#krexieweek

Here is a fact for you: Nancy Domzalski, though she would have loved to, would not have been able to join Varvatos on Akiridion without a fair bit of maneuvering and aid. She checked if Akiridion 5 had oxygen – but she hadn’t checked whether it had water.

Here is another fact: only about 1x10^-12 of the known planets in the universe have abundant and easily accessible liquid water, and a fraction of that fraction is inhabited.

And a third fact: Akiridion 5 is not one of these planets.

So, while the heat is rather bothersome, it isn’t crazily so, and the dryness to rival the deserts to the southeast in Nevada and Arizona isn’t noteworthy in the slightest to Arcadia’s resident Akiridion.

What is noteworthy, though, is the day, just after the birth of August, the sun doesn’t rise. At least, not in any visible way. Stretching across the sky from horizon to horizon are thick, gray clouds. They roil across the sky, as if the crashing waves of the sea had been supplanted into the heavens, and carry with them a rumbling, still too far off to do much more than bounce off eardrums, but near enough for the soundwaves to bear fruitful promise.

Krel knows what this is – he’s seen enough human media to know what a rainstorm looks like.

But he pays this no more mind than vague acknowledgment, not processing it whatsoever as he makes a swift exit from the mothership and jumps into his car (that he technically stole, but the police can’t prove he’s the one who stole those parts, so jokes on them), already half a horvath late after he accidentally passed out at his workstation last night without an alarm set. He has better and more important things to think about, after all – Douxie is back in Arcadia today with Nari, for the first time in months, to help Krel with the flight mechanics of the currently-being-rebuilt Castle Camelot.

And if he’s just as excited to see Douxie again as he is to work on the magitech, well, he can’t exactly be blamed. Ever since they first teamed up after the Order attacked HexTech, Krel’s felt like maybe it was Douxie that’s been missing. He just gets Krel, in a way that pretty much no one else has, not even Aja.

In but a few minutes, he’s pulled up outside the no-longer-ruins, still very much where Arcadia Oaks High once stood – with how massive this thing is, there was no moving it. But once Krel gets it off the ground, they can relocate to the forest for the rest of the rebuilding and repair and the reconstruction of the school can begin. And then maybe he’ll get a respite from Mary’s bitching about Arcadia Oaks High being temporarily hosted by Arcadia Oaks Academy.

And there he is. Standing outside the repaired gates is Douxie, looking exactly as he had when he left, from the blue tips to the black Converse to the skull necklace. He grins as Krel approaches, giving a two-finger salute in greeting. Krel gives an excited wave in response and then quickly cuts himself off.

Ok, I’m not an oaf like Steve, I need to get myself together.

“Was wondering when you’d show up,” Douxie teases.

“Ok, I’m not that late,” Krel says. “Where’s Nari?”

“She’s with the Trollhunters,” Douxie says. “She wanted Toby to show her more of his stage magic.”

“And Archie?”

“Blinky.”

Yeah, that tracks.

There’s an awkward moment where neither of them says anything, they just stare at each other. Eyes roaming over Douxie’s face, he’s reminded just how gold Douxie’s eyes are, a mesmerizing color Krel’s yet to see any other human, wizard, or even troll possess, a color he’d expect more from the stars themselves, in the hearts of supernovas and in the space dust that births nebulas.

Then Douxie clears his throat and gives Krel a playful smirk, breaking Krel from his reverie, causing him to blush deeply. “R-right, uh, let’s get started.”

