Archive of Our Own ^beta

Simon

It starts as always. That itching feeling that unfortunately was too familiar by now, the discomfort caused by the suffocation that started to reach everyone, almost as if the air was being sucked out of that place. 

And of course, as always, I run toward the source of those feelings and not away from it as everyone else. 

I don’t know yet what it’s causing this, I mean, I know the Humdrum is the one who is causing this for real, but I still don’t know what he sent it this time. 

I just know that everyone is screaming and running back inside of what's closer. But I can’t do that too, I’m the one who has to defeat the threat.

I’m the chosen one. I don’t get to be afraid and hide. 

The closer I get, the worse the discomfort is. I don’t know if everyone feels the same intensity, but for me, it’s pretty bad, I guess the more power you have the more you feel, and well, I’m supposed to be the most powerful mage of all times.

Although, unlike the others, I can ignore that feeling, everyone feels a huge discomfort because it feels like your magic it’s being ripped out of you, you feel powerless, without any magic, but even if I have a lot of magic, I know how is to live without it. So, I can focus on another thing, I can shove the powerless part to the other side of my brain.

It’s not as bad as a dead spot, mages still can use their magic, but they can’t concentrate enough to do it, and those who have less magic, don’t have much to use it. But well, I have magic to spare, so that’s not a problem for me and I never know how to use my magic even if I’m not surrounded by the Humdrum, so it’s also not a problem to me. 

But today I feel my magic falter a bit while I run, the air is hotter and drier than before, my lungs are begging for fresh air, but I can’t stop now, so I keep running.

Penelope is running after me. I can hear her telling me to slow down, but I can’t slow down, I need to finish whatever the Humdrum sent it so we all can breathe again.

She slows down not much after, probably because the feeling got unbearable for her to keep going. Merlin, it never felt like that. It was always a terrible feeling, but today even I am tempted to stop to catch my breath or just lay down for a second.  

Something is wrong. The magic, or whatever, of the Humdrum never felt like that. It never was so powerful. Not for me. 

But when I reach the limits of the school grounds I see why everything is different. 

There is an army of goblins marching to our gates. Much bigger than any other threats that the Humdrum sent it. I don’t understand. I know goblins hate me and they have that ridiculous reward of killing me and becoming a king or whatever, but why would they ally with the Humdrum? Are they allies? Or the Humdrum just sent them here as he does with everything else?

It’s the Humdrum who sent them because the feeling is incomparable, it has to be him. And I can almost see an aura around them, I can’t explain, but it makes me sure that this is the Humdrum’s doing. 

They are closer now and they already spot me, so they are marching more willingly, almost if seeing me was what they needed to remember what they came to do. 

I don’t know what to do, if I had more control over my magic, I could have a chance. I could start throwing spells at them and I could win. But I don’t have control. I’m the most useless chosen one ever (I can almost hear Baz in my head agreeing with me), so either I face them with my sword or I go off. And not even I’m good enough with the sword to kill every goblin in there (and I’m pretty good at that). 

I try to concentrate, to focus on the rage I was feeling, the anger to always be put in a situation like that, to always have to deal with things like that.

It’s funny that even though my magic never works as it should, I always manage to go off when I need to. I don’t know if it’s desperation, or if my magic only works that way, but I always go off when I have to. 

I don’t even have to think about it too much. It’s different from casting a spell. I don’t need to focus on a lot of things, I just go off. 

When I’m trying to do a spell I have to concentrate on lots of things. In using the right words, the right elocution, in using the right amount of magic, to reach the magic inside of me and make it react as I want.

The last one it’s the most difficult, using my magic, it’s always bad. And I already tried hundreds of different ways. I even tried Baz’s style and tried to ‘light a match in my heart’ but still didn’t work. 

But going off, it’s easier, I just need to focus on what I feel and I throw the magic away from me. I don’t try to contain it as always, I don’t need to reach anything, it’s already on the surface waiting, so I just push away from me. 

I hear Penny behind me, she is still at the same spot she was, and when I turn back to look at her, I see she’s on her knees, trying to catch her breath. I see the other students on the windows and still on the lawn, looking a bit better than Penny, but not that much. 

I turn back to the goblin’s army and I hear someone shouting my name. I don’t need to turn to see who it is, I don’t need to look into the sea of people that are looking at me, to know that it was Baz’s voice. I haven’t seen him on the lawn so I imagine he is still inside Mummers' house or any other part of the school.

But I don’t turn to look at him, I don’t turn to see what he wants, I just close my eyes and go off and try to shield the school, hoping that my magic doesn’t affect anyone who is behind me. 

Going off almost always drains me. It’s the only time that I don’t feel on an edge with my magic, even if it lasts only a couple of minutes. But it leaves me exhausted every time. 

This time it’s no different. I don’t even see if the army is gone, I feel the air more breathable, but I don’t find the strength to open my eyes to check. I just fall on the ground.

I’m still with my eyes closed, but I can breathe now. I can relax knowing that I did my job once again. Even if I didn’t do it as the Mage or anyone else would want it. 

But I can relax for only a few seconds because soon, pain shoots through me. I don’t know where. I feel everywhere, almost as if there were hundreds of knives stabbing me. I grit my teeth and try to resist the pain, but soon I’m already screaming and forgetting everything else.

Baz

I was studying in my room (our room) when the feeling started, that itching familiar feeling, which meant the Humdrum sent something to us again. 

I run to the window and see a huge army of goblins marching to the gates. Merlin, the Humdrum never sent a group so huge as this one. 

As Humdrum’s presence became more clear (the air was drier than the normal even for his patterns), the army marched closer. 

I hear the students’ screams, I see them running away from the gates and it doesn’t take me too much time to spot the chosen one running to the opposite side as always. I could roll my eyes if I was not so worried. 

Usually, I wouldn't worry much. Simon Snow might be a disgrace with magic, but he always finishes whatever threat the Humdrum sends. But he never sent an army. Especially an army of dark creatures that want to kill him more than anything. 

Without thinking I shout his name, but he’s too far away from Mummers' house, so he doesn’t hear. 

I don’t know what to do, I’m tempted to run to him, to offer my help somehow (we are on a truce after all), but I feel stuck, trapped in the same place, looking at Simon who just now stops and sees the threat.

Bunce is way behind him, on her knees, looking to have problems breathing. He turns and looks at her, and I shout again, afraid of him deciding to fight the goblins by himself. But he doesn’t turn to look at me, he turns to the goblins and his skin starts to glow. 

I have seen Snow going off enough times now to know that this is what he’s going to do. But something feels different today. 

I think about closing my eyes and stepping back, as a precaution, but I can’t look away from Snow. I can never look away from him, so that’s not saying anything, but his magic makes it impossible to look away. 

He’s glowing more than normal, and after a second I see his magic expanding from him and creating a wall between him and us, the rest of the school. Of course, Snow is always the hero, he’ll always protect everyone. 

