WHO: Adam, Ronan, & Gansey WHAT: The boys go camping to test something psychic & get interrupted by cicadas. Adam pulls on his Cabeswater link to protect them. WHEN: Backdated to the night of the 19th WARNINGS: Little blood, a broken leg? That's about it STATUS: Complete
Adam suspected that Ronan was showing off, and who wouldn't with Gansey around in a dream? Dreamwalking had been a new and unusual feature to this greywaren-magician situation, but the theory that Adam could bring Gansey along for the ride had been dubious. Worst case scenario, nothing happened, and Adam's analysis of how and why his scrying worked with the dreamwalking was back to square one.
But the best case scenario was this—pumping an inordinate amount of ley magic into the dream for focus and control, only to have them surrounded by eleventh century castles, so Gansey could see. This was for Gansey, and Adam brought a hand up to his brow to shield his eyes from the setting dreamt sun.
Outside of them was the thick, curious forest of Vallo in the late evening. Dreaming in a tent in the middle of the woods had been both spontaneous and planned. The trip to get away from the Barns for one night had morphed into magic discussion. And now they were here, in various states of unconsciousness trying new magic with a hope that it would work. Because Adam could never be content, he wanted more. He wanted to push the limits of what he was capable of, and this felt like another level.
"So?" Adam asked, after a few seconds of awed silence passed between the three of them. This was mostly directed to Gansey, because he was the new person here. Adam could watch Ronan make impossible architecture and even more impossible objects, but if this whole exercise didn't stand up to Gansey's approval—and god, Adam knew logically it would, but doubt was a terrible thing—then it was pointless. By bringing Gansey into the dream with his abilities, Adam also wanted to show off to his best friend.
He took Ronan's hand, and continued. "What do you think? The tangent scrying is better than I thought it would be."
Ronan was absolutely showing off. He’d done fucking research. After all the shit he’d put Gansey through – all the shit he’d probably still put Gansey through, he was determined to get this one thing right. This might be his only chance to show Gansey how beautiful the inside of his head could be. So the Cardiff Castle up on the hill was decked out and as close to life as he could get. He’d even pulled up interior shots and studied them. Like a fucking nerd.
He was still quietly shaping the countryside around them as Adam took his hand. “You pulled an extra person into my head. You could be blurry and this would still be magic, Parrish.” He squeezed Adam’s hand and glanced out of the side of his eye at Gansey. “How’s it feel?”
Gansey hadn’t been sure what to expect. How much he would be involved, what it would be like. He had, at least, been reasonably certain it wasn’t really going to be a porn set. But he wasn’t putting that against Ronan in the future, either.
But right now all he saw was amazing. He trailed behind them just a little, staring off in the distance at the castle, at everything around him as it slowly appeared. His brain knew it was a dream, so did his body as he sat there next to Adam, acting as a scrying focus, but he still felt wholly transported to the Welsh countryside with the reminder of what a wonderland Ronan’s brain was.
“It’s-- Jesus. It’s fucking spectacular.” He wasn’t one to swear half as often as Ronan, of course, but Gansey barely even noticed the word slipping out as he rushed forward a little, “Ronan--” He turned back to them, eyes wide, grin reminiscent of their younger adventuring days. “Is this what it’s always like?”
At Gansey's fucking spectacular, Adam's grin grew three fold. He nudged at Ronan's side with his elbow as if to say see, look at what you did. Even if Adam had been the one to pull Gansey into dream through this strange and magical way of scrying, there were so many layers to the feat—once pulled back to reveal the innermost part, it had been Ronan all along. None of this would exist without him. And Adam wanted Ronan to realize that.
"Is it always Cardiff Castle?" Adam asked, in that way where he was purposely misunderstanding Gansey. It was easier to tease him in the dream now that nothing seemed off. "No, sometimes Ronan brings us to a beach, or a field in Ireland, or the porn set. I asked him to make it Gansey-appropriate before we came out here." He didn't, but it sounded good. He flashed Ronan a little conspiratorial glance, before he turned to Gansey. "No promises next time."
