Chapter 15: Past the Garden Shed and Straight Ahead (J2, NC-17)

[lucifersprize]

Fic title: Past the Garden Shed and Straight Ahead
Artist name: amberdreams
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: past domestic abuse, sexual language, non explicit sex, cussing, Chad

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They checked their supplies for the journey, that was yet to come. They had a lantern (battery powered from Halloween supplies) and some sturdy wooden staffs carefully fashioned from orchard branches by Jared. They didn’t strictly need them but he felt like any mythical quest required them. They each had a leather satchel packed with a sandwich and a bottle of water. Jared carefully added his iPAD, five dollar coins and his mother’s gold wedding ring to his pack. Jensen handed him their map - a plan of his home and its surrounding land, taken from the deeds of the house. They glanced at the clock. It was 11.15 at night. Jared breathed out slow, gathering his strength. He was sure that this quest could not save him, but if it could he would soon come face to face with the faerie who had haunted him his whole life. It was a terrifying prospect. “I’m good, let’s go.”

Phase three was a go, and anything could happen. Or maybe not. This was surely only an elaborate cosplay?

They paused on the terrace, shoulder to shoulder, with a staff in each of their grips. Jared carried his childhood herb garden, in a pot, under his arm. He cleared his throat and spoke clearly, an invocation taught to him by Felicia, in a language he didn’t know. He hoped it wasn’t an obscenity.

At that moment the clouds cleared to reveal a full harvest moon, illuminating a silhouette of the orchard, which was their destination."If faