Chapter Text
Pyro sat at his desk, staring at the Statement in front of him. He'd been in this position for two weeks. Two weeks that it took him to figure out how he was meant to record statements, two weeks it took him and his assistants to find tape recorders to use to record the Statements.
Maybe one of these Statements would hold the answers to the questions surrounding his dreams. The ones he barely remembered, the ones that he swore held his brother. The ones he swore were real.
The dreams of a woman with red hair- or was it white?- and a smile that was too kind for where they were, for the war they fought. She reminded him of his brother, it was like she was a sister he'd never had, the sister he'd always wanted. He'd told his parents growing up that he wanted a little sister, something they smiled when he said.
They didn't smile as much when he drew himself with three siblings instead of one. When he drew an older brother with blue hair before Owen, when he drew a girl with red hair and declared her his younger sister. A sister he didn't have.
He was sure he had a younger sister.
He wasn't sure what her name was, but he was sure he had one.
Owen swore it was just the two of them. There was no other older brother, no little sister with red hair.
Pyro stopped telling him he was wrong. Stopped telling him about the dreams, let everyone think he grew out of them.
He couldn't help but remember the girl he swore was his sister saying something about never being believed. She'd understand. She would, if only he knew her name. If only he could find her.
Just when he was about to hit play a man who looked to be around 50 stepped into his office.
The man set four tapes on his desk.
"Might want to listen to these. I'd recommend Shelby's first."
"Who are you? Where did you get these?"
"Tim Blackwood. I used to work here a while ago. Brought these tapes with me when I left, thought I'd return them."
What?
"Why did you take them with you?"
"You'll figure it out, I'm sure."
The man stepped out of the room after that, ignoring Pyro's shouts asking him to return, asking for him to answer his questions.
He stared at the tapes on his desk for a moment before he moved them to the side. He had a Statement to record and an awful lot of backlog. He could listen to them later.
He didn't need to listen to them today.
…
Yet something about them seemed familiar.
The name Shelby Goldsmith on the first tape it felt as if it was an important name.
As if he knew the name.
No.
That would be tomorrow's job.
He had Statements to record.
Answers to find.
~~~~
Tim was going to scream. He'd thought when he went to check on the Archives after hearing there was a new round of Archivist and Assistants that he'd just give them the tape Jon recorded years ago, the one that told them about the horrors of the position, about what to do to get out and then he'd leave.
He didn't think he'd see a man who looked like Pyro stepping into the Archives.
He didn't think that he'd ask Cub the name of the new Head Archivist and be told that his name was Jack, though he went by Pyro.
Right.
Okay.
Legundo had come back already, fifty years ago. Why couldn't Pyro return?
How would he tell Shelby?
Could he tell Shelby?
Should he tell Shelby?
Not yet.
Not so soon.
Not when she was in the middle of auditioning people for a movie she was creating with Scott and Mumbo.
Instead he went to Apo and Cherri.
He knocked on the door, stepping in the moment that Apo opened the door.
"Pyro's back and he's the head Archivist now."
"Hi Apo. How are you Apo- what did you say?"
"Pyro's back."
"How can you be sure?"
"Apo."
Apo was silent for a moment and stared at Tim.
He watched as realization dawned on her face.
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Pyro."
"Pyro."
"Where did you find him?"
"The Magnus Institute, he's in the Archives as the Head Archivist."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Have you told Shelby?"
"No. Not yet. She's got auditions she's running. I'll tell her when she's not so busy. When she can come here to see him for herself."
Apo stared at him for a moment before nodding.
"Right."
~~~~
Pyro was back.
Apo sat across from him in his office the day after Tim had barged in her home to tell her he was back.
She sat across from him, holding a small pig plush she'd knitted, one of several she'd made over the years after Martin taught her how to knit. Maybe- maybe she'd leave it here after she left, as a reminder. As a memento.
He watched his eyes widen as he saw her.
Did he-
No.
He couldn't remember.
He couldn't.
~~~~
Pyro knew the woman sat across from him. Her red hair reminding him not of the sister of his dreams, but of a friend he remembered. A friend from the same dreams that he'd seen the sister with red- white- hair. A friend who he'd shared a pig named truffles with.
He'd been obsessed with pigs as a child, still was. He always named every pig thing he got the same thing. Truffle.
