george weasley (gfweasley) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-01-25 14:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | ₴ inactive: fred weasley, ₴ inactive: george weasley |
WHO: Weasley Twins
WHERE: Vallo: DOA
WHEN: January 25th, 2021
WHAT: Reunited~
WARNINGS: Talk of Death
STATUS: Complete
Sleep deprived and hungover, George hadn’t been so sure of what he was seeing on the network at first. Because Fred had been dead for over a decade and there was no way he could be alive. Right? Except, there it was on the screen in black and white. Fred Weasley. The name tag had no reason to lie. The picture was a face he hadn’t seen in person in years, only memorialized in old photographs and paintings, having long ago outgrown it himself. The overwhelming emotions at the thought of his brother, his twin, alive again...the wastebasket by his desk thankfully caught all of the sick when it became too much to handle. Abruptly, he cleaned himself, casting cleansing charms and trying to find his shoes. He didn’t bother changing out of the sweatpants and t-shirt he had woken up in, just shoved his feet into the trainers he finally found under the dining room table and started looking around for his wand. Finding it on his bedroom nightstand, he tried to focus on Apparating himself to the DOA and promptly gave up because he couldn’t keep his mind at task. Fred was alive and his stupid, useless self couldn’t even Apparate to go meet him. So he ran. Leaving the flat, not even sure if he locked it, George took off at a run in the direction of the DOA. He had a fairly good idea of where it was located from his time in the other version of Vallo, but it still took him awhile because even at a run, it was slower than Apparition. Later, he would learn of Uber and wonder why no one bothered to tell them about it on arrival. He was a sweating, panting mess when he finally did get there, barely able to get words out to the receptionist. Just as he managed to get Fred’s name out of him, he spotted the person in question as he leaned against the reception desk and held a stitch in his side, gasping in chunks of air. “Fred.” And Merlin’s left tit, there were those tears again, the same sort he used to cry whenever the memory of Fred was brought up unexpectedly. Talk about a weird day. Fred was exhausted. And filthy. It had been nearing evening when the battle at Hogwarts had begun, and here it still seemed to be early afternoon. He listened to everything best he could, though truth be told, most of it went in one ear and out the other. Not that stopped him from posting to the network straight away. He was pleased to see George’s reply almost immediately. He’d been slightly concerned when he’d turned up alone, but he should have known that his brother wouldn’t be far behind. Or ahead, as it were. His relief was overtaken with worry again as he quickly realized that both George and Hannah were much much older than they should be. How many years had it been? While waiting for George to come meet him, Fred tried to keep himself occupied. He joked and flirted with various DOA employees, never once thinking that it might be a good idea to take a second to go clean himself up first. So when George finally did arrive, Fred greeted him in torn and dirty clothes, with a mixture of blood, sweat, and grime on his face. And somehow he still looked better than his brother… “Georgie,” his brow knit with concern at the tears spilling down his twin’s face. He quickly slipped his arms around George’s waist to help hold him upright. Throwing his arms around Fred, he knew that this was probably not setting the right tone for the situation. But he couldn’t help it, the tears came and he couldn’t stop them, not until Fred’s shoulder was soaked with tears and snot. He hugged him fiercely, heart still thudding like he was still running, making an absolute scene of himself. Eventually though, maybe five minutes, maybe ten, later, he pulled away just far enough to wipe at his face, to try and make himself not look like the mess he felt like he was. “Sorry,” he said, words strained. “I didn’t mean to do that. I just...saw you and…” he trailed off, actually taking Fred in now, seeing the grime and blood, seeing the evidence of where he had just come from. George shouldn’t be surprised, Fred had mentioned the battle in his post, but seeing the reality of it, well. He was speechless for a second. “Sorry,” he said again, trying to clear his throat and feeling the phlegm in his throat rebel against him. He wiped weakly at Fred’s shoulder. “I just...can we sit down? There’s a lot I need to tell you.” Fred didn’t hesitate to wrap his own arms around George. He held onto him firmly, his stomach knotting tighter with every second that passed. He swallowed down a firm lump that had risen in his throat as his shirt became damp with his brother’s tears. Something monumental had to have happened to cause this reaction, and the longer George cried, the more Fred worried that he knew exactly what it was. He patted George’s cheek playfully as he finally seemed to catch his breath. “You’re not the first to weep at my presence, and you won’t be the last.” His words were lighthearted, but anyone could tell they were only a coping mechanism to mask the fear creeping up his spine. “Course we can sit down.” He kept his arm firmly around his twin, not trusting him to stay on his feet at that moment, and maneuvered them over to a semi-private area where they could sit and talk. Once George was settled in a chair, Fred took a seat next to him, his expression serious. “Something