Adam was a step away from folding himself onto the grass, to enjoy Ronan work and watch Gansey's continued awestruck expression but a strange tingle went up his spine. Small, miniscule, then a buzz in his deaf ear that abruptly disappeared. Adam couldn't hide the flash of a frown, but he smoothed it away. Maybe a side effect of Gansey being in the dream with them.
"We might not be able to stay long," Adam said, softly, then with a softer smile to Ronan, "Not to rush you or anything."
Gansey cursing and sounding proud all in one go sent a nice little zing up Ronan's spine. Adam nudging him made a second zip follow right after. He refused to grin like a dumbass, but a smile still battled for territory at each corner of his mouth. Feeling proud of being a dreamer - of being himself - was an emotion he had to fight for some days. It was nice when it came a little easier.
"Language, Dick." He had every intention of dragging them inside the castle and goofing off, spray painting a wall or something, but Adam's words stopped him. "What? Already?" There was definitely a pout to the words as he examined them both for signs of magical problems. "What's wrong?"
“It was appropriate, Ronan.” Gansey answered severely. He hadn’t registered Adam’s words to Ronan, had just taken in the knowledge with a matched grin and expression much like a child being unleashed at Disney. He’d been here, in real life, though there had been a lot more tourists about and it felt different. He’d also lacked two of the most important people in his life.
Now wasn’t such the case, and he’d started moving even more ahead of them, a little oblivious to their hushed conversation.
But the further he got away, the louder the noise got. Gansey turned sharply as the buzz hit his ear, and he could feel his physical body shift slightly. He rounded a confused look on them both, and glanced up to the sky. “I’m assuming bees weren’t part of the dream?” Was that a bee buzz? It sounded sharper, louder. He tilted his head to listen again, but stayed as connected to Adam as possible. “No, that isn’t anything from the Apoidea family. Do you hear it?”
The noise was back even as Ronan was talking, and Adam put a hand on his arm in a way that said hang on, don't worry, not a magical problem. Adam was trying to sort through if this was dangerous or just the forest playing tricks on them, attempting to distract them. His focus was usually better than this, and he wondered if it had anything to do with Gansey also being pulled back into the present.
His attention slid to Gansey, with both a wave of concern and relief. Not bees but —a strong memory from the summer overwhelmed him; the heat of Virginia and the cacophony of thousands of oversized flies screaming. "It sounds like a cicada? Does Vallo even have cicadas?" Adam asked, realizing he never bothered to investigate the life cycles of local wildlife on the micro level. Clearly a mistake.
"Are you not hearing this?" Adam directed the question at Ronan. Maybe it was better that he didn't. Adam didn't want anything diverting Ronan's attention while dreaming. And then abruptly, Adam's heart jumped into his throat and Cabeswater was roaring inside his chest. "Something is trying to come into the tent."
“I can’t hear shit,” Ronan groused. He’d tensed at the mention of bees, his eyes shooting to Gansey. But they seemed sure that wasn’t what they were dealing with. Still, his shoulders slumped. Of course they got into a dream and something stupid happened. Couldn’t he get just an hour of proving he deserves all that ridiculous stuff Gansey calls him? Ronan sighed and closed his eyes. He didn’t need to, to dream properly, but having them both there and the nearly finished Welsh countryside around them was distracting.
“Get the fuck out of here. I’m gonna dream up a bug zapper.” He didn’t have any reason to worry too much. He didn’t show jack about cicadas but he was pretty sure they were harmless. But he was also pretty sure he could dream a bat-shaped bug zapper and that was cool. He trusted them to make sure a bug didn’t crawl into his pants while he was frozen. The bat was in his hands between one blink and the next, crackling internally with electricity. He flashed a shark’s grin and pushed himself out of the dream.
Mentally floating above his paralyzed body, as always when he brought something back, Ronan was alarmed to see what was creeping into their tent was not a regular old cicada. Fuck.
