Alas Salvation

She looked better than she had when they’d gotten her and Mandy out of that place. Nicky imagined it was like anybody escaping from a prison, some delayed shock, an astonishment at the sun, the feeling of freedom and fresh air. Sleep, maybe. He’d certainly rested better knowing Mandy was in the room just next door – whether his sister managed to do the same or not. The gaping hole that’d been torn through their lives by Mandy’s kidnapping slowly filling in. For them at least.

He didn’t have to ask if she still felt hollow, Maeve and Mandy remained without their magic, and that meant they’d both still have that pit in their stomachs. One that he didn’t yet know how to help fill. All he could do was keep offering hospitality while they figured it out. A roof over her head, groceries, what taste of home he might be able to offer – the accent told him that it was closer to his than here, close enough that decent tea and a few biscuits might make a kind gesture.

Oh, it was appreciated. Nicky’s smile brightened at hers. He nodded at her gratitude as she stepped back to let him slip in. Hefting the bag, he moved through to the kitchen, setting it down on the counter with a dull thud. He’d spent enough time up here when he’d first come to Mystic Falls. Business had been talked over the small kitchen table, contracts drawn up right there that had seen him responsible for the place, and the shop downstairs, when his partner had pulled his vanishing act. After that the flat had been left empty – an apology wringing out of him when they’d first opened the place up. Over than a little dust, it’d been serviceable, just bare. There was a little more sign of life now, even if it was just the kettle, and the ominous presence of the dark object that was holding Maeve trapped here, her unreachable magic a shackle that’d proved impossible to break.

”Not quite,” Nicky murmured, taking her words as the compliment he imagined they were meant to be. ”I remember what it’s like not to have those little home comforts. Took me a good week to track down somethin’ close to decent tea ‘ere. I dunno what’s in their tea bags, but it’s nothin’ you’d recognise as a decent cuppa.” Weak as gnat’s pee, his mum would’ve said, and she wouldn’t have been wrong. He could’ve tried to convert his tastes, the same way Mandy had, but he was never gonna reach for a cup of coffee over a proper brew.

Settling himself down at the table, instead of hovering awkwardly in the space, Nicky nodded as Maeve looked back at him. His lips twitched again, the air of grim he knew he carried around him fading away. ”Please,” he murmured. ”There’s some milk and sugar in there too. Figured you could probably do with them. If there’s anythin’ else you need, just let me know. If I can’t get to the shops myself, there’s usually someone around downstairs who can do it for ya.” Cassie might give him the stink eye for it, but she’d likely do him the favour, same with Mandy or Darcey. They weren’t about to let their guest starve up here.

You could fade away trying to force open the object and Klaus Mikaelson had known it. He wanted to draw the fight out of the witches he’d taken, break them down until they would do anything to get back what they’d lost. It wasn’t a real attempt at gaining loyalty, it was a way of shattering their spirit. It hadn’t worked on either Maeve or Mandy thank God. The chuckle was light, pale eyes darting to the window. ”I doubt it’d work, but I wouldn’t blame ya if ya did. It’s got to be drivin’ ya nuts.” He’d have tried to go at it in small logical steps if he was in her place, but in the end he’d have taken after Darce and just lost all control. If violence was the answer to breaking its hold on Maeve’s magic, then his brother would be the ideal candidate to perform it.

Nicky lifted his chin towards the bag as she sank down at the table with him. ”I would too under the same circumstances. It must feel like you’ve lost a limb.” He propped his elbows on the edge of the table, his fingers curling lightly, close to her. ”We won’t stop tryin’ to get it back for ya. I’ve been lookin’ through the grimoires we’ve got downstairs. Most aren’t ‘elpful, but there was one that might be promisin’. I bought it up with me, it’s at the bottom of that bag. I’ll work with ya if you want, see if we can finesse it open.” Finesse was his middle name, or at least he’d spent the last decade trying to convince people it was. Really he was a Reid, a little rough around the edges, but the sort of person who wouldn’t stop fighting for the things that mattered and this did. If it hadn’t been for Maeve there was a chance Mandy wouldn’t have survived in there.

