Archive of Our Own

It starts, as things often do, with a voice in the darkness. A single, powerful voice, with a lot of magic and gravitas behind it, that sounded vaguely like if an older man had taken up smoking. And this voice, this wonderful and terrific voice, said one simple thing that changed the fabric of all reality.

This voice said, Fuck.

Diane was many things. Effective mother, terror in the office, clever woman, foil to David's more self-destructive behaviors, immensely patient, and wildly perceptive. She, however, was none of these things at three in the morning, when she usually gets up to make coffee before making sure her shit is in gear for work. So when she saw her wonderful, amazing husband at the dining room table with a tabby cat on the table next to him and a man in a cowboy hat and track pants across from him, tattooed fingers wrapped around a paper cup of a fragrant, amber liquid, she barely gave it a second thought.

It was their conversation that caught her attention.

"Okay and you said this should wear off in an hour?" David asked, his voice low but not low enough that she couldn't hear him. He seemed distressed, his fingers drumming out the pattern he used to center himself.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean, she can choose to stop, but in the case she doesn't, we can either wait it out or I can maybe cast something to pull her out. Your choice." The man took a sip of his drink, his slight drawl pulling his vowels like saltwater taffy. There was a long pause between them, during which Diane managed to slam a single serve coffee cup in the machine and start it up, then the man laughed. "If that's how you want to go about it? You'd have a more direct line to her than I do. And she can understand us?" Another pause, like he was waiting on someone to answer him, then he replied, "Okay good."

"I just—" David let out a long suffering sigh, "—how do you even deal with this kind of thing?"

"Practice, mostly." The man shrugged, nonchalant. "It'll help if she has a support system, which she does, and moreso that me and Kingston and Rowan and Ricky and, fuck, even the folks down at Grammercy will help out. She isn't alone. Plus, her goddamn uncle is Santa. Wally is...he's great and he knows more than you'd expect. Plus my store is always there if she needs to blow some steam off or practice. Got that back room just for shit like this."

David let out a strained laugh. "I just...dad, how the fuck did this even happen again?" Then he paused, almost as if he was listening to someone, and frowned. "You fucked up? Yeah, you fucked — don't you 'ball-buster' me, dad this is — okay, well I don't care that you're Everything and being cognizant of that is hard, that is my daughter that—!" By the time he realized she was staring, it was too late.

See, Diane recognized the man at the table with David. Not just that, but she recognized the names he said too. That man was one of the folks that had stopped by during that weird New Years a ways back and chatted up Wally and David before walking off, looking slightly put out. The folks he named were more of that group. They even claimed to know David's absentee dad. And, while she recognized the man, she also recognized something about the cat that was patiently sitting on the coffee table, watching her intently.

There was something about the markings around the cat's face, like glasses, and their bright green eyes. Even the color of their fur was familiar somehow...

The cat let out a meow and the man, Pete, whipped his head to look at her. His eyes caught the light weird and it looked as if they glowed for a moment before they settled back to normal. He gave her a nervous grin and waved one hand in greeting. "Good morning, Mrs. Kugrich. Hope we didn't wake you?"

Her gaze darted to David, who didn't meet her eyes, then to the cat, then back to Pete, who was sweating bullets. She grabbed her mug of coffee and sipped it. Shit, it was too hot. She grimaced but nodded at David, indicating she had her sights on him. "Alright Dave. What's wrong?"

"I—" he started, then paused, smacking his lips for a second, brows furrowed in frustrated confusion, then he turned to Pete, "Would it be a smart idea? Trying to tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Oh, David, dear David Kugrich don't you fucking start.

Pete shrugged. "I'unno, man, it's your family. Your decision."

"Tell me what?!" David, don't.

"Dad?" David asked to the empty air, face pensive. After a moment he sighed, weary, and patted the chair next to him. "Fucking—Diane, sit down. You're going to want to have the support."

"Tell me what." David, what the fuck is going on.

"Okay so, do you remember New Years of 2019? How I got attacked? And what happened after?" He wasn't meeting her eyes. Fuck, he wasn't meeting her eyes. David, what the fuck?

