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Angel's Rise - Unexpected Consequences of Planned Soulbonding
Title: Angel's Rise
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Series: Angel 'verse
Characters/Pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 7,115
Orientation: Slash
Benchmark +50
Notes: for fififolle for the help_the_south auction.
Prompt: HC Bingo Fill: "Unexpected Consequences of Planned Soulbonding"
When Evan stumbled into his quarters after a very trying mission to M76-234, he didn’t notice anything odd or out of place. He stripped off his BDUs and tossed them into the laundry basket. Then he took a quick shower to wash the industrial, anti-bacterial, SGC-issued soap from his after-mission locker-room shower off himself. Happy because he smelled normal again, Lorne headed for his bed. He stretched out on his side, snuggled his face into the pillow and sighed with contentment.
A warm hand slid over his shoulder as a trail of kisses was pressed to his spine. He groaned happily and caught David’s hand, squeezing it then drawing it to his lips and kissing the long fingers. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I was waiting. I don’t sleep when you leave me behind,” the reproof was in David’s voice, it had been an argument getting him to stay safely in Atlantis.
Evan rolled and pulled David into his arms. “Had to be done. Not safe.” He kissed David’s neck and mouthed at his ear. “It was a horror show. I’m glad you weren’t there. There were things you didn’t need to see, love.”
Mollified somewhat, since David was squeamish and trusted that Evan wasn’t exaggerating, David relaxed into the embrace. “I still worried.”
“And how can I make it up to you?” Evan whispered, “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Well, that thing with the tongue, oh, yeah, right there. Keep doing that for starters.”
Evan chuckled and obliged him for a time before he rolled onto his back, dragging David with him. “I’m a bit more wiped out than I thought, sorry. But you can carry on if you like, I don’t mind at all.”
“Really?” David pushed up and looked at him. “So, you’re giving me carte blanche to do whatever I want?”
Ruffling David’s hair, Evan smiled, nodded and said, “Always.”
With a wicked grin, David nipped at Evan’s nipple. He slid down Evan’s body, nibbling and licking, trailing his fingers along the path he set with his mouth. He took Evan’s cock into his mouth and sucked him for a bit before pulling off and looking up at his lover.
Evan shrugged and pulled a face. “Told you.” He glanced down at David’s arousal and rolled over with a grunt. “I think it’s your turn anyway.”
“No, but I can work with this.” David crawled up and straddled Evan’s hips. He loved feeling David’s weight on him like this. He heard the click of a lotion tube being open and braced for a cold touch. He was mildly surprised when David spread the lotion over his skin and started massaging his lower back, digging his heels in and kneading. Evan hadn’t expected a back rub. Not that he was complaining.
By the time David’s fingers worked down into the crack of his ass and slicked him, Evan was completely loose and relaxed. Expertly, David worked him open so that when he slid in, the intrusion didn’t do anything to jar Evan’s mellow state. He had his head pillowed on his crossed arms, dozing slightly as his lover moved on him. “Feels good, David.”
“Supposed to feel good. You gonna fall asleep on me?”
“I might. Sorry.”
David leaned forward and kissed Evan’s cheek “I forgive you. I’m the one who couldn’t wait till morning.”
~*~
The buzz of his radio woke Evan. He fumbled a hand around on the nightstand until he found it and clipped it over his ear. “Yeah, Lorne.”
“Major, your 0800 staff meeting has been cancelled. You can sleep in, sir, the rest of your schedule for the day is clear.”
Considering that he had a sleeping botanist sprawled heavily over his back, this was very good news. “Thanks for the heads up Chuck.”
David had not even twitched at the noise or Evan’s motions beneath him, which amused him. He moved to drop the radio on the bedside stand again, and froze. Glimmering in the blue-ish light coming from the window was something from a dream, something Evan had thought he had imagined.
He dropped the radio. His fingers brushed the silvery metal of the ornate key and he forced himself to pick it up, holding his breath as he did so. Bringing it close to his face, he saw the engraved tag dangling from the top. Bringing his other hand around, he touched the tip of one finger to the sigil engraved on the tag.
The world went gold.
~*~
“Evan, what’s going on?” David asked, blinking at him.
He looked around the marble entryway, at a staircase and paintings that seemed familiar, but yet, were not. “I don’t know.”
“Hello, Lorne, David.”
He spun around and then pointed an accusatory finger at the tall, dark-skinned woman who had spoken to him. “You! I know you. I know this place.”
“Give it a few moments, Lorne, it will all come back,” she said calmly. She gestured to an overstuffed chair. “Have a seat both of you as your memories adjust to the reality.”
David waited, taking his cue from Evan. When the soldier sat, he did too. The woman waited with a patient smile on her face as Evan dropped his face in his hands.
After a few minutes, Evan looked up at the woman. “It’s good to see you, CeCe. Though I’m confused. Why are we here?”
“You are here because we summoned you; David is here because he must have been in physical contact with you... intimate contact.” Flushing crimson as he realized how intimately they had been connected and where parts of David’s anatomy had been nestled when he had touched the key, Evan just nodded.
“We have need of you, Evan Lorne.”
Tilting his head, he said, “Why? I’m not a Protector anymore. I have no power.”
“You are and always will be a Protector, my love. And here, you are in your true form.”
“I’m mortal. I’m human.”
“On the mortal plane, yes, but we did not change the essence of your being when we shifted you there.”
Thinking about her words, Evan stood up and took a few steps towards her. “You mean, I still…” he held out his hand and his soulsword immediately shimmered into existence in his grip. His jaw dropped open and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the unexpected sight.
“I told you once in the past Lorne; you cannot hide what you are. Especially not here in the Sanctum.”
He dropped the sword to his side, shaking his head in denial, “No. No, I’m mortal. I’m out. I earned my way out.”
CeCe moved forward quickly, beating David to Evan as they both went to comfort him. She grabbed his arms and gave him a shake. “You are, my friend. You are. We have need of you, but we ask for your aid, it is of your own free will, your choice to aid us or not. We did not bring you here to coerce or force you.”
Calming, Evan nodded and motioned David back to his chair as he dismissed the soulsword and sat again. “Why do you need me? What can I possibly do that some Protector trying to earn their way cannot do?” He didn’t want to take an assignment from someone; that would be wrong.
“We need you to hunt a renegade.”
“Me? Why me?”
“You are particularly qualified to hunt this particular… being.”
Evan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t like the way you said that, CeCe. What’s happened?”
“There has been an incident, higher up. Much higher up.” Her eyes went to the ceiling before she looked at Evan again. “Call it what you will; a puppet, a construct, a manikin, a doppelganger… a copy escaped a workshop and is loose on the mortal plane. It is trying to assume the life of the original.”
“Wouldn’t the original have something to say about that?” David asked.
“If he were not a galaxy away and unaware of the farce being perpetrated, yes, yes, indeed he would,” CeCe looked straight at Evan.
“Oh, no. Don’t tell me…”
David looked confused, “What?”
“Me. This thing is me, or trying to be. Where is it?”
“California.”
“Well, we’ll just notify the SGC and have them go and arrest this fake Lorne. The US Air Force won’t stand for that kind of nonsense,” David said, waving his hand dismissively.
CeCe smiled indulgently. “If only it were so simple. This is not.”
Understanding more quickly, since he knew more about the workings of the Sanctum than David, Evan asked, “When is he? Which persona?”
“1845. Edward Lorne.”
“1845? I was clear across the country in New York, watching that damned moody poet!”
CeCe nodded. “Which is why it is so easy for him to blend in.”
David was looking Between the two Protectors with his mouth slightly ajar. “You can travel in time too?”
Waving her hand, CeCe said, “Time is fluid, merely another plane. This must be done quickly, Lorne. If he is able to solidify his position, and collect the raw elements he needs…”
“He’ll be a Walker. I understand. Will I have access to my halo?”
“All of our resources are at your disposal, though the imposter will be prepared for a Hunter on his trail. It is my hope that that using you, a discharged, low-level Protector rather than one of the higher orders will throw the imposter off. Use that to your advantage.”
“How much of me is in this thing?”
“Enough. It has your memories, up through the assignment before you were sent to David’s side.”
Casting a worried glance at his lover, Evan asked, “So he doesn’t know David?”
“No.”
David cleared his throat and asked, “Why would someone make a thing like this?”
“It is not our place to question the workings of the Hierarchy. We have been told what we needed to know, and no more.”
Grumbling and unsatisfied with the answer, David sat back in his chair and stared mutinously at CeCe.
“Sooner started, sooner finished. Send David back to Atlantis and drop me in California,” Evan clapped his hands together as he stood.
“Oh, no!” David shot to his feet and waggled a finger. “No you don’t. I’m going with you.” He turned to CeCe and stated firmly, “I go where he goes.”
