?”
“I don’t think either of you would’ve gone without the other.”
“So where’s Lulu?” Taako can’t hide a glance over his shoulder, like he’s expecting Lup to materialize out of the darkness any second now.
“She’s back with the ship.”
“Listen here, mister.” Taako says, drawing himself up to his full height. He crushes the Light of Creation to his chest like it’s a stuffed toy.
Barry breathes a silent sigh of relief. If Taako isn’t hiding how small he feels, he must feel comfortable around Barry to some degree.
“If you think I’m gonna follow you around just ’cuz you’re pretending to know my sister, you must be out of your mind. I’m not going to your windowless white spaceship or whatever unless you have some sort of proof.”
Proof, huh? Barry racks his brain, trying to think of something that would be significant to this version of Taako.
“I have a picture of us together.” Barry remembers. “It’s uh, on my dead body. Sorry.”
Taako shrugs. “Not the first corpse I’ve looted.” He shifts the Light of Creation to one hand and kneels over Barry’s corpse.
There’s something about using the Light of Creation as a personal flashlight that doesn’t sit right with Barry, but he’s not going to point that out.
“Right front pocket.” Barry says. “In the wallet.”
He doesn’t blink when Taako none-too-subtly pockets his wallet after removing the photo inside. Let the kid think he’s being sneaky; Barry can get it back later.
It’s one of Barry’s favorite pictures, taken during one of their earlier cycles. Barry is settled between the twins, beaming as he holds this universe’s version of the Necronomicon in his hands. The twins stand on either side of him, looking a little worse for wear and very proud of themselves. He grins at the memory of the haunted temple they’d had to go through to get their hands on that book. It was a cycle where they’d gotten the Light early, and that little misadventure was the perfect way to help fill out a few weeks.
Taako takes a moment to compare the photo to the corpse, and then to the lich floating off to the side. “You humans age like milk,” he says finally.
And despite himself, Barry laughs. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
Taako jumps as an earsplitting ringing breaks the fragile air, bouncing off the cave walls with such an intensity that even Barry reels back. His wand is back in his hand in a second, swinging around the empty area.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s my communicator.” Barry says, and immediately he’s struck with an idea. “Answer it.”
Taako snatches up the communicator and holds it to his ear. “Talk to me.” He freezes, hope and relief spreading over his face. For a second, he looks like the regressor Barry remembers. “Lulu?”
Lup’s voice answers immediately. “Koko? Are you okay? We lost readings on you and Barry. What’s going on?”
“Lulu, this talking Halloween decoration is absolutely crazy!” Taako says. “He says that he knows us and he has these fake pictures of us and he’s trying to feed me some bullshit story about me losing my memory?”
Lup pauses. It’s a long, awful pause as she puts the pieces together. Barry can practically hear the gears in her mind turning. Is this something she’s dealt with before? Does amnesia happen a lot with elves? Barry doesn’t think so, but Barry also doesn’t know the first thing about elves anyway.
“I’m coming down there as soon as I can.” Lup says. Her chair creaks as she stands, like she’s going to run right out the door and get them.
Barry scrambles to stop her. If she gets out the door, there will be no stopping her. “Lup, we don’t know what kind of monster attacked us. It could hurt you next.”
“And then it’ll have two pissed off liches to deal with.” There’s rustling on the other end, like she’s hastily putting together an adventuring bag.
“Sissy, I wanna go home.” Taako whines. His eyes glisten with unshed tears that just make Barry want to scoop him up in a hug. “I don’t know where I am, and it’s dark, and there’s a monster.”
Lup pauses again, no doubt processing that not only is Taako suffering from amnesia, but he’s regressed as well. She knows better than anyone how dangerous this situation could be. “Yeah, but Barry is the nicest monster you’ll ever meet,” Lup says. The love and concern in her voice is palpable now that she knows Taako’s hurt and tiny. “I know you don’t remember right now, but he’d do anything to help keep you safe.”
“We’ll find our way out,” Barry assures him.
“Did you manage to find the Light of Creation?” Lup asks.
