Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Jumpy, Tom, Thomas, Tambourine, Regina Comet, Randolph, Artichoke, Penguin, Steve… But I think the absolute worst name for this frog is-”

“Wait, wait a second. Les…?”

Les paused, the foreign sounds of the forest sprang from the silence, the chittering of creatures and creaking of branches in the chilling breeze settling right in the ever growing pit of dread in David’s stomach. 

“Where are we?” David breathed

“In the woods?” 

David glared at Les “No, I mean what are we doing out here?”

“We’re walking home!”

“Les I, I think we’re lost… Ugh we should’ve left a trail or something.” David scrubbed his hand across his face.

“I’ll leave a trail of candy from my pants!”

David let out a heavy sigh in a vain attempt to expel the anxiety from his body.

“No, though I am lost my wounded pride resides back home- in pieces- strewn about the graveyard of my lost-”

An axe swung down on a tree in the distance, interrupting David. He moved to protect Les, his arm covering his brother. 

“What was that?” Les asked, loudly

“Les!” David scolded, in a hushed voice

“Sorry…” Les whispered, sheepish “what was that?”

“I don’t know… Let’s just-” 

David crept towards the sound, softly tugging Les along. 

“Let’s hope it’s not some deranged lunatic with an axe waiting for innocent victims, right Les?”

Les’s hand had gently slipped from David’s grasp, focusing his attention on the frog that had slipped from his grasp and was now chasing after a black turtle.

“Les! Come on, we’re going to get in trouble again!”

Les scooped up the frog and they continued on. As they grew closer the monotonous thwacking of metal against spindly, hollow wood mixed with a gravelly, incoherent humming. They peered over the side of a tree, the source of the humming, some kind of woodsman David guessed, was hunched over. His deep grey coat brushed against the sticks he was gathering. David grimaced at the thick oil that oozed out of them.

Les turned to David “We should ask him for help!” 

David immediately recoiled, help? From some mysterious man, in an unknown forest, with an axe, David shook his head “no, we should not ask him for help.”

“But-”

“Shh!”

“You shh!”

“You shh!”

“Shhh-!!” 

David cut Les off, covering his mouth as the woodsman stood up from his crouched position. The woodsman glanced around. The forest was so deathly still it seemed as if one motion from either of the boys would create a sound so prominent it would be equivalent to putting a flashing neon sign in front of them stating in bold, capital letters; fresh meat. 

The woodsman sighed, returning to his monotonous humming as he set off, each step creating more distance between him and the boys. David slowly drew his hand away from Les’s mouth as the woodsman’s humming became more distant. 

David let out a sigh, looking to Les, “shoot, maybe we should’ve asked him for help?” 

Les frowned at him, annoyed.

“Hey, maybe I could help youse.”

David snapped his head up, trying to find where the voice came from. 

“You guys are lost, right?” The bird tilted it’s head, curiously 

It was a bluebird, perched on a branch, wearing a tiny newsboy cap of all things. 

“What?” David gaped, dumbfounded. He slapped his face, “what is even going on right now?”

“Well you’re slapping yourself, and I’m answering your question, and-” Les piped up

“No, Les.” David cut him off, “a bird’s brain isn’t big enough for cognisant speech.”

“What’d you just say?” The bird peered down at David, as if insulted

“I mean- I’m just saying you’re weird. Not normal, I mean-” David was flustered under the birds surprisingly antagonising glare. “Oh god, stop talking to it, David” he muttered

“It?” The bird’s expression contorted in offence 

The sharp cracking of a twig made David swiftly turn his head.

“What are you doing here?!” It was the woodsman, his demanding voice making David and Les freeze, “Explain yourselves!”

“And that’s my cue to leave, see you guys later.” The bluebird flew off into the forest

The woodsman’s face bore a stern expression- each crease in his face, the arch of his brows, the frown lines around his mouth, his unkempt, thin facial hair- made more prominent in the ghostly light of the lantern he was gripping.

David scrambled in front of Les, feigning confidence as he stuttered out his answer “We- we we’re just looking for a way home, and we’d like to get there with all our legs and arms attached- we can just be on our way, whatever you do here is your business!”

“These woods are no place for children! Don’t you know the Beast is afoot here?” the woodsman dragged the end of his sentence into a low whisper

David tensed, “The Beast? We don’t know anything about a beast- We’re just two lost kids trying to get home.” 

“Well, you’re in the Unknown now, boys. You are more lost than you realise.” The woodsman seemed warning in his words. David shivered

The woodsman started walking off. David stood, still defensively in front of Les but with his brow furrowed, debating if his chances of survival were higher with the overly-stern, axe-wielding- yet not-entirely-psychotic-seeming- woodsman, or in the forest of almost certain doom with some alleged Beast. 

Deciding on the woodsman, he set off in the same direction as him with Les following close behind, frog in arm.

They trekked through the woods. Their only guide through the inky abyss of the night was the ghostly and hollow light splaying from the lantern gripped tightly in the woodsman’s hand. Bony branches lurched over David and Les as if reaching for them, ghastly faces knotted into the trunks of the trees. David held Les a little closer. 

The first sign of civilisation slowly bled into view. Through the fog, David could see a dilapidated mill, soft candlelight blooming from the window. He let out a sigh, at least they weren’t lost in a forest that had no shelter anywhere within reasonable walking distance. The woodsman ushered the boys inside. David had never been more relieved to experience the security of four walls surrounding him.

“I found this homedstead abandoned and… Repurposed the mill for my own needs,” The woodsman began explaining whilst lighting a fire in the hearth, its soft blaze lifting some of the chill from David’s bones, “you and your brother will be fine here, while I work.”

David stood uncomfortably near the door whilst Les continued to create a candy trail inside the mill, how long had he been doing that?

“What is your work exactly?” David asked, eying the woodsman

The woodsman scoffed, as if David had absurd amounts of audacity to even ask him that question, “everyone has a torch to burn.” He began, gesturing to the lantern beside him, as if he was proud of it. “This lantern is mine. I grind the disgusting Edelwood trees into oil to keep it lit, and that’s my lot in life. My burden.” He spat out the last word, contrasting the pride he seemed to hold.

David nodded slowly, carefully, scared to press any further. He moved over to Les, turning him to face him. 

“Hey, Les, this guy sounds crazy, maybe we should leave. If we can. But he probably knows the woods really well, so we may need to knock him out first.” David whispered, pausing to think, “Except- that would probably turn out badly…Yeah that’s a bad plan, forget that plan.”

”Okay.” Les nodded, responding at full volume

”What are you boys whispering about?” The woodsman asked, turning around to face them, David tensed.

”We’re talking about runnin’ away outta here.” Les answered, casually 

David hit Les on the shoulder, “Les!”

“Ow!”

The woodsman grunted, standing up “Leave then, but know the Beast is waiting out there, singing his mournful melody in search of lost souls such as yourselves.”

”To help us?” Les looked up at the woodsman, innocently

”No. Not to help you.” The woodsman spat. “I have work to do in the mill. When I’m finished… I expect you will have rested enough and will be gone.” The woodsman exited through a side door, sending a creak through the worn wood of the building as he slammed it.

“I guess we should just leave.” David mused, “But it wouldn’t hurt to sit by the fire for a moment… Les?”

“Yes?” Les looked up from the frog he had began to try and teach patty cake to

”Should we stay?”

Les shrugged, unhelpfully 

”I mean he clearly wants us out of here, but he also invited us here? And how long does his work take anyway?” David moved over to a dusty couch- clearly not from a century past the 19th- and sat, his bones heavy with exhaustion and indicision. 

He’d stopped talking, Les clearly wasn’t invested and he was just making his ever-growing anxiety worse by rambling about his options. He wanted to leave, grab Les in his arms and make a run for it, but he didn’t even know where they were, let alone what time it was, how long it would be until it's even clearly visible outside. There was also the whole Beast ordeal that while David was not usually so skeptic, he had seen a talking bird earlier so he was beginning to question his grip on reality overall and- maybe the talking wasn’t so bad for his anxiety.

He shifted to lie down, hoping it’d help him relax a little more. He tried to shift his thoughts over to something else, anything other than where he was right now. 

“Sometimes,” He began, knowing Les, the only one within earshot wasn’t listening “sometimes I feel like I’m a boat, upon a winding river… twisting, towards an endless black sea. Further, and further, drifting away… from where I want to be- who I want to be.” 

“David, you’re being dramatic again.” Les said absently from where he was sitting.

David scoffed, turning his head indignantly, “it’s called poetry.”

”Sarah says it’s you being dramatic.”

”Yeah, yeah.” David grumbled, though he almost wished Sarah was here, between both of them they’d probably be able to make a somewhat coherent plan to get out of here. Instead he was left to come up with something by himself…

“Hey!” Les interrupted David’s thinking “did you know that if you soak a raisin in grape juice it turns back into a grape?” He pulled a rock out of his pocket, a sloppily painted smile on its surface “It’s a rock fact!”

“Les, you’re not helping, I need to come up with a plan. Can you go play with your frog or something?” 

Les frowned 

“Please.” David said, exasperated  

Les surrendered and ran off out the door to go look for the frog, leaving David fully alone. 

He moved to sit up, staring out the window, there was a thin veil of fog surrounding the mill becoming ever visible in the early morning light. David was glad they wouldn’t have to leave in the dark at least. He’d decided they’d definitely have to leave soon. He wasn’t sure how long the woodsman would take but he didn’t really want to stick around to face him again. David didn’t know where they were going either, but if there’s a mill there must be some sort of town, he reasoned, and there’s got to be a path into this town… hopefully. Maybe he should’ve taken the help from that bluebird. 

David, finally concluding that he’d thought as much as he could about a plan, let out a final sigh, exhausted. How many hours had he been awake for? 

The creak of splintering wood came from outside. David’s attention snapped towards the window.

“Les?” He called

The cracking of breaking wood continued, but there was nothing clearly visible from where David was sitting, he moved closer to the window. He squinted into the fog, still unable to make out anything. 

Frantic footsteps came from another room, one of the other doors being violently opened by the woodsman. David whipped his head around, startled.

“What is going on?! Where’s your brother?” The woodsman demanded

“He went outside- I didn’t think he went far-” David stammered 

He was cut off by a giant, inky black mass of fur smashing through the door beside him. Les was gripping at its long, matted fur. It let out a snarl so violent it shook the walls of the building. Its fur had an oily sheen, further accentuated in its face by its glowing, wild eyes, separated into hypnotic rings.

“It’s the Beast!” David exclaimed, jumping back

The woodsman pushed past him, wielding his axe with a tight grip. The axe sliced through the bridge of its nose and it recoiled so harshly Les went flying off its back. David bolted behind the beast, who was currently distracted by the woodsman, to grab Les.

“Les? Are you okay?” He panicked, supporting Les as he got off the ground

Les nodded, winded but not hurt

“Great. Let’s go.”

Les scooped up his frog and they made a break for the door, but it seemed that the woodsman was not enough of a distraction. The beast was right behind them, rapidly approaching. 

“I don’t think we can outrun this thing!” Les yelled, panting

David kept running, looking for a potential escape from this monster. The river. Maybe he could drown it? It was better than nothing. He ran over to the river, not bothering to tell Les not to follow. He almost ran into the water wheel that was turning away but narrowly dodged it, leaping towards the water. The beast was not so fortunate at dodging, its body getting wedged in the turning wheel. 

David grimaced at the sound of its bones and flesh crushing. It made a horrid choking noise as it was squeezed by the mill. A black object coated in spit flung out of the beast’s mouth as its body was fully squashed into the mill. David slowly crept away, scared that any sudden movements would somehow bring the creature back from the dead. His face was scrunched into a grimace, not wanting to see the gore that was in the mill, but he saw there wasn’t any as he moved around it to get over to Les.

“What?” He breathed, brow furrowed

He reached Les, who appeared to have found a dog.

“Les? Where’d the dog come from?”

“The beast spat up that turtle,” Les began explaining, pointing to the turtle that was coated in saliva, “and turned into this dog, and I think me and this dog are best friends now!” The dog walked off, Les frowned, “oh, nevermind then.”

David’s brow was still furrowed “So… We killed the beast?”

There was the crunching of dirt as footsteps approached. David looked up to see the woodsman, his hair looking unkempt and his eyes full of rage.

“Hey, I think we solved your beast problem!” David called, a slight shake still in his voice.

“You imbeciles.” The woodsman began, mounting rage twisting his expression, “that was not the Beast!”

David grabbed Les’s shoulder, bringing him closer.

“Look at all the damage you caused!” The woodsman gestured to the mill, its wooden walls splintered.

“It wasn’t our fault, it was the beast-” David began defending

The woodsman cut him off “That dog? That is not the Beast! He is not some farmer’s pet, he’s careless and cunning and-” his attention snapped back to David, “You need to learn to take responsibility, boy.”

“O- okay..?”

“I invite you and your brother in, out of the kindness of my heart and what do I get in return?”

“We’ll just uh… we’ll leave, I’m- we’re sorry about the damage, right Les?” David nudged Les who proceeded to apologise.

“Leave, if you want to survive, go north and find a town. But with how reckless you are I doubt you’ll survive in any direction you go.”

“Yep. Yes, thank you.” David nodded hastily, grabbing Les, who grabbed his frog, and rushing away from the mill.

They slowed to a walking pace the further they got from the mill. The sun had almost fully risen, light bleeding through the canopy and reflecting on drops of dew, leaves sparkling in the light. David let out a breath, desperately trying to experience the peace of the forest. 

“David,” Les began “I think I’ve come up with a new name for our frog. I’m gonna call him ‘David’.”

David chuckled softly, “I think that would get confusing, Les.”

Les shrugged “No, I’ll call you frog.”

“Maybe I’ll call you… Candy pants.”

The frog croaked loudly and Les laughed 

“Nice one, David.”

“Thanks.”

“I wasn’t talking to you I was talkin’ to David!”

David laughed, gently shoving Les’s shoulder. He let the normalcy of the conversation settle into him, hoping that it would prevent the dread pooling in his stomach from worsening. 

Chapter Text

The late morning sun dappled the ground, shining through the trees above. A soft autumn breeze rustled the leaves on the ground. They crunched under David’s feet as he kept forward. He was exhausted. There were only so many leaves he could crush before the sound started grating on his ears, and only so many steps he could take before he felt like collapsing. 

“It’s late morning. We definitely should have found a town by now.” He grumbled, the worried crease between his brows growing ever more prominent the more time they spent wandering the forest.

He glanced back, Les and the frog were trailing behind him. They seemed to have more energy than David. At least one of them was able to stay upright.

“I don’t even know if this is north,” David muttered, turning his head to face forward again, returning to the ever grueling task of walking.

“David, wait.” Les piped up from behind him. David halted.

“What is it, Les?”

“I hear something in the bush.” Les crouched slightly, moving to approach the bush that appeared to be rustling. There was a faint voice cursing from it too.

“Damn thorns. If I wasn’t a bird I would-”

Les brushed the bush aside, “Are ya stuck?” 

It was the bluebird. The same one as before, newsboy cap and all, tangled in the wiry, spiky branches of the bush.

“No, I’s free as a bird.” The bird snarked, “what’s it look like, kid?”

David moved closer to the bird, squinting down at it.

“Oh.” It frowned, how do birds even frown? “It’s you.”

David huffed, “yeah, it’s me.”

“Do ya think my brains too small for me to figure out how ‘ta get outta these branches?”

David’s lips pressed together, his eyebrows creased with sympathy “I’m sorry about calling your brain small, we’re just lost and I’ve never seen a bird talk before and-” David took a breath, “do you want help to get out of that bush or not?”

The bird glared at David for a moment before surrendering

“Yeah.” It said, begrudgingly.

David bent down, carefully untangling the branches from the birds wings

“Be careful,” The bird grumbled, a thorn narrowly missing its wing. 

“I am.” David said, nonchalant. He moved the final branch away.

The bluebird, now free, stretched its wings. 

“Thanks,” it said sheepishly.

It paused, looking over David and Les “you guys still two lost kids with no purpose in your life?”

David frowned, yes they were still lost, yes he needed help, no he didn’t really want to ask for it, especially from this bird that thought they ‘had no purpose in life’.

“Yep!” Les answered for David

“Well…” The bird grinned, how do birds even grin? “Since ya helped me out there, I could probably help youse out…”

“Thank you- um...” David said, “do you know the way to the nearest town?” 

“I can do you one better than that,” The bird responded with a wink, “I knows a way you can get back home for good.”

He stared at Jack, bemused. What David would do to be back home… but how would a bird be able to get them there? 

“How’s that even possible?” David crossed his arms, looking suspiciously at the bird “how do you know where we came from?”

“Well obviously I don’t know. Geez, y’ said I was the one with the small brain.” 

“Hey!”

“But, I knows a guy who’s real good with, uh… directions and such, folks call him Snyder, man of the moorland, think of him as some kinda… witch ’a the woods,”

David's face drew even more confused and bewildered, his grip on reality was very quickly loosening with every new word the bird said. He shook his head.

“Look, we just want to find our way to the nearest town, which will hopefully lead us to the nearest phone, so we can find a nice, normal way out of here that doesn’t involve some ‘witch of the woods.’”

The bird frowned at him again, but didn’t press any further, “suit yourself. Nearest town is Pottsfield,” it flew over and perched on a sign that read Pottsfield, one mile, to emphasise its point “but I, uh, wouldn’t recommend going there…”

“Is there a phone there?”

The bird stayed pointedly silent.

David rolled his eyes, “I’m choosing to take your silence as a yes, Les, we’re going to Pottsfield.”

David tried to not look at the bird’s face as he passed the sign, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of the worried look on its face. Was Pottsfield really that dangerous? He and Les kept walking, surely it would be okay, surely-

“Fellas, wait.” The bird tried to stop them, but David wasn’t listening. It flew up closer, tailing them, “I’m comin with ya.”

“We can handle ourselves,” David called, not even turning around.

“Oh? Because you’ve done such a great job of that so far?”

David ignored the bird

“Look, okay, Pottsfield can be… weird, and since you made sure I was safe, ’s only fair I return the favour.”

David, not wanting to keep arguing with this bird, sighed, “fine.”

“Great.” The bird responded, flying along.

They kept walking down the path, the expanse of trees becoming more sparse as they approached clear, open farmland. Behind him, David could hear Les and the bird talking.

“I’m Les,” Les introduced himself

“Nice making ya ‘quaintance, Les.” The bird responded, enthusiastic 

“And that’s my brother, David,”

“Charmed.” The bird acknowledged, voice awfully deadpan.

“And my frog’s name is David Jr., but that could change…”

The bird grinned softly, “‘names Jack Kelly.”

Jack Kelly. David filed away that name right alongside all the other things he’d forget as soon as he leaves this place

“Nice to meetcha, Jack Kelly!” Les beamed

There was a pause as Les scrambled to find a way to keep the conversation going.

“Is it nice being a bird?” He asked, innocently

“Nope.” Jack replied, popping the P

“Oh…”

David flinched as his foot landed in something hollow and squishy

“Hey, Davey, I think you stepped in somethin’,” Jack laughed from behind him

David looked down to see his foot coated in rotten pumpkin guts, and grimaced

“‘Least that means we’s getting closer. Sooner we get there, sooner we leave.” Jack added, clearly impatient.

David shook as much pumpkin flesh off his foot as he could, hoping the remainder of the walk would scrape the rest of his soles. 

The town was eerily silent as they walked in. Rows of small, uneven houses were left unoccupied, it was unnerving yet convenient- easier to use a phone if you don’t have to ask anyone for it. David and Les walked softly, carefully peering through each window in search of a phone. They’d passed by at least ten different houses when they rounded the corner, to hear faint singing coming from a barn down the road. 

“Do you think the people in there know where a phone is?” Les asked from behind David.

David shrugged, looking to Jack, who had his face scrunched up but wasn’t saying anything. As the group walked closer to the barn, the singing became more clear. The harmonising voices gave a cult-like feel that didn’t quite sit right with David. The cult feeling was amplified when David meekly approached the entrance, glancing in to see a group of pumpkin-headed people dancing around a maypole.

“What-?” He began, before he got cut off by one of the pumpkin-headed townsfolk bumping into him as they entered.

“Pardon me,” They apologised, then stopped to look at the group of boys. “Say, you fellas better don your vegetables and celebrate the harvest with us.”

David gave a bewildered look, “Our?- Oh.” He let out a breath, relieved. “Oh, you’re wearing costumes.”

“Well sure, pumpkins can’t move on their own, can they?” There was something ominous in their words that only added to David’s ever-growing anxiety. He took a deep breath, focusing. 

“So they’re a weird cult who put pumpkins on their head and dance around a big… Thing. That doesn’t mean we can’t ask them for help.” David tried to rationalise. 

“Davey, I see you’s in denial ‘bout how creepy this place is, but I’m not, so could you just hurry up and ask for help so’s we can get outta here.” Jack urged.

“If you’re not comfortable you can leave.” David said, matter-of-factly.

Jack let out something that landed between a sigh and a grunt as he stayed perched on Les’s teapot hat. David disappeared into the crowd, trying to find anyone that wasn’t too caught up in whatever strange festivities they had going on to help him. 

David’s heart rate was quickly rising, the overwhelming feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be there spreading across his soul like a looming shadow. Or, maybe that was the large, canvas pumpkin head, casting a literal gloomy shadow, staring down on everyone in the barn with dead eyes and an uncanny smile. David shuddered backwards, stumbling into a pumpkin-headed woman with two short braids. 

“Sorry!” He hastily apologised.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” the woman smoothed out her skirt and then looked up at David, “say, aren’t you a little… early?” 

“What- what do you mean?” David nervously wrung his cape in his hands.

The woman tilted her head, her hollow eyes boring into David’s soul. “I mean, it doesn’t seem like you’re ready to join us just yet.”

“Join you? No, I’m just passing through, I was looking for some help actually- to leave- I-”

The hunched over form of a man, wearing an elderly gourd as a head loudly spoke up, “Leave Pottsfield? Who wants to leave Pottsfield?” 

The ambient chatter that had filled the barn moments before fizzled out, all hollow, carved out eyes on David as he backed away towards Les and Jack. There were curious whispers passing around the room, “Leave?” “Who wants to leave?” “Huh?” “Leave Pottsfield?” 

David stood defensively in front of Les, “we just want to get home,” his voice shook.

The whispers grew into harsh accusations, “Maybe they’re here to steal our crops!” “Disrespectful, ruining our party!” 

David’s heart was racing. The stiff, musty smell of old hay clogged his lungs. He wanted to run, but he was glued to the spot, closed in by the mass of pumpkin people.