Gansey wasn’t sure who pulled them out first, himself shutting off the effective “lights” or Adam with his psychic body, but the effect was instantaneous, like it had been in their office and the few times they’d tested it since. It was a second of adjustment, from his sitting position in their tent to scrambling backward.
His sword was behind Ronan, who was currently paralyzed inbetween them, and suddenly top priority to protect. With Adam pointing out the cicadas, his sword wouldn’t have been the first thing he thought of - they were small and largely harmless, good for the environment, and he’d heard a number of lectures from Blue on that very topic.
“Jesus Christ!” It was clear this one wasn’t about to be spared just because of his girlfriend’s lectures. He’d apologize to her later as was needed. Gansey was practically bent over Ronan as he grabbed his sword, offering a moderate amount of shielding before attempting to push the giant cicada back out of their tent. “Please don’t zap me when you can move.”
Unlike Gansey, Adam had avoided such lectures. So when he was unceremoniously thrown out of Ronan's head, and into the present with a very large cicada worming its way into their very small tent, Adam didn't waste time. Still in his overworn sneakers, Adam kicked the head of the insect in a fruitless attempt to get it out. It skittered and its wings flitted violently before it took the hint and slithered back out, wounded. Adam crab-walked back to Gansey and Ronan.
Hearing Ronan say he was going to dream something immediately put Adam on the defensive. There was going to be paralysis, vulnerable states. Even Adam felt a building headache from the abrupt way they dropped out of the dream. His fingers and toes hadn't quite settled back into his own body.
"We have to—" Adam managed to get out before his voice was drowned out by dozens of overlapping screams from the cicadas. He clamped a hand over his one good ear, but the pain of the sound was evident on his face. He looked to Gansey, then to Ronan—hoping he was getting movement back soon—before the noise was overwhelming, right above them.
In a flash, the entirety of the top of the tent went flying, tearing at the seams as more giant cicadas shredded it in an attempt to get inside. Adam shouted for both of them, knowing full well he was weaponless and not much help other than a shield for Ronan.
Dreamer's paralysis was the absolute worst thing about being a dreamer. Ronan could do nothing but mentally flail and pray, waiting for his consciousness to descend back into his body. It took until about the time the tent was being ripped away and Adam's body started to cover his.
"Fuck," he grunted. The bug zapper was fully formed in his hand, which shook with the adrenaline of coming back to danger. "I'm good, I'm good, go." He rolled off his sleeping bag, still not entirely there but moving at least. He could swing a fucking bat half-dead. And it was a good thing because a giant cicada tore through the tent close to his face and bashed towards his eyes with its limbs. Ronan realized he couldn't swing wildly without zapping Gansey just like he'd feared, so he lowered his shoulder and shoved the bug back out through the tarp, following it through the hole.
As soon as Ronan was up and moving, Gansey dodged out of the way. He had his sword fully in hand now and quietly mourned the loss of his tent for half a second before they were all out of it. “It’s a good thing that wasn’t my favorite one.” With a sigh, he turned around as the giant cicada buzzed off and away just briefly.
Gansey backed up to Adam and Ronan, facing outward with his sword gripped like Gladio had shown him. They didn’t have long to wait, before the cicada returned.
With friends.
The noise was louder than ever as three of them swooped down, towards the trio. It was a flurry of wings and legs and deafening noises. Gansey’s early swings hit their mark and he managed to dismember a wing as he was clipped in the shoulder with something. It was enough of a something to cause blood to bloom under his shirt, but not enough to stop him.
Adam was a stark contrast to Ronan and Gansey—weaponless, defenseless. He was a walking target and a distraction for the two of them when more cicadas poured out from the treeline. Adam wasn't about to leave the camping spot, but other than running away, trying to fight giant insects barehanded was not something he could do. He ducked away when one swarmed too close over head; he could feel the heavy beat of his wings above him, his shirt nearly snagging on a leg.
When he looked up to take stock of the situation, it was to catch Gansey lobbing off a wing and taking a hard hit from one of the cicadas. Even in the dim light of the forest, the dark spot that followed on his shoulder was obviously and discernibly blood.
