Chapter Text
The air in the Sunrise Motel was stale and hot, the sun had been high in the sky for hours by the time Tommy arrived and stepping into his room did nothing to dissipate the burning heat of the desert.
The room was dirty and smoke damaged but the man at the desk hadn’t even blinked at the Wick and his dog so it would have to do.
Tommy threw his bag down onto the bed and wrinkled his nose at the smell of dust and stale rot that floated up from the mattress, Henry didn’t seem to mind as he jumped up onto the bed and settled down to take a nap. He kicked off his boots and began methodically pulling out his things, his phone got plugged in, his food stock checked (he’d have to go to the store in town) he pulled out a change of clothes and moved into the bathroom. The clothes he’d been wearing got tossed into the mildew stained bathtub so they could be rinsed while he showered.
The water was tepid and the pressure was abysmal but the relief of being clean after so many days on the road was well worth it and Tommy couldn’t help but let the water run over his wings for a few minutes to loosen the dust and sweat from between the feathers.
The water went cold quickly so he climbed out and dressed. Henry was still dead to the world snoring softly so Tommy left him in the room while he went to explore. He walked the length of the strip and climbed the stairs to explore the second level as well, he found an empty ice machine and a vending machine that spit out a lukewarm coke for one too many quarters and he returned to his room to sit on the stoop for a while.
This was the farthest south he’d been since he split from his family and he was undecided how he felt about it, for the first few years he’d stayed close to where his family settled in the north, Wicks were solitary and nomadic by necessity but Tommy couldn’t bear moving so far from home alone. Then he got Henry and his family hadn’t kept in contact like they said they would so he decided to move on. He’d weaved his way along the coast for a while, he was young and naive and wanted to help so he went town to town and found work.
His illusions were shattered all too quickly as it was for every Wick and he began to avoid big cities as much as he could, so the middle of the desert seemed like a good direction to head. The towns were sparse and close knit in this area, isolated from the outside by great swaths of sand and jagged mountains. Nobody around here wanted anything to do with a Wick and that suited him just fine.
He'd been in the desert for a few months now and he found it peaceful. Out in the desert was a different kind of quiet, a different kind of still, not a chilled silence like the icy woods of the north but something dry and sturdy, red rock and dry brush.
Tommy finished his coke and returned to his room, Henry was snoring on the bed so he went to the little desk instead, he pulled out the map and ran through all the surrounding town, writing them down to research tomorrow. He didn’t like to stay in one town for too long, the longer he was around the more likely someone would brave asking him for something and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with that any time soon.
This motel was a good way outside of a decrepitly small town so Tommy was confident he could stay here for a while and be left alone. Once he had his potential next stops written down he retired to the dusty bed to rest for a bit, it was just past three in the afternoon but they had been traveling for almost two days and Tommy was exhausted.
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When he woke up the sun was setting, it cast a red hue across the room and the air had cooled. Rolling to his feet, Tommy shook out his wings and idly watched the smoke coil around them for a second, he’d have to preen them tomorrow, bus seats were not made for winged people.
Henry whined at him so Tommy pushed himself up and pulled out a bowl and a bag of kibble, once Henry was fed he dug around in his bag for a pack of ramen which he stuck in the coffee pot to soften. Once they’d both eaten he let Henry out of the motel to run around for a bit and wandered into the scrub brush across the parking lot, they wandered for a while, they had a rhythm down and Tommy knew Henry liked to explore a bit before they went to sleep the first night.
They played fetch on the edge of the parking lot for a while, after about twenty minutes Henry got bored and began sniffing through the sand, Tommy huffed and followed him. The weaved out into the dry brush, Henry would run ahead then bolt back, once he returned crunching on some desert bug and Tommy couldn't help but laugh. Henry bolted off again and after checking he could still see the lights of the motel Tommy followed him.
The sky had shifted from red to a dull blue when Henry suddenly stopped stiff, Tommy opened his mouth to call him when something crunched ahead of him. He called Henry back to him and pulled out a pocket knife. His magic swirled around him, curious, Tommy knew immediately it was a person.
Sure enough a man stumbled out of the trees and Tommy thought he was drunk for a moment until he noticed about six things all at once. The wings sprouting from his back, his lack of shirt and that he was covered in blood. Henry had started up a low growl and Tommy had all of three seconds to ponder why a high demon was wandering around the desert when his head popped up and they made eye contact. Everything stilled for a moment as the demons face when to fear to confusion and into some weird combination of terror and determination.
“Wick…” he breathed after a moment and Tommy felt his heart drop. The demon stumbled towards him, he paused when Henry growled again but Tommy called him off. High demon or not he was in bad shape, and Tommy doubted he was strong enough to throw a punch let alone use his magic. They stood in awkward silence for a minute before Tommy spoke.
“You- uh you good? I mean you look like shit so obviously not but yea” he trailed off, the demon was still staring.
Finally the demon was in front of him and he slowly drew himself to full height.
“I am- i need help” he said, wincing as he shifted his weight and his wings shuffled against his back, they were a deep blue that matched the sky.
“Clearly” was all Tommy could think to say, Henry had the demon as a minimal threat and was sniffing around the bushes again. The demon gave him a confused look and suddenly his face changed like a revelation and Tommy knew exactly what he was about to ask.
“I… I want to make a deal” he finally said and Tommy couldn’t even bring himself to react. Apparently he had the worst luck on the planet.
“I’m not really in the market right now” was his immediate response, but he couldn’t help a stab of guilt at the absolute panic and disappointment that bloomed on the demon's face. He cursed himself but continued. “You can sleep in my room tonight though, hell i’ll even give you some ramen, free of charge.” he gave a half smile. The demon seemed stunned for a moment before hesitantly nodding.
They walked back quietly, the demon kept looking around and had a bad limp, he obviously had some kind of wound on his side but it was too dark for Tommy to really see. Henry recognized that something was wrong and had stopped his roaming to press himself against Tommy's leg for the entire walk back. They made it back to the motel and Tommy let the demon into his room. The demon went straight into the bathroom, he started drinking water straight out of the tap, frantically shoving it into his mouth before Tommy gently intervened.
“You're gonna make yourself sick, how about you sit for a second and I'll get you a glass” he gently nudged him till he sat on the toilet and stepped out of the bathroom. When he came back he finally got a good look at the demon's injuries, he was scraped and dirty and his hands were a mess but Tommy was pretty sure that had something to do with him stumbling through the desert. The wound on his side was big but shallow and seemed to have stopped bleeding at some point so while the demon drank his water Tommy gently cleaned the dirty and blood away with a rag before stepping back.
“Take a shower, I don’t think my clothes are gonna fit you so yea sorry, we’ll figure it out tomorrow.” he turned to leave but paused, “I’m Tommy, that’s Henry” shrugged towards the dog that was sprawled on the floor. The demon stared at him tiredly for a moment.
“Wilbur” Tommy nodded and closed the bathroom door.
He crawls into one of the beds, Henry jumps up beside him and they lay there listening to the sounds of the shower and shuffling and to Tommy's horror, quiet crying.
He doesn’t want to make a deal, he told himself he wasn’t doing this again but he knew he’d already lost. He was already helping, anymore and the magic would lock on to it, it was already hovering around, curious and watching, the promise of a rich deal in the air. Maybe if he could just nudge the demon in the right direction without directly helping they’d be okay, no guilt, no deal. Eventually the sounds of water stopped and Wilbur shuffled out of the bathroom, he settled himself heavily on the other bed and it was quiet for a moment. Tommy huffed out a breath.
“Do you want some food? I’ve got ramen and beef jerky or beef jerky in ramen which tastes insane” he snorts at his own joke. Wilbur raises his head and Tommy can’t help but cringe at the teary exhaustion on his face.
He’s young, definitely older than Tommy but way too young to be out getting tortured in the desert or whatever happened to him. Shrugging off the tight feeling Tommy dug out another pack of ramen and heated it up, he handed the coffee pot of ramen to the demon along with a packet of beef jerky and returned to his bed. They sat in a dense silence while Wilbur inhaled his food, he was crying again, silently, but Tommy could smell the tears and he shot to his feet, mumbling some excuse and slipped out of the room.
He walked straight across the parking lot, some awful combination of guilt and terror swirling in his gut. The need to scream bubbled up but the last thing he wanted was to get the cops called on him, he settles for throwing a rock as hard as he can and kicking angrily at the ground. He crouches down and counts to ten, he knows what he’s gonna do and he knows it's an awful decision but he’s never gonna be able to live with himself if he doesn’t.
Finally he stands up and marches back into the room, Wilbur startles violently when Tommy bursts through the door but Tommy powers on.
“Fuck… I accept your deal, what do you desire” the words rolled off his tongue and he cringed at the sudden rush of magic that swirled around him. Wilbur inhaled sharply.
“Oh, uh, I need to get home, to Arcpyre, doesn’t matter how or how long but maybe discrete would be good.” he mumbled out still staring at Tommy.
“Is somebody after you?” he nodded, then shrugged and nodded again, Tommy sighed. “Okay how long have you been walking, I don’t know if I can get u s out of here tonight if they are close.”
Wilbur seemed to think for a moment before he answered, “it's been over twelve hours, even if they found this town nobody saw me come into the motel so it's gonna take them a while to find me here.”
“Okay good, go to sleep, I’ll figure it out in the morning” Tommy flops down on the bed, needing a moment to process what the fuck he just got himself into.
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He managed to sleep for about 4 hours before the cacophony of what ifs and flashbacks forces him to get up, he lets Henry outside for a few minutes then settles at the desk.
Arcpyre is a northern clan in The Ether, they’re gonna have to travel as close as they can in this realm and get someone to portal them through, hopefully Wilbur can just call his family if he can get him close. Wilbur could probably just call his family now but sitting here for however long it takes the demons to get to them seemed like a bad idea, but calling Wilbur's family was still on the table.
He digs out his map again and begins planning a route, Snowchester was probably their best bet at finding a portal so now he just had to figure out how to get there. Money was gonna be an issue, and so was being discrete, buses were gonna be a necessity, maybe once they were further north Tommy could jack a car.
This deal was a big one, maybe the biggest he’d had to do but there was no turning back now, the magic had latched onto it and he must follow through with what he promised. First thing tomorrow he needed to get food and clothes for Wilbur then get bus tickets, if he’s smart and they are lucky he can get them to Snowchester by the next week.
He writes out a list of supplies and counts his money before turning to check on his ward, Wilbur hadn’t moved all night and was curled on his side. He twitched in his sleep and his brow was furrowed in pain, Tommy amended his trip into town to include a trip to the pharmacy and went to take a shower.