Room 324, Late, laaaate Wednesday Night

[glacial_queen]

Karla was curled up in Warren's bed, trying to read. It was a new trashy novel from 'Dite's store, but as compelling as it was, it wasn't holding her interest. Kind of hard for the Duchess of Gloucester's difficulty in catching a husband to compare against to the literal ending of worlds.

Not to mention that, but Warren and Wesley had vanished after the Reserves meeting and Warren hadn't come back yet. She knew it was silly, that no one had vanished from the island yet, but she couldn't help worrying about that anyway as the clock ticked later and later and there was still no sign of Warren.

It wasn't until well past midnight when Karla heard Warren fumbling at the door. She was out of bed in a minute, pulling the door open.

[For him what whose room it is! And for suuuuper-SP what with holidays and school and stuff!]

Comments

[wwiii]

If it had been any other day of the week, Warren might have jumped. Might have stumbled backwards or swore under his breath or had some sort of heart attack at his door just opening like that.

But it was tonight, and his dad was gone, and he had enough scotch in him to get several people drunk. So he kind of just froze there, with a tired, broken look on his face.

And then slumped forward, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her shoulder and shut up, he wasn't crying, that was the scotch doing that and it didn't count when it was the scotch. Scotch had a mind of its own and right now it was slightly more functional than the brain that Warren was born with, which was still somewhere in the back of his head, listening to your call cannot be completed as dialled.

Over and over and over.

[glacial_queen]

Ooookay. Karla's relief at discovering her boyfriend had not, in fact, vanished into nothingness was immediately soured when Warren just looked at her and then crumpled forward, smelling like alcohol and cornchips, and crying.

Crying like his entire world had ended.

Karla didn't think she needed to ask what was wrong. "Oh darling," she whispered, holding him tightly. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."

Let's see if she could guide him into the room, at least.

[wwiii]

At this point, if she could keep him on his feet, she could probably guide him pretty much anywhere. He had excellent balance, if nothing else. That had spared him from a few painful hours potentially healing from a spinal injury or something, considering he had to make his way down from the fifth floor to here. So... into the room. Hey. That was a great idea.

Wherever she wanted to point him, that would be wonderful. Because Warren had no idea which way was up just then, and probably needed the guidance.

[glacial_queen]

He was her compass whenever she needed direction. Tonight, she would be his.

She slowly walked them both over to the bed, unwilling to let go until he did, and then sat, pulling him down with her. And then she just sat there, rocking him gently, petting his hair away from his face, and sometimes pressing kissed on his forehead.

Karla didn't press or pry. He would talk when he was ready. And, even if he didn't, it didn't matter much. Only the people changed, never the details. She didn't bother with telling him it was all right. It wasn't. So the only thing she said was, "I'm here, love. I'm here." Over and over, while she wove soothing spells into the blankets and sheets and pillows of his bed.

She wouldn't take away the sharpness of his grief right now, but she'd let him sleep if he could.

[wwiii]

Oh. Oh hey. Warren was on a bed again. On... his bed, in his room, and clinging. Clinging to her like if he didn't hold on for dear life, she'd slip between his fingers and disappear, too. And... he wouldn't be able to handle that. Bobby, then his dad and the whole world with him, then Karla.

He couldn't.

So he cried until he wasn't sure he had any more tears left in him, and he hung on, and somewhere between sobs and hiccups he managed words that, in a bare murmur, mostly just boiled down to, "Wesley gave me scotch."

... Which was intended to more or less be an explanation for the alcohol smell and the fact that he'd needed a hand to his bed, but maybe she'd like to know? It sounded pretty pathetic, either way. Maybe she didn't hear him.

[glacial_queen]

"I'll have to thank Wesley later, then," Karla murmured. She firmly believed in the power of strong alcohol when someone was going through a painful shock. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She called in a bottle of water, opened the cap, and handed it to him. "You should drink this, too. You're going to be dehydrated. This might stop the headache."

[wwiii]

Warren figured he'd probably be okay with the headache, really. But if Karla insisted, then... sure, he'd take it. Yay, water. He reached for the bottle and just kind of held it there for a minute.

"Dunno," he admitted softly. "Talked to Wesley lots. He said it's probably not as bad as it looks."