But it still impresses me the way his magic works, I don’t even know if he’s doing it on purpose, probably he just thought about protecting the school and his magic reacted. It’s incredible. (Not that I’ll be the one telling him that.)

After the magic shield is ready, his magic moves forward, and he does go off right when the first goblins reach the gates. 

Merlin and Morgana, it takes less than ten seconds for his magic to pulverize the whole fucking army. 

In one second they are there and in the next one, they are a pile of ashes. 

I never saw Snow using that amount of magic. Yeah, he always defeats the threat that the Humdrum sends, but sometimes he gets really hurt, and the threats were never as big as this one. And Snow defeated them in seconds. 

Fuck. I might say all that bullshit about him being a terrible chosen one (and sometimes he does act like it) but there is no denying that he is the chosen one. That kind of power was never seen before. No one was ever that powerful. 

Snow falls on the floor right after the army is decimated. I feel my feet moving away from the window, but I’m still seeing him when his magic explodes outside his body and he starts screaming.

I run out of the room right after. I still can hear his screams while I run out of the Mummers, there are a lot of people who are closer to him, so they reach him first, and I’m still limping thanks to the numpties, so I’m not that fast.

But I run either way, I need to reach him. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I don’t know if I can do something, but I need to reach him. 

I’ve always managed to keep my feelings hidden, but in moments like this one, where Simon is hurt, it’s hard. It’s hard to pretend that I don’t care, that I don’t worry. But everything I want now is to assure that he’s okay, to see that he’ll be fine.

The problem is, I don’t know. Snow is usually a wreck after going off, but that was all. He was never injured by his magic before and I imagine that this was what was happening.

There is a group of people around Snow already, but no one is close enough to help him. I shove people to the side so I can pass and when I finally reach the centre, I see him. 

Bunce is kneeled by his side, but she’s not touching him and I can imagine why. His magic is being projected outside his body like it was protecting him or something like that. Bunce tries to touch him now but his magic reacts and it forms lightning on his arms, which burns Bunce’s hand making her scream and lean backwards.

“Looks like you didn’t even have to do anything to finish the chosen one,” Dev says, appearing on my side. “His magic seems to be doing a favour to you and us all.” He smirks, and steps in front of me to pat my shoulder.

But I shoot an angry look at him. “Shut the fuck up and get out of my way.” I push him aside and kneel beside Bunce. “What happened?” 

She seems to be crying. “I don’t know, that never happened before.” 

“I know,” I say. 

“His magic is always unstable, but this is new. It never reacted like this.” She says, looking at him and the magic around him. 

“It looks like it’s trying to protect him,” I say. “But it’s also hurting him.” Almost as if he wanted to prove my point, Snow starts screaming again. 

“We need to take him to the infirmary.” She says. “But we can’t touch him, maybe we could cast a spell to levitate him.” 

“At this distance? I’m not sure we would be able to.” I looked worriedly at him. He was sweaty, his hair was sticking on his forehead and he was gritting his teeth, but even so, we were able to hear his agony. Crowley, I wanted to brush his hair away from his face, to hold him and make sure he is okay. 

“We need to do something,” Bunce says. 

Simon screams again and when I look down I see that he fisted his hands and I scent his blood. Fuck, he was hurting himself now. 

I don’t stop to think, I don’t even remember that his magic just hurt Bunce, I just lean forward and touch his arm. “Snow, you need to open your hands,” I don’t know if he’s listening, but I try to reach him. “You’re hurting yourself, relax your fingers.” I put my hand on top of his and try to pull his fingers away, but I don’t want to hurt him even more.

“Baz,” Bunce says, impressed. “You’re touching him.” Only then did I realise that she was right. His magic didn’t hurt me. 

Again, I don’t stop to think. I put one arm behind his knees and the other behind his neck and I stand, carrying him bride style. 

His magic still doesn’t hurt me, it’s almost as if it recognized me. Everything I feel is a warm sensation. 

I turn away from the gate and see the dozens of students looking shocked at me. “Move out of the way,” I shout. 

I think they are too shocked to say something, so they just do as I say and open space for me to pass. 

With each step I give, I feel stronger, more powerful. I could carry him only with my vampire strength, but now it’s like he doesn’t weigh a thing. I think his magic is making me stronger somehow. The theory changes when Snow’s screams start to fade and I see that he looks relaxed, almost as if he was sleeping in peace. 

Fuck. I think he just shared his magic with me. 

It would explain why I felt like I could cast any spell on the world. 

But I shake my head and try to focus on what matters. Take Simon to the infirmary and confirm that he’s okay. 

I hear Bunce’s steps behind me, but even with Simon in my arms, I’m walking fast, so she doesn’t reach us. 

Snow is still unconscious, but still looking relaxed too when we enter the infirmary. The school nurse, Miss Christy, is there reading a magazine when I arrive, but she promptly stands and walks in my direction. 

“What happened?” She asks, not looking too surprised. Snow was here every week, so she must not see this as something irregular. 

“The Humdrum.” The nurse points at the litter, so I put Snow there, carefully, but I don’t let him go completely. “He sent an army of goblins, Snow went off and destroyed all of them, but his magic started to act weird after,” I explain, still touching his arm. “It was like the magic created a shield around him, so no one could touch him, but he was also in pain.”

She checks on him. “He looks fine now.” She listens to his heartbeats. “And you were carrying him.” I could blush if I had fed recently. 

“Yeah, for some reason, his magic didn’t hurt me, and he relaxed after.” She nods and keeps checking his pulse and his breathing.

While she does that, I see that he relaxed his hands, and when I turn his hand upward I see the marks of his nails on the palm of his hand. With the strength he was using, he was able to draw blood. 

Miss Christy leans to the other side, so I drop Simon’s hand and step backwards, but at the same moment, his magic goes back as it was before and he starts screaming again. And I feel tired. 

“I thought he was better.” I hear Bunce saying when she arrives. I look at her to try to answer, but Miss Christy's screams make me look back at her.

“I can’t touch him anymore.” She says. I’m not understanding what's happening.

“Baz,” Bunce says. “Touch him.” I look at her confused again. “You were able to touch him before, so do it again.” She pushes me lightly.

I step forward and hold his hand, I feel better instantly. Simon doesn’t stop screaming right away, but slowly his screams fade again and he breathes relaxed going back to sleep. 

“That’s incredible.” The nurse says. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” She looks a little lost. “Stay right here, I have to look to see if I can find something to help.” She turns away and leaves. 

I don’t dare to drop Simon’s hand, I don’t want him to get hurt again. So, I stay there looking at him. The only thing that stops me from pushing his hair away from his forehead, is Bunce’s presence. 

“Baz,” Bunce stops in front of me, so I can look at her. It’s hard to tear my eyes from Simon. “Have you heard of complementary magic?” I frown.

“Only heard that there were studies about it. It’s something theoretical, right?” She nods.