“Now, now,” boomed the voice of the giant pumpkin head above. As it lurched forward, David swore he could hear Jack curse from behind him. 

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions, hey?” The gravelly voice from the pumpkin continued with a bite in its cadence.

“What should we do with them, Wiesel?” asked the elderly gourd 

“I’m done.” Jack stated, beginning to take off only to be apprehended by one of the pumpkin villagers on the outskirts of the crowd.

“Ah ah, not so fast,” Wiesel sneered as Jack was caught in the villagers grip, squirming to escape, “now, you boys mind telling us how you wound up in this town of ours?”

“We, uh,” David began, swallowing, “we came here looking for help, a phone- see we’re looking to get home and…” The unblinking gaze of the townspeople made David shake “And we couldn’t find anyone in the town, so when we heard singing coming from here we thought we could find someone to ask for help- we didn’t mean to interrupt your, uh, gathering.” David dragged the stale air into his lungs, “sorry.”

“And the gourd flesh on your feet?” Wiesel’s head ducked closer to the boys, accentuating his accusation.

“I- I accidentally stepped on a pumpkin on my way in.” David swallowed, “I’m sorry.”

“I see…” Wiesel leant back, the action not doing much to lift the fear from David’s bones. “Let me get this straight, you come here, trample our crops, interrupt this private engagement.” he spat out the T, “and now you want to leave?” 

“Y- yes.” David nodded

“You’ll never convict!” Les yelled boldly, from behind David.

“This one is eager to escape,” piped up the villager holding Jack. 

“Let me go!” Jack gritted, desperately trying to peck at the villager’s fingers hidden under his hay sleeves. 

“Boys.” Wiesel boomed, “it saddens me you don’t want to stay, especially because I hafta punish you for your crimes.” Tendrils of hay slithered menacingly by Wiesel’s side, I’m going to die, David thought. 

“So, by the order of the Pottsfield chamber of commerce, I find you guilty of trespassing, destruction of property and…” Wiesel leaned in again, “disturbing the peace.” he scolded in a harsh whisper, then leaned back once more, “I sentence you to a few hours of grueling, manual labour.” 

David let himself breathe, manual labour? “Wait, that’s it?”

They were ushered out the door, and immediately cuffed to a ball and chain. They were passed tools and put to work raking fields, harvesting crops, carting them back to various barns in wagons drawn by giant turkeys. David took off his cloak at some point, lightly sweating in the soft autumn sun. He didn’t know how much time had passed when they landed on their final task; digging a hole. Well, two holes, one for each of them that could dig. David didn’t even know why Jack was here with them, he could hardly use any of the tools provided.

David scraped away at the dirt. He strained his muscles, the shovel grating against the dense earth.

“You ain’t gonna dig anything digging like that.” Jack commented, from the edge of the hole, desperately trying to pick the lock on his own ball and chain with his feet.

David scoffed “you’re a bird. What do you know about using a shovel?”

Jack looked up, indignation in his eyes “I’s done this before. I been caught by Wiesel, an’ he forced me to do this same thing.”

David snickered, “did he give you a little bird-sized shovel? And, hey,” David’s joy quickly turned to suspicion, “caught for what, exactly?”

Jack shrugged, “stealin’ stuff, food mostly.”

David’s expression softened, “oh.”

“Don’t worry I ain’t gonna steal anything from you, what would I even do with what ya have? Y’aint got any food and s’not like I can wears ya clothes.” Jack snorted

David chuckled lightly, flashing a soft smile at Jack. 

“Hey guys!” Les exclaimed, David and Jack looked over to see his head just sticking out of the hole he’d dug, “I think I found buried treasure!”

David pulled himself out of his own hole and walked over to Les, Jack dragging behind, slowly. As David approached the edge of the hole he saw two, small, thin, ivory white objects poking up from the ground. Their surface was slightly roughened, but overall well shaped. They look like bones. 

“Jack?” David called, nervous, “did you ever dig anything up when you did this before?” 

Jack had just managed to make his way to David’s side, “Well, the thing ‘bout that is I’d picked the cuffs ‘fore I could finds out if they got me digging my own grave or not.” 

David’s eyes widened. They needed to leave. Now. 

“Les, can you get out of that hole?” David demanded, frantically trying to find any way to get this stupid ball and chain off him.

“David?” Les asked, through a grunt as he pulled himself up, “what’s wrong?”

“They look like bones, Les.” David gritted, yanking at the cuff on his leg, “I think we’re digging our own graves-”

“I got it!” Jack exclaimed, a soft click coming from his cuff as it released.

“Great, now can you get ours?” David pleaded.

Jack flew over to David’s cuff, sticking his foot in the lock mechanism. The bigger lock was infinitely easier to navigate and Jack had it off in seconds. 

“Ain’t ya glad I stayed?” He quipped before moving to free Les.

The lock on Les’s cuff clicked, but they were too late. A mob of villagers were marching down the hill, Wiesel towering above them in the centre. David froze. Sure, they could make a run for it, but run to where? It was nothing but crops for miles.

“Your time is up.” The elderly gourd spoke, foreboding.

Raw terror glued David to where he was standing, still, staring and wide-eyed.

“Them holes dug?” The gourd continued

Words had been sucked from David’s brain, so he just nodded nervously. He swore he could hear Jack trying to whisper something to him but he couldn’t register  anything beyond the throbbing of his heart in his ears. 

“Splendid! Well then it shouldn’t be long…”

Long until what? 

There was a rattling from the hole behind him. David whipped his head around, trying to find the source of the sound. His heart sank when he saw Les and Jack were no longer there.They left without me. He wasn’t left with time to dwell on that though, as a skeletal hand reached its way over the edge of the hole, clawing its way up along with the rest of the skeleton. 

“Hey, glad to have you back Oscar!” The elderly gourd called.

“He looks exactly the same!” The villager with the braids smiled.

The villagers crowded around the skeleton, passing a pumpkin with a carved face to it, which it made a show of placing on its head. Oh, David thought they’re all skeletons. He wasn’t sure if that information was comforting or made it all more unsettling. He jumped back, startled, as another skeleton scrambled its way out of the hole next to him.

“Morris!” The villagers welcomed, excitedly passing both skeletons identical fedoras. David slowly backed away from the crowd, trying to see where Les and Jack ran to. 

“So…” Wiesel’s stern sneer came from behind him, David squeaked, freezing in place. “How about you? Still want to leave?”

David pulled in a shaky breath “y- yes,” He stuttered to the figure looming over him.

“Oh, well.” Weisel pulled back and began walking away “you’ll join us someday…”

David let out a breath, confident he wasn’t going to die, and turned to scan the cornfields in the distance, trying to see if Les and Jack hid there. Relief washed over him when he saw Les and his frog’s faces sticking out between two stalks. 

David briskly walked over to where Les was, careful not to run and draw attention to himself. 

“Why’d you run off, Les?” David scolded when he reached him

“Why didn’t you move when I told ya to?” Jack retorted

“I thought they were gonna kill us!” David argued back, exasperated

“And I was tryna make sure they didn’t!”

David huffed, “well they’re not now, so let’s just go.”

The boys left the cornfield behind, finding a path and continuing onward through the forest. David was thankful for the privacy of the trees and the shadows they cast. 

“Glad we did all that for nothing. They didn’t even have a phone.” David scoffed, folding his arms.

“My offer ’a taking you to Snyder still stands. I’m going there anyway…”

David sighed, “I guess it’s our only option. What do you say Les?”

“To Snyder!” Les responded, dramatically pointing his finger in the direction the path led

David smiled, “to Snyder.”

Jack nodded, a sober look passing across his face “to Snyder.”

As the boys began along the path, David found the crunching of the leaves weren’t so grating on his ears anymore.

“Hey,” David began, turning to look at Jack flying beside him, “why do you need to go to Snyder anyway?”

Jack paused, considering his answer “Well… In a way, I’m tryna get home too.”

David raised his eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hey, I promised directions, not a life story. I don’t hafta tell ya nothing.” 

David chuckled, “okay, ‘mr. dramatic backstory’, stay mysterious.”

Jack gave David a glare that failed to hold anything but amusement, and they lapsed into comfortable silence. David breathed more evenly than he had in the past two days. They had a plan, a direction; Snyder, man of the moorland. And for now that solace was all he needed.

Chapter Text

David wasn’t entirely convinced Jack knew where they were going. At almost every fork in the road they reached, Jack stopped, uncertain, even flying above the canopy to check where the path led, always returning with a nervous expression. They hadn’t run into any more axe-wielding psychos or creepy cult towns, much to David’s relief, but that did little to quell his anxieties regarding Jack’s sense of direction.

“We haven’t seen any buildings in a while.” David commented, a snide edge to his tone

“And my legs are sore,” Les added, frowning. Les’s frog seemed to croak in agreement.

Jack kept his head forward, “I know where I’m going.” 

This was the third time David had made a comment along those lines, and each time he was met with the same stubborn response. He let out an exasperated sigh. He was getting sick of it. 

David felt a pull on his cape that tugged him back. “Woah! Les, what was that for!?”

“My feet are sore…” Les pouted. 

David frowned, sympathetic, “I know, but Jack said he knows where we’re going and… Well, he can’t fly forever. We’re gonna have to rest eventually.”

“But what if he’s magic, David? What if he can keep flying forever?” Les whined dramatically. 

David rolled his eyes, although he had spent the past hour pondering the same question. 

“Jack,” David started, “we need to rest. Les is getting tired and so am I.”

Jack stopped, flying in place. “We needa keep movin, Davey,”

“I know, but we can’t keep moving forever. How far even is Snyder’s?”

Jack stuttered, “Well it-”

“Exactly. We need to rest, Jack. Where’s the nearest place we can stop?”

Jack shook his head, “I ain’t stopping.”

David glared at him, “Well, next building we see, Les and I are. Right, Les?” David turned around to find Les had disappeared, “Les?”

Panic began to tighten David’s chest, “Did you see where he went?” He asked Jack, who replied with a rapid head shake.

David frantically scanned the area, looking for any trace of where Les went. There was a small trail branching off the path a few steps behind them. David quickly backtracked to where it was and breathed a small sigh of relief when he spotted Les, running down towards a clearing with a little red schoolhouse. 

“Les!” He called, taking off down the trail after him.

He caught up to Les at the end of the track, “Les, what are you doing?” He demanded, panting for breath. 

“We can rest here!” Les snapped back, gesturing to the school. 

David gave him a pointed look, “That’s a school, Les.”

Les rolled his eyes, “We don’t need to go in, we can just sit out the front. Maybe some kid will feel sad for us and throw us some apple slices.”

David hesitated. Their interactions with the people here hadn’t been overwhelmingly positive so far, but his legs were going to give way if he walked another step. And Les’ were, too. He gave in. 

“Fine.” 

Les beamed, expression similar to all those times David had forfeit the last ice-cream in the box to him.

“But only for a little bit.”

He and Les wandered over to the front steps, both sighing heavily as they sat down. David closed his eyes, stretching his legs out into the warmth of the sun. Les had leaned himself against his shoulder and was already dozing off. David’s eyes were getting heavy, too. A little nap would be good. He was just about to drop off when- 

“Why’d you guys run off? We needa keep moving!” 

Just the bird he didn’t want to hear from right now. He kept his eyes shut.

“Davey.” Jack persisted, pecking at his hair

“Hey!” David swatted Jack away, glaring at him

“We need to go.” Jack insisted 

“Are there any creepy skeleton people here?” 

“If I say yes will ya leave?” 

David made a point of turning his head away and closing his eyes again, “no.”

Jack sighed, frustrated. David paid him no mind. He was dozing off again when he felt something poking at his hat.“Jack, we’re not leaving yet so if you could just-”

“What are you children not doing inside?” 

That was not Jack. David startled, opening his eyes to see a woman staring down at him with round, silver glasses and authority. 

“You’re late.” She continued, “You know the rules; once the bell has rung, class has begun.”

“We- we don’t-” David began, before turning to look at Jack who was itching to leave. David turned back to the woman, “Sorry, I’ll find my seat now,” he said apologetically. Faux contrite covering the smug satisfaction he got from the desperate look Jack gave him. The woman turned and walked inside.

David shook Les awake, “Les? Are you coming?”

“Comin’ where?” Les mumbled

David shrugged, “School?” 

“Pssht. No way. School’s for chumps.”

David hummed, getting up to head into the building  “Alright, well, don’t go anywhere.”

Les nodded sleepily, and laid down on the step. David smiled as Les tucked an arm around his frog, before turning and entering the schoolhouse. The front room was small and cramped. It barely fit six desks, let alone the animals seated at them. 

Jack flew in behind him, “what are you doing?” he whispered harshly

“Joining in on this class,” David replied, matter-of-factly, taking a seat at the back

“Davey. This ain’t funny.” 

“It’s not meant to be.” David responded, contrary to how amusing he was finding Jack’s reaction.

“Young man, be quiet. I will not tolerate your nonsense in my classroom. I got enough nonsense from my no-good, two-timing man of mine. Oh, Brian Denton, why did you leave me?” The teacher lamented, “Now my father’s threatening to shut down the school, and there’s that wild gorilla on the loose… Why, Brian, I just have one thing to say…”

The teacher kept talking as Jack muttered in David’s ear, “this lady got issues,”

“Young man!” 

David jumped

“Don’t think I didn’t hear that! Go to the dunce box.”

“I-” David paused, glancing at Jack who was holding in a laugh. “Sure,” he said, then walked over to the ‘dunce box’, outwardly docile and privately enjoying the way Jack’s laughter dropped into protests with smug satisfaction. It was so small he could see perfectly over the edge to where Jack was perched, glaring at him from the back of the chair. 

He took a seat in the box, folding his gangly limbs as best he could. It was a little cramped, but much better than standing on his already sore feet. He sat there for a few minutes, shifting around a bit and twiddling his thumbs. He ran a finger over the small tally marks carved in the wood. He wondered if the kid who did that really had been in here for days. At home he would have assumed the kid was just dramatic, but here, who knows. 

“Hey, dunce.” 

David looked up to the see Jack sitting on the edge of the box

“This stinks.” Jack scowled

“I’m glad you feel that way.” David deadpanned

“Davey, c’mon, ain’t you worried about Les?”

“I’m pretty sure we’d hear him scream if anything got him so… no.”

The school bell tolled outside. 

The woman halted her teaching, “Mealtime already? Well, come along, children.”

David left the box, assuming that included him. His stomach growled at the mention of food. How long had it been since he’d last eaten? He eagerly wandered into the next room, Jack apprehensively following. 

He’d just taken a seat, about to dig into, seemingly, very bland mash potatoes when he heard hurried footsteps. Les came running into the room, hair wild and eyes wide. 

“David! There’s a gorilla out there!” He pointed dramatically at the exit.

The dining room was sent into uproar.  All the animals chattered to one another or themselves, startling at the news of a gorilla, outside, probably about to terrorise them. 

“Children! Calm yourselves!” The teacher yelled over the ruckus, her demands going unheard over the thumping of hooves and hisses of cats. 

Les rushed over to where David was seated “I’m not joking, I really saw one!”

David pulled Les closer to his shoulder, comforting him, “I believe you, Les, but you’re safe in here. If it hasn’t chased you in yet I don’t think it knows how to open doors.” 

Les let out a puff of air, expelling the nerves from his body. The animals had quieted down too, the atmosphere returning to that of a dreary calm.

“And,” David added, “there’s food here,” he shoved over an untouched plate of potatoes to Les, who sat down next to him. 

“This is so much better than being chased by a gorilla,” Les sighed, shovelling a scoop of potatoes into his mouth. He frowned a little as he swallowed. David had a scoop and agreed with Les’s assessment, as well as the assessment of everyone else in the room, if their dissatisfied expression was anything to go off of - the potatoes were impressively bland. 

David glanced at Les, who was looking around the room, clearly hoping to spot something at tasted better. Or at the very least some seasoning. The best he found was a piano in the corner where the teacher was seated and the jug of molasses sitting atop it. David watched Les stride over, confidently request that the teacher play an upbeat tune and take the molasses from the piano. As the teacher’s playing jingled through the room, Les walked back to his seat, humming along as he passed the molasses to the animals at his table. 

Soon animals joined along, tapping to the tune until eventually some pulled out instruments, an array of brass and woodwind joining in with the piano. David smiled and clinked two spoons together with the rhythm. He glanced over at Jack who was watching the scene with a longing look in his eyes that David didn’t understand. David furrowed his brows, opening his mouth to ask Jack what was wrong.

“That’s enough!” A man burst through the door shouting.

Everyone in the room startled, turning to the entrance to see a burly figure, that appeared to be ten-percent man, ninety-percent trenchcoat, filling the entire doorway.

The teacher got up swiftly, brushing her clothes flat, “Father-”

“Is this what I’ve been paying for, Hannah?!”

“We were just having fun!” Les countered

The man glared at him, “I didn’t invest in this school for fun, I invested in it to teach animals to read and write.”

The teacher, Hannah, David now supposed, spoke up, “Father, this is the most lively the children have ever been!”

“The last thing you need is more excitement, young lady,” her father chided, “this will not happen again.” 

Her father proceeded to confiscate every instrument from all the animals in the room. 

“Now, send them to bed.” 

“Father-” Hannah began

“To bed, Hannah.”

Hannah sighed “yes, father. You heard him, children, off to bed.”

The children began filing into the door at the back of the room and David was beginning to wonder how many rooms a schoolhouse this tiny could contain. He didn’t dwell on it for too long because the sight of an actual bed immediately caught his attention. He let out a heavy sigh as he sat on the edge of a bed that appeared to be unoccupied. How long had it been since he’d got an actual sleep? 

The bed wasn’t a bad one too, the springs made the mattress a little lumpy and the sheets were a little thin but David didn’t care, he was so tired he was sure he could fall asleep on gravel. David flopped back onto the mattress, closing his eyes.

Jack interrupted his moment of bliss, “Davey, there’s no way ya gonna stay here the whole night.” 

David sat up, “I don’t see why not. I’m not walking in the dark, Jack.”

“I still got a sense of direction at night if that’s what you’re worried about.”

David huffed, “Jack. I’m tired, Les is tired, I don’t know how you’re not, but we’re staying and sleeping.”

Jack scoffed, mouth agape. David glared at him, daring him to argue. His frustration with Jack had been building all day. 

He was at the end of his rope. “Do you even have a sense of direction?” He snapped 

“What’s that ‘spposed to mean?” Jack’s face scrunched in indignation

“It means you don’t tell us where we’re going-” 

“Oh and you seem to know these woods so well.” Jack snarked

“You never tell us how far we’ve got to go, do you even know where we can rest?”

“I told ya we’re going to Snyder's, I dunno exactly how long it takes, okay?”

“Well surely you knew it’d be more than a day! You’re a bird, and Les is only ten and I can walk fast but I don’t have the stamina to do it all day!”

Jack paused then mumbled “I ain’t used to being this slow.”

“Well sorry I’ve got a little brother to look out for and you don’t.” David shot back

Jack glared at David for a moment before swallowing whatever words were on his tongue and letting out a frustrated growl. He turned away from David, gazing angrily out the window. David turned away too, forcefully wrapping himself in blankets, he heard Jack fly out the window just as his head hit the pillow. He let out an exasperated sigh, deciding to let Jack throw whatever tantrum he needed while he finally got some sleep.

——————

David woke to soft light streaming through the window, directly onto his eyelids. He blearily blinked away the remnants of his sleep and saw Les’s face inches away from his, grinning.

“David! I found a way to help the school!” He exclaimed 

David was still lost in the fog of sleep, “help the school? Les what-”

Les kept explaining, ignoring David’s confusion, “They can play instruments to raise money!”

David sat up, rubbing his eyes. He could hear the faint sounds of an orchestra playing merrily outside. David’s brain finally caught up, the school, the bored-out-of-their-minds kids, the heartbroken teacher, the heartbroken look on Jack’s face as he gazed out the window before leaving- oh god he’d made a mistake hadn’t he.

“That’s great, Les, have you-”

“I know! Come on, you should see!”

Les started dragging David by the arm, “Les, have you seen Jack?”

“Um… No, he might be outside?” 

“Yeah.” David said, absently, the pit of anxiety in his stomach growing. What if Jack had left? 

The cheerful tones of the band grew clearer as they exited the building. A crowd had gathered around the stage of animals performing, many people placing change into a donation box at the front. 

Hannah was smiling, “isn’t it amazing how many people would give out of the good of their hearts?” she sighed, “not like my Brian Denton, why, all he ever did was steal my heart away-”

David decided to pay the rest of her rant no mind, scanning the crowd and surrounding area for Jack. His anxiety was building as he struggled to find him. He didn’t know where to go without Jack. Would he and Les be stuck in this tiny schoolhouse for all eternity? Forced to do their ABCs until they waste away? There was no way he would know where to go, they’d just be two lost kids with no purpose in life and-

His eyes finally locked on a tree that was a reasonable distance away from the crowd where he could see a familiar blue figure perched on a branch. He let out a sigh of relief.

David took a deep breath. He didn’t think he was in the wrong, Jack had been frustratingly vague about directions so far, but he also probably shouldn’t have argued with the only guy they’d met who had been kind enough to lead two kids he didn’t know through the woods. He started walking over to the tree, Jack seeming to have not noticed him yet.

“I thought you left.” David said when he reached the base of the tree

There was a tense silence before Jack stiffly replied, “yeah, I thought about it.”

There was another silence. David still very much wanted to yell at Jack for being so mysterious about everything. He wondered if it would be worth it.

He settled on an apology. “I’m sorry.” He began, awkward, not wanting to seem insincere, “About last night. I shouldn’t have-”

“‘S fine, Dave.” Jack held up a wing to stop him, “I know I haven’t been entirely… transparent wit’ you, and I don’t-” Jack paused, considering his words, “I just want to get to Snyder, ’soon as possible, and I suppose in tryna do that I wasn’t thinking about you an’ Les. That was my mistake.”

David smiled softly at the unexpected apology, “thank you, Jack.”

Jack shrugged, “I just wanna get through the rest of this without us constantly squabbling.”

“Does that mean you’re not gonna be as stubborn?” David asked, cheekily 

Jack snorted, “Me? Outta the two of us youse the stubborn jerk, Davey.” He jeered through a grin

David chuckled, looking down at his feet “yeah, I know.” He looked back up to Jack, “I am sorry though, Jack. I didn’t need to be so rude about it, you’re the best navigator we’ve had.”

Jack smiled, sincere, “thanks, Davey.”

“Though that scary woodsman made it some tough competition.” David tacked on, wryly.

Jack scoffed in mock offence, clutching his chest with his wing, “I’m wounded! I should leave you both jus’ for that.”

