A Dream of Summer Rain: Stay Close, Little Brother (Chapter 42)

Hello, lovelies! Hope y'all are doing well :)

Don't forget you can read twenty chapters ahead on this story, three chapters ahead on "Love During Robot Fighting Time", as well as two chapters ahead on "Magical Girl Exorcist Squad", by becoming a paid subscriber on my Substack or my Patreon!

https://helenaheissner.substack.com/

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=106198315

You can also purchase the official ebooks for both "Magical Girl Exorcist Squad" and "A Dream of Summer Rain" here:

https://helena-heissner.itch.io/magical-girl-exorcist-squad

https://helena-heissner.itch.io/a-dream-of-summer-rain

And you can follow me on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/helena_heissner?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

and Tumblr here:

https://www.tumblr.com/helenaheissner

Thank you so much for your continued support of my work! Every little bit helps me to keep going :)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled insanity!

Track List: “Little Brother” by Ella Vos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsmj0vdife4

***

“Is he tied down?” Caroline asked.

“Yes,” Morganna said, tightening the ropes around Danny’s wrists and ankles.

“I don’t remember you being here,” Danny said to Morganna. He didn’t remember much of anything about Morganna, or about any of his siblings besides Gwen. But he remembered this moment perfectly- it was captured forever like an insect in amber.

They were in the Star-Vault back in Alaska, the cold weight of the far north bearing down on them. Danny was only five, perhaps six years old when this happened. He stared at his younger self, who whimpered as his family tied him to the stone floor. The Dara knot was carved into the floor, a system of gutters into which blood might flow. His mother and his oldest sister worked on setting up the ritual, while his father stood at the top of the stairwell, observing.

Danny’s younger self whined. “Shut up!” Danny said to the little boy, kicking him viciously. “Shut up already! You’re making this worse for yourself! Fuck’s sake!”

Of course, no one heard. Of course, it didn’t matter.

“Pretty sure it does. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so upset about it,” Drew said.

“Soon, my son,” Alistair said. “Soon.”

“Soon for what?” Danny said, running a hand through his greasy hair, gasping for breath. “Soon for you to get the good little soldier you always wanted?”

“Yeah, actually, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what this was about,” Drew said.

“Shut up, Drew.”

“Not gonna happen.”

The six year old Danny tied to the floor wouldn’t stop wriggling, and so Caroline said, “Morganna, talk to your brother.”

“Happily,” she said as she bent down and stroked Danny’s hair. She put a hand to his forehead and said, “And just to make sure you don’t blame me for this.”

Her hand glowed as she muttered under her breath. Young Danny’s eyes rolled back into his head, and the image of Morganna’s hideously mangled face shifted to Gwen, then back to Morganna, then back to Gwen. Then back to Morganna.

Danny balked. “She could- she could use-”

“She had both necromancy and oneiromancy, yes,” Drew said. “And she used it on you. More than once, in fact. As did your mother.”

“How much of what I think was Gwen was actually-”

“Some of it was your mom. A lot of it was Morganna.”

Danny stepped backwards.

His mother took a bucket and dumped it into the carved Dara knot, and said, “Blood of your mother, blood of your father, light of the heavens. Bind this boy to a Destiny. Take this crying child and forge him into a great man.”

“This isn’t how you force a bond with a Destiny Star,” Danny said.

“No. But it’s a reasonable facsimile,” Drew said gravely.

The liquid flowed like a shallow river in the knot, snaking its way up towards Danny and then absorbing through his skin as he grew desperate for breath. He coughed and coughed and coughed, and then a red light appeared above and cast everything in crimson. It lowered itself over his face, and his skin melted and poured off into the carvings. The bare bone of his skull was exposed and broke apart as the Star forced itself closer and closer.

All Danny could do was watch his younger self scream in agony. Until he couldn’t any more and turned away.

“Danny, you need to see this,” Drew said.

“Yeah, Drew I fucking get it! My parents did this to me to make me stronger, and that’s incredibly fucked up. But at least it worked- I might not have been able to do any magic at all without this!”

“Danny. Please just look.”

Slowly, reluctantly, Danny turned around and saw… The Starlight dying. The red star extinguished, and Young Danny’s head wounds sealed up. He screamed as the rapid healing overtook him, and then but for the pain it was like it had never happened at all. Not even a scar.

“It failed again,” Alistair said.

“Yes. I’m sorry my love. I wish this son I’ve given you were stronger.”

“It’s alright, Caroline. You’re doing your best. And I’m sure Percival is as well.”

“It’s not over yet,” Morganna said. “Not yet anyway. We’ve still got a few more left.”

“All Red?”

“All Red. Shall we go again?”

“Yes, I believe so,” Alistair said sadly. “He’ll need it, if he’s to survive in this world.”

“Very good,” Morganna said. “Plenty more where that came from.”

They poured more of the liquid, and Caroline did the incantation.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Danny watched Percival’s face melt and skull rupture countless times before finally, mercifully, one of them took. He was given a Star of his very own. And finally, Alistair smiled. He walked down the stairs and unfastened Danny’s bonds, and picked up the boy in his arms.

“My son,” he said, embracing him.

And as he watched, Danny wept.

The door kicked in, and a new figure stood in the light. Gwen was caked in blood and ashes, her breathing haggard, her hands trembling. “Get the hell away from him!”

Morganna offered a predatory smile. “Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?”

Gwen pulled a pistol from her side and aimed it.

“Guinevere,” Alistair said. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, I do,” Gwen said. “And I’m sure you do as well. So I’m sure you know what all this has cost us.”

“What do you mean?” Caroline said.

“I sent all the students and staff away for the day. Nobody on the grounds except family. Whose blood do you think this is?”

Alistair’s eyes widened with panic. “You didn’t-”

“I did. But not before they did first. They all came at me. I tried to talk to them, tried to persuade them, but they wouldn’t listen. And they attacked me, and I had no choice. Elaine ran away, but the others… They never had a chance.”

Alistair screamed, “You murdered your own siblings!”

“And you murdered your own son, again and again, for your own benefit. And I know you did the same thing to me. And I’m guessing you learned from that whole incident and decided to tamper with Percy’s memories so he won’t grow up hating you like you deserve.”

“Who are you to talk of deserving, when you lived instead of Arthur,” Morganna spat. “You arrogant, presumptuous, treacherous little bitch- you’ve always been more trouble than you’re worth. And now you’re literally standing above us, thinking you’re better than-”

Gwen pulled the trigger, and the bullet tore through Morganna’s throat. Very little of her neck remained afterwards, as she fell to the ground and tried in vain to dam the flood.

Alistair, Caroline, Danny- everyone but the unconscious Percival gaped in shock.

“I won’t lie: that was cathartic,” Gwen said. She was lying. Even in the dream, Danny could sense it. She’d hated having to do that. Hated Morganna more than life itself, but still… It shouldn’t have come to that. None of them deserved to die. Gwen hadn’t wanted… ANY of this.

“You monster,” Caroline hissed.

“Lesser of two evils,” Gwen said.
Alistair gripped Percival tight. “You won’t risk hurting the boy. You’ve staked too much of your soul on saving him.”

“Yeah. That’s true. But do you remember that spell you taught me, the one you always said I couldn’t figure out. The one that hones and seeks its targets. Well I’ve been practicing.” Gwen tapped her hand to her chest, and a White Star shone brilliantly over the dark dungeon. “TOTER ENGEL!”

A white angel spread its wings over the dungeon.

Everything went blurry, and when it was gone everything was ash.

Gwen laid unconscious on the floor, rising in time with Alistair from the mound of dust. Gwen ran when she saw Alistair still alive, fleeing as quickly as possible. Danny watched as she fled, and then watched as Caroline and Percival revealed themselves from their hiding place under the remnants of the stairs.

Alistair dusted himself off, then said to his wife, “I want you to take Percival and raise him in seclusion. Safe from his sisters. Svetlanna will handle Elaine’s training henceforth.”

“Are you certain?”

“No. But I feel this necessitates it. It changes my plans. I had hoped that Guinevere or Morganna would be strong enough to carry the weight, but it seems neither of them are. I must perform the ritual myself. I must become the King of the Ghouls.”

“... Very well, my husband. But know that no matter what happens, no matter what you become, I will still love you.”

“Thank you,” Alistair said. “That means the world to me. And it makes all this… What I have to do… Bearable.”

They kissed, and she left, taking Percival with her, and rechristened him as Danny Woodrow. And then they were all gone, leaving Danny alone amidst the wreckage Gwen had created in their Alaskan home, in the ashes of their family.

“Is this how it really happened?” Danny asked.

“Yes,” Drew said.

“I see.”

Danny screamed, and the fire came pouring out of him. His skin melted off and his skeleton exploded as Red Starfire burned alongside his usual flames.

***

You hurt her, he thought.

Danny woke up wreathed in darkness, standing atop a flat stretch of baking sand. Sweat poured from his forehead and armpits, and his throat was utterly parched. In spite of the heat, he was still shivering. He needed… He needed to get out of here. He needed to get away. But his eyes were drawn to his left, as he sensed an incoming wave of rage and sorrow.

“Hello,” he called out, “Is anyone here?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” said a feminine voice.

You betrayed her.

Nononononononono- “G… Gwen?”

“Percy?”

“Danny. I prefer Danny,” he said automatically. Dad named him Percival, Mom called him Daniel, Gwen called him Percy, but Lacy was the one who’d first called him Danny.

“Okay. Danny.”

Footsteps shifted in the sand as a figure moved through the pitch black towards Danny. He flinched, tried to move, but the sand rose around his ankles and gripped him tight. All rational thought slipped away from him as gallons and gallons of fear and shame pumped through his veins. “Shit!” Nononononono need to move, need to move, need to move.

The figure drew closer. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

You deserve to rot.

Danny flailed desperately, but the sand kept swallowing up more and more of him. “Please no please no please no please no-”

She stood over him as he sank waist-deep in the hungry sand. He couldn’t see her face, see any of her in the dark. Until the figure tapped her chest, and a shimmering sphere of white light emerged. “Give me your hand,” Gwen said.

Let me die.

“No,” Danny said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. The shame was too much- he couldn’t look at her, couldn’t be near her now. Not after he’d taken the wrong side.

“Danny. Please.”

“No. No nononononononononononononononononono-”

“Fine. Then I can’t help you.”

“I don’t need your help!” Danny said, the sand taking him another inch as he wept.

“Clearly you do!”

“Well I don’t want it! Not from you!” he lied.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t trust you!” The truth. Please just let me die, it’s better than having to live with this.

“Danny-”

Truth. That was what he needed to focus on. That was what he’d lacked before. But it was different now. He knew the truth about what had happened to his family. And he knew the truth about what had happened to him. “I know it’s not right and I know it’s not logical and I know it’s not rational but I just can’t trust you. Not after you… Not after you left me alone with her. With HER. Do you know what it was like? She was inside my head all the time messing with it, adjusting my dreams and nightmares so I would think what she wanted me to think and do what she wanted me to do! I can’t trust myself, let alone anyone else! Please just… Just… Just help Lacy. Leave me here and go help her.”

“Danny. You didn’t let me finish,” Gwen said, brushing an errant strand of white hair from her face. “I’m sorry for leaving you. I’m sorry for not looking for you. Because I… I didn’t look for you. I assumed you were dead because it was easier that way. Easier for me to run, easier for me to drown, if I didn’t have to carry anyone else. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save Arthur or Tristan or Elaine or Iseult or even Morganna. I was scared. I’m sorry.”

The sand slowed its immersion process. Stopped altogether. The fear began to diminish. The shame did not. “I’m sorry too,” Danny said. “For doing… What they wanted. Instead of seeing anything else, doing anything else. Helping my real family.”

She offered him a hand up, and after a long moment’s pause, he took it, and she pulled him from the dirt and into a hug. This was the truth. It was warm and kind- a place free of lies and free of pain. He didn’t deserve any of it. “Thank you.” You should have let me die.

“Of course,” Gwen said, squeezing him. “I love you, little brother.”

“I… I love you too.” Truth. Magnificent truth.

And yet through it all, he felt a sense of dread and a sense of need fused together, desperate for any kind of intake. The kind that ate away at body and soul until it was satisfied. And for once, it wasn’t coming from him. “Gwen,” Danny asked. “What’s wrong?”

For a moment, she didn’t respond. Just when he was about to repeat his question, however, she said, “I don’t know if I’m gonna live through this. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

And then she vanished, and Danny left alone in the warmth of truth and of hope until he woke up. It burned him, but he knew he had to go towards it. He had to do the right thing. He could only think of one way to make it up to the person he’d hurt.

***

Gwen jolted awake on the cot. She looked out the window to see the sun had yet to rise, looked over to the cot next to her to see Quentin had yet to wake.

They were holed up in a collection of bungalows in southern Michigan. It was a military base, with soldiers and agents and even a few marines all on the grounds, getting ready to ship into Dresden to take the fight to the enemy. Quietly, she rose from her cot and slipped out of the barrack onto the rest of the base. Gwen’s Star had led them there, but deep down she’d known where to go all on her own. She’d always known the road would lead back to here.

The morning was filled with noise. It always was. There was no hiding from it.

Lacy was counting on her. Danny was counting on her. She still had family left.

She wished she was good enough for them.

She skulked over to the mess hall and began looking for something to drink. There had to be something in the small cafeteria besides a few rows of wooden tables and uncomfortable chairs. Something, something, something-

Eureka.

Bourbon had always been her favorite.

She gripped the top of the bottle tight, and began to twist.
“Ahem,” came a familiar voice. Quentin stood in the doorway, arms folded.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Gwen said.

“Oh really? Then what is it?”

“...”

“That’s what I thought. Give me the bottle.”

“No.”

“Gwen. Give me the bottle, before you make a rather regrettable decision.”

“It’s my decision to make.”

“Yes. And?”

“So I can do this if I want!”

“I’m not denying that. I’m simply asking you to reconsider. Now please give me the bottle,” Quentin said, palms flat and facing her.

“No.”

“Please, Guinevere-”

“Don’t fucking call me that!” Gwen screamed. Quentin flinched. “And don’t expect me to add to the fucking swear jar for that either. Or that.”

Quentin brushed his hair from his face, rubbed his eyes. Gwen twisted the bottle a bit further. “Gwen. You don’t have to do this,” he said.

“No. I want to do this.”

“Do you really?”

“Yes! Obviously. Or we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now!”

“What are you trying to run from, Gwen?” Quentin asked.

“My father.”
“No. It’s not that. Or it’s not just that. What is it, buried down there?”

Gwen’s grip on the bottle slackened, but she still held it. “I knew he was alive. Percy. Danny. Whatever his name is. When the dust settled, and I thought I had killed everyone, I heard someone whimpering. It was him. It was my baby brother. I heard him, but I saw my father’s outline rising up out of the ashes, and I got so scared that I turned and I ran. And I didn’t look for Danny, because I was too scared to face our father. I let it happen… And I lied to Danny about it. Lied to his face. I saw him- I spoke with him, just now in the Void, and I still couldn’t tell him the truth. I’m the same lying coward now that I’ve always been. So I want this. I want to drown it all out, and crawl back into the gutter where I belong. Can’t you just let me?”

“No,” Quentin said evenly. “Because then you won’t be able to make it right.”

“Maybe I don’t wanna make it right!”

“That’s hardly fair to your brother. Or to Lacy. Or to me. Or to yourself.”

“I deserve this.”

“Do they?” Quentin asked.

“No, of course not.”

“Then why do you?”

“Because what I did was worse!”

“Was it? Danny betrayed us, betrayed you for revenge, betrayed Lacy out of his own hate and cowardice. Lacy ran from her Destiny for years when she could have taken action that would have prevented many deaths, including her parents, including her entire hometown, including the Guild leadership.”

“She didn’t take action because I didn’t take her with me. I knew what she was, Quentin! I’ve always known! Just like with Danny.”

“... What?”

“My Star,” Gwen said. “It came to me when I was fifteen. And it came with dreams, the same as it does for everyone. As it turns out, white Stars come with dual-pronged prophecies. I’m supposed to do two things: destroy the Sovereignty, and mentor the Dark Lord. I knew who Lacy was the moment I laid eyes on her. The whole reason I went to find her was because I figured doing the second part was the only way to accomplish the first. Do you get it? I’ve been using her! Aiming her like a gun. I only went back for her because I was out of options, because running from her was preventing me from getting what I wanted!”

“Gwen, you’re being too hard on yourself-”

“No, I’m not. I shouldn’t have left her there. I should’ve-”

“Should’ve what? Adopted a child at the ripe old age of twenty-one? When you were a barely-functioning alcoholic?”

“‘Barely functioning’ is awfully charitable. I was a year away from living in a cardboard box. Because I ran from her. And I ran from you,” Gwen said, slumping to the floor.

“Gwen. Listen to me. I love you. I am charitable with you for that reason. And for that reason, please listen to me when I tell you that you are better than this.”

That was about the worst thing he could have said, and also probably the sweetest. “You can’t stop me from making mistakes,” Gwen said. “I know I’ll make more.”

“And you can’t stop me from trying.”

“Fffff….,” Gwen sobbed. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“What we deserve comes after our time on this mortal coil is finished. While we’re here, however, we have each other, to get us through the pain. Please help me, and please let me help you. God fucking dammit, Gwen, I can’t do this without you!”

Gwen balked.

He offered her a hand. Through the pain, through the aching hollow in her stomach, through the mesmerizing need, she saw nothing. In his arms, she saw hope.

Gwen put the bottle down, then took his hand and rose.

She buried her face in his chest. They stood there for a while, holding each other.

“I love you too,” Gwen whispered.

“Marry me?” Quentin asked, sotto voce. “When this is over, I mean?”

“When this is over,” Gwen said. “And after I’ve… I’ve confessed all my sins, to the people who need to know the truth. For now though… We need to move out. Let’s go find Hannibal and the others, tell them it’s go-time. Before I have a chance to reconsider any of this.”