I wish that you would stay (in my memories)
( a fic for @deadbangdetectives reverse bang, with art by @hobbitsdoitbetter )
Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives
Pairing: Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland
No archive warnings apply
Additional tags: Unrequited love, Not actually unrequited love, But Edwin doesn't know that for a long time, Charles Rowland cannot communicate, no one in this fic can communicate, mentioned Charles/Crystal relationship, Cryland for the plot, (sorry Crystal, I love you and you are not a plot device), when you turn to dark magic because the one you love has a girlfriend, creating a dark effigy of the one you love is not a recommended coping mechanism, angst, angst with a hopeful ending, non-explicit sex, feelings realization
Niko was gone (had been gone, continued to be gone) for over nine months. Charles was there, but he was not. He was always with Crystal now, and never meeting Edwin's gaze. And Edwin was so alone he couldn't stand it.
"Edwin's hands stilled and his eyes focused on a spell entitled To conjure a shadow version of one who is lost. The warnings were longer than the spell. He had read no more than three lines before Edwin knew he was not using this spell to bring back Niko. The warnings explicitly stated that this shadow version was not linked to the person you had lost. It was an entirely new being, created from the spell caster and their memories of the missing person. Edwin would not attempt to build a new version of Niko. There was no way he could ever recreate her smile, her laugh, the things only she would say. He could never be what she was. He would not insult her memory by trying.
But he was not thinking about Niko.
All he could picture was Charles.
He knew, in every logical part of himself, that it would not be real. But it might be enough."
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
gummygunk
dailybridgerton
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
