Work Text:
“I wish we hadn’t come to this battle.”
“You keep saying that, Nath.”
“I mean it.” Caprikid blindly feels his way along the mass of broken stone. Dust and rubble cakes his back and head like a shroud. No matter how much he tries, he can’t seem to shake all the debris out of his furry coat.
He’s never been the most enthusiastic hero, even on his best days. Others jumped into battle like they were made to shine in glory and war. Braver heroes, like Rooster Bold-like Marc. But for himself? Sure, saving the world is great and all but he can’t deny the coaxing, pulling dream of getting to laze around in his comfortable home.
He remembers the moments before this. How the earth quaked and the city trembled. The glorious heroes and himself, standing against a tide of deadly light. The warmth of his partner’s hand pushing him out of danger, the sight of his feathered tailcoat catching the light like sunbeams before he was running off to save another.
“I think that show we were watching released their finale today.”
“Did it?”
“Or was it yesterday? I’m not really sure. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be in our soft bed together. Watching movies, or working on our comic...”
“Our last comic still needs to be finalized.”
“I thought you still wanted to continue it. It was your idea.” He presses his hands to the low rubble ceiling, a coffin with the weight of the earth sealing him in. It still doesn’t budge.
“I mean, I had a few more chapters planned, but you already wrote in the ending.”
“Yeah, but you let me change it.”
“Not even an ounce of guilt in your voice. Wow.”
“Aww, you let me meddle cuz you love me,” he coos, lips curling up in a smile that no one can see.
The fond sigh in his earpiece is loud enough to echo in his head. “I suppose I have no one to blame but myself.”
“I’ll make it up to you. Uh…somehow.”
“I won’t be holding my breath.”
“Come on. Have at least a little faith in me.”
“…”
“Hey, don’t go silent on me just yet.” Caprikid props half of his broken staff in a nook of one of the rocks, trying to use the leverage to budge it. Still nothing.
It’s all quiet. Here, in this trapped space. And out there, where he can’t see. He should be able to hear the heartbeat of the city, its cars and birds and passing conversations pumping the lifeblood of Paris along. All he hears now is his own breath.
“Bold.” His voice shakes a little. “Come on.”
“Sorry, Nath. I’m here. What’s going on?”
“Damn earpiece keeps cutting out. At least you’re still here with me.” He throws his staff to the side and slides down against the rock. “Until the real heroes fix all this.”
“Don’t say that. You’re as much a hero as any one of us.”
“How can you say that? Just one look at this mess and…” he starts to gesture out, then drops his hand. “Well, you can’t really look. There’s no light in here.”
“I see. Well, ha, I guess I don’t, but…I understand what you mean.”
Of course he does. They both remember the moments before this. How the earth quaked and the city trembled. The glorious heroes and himself, running from the deadly light. The warmth of his partner’s hand pushing him away as the rocks started to fall, and just before the darkness, catching sight of his feathered tailcoat striking the dust out in a spray like the impact frames in a comic, before he was running off to save another.
“This was too much for us.”
“No one could have known. And, besides, it’s not like it’s all over. The others, they’re…they’re still out there. Ladybug can still bring everything back to normal, right?”
“If she’s still out there, she’s taking her sweet time.”
“Well, it’s not like we had any big plans for tonight.”
“Not true.” Caprikid pouts. “I have plans.”
“Oh? Tell me.”
“I’m going to sleep in a soft, feather bed.”
“Once again, you’re taking what’s mine.”
“And I’m going to fall asleep holding your hand so you’ll forgive me for sleeping on your feathers.”
A soft chuckle in his ear. “I suppose I can find it in my heart to forgive you, then.”
“That’s good.” His chest hurts. Must be all the dust in his lungs. “I was worried you’d start to get annoyed with how selfish I’ve been.”
“Oh, Nath…”
“I didn’t know you had plans for more chapters. I mean, it should have been obvious since there were still parts of the story that hadn’t been fully wrapped up yet but I wasn’t really thinking, I just…”
“I was happy to follow your plan.”