"Gansey!" Adam shouted, pained. He was sharing that adrenaline through that connection with Cabeswater and it only amplified everything. All of Adam's senses felt on fire, burning with awareness and he could do nothing, nothing but watch.
As he took a step toward Gansey to help—he had to help, he had to do something—another cicada swooped down to cut off his path. Startled, Adam stumbled away to avoid being sliced or barreled through. He was back to back with Ronan, panic seizing him. "There's more, I can hear them—" which was alarming to Adam, knowing that sound carried in differently for him.
Surrounded by the cicada noise meant more. The sound of their fighting was drawing them to this spot.
Adam shouting Gansey's name froze Ronan in place for a moment, then he moved fast. Spinning around Adam, he brought the zapper down like a hammer on the head of the cicada that separated them from Gansey. The smell of burnt bug filled the campsite.
His sword was here somewhere, under the remnants of the tent. It was in a sheath that strapped to his back and he'd thought that was really fucking cool when he'd first gotten it but now it was annoying if only because the sword glowed with sunfire and he could've spotted it a lot easier if it wasn't in a scabbard.
"Take this." He held the zapper out to Adam. "I'll find my sword before the rest--" That plan was cut off by three descending on him so fast, they knocked him backwards over a rock and down into a shallow ditch. He heard something snap in his leg as he tumbled; felt it too.
"Son of a bitch!" Ronan scrambled for the zapper but couldn't see it within reach.
“Ronan!” Gansey’s own wound took an immediate backseat as soon as Ronan fell, and he found himself moving back to Adam. He ignored the blood and just shifted the primary weight of his sword to the other hand, but it was unfortunately not his primary sword arm. The movements were choppy, he pushed one off as another cicada swarmed out of nowhere.
Ronan going down had him back into protective mode, gritting through the pain much in the same way he’d done in Ancient Vallo. He didn’t know how bad it was, but it was only seemingly going to get worse if they kept getting barraged by monstrous flying insects.
“Can you run? We may have to try just to get out of here, fuck the tent.” Gansey yelled over the loud buzzing noises, having to raise his voice even higher to even be heard. He shifted his sword to his bad hand and made the mistake of turning towards both Adam and Ronan to check on them, only to get clocked on the back of the head by one of the insects flying at full speed. It sent him tumbling forward a few steps.“Ow, Jesus--.”
Adam didn't have time to take this—Ronan was being tackled away from his reach by a cicada and the zapper disappeared into the underbrush. Gansey's frantic request to run was swallowed up by the noise, then he was just a disembodied voice being flung away from Adam. He couldn't stop them, because Adam only knew how to duck and cover; shy away from things attacking him because he always had to protect himself.
Panic and terror welled up inside Adam. But something deeper, fiercer, and more overwhelming rose up on his tongue: anger. The absolute fury that the people he loved and cared about the most were in danger. He had told Persephone he had wanted more from his connection; that this couldn't be for nothing. Adam had to do something.
The fire inside him latched on to his bond with Cabeswater. The same fire he had kept dim, scared of what it would do and what parts of him it would consume. But the fire was Adam, he had nothing to be afraid of now. Adam and the forest came alive.
The ground beneath him began to glow, bright iridescent white. The roots of the trees splintered out in luminous green-blue tracks, like lightning in the dirt. The air around crackled with electricity, filled with the oppressive scent of earth and ozone. By his feet lay Ronan's sword in its sheath. Adam drew it, and Vexed to Nightmare made Adam a beacon in the center of all the light.
"Tu eris manus mea, tu eris oculi mei, vos eratis nostrae praesidium." It was Adam's voice, mixed with stone-against-stone of Cabeswater's trees, all coming from his mouth. This was what Cabeswater had been waiting for—its Magician to use it.
