salt in the water. sand blowin' in your eyes

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Child death/drowning TW.

---

Torchers knew about riptides, but many a child thought themselves strong enough swimmers to outlast one. Many thought it a convenient dare or test of their abilities. Some thought it was a good way of impressing those they'd like to take into their beds, discovering things only dreamt about.

Some were able to do just that.

But with monsoon season nearly on their doorstep, these were not times to test fate. But young hearts and souls as they are, vibrantly unopposed by the world, care very little for the whims of the seasons.

With control of the water and strength that bordered on laughable, the Alchemist was easily able to slip through the curtain of rain into the frigid current. Three pairs of eyes and hands and terrified voices reached up, bodies numb from the cold and muscles burning from exertion. Their lungs bubbled with water as lips having only just learned of first kisses turned blue.

"Come to me, I can hold you." Remi calls. With winds swept out from his sides, hovering more than he is flying thanks to wind and water magic, the Alchemist pulls on the current to bring the three children to him. With arms held open and his body brimming with heat, he'll hold them against his chest as they catch their breath with relieved and bird-like shivers of laughter. When their eyes closed, arms wrapped around him and each other, Remi's tail emerges from the water lightning-quick and painless. They die relieved and exhausted, but together.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

He keeps coming back to the sea without knowing why. With the tide up, the tunnels they call Rae’s Fingers are swallowed up by the waves, leaving Finn standing on the precipice of black and choppy water, rain hammering down around him. He’s been standing here for a while, though he can’t say how long exactly. As for the reason?

That’s all down to the auras bobbing desperately in the surf, in particular the one hovering like an angel on the surface. The one who looks like him. Staggering back, Finn suddenly seems to come back to himself, realising what’s happening with a cold pit growing in the pit of his stomach. He’s seen - but has he been seen? And what will happen then?

He isn’t sure he wants to know the answer to those questions.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

As the life ebbs from their bodies, hummingbird hearts growing slow but never taking their smiles, Remi lets the fire die away leaving him cold. Their bodies are heavier now that their souls have left them, but it's no matter. Not for him, anyway. Cradling them like dolls, Remi flies the short distance it is back to the shoreline and the gaping mouth of the caves where the three had likely been playing when the tide swept them away.

Eyes closed against the pelting rain, Remi crumbles to his knees as soon as there is sand beneath them. Water smoothes his curls into long streams that hang over the three little faces clutched against him almost like Aoife had once been. The magical shirt he wears is soaked against his skin, but he hardly feels it. He doesn't bother to fold his wings against his back as he gasps for breath; instead, he simply lets himself be drowned by the downpour and the silent voices of the children never to speak again.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

The answer is no - at least for now - and Finn could just escape back into town, back to the inn. It comes as no surprise that he doesn’t even know how he came to be here, in the middle of the night and the rain, looking at Remi murdering out of mercy on the ocean. And he could make it so he may as well not have been here, just a ghost on the wind, a whisper in the dark.

And yet.

Gazing at the still figure on his knees, clutching those little souls against him, Finn is drawn back like a magnet. It’s a type of madness, he’s learning, this affinity he has to this man who shares his face. But he’s never seen Remi in quite this way before.

”How can I help?” he asks, just loud enough for his voice to carry over the rain. Finn stands far enough away that he thinks he has a chance at backing off should the question enrage Remi. But he doesn’t see anger in the Alchemist right now. Still, he’s been wrong before. Rarely, but it has happened.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Remi doesn't hear Finn approach. The sand hardly moves beneath his feet so saturated as it is by water. Then again he could have been yelling and still the Alchemist wouldn't have heard him through the wind and the rain and the screaming silence of lives so easily taken. Looking up, the rain streaming down his cheeks making it seem though he's crying endless tears, Remi doesn't tense at all. His wings remain where they are, half-sprawled on the ground and heaving slightly from exertion as his chest rises and steadily falls. If he's surprised to see Finn, his face doesn't show it.

"We need to bring them out of the rain." He says, not entirely sure if Finn can even hear him. "And then find their parents." So saying, his knuckles are still white around the children, the one in the middle squished between the other two. Remi seems incapable of letting them go despite what he's said to the contrary.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

Finn has seen death before, though not children, not quite this close, this sad. It’s something that makes his limbs freeze and his eyes sting, and he lets out a shuddering breath and strains to hear Remi over the wind. Out of the rain. Find their parents. He nods, just about, stepping closer to the Alchemist and turning his collar up against the downpour.

”Can you carry them all?” he asks, having to swallow hard to even look at the children smooshed in the other man’s grip. ”There’s a covered area where the dock workers sit to get shade. It’s not far from here, we can take them there. How... do you know how to find their parents?”

Finn thinks he knows how, and it has everything to do with the way the world is marked by smeared colours, fading by the second but still visible for now.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Can he? It isn't even a question. They're his responsibility still, his to bear. Whether he can is irrelevant; he will. Stumbling onto one foot, the children shifting in his grasp, Remi exhales a strangled and strange sound as one of their heads unceremoniously lolls back. Instantly one of his wings wraps around, cradling the skull and re-aligning the child's neck to a more normal position. Meanwhile, he's bitten the inside of his lip so hard it starts to bleed, adding colour to the trails of rain that streak down his face.