The two make their way over to the engine Krel’s gotten hooked up, a feat of technology Krel is personally incredibly proud of. It makes his teleporter look like a child’s toy! This engine, the Heart of Avalon 2.0, is the largest piece of technology he’s ever made, and it’s the same size and dimensions as the original gemstone that powered the castle. With the little experience he got from his and Douxie’s brief experiment together with the miniature Heart of Avalon, he’s managed to ensure the entire thing is optimized for magic and made it so that the internal four-dimensional processor is keyed into the specific wavelengths and frequencies that he knows Douxie’s magic operates at. He’s also got the local transmitter and all the receivers set up and linked, that way when the engine is up and running, the magitech will function equally at every corner of Camelot, allowing for it all to rise as one piece, every inch of it with the same support. All the tech is in place – as in place as it can be right now since there are sections of the castle that can’t be repaired until it’s in the air – so now he just needs the magic component, and he can test this baby out. Hopefully, it won’t go down in flames.

He's 63.8% confident it won’t.

When they arrive at the Heart, Douxie’s jaw actually drops as he takes it all in, eyes unable to settle in any one spot for very long with just how much there is to see.

“You … this … holy shit.”

“Pretty impressive, yes?” Krel says.

“It’s … it’s amazing! How many people had to help you to get this done so quickly?” Douxie asks.

“Oh, no one, this was all me,” Krel says, with no lack of self-satisfaction, preening under the praise.

“You made this entire thing yourself!?”

“From initial design all the way through construction – the only help I needed was that of some of Blinky’s magic books to supplement my admittedly limited knowledge on magical conduits.”

“Oh, Zoe’s going to be so fucking jealous that she didn’t make this herself when she sees this, this is a technomancer’s wet dream right here,” Douxie says with a laugh. Krel isn’t sure what that means, but he laughs along anyway. Then Douxie says, “Alright, so, what am I doing here?”

Krel grabs Douxie’s hand, pretends like that doesn’t make his own skin tingle where they touch, and drags Douxie over to the platform that leads into the heart of the Heart. For this whole thing to work, there are multiple interface sites with access to different aspects and functions, and what Douxie needs to do has to do with the primary function, the interface to which is located at the most central part of the Heart where it can better connect and communicate with everything else.

In this space, they are surrounded by the blue glow of Akiridion tech reflected back by the metal, and the black of Douxie’s hair is turned a midnight blue against blue-tinted skin. The gold of his eyes doesn’t turn green for a second, though, the color too powerful to be shifted.

And tucked away in here, the rest of the world feels impossibly far away from this moment. All it is, is him, Douxie, and their magitech.

Krel’s isn’t sure how long they work – he’s far too captivated by A: his tech, because it’s his tech, and B: the trails of sky-blue magic in the air, sparks flying off to hover in the air like little stars. He’s too enraptured in what they’re creating together, in the conversation that flows so naturally between them. Douxie tells him of his travels with Nari, and Krel fills him in on what’s going on in Arcadia, and when they’ve no more to say on that their conversation easily drifts amongst topics, eventually settling on music.

“You know, I’ve been practicing, and I think I’m getting pretty good,” Krel says.

“Oh yeah? Did you end up getting the books I suggested?” Douxie says.

“Yes, and you were right, they were very helpful,” Krel says. And then, teasingly, he adds, “I also may have found some videos on YouTube.”

“You found those???” Douxie asks.

“Well, Zoe may have sent me the link to the first one,” Krel says.

“Of course she did,” Douxie sighs.

“Hey, they were very informative,” Krel says. “A good demonstration of technique.”

“They’re shitty videos of me playing guitar in a tiny shitty apartment with a 2006 quality camera,” Douxie says. “I’m surprised you can even make out the fingerings I’m doing.”

“I won’t lie, it took a few watches and a little sound comparison,” Krel says.

“Well, you’ll have to give me a demonstration,” Douxie says, shooting Krel a smile, which Krel can’t help but mirror.

“If you have time before you have to leave,” Krel then says with a pang in his chest.

“I’ll make sure I do,” Douxie says, bumping his shoulder into Krel’s.

And, well, he’s just glad the room is lit up blue to disguise just how brightly he blushes at that.

Pretty soon after this, Douxie mentions lunch – evidently, he had been keeping track of time.

Back in the main hall of the castle, after putting his transduction on (eating is so much better when he’s got actual taste buds), Krel is caught off guard by a great rumble from outside.