“Yeah, I mean it’s something that the old mages said existed once, but that faded through the years and today it doesn’t exist anymore. Theoretically.” I nod, so she can proceed. “Have you read any of these studies?” I shake my head.

“It never interested me that much.” And I don’t know what Bunce wants with that now. 

“I read a few studies. Most mages think that complementary magic still exists, but it’s rare, and few people can detect it.” 

“So?” 

“Complementary magic was a term they used when two mages shared a special connection. The studies say that the connection was like a bond, and the mages could share the magic between them.” Okay, I’m seeing where she is going with that. “Some mages said this bond was only related to magic, but other ones defended that such a powerful bond was not just something related to magic itself. It was deeper than that.”

“What do you mean?” I’m lost again. 

“They used to say that the magic of the two mages had to be compatible, and for something like that to happen, there must be another connection. They say that for the magic connection to happen, the souls must be connected as well, something way deeper and stronger.” 

“Are you talking about soulmates? That doesn’t exist, it’s just a fairy tale.” She shakes her head.

“People treat it as a myth today, but it’s not. As I said before, it’s just not common anymore. A few centuries that was pretty normal, everyone had a soulmate or someone to complete their magic. But for non-known reasons, it faded and every generation started to have less and less of these magical connections. Even today it still exists, but most people will never find out.” I’m still processing what she just said.

“Bunce, where do you wanna get with that?” I ask, even though I know where she wants to get. 

She closes her eyes and sighs, probably because I was difficulting for her. “I think you know what I mean, Baz. I think that somehow you and Simon are soulmates.” I start to shake my head, but she doesn’t let me speak. “What you’re doing right now it’s not normal, Baz. Simon’s magic is repelling everyone, but not you. You are the only one who can touch him and look at him, he looks way better now that you are touching him.” I still shake my head. “How do you feel now?”

“I … I…” I don’t have arguments to use against what she just said. “I’m feeling great, okay? More powerful and less tired, I don’t think I felt this good ever. Happy now?” I ask. 

“A bit, because you’re proving my theory. Simon is sharing his magic with you. Because of that, he is feeling better, you’re taking that extra part that is hurting him now, and you’re feeling better because, well, Simon’s magic is strong.” I still shake my head. 

“No, you … you can’t be right. We can’t be … that.” I refuse to say it out loud. I refuse to believe it.

I refuse because I don’t want to see Simon’s look when he finds out. I refuse because I don’t want to hear how mad he’ll be. I refuse because I want it to be true, and it will crush me if it’s not. 

“Would it be that bad?” Bunce asks, and I give her a pointed look. “Oh, come on Baz, I have seen the way you look at Simon. The way you both are obsessed over each other since always.”

“And what do you think Simon will say once you tell him this theory of yours?” I feel my throat closing, but I refuse to cry. “Do you think he’ll be happy with that?” 

“Oh,” Bunce says as if she figured something out. “You like him. You really like him.”

“What… I didn’t … No…” Not my best argument. 

“Yes, you like him. Everything makes sense, I mean, I always thought you both had unresolved feelings for each other, but I didn’t know you were aware of them. Morgana, I knew it.” She smiles softly at me. “As for Simon, he probably would be shocked at first, but he would come around it, he would understand.” 

“Yeah, I don’t see that happening.” I don’t want to talk about my feelings, so it’s better to focus on Simon’s instead.

“But I do.” She says. “I’m his best friend, I know him better than I know anyone. And Simon likes you. He has a twisted and probably unhealthy way of showing, but he likes you. There is no way he would be that obsessed over you if he didn’t.” I shake my head, unable to believe in her. “Did you know I had to put a limit on how much Simon can talk about you?”

“What?”

“Since our first year, Simon’s favourite subject was you, always you.” I’m still frowning at her. “I had to put a limit so he could talk about other things because I’m sorry, I’m not interested to hear about what you’re doing all the time.”

“He talked about me because he was always suspicious of me.”

She rolls her eyes. “God, you are difficult. And to be fair you did act suspicious a bunch of times, but even when you were just acting normal he was talking about you. Baz, he made me go with him to all your football games and practices, and when I said no he went by himself.” 

I’m about to keep arguing when Miss Christy comes back. “I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I think we’ll have to wait for Simon to wake up so he can pull his magic back. You, Basilton will have to stay, we don’t know what might happen if you stop touching him, and Penelope, you have to go back to your classes.” 

“But … I… I’m his best friend.” She argues. 

“Yes, but right now there is nothing you can do. If something changes, I promise I’ll ask someone to call you.” 

Bunce looks at Simon and then at me, and then huffs. “Fine, but call me if something happens, for real.” She says to Miss Christy. “And you,” She looks at me. “Think about what I said.” I give a resentful nod so she can leave. 

Miss Christy brings me a chair, so I can be a bit more comfortable, while we wait for Simon to wake up. The nurse leaves to keep doing her job, and I sigh, being finally alone with Simon and my thoughts.

Could Bunce be right? I had heard a bit about the ‘soulmates’ theory and I knew it was real at some point in our existence, but I didn’t think it could be real now. And even if it’s real, if it exists these days … Simon and I couldn’t be soulmates. That’s ridiculous. He hates me. I was supposed to hate him. We should fight with each other at the end. 

But as ridiculous it sounds, it also makes sense. I never knew any mage who could share their magic with someone else, and it could be something related to Simon’s weird magic, but if it was that, anyone would be able to touch him. So, why only me?

A magical connection makes sense, and I remember how it felt like Simon’s magic had recognized me when I held him. 

And okay, I might be thinking a bit too much about it because I want it to be true. I want us to have that special and rare bond. I want our magic to be compatible. I want us to be soulmates. I want Simon to be mine. I want to be his.

I sigh in my seat. I was being ridiculous now. 

I keep thinking about Bunce saying that Simon likes me. And I can see her point, I mean not even I’m blind to how much Simon is obsessed with me. But I always saw it in a bad way, I always thought that he hated me that much.

But what if….? 

I keep holding Simon’s hand and I lean forward to look at him better. Then I finally do what I wanted and brush Simon’s hair out of his forehead. And I let my fingers run through his face. 

“Wake up, Snow,” I whisper. “Wake up and help me to figure this out. Wake up and prove me wrong. Bunce always liked to be right anyway.” I huff a laugh. “Just wake up, Simon.”

His breathing seems to change, but his eyes keep closed. Somehow he looks a bit more relaxed at least he was not in pain anymore. And I wouldn’t mind staying here with him. I was glad I had an excuse to stay. At least I could keep looking at him and checking that he was okay.

Simon

I wake up feeling so relaxed and warm that I almost go back to sleep again. 

It takes me a second to remember what happened because I didn’t remember going to sleep. But then everything comes to my mind, the goblins’ army, me going off and then falling on the floor. I remember the pain I felt, but weirdly it’s all gone now.

There isn’t one single pain on my body, and I imagine that I’m in the infirmary. I always end up in the infirmary. And the more conscious I gain the more I realise that I’m right, I recognize the smell of Miss Christy’s candles, and the calm music she puts on. 

