Chapter Text
Benson sighed in contentment as he looked out of the little window onto the sea around them. The gentle shift of the waves caused the boat to rock back and forth in a soothing rhythmic motion that didn't help his fight against the sweet siren call of slumber.
Outside the window, the crimson moon shone brightly in a cloudless sky, bathing what he knew were crystal clear blue waves in a bright crimson glow. The stars, usually not visible to them due to the light pollution in Backland, twinkled brightly in the absence of the artificial glow of lamps and street lights.
To honor his recent engagement, as well as his new promotion, Benson had decided to take Melissa on a luxury cruise as a celebration. He knew that welcoming a new member into the family would be odd for Melissa, no matter how enthusiastic she was or how well she got along with Lucy, and he wanted to spend some time with her alone before that to ensure that she didn't feel left out. Lucy had been all for the idea, even going so far as to suggest the idea of taking Melissa on a cruise herself. Melissa had of course put up her customary protest against what she called 'frivolous spendings' but after nearly three years of Benson wearing her down with the benefits of actually using money instead of just saving and the comfort of Benson having a stable well paying job (instead of just relying on the….pension) even her protests had become weak and half hearted.
Behind him Melissa slept on her bed peacefully, curled up onto herself like she always did. Benson got up from his seat at the window and approached her silently.
"Not that lever Kronk!!" Melissa muttered suddenly before turning to her other side and settling back to sleep, making Benson let out an affectionate laugh. He reached out and gently stroked her hair, causing her to snuggle up into his palm a little. She'd always spoken in her sleep, ever since she was a small child. Benson fondly remembered this one time, when they had all been much much younger, that she had been muttering so much in her sleep that Klein had woken him up panicked, claiming that their baby sister had gotten possessed by an evil spirit. It had taken Benson a considerable amount of comforting and explanations to convince the small boy that that was just how Melissa was but even then Klein had insisted on sleeping in his bed for the next few days.
Klein… the thought of his younger brother makes his hands freeze for a brief moment before Melissa's disgruntled expression made him resume his petting. He could barely believe it that day, when Melissa had come to his study, eyes wild and looking the most unstable she had been since the days following Klein's funeral. It had taken barely any prompting on his part before she had blurted it all out to him, about beyonders and gods. About mystical creatures and people with powers gained from magic potions; people who hid in the shadows of normal society and had their own sets of rules and laws governed by the orthodox churches as well as hidden existence and cults. It was like some sort of story straight out of one of Emperor Roselle's novel.
And his little sister, his dear beloved Melissa who had never believed in any of these things, who was the most logical and cynical person he knew, had been invited to become one of these extraordinary people by her mentor, and she had accepted. At that point Benson had been willing to storm up to Mr Portland Moment's place and beat him up himself, rage filling him at the idea of someone offering something so dangerous to a child! (Because eighteen was still too young, and even if it wasn't she would always be too young in his eyes, his baby sister.) Adding to that the fact that Portland told her that she wasn't even allowed to ask or tell her guardian about it??! Even now, thinking about it filled Benson with a rage he had never felt before.
One look at Melissa’s anxious face had stopped him in his tracks though. He could tell she was holding something back—something far more jarring than anything he’d already heard. And then it came, the revelation, Klein was alive.
What?!? It seemed impossible, especially considering that Benson’s last memory of his brother was a cold corpse with a gaping hole where his heart should have been. Even with the features smoothed over in death, Benson could still see the lingering echo of Klein’s final, agonized moments.
And then it turned out that it was not just that Klein was alive, no, he apparently was also a beyonder! Just like Melissa had become. He had been since the months before he died. His job,the one that he had claimed was just a simple history consultant position at a security company, that had let them move out from their previous position of poverty and whose generous pension had helped secure a better life for Melissa and himself, had in fact been a cover for the Nighthawks, a secret beyonder organization under the Evernight church itself. Suddenly, the shifts in Klein's behavior during the months leading up to his death finally clicked. His heightened perceptiveness, his newfound confidence, the comfortable way he bantered and interacted with people he barely knew (something Klein had never been able to do before), everything.
But even after telling him all that, Melissa remained hesitant, as if she still had something that she was keeping from him. However, Benson’s frantic persistence eventually wore her down. What she then revealed seemed like some sort of fevered dream. Apparently Klein had not only faked his death, but had also gotten drawn into the services of some sort of unorthodox evil god (who had a church now? So maybe HE was just an orthodox god now) and was now an angel?!?? Benson's baby brother, the little toddler who used to follow him around the house even before he learnt to walk, the young man who had been absent minded and kind of air headed but cooked spectacularly and had an incredibly weird but amusing sense of humor was now a bloody angel under an evil god!?!?!