The cicadas, momentarily thrown by abrupt shifts in otherworldly light, swarmed into the blazing circle. Not a single one got close to them again. Branches and roots shot through the insects, snapping back to catch another midair. The trees were ripping them to pieces before moving onto the next, wings and legs exploding in a violent death overhead. Adam's body shook with all that raw energy as he sliced one in half, all the while chanting, protegis eos. Protect them, protect Ronan, protect Gansey.
It was over faster than the cicadas had descended upon them. A canopy of leaves and branches started to weave itself into a shelter around them, much larger than their tent had been. Adam had been a flashbang of power and then gone. Light shuttered away casting them back into inky darkness of the night, All that remained was the soft, delicate ethereal glow of the ephemeral magic. Like illuminated dust, like fireflies.
Breathless, and trying to navigate his own shock and understanding of what he pulled off, Adam spun around to where Ronan and Gansey were, dropping down to his knees beside them and using the sword as a flashlight. "How hurt are you?" Adam asked, assessing the damage to Ronan's leg. He turned, shining Vexed to Nightmare on Gansey. "What about you? Are you alright?"
Ronan's leg hurt like a bitch. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. He almost instantly forgot all about it anyway because Gansey was saying ow and then everything seemed to slow down. Whether time was actually slower or whether he was just hyperfocused on Adam Parrish, badass magician, was anybody's guess. A cicada was scrambling over him to escape but the forest plucked it away and crunched it between winding roots.
Guts were this close to landing on Ronan but he winced and crawled a foot closer to Gansey. His leg throbbed but his eyes were still on chanting Adam and the glowing sword. It was a very, very good look.
"Jesus Mary," Ronan whispered, awed for a change instead of snarky. Everything seemed to speed up then, like he was crashing back into the world, and Adam's face was close as he peppered the air with questions. "I...holy fuck, Adam." He reached to brush a disembodied cicada leg off Adam's shoulder, a baffled smile fighting to shape his mouth. "Pretty sure my leg is broken but what the actual fuck."
Gansey could have very well echoed Ronan’s thoughts in that moment. He stood, crouching just slightly, his mouth dropped open as he watched the magic. It was similar to what he did back at the Barns with the Vultures, but yet so much more. He stood slowly, watching with wide eyes and an expression that mirrored Ronan’s awe.
In that moment, his love for Adam was overflowing. It was plain as day on his face and he didn’t even bother to hide it. The display of magic, the control over the forest, he could feel it as it coursed through him just as much. Cabeswater was pleased to do it’s part, and Cabeswater would protect.
“Wow.” It was really so much more than just one word, wow, but that was all Gansey had in the moment. He took another second to blink out of it, but even with two of them hurt, he was grinning as he rushed forward to the pair and knelt down to look around.
“Wow, Adam-- I just, hang on. My first aid kit might be around here if it didn’t get completely obliterated. There.” He spotted it hanging out of his ripped backpack, a ways off, and started towards it, ignoring the pain in his shoulder.
Adam stuck the blade of the sword in the ground, acting as a lantern and so that he could use both his hands to look at Ronan's leg. "I wasn't thinking," Adam said, but that was a lie. He tried again. "I don't know." Another lie, he did know. All his attempts to be humble and modest were poor imitations. Both of them would cut through his bullshit. With a huff, Adam just said, "Cabeswater. And me. Our bond. I never used it like that before. I didn't know I could. I needed you both to be safe, and so I made it safe."
Just like Ronan would do in his dreams. The irony was not lost on Adam about the mirroring.
There wasn't more of an explanation than the forest controlled by emotions and instinct. He didn't know how to put it into words. Instead he leaned in and kissed Ronan swiftly with relief. This was what he had done, protect him. That was all that mattered. Everything else could come later.
Adam shouted to Gansey as he came back with the first aid kit, "I need your hands. We're going to have to put it in a splint, until we can get to an actual doctor. My first aid skills only go so far." Then quieter to Ronan, "He's hurt too, don't let him get away with it." Adam pointed to his shoulder to indicate the location of Gansey's injury.
