Zora (A Darker Shade of Magic - Kell)

[sallyhally]

I recently finished A Gathering of Shadows by the amazing V. E. Schwab and got stuck with a certain scenario that I even requested on here. Idk what happened but I somehow got super carried away and I kinda wrote the thing myself. Which is weird because I have never had the desire to write a fanfic before... but here I am nevertheless.

This is set somewhere between A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows and therefore contains some spoilers from the first book. I also want to metion that even though I requested sick!Kell and I would still like to see that I just couldn´t come up with an explenation of why or how Kell would get sick so I just kinda picked the next best thing, and  there is no sneezing in the first part, only setup (I´m sorry). It´s also unbetad and since english isn´t my native tongue there will certainly be some mistakes and/or odd formulations. If you notice anything pease feel free to tell me and I will do my best to fix it.

Anyhow I hope someone might enjoy reading this. I certainly enjoyed writing it

 

Zora

Rhy woke to a heavy thumping in his head and a feeling of great annoyance. It took him a minute to realise that it was in fact his brother Kell´s annoyance that was pulsing through his body like a faint echo. To whom the growing headache belonged was harder to tell but since he had had a great amount more to drink last night the prince decided to take this one upon himself. Not that ist mattered...They shared a life after all.

Rhy sighed. He didn´t feel like getting up at all. He´d spent the whole night tossing and turning, silently suffering through the same nightmare again and again and he knew for a fact that Kell hadn´t gotten much sleep either. He could particularly feel the Antari´s weariness cling to his bones, greeting his own exhaustion like an old friend. He really couldn´t blame Kell for the foul mood he had been in for the last couple of weeks, well months actually, he fully understood, he really did… But a little selfish part of him just whished his brother would take things a bit easier, would stop having his guard up all the time fearing to hurt the two of them. He wanted Kell to be happy. In fact that´s all he ever wanted.

Listen at you, sounding like one of those soppy girls out of a trashy romance novel. He was really glad Kell couldn´t hear his thoughts to, that would have probably ended in one of them stabbing themselves out of spite. Enough of that, he warned himself. He was alive, Kell was alive, the Kingdom had recovered from what was now known as the Black Plague, the sun was shining brightly, the Zora flowers blooming everywhere marking the Peak of Spring and hugging the whole city in their light sweet smell. Things were looking up.

Clinging to this thought the prince firmly pushed the bedsheets aside and tried to do the same with his brother’s negative feelings.

Things are looking up.

By the time he finished dressing himself his spirits had been lifted considerably. Rhy regarded himself in the mirror, winking at his reflection. Frowning really didn´t suit his handsome features, he decided, also Kell probably did enough of that for both of them. In regards of winkles Rhy would much rather have the lines of a happy man decorating his face, thank you all the same.

Stepping onto his large balcony the prince drew in a large breath of the fresh spring air. It smelled of warmth and comfort – of home. Before him lay the city of London, the capital of Arnes, in all his colourful glory. A soft breeze stroked the future king´s face as if to greet him, wish him good morning.

Rhy smiled.

Things are looking up.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Kell whished for death.

At least that was the decision he reached after two hours of staring at his bedroom ceiling and considering his options. He had awoken from a fitful sleep, strained and disoriented. It had taken him a full minute to realise where he was – in his chambers, in Red London. Only they weren´t really his chambers, where they? The room he truly considered his own had been burned down the night he brought the piece of Black London into this world. The night everything went south. What bothered Kell the most when thinking about this night was the fact that a part of him had known. A tiny little voice inside his head had known all along.
That something wasn´t right.
That he was being set up.
And as he stood in front of the ruins of the Ruby Fields that little voice knew. Knew that his little habit had gotten out of hand, knew that Rhy had predicted this, had tried to warn him. But the worst part was that Kell himself had known too this would happen someday.
And so the Ruby Fields had burned down, just like King and Queen´s trust in their adopted son and with that his freedom.

All those thought shot through Kell´s head as he tried to recollect his memories. So yeah – he was in a foul mood.

 Maybe, just maybe, mocked a voice in his head, you´re also being a bit overdramatic.

Not a voice, her voice. Delilah Bard – thief, Grey Londoner, impossibility.
The most fascinating person he had ever met.
She had left him too.
Left to search for a new adventure at sea.
While he was stuck here.
In his private prison.

Well, maybe he was being overdramatic but he felt entitled. He hadn´t slept well at all – he never did these days. He could feel Rhy hurting, still wrestling his own nightmares. They wouldn´t talk about it though, they never did. It was an agreement they had reached after the first night. Their dreams would not be discussed. It would only lead to more pain and guilt. But Kell still bore his brother´s horror; after all they shared a life.

