Chapter Text
Something was wrong. Something was so, so wrong and Taako didn’t know what had happened. It had been going great. His show had been a hit, his magic had enraptured the crowd, and by the time he was done everyone was just about jumping for the free samples.
It had been after giving out the samples that things had gotten irrevocably fucked up. He’d been out in the front, chatting up folks and trying to push his cookbook sales when the first people started getting sick. Once that happened it was a quick fucking degradation of chaos.
Before anyone could try to grab him, before they could realize what was happening, make the connection that the food must've been poisoned, he ran to the back cart to get Sazed. They needed to go. They had to fucking go. He didn’t know what had happened but he’d fucked up. He fucked up somehow and people were sick and dying and they needed to go and-
When he burst into the back cart where Sazed was there was a sight he couldn’t quite comprehend. Sazed wasn’t the only one back there. Sazed also wasn’t on the ground, some invisible force holding him up against the wall where he was struggling. Taako couldn’t say shit, mouth opened in quiet shock. He should have screamed as some red robed ghost hovered there, arcane energy crackling off of him. Instead he stood frozen, too many things going through his head at once.
“What did you do?” the red robed figure growled, the voice echoing around them despite not being very loud. Sazed had stopped trying to get out of whatever invisible grasp was holding him in place, and he looked fucking terrified.
“I- I- I fuck, I’m sorry! Let me go!” he yelled, starting to struggle again. Whatever force was holding him seemed to tighten, and there was another wave of red bolts that shot off of the ghost.
“What. Did. You. DO?” it shouted now.
“I poisoned the food! I’m sorry! It was arsenic I put it in the chicken and I’m sorry! I didn’t think- I didn’t know he’d hand it out! Please don’t kill me!” Sazed said, speaking a mile a minute closing his eyes as he turned as much away from the red ghost dude as he could in his position.
Despite the panic that had gripped Taako, that was still gripping him, he was freaking out, that knocked him out of his frozen state.
“You did what?” he managed to say, his voice not even sounding like himself. It was at that moment that he realized neither of them had noticed him yet. Sazed’s eyes shot open and he still looked terrified as he stared at Taako. The red figure turned towards him as well, and he could see where his face should have been. Instead of a face there was darkness in his hood with a bright white light in the center.
“T- Taako I-” Sazed started to stutter. Even though that red robed thing was staring at him how it hadn’t dropped Sazed any.
“You did what?” Taako repeated, the reality of the situation starting to crash down around him. Sazed poisoned his food. People were dying and Taako had thought it was his fault and Sazed had been trying to poison him.
“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t-” Sazed continued, but Taako couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so viscerally angry.
“Get out,” he snapped, and he was fucking shaking now. Sazed stayed there gaping at him, and Taako was gritting his teeth and he could barely even see straight past the rage and the fear. “Get out!” he shouted again.
“I- I can’t,” he said, struggling some against the force that was keeping him in place. Which, okay, Taako might’ve forgotten about that for a second. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d been so mad. He completely forgot about the arcane force of power hovering between them.
Taako turned back towards the thing he could still only qualify as like, a fucking ghost. He didn’t know what it was or why it was here but it caught Sazed for some reason. So he’d go as far as saying it probably wasn’t an enemy. For now, at least.
“Hey, Red, think you could get rid of this fucker,” he said, trying to sound a lot more confident and casual than he felt right now. It didn’t work all that well, his voice was shaking, but the specter nodded.
And then with a fucking blast of energy stronger than anything Taako had ever seen before, Sazed was knocked out of the open back of the stagecoach. Which hadn’t been what Taako was expecting but he supposed he could take it. When he glanced out he could see Sazed slowly and painfully getting to his feet. So he wasn’t dead and that- that was fine. He didn’t have time to deal with Sazed anymore right now anyway. Being shot out of the back of a stagecoach would have to be enough.
The ghost was still here, and Taako could feel the panic starting to grip him again. He still needed to leave. He couldn’t get caught here, there was no way anyone would believe that he hadn’t had a hand in this.
The red robed figure nodded at him, and began to fade away and Taako jolted, stumbling in a panic over to them.
“Wait! Fuck wait a minute, don’t leave yet,” he said, and he wasn’t even sure why he wanted this creep to stay other than the fact that they had saved him. Sazed had been trying to kill him. He never would’ve told him what really happened. Taako never would have guessed it was him in a million years to even begin questioning. He never would have thought.
“I- I’m sorry Taako, but I need to go,” the ghost said. Before he had sounded terrifying and his voice booming, but now he just kinda sounded like a guy. He sounded nervous, almost panicked, and it wasn’t like Taako couldn’t understand the feeling.
“But you - fuck, okay I don’t know who or what the fuck you are but you just did me a major solid. I don’t- please just fucking help me get out of here, they’ll never fucking believe me,” Taako said, well aware he was basically begging right now. He didn’t have any other options. He was too proud to do a lot of things, but begging for his life wasn't one of them.
The ghost stared at him for a moment, and it was literally impossible to tell what it was thinking without a face. After a minute though it nodded, much to Taako’s surprise. He didn’t expect it to actually help him anymore than it already had.
“Alright, but we need to be quick, and then I need to go,” he insisted and Taako nodded, not giving a shit as long as he got the fuck out of there.
He wasn’t sure what this dude was gonna do to get them out of there, but Taako was impressed when he turned both of them and the whole fucking Sizzle It Up cart and even the goddamn horse invisible.
From the way he had effortlessly taken out Sazed, he figured the guy was strong. A show of magic like that made everything Taako had done in his show look like party favors. Fuck, they were party favors.
Taako wasn’t sure how long they were on the road for. He was pretty sure he passed out after some point, but when he came to consciousness again they were still moving. The red specter was sitting up in the front seat, and Taako could see bony hands holding the reigns. Literally bony, they were just bones with dried, thin skin stretched across them like a mummy or some shit.
They were moving at a much slower pace now, and the invisibility had dropped so he guessed they were pretty far from Glamour Springs by now.
“How long was I out?” he asked, trying to force himself completely awake.
“About five hours. You can rest more if you need to,” the specter said, but Taako shook his head. That was honestly longer than he expected, it’d have to be enough for now.
“I uh, I can’t really remember everything that went down, but uh, I guess I should thank you. You saved my ass back there, and like, it’s a damn fine ass that the world would be poorer for losing,” he said, slipping into humor because he was still terrified. To his surprise the ghost or whatever actually laughed at that.
“It’s pretty good, but I’ve seen better,” he said, and Taako didn’t even have to fake the offended look on his face at that.
“Rude! Okay, thanks redacted, fuck you ghost boy,” he said, and said ghost boy just laughed a bit more at that. Then he stopped abruptly, and Taako wasn’t sure how something without a face managed to look nervous, but somehow it did.
“We’re almost a two days straight ride from Glamour Springs now, you should be safe. I uh, I need to go,” he said, and Taako frowned. The panic of this thing leaving him alone was gone but he still didn’t- Taako didn’t know what the fuck was going on or why this guy had decided to save him. He wanted some fucking answers.
“Now hold on there kemosabe. I appreciate everything you’ve done so far of course, but like, I’m still pretty damn confused here. Like, who the fuck are you and why did you help me?” he asked.
“It’s- that’s complicated Taako. I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you everything,” he said, and that wasn’t an answer even remotely helpful.
“Okay, then how about not everything. How about a fucking name there, red?” he asked, because this fucker still hadn’t even given him that. He knew Taako’s name, and he’d assumed it’d been from the show but now he wasn’t sure. ‘I wish I could tell you everything’ wasn’t typically something you said to complete strangers.
“Uh, unfortunately that’s one of the things I definitely can’t tell you,” the ghost said, and Taako groaned. Of course not.
He should probably be scared of this guy. He was clearly powerful, more powerful than Taako considering what he’d done to Sazed. He wasn’t though, not at all really. He guessed it was because this guy had helped him and every time he talked to him he sounded like a nervous dork.
He’d been utterly terrifying when shouting at Sazed. Taako would rather not think about that though.
“Fucking fine, I guess you’re just gonna have to be Red then,” he said.
“Uh, if we’re going with a color actually blue would probably be more fitting,” the ghost said. Taako stared at him for a long moment, giving him a very slow and deliberate look over as he raised an eyebrow.
“Really? Blue?” he asked, his voice flat as a rug, and he swore the dude fucking snorted as he laughed.
“Yep,” he said, and he didn’t have a face but Taako could still hear a smile in his voice.
“That’s fucking stupid Red,” Taako said, and the specter burst out laughing again. It was a nice laugh, it was-
Taako didn’t know what, but he liked this guy.
“We can go with Red if you want. It’s- it doesn’t really matter,” Red said, and Taako guessed that settled that. Still didn’t tell him anything about this guy, but at least he could stop thinking of him as ‘the ghost’ and shit like that. Then he sighed, and pulled the cart over to the side of the quiet road they were on. Taako didn’t have any idea where they were, but he’d have to ditch the cart as soon as possible.
“Or well, I suppose it won’t matter what you call me since I really won’t be around anymore. Honestly, it’s best if you forget about this whole encounter Taako. Safer,” he said, and that wasn’t reassuring. It was the opposite of reassuring. It was ominous as shit.
It was probably because he had fucking nothing anymore. He just lost his show, and the only person he’d had with him for the past five years was gone. Tried to fucking kill his ass. He was alone, and that wasn’t anything new for him but it was still fucking terrifying.
He didn’t want this guy to leave him too.
“Dude, don’t- come on, you can’t expect me to just forget this shit. Tell me what’s going on. Why did you attack Sazed? What the fuck are you?” he pressed. If he was going to leave no matter what Taako figured he at least deserved some answers.
“It’s- I’m a lich Taako, to give you some idea of how dangerous this all is,” Red said, and Taako froze at that. He knew what liches were. Or at least, he'd heard of them. Couldn't remember where, probably picking up a random necromancy book when he meant to be studying spells for his show.
Liches were mindless sources of destruction, unrelenting evil magic users who got way in over their heads. There was no redeeming them, and they killed indiscriminately and with malice.
This guy made a joke about Taako’s ass and saved his life. He didn’t even kill Sazed when he had the chance, even though he’d seemed pretty damn pissed.
“You’re a fucking shitty lich my dude,” he told him bluntly, and Red laughed. Which was only adding to the weirdness of all this. Liches don’t laugh.
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that,” he said, and then he floated up out of the seat. He didn’t really have legs, and Taako hadn’t noticed until then how he’d been kinda phased through the seat instead of actually sitting in it. Which was such a fucking dork move, holy shit.
“Goodbye Taako,” the lich said, and he started fading away again like he had that last time. It was stupid, but Taako could feel the panic gripping his chest at him leaving.
“Wait!” he shouted again, trying to reach over and grab at about where a wrist would be in his sleeve. Taako’s hand went straight through him, but it was enough to get him to stop.
“Taako, I’m sorry but I-” Red started to insist, but he kept saying he needed to go but wouldn’t so it must not be that urgent.
“Don’t leave. I can- I promise I can make staying worth your while. I can, fuck, I don’t know if you can eat, but my food is to die for,” he said, and then winced. “Okay, fuck, too soon, even for me,” he added
“Taako, I-” Red started, and he actually sounded torn up about this. “I can’t stay, I wish I could but-” he started, and then he seemed to go almost deathly still. “Shit.”
“What’s up homie?” Taako pressed. He didn’t know what kind of shit could make a lich actually seem worried, but whatever it was he didn’t want to see it.
“I’m sorry. She found me, Taako I really can’t stay any longer, she’ll… I’m so sorry,” he said, and he was sounding kind of panicked now. Taako didn’t even fucking know this guy’s real name, he was a lich! Who fucked cared if he helped get rid of Sazed’s ass. By every right Taako should be terrified of this dude and trying to get him to leave, not stay.
“Alright. Okay I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but you can get lost if you need to I guess,” he said, and it almost looked like the lich’s shoulders slumped in relief.
