Absorbed Into Insanity (Peregrine x Tinder)

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It felt like they had gone full circle, and ultimately reached nowhere. He felt her talent entering the building long before he saw her, and the darkness within him roiled, reaching out greedily for her talent. He would not be able to read her mind again until he let it touch her. He knew that. The tendril of darkness that slipped past and out into the world against his will raced through the corridors as fast as thought. It wove in and around her shield, before touching her gently, unknowably.

A wave of guilt, sorrow, confusion, and uncertainty ran over him so quickly that he nearly flinched, and the darkness recoiled. Briefly free it aimed for her talent, trying to bury into it and absorb it, as it absorbed everything. Nick grabbed it mentally and tugged, and the thing writhed inside her barrier, only releasing itself from her when it was clear that Nick would shatter her shield before he stopped fighting against its insatiable desire to consume. Once more, her mind and her talent were her own.

But the traces of her emotion lingered on within him, and for the first time since the darkness had found him, Nick welcomed her presence. There were no complications now, not that he knew he was going to try and survive for a little while. He wouldn’t let her kill him. He’d drive her away first. But he didn’t want to drive her away. She was the last link to the world he had once lived, the world that had abandoned him. He clung to it with the tenuous hope of a child.

He missed his mom and dad, missed the times when they had once showered him in love and affection, teaching him and training him and guiding him so that, when their time was past, he would be the greatest Lord in living memory. But that affection had been stolen from him long ago, long before they had sent him away on a mission he should not have been able to survive, and come back with the darkness.

Kyna’s soft words were like a dagger through his heart. He didn’t want her tenderness, her pity. He didn’t deserve it. Although she didn’t know the truth, what little she had been told was true. He had gone home, and he had hurt his family. He was on the verge of being completely uncontrolled, and wreaking havoc on the known world. Now she was being soft to him. Now, when he had thought her empathy buried underneath layers of training, after her dramatic threat last time.

The emotions were boiling inside of him, and the darkness cascaded out of him like a wave, filling the room and dimming the light. It found all the cracks in his wall and pushed through them, widening them. He tried to pull it back in, but he couldn’t. He could feel every part of the room, could feel Kyna’s bright talent burning inside of her, and still there was so much darkness within him. Enough to cover the world.

As the darkness, visible and tangible only to him, continued to fill the room, writing and angry, changing things suddenly and then changing it back before it was humanly possible to notice what had happened, another barrier within Nick broke. The tears began to stream from his eyes, but this time their descent was not silent. A small sob shook his shoulders. It was the first noise he had made since he had been brought to the asylum, and it was quickly followed by another and another.

The darkness pulled in close to him, pressing on him like a blanket. One tendril reached out and gently brushed the tears away from his eyes, but it only caused Nick to cry harder. He hated it, hated everything it represented. The darkness recoiled from him suddenly, and the brief respite where it had stopped fighting against him was over. It began to tug, and he tugged back, and the tears fell.
 
The sudden burst of talent that went through the room startled Kyna. She glanced around as the room seemed to shift before returning to its ordinary state though there was some visible damage. She looked back to John as her hand went for the blade beneath her jacket. Yet as she went to pull it out she heard him whimper. Her heart broke for him as she realized just how much damage she had managed to do. She took a step forward, but stopped herself before she could go to him. This was her doing. He was probably terrified right now. She took a breath and said, “John, I’m sorry. For everything. I’ve made a terrible mistake.” She shifted on her feet and brought her arms up in front of her, unsure what else to do. She wanted to do something, but there was nothing she could do for the man. A killer knew nothing of healing.

All she could do now was explain herself, “I was wrong to accuse you of being the man I’m looking for. I should never have threatened you like that. I just…no, there is no excuse. I’ve caused you a lot of grief.” She doubted her words meant much to a mad man, but it was all she had.

Eliminate all threats.

Her hand clenched at her side. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but she would not let another pay the penalty for her own mistakes. There was only one way to right her wrongs. She had to go back and confess everything.

She grimaced as her father’s face flashed through her mind wearing the scowl she knew would be on his face when she told him everything. The Spymaster was never angry, only disappointed. Why should he feel any angry towards a defective tool? The mere thought made her hand twitch, but she held it back. She refused to kill for her own needs. Be the sword, not the hand that commands it.