CeCe hid a smile behind her hand as Evan spun around and gaped at his lover. “David, no.”
“Don’t tell me no. I am not letting you go off time traveling of all things, with no way of contacting you and not knowing when you’re coming back. No. I’m frantic enough when you go off-world, and then I have a radio and a gate and the US Marine Corps to find you and bring you home. No. I won’t have it.”
Looking to CeCe for aid, Evan was surprised to see her smirking at them. “We chose fiercely for you, Evan, a suitable partner, indeed. Calm yourself, David Parrish. Your presence is a surprise to us, but we shall not turn away any advantage for this assignment.”
“Advantage?”
“Two swords to the task, one to watch the other,” CeCe said as she moved to stand in front of David, taking his shoulders in her hands and reaching out to touch two fingers to his forehead. “I gift you with Knowledge, David Parrish. Know your true self.”
“NO!” Evan shouted as he realized what CeCe was doing to David. He lunged for them, but it was too late it was done; David fell back from CeCe, shaking his head as he put his hands to his ears. Then he curled over, clutching his middle.
Evan ran to him, knowing in his heart it was too late, but unable to stand by and simply watch. He grasped David’s shoulder, but David shook him off and whispered raggedly, “Don’t touch me, it hurts, just wait. Please Ev.”
“It wasn’t his time. This isn’t fair. How could you do this?” Evan demanded furiously, spinning around and charging at CeCe. He caught her up by the shoulders and shook her with enough force that her teeth would have rattled, had she been human.
“He was supposed to be Between, Evan, since saving you. He earned his place.”
“I didn’t want this for him. Not for him,” Evan felt the tears start as he watched David fall over onto his side and writhe on the luxurious carpet of the Sanctum’s entry chamber.
CeCe stopped him when he moved to go to David again. She cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead. “Oh, sweet one. How can you presume to know what waits in the next pass? You chose a mortal life, with David. You have that, and I have not stolen it from you. But you are what you are, just as David is what he is.”
Confused, Evan looked over at David and then back at CeCe. “You’re not making him a Protector? You’re not placing him under a sentence?”
She patted his cheek. “He is a Protector. But he served his sentence, as you did. Each is different, Evan. Silly thing, silly, silly thing. Do you not see yet?”
Hating the puzzles and the patronizing tone, Evan turned away from his old friend and ran to David’s side and crouched down, his hand hovering over him without touching. “David? What can I do?”
“It hurts,” David whispered in a tiny voice. “So much at once. Help. Hold me.”
Gathering David into his arms, Evan stroked his back and rocked him, kissing his temple as he tried to figure out exactly what was happening and how to help David. “How can I help him?” he demanded of CeCe, standing there so damned calm and all-knowing.
She gave him a pitying look and answered with another cryptic non-answer, “Two halves of the whole.”
“Evan,” David sobbed painfully, clutching at him, breaking his heart.
So much at once, two halves of the whole, David’s true self; all pieces of a puzzle. Evan wanted to beat the answer out of CeCe, but he knew how things worked here, this was something he had to figure out, or else David had to suffer his way through what was to come.
Two halves of the whole? Could it be so simple? Evan held a hand out behind David’s back and summoned his halo. It appeared as always, in the form of his soulsword. He saw CeCe nod in approval; good, he was on the right track. He let David fall back a little, shortened the sword with a thought to dagger length and brought it around so that David could see the blue glow of it. “David. David, love, please look at me.”
David opened his eyes and Evan saw that they were filled with agony. He mouthed silently, “Evan.”
“Take this. Hold this. Know this.” God above, Evan hoped he was right. As he saw CeCe smile and nod vigorously, he felt more confident in what he was doing. “Trust me, David.”
Letting go of the death-grip he’d had on Evan’s black t-shirt, David reached out and grasped the soulsword, his hand brushing against Evan’s as he clutched it.
The effect was blinding - literally. Purple light flared out from the soulsword, enveloping them before it exploded outwards in a rain of bursting droplets of ether-energy. At the same time, Evan felt the core of his being rip open, but before he could scream with the pain of it, he felt something else slide into place, filling him, sealing the gaps and mending the tear.
Whole. He was whole. For the first time. As his vision cleared, he looked down to see David blinking up at him in wonderment. Evan glanced at where their hands were stacked on the soulsword, now glowing with an odd purple light Evan had never seen before. He tugged and his soulsword came free, shining blue as it usually did. In David’s grasp was another soulsword, glowing with reddish light. David turned it from side to side in his hand, staring at it.
“Is that?” David whispered, staring at the soulsword.
“That’s you, love, your halo. Funny, I expected it to be green,” laughing lightly with the joy of the moment, Evan kissed David’s forehead.
“It might turn with time. One never knows,” CeCe said, smiling at them. “You’ll have to learn on the move, David Parrish. Trust Evan, he will guide you, as I once guided him during his first days.”
David struggled to sit up. “I’m so confused. My head hurts.”
“So does mine,” Evan complained, looking at CeCe. He dismissed his soulsword. Curious to see what would happen, he touched his fingers to the red glow of David’s soulsword. Ordinarily, that would have been a very big no-no, one did not touch another’s halo. But he got the sense that now; in this case, it was okay. He shivered as he felt ‘David’ - the essence of David - at his fingertips. In that moment, he understood completely what had just happened to them. Something so rare, it had not come to his mind as a possibility before it had actually occurred.
CeCe’s words confirmed it, “Soulbonding will do that. The effects will fade.”
Evan helped David to his feet, “Think of a safe place, a corner of your mind. You need to create the place where your halo will be when not manifested.”
“Okay, got it,” David replied.
“You can send the halo there. Just imagine it there, waiting,” Evan stroked his fingers along David’s arm. He smiled as the red soulsword vanished. “You did it. Now, call it back, just imagine it in your han… just like that, good.”
“I know that you need time to learn and get used to the bond, but there isn’t any. You need to go now. The imposter will gain power if he reaches what he is after.”
David looked at her, tilting his head as their clothing suddenly changed to something appropriate for 1845. “Where are we going?”
“Sutter’s Mill,” CeCe replied as the air around them shimmered with warm light.
As Evan and David solidified on a dirt road, surrounded by scrub brush, Evan stomped his foot and threw the hat he jerked off his head to the ground. “Gold. The bastard is after gold.”
~*~
The walls of the Sanctum shook, reflecting the rage of the Seraphim as he arrived. “Cecilia Deveraux, you have overstepped your position!”
She turned to face him, and there was not a shred of humility or guilt in her manner, which only served to irritate the Angel more. “In what manner, Seraphim Yaloyse?”
“Do not play coy with me! You have been to the Probability Chamber again.”
“Yes.”
“You do not deny it?”
She crossed her arms and stared at him with incredulity, “Lying is a sin, Seraphim.”
The walls shook again with his anger. “Cecilia,” he said in a warning tone. She merely blinked at him innocently with wide brown eyes. “Very well, we shall start at the beginning. You brought Evan Lorne back to the Sanctum needlessly.”
“I was tasked with hunting the renegade. I saw this course of action as the most expedient method of doing so, who better to hunt the copy than the original from which it was created?”
“A mortal.”
“A Protector,” CeCe stressed.
Yaloyse barely held onto his anger as he faced the errant Protector. “This was a task well within your abilities. You did not need Evan Lorne. You are perfectly capable of fetching the poppet from Earth.”
“Hunting it would have taken time. Time in which it would have gathered the elements needed to become a Walker. Need I remind you that should it become a Walker, it would become infinitely more difficult to capture and contain?”
He was willing to concede the point, barely. “You manipulated the situation.”
“In what way, Serephim?”
“You brought David Parrish here.”
She shook her head. “I did not. I summoned Lorne. Parrish was brought inadvertently.”
“The probability that Parrish would be swept up in a summons…”
“I did not have access to those statistics, Seraphim.”
He pointed a finger at her in warning for interrupting him. “Nevertheless, Parrish was brought here and changed before his time. Your interference brought about a soulbonding, Cecilia!”
She shrugged. “I could not have known that would be the outcome of summoning Lorne, Serephim.”
“Do not play this game with me Cecelia; you are far too clever to have not manipulated these events.” He raised a hand to ward off another statement of innocence. “The Probability of the outcome of events on Atlantis was 98%.”
Dropping the charade, Cecelia clenched her jaw and said tightly, “The death of one would have had a profound effect on the other, a severely negative effect.”
“That future was murky, the Probability unclear. You changed events; you deliberately pushed those souls together, decades before they were meant to meet again.”
Cecelia stomped her foot. “And now, the future is no longer in doubt, is it? No longer murky. Doesn’t Evan deserve a chance, Serephim? All the souls he protected through the years, all those he brought back to the light. Would you deny him the happiness of a true bond?”
