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She watches her husband pray, knowing this is it. The end.
Her heart is breaking as she stands, and nothing else matters, and then Bobby sags and rests against the steel table, and Athena knows.
He’s dead.
The pain is so overwhelming she almost falls where she stands, but before she even gets a chance to try and think the door opens with a bang. Athena whirls around, hands steady as they reach for her gun, but it’s just Buck. Buck, face covered in tears, but so stony it shocks her.
“He’s gone,” he says, and even his voice is stoic.
“Yes.” Just saying the words hurts like nothing else, and Athena, for once, can’t imagine going forward. Grief is starting to overwhelm her, and it’s too much, and then Buck is here, grabbing her shoulder.
“Athena.” His tone makes her look at him and, somehow, it’s only then that Athena realises Buck doesn’t have a mask on. Bobby is…Bobby’s dead, but the virus is still here, and she takes a deep breath to scold him, but Buck shakes his head. “I can fix it. Do you trust me?”
“What? Buck, he’s…” She can’t say it.
“I know.” It’s startling how calm and collected Buck is, but she can see the absolute agony in his eyes. “I can fix it,” Buck repeats. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” The word tears from her mouth without her knowledge, but it’s true - Buck came a long way from the kid he had been, and Athena trusts him. She trusted him to help her with this whole mess, and she’ll continue to trust him. Even if her cop senses are tingling.
“Okay,” he breathes out. “Okay, good. It’s… I’ll fix it.”
With that, Buck whirls around to look at Bobby, and he doesn’t even twitch. Instead, Athena can feel magical energy gathering in the air, darker and colder than what she associates with Buck. The kid has always been all warmth and crackling energy, fire and sunshine, a dangerous well of unchecked power, and she watched him learn how to wield it. Now? Now there’s nothing of that warmth, just something cold and foreboding. Buck breathes out, and she can feel the cameras pop all around them.
The visual feed is down.
“Buck?”
For once, he ignores her as he sheds his turnout jacket. In the dim lighting, Buck’s skin looks so pale it almost glows, and his hands are slowly darkening, something like soot creeping up to his elbows, staining it black. Athena’s gasp is lost in the sound of Buck’s magic shattering the glass walls in front of them.
She knows those stains. Every Mythical in law enforcement was taught how to recognise the Forbidden Arts, and this was in the manual.
Necromancy.
Buck steps into the room without a second thought, steady as he walks closer to Bobby. Athena can feel his magic work in the air, and when he looks back at her and nods, she throws away the mask without a second of hesitation.
“You should report me for what I’m about to do,” he says slowly. “But…give me a few minutes and I’ll fix it. I promise.”
Athena takes a deep breath and the air smells like ozone and dirt. “Do it.”
Buck’s smile is all sharp edges and ruins, but he gets to work anyway, hands gentle as he pulls Bobby’s body from the table and lays him down. Out of nowhere, there’s a black dagger, pulsating with power, and Buck doesn’t hesitate before cutting his own arm. Even his blood is darker now, as power builds around them, as he paints runes in his own blood. Outside, something rattles the door, but Buck doesn’t even glance in that direction.
Then, a book appears. It’s small, fits perfectly in Buck’s hand as it falls into his open palm, opening on its down. Athena can’t read whatever’s written, but Buck’s eyes are no longer normal. Instead, they glow an acid blue, same as the runes written on the floor and on Bobby’s body. There’s no spell, or at least nothing Athena can hear. There’s just quiet static and distant humming, howling of a wind. Words spoken in a language that only Athena’s soul knows, not falling from Buck’s lips.
Buck’s arms are open, extended over Bobby’s body, and blue mist gathers around them thickly, swirling and lashing out. Buck’s control is impeccable. Between one heartbeat and the next, everything stops. There are no sounds, no wind, nothing. Buck’s hands drip with blood, fresh and potent.
Later, Athena will think about how it seemed so simple and quick. How it was nothing like the horror stories. Later, Athena will remember the look in Buck’s glowing eyes. Now..
Now the world starts again, and Bobby takes a breath.
Athena throws herself at him without a second of hesitation, sobbing into his shoulder, and Bobby, wonderful, stolid, alive Bobby just wraps her up in his arms. The blue mist is gone as if it was never there, and they rest their foreheads together.
“Athena…”
“We get more time,” she whispers through the tears. “Promise me, Bobby.”
“I promise,” he says immediately. She can see he’s confused, but he swears it anyway, and it’s all she can take.