It was a name that came from his dreams, the only name he got, a name of a pig. Yet here he was staring at the woman who he'd owned a pig with.
"You're-"
"Here for a Statement."
Right.
Right.
"Of course."
He grabbed a tape recorder and popped in a new tape and watched as her eyes drifted to the tapes he'd pushed away the day before.
"Did you listen to them? The tapes Tim dropped off?"
How did she know Tim?
"No. I didn't."
"You should. After this, of course."
"Of course."
He took a deep breath as he hit record.
"Statement of-"
"Apo regarding my time in Oakhurst."
Apo.
Apo.
Of course that was her name.
Apo. Oakhurst.
That's where his dreams were, Oakhurst.
This was-
She was staring at him, expectant.
Right.
Statement.
"Statement taken direct from subject by Pyro, head Archivist of the Magnus Institute."
"I was a soldier, sent to Oakhurst by my command after being discharged from combat due to not being able to handle blood. Can't have a soldier who gets woozy seeing blood. But you can have someone who watches over a seemingly abandoned town you want to turn into an outpost, especially when that soldier is an architect."
He wasn't sure why it seemed ironic that she didn't take blood very well.
He did have one question though.
"How long ago was this?"
"400 years or so, back in 1806."
1806?
How?
She couldn't be that old. She couldn't.
She continued talking.
"It was supposed to be abandoned. By the end of the day there were fourteen people in the town, everyone claimed to be new to town. There was Doctor Legundo-"
A man who always seemed to search for a cure people said couldn't exist. A man who had given him hope, a man whose name brought a hope he couldn't understand. Who was this man? Was he the doctor he remembered barely, the man who had told him had a cure, the man he'd thought when he was a teenager held all the answers to the things he didn't understand?
"Cleo-"
A terrifying person whose loyalty was to herself alone, who did everything to ensure that the one person they trusted was safe, who would have burned the world for-
"Pearl Moon-"
A huntress who was a terrifying sight as much as she was a kind one. A woman who only hunted those who killed the innocent. He remembered her from bits and pieces, remembered her saying he didn't even look that scary, remembered acting offended when really it felt nice, not to terrify everyone around.
"Abolish Veylock-"
A man who had been a butler. A man who had been terrifying, fire in his eyes and hands, a man who did whatever he could to get in and out and leave alive. The only man who terrified him more than his sire.
"Martyn Woodhurst-"
A man who started a militia the moment that he learned there were vampires, a man he remembered falling. A man who seemed close to-
"Renheart Dogmore-"
A name so familiar to that of one of his archival assistants. A man who he'd seen and thought was familiar, a man whose accent was wrong, whose voice wasn't familiar but everything else was. A man whose tongue had been cursed. That's why the voice wasn't familiar. A man who had moved out of the town yet joined in the militia all the same.
"M. Sausage-"
An author who had joined in with the militia, who had been obsessed with vampirism.
"Owen-"
His brother. In this time and that Owen was his brother. It never changed. Owen was a ruthless man in his dreams, a man who planned and wove things into being with his voice, a man who you needed to read to trust. A man who treated him and their sister as if they were gold. A man who had led to his downfall and death.
"Scott Goldsmith-"
His sire, his oldest brother. The man who he trusted and feared, a man who had a soft spot only for his sister and one other. His sister whose name he still couldn't grasp. He was the blue haired man he'd drawn. He was the monster who'd grabbed him in the dark. He was the man who he remembered ruffling his hair.
"Drift-"
A detective who had been close to his sister and another person, a person who had been paranoid but right. A person he'd- a person who he had hurt. Someone who had led to his doom. Someone-
"Avid-"
The person he'd hurt most. Someone who had been close with Drift and-
"Shelby-"
His little sister. The woman with hair that was red or white, the girl he'd drawn beside him. The princess he'd told his parents and brother about as a kid. The sister who he'd have done anything to protect, the sister he'd hurt. The sister who he was proud of. He wasn't sure why, but he was sure he was proud, oh so proud of her.
"What color is her hair? Shelby's hair? Red or white?"
Apo looked at him for a moment, hope in her eyes.
"Red when it all started, white after a few weeks."
Both.
"Right. Thank you."
Apo nodded before she continued.
"There was one more person in Oakhurst. Jack Pyroscythe."
…
That was him.
"Pyro and I were roommates. We had a pig we took care of together-"
Truffle.
Apo continued before he could speak.