Yaloyse angrily cut his hands through the air. “Balance. Free will.”
“Love,” Cecelia countered. “I acted out of love for my friend. He acted out of love for his soul’s mate. Punish me if you must, but given the opportunity, I would not change events. Yes, I brought Lorne here, but I told him nothing, I gave him no indication of what was to come. What Lorne did here, how he acted, was all of his own free will. This soulbonding was not forced. Lorne gave and Parrish accepted freely.”
She had an answer for everything. He had meant what he said, she was far too clever. She would be a force to be reckoned with when she advanced to the next state of being. “Balance.”
“Would you prefer the soul of a Protector be lost to the darkness? Serephim Yaloyse, death and loss would have opened the door for despair and hatred; it was too soon for them to part. By the time their souls met again, it might have been from opposite sides of the chasm. The soulbonding might never have happened. That was a Probability I could not endure. I love my friend too much.”
With a heavy sigh, Yaloyse conceded that this was a battle lost. “The Balance has been altered.”
“To the good. They are stronger together. They are a force for the light.”
“What has been done cannot be sundered. I warn you; do not ever, ever, presume to interfere in such a manner again, Protector. Your access to the Probability Chamber is to be curtailed and monitored. You will not speak of this matter to any other; I will not have anarchy in the ranks. Do not force me to step in and levy a punishment.”
“No, Seraphim,” CeCe replied quietly, eyes downcast, finally showing the proper humility and respect due a superior in the Hierarchy.
As the Seraphim took his leave, he missed the Protector’s heavy sigh of relief.
~*~
“Why you? Couldn’t anyone have done this, really? A little pop in, smite the abomination and pop out?” David thought he was adjusting well to the circumstances. Since there was nothing else he could do; he was rolling with it and following Evan’s lead.
Kicking at a rock, sending it careening ahead of them on the dirt road, Evan replied, “I suspect CeCe was being sneaky.”
“There are sneaky angels?”
“She’s not an Angel; she’s a First Rank Protector. And yes, she can be sneaky. She knew something; she was hiding something from me… from us.”
David caught his sleeve, stopping him. “What happens now, Ev? I’m different, I feel different.”
Caressing David’s cheek, Evan leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m not sure. We’ll figure it out. We’ll do what we’ve been asked to do, and then we’ll see what happens.”
“Will they try to separate us?”
Laughing, Evan threw his arms around David and hugged him tightly. “Now that, I know for a fact, they cannot do. Not ever, ever again, not for long, anyway. Our souls are bonded, David, two halves of the same whole. Where one goes, the other follows in time; I will always find you and you will always find me.”
“Good. That’s good. Okay, I can deal with this then, knowing you’ll be there. Let’s find this thing and go home.”
“There, we have a plan. Find it, smite it, get out, and go home in time for mystery meatloaf.”
They held each other for a few moments longer before breaking apart and resuming their walk. “Uhm, does this mean I have wings, like you used to?”
“When in true form, yes.”
“How do we get to true form?”
“Not a great idea here on the mortal plane, it hurts like hell and it’s messy.”
David nodded, shivering at a memory, “I remember the blood, when I found you, when you shifted on Atlantis. So are we… what did CeCe call it, Between?”
Pressing his lips together tightly, Lorne nodded. “Yeah. I… we… were fully mortal before she dragged us back to the Sanctum. We’re on assignment now; we’re Between until they shift us back. We wouldn’t be able to use our halos or other gifts if we were fully mortal.”
“Other gifts?”
Evan stopped and looked around them at the darkening sky of twilight. “Yup. I’m sifting through, trying to see what I can touch and what I can’t; I’ll let you know what I figure out. Keep your eyes open, I’m going to trance a little and see if I can speed up the search.”
With a nod, David began looking around as Evan fell strangely still and silent. He’d learned how to be a good sentry while on Evan’s Gate team and he put those skills to use. Something kept drawing his eye off to the left; there was nothing there, but still something nudged at the edge of his vision. When Evan blinked and shook himself, David lightly touched his arm and tipped his head in the direction he had been drawn.
‘We’re being watched,’ David jumped as Evan’s voice sounded clearly in his mind.
‘Oh, you’re kidding me? You can talk in my head?’
‘You can talk in mine too, one of the gifts. I’m tamping down as much of our energy as I can, but I think it’s too late, I think it caught our scent.’
David squinted into the darkness, but the presence was no longer where it had been. ‘Gone.’
“Yeah. Let’s go, we might be able to chase it down on foot.”
“And do what?” David fell into step with Evan, something he had not been able to do before.
“Smite it,” Evan replied with a wide grin.
It didn’t take them long to pick up the trail or corner the thing. David circled around a stand of boulders the fake Lorne had backed up against while Evan went straight in at it, soulsword drawn and glowing blue in the night.
When the creature shrieked and dove at Evan with hands that suddenly flamed with other-worldly orange light, David manifested his own sword and leapt down on top of it, driving the sword through the thing’s neck. It collapsed in a smoldering heap of clothing and skin.
“That was rather anti-climactic,” David said as he collapsed the sword and dusted off his hands.
“You killed it,” Evan stared down at the ruins of the poppet.
Rolling his eyes, David replied, “It was going to kill you. Wasn’t the point to end the thing?”
“Yeah. But I kinda wanted to do it.”
“Pout later. How do we get back from the 1800’s, angel-boy? I miss showers and clean clothes already.”
Evan knelt beside the mess and touched his hand to it, closing his eyes for a moment. The thing disappeared. “I sent it back,” Evan said as David raised an eyebrow at him.
“And us?”
“You come back here,” CeCe said from behind them. David spun around, surprised to see the elegant interior of the Sanctum where the dusty scrub of old California had been.
Crossing his arms, Evan stared at CeCe. “I want to go home now.”
“Of course, whenever you’re ready. Why don’t you take some time to show David around, at the very least, let him stretch his wings.”
Excited, David looked at Evan. “Please?” He looked at CeCe, “Are they missing us in Atlantis yet?’
“Not at all. You’re outside the time stream.”
“Evannnn,” David knew he was whining but he didn’t care. After all, wings.
With a last glare at CeCe, Evan reached for David’s hand and dragged him along after him up the stairs. “Once. Then we go back, deal?”
“Deal,” David nodded eagerly and let Evan lead him up several flights of stairs and to a wide marble balcony. It looked out over a warm cloud-filled, pink and orange-hued sky; a sunset sky. David gasped with pleasure and ran to the railing. “Almost sun-down. Beautiful.”
Evan joined him. “It’s always-time, the sky over the Sanctum never goes fully dark.” They stood and admired the view for a time before Evan clasped David’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “All right love, show me what you’ve got.”
“How do I do this?”
Scratching his head, Evan replied, “I usually just concentrate on being me again, on making the layers of falsehood go away.”
“Huh,” David grunted, looking down at himself. “Well, the clothes are a given, but the rest of me is still the me I know.”
“You told me you felt different, see if you can grab onto some of those differences and nudge them a little, make them more apparent. You don’t know your true form yet; you have to find it… oh, wow, David!” Evan’s mouth dropped open as he gaped at David.
Spinning in a circle, David saw the edge of the wing over his shoulder. “What? Hey, look at that.”
Evan’s hand came up and he stroked the feathers along the edge of one sturdy wing. “There’s red in here, a lot of red. Why red, I wonder?”
“I dunno,” David shrugged, and felt the weight of the wings on his back. “These things are heavy.”
“Not really. You’ll get used to them. Try moving them… oooff!”
“Sorry, did I hit you hard?”
“Ith allrith. I don ned my noth,” Evan held his face with one hand while he pushed David’s wing away with the other. “Go ovah theh.”
Spinning in little circles, David practiced flexing his wings open and closed until he had it down pat; it was pretty much like moving an arm or leg, just different muscles. He jumped up and down a few times, which made Evan shake his head and smirk as he stood watching with his arms crossed.
“How do I fly then?”
“Think happy thoughts,” Evan suggested.
“I am not Peter Pan,” David protested.
“No you’re not, seniority, I’m Peter, you’re Tin…”
David thrust a hand out and shook a finger in warning, “Oh, don’t you go there. Not another word!” Making a face, Evan toed the marble floor and pouted.
“Seriously, Evan, how?”
With a glance skyward, Evan sighed and closed his eyes. A moment later, he stood before David, grey and white wings fully extended and his blue halo glowing behind his head. He was in armor too; silver chest plate, silver bracers and leather pants.
“You’re so… damn, Ev,” David couldn’t help himself; he surged forward and clasped Evan’s face in his hands, kissing him fully.