“Thank you Taako,” he said with a sigh.
“But!” Taako cut in before he could go off on his disappearing act again. “Maybe like, check in? If you’re ever in the area. Or like, whatever area I’m in, I’m sure as fuck not gonna stay here either. But like you’re a lich so I figure you got boatloads of way to find people,” he said, and he didn’t know why he wanted to see this guy again but he did.
“I’ll… see what I can do. Goodbye Taako,” he said, starting to fade again finally.
“Later Red,” Taako said, and this time he was gone. The night road was quiet, and Taako was alone.
Sighing, he grabbed the reigns from where Red had placed them and starting pushing the horse forward once again. He had to keep on moving away from Glamour Springs after all. He couldn’t risk someone trying to catch him and put him in jail or fucking kill him for something that hadn’t even been his fault.
Hopefully he’d run into that friendly lich again, but he tried not to get his hopes up. He seemed pretty intent on leaving and not ever acknowledging that any of this ever happened.
Still, Taako found himself wanting it anyway.
He was probably just lonely.
——
Barry had several rules laid out for himself when it came to his mission. If he didn’t follow these tenets, it wouldn’t be long before everything else came crumbling down around him even more than it already had. He could not, no matter how much he wanted to or how dire the situation seemed, break these rules.
First of all, he could not lose control. That one always went without saying, if he lost himself then he had no hope of seeing this through. He wouldn’t be able to help anyone, and all the effort he’d put in thus far would be a complete waste.
Tied directly into not losing himself was the second rule. He could not give up, he couldn’t stop looking for Lup. He had to believe she was still out there somewhere, that he could find her. If he stopped believing there was some way out of all of this, gave into the idea that he would never see the love of his life again, he knew it’d only be a matter of time before he was lost. And if she was out there, something having gone horribly wrong, he couldn’t risk leaving her like that. He had to make sure, no matter what, that he did everything in his power to save her.
The next one was a little easier to follow than the first two. He couldn’t let Lucretia stop him. He loved her, she was his family, but there was no denying that they were on opposing sides right now. Roles neither of them took any joy in, but ones they were in none the less. He understood her reasoning, but he couldn’t let her go through with her plans.
The last one was the hardest to follow by far. When he was busy, out in the world searching for answers or when he was clueless, lost and unaware in a living body, it wasn’t too much of an issue. It was in those months without leads, the agonizing long waiting periods growing a new body, that made it hurt the most.
In those times he could almost trick himself. Say he was checking in for their safety, and not to try and appease the crushing loneliness he felt.
It wasn’t like it would help. He knew that watching, even from a distance would only serve to make it worse.
He could not see his family. He could not talk to them, or try to make them remember. It would only make everything harder.
He’d managed five years. He got five years before he finally caved, before the opportunity was too close, too tempting.
It was a good thing, until it wasn’t.
Barry knew he should not under any circumstances interact with Taako again. It was bad enough that he’d seen him attacking his assistant. Even worse that he’d stuck around long enough to get him safely away from town and then have a full conversation with him. Long enough even for Lucretia to get a bead on him again, which meant more hiding before he could try any sort of outing at all.
It was all too risky. Taako didn’t even know who he was. Dragging him into all of this when there was no way to even let him know the full story wasn’t right. He couldn’t even tell Taako that he still hadn’t managed to find Lup.
It was too dangerous and too unfair.
So it was real fucking dumb that he was currently hovering hidden in the alley behind the inn Taako was currently staying at.
He wasn’t planning on showing himself. He just wanted to make sure Taako was still doing okay. That no one caught him and tried to pin all those murders on him.
It went directly against his last rule, not seeing his family. Not putting himself and them in that sort of risk.
But he couldn’t even fine Magnus or Merle anywhere. He had no fucking clue what happened to Davenport. Lup was still…
The least he could do was keep an eye on the one bit of his family he’d managed to find.
A part of him just really fucking missed his brother and wanted to be sure he was okay. Talking to him that night had been like a breath of fresh air after not even realizing how long he’d been drowning for so long. He fucking missed Taako, and he really couldn’t risk talking to him again but he could at least make sure he wasn’t going to be thrown in jail for a crime he never meant to commit.