Warren was pretty sure it was as bad as it looked.

[glacial_queen]

Karla worried her lower lip, and reluctantly decided to go with the truth instead of a comforting lie. "I think the odds are that it is that bad," she admitted quietly. "But that's not going to stop me, or you, or anyone else on this island from doing something about it."

She stroked his arm, her hands lingering on the backs of his fingers. "Accepting that he is gone doesn't mean accepting that we can't get him back. Fandom's thrown a lot of crazy and impossible scenarios at us before. We're not going to stop fighting to figure out this one."

[wwiii]

"Right... S'not... over or anything. We're still here, right?"

So... so long as they were alive and well, this could be fixed. Had to be able to be fixed. If he got his head back on straight, then he could even help with that. He'd just... Just get it all together, and...

And hiccup and sniffle and bury his face against Karla's shoulder again.

Apparently she'd been right when she was a little kid and she called him a crybaby.

[glacial_queen]

Little Karla had been a right bitch and shouldn't be listened to. She didn't understand half of what Warren had been going through. And young Warren aside, there was nothing wrong with Warren crying right now. His father--his entire world was gone. That was enough reason for anyone to cry.

And Karla would bloody the lip of anyone who said otherwise and that included bossy, unsympathetic versions of her younger self.

"We're still here," she soothed. "Both of us, still here. I'm here for you, always. I don't care what's vanishing worlds--it can't stand up to the both of us."

...She was going to get into such trouble over that.

[wwiii]

So, so much.

"We'll stop it," he murmured. "We've helped stop the end of the world before. We can stop this."

Really, saving the world was kind of like something they did for kicks on a quiet Friday night, at this point. It was just... harder, sort of, when it was your own world explicitly that had dropped off the face of the multiverse.

[glacial_queen]

"We've got a fair number of smart and powerful friends who are working with us to fix it, too," Karla reminded. She cupped his face and pulled it up to look into his eyes. "You're not alone. We're not. And when it's all fixed, I'll come with you to your home and you and your dad can really start to talk about things. Mend the breech between you. I'll even be nice!"

[wwiii]

Warren stared into her eyes for a moment. A heartbeat, really, after she was finished talking. And then his gaze dropped and he nodded a little bit.

"Okay."

He... probably should have said more than that. There were so many other things that he could have said, after all. But... That was all he had.

Okay.

He... wasn't anywhere near convinced, after all.

[glacial_queen]

Karla wasn't going to ask more of him than he could give. Not even more words. If 'Okay' was all he had, she would take it.

"You want to lie down, maybe?" she asked. "Hope you don't mind, but I made myself comfortable already."

She'd been planning on staying the night, needing comfort of her own. Seeing him like this, and she was making plans on staying through till break, if not longer.

[wwiii]

"S'fine," Warren replied, with all the eloquence of a kid who had lost everything in the world except for a handful of school friends and the person standing in front of him, and who was now mostly running on scotch and fumes. "Don't mind. Just... tired."

That was a good word for it. She had a good idea, there, suggesting he attempt to get... rest, or something. Or maybe just suggesting he get off his feet so that he didn't stumble into a desk or something. That was good, too.

[glacial_queen]

Karla quickly vanished his clothing, using gentle hands to guide him into the bed and under the covers. His clothing reappeared on the desk, it could go rot for all she cared right now.

"Come and cuddle with me," she invited. "I'll be here with you and I'll keep the bad dreams away."

It was sad that that was the best thing she could offer him right now.

[wwiii]

The best she had to offer was pretty much all he could possibly ask of her at the moment. It worked out well enough, that way. He did shiver a little as his clothes disappeared, but inching closer and nuzzling up against her under the covers helped with that, more than a little.

She was right there, warm and real and gentle, and she wasn't going anywhere.

Good. He wouldn't have been anything resembling okay if she did.

[glacial_queen]

Karla vanished her nightgown as well. Not in any ill-timed seduction; she just thought Warren might feel better with as much skin on skin contact as they could muster between the two of them. Nothing between them, tonight. At any moment, he'd be able to reach out and touch and feel only her, warm and there for him.