At that point Benson had gone to his liquor cabinet and taken a swing straight out of his bottle of good scotch that his coworkers had gifted him for his promotion. Melissa had also muttered something about magic mirrors but Benson had been too overwhelmed with information at that point.
Over the next few days, the two siblings had slowly worked their way through everything that Melissa had been keeping from Benson as well as trying to map out their brother's journey through the information that Melissa had learnt from the mirror. (And would you believe that, a mirror that could show you whatever you asked of it. The world really was a stranger place than Benson could've ever imagined)
The managed to deduce that after faking his death, Klein had moved to Backland and had taken up the identity of Sherlock Moriarty, a private detective who had been embroiled in many a case during his short stay in the city, some of which Benson and Melissa had even heard of before they got to know that that was their brother. (The photo of Klein with that atrocious beard was something that sent the both of them into fits of uncontrolled laughter, regardless of how sad and betrayed they had felt.)
From then he seemed to have taken on the identity of Gehrman Sparrow, the world famous crazy pirate hunter, zealot believer of The Fool, a newly established god. It had taken a lot for the siblings to be able to associate such a man, who was famous for his bloody hunts and ruthless crazy nature with Klein. Gehrman Sparrow, who had hunted some of the most powerful admirals armed with a gun that could apparently pierce through anything with a single bullet and a glove that fed on the flesh of the living. Whose infamy was so wide spread that even they, who lived so far away from the sea, were aware of his exploits. That psychotic killer with a bounty from almost every single major church, was apparently their brother. Their kind, sweet, gentle brother, who used to panic at the site of blood, who had always been so uncomfortable at even the thought of hurting anyone.
It was completely incomprehensible. If this was what becoming a beyonder did to a person, he absolutely refused to allow Melissa to advance further. He would not see what happened to his brother happen to his sister as well. But after calming down a bit, the siblings rationalised that perhaps the rumors were slightly exaggerated, like all rumors usually were. Upon pulling some strings, calling upon old connections and doing a little more digging, Benson realised that they were right about the rumors.
All the people that Gehrman Sparrow had apparently killed and who's bounties he had cashed in were all murders, rapists and thieves, basically the scum of society. There was no solid proof of a man eating glove and there was definitely no proof that he had murdered or stolen from the innocent. In fact the official depiction of Gehrman Sparrow, disregarding the rumors of him being blood thirsty maniac and a lady killer (and hadn't that description sent Melissa into a screaming laughing fit upon reading it, even Benson couldn't help but let out a chuckle), was of a young, polite, soft spoken gentleman who seemed to be prone to random unpredictable violence based on his whims but only towards those who deserved it. In fact there seemed to be cases where Gehrman Sparrow was actually depicted as a hero who helped people escape from pirate ships and who protected children and those who could not protect themselves.
It was only some time after Gehrman Sparrow started achieving true infamy did Dwayne Dantes' arrive in the high society of Backland. Interestingly enough though Melissa claimed that Dwayne was also Klein; Mr Dantes and Gehrman Sparrow were very clearly active at the same time. Benson theorized that perhaps Dwayne Dantes was a joint identity that Klein took on along with other followers of The Fool, his riches supplemented by the bounties that Klein had accumulated by his pirate hunting and by the other followers as well. (Hopefully…. This evil god and his cult better not be taking advantage of Benson's baby brother's hard work and good nature. If they were then Benson would be having words with them.)
Now that they had managed to map out a good portion of Klein's journey the only thing left to do was figure out what exactly Klein's current identity was, as he had apparently hinted to Leonard Mitchell.
As Benson continued his contemplations he heard a knock at their cabin door. Carefully getting up from his seat at Melissa's bedside so as to not wake his sleeping sister he made his way to the door and quietly opened it.
"Good evening sir" the stateroom attendant said, his voice a low whisper.
"Good evening" Benson greeted, confused, stepping outside and closing the door so as to not wake Melissa. "Is something the problem?"
"I apologise for the interruption so late in the night." he said, bowing apologetically "But the captain would like to inform all the passengers that there is a change of plans. Due to an unexpected change in the weather we will have to dock in a nearby island."
Benson looked out from one of the windows that lined the hallway to realise yes, the previously clear night sky that he had just been admiring was now completely covered in thick rolling grey clouds that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Even the ship, that had been swaying in the same steady manner that it had been since the start of the journey was now starting to rock almost violently. The storm seemed to have really come out of nowhere.
"That would to be a wise decision." Benson told the stateroom attendant. "May I ask where exactly we will be docking."
For some reason the question caused the man make a complicated perturbed expression, as if he were confused by something. "We've managed to radio confirmation for docking from the island." He said his voice coming out slightly hesitant "The name of the city has been confirmed to be……. Utopia. "