Once he actually caught sight of his brother though that resolve not to interact began to waver.
If there was one thing Taako had never been, it was unremarkable. Taako always drew attention, was always calling all eyes onto himself. It was something that Barry had taken a while to really appreciate, but as it was now it was something about him and Lup that he wouldn’t change for the world. For any world.
So seeing him, slumped in a corner of a tavern, his clothes dark and subdued, his whole form blending into the background just felt wrong. He could understand why Taako was doing it. He couldn’t risk people seeing him and realizing who he was and trying to arrest him. It was smart, and if there was one thing Taako was above dramatic, it was smart.
It still fucking sucked to see, and even though there wasn’t anything he could do Barry wanted to help.
He watched invisibly as Taako hung around the tavern for a few hours before heading back up to his rented room. Barry hesitated before following him up. It was a bad choice, because seeing Taako sigh and collapse onto the shitty rented bed made his heart hurt.
It was a dumb, dumb dumb move, but Barry let the invisibility drop.
Immediately Taako sprung up from his bed, wand in hand and pointed at him in a panic.
Then he seemed to recognize him, and he lowered his hand and Barry hated that he was surprised to see Taako smiling at him. It shouldn’t be such a shock, but he had no reason to trust Barry anymore. He had no idea who he was or why he was here. If a lich suddenly appearing in his room freaked him out Barry couldn’t even blame him.
“My dude! I was starting to think you weren’t ever gonna show your weird glowy not-face again. It’s been like a fucking month,” Taako complained, and Barry laughed at that. Of course Taako wasn’t afraid of him. It was- he was his brother. Lucretia might’ve been able to erase their memories, but she couldn’t take that away.
If he still had eyes he probably would have just started crying.
“Sorry for taking so long. It’s uh, I really can’t come often. It’s complicated,” Barry apologized. He shouldn’t be coming at all, but as long as it was quick, it wasn’t like Lucretia could keep an eye on him all the time. She was obviously pretty busy with her new pet project after all.
“Yeah, I figured as much, what with you being a fucking lich and running off because someone was apparently after you last time. You gonna explain any of that by the way or am I gonna be in the dark here forever?” Taako asked, and Barry could understand why he’d want some answers. Barry wanted to give him answers. He wanted to tell Taako everything and ask for his help because Barry had been trying to figure this all out on his own for so long.
He couldn’t though, because Taako wouldn’t be able to understand any of it.
“Unfortunately I really can’t tell you much. Sorry bud, if it was up to me I woulda filled you in a long time ago,” he said. Taako still looked pretty put upon with that answer, flopping back down on the bed.
“Of course, don’t know why I expected anything else from you Red,” Taako said, and Barry couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“So we’re really doing that? The Red thing?” he asked, and Taako nodded like it was a dumb question.
“Of course. You won’t tell me your real name and I’m not fucking calling you blue dude. That’s stupid,” he said, and if Barry had a mouth he’d be smiling right now.
“Well I think it’s rather fitting, but if you prefer Red I guess that’s fine too,” he said, and Taako rolled his eyes at that. “So uh, how’ve you been?” Barry asked, and it sounded awkward, mostly because it was. Still, he genuinely wanted to know how Taako was doing.
“Uh, pretty fucking shitty my guy. Everyone thinks I killed that whole town which like, I guess it was partially my fault but fuck. I didn’t know Sazed was gonna get that fucking crazy over not getting a part in a goddamn cooking show,” Taako said, and oh. So that was why he’d been trying to poison Taako. Barry had never actually managed to get a why out of him before Taako showed up and told him to get rid of the guy.
“I’m sorry, that has to be tough,” he said, and Taako shrugged, like he was trying to make it seem not that big a deal. It was obvious that Taako was a lot more closed off than he used to be, and that was saying something, but he could still notice his tells pretty well. This was bothering him a whole fucking lot.