When I’m more conscious I also feel someone holding my hand, and I feel fingers brushing my hair. It’s nice, it makes me want to keep my eyes closed. It makes me want to enjoy this. So, I enjoyed it for a few minutes. 

But then I recognize another scent, the most familiar scent I’ve ever known, cedar and bergamot. Baz’s scent. It was impossible to live with him for eight years and not recognize it. 

So, wondering why Baz was here, I tried to open my eyes and I failed the first time. I turn my head and the fingers on my hair stop moving.

“Snow?” Baz calls me and his tone sounds wrong. He doesn’t sound like his usual self. “Simon?” I’m taken by surprise by Baz calling me my name. Not Snow, my name. 

With that, I move my head again and open my eyes. And find Baz staring worriedly at me. It’s weird having him look at me like that. It’s even weirder how tired he looks. How long was he here? How long was I out?

“Baz?” I ask, not hiding my surprise. “What …” I try to ask a question, but I start coughing. I try to sit and I don’t manage by myself, so Baz helps me. “What happened?” I wanted to ask what he was doing here, but I thought it might be a bit rude. 

“Do you remember the goblins’ army?” I nod and only then do I see that Baz was the only one in the room with me. Which meant he was the one who was holding my hand (actually he was still holding it) and brushing my hair. The thought makes me look away and I feel my cheeks heating. 

“Yeah,” I say, wanting to ignore the weird feeling in my stomach. “I went off, didn’t I?” He nods this time. 

“You did, but then your magic started to act all wrong.” I frown. “It created something like a shield over you and no one could touch you,” He looks down and I wonder if he would blush if he had enough blood. “And you started screaming like you were being hurt,” I remember the feeling.

“I remember vaguely, it was like I was being stabbed all over.” I put my hand (the one Baz wasn’t holding) (why was he still holding it?) on my forehead and when my hand touches my skin I cringe in pain. 

“You did this when your magic was hurting you,” Baz says when I look at my palm and see red and deep marks on it. “You closed your fist with a lot of strength and your nails cut you.” I nod, just to show that I understood. 

“How did I end up here?” Baz frowns. “If no one could touch me. How am I here? I don’t remember walking from the lawn.”

Baz looks down again. “I … For some reason, I could touch you, so I brought you here.” He looks to where our joined hands are resting. “That’s why, well, that’s one of the reasons why I’m still here.” I think I never saw Baz stumble on his words that much. “When I held you, you somehow shared your magic with me. That made the pain stop for you, so you calmed down, but as soon as I stopped touching you, it came all back and you were screaming again.” 

“I … I don’t remember any of that.” 

“You were unconscious for the most part.” I nod again.

“What time is it?” I ask, looking for a clock. 

“The dinner just ended.” He says. “Bunce passed here to check on you, and to leave me food, but Miss Christy sent her to her room.”

“You were here the whole day?” I ask, impressive. 

He shrugs. I think I never saw Baz shrugging, that was my move. “I couldn’t leave or you would be in pain again.” He cares, I realise. He cares about me, no matter what he says. He could just walk back to our room if he wanted, but he’s here so I’m not in pain anymore. 

“What was the other reason?” He looks at me and raises his eyebrow. Not mocking me as usual but in an interrogative kind of way. “You said one of the reasons why you stayed was because you were relieving my pain. So, what’s the other reason?” The look he gives me makes my heart clench, but I don’t know why.

“I …” He looks away again. “I wanted to see if you would be okay.” He admits. 

“Why? Why do you care?” I push, so I can have a straight answer from him, especially now that he can’t just run away. He has to stay. 

“Because … Because I care about you.” He manages to say. 

I didn’t expect him to answer me that quickly, so I don’t know what to say and I just let an “Oh” come out.

He clears his throat. “Do you want me to step back to see if you’re better?” If he had asked me that a couple of days ago I would have said yes, but now I shake my head. I don’t want him gone yet. And when I think about it, have I ever wanted that?

“Not yet,” I say. “Why am I able to share my magic with you? Did someone find out why?” I ask. 

“No, not an official explanation.” He says, suddenly nervous. 

“Official? There is an unofficial explanation?” Yeah, Baz would be blushing furiously if he had fed. Merlin, he needs to feed. 

“Not really,” He bites his lips drawing my attention to them. “Well, Bunce has a theory.” That makes me look back at his eyes. Why was I looking at his lips? 

“What theory?”

“Has she mentioned something about complementary magic to you?” I try to think about something she might have said, and soon I recall something. 

“I think she did, a few weeks ago, it has something to do with the ‘soulmates theory’ right?” He looks even more nervous. 

“Yeah, well, some old mages used to say that there was this bond between two mages,” He swallows, still not looking at me. “Most of them called complementary magic, it meant that the magic of one mage would complete the magic of another one, but for that to happen they would have to be compatible.” I nod.

“Yeah, Penny told me something about it.”

“Right, well, many used to believe that this connection, this bond, was beyond magic. That for two mages to be compatible magic wise, they would have to be compatible in other ways too.” 

“Like their souls?” I suggest and Baz nods.

“Yes, so that's where the soulmates theory started.” 

“Okay,” I don’t know if I’m understanding where Baz wants to go with that. I mean, I kind of understand, but I don’t want to be wrong. “So, what that has to do with what happened?” Baz sighs and looks down, he looks defeated. And I’m under the impression he won’t say anything else. “That’s Penny’s theory?” I ask. “That our magic is compatible? That we are compatible? That we are …” I don’t manage to finish.

I’m waiting for him to sneer and call me ridiculous, but he still looks the same, tired and defeated. “One of the things these mages reported was the ability to share magic. An ability unheard of in any other situation.” 

I let that sit on my mind for a second. I didn’t know much of the history of magic as Baz and Penny, so I had to take their words for it. And if everything Baz said was right, then Penny’s theory would be acceptable. Probably the only explanation.

“What do you think?” I ask him, still unable to come to an answer. “You think she is right?” 

“I … Well, there’s not another explanation.” He says. “When Bunce said it, it sounded absurd, but then she brought me books about it and the more I read the more it made sense. So, yes, I believe she is right.” Baz sounds and looks so sad that it makes me wanna cry.

“Would it be that bad?” I ask, surprising me and Baz. I didn’t think of asking him that, but it hurt me a bit how Baz seemed resentful with that possibility. 

“What?” He asks, still surprised.

“I … I …” It’s my time to stumble on my words. “Of course you think it would be bad, we have been enemies since always and you always hated me …” 

“Simon,” The way he says my name makes me stop talking. “What are you talking about?”

“The way you said it, the way you are looking now, I know you’re hating this. I know this whole thing is probably making you hate me more, but I thought we were starting to be friends at least, you said you cared about me …” He cuts me again.

“Simon, I don’t hate you.” He says. “And believe me, I don’t hate this. You’re still confused with what happened and are probably still tired. You didn’t process everything I just told you and when you understand, you’ll be the one hating this.” I don’t know what to say. “And that’s the only thing I hate, that and the look on your face when you realise what’s really happening.”

“I don’t … I’m not …” I’m confused, but not for the reasons that Baz thinks. “Why would you hate that?”

He stays in silence for a few seconds, maybe a minute, but I don’t say anything either. I wait for him. 

“Because …” He manages to say. “Because I have feelings for you Simon,” He puts his free hand in front of his face. “And having this bond, sharing this connection with you would be amazing and I can’t bear to deal with your rejection and with how angry and disgusted you will be.” I don’t know how to reply. 

Baz have feelings for me? He was sad because he thought I would reject him? 

“I’m not angry or disgusted,” I say, making Baz lower his hand that was on his face.

“But you hate me.” His voice is small, very different from his confident tone. 

“I … I don’t hate you.” As I say it I realise it is true. I don’t hate Baz. I never did. “I admit that I’m a bit confused, not because I don’t understand the situation, but because I don’t understand what I’m feeling. Or what I should feel.” Baz looks apprehensive. “Maybe some weeks ago I’d feel everything you said, but … I don’t know.” We stay in silence. 

“Do you want me to leave?” He asks. “So you can stay alone?” I shake my head.

“No, not yet. I need to think but I hate to think, so I’ll just say what's in my head.” I close my eyes. “The truth is, I like that we are not fighting anymore, I like that we are on a truce. It’s much better being your friend or your ally than your enemy.” I start thinking about these last weeks of peace between us. “And I like to spend time with you, to know where you are, thinking about it now, I think that’s why I kept following you around and obsessing over your steps. To be fair, I think I didn’t allow myself to think about it in these last years.” 

“What are you saying, Snow?” I open my eyes and look at him.

“I don’t know yet. I just … I’m so confused right now. Because maybe I should hate you and this … bond. But I don’t. I don’t.” Baz looks even more confused than I feel. “Actually, when you told me about the bond, it was like a lot of things passed through my mind, but not one of them was hate. But then you looked so miserable about the bond and it made me sad for some reason, I didn't like that you didn’t like it. But now you said you have feelings for me, and I just don’t know what to think.”

“You don’t have to say anything now.” He says after a minute of silence. “It’s a lot to process, I know. Maybe you should rest now, and tomorrow we can talk about it.”

“Do you promise?” I ask.

“What?”

“That we’ll talk about it, that you won’t just avoid me.” The reason why I wanted to talk to him now was that he couldn’t escape.

He sighs. “We share a room Snow, it would be hard to avoid you forever.” I almost roll my eyes. Baz was difficult sometimes.

“Promise me. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” He does roll his eyes, and I think he whispers ‘stubborn’ but he nods.

“I promise.” I nod too.

“You can drop my hand now, I want to see if I’m in control of my magic, or more control than usual.” He doesn’t seem to want to do it, but he nods and steps behind, dropping my hand.

I’m a bit apprehensive at first, and I realise that I didn’t really want Baz to stop holding my hand. It was soothing to have him here.

Luckily, everything stays normal after he steps back. I’m feeling that amount of magic that I always feel, so it’s everything normal now. I sigh.

“I think it’s under control now,” I tell Baz and I notice again how tired he looks. “You should go feed,” I tell him. “And sleep in your bed.”

“I don’t …” I know he will start denying that is a vampire again, so I cut him. 

“It’s alright Baz, I know that you’re a vampire since the fifth year and you look tired, you don’t have to stay here in this uncomfortable chair for the rest of the night.” I wanted him to stay (which was a surprise), but he deserves to rest and I know that if I ask him to stay he will. So, I tell him to go. “I’ll be alright, probably I’ll sleep the whole night, I’m feeling very tired and by the morning I’ll go back to our room.”

“Okay,” He stands from his chair. “I’ll be going then. We’ll talk tomorrow.” I nod. “Goodnight, Snow.”

He turns and walks to the door, but I don’t like to see him leaving. I feel an urge to do something. 

“Wait, Baz.” I throw my legs to the side and I stand, but I’m still a bit dizzy and I almost fall. Luckily, Baz is fast, so he catches me. “Thanks,” I say.

He helps me to stand, and he’s so close that I can feel his breath on my face. My eyes fall on his lips, and I look up to his eyes I notice he was already watching me.

I don’t think about what I’m doing. I just know that I have to do something. 

So, I lunch forward and kiss him. 

Baz

I don’t react. 

Simon Snow kissed me.

He’s kissing me now. 

My mind is blank and I don’t know what to do at first. But then, afraid that he could back away, that he could think I was rejecting him, I kissed him back.

I cup his cheeks with my hands and bring him closer. I don’t know what I’m doing, I never kissed anyone before, so I just follow his lead and my instincts. 

But before any of us could deepen the kiss, a noise in the hall scare us and makes us jump away from each other. Thankfully no one comes into the infirmary. 

I look back at him and the way he’s blushing makes me want to smile, to pull him back to me. But I don’t do any of that. I’m just thankful that I can’t blush, otherwise, I would be worse than Simon. 

“I …” He tries to say something, but I see he’ll struggle with all words.

“I think I should leave now.” I don’t want to go, especially now, but at least this way I could avoid the awkward mood. “We can talk tomorrow,” I repeat and he nods.

“Okay, yeah, I … I’m going to sleep a bit.” He still looks a bit embarrassed. 

“Yeah, me too.” We stand awkwardly for a few seconds until he turns and lays back. “Goodnight, Snow.” 

“Goodnight, Baz.” I nod to him one more time before turning away.

This time Simon doesn’t stop me from leaving which stings a bit. But it’s good because I need to think and I wouldn’t be able to do that around Simon.

Since this morning, when Bunce told me her theory, my head hadn’t stopped spinning. First, I refused to believe even if I wanted it to be true.

But then, she brought me books and I saw that her theory was not that ridiculous. I even searched to see if there was another explanation for Simon sharing his magic with me and me being able to touch him when no one could, but I didn’t find anything. 

But I needed time to think, and I was not planning to tell Simon everything once he woke up, I’d leave that for Bunce. I thought that maybe he would accept better coming from her. But then he started to ask me questions and I didn’t want to lie, so I told him everything.

I reach the catacombs still thinking about it. About the weird reaction he had. About me spilling out my feelings to him. Crowley, what a disaster. Not close to what I imagined it would be. But a disaster still.

I was hoping he would scream and say that I was wrong, that he wouldn’t believe in me, and that he would ask me to leave, even if it meant that he’d be hurt again. But he did none of that. 

He seemed to understand and to believe in everything, more than that, he seemed to accept it. And he kissed me. 

I know he is confused, as he said, but he said he liked to spend time with me, and he even admitted that he was obsessed with me. It still doesn’t mean anything, but honestly, it’s more than I thought he would ever say and do. 