David snickered, small and genuine. They sat, peaceful, the distant sounds of brass instruments filling the silence.

It was quickly broken by a shout from the crowd.

“Gorilla!” 

David snapped his head up. Sure enough there was a giant gorilla running through the crowd, gripping its head in its hands. Panic ensued as members of the crowd scattered, trying to escape the gorilla’s terror. David stayed frozen in his spot, sure that the gorilla wouldn’t come his way. He was wrong. The gorilla came barreling towards him, he barely leapt out of the way as its head smacked into a branch and- 

and came clean off. 

Jack perched himself on David’s shoulder as they both stared in shock at the decapitated gorilla. Fear thrummed through David’s veins, not wanting to get any closer to it as the body seemed to squirm. It writhed a little more until a man’s head surfaced from inside it.

There was a gasp from the crowd, “Brian?” Hannah called, pushing to the front of the crowd

The man climbed out of the gorilla suit and turned to face her, “it’s me, darling, I was the gorilla.”

“But why?” Hannah demanded

“I joined the circus so I could finally buy you that wedding ring.” Denton answered, sheepishly, “but I got stuck, and everyone was too afraid to help me out.”

Hannah leapt into his arms, “oh, Brian!” she gushed.

The entire crowd cheered and the band launched into another gleeful melody. David stared, disbelieving of the bizarre scene that had just played out. 

He turned to Jack, “you think we should get going?”

“Nah,” Jack replied, smiling wistfully at the whimsy in front of them, “we can stay for a minute.”

David took a seat on the grass, soaking in the bright tones of the band along with the warmth of the sun bleeding through the trees, hoping that maybe it’ll get a little easier from here.

Chapter Text

“The Beast is upon me!” 

The driver of the carriage they’d squashed into the back of had been wailing for hours, the volume and pitch building with the steadily increasing downpour of rain. 

David was starting to get nervous, the damp cloth they were sheltered under was starting to seep water into his clothes. His damp cloak rubbed uncomfortably along his spine.

“Jack, I think we should find a place to stop.” He whispered, not wanting to startle the driver any more than he already was

Jack grimaced as if that was the exact kind of thought he didn’t want to hear, “I’d love to, Davey, but I ain’t even sure where we are exactly. This driver’s been goin all kinds ’a directions and I can’t fly up to see where we is in this rain.”

Les tugged on David’s arm, “I’m hungry,” he pouted

David sighed, “I know, Les, hopefully this crazy driver will realise he needs to stop eventually, and-” 

“The beast is upon me!” The driver wailed again before swerving wildly. The motion caused the boys to fly out of the cart. 

They landed roughly on the muddy road. 

“Les? Jack? Are you okay?” David asked, pushing himself up

“Yep,” Les replied, not too far from David

“Yeah,” replied Jack, flying just above David’s eye level

“Great.” David nodded, trying to wipe the mud off his face. They were surrounded by trees which annoyingly provided little to no cover from the onslaught of rain bucketing down. As David moved to cover Les and his frog with his cloak he heard something in the distance. 

“Wait. Do you guys hear that?” He asked. It was some kind of shout, far too jovial sounding to mean danger. At least he hoped that was the case.

“Jeez, Davey, do you think the beast is upon you now?” Jack joked, wiping mud from his wings.

“What? No- there’s- I can hear people.” It was heavily masked by the pelting of rain on leaves but it was there, a cacophony of overlapping conversations, “maybe we’re near a building or something.”

David wandered along the path and, sure enough, it led to a clearing where an imposing, two-storeyed brick building sat, with a small stable attached to the side. There was fiery light coming through the windows that appeared slightly hostile and an ominous silhouette staring through the glass that didn’t seem all that inviting. David pressed on anyway. He stopped a reasonable distance away from the entrance, waiting for Les and Jack to catch up.

“I’m guessin’ you wanna go in there?” Jack asked, clearly hesitant 

“Well it doesn’t look any less inviting than the rain.” 

Jack made a displeased hum, “if youse are going in that tavern I ain’t followin’.”

“Jack, you can’t stay out in the rain.” David frowned, “and with the amount of people in there I don’t think anyone’s gonna notice you.”

“You’d be surprised.” Jack mumbled 

“Jack, come on, I’ll sneak you in under my cloak, I don’t want you staying out here.”

“I’ll be fine, Dave, I’ll hang out with the horses or sumthin’.”

“Jack.” David gave him an annoyed look

“Davey.” Jack shot back a level look

“Can we just go inside, please?” Les interrupted.

Davey gave Jack a meaningful look

Jack relented, “fine, we’ll all go in.”

The group headed up to the door, David was about to open it when Jack stopped him.

“Davey, wait. Before we go in just- can you take my cap and put it in ya pocket or sumthin’?”

David eyed him suspiciously but went along, “okay,”

“An’ if anyone in here asks you why ya here, tell them you need directions to the nearest town.”

“Don’t you know where we’re going?” David teased

“‘Course I do, but I also know the crowd here and they can be… very suspicious a‘ new people, better to play innocent lost kids.”

David stopped following, “If they’re so suspicious then why don’t we just tell them the truth?”

“…Because I don’t want them ‘t know I’m here.”

David took in the implications of that response, thinking briefly that maybe he shouldn’t have pressured Jack to come in but then also remembering nothing but a torrent of rain waited for him outside. Whoever was in here had to be better. He took a deep breath and pushed open the tavern door. 

He was greeted by a rowdy gathering of tavern patrons, multiple tables full of people all enthralled in different conversations, arm wrestles, plates piled with food. David scanned the room for an empty table, the closest he found was one in a shadowy corner with a lone girl seated there. She was dressed in a grey dress, a black shawl covering her shoulders which her red ringlets sprawled over. She had an impossibly tired look in her eyes as she stared into the middle distance blankly. 

David hesitated, not wanting to bother her but also knowing he and Les couldn’t stand at the entrance forever. He glanced at Jack who was perched nervously on his shoulder, expecting some sarcastic comment from him, but nothing came. He took a deep breath and headed over to the table.

“Hello,” He said to the girl

“Oh! Hello,” she responded, clearly startled by him

“Sorry to bother you but my brother and I were just looking for a seat and-”

“Oh, of course you can sit here, I won’t bother you, I promise.” She offered, sweet and sincere.

David was taken aback by her kindness, from what Jack had said he expected everyone in here to be much more wary.

“Thank you so much,” he smiled, him and Les slipping into their seats.

There was an awkward silence between them. The girl broke it.

”I’m Katherine,” she extended her hand for David to shake

He shook it, giving her a polite smile, “I’m David, this is Les.”

Les gave her a smile and a wave.

“And the bird?” She asked, gesturing to Jack

“The bird?” David parroted, nervously, “he um- he’s just a bird.”

She nodded slowly, “alright. You boys travelling?”

David let out a short breath of relief, “yeah, we came here to ask for directions actually.”

“And food.” Les added

David nodded, “and food, and shelter from the rain.” 

She gave them a sympathetic smile, “I can relate to that, I’m travelling too and trying to get anywhere in this weather is impossible.”

David laughed politely, “where are you travelling to?” 

Katherine considered the question. “It’s less where I’m travelling to and more what I’m travelling to.” She answered

David was about to ask her what she meant when he heard a shout from across the tavern.

“Ey!” 

He turned, hearing the other tavern goers' conversations grow hushed as, what he could only assume was the tavern keeper based on the apron, approached him. He was short and muscular and looked like he could beat David to a pulp if aggravated. Yet, what stuck out most to David was the bluebird perched on his shoulder who wore a newsboy cap and a scowl, awfully similar to Jack.

He heard Jack curse quietly from his own shoulder.

“Ey, Kelly? You think we’s stupid or sumthin’?” The tavern keeper demanded as he reached David

David remained completely still, his heart racing at the unexpected confrontation.

“I know it’s you, Kelly, even with ya cap gone.” Both the tavern keeper and the bird on his shoulder were giving Jack a steely glare. David felt Jack’s talons dig into the fabric of his cloak.

“And who’s this kid? Where’d you-”

“I don’t gotta tell you nothin’, Spot.” Jack spat

Spot looked like he wanted nothing more than to bash Jack’s head in

“If you ain’t gonna talk then you can leave.” Spot made a pointed gesture towards the exit, “no bluebirds allowed.”

“Fine by me.” Jack scowled and made his exit through the nearest window.

“There’s a bluebird on your shoulder.” David pointed out, dumbly

Spot moved his steely glare to David. David cowered under his gaze, why did he have to say that?

Spot moved his steely glare to the bird on his shoulder

“Spot, no-” The bird began

Spot raised his eyebrows, warningly

“It’s rainin’ out there! You really want me ta get sick?” The bird whined

“You heard what I said.” Spot said, stern.

“You’re an asshole.” The bird sneered, exiting through the same window as Jack.

Spot wore a disgruntled frown as he watched the bird leave. The noise in the tavern picked back up as the tension in the room eased.

“I got enough to worry about with the beast,” he grumbled before looking back at David, Les and Katherine, “do you guys want anything?”

Les didn’t give anyone else a second to answer, “have you got any food?”

Spot let out a short chuckle, “I can getcha some food, kid.”

“We haven’t got any money to pay for it.” David said, quickly

“That’s fine. Half these guys ain’t payin’ anyway,” he gestured to the rest of the tavern patrons, “you want anything else?”

“You know Jack?” David asked, feeling as if he’d made another mistake.

Spot’s look became guarded, “I knew Jack.” He answered vaguely before leaving to go get the food. 

_______

Jack had uncomfortably settled himself on the middlemost railing of the small stable outside the tavern, finding himself wishing he never opened his stupid mouth. The thatched roof covered the stable, but not well enough to prevent the occasional icy drop of water from falling onto him, uncomfortably chilling the space between his feathers. He wondered how his night could get any worse.

A voice piped up from the distance, “I’m gonna kill him when I get back in there.”

There it was.

Racetrack’s eyes landed on Jack, “oh and just my luck. You’re here.” He wore a scowl as he spoke.

Jack gave Race an irritated look.

“Don’t look at me like that, I ain’t the one that ran away!”

Race flew onto the same railing as Jack

“You gonna say something or what?” He was clearly looking for an argument that Jack didn’t really want to be part of.

“Whaddya want me to say, Race?” Jack bit anyway.

Race rolled his eyes, “maybe start by explaining yaself.”

“I went off to go find help, there ain’t anymore to it.” Jack said, curt. 

Race looked at him, annoyed, “you know there’s more, Jack. Who was that guy you were with?”

“He’s no one, Race, it don’t matter-”

“‘It don’t matter’, he says. Then why ain’tcha telling me anythin’?!”

Jack let out a frustrated growl, “I don’t want to tell you.”

“I don’t care what you want! This isn’t about you, this is ‘bout all the fellas you left. Alone.”

“Oh, because you’re doing so much for them, being out here.”

Race let out an indignant gasp, “don’t give me that! And don’t act like you didn’t leave me too. It hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park, everyone’s strugglin’- everyone was strugglin’ when you was there, an’ then you disappear-!”

“To go find help!” Jack defended

“You can’t keep thinkin’ there’s something else that can help us that we don’t know about!” Race begged

“I’m not.”

Race halted. Jack knew he had made a mistake.

“Jack. You ain’t goin’ to Snyder’s.” He chuckled like Jack had just told him some cruel joke.

“There’s no other option, Race! You know that, you just said it!” 

Race was in disbelief, “so you’re just gonna take those innocent kids and lead them right in there? You think the spider’s gonna be real nice and just, what, let ’em leave? Send ‘em home?” 

“I ain’t stupid, Race.”

“Neither am I! I know what ya gonna do and, I know ya shouldn’t be doin it!”

Jack scoffed, “Don’t act so high-and-mighty, I know your boyfriend would do it for his boys in a heartbeat.”

Race gave him a steely glare, “that’s different.” 

“Really? How so?”

“Because this ain’t about him, Jack,” Race huffed, exhausted, “it don’t matter what he’d do! And you know what, I’d still tell him not to if he did.”

“Sure ya would.” Jack rolled his eyes

“I’s serious, Jack!” Race hissed, “y’ever think you should be focused on something that doesn’t involve giving innocent kids away to Snyder?”

“Like what?” Jack demanded, “what else am I s’posed to do?”

“How about findin’ Crutchie?” Race shot. It was a low blow and they both knew it.

“Don’t-” Jack paused, looking daggers at Race, “don’t make this ‘bout Crutchie, too. ‘Cause it ain’t.”

“’Should be. He went missing ‘fore all ’a this.” Race grumbled, “an’ you ain’t the only one that’s worried ‘bout him.”

“You think I don’t know that!?” 

Jack let out a frustrated growl. He turned away from Race, looking out into the unending downpour of rain beyond the tavern’s light. He had half a mind to fly out into it.

“You can’t run away from everyone, Jack.”

Jack let out a disheartened sigh, “I know, that’s why I’m not. That’s why I’m doing this.”

There was a heavy silence from Race. Jack drew in a deep breath, expecting their argument to keep going around in circles until morning.

“I clearly can’t stop you,” Race said, unexpectedly, “but I hope you stop y’self.” He flew off, leaving Jack with his own tumultuous thoughts. 

_______

David had been shuffling nervously in his seat, desperately trying to find a topic of conversation that eased the awkwardness of the previous one. Thankfully Spot leaving had eased away most of it. Katherine’s confused look told David she knew about as much as him when it came to the history between Jack, Spot and that weirdly angry bird on his shoulder. 

He turned to Katherine, “so, about where you’re travelling to?”

Katherine nodded, her look became intense as she leaned in and whispered, “I’m trying to hunt down the Beast.”

“Oh,” David said, passively, leaning back

At the same time Les loudly exclaimed, “there’s really a beast!?”

The tables surrounding them grew more hushed, eyeing them carefully. David’s throat grew dry.

Katherine gave them a curious look, “you don’t know about the Beast?”

“No, we’re, um, not from around here.” David answered, nervously.

Katherine chuckled, “you guys must be from a whole other Unknown, I live at the edge of the woods and even I know about the Beast.”

David laughed along with her, nervous, “yeah… So what is the Beast exactly?”

“He’s dangerous.” Spot startled David by appearing behind him, holding plates of food. 

“What’s so dangerous about him?” With how foreboding everyone had been, David wasn’t sure he actually wanted to know

Katherine answered “he lurks these woods, looking for lost souls and he…” She swallowed like it was so horrible she might throw up just speaking about it.

“He turns you into a tree.” Spot finished, bluntly.

“A tree?” David asked, bewildered, it was hardly what he’d expected the beast to do

“He’s oversimplifying it but basically, yes. A tree.” Katherine answered

“What kind of beast turns people into trees?” Les asked, his mouth full, clearly not shaken by the Beast thus far.

“Well, it’s not just any tree, they’re called edelwood and they have this oil in them that the Beast needs to burn in his lantern.” Katherine explained

David froze, remembering the thick oil that spilled out of the branches the woodsman carried. It had to be different. The woodsman was impolite, maybe even outright hostile, sure, but him being the Beast? That couldn’t be right.

“Are you okay, David?” Katherine asked

“Yeah, just, Les and I ran into a woodsman a while ago who was doing exactly what you just described.”

Fear and recognition sparked in Katherine’s eyes, her voice grew hushed “the woodsman, what did he-”

Spot cut her off, holding up a stern hand. “Youse need to stop. You’re scaring my customers.”

David suddenly noticed the lack of noise coming from the rest of the tavern, who seemed to be listening intently to their conversation.

“Sorry.” David said, meek.

Katherine held her mouth open, as if she was about to protest. She clearly decided against it, closing her mouth in an impatient frown.

David started eating his food, it was just a simple roast with a few vegetables and lamb but compared to the bland potatoes at the schoolhouse it was heavenly. He could see why Les had been shovelling it into his mouth ever since it was placed in front of him.

“So,” Katherine began, switching the topic of conversation, “I get the feeling you weren’t telling me everything about the bird.”

David sighed, “there’s not really much to say. He does have a name, it’s Jack, but other than that… I’ve only known him for a few days, I get the feeling he isn’t telling me everything, honestly.”

Spot grunted, David couldn’t tell if it was in agreement with him or not. 

David continued, “he’s been Les and I’s guide through the woods, though. I think I can trust him. I mean, we’re not dead yet…” He laughed uncomfortably, nobody else joining in.

“Are you boys going anywhere in particular?” Katherine asked

“We’re going to find Snyder, the man of the moorland. Jack said he can help us get home-”

Spot bashed his fist against the table, causing the cutlery and plates to rattle roughly. He let out a harsh sigh that bordered on being a grunt and glared, directionless, towards the centre of the table. David remained still, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. He didn’t get a chance to ask because Spot left, his heavy footsteps resonating up the wood staircase in the opposite corner of the room. 

David shot Katherine a questioning look.

Katherine shrugged and shook her head.

The wordless interaction made him briefly think of his sister and their wordless glances exchanged at the family dinner table. God, he wished he could talk to her.

They all stayed in silence for a moment, both David and Les finishing their meals.

“David,” Katherine began, breaking the silence with her slightly hushed voice, “earlier, about the woodsman, what did he look like?”

David shrugged, “he looked kind of old, had a short beard. He wore a really dark grey coat. I don’t really remember, sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay, that just sounds like my da-”

Jack’s scream wailed from outside the tavern. David stood up swiftly.

“Jack!” He exclaimed, looking in the direction of the door. He briefly glanced back at Katherine.

“Go find him.” She said, reassuring.

David nodded, looking at Les who had already gotten up to leave, frog in arms. They both hurried towards the exit, hearing Katherine’s encouraging “good luck!” As they left the tavern. 

The rain had let up significantly but soft drops still seeped their way into David’s cloak. 

“Jack?” He called, there was no response but a shadowy movement in the trees. He took a deep breath and turned to the stable. Great time to learn how to ride a horse, he thought, wryly, unlocking the stable gate and jumping onto the horse’s back. It was bumpy and uneven but the horse seemed to be cooperative. He scooped Les and his frog up onto the horse and charged in the direction of the movement. 

He tried to level out his breathing. Logically there would be no reason for anyone to kill a bluebird, hopefully. He tried not to dwell on that hopefully. Jack was small and crafty as hell and had probably gotten away by now. He really hoped Jack wasn’t dead.

David gasped as he saw Jack’s small body sprawled limply on a tree root. Oh god was he getting turned into an Edelwood tree? 

“Jack!” He exclaimed, the horse skidding to a halt as he ungracefully dismounted it, almost falling to the ground.

He moved to run over to Jack, stopped by a commanding voice behind him.

“What are you doing here, boy?” 

David turned to see the woodsman, his harsh features full of imposing anger, “it’s you!” David exclaimed.

“Did I not tell you these woods are no place for children?” 

David was paying no mind to his words, only the lantern by his side. He glanced between the lantern and Jack. 

“You were the Beast all along.” David realised. The woodsman’s face shifted into a deep scowl.

David scooped up Jack, hands shaking as he tried not to panic over how limp Jack’s body was. He stole a brief glance up at the tree Jack was lying on. It was leaking thick oil from what appeared to be a face, its expression one of agonising pain and despair. David shuddered. Edelwood. 

He bolted back to the horse, which Les had taken the reigns of. David knocked the woodsman’s lantern and sent the tree up in flames.

“What have you done?!” The woodsman demanded. 

David mounted the horse and gave him a cold look as they rode off.

________

Race watched the boy ride away from the tavern from one of the second storey’s windows. Spot had let him in after he came upstairs, feeling bad that he left his boyfriend out in the rain for so long. 

Race was mad at Jack- no, he was more than that, he was pissed and felt betrayal so raw that he’d never felt before- but deep down he hoped they’d find him and he’d be okay. Jack was family and he wasn’t sure that he’d cope with losing any more.

“But did you manage to convince him not to do it?” Spot asked from behind him.

Race scoffed. “No. He’s stubborn, an’ I hate him.”

Spot didn’t say anything but Race could tell that he didn’t fully believe him. Race didn’t blame him, he didn’t believe himself either.

“But I don’t-” Race made a frustrated noise, “I hope he does the right thing.”

He didn’t even know what the right thing was. No one deserved to face Synder, but his friends, his family didn’t deserve to stay bluebirds forever. 

Race sighed heavily and Spot reached to carefully stroke the feathers on his back. He didn’t want this forever, but at least he had someone who, somehow, made it a little more comfortable.

________

“-ck? Jack, are you okay?”

Jack’s head was throbbing as he strained to remember where he was and what he last did. He remembered the argument with Race and the overwhelming feeling to run away and oh, right. The tree. He’d ran off and flown into a tree.

“Jack?” He could hear the concern in Davey’s tone.

Jack let out a weak groan, not sure if he was able to string a coherent sentence together yet. He slowly pried his eyes open to see Davey’s worried expression shifting to one of relief.

“Oh, thank god you’re alive,” Davey breathed

“Urghh…” Was all Jack managed to respond with. He looked around, beginning to register his surroundings which seemed to be flying past him. They were moving. And he was currently resting in Davey’s hands. Oh.

He shifted uncomfortably at this realisation. His hold wasn’t restrictive in any way, it was - if Jack was being completely honest with himself- quite gentle, nice even. His broad palms providing ample space for Jack to sit. But he wasn’t prepared for Davey’s concern, he didn’t deserve this. This care from Davey, it wasn’t how it was meant to go.

“Stop moving so much!” Davey scolded, pulling Jack away from his thoughts, “you clearly hurt yourself, I don’t want you to do anymore damage.”

Jack scoffed, although it came out as more of a breath, “‘m fine.” 

Davey rolled his eyes, concern still painted his features, “sure you are.”

Jack settled into a more comfortable position, a small frown coming across his face.

“Seriously though, Jack, what happened?” Davey asked

“Nothin’, Davey, I just thought I saw somethin’ and flew into a tree.”

Davey snorted, “and I’m meant to trust you with directions.”

Jack grinned back at him, “that was your mistake then,” he glanced around, “but do you guys ‘achlly know where you’re goin’?”

“Yeah, Les got directions from Fred.”

“Fred?” Jack furrowed his brow, he didn’t know any Fred.

“That’s the horse,” Davey explained. 

“Hello,” said the horse

Davey elaborated, “Turns out Les is not only really good at riding horses but also talking to them.” 

Jack pulled a face.

Davey grinned, “yeah, I know, why trust the talking horse? But I trust the talking bird, so…”

“Ey! I am way more trustworthy than some random horse.” Jack batted gently at Davey

Davey laughed and Jack couldn’t help but smile back. 

Chapter Text

“Yes, after my father disappeared I took hold of his tea empire, Tribune Tea.”

