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“This is going to be your partner,” JDM had said as soon as Jared walked into the room above the tavern. He fidgeted with the strap of his gun, a nervous tic he gained over the years when he had nothing to do with his hands. JDM was a man who helped the good fight on the side, sending groups of people off on quests to help give their side an advantage. This was the first he ever heard that JDM was only sending two people in, though.
“A hunter?” The other man had said incredulously. “I was assuming you had were going to partner me with someone who could actually take damage.”
Jared looked over to the other man, brows furrowed and about to defend his honor, when his mind blanked. The man, dirty blonde hair and green-eyed, was a priest. Jared had met his fair share of priests over his time, and they all demanded a certain level of respect while never actually going into the battlefield. They usually were in some ward, healing fallen soldiers and helping the crusaders when the time called for it.
The tattoo on the man’s wrist, a dark sun designed almost tribally, depicted him as a priest who was one with the Shadow. The other man raised an eyebrow challengingly at Jared when Jared wouldn’t stop staring at it.
“Jared is probably one of the most accomplished adventurers I know, and for the task I’m going to give you guys, I know that you two will be perfect for each other,” JDM carried on.
“You know,” The shadow priest remarked amusedly, addressing JDM, who was gesturing for Jared to sit, but keeping his eyes on Jared. “This would have gone a lot smoother had to you told him I was a shadow priest.”
JDM stilled, “You know, I always forget to tell the other helpers who they would be working with. Jared, this is Jensen of the Ackles clan. He is one of the best shadow priests in the alliance. If he is helping you, you are guaranteed not to die.” JDM had stared at Jared, then, accusingly almost. “If his lifestyle bothers you, I can find someone else to help with this quest.”
Jensen just scoffed, “Don’t be so hard on the hunter, Jeffrey. I’m sure he’s honorable, if you picked him in the beginning.” He looked over to Jared then, his sharp eyes appraising him. “With the way the quest sounds, I’m sure I won’t have to do much fighting. If it truly concerns you, I can just heal you when you can handle things on your own.”
JDM chimed in, “So it’s settled! You two will head towards Zeth’Gor and take out the warchief.” He then stood up and left quickly.
It took a couple of seconds to realize that he wasn’t able to get a word in the whole time and that JDM probably planned it that way.
*
Jared is a hunter, and a damn good one. His newest pet, Harley, a massive wolf loyal to the end, he ended up raising from a pup in a wolf litter he came across. He ended up being really lucky on that one, considering wolves are hard to tame or train. With Harley, he did all of the teaching, so he ended up having a smart, well-trained, vicious wolf.
He figured out early on that people like him, an adventurer, didn’t happen often. More uniquely, he was a recluse, and didn’t really deal with society as a whole. He figured this factored in JDM’s decision for being Jensen’s partner than actually being good at his title.
He and Jensen had laid ground rules from the beginning, talking about the issues. Jared liked that Jensen could get down to business, and more so, he liked having a voice in the group. Usually when he gets pushed into a group (after agreeing on the quest), one of the warriors from the fight would take over instantly, telling the group what exactly they were going to do and disagreed with anyone else’s opinion over it. He didn’t how many times he got yelled at by one of the warriors for doing his job.
*
The first time Jared sees Jensen in action, and really in action, is when Jared gets in over his head for the first time.
They stumbled into a cave on their way towards the castle that happened to have a group of orcs inhabiting it. He and Jensen would have snuck back out had the orcs not seen them first and charged, thinking they were an easy kill. Probably would’ve wanted to eat them, he thought maliciously as Harley zoomed past him to kill the first orc. Jared started to shoot the oncoming horde.
He and Jensen had a system of sorts. When it seemed Jared was a little overwhelmed, Jensen would pipe in and shoot a couple of spells at the target to disorient it long enough for Jared to get the upper hand. Otherwise, Jensen was content to sit back and watch Jared work, healing him every now and then. Jensen knew how uncomfortable Jared was with his craft, Jared having told him as such, and was gracious enough to lie back on the attacking. The only downside was that Jared had to do most of the work. Jared was okay with that.
However, this day, Jared was easily overwhelmed as they seemed to brush off Harley with such ease, like Harley wasn’t a giant growling wolf, and started beating up on him. He could hear Jensen in the distance chanting healing spells that let him go for a couple of seconds longer, but with the massive amounts of pain he was getting dealt, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.