When she found her voice once more, she continued, “I’m leaving, John. There’s nothing I can do for you. I’ll tell them today and at the end of the week, I’ll be gone. Until then, I’ll have to ask you to be patient. I’ll need to check in on you for a few more days until they find another doctor.” She turned away from him and walked back to the door. “You’ve endured enough of me for today. I’ll stop back in before I leave,” she said as she pulled open the door.
 
Kendall Courcelle, Lord of the Family and controller of one of the strongest mental coercion talents in living memory, could see the charred remains of the Courcelle ancestral home from the window of the small cottage he and his wife now inhabited. His hand clenched on the sill of the window in frustration, before he forcibly turned himself away. Every informant the Family could control, spread the world wide, was looking for the former Heir right now. There was no way that... it... could hide forever. And when he was found, Kendall would be able to figure out what exactly he was going to with the killer.

His thoughts were distracted from this dark path by the sight of his wife entering the room. Even after the tragedy their house burning to the ground in a fire that consumed all, even stone and metal, Eliza was still undeniably beautiful. If anything, the simple blouse and skirt she wore now heightened her natural beauty, only refined with the hints of age that touched the corners of her mouth and eyes. She touched his shoulder gently, and he laid one hand over her own. Even without words they understood each other perfectly, and all she did was quietly shake her head. Nicholas had still not been found, and Kyna had still not made a report. Both he and Finn were starting to accept what that meant. Somehow, Kyna had found Nicholas, and he had killed her. Her brothers, as well as a number of other trusted assets, had been sent to the area where Kyna had last made contact, and were starting an outward search. Hopefully, if they could find her body, it would give them hints as to what exactly Nicholas had done to her, and it would give them a hint in what exactly it was going to take to avenge her loss.

Eliza twined her hand into his, and tugged him gently towards the front rooms of the cottage. Someone was here. Kendall took a split second to compose himself, before stepping through the doorway into the front room. Standing by the door was the thin, familiar form of his Spymaster. Some of the forced neutrality and emotionless slid from his face, but even in the presence of one of the most trusted advisers he had Kendall could not relax completely. He was the Lord, and ultimately all the most important decisions of the Family fell onto his shoulders. No one could know how much it cost him. Once more he glanced at Eliza. Theirs had been an arranged marriage, but it had grown into something deeper. It was impossible to keep things hidden from one you lived with every day, and they were the only person the other could confide in. A bond like that could not be broken easily.

All the same, Kendall reached out to Finn, clasping his hand tightly. “No word on Kyna?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “Tell me, my friend. Why have you come?”
 
Finn Riley bowed before returning his lord’s gesture, his expression remaining passive. While Kendall saw him as a friend, Finn had long ago begun to see himself as nothing more than a weapon. He was one of the tools that the Head used to strike at his enemies. It was easier to see to his duties that way. Emotion could only complicate matters for him. Unfortunately the current situation he faced threatened that neutrality he clung to. Kyna had disobeyed him and run off alone. He’d never thought she of all people would do something so idiotic. The girl was soft but she had brains. It was why he kept her close. So long as she wasn’t the one to take a target’s life, she could pull off operations others thought impossible.

He forced his daughter out of his mind and answered Kendall, his voice low, “We have confirmation that she was chasing a lead. One of my contacts sent her word of a strange young man and it seems she chose to cut contact when she arrived. I’ve dispatched someone to survey the situation. I don’t believe the young man is the Heir. My contact gave me a description. It wasn’t a match.”

He concluded his report, thankful that he’d kept the rage from entering his voice. He could not allow Kendall to believe the situation was affecting him personally. After everything that had happened with the Heir, Finn could not afford to give his lord anything less than his best work. Yet in the back of his mind he knew if he found his daughter alive, he would make her regret this foolish act. Not only was the lead a bust, but she’d broken off contact which was a major violation that even the veterans under him could not get away with. Even if she’d wanted a chance to bring down the Heir herself, surely she would have known by now the young man wasn’t her target. Either she was indeed dead or something else had happened to her. Either way, Finn would not stand for such failure among his own children.

In the meantime, he had to make this all look like it was his plan. The community had to believe he was still in control of his network and that the Heir was not the threat that everyone feared him to be. Enough damage had been done without the public panicking.
 
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