They’d been sitting at an overly ornate table listening to some guy, Darcy Reid he had introduced himself as, talk about his life for about an hour now. David glanced at Jack, who had given him no context as to why they were here, with an impatient look. 

“That sounds nice!” Les replied positively

“It was never really my… cup of tea.” Darcy joked, Les laughed along while both David and Jack gave him a polite chuckle.

Darcy sighed, forlorn, “it gets so lonely in this mansion. It’s so big sometimes I don’t even know where I am.”

“Well aintcha glad yer, uh, cousins dropped by?” Jack asked 

“Yes, I am very grateful indeed!” Darcy smiled back, blissfully unaware of Jack’s lie.

Les and Darcy continued talking. David turned to Jack.

“Why are we pretending to be this guy's cousins?” He whispered 

“Because we’s broke, Davey. We need his money for the ferry.” Jack answered

“We’re stealing from him?” David was unimpressed 

Jack scoffed. “Well s’not like you got a better plan.”

David gave Jack an unconvinced look.

“C’mon, Dave, this guy’s clearly got more money than he knows what to do with, I don’t think he’s gonna miss a coupla’ pennies.”

David chuckled at that, conceding, “so where do we find the money?”

Jack hesitated, “I uh… Hadn’t got that far yet.”

David rolled his eyes, failing to put any real annoyance behind it.

“Hey, Darcy, would we be able to get a tour of the mansion?” David asked

“Oh! Gladly!” Darcy complied with a smile

Les cheered. 

They all got up from the table, Darcy saying something about staying close behind him because the mansion is quite the maze and he wouldn’t want them to get lost and- Jack spoke over him. 

“What’d you do that for?” Jack whispered 

“Well, there weren’t any coins in that room,” David answered, “and he’s got to have some loose change somewhere.” 

Jack grinned at him, “maybe youse the brains of this operation, Davey.”

“Is that news?” David quipped. Jack gave him a look of mock offence that melted into a smile. David smiled back. 

They were led through the mansion, Darcy providing small amounts of commentary on the history of the mansion that seemed to grow increasingly nervous and hesitant the further they got.

“Why don’t we return to the parlour?” Darcy asked, stopping in the middle of a large hallway, sweat glistening on his brow.

“What’s wrong?” Les asked

“You’ll think I’m crazy…” Darcy stalled.

David scoffed. With what he’d seen in the Unknown he wasn’t sure there was anything Darcy could say that would make David question his sanity. 

“Tell us!” Les pressured, full of anticipation, his frog croaked in agreement.

“Oh, alright then. It started back when I was wandering the mansion a few nights ago and I found myself in a room I didn’t recall ever being there. And in the room there was this portrait of a boy and he looked so… refined.” He shook his head, “I stared at it until I was startled by something moving, and I swear I could have heard a voice but… No, I fear there’s a ghost in the mansion.”

Les gasped. 

Jack let out a huff of air, “jeez, this guys dramatic.” He whispered to David. David gave him a glance in agreement.

“Anyway I’m sure you guys would rather return to where it’s safe.” Darcy was clearly eager to leave. 

“Aw,” Les frowned, “but I want to see the ghost!” 

“See the ghost?” Darcy quivered

“What if they’re really nice?” Les asked, pleading

Darcy was unsure but caved anyway, “alright, I’m sure we can locate the portrait at least.”

“To the portrait!” Les cheered. 

David moved to follow them when Jack yanked on his cloak.

“What?” David asked, smoothing his cloak back out

“We can search these rooms while they’s distracted.” Jack gestured to the doors lining the hallway. 

“Okay.” David nodded.

They both crept into the closest room, leaving the door open to let some light in. It appeared to be a bedroom, very ornately decorated, in the same style as the dining room they were in earlier. Jack began checking around the floor while David checked the drawers of furniture. It was so unsettlingly impersonal, all the furnishings were there to imply that someone lived there but there was not one piece of evidence, not one photograph, stray article of clothing or worn letter to prove that anyone had ever even been in that room before them. David shuddered, continuing to look through drawers. 

“Well, I got nothin’.” Jack said, giving up

“Same here,” David sighed, closing the final drawer on the cabinet he was inspecting.

“Did you check the wardrobe?”

“No…” 

David had just opened the door on the wardrobe when he heard Darcy’s voice in the distance.

“Shit. He’s back.” Jack cursed, “get in Davey!” 

David squeezed himself into the small wardrobe, waiting for Jack to dart in before letting the door slam shut. 

It was dark and dusty, long coats brushed uncomfortably against David’s face. They both sat in silence for a moment.

“Do you think he’s gone?” David whispered after he felt they’d waited long enough.

Jack shrugged. David moved to push the door open with his foot. He pushed it gently at first, not wanting to make any noise, it didn’t move. He let out a huff and pushed harder. Nothing. 

“What is it, Dave?” Jack asked, impatient.

“We’re stuck.” David grunted, still pushing against the door, this time with his shoulder.

“Seriously?”

David stopped straining to open the door, letting out a breath, “seriously.” 

“Jesus.” Jack huffed, “Well, might as well look for coins while we’s here.”

The lack of light made it hard to tell where David’s hands were but he felt around the coats.

“I don’t think these have pockets.” He said, disappointed

“Check the lining, someone coulda sewed money into the fabric.” 

David compiled but raised his eyebrow, “do people even still do that?” 

“I did it on my clothes.” Jack defended 

David chuckled, “do you have a little bird-vest to go with your bird-cap?” He gasped, “Jack, are you hiding money in your cap?”

“What? No. My clothes when I was human.”

David went silent. His eyebrows creased with confusion, “you used to be human?”

“Yeah. Now can you just look for the damn coins.” Jack was clearly being evasive. David wasn’t having a bar of it.

“Jack.” His voice was stern, but it was laced with concern

“Davey.” Jack was blunt

“You used to be human.” David pressed

“I just toldja that, yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t gotta tell you my life story.”

“Okay.” David backed off. His attention switched to the faint blow of air he could feel near his ankles.

“Jack, are you breathing on my leg?” He asked

“No I ain’t breathing on your leg, why would you ask-?”

“I think there’s an exit near there, I can feel a breeze.”

Jack weaseled his way through the coats to where David’s feet rested. A cool breeze blew over his feathers. 

“There’s definitely an exit, its blocked by a panel though.”

David reached over and shifted the panel, faint light poured out onto his face, he squinted as his eyes adjusted. They both shuffled out of the hole which led to a small cellar. 

David began to question Jack again, “so, about the whole bluebird thing-”

Jack cut him off. “Why don’t you tell me one of your secrets?”

“My secrets are too secret.” David said, crossing his arms.

“Sounds like you’re just avoidin’ the question.” Jack accused

“And you aren’t?” 

Jack hesitated, “okay. I threw a rock at a bluebird and it cursed my whole family to turn into bluebirds, happy?”

David paused, shocked. His whole family? He couldn’t imagine the guilt he’d feel if he did that to his own. If Les or Sarah or his parents were stuck as bluebirds. 

“At the tavern, was that bluebird-?”

“That was Racetrack, he’s my brother. In a way.”

“In a way?” 

“We ain’t family by blood or nothin’ but… We’s grown up together, all us boys have and we’s family in that way.”

David nodded. He couldn’t even fathom what Jack was dealing with.

“Is that why you’re going to Snyder?” David asked, his voice soft, “to fix things?”

“Yeah, that was the plan, but-” Jack hesitated, “that was the plan.”

They stood in silence for a moment, David wished he could give Jack a hug or hold his hand or do anything to comfort him but he was a bird and probably didn’t want to be scooped up into his hands based on how he reacted last time.

“I’m so sorry, Jack.” He decided on, his brow creased with sympathy.

Jack muttered, “thanks, Davey.” He drew in a shaky breath, had he been crying? “I jus’- I can’t go back to them until I’s fixed this.”

“Hey,” David’s voice was impossibly soft, he crouched against the wall to be closer to where Jack was on the floor, “I’ll help, Jack. Whatever I can do I’ll do it.” 

Jack turned his back to David, his small figure shaking slightly, “yeah… Thanks.”

They sat like that for a while, David hesitant as to what to say. Jack drew in a deep breath, wiping his face with his wing and turned to David. 

“‘Nuff ‘bout me, what’s your secret, Davey?”

David was taken aback by the question, “Honestly, I don’t actually have any.” 

“What? No way, I just poured my heart out, you gotta give me somethin’ in return.”

David wracked his brain, “I play clarinet?” He shrugged.

Jack looked at him with an amused look, “that ain’t really a dark secret, Dave. Or a secret at all. C’mon there ain’t a pretty girl you got an embarrassing crush on?”

David felt his face flush, embarrased, “no! No definitely not.” He shook his head, “I don’t even like girls. Well, not like that, obviously I like girls but-”

Jack laughed, “Davey, ‘s okay, I know whatcha mean.” 

David nodded firmly, “good.”

“But you seriously don’t have any secrets. None at all?” 

David faltered, there was his crippling insecurities, but- Well, he barely told Sarah about those, though he was sure she could tell, but he couldn’t just let loose about them now. He trusted Jack, though.

“I guess I-” He began, drawing in a breath, “I guess I worry no ones gonna like me.” He sighed, leaning his head heavily against the stone wall.

Jack snorted, “why d’ you worry ‘bout that?” 

 “I don’t know. Because I’m weird. I play clarinet, I like weird poetry. I’m not very good at hanging out with people, talking…”

“Whaddya call this, then?” 

“We were locked in a closet, Jack, that’s different.”

Jack hummed, “Don’t feel different to me…”

David shrugged, Jack had a point, but the never ending whirlpool of anxiety in his mind seemed to beat out logic every time. He wasn’t sure he could ever believe he’s good at talking to others, good at connecting.

“And for what it’s worth, Davey,” Jack looked him in the eyes, his gaze full of an affection that was alien to David, “I like talking to ya.” Jack butted his head against David’s fist, gently.

David smiled, letting out a breathy laugh, “thank you, Jack.” 

“And I ain’t just sayin that to be nice, ‘cause I didn’t promise nice when we started this. I really mean it, Daves.”

David chuckled, “I know, I know… Thanks.” Maybe he could believe it just this one time.

“Alright, ‘nuff with the sappy. We need to get outta here.” Jack flew up off the ground and looked over to a hole in the wall where light was coming through, “this way, Dave.” 

David picked himself up and pulled himself through the hole. It bought him and Jack into an open sitting room with noticeably different architecture.

“Does this room feel different to you?” David asked

Jack nodded, “yeah, it looks more… curved?”

“I think the style is completely different. It's much more Gothic compared to the Georgian look Darcy has going on.” 

“When did you become a buildin’ expert?”

“I told you I have weird interests- wait.” David gasped, coming to a realisation.

“What?”

“I think I know who Darcy’s ghost was.”

David wasn’t given a chance to explain himself because Les and Darcy came bursting through the door.

“Wh- who’s there!?” Darcy demanded.

David held up his hands, “it’s just us!”

“David?” Les looked thoroughly confused, “how’d you get here?” 

“It’s a long story- but Darcy- I know who your ghost is.”

David wasn’t given time to explain himself as a person entered the room, a young man dressed in a well pressed suit and a startled expression. David turned to Darcy who wore a fearful expression that was very similar.

“What do you want with me, spirit?” Darcy’s voice quivered

“Spirit?” The young man looked confused, “but you’re the ghost?” 

Darcy stammered, “I can assure you I am flesh and blood,” he seemed to grow more calm, realising he was not talking to a ghost, “and I welcome you to my humble abode.” 

“But, this is my home.” The young man replied 

“How is that possible?” Darcy asked

“Come, I’ll show you.” David said, catching their attention.

They winded their way through the corridors of the mansion, the mishmash of architectural styles seeming ever more noticeable now that David was aware. Coming out of wide wooden doors they entered a tea garden with plants climbing up the cobblestone walls.

“Here,” The young man began, moving plants away to gesture to a gold plaque attached to the stone wall, “this is my father’s tea garden for his tea company.” 

“You’re William Hearst Jr?” Darcy was shocked, “but this is my father’s tea garden for his tea company.” Darcy pulled aside plants on the wall he was standing in front of to reveal a similar gold plaque, Tribune Tea embossed on it in ornate letters.

“Tribune Tea?” The young man looked like he was processing. 

David cut in, “your mansions are so big that they’re connected,” he explained.

“So that handsome ghost…” Darcy began

“That dashing specter…” Bill continued

They came together, holding eachothers hands. “Was actually just my father’s business competitor's son?” They finished together.

“Thas’ a mouthful.” Jack muttered. David agreed but smiled anyway, glad to see the two boys happy.

__________

They eventually departed from the mansion, stopping briefly in the over-decorated, borderline hedge-maze of a courtyard to say their goodbyes.

“This is sweet, but we didn’t get any money.” Jack said as Les and Darcy were saying their farewells.

David sighed, disappointed, “do you think we could just ask for some?”

Jack’s face scrunched up at the idea.

“Yeah, I don’t want to ask either.” 

“Davey, what if we-” Jack began before stopping

“We what?”

“Nevermind, ‘s nothin.” 

“Okay…” David’s brows knitted together.

He was about to press Jack on what he was going to say when Les walked over to them, waving his final goodbyes to Darcy and Bill. David waved goodbye to Darcy and Bill too, letting out a half-hearted “thank you”.

He turned to Jack, giving him a determined look, “we’ll find a way, Jack.”

Jack gave him an unconfident smile and an unsure, “yeah, I’m sure we will.”

David’s determination waivered, confused by Jack’s apprehension, but remained nonetheless. They were going to make it to Snyder’s, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

The gentle breeze blew through David’s hair as he leaned over the edge of the ferry, watching the steady current of the river trail behind them. After a small amount of protest from Jack, who’s unease confused Davey, they had snuck onto the ferry and were well on their way to Snyder’s. To home. 

The frog passengers of the ferry croaked conversationally, all milling about the deck, dressed in tailored suits and lacy dresses. Les idly chatted to his frog too, who he had currently named ‘Benjamin Franklin’, and was now making some fuss about how he’s nude unlike all the other frogs.

Jack sat quietly on the railing David leant against. David let out a breath, letting the tension in his body leave. Well, almost all the tension. Jack had been uncharacteristically quiet since they had boarded the ferry, David didn’t blame him, there wasn’t really much to say. They were almost home, they’d never see eachother again, but it was too early for the goodbyes they knew were coming.

David turned to Jack who looked like a kicked puppy. He frowned, concerned.

“I bet you’ll be glad to have Les and I out of your hair.” David joked to Jack

“What?” Jack turned his head to David

“Well, I guess it would be out of your feathers,” David rambled, “hopefully not for long, though.” 

Jack let out a faint laugh, “yeah, hopefully.” He turned away from David, returning to staring glumly into the distance.

David felt a knot grow in his chest. “Jack-” he began.

A whistle sharply cut him off. He whipped his head around to see two frogs, standing tall, dressed in neatly pressed police uniforms and looking angry.

“Oh jeez,” Jack grimaced

“You don’t think they could be after someone else?” David asked, already knowing the answer

“Nope,” Jack answered quickly, “run!” 

They bolted past the police frogs, weaving their way through the crowd of frogs.

“They’re after us because the president is nude!” Les exclaimed

David didn’t bother getting into the fact that Benjamin Franklin wasn’t a president, he was too busy heaving air into his lungs.

Jack wasn’t so easily stopped, “it’s probably because we snuck on without paying,” he argued, giving David a pointed look. 

David let out a small scoff, what’s the worst that would happen if they were caught? They’d get kicked off the ferry? They would have to walk if they didn’t sneak on anyway. He was honestly shocked Jack didn’t agree.

They ran into a small supply room, David quickly shutting and locking the door behind them. There was a rattle at the door as the police frogs outside tried to open it.

“We ain’t spending the whole ferry ride in here.” Jack said

“Why not?” David asked

“‘Cause the cops are waitin’ at the door for us an’ someone’s gonna need what’s in here eventually.” 

David huffed. Jack had a point. “You got any better ideas?” 

Jack sighed, they both looked around the room for anything that could get them out, all there was was orchestral instruments and a tall hat with a short brim that looked like it could be part of some band uniform.

Les hummed, “David, give me your coat.” 

“Why?” David was confused but began unbuttoning it to hand over.

“Just trust me.”

They exited the supply room with Benjamin Franklin sitting on David’s shoulders, the band hat atop his head and David’s cloak over his shoulders to hide David underneath it. Les was hiding behind a large bass drum he was carrying while Jack hid with David in the cloak. 

David awkwardly stumbled away from the officers, who were too stunned by the whole situation to do anything, and over to the stage.

“Davey, you’re not actually gonna take us onstage, right?” Jack whispered 

David was about to say “no” but was given no choice as he was shoved onto the stage by a very impatient looking frog. There was a somewhat large crowd of frogs surrounding the stage, eagerly awaiting the orchestra's performance. David swallowed, dryly. 

The conductor motioned to begin the piece. 

“David, drum me!” Les commanded in a whisper

David pulled in a deep breath, lifting the drumstick and accidentally whacking the frog beside him. The frog collapsed from the impact, dropping its bassoon with it. David grimaced, sinking further into the cloak.

The crowd of frogs erupted in a series of enraged croaks.

“Those frogs must really love bassoon.” David cringed 

“Play it!” Les yelled over the uproar of frogs

“What?” David stammered “I can’t play bassoon, I- I don’t have the embouchure for bassoon-” 

Jack cut him off. “No, Davey, Les is right, you should play it.”

“Jack, nobody wants to hear that.” 

“I do…” Jack replied, softly.

David remained frozen, tense with nerves that didn’t allow him to reach for the instrument.

“Dave, look at me.” Jack said. David turned his head to see Jack smiling gently at him, belief in his eyes, “you can do this.” 

David drew in a deep breath and reached for the bassoon. 

He adjusted his grip on the instrument and began to play. He started with trepidation, squeaking through a few notes as he got a handle on the melody. 

He began to find his place in the song, giving Jack a quick glance. Jack was staring at him with nothing but awe and adoration in his eyes. David felt his cheeks flush almost losing his place in the song. He darted his focus back to the conductor. 

Joining in to the arrangement, Les’s frog began singing. It had an amazingly deep voice that crooned along with the orchestra. David found himself getting lost in the melody, his nerves subsided, washing away with the notes floating along the steady stream of the river.

The song drew to a close and David lowered the bassoon. He looked at Jack who was still staring, awestruck.

“Wow, Davey.” Jack breathed 

David could feel the blush on his cheeks spread to his ears, “it- it really wasn’t much, it was just some notes…”

“Don’t be so modest!” Jack kept singing his praises, “that was beautiful.”

David gave Jack a soft smile, “thank you.”

—————

“What are they doing?”

They had only just departed the ferry and were watching all the frogs settle into the muddy ground.

“Hybernatin’… I think.” Jack answered Les

“In the mud?” Les looked baffled “but the president’s socks will get dirty!”

Jack looked over to the frog who was now wearing knee-length socks. He chuckled to himself as Davey went on some spiel to Les about how frogs-don’t-need-to-wear-clothes-also-Benjamin-Franklin-wasn’t-a-president. He looked over to the river, the sun slowly setting and casting warm light across the ripples in the water. 

“So,” Davey turned his focus to Jack, “how far’s Snyder’s from here?”

“Close, but, uh…” Jack felt himself grow nervous, “y’know, ‘s gettin’ dark, an’ we don’t wanna bother him too late so we might just wait until tomorrow…” 

Davey gave him a polite smile, “okay.” 

Jack gave him a weak smile back, but the slight crease in his brow probably communicated that something was wrong, anyway. Luckily, Davey didn’t press, instead he moved some logs together so they could have a place to sit that wasn’t just mud. 

Jack sighed. He was frustrated, annoyed he even thought he could do this in the first place, but above all he felt guilty. Guilty he was going to send them to something that was almost definitely worse than death. Guilty he was going to send two kids, innocent kids right into the Spider’s grasp.

“Jack? Are you gonna fly there all night?” Davey teased. 

Jack gave him a half-hearted, affectionate grin and flew over, sitting next to Davey.

“You okay?” Davey asked.

Jack could barely take it, the way Davey cared about him so much, he didn’t deserve his concern, not after what he was planning on doing. 

“‘m fine, Dave.” Jack tried to muster the most reassuring tone he could. Davey didn’t look convinced but didn’t say anything.

Jack stared back out over the river while Davey and Les idly chatted. He wished he could take the whole journey back. He wished he’d met some pain-in-the-ass, snot of a kid instead of Davey and Les. He wished he didn’t care so much about them in the first place, he wished he hadn’t met Davey like this-

“Jack?” Davey snapped him out of his thoughts, “I’m going to get stuff to make a fire, uh, scream if you need help or something.” 

Jack nodded, still upholding that weak smile because how could he look at Davey and not smile back.

He sighed as Davey left, returning to his thoughts. He had to do it, for his family, but… He couldn’t. He cared about Davey and Les too much. He’d backed himself into a corner, he couldn’t just abandon his family for months and then show up with nothing. He huffed, irritated. Why’d he have to be so reckless?

Davey returned with an armful of dry sticks, dutifully getting a fire going. He sat down next to Jack, giving him a tired smile but still looking at him with a softness in his eyes that made Jack melt a little. 

The fire slowly blazed next to them. Davey shifted his gaze upwards, looking through the canopy of trees to the clear sky, the stars twinkling above. 

The warmth from the fire spread through Jack’s feathers. He didn’t want to be a bird forever, he didn’t want his family to be birds forever. But Davey cared about him like this, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Davey had to stay here.

“What’s the first thing you want to do when you’re human again?” Davey asked

Jack paused and considered Davey’s question, he hadn’t really thought about it. He always assumed he’d go straight home, help his family and then everything would be normal again.

“I mean, other than help your family.” Davey clarified

Jack shrugged, “I uh, I dunno. I used to draw, so I ‘spose that.”

“What’d you use to draw?” Davey had interest in his tone

“Landscapes, mostly. Sometimes I’d draw people, really I’d draw anythin’ that looked pretty. I’d probably draw you.” Jack let the last part slip out.

He watched Davey’s cheeks flush. 

“Maybe I’ll stick around to let you,” Davey grinned.

Jack gave back another half-hearted grin as the guilt in stomach twisted again. How sick was he to expect Davey to stay with him after betraying his trust like that. 

But he cared about Davey and maybe, if he explained it all to Davey, he’d understand. It might be rough, but he would do the work to get Davey’s trust back. He couldn’t imagine a life where Davey hated him.

He stared up at the stars. Race was right, he was never going to be able to hand them over to Snyder. He’d decided he wasn’t going to anymore. 

The night passed slowly, nerves keeping Jack tense even as Davey and Les grew weary. He feigned exhaustion, not wanting to worry Davey any more than he already seemed. It didn’t work.

“Jack?” Davey had asked when Les had gone to sleep, concern was in his voice, “are you sure you’re okay?”

“A’course, Davey, go to sleep.” Jack answered gently, the lie slipping easily from his mouth.

There was a tense silence between them, unspoken words hanging in the air. 

Davey sighed. “You’ve been really quiet since we got here and… I know I’m leaving soon, but…” Davey looked like he was struggling to find the words, “you’re probably the best friend I’ve ever made, and I wish I could stay. With you. Not specifically here, but, just… With you.”

“Then stay” sat on Jack’s tongue. He couldn’t say it, couldn’t expect Davey to go through with it, he had a life too. 

“I’m gonna miss you too, Davey.” He felt tears sting at his eyes.

Davey had a pensive look on his face but left his thoughts unspoken. He laid down on the log, finally going to sleep. Jack was wide awake and full of nerves. 

Once he was sure Davey and Les were asleep he flew off, darting swiftly between the trees. He arrived at Snyder’s home, finding no windows or doors open he flew in through the chimney, coughing from all the soot as he made his ungraceful entrance.

The interior was lit up with long candlesticks showing the strings of thread that were strung over the low wooden rafters, tangled in the framework of the building like cobwebs.

“Close that flue!” Snyder demanded, the growl of his voice made Jack flinch, “the night air damages my lungs, boy!”

Jack steeled himself. What he would give to never see the Spider ever again, but he had to be civil.

“Snyder, we need to talk.” Jack mustered all the confidence he could in his voice. Every instinct within him was screaming “run”.

“Do you have what I asked for?” Snyder’s gaze was shadowed and ominous, his figure backlit by the cool moonlight glaring through the window.

“No.” Jack drew in a deep breath, “I can’t do it.”

“What are you doing here, then?”

“Telling you the deals off.” 

Snyder’s tone grew frustrated, “our arrangement is that you would bring me a child servant and I would give you the scissors to snip your wings away to become human again. I never said you could back out.”

Jack was running out of options to reason with him. He had to get back to Davey and Les before they realised he was gone. 

“Do you know what I could do to your family, Kelly?” Snyder threatened

Jack saw red. God, he would kill Snyder right now if he could. “You wouldn’t.”

Snyder hummed, thoughtfully, “I thought you were closer with that crippled boy.” 

Jack had half a mind to peck his eyes out, if he was human Snyder would’ve already been dead where he stood, but he was powerless to do anything. His family would suffer, Davey and Les would suffer. He needed an out.

“What if I became your servant?” Jack offered. It was the only option he could think of.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth, Kelly.” 

“But you can turn me human again!” Jack said, almost pleading 

“I’m not talking about you being a bird, I’m talking about you.” Snyder spat, “you’re a troublemaker, Kelly. A no-good nuisance. I need someone who will listen to me. As much as I’d delight in stuffing your head with thread.”

Jack had desperation in his eyes, it was his only option, he couldn’t save his family he couldn’t save Davey, he couldn’t- 

Davey and Les burst through the door.

—————

David had run after Jack as soon as he noticed him gone, flying off into the distance. He and Les weaved through the forest and arrived at the doorstep of a small brick cottage that had thorny weeds growing up the sides of it. He could hear Jack’s pleading voice coming from inside and he flung open the door. 

David tried to process the scene in front of him. He saw an old, burly man standing over Jack, golden scissors in his grasp and a look of displeasure on his face while Jack looked frozen with terror.

“Close that door!” The man yelled, David pulled Les closer to him and slammed the door shut.

“Jack?” David moved towards Jack, looking to protect him, “what’s going on?”

“You shouldn’t be here, Davey.” Jack had guilt etched into his features

David looked at the man standing over Jack, finally processing who he was looking at, “Snyder?”

Snyder sneered, “looks like you delivered after all, Kelly.” 

Snyder pulled on a length of thread that caused the strings around David and Les to tighten, wrapping them in it. 

“Jack? What?” David struggled to articulate his confusion

“Davey- It’s not-” Jack struggled to provide any explanation 

“But… I trusted you.” David was confused and hurt, did Jack plan this?

“Now they’re mine.” Snyder smiled an ugly, twisted grin, “and once I fill their heads with thread they will be nothing but mindless drones.”

David felt the betrayal sink in, “all along you were planning to take us here?” His voice was small, tears brimming in his eyes.

Jack looked at him, guilty and helpless.

The world stood still as Snyder walked towards David and Les, David tried to move closer to Les in some foolish attempt to shield him. 

The window across the room was opened and the cold night air rushed in.

“Close that window!” Snyder hissed, his voice seemingly becoming more raspy

Jack sat on the windowsill, defiant, “breathe it in, Spider.”

Snyder moved towards the window, reaching out in a vain effort to close it. His skin hissed and bubbled at its contact with the night air. It sagged and dripped off his bones.

“The night air is poisonous!” He gritted out, his legs failing him a few steps before the window, thick smoke billowing off his body as he melted more. David turned his head away from the gruesome scene, seeing the scissors Snyder was holding in front of him. He wriggled an arm free and reached for them, hurriedly cutting him and Les free. The black smoke had almost entirely filled the room as they made a break for it. 

David kept running, only looking back to see if Les was still behind him. 

There was so much racing through his mind but he couldn’t scrub the guilt on Jack’s face from his brain. It made him feel ill to think about. How could Jack do that? David trusted him, he thought he was close with him, he even thought he- 

“David?” Les sounded scared from behind him. David slowed down, his lungs heaving to get some air.

“Aren’t we waiting for Jack?” Les asked, innocently

David hesitated, looking back down the path they ran. The thick forest of trees shrouded the pathway in grey shadows too dark to see through. 

“I don’t think we need Jack’s help anymore, Les.” David’s voice cracked with tears. 

He shouldn’t have trusted Jack in the first place.

There was a distant croak that startled David. Les turned to see it came from the frog, his frog.

“Benjamin Franklin!” He exclaimed, the frog leaping towards him.

David wanted to be happy but all he could muster was a miserable, “come on, Les.” 

They trudged further along the pale dirt path, once again directionless.

Chapter Text

Jack sat defeated by the window of Snyder’s cottage. Snyder had long since dissolved away into clouds of smoke that had dissipated in the sky, the only trace left of him were his clothes. The rain pelting against the glass grew heavier with every moment, Jack stared out onto the dreary scenery outside knowing he couldn’t go anywhere even if he wanted. 

He hoped Davey found cover. It hurt to think about him. He selfishly hoped Davey would return but he knew he wouldn’t, not after what he did. He was such an idiot to think Davey would forgive him, give him the chance to explain himself, even. He let out a huff, nowhere to direct his anger but himself. The rain continued to get heavier.

_______

David and Les had been trudging through the rain for hours. The gloom of the sky had not been at all changed by the early morning sun, fully obscured by clouds. 

“I don’t think Jack will be able to catch up to us in this rain.” Les called from behind him. 

David felt a pang in his chest. He didn’t know how to feel. Jack had lied to them, had led them to something that seemed far worse than death but David still couldn’t shake the care he felt for him. He huffed.

“I don’t think he’s following us, Les.” David replied, his tone flat.

“Do you think he escaped that crazy old guy?” Les sounded a little worried.

David remained resigned, “I don’t know.”

He ignored Les’s frown and kept walking. They needed to find a place to rest, mud was uncomfortably seeping into David’s socks and he wasn’t sure he could take any more questions from Les.

He had been spending the entire walk, very unsuccessfully, trying not to think about Jack, about what he did. It was a little ridiculous to him that he was so torn up about it, he’d known Jack for what? Barely a week? He didn’t know everything about him, clearly. But he couldn’t get the look of guilt Jack had out of his head. It tore him up. Like Jack knew that he was doing something horrible but didn’t do anything about it. 

A loud thud on the forest floor bought him out of his thoughts.

“David? What was that?” He heard Les call from behind him, David hadn’t even noticed he’d walked ahead. 

He looked up to see a large tree that had fallen in the middle of the path, at its base there were marks that shown it had been chopped down. 

David furrowed his brow and squinted. He couldn’t see anyone around although the rain had been replaced with a misty fog that encompassed the thick of the trees.

“Wow! That’s a big tree!” Les gaped as he caught up to David, seemingly slowed down by the frog in his arms. 

“Yeah,” David agreed, still confused as to who cut it down.

“What are you boys doing here?” A familiar stern voice scolded from beside them.

David startled and watched the woodsman emerge from the fog of the forest. He was dressed in the same clothes as when they first met him yet, impressively, seemed to look even more poorly-slept. His face was shaped into a shadowy scowl that highlighted every wrinkle.

“You should not be wandering these forests.” His tone was foreboding, he clutched the lantern to his chest, how did it survive?

David grabbed Les’s wrist and backed away from the woodsman, keeping him in his line of sight. The woodsman stepped towards him.

“You better be gone before the beast gets you.” The woodsman whispered, his tone seeming more like a threat than a warning.

David and Les scrambled away, jumping over the tree and making a run for it off a small side trail. They kept running until they reached a small stone wall, both of them sitting against it, heaving for breath. 

“Did we lose him?” Les asked

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we did,” David glanced back, he was unable to see anything through the fog but that also meant the woodsman couldn’t see them. He looked forward again.

The fog had thinned out in front of him, revealing a small dilapidated shack. It looked like it hadn’t been occupied in years. 

“I think we should go there, Les.” David gestured to it. 

Les frowned, seemingly put off by its haggard exterior.

David ignored him and got up, “we need to rest, Les.”

The building was almost completely dark as they walked in, there was a cool, faint light that barely bled its way through the small window. David set to finding candles to light the room, surprised to find an abundance already placed. With every candle he lit he found that the building was more clean than he’d assumed, only a few cobwebs present in what seemed to be hard-to-reach corners. 

“This place isn’t so bad,” he said, mostly trying to convince Les.

Les shrugged, “maybe.” 

David rolled his eyes, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. And Sarah said he was dramatic.

“Hey, what’s in these baskets?” Les leaned over and looked into one of the largest baskets that was on the room’s floor, David looked too. 

It was full of black turtles, the same ones that dog had swallowed on their first night here. David grimaced, they made slimy, squelching noises as they wriggled around, climbing on top of eachother.

“Kind of strange that someone would leave a basket of turtles here.” David mused, Les hummed in agreement.

There was a soft creak of a door behind them as a voice came through, “Medda, I’s done sortin’ the-”

David turned around to see a short boy with wooden crutches coming through the door, the boy gasped. 

“Who are youse?” He demanded, though his voice had a slight shake.

“We’re burglars!” Les answered, trying to sound threatening.

David gave him a light whack over the head, “we are not burglars.” He scolded Les, “we needed a place to rest and we thought this place was abandoned…”

The boy looked dubious.

David continued to ramble, “we really didn’t mean to intrude, we can go-” 

A slight frown came across the boy’s face at that, “you can stay.”

David sighed, he really didn’t want to keep walking.

“‘Least until Medda gets back.” The boy looked nervous.

“Thank you,” David said, remembering his manners, “I’m David, this is Les.” He gestured to his brother who smiled politely.

“Charlie,” the boy said, gesturing to himself, “you guys lost or?”

“Yeah, we had a guide but he…” David tried to shove his thoughts about Jack away, “he’s gone.”

“Well, I’s sure Medda could send you where ya needa go,” Charlie let out a raspy cough, “not sure she’ll let youse stay long, though.” 

“We appreciate the rest anyway,” David smiled politely.

Charlie smiled back, “I’ll get some chairs for us.”

They all sat around the fire, David was unsure of what to say, he and Les didn’t really deserve Charlie’s hospitality after breaking in. He was nervous about Medda, too, she hadn’t sounded overly inviting from what Charlie had said.

“I ain’t used to visitors, ‘s been just Medda an’ I for a while now, sorry if I ain’t the most entertaining host.” Charlie said, earnest.

“Don’t you have friends?” Les asked

“Les!” David scolded, quietly

Charlie chuckled, “I got brothers, they don’t know where I am, though.” He answered with a longing look in his eyes. David could’ve sworn he’d seen the same one in Jack’s.

There was a lot about Charlie that made him think of Jack, which was something he decisively didn’t want to. They spoke similarly, and they both held that sad look in their eyes. Charlie had a different smile though, less mischievous and cunning than Jack’s, more trustworthy and open.

A creak came from the front door of the shack. A woman was standing at the entrance, dressed in an elaborate, layered gown that draped across her in a ghostly fashion.

“Hey, Charlie I- Oh.” She paused, looking over David and Les. David squirmed uncomfortably.

Charlie jumped to explain himself, “I know they can’t stay, Medda, but they wanted to rest and I thought I would be fine until you got back-”

Medda raised her hand, she walked over to Charlie. David braced himself, it looked like Charlie was too. Medda gently put her hand on Charlie’s shoulder.

“It was very nice of you to do that, Charlie.” She smiled, gently.

Charlie returned the smile. David relaxed.

Medda turned to face David and Les, “I’m sure Charlie’s told you you can’t stay, and you can’t for much longer, but if you boys are lost I’m happy to help you find where to go.”

“Ye- yes. We’re lost.” David nodded, “we’d appreciate a map or… Really anything.”

Medda nodded, understanding, moving to put a kettle on, “where are you boys headed?”

David paused, stopping himself from just saying home and actually thinking about what direction he needed, “we need to get out of the Unknown.”

“Out of the Unknown?” Medda balked, “where are you boys from?”

“I- uh…” David wasn’t sure how to answer that.

Medda shook her head, “It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad I found you before the beast did, Lord knows what he’d do with you.”

David shuddered, “yeah.”

“Or that horrible Snyder, he’s the reason Charlie here is with me.” 

Charlie began to scrunch his face in contempt but was interrupted by another raspy cough.

“How’re you feeling, Charlie?” Medda asked, kindly.

Charlie tried to put on a convincing smile, like if he was convincing enough he’d believe he’s okay too. He let out another cough, “I ain’t feeling any worse.”

Medda smiled sadly, “at least there’s that,” she walked over to the narrow staircase at the other end of the room, “I’m going to change, help yourself to some tea when the kettle’s boiled, Charlie knows where everything is.” She vanished up the stairwell.

David frowned. What had Snyder done to Charlie and- oh god, had Jack sold Charlie out to him, too?

“You look a little troubled there, David.” Charlie commented, polite but clearly prying. David didn’t mind.

“We met Snyder.” He said, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Charlie’s face paled, which was impressive considering how sickly his complexion already was, “how’d you escape? Are youse cursed too?”

“No, we’re fine, pretty sure Snyder’s dead actually.” 

Charlie gawked, “and you ain’t even from here? You don’t even know how many kids you saved by doin’ that.”

David gave him a reserved smile, “it was actually more our old guide, Jack.”

Charlie froze, “did you say Jack?” 

“Yeah…” David said

“As in Jack Kelly?” Charlie looked like he was going to fall out of his chair. 

David nodded, “are you okay?” 

“Did he-” Charlie began, then shook his head, “give me a second.” 

He went into the other room, sounding as if he was looking in drawers for something before coming out holding a small sketchbook with a leather cover, he had it open to a specific page.

He handed the book to David and sat down. “Did he look like this?”

There was a charcoal drawing on the page, it was a front facing portrait of a boy, who couldn’t have been much older than David. He had short, dark hair and wore a newsboy cap, the same brim as Jack’s. He had a sly grin across his lips but the crinkles of his eyes suggested that he wasn’t malicious. It wasn’t overly detailed but it was well rendered regardless. David could study it for hours. 

David’s immediate response to Charlie’s question was no, Jack was a bluebird. But something about the cap bothered him, and the mischievous yet caring and responsible look captured in his eye, like he could’ve been looking at a drawing of Jack when he was human.

“He didn’t look like that, he was a bluebird!” Les laughed, leaning over David’s shoulder to look at the drawing. David looked up and watched Charlie’s face sink.

“He told me he used to be human, though,” David said, looking at Charlie, his voice quiet, “and he had a cap like this,” David pointed to the cap in the drawing.

Charlie looked more hopeful again, but not entirely convinced, “he’s definitely never been a bluebird when ise seen him.”

“He also said he liked to draw.” David looked down at the drawing in his hand, “did Jack draw this?”

Charlie nodded.

David smiled, “he’s really good.” He wasn’t exaggerating either, Jack’s level of artistry was remarkable. 

“I know,” Charlie smiled wryly, “I tolds him he should sign it, try ta sell it. Make a name for himself, y’know? But he always said he wasn’t good enough for that.” 

David chuckled softly, “there’s modesty and then there’s lying to yourself and I think he was lying to himself.”

“You really think it’s the same Jack?” Charlie’s voice sounded almost desperate, “because Jack, he’s my brother and ise been worrying about him because he ain’t found me yet and…”

David shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know for sure but- How many Jack Kelly’s do you know that wear a newsboy cap and like to draw?” He reasoned.

Charlie paused, thinking, “I dunno anyone ‘cept us boys who wear the caps… Suppose ’s gotta be the same Jack.” His expression lit up at the realisation before swiftly falling with worry, “what happened to him? Did Snyder..?” 

David frowned, “I don’t actually know… We left before-” he struggled to find a way to explain himself, “he was going to give us to Snyder, apparently your whole family got turned into bluebirds and Snyder had the only way to fix it.”

Charlie looked like he was going to fall out of his chair again, “my whole family?” He looked distraught.

“We definitely met another talking bluebird, they seemed related to Jack- they had a similar cap at least. I didn’t get their name, though.” 

“Where’d you meet them?”

“The tavern, they were hanging out with Spot.” 

“‘S gotta be Race.” Charlie took the sketchbook from David’s hand and flipped to a different page, showing it to David. The sketch was of a tall, thin boy who had light curls and a mischievous smile. He wore a tattered vest and the same cap as the bluebird in the tavern. “That’s him?” Charlie asked.

“Well, it’s the same cap at least.” David concluded 

“Did Jack tell you how it happened?” Charlie held an impossibly distressed look in his eyes.

“Apparently he threw a rock at a bluebird and that was his punishment.” David shrugged.

Charlie groaned, “that’s something I’d think Racer would do, not him.” He sighed then shook his head.

Charlie’s head snapped back up, “and, hey, what’s this about him givin’ youse t’ the spider?”

David looked away from Charlie, “I told you everything, apparently Snyder had the only way for him to turn everyone back. I guess Jack didn’t care about Les and I, just needed someone so he could provide his end of whatever… Deal he and Snyder had.”

Charlie furrowed his brows, “David, I’s known Jack for a long time, he’s a lotta things, an’ I don’t want to admit it, but a sellout could be one of them.” Charlie sighed, “but he sure ain’t trusting enough to tell you his whole backstory and not care ‘bout you at all.” 

David scrunched his face. He’d spent the last day trying to make peace with the fact that Jack didn’t care about him or Les at all, trying to accept that any kind of trust that David felt in their relationship was just carefully curated by Jack so they didn’t leave. Now Charlie was telling him that the trust was real, that Jack must have cared about him beyond him being one half of a deal.

“Maybe he was trying to save youse,” Charlie reasoned with a shrug.

David tried to recontextualise what he’d seen at Snyder’s. He’d assumed Jack was leading them to Snyder’s but why would he need to do that by sneaking off if they were already willingly going there? What if he was trying to break whatever deal he had with Snyder? 

Oh. David had made a mistake. A really terrible mistake. 

“Shit.” David stood up quickly, his brows creased with worry, “I need to find him.” 

“Woah, slow down. You still need directions from Medda, and he could be anywhere.” Charlie tugged on his cloak to get him to sit back down.

David sunk back into the chair and nodded, agreeing with Charlie. He had no way to find Jack. Maybe Medda had something? Or maybe Charlie knew where he might be? Either way he needed a map. 

The stairs creaked as Medda descended, “sorry I took so long,” she apologised, stepping off the last few steps. She took a seat, “how can I help you boys.”

David paused, unsure of how to explain his new plan. 

“They know Jack, Medda.” Charlie said, he seemed to have the explanation covered. He let out another raspy cough.

Medda was in disbelief, “Jack Kelly?” She gaped.

David nodded, “he was our guide, but we separated when he was going to give Les and I to Snyder.”

“You’ve met Snyder?!” Medda was in shock, “I’m so glad you boys made it out okay- you are okay?”

David and Les nodded

Medda looked frustrated, “and just what reason did Mr. Kelly have for leading you poor boys there?”

Charlie piped up, “all the boys ‘been turned into birds, Medda. It was the only way for him to get a cure.” There was a sadness in Charlie’s tone that broke David’s heart a little.

Medda sighed, “the conversation I’m going to have with that boy…” She grumbled.

“We need to get back to him,” David pleaded, “I don’t know where he is but I made a mistake leaving him.” 

Media nodded, “I’ll see how I can help.”

Charlie’s cough became more violent. Medda turned to look at him, anxiety in her expression. 

She turned to David and Les, “I want to help you boys, but I don’t think you can stay much longer.” 

Charlie coughed again, “I’ll just go to my room,” he wheezed, moving to get up.

Medda had a worried look in her eyes but didn’t stop him. She turned to David and Les as he closed the door softly.

“I really do think it’s best if you boys go.” She suggested, gently.

“I didn’t want to be rude, but is there something..?” David wasn’t sure how to phrase his question.

Medda seemed to understand, “he got captured by Snyder a few months ago, he got away but not without a nasty curse. I’ve been trying to find a cure but nothing I’ve tried has been able to banish what Snyder did.”

David patted down his pockets and proceeded to pull out the scissors he used to cut him and Les free from Snyder’s yarn, “would these do anything?”

Medda’s eyes widened as she took the scissors from David’s hand, “where did you get these?”

“I used them to escape Snyder,” David shrugged.

“Well they can’t help Charlie…” David’s heart sank, “but I believe they’re the cure Jack was searching for.” 

David scrubbed his hand over his face, he was such an idiot, he didn’t even leave Jack with the cure. 

Medda smiled sympathetically, “hey, you didn’t mean any harm. Jack’s strong, and terribly stubborn. He can go a little longer as a bird.”

David gave her a weak smile, he still felt bad leaving Jack alone like that. Medda rested her arm on his shoulder, he was so exhausted, he felt tears sting at his eyes. Medda pulled him into a hug, it was gentle and she was warmer than he’d expected for how cold the room was. 

He stood there in her arms for a moment. It had been too long since someone had properly comforted him.

“It’s going to be okay.” Medda soothed.

David pulled back, inhaling a shaky breath. Medda smiled gently.

“There’s some hope for Charlie, at least.” She said, reaching into a bag sitting beside her.