They’re kissing before she thinks about it, and Bobby tastes like blood, but it doesn’t matter, because her husband is back. Bobby is back, he’s breathing and kissing her, and he’s bloody but no longer looks like death.
“Athena, what… What happened?” His eyes tell her Bobby knows he died, but she’s not in the emotional state to handle it. Not yet.
They both turn to look at Buck, who’s kneeling by their side but not looking at them. No, instead, Buck seems focused on something in the corner of the lab. When Athena squints, she can see a whisper of a silhouette, something cold and lifeless, and Bobby jolts next to her.
“Buck.” His voice is hoarse and scared, and Buck doesn’t look at him.
Instead, he waves at the presence in the corner, before it disappears, taking away all the cold air and suffocating feeling with it.
“An old friend,” Buck says hoarsely. “I needed to say hi.”
He turns to smile at them, and Bobby immediately reaches out, pulling at Buck’s arm until he folds himself into his hug. The younger man still holds himself stiffly, keeping his hands close to his chest, but he nuzzles into Bobby’s chest all the same.
“That was Death,” Bobby whispers, and Athena shudders.
Buck looks up and gives him a sheepish smile. “We go way back. He says not to visit him for a few more decades yet, Bobby, you better listen.”
It’s…huge. Athena is only beginning to grasp the magnitude of what Buck just did, of the powers he invoked to bring Bobby back. It’s one of the most dangerous Forbidden Arts, and there’s army outside, waiting for them to come out. Buck broke the international magical law, put a target on his back, and all for Bobby.
She can see that realisation hitting her husband.
“Buck-”
“You fainted,” Buck interrupts smoothly. He’s not as stoic as he used to be, a nervous energy settling under his skin, but he’s smiling all the same, and Athena can’t help but return it. “You fell and had a nosebleed, and you’re good, but you need to rest for some time. We’re all okay.”
They look at him for a second, before nodding. It’s so not the time to talk about what just happened.
Buck helps Bobby stand, and casually waves a hand over the smeared runes, watching them disappear. Neither the blade nor the book are anywhere to be seen, and Athena catches Buck’s grim look as they start helping Bobby out. Buck briefly shattered the universe itself to bring Bobby back, and she’s sure there will be consequences. They can face them together.
Tommy is stressed. Fuck it, he’s beyond stressed, because he just watched Evan slide down a wall and cry, before all the cameras went dark. He’s pacing as the army personnel behind him is scrambling to bring the camera feed back, worst case scenario swirling in his head. Tommy isn’t stupid, he can imagine what happened, and just thinking about it hurts. The fear is overshadowing any curiosity about what happened to the cameras.
Then, as if out of nowhere, they’re there.
Bobby is being helped along by Athena and Evan, almost carried, and he looks like shit, but he smiles when his eyes meet Tommy’s. Around them, the army comes to life, immediately stonewalled by Athena and her unbreakable will, but Tommy only has eyes for Evan.
The other man looks…different. He’s smiling, tracking Bobbt’s every move as he’s pushed into the medics, but Tommy knows him, and he knows something is wrong. He takes a few hesitant steps forward, and the smell hits him. As far as witches go, Tommy isn’t the most powerful, but he’s always been sensitive to spells and changes in the air, and right now, Evan smells like rot.
“Evan.” Those blue eyes snap to him, so smug yet full of pain, and Tommy opens his arms without a second of hesitation. The other man’s there in a flash, arms wrapping around Tommy’s waist as Evan buries his face in his shoulder, taking ij shuddering breaths. “What happened?”
“Later.” Even his voice is wrong, detached and cold, and Tommy suqeezes him tighter. Through the months, he’s learned a lot about the man’s magic, but the whole time he’s felt like Evan was keeping a secret. He has an inkling as to what that secret was. “Bobby’s alive.”
It shouldn’t be a question, but Tommy nods and squeezes his eyes shut as a theory gets proven in his head.
“Thanks to you, I take it?” he asks in a whisper.
Evan shrugs. “Later.”
He accepts it without question. The army and gathered paramedics immediately want to check them out, and Tommy knows there will be a fallout, but considering this almost became an outbreak of a deadly virus, he’s optimistic about his chances. He herds Evan to the side, Karen hugging Ravi next to them, and together they watch as Hen and Chim are brought out, immediately put into ambulances. It’s a flurry of activity, but Evan doesn’t move from Tommy’s arms, eyes trained on his team as they get taken care of. He makes sure to angle them so that no one can see Tommy’s back, Evan’s hands, and Tommy helps along.