At the entrance, gazing out, Krel is struck by the sight.

Streaks of liquid silver fall from the heavens, great waves from the gray sky coming down paint the world beneath. A cool mist sits against his skin, a completely foreign feeling to the warm humidity of the spring and the dry heat of the summer. Each strike to the ground creates a symphony and releases from the world an earthy scent unlike anything he’s encountered before, a scent of freshness and life. He can feel the relief of the flora around him, a palpable joy in the air, laced through the earthy scent, set into every line of every stem and leaf and trunk as they welcome the deluge, the relief of having water after months and months of not even a single drop.

“Krel?”

Douxie’s already outside the building, standing in the rain entirely unbothered, waiting for him. His dark hair is darker, the black more complete, the blue richer. It’s weighed down by the water, and the wet ropes stick to glistening skin. He doesn’t seem to mind the rain though. He pushes his bangs back out of his face, giving Krel a full view of those eyes, turned molten in the rain.

Krel tentatively takes a step forward but lurches back at the first splatter of water on the tip of his nose, the cold of it startling him.

A calloused hand enters his vision, long, thin fingers outstretched to him.

“Come on,” Douxie says, and the warmth in his voice and written into the deepest lines of his face is enough to make Krel’s breath hitch and create a fluttering in his stomach.

He tentatively takes Douxie’s hand, and the wizard slowly pulls him out into the downpour. He gasps at the sensation of the cold water soaking through his hair and into his shirt and pants, a shock to the system that really wakes him up. He holds out his free hand and watches in wonder the plips of rain against his palm, rolling over the sides and down his wrist as they gather and splash.

None of the movies or tv shows could have prepared him for real rain – not even his times in water here, under the spray of the shower or in the mothership’s pool, could have prepared him.

There’s a squeeze of his hand. He looks to see Douxie’s interlaced his fingers with Krel’s – and the effect of the droplets streaking down their arms to streak over and between interlocked hands, gathering in their snug palm and where their finger meet so firmly it cannot slip through the cracks.

Now in close proximity, Krel can’t look away from Douxie’s face – how the rain gathers and shimmers over his pale skin to highlight his cheekbones, how his cheeks seem rosier in the wake of cold water, how his normally pretty straight hair curls slightly against his neck and temples, how water droplets sit delicately on his eyelashes to glimmer in the dimmed daylight.

He’s beautiful.

“Hm, I was thinking the same thing,” Douxie says with a cheeky smile. Krel tenses when he realizes he said that out loud. His free hand comes to rub at the back of his neck in embarrassment, and then he registers what exactly it is Douxie says. A squeak leaves him at the sudden realization, and in that moment he’s sure he’s blushing so hard his cheeks are up like a 100-watt cyan light bulb.

This seems to strike Douxie, as Krel can actually hear his breath catch and watches as Douxie’s eyes go wide, sparkling both with wonder and with specks of blue light.

That’s when he notices a bunch of odd points of blue light on Douxie’s face, reflections of something else just like the specks in his eyes.

Krel’s own eyes widen as he realizes what it is.

Water refracts light.

With the rain running down his cheeks, his blush has created a cyan galaxy across his face.

“Wow …” Douxie breathes.

Krel just smiles, a little awkwardly, unsure of what to say. He’s never been the best with words, after all.

Douxie’s free hand comes up to gently push a wet chunk of hair out of Krel's face, tucking it behind his ear. Krel can feel the cold drips from the end of it join the drips of the rest of his hair down his neck. Douxie’s fingers leave little sparks in their wake as they just ever so lightly brush across his skin.

He then finds himself being led away from Castle Camelot. Each footfall sends up a spray of water, and when he comes to his first large puddle, the splash is high enough to soak his socks and the bottoms of his jeans, both to his discomfort and to his delight. And that puddle seems to activate something inside of Krel.