“Well, I don’t know. I feel like I should have talked with you first instead of confidently declaring it as the last chapter, but I didn’t, and I didn’t get the chance to show you until it was already printed, and…”
“Nath, it’s fine.” His voice is still so light-hearted. At least something remains light in this dark place. “Really. I don’t mind.”
“You sure?”
“It’s just how you are. Sure, sometimes you go off script, but I don’t mind changing the story for your ideas. It’s our comic, after all.”
“Makes me feel like an asshole.”
“Well I’m telling you that you don’t have to feel like that. Your contributions to the story are just as important.”
“Aww, that’s sweet. My hero.”
Silence from his earpiece.
He taps it a few times. “Are you still there? Marc?”
“I’m still here.”
“Did we do enough? As heroes?”
“I…we saved as many as we could.”
“But did we do enough?”
“You’re still alive. That’s enough for me.”
“Did anyone else make it?”
“I wish I knew.”
Caprikid hugs his knees to his chest. He doesn’t want to be here. He wants to be home.
If only he could forget the moments before this. How the earth quaked and the city trembled. The heroes and himself, frightened, running for their lives from the deadly light. The warmth of his partner’s hand pushing him away as the rocks started to fall, and just before the darkness, the shadow of his feathered tailcoat as he spun, the way it fanned out like he meant to shield the whole world, before he was running off to save another.
“I’m tired, Marc.”
“I know.”
“If I had been a better hero, could I have done something?”
“This was never on you.”
“It feels like it was. If I was a better hero, you wouldn’t have needed to save me.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to save you?”
“Well, I don’t know. I feel like I should be better at being a hero, like how you are, but it seems like I’m always the weakest, while you’re the one that actually goes out and saves the day, so…”
“I…I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“It’s fine.”
“Is it?”
“It’s fine.”
“Nath.”
“Oh, don’t act like that!” He jumps to his feet, pacing around the small space like a caged animal. “You’re the one that always knows what to do. You’re the one that jumps into danger like it’s nothing. I froze! I’m supposed to be a hero, too, but then the ground started shaking and I saw the light coming and I just-” He slams his head against the rock. Dust rains down his horns.
Silence.
“Are you still there?”
“I’m still here.”
“I-I’m so, so sorry. For ending your story too soon.”
“I know.”
“I wish I hadn’t. I wished I’d thought about it first.”
He turns and something crunches under his foot. It takes a moment for him to kneel down and feel it in the blindness, but he finds it, rubbing it against his fingers until he recognizes the shape. His broken earpiece. So that’s where it dropped when he was pushed out of the way.
“I knew your nature before I fell for you. And it doesn’t change how I love you.”
Caprikid cups the empty shell of his ear. As though he can cradle his voice and keep it there for a little while longer.
“I’ll make it up to you. Somehow.”
“…”
“I mean, I have no one to blame but myself.”
“…”
“Are you still there?”
“…”
“The finale for that show we were watching. I think it came out yesterday.”
“…”
“I’m tired, Marc. I’ll sleep a little while longer until the other heroes get back. We’ll figure out our comic in the morning.”
“…”
“Goodnight. I love you.”
The dust weighs heavy on him like a shroud, coaxing, pulling him to his knees. His fingers trace over cracks in the ground from when the earth had quaked and the city trembled. Somewhere in the dust are the footprints of the heroes and himself, desperate, running for their lives from the deadly light.
He reaches out and takes the cold of his partner’s hand. The hand that had pushed him away as the rocks started to fall. And just before the darkness, he’d caught the sight of his feathered tailcoat catching the light like sunbeams before he’d turned to run off and save another.
But he didn’t make it.
Nathaniel cradles that broken hand and its cold, broken ring. He feels for his tailcoat bed of feathers, rests his head upon it.
And closes his eyes.