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ron's voice is small, smaller than any of the boys have ever heard. even when they were kids, ron had always been a little eccentric and soft spoken, and working at d.a.d.d.i.e.s. hadn't changed that. but this...

"terry's... dead?"

none of the boys can look him in the eye, least of all grant. a burning shame engulfs him as he averts his gaze, not wanting to see the effect his actions had had on ron.

"what do you mean, he's dead?"

none of the adults wanted to explain. scary's mouth opened and closed silently, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. finally, link stepped forward.

"he was shot, sir. he... he didn't suffer. i'm so sorry."

ron fell to his knees, the gravel beneath him rustling. he was silent for a long, long time, as was everyone present. the only noise they could hear were ron's tears sliding off the tip of his nose, falling to earth, disturbing the gravel.

finally, with one last sniffle, ron dragged his sleeve across his face and stood up. and there, for the first time in all their lives, ron stampler showed immense, unabating rage.

"who did it?"

the air around him crackled with purple energy, daddy magic coalescing into a maelstrom of grief and anger. the kids held their tongues; this was grant's responsibility to own up to alone. the boys, in turn, stayed silent. they knew this intensity of magic would kill grant, no matter how benign the spell would be. and even though none of them were terribly happy about what he'd done, they still didn't want him to die.

"who the fuck killed my son?"

the boys flinch; ron never, ever swore. his quiet anger seared them more than anything they'd ever felt in their lives. sparrow sat down on the ground, burying his head in his knees, beginning to sob. nicky patted his erstwhile friend on the back, kneeling down to whisper to him.

"i asked a fucking question. someone ANSWER ME!"

the crackling of the magical storm grew louder and louder, and those closest to it started feeling ron's emotions leaking through to reality.

his fading joy at making it back to the real world. his horror and grief at the knowledge that his son had been shot dead, killed by some unknown assailant. his rage, oh his rage, at the person who had killed his son.

and above all, the desire for vengeance, to avenge his son, his beloved boy who had always been so full of life, and was now gone.

grant starts to move, but link sees him, and grabs his hand. their eyes meet, and grant can see in link's face that even his own son, the one who had just days before said that he never wanted to see him again, wanted him to keep quiet. but he just couldn't. he'd wanted an out for so long, he was so tired of living. the only things keeping him alive were his husband, his work, and above all, his son. the husband he'd been lying to for years. his work, that willy had now taken over.

his son, who never wanted to see him again.

if letting ron kill him to avenge terry jr. would make ron feel even a little bit better, it would still be better than holding on, he reasoned.

grant beckons to link, who leans in to hear him whisper in his ear.

"link... i love you. i love you so, so much, and. i'm sorry for everything i've done. tell marco i love him... and i'm sorry about this as well."

link feels vines wrap around his arms and legs, holding him in place as grant pulls away and strides towards ron. desperately, he begins to struggle against the restraints his dad put on him.

"dad! you stay right there, i'm not letting you do this. scary, taylor, get me out of these, help me-"

even as scary and taylor start hacking away at the vines with their blades, grant comes to a stop in front of ron.

he takes a deep breath, and opens his mouth.

"ron, i... it was me. i'm so sorry."

a crackling ball of purple lightning forms in ron's palms as he turns his furious gaze on grant. grant's feigned calm cracks slightly at his burning rage, but he continues.

"do whatever you will. i deserve it."

his eyes close as the ball grows and grows. just as it looks like ron is about to send it flying at his head, link rushes to put himself between grant and ron.

"wait! he didn't mean it!"

ron grits his teeth and bites out, "he didn't mean to shoot my son?"

link spreads his arms, guarding his father. "willy was controlling him, look!"

he gestures to the collar around grant's neck, and ron can see the inscription.

"where the fuck does that say for him to kill anyone?"

grant quietly replies, "i... i didn't know that was what i was going to do. i'm sorry, i really am. link, get out of the way."

link turns his head to look at his father. his hero, his idol, his role model in life. reduced to... this. he shakes his head.

"i'm not going to do that."

ron, processing the information that willy had once again taken something precious from him, finally lets out a guttural shout of grief, and turns around to hurl the ball of lightning into the trees. a gigantic bolt of energy comes crashing down from the sky, obliterating every single tree within a 10 meter radius, and setting fire to more around them.

he marches over to grant, who falls to his knees and bows his head. ron grabs him by the collar, and coldly spits, "you don't get to die that easily, grant. you're going to help me bring my son back, and then you're going to help me kill that son of a bitch. get up. get the fuck up!"