At the next large puddle, he simply can resist – instead of just stepping into it, he lets go of Douxie’s hand and jumps, sending the water spraying nearly as high as his shirt and also getting Douxie.

The little giggle that leaves him is completely involuntary. The fond one that leaves Douxie is less so.

And then Douxie stomps in the standing water, sending a spray over Krel’s shins.

Krel then kicks through the water, sending a larger splash Douxie’s way.

Douxie raises a challenging eyebrow, and Krel wastes no time darting away.

That’s how the two find themselves running through the streets of Arcadia like a couple of little kids, splashing through puddles and soaking each other in their chase.

They’ll have to finish their work later, and once they’re done with the preliminary testing, Douxie will have to take Nari and leave again.

But for now, they don’t have to worry about reconstruction or evil magical gods or saving the world.

For now, they’re two boys playing in the rain together.

By the time they slow to a stop, they’re panting and soaked from head to toe. Even still, each raindrop that hits Krel carries with it an invigoration that, along with the cold, raises goosebumps along his arms. He’s winded, but he’s alive, in a way he never would’ve thought rain could make him feel.

Though, he’s pretty sure it’s not just the rain making him feel this way.

They find themselves in the town square park, which is utterly empty beside themselves. Not even Stuart is out here selling his tacos, which means they’re going to need to think of something else for lunch.

He locks eyes with Douxie once they’ve both caught their breath, and the two of them can only laugh.

Krel’s then caught off guard by Douxie once again taking his hand and pulling him in, the two of them even closer than they were before back at the castle.

“Hi,” he says, most of his cerebral higher functioning officially shut down.

“Hi,” Douxie says back. Krel can feel his breath across his cheeks as he speaks, can feel the heat radiating off the wizard’s skin. Suddenly overwhelmed by just how close they are, Krel tries to look away, but a hand comes gently under his chin, slowly lifting his face back up.

He isn’t sure who moves first to close the gap.

Honestly, it may have been both of them.

All that Krel really knows is that one second, Douxie’s lifted his chin and locked his eyes once more with Krel’s, and the next, that hand has moved to cup Krel’s jaw and the space between them has closed in time with their eyes.

Cold lips meet cold lips, chapped slightly from the chilly air. Douxie lets go of Krel’s hand to wrap that arm around Krel’s waist, and Krel finds his own hands coming up to settle on Douxie’s chest. Warmth bursts into life inside of Krel, a rightness settling across him and soaking into his core like the rain into his clothes.

(Maybe he could get a job with the false alarm they had encountered. Then again, Douxie had no idea which guild Claire's mother represented, nor if she knew that her daughter was a shadowmancer. Just because the city-state of Arcadia Oaks was more tolerant than Camelot had been didn't mean it was safe to tell secrets like this.)

The castle wasn't as abandoned as it had looked. There wasn't any dust, and no cobwebs clung to the walls or ceiling. There was a hallway and two stairways coming off the main entrance. One led up, and the other led down.

“Arch? Archie, where are you?” Douxie called out. He heard a panicked yowl come from the downwards staircase. Douxie broke into a run and descended the stairs. “I’m coming, Arch!”

“No! Go back!” The desperation in Archie's voice only spurred Douxie further to him.

When he reached the bottom of the staircase, Douxie came to a long hallway with closed doors on either side, as well as a passageway veering off to the left. At the end of the hallway was a faintly glowing transparent dome. Underneath it was Archie. The dome's color was almost the same as Douxie's magic, if not a little more and vibrant. Douxie suppressed a shiver as he walked towards his familiar. Nothing, not even an uncomfortably similar color of magic, could stop him from helping Archie.

“Douxie, you need to go!” Archie hissed. “There's a strange monster in here; it’ll trap you!”

“Not without you.” Douxie knelt by the dome, inspecting it. He touched it, searching for a weakness, and found nothing.

“And just what are you doing with my prisoner?” The voice came from the hallway to the left.