And even though he told me to go back to our room, I felt that he didn’t want me to leave. Knowing Snow, he was probably just acting like the hero he is and sent me back to the room so I could rest properly. I won’t lie and say that I’m not tired, but I still prefer to stay with him.

Even so, I go back to our room after feeding, and after a relaxing shower, I fall on my bed and sleep almost immediately. 

But I don’t stop tossing in the bed the whole night. I keep dreaming with Simon kissing me, telling me he loves me and then laughing and saying he was joking. I dream of him being hurt and me not being able to help. I dream of me holding him. Well, I dream about him the whole night. 

I only fall asleep for real when the sun is about to rise, luckily it was Saturday, so I didn’t need to wake up earlier to go to classes. And I enjoy that fact to try to really rest. 

I wake up hours later (though I’m not sure what time it is, the sun is shining brightly in the sky) feeling relaxed and calm, but when I turn around I hear heartbeats in the room. I think my heart would race if it beat because now that I knew that Simon was here, I was nervous again. 

What if now that he thought about it he hates the hypothetical (but not really) bond? What if he came to his senses and hates me again? Could I go back to that phase? Going back to the sneering and glares? To pretend that he doesn’t have my heart in his hands? 

After a minute or so, I decided that I can’t pretend to be asleep forever, so I open my eyes, and when I dare to look at Snow, he is already looking at me. 

I can’t say what is going through his head. He usually wears his emotions on his face, but today I can’t tell what he’s feeling. 

“Hey,” My voice comes out raspy. “Are you okay?” He nods. 

“Yes,” I sit and try to fix my hair which I’m sure is all messy. I see Snow’s eyes follow my fingers and when he sees that I’m looking at him, he blushes. “Miss Christy said that there was nothing wrong with me anymore, not physically, so I didn’t need to stay there.” 

“That’s good.” He nods again and then there is an awkward silence. “Look Snow, if you don’t want to talk about …” The look in his eyes confuses me. “I mean, we don't have to … We can forget it if you want.” Merlin, being close to Snow made me a mumbling idiot. 

“No,” He shakes his head. “I don’t want to forget, or to ignore what you told me.” 

“Okay,” I swallow. “Let me just brush my teeth and then we can talk.” I stood before he could reply and locked myself in our shared bathroom. 

Okay, I needed a minute to put my thoughts in order. Snow’s face didn’t tell me anything about what he might be feeling, but the way he looked at me and blushed made me a bit optimistic. 

I brush my teeth and wash my face, and take a bit extra time to fix the mess that was my hair. I know I can’t stall too much, so sooner than I wished, I was going back to our room. 

Snow is exactly in the same position as before, sitting in his bed and looking at mine, but he lifts his head when I open the door and moves to the side, opening the space that I imagine it’s for me. 

I hesitate for a second, but I sit by his side. He looks at his hands on his lap for a few seconds and then looks back at me. 

“I thought a lot last night.” He says. “I kept thinking about everything you told me.” I don’t know if he wants me to say something, so I stay quiet. “Do you really have feelings for me?" I was not expecting him to ask that. “You’re not trying to make fun of me?” Part of me wants to roll my eyes, of course he would think that I was plotting, but I know this is partly my fault.

“I was not making fun of you, Snow.” I managed to say. “Everything I said to you was true.” He sighs and his shoulders drop in what I imagine (hope?) is in relief. 

“Okay, good, good.” He says, more to himself than to me. “I … I might have feelings for you too.” He says, not looking at me. 

“Might?” I raise my eyebrow.

“Probably.” He corrects himself. “I just … I never stopped to think about it. But now, well, yesterday, after you told me everything, I started to think and things just started to make sense.” He looks at me. “I think I always liked you.” Red tinges his cheeks. I want to kiss it. “I always knew I had intense feelings for you, but I understood it wrong all this time, I thought I hated you.”  

“And you don’t?” I ask, even though he said it yesterday.

“No.” He swallows. “Everything I could think about yesterday was the things I never looked at too much, that I never paid attention to.”

“Like what?”

“The fact that I was worried to death when you didn’t come back this year. For a while, I thought it was because you might be plotting, but I was worried that something had happened. And I followed you around all these years because I wanted to know what you were doing, where you were if you were safe.” He looks down again. “And come on, I never was so into football and yet I didn’t miss one of your games or practices. And I kept so many details about you in my head, I know so much about you, that I can't know it all only because I wanted to keep an eye on you. I mean, I wanted to, but not for the reasons I thought before.” 

I’m speechless. 

I never would have imagined Snow telling me this. Saying all those words to me. 

“Simon, I …” He looks at me with a soft smile. 

“I like when you call me Simon.” Merlin, this boy would kill me. “How long do you know about your feelings?” I don’t want to lie to him, and even though I don’t like to talk about my feelings, he just talked about his.

“Fifth year.” His eyes widened.

“Fifth year? Why have you never said anything?” I snort.

“Yeah, you would have reacted really nice if I told you this three years ago.” He blushes again, looking embarrassed. 

“Okay, I see your point.” We fall in silence after that. Now that we both talked about our feelings (sort of it) what do we do? “Do you really think Penny’s theory about the bond is correct?” I almost forgot about the bond.

“As I said yesterday, I don’t think there is another answer for what happened.” He nods and moves so he can sit turned to me. 

“Can I try something?” I raise my eyebrow, but I nod. “Sit facing me then.” I do as he says and he extends his hands to hold mine. 

Simon closes his eyes and right when I was about to ask what he was doing, I felt that familiar warm sensation. It tickled my arms a bit, but after that, I felt an explosion of power inside me. 

I look amazed at the soft glow coming from my arms, and when I look at Simon again he is smiling. “It worked.” I can help it and I smile too.

He pulls his hands back, drawing all the power with him, but I don’t have time to think about it or even to be upset because in the next second his hands are in my face and his lips are pressing mine. 

Simon

I’m kissing Baz.

For real this time.

Not just a touch of lips. A real kiss. 

Baz puts his hands on my head and I feel his fingers threading my hair. My hands fall from his face but they end up on his chest and I want to pull him closer. 

He seems to think the same because he does pull me closer and I end up sitting on his legs (which could make me blush in another moment). I feel my magic passing to Baz, and it’s wonderful not to feel overwhelmed for once. To just feel my magic as it was supposed to be (I think it was at least).

Baz’s lips fit into mine perfectly. It’s like we were made for each other. Like we were made to do this. Maybe we were.

Now that I’m finally kissing him, it’s like the last piece fits into the puzzle and everything makes sense. We do belong with each other. We do have a connection deeper than anything else. 

It’s a shame that we have been wasting all this time fighting when we could have been doing this instead. But Baz was right. I wouldn't have believed in him if he had told me about his feelings. I’m glad he did it now. 

Especially because he tastes like a dream. It’s exactly how I thought he would taste. And thinking about it now, I know I did think about this a lot. Crowley, I was so dumb for not having realized that I liked him before. 