“This is going to take a… bit… of maneuvering,” Evan said between kisses as he tried to get his arms around David comfortably. “Oh, screw this… in the way.” David had his eyes closed, letting new feelings wash over him, emotions he was picking up from Evan.
He smiled as he suddenly felt skin touching skin; Evan had apparently banished all their armor and clothing. He didn’t look, that would get him all kinds of excited, and they had other things to do. “We’re gonna get cold,” David said against his mouth.
“Not for long,” Evan’s fingers were tangled in David’s hair and he was biting his neck.
“Are you a vampire? Quit that.”
“But you taste so good.”
“You’re supposed to take me flying, before CeCe sends us home.”
Evan kissed the tip of his nose. “I am. Open your eyes.”
Doing so, David looked down and saw that the balcony was far below them. He slipped his arms around Evan’s waist and declared, “You’re sneaky.”
“Yeah. But you love me. I’m gonna stop and let my wings drop, you hold us up, okay? On three…”
“Don’t you dare go on two!”
“I wouldn’t go on two, why would I go on two if I said three?”
“Because I’d go on two.”
“Yeah, you would, but I wouldn’t, now; one, two, three.”
David felt them plummet a few dozen feet before he was able to stretch his wings out, flap them properly and catch them, stopping their fall. He might have let out the tiniest of screams, possibly.
“You’re fucking heavy,” David complained as he battled gravity.
“Such language!” Evan clucked his tongue. “Naughty thing.”
“Okay, this is not as cool as I thought it would be. And as much as I love rubbing my naked body all over yours, I prefer being able to change position a bit while I do it, and all these damned feathers are getting in the way!”
Evan burst out laughing, “Yeah, they do sometimes.”
“I cannot figure out how we can possibly have sex up here.”
“When you do, tell me, and we’ll try it.”
David pouted, “I was hoping you knew some dirty trick and were holding out on me.”
“Nope, but I’m perfectly willing to take you home and do lots of dirty things to you.”
“Promise?”
“Yup.”
With the promise of sex later, David was able to concentrate on Flying 101, enough that he was comfortable enough to go on his own, without holding onto Evan. Eventually, the novelty wore off and David was ready to be done with it for a while. “Home?” he asked hopefully, flipping onto his back, catching Evan’s heel and tugging to get his attention.
Evan looked back and nodded. “Sure. Had enough?”
“Yeah. I want a shower. And a back rub. And sex.”
With a quick turn and a twist, Evan caught him around the waist and smiled, “It would be my delight. Now, landings…”
~*~
“CeCe! Show yourself,” Evan demanded as he opened yet another door into another empty chamber of the Sanctum.
“I’m right here, Lorne.”
“Send us back. Now.”
She clucked her tongue and moved forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Always in such a hurry. It has been a pleasure to see you again, Evan, I’ve missed you.”
“I’m still a little mad at you, but I’ve missed you too, CeCe. I’ve had dreams about you.”
David cleared his throat. “What happens now, CeCe? I mean, to me? Now that I’m…” he waved his hand up and down his body.
“Nothing, for now. You’ll both shift back to mortal form. But with the soulbonding, and the force of the energies involved, I’m afraid it will be impossible to Cloud your memories. You will both have the burden of all your memories and Knowledge from now on. Your sight will be changed as well, we cannot Cloud it. You will see beyond the mortal veil.”
Evan groaned and ran and hand through his hair, which prompted David to ask, “What? What does that mean?”
“It means, love, we are going to be obligated. It means we’ll be stuck as plain ordinary humans with no way to protect ourselves from the things that go bump in the night and the things that come after us. And with the burden of memory, we’ll have the knowledge of what we could have done, had we been more than mortal.” Evan was growing angrier as he spoke. He jabbed a finger at CeCe, “This was what you wanted, what you hoped would happen. The only way for me to protect him and keep him safe is to go back Between.”
She didn’t deny his accusation. David looked from CeCe to Evan, watching the battle of wills. He didn’t bother to protest that he would do anything to protect Evan, if necessary.
CeCe waved her hand, her tone serious as she tried to calm and convince Evan, “Between with a choice, Evan. You are not and will not be at the Sanctum’s beck and call. You are free, both of you.”
Looking over at David, Evan sighed. “I liked being mortal. I want that life again. I don’t want to go Between.”
CeCe looked around and then moved to stand very close to Evan. She leaned in, cupped the back of his head and either whispered something in his ear or kissed him, David could not be certain. When she stepped back, Evan looked straight at David and shook his head in denial. A whisper then, a message meant only for Evan’s ears. Silently, CeCe gave a brisk nod and flashed four fingers in the air before pretending to fluff her dark curls.
Turning to David with pleading apparent in his eyes, Evan asked, “David, do you trust me?”
“You need to ask?”
“Let me make this decision for both of us? Trust me to do this?”
Looking at CeCe, understanding that something was going on, and hoping Evan would explain later when they were away from the Sanctum, David agreed, “Of course.”
“We’ll go Between, CeCe. We’ll Protect Atlantis and those souls in the Pegasus galaxy we come across.”
“This soothes my worries, Protector Lorne. Go with the blessings of the Hierarchy and my love, my friends.”
~*~
“Oh, right there, yeah, Evan, do that again,” David pressed against the wet tile of the shower wall and moaned as Evan moved, hitting the spot perfectly as he rocked up into him.
His breath wet and warm against his ear, Evan gasped, “Harder?”
“Yeah, harder, I can take it, want it.”
The grip Evan had on his hips was sure to leave bruises. Or would it? There was a lot David didn’t know about this new state of being yet. At least sex still felt… oh, it felt better, who was he kidding? He felt a connection to Evan that hadn’t been there before.
“Coming,” Evan grunted as he slammed into him again. Then he fell back, taking David with him to the floor of the shower. They sprawled there, panting in the spray of hot water.
David rolled over and kissed him on the mouth, then propped his chin on his hands and stared. “Weird?”
“A little. Way more intimate,” Evan admitted, pushing the wet hair off David’s face. “Love you, you know.”
“Yup. Let’s get dry.”
They had been returned to Atlantis only moments after they had left. Before being dragged off to the shower and ravaged, Evan had cheerfully told David that his morning meeting had been cancelled.
As David toweled off his hair, he watched Evan moving around, gathering his clothing. He moved differently, David could see the subtle changes in the way he held himself now. David told himself this was neither better nor worse, merely different, this being Between.
When Evan seemed relaxed, David asked the question he had been holding back. “What did CeCe whisper to you? What convinced you to go Between, Evan? I know you didn’t want this.”
Evan’s eyes went sad as he looked at David and shook his head. “I shouldn’t say anything; it wasn’t certainty, just Probability.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie, Evan. Please, don’t keep things from me.”
Sighing heavily, Evan sat on the edge of the bed and began twisting his t-shirt in his hands. David reached down and took it from him before he wrinkled it beyond wear-ability. He stuck it over Evan’s head and then dragged his arms into it when he didn’t move to do it himself. “Ev?” David prompted.
“The Wraith are coming.”
“And?”
“I would have lost you. You were going to die,” his eyes were glistening with tears as he looked up at David and whispered, “I couldn’t bear that. But Between, you’ll survive; this was a way to keep you safe.”
Confused, David slid onto the bed beside his partner. “I don’t understand. I’m not… I was changed.”
“You were still mortal, if we shifted, and you died, you would have moved on to the next plane without me. I’m sorry, I was selfish, I couldn’t keep on doing this without you.” David pulled him into his arms as Evan stared to tremble. David could hardly make out the words being mumbled into his shoulder. “I asked you to trust me and I was being selfish to keep you here.”
“Idiot,” David said against Evan’s hair and then cuffed him lightly on the arm. “Stupid idiot. Do you think I’d want to have moved on without you? I’d have been miserable. I’d have found a way to haunt your stupid ass. I’d have made everyone in that Sanctuary miserable with me until they gave you back to me. So stop being stupid.”
Evan pushed back and looked up at him. “You’re not mad? Really?”
“Really. I trusted you to do what we’d both want, Evan. Two halves of the same whole, how could we be apart? That would have been torture. Do you have to report in or something today?”
At the sudden change of subject, Evan blinked and then shook his head. “No, Chuck said I had the rest of the day off.”
“Good.” David rolled back and stretched out on the bed. “I want some more attention. If we’ve got trouble coming, I want to stockpile the sex before the shit hits the fan. Come up here.” He patted the mattress and waited to see if Evan would let go of his dark mood and play.
“I just told you that you were going to…”
David interrupted him and pounded the mattress again. “And it isn’t going to happen, you changed it. Sex now, thinky-thoughts later.”
