shine_again | (no subject)

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Dan spends his time in captivity finding out what it might have been like if the Overlook had been a medieval dungeon run by fucking goblins. He feels precisely as helpless as he had in the worst of it there, at the beginning, when he's aware of everything. They beat him, of course, because it's a goblin dungeon, and one of them is sneering about tenderized meat. His coat and flannel and t-shirt are taken, though he's left with his jeans and boots. Something about foot-rot, they say. Not very appetizing.

He tries to frighten them, spits more of that strange language at them, and it earns him a cell of his very own, it seems. Now, this has nothing on the Overlook, cramped and slightly wet and cold; he's held to the wall with an honest to god chain, and all he can see from the gaps in the bars is a passageway, and a door on the other side, and fire beyond that door.

Dan thinks he might honestly have been dragged to hell.

The shining is of no use; all he feels is the terror and despair and angry helplessness of others in other cells. And then the dark waves again, which drag him down for hours at a time, and leave him shaking and gagging against his bonds.

He can't think, he can't think for all of the noise of everyone else's thoughts. Oh, but he tries. He thinks of Abra's light shining so brightly, that even across worlds, it might give him something to see by, he thinks of his mother fighting with everything to keep them alive. He thinks of the moment when he'd thought he was safe, his arms around Marcus and Marcus holding him so tight, the warmth of his breath, the little flicker of light kindling in Dan's chest.

He tries to get it back.

He's just so cold, and it's so loud inside his head.

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Salem has been left with an assignment while Sabrina sees to her boys, and to her friends. Look after Marcus and the house. They'd both known the city streets to be unsafe for a black cat, and Salem has been doing his job properly, up until the moment Marcus (predictably, he will inform Sabrina) loses his mind over the just-friend.

So now Salem prowls the hallways of this castle, darting ahead and then trotting back to make sure Marcus and Trass follow. And then a certain voice, low and in pain, catches his ears and he runs, verifying the prisoner's identity before turning to tell Marcus, settling for a rather loud meow.

Once he has both charges following, Salem leads them to a cell, where he darts between the bars and goes to settle against a bleeding, bruised Dan, who shivers in the cold, both from lack of shirt and the huge chain keeping him at the wall.

The halls aren't without obstacles, but this is why Marcus has both Trass and his rosary. Briefly, he wishes he'd brought his gun, but he knows the sound of a shot going off in the castle would likely bring a whole host of enemies down on their heads and he's not willing to risk any of them for the ease of it. The wolf's teeth and the sharp end of Mother Bernadette's rosary work well enough for now and Trass charges the first goblin that comes at them, sinking his sharp fangs into the thing's throat before it even has the chance to raise the alarm.

Marcus's rosary dispatches the next in one long, deep cut of its throat. As dark blood courses over his hand, Salem reappears and lets out a particularly loud meow, which has Marcus hurrying after him down the hall, Trass taking up the rear. He hears the wolf growling several more times, snapping his jaws and tearing things apart, but at no point does he turn back.

The state he finds Dan in is horrifying and Marcus has to put it aside in his mind as he drops to his knees in front of the bars, digging the lock pick out of his pocket. He keeps his gaze on Dan, letting it flicker only briefly to Salem sitting against him before he softly calls his name.

"Dan," he says gently, the tools in his hands already working at the lock on the door. "Hey, look at me."

Dan finds himself first pulled up from the waves by the feel of something small and warm against his side. Cat his mind supplies, and he's never been so grateful for the mild to medium meddling of Marcus's ward and her-- familiar. Opening his eyes only confirms Salem huddling against him as if trying to warm him.

This is not a bad hallucination, as they go.

And Dan is willing to think this until he hears a voice-- he hears Marcus and he startles up, trying to move forward only to be kept in place by the chain. The iron loop around his neck cuts into his skin again, and Dan isn't too proud to admit he whines.

"Marcus?"

Oh god, oh god, he thinks. Be real.

"Marcus." He doesn't try to plead with him to leave. No, Marcus is here and he's clearly capable, and Dan wants to go with him. He gathers Salem to his chest, shivering.

