Chapter Text
There was always something new about the woods, another temptation poorly hidden for Grian to consider. It was always met with a laugh, false consideration, before easily forgotten in favor of finding his way out again.
The exit was never in the same place twice; that's just how it goes with this place. Something, or more, someone, always picked it up and moved it somewhere else. Magically, it always led out to the very same place, though the trail never twisted the same way.
Today's temptation was a rare fruit, it would make a wonderful addition to Grian's research. But it, like all else, would turn to sand in his hands the moment he found his way out again. Even so, it was beautiful, and Grian stopped to admire it, though he did not touch.
After a few minutes of walking, Grian whistled a familiar tune. "Aren't you going to come out to play?" he called, stopping in his tracks.
No one escaped this place unless 'he' wanted to let you go. Lucky for Grian, this fae thought him more of a friend than food.
"What's in it for me?" was the response, and Grian laughed, digging through his satchel. Right, offering first, exit second.
He held out a fistful of tiny emeralds, polished and bright in the scattered light the trees allowed in. "I met a wandering trader a while ago, and I know how much you like green."
Grian waited patiently; he knew how much the fae liked to taunt and trick.
"Emeralds for the exit, please," he hummed, and light as a feather, he felt someone land just behind him. They loomed over his shoulder, though Grian did not look.
Temptation, it was always temptation. The pair had done this dance for years now, and they were both too stubborn to let the other win.
A warm hand slipped the emeralds out of his palm, and the figure stepped in front of Grian, all teeth in his beaming smile. "I knew you'd come back, Allay."
That was the name Grian had offered him, he wasn't enough of a fool to be honest with a fae. The fae thought this awfully clever, and matched his own name in turn.
"Of course I did, Vex, this is the quickest way to town," Grian replied, stepping to the side of him. "Now, the way out if you don't mind?"
"You always leave me too soon, Allay," the fae sighed, floating alongside him as the path changed before their very eyes. The fae loved taking the scenic route with Grian, and he knew Grian loved it too.
"I have business to do, Vex, you know I'd stay if I could," was his reply, and Grian watched with a smug look at how much the fae perked up. He was always so eager to keep Grian (or keep his soul, more like) close by, and it was almost cute how excited the topic made him.
"So, does that mean you've finally changed your mind?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Grian answered. The years of battling these woods taught him that his words were stronger than any blade he could wield against the fae. Never yes, never no, unless you've got payment. "I'm not as dumb as I used to be, I still remember what happened last time."
Scar huffed, "that was one time, you know I would never trick you like that again!"
"Oh, do I?" Grian wondered, and he tugged out a chain from beneath his shirt; an amethyst shard hung from a simple leather thread, and the sight of it made the fae's ears turn pink.
"Uh huh, that's what I thought," Grian said, and they had finally arrived to the end of the woods.
"You could still give that back, you know," the fae mumbled, and Grian laughed.
"That's not how this works, and you know it," he chuckled, turning to face him. "You thought you could trap me with it, but now it's the only way I can even find you anymore. We both know that's not something either of us want."
As he turned to step out of the woods, the fae snatched Grian's hand, a pout lining his face. "You've barely visited today, Allay."
Grian's expression softened, and he turned their hands, taking the fae's in return. He pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, "a kiss and a promise to return. I have to head home this way regardless, Vex."
"Doesn't mean I like it when you leave," the fae sighed, but withdrew his hand. The more times Grian returned, the more chances he had to keep him here.
There was civility between them now, but the first night was not so easy.
"Leave me alone!" the child shouted, bolting through the rapidly darkening wood, something easily twice his size, or so it seemed, leaping from tree to tree, cackling the whole way. "Go away, I wanna go home!"
"Home?" The voice asked, coming to a sudden stop in front of the child, who screamed from fright. He toppled over, mud stains on his shorts as he tried to crawl away from the figure, all sorts of horrifying noises coming from the woods around them.
"I can bring you home," the figure said, baring its teeth into a smile. "If you give me something precious, I will bring you home."
The child froze and grew silent. This was a trick, it had to be a trick. He had heard of these kinds of woods, the ones with strangers who spoke not in lies but not truths either, that asked for gifts and gave you darkness in return.
He could not outrun him, he couldn't fight either.
Outsmart it was.
Digging around in his pockets, the child found little to give but a broken piece of amethyst, and he could feel the fae all but breathing down his back.
What to give, what else to give?
"I... I have this," the child said quietly, holding the shard out. "And, and a name."
The fae bent down to his height, and tilted his head in intrigue. "Name?"
Choosing his words very carefully, "a... a shard and a name for my way home."
The fae smiled, terribly pleased with this deal. "A way home it is."
"My way home," the child repeated.