Ronan met Adam’s mouth a little too eagerly considering there were pieces of bug all around them and his leg felt like somebody’d taken a sledgehammer to it. He didn’t generally consider himself a person who liked being saved, but the feeling in his chest right now was nothing short of resisting the urge to propose right this second. Bug guts splatter was about the only deterrent in this scenario. “That was really fucking hot,” he murmured as they broke apart. “Kinda want you to strap my sword to your back every day now.”
The warning about Gansey made Ronan’s eyes shoot to his best friend and narrow though, like that would somehow getting him a better view of the damage. It definitely did not. He made his leg twist uncomfortably as he tried to set up and get a better view. “Shitfuck,” he hissed quietly. After a quick second to exhale, he zeroed back in on Gansey. “You’re bleeding, Dick. How bad is it?”
Gansey was back before the kiss was over and politely averting his gaze until they were done. He used that opportunity to look down at his shoulder, and winced just a little before schooling his face. There was a good sized gash that ripped his shirt before it had gotten to the flesh, but he couldn’t see how far it went without twisting at his arm. And that was off the table for the moment.
But Ronan’s leg was surely worse off, so he held the first aid kit out to Adam and shook his head. “It’s not as bad as yours. Do you need me to find something to help with the splint? Sticks? I have a book in my bag that can be deconstructed if needed.” That thought made him wince more than the wound did, but it was for the greater good.
He patted around his pockets for his phone, to no avail. “I was going to say I could give someone a call for a middle of the night pickup but I don’t know where it is.”
At the mention of strapping the sword to his back, Adam glanced at the one next to them. That was never supposed to be Adam, he was a non-combatant. But it seemed that more situations were throwing him into the ring and Adam, clever and calculating, used every bit of himself he had to defend his ground. But those parts now included a powerful, sentient forest that currently was murmuring pleasantly in his chest at a job well done.
Shitfuck pulled him out of his thoughts, and Adam was reaching for Ronan again to steady him. "Stop moving so much until we secure it," Adam demanded as he took the first aid kit from Gansey. He pulled out a wad of gauze, antiseptic, medical tape. Without taking his eyes off Ronan's leg, Adam directed the next part at Gansey, "Start taking off your shirt, so I can check the damage."
Adam frowned momentarily, not sure where they were going to find what was required to make sure Ronan could even get out of the forest. "Not a book. I need—" And Cabeswater, instinctively, was growing two thin saplings through the ground before they bent and snapped beside him—wood for splints. Right. He got to work.
"We'll be safe here for a while," Adam said firmly, there was no doubt in his voice. He looked briefly up to the woven branches now acting as their tent. "Protegis eos," Adam reminded them.
Ronan's eyebrows raised at Adam's tone but his smirk didn't suggest he was feeling all that reprimanded. It was hard to be anything but pleased as shit by Adam Parrish right now. Especially when he called forth splints like a goddamn wizard. Ronan had to pocket this feeling or he was going to be no fucking help right now. He allowed himself to touch Adam's hand and then squeeze his forearm first though.
"Okay, Magician. I'm holding still. Save that tone for the bedroom later, fuck." His fond shithead expression stayed in place as he peered up at Gansey and reached to tug on his pant leg. "You. Sit the fuck down and do as he said so I can get a look at that cut. We may as well fucking multitask. We can find our phones in a minute."
“Remarkable.” Gansey didn’t rush fast to follow his orders, he was too busy watching the saplings come out of the ground. His tone and expression were callbacks to each and everytime he called Ronan some variation of remarkable creature, and he’d always known that Adam’s potential was high, but it was still amazing enough to watch that it had him enthralled.
“Okay okay-” He was busy being ordered around by both of them and gave in with a sigh. Gansey sat down and turned, angling himself so Ronan could see the wound, despite the fact that he was more than happy to wait his turn. Ronan’s injury was clearly the more important one in his head, but it was nothing new for him to prioritize his friends over his own needs.
Gansey pulled off his shirt carefully, trying to minimize any added wound damage, “When Blue had jokingly wagged her eyebrows at me and suggested shirtlessness for this trip I didn’t realize she meant it as a threat, you know.”