“But…” Evan opened and closed his mouth a few times as he stared, the wheels turning. Then he shrugged, smiled and threw himself at David. “Okay then.”
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Series: Angel 'verse
Characters/Pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 7,115
Orientation: Slash
Benchmark +50
Notes: for fififolle for the help_the_south auction.
Prompt: HC Bingo Fill: "Unexpected Consequences of Planned Soulbonding"
When Evan stumbled into his quarters after a very trying mission to M76-234, he didn’t notice anything odd or out of place. He stripped off his BDUs and tossed them into the laundry basket. Then he took a quick shower to wash the industrial, anti-bacterial, SGC-issued soap from his after-mission locker-room shower off himself. Happy because he smelled normal again, Lorne headed for his bed. He stretched out on his side, snuggled his face into the pillow and sighed with contentment.
A warm hand slid over his shoulder as a trail of kisses was pressed to his spine. He groaned happily and caught David’s hand, squeezing it then drawing it to his lips and kissing the long fingers. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I was waiting. I don’t sleep when you leave me behind,” the reproof was in David’s voice, it had been an argument getting him to stay safely in Atlantis.
Evan rolled and pulled David into his arms. “Had to be done. Not safe.” He kissed David’s neck and mouthed at his ear. “It was a horror show. I’m glad you weren’t there. There were things you didn’t need to see, love.”
Mollified somewhat, since David was squeamish and trusted that Evan wasn’t exaggerating, David relaxed into the embrace. “I still worried.”
“And how can I make it up to you?” Evan whispered, “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Well, that thing with the tongue, oh, yeah, right there. Keep doing that for starters.”
Evan chuckled and obliged him for a time before he rolled onto his back, dragging David with him. “I’m a bit more wiped out than I thought, sorry. But you can carry on if you like, I don’t mind at all.”
“Really?” David pushed up and looked at him. “So, you’re giving me carte blanche to do whatever I want?”
Ruffling David’s hair, Evan smiled, nodded and said, “Always.”
With a wicked grin, David nipped at Evan’s nipple. He slid down Evan’s body, nibbling and licking, trailing his fingers along the path he set with his mouth. He took Evan’s cock into his mouth and sucked him for a bit before pulling off and looking up at his lover.
Evan shrugged and pulled a face. “Told you.” He glanced down at David’s arousal and rolled over with a grunt. “I think it’s your turn anyway.”
“No, but I can work with this.” David crawled up and straddled Evan’s hips. He loved feeling David’s weight on him like this. He heard the click of a lotion tube being open and braced for a cold touch. He was mildly surprised when David spread the lotion over his skin and started massaging his lower back, digging his heels in and kneading. Evan hadn’t expected a back rub. Not that he was complaining.
By the time David’s fingers worked down into the crack of his ass and slicked him, Evan was completely loose and relaxed. Expertly, David worked him open so that when he slid in, the intrusion didn’t do anything to jar Evan’s mellow state. He had his head pillowed on his crossed arms, dozing slightly as his lover moved on him. “Feels good, David.”
“Supposed to feel good. You gonna fall asleep on me?”
“I might. Sorry.”
David leaned forward and kissed Evan’s cheek “I forgive you. I’m the one who couldn’t wait till morning.”
The buzz of his radio woke Evan. He fumbled a hand around on the nightstand until he found it and clipped it over his ear. “Yeah, Lorne.”
“Major, your 0800 staff meeting has been cancelled. You can sleep in, sir, the rest of your schedule for the day is clear.”
Considering that he had a sleeping botanist sprawled heavily over his back, this was very good news. “Thanks for the heads up Chuck.”
David had not even twitched at the noise or Evan’s motions beneath him, which amused him. He moved to drop the radio on the bedside stand again, and froze. Glimmering in the blue-ish light coming from the window was something from a dream, something Evan had thought he had imagined.
He dropped the radio. His fingers brushed the silvery metal of the ornate key and he forced himself to pick it up, holding his breath as he did so. Bringing it close to his face, he saw the engraved tag dangling from the top. Bringing his other hand around, he touched the tip of one finger to the sigil engraved on the tag.
The world went gold.
“Evan, what’s going on?” David asked, blinking at him.
He looked around the marble entryway, at a staircase and paintings that seemed familiar, but yet, were not. “I don’t know.”
“Hello, Lorne, David.”
He spun around and then pointed an accusatory finger at the tall, dark-skinned woman who had spoken to him. “You! I know you. I know this place.”
“Give it a few moments, Lorne, it will all come back,” she said calmly. She gestured to an overstuffed chair. “Have a seat both of you as your memories adjust to the reality.”
David waited, taking his cue from Evan. When the soldier sat, he did too. The woman waited with a patient smile on her face as Evan dropped his face in his hands.
After a few minutes, Evan looked up at the woman. “It’s good to see you, CeCe. Though I’m confused. Why are we here?”
“You are here because we summoned you; David is here because he must have been in physical contact with you... intimate contact.” Flushing crimson as he realized how intimately they had been connected and where parts of David’s anatomy had been nestled when he had touched the key, Evan just nodded.
“We have need of you, Evan Lorne.”
Tilting his head, he said, “Why? I’m not a Protector anymore. I have no power.”
“You are and always will be a Protector, my love. And here, you are in your true form.”
“I’m mortal. I’m human.”
“On the mortal plane, yes, but we did not change the essence of your being when we shifted you there.”
Thinking about her words, Evan stood up and took a few steps towards her. “You mean, I still…” he held out his hand and his soulsword immediately shimmered into existence in his grip. His jaw dropped open and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the unexpected sight.
“I told you once in the past Lorne; you cannot hide what you are. Especially not here in the Sanctum.”
He dropped the sword to his side, shaking his head in denial, “No. No, I’m mortal. I’m out. I earned my way out.”
CeCe moved forward quickly, beating David to Evan as they both went to comfort him. She grabbed his arms and gave him a shake. “You are, my friend. You are. We have need of you, but we ask for your aid, it is of your own free will, your choice to aid us or not. We did not bring you here to coerce or force you.”
Calming, Evan nodded and motioned David back to his chair as he dismissed the soulsword and sat again. “Why do you need me? What can I possibly do that some Protector trying to earn their way cannot do?” He didn’t want to take an assignment from someone; that would be wrong.
“We need you to hunt a renegade.”
“Me? Why me?”
“You are particularly qualified to hunt this particular… being.”
Evan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t like the way you said that, CeCe. What’s happened?”
“There has been an incident, higher up. Much higher up.” Her eyes went to the ceiling before she looked at Evan again. “Call it what you will; a puppet, a construct, a manikin, a doppelganger… a copy escaped a workshop and is loose on the mortal plane. It is trying to assume the life of the original.”
“Wouldn’t the original have something to say about that?” David asked.
“If he were not a galaxy away and unaware of the farce being perpetrated, yes, yes, indeed he would,” CeCe looked straight at Evan.
“Oh, no. Don’t tell me…”
David looked confused, “What?”
“Me. This thing is me, or trying to be. Where is it?”
“California.”
“Well, we’ll just notify the SGC and have them go and arrest this fake Lorne. The US Air Force won’t stand for that kind of nonsense,” David said, waving his hand dismissively.
CeCe smiled indulgently. “If only it were so simple. This is not.”
Understanding more quickly, since he knew more about the workings of the Sanctum than David, Evan asked, “When is he? Which persona?”
“1845. Edward Lorne.”
“1845? I was clear across the country in New York, watching that damned moody poet!”
CeCe nodded. “Which is why it is so easy for him to blend in.”
David was looking Between the two Protectors with his mouth slightly ajar. “You can travel in time too?”
Waving her hand, CeCe said, “Time is fluid, merely another plane. This must be done quickly, Lorne. If he is able to solidify his position, and collect the raw elements he needs…”
“He’ll be a Walker. I understand. Will I have access to my halo?”
“All of our resources are at your disposal, though the imposter will be prepared for a Hunter on his trail. It is my hope that that using you, a discharged, low-level Protector rather than one of the higher orders will throw the imposter off. Use that to your advantage.”
“How much of me is in this thing?”
“Enough. It has your memories, up through the assignment before you were sent to David’s side.”
Casting a worried glance at his lover, Evan asked, “So he doesn’t know David?”
“No.”
David cleared his throat and asked, “Why would someone make a thing like this?”
“It is not our place to question the workings of the Hierarchy. We have been told what we needed to know, and no more.”
Grumbling and unsatisfied with the answer, David sat back in his chair and stared mutinously at CeCe.
“Sooner started, sooner finished. Send David back to Atlantis and drop me in California,” Evan clapped his hands together as he stood.
“Oh, no!” David shot to his feet and waggled a finger. “No you don’t. I’m going with you.” He turned to CeCe and stated firmly, “I go where he goes.”