Never underestimate the impatience of a fae who has not been fed in a very long time. With a hasty nod the fae agreed, "yes, yes, home, I heard you," he said, grabbing the shard before the child could utter another word.
From it, he fashioned a plain thread, and fastened the shard to it. The child pulled himself up, eyes darting around into the darkness in fear of the monsters within it. Though, now standing properly, he found that the fae was only an inch or two taller than himself.
"This," the fae said, placing the necklace around the child's throat, "will guide you home. But it won't work until you've given me the rest of what you've bargained."
The child looked up at the fae. He had a young face, still soft in the cheeks and a juvenile sort of mischief in his eyes. This was not a fae who had much experience with humans, that much he could tell. "walk me home, and I'll give you a name."
The fae frowned, "that wasn't our deal, friend."
"Yes it was," the human answered, crossing his arms. "A shard and a name for a way home. The shard's useless if I don't give you a name, but I can't give you a name until you show me the way home. Once I'm out of the woods, I have to give you a name, that's our deal."
Bested by a twelve year-old in cargo shorts, the fae would never forget this day. But even so, as humiliating as this deal was, the fae found he rather enjoyed talking to someone his age (or, as close as you could get between humans and fae,) and the human didn't mind it so much himself.
Plus, since now the child knew the fae was an idiot, he had nothing to fear.
They reached the wood's edge together for the first time, and the human turned around to face the fae. "You can call me Allay," Grian told him.
How cute of a name to choose. "Then, you may call me Vex," the fae grinned.
But the human had not thought his plan through, because the amethyst was still heavy around his neck, and as he tried to leave it would pull him right back—
The human tugged the necklace off, and threw it across the barrier. Only then did he step after it, and pull it back on.
The fae was gobsmacked, and as he struggled to figure out how in Void's name that worked. Thankfully, the human was happy to explain. "Your home is here, so this would've bonded my soul to this place if I'd kept it on. Now," Grian grinned, "it'll still lead me here, to your home, but I won't be stuck."
He blew a raspberry, and bolted down the path, calling over his shoulder, "nice try, Vex!"
The fae huffed, slinking back into his woods. Though, he couldn't say that he wasn't looking forward to seeing the clever human again.
Grian's boots slammed against the beaten path, darting in between trees as the monster's own heavy stomps echoed close behind. Void, it just had to be now, didn't it?
He was older and wiser, but ill-timing caught even the most well-equipped alchemists empty-handed every now and then. Grian hadn't even a single full vial of poison in his bag, and the beast was too big for him and his paltry knife to take on and expect to escape from alive.
Grian leapt off of the path, and whispered under his breath, "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth," over and over again. The fae said it was a spell; Grian liked to think of it as a wish.
Someone landed in the tree above him, and with a flick of the wrist pulled Grian up next to them. "Allay, it's very late for you to be out," the fae chirped, completely ignorant to Grian's problem.
"Yeah well, I didn't exactly plan on it," Grian muttered, digging around in his bag as the beast grew ever closer. "I need to strike a deal, okay?"
"I'm all ears, birdie," the fae grinned.
"I need you to kill that thing that's been chasing me," Grian explained, pulling out a small glass vial, a few drops of a bright, purple liquid clinging to the very bottom of it. "I offer a sliver of dragon's breath."
The fae frowned, "I can't do very much with that, Allay. I'm only as strong as what you give me."
Grian cursed, and he could hear the beast roar, loud enough to make him cover his ears in panic. "Void, I don't have much else on me, is this really not enough?"
"Not to kill it," the fae sighed, gently tugging the vial away and turning it in his hands. "Stun, maybe, but it would stay until you returned for it."
"That's not ideal, I don't want you to have to deal with it, either," he muttered. Then, as though a light bulb flickered on over his head, Grian had an idea.
"A kiss," he said, and goodness if that caught the fae's attention. "My first, for saving my life. Is that enough magic for you?"
"That'll do it, but..." For the first time in the decade they'd known one another, the fae seemed small, hesitant. "Is that something you're sure you want to give?"
Firsts were valuable, the magic within them potent beyond imagination. A first kiss could power nearly any spell or charm one could think of; to kill a monster was nothing. If anything, it was a waste of magic in the fae's eyes, something that despite his years of trickery, he did not feel he was worthy to accept.
Not from his Allay, at least.
Grian responded by taking up the fae's face with both of his hands, and kissed him deeply, a shiver running down the fae's spine when he did.
If he could lie, he would say that feeling was from the magic. If only.
"Now," Grian whispered against his lips, "save me, won't you?"
With foggy eyes, and resisting the temptation to try and steal a second, the fae slipped away, and turned five little droplets into a dragon's lungs worth of venom.
The beast crashed over, good and dead, and only then did Grian climb down from the tree, dusting off his pants as he landed.
