Chapter Text
It was just another night at the agency. Since their return to London, case after case had come and gone, a different ghost appearing before them, each one seeming to blur into the last. If they were different people, they might have found it repetitive. But both boys had love for the job, and they easily fell back into the normalcy of it, especially now that the Night Nurse was helping them, albeit reluctantly. Sure, things haven't been the easiest since losing Niko, especially not for Edwin, but they're still going. Despite everything, they haven't stopped fighting for what's right. And Charles thinks that's pretty damn brills.
So, for the moment, everything is fine. No more danger and craziness, save for the usual amount on cases. They could finally relax again.
That was exactly what Charles was doing when a tapping came from the window.
At first, he ignored it. It was probably just the usual irritating pigeon wanting to dig into their rubbish. And they usually left after the first five taps.
But the tapping didn't stop this time. Charles was pretty sure it had been going on for at least five minutes now, only getting louder and faster with each passing second. Groaning in frustration, he finally walked over to the balcony to shoo away the dumb pigeon-
Except it wasn't a pigeon. It was a crow. And it was staring right at him.
He didn't know how he could tell, but he recognised it. The sight of the bird brings a feeling of familiarity, and it only intensifies as the bird coos and tilts its head at him.
"Monty?"
The crow coos again, almost in confirmation. It's only then that Charles notices the pouring rain, and he hurriedly cracks the window open to let Monty in, locking it again once the crow flies past. "Christ, mate, you must be freezing."
Monty doesn't give a sound in response, but Charles can see his little form shivering, so he quickly grabs towels from the bathroom, wrapping them around him. Monty seems grateful for this, as he slowly sinks into the soft material around him.
"What are you doing here?" Charles asked, looking completely bewildered. "How did you even get here?"
Monty looked away, giving no response. It wasn't possible at all, but Charles could've sworn he looked...guilty? This made him frown deeply. "Wait, did you...fly all the way here? All the way from Port Townsend?"
Monty didn't look at him. Charles took that as a yes. "Oh my God, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘺. Why would you do that?"
The crow seemed to shrink under his gaze, and Charles realised with a sinking feeling that Monty thought he was mad at him. He wondered, distantly, if that had anything to do with Esther, but put it aside as he knelt down slightly to reassure him.
"Hey, Monty, mate. I'm not mad, yeah? Just worried. It's not very safe to travel that distance, especially in this weather. So why did you do it?"
Monty cawed in response, only stopping when he realised Charles couldn't even understand him. The ghost was quick to act though, and after a couple minutes, he came back with a sheet of paper, the english alphabet written on it. "Okay, just point to the letters you need to spell something out, and then I'll write it all down, okay? This way we can actually communicate."
Monty flew down to the floor in front of the paper, looking up at Charles. Then he began to poke at the sheet with his beak, pointing to different letters to form a sentence. Charles wrote it down as he went, watching the words come together.
"No home?" Charles asked, glancing at Monty over the paper. He cawed in reply, then moved to spell out another sentence again.
"House...torn...wait-" Charles paused in shock. "They tore down Es- your house?"
Monty gave a low, quiet coo in confirmation. Charles' face softened in sympathy. "So that's why you flew all the way here?"
Monty bowed his head, which Charles figured was answer enough. "Okay...okay, that's fine. You can stay here for tonight. But it might not be permanent. 𝘐 don't want to send you away, but..." He trailed off, but it looked like Monty didn't even need him to finish. He already knew the reason why. And it was fair, he'd hurt and betrayed Edwin. He didn't deserve to be anywhere near him.
"Hey, we'll figure something out, alright, mate?" Charles smiled warmly. "I promise."
In the back of his kind, Monty thought "𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵", but it wasn't like he could even voice it, so it didn't really matter. He fully expected to be kicked out of here the second Edwin discovered him, sent back out into the harsh, unforgiving London weather to be alone again until the day that he died. It was nothing less than he deserved.
But regardless, he followed and watched as Charles tried to build a makeshift nest of sorts in one of the desk drawers. It looked softer and warmer than a usual crows nest would, but it would still do. He cooed a little "thank you", which Charles still seemed to understand despite the obvious communication barrier. Then he flew down and settled into the comfy nest, curling into himself and resting his head into his chest.
Charles smiled down at him, placing a hand on the outside of the drawer. "Goodnight, Monty. I'll see you in the morning, yeah? And maybe we can talk more about what you wanna do going forward. 'Cause I'm not sure if you wanna stay a crow, but if you don't, I'm sure we can figure something out. Maybe I could ask Tragic Mick?"
Monty was taken aback at all of this, but made a sort of nodding motion at Charles, hoping it conveyed itself as a "maybe" instead of an immediate "yes." He wasn't sure if Charles understood, but the boy smiled down at him and muttered one last "goodnight" before closing the drawer, so Monty figured it would be okay.
Everything was going to be okay.