CeCe hid a smile behind her hand as Evan spun around and gaped at his lover. “David, no.”
“Don’t tell me no. I am not letting you go off time traveling of all things, with no way of contacting you and not knowing when you’re coming back. No. I’m frantic enough when you go off-world, and then I have a radio and a gate and the US Marine Corps to find you and bring you home. No. I won’t have it.”
Looking to CeCe for aid, Evan was surprised to see her smirking at them. “We chose fiercely for you, Evan, a suitable partner, indeed. Calm yourself, David Parrish. Your presence is a surprise to us, but we shall not turn away any advantage for this assignment.”
“Advantage?”
“Two swords to the task, one to watch the other,” CeCe said as she moved to stand in front of David, taking his shoulders in her hands and reaching out to touch two fingers to his forehead. “I gift you with Knowledge, David Parrish. Know your true self.”
“NO!” Evan shouted as he realized what CeCe was doing to David. He lunged for them, but it was too late it was done; David fell back from CeCe, shaking his head as he put his hands to his ears. Then he curled over, clutching his middle.
Evan ran to him, knowing in his heart it was too late, but unable to stand by and simply watch. He grasped David’s shoulder, but David shook him off and whispered raggedly, “Don’t touch me, it hurts, just wait. Please Ev.”
“It wasn’t his time. This isn’t fair. How could you do this?” Evan demanded furiously, spinning around and charging at CeCe. He caught her up by the shoulders and shook her with enough force that her teeth would have rattled, had she been human.
“He was supposed to be Between, Evan, since saving you. He earned his place.”
“I didn’t want this for him. Not for him,” Evan felt the tears start as he watched David fall over onto his side and writhe on the luxurious carpet of the Sanctum’s entry chamber.
CeCe stopped him when he moved to go to David again. She cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead. “Oh, sweet one. How can you presume to know what waits in the next pass? You chose a mortal life, with David. You have that, and I have not stolen it from you. But you are what you are, just as David is what he is.”
Confused, Evan looked over at David and then back at CeCe. “You’re not making him a Protector? You’re not placing him under a sentence?”
She patted his cheek. “He is a Protector. But he served his sentence, as you did. Each is different, Evan. Silly thing, silly, silly thing. Do you not see yet?”
Hating the puzzles and the patronizing tone, Evan turned away from his old friend and ran to David’s side and crouched down, his hand hovering over him without touching. “David? What can I do?”
“It hurts,” David whispered in a tiny voice. “So much at once. Help. Hold me.”
Gathering David into his arms, Evan stroked his back and rocked him, kissing his temple as he tried to figure out exactly what was happening and how to help David. “How can I help him?” he demanded of CeCe, standing there so damned calm and all-knowing.
She gave him a pitying look and answered with another cryptic non-answer, “Two halves of the whole.”
“Evan,” David sobbed painfully, clutching at him, breaking his heart.
So much at once, two halves of the whole, David’s true self; all pieces of a puzzle. Evan wanted to beat the answer out of CeCe, but he knew how things worked here, this was something he had to figure out, or else David had to suffer his way through what was to come.
Two halves of the whole? Could it be so simple? Evan held a hand out behind David’s back and summoned his halo. It appeared as always, in the form of his soulsword. He saw CeCe nod in approval; good, he was on the right track. He let David fall back a little, shortened the sword with a thought to dagger length and brought it around so that David could see the blue glow of it. “David. David, love, please look at me.”
David opened his eyes and Evan saw that they were filled with agony. He mouthed silently, “Evan.”
“Take this. Hold this. Know this.” God above, Evan hoped he was right. As he saw CeCe smile and nod vigorously, he felt more confident in what he was doing. “Trust me, David.”
Letting go of the death-grip he’d had on Evan’s black t-shirt, David reached out and grasped the soulsword, his hand brushing against Evan’s as he clutched it.
The effect was blinding - literally. Purple light flared out from the soulsword, enveloping them before it exploded outwards in a rain of bursting droplets of ether-energy. At the same time, Evan felt the core of his being rip open, but before he could scream with the pain of it, he felt something else slide into place, filling him, sealing the gaps and mending the tear.
Whole. He was whole. For the first time. As his vision cleared, he looked down to see David blinking up at him in wonderment. Evan glanced at where their hands were stacked on the soulsword, now glowing with an odd purple light Evan had never seen before. He tugged and his soulsword came free, shining blue as it usually did. In David’s grasp was another soulsword, glowing with reddish light. David turned it from side to side in his hand, staring at it.
“Is that?” David whispered, staring at the soulsword.
“That’s you, love, your halo. Funny, I expected it to be green,” laughing lightly with the joy of the moment, Evan kissed David’s forehead.
“It might turn with time. One never knows,” CeCe said, smiling at them. “You’ll have to learn on the move, David Parrish. Trust Evan, he will guide you, as I once guided him during his first days.”
David struggled to sit up. “I’m so confused. My head hurts.”
“So does mine,” Evan complained, looking at CeCe. He dismissed his soulsword. Curious to see what would happen, he touched his fingers to the red glow of David’s soulsword. Ordinarily, that would have been a very big no-no, one did not touch another’s halo. But he got the sense that now; in this case, it was okay. He shivered as he felt ‘David’ - the essence of David - at his fingertips. In that moment, he understood completely what had just happened to them. Something so rare, it had not come to his mind as a possibility before it had actually occurred.
CeCe’s words confirmed it, “Soulbonding will do that. The effects will fade.”
Evan helped David to his feet, “Think of a safe place, a corner of your mind. You need to create the place where your halo will be when not manifested.”
“Okay, got it,” David replied.
“You can send the halo there. Just imagine it there, waiting,” Evan stroked his fingers along David’s arm. He smiled as the red soulsword vanished. “You did it. Now, call it back, just imagine it in your han… just like that, good.”
“I know that you need time to learn and get used to the bond, but there isn’t any. You need to go now. The imposter will gain power if he reaches what he is after.”
David looked at her, tilting his head as their clothing suddenly changed to something appropriate for 1845. “Where are we going?”
“Sutter’s Mill,” CeCe replied as the air around them shimmered with warm light.
As Evan and David solidified on a dirt road, surrounded by scrub brush, Evan stomped his foot and threw the hat he jerked off his head to the ground. “Gold. The bastard is after gold.”
The walls of the Sanctum shook, reflecting the rage of the Seraphim as he arrived. “Cecilia Deveraux, you have overstepped your position!”
She turned to face him, and there was not a shred of humility or guilt in her manner, which only served to irritate the Angel more. “In what manner, Seraphim Yaloyse?”
“Do not play coy with me! You have been to the Probability Chamber again.”
“Yes.”
“You do not deny it?”
She crossed her arms and stared at him with incredulity, “Lying is a sin, Seraphim.”
The walls shook again with his anger. “Cecilia,” he said in a warning tone. She merely blinked at him innocently with wide brown eyes. “Very well, we shall start at the beginning. You brought Evan Lorne back to the Sanctum needlessly.”
“I was tasked with hunting the renegade. I saw this course of action as the most expedient method of doing so, who better to hunt the copy than the original from which it was created?”
“A mortal.”
“A Protector,” CeCe stressed.
Yaloyse barely held onto his anger as he faced the errant Protector. “This was a task well within your abilities. You did not need Evan Lorne. You are perfectly capable of fetching the poppet from Earth.”
“Hunting it would have taken time. Time in which it would have gathered the elements needed to become a Walker. Need I remind you that should it become a Walker, it would become infinitely more difficult to capture and contain?”
He was willing to concede the point, barely. “You manipulated the situation.”
“In what way, Serephim?”
“You brought David Parrish here.”
She shook her head. “I did not. I summoned Lorne. Parrish was brought inadvertently.”
“The probability that Parrish would be swept up in a summons…”
“I did not have access to those statistics, Seraphim.”
He pointed a finger at her in warning for interrupting him. “Nevertheless, Parrish was brought here and changed before his time. Your interference brought about a soulbonding, Cecilia!”
She shrugged. “I could not have known that would be the outcome of summoning Lorne, Serephim.”
“Do not play this game with me Cecelia; you are far too clever to have not manipulated these events.” He raised a hand to ward off another statement of innocence. “The Probability of the outcome of events on Atlantis was 98%.”
Dropping the charade, Cecelia clenched her jaw and said tightly, “The death of one would have had a profound effect on the other, a severely negative effect.”
“That future was murky, the Probability unclear. You changed events; you deliberately pushed those souls together, decades before they were meant to meet again.”
Cecelia stomped her foot. “And now, the future is no longer in doubt, is it? No longer murky. Doesn’t Evan deserve a chance, Serephim? All the souls he protected through the years, all those he brought back to the light. Would you deny him the happiness of a true bond?”