"Suppose I still have to give you something for my way out, huh?" Grian asked, acting as though there still wasn't a dusting of pink in his cheeks.
"I think there's still some magic left over," the fae answered, facing away. He took a minute to contain himself, to remember that there was a balancing act to play here.
He could not take what was not freely given.
Grian snaked around close to the fae's back, and gently tugged on his hand. "Lead the way, then," he said quietly, and the two walked in near-silence, neither one letting go of the other's hand. There was comfort in closeness, the knowledge that nothing would hurt him as he walked out. At least, that's what Grian thought to be why he could not let the fae go.
The barrier appeared once more. "It's late to be traveling," the fae weakly argued. "You should wait for daylight."
"I'll find my way," Grian replied, reluctantly slipping his hand away. "But I still owe you for getting me here."
"Allay, don't worry, it's—" the fae was cut off with a second kiss; short and sweet and not nearly enough for what he was craving.
"A second," Grian hummed, unbothered by his blush, "and a promise to return."
Grian never turns around when he's walking away from the woods. Something about giving your eyes to it unsettled him, though he wasn't sure if it was just an old wives tale.
It was why the fae didn't bother hiding his loneliness, sitting down on the ground and tugging his knees up to his chest, hugging them close.
"You're not trying hard enough," It whispered. Voices that were of the forest itself, that gave the fae its home but also his hunger, a thirst that was never quenched, a curse.
"Maybe, maybe not," the fae sighed. The furthest he could get from the truth.
"We know you're not," It hissed, the trees rustling their leaves in anger. "Years, years, years with one puny mortal, and his morsels of offerings."
"Aren't you hungry?" The fae's stomach rumbled in response. "You have his heart, so take it!"
"He's nice to me, and I can't take what he won't give," the fae muttered. "Tonight was just a little emergency, he had nothing else to offer."
"He gave you a first," the forest reminded, low and cunning in his ears. "You can still taste it, can't you?"
But it was more than just magic buzzing on the fae's lips. Something that turned his stomach to knots, something that satiated a hunger no human soul could ever fill, something that the fae wanted with every fiber of his being.
"He won't stay," the fae said with a downcast look. "I want him to, but he won't. He has a life beyond here, and he should get to enjoy it. There's nothing that I can offer to make him stay, I've tried for years."
"And he's wise not to," he added under his breath.
"And yet you remain," It said with a cold sneer. "You sit and you wait and you spend your days babbling about your precious little human, while your magic grows weak and your hunger turns you to skin and bones."
"There are better places to feast, so so close to here," they murmured. "All the souls you could want, right in the palm of your hand."
"But I want his," the fae countered, ignoring the angered woods in favor of gazing up at the moon. "I want his soul but not to eat it. To hold. To keep safe. To protect."
It fell silent. For a moment, the fae thought that It had nothing else to add. How wrong he was.
"You love him." Just one.
"You love him." Only two.
"You love him. You love him. You love him."
The droning went on, from a faint buzz to the roar of a warden piercing his eardrums, "you love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. "
The fae slammed his hands over his ears, but the noise only grew, as though it were emanating from inside his own head, "you love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him."
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"And if I do?!" The fae shouted, kneeling over in agony at the sound. "Is that so wrong?!"
"He will kill you," It bellowed, echoing painfully within his skull. "He will take your magic and bottle it up, and leave you to rot with us! Is that what you desire? To die by the hands of a human?!"
You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. "I..."
You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. "I don't..."
You love him. You love him. You love him. You love him. "I don't know..."
It settled itself, there was no use in ruining its only vessel. "You know what you must do. But will it be him, or you?"
The woods were quiet today. No chittering animals, no new fauna, none at all, actually. It felt as though someone had cast a blanket over the forest, muffling it vibrancy and life.
As false as he knew this place to be, Grian still missed its deception. "Aren't you going to come out to play?" he called, waiting in the center of the path for his response.
But no one came.
"...Aren't you going to come out to play?" he tried again, slowly inching forwards through the woods. There was no real use in continuing to walk, the path would not show itself until the fae let him leave. But it gave Grian a sense of stability, so walk he did.
He whistled, he called, he pulled out an offering of freshly baked cookies, setting the paper bag on a small stump that Grian had circled passed at least three times now.
"Did I do something to upset you?" he tried, growing nervous. Grian had never faced the fae's wrath before, but he knew good and well that it wouldn't take much for him to be slaughtered where he stood.
Death wouldn't surrender his soul, but his body was food enough for fae.
"I'm sorry if I did, I didn't mean to upset you," Grian apologized, though he didn't know what for. His words hung heavy in the air, and with a sudden rumble under his feet, the beaten path bent and coiled before his very eyes, before pointing straight across to the barrier.