“Taako has it.”
“That’s what this bougie flashlight is called?” Taako asks. “Kind of lofty, but if that’s the theme we’re going for then whatever, I guess.”
“Taako, you have to listen very carefully,” Lup says. Her voice is so deadly serious that Taako straightens up a little. Barry wonders how many times she’s used that voice on him. “That item is the most important thing in the universe, and it is very important that we’re able to keep it away from monsters. Understand?”
“How do I know you’re even real?” Taako asks, a sudden hint of suspicion creeping into his voice. He must be too little for the thought to occur to him right away. As naturally skeptical as he is, Taako has a blind spot for his sister. “This could be some cheap lich trick!”
Taako whirls on Barry, ready to fire his wand, when Lup cries out, “Antidisestablishmentarianism!”
Taako stops cold before breaking out in a relieved smile. “I was thinking ‘defenestration.’”
“Good. I’m coming as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I need you to do two things for me. You have to keep that Light safe and you have to listen to Barry, okay? I’m not going to ask you to be big if you can’t, but at least try for me.”
Taako takes a breath. The tension lingers in his shoulders, like he’s coiled and ready to spring still, but as the Light of Creation shines against his face, Barry can see nothing but the lines of determination written into his expression. “I will.”
“Thanks, Koko.” The relief in her voice is palpable. “I’ll see you soon.”
The communicator clicks off, and Taako spins on Barry. His cheeks are puffed out, making his glare rather adorable, so Barry’s lucky his lich form can’t smile. He knows that Taako is trying to be intimidating, and it’s best for him to play along.
“I don’t like you.” Taako says. “Why does Lulu like you?”
Barry starts. Taako’s always been a little hard to get used to, but he’s never been outright hostile. “I wish I knew, buddy.”
Taako scowls. Not the right answer. Not by a long shot. “You and Lulu are dating,” Taako says, like he already knows the answer. And here Barry thought that was one of the things he’d have to explain. Seeing as he barely understands it himself, he’s glad they can skip that step.
“Uh, yeah. For a few cycles now.”
Taako tilts his head. “Cycles?”
Oh, they’re going to have to do a lot of catch up on their way out of here. “Nevermind. Hang tight for a second. I’m gonna find the nearest tunnel out of here.”
Barry does a quick overview of the area, only to find what he expected. Taako and he had fallen quite a distance, and there was only one path out of here.
Maybe in a way, that was better than having too many options. If that were the case, Barry knows he’d be overthinking it, checking every possible pathway to make sure Taako wouldn’t be walking right into a den of monsters. Not only can they not afford to lose the Light of Creation, but the last thing Barry wants is for Taako to get hurt any more than he already has.
Looking at that drop they both had, Taako probably hit his head on the way down. It’s a miracle that he’s alive, even more so that he doesn’t seem to have a concussion.
The lip of the landing above is still visible from their vantage point, the lights Barry had used to mark their path casting a dim illumination over the prominent edges.
When Barry returns, Taako is poking at his corpse, looking infinitely bored. “Alright, Party City, how do we get out of here?”
“That way.” Barry says, pointing out a small tunnel at a steep incline.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Taako snaps, doing as he’s told.
“You don’t have a thing about tight spaces, do you?” Barry asks. It’s one of those things he should probably know, but Taako has always been a closed book to him. Taako has been coming out of his shell more, but mainly he confides in Magnus and Lucretia. Simply put, not Barry.
Taako makes a noncommittal humming noise as he climbs inside. The tunnel is barely wide enough for him to fit comfortably, so he has to move with his elbows tucked in and the Light of Creation tight against his chest.
Barry lingers nearby, trying to watch out for signs of anxiety while also trying not to get too close. If Taako is claustrophobic, a creepy floating skull in his face won’t help matters.
“So why were you two flinging out spelling bee words?” Barry asks in an attempt to distract Taako. “Is that some sort of spell I don’t know about?”
“It’s a code,” Taako says shortly. “We both use words we’d never use otherwise. If we think there might be a shapeshifter or a mind reader or something, we think really hard about different words. If they say what we’re thinking, then we know it’s fake.”