He’s not sure how they get pushed into an Uber, nor does he remember telling the driver the address, but then they’re at Evan’s place again, stumbling out of the car. It’s reminiscent of that fateful night, but Tommy pushes the memories away. They have more important things to deal with than a one-night stand.
After they’ve showered (together), they curl up in bed, facing each other.
Evan’s eyes are very clear and very haunted. “Bobby died in there,” he says in a whisper, a sob building in his throat.
Tommy pulls him closer and wraps him up in his arms without a word, letting his own tears fall. Bobby is alive, probably being checked in a hospital, but he had died and somehow he’s back.
“Baby…” The petname falls from his mouth without Tommy’s approval, but Evan only curls in closer. “What happened?”
Evan takes a deep breath, pulling away so that their eyes can meet. Tommy lets him wiggle his hands free, and looks at the skin stained black, his breath catching in his throat.
“I couldn’t just let him go,” Evan whispers. “So I… I brought him back.” The confirmation is quiet, and all Tommy can feel is awe. “I know it’s forbidden, I know it’s- But, Tommy, I couldn’t just… It’s Bobby.” Evan’s eyes are begging him to understand.
“I know,” he says soothingly. “You performed a miracle today, Evan. You saved him.”
The other man squeezes his eyes shut and buries his face in Tommy’s chest, sobs shaking his shoulders. Tommy wraps his arms around him and holds on. He can’t even imagine the toll this had on Evan, but the other man is here anyway. The strongest person Tommy knows.
“Death came.” The words are almost lost in the silence between them. “I had to- It’s not always this hard, but it’s Bobby, and I just… I broke the world for a bit, Tommy.”
It should scare him. The amount of power Evan holds at his fingertips should frighten Tommy, because it’s not normal. But then again, nothing about Evan is normal - not his fire, not his smile, not the way he pulled at Tommy until he knew there was no ‘after Evan’ for him.
It’s okay.
“Bobby is a good man to break the world for,” he says slowly. When Evan just sobs again, Tommy cups his face and forces the man to look at him with those teary blue eyes. “You did a good thing today, Evan.”
“It’s forbidden.”
Tommy can’t help but smirk. “Since when did that stop you?”
Evan actually laughs at that, and Tommy allows himself to feel a bit better. He can’t imagine what Evan had to do to bring Bobby back, but Bobby is back. He’s alive. Forbidden or not, there’s no way it’s a bad thing.
“Athena saw me.”
“She probably thanked you. You brought her husband back.”
The other man snorts. “I brought my Dad back. I wasn’t thinking of much else,” Evan says bitterly.
“And how’s that a bad thing?” At Evan’s surprised look, Tommy just shrugs. “You had the means to save him, and you took it. It doesn’t matter why, does it?”
Evan stares at him in silence for a while, before smiling softly. “He would like you.”
“Who?”
“Death.”
Tommy is quiet for a second. “Do you know them intimately?” They never spoke about their powers much, but Tommy knows how much of it Evan has. As a necromancer, he probably has no limits. It should be scary, but if anyone should have that power, it should be Evan Buckley.
“I’ve met him a lot when I was younger,” Evan says. “He’s…nice. Quiet. He likes Bobby.”
He smirks. “I don’t know if that’s such a good thing, then.”
Evan laughs, and Tommy’s glad to see a bit of him back. “He only likes the good people. He doesn’t want to see Bobby for some time yet.”
“Let's hope his wish comes true.” They lean their foreheads together, and Tommy allows himself a smile. He has this wonderful man in his arms, the one who shattered the universe and brought his father back to life. Lightning in a bottle. “I’m so in awe of you, Evan Buckley.”
The other man looks at him for a second, before seemingly coming to a decision. “I love you, Tommy Kinard,” Evan says casually, as if it’s not shaking the very foundation of Tommy’s life. “I think I’ll love you for the rest of my life. I want to.”
And there’s nothing else Tommy can say in response. “I love you, too,” he whispers. They meet in a soft kiss, before pulling away. “No matter what.”
“No matter what?”
It’s not over. If anything, this is just the beginning, and Tommy couldn’t be more excited. It’s so fucking scary, and he knows Evan could ruin him but, if given a chance, he could also build something. They can build it together.
“No matter what.”
Evan’s smile is pure sunshine even if his hands are still stained with black and the air is cold. “Not even Death do us part, Tommy. This is it.”
“Can’t wait.”