Uncertainty still lingering about him, Grian slowly inched his way towards the exit, looking around every which way for any sudden dangers, but he found none: no wild beasts, no poisonous plants, no hidden figures lurking in the shadows. Just your standard, lightly haunted magical forest.
He stopped at the barrier, and turned around, whistling one last time in vain for the fae to appear. "I promised you I would come back," he said to the woods, "and so I did. I'm leaving now," he announced, and took a step backwards, over the threshold and beyond the forest's reach.
The very second Grian's boots made contact with the outer world, something flickered in the near distance, and he felt his necklace grow heavy. He tugged it out from under his sweater, and watched how it glowed a bright purple, buzzing in his hand.
"Vex?" Grian asked, squinted at the shadow.
"You have something that belongs to me," It spoke. The shadow extended what it seemed to think was an arm, floating just on the other side of the barrier. "He would like it back."
"He?" Grian cocked his head to the side, and took a step back. "I don't negotiate with fae, I took nothing and left an offering. Unless you let me speak to Vex, I have no reason to talk with you any more."
"He's tired, so tired," It murmured, the dirt path threatening to break open with a low, rumbling sound. "But last night, you gave him a gift. Gave me a gift," the forest hummed.
"I am the woods," the shadow bowed, "and the woods are me. Your friend keeps me full, and I keep him alive. But you've been selfish, selfish, selfish."
Grian stepped back even more, "I'm leaving, I'm not talking to you—"
"He wants to speak with you, wants, wants, wants," It said. "But he's hungry, hungry, hungry. You can make him full," It pointed to the amethyst glowing bright around his neck, "with that little thing."
Grian tugged the necklace off, "so, if I give this to you, you'll let Vex come and speak to me with his own voice?" he clarified, and the shadow nodded.
"As you know him, he will know you," the forest replied.
With a doubtful look, but a yearning to see his fae once more, Grian brought his hand over the barrier, and dropped the necklace into the shadow's outstretched hand.
As it landed in the shadow's palm, like dust the shadow melted away, trailing down his arm to his torso and lower half. All Grian needed to see was the scarred skin of his hand to know he'd been deceived.
But it wasn't with mirth or a devilish laugh that Grian was met with, but a mournful look instead, as though the fae were experiencing regret he could not name. Maybe even that he had never felt regret before.
"I'm sorry," the fae mumbled, a broken smile on his face. "But I really needed this," he said, and with a tightening of his fist, crushed the amethyst shard into a thousand little fragments, the light within it shuddering out.
"I'm going away," he said quietly, dusting off the broken pieces, "and I can't have you finding me again. I don't think I'll be able to let you go if you do," he sighed.
"What are you talking abou—" Grian tried to cross the barrier again but found it to be solid, warping at his touch but unbreaking. Pressing his hands flat against the clear barrier, "Vex, this isn't funny, let down the wall."
"It was really nice the time we had together," the fae smiled faintly. "But you have nothing else to give me. I have to go now." As he spoke, the forest behind him started to collapse in on itself, trees and rocks and every little thing shrinking down into what seemed like nothing, being pulled into cracks within the earth. It was fast approaching the fae, and there was nothing that Grian could do but slam his hands against the barrier, pleading with him to stop.
"Wait! I have things for you, I have a million things, even! Plants, animals, jewels, secret books, hidden maps, I have so many things—" Grian dug frantically through he bag, tossing things to the ground that the woods refused to accept.
"My name! I'll give you my real name," he bargained, bashing his fists until his skin stung a bright red, shouting over the hellish noise of the forest collapsing, "don't you want that?!"
Grian's soul thumped loud in his chest, but even the fae could tell it was kept tight under lock and key. With his name, he could pull him even closer, but...
"Grian!" he shouted, uncaring if the fae wanted it or not. "My name is Grian! Its yours now, alright?! Take it!"
The word fell heavy in the fae's mouth. "Grian," he said, and knew it now to be his. But the fae was rotten at his role, and couldn't help but even the score. For his Allay, he just had to.
"Scar," the fae beamed, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. "My name is Scar."
Then Grian blinked, and the torrent of noise stopped, and he was gone. He waved at the air and found nothing blocking his path, so he did the only reasonable thing to do.
He fell to his knees and clawed at the dirt, digging and digging as though he would find his fae buried just beneath him. But there was nothing to find, and nothing left to keep. Not even the broken pieces of amethyst were left behind. Nothing. No way of tracking his fae to the ends of the world. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Grian was alone. He was alone in a rolling field, dirt caked under his fingernails, and smudged tears clinging to his face. He was alone, with nothing but a name for company.
Scar. He said his name was Scar.
Grian thought it was a lovely name, Scar. He wanted to keep it in his pocket, cherish it for a rainy day. There was power in a name, and Grian was terrified to waste it.
Scar. He said his name was Scar. It couldn't hurt to say it a few more times.