And that was when he stopped feeling the blows. Jared instinctively thought he went unconscious, but he then he saw the shield surrounding him, the orcs beating on the shield instead angrily. There was a slight tingle over his skin, and he realized that his pains and bruises were slowly being healed.
He felt Jensen’s shift before he saw it. The air got more tense, more crisp and the natural light dimmed somewhat. The orcs had stopped beating on the shield, and Jared turned with them to look at the other person in the room.
Jensen was encased in a shield, himself, but he looked as if he didn’t need one. Shadows surrounded the man’s body, making it look like Jensen’s skin was a deep, dark purple. His eyes were brighter, green in an eerie way and his hair was standing straighter, like it was charged. If he didn’t know Jensen, he would have immediately thought of him as a demon summoned by a warlock.
The orcs hesitated in their attack on Jensen, and Jared couldn’t blame them. However, that ended up being to their disadvantage. Jensen glared at one and hissed out, “Death.” It didn’t come out in his voice. It sounded deeper, ominous and sickly. Jared imagined that if the Four Horsemen were introducing themselves, Death would say it exactly as Jensen said it then.
The effect was instant. The orc in question stopped, his face going a deathly pale, his eyes widening as his life-force had went out. Old scars, probably from his older battles and shown proudly in his village, re opened and Jared watched as the man bled to death.
Jensen had went on without even stopping to watch, blasting the next orc’s mind next and controlling another orc’s mind to kill his partner. Jared just stood there and watched from inside the shield, the fight over before his cuts and bruises had even finished healing.
Wow, Jared could only think that one word as Jensen shifted back into his normal form. Jensen had caught him staring, and only sighed before he stooped down to go through the orcs’ things. It took a couple of minutes before Jared could move to help.
If Jensen noticed that Jared flinched every time their hands would brush, he didn’t show it.
*
“Listen,” Jensen had started the conversation a couple of hours later, after the fifth time Jared avoided touching him. “I know my field makes me look evil, but I’m not. What I did to those orcs was necessary in order to keep us alive. I don’t abuse my power, Jared.”
“I know you don’t,” Jared had replied, and that was the end of that conversation.
Later, as a peace offering, Jared had made sure to brush their fingers when he passed Jensen his share of the food. Jensen’s lips twitched into a smile, and they were back to being partners.
*
“Why did you give up the priest life and turn to the Shadow?” Jared asked one night after a couple of pints of ale.
Jensen just raised an eyebrow, “Who says I gave up the priest life?”
Jared stared at him, “Priests are holy, devout people.”
“Oh, Jared,” Jensen just smiled, the light of the flames making him look almost like a predator. “Priests are not that black and white. Being a shadow priest does not make you evil, just like being a holy priest does not make you good.”
Jared leaned back against the log and thought about it, “But Shadow priests use spells that harm people. Aren’t priests only supposed to heal people?”
Jensen sighed, “In any priesthood, even before you specialize, one of the first spells you learn is a spell that harms people. Every priest is taught how to harm people in order to help teach them how to heal people. We are meant to be judges of who receives our help or retribution.” It sounded rehearsed, like he had to defend his position before.
“Why are you a shadow priest?” Jared asked again, softer this time.
Jensen looked over and smiled predatorily again, “Because it turned out I was much better at spells than others. Priesthoods usually help you with your specialization, and my mentor saw the potential for me to help with the good fight rather than be stuck at some refugee camp healing people. So, with his advice, I studied the way of the Shadow more intently than Holy.”
“Even though you knew people would shun you for it?” Jared questioned.
Jensen turned to stare at the fire, “I felt that I was doing the right thing. Shadow priests do a lot more for the fight than many people give them credit for. And it isn’t like we use only spells that cause harm. We still heal people. The main problem is that people don’t fully understand that in order for people to be holy, there has to be people that are shadow, to balance things out. Too much of one thing can be bad.” The older man shrugged a little, “Besides, it wasn’t like I wasn’t already shunned slightly for liking men. I knew I could survive being shunned.”
Jared nodded slightly, slowly understanding, “It’s also a defense mechanism. No one goes after you for being homosexual because you can erase them with your spells.”
Jensen smirked, “It helps.”