She cuddled closer, wrapping her arms around him and letting her head rest on his shoulder. Her nails traced lightly over his skin while she breathed; a hundred tiny reminders that he wasn't alone.

"Is there anything I can do?"

[wwiii]

Warren was quiet while he tried to work through some sort of answer. Something, anything that would make this... less horrible than it already was.

She couldn't bring his dad back. They didn't even know what had happened. She was here and real and close and holding him, and he was trying not to start crying on her shoulder all over again and he was well on his way to failing miserably.

"... Stay," he managed, finally, in a quiet, tired, emptied-out voice that was still equal parts scotch and Warren. "Just... stay."

[glacial_queen]

"I promise I won't leave you," Karla murmured, nuzzling against his neck. "I'm here for you as long as you want me to be."

She even meant it, right then.

"You can keep crying on me, if you need to," she added, lips moving against his skin. "You never have to hide your emotions from me. We're partners, remember? I'll be strong for you when you need, because you're there to be strong for me."

[wwiii]

He choked. Choked, and shook a little, and then wrapped his arms around her, fingers clutching at her shoulders almost desperately, though with a sort of practised gentleness concerning his claws that seemed to be almost second-nature habit now, when he wasn't thinking about what he was doing.

"Didn't ever give him a chance," he murmured brokenly, before sobs could creep up and cut him off entirely. "I... I didn't... Wasn't even the one to call, and... w-wouldn't have if he'd answered and now s'all gone. All of it..."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, my poor love," Karla said, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder. The worst part was she didn't have an answer for him. Nothing to make him feel better, anyway. "But you checked. You made sure someone called. I know it's not enough for you, not now, but...were you ready to forgive him before all this? Honestly, really and truly ready?"

[wwiii]

It took another minute before Warren could even manage to shake his head. It was difficult to admit, but... He hadn't even been close. Not really.

"Feels like I should've been, though."

Which wasn't the same thing at all.

[glacial_queen]

"But you weren't," Karla said. "And trying to pretend otherwise would have been offering your father a lie. You're too honest for that. You can't force yourself to forgive someone. All you do is breed resentment below the surface of things."

She lifted her head up to look into his eyes again. "As someone who once needed to earn your forgiveness, too, I can say--it hurts, yes. The distance is painful. But finding out that your forgiveness wasn't real? Would have hurt me so much worse."

[wwiii]

"I think it might've killed me a little, too," Warren admitted, still barely a mumble. "Pretending it's okay when it's not. S'why I... I stepped back. So I'd know we were okay and... and it makes this..."

Hiccup.

Okay. He was okay.

"... Worth something."

[glacial_queen]

"Your world being gone doesn't make that any less true for your father," Karla pressed, voice gentle. "At least this way you know that the last interactions you had with him weren't predicated on a lie. They weren't what you would have wanted--but at least they were true."

Cold comfort, perhaps, but comfort was comfort.

"And now, when we get him back--when we get them all back--you can decide what you want to do. But whatever it will be, you'll still be being true to yourself."

[wwiii]

"Because that's important too," Warren murmured, though he sounded a little dubious about it. In light of losing his whole damn world, being true to himself didn't seem all that important, somehow.

He'd trade his wings to get his father back in a heartbeat.

[glacial_queen]

A sacrifice now to bring them all back was one thing. But berating himself for not having been dishonest in the past was something completely different.

"It's hard to see that as mattering now," Karla conceded. "Because right now, your mind is on what you've lost. But sometimes being true to yourself is the only thing you can cling to. You didn't know your father was going to be lost. So you can't judge yourself for not behaving as if you had."

[wwiii]

She was right, again. For all that there had been other, older Warrens out there, the ones that he'd met had all always been so different from him. There hadn't been any way for him to guess that this was coming. And besides, whatever this was, it didn't seem to care about a thing, from timeline to reality. It just swept through and took.

"So... how do I stay true to myself now...?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla flailed around a bit, trying to come up with an answer that was even remotely helpful. "Just...take it one day at a time," she said, more guess than anything else. "Do what you can but don't force anything. Figure out what it is that you truly feel for your dad. So that when we do get him back, you can give him honesty, instead of whatever it is that guilt makes you think you want to say."