happened to me, didn’t it.” It was a question, but not really. More just confirmation of something that he already knew. Fred had always been able to read him well. Smarter than anyone gave him credit for too. George shouldn’t have been surprised that Fred pinned down exactly what caused George to have a complete fucking meltdown, but he still wished there had been an easier way to do this. The bandaid method it was. George nodded, turning his head to look at his brother. Eyes rimmed red and blotchy all over, he forced himself to give Fred the dignity of looking him in the face as he told him. “You died. You and Percy, you were fighting together against Rookwood, and he caused an explosion. You died in it.” From the moment George nodded, Fred felt an odd mixture of emotions. There was anger and grief, resignation because it was a war after all. Youthful arrogance might have led Fred Weasley to feel untouchable, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew the risks. More than any of the feelings he had for himself however, were the emotions he had surrounding George. They’d come into the world together. Had spent nearly every second of their lives together. At times they felt like two halves of the same person. And in a moment, that had been destroyed. Fred’s best friend had suddenly had to face the world alone. And that...that was what finally got to him. Fred hung his head. “Fuck.” He wasn’t sure what exactly Fred might have been feeling in that moment because he never had to experience it himself. George got to live, grow older, keep on keeping. Fred didn’t get that, not back home. No one had to tell him that he didn’t survive, that he didn’t keep going after Hogwarts and all the terrible things that happened during the war. So for the first time in his life, he had no idea what Fred was thinking. And wasn’t that a trip and an half? To be in a situation where Fred was around, to guess at what he was thinking? The strangeness of it, though, was overlaid by his concern for his brother. “Fuck is right.” George muttered, shoving his knee against Fred’s and putting an arm around his shoulders to pull him close. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to have your back, to protect you.” He almost made a joke. It was his default setting after all. When things got too unbearably serious, he was there to make a joke, or land a teasing jab to diffuse the situation. But he bit his tongue before it could come out. Because he knew how much guilt George had probably carried over the years for not being able to save him. And it just….wasn’t right. He couldn’t tease about it now. Instead he just shook his head and leaned in closer to him. “Don’t be an idiot. I’m just glad you made it through. The others? Perce? Bill? Mum and Dad? Ron and Gin?” “All of them are fine. Fleur, Harry, and Hermione too. Tonks and Lupin didn’t make it though. Neither did Colin Creevey or Lavender,” George said, listing off the names that he remembered, the ones that were burned into his brain at this point. There were more, but none that packed a punch as bad as those. And none more than Fred had, but he was here now and George’s heart still wasn’t quite beating right, but it was starting to calm. “I can tell you more, about what happens after. It’s been nearly twelve years for me, since.” A small bit of tension eased out of his shoulders at that. With as many of the Weasley family that had been involved in the resistance, he knew they were lucky to have not lost more. Remus and Tonks, though. And Colin. Fuck, what was he...sixteen? And Lavender. Fred rubbed his face with his hands trying to process it all. Twelve years. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes, but he fought them back. He cleared his throat to avoid his voice cracking before he spoke. “How are you, Georgie? That’s all I really need to know right now. The rest can come later.” “Oh, you know,” George said, trying for a lighter tone and failing spectacularly. “Doing as well as I can.” Giving Fred another squeeze, he said, “A lot better now, though.” It wasn’t fair to not have the rest of their family there, but he knew now that he would gladly be stuck away from like this so long as Fred got to be around. It wasn’t a trade or a choice he could have ever made, but it was what it was and all the grief he had been feeling since that day he had lost his brother, washed away. “Come on, let’s get back to the flat that they had given me here and you can wash up. I can feed you...well, no, we’ll probably have to stop on the way somewhere to get something to eat because I haven’t really stocked the fridge and I don’t feel like defrosting whatever they had frozen for us, but let’s get out of here and just...go.” To process all of this away from prying eyes, where they could relax a little. George was sincere when he said he was doing better. Fred could hear it in his voice, and see it in his body language. Despite what had happened at the battle, even with George being more than a decade older at this point, the twins were together and that was the important thing to focus on. Fred decided he could figure the rest out on the way, so long as George was with him. The details didn’t much matter. “Bless you,” he laughed softly. “Nice as this place is, I am ready to not be here a second longer.” He wasn’t sure he’d ever fully be comfortable with walking back in the building ever again with these new associated memories. “We’ll get some food and stop putting on a show in the lobby.” Fred stood and hoisted his brother up too. “Come on, Georgie. Vallo awaits.” |