Work Text:
He’s shrouded in a coat of shadows, Ethan can’t see the mans face or eyes, but he can hear the smirk he wears in his voice as he speaks. Still, Ethan doesn’t hesitate to accept the creatures offer.
His daughters life is spared and she’s healed of all her wounds, the shadowy figure tells him quite plainly that his life is no longer his own, and that he should make arrangements for anything that he can’t leave behind in the coming days.
After that he disappears. Over the course of the next week, Ethan becomes less convinced of whether the deal actually happened or if he was just delirious from bloodloss, either way, he can’t go back to the life he had before.
In the days after the crash he resigns from work and arranges for his beloved wife’s burial. He spends the last few days home with his daughter, he keeps her close and watches her for any sign of injury. The doctors had called her state of well being miraculous considering how her parents had come away.
And even though Ethan can’t fully believe the things that he saw and heard that night, he can’t shake the feeling that something is coming for them. So, just to be on the safe side, he packs them each a bag, just the essentials. Anything they would need if they should suddenly need to leave on a moments notice. It isn’t much, the Winters’ didn’t have much to their name other than a house and the car that Mia died in.
On the morning of the eighth day Ethan wakes to a searing pain in his arm, he rips back the sleeve of his shirt to find a brand in the shape of a horseshoe on his forearm, with what looks like a black chess piece drawn in the center.
Later that day a wagon pulled by black horses arrives at the house. Ethan looks around for a few minutes expecting the horses’ owner to show up or for any of this to begin to make any modicum of sense, but finds neither.
As he examines the horses he realizes that for however real, alive and sentient they seem to be, they also seem to be made of iron with light clouds of steam escaping them at the seems. He finds the same insignia on them as the one that’s somewhere between being branded and tattooed on his own arm.
At this point he simply accepts the absurdity of his situation and collects his daughters and his things for their trip. Rose is absolutely thrilled at the sight of the animals and demands to be let near them.
After they climb into the wagon the iron steads take them to the edge of the forest, after just a few moments they’re engulfed in darkness under the cover of the trees, and just a few moments later they find themselves in a massive clearing.
Wide open fields of wild flowers, lakes and rolling hills, all nestled in the basin of towering snowcapped mountains. Clearly they were nowhere near the home they’d left behind just a few minutes ago. They’re taken to the top of a large hill where a factory stands with tall smokestacks reaching into the sky.
They arrive at a set of gates bearing the same crest as he and the horses do, the gates swing open on their own though at this point it doesn’t really register with Ethan. What the father does notice is the tall figure in a long coat leaning nonchalantly on the handle of a large metal hammer waiting to greet them.
He introduces himself properly for the first time and, in the daylight, he doesn’t seem nearly as devious or foreboding. He ascertains to Roses health before leading them on a tour through the factory and around the property grounds. He explains that Ethan's job will be to do anything he doesn’t have time for or that he simply doesn't feel like doing, which will include a wide variety of things.
In the coming months Ethan learns that it’s essentially like any other job with live-in requirements. He lives in a small house within the fenced property lines with his daughter, and does whatever Lord Heisenberg needs on any given day. It ranges from fixing the waterwheel that powers the assembly line to grocery shopping and grounds keeping, to hunting Lycans and hellhounds sent by other Hell Lords to cause lord Heisenberg inconvenience.
The work is slightly more life threatening than that of the average handyman or housekeeper but it suits Ethan's skillset and anytime he’s actually injured Lord Heisenberg sees that it’s tended to.
At first the Lord plays things close to the vest and doesn’t let Ethan know what it is he’s working on cooped up in his factory all day, but given time Ethan learns of his secret projects and begins to understand his purpose in it all.
Lord Heisenberg is a freedom fighter bent on overthrowing the empiric hierarchy of Hell, starting with his own self proclaimed mother. And he only needs Ethan around to help him keep up appearances with the other nobles while he builds and army of iron soldiers to power the liberation movement. After a while he even lets Ethan in on the process, to help him troubleshoot and rework their design.
Rose grows up surrounded by nature, chasing butterflies and wild rabbits through the fields and harassing Lord Heisenberg as he sits by the lake sketching out new designs every few days or so. At first Ethan Tries to stop her, but eventually decides to let her go, she usually loses interest in whatever the Lord is working on and leaves on her own, if she doesn’t then Ethan comes to collect her.
One day Ethan realizes that while he’s been tinkering with a new prototype, Rose has been at the lakeside with Heisenberg for over and hour, when he arrives to pick her up and apologize to the Lord, he finds Rose sitting on the ground in a state of near complete calm, playing with a piece of paper folded into the shape of a butterfly. Quietly talking to herself in her own little game while Heisenberg sat next to her sketching out a sew set of schematics.
Over the next couple of years Rose grows increasingly comfortable around him, often opting to spend the day sitting in the corner of his workshop playing with handmade toys while the two men work.