"Yeah?"

"What do you remember of after the ball drop?"

"This, uh, Pete, along with his friends: Sofia, Kingston, and Rowan came by while we were in the Denny's. Said something to Wally about your dad? Something to you about your dad? Got Wally his new job, set you up with a quick free checkup because you got fucked up by the burglars, said some more things to you about your dad, then you cried and we went home?" Diane sipped her coffee again. She wasn't certain what the fuck was going on or where he was going with this shit, but it was unsettling. She felt like something was watching her, the invisible feeling of eyes on the back of her neck. "Why?"

Pete clicked his tongue in surprise. "Shit, ma'am, good recall. That was a couple years ago and that's more or less spot on."

David shot him a look that shut him up immediately. Pete, however, gave David a wide, apologetic grin and finger guns around his paper cup. "Well," David began and, oh, she knew that tone. That was his 'I have information you're not gonna like, Anne' tone. Fuck. "Some things you may not have known need to come to light, and it's gonna be hard to do unless you can help?" He quirked an eyebrow upward and the strange sensation of a cold drink on a warm day in her stomach washed over her. "Okay, so, uh, magic is real, and, uh, our daughter is currently a cat."

Diane waited for him to say 'psyche'. To say it was a joke. To laugh. But both he and Pete were deathly silent, their faces pulled in tense frowns. She hissed at him. "David Kugrich, if this is some kind of sick joke, it is far too early for me to deal with this! Now why don't you tell me what's really going on!"

"Sorry for this," Pete said suddenly, hand stretched out, fingers splayed, and then she could hear someone in her head.

—wait wait wait wait no Pete not yet—! Then the feeling of stepping in cold water wearing dry socks washed over her, followed by a long pause broken by the voice, gruff and embarrassed, saying, almost sheepishly, Hey, Diane...sorry about your kid.

"Oh." She wasn't certain how to feel. How she should react to all this information at once. So, in lieu of panicking outright, she opted to compartmentalize and break this revelation into manageable pieces. A nice bulleted list inside her own head. It went a little like this:

• Magic is real.
  • Her daughter is magic.
    • This has to do with her father-in-law (whom she had never met because he was missing when she married David and also, according to him at the time, he was a rat bastard and not worth anyone's time).
  • Pete is also magic.
    • He is using magic on her currently, probably.
• Her husband already knew magic was real.
  • He knows it because of Pete and the others and because of New Years 2019.
    • He had been attacked by something magic (as opposed to mundane burglars, as she assumed) and been saved by Kingston Brown.
  • He sometimes talks to his dad, like how some people talk to God; but while Pete was here, it seemed like the conversation wasn't one-sided.
    • Ergo, the voice in her head might be her father-in-law.
• Her father-in-law, this voice in her head, gave her daughter magic.
  • Judging by the feelings tearing through her, she can assume he didn't mean to and feels bad about it.
    • Tough titties.
  • From the way David was talking to Pete and, now that she was aware of it, probably also her father-in-law, they have no idea what type of magic it is.
    • There are types of magic. Presumably the type Pete has is different from the type Delia has is different from whatever it is that Kingston Brown used to help David.
    • This would be more fascinating if it wasn't her daughter, if it wasn't fuckall in the morning, and if she had any knowledge of this beforehand.
• Her daughter was currently a cat and this apparently would wear off eventually.
  • Though judging by the conversation she walked in on, she may be able to voluntarily choose to go back to being herself.
    • This is unlikely.
    • Delia loves animals.
  • How was she going to go to school if she could turn into an animal?
    • Thankfully, summer break just started.
    • Unfortunately, summer break just started.
    • These are not mutually exclusive thoughts. School not having to deal with this is a blessing. Her and David having to is a new type of nightmare.
  • Could Delia understand English as a cat? That seemed to be a question David had.
    • Maybe she should talk to Pete's other friends. He mentioned Grammercy? That place sounds good.
    • There's got to be a primer on magic for dummies somewhere.
• Wait, shit, Wally actually is Santa.

You're taking this really fucking well.