Yaloyse angrily cut his hands through the air. “Balance. Free will.”
“Love,” Cecelia countered. “I acted out of love for my friend. He acted out of love for his soul’s mate. Punish me if you must, but given the opportunity, I would not change events. Yes, I brought Lorne here, but I told him nothing, I gave him no indication of what was to come. What Lorne did here, how he acted, was all of his own free will. This soulbonding was not forced. Lorne gave and Parrish accepted freely.”
She had an answer for everything. He had meant what he said, she was far too clever. She would be a force to be reckoned with when she advanced to the next state of being. “Balance.”
“Would you prefer the soul of a Protector be lost to the darkness? Serephim Yaloyse, death and loss would have opened the door for despair and hatred; it was too soon for them to part. By the time their souls met again, it might have been from opposite sides of the chasm. The soulbonding might never have happened. That was a Probability I could not endure. I love my friend too much.”
With a heavy sigh, Yaloyse conceded that this was a battle lost. “The Balance has been altered.”
“To the good. They are stronger together. They are a force for the light.”
“What has been done cannot be sundered. I warn you; do not ever, ever, presume to interfere in such a manner again, Protector. Your access to the Probability Chamber is to be curtailed and monitored. You will not speak of this matter to any other; I will not have anarchy in the ranks. Do not force me to step in and levy a punishment.”
“No, Seraphim,” CeCe replied quietly, eyes downcast, finally showing the proper humility and respect due a superior in the Hierarchy.
As the Seraphim took his leave, he missed the Protector’s heavy sigh of relief.
“Why you? Couldn’t anyone have done this, really? A little pop in, smite the abomination and pop out?” David thought he was adjusting well to the circumstances. Since there was nothing else he could do; he was rolling with it and following Evan’s lead.
Kicking at a rock, sending it careening ahead of them on the dirt road, Evan replied, “I suspect CeCe was being sneaky.”
“There are sneaky angels?”
“She’s not an Angel; she’s a First Rank Protector. And yes, she can be sneaky. She knew something; she was hiding something from me… from us.”
David caught his sleeve, stopping him. “What happens now, Ev? I’m different, I feel different.”
Caressing David’s cheek, Evan leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m not sure. We’ll figure it out. We’ll do what we’ve been asked to do, and then we’ll see what happens.”
“Will they try to separate us?”
Laughing, Evan threw his arms around David and hugged him tightly. “Now that, I know for a fact, they cannot do. Not ever, ever again, not for long, anyway. Our souls are bonded, David, two halves of the same whole. Where one goes, the other follows in time; I will always find you and you will always find me.”
“Good. That’s good. Okay, I can deal with this then, knowing you’ll be there. Let’s find this thing and go home.”
“There, we have a plan. Find it, smite it, get out, and go home in time for mystery meatloaf.”
They held each other for a few moments longer before breaking apart and resuming their walk. “Uhm, does this mean I have wings, like you used to?”
“When in true form, yes.”
“How do we get to true form?”
“Not a great idea here on the mortal plane, it hurts like hell and it’s messy.”
David nodded, shivering at a memory, “I remember the blood, when I found you, when you shifted on Atlantis. So are we… what did CeCe call it, Between?”
Pressing his lips together tightly, Lorne nodded. “Yeah. I… we… were fully mortal before she dragged us back to the Sanctum. We’re on assignment now; we’re Between until they shift us back. We wouldn’t be able to use our halos or other gifts if we were fully mortal.”
“Other gifts?”
Evan stopped and looked around them at the darkening sky of twilight. “Yup. I’m sifting through, trying to see what I can touch and what I can’t; I’ll let you know what I figure out. Keep your eyes open, I’m going to trance a little and see if I can speed up the search.”
With a nod, David began looking around as Evan fell strangely still and silent. He’d learned how to be a good sentry while on Evan’s Gate team and he put those skills to use. Something kept drawing his eye off to the left; there was nothing there, but still something nudged at the edge of his vision. When Evan blinked and shook himself, David lightly touched his arm and tipped his head in the direction he had been drawn.
‘We’re being watched,’ David jumped as Evan’s voice sounded clearly in his mind.
‘Oh, you’re kidding me? You can talk in my head?’
‘You can talk in mine too, one of the gifts. I’m tamping down as much of our energy as I can, but I think it’s too late, I think it caught our scent.’
David squinted into the darkness, but the presence was no longer where it had been. ‘Gone.’
“Yeah. Let’s go, we might be able to chase it down on foot.”
“And do what?” David fell into step with Evan, something he had not been able to do before.
“Smite it,” Evan replied with a wide grin.
It didn’t take them long to pick up the trail or corner the thing. David circled around a stand of boulders the fake Lorne had backed up against while Evan went straight in at it, soulsword drawn and glowing blue in the night.
When the creature shrieked and dove at Evan with hands that suddenly flamed with other-worldly orange light, David manifested his own sword and leapt down on top of it, driving the sword through the thing’s neck. It collapsed in a smoldering heap of clothing and skin.
“That was rather anti-climactic,” David said as he collapsed the sword and dusted off his hands.
“You killed it,” Evan stared down at the ruins of the poppet.
Rolling his eyes, David replied, “It was going to kill you. Wasn’t the point to end the thing?”
“Yeah. But I kinda wanted to do it.”
“Pout later. How do we get back from the 1800’s, angel-boy? I miss showers and clean clothes already.”
Evan knelt beside the mess and touched his hand to it, closing his eyes for a moment. The thing disappeared. “I sent it back,” Evan said as David raised an eyebrow at him.
“And us?”
“You come back here,” CeCe said from behind them. David spun around, surprised to see the elegant interior of the Sanctum where the dusty scrub of old California had been.
Crossing his arms, Evan stared at CeCe. “I want to go home now.”
“Of course, whenever you’re ready. Why don’t you take some time to show David around, at the very least, let him stretch his wings.”
Excited, David looked at Evan. “Please?” He looked at CeCe, “Are they missing us in Atlantis yet?’
“Not at all. You’re outside the time stream.”
“Evannnn,” David knew he was whining but he didn’t care. After all, wings.
With a last glare at CeCe, Evan reached for David’s hand and dragged him along after him up the stairs. “Once. Then we go back, deal?”
“Deal,” David nodded eagerly and let Evan lead him up several flights of stairs and to a wide marble balcony. It looked out over a warm cloud-filled, pink and orange-hued sky; a sunset sky. David gasped with pleasure and ran to the railing. “Almost sun-down. Beautiful.”
Evan joined him. “It’s always-time, the sky over the Sanctum never goes fully dark.” They stood and admired the view for a time before Evan clasped David’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “All right love, show me what you’ve got.”
“How do I do this?”
Scratching his head, Evan replied, “I usually just concentrate on being me again, on making the layers of falsehood go away.”
“Huh,” David grunted, looking down at himself. “Well, the clothes are a given, but the rest of me is still the me I know.”
“You told me you felt different, see if you can grab onto some of those differences and nudge them a little, make them more apparent. You don’t know your true form yet; you have to find it… oh, wow, David!” Evan’s mouth dropped open as he gaped at David.
Spinning in a circle, David saw the edge of the wing over his shoulder. “What? Hey, look at that.”
Evan’s hand came up and he stroked the feathers along the edge of one sturdy wing. “There’s red in here, a lot of red. Why red, I wonder?”
“I dunno,” David shrugged, and felt the weight of the wings on his back. “These things are heavy.”
“Not really. You’ll get used to them. Try moving them… oooff!”
“Sorry, did I hit you hard?”
“Ith allrith. I don ned my noth,” Evan held his face with one hand while he pushed David’s wing away with the other. “Go ovah theh.”
Spinning in little circles, David practiced flexing his wings open and closed until he had it down pat; it was pretty much like moving an arm or leg, just different muscles. He jumped up and down a few times, which made Evan shake his head and smirk as he stood watching with his arms crossed.
“How do I fly then?”
“Think happy thoughts,” Evan suggested.
“I am not Peter Pan,” David protested.
“No you’re not, seniority, I’m Peter, you’re Tin…”
David thrust a hand out and shook a finger in warning, “Oh, don’t you go there. Not another word!” Making a face, Evan toed the marble floor and pouted.
“Seriously, Evan, how?”
With a glance skyward, Evan sighed and closed his eyes. A moment later, he stood before David, grey and white wings fully extended and his blue halo glowing behind his head. He was in armor too; silver chest plate, silver bracers and leather pants.
“You’re so… damn, Ev,” David couldn’t help himself; he surged forward and clasped Evan’s face in his hands, kissing him fully.