It was after the first year or so that Ethan had noticed the mark on his arm was starting to fade away, and as the years went on it continued to disappear until there was little left to see. Nothing left but the faded ridges where the mark once was, and Ethan had taken to absent mindedly running his fingers over the spot to make sure it was still there. Until one day, Heisenberg notices the gesture.
“let me see that”
Ethan glances up from the blueprints they’d been pouring over to see Heisenberg gesturing to his arm. He extends it to the Lord, who takes his hand by the wrist and begins to turn it gently back and forth.
“I suppose it has been about five years now”
“we’ve still got a few days left” Ethan spoke and tried not to think about how he must have sounded.
“still, you might as well be on your way now” the Lord shrugged and went back to his designs.
“what?”
“it makes no difference if you leave now or next week, your debt to me is paid, I'm not about to hold a child hostage over a mater of a few days”
Ethan's mouth went dry, frankly he’d been trying not to think about what life after his deal with Heisenberg would look like, and now that it was here even sooner than he’d expected, he didn’t know what to say.
Heisenberg got up and left the workshop without saying another word. Ethan followed.
“you know, that’s not actually true, I wouldn’t still have Rose if it weren’t for you. I’ll always owe you for that.”
Heisenberg doesn’t stop.
“well, as far as I’m concerned, you’re all paid up.”
“I know I-”
Ethan steps over a few errant parts and tools as they make their way through the factory
“I just wanted you to know. it still means a lot to me.”
they walk through the factory doors to the outside.
“glad to hear it.”
Ethan’s not sure what to think now, of all the possible reactions he’s considered that Karl might have to him and Rose leaving, somehow complete apathy had never occurred to him, and it just didn’t feel right.
“is that really it?” Ethan half shouted after him.
the Lord finally stopped and turned back to face him.
“is there something more that you were hoping for?”
Heisenberg gestured to nothing in particular speaking with his usual pompous, borderline chauvinistic timbre and smirk.
“I don’t know, I guess I just thought that after five years you might have more of a reaction to the only two people in the world that you actually have any kind of a relationship with packing up and leaving.”
the Lord gives no visible sign of reaction.
“that is, the only two people that you’ve actually chosen to be around, rather than just having their presence forced on you.”
clearly Ethan was feeling emboldened all of a sudden
Heisenberg scoffs and begins to approach Ethan as he remarks
“well, now I'm not sure what it is that you want, am I supposed to thank you for all your years of service? or say you’re welcome for giving you a gift which you’ve already stated you can never repay me for.”
he steps closer
“are you disappointed that I’m not either openly weeping or trying to force you to stay? because you and I stuck a bargain all those years ago, you work for me five years and then you’re free to return to your life in the mortal world. no strings attached. and I’m just trying to honor that.”
“what makes you think that you would have to force me to stay?”
“would you really want to stay in a place like this if you weren’t honor bound to serving me?”
“maybe I’d consider it if you actually asked.”
Heisenberg shrugs.
“and why would I do that?”
Ethan squares his shoulders and takes a breath
“well, I’ve kind of gotten the sense that you had feelings for me and that you’ve been feeling anxious for a while now about the prospect of my leaving soon.”
now Ethan shrugs
“so I guess I thought that once you didn’t own my soul anymore you might want to ask me out. but if you really don’t feel anything about Rose and my departure then I guess I must have been imagining it, and I might as well just pack up our stuff and leave.”
Ethan turns and starts to walk away when
“wait.”
Ethan turns back around. Heisenberg is still standing in the spot where Ethan left him. Though he takes a few steps closer now.
Slowly Lord Heisenberg approaches until he’s nearly standing over him.
“tell me what you want from me Ethan”
“maybe the truth? because I can’t tell if you honestly care about me or if you honestly wouldn’t care if I lived or died. so I’m gonna need a little more from you before I can offer any solid answers.”
Heisenberg steps into Ethan’s space, he’s not much taller but it feels in the moment like he’s towering over him. He’s close enough that Ethan can see his eyes, glowing through the darkened lenses of his glasses. He can feel the mans gaze burning into him and wonders if it’s something demonic or just his imagination. Though before he has much time to consider, Heisenberg takes his jaw in hand and guides it to his own. Pulling Ethan’s body into his by a fist full of his shirt before coiling his arm around Ethan’s waist to hold him in place for a long searching kiss.
Ethan’s mind goes entirely blank, Karl’s body is warm and his lips are soft, he can even feel the tips of the Hell Lords fangs graze softly on his lips and tongue as the they both press the kiss deeper. He wraps his arms around Karl’s shoulders and feels the other’s hand slip into his hair.
Ethan’s not sure how long it goes on for, but eventually the Lord does break away, hovering just a few inches from Ethan's lips.
“stay. please.”
“okay”
Ethan’s response is immediate and slightly out of breath.
Karl smiles down at him and removes his glasses, tossing them away haphazardly before resuming their kiss.
. . .
and then they get married and overthrow the classist futile system of the damned and move into a big castle where Rose is a princess and gets a really weird but well rounded education and spends her free time playing with hell hounds.
the end.