"I think...if I stop to think about it too much I might cry? But that's for my morning shower." Diane sipped on her coffee again as she spoke aloud to her father-in-law—again, a wild thing to be doing considering the fact that he was dead for a while—and her husband and his friend looked at her, worried and interested respectively.

Fair. The feeling of rolling one's neck; relief from tension and a learned habit to shake loose worries. So you got any questions for me specifically?

"Yeah, a few. Will - will this be weird?" She directed her question at David and Pete, who exchanged a look, before David held his hands up in defeat.

"I'm somewhat used to it at this point, no lie, but I think Pete can hear what he's saying to you?"

"I'm acting as a conduit so Kug can talk while he's Everything so, yeah, I'm getting all of the convo. Dave here is the one out of the loop so...that's a him thing, I s'pose." Pete shrugged and tilted his head at David, who nodded.

"I don't mind either way," he conceded, which was enough for Diane, though a weird slimy feeling of hands touching fish and feet on unseen rippled up her spine.

"Okay, one thing at a time," she managed to get out before furiously knocking back more of her coffee to buy time to organize herself.

"Yep," Pete agreed. He waved his hand and an ornate teapot poured a stream of something floral into his paper cup. When she blinked at him, baffled and amazed at the blatant display of magic, he offered the pot to her. "Lemongrass, orange peel, violets, and white tea?"

"N-no thank you. I need the caffeine." Not that white tea didn't have caffeine. She just also didn't like hot tea that much.

"Fair 'nuff!" He sipped his tea while the pot gingerly floated in orbit around his head. Diane tried to not let that new weirdness stop her.

"Okay, so this—" she gestured at the cat, which was watching the tea pot float about with wide-eyed excitement, "—is our daughter and it might be Bruce's fault?"

"Kugrash." The hard tone in Pete's voice took her aback for a second. Moments ago he had been so cordial; why the sudden ice?

The feeling of bugs you can't see crept up Diane's legs. Be nice, Pete. She doesn't fucking know anything.

"Names are Important," Pete said, the edge still there, butter knife to the machete of before.

And she'll learn. It's fine. Back off for fuck's sake. Pete held up his hands and conceded, or so it seemed. Continue?

"This," she gestured at the cat, "is your fault?"

Yeah, okay, so, yes and no? Diane tried to not voice her frustration as he continued with a sheepish, Because it's a little more complicated than that.

"Explain." She glared daggers at David, who wasn't meeting her gaze.

Okay. A deep inhale and the feeling of moments before jumping into a pool from a high dive, anxiety and determination. So fucking magic is real, right?

"Mmhmm."

Magic is real and there's a lot of types of magic. Innate magic like Pete's got. Pete tipped his hat without touching it. Then there's learned magic like how Grammercy works. There's given magic like how Kingston does it. And then there's what Delia has, which is loaned magic.

"What's the difference between given and loaned?" Diane pressed, confused. A wave of rolling wine around in your mouth lingered as her father-in-law gave it a thought.

Loaned implies a possible retraction? Given magic is like, uh...if I was gonna use fucking labels for distinct variants I'd call the given variant clerics and paladins. Their magic is belief and it can be broken, but never taken back. Not really. There was a moment of silence as Kugrash continued to sort his thoughts.

"Not that there haven't been paladins and clerics without their magic, mind you," Pete interjected. When David—and Diane—shot him a confused look, he shrugged. "I talk to the folks in Nod. They have stories of all sorts. Apparently Lancelot from Arthurian lore had that problem. His own belief was shattered and broken by his whole thing with Guinevere. Juicy gossip."

It seemed like Pete nattering on helped Kugrash figure out how he was going to explain this mess to her, because he continued as soon as Pete finished. Loaned magic is magic given to mortals by a powerful individual being. An ancient undead, a timeless djinn, something from beyond the stars, an archfae, something divine, an archdevil, or even a sentient weapon. Magic that can be, at any time if the supplier so chooses, taken away. The closest analogy I can find is the act of making a fucking Pact with something. Big fucking deal, really.