Every thought I have vanishes when his tongue licks into my mouth and I fist my hands on his shirt so I can pull him closer. But there is no closer than we are now. 

I could spend the rest of my life right here that I wouldn’t mind. Baz’s hands on me, his mouth on mine and nothing else. Just the two of us, together. But life doesn’t work that way and soon I have to pull back or I would run without air. 

I push my forehead against his and whisper. “You’re my soulmate.” It sounds a bit weird to say that word, but it feels right. There isn’t another way to describe us anymore. 

I open my eyes and see Baz staring at me. His eyes are glinting, and he smiles before saying. “And you’re mine.” 

I push his hair out of his face and brush my knuckles on his cheeks. He closes his eyes and leans his face to my hand. 

“Does it feel nice?” I ask. “My magic, I mean. Penny complained a couple of times of how my magic felt when I cast a spell.” Baz holds my hand on his face and turns his head so he can kiss my hand, where I cut myself. 

“It feels amazing.” He says. “I can’t explain exactly how it feels, but it makes me feel great.” I’m still touching him, so I’m still sharing my magic with him. He seems to feel that because he puts magic in his words and says. “ Kiss it better. ” And then he kisses the palm of my hand again, and even though he doesn’t have a wand, my hand heals. So, he picks up my other hand and kisses it too. 

“Thank you,” I say, making him shrug.

“It’s your magic.” I lean forward and kiss him again. I think I’ll never stop now. “Why did your magic act the way it did yesterday?” He asks after a few minutes.

“I don’t know.” I frown. “I think I might have used a bit more magic than I’m used to. The army was huge and I knew I had to reunite more magic to defeat it, but I don’t think I made a conscious decision to use more magic. I think I just didn’t know how to contain it.” I say. “But it was weird because I never felt like that. That never happened before.” He nods.

“Yeah.” He holds my hands in his. “You should be more careful from now on, so you don’t hurt yourself again.” I smile.

“Look at you all worried about me.” He rolls his eyes (proof that he’s still the same Baz), but I see a hint of a smile on his lips. And I like to have him worried about me, to have him taking care of me somehow.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it.” I laugh. “Just avoid doing what you did yesterday.”

“Now I’ll just drag you with me and then I can share my magic with you and you’ll know what to do.” He smiles more.

“Trying to pass the job of the chosen one to someone else? I’m sorry to say, but I’m afraid I don’t fit the hero role.” 

“I think I'll have to disagree.” He raises his eyebrow. “You saved me yesterday. That’s something a hero would do. And you stayed with me until you were sure that I was okay.” I can see a faint blush on his cheeks, so I pull one of my hands out of his grip to trace the blush with my fingers. It makes him blush more, he must have gone to feed yesterday then. 

“Well,” He swallows. “I had my own selfish reasons.” 

“Still.” I shrug. “You know,” I say after seconds of silence. “There is still confusion inside my head. I still have a lot to figure out, but …” Baz looks a bit tense. “I want this if you want it too.”

“What is this exactly?” He’ll make me spell it out for him, the pratt.

“Us,” I say. “I have never been a good boyfriend, but if you want to, I can try to be a better one, for you.”

“What about everything else?” I see that he’s apprehensive about something. “With us being on different sides of the war. With my family and your mentor hating each other, wanting us to hate each other too.”

“Baz.” I hold his face in my hands. “Forget about them for a second. What do you want? Do you want to fight me in a war? Or do you want to be my boyfriend?” He rolls his eyes.

“What a ridiculous question.” I almost smile.

“Look, we don’t need to keep doing what they tell us to do. We’re almost adults, they can’t tell us to fight each other.” I cross my arms. “And I won’t fight you, I refuse.” His face softens.

“Sometimes it’s not that simple, Simon.”

“But it is. Besides, if we are soulmates, which I - and I know you too - believe, they can’t make us hurt each other. If it’s a rare bond and a deep kind of magic, they can’t ignore it.” He nods but still looks in doubt.

“I want to believe that you’re right. But I’m afraid that in the end, they won’t care for any of that.” I understand what he’s saying. I honestly don’t know how I would react if the Mage told me to hurt Baz. I mean, I wouldn’t hurt him, but how do I tell him that? But honestly, I was tired of following other people’s orders.

“You know,” I say. “Since the Mage found me in the orphanage I have been doing what he says or what the teachers say. I have been following everyone’s orders and directions. But I’m tired of that. I want to make my choices. And they can’t interfere in that.” 

“You’re willing to challenge your mentor then?” I shrug.

“If I have to.” I brush my fingers on his cheek again. “I know this is new, and that we have a long way in front of us, but I feel that it’ll be all worth it.”

“It isn’t new,” Baz says. “It didn’t start now, yesterday or even when I found out my feelings for you. It started when we met. When the crucible put us together.” I smile.

“You’re right.” He starts tracing the moles on my arm with his fingers.

“And you’re right too.” He looks at me and cups my face like I did with him before. “They can’t make us follow their orders anymore.” His thumb brushes my lips. “So yes, I want this too.” I smile and lean forward, and he meets me halfway. 

It’s weird to think that until yesterday I ignored everything good I thought about Baz. Because I know the thoughts of kissing him and dating him weren’t new, it didn’t appear in my mind magically yesterday. They were all in there this whole time. Waiting for me to be ready, I think. 

After Baz left yesterday I couldn’t sleep right away. I kept thinking about what he said to me and I started wondering what would happen if I accepted this bond between us, if I accepted him. 

And then I start wondering about a lot of other things. About how it would be to be with him, and how it would be to kiss him for real. And after that, it became easier to think about my feelings. 

It was even easier after I came back to our room this morning and looked at him again. Everything I could think of was how dumb I was to not have noticed before that I was attracted to Baz, that I fancied him. 

What I told him is true, I’m still a bit confused, it’s hard to process almost eight years of misunderstood feelings in one night. But I wanted to be with him. I wanted to find out more about him, about us. 

Baz puts his hand on my waist and his touch makes my mind come back to the present. We keep snogging for long minutes, trying to make up for the lost time. And we’re so involved with each other that we don’t hear the door opening, so when someone gasps loudly on our side, we both almost jump, breaking the kiss.

We look to the door and find Penny in there. Staring shocked at us. 

“Merlin and Morgana.” She says. “What happened? When did this happen? Was it because of what I said about the soulmate kind of thing, or it was happening before and you didn’t tell me anything? I mean, I always thought eventually you would figure it out and you would be together, but I thought you would have told me.” Penny doesn’t stop talking even to breathe. “I thought you weren't together,” She says to Baz. “You acted so defeated yesterday that I didn’t think it was already happening. This is some sort of ‘friends with benefits’ kind of thing? Or enemies with benefits I guess? Simon knows about the bond?” 

I climb off Baz's laps and go to Penny, so I can put my hands on her shoulders to make her stop. God, how many words can she say in less than a minute?