"That will work, if...tell everyone to leave. If anyone argues, tell them I said to go. If that fails, tell them Jack did." As for how to find out who their parents are? With eyes that look almost deer-like in their innocent incomprehension, the Alchemist merely shakes his head. "I..don't even know who they are." He says as he stands, his wings and magic helping to support the children.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

Finn has never seen Remi this way, and it unsettles him more than the aloof man with great, wide wings, than the pensive inventor hurling stones into the sea, than the force of nature pulling earth to his whims. He doesn’t move to help as Remi gets to his feet; it doesn’t feel right, and he shifts uncomfortably as he watches and waits for the Alchemist to speak. ”I can find out,” he says of the children’s parents, turning to head towards the aforementioned spot, trusting the other man to follow.

He doesn’t know who Jack is, but he keeps it in mind nonetheless, and as they approach the covered area they are lucky in that only a couple of workers remain, wiling out the rain before heading home. At the sight of their Governor, Finn doesn’t even need to speak; they stand and nod brusquely, getting on their way.

Unsure quite how to feel about that, he stands aside so that Remi might set the children down. ”Are you alright?”

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Follow he does, on legs and feet that are both unsteady and not. Remi's body has been made into a hardened and near-perfect machine for such tasks. His heart and soul? Far less so, despite evidence and events to the contrary.

Perhaps later Remi will wonder what he ever did such that only a man who hardly knows him is the only one to stay at his side, while those he's sworn to help and protect (which he has done, hasn't he?) flee at the sight of him. For now though he's just grateful for the lack of prying eyes and falling rain. Dead though they are, the children deserve to be dry.

With infinite care, Remi kneels over in a way that looks back-breaking, to place the three children down upon one of the benches. He takes as much time as is necessary to ensure that they look as...not alive, but comfortable as possible, all the while not answering Finn's question.

"You said you could help with finding their parents?" He wonders, chin moved over his shoulder to glance at the Spyglass.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

He doesn’t answer, which is an answer in itself. Finn doesn’t watch as Remi sets the children down, staring out into the rain instead. He’s never had children but the Alchemist’s movements are reminiscent of tucking one into bed, so careful and precise are the gestures. Raking a hand through his wet curls, he turns at the sound of the other man’s voice and buries his hands in his pockets, jerking his head in a nod of confirmation.

”I will need a little time, but I can find my way to them. Would you like to stay here while I work?” he asks. His voice is more devoid of emotion than usual, and Finn is sheet white out in the downpour. He can feel it all starting to close in on him; what he’s just seen and what it all means; the three little bodies all tucked up under the shelter. But there’s more to do yet.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Though Remi wonders just how it is Finn will accomplish this task, he doesn't argue. Part of him does want to; wants to say that they deserve to be dry and clean and...somehow more presentable in death than they are now. But how much worse was it for Ronin finding out belatedly about Aoife? There are timelines to all of this that Remi only vaguely understands, but wants desperately to keep on the right side of.

"I can't leave them." He says, almost apologetically, though it's unclear who he's apologizing to: Finn, or the children. "If they ask...there was a riptide." Words carefully chosen so that they aren't a lie. Hopefully, it's enough of an explanation that Finn won't have the bear the weight of what Remi has done.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

”A riptide,” Finn repeats, voice low and stormy eyes partially hidden behind spectacles. ”They will ask. That is what I’ll say.” Then he’s gone into the night, swallowed by the darkness and the rain to find the breadcrumb trail from those little souls drowned at sea. It would have been a kindness for him to be quick, but Finn is not able to be kind. It takes time, and all the while Remi is left in the company of sleeping children who will never wake again.

Eventually a cry splits the dark. Finn emerges like a long shadow, silent and grave while the world burns behind him in the form of the grieving parents. They break ahead of him once the shelter and the children come into view, and Finn falls to a halt. He’s a spectator in this, as much as in anything else.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN

REMI

the alchemist

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

When the group returns it will be to see a man without wings kneeling before the children as if telling them something of grave importance before they set off. A warning about riptides, perhaps. He's worked his magic as best he can to clean the sand from them, to dry their hair. He doesn't go so far as to really place them; though the idea has certainly crossed his mind. The older boy and girl seemed on the precipice of the type of love only available to hearts never before broken, and Remi desperately wants to place the boy's hand in the girl's, if only because he senses so strongly they hadn't the courage in life, to do it themselves.

The parents swarm to their children with no thought for the Alchemist or Spyglass. Riptides Finn must have told them, for they ask no further questions. One, on her way out, mumbles a thank you that Remi managed to bring their bodies back to shore. Any sane man, any man with a heart would have been unable to hide his devastation. The Alchemist however nods soberly. It is only when they finally depart that he allows himself to sink heavily down onto the bench with a sigh.

"Thank you for finding them." Remi says in a dry, tight voice.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

you are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world

Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise, then, that Finn and Remi look so much alike - for the devastation is plain on the Spyglass’s face. He folds and tucks away his glasses, water streaming in rivulets down his pallid face, and he merely stands before the other man as he sits down on the bench. ”It was the least I could do,” he murmurs, a muscle feathering in his jaw.

Silence then, for a bit, until he finds his tongue again. ”Would you like me to walk with you back towards the lighthouse?” He doesn’t know what he’ll do, where he’ll go. Only that the night seems too dark but anywhere else seems too bright, and Finn is walking the spaces in between with the desperation of a man who did not do enough.

and that, I believe

is why you are in so much pain

FINN