Chapter Text
The laughter of little children echoed through the sunlit forest like the string of a war bow drawn taught. It bounced for what was likely many miles around, calling to the natural beauty of the world in a way which drew out the greenest of greens and encouraged the growth of the brightest of flowers. A gentle breeze made the grass sway in a way that could almost be read as natural; delicate to the flowers of all different types, kind to the animals which rushed through the underbrush, cooling to the sweat-soaked skin of the only man who had a chance of knowing better.
The man did, in fact, know better.
Raised on the edges of the forest, Shane had often felt, in his days of bright eyed youth, that he lived on the edge of everything. His town was a small one, more an outpost than anything, and so nature blended more naturally there than the big, rigid, capital cities his father often frequented for work. Shane found this blend far more soothing than the sharp stone of the inner kingdom, rigid and logical though it may be. That was, perhaps, what no one could quite understand about the wilderness; it was only so unruly as your lack of ability to understand it.
Shane placed a hand on his crossbow, carefully loading and raising it in the way his mother had taught him with firm hands and firmer commands. What he was aiming for, he wasn't entirely sure. The vibrancy of his surroundings this deep in the forest told him he was at least in the right place; though not terribly dark, this little clearing shone with sunlight, and the colors held a bright gleam to them which could only be unnatural. Then, there was that laugh, that echoing giggle of what could only be a mimicry of a little girl.
And, of course, the ever thick stench of magic. It called to him gently, clouding the edges of his vision, but more a soft whisper than a distracting shout. Shane's hands tightened on his crossbow even as he took a step forward. He had been raised better than to trust anything large that pretended to be small.
Still he made his way carefully on, eyes burning and nose stinging. He hadn't been lying when he said this sunny mirage was well within the realm of things he could handle, and he hadn't been lying to Hayden when he assured him through tears that he'd dealt with far worse. In this case he figured a little more caution was necessary, so he stopped right at the edge of what was natural and what was not, then carefully reached back towards his pack without taking his eyes off of the buzzing paradise before him. Shane pulled out the iron, just an extra protection charm is all, and clipped it to the one that rested permanently against his neck. One for him and one for her, because she would be leaving here no matter what it cost him.
As if it could sense his thoughts, the entire mirage seemed to shake with the force of its own laughter.
Shane took one last fortifying breath of true air, and stepped inside.
One could enter a mirage for the entirety of one million lifetimes and still not be accustomed to the swell of feeling it provided. While not a door into Faerie, mirages formed over the dusty roads traveled to it. Not a destination but a rest stop, a pause on the way to something far greater than mortal senses could comprehend. Even mirages were a struggle.
Shane squinted against the unnatural white light he found himself seemingly staring into. It felt, for a moment, like he could hear every rabbit which has ever rustled the underbrush, feel every touch of every breeze which has ever blown here, and taste every spell which has ever been uttered within these high trees. It was almost enough, that rush of sensation, so painful in its earnest desire to be appealing, to make him turn around. However, he stuck it out, partly because the assault on his senses was quickly fading and partly because he could not bear the thought of that bleeding, lost look returning to both Hayden and Jackie's eyes.
So Shane stayed and Shane blinked, skin burning and raw and everything so overwhelming and wrong.
As the sun faded and the world returned to the level of just plain incorrect that this crossroads of magic and nature usually inflicted on the world, Shane blinked a few more times and saw the hunched figure of the most gorgeous man he had ever seen.
His hair shined in the sun like gold spun from the most practiced hands, curly and flashing like it could not quite decide on a single shade. His skin was pale but with a tan, and brown moles dotted his face. His eyes gleamed with the bright blue sky, like mother nature had gotten so stuck on this one man she bottled herself and was poured out into his irises. Shane couldn't blame her.
His lips were plush and red, as if just freshly sucked. His body was thick and well built, which Shane could see even under the layers of gold, rich silk which he was draped in. His arms were thick with muscle, but were held gently, like he was afraid of harming something far smaller and weaker than himself. In those arms was…
A little brown haired girl, who Shane had come here specially to protect.
With a jolt, Shane snapped back to himself. Suddenly, the arms which had looked gentle but a moment ago now seemed a threat, and the flowers surrounding them both poison intended to trap.
Shit.
Ruby, at least, seemed to pay absolutely no mind to the distress she had caused; she slept soundly with nothing but a small smile to grace her face.
Shane felt the shift in the air before the man—no, the Fae—who had stolen Ruby even moved. His eyes snapped back up to its' face just in time to meet those sky eyes. It smiled, then, and Shane's hand tightened on his crossbow which, in his distraction, he hadn't lifted—
"So," it said, and its voice was deep and musical, with an accent that Shane had never heard before, "you are fish?"
"I—huh?" Shane was so startled that he forgot about the crossbow entirely. "What?"
"What?" It mimicked, then dropped its jaw into an o, perfect lips puckered slightly in what must have been an attempt to copy whatever face Shane was sure he was making right now.
This is not how this is supposed to go.
Shane bristled at the thought, and, if he was being totally honest, the Faerie's laughter. There was just something about it that made his blood boil more than usual… for a bizarre moment, he felt a little like laughing too.
Wait. No. Ruby is in danger. Focus.
Finally, Shane managed to lift the crossbow.
"Whoah," it said, and raised the hand not currently holding Ruby's head. "You are…mister tough guy. Mister threatening, yes?"
"Let the girl go."
"Hmm…" It said, hand moving back down to stroke Ruby's hair. "No. I don't think I will."
The faerie moved, then, gently settled Ruby into the grass and poppies, and to Shane's cry of alarm, snapped its fingers.