“This is going to take a… bit… of maneuvering,” Evan said between kisses as he tried to get his arms around David comfortably. “Oh, screw this… in the way.” David had his eyes closed, letting new feelings wash over him, emotions he was picking up from Evan.
He smiled as he suddenly felt skin touching skin; Evan had apparently banished all their armor and clothing. He didn’t look, that would get him all kinds of excited, and they had other things to do. “We’re gonna get cold,” David said against his mouth.
“Not for long,” Evan’s fingers were tangled in David’s hair and he was biting his neck.
“Are you a vampire? Quit that.”
“But you taste so good.”
“You’re supposed to take me flying, before CeCe sends us home.”
Evan kissed the tip of his nose. “I am. Open your eyes.”
Doing so, David looked down and saw that the balcony was far below them. He slipped his arms around Evan’s waist and declared, “You’re sneaky.”
“Yeah. But you love me. I’m gonna stop and let my wings drop, you hold us up, okay? On three…”
“Don’t you dare go on two!”
“I wouldn’t go on two, why would I go on two if I said three?”
“Because I’d go on two.”
“Yeah, you would, but I wouldn’t, now; one, two, three.”
David felt them plummet a few dozen feet before he was able to stretch his wings out, flap them properly and catch them, stopping their fall. He might have let out the tiniest of screams, possibly.
“You’re fucking heavy,” David complained as he battled gravity.
“Such language!” Evan clucked his tongue. “Naughty thing.”
“Okay, this is not as cool as I thought it would be. And as much as I love rubbing my naked body all over yours, I prefer being able to change position a bit while I do it, and all these damned feathers are getting in the way!”
Evan burst out laughing, “Yeah, they do sometimes.”
“I cannot figure out how we can possibly have sex up here.”
“When you do, tell me, and we’ll try it.”
David pouted, “I was hoping you knew some dirty trick and were holding out on me.”
“Nope, but I’m perfectly willing to take you home and do lots of dirty things to you.”
“Promise?”
“Yup.”
With the promise of sex later, David was able to concentrate on Flying 101, enough that he was comfortable enough to go on his own, without holding onto Evan. Eventually, the novelty wore off and David was ready to be done with it for a while. “Home?” he asked hopefully, flipping onto his back, catching Evan’s heel and tugging to get his attention.
Evan looked back and nodded. “Sure. Had enough?”
“Yeah. I want a shower. And a back rub. And sex.”
With a quick turn and a twist, Evan caught him around the waist and smiled, “It would be my delight. Now, landings…”
“CeCe! Show yourself,” Evan demanded as he opened yet another door into another empty chamber of the Sanctum.
“I’m right here, Lorne.”
“Send us back. Now.”
She clucked her tongue and moved forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Always in such a hurry. It has been a pleasure to see you again, Evan, I’ve missed you.”
“I’m still a little mad at you, but I’ve missed you too, CeCe. I’ve had dreams about you.”
David cleared his throat. “What happens now, CeCe? I mean, to me? Now that I’m…” he waved his hand up and down his body.
“Nothing, for now. You’ll both shift back to mortal form. But with the soulbonding, and the force of the energies involved, I’m afraid it will be impossible to Cloud your memories. You will both have the burden of all your memories and Knowledge from now on. Your sight will be changed as well, we cannot Cloud it. You will see beyond the mortal veil.”
Evan groaned and ran and hand through his hair, which prompted David to ask, “What? What does that mean?”
“It means, love, we are going to be obligated. It means we’ll be stuck as plain ordinary humans with no way to protect ourselves from the things that go bump in the night and the things that come after us. And with the burden of memory, we’ll have the knowledge of what we could have done, had we been more than mortal.” Evan was growing angrier as he spoke. He jabbed a finger at CeCe, “This was what you wanted, what you hoped would happen. The only way for me to protect him and keep him safe is to go back Between.”
She didn’t deny his accusation. David looked from CeCe to Evan, watching the battle of wills. He didn’t bother to protest that he would do anything to protect Evan, if necessary.
CeCe waved her hand, her tone serious as she tried to calm and convince Evan, “Between with a choice, Evan. You are not and will not be at the Sanctum’s beck and call. You are free, both of you.”
Looking over at David, Evan sighed. “I liked being mortal. I want that life again. I don’t want to go Between.”
CeCe looked around and then moved to stand very close to Evan. She leaned in, cupped the back of his head and either whispered something in his ear or kissed him, David could not be certain. When she stepped back, Evan looked straight at David and shook his head in denial. A whisper then, a message meant only for Evan’s ears. Silently, CeCe gave a brisk nod and flashed four fingers in the air before pretending to fluff her dark curls.
Turning to David with pleading apparent in his eyes, Evan asked, “David, do you trust me?”
“You need to ask?”
“Let me make this decision for both of us? Trust me to do this?”
Looking at CeCe, understanding that something was going on, and hoping Evan would explain later when they were away from the Sanctum, David agreed, “Of course.”
“We’ll go Between, CeCe. We’ll Protect Atlantis and those souls in the Pegasus galaxy we come across.”
“This soothes my worries, Protector Lorne. Go with the blessings of the Hierarchy and my love, my friends.”
“Oh, right there, yeah, Evan, do that again,” David pressed against the wet tile of the shower wall and moaned as Evan moved, hitting the spot perfectly as he rocked up into him.
His breath wet and warm against his ear, Evan gasped, “Harder?”
“Yeah, harder, I can take it, want it.”
The grip Evan had on his hips was sure to leave bruises. Or would it? There was a lot David didn’t know about this new state of being yet. At least sex still felt… oh, it felt better, who was he kidding? He felt a connection to Evan that hadn’t been there before.
“Coming,” Evan grunted as he slammed into him again. Then he fell back, taking David with him to the floor of the shower. They sprawled there, panting in the spray of hot water.
David rolled over and kissed him on the mouth, then propped his chin on his hands and stared. “Weird?”
“A little. Way more intimate,” Evan admitted, pushing the wet hair off David’s face. “Love you, you know.”
“Yup. Let’s get dry.”
They had been returned to Atlantis only moments after they had left. Before being dragged off to the shower and ravaged, Evan had cheerfully told David that his morning meeting had been cancelled.
As David toweled off his hair, he watched Evan moving around, gathering his clothing. He moved differently, David could see the subtle changes in the way he held himself now. David told himself this was neither better nor worse, merely different, this being Between.
When Evan seemed relaxed, David asked the question he had been holding back. “What did CeCe whisper to you? What convinced you to go Between, Evan? I know you didn’t want this.”
Evan’s eyes went sad as he looked at David and shook his head. “I shouldn’t say anything; it wasn’t certainty, just Probability.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie, Evan. Please, don’t keep things from me.”
Sighing heavily, Evan sat on the edge of the bed and began twisting his t-shirt in his hands. David reached down and took it from him before he wrinkled it beyond wear-ability. He stuck it over Evan’s head and then dragged his arms into it when he didn’t move to do it himself. “Ev?” David prompted.
“The Wraith are coming.”
“And?”
“I would have lost you. You were going to die,” his eyes were glistening with tears as he looked up at David and whispered, “I couldn’t bear that. But Between, you’ll survive; this was a way to keep you safe.”
Confused, David slid onto the bed beside his partner. “I don’t understand. I’m not… I was changed.”
“You were still mortal, if we shifted, and you died, you would have moved on to the next plane without me. I’m sorry, I was selfish, I couldn’t keep on doing this without you.” David pulled him into his arms as Evan stared to tremble. David could hardly make out the words being mumbled into his shoulder. “I asked you to trust me and I was being selfish to keep you here.”
“Idiot,” David said against Evan’s hair and then cuffed him lightly on the arm. “Stupid idiot. Do you think I’d want to have moved on without you? I’d have been miserable. I’d have found a way to haunt your stupid ass. I’d have made everyone in that Sanctuary miserable with me until they gave you back to me. So stop being stupid.”
Evan pushed back and looked up at him. “You’re not mad? Really?”
“Really. I trusted you to do what we’d both want, Evan. Two halves of the same whole, how could we be apart? That would have been torture. Do you have to report in or something today?”
At the sudden change of subject, Evan blinked and then shook his head. “No, Chuck said I had the rest of the day off.”
“Good.” David rolled back and stretched out on the bed. “I want some more attention. If we’ve got trouble coming, I want to stockpile the sex before the shit hits the fan. Come up here.” He patted the mattress and waited to see if Evan would let go of his dark mood and play.
“I just told you that you were going to…”
David interrupted him and pounded the mattress again. “And it isn’t going to happen, you changed it. Sex now, thinky-thoughts later.”
“But…” Evan opened and closed his mouth a few times as he stared, the wheels turning. Then he shrugged, smiled and threw himself at David. “Okay then.”