Must be really awkward on the off-chance they do think of the same word, but maybe they’re prepared for that? Barry won’t pretend he understands the twins’ dynamic. If it works for them and gets Taako to stop threateningly jabbing his wand in Barry’s direction, then who is Barry to question their methods?
“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you that,” Taako says. “Since you’re so close with her and all.”
“You wanna tell me why you don’t like me?”
“Because Lulu doesn’t have good taste in boys,” Taako replies hotly. He brings up his knee, and with one mighty push, propels himself out of the last bit of the tunnel. “Gods, this is just gonna be our whole evening, isn’t it?”
Barry looks around, seeing that it’s another tiny cavern with another tiny tunnel. At least this time, there are two options instead of one, though Barry still isn’t sure if that’s any better.
“What do you mean?” Barry asks. The part of him that acts like he’s too cool to be curious is nonexistent. Taako can give him shit for this later, once he has his memory back, but Barry won’t say he isn’t insatiably curious.
He had a few girlfriends through college, but nothing much and nothing long-term. Is it weird that he assumed Lup had had similar experiences? Though that at least explains some of the behaviors Barry has noticed.
Adult Taako is just fine with the two of them as a couple, supportive even, but little Taako has always kept his distance. Barry had been chalking it up to him just wanting to spend time with other caregivers, but maybe there’s something else at play.
It must be hard for his regressed side, for the most important person in his life to find a new favorite person. It’s not like Barry wants to muscle in on their relationship, and Taako’s clearly been making efforts to not fall into those ruts, but Barry can’t help but think these feelings of jealousy have been bubbling beneath the surface for some time now.
Something dangerous glints in Taako’s eyes. “She didn’t tell you that either?” he asks, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What do you know about her, then?”
Barry gets the feeling there are no right answers here, so he elects to keep his mouth shut. The list is short but not hurtfully so. Really, all that Barry needs is that he loves Lup and Lup loves him back. Anything else is just icing on the cake.
Taako scowls, clearly unsatisfied with the lack of response. “Whatever. Just get us out of here, I guess.”
The two of them continue on their path, quickly falling into a pattern. Small tunnel, little clearing, small tunnel, little clearing. Again and again and again until it feels like they’re going around in circles. They’re not; Taako has been marking the paths he’s taken with small lights, and they haven’t run into another one yet.
Still, Barry can’t help but worry they’re going around in a big circle. It’s nothing he can prove, but he’s faced some pretty freaky monsters on their travels. Things they’d never seen back home, things he still can’t explain. While originally he wanted to catalogue many of them, his knowledge in animal biology is sparse outside of what he needs for his necromancy, leaving him with not nearly enough know-how to understand these creatures.
It wouldn’t be completely unheard of for some creature to be bending time and space around them. But he can’t prove that. Even if he could, it’s not like he can do anything from the center of the maze.
Barry keeps his voice low, just to keep an ear out in case anything’s down here with them, but he tries to fill Taako in on everything he might need to know. The Starblaster, the Light of Creation, and his crew are obviously top priority, but he’d be remiss not to add in some smaller details from their journeys so far. Playing songs for the Voidfish. Eating their meals on the front deck of the Starblaster, watching the stars pass overhead. Watching Lup laugh so hard that milk comes out of her nose. All those little moments that keep him from splitting apart.
“Okay, I’m done,” Taako says, plopping down on the ground and resting his back against the cave wall. “Taako’s had enough claustrophobia for one day, thank you very much.”
Barry settles beside him. “I know, bud. I’m feeling the exact same way.”
Taako gives him an odd look. “Can’t you just fly out if you wanted to?”
“I couldn’t leave you.”
“Right.” Taako takes the Light of Creation from the folds of his robe. He’s kept it tucked up against his chest, held in place by the leather strap of his light armor. “This thing.”
“A little,” Barry admits, just because he knows he’d never get away with saying he’s only concerned about Taako. Even on a good day, Taako wouldn’t believe that. “But the last thing I’d wanna do is leave you here alone.”