Douxie glared into the darkness. While there was a faint cyan glow coming from it, it wasn't strong enough for him to make out any details. “He’s not yours. He’s my familiar, and he’s coming with me.”

“Your familiar? So, you’re a wizard, then.”

“What’s it to you?”

“Well, you’re obviously not a changeling. As a wizard, you should be more useful to me than your familiar is. I’d be willing to let him go if you were stay with me and obey my orders. Don’t worry; I’m not planning on ordering you to do anything directly harmful to yourself.”

There were many things that Douxie should have been.

“How long would I be here?”

“As long as I need you for.”

“Douxie, you can’t possibly be thinking of doing this.” Douxie turned to his familiar.

“I’m immortal, Arch; I'm not a little kid anymore. I can make my own decisions.” He could make his own sacrifices for the people he loved. Besides, Merlin had always liked Archie better than Douxie. He turned back to the monster. “Come into the light.”

Douxie had to suppress the snicker that battered at his lips. The so-called monster was a man who, when not counting his hair, was no taller than Douxie. Sure, he had strange eyes, four arms, and blue skin. He also had a complete and utter baby face. Maybe if he wasn’t holding Archie captive, Douxie would have found him adorable. For all the arrogance in the man’s voice, his posture and facial expression marked him as clearly uncomfortable under Douxie’s scrutiny.

“This is the monster you were talking about?” Douxie asked his familiar. What next, was Charlemagne only the Devourer of Fruit Pies? “I can handle him.”

“Douxie, don’t do this. Please.”

“I’m sorry, Archie, and thank you for everything.” Douxie looked directly at the man's face. “Let him go. Take me instead.”

The man reached to a device on his wrist, one that reminded Douxie uncomfortably of his own spellbook bracer. The man then pulled up an illusion and manipulated it. A similar barrier appeared around Douxie as the one around Archie. The barrier around Archie lifted off the floor in a bubble that floated next to the man.

“I’ll escort your familiar out, and then I'll be back for you.”

Archie pawed at the barrier. “I’ll come back for you, Douxie! I’ll find a way!”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” the man said as he and Archie disappeared into the darkness.

Douxie was left alone for fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes. Long enough to regret that he had left his lute back at the inn. That was another spell he wished he could learn, one that provided him with an instrument wherever he went. Even if they had had more time together, Merlin would have been more likely to teach Douxie shadowmancy than to summon a lute. And for all her so-called kindness, Morgana hadn’t been willing to teach Douxie such a spell, either.

What did the four-armed man want a wizard and not a dragon for?

Douxie had promised to stay and be the man’s prisoner. He hadn’t promised to actually be helpful. Both Merlin and Morgana had found Douxie annoying, and in their own ways they had tossed him out. And Douxie hadn’t even been trying with them!

This man didn’t know what he had gotten himself into.

The man came back and dismissed the barrier around Douxie. “Come. I’ll show you to your room.”

“Oh, really? You’re not making me stay in the dungeon?”

“Do you want to stay in the dungeon?” The man rolled his eyes. “Besides, I need you at your best.”

The man led Douxie through the castle. It was like nowhere Douxie had ever been – there was so much metal on the floors and ceiling. Cyan lights came on in the orbs embedded in the walls as the two of them passed.

“When you’re not working,” the man said, “you can go almost anywhere you like in the castle – just stay out of the West Wing.”

“Oh? What’s in there?”

The man glared over his shoulder. “None of your concern if you value your life.”

Well, so much for the earlier reassurance.

The man opened the door to a surprisingly lavish room. The bed looked more comfortable than anything Douxie had ever slept upon. “I have two servants, Ricky and Lucy. If you need anything, they will attend you.”

“So, I suppose they’ll give me your name? You never exactly introduced yourself.”

The man flinched. “I, well, you and your familiar intruded! But it’s, I’m, you can call me Krel. He called you Douxie?”

Douxie tried to be friendly most of the time, he really did. He had no intention of being friendly now. “You can call me Hisirdoux.”