"Careful," Marcus whispers, finally catching sight of the loop around Dan's neck. That'll pose another problem in getting him out, but they can face that bridge when they come to it. For now Marcus just needs to focus on getting the door open without any of the damn goblins running around this place alerting anyone to his presence. They don't want him here, they had made that perfectly clear when taking Dan, and he has a feeling he won't simply be left alive again if he's caught now.

Knowing Salem is inside with Dan lets Marcus focus on the lock, even though he knows the small cat can't really warm Dan as much as he likely needs. Having Trass at his back is comforting, too, a massive, threatening presence to anyone who might approach. Somehow he knows not to growl now that they're still, not to call more attention to themselves as necessary while Marcus works on the lock.

Thank you, Matthias, he thinks, his chest aching as he does.

"Just give me a few more seconds," he murmurs as he works, the tools clinking softly within the lock on the cell door. They click and slide around inside as he searches for just the right angle. "Haven't had cause to pick a lock in awhile, I'm a bit out of practice."

Dan can feel Salem purring against his chest, and now that he's got his eyes all the way open, now that he's not blocking everything out, he can watch Marcus.

"Feels like a bad dream," he croaks. "It's so loud here. Inside of me."

His vision is blurry either from tears or the sheer psychic exhaustion; it's probably both and he's not ashamed. He's never so relieved as when he hears the lock clicking open. "Jesus, they-- they hurt you, didn't they? How are you even here?"

It's selfish, but all he wants now is for Marcus to get close enough that they can touch, and maybe it will quiet down the noise that the radio in his head can't help but pick up. There's the silver lining: when shit is this bad, shame loses its meaning.

"Just a scratch," Marcus answers, although he knows he'll be limping for the next week and that his knee will be a mess of black and blue bruises for even longer. He's been injured before, however, and he's not particularly concerned about his leg at the moment. Once he gets Dan back to the house where Kat will be waiting, he can think more about his knee and consider how bad it is and whether or not he ought to come back up and see if he can set more people free.

Right now, it's only about getting Dan out.

The door swings open and Marcus carefully gets into the cell, Trass choosing to stay on the outside where he can guard the hall. The wolf's gaze sweeps back and forth, making sure they're still in the clear and Marcus nears Dan with his tools still out, studying the loop of iron around his neck.

"My God," he murmurs, reaching out to touch it gently, trying to figure out the best way to make this happen. "Why would they do this to you?"

Dan eases himself, stiffly, into a position he thinks will allow Marcus better access to the iron loop and the raw skin of his neck. The cat in his lap shifts, having clearly identified another step in the protect Marcus directive.

"There's no real reason for cruel things to be cruel," he answers, as truthfully as he can. "I think they figured out I might be more difficult to keep near others. Or near where they're planning anything." Each word feels like a hard-won victory, and finally, having indeed given up on shame, he reaches out to touch Marcus's arm.

A little relief, but not enough.

He moves his hand down until he can manage to get Marcus's sleeve pulled up, and the top of his glove pushed down so that skin shows. With a ragged sigh, he wraps his fingers around Marcus's bare wrist and begins to take the first deep breaths in a long time.

"Good," he says, flashing a quick smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Easier to get you out of here, yeah?"

Marcus doesn't think anyone in his life has ever thought of him as a calming presence. For so long he's been full of righteous anger and religious fury, burning with it at every turn, but something has happened to him in Darrow. He's still a fighter, he'll still do what God asks of him at any moment, he'll still spit in the face of any demon who tries to hurt an innocent soul, but friendship and love and family have brought a sense of peace to him he's never had before.

Maybe that's what Dan feels when he circles his fingers around Marcus's wrist. He doesn't want to take that from him, so he gently rests his palm against Dan's chest, using his other hand to take one of the lock picking tools to the keyhole he can see in the loop around Dan's neck.

"Tilt your head back for me just a little," he says. "I'll have you out of this in no time."

"There are so many others," Dan says, even if a little voice that's entirely his own selfishness is telling him to shut up. "Are-- are we going for any of them?"

Then Marcus puts a hand on his chest and Dan's entire body relaxes. It's more than the calm and safety that Marcus gives him, but the knowledge that he's comforting Dan in the best way he knows. Dan's stiff and shaking muscles become pliant, and he's easily guided, letting his head fall back.

"You will," he says, letting his eyes close, safe to do so now, with this anchor. If only he was a little brighter, if only he had some of Abra's strength, he could turn the world halfway, and stay in that safe place he knows is there.

"You first," Marcus answers. "I'll come back if I can."

From the hall, Trass gives a warning growl that Marcus takes to mean he needs to hurry. He works at the lock in the loop around Dan's neck, giving it as much of his focus as he can given the situation. The tool he's using clicks around and he has to take his hand from Dan's chest so he can get the other tool into the lock at the same time. Just a few more seconds of feeling around, though, and he's got it.

The iron loop releases and Marcus shoves his tools back into his pocket, then reaches up to carefully remove the chain from around Dan's neck. The skin beneath is red and raw, it makes Marcus wince in sympathetic pain, but he can think more about that once they're out of here, once they're safely down the mountain.

"Put this on," he says, stripping out of his jacket. He removes his rosary from the pocket, looping the beads around his fingers, letting the iron cross dangle from his hand for the moment. Besides Trass, it's his best weapon, and he needs it for the way out. "Zip it up tight, it's too cold for you to go out there without a shirt on."

Dan doesn't know what to say.

This turns out to to be fine, as he needs to focus on doing as Marcus asks so that the chain can be removed. "Count forty-five seconds at the door," he says, gasping when the ring and chain are removed. Salem is already trotting to do just that. "Just do it."

He doesn't argue as he takes the coat, zipping it up with numb fingers. Absurdly, he wants to take Marcus but the hand; there's no room for that, when they might have to fight, and as he stumbles toward the door, he's aware of Salem's amber gaze.

The cat makes a series of strange chirping noises, and then, rising up on his hind legs, he's not exactly a cat, but a shadowy form that wraps around Dan to support him. From the creature, a familiar low mrrrr.

Long, clawed fingers reach out to touch Marcus's face gently, and then point down the hall.

He ought to be afraid, he thinks. But he isn't.

The touch is so gentle and Salem is wrapped around Dan in a way that speaks of nothing but care and all Marcus can do is follow the pointed fingers down the hall and count the forty-five seconds Dan has asked. Trass steps into the cell and Marcus watches as one of the larger and more menacing creatures moves from one room to the other between seconds thirty-nine and forty-four.

Then the hallway is clear and silent once more. He glances at Dan with grateful eyes and nods.

"Lead us out, Trassel," he whispers to the wolf, then begins to follow him down the hall, keeping close to Dan and Salem at the same time. He keeps one hand out toward Dan, his touch there if he needs it, and the other clutches the rosary, holding it out in front of him. He wants to try Kat on his cell again, but he needs to wait until they're out to the safety of the truck.

One step at a time.

At this point, Dan's not sure what else could surprise him, but it makes sense that the witch's familiar could do more than just... cat things. He's tired enough that he doesn't resist, and with Salem holding him up, he's tired enough that he doesn't fight the desire to reach back.

With Marcus's hand in his, he feels for the first time like this might really end with them leaving intact. The fight doesn't belong to them, that fact settles in his bones as the go, and before long, he can smell fresh air.

"Picked a good time," he says, squeezing Marcus's hand. "It's going to be clear. Take the same route back."

It's still bloody cold out there and a good gust of wind buffets against them as Trass nudges open an outer door with his nose, cautiously at first, then with more confidence when he sees the way is clear. Today, more than he ever has before, Marcus can see all the ways in which this wolf has been bred for war. He follows close behind, still keeping a tight hold on both his rosary and Dan.

His mind is going a mile a minute, taking everything into account, making sure he's not missing anything. One step at a time, of course, but Marcus is trying to work one step ahead of that, planning what they do next. Dan needs care, that much is clear, he's in rough shape, and while Marcus wants to return to the castle and help where he can, he knows he can't simply leave Dan in the truck or leave Kat at the house to worry.

It should have been overwhelming, but Marcus has always been good under pressure and this is no different. Even with an injury, as he leads them toward the truck, his mind feels clear and focused. He has a plan. It isn't perfect, but it will do in this instance.

Opening the passenger side door, he and Salem help Dan inside, then Marcus turns and kneels carefully by Trass. This is the closest he's felt to Matthias since he disappeared and he carefully holds the wolf's muzzle in his hands, looking into his yellow eyes. "If you stay here, you have to be safe," he says. "It would kill me to lose you, too."