Taako scoffs. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I know you don’t remember, but we’re crewmates.”
“That’s never made a difference before,” Taako snaps. “Just because I’m little doesn’t mean you can lie to me.”
“Poor kid. You’ve really been alone for a while now, huh?” The words slip out before he can stop them, and only after they’re out in the open does Barry realize.
But much to his surprise, Taako slumps a bit, nodding.
He must be getting tired. Well, he’s probably been tired for about seven cramped tunnels now.
He’s always a little more agreeable when he’s worn out. That may come back to bite them in a bit, because while Taako can be more compliant, it’s only because he doesn’t want to make decisions for himself. When the time comes for him to get moving again, it's going to be a fight. Barry knows that much from watching Lup take care of the tyke.
“Why don’t we rest for a little bit?” Barry suggests. He’s not exactly comfortable with the idea of sitting around in any capacity, but getting Taako to move at the moment would be near impossible. So much as suggesting they get going again would only make Taako dig his heels in further. Not to mention that Barry has a golden opportunity to win cool points right now.
“Don’t push me anymore about Sissy,” Taako warns. He draws his robes in close, trying to produce some meager warmth.
“I won’t,” Barry promises. He can only imagine how cold it is in these caves. The chill hadn’t bothered him on the way out, but it’s probably only gotten colder the farther into the cave they’ve gone.
“Good.” Taako shivers again.
“Try casting some Evocation.” Barry suggests. “At least we could get a fire going.”
Taako’s eyes flit to him for only a second. “You knew.” He sounds genuinely impressed.
“Well, yeah,” Barry says. “You told me that much.”
“I did.” Taako is back to eyeing Barry with suspicion, but the tension in his shoulders has decreased a tick.
Barry wonders if that was a secret the twins used to hold close to their chests. Makes sense. It’s probably a terrible surprise to whoever tries to attack the twins for the two of them to use Evocation magic interchangeably.
Taako spreads out his hand in front of him, and not a second later, a glowing flame springs to life from his palm. It’s not a particularly strong flame—Taako has a base knowledge of Evocation, just like Lup has a base knowledge of Transmutation—but it burns steadily.
They sit in relative silence, soaking in the heat, but Barry keeps an eye out. It doesn’t make sense for such a large web of caverns to not have something lurking around inside of them. So something, either the thing that made these tunnels or the creatures that took its place, must be lurking down here somewhere.
Barry can only pray it doesn’t find them.
Taako’s ears twitch, and he sits bolt upright. Where he’d been almost dozing a second before, now he couldn’t be more awake. “Do you… hear that?”
Barry opens his mouth, about to point out that there’s no way he can hear what Taako can hear, when a tremor runs through the ground below them so severe that the magic hanging in the air violently shifts.
Taako’s up on his feet before Barry is, his wand poised and ready at the nearest tunnel.
Even as a lich, his night vision isn’t the best. But even he’s able to see the silhouette that shoots out of the darkness, making a straight shot for Taako’s neck.
Barry doesn’t have to think to react. Before he’s even aware of what he’s doing, he flings his hand out. What spell he casts, he has no idea. Rays of Frost and Scorching Rays all feel the same when someone close to him is in danger.
The monster screeches, careening away from Barry and into the nearest tunnel. It misses its target by a wide margin, giving Barry some time to take in the details of its form.
Its body is long and lithe, with four legs and a long tail. If it weren’t for the head, Barry would’ve classified it as a giant salamander. But instead of two eyes, it has ten, and its mouth is full of tall, pointed teeth.
It scrambles to its feet, looking at Barry and Taako with wild eyes, and the magic surrounding them once again violently shifts. Its eyes glow a faint purple, but before Barry can figure out what it’s doing, it’s gone. The last thing Barry sees of it is its tail as it slithers into the nearest tunnel.
“What was that?” Taako screeches. Try as he might to stand tall, the trembling in his hands refuses to be hidden.