It rolled its eyes. "Fucking relax, Hollander, was just giving her blanket!"
Shane's hands stayed steady. "How do you know my name?"
It grinned again, something Shane was very quickly getting sick of, and said, "Am mind reader! Same way I know you are misgendering me!"
"Bullshit," Shane said, because the Fae are conniving and can get you to give away things you haven't even realized you've given away, but they can't read minds. They also can't lie…
It, no they (? In Shane's experience, most Fae don't appreciate human conventions being forced upon them and it's generally wrong to enter any negotiation with that disrespect so—)
They laughed again, looking smug as hell. "No is true! I am mind reader, Hollander, I know everything!"
They sobered fast, this time. "Like how you are still misgendering me. Very rude, Hollander, very mean, not very good for negotiation, yes?"
Shit, how the fuck did the—oh, Shane fucking gives up, the Faerie, know that? Still, the faerie said negotiation, which meant the faerie intended to negotiate. That was good, as Shane had been worried about Ruby getting caught in the crossfire of any battle that could start.
The faerie smiled again, like even trying to hold an expression whose purpose it was to do anything other than piss Shane off had become completely impossible.
"You look so worried! Is very funny, Hollander, you are comedian? Anyway, sit, do not want your weak mortal legs to break from standing so long."
Shane sat, as was the traditional start of any negotiation with the Fae.
"What should I call you?" He asked, because to seal the agreement he would need some sort of name, whether it be true or not.
The fae seemed to take a moment to think, before the eyes drifted over Shane's shoulder. The Faerie's face lit up.
"Lily," she (?) said. "And before that confuses you, I am he." He shifted his legs wide, reaching under his gold silk to reveal his…
Oh.
Shane felt his face heat. Lily dropped the fabric quickly, seemingly once he realized that Shane had seen, looking extremely pleased with the reaction he had gotten.
Shane, very suddenly, realized he had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Lily sighed, and suddenly looked very serious indeed. "So you want Ruby back?"
The winters in his town had always been harsh and hard. The wind tended to scream and whip all the falling snow around like frozen tears. They burned like tears too, when they slipped under his coat and dug their way into his skin.
That was nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the chill which raced down Shane's spine upon hearing that this thing knew Ruby's name.
"What do you want?" Shane said more than asked, because in a situation where he'd give anything at all and the cost was irrelevant, it was far better to be direct.
Lily hummed, then chided, "pushy, pushy." His eyes held Shane's and from this close he swore he could see grey clouds gather in the endless blue, like they really were an entire world of their own. "What will you give?"
Shane sighed, and for a moment let his heartache, his fear, the tremble of his fingers which he has worked so hard to keep steady, all show through. All he can do now, all he can hope, is that this faerie knows mercy. "What do you want?"
Lily was completely still for a moment, eyes crawling over Shane's skin like a tick looking for the best place to suck blood. Then, all at once, he seemed to crumble completely, the rocks worn away by time and the force of the tide.
"Okay," he said. He cracked his knuckles, oddly human in only the strangest of ways. "Okay." He said again, harder, certain, final in a way that only the fae had the power to be. He stood. Shane did as well.
"I like Ruby," he began, and his footsteps fell so lightly Shane was sure Lily would never be found if he did not want to be. Shane joined him, of course, keeping pace as they made their way toward Ruby's prone body. "She is just a child. So innocent. Does not know not to trust the pretty mirage in the woods."
The reached Ruby and then moved passed the empty space where Shane could have sworn she'd been. That chill strikes, again, and he's hit with the knowledge of how truly powerful this Lily must be, to be able to so easily conceal his magic from Shane, who has made his living off of sensing such things.
Shane's been doing this for ten years. He's been hired by dukes and lords, and, on one memorable occasion, the king. He's not incompetent.
Lily's just…something else.
They finally stop at the clearings edge, where the world has begun to blur again, and the trees appear larger and more imposing than they should. Still vibrant, still vivid, still beautiful in all the ways that let Shane know this should be a dangerous place to be.
Lily sighs, again, and reaches into the bark of the tree, which begins to wilt and and brown and die. Lily's eyes turn the snow cloud gray of those winter snow storms from Shane's childhood. When he frees his hand from the bark, the shape of a young girl begins to take shape at the base of the now ruined tree.
"You will make her," Lily said, blue eyes the shade of falling snow. "You will make her learn these things. You will teach her fear and hate," That last word is spat, not like it is the concept he despises, but that it is what's right. He looked Shane in the eye again, with those twin worlds drenched in biting wind, and Shane wonders, impulsively, if he'll ever see him again.
Lily takes a step back, and the sun is not bright anymore, and the trees are not green anymore, and the animals have all run and taken shelter.
He starts to shine, golden hair flashing all those alluring tragic colors. That is when Shane remembers something very important.
"Lily," He says. "What do you want?"
But Lily is already gone.
Shane leaves the clearing by midday.
In the grand scheme of things, he'd made good time. Ruby awoke in her Uncle Shane's arms, carrying only a vague recollection of what should have been a permanently scarring experience. Shane brought her home to two loving parents who showered her in warmth and hugs and swore to never let her out of their sight again.
Shane let them have their moment. In the back of his mind, he was already thinking of snow and twin worlds, and what a fae who wore gold silk would actually want.
The answer was obvious.
So Shane, for one night, removed all of his iron and all of his weapons and laid out his offering, knowing deep in his soul, just the way that he'd known Lily could be dangerous, that the warmest jacket he owned would be gone by morning.
He only hoped it was enough to bring some warmth to two frozen worlds.