“I thought you said the scissors wouldn’t work?” Les squinted, confused

Medda laughed, “they won’t. But this might.” She pulled out a porcelain bell that was sculpted into the shape of a maid, her gaunt face being the handle and her skirt billowing out to form the waist of the bell. 

There was a rough cough from the room Charlie was in and a rattle against the door. 

Medda’s expression became worried again, “I really should’ve got you boys to leave sooner.”

The coughing sounded painful, bordering on inhuman, some primal instinct in David was screaming run, despite the fact that Charlie had been nothing but kind. He glanced at Les who was still with terror.

“W- we can go now.” David tried to gather all his courage, pulling Les toward the exit.

“Wait.” Medda stopped them, “I don’t know if you boys will make it safely.” 

There was a ghostly hiss from the other side of the door, it didn’t sound like anything the small boy they were talking to earlier could make, much less a human at all.

“What should we do?” David was shaking a little.

Medda steeled herself, “get behind me, it can’t hurt me and it won’t go for you immediately if it can’t see you.”

The door creaked open, the ghostly whispers growing louder. David shuddered. The creature that floated from the room could barely be considered Charlie anymore. 

The features of its face shifted, bones cracking as it twisted Charlie’s neck at unnatural angles. Its eyes were hollow, no longer the soft green of Charlie’s but a ghastly pale blue that bore into David’s soul. 

It rasped out a breath as it stared at David and Les, “more bones to sort.” It had a twisted smile with no joy behind it, only jagged teeth.

David pushed Les behind him as Medda drew up the bell. She rang it and it began to glow a warm white, “the ringing of the bell commands you!” Medda spoke, continuing to ring the bell.

Charlie’s eyes rolled back, glowing with the bell. Its breath shuddered. It shook its head and swiped at Medda, knocking the bell from her hand. 

It skidded across the floor, out of Medda’s reach.

“Stay behind me, boys!” She warned.

Les hugged his frog tighter and stepped closer to the bell.

“Les! What are you doing!?” David tried to pull him back, Les squirmed out of his grasp.

“I have an idea,” Les said, shoving his frog closer to the bell. The frog seemed to get the idea and shot out its tounge, latching onto the bell and… 

And swallowing it.

David froze. What the hell would they do now?

Les shook his frog, the ringing still sounding from inside it as the frog’s belly began to glow. 

“The ringing of the bell commands you!” Les called. Charlie’s eyes began to glow again, Les kept shaking his frog.

“The ringing of the bell commands you!” Les repeated

“The spirit compels me,” the ghostly voice spoke from Charlie

“The ringing of the bell commands you to- uh-” Les faltered.

David grabbed the frog, still shaking it. The bell’s influence over Charlie had not wavered.

“The ringing of the bell commands you to leave Charlie’s body!” David said, mustering all the confidence he could, “and also leave and never come back.” 

Charlie’s eyes rolled back as an inhuman screech echoed through the room, David clapped his hands over his ears. The ghostly figure that possessed Charlie screamed as it ripped itself away from his body. Charlie’s bones began snapping back into place. 

The final threads of it broke away from Charlie, sending him to the ground as it drifted upward. It shrank as if it was being sucked into an invisible void.

David’s eyes were still watering from its ear-splitting scream as he pulled his hands away from his ears. Medda had ran over to Charlie who was groggily waking up.

“Youse saved me,” he smiled, his voice no longer as whispery and his complexion growing much healthier by the second. 

David smiled, “I’m glad you’re okay.” 

Charlie pulled himself up onto the chair next to him, reorienting himself. David sighed, letting the anxiety from moments earlier leave his body. He turned to see Les still shaking the frog, who’s belly was still glowing. 

“Don’t mess around with that Les!” David said, “we don’t know what it does.”

Les shrugged and kept shaking it, David rolled his eyes but smiled, not able to stay annoyed at his brother’s antics.

Charlie cleared his throat, “sorry ‘bout tryna to eat you…” 

David shook his head, “it’s fine, I don’t think that was really you anyway.”

Charlie grimaced, “yeah, it didn’t feel like it.”

There was a brief silence. 

“Thank you for helping me, boys.” Medda smiled, bringing conversation back to the room, “now, how can I help you?”

“Any kind of map you have would be great,” David replied, politely.

“Are you boys still looking to leave the Unknown?” She asked

“Eventually… But we need to find Jack first.” David turned to Charlie, “do you know where he might have gone?”

Charlie sat in contemplation, “I don’t thinks he’s gone back to the mill because everyone seemed to have left there… Usually when he didn’t come home he’d come here but…”

“He’s not.” David said

Charlie nodded, “he’s not.”

“Is there anywhere else?”

“Best I can think of ‘s Spot’s, but… He’s pro’lly wandering the woods alone.” Anxiety crept into Charlie’s tone.

David put a hand on his shoulder, “I promise I’ll find him, Charlie.” 

The sheen of tears forming shone over Charlie’s eyes, “thank you.” He gave a watery smile.

___________

Jack had been huddled between tree roots, shivering, for hours. An icy winter breeze was whipping its way through the forest, chilling Jack’s bones. He shouldn’t have left Snyder’s cottage but he couldn’t bear to spend another minute inside there. He needed to look for Davey. Who probably didn’t want to be found by him.

Jack shivered. He wasn’t going to find Davey anyway, Davey had probably found a way home by now and was long gone. It was becoming too dark to keep going anyway, he sank into the rough bark. 

A particularly harsh wind blew through the trees, the pathetic protection of the roots did nothing to shield Jack. He shivered harshly. He had spent the whole day feeling angry at himself for all the stupid decisions he’d made, now he just felt cold.

His eyes drifted shut, not having enough strength to keep them open. A shadow grew over him.

An unnaturally deep, smooth voice spoke, “oh, little bird, rest your tired eyes for a moment. The forest has you now.”

Chapter Text

The small wooden boat rocked unevenly under David. He huddled closer to the centre- both to fight off the cold and the impending fear of falling into the murky water below. They’d been travelling for hours, heading to every place Charlie and Medda had marked on the map, hoping to find Jack. 

The wind had grown wintry. The trees were stripped of all their leaves, their bare branches reaching over the water they sailed on. David huddled in on himself more.

“How far until the next stop?” Les asked, cuddling his frog tight.

David pulled out the map, they weren’t far from leaving the boat but they still had a lengthy walk ahead.

“Not too far.” He lied.

“Do you think we’ll find Jack here?” Les had hope in his voice.

David sighed, it was impressive that Les had managed to stay optimistic, they’d already searched five different places all to no success. David stayed determined but he couldn’t hold out the same hope Les had. 

“I hope so.” David answered, simply.

The boat ground against the rocky riverbank as it came to a stop. David and Les departed, being careful not to tread in any water. They headed up a windy path, lined with gangly, bare-branched trees. There was an icy breeze that nipped at David’s nose, he looked to Les who was shivering.

“Do you want my cloak?” David asked.

Les paused, considering before caving, “yes please.”

David pulled off his cloak and handed it to Les, the cool air becoming much more noticeable when he only had a thin shirt to protect him. Les needed the cloak more.

They kept walking in silence, the only sound being the snap of the occasional branch beneath their feet. David really wanted to find Jack soon. He’d been such an idiot to just run, he should’ve let Jack explain at least. He should’ve done a lot of things. 

“David? Les?” A voice called out from behind him. 

David whipped his head around to see a figure racing toward him. Her red hair flew behind her as she ran up the pathway. 

“Katherine?” David was surprised.

Katherine stopped a few steps in front of him, catching her breath, “what are you boys doing here?” She squinted at David’s shoulder, “where’s Jack?”

“We’re looking for him actually,” 

Katherine’s expression filled with sorrow, “did you not find him at the tavern?”

“No, we found him then, we just… there was a misunderstanding, now he’s by himself and I need to find him.”

Katherine had a look of worry, “do you know where he went?”

“We got a map from one of his brothers with all the places he might be, we’re hoping he’s at one of them.”

Katherine gave him a small smile, “well, I hope so too.”

“Are you still looking for the Beast?” David asked

Katherine nodded, a look of annoyance spreading across her face at the mention of it, “unfortunately. I wish I had a convenient map with all the Beast's favourite places marked on it.” She said, dryly.

David chuckled, “do you want to join us?” He offered.

Katherine thought for a moment, then shrugged and smiled, “sure, it’s not like he’s less likely to show up if I have company.”

They kept walking up the path, the wind chilling David’s bones.

“I don’t mean to pry…” Katherine began after a while of walking, “but what happened with you and Jack?”

David sighed.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Katherine assured.

“It’s fine,” David replied, proceeding to tell her what happened.

Katherine listened to the tale intently, asking questions that were relevant but also gently probed for more information. David almost felt as if he was being interviewed. 

There was a short silence after David finished. 

“And he escaped Snyder?” Katherine asked.

“We went back and checked but there was no sign of him.” David could feel his eyebrows crease with worry, “I just hope he’s okay.”

Katherine put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sure he is,” she reassured. 

David gave a half hearted smile in response. He really wanted to believe Katherine.

“So… Why are you hunting the Beast?” David asked, changing the subject.

Katherine made a face, “there’s a lot of reasons…” She huffed, “but I guess it boils down to he’s ruining lives and I want to stop it.”

“I guess turning people into trees would do that.” David shuddered, thinking of the ghastly expressions knotted into the edelwoods trunks.

Katherine shrugged, “it’s not just that… I think he has my dad.”

David gave Katherine a sympathetic look, “did he-?” 

“No- no he didn’t turn him into a tree.” Katherine looked sad, “but I think my dad made some sort of deal with him.”

David felt a pang of sympathy for Katherine. It was one thing to have a stranger that you’d known for less than a week make a deal with some crazed lunatic, but your own father?

“What kind of deal?” David asked

“I think he’s keeping the Beast’s lantern lit in return for… Something, probably eternal life.”

“You’re dad’s keeping the lantern lit… But the woodsman is-?”

“My dad’s the woodsman.” Katherine explained, failing to keep her tone flat.

“Oh,” David breathed, he didn’t really know what to say, the woodsman had been nothing but inhospitable to Les and him, “he’s um…”

Katherine chuckled, “I know, he’s very, uh, blunt.” She sighed, “but he’s still my dad, I don’t know if I can save him, or even if I want to, but I can at least try to make sure the Beast never does this ever again.”

David smiled, “that’s really noble, Katherine.” 

Katherine gave him a sad smile, “it’s just what I have to do.”

_________

Racetrack had been flying through the freezing cold wind for hours. He was on his second day of travelling and almost regretted not letting Spot come with him. Spot had put up a fair fight with him but couldn’t deny Race’s point of “you need to look after your boys.” 

Race had been away from his family for too long. He didn’t even have Crutchie or Jack to show for it. At least he knew where Jack was going, maybe Jack had even finally got the cure. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to forgive Jack for how he got it.

The sun was beginning to set, the light blinding race through the colonnade of trees. He squinted into the distance before flying headfirst into one.

“Urgh.” He groaned, rubbing his head with his wing. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to flying, even if he spent the rest of his life as a bird. How long even was his life now that he was a bird? 

He shook his head. Not the time to have a crisis, he needed to get home. The shadows that stretched across the ground were disheartening, however, and he debated just lying where he was until morning. God, he wished Spot was here. 

He sighed, deciding to use what little of the daylight there was left to find a place to stop. He flew above the trees, the bare branches making the ground below more visible. He spotted a dilapidated, abandoned looking shack in the distance and decided to make that his stop for the night. It had to be warmer than the woods.

As he drew closer he noticed a small candlelight in the window and smoke billowing out of the chimney. He was undeterred, figuring nobody would notice a bluebird in the corner of their rafters, at least it will definitely be warm.

He flew in through the upstairs window, the warmth from inside beginning to thaw out his bones. He shivered as the cool air from the window blew onto him. Seeing the stairs in the opposite corner of the room he flew down them, looking to get closer to the fire downstairs. 

He stayed quiet, there was a conversation between two people that weren’t quite in view that became clearer as Race drew closer.

“- winter. I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to be going out in that alone.” One of the voices said. They sounded concerned.

“You’re right. I jus’ really wanna find my family.” The other voice replied. 

Race could feel his heart lurch. He darted into the centre of the room.

“Crutchie?!” He exclaimed, looking into his eyes. 

Crutchie looked speechless, “Race?!”

Race felt a wide grin spread across his face as tears pricked at his eyes, he wrapped his wings around Crutchie’s shoulder as some attempt at a hug. 

“What’re you doing here?” Crutchie asked, smiling at Race

“I could asks ya the same thing! Where even is here?” Race turned to look at the other person in the room, “Medda?!” 

Medda chuckled, “yes, Anthony.”

Crutchie laughed, “you didn’t know this was Medda’s?”

Race scoffed, “well I ain’t been here before! An’ have you seen the outside? Jack always made this place sound more… I dunno, magical?”

“I keep the outside that way. It keeps troublemakers like you away, usually.” Medda teased

“I can’t believe you’s really a bird.” Crutchie gawked.

Race rolled his eyes, “I can’t believe Jack got me cursed to be one.”

Crutchie frowned, “yeah, David told me-”

“David?” Race raised his eyebrow

“He was travelling with Jack, said he saw you at Spot’s tavern?”

Race’s eyes widened, “he’s still alive? What ‘bout Jack?”

Crutchie shook his head, a somber expression on his face, “dunno, David and his brother went looking for him, theys got the cure for youse being birds.”

“Well they couldn’a waited ‘round a little longer to cure me, could they?” Race whined

Crutchie laughed, then grew quiet, “are youse really all birds?” 

Race nodded, “we was so worried you was stranded in the woods as a bird,” his expression grew apologetic, “‘m sorry we didn’t find you sooner.” 

“‘S okay, Race. I had a whole ‘nother curse, youse lucky you didn’t find me an’ Medda did,” Crutchie tried to smile through the grim expression he couldn’t shake, “I don’t know what I woulda done to youse with that curse.” He shivered.

Race frowned but patted him on the back, “I’s just glad I found you.”

The night travelled on, Crutchie relaying the whole mess with Jack and David and the spider. Race could feel relief wash over him as soon as he learned Snyder was dead. The sick bastard deserved it. He was also relieved that Jack didn’t give David and his brother away, but was now worried about where Jack could possibly be. 

“I should go ‘an look for him.” Race said

“I don’t think you should be going out in this cold, Anthony.” Medda warned

Race scoffed, “but youse sent David and Les out there no problem! Is it because I’m a bird?”

Medda and Crutchie gave him a pointed look. It was absolutely because he was a bird.

Race huffed, “okay, okay, youse got a point. But I at least gotta get home. Rest of the folks is waitin’ for me.”

A harsh roar of wind blew outside, discouraging him. He took the warning.

“I ain’t going until tomorrow, anyways.” Race said, crossing his wings.

_________

David, Les and Katherine had been trudging up the steep pathway for what felt like eternity. David wasn’t even sure he knew what warmth felt like anymore, the icy breeze chilling him to the bone. He marched on, condensation fogging in front of his face with every shallow breath. He needed to find Jack, he needed to find Jack.

“David?” 

He turned his head to see Les and Katherine stopped multiple paces behind him.

“Did I miss a turn?” David shivered, it was hard to think about anything but how cold he was.

Katherine shook her head, “no, but it’s getting dark. We need to stop.” She looked David up and down, “especially you.” 

David furrowed his brows, “W- we can’t. We’re not even that far from the next stop.” He protested.

“You look like you’re one small breeze from falling over, David,” Katherine chided, “you need to rest, so does Les, so do I.”

“I put Jack in danger, Katherine, I can’t just stop, and- and we can’t just stop in the middle of the woods!” David argued

Katherine gave David a pleading look, “please, David.”

He hesitated. He couldn’t take another minute not trying to help Jack, regardless of the exhaustion he felt. 

He huffed, “why don’t I give you guys the map so you know where I’m going? I’ve got the route memorised anyway.” He pulled the map out and offered it to Katherine.

Katherine looked annoyed, shoving the map back at him. “No, this isn’t about you getting lost, this is about you getting hurt! I’m serious, David, you need to rest!” 

“I can’t rest until we find Jack.” David said firmly, turning away and continuing to walk.

“David!” He ignored Katherine’s attempts to call him back, even when Les joined in.

He continued marching up the steep path, barely registering anything through his determination to get to the next stop. He forced himself through every step, so cold it hurt to move. He took a few shaky breaths before feeling his knees buckle.

_________

Katherine took Les by the wrist and ran ahead as soon as she saw David collapse. He’d barely gotten that much further but she reluctantly followed along behind him as he ignored her calls for him to stop. 

She was so glad she followed him.

He was still laying limply on the cool ground when Katherine reached him. She pressed a hand to his skin and winced away at how cold it was.

“Les, give me your cloak.” She said, unbuttoning her shawl to give to Les. It would fit him better anyway and she was definitely better dressed for this weather than either of them, shawl or no.

She tried to pick David up off the ground, wrapping the cloak around him and trying to support his dead weight on her side. She looked at the path ahead, she doubted she would get very far with this arrangement. 

She felt some of the weight lift off her shoulder as Les tried to support the other side of David. His frog, that he always seemed to be carrying, was left to hop along the ground.

Katherine smiled weakly, “thanks.”

Les put on a face that was probably supposed to make him look tough, “I’m stronger than I look.”

Katherine breathed out a laugh, still distracted by the fact they had nowhere to go. She stared out into the distance, hopeless. She drew in a deep breath.

“Help!” She called out into the forest, “can anyone hear me?” She tried to sound as strong as she could. She drew in another breath.

“Help!” She called a little louder, “we need help!”

“Katherine, look!” Les exclaimed, awkwardly pointing to the bushes as he supported his brother’s weight.

There was the small sound of twigs snapping as Katherine looked up to see a small pair of eyes stared at them.

“Hello?” Katherine called. 

The figure from the trees flew into sight. It was a bluebird wearing a round pair of glasses and a newsboy cap. Katherine would’ve chuckled at the sight if it was any other situation, instead she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank god.” She said, “can you help us?” She gave a half gesture to David, “he just passed out and we don’t know where to go.”

The bird eyed them suspiciously.

“We know Jack!” Les added.

The bird’s expression became curious.

“Please, we just need to find a place to stay for the night.” Katherine pleaded.

There was a tense silence before the bird nodded and gestured his wing towards the woods, “come with me.” He said.

Katherine and Les awkwardly dragged David through the trees, trying their best to keep him off the ground. They followed the bird as he led them to a large tree. There was a hollow knot in its trunk that was filled with a whole flock of birds wearing newsboy caps. The birds grew quiet as Katherine and Les got close. 

They stopped a few paces away, “wait here.” The bird said.

The rest of the birds stared in silence, aside from one, with his cap on backwards, who immediately began arguing with the bird in glasses.

“Who are these guys, Specs?” He demanded

The bird, Specs, Katherine supposed, shrugged, “I don’t know, they said they know Jack. One of ‘em passed out, I thought the least I could do was give them somewhere safe to rest.”

“What if theys after us? What if theys with Snyder, Specs?” 

Katherine wasn’t sure if they knew they were arguing loud enough for her and Les to hear.

Another bird jumped to defend Specs, “hey, I trust Specs' judgement!”

“This ain’t about what you think, Romeo.”

“But ’s about what you think, Albert?” Romeo shot back

“Hey!” Katherine yelled, getting all the birds attention, “we’re not with Snyder. I’ve never met him and he tried to kill these two.” She gestured to David and Les.

“See!” Romeo said, Albert scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“We don’t want to intrude but we were looking for Jack and David just passed out. All we need is a place for him to rest.” Katherine said. There was low chatter among the birds, Katherine stood completely still.

“Please.” She added.

Specs turned to them, “we’ll let him sleep in the tree.”

Birds shuffled further into the trunk and Katherine awkwardly lifted David in with the assistance of Les and a few of the birds. David breathed in a shallow breath as he settled into the trunk. He still wasn’t awake but Katherine considered breathing to be a good sign anyway. 

“Thank you,” She said to the birds, “do you mind if we sleep by here?”

“Thas’ fine.” Specs nodded.

Katherine sighed and slid down the side of the trunk, Les and his frog finding their place next to her. She wearily stared up, the starry sky visible through the gangly, dry branches above. She closed her eyes, sighing. This wasn’t the kind of setback she’d hoped for in looking for the beast, but she’d find him, and she’d feel a lot better about it when she knew David was okay.

Chapter Text

David sat miserably on the edge of his bed, brooding to an equally miserable song playing from his cassette player. He was hunched over, his head resting in his hands as he let out a heavy sigh.

It’d been horrible moving. Not that he’d had many friends where they used to live anyway, but it was familiar. Now, all of a sudden, he’d been thrust into a new town with new people and was expected to “go out” and “make some friends”. He huffed and fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. All this because his dad had to find new work because of an arm injury. To say it felt excessive to David would be an astronomical understatement.

He was calling it now, this was going to be the most pathetic Halloween he’d ever experienced, the only thing that could maybe save it would be holing himself up in his room for the night and pretending it wasn’t Halloween at all. 

There was a knock at the door. He knew hiding in here wasn’t going to work. Still, he ignored the knock and kept staring at the ceiling.

Sarah came through the door, “David? Are you staying here all night?”

“Is that an option?” He said from the bed

Sarah scoffed and David saw her walk into his line of sight, she was wearing exceedingly gaudy makeup that was supposed to make her look like a vampire.

“Stop being dramatic.” Sarah grabbed both David’s arms and pulled him up. He glared at her.

“It’s Halloween, David, this is a good time to get out and meet people!”

David rolled his eyes, that’s exactly what his mom had said. He flopped back down on the bed. 

Sarah scoffed, “I’m not just saying that because Mom told me to, I’m saying it because I believe it. We have to find friends somewhere.” Sarah paused to look him up and down, “especially you.”

“Hey!” David exclaimed, sitting up again to throw a pillow at her face.

Sarah threw it straight back, “you’re gonna ruin my costume!” She laughed, “but seriously, you need to get out. Even if it’s just supervising Les.”

“I don’t even have a costume!” David protested

Sarah rolled her eyes, “well you better figure something out, ask Les, he decided on being an elephant after flipping our teapot upside down and seeing the way it looked, I’m sure he can think of something for you.”

Sarah moved to exit but stopped at the doorway, “if I don’t see you tonight, have fun, okay?”

David sighed, “okay.”

He got off his bed as Sarah left, looking around his room at what he could throw together to make a costume. After seeing an old cloak, and a large sheet of unused, red poster board David had an idea. A gnome. He rolled the poster board into a cone, taped it together and then assembled his outfit. He chuckled at the irony of him being a tall gnome.

“Are ya comin?” Les asked loudly from his entrance.