“It’ll blow over eventually. It’s just a lot of bullshit in the meantime,” he said, and Barry nodded. “So uh, what about you? I don’t even know what liches do,” he said, and honestly that was a good question.
“I mean, I can’t speak for all liches, but I’ve been looking for something. Someone,” he said, and he could see the barely hidden interest on Taako’s face at that.
“Oh yeah? Anyone cha’ boy might know?” he asked, and the irony of this situation felt like a knife in a chest he didn’t even have anymore.
“No one you would remember,” he answered. Taako gave him a look like that was a weird answer, which Barry supposed it was. It was the truth though, and it wasn’t like he could say much more than that.
“I mean, are they a floating red specter like you? Cause I’ll probably notice if I end up running into another. I could send em your way if you want,” Taako offered, and talking about this hurt but there was still something nice there. He’d been wishing for Taako’s help on this again for so long now. He knew he couldn’t really have it but the sentiment was still there, despite everything.
“She might be. She might not be though, it depends on what she’s been up to,” Barry told him, and he could see the look of annoyance on Taako’s face at the vague answer.
“Why are you looking for this person?” Taako asked, and Barry was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what he could say.
“She’s my wife, the love of my life and something horrible must’ve happened to keep her away for so long. She’d promised she’d be back soon, but it’s- it’s been almost six years now Taako,” he said, and he could see the look of awkward sympathy on his face at that. Of course this was a little much for a Taako who barely knew him to handle, but this was the first time he’d been able to speak to anyone about this since that horrible, horrible day.
“Shit, well I guess I asked so can't really fault you for answering. Uh, sorry dude. I’m um, I’m sure you’ll find her soon,” Taako said, and Barry hoped he was right about that. It still felt like he was running around in circles and barely making any progress though.
Which was probably why he was taking this risk to see Taako again. He felt like he was barely holding on, and seeing Taako still trusting him, it helped. Strengthened a tether he hadn't even realized had already worn so thin.
“I can’t stay long. I’ve been- someone is after me and when I spend too long in one place she’s able to find me. I just thought I’d help you out a bit though,” Barry said, changing the subject. Then he pulled out a small box from a pocket dimension and floated it over to Taako. The elf immediately scrambled to open it up and looked flabbergasted at the contents.
“Holy shit Red! And I was starting to run out of Sizzle It Up savings, hell yes,” Taako said, starting to count the about 100 gold pieces inside. He typically left similar money filled chests for his living self, but he still had enough time before his new body was complete to get another one.
“I figured you’d be running low by now, yeah,” Barry said, and Taako was smiling now. If there was any way to endear yourself to Taako Barry knew that paying for his shit certainly helped.
“You’re a life safer my dude, multiple times over now. I uh, fuck. Thanks,” Taako said, clearly not sure of what to actually do here.
“I need to get going soon, but it’s- would it be alright if I checked in on you sometimes? I can understand if you’re not comfortable with a lich around but…” he asked, and Taako scoffed at that.
“Hey man I don’t judge. You might be a lich but you’re nicer than most of the living people I’ve met. Feel free to come hang whenever, Taako could use the company,” he said, and Barry wished he could smile right now.
“Thanks Taako. I could too if I’m being honest,” he said, and then a thought came to him. “It’s- I just need you to promise me something though,” he said, and Taako finally stopped messing with the coins and looked back over to him.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“I need you not to tell anyone about me. It’s- it’s so important Taako. I can’t risk being found, you have no idea how much is riding on this,” he said, and he felt relief wash through him when Taako nodded.
“Sure thing Red. It’s not like I’m talking to a lot of people anymore anyway, and I doubt a lot of people would be thrilled to hear that a lich that might just appear at random,” he said, and Barry laughed some at that.
“Yeah, you got a point there. Um, I guess I’ll see you around then,” he said, and Taako nodded.
“See ya Red,” he said, and with that Barry went back invisible and floated down through the floor before leaving the inn entirely.
He was probably making a really bad decision, choosing to reveal himself, but Taako was his family. As long as he had his help, he could get through this.
It was a risk, but as far as Barry was concerned, the benefits far outweighed the negatives here.