It was too early for her to be losing her mind but Diane was seconds from just walking out the door and screaming until she felt better. Instead, she opted to just inquire, "Delia made such a pact with you?"

David, who had been out of the loop for several minutes, actually jumped to his father's defense. "She didn't know magic existed, like you!"

Well, yes and no?

"Explain."

Back pressed against the door as someone yells. Eyes looking down, scolding loudly. My situation as a being of...power is kinda fucking weird. Coz, like, I'm Everything. As if he sensed her incredulity, Kugrash pushed on. And because I'm Everything I sometimes do things I don't mean to when I have a...consciousness. So I was thinking, as you do, and I was fucking thinking 'bout David and you and wouldn't it be so nice if maybe one of your kids knew me and...

"Now our daughter is a cat." Diane finished, an exhalation. Defeat, even.

There's no manual for this kinda fucking thing, yknow? So I'm pretty sure, even if her magic's the loaned kind, she isn't being forced to do nothing she don't want to do. I think my Pact with her is just for her to know?

"You gave our daughter magic—magic that lets her be a cat, mind you—because you wanted your grandchildren to know you existed?"

When I fucking exist, yeah. The wrong thing said too casually to the wrong person at a party. Throwing up without relief. That's...probably all of it.

Diane sighed, pent-up tension settling across her shoulders like a weighted blanket. She set her coffee down and held a hand out to the cat that was her daughter. The tabby sniffed then rubbed her head against it, purring. "She turned herself into a cat?"

It's something unique to my loaned magic and the type of magic I did when I was, uh, physical. He was withholding something, but it really wasn't the time to press petty details. It's called Wildshaping? You can turn into any animal you spend a fucking hour or so watching. It lasts like...an hour-ish. She likely doesn't have as many uses of Wildshape as I did. Still, she really, really fucking wanted to be a cat. I tried to tell her to wait but...

"She doesn't listen to us either." Diane scratched under Delia's chin. "Don't blame yourself too much."

"That's why I was saying I don't think I can necessarily force her back into being a human." Diane looked at Pete as he interjected. "Wildshape is like...it's not magic magic so I can't just...tell the magic to stop. Can't Dispel it. I can, however, tell her to stop it and she'd be forced to listen."

David must have seen her wrinkle her nose in frustration at the thought of Pete forcing their daughter to do something she didn't want to do because he stepped in before she could speak. "It's magical coercion. Suggestion?" He looked to Pete for confirmation.

"I could use Suggestion, yeah. Could also go snag Rowan and see if she's got Command. Maybe Kingston or Ricky if I really need to." Pete nodded in thought, the teapot hovering about his head pouring him a second—third?—cup of tea. "It's not like I'm forcing-forcing her to do something? Command is, yeah, but Suggestion is more...what it sounds like. Like how David said: coercion."

Magic spells tend to be on the nose with their naming conventions. I'll give you three fucking guesses to figure out what Speak With Dead does and the first two guesses don't count.

"Would you turn back if mommy asked really nicely?" Diane asked her cat daughter. The cat simply meowed and rubbed against her, purring loudly. "No?" She sighed. "Well I don't want to force her to do anything, do you?"

David shook his head. "That's why I was talking to Pete and Dad."

"The source of this problem." She sighed as a feeling of trying to avoid being seen doing something you shouldn't courses through her.

Look, I didn't fucking mean to if that helps. And if I could take it away I would but I accidentally contractually bound us both?

"Yeah, the Pact, right?" The way Pete said 'Pact', like a Proper Noun, drew Diane's attention. "What's the terms, aside from 'man, I'd like one of my grandchildren to know who I am and that I exist'?"

That's...mostly it. Kicking dirt, dejected. She knows I exist, she gets magic, I remain...me for more time than normal. She's got a direct line all the time, after all.

"So being known and present for magic and freedom?" Pete seemed as though he dissected magic like a lawyer, combing the terms and services for any wording he could. Just by hearing what Kugrash wanted and observing what Delia could do, he was drawing a conclusion as to what the unspoken and vague deal made between the two was.

It was impressive.