“I don’t know.” Barry peers into the tunnel it disappeared into, noting that the encroaching shadows have only gotten all the more oppressive. “But I’m pretty sure it was trying to kill us.”
Taako takes a shaky breath, and from the strain in his voice, it’s clear that he’s trying to put on a tough act. “I wanna go home.”
“I know, lil guy.” Barry reaches out, ghosting his incorporeal fingers over Taako’s shoulder. “Me too.” He’s not sure if it’s a relief or a concern that Taako doesn’t flinch away. “But the only way to get home is to go there ourselves.”
“That’s hella stupid,” Taako replies. “We live on a freakin’ super spaceship and it can’t even teleport us back?”
Barry snorts. “I’ll pass the idea by Davenport and see what he thinks.” He checks Taako over, just to make sure there aren’t visible signs of him being hurt. It’s for his own peace of mind more than anything. “Let’s keep moving, okay?”
“Fine.” Taako’s shoulders sag in defeat, but he listens nonetheless. He pauses mid-step, and in a minute act of defiance, says, “Just because Sissy said I had to listen doesn’t mean I’m gonna like it.”
They choose the tunnel farthest away from the one the creature disappeared into. Barry doesn’t know if it matters—he’s sure some of these tunnels have to be directly connected to one another—but it helps put his mind at ease to put as much distance as he can between Taako and the immediate danger.
Barry scouts every tunnel to the best of his ability before letting Taako go in, but he has a mounting fear that the beast they encountered before might strike from behind. It moved through the tunnels with such speed—it’s a given that it must be incredibly familiar with these pathways.
Barry takes every moment they aren’t attacked as a blessing and a warning. Yes, they aren’t being forced into another round of combat, but at the same time, that can only mean the creature is biding its time. If it doesn’t attack them right away, if the promise of immediate food isn’t enough to stir it into attacking, then it’s either leading them somewhere or it’s waiting for something.
Neither of those theories inspires confidence.
“So about Lup…”
Even in the dark, it’s clear how Taako’s face hardens. “I said not to push me.”
“I know you did.” Barry trails off. He knows this a risky maneuver, but it might be his only chance for any semblance of honesty out of Taako. “I was thinking we could trade information.”
“What, so now you’re holding my memories hostage?”
“Of course not,” Barry answers. “I just thought the two of us could help each other out on the finer details.”
Taako doesn’t answer right away. Instead he keeps up his pace, slowly dragging himself through an increasingly narrow tunnel.
“How long have you and Sissy been together?” Taako finally asks. He’s mumbling in that way he does when he’s been bested and doesn’t want to admit it.
“A few cycles,” Barry replies. He knows that’s the same answer he gave before, just as vague and noncommittal as before, but he’s always had such a hard time keeping the years separate. “Not many. It feels like no time at all to me, so I can only imagine how short it’s felt for her… considering elf time and all.”
“That explains a lot,” Taako grunts, tucking his arms into his sides as the tunnel becomes too narrow for him to move his arms in.
“What do you mean?”
“Like why you’re so awkward.” Taako brings up his foot, propelling himself further down the tunnel with the power of his kick.
“No, I’m just kind of like this all the time.”
“Oh.” Even Taako doesn’t have a witty response to that. He pauses, taking a breather before going any further. The end of the tunnel is close—Barry wouldn’t let Taako worm his way into a dead end he couldn’t escape—so it’ll probably only take a few more good pushes to come out on the other side. “So what do you wanna know?”
“What did you mean when you said Lup has bad taste in men?”
Taako pauses, presumably to give the most dramatic eye roll possible. “Real shocker there.”
“You’re the one that dropped the line. Besides, I’m not exactly aiming for the most original question.”
“Fine.” Taako pushes off again. The space is getting fairly tight, so much so that even the Light of Creation can’t cast light that goes anywhere, but Taako keeps moving. “She always picks losers. Jerks and cheaters and idiots.”
“Oh…” Barry had no idea, and now he doesn’t know what to do with this new information. It doesn’t feel like something he should keep to himself, but at the same time, he certainly wouldn’t know how to approach the subject with Lup.