Speaking of sharing: The Antari´s head throbbed dreadfully from last night´s visit at the Tavern. Not that he had had anything other than half a glass of bear but his brother had gone pretty heavy on that dark drink, a kind of cider, as he insisted, barely any alcohol in there anyways. Kell hadn´t believed him for a second but he had grown so accustomed to headaches it didn´t really matter to him anymore.

But today was different. This particular headache was really beginning to get on his nerves. Or rather the feeling that was accompanying it. He couldn´t really put his finger on it but something was off. There was a kind of wrongness surrounding him. Tingling on his skin, thickening around his eyes and it wasn´t until he involuntarily reached up to rub his nose that it hit him. The scent, the feeling it could all only mean one thing : He looked up to the little blackboard hanging on the wall and watched as the words First Day of Spring´s Peak wriote themselves on the sleek surface, followed by a weather report. A quick glance to the other side of the room showed him that he had left one of the windows open too, as he usually did.

Great.

Kell groaned and flopped back onto his mattress. The only way to describe his state of mind at this exact moment would be bone deep annoyance with life in general. He willed his hand away from his face (he hadn´t even realised that he had continued rubbing his nose all this time, leaving it a slightly irritated shade of pink). For what felt like a little eternity to him the Antari just continued to lie on his back motionless, trying to detach himself from his body. It was a method of meditation Tiersen had introduced him to a long time ago. He tried to calm himself and look at his body from an outsider´s point of view. Picturing the symptoms he felt as if he could only perceive them visually. A thick cloud of fog was surrounding him pushing its way in through his mouth and nose tingling, stirring, itching.

Kell opened his eyes again with a huff. It was useless and only making him hyperaware of what was going on. He could already feel his nose swelling with irritation and his vision blurred at the edges with bits of moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes, one blue one black. The awful tingling sprinted up to the bridge of his nose staying between his eyes for a moment before it rolled back down toward his nostrils like a thunderstorm making theme flare desperately. Kell drew in a shaky breath and – no. Once he started giving in to that there would be no end to it. The young man clenched his jaw tight, holding his breath for a moment. It took him a considerable amount of self-control and concentration to push the feeling away by sheer force of will but after a long minute he breathed out evenly. The tingling was still there but held at bay. Everything was under control. Only Kell´s head throbbed angrily – stupid hangover be damned- and Kell whished for death.

After a while he tried to close the window by summoning a light breeze but the instant his concentration shifted even the slightest bit the tickling spread again like a forest fire. With an exasperated sigh the Antari stopped his attempt at magic and instead got up to close the window himself. After that he strode to the nearby cabinet pushing aside several bottles of various liquors until he found what he was searching for. A small flask made of glass containing a light blue substance – a tonic Tiersen had given him for his… condition. His heart sank as he saw how little of the fluid was left inside the bottle - it would only be sufficient for one dose.

Well it´ll do for some hours and afterwards I´ll ask Tiersen for more, he told himself drowning the liquid at once.

The effects were immediate. As he turned to the mirror Kell could see the redness disappear from his eyes and his cheeks only around his nose a faint note of pink lingered. He could also feel the unpleasant sensation he was suppressing so hard dissolve, crumbling from him like dried sand until only the lightest tingling stayed settled in his left nostril - like a reminder that this was only a temporary solution.

What remained was the headache and the annoyance.

As he slowly got dressed Kell considered stabbing himself just enough to lose consciousness for the next couple of days. It seemed like a good plan. An overdramatic plan for sure but he was beyond the point of caring.

But stabbing yourself would mean stabbing Rhy, the voice in his head whispered.
And of course it was right (which only annoyed Kell even more).

[ohlala8]

Oooh, I was not expecting anyone else here to be a Schwab fan. The emotion-meld between Rhy and Kell does make for some delicious possibilities of shared misery  Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

[AdrianMarx]

Oh gosh yes!!! I've had a Kell fic in the works for a while but I wasn't sure anybody would be interested. Eeeee I'm so so so looking forward to more of this. You wrote the characters really well!

[prisma]

I am super late to the party but I just started reading this series and went here to see if there was fanfic about it! There is this! I know its old and I think people get annoyed when people post on old posts but I really was hoping you would continue this. Maybe there are others out there into this fanfic who are into writing  it as well

[gingerbreads]

Ohhh this is super well written!! Hope you write more some time! I read the first two of these books.