Trass, for his part, nuzzles into Marcus's hands, then pulls back and sneezes before he disappears into the castle once more.

Edited 2019-06-13 14:32 (UTC)

By the time Marcus turns around again, there's a cat-shaped Salem sitting calmly on Dan's lap, and Dan slumped over slightly-- but he looks awake and aware. Enough so, at least, that there doesn't seem to be immediate danger.

Dan waits, vaguely aware but not searching, of the importance of what's being said to the wolf. It's clear neither Trass nor Salem are the pets they would appear to be, at first glance. It's a comforting thought, as is the knowledge that Marcus will come get into the truck, and that he will let Dan be near him.

The corner of his mouth pulls up as he realizes this is something-- special.

Marcus watches after Trass for a moment, then gets into the truck on the other side, pulling the door closed and turning the key. He prays the vehicle will start again, knowing he's already pushed his luck with the older truck, but the engine turns over and roars to life in a sudden lull in the wind.

It's louder than Marcus realized.

As he had approached, the wind had covered the sound, but now it draws a few of the goblins out from the castle. Marcus catches sight of Trass as he pounces on one, shaking it in his jaws, but the others rush for the truck.

"Hold on," he warns Dan, wishing he'd had more time, wishing he had reached over and helped Dan get his seat belt on. But there is no more time and he throws the truck into gear and jams his foot down on the accelerator. The truck jumps forward, striking one goblin, throwing it in a wide arc back toward the castle as Marcus turns the truck around to get back down the mountain.

Dan jolts a little bit, and is able to toss out an arm to the dashboard to keep himself and Salem from smashing against it. He just holds on, his trust fully in Marcus and Marcus's ability to get them to safety. It's not quite the shining, it's got more to do with faith in another person.

"We're okay," he assures Marcus. "I just need to--"

Salem meows at him, and he looks from the cat to Marcus. "Do you understand him? I get the sense he's used to a conversation," he says, a bit weakly, and after the world whirls around him dizzily, he gives in and lets himself tip, until he's barely resting his head on the outside of Marcus's thigh.

He can feel the cat crawling around on him as he closes his eyes.

Another goblin tries to clamber up onto the truck, but Trass is there suddenly, snapping his jaws tight around the thing's leg and yanking it back, then Marcus is leaving them all behind in the whirling snow. He hates leaving Trass, but knows, too, that the wolf will take care of people in a way Marcus can't right now. He'll be safe. He'll come back.

"Sabrina understands him," he tells Dan as they bump down the mountain. Now that they're out of range, he slows the truck a little, then reaches down to touch Dan's forehead with the back of his hand. He's checking for fever, just in case, but Dan's skin is cool to the touch, which is a bit of a relief. "I don't generally, but he reluctantly spells things out for me in Scrabble tiles."

He cracks a little smile, born of his relief at having gotten them out without any further damage. A glance at Salem is almost playful. "I was thinking of getting him a tablet. He can learn to text me when he needs something."

"That's right, I bet she does," Dan says softly, and the further they get from the mountain, the more the bone-deep tension seeps away. He's exhausted, and he doesn't really want to think; he wants a quiet, safe place like he's never wanted it before.

"They have all sorts of games for cats on those," he adds, and when it seems that he's allowed the comfort of staying exactly where he is, he lets his eyes close. "Used to try and get Azzie to play them at the hospice. We were a team, though I couldn't talk to him. He always let me know, though."

He shifts, his cheek rubbing a bit against Marcus's thigh. "Back in that-- the dungeon, I guess, if we're being technical, there were people dying. I couldn't have saved them, but I could have helped them."

It's a true testament to how tired he is, how quickly the adrenaline of the escape is draining out of him, that Marcus doesn't dwell on Dan's head resting against his thigh. It's clear Dan is tired and there's only so much space in the cab of the truck, so it only makes sense, of course, that they'd be this close. Marcus's real focus is getting them back and then seeing what they can do about Dan's neck, the other wounds he's sustained. Kat will be able to help him with that and when he thinks of her again, he reaches for his cell phone and hits his speed dial for her number.

The call doesn't connect and he sighs and drops the phone into the cup holder near the gear shift.

