Archive of Our Own

Ever since Raine was little, they’d been recognized for their hearing. Mostly their perfect pitch, something rather useful for a bard. But it had always been more than that. They could hear a conversation happening in a different room, and most importantly, they’d always be able to hear the truth hiding behind words. 

All of these skills came in handy when they woke up at three in the morning.

At first, they heard tossing and turning. Then, a gasp. Finally, the sound of someone hyperventilating, then slowly but surely calming themself down to slow gasps of air. 

Raine didn’t sit up in their bunk bed until footsteps echoed through the halls of the base. They were dampened by slipper socks, and that alone gave a clue to who it was. They rubbed their eyes and put on their glasses, then got out of their bed. Luckily, Eda chose the top bunk, so they didn’t make much noise to reach who woke up.

They reached the entrance of the kitchen, and there sat Darius. 

He didn’t seem to notice her, staring down at a cup of freshly brewed coffee. He had his head resting in one of his hands, hunched over at the counter. If Raine looked closely enough, they could see signs of tears in his eyes.

“Dare?” they whispered. The nickname stuck way back in highschool. They couldn’t remember the last time they used it.

Darius flinched and looked up at Raine, sitting up a bit straighter. “Raine.” 

Raine walked over to him and sat on the stool beside him. “You okay? You’re not usually the one who wakes up early,” they let out a weak laugh, trying to bring some light into the conversation.

Darius hummed, but didn’t give a response in words for a minute. He rubbed the tips of his index finger and thumb together and stared down at his hands. “Can’t sleep.”

They sighed and grabbed the handle of Darius’s mug. Raine pulled it towards themself, then got up. Darius eyed them with confusion, reaching out to grab the coffee, but not getting it before they dumped it down the drain.

“What was that for?” Darius asked, starting to regain a bit of his sassiness. 

Raine chuckled. “I’m making you tea that will help you sleep, not keep you from it.”

“Please, don’t.”

Darius returned to his closed off state, not bothering to fix his posture or even look up at Raine. They sighed and went back to sitting next to him. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Darius started chewing on his lip, but stopped after a couple seconds. “I’ve been having this… nightmare. Same thing, every single night.” 

Raine nodded and hummed in acknowledgement, trying to wordlessly encourage Darius to continue. He’d always been tricky with this stuff. Back at Hexside, they had to watch him get torn apart. That happened right before everything fell apart, really. 

“It’s… it’s about Hunter.” 

Raine’s stomach did a backflip at the name. Of course, everyone was stressed about the disappearing kids. They thought that Hunter being gone would bother Darius a bit, as it would with any sane person who knew him– not The Golden Guard, but Hunter– but they didn’t expect it to be this level.

Darius, not getting any reply out of Raine thus far, mentioned one more detail. “Hunter and Ezra.”

Raine tried to keep their face straight, but knew they probably didn’t do all that well. Darius hadn’t mentioned the previous Golden Guard by name in years . Even without any other words, Raine could guess what it was about. “What happened wasn’t your fault, Darius.”

His hands balled up into fists and he shook his head. “I was awful to him, Raine. It wasn’t even like I didn’t act and that made things worse– I took my grief and anger out on a literal child . A child clearly undergoing abuse by the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.”

Raine opened their mouth to say something, but Darius cut them off.

“You can’t even say ‘I didn’t know’, because I know I did. I knew the moment I saw his face that what was happening to him was wrong. I didn’t do a thing, and now he’s titan-knows-where, and I’m never going to be able to make it up to him–”

Raine put their hand on Darius’s back, giving him a weak smile. “You will. I know you will.” 

Darius looked like he was about to say something snarky, then closed his mouth and sighed. “You can’t just say that. You know that there’s a fair chance we won’t see him again.”

Raine moved both their hands to sit in their lap. “There’s a bigger chance that we’ll find them.” They stood up and started making Darius a tea, and this time he didn’t protest. “Listen, we all screw up. We can’t go back and change the past, so it’s best to focus on the future.” They poured some water into a kettle and let it start heating up. “I think if Ezra could see you now, he’d be proud. Really, I’m not just saying that to make you feel better.” They grabbed the sleeping tea bags and waited for the water to boil. “You stood up against the person hurting him, and you kept him out of harm's way when you realized the flaws in your actions.”

Darius kept his eyes on Raine as they moved about the kitchen. He didn’t say anything, just gave brief gestures to indicate he was still listening.

“Now, you’re going to get some good sleep with this tea, and with your newly non-sleep-deprived mind, we’ll find a way to find all the kids and bring them home. Once we do that, then you can worry about making up for mistakes. Okay?” they asked while pouring the boiling water into the mug.

Darius nodded. “Okay.”

Even with Raine’s soothing words, Darius found himself in the same situation the next night. He listened to his heels tap against the golden floor, echoing in the long hallway. He passed door after door, until he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Darius,” the all too familiar voice started, “can you come talk to me in my office?”

He knew this wasn’t the way it went in reality. He knew this wouldn’t end well. But, he still found himself wordlessly walking into his mentor’s office. 

Darius could still remember the feeling of the worn paper in his hands. The same neat handwriting, but looking more rushed than usual. He hadn’t ever gotten a last talk with Ezra, not one about his situation. All he had was that letter.

Now, his brain was filling in the gaps of a true conversation with grief and spite. 

Darius sat down in front of him and scooted his chair in a bit. “What do you want to talk about?” 

“You know what I want to talk about.”

Well, this was different than the previous times. It caught Darius off guard, making him flinch. 

Darius brushed off his clothes, staring at his lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “Hunter.”

Ezra hummed. “Yes, Hunter.” As if on queue, the door opened, and in came Hunter. “Since you wouldn’t listen to me, I thought it’d be better to hear it from him .”

Hunter and Darius stared at each other, Hunter’s eyes wide with terror. “Darius…?”

Even though he knew none of this was real, that the real Hunter couldn’t hear him, he still got up and wrapped him in a hug. 

“Hunter, I’m sorry– I’m so sorry for everything I did. I promise, I’ll make it up to you when you’re home. I will get you home.”

Darius pulled away from him and weakly smiled, and Hunter returned it. He looked to Ezra, who was sitting in silence. “You better make good on that promise, Dare.”

He ruffled the dream Hunter’s hair. “I will, believe me. I will .”