Tagged: MAEVE KELLY * Word Count: 873

”You’re a woman after my own heart,” Nicky murmured, fingers tapping his chest in demonstration. America had become a home to him, but even with Darcey and Mandy here it hadn’t become home. There were still mornings when he’d wake in the apartment, almost imagining his mum’s voice rolling up the stairs, trying to drag and Darce out of bed. On those brief trips home it hadn’t been much different, although by then Darce had his own place with Lorna and Mandy’s footsteps were a good deal faster than his on the stairs as she thundered down to breakfast.

Nicky’s smile grew nostalgic as he watched Maeve go through the same motions his mum had. Then the scent of bacon would’ve already been in the air, a cooked breakfast an almost daily thing for them. ”I’d bring a suitcase full of stuff back with me from home when I visited – tea, proper digestives, chocolate. All the things they just can’t do right ‘ere. If I’d known Darcey and Mandy were comin’, I’d have got ‘em to do the same.” The trip hadn’t been planned though. It’d been flight from tragedy and even if he’d known about it the concern would’ve been for the two of them, not himself. Darce had arrived with such a weight on him, one that he wasn’t sure had truly started to lift yet.

Maybe Maeve staying here would be good for him, someone else to focus on, a way to feel like he was putting something in the world to rights. ”Feels like the least I can do, considerin’ you kept Mand safe for us.” Mandy had fire in her belly and was a Reid through and through, but she was still a kid and would’ve been alone with that monster if it hadn’t been for Maeve. Nicky shook his head immediately as Maeve tried to brush off the help he was offering. He leaned forward, propping his forearms on the edge of the table. ”It’s not imposin’, and you’ve no need to pay us back for it either. You’re a guest and you can stay here as long as you need. A good cuppa’s all I need as a thank you.” And from the way she was brewing it, he was gonna get that. Cassie tried, especially since he’d started converting her to the stuff, but there was still some way to go.

He reached for the milk as Maeve set it down, adding enough to his to turn it to the perfect dark gold shade. A half spoon of sugar went in, just enough to take the edge of it. His mum had been a big believer in a sweet cup for shock, but they were past it now, he hoped. Nicky stirred slowly for a moment, watching as Maeve took that first sip. He made a small sound in agreement, lifting his own for a sip. ”Glad to hear it.” Settling back with both hands wrapped around it, he listened to her questions, bobbing his head in response. ”I ‘ave,” he assured her. "That’s sort of ‘ow I ended up ‘ere. I planned to travel…” In great detail, with maps and business plans, but it hadn’t worked out as he’d expected. ”Got ‘undreds of miles away from ‘ome before I realised I mighta made a mistake.” Then he’d screamed. In some grim little alleyway halfway across Europe, dreading the thought of going home empty handed.

Blue eyes dropped to the table as Maeve drew the grimoire between them. Nicky straightened up at that, finger tracing the edge of the book, feeling the magic hum from it. Could she still feel it, even without her own to call to it? His finger flattened, drawing some of what was within to him, radiating it out towards her like the sun, hoping to see her light up with it. ”You don’t ‘ave to rush that bit,” Nicky assured her again, his voice rough. ”You’re right though, maybe it’s that you need someone else to look with, maybe someone whose magic can call to yours in there, to somethin’ in ‘ere that’d ‘elp.” His voice was dropping lower, his accent deepening with it. Nicky’s eyes slipped shut, words murmuring out of him as he called to what was in the book, asking for help in calling to another. The cover thumped back, pages riffling until they settled on one. Had it been that easy? It couldn’t have been. His eyes opened, focusing on the page. ”A spell to unlock a door?” he asked lightly, chuckling. It was a simple spell, one his dad had probably taught them a version of as kids.