“Yeah,” Taako growls back, making it clear he has no intention of offering any extra information.
Barry lets the subject drop. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to keep talking anyway, not when they have a creature to keep an ear out for.
“I don’t like you,” Taako repeats. “But at least you seem nice to her.”
“She seems hesitant to regress around me,” Barry adds, with such a suddenness that Taako stops cold.
“If she regresses around you at all, then it’s good,” Taako responds. “She never regressed around the others.”
Barry tries not to sigh with relief. He’d been hoping something like that might be the case.
Their relationship is still so new. Even with decades of knowing each other, for Lup, time like that is barely a blink. Revealing her regressor side to her crewmates has never been a big deal, but trusting her boyfriend when she’s like that is still something they’re trying to figure out.
He’s not a regressor, so he can only imagine what level of trust it required for her to be vulnerable like that.
Taako just barely manages to claw his way out of the tunnel. Barry wouldn’t be surprised if they only got smaller from here, and then what? He still wasn’t keen on the idea of leaving Taako alone, but that might be the case. Even Lup wouldn’t bring demolition materials for the fuck of it, and blasting their way out might be the only feasible escape route.
“Are we done yet?” Taako whines. He rubs at his eye before Barry can stop him, inviting a litany of foreign bacteria straight into his body. At least Merle isn’t here to see that.
But before Barry can answer, the creature darts out of the darkness. His hand shoots out, ready to defend Taako, but this time, the creature is gunning for him.
Small, scaly patterns on the creature’s back flare to life, casting a dim yellow glow on its surroundings, and Barry feels a pull, so quick and severe that even without a body, he can feel the telltale signs of blacking out.
Barry screams. The monster is a physical being, so it shouldn’t have been able to hurt him, but good gods did that hurt.
His mind goes hazy, like he’s lost in a stream and key words are flowing past him. Starblaster, Lup, family, IPRE… Each one in turn fades out of focus, as if he’d never had the thoughts in the first place.
“No!” It’s only a moment later that he realizes the memories, the meanings behind those words, are evaporating. He tries to hold onto them, but it’s like grasping at water, and he can feel each fade until there’s nothing left.
The creature purrs as the lights of its body flare a little brighter, as if it had just had a satisfying meal.
Barry looks around, rapidly trying to assess what action they can take in a cramped space with nothing but their magic. This monster isn’t like anything he’s ever seen before. To think it can tear the memories out of a person. That’s a dangerous thing to fight, especially for a lich whose humanity is tied into his memories.
Taako didn’t hit his head; he’d had the memory physically torn from his mind.
“Hey!” Taako flings out a Ray of Frost. It hits the beast squarely in the side, but it doesn’t need to be right upon Barry to unleash another onslaught on his memory.
Barry blacks out. Maybe blacking out isn’t the right term. Yes, he lost consciousness, but for a lich, that’s especially dangerous. It’s more like his form, for a brief moment, flickered out of existence, that he himself wasn’t existing in between those seconds of painful clarity.
He doesn’t know how long he’s unconscious, or if he’s even conscious. Existence is such a fragile, fleeting thing, and lichdom only blurs the already near-shapeless lines.
Taako is sitting beside him, the flames dancing softly on the back of his hand. He has scratches and scrapes on his hands and face, injuries trailing all the way up for his forehead. “Screw you for making me care,” he mutters, and that’s all that is said between them.
~
“Taako? Taako!” The sound of pounding footsteps breaks the fragile silence, and Lup drops down in front of them. Spelunking gear. Considering they’d gotten down here from a straight drop, that was probably the best idea on getting here.
“Lulu!” Before she can react, Taako’s arms are around her neck.
“Hey, junior.” She offers a smile, but it’s notably forced. Her hands are shaking against his back. “I guess I’m late to the party, huh?”
“Yeah, Lulu, you missed all the action,” Taako says. Barry can just tell from the tone of his voice that he’s regressed significantly just from Lup arriving. “More EXP for me.”