Probably? That feels right. A plate on the edge of a table, will it fall or not? Regardless, it isn't like she's fucking being hurt.

"She's a cat! How is she supposed to attend school or hang out with friends if she turns into animals at will?" Now Diane was irritable.

"Well, that's why I was offering David to either take her to Grammercy, let the wizards down there teach her magic control and all, or to let her hang out by the shop I run. It's a haven for magical and queer kids of all walks, so they can come to terms with themselves and what they can do." Pete pointed out. "I can't teach her much about, like...the specifics of magic or anything coz mine is innate, but I can teach her when and where is safe."

Plus there's the Umbral Arcana. It's what makes knowing magic is real a bitch and a half to accomplish without help.

Diane looked at her husband for clarification and he shrugged. "From what I understand, the Umbral Arcana is a large-scale magic affecting all of New York. If you don't know magic exists, you just...don't notice it. Sometimes things like getting bit by a vampire and talking to a large bird who says he's your dad is enough to get you through. Sometimes you take the L-train to Canarsie and wind up in Nod instead. Depends." Those were specific and familiar sounding examples.

Wait.

"Vampires?!" Diane's shriek of horror startled Delia, who puffed up and scrambled off, running to her room in panic.

"It was a hot mess, honestly. We can go over that later," Pete tried to keep her focused but she was having none of it.

"No no no no no, you're not glossing over this. Vampires, David?" He at least had the honor to be ashamed as she confronted him over this, quite frankly, monumental reveal.

"I got better?" He offered as some kind of placation.

The feeling of laughing so hard you almost throw up warred against her own genuine frustration and overwhelmed panic.

Frustration won.

"Because your dad—who is Everything, I suppose? I don't know what's going on there but—because your dad knew people who could un-vampire you I guess! That - you understand why that's really fucking baffling that you never told me, right?"

Pete tried to step in again. "What were we supposed to say to you? Wally did what Kug asked and took you out of the house so you didn't get hurt but like...'hey, so your husband got bit by the vampires of Wall Street coz Robert Moses wanted to hurt his estranged rat-dad so we wouldn't stop him from making the American Dream a capitalist's wet dream'? You'd call someone on us. Especially if Kug was the one delivering that news."

In his defense: it was a solid argument.

She didn't care, but the point stood regardless.

"I just—! Look...I'm going to file all this away for my shower, where I can have a full breakdown about it, but let's just get back on track. Let's - that's fucked up and it shouldn't have happened and you should have told me David, but that's—" Diane sighed through her teeth, then tilted her head up as if she was looking for wherever Kugrash was. "So you gave Delia magic and Pete could give her an outlet for trying it out and Grammercy can teach her control, but what about home?"

What the fuck about 'what about home'?

"What can we do?" Diane gestured between her and David. "We're not magic. We can't do much if Delia gets into some kind of mess about it. We're just...people."

"I'm people too," Pete offered unhelpfully, missing her goddamn point by a long shot.

Diane, Kugrash sighed, you're not 'just people' you know? You and David...you're good people. Smart people. Plus you have Pete and Kingston and Rowan and Sofia and Ricky and Esther and Wally. If one of em don't know, another of em will. You've got the premiere wizard society in New York in your corner, plus the guy who's literally Everything. You got fucking options. You aren't alone and you aren't powerless.

"I'd bet," David mused, unaware of what his father was saying, "that Grammercy has some kind of information on something about magic-proofing places or people."

"What, like wards? Antimagic circles?" Pete perked up at that thought. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not a book guy, personally, but if you wanna get nose deep in a doorstopper on abjurative theory then that's on you."

He has a point, Kugrash's surprise manifests in breathlessness and prideful smiles, Grammercy is full up a wizards and the like but wizardry is learned. Plus there's this new branch of wizardry about machines called artificing and it's built for the modern age. You get some fancy magic shits built at home and any arcane tantrum Delia gets into is a non-issue.

Genuine solutions. Genuine offers of help. Diane took a few even breaths. "If you could introduce us or, if possible, get us a library card or something so we can study at home."