Tagged: MAEVE KELLY * Word Count: 776

The flush in her cheeks could’ve been from the heating kettle, but Nicky suspected it was a little more than that – if his own was anything to go by. ”One of simple tastes maybe,” he told her. ”Mandy would probably argue the easy part. Although, I suppose that every little sister would say ‘er brothers are too hard on ‘er.” Before Mand had been taken maybe. It had all changed that day, speeding up the transformation that had been started when Lorna had died. Nicky inclined his head to acknowledge her offer. ”It’d be appreciated,” he promised. ”I’m sure Darce is probably desperate for a steady supply of the good stuff by now.” And Mandy was a lost cause, already suckered in by coffee and burgers, or whatever it was the boy had been bringing to the shop that day.

If only life had been as simple as the two of them chasing some overly friendly boy off. Mandy would’ve given them what for about that, strutting out of the shop all the same – risking the boy’s neck as she’d done it. The corner of Nicky’s mouth curled up in pride, with fondness for his little sister. Darcey had already been moving out to his own place by the time she’d been born. Still, he’d ended up seeing more of her than he had. ”I’ll blame my brother for most of that,” he drawled lightly. ”’e’s always been a fighter, the bravest man I’ve known.” The strongest too after everything he’d gone through. You could blame their power on genetics, but the fire was all Darce.

”We can’t thank yer enough for doin’ that,” Nicky promised, his gaze set firmly on Maeve as though he had to make sure she saw that gratitude in his expression. His smile was soft when it filtered in. Nicky looked down at his knotted hands for a moment before he glanced back up. ”She’s a good kid. She fought through something similar before, I wouldn’t ‘ave wished it on ‘er again – or on you – but I’m glad neither one of you were alone too long in there.” If it had been Darce taken that day instead he wasn’t sure it would’ve worked out so well. What had happened with the sirens had left his brother’s fuse practically non-existent. Magic or not he’d have tried to blow up at Mikaelson.

The thought that maybe they’d maybe made a mortal enemy of the one man who could maybe undo this wasn’t lost on him. It stuck in Nicky’s throat like a thorn, stinging mildly as he sipped at his tea and stared down at the grimoire he’d brought with him. How desperate were they gonna have to get before he went to tear the solution out of Niklaus – or worse, beg him for it?

They weren’t there yet. The desperate desire not to have to stoop so long burned in the pit of Nicky’s stomach as he tried to call to the magic in the grimoire. Pleasepleaseplease. The words ran together in their silent plea. His eyes shot open as the book did. Frowning, Nicky scanned the page. ”I’m sure it can’t be, but I can try,” he promised. He reached for the damn thing, fingers lightly kissing the relic, ready to pull them back at any moment. ”Phasmatos tribum, melan veras, et vasa quisa, exu quisa.” There was a tug, like a fish on the line – one too big to be hauled out of the water. For a split second Nicky panicked. Was this Mikaelson’s way of avoiding tampering? Lure them in, let the magic inside call to his own.

Ripping his hand away, he let out a ragged breath. His gaze rose to Maeve’s again, lingering before he nodded to her. Mikaelson wasn’t that smart. They were on the right line, he just hadn’t the strength to pull it in on his own. ”I think we can do it,” he told her, excitement woven like gold thread through his voice. ”Me and Darcey. I’ll get him here I suspect with two lots of magic trapped inside it’ll take two of us to break the seal on it.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he tapped a message in.

’Might have found a way into Klaus’ witch cookie jar. We’re in the flat above the shop, I need your help to break it open.’

Knowing Darce he wouldn’t linger. Nicky sipped at his tea, nerves trembling like the magical line had. The next time there would be two Reid hands on the line, their bond strong enough to tear the hook free and bring Maeve and Mandy’s power with it. When the clatter of footsteps on the stairs came, he was rushing up out of his seat, tearing the door open before Darcey even got to it. ”Do you remember the spell dad taught us to get into all those locked trunks that’d come in?” he asked with no preamble. There usually wasn’t a single interesting thing in them, but occasionally you got some old soldiers bits and bobs, something they could put to use.

Tagged: DARCEY REID & MAEVE KELLY * Word Count: 851