"You can't help everyone," he says softly, not quite knowing what Dan means that he could have helped them without saving them. "I know that's hardly a comfort and I know... I know better than a lot of people what it feels like to think you've failed someone, but you were chained up, Dan. We're lucky to have gotten you out of there."

The rumble of the motor and the purr of the cat, the warmth of Marcus under his cheek-- Dan tries to keep himself awake. "Part of me wondered for a while, if they knew, and that was why I was kept apart. If they wanted to make sure anyone they killed died in the most horror imaginable. Just like Rose, just like the True Knot. If it was steam they wanted, maybe I could have stopped that."

Maybe, he thinks, feeling a bit delirious still, that was why he had to face Rose in the first place. When it came to death, he played opposite her.

"The shining is more than ghosts and premonitions," he says softly. "I used it at the hospice, to help them as they died. It was just going to sleep. Going to sleep is easy. It doesn't hurt." He sounds terribly drowsy himself. "I'm sorry. I sound insane. I know."

Marcus doesn't know who Rose is or what the True Knot might be, but he lets Dan speak, lets the words wash over him as he drives the rest of the way down the mountain and then turns the truck down the road that will lead back to his place. Whatever and whoever they are, they sound awful. Like they prey on people much as the demons did and while Marcus and Dan haven't discussed their respective pasts in any depth just yet, he's beginning to get a sense they have some strong similarities.

"You don't," he says easily when Dan says he sounds mad. "Not at all. You sound..."

Like someone who cares. He sounds compassionate and kind, the sort of person this world needs. He sounds like he's done the opposite of what Marcus has done. Dan brings peace to those in their final moments and Marcus comes blazing in, tearing them away from those final moments, refusing to let them go, refusing to let the demons take them. The situations are different, of course, but he can see the two sides of a single coin.

"You sound humane," he settles on saying. "People need that."

"When you see what happens when some dies in pain like that, you can't-- you can't not offer something you have," Dan says, and yes, he might qualify as partially asleep, but it lets him speak more freely. "You wouldn't, you saved people with everything you had. You came for me, maybe that's a little more than basic humanity. I hope."

He doesn't feel like fumbling around for how far away they are, so he just falls quiet for the next while.

"I should have left when the snow and the darkness came."

He bites off the rest, realizing he's perhaps sounding a bit like an affectionate drunk. And maybe he is, he's just not loaded up with booze at the moment. He really should have known better, than to stay alone in the snow.

"S'alright now," Marcus says easily. He almost says that Dan is where he ought to be now, realizes that would be far overstepping and instead just smiles down at him for a moment. They're almost there and it's just a few more icy turns before he's pulling into the long driveway that leads up to the house. He hasn't been able to get through to Kat on his cell, probably due to the wind and the snow, but he knows she'll be waiting for him, knows she'll see the truck as he pulls in and flashes the headlights once to let her know he's here and he's okay.

Once he has the truck turned off, he goes around to Dan's side and opens the door, reaching in to help him.

"C'mon now," he says. "Kat and I can get you patched up and get you into a warm bed. I'm not much of a cook, but I think I can manage some tea and soup to get you properly warm."

Behind him the door opens and he knows Kat is there waiting for them.

Sitting and waiting and not being able to do anything has never been Kat's strong suit. Though at least there isn't anything happening just on the other side of a door this time, it reminds her of both of Casey's exorcisms, knowing that there was something terribly wrong and nothing she could do about it. If she could, she'd have gone up there with Marcus without hesitation. She'd be too much of a liability walking into that kind of danger, though, not equipped enough to defend herself or make a run for it if need be. It wouldn't be worth the risk of him having to rescue her, too.

At least she knows she's safe in the house. The same can't be said for the friends she hasn't been able to reach, something that she first blamed on shitty cell reception, given everything, but is pretty sure now is something else instead. Knowing that certainly doesn't help as she tries to keep herself distracted, waiting for Marcus to come back, hoping he actually does.

When she hears the truck pull up, she jumps to her feet a bit more quickly than she should, not caring much about that as she makes her way over to the door and flings it open. "Hey," she says on a rush of an exhale, standing aside to hold the door for the pair of them. "Shit, I'm glad you guys got here okay."