"I mean, I could always ask Liz if she has any advice." David offers up. When Diane shot him a confused look, he explained, "Well, she's technically the DA for the Unsleeping City—the magic folks. She should know something about uh, whatsit, warding. Preventing magic from being used in places."

"Liz Herrera is—?"

"Yeah that'd be a good idea! She's a smart cookie." Pete nodded in approval.

"Do you just know everyone?" Diane finally asked Pete.

"Ehh," he waggled a hand in the air, "a little? Being the Vox Phantasma means I know people's dreams. It's a little bit like knowing people."

"How — actually, that's a conversation for another day." Diane conceded, opting to not ask any more questions of Pete. It was too early, she was overwhelmed, and now she had homework.

That's a good decision. Diane felt someone pat her head—or the feeling of someone patting her head. Kugrash continued, Anyway, uh, sorry for the rude fucking awakening. I don't know if Delia having magic will bring Matt into the Unsleeping too, but be ready for a little kid asking too much about things you barely understand. I'll try and tell Delia whatever the fuck I know so she can explain it to her brother.

"Don't swear around our kids, Kugrash."

Pete snickered, even as a wave of flushed skin against sweat-soaked clothing in a heat wave bristled down her spine. Hey now, I'm better with kids than I used to be! I'm not saying shit 'round her I didn't hear at her age!

"Don't."

Whatever. Pete, put me back on with David. I got some things I wanna tell him 'bout before you leave.

"Right! My shift! Fuck." Pete froze in place as Diane fixed him with a withering glare. "I mean, uh, shit - shoot!" Barely contained laughter rattled against Diane's ribs even though she could no longer hear Kugrash, the light feeling of Pete's weird telepathic connection fading away. "I should get better at that, shouldn't I?"

"Probably." For an agonizingly long moment it felt as though the world had stopped moving. Diane could only think about magic and absent fathers and hospitals and dreams. About cats and machines and feeling so incredibly hopeless. Then she realized something. "Hey, Pete?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Thank you." At his confused look, she elaborated. "You didn't have to come help David and I at fuckall in the morning. But you did, so thank you."

He didn't bring up her swearing but instead just smiled at her. "No problem. I owe Kugrash. He was...he was a good guy. Trying to be better than he used to be, which was admirable. Even if he was a rat."

"I assume that isn't figurative?"

"Nope!"

Diane sighed, though this time it was with a fond sort of exhaustion instead of irritated. "Of course it isn't. Well," she stood up and walked her cup to the sink, "you'll have to come by some time and let me know more about whatever the hell I've missed out on. That way I'm not missing information when I might need it."

"You want me to bring something?" Pete sincerely seemed to want to be a good houseguest. "Food or drink?"

"You've got the, uh, tea?" She gestured at the teapot floating around his head. He nodded. "That will work. Maybe I'll even like it."

David seemed to have finished his conversation with Kugrash, as he stood up and pushed his chair in. "Dad says that Delia dropped the Wildshape and we should go talk to her about magic and responsibility. He says he's already walking her through some of it but that he told her mommy and daddy would need to make rules for home."

"Smart man."

"Well, I'll take that as my cue! Thanks for the place to sit, the conversation, and for being real understanding about the whole magic thing. Sorry your kid was a cat. Hope your day goes good."

"You too," Diane said.

"Have a good day, Pete. Thanks." David opened the front door for Pete, more out of habit than necessity, as Pete just turned into mist and appeared outside their house. Then he walked away as if all of that was completely normal for him.

It probably was.

David turned back towards his wife and offered her a tired smile. "Sorry, again."

"No, don't apologize. If you apologize, it makes it real. For now," she turned towards the hallway where Matt and Delia's rooms were, "let's talk to our daughter about responsible use of magic in our household, shall we?"

"At this awfully early time on this horribly hot summer day?"

She gave her husband a dry look and leaned in to him. "Yes, of course at this godforsaken hour on a summer morning. Because I'm awake and you're awake so we might as well be adults."

"Even though magic is real?" His teasing was accented by him elbowing her in the ribs.

"Especially because magic is real."