“Well, excuse me for making sure I brought snacks,” Lup teases, offering him a cookie before he can even ask. She’s smiling, but as she turns to Barry, her face is masked with worry. “Why are you flickering like that?”
“The thing that attacked us…” Barry trails off. “It took some of my memories. Not as many as it took from Taako, but enough to make my lich form unstable.”
“Wait, it took your memories? Like the Voidfish?” Lup asks.
“Something like that,” Barry answers. “It was more of a hunter. Like it was feeding on them.”
“Huh. I wonder how many planes have creatures like this.” Lup muses. Her eyes stray to the pile of ash a few feet away. “But I guess that doesn’t matter if there’s nothing to study. Are there more?”
“We just saw the one,” Taako replies. Curled up against Lup’s shoulder, he looks a few seconds away from drifting off. “But there could be more.”
“Gotcha. Welp, I guess that’s just more of a reason to get the hell outta here as soon as possible, huh?”
The journey back to the Starblaster is thankfully without incident.
If there were more of those memory-eating creatures, they stuck to the lower tunnels, and since Lup had the forethought to bring spelunking gear, she and Taako were able to hoist themselves to the upper levels in a matter of minutes.
It feels like barely five minutes before they’re settled in the infirmary, under Merle’s insistence. Even if Taako’s amnesia is magically-induced, it wouldn’t hurt him to get a physical, or at least that’s what Merle keeps claiming. Barry wonders if that’s the whole truth, or if Merle just wants to confirm for himself that Taako’s okay.
“Lemme take a look at the kiddo,” Merle says.
Taako scowls, shrinking back into Lup’s arms. He hasn’t let go of her since they reunited. “I don’t know you either. Just because you’re not a freaking floating ghost in red doesn’t mean I won’t square up with you too.”
If Merle’s confused, he doesn’t show it. “Okay, well, maybe you know my friend Mr. Cake Pop.”
Lup breathes a silent sigh of relief at the way Taako’s eyes go wide. It’s a sign he hasn’t completely lost his mind, if he still loves sweets and trying to act tough. Slowly, he untangles himself from Lup and allows Merle to check over his vitals.
“We killed the thing that attacked him, so when will he get his memories back?” Barry asks.
Merle shrugs. “We can’t know for sure without having some sort of knowledge on the creature.”
“I evaporated it!” Taako adds helpfully.
“Exactly. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Merle says, not without apology.
Barry and Lup exchange a look, a litany of questions hanging between them. Is this something you need to regress for? Would you want me around? Would you want your space? Is this the kind of emotional repression you’d like me to step in for, or is this a you thing I shouldn’t interfere with?
But neither of them say a word.
“Why not try and get some rest?” Merle suggests, putting a gentle hand on Lup’s forearm. “I can stay with him and I’ll let you know the second anything changes.”
Lup’s face pinches, like that’s the last thing in the world she’d want to do. But Merle knows as well as she does that sitting here and worrying won’t do her or Taako any good.
Her eyes stray to Barry, and a second layer of worry makes itself apparent. Trusting Barry doesn’t just mean trusting him with just her wellbeing, after all. While every part of her wants to sit by Taako’s side until he’s better, to monitor every interaction just so she knows he can’t get hurt, it’s an instinct she has to turn off. Being like that won’t help Taako, and it certainly won’t help her.
So she takes a deep breath, tucking her hair behind her ear, and nods. “I think I need that.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to go all ‘doctor’s orders’ on you too.” Merle teases, shooing them out of the infirmary before Lup has a chance to change her mind.
And suddenly it’s just the two of them, the floating red-robed lich and his girlfriend.
No distractions, nothing stopping them from talking.
“I think I’m just gonna take a nap.” Lup says. She glances nervously at Barry. “I’m gonna… I think I’ll be… Can you just stay here with me so I know I’m safe?”
If he could hug her right now, he would. “Of course. Don’t worry about a thing, Lup.”
Lup smiles. “Thank you, Bear.”
Trust—genuine trust—doesn’t come easy for her, but for Barry, she’s willing to learn.