"-her name was truffle."
He knew that.
"The first few days were fine. Avid was going insane about vampires and all that. It was chaos and it was insane, but it was fine because it had to be fine. Then I was turned. I'm not going into the details, not- not today, this isn't about that, it's about the end of Oakhurst more than it is the start, more than it is my turning."
Turning?
Turning into what?
"The town devolved into Human versus Vampire, into the coven versus the town. Cleo, they played both sides, protected her people. They didn't lie, not often. They hate liars, so when it came to hiding things she deemed needed hidden they chose their words carefully. There was- I. Well I'm skipping over things. The same week I was turned there was another turning, Cleo. It was the third week in Oakhurst, there was a tussle at the castle, the four vampires of the castle coven were found out by Martyn, Legs and Cleo. Cleo and Martyn went in to fight them and only Cleo was turned. Martyn- He almost died. I carried him back to town and did anything I could to keep him safe."
There was sorrow in her voice as she said that, sorrow that he didn't know the reason for.
"Who turned her? Cleo?"
"Pyro did."
He did.
…
He remembered the anger, two stolen.
Apo continued.
"The battle only got worse, the fighting continued. Cleo and I were vampires now-"
"Who were the others? The vampires that Cleo and Martyn found and fought?"
Apo looked at him, as if she saw more than the Head Archivist in front of her.
As if she saw the man from Oakhurst more than the man in front of her.
"Scott and Owen were the first, the two of the town who were vampires from the start. Pyro was turned the first week, Shelby the second. Cleo and I the third. No one was turned the fourth week. The fifth saw Drift and Avid turned. That was the week we were all exposed to the town, the week the war really started to feel real."
Apo took a breath, one he was sure she didn't need.
"The sixth week no one was turned. The seventh Avid was killed-"
Screams that had haunted his nightmares growing up, someone screaming for someone to stop, blood on his hands.
"-by Pyro and Owen. The seventh week I turned M. Then in the final week Pyro was killed by Shelby's hands. Owen was cured and thought dead but well the Head Archivist at the time found him in a cursed coffin filled with dirt. I'm sure there's a Statement of it somewhere, Jon recorded everything."
"Jon? You knew a past Archivist?"
"Yeah. Had to be two hundred years or so when I met him back in 2016 or 2017."
2016 or 2017.
Two hundred years ago.
"We're getting off topic. The eighth week found the Doctor turned by Owen just before he was cured. Cleo, Pearl, Scott and M came up with a plan. Doc would turn all of the humans left in the town, Martyn, Ren and Abolish, and then he'd- well they'd found a cure for vampirism. A cure that needed the sire to be dead. It's how Owen could be cured, his sire was dead. To turn and cure Martyn, Ren and Abolish the vampire who turned them needed to die so they could walk out free and human. Pearl would stay human and cure them, then they'd turn the last beacon and everyone would be free to go as soon as the last cured human had left and only vampires remained."
Something had gone wrong.
Her face said it all.
The tears welling up in her eyes said it all.
"Doc turned Abolish. Then when he got to Martyn- I should have said something but I didn't. Martyn died instead of being turned, a body can't host two sires. In trying to save Martyn I killed him. Ren- he tried to kill us all. I landed the final blow, Martyn's closest friend was dead at my feet, his blood on my hands. Cleo killed the Doc, Abolish was cured and the plan worked. In the end fourteen people entered Oakhurst, six people died, nine lived, seven left, two stayed. Or well, four died, though it took us two hundred years to find Owen. He died eventually of old age, a human death. Avid was found in the tunnels under the Institute, she's been with Shelby and Drift ever since."
Apo stood then.
"Doc came back maybe 40, 50 years ago? Walked into Oakhurst and was found by Abolish-"
"I thought he was cured?"
"He was. We're not sure why he's still alive. But well, we've chalked it up to Abolish being Abolish. Oakhurst always drags people back, even if it takes a few hundred years."
Silence for a moment.
"You should really listen to Shelby's statement, Pyro. Statement Ends."
With that she was gone.
Just- gone.
How had she done that?
Pyro stood to search for her, to see where she'd gone and caught sight of something left on her chair.
A small knitted pig plush.
He picked it up and held it in his hands for a moment.
"Come on Truffle, there's a spot for you on my desk here."
He was silent as he sat the pig on his desk.
"Thank you, Apo."