InsaneJournal

He had been telling himself not to worry. That it was nothing. That Gideon just forgot to let him know. Anything. Until he had seen Dorcas' words. His stomach had dropped and the worst possible scenarios started playing on repeat through Bilius' mind. Gideon dead. Or worse. Gideon alive and being tortured. He stumbled towards the loo and lost the contents of his stomach, resting his head against the cool porcelain. Gideon was missing. Gideon was missing because he'd gone after Alecto and something had gone wrong. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He didn't think he'd survive losing his lover a second time.

He lost track of how long he sat on the floor of the loo, Nana's head nestled on his lap as his rested his on the toilet. First things first. It'd be easier to run. But Gideon wasn't dead. He was alive. Madoc and Fabian had confirmed that. Which meant there was only one option for Bilius. Stay. Stay and do everything in his power to find Gideon. First, he needed to feed the animals. Then talk to Dorcas.

He moved sluggishly through the chores, spending a bit of extra time with each of the animals as if trying to reassure them that everything was fine. He was grateful for the supplies from the twins and for the hug that felt too desperate. He didn't want to have to do this alone. Once the animals were fed, and Helga secured in her stall again, he apparated to the old McKinnon house, hoping to learn what he could from Dorcas.

After arriving at the McKinnon house and securely tying up Alecto (after dealing with something like a flashback or panic attack which she was very glad the Death Eater was not awake to see), Dorcas had found a mirror and set her broken nose. Which had hurt like hell and made it bleed a little more, but she knew it would be for the best in the long run. She didn’t bother to try cleaning the blood from her face.

After conversing with Bilius over the journals, she had made sure Alecto would stay unconscious for a bit longer. That would give her time to talk to Bilius in peace.

She heard the pop of apparition and looked out between the boards of one boarded up window to see Bilius. She slipped outside to meet him. “Bilius...I am so sorry…”

Bilius looked Dorcas over. "Bloody hell, are you alright, Dorcas?" he asked, gripping her shoulder and looking her over. He wasn't a healer by any means, but the blood on her face distracted him from worrying about Gideon for a moment. "Come on. Sit down, have a dram.." he said, producing a flask from inside his coat pocket.

“Broken nose. I set it, so it looks worse than it is. The building had...fire protection, so the water made some things spread more. But it’s all right.” Dorcas gave him a weak attempt at a smile. “But I could definitely use a drink.”

Bilius nodded, still giving her a bit of a worried look as they moved inside and sat down. Bilius managed to find two glasses that would serve and poured a bit of whiskey in each, sliding one to Dorcas. Taking a long, slow sip, he ran a hand over his hair. "What happened, Dorcas?" he asked quietly. "I need to know. Please."

Dorcas ran a hand through her hair. “We cornered her, had a bit of a scrap, then she tried to escape via rooftop. We split up--I went up after her, Gideon took the ground in case she slipped past me and made it down.” She took a deep breath. “Once I had her I went looking for him. I...found some blood, not a lot, but enough to say there was a fight.”

Bilius paled, his hand tightening around the the glass in his hand. There were too many emotions. Anger at Gideon for not telling him about this. Crushing guilt that Gideon was chasing Alecto because of him. Fear of what might befall Gideon, and the thought that he might not get him back. "That's it?" he asked softly. "No clues of where he had gone?"

“No.” Dorcas shook her head. “No clues.” She knocked her drink back and stared at the glass. She should have killed Carrow when the Order had its run-in with the lot of the old guard. If she’d killed her then, this wouldn’t be happening. Bilius wouldn’t be worrying if they get Gideon back. She would get him back. She had to. “I’ll get him back,” she said softly. Some how.

"No." It was a whisper, but full of conviction. "We'll get him back. Together." He drained his glass and refilled both of their glasses. "Look, Dorcas, I get why you and he had to go do this alone, I do. But it's all gone to hell now, and I am going to help you get him back. And we will get him back. He survived Azkaban. He can survive this. I'm sure before the week's out, we'll be home on the farm."

Dorcas hoped, more than anything, that Bilius would be right. Gideon had survived Azkaban, after all; he was made of stern stuff. She took a deep breath. “You’re right. We wanted to keep you out of this, keep you clean of it. But there’s nothing to be done for that now.” She raised her glass to him. “So we’ll get him back. Together.”