“Penelope.” I almost shake her. “Calm down.” She finally stops and takes a deep breath. “Baz told me about the bond yesterday,” I tell her. “After that, we talked, and we are together now. I didn’t tell you because before there was nothing to say.”

She seems to process what I said for a couple of minutes. “You are together?” She points to us and I nod. 

“We are.” I blush when she smirks and I can almost hear Baz rolling his eyes behind me. “What did you mean with ‘I always thought that we would be together’?” I quote her.

“Oh please, you both are so obsessed with each other that it couldn’t be only hate.” She shrugs.

“And what exactly are you doing in our room, Bunce?” Baz’s question seems to make Penny focus again.

“Oh, right, first I wanted to see if Simon was better, I passed by the infirmary and you weren’t there anymore, so I wanted to check on you.” She says to me. 

“I’m fine, I was not hurt physically, it was just my magic acting weird.” She nods. 

“Great, because there is something I need to tell you and I’m not sure how you’ll react.” I frown. 

“What is it?” I ask, worried. 

“After the attack yesterday, the biggest dead spot ever opened in a city a few miles from here.” She says. 

“Another dead spot?” Penny nods. 

“This time it covered almost the entire city, the magicians who lived there had to leave.” 

“How did you know that?” Baz asks. “The teachers are saying something?” She shakes her head. 

“My father works tracing and researching the dead spots. My mother called last night and told me.” 

“Did anyone see the Humdrum in there?” I ask and Penny shakes her head.

“That’s what I came to tell you.” She swallows. “I have a theory and I think you should sit to hear it.”

“You are full of theories.” Baz mocks her, but I can see he’s a bit worried.

I don’t want to contradict Penny, so I sit in my bed beside Baz and Penny sits in his bed, facing us. 

“So? What is your theory?” I ask.

“I think …” She starts saying but doesn’t complete. “I think you’re causing the dead spots, Simon.” 

Baz

Bunce just came to our room to end our brief moment of happiness, because she dropped a bomb and went silent. What does she mean with Simon being the one causing the dead spots? 

Simon tenses up by my side and almost screams. “What?” 

“I know.” She says, raising her hand. “But I asked my mother yesterday about the new dead spot, she passed me to my father and I asked him a few things about it. The dead spot was created right when you went off.” She says. “So, I asked him about other dead spots. When was the first time you went off?” 

“When I was eleven, a few weeks before our first year.” He says, looking confused. 

“Right, do you want to guess when the first dead spot was traced?” When neither of us says anything she keeps going. “The first dead spot was the biggest of all, I think that when you went off the first time, you used so much magic that you created the Humdrum.” He shakes his head.

“No, it can’t be.” I move closer to him.

“Bunce, elaborate,” I say. 

“I’m trying. Look, Simon, your magic is like no one ever saw, you have more power than anyone that ever existed. You went off when you were eleven years old and your magic created the Humdrum.” She repeats. “That’s why he looks like you.”

“What? The Humdrum looks like you?” I ask Simon. 

“Yeah, he never had a form, but last year when Penny and I were taken … He had a human form. He was just like … Just like an eleven-year-old me. He even had that red ball that I had when I was a child.” 

“Yes,” Bunce says, but I’m a bit surprised with everything. And her theory was once again probably correct.

“You might be right, Bunce,” I say, thinking about all the attacks provoked by the Humdrum. 

“You think that I’m the Humdrum?” Simon asks, looking a bit sad.

“No, I don’t think you are him. But as Bunce said, you probably created him unconsciously with your magic, and it linked you both. That’s why he never tried to kill you.” The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

“Excuse me? He just did yesterday.”

“No, no. If you think about it, the Humdrum never attacks you to kill. He attacks you because he knows you will go off. And in doing that you will create a new dead spot, which let him stronger.” I say.

“That’s right. He keeps attacking Simon because he wants the dead spots to keep growing.” Bunce says, making me nod. 

“But I … I … I would never …” Simon starts arguing, but his voice falters. I have to remember that I don’t need to pretend that I don’t care, so I move closer to him and wrap my arm around his shoulders.

“We are not saying this is your fault, Simon,” I say. “But it might be a good lead about how to end the humdrum. We can find a way of reversing this, if the dead spots are linked to your magic, we might find a way to undo that with your magic.”

“But I wouldn’t even know how to do any of that.” He says. “And I suck controlling my magic.”

“You’re not alone,” I hold his hand with my other one. “And we’re soulmates, remember? I can help you with your magic.” His face softens, but just a bit. 

“Baz is right, you’re not alone, Simon. We’ll help you.” Bunce sits on his other side. 

“We need to tell this to the Coven, right? At least to the Mage.” He asks, looking still a bit angst. Bunce and I share a look.

“I don’t know, Simon,” Bunce says. “This is not something we can just go around telling people.” I agree.

“But if I’m causing this, if I’m the source of the Humdrum, we need to tell people. We need their help to stop this … me.” 

“I agree with Bunce,” I say. “Simon, we still don’t know how this works, right now we are talking about theories. So, we have to look into it better. And there are a lot of people who would not even think twice before punishing you. They would use that as an excuse to blame you.” 

“Like your family?” He asks, but there’s no teasing in his voice. He’s worried about it. 

And his assumption is right. Unfortunately, I nod. “Yes,” I admit. “My father and my aunt would be the first to try to turn this situation around. To make it look like you were the villain, and that you were planning this with the Mage. So, we have to think this through, okay?” He nods.

“I just … I don’t want to keep causing this anymore.” 

“Look, there isn't a way of controlling when the Humdrum will appear again, or when he’ll send something again. But you can control your magic. I know it’s too much all the time, but you can do this.” He doesn’t look like he believes in me. 

“We’ll help you to control it, Simon,” Bunce says. “We’ll train some techniques, try to make you use that magic, to not let it be locked inside you.”

“And if it still feels too much, share your magic with me. If you feel that you will go off, pass it to me and I will help you.” He nods and seems a bit more relieved. 

“In the meantime, we’ll search for an answer,” Bunce adds.

“You’ll really help me?” He looks at us.

“Of course,” I squeeze his hand. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Okay, then.” He says. “Let’s work this together.” He looks at Bunce who holds his other hand. 

“Together.” She says.

He looks at me and I squeeze his hand again. “Together,” I repeat. 

Too many things have happened since yesterday. Too many discoveries. But everything would be okay.

Bunce was the smartest person I knew (aside from myself), so I knew that if we looked into this whole thing, we would find an answer to this theory and the solution to correct the problem. We would be able to help Simon and the World of Mages. 

I was happy that at least I would be able to help, that Simon wanted my help. He is my soulmate and he knows that. He wants that. 

And that connection, our bond, could be (as Simon pointed out) the key to ending the war that they put us in since we were kids. So, everything might seem a mess now, but everything would be okay.

We have each other, now with no more masks or lies, no more pretending or fighting. We have each other.

And we would be okay.