David nodded, he still didn’t want to go, but supervising his brother wasn’t the worst way he could be forced to spend the night.

________

The town they’d moved to was small, but it had still managed to come alive for Halloween. Children were excitedly running around, laughing, loudly yelling “Trick or Treat!”. All the excitement and energy made David more miserable. Les excitedly pulled him along for the first few houses before running off with another group of kids. David watched him from the opposite sidewalk, trying his best to camouflage into the tree he leant against. 

“David!” He whipped his head around to see Sarah waving at him. He was clearly failing at that camouflage.

“Aren’t you watching Les?” Sarah asked, her hands on her hips

“Yeah, he’s over there.” David gestured to the house across the street

Sarah sighed, “when Mom said ‘go supervise Les’ I think she meant go up to the doors with him.”

“Well, she should’ve said that.” David argued.

Sarah just shook her head. “Some kids are going to be hanging out at the graveyard tonight, maybe we could go?”

David frowned, “what are they doing at a graveyard?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged, “telling spooky stories, maybe drinking… Juice.”

“Juice?” David raised his eyebrow.

Les bounded his way over to them before Sarah could elaborate. His pockets were full of candy.

“David! Sarah! Look at how much candy I got!” Les showed them a handful of wrapped sweets

“Wow, Les!” Sarah exclaimed

“If I put it in my pockets it tricks people into thinking I have less.” Les leaned in and whispered.

Sarah chuckled, then turned to David, “only go if you want, Day.” She walked away.

“Go where?” Les asked, his mouth full of sweets

“Some… Gathering some kids are having at a graveyard.” David shrugged

“What! That sounds cool! David can we go?” Les was bouncing on his feet.

“No! Les, you’re ten-” 

“And a quarter!” Les protested

“And how’s three months going to save you from spooky graveyard ghosts?” David teased

“Hey! I’m old enough to know ghosts aren’t real!” Les pouted

David chuckled but kept his stance, “we’re not going.”

Les frowned, “please?”

“I don’t even know if it’s legal, Les…”

“But Sarah’s going!” Les complained, “why don’t we go to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble?”

David drew in a deep breath, he knew what Les was doing and also knew he wasn’t immune to it. He sighed, scrubbing a hand across his face. 

“Fine, we’ll go.” David surrendered, “but stay together, okay? Sarah probably wants to do her own thing, we only get involved if there’s trouble.”

Les nodded firmly. 

____________

The graveyard’s large iron gates were wide open. The inky expanse of the night sky made it as if the gates were an unhinged jaw, waiting to swallow David whole.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine and tried to convince himself it was because of the cool night air, not his own fears. They both walked through the gate, passing rows of tombstones with overgrown grass at their base and dirt caked on their surface. He tried to not think about his own tomb while looking at them. He was not doing a good job at convincing himself it was the night air that made him shiver. 

David could see the group of teens up ahead. It was a gathering of maybe twelve, sat in a circle- red plastic cups in hand- all laughing and telling stories. David felt himself freeze, he’d hoped it would be a large gathering, then he wouldn’t look like such a creep standing on the outskirts of it. Now he just looked like some lurker.

“Hello!” Les greeted loudly, walking over to the circle. David wished he could disintegrate right where he stood.

A lot of voices piped up from the group, all echoing the sentiment of “who is this ten-year-old and how’d he find out about this?”

“Les?!” Sarah’s voice cut through them all, “where’s David?”

David shrunk into himself.

“He’s over there,” Les pointed over to him, he felt his cheeks flush as all the teens turned to look at him.

Sarah rolled her eyes and got up from where she was sitting. David braced himself for the verbal evisceration he was in for. 

Instead Sarah smiled at him, “come on, Day! I was just telling people about you!” She gestured to the circle.

David blinked, “um…”

His stomach had sank to the floor. This was the worst way this night possibly could have gone. He was never going to make any friends here after inviting his 10-year-old brother along to the cool-teen graveyard party. He’d probably be bullied forever, if not outright laughed out of town. Not to mention how uncool he’d made Sarah look. He was embarrassed to be himself, let alone be related to him.

Still he had to muster up something, anything to say. 

“Hello-”

The whoop of a siren sounded behind them, David whipped his head around to see a police car at the graveyard entrance. 

“Hey, what are you kids doing here?” An officer began to speak over the megaphone “is this some sort of witches gathering? You’re all under arrest.”

“Run!” One of the teens yelled, the group scattered, David and Sarah running in opposite directions. 

“David wait!” Les called from behind him. 

David slowed a few paces to let Les catch up before sprinting in another direction with him. That direction led them to a large, cobblestone wall. The police were gaining on them and there was no clear exit.

“Oh god…” David breathed, he turned his head to see Les climbing up the tree next to the wall, “Les, what-?”

“This is private property.” The police officer interjected. David made a move to scramble up the tree.

“You kids get down from there,” the officer continued, “you’re going to hurt yourselves.”

David looked at the ground below as he sat with Les on the edge, heaving for breath. There wasn’t a way to get around the car from this side of the wall. He couldn’t walk along it, it looked like it would crumble if you stepped on it wrong. Without thinking he turned and jumped down to the other side of the wall. 

He picked himself up, ungracefully, from the ground. There were old railway tracks sunken into the muddy earth beneath them. 

He turned to see Les falling with a small “oomph!” 

David rushed over to him, “Les? are you okay?”

Les nodded, rubbing his head. 

“Good,” David sighed, “now we just need to find a way around this wall-”

There was a croak in the bushes near them, Les excitedly got up and rustled around, finding a frog. It let out another croak, held in Les’s arms.

“I found a frog, David!”

David gave an impatient smile, “that’s great, Les, but we really need to get home-”

The ear splitting whistle of a train sounded, David watched its ghostly pale lights bleed into view as it rounded a corner. He stood frozen for a moment, unsure of where to run. He grabbed Les’s arm and leapt to the other side of the tracks.

They stumbled, the ground giving way underneath them and sending them tumbling down a hill. David could feel every rock in the dirt dig into his side before he was plunged into the icy water of a river, his consciousness drifting off with the current.

_________

A hoarse cough rattled its way out of David’s mouth as he woke up. He pried his bleary eyes open, furrowing his brows as he tried to figure out where he was. 

He was huddled somewhere, surrounded by something soft that felt like… feathers? 

Something blue flew into his vision, it was wearing a small cap and-

“Jack?” David croaked

The bird scoffed, “I can’t believe he don’t know the difference.”

Another voice piped up, “he’s still waking up, give him a minute.”

David blinked a few more times, his vision clearing. He was definitely looking at a bluebird with a newsboy cap, but it wasn’t Jack. The face shape was different, the feathers were a slightly paler blue with the orange on the body being more vibrant, and, most distinctively, its cap was on backwards. 

“Sorry, you’re not Jack.” David apologised

The bird rolled its eyes, “obviously.”

The source of the other voice came into view, another bird with a newsboy cap but also wearing glasses, “Albert. Be nice.” He warned the other bird.

“Well he’s the one that’s comparin’ me to Jack! I ain’t ‘bout to sit back an’ not defend my honour, Specs.” Albert responded, defensively.

Specs rolled his eyes and chuckled before turning to David, “how are you feeling?”

David thought about it. He was still cold but he was noticeably less sore and exhausted.

“I’m feeling fine,” he answered, “but my brother and Katherine-?”

“They’s here.” Specs nodded, “but they’s still asleep.”

“Okay.” David nodded. He let himself relax into where he was huddled, which he now realised was the trunk of a tree. Wait. This was the tree. The tree that was the next stop on the map-

“Have you guys seen Jack?” David asked hastily.

Specs shook his head, “we heard youse are looking for him, though.”

David sighed, “yeah, I’m not sure how well that’s going.’

“We ‘preciate the help. At least I do.” Specs leaned in and began to whisper, “Racetrack’s tried to step up as leader since Jack’s been gone but I don’t think he’s handling the pressure, thinks he can lone wolf the whole thing. Just like Jack.”

David gave him a sympathetic look.

Specs leaned back and began resumed talking normally, “if there’s anything we can do to help..?”

“Thanks,” David smiled, “I, um, got this map from Medda…” He reached into his pants pocket to grab the folded map, the paper significantly more crumpled after him being curled up in a tree for hours, “she and Charlie, marked it with all-”

“Charlie?” David looked up to see Specs’ eyes wide as saucers

“Yeah, he’s at Medda’s. He said you’re his family. I told him you’d all been turned into birds.”

Specs chuckled softly, “I can’t believe he was at Medda’s!” Specs turned to speak to the other birds, “hey fellas! David found Crutchie!” 

There was an uproar of noise from the surrounding trees all rushing to ask questions. David faintly heard Les stir through all the noise, he poked his head out of the tree to see his brother looking at him.

“What’s all the ruckus?” Les asked loudly, hands over his ears.

“I told them we found Charlie,” David replied, awkwardly climbing out of the hollow tree. His feet landed on the damp leaves that failed to crunch under his feet. He never thought he’d miss the sound of crunching leaves as much as he did now.

He kneeled down next to Les, seeing Katherine stirring too. She gave him a concerned look through her tired eyes.

“Are you okay?” She asked

David nodded, “yeah… Thank you for getting Les and I somewhere safe.”

Katherine smiled a fleeting smile, “I wasn’t going to leave you, David. You’ve still got to find Jack, and get home.”

“I know. I was hoping to get some help from these guys but they uh…” David trailed off, gesturing to the flock of arguing birds

“Alright!” Alberts voice roared out over the noise, “everyone pipe down so’s we can make a plan!”

The birds grew more hushed, mostly to glare at Albert it seemed.

“‘S your choice where we’s goin’, but we’s goin’ as a group, no more one person going off on their own.”

There was murmuring amongst the birds but they all seemed to be in agreement with Albert’s stance.

Albert continued, “Now, either we goes to find Crutchie or goes t’ find Jack.”

“Hey, I didn’t say you could come!” David stared at Albert, indignant

“And I didn’t say you get a choice! He’s our family.” Albert looked at David with such malice that David felt he would’ve started a fistfight by now if he had any fists to fight with.

“The search for Jack could take a while, we don’t know exactly where he is and I’d much rather it being just me at risk than all of you.” David reasoned

Albert scoffed, “oh, but you’ll take your brother along.”

David went to snap back but instead looked at Les, then at the path ahead of him. There was a blanket of fog that sapped any remaining colour from the plants, obscuring the route. 

David drew in a deep breath, “no. I’m not taking him.” 

“What?!” Les sounded betrayed

David continued explaining, “you’re going to go back to Medda’s, with Les, because it’s safe there, and I’m not going to let anyone else get hurt.”

Albert continued to give him a spiteful look, Specs placed a wing on his shoulder.

“He’s right, Albert.” Specs said softly

Albert growled, “so ya just gonna let this stranger tell us what to do? What? Do youse all trust him more than me now?”

“‘S not about trust, ‘s about knowing the right idea when you hears it!” Specs gave Albert a desperate look, “and David’s idea will keep us safe.”

Albert gave a conflicted look, eventually conceding, “fine.”

David let out a sigh of relief. He kneeled down to look his brother in the eyes.

“You’re leaving me?” Les spoke wetly, wrinkling his nose to fight of tears.

“You’ll be safe Les, I promise.” David looked to the flock of birds behind him, “at least safer than you are with me.” 

“What if you don’t come back?” Les sniffled

“I will.” David assured him, with as much confidence as he had, “I’ve got a map and I’ve got Katherine and I’ll have Jack when we find him, too.”

“When we find Jack” still didn’t sit right on David’s tongue, but he wasn’t going to give up.

Les wiped at his nose and sniffed loudly, “okay.”

“Okay,” David replied softly, pulling his brother in for a hug. God he hoped he was right about coming back. 

He pulled away from the hug, still hoping there was something he could give his brother so he knew he’d be safe… Oh.

David fished around in his pocket for the map Medda had given them.

“Take this.” He said, handing it to Les.

“But, what about-?” Les began

“It’s okay, I’ve got Katherine, and I don’t think it’s going to be that helpful to me anyway,” David assured, “be careful.”

Les nodded, his mouth trembling from the tears he was holding back. 

David stood up and walked over to Katherine.

“We should probably get moving.” He suggested, still looking at Les

Katherine nodded, before studying David’s expression, “are you going to be okay?”

David pulled his eyes from Les, he knew his brother would be okay. He knew his brother wouldn’t get turned into a tree, and he knew where his brother was. All things he couldn’t say for Jack.

“Yeah.” He replied, pulling in a short breath, “let’s go find Jack.”

Chapter Text

The frigid air whipped around David, leaving the icy ends of his cloak flailing in the breeze. Every breath he exhaled left a puff of condensation that was swiftly blown away in the wind. He was freezing.

He turned to Katherine who didn’t look like she was having a much better time. The ends of her dress were frozen stiff and she was unable to stop shivering. David didn’t blame her. 

They’d been walking all day, the weather only getting worse with every minute, the layer of clouds so dark and thick that David could hardly tell the time of day. The bare branches of the trees layered on top of eachother, only allowing faint pinpricks of daylight to bleed through.

“David, do you think we should stop?” Katherine asked

He looked around. He could feel the need to rest aching in his bones. 

“Where?” He simply asked, there was nothing but snow and bare trees for miles.

Katherine sighed, “I’m not sure how much longer it’s going to take to find them.”

David frowned, “I’ll stop if you need to, Katherine, but we need to keep going if we can.”

“Are you sure you won’t pass out again?” Katherine asked wryly, a hint of concern in her voice

David rolled his eyes and let out a soft chuckle, “yeah, I’m sure. I’m not tired, I’m just… Cold.”

Katherine nodded, shivering.

_____________

The day grew later and- almost impossibly- colder. David wasn’t sure how his joints hadn’t frozen over, he supposed it was his raw determination to find Jack. 

The forest was much darker now, a hollow void of darkness was the only thing visible past the first few rows of trees. David shivered, not entirely from the cold.

Katherine walked beside him, neither of them feeling completely safe. It was as if every living creature in the forest's eyes were on them.

Katherine stopped abruptly. Her foot softly pressed into the snow below her, finishing her step silently. 

“Katherine?” David stopped with her, becoming more aware of the chill in his bones without the warmth of motion. 

“Do you hear that?” Katherine asked

David strained his ears to hear over the low whistle of wind. There was a deep voice humming out a haunting melody in the distance. David shuddered, feeling each note rattle around in his skull.

“What is it?” He breathed.

“I think it’s the beast.” Katherine had a steeled expression, despite how she was shaking. Whether she was shaking from cold or fear, David couldn’t tell.

They walked in the direction of the voice, careful to keep their footsteps quiet. David could feel his mind racing, desperately trying to convince himself he’s not going into immediate danger. He knew he’d be okay, he had to be okay. He promised he’d be okay. 

The low hum of the voice sharpened into song, the words becoming clearer as the distance between them closed. David shuddered again. Each line of the song whispered to his subconscious rest. This will never end unless you make it end. There is no hope. There is no hope in trying anymore. 

The singing ceased, tearing David out of its melancholy. Katherine had stopped walking again. She squinted into the distance. There was a tiny, ghostly white light that bled through the gaps in the colonnade. 

There were the sounds of distant conversation, David and Katherine crept closer.

“-ou have not been doing enough to feed the lantern, woodsman.” The unnaturally deep voice, of what David could only assume to be the Beast, crooned out

“What more do you want me to do?” The woodsman demanded, anger in his voice

“Don’t get angry now, woodsman. Remember, I can cut off our deal at any time.” The Beast’s impassive voice had a lilt of smugness to it, “do you really want to see your soul be snuffed out?”

Katherine gasped. David held her back.

“What will you have me do then?” The woodsman gritted out

“Find me better food for the edelwood. Lure them into the forest, promise them hope, woodsman, then leave them behind.” The Beast’s tone was low and smooth and sent a shiver down David’s spine, as if the oil from the very trees it grew had been poured into his ears.

The woodsman moved to leave.

“Before you go, woodsman.” The Beast stopped the woodsman in his tracks, “I have bought you more edelwood to harvest.”

David and Katherine were now only a few feet away, watching the scene unfold from behind a tree. The beast’s figure was impossibly tall and shadowed. An abyss in which you’d find nothing but despair. 

Its pallid eyes emit an eerie glow as it shifted from where it was, revealing the edelwood tree growing at its feet. 

It was small- barely enough oil in it to fill the lantern- yet splintered in its thick, wiry roots was what made David freeze.

Jack.

____________

Jack knew he couldn’t keep going. He was a failure. To his family, to Crutchie, to David, to anyone he’d ever so much as passed by in his life. He’d amounted to nothing but a poor leader, a poor brother and a poor friend.

He hadn’t thought anything for the past day other than about how much easier it would be to give up, just rest a little.

A low song crooned him asleep, his eyelids weighed down with the weight of his worries. He was exhausted. All he wanted was to rest.

The melody drifted off with his thoughts. He drew in raspy breaths, air just barely slipping into his lungs. The constriction of the roots around him grew tighter. He just wanted to rest. 

What awareness he had slowly slipped away. His bones were suffused with the cold of winter, almost comforting him like a blanket now. 

He could rest here.

It’s easier to rest here.

“JACK?!” 

Some semblance of awareness slingshotted back into Jack’s mind, scrambling to understand where he was and who said his name. There were voices yelling around him, things he didn’t understand. He needed to open his eyes but they were just so heavy and he was so, so tired. 

“Jack?” The voice spoke again, it was closer and softer and had a slight quiver to it. Jack strained to place the voice in his mind, why was it so difficult?

“Jack, please open your eyes.” The voice begged

Jack couldn’t. He drew in a raspy breath. 

“Please be okay.” The voice begged again, it was so familiar, it almost sounded- no. 

Jack coughed weakly, trying to work his vocal cords. The name croaked its way out of his throat. 

“Davey?”

_____________

David had never felt more relief than when Jack wheezed out his name. He wasn’t safe yet but he was alive, that was all the hope David needed right now.

“Yeah, it’s Davey, I’m gonna get you out of this.” He reassured.

David began to pull at the roots wrapping around Jack but they held strong. He whipped his head around looking for anything that could help him free Jack but was met with the Beast’s ghastly white eyes. They bore into him with a ravenous hunger for David’s soul. 

He was frozen, staring into the lifeless void of the beast. 

“Katherine, you shouldn’t be here!” The woodsman scolded

The Beast turned from David, casting its haunting gaze on the woodsman and Katherine. David could see the head of the woodsman’s axe glinting in the ghostly glare. His one hope to save Jack. 

The Beast loomed over the woodsman as he spoke. 

“Woodsman, listen to me.” He boomed

David’s eyes were locked on the woodsman’s axe. He desperately tried to signal to Katherine what he wanted but she was too frozen in fear, staring into the eyes of the Beast.

“Katherine! The axe!” David yelled

Katherine shook off her fear and immediately reached for her father’s axe. The Beast lunged at the same time and everything started happening very quickly. The woodsman was forcefully knocked back into a tree, Katherine was crouched over, grabbing the axe to toss it to David, but hesitated, being knocked down by the lantern which had been flung from the woodsman’s grasp. 

The lantern skidded across the snowy earth, landing upright in front of David. The Beast’s gaze was fixed on him again. David breathed out a shallow breath. 

“Child.” The Beast began.

David shuddered at the sound of the Beast’s voice. An indescribable chill filling his bones- incomparable to any cold he’d ever felt- as it addressed him.

“Your friend will soon become part of my forest, but you can save him.” It continued, David spared at glance at Jack who’s frail breaths puffed out into thin clouds of condensation.

“You be the lantern barer, I can put his soul in the lantern and he will live as long as you keep it lit.” The Beast bargained.

David furrowed his eyebrows, “but the woodsman’s soul is already in there?”

“Do you not want to keep him alive too?” The Beast reasoned

David picked up the lantern, the ghostly light it emitted much the same as the Beast’s eyes.

“No.” He said

The Beast almost seemed to flinch, the forest around them growing ever so slightly more shadowed.

“I’m not going to keep aimlessly walking around these woods my whole life.” David stood his ground

“I’m trying to help you.” The Beast bombinated, its voice growing distorted with an animalistic frustration.

David shook his head, “you’re not trying to help me, you just want me to keep this lantern lit. It’s almost like… your soul is in there.”

David heard a weak gasp from the woodsman’s direction. 

The Beast began growling an inhuman guttural noise that warped and distorted itself as it rattled through every surrounding branch. David was plunged into pure darkness. The void of the Beast's figure became an all encompassing ocean of shadow, the only thing keeping David afloat was the light of the lantern. 

The Beast’s eyes rippled between colours, wild and callous. David was paralysed with fear.

“Are you ready to see true darkness?” The Beast thundered. It stared into David as if it could see every part of him- his heart, his soul, his spleen-  and had an insatiable hunger for it.

David steeled himself, defiance in his tone. “Are you?”

He lifted up the lantern, opening its window. The raw light cast itself blindingly onto the Beast. Its body was hollow, made up of wooden faces carved with agony in their features. It was as if it was crafted from the despair it created.

David drew in a breath to blow out the lantern.

“No, no, no, stop!” The Beast cowered away, the surrounding darkness cowering with him.

David moved over to Katherine as she got up, he passed the lantern to her.

“Here,” he said, “this is your ending, not mine.”

Katherine nodded solemnly, the Beast begging for the life of its immortal soul. David grabbed the axe and rushed over to Jack.

He began hacking away at the roots, they were surprisingly brittle under the axe’s force. 

“Dave? Why’s you here?” Jack muttered out

David let out a soft chuckle, glad that Jack was still aware enough to speak, “to save you, I thought that was obvious.”

“I don’t- why..?” Jack sounded as if he was straining his voice just so he could understand.

David chopped away the last few spindly roots and pulled Jack into his hands. 

“Because I care about you, Jack.” He said, staring into Jack’s tired eyes that had finally managed to open. Jack’s expression was impossibly tired but there was still that familiar glint in his gaze, one that showed life. David was grateful to at least have that.

A mangled screech ripped its way through the forest as Katherine blew out the lantern. The oppressive darkness of the Beast fading along with it. David looked up, for the first time in days he could see the stars.

——————-

The journey back to Medda’s didn’t seem as difficult as the journey from there. It was as if the Beast’s oppressive force on the forest had not only manifested in the fear of the citizens of the unknown, but also the weather. David could almost swear the forest changed itself to make their path quicker too, the journey taking only a day instead of multiple.

David held Jack the entire way there. He was patiently waiting for Jack to recover, although all he seemed to want to do was stare at David with a sad and confused look as if “I care about you” hadn’t been a good enough reason to save his life.

David decided not to unpack it. At least not now.

Katherine and her father had gone their separate ways just before David and Jack arrived at Medda’s. David could see Les eagerly waiting at the window as he grew closer to the building.

He could hear excited yelling as soon as Les saw him walking closer, with Jack in his hands. The front door swung open and a cacophony of voices bombarded David with questions while Les slammed into him with a hug.

“I told you I’d come back.” David smiled to him, his brother smiled back.

As David entered the room the chatter from the birds continued, he was glad to see they all made it there safely. Jack wriggled in his hands.

“Dave-” He prompted.

“Okay, but I don’t think you should fly.” David moved to place Jack down on the ground.

He wobbled a little as he supported his weight before looking up and donning that familiar wry smile with tears in his eyes. 

“Hey, fellas.” He croaked out

Jack was met with an onslaught of birds, immediately knocking him off his balance and swarming him with insults and affection alike.

“Boys!” Medda said, authoritatively, “give him some space!”

The birds backed away, one by one, giving Jack enough space to gain his footing again. There was a tense silence as everyone stared at Jack, awaiting something, anything more than hello.

Jack looked desperately to David, clearly lost on where to begin.

David looked back, equally helpless. He cleared his throat, deciding to change the subject “I, um, have something for all of you.” 

Everyone in the room turned to look at him expectantly. 

“Technically Jack found them, but uh…” 

He pulled out the scissors in his pocket, there was a murmur of confusion from the majority but a gasp of recognition from a few.

“You stole them from the spider?” Jack asked, incredulous.

David scoffed, smiling, “you’re not the only troublemaker in the world, Jackie.”

“Jackie?” Jack breathed out. 

David felt himself blush. Choosing not to respond to Jack, he addressed the group again, “since there’s only one pair this is going to have to be a one-at-a-time thing so… Line up?”

__________

David decided to let Charlie change them all back. Sitting with Les as all of the boys were returned to their human forms. 

He smiled, watching the boy's joy as they emerged from the small, back room fully human. They were all elated at being able to hug each other, and punch each other- he was sure Jack was going to get a lot of those when he was changed back. Jack had opted to go last, figuring that he was the one responsible so he should suffer the consequences longest. 

David watched as Jack moved towards the back room after Albert had stepped out. Jack looked back at David, gesturing for him to come in too. David shot Jack a confused look but got up anyway.

They filed into the small room, Charlie sat on a chair next to the bed that took up most of the floor space. Jack tried, and failed, to fly up onto the bed. David rolled his eyes and scooped him up, placing him on the mattress.

“Is that all you needed me for?” David asked

“What? No, I want you here.” Jack’s expression sank, “I thought you’d wanna ach’lly see me before you leave…”

David’s expression softened, “of course I do.”

Jack brightened, “alright, Crutchie let’s get this goin’!”

Charlie reached over and stretched out Jack’s left wing.

“This’ll prolly hurt.” He warned.

There was a snap of hollow bones and a short cry from Jack as his first wing was snipped away. David fought to not instinctively wrestle the scissors out of Charlie’s hands.

Charlie paused, as if to ask for confirmation that he can keep going.

“Just get it over with, Crutch.” Jack gritted out.

Charlie extended Jack’s other wing and snipped it away with a similar hollow snap. He cried out and staggered back, there was a moment of tense silence where David wondered if it even worked.

Jack cried out in pain again before his entire body was engulfed in light, Charlie had the foresight to avert his gaze but David was left blinded, squinting into the ever growing mass of light that continued to twist and mold itself into the shape of a human. 

The light ceased abruptly, David looked up and blinked through the shapes burnt into his retinas to see Jack’s eyes- green and staring right at him, full of a softness he couldn’t even begin to describe.

Jack gave Charlie a hug before turning back to David. He was only a little shorter than David himself, his build was square and muscular, his hair short and messy under his newsboy cap- that had transformed back into a normal size with him- but David’s favourite feature was the wry yet affectionate smile that he could always hear in his tone but was never quite conveyed properly on his bird face. 

“Hey, Davey.” Jack said, his green eyes crinkling with his smile. He walked over to David, looking up into his eyes. 

David felt blush spread across his cheeks as he smiled.

“Hi, Jack.”

Jack reached out and grabbed onto his arms, throwing him into a hug. David let out a soft “oh” as Jack’s hug tightened, like David may have been the only thing keeping him upright.

“’m sorry.” Jack whispered, a slight shake to his voice. David only now realised he was crying very softly.

“It’s okay, Jackie.” David pulled away slightly so he could look Jack in the eyes, “You’re okay. We’re okay.”

Jack drew in a shaky breath, wiping his eyes, “I, uh… Thank you, Davey.”

“It’s okay, Jack, really.” David smiled gently, looking into Jack’s eyes. They held an impossible amount of guilt and sadness that David wished he could wipe away with his tears.

“I was going to die.” Jack sobbed, tears welling at his eyes again.

David pulled Jack into his arms again, letting him cry into his shoulder.

_______________

David wistfully stared out the small window of Medda’s home. He could hear the overlapping snores of several boys, who were sprawled out on the floor, as well as the occasional sleepy croak from Les’s frog. 

They’d done it. They’d stopped the beast, they’d saved Jack, all that was left was for David and Les to go home. Yet, as David forlornly stared out the window he didn’t think he could feel any more morose about the prospect of leaving. 

He was startled by a shuffling noise from behind him. He turned his head to see Jack stepping over the boys laying on the floor.

“Jack? Why aren’t you asleep?” David asked, his voice hushed.

“Y’ say that like youse asleep too, Daves.” Jack whispered in return.

David chuckled softly.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Jack answered

David hummed. He was feeling the same.

There was a strange silence between them as they both stared out onto the icy terrain. Although the harsh weather had eased, the outside remained impossibly silent aside from the occasional gust of wind that sent a low whistle through the trees.

David didn’t even know what to say. Jack had basically come back from the dead, surviving something more horrible than David would ever be able to comprehend. Something that scared him more than he could articulate. And he’d not just survived but came back as a human. Someone almost unrecognisable to David at times.

David peered at Jack out of the corner of his eye, tracing the unfamiliar bridge of his nose and curve of his lips. He felt like he was sitting next to a stranger.

Jack broke the silence. “Why did you come and find me?” He asked.

David gave him a confused look, “because I care about you, I thought I already said that.”

Jack huffed, “you did, but…” He paused, brows knitted, “I don’t understand why you do. I was gonna get you killed, Dave.”

David frowned, “but, you didn’t want to, Jack.”

Jack looked away from David, bowing his head, “don’t change the fact that I did it.” 

David grabbed Jack’s hands, “Jack.”

Jack looked up at him. David stared into his green eyes. They were visually nothing like what his eyes had looked like as a bird, not even close to the beady black pupils David had grown to know. Yet, both pairs of eyes were so unmistakably Jack. Both pairs captured the mischievous glint that poorly concealed the unwavering love Jack felt for his family, his friends.

David looked down at Jack’s hands in his, holding them a fraction tighter.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” He began, his voice soft, sincere. More sincere than he felt he’d been with anyone.

Jack moved to look away again.

David continued anyway. “I made a mistake leaving you behind. I didn’t have the full picture, Jack. You shouldn’t feel guilty for something you were trying to fix.” 

“Don’t it bother you that our relationship was built on me lying to you?” Jack was giving David a desperate look. David wasn’t sure if Jack was desperate for his forgiveness or rejection.

“Did you ever lie about caring for me?” David asked

Jack gave David a sad frown, “of course not! I wouldn’t do that, Daves.”

David brushed his thumb over Jack’s palm, tracing its creases. 

He flicked his gaze up to Jack. “Then I don’t think it was built on you lying.”

Jack continued to give David that sad frown but stayed silent, like he didn’t fully believe David but also didn’t have anything that could prove him wrong.

Jack’s hands slowly slipped out of David’s grasp. “What ‘bout you going home?”

“What about it?” David knew he was being evasive. He didn’t want to think about going home. About leaving Jack when he was just getting to know him.

“You found a way to get there?” Jack asked

David sighed, “not yet, I’m sure Medda’s gonna find something, though.”

Jack let out a breath that could’ve been a laugh.

“Even if it takes a while.” David lamely tacked on.

“Well, I’s happy to help ya, no matter how long you’s here.” Jack said, softly.

They both gazed out the window. David shifted uncomfortably in the silence.

“What if-” Jack began before trailing off

“What if?” David asked

Jack shook his head, “‘S nothin’, don’t worry.”

David creased his eyebrows, “are you sure?”

Jack ran his hand through his hair. David almost laughed at how human the gesture was. It was something Jack never could’ve done as a bird.

“Yeah…” Jack sighed, “‘s just. ‘M gonna miss ya, Daves.” 

David smiled sadly “I’ll miss you too, Jack.”

Jack leaned against David’s shoulder. David let out a soft “oh”, tensing slightly before leaning into Jack’s weight to the point where they were supporting eachother. They stared out the window, the silence more comfortable. Snow began gently drifting down, David could feel his eyelids droop.

“I wish we met each other like this.” Jack mumbled, sleepy. David peered at him through half-closed eyes. 

“Like with you as a human?” David’s voice was quiet, soft as the snowfall outside.

“Yeah. An’ you not so lost.” Jack’s eyes were closed, his warm body pressed against David, his head resting in the crook of David’s neck. 

“Yeah…” David replied, “what if we did?”

Jack chuckled, lightly, “we already knows each other, Dave.”

David shifted, looking at Jack, “I know but… We don’t know each other like this.”

Jack looked at David with a sleepy gaze, an amused smile on his face, “‘spose not.”

Jack moved fully into David’s view, sitting cross-legged in front of him. There was a serious look in his stare.

“Names Jack Kelly, an’ you?” Jack introduced

David laughed, lightly shoving Jack’s leg, “Jackie.”

“Just go with it, Davey.” Jack laughed

David drew in a breath, “I’m David… Jacobs.” He awkwardly outstretched his hand for Jack to shake.

Jack took it and shook it firmly, “I think we’s gonna be great friends, Davey.” He looked at David with nothing but affection.

David smiled back, taking Jack’s other hand, “I think so too.”

___________

Jack woke up to the feeling of a gentle yet insistent poking in his side. He groaned, rolling over in some vain effort to get the person poking him to leave.

“Jack. You better wake up before one ‘a the other fellas pours a glass of water on you.” Crutchie warned, continuing to poke Jack.

“Why do I gotta be awake?” Jack grumbled, his eyes remaining shut

Crutchie scoffed, Jack imagined that he rolled his eyes too, “Medda ain’t gonna let us stay here forever.”

Jack just groaned in response, rolling over again to get more comfortable. 

Race piped up from the other side of the room, “Jack, get your ass up, ain’t our fault ya stayed up all night flirting with ya boyfriend.”

At that Jack startled awake, wrenching his eyes open and immediately being blinded by the cool sunlight gleaming through the window. Jack blinked his eyes furiously, desperately trying to adjust to the light. 

“He ain’t my boyfriend, Race.” He gritted 

“Oh yeah? Then what was all that sweet talkin’ for?” Race jeered, some of the other boys erupting into laughter.

Jack huffed, choosing to ignore their teasing comments as they continued to rag on him. He turned to Crutchie.

“Where is Davey?” He asked, only a little scared that he might’ve already left without saying goodbye.

“He’s upstairs with Medda, still tryna find a way home,” Crutchie replied.

Jack nodded, getting up and heading towards the stairs, decidedly ignoring Race’s comment of “if you ain’t boyfriends whys you goin’ to see him just afta ya woke up?”

It was strange, readjusting to his human body. He thought everything would just fall back into place as soon as he was normal - after all he never got used to being a bluebird - but his limbs were heavier than he expected every time he moved them, carrying the weight of bones that were no longer hollow. He was still adjusting to the cool air that brushed against his skin with every motion, feeling small goosebumps raise at the sensation, although grateful that he no longer had feathers that were far too itchy.

As he neared the top of the staircase he hesitated, overhearing Davey and Medda’s conversation.

“-way I can go and come back?” Jack could hear the worry in Davey’s tone

“I’m not sure, honey.” Medda replied, gently, “how you even got here still remains a mystery to me.”

Davey huffed, “yeah.”

Jack climbed the rest of the stairs, stopping at the entrance to the small loft. He surveyed the space, familiar with it - sometimes coming up there to paint when he wanted to get away from all the chaos of his home. He took in the wood beams that hung overhead, silky cobwebs woven between them, the tall bookshelves that housed books containing knowledge Jack couldn’t even begin to understand before his eyes landed on Davey. He was crowded around a small desk with Medda, Les and Les’s frog. There were multiple, very heavy looking, tomes laid out on it, Medda pouring over the pages in search for answers.

“Jack!” Davey exclaimed, a warm smile spread on his face. A cool beam of sunlight shone down from the loft’s round window, directly onto Davey’s face. The dust illuminated around him made him almost sparkle. Jack could feel his face flushing.

“Hey Davey,” Jack smiled back, joining the others at the desk.

Davey gestured to the dusty tomes, “we’re looking for a way to get Les and I back home.” 

“And Jason Funderberker!” Les emphasised his point by holding up his frog.

Davey rolled his eyes affectionately, “and Jason Funderberker.” He leaned into Jack and whispered “I have no clue where he got that name.” 

Jack chuckled.

“So, you guys need any help?” He asked, not really wanting to be involved. It hurt to think about Davey leaving, hurt even worse to think he’d probably never see him again.

Davey sighed, “do you know any spells that can magically return Les and I home?” 

“Well if Medda don’t then I definitely don’t.” Jack grinned wryly.

Davey returned his grin with a sad half-smile, “not sure how you’d help then, Jack.”

Jack frowned, “we’s gonna find a way to get you home. I promise, Davey.”

Davey still held that same half-smile, “I know, Jack, I just…” he trailed off. They both stared at each other, unsure of what to say.

Medda cut in in, “how about you boys go do something while I try and figure this out?” She offered, kindly.

“Uh, yeah, you’re sure you don’t need any help?” Davey checked

“I’ll call you boys if I need anything.” Medda smiled, “go have fun.”

“Woo!!” Les cheered, racing down the stairs to hang out with the other boys. Davey moved to follow him.

“Davey!” Jack called, halting his path, “can I show you something real quick?”

“Oh, uh- sure…” 

Jack excitedly grabbed Davey by the hand, leading him over to a dark corner of the loft.

“You um… asked what the first thing I’d do when I’m human was,” Jack explained, lighting the candles that sat on the shelves, “and I said I was gonna draw, so…”

He pulled up a small stool next to the covered easel that sat in the corner, “take a seat.”

Davey stared at him, unmoving, “are you going to draw me?” 

“Yeah,” Jack shrugged, pulling the sheet off the easel, revealing a blank white canvas, “‘long as you’re okay with me staring at you.” 

He could see the blush spreading on Davey’s cheeks, “uh, yeah, of course I- yeah…” Davey stuttered, sitting himself on the stool.

“Charlie showed me your sketchbook - when I was here the first time - you’re really good, Jack.” Davey said as Jack grabbed a stick of charcoal from one of the shelves 

Jack smiled, sheepish, “I ain’t anything special.”

“Jack.” Davey spoke with such a serious tone that Jack immediately locked eyes with him, “your art looks amazing.”

“Davey, calm down, ‘s just a couple a’ drawings.” Jack said, lifting the stick of charcoal up to place his first mark on the canvas.

“It’s really good for ‘just a couple of drawings’.” 

Jack let out a soft laugh, continuing to sketch.

“I’m serious, Jack.” Davey insisted

Jack peeked out from behind the canvas, getting a look at Davey’s meaningful expression. His cheeks warmed, “Thanks Davey.”

The soft brush of charcoal on canvas filled the silence.

“So uh…” Jack began, “whatcha gonna do when you get back home?” 

“Oh… Um. I don’t know.” Davey absently picked at the fluff stuck to his pants, “I’m looking forward to seeing my sister again. And my mom and dad.” 

“You got folks?” 

“Yeah. They’re great, I-” Davey looked away as he flicked a ball of fluff to the floor, “I wish you could meet them.” 

Jack stopped, looking square at Davey, “whose saying I can’t?”

Davey seemed to avoid Jack’s gaze even further.

“Davey. Didn't we say we’d be more… I dunno, transparent with eachother?”

Davey sighed a heavy sigh, still avoiding Jack’s stare. “Medda found a way for Les and I to get home…”

“Then why are youse still here? Go Davey!” Jack urged

“I won’t be able to come back.”

Jack felt something snap break between them, an irreparable bridge that he wanted to fix so badly. 

“That’s your home, Dave. With your folks. You think I’d leave everything behind for some other world I barely know?” Jack insisted, knowing he didn’t want Davey to go.

“I know, I know. It’s not fair to my family, or you if you have to keep me around-”

“Dave-” 

“Or me, I’ve barely survived here! But…” Davey sighed again with mounting frustration, “But I don’t want to leave you.” 

Jack kept his eyes locked on Davey, he could see a faint sheen of tears glistening on his eyes.

“Davey…” Jack began, impossibly gently. He placed the stick of charcoal down, pulling Davey’s hands into his own, marking his skin with smears of charcoal residue.

“You know I’d keep you ‘round forever if I could.”  He looked up at Davey, watching his lip quiver.

“I know-” Davey sobbed, he breathed in a shaky breath. “I know, Jackie.” 

One of his tears splashed onto Jack’s hands, creating a clear line down a smudge of charcoal.

“But I can’t.” Jack looked up at Davey, feeling the prickle of tears at his eyes, “an ‘m sure you’d get sicka me ‘ventually.” He let out a weak laugh.

Davey began to shake his head, “No, Jack-”

Jack held up his hand, “I ain’t finished, Dave.”

Davey frowned but let Jack continue

“You were good for me, Dave, ‘an maybe it’s gonna stay were forever…” Jack glanced away, composing himself, “I want it to be are so badly. ‘An I want it to be are forever. But… I ain’t worth your life Davey. Or Les’s, or your folks love for you.” He spoke earnestly but with a hope he was wrong. With a hope he maybe was worth that much.

Jack looked into Davey’s eyes, desperate for some kind of sign. Some kind of sign that Davey wouldn’t throw his whole life away for him. Desperate for a sign that proved he was still worth as much as he’d always been.

“Jack-” Davey started, clipping his thoughts short. He sighed, resigned, “I won’t be able to forget you. When I go.”

Jack breathed out a chuckle, “I won’t be able to forget you either, Davey.” He tried not to get caught on the when in Davey’s words. The irrefutable proof that he wasn’t worth that much to Davey. The irrefutable proof of something he already knew was true. 

“You know, I been scared. That somethin’ was gonna change, ‘tween us.” Jack slipped his hands away from Davey’s, “It was so nice being friends with you… So easy. ‘S why I didn’t just tell you ‘bout Snyder.”

“Jack, you don’t have to justify yourself, I already forgave you.” Davey reiterated, sincere.

“I know… ‘S just, this.” He gestured to the half-finished portrait of Davey, “I guess it’s my way to grab hold of somethin’. Just to make time stop, so’s I could just… Keep on lookin’ at you. Even if it ain’t really you.” He smiled, gently. 

Davey’s cheeks flushed. 

He took Davey’s hand’s again, “‘Cause I know something’s gonna change now, Dave. An’ that was gonna happen no matter what.”

They sat, sorrowful. Holding each other’s hands in a gentle embrace. Mourning the life they could’ve had together in an empty silence. Jack gently brushed his thumb against the back of Davey’s hand, Davey returned the motion. Jack studied the curves of Davey’s slender fingers, he wished he had time to capture them.

“Well,” Davey began, looking up at Jack, “I think you better finish that portrait while I’m still here.”

Jack smiled, nothing but sorrow reaching his eyes. He moved back to his position behind the canvas, admiring the way the soft beam of light from the window made the planes of Davey’s face glow, the glisten of tears sparkle. He didn’t think he needed a drawing to remember what Davey looked like at that moment.

They returned back to idle conversation, desperately trying to ignore the inevitable end to this moment. To them. 

Jack sketched carefully, detailing the lines of Davey’s cheekbones, the subtle curve of his hair. He laid down the lines of his brows, capturing every detail as best as he could. 

He’d always have this Davey here, frozen forever in wispy lines of charcoal.

_______________

Les and David stood at the edge of a river. The cold snap of winter had dialed back but the steady rush of water still ran numbingly cold. 

David, nervous, stared at the river. “I wish there was a less freezing way home.”

“Well, we can’t choose where the gate is at its weakest.” Medda said, solemn.

Jack hummed, seemingly impartial. He’d been abnormally quiet on the trip to the river, as if starting another conversation would make it that much harder to leave.

David supposed he was right. 

He turned to look at Jack sadly, he wanted to pull him in for another hug, wanted to stay there with him forever maybe, but they both had responsibilities greater than falling into each other's arms. Just because he knew something would change doesn’t mean he wanted it to.

“You boys ready?” Medda prompted.

Les nodded, enthusiastic, while his frog let out an affirmative croak. David gave a short nod, glum. No, no he wasn’t ready. 

He gave Jack a desperate glance, hoping that he would know just how not ready he felt. 

Jack smiled at him, strained, “you’ll be fine, Daves. It’s your home, ‘s where you belong.” 

David frowned, looking down. He wasn’t sure he’d really belong anywhere without Jack. 

“What if-” Davey began, voice shaky, throat tight, “I got here… Maybe there’s a way back from my home.”

He was so desperately clinging to some semblance of hope. Begging the world to let him go back. He barely believed it.

Jack looked at him, tears welling up in his eyes, “I think you could…” He trailed off, choking on a sob. 

He looked up, staring at David with some half-eaten-away resolve “not even magic-world-barriers would be able ta’ stop your stubborn ass.”

David let out a wet laugh, shoving Jack’s shoulder, “It’s my stubborn ass that saved you.”

“I know…” Jack grabbed David’s hands, brushing his thumbs over them. “I owe you everything, Daves.” 

David stared at Jack, the softness of his gaze, the smooth centre of his chapped lips.

They both stood there, afraid to get any closer, afraid to admit the thing they were grieving hadn’t ended yet.

David sniffed, composing himself. “Save it for when I get back, okay.” David said, stepping back. 

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “When you get back.”

His hand limply fell from Jack’s grasp.

He turned back to the river. This time the water’s flow wavered under his watch, the current shifting ever so slightly. If David squinted he swore he could see the auburn-leaved trees of his home reflected in the water. 

He grabbed Les’s hand and walked further to the edge of the water. David took a deep breath, bracing himself for the icy cold shock of the rushing river. Just before taking his first step in he glanced back at Jack, looking into his sad eyes. 

“Goodbye, Jack.” He called, tears constricting his throat.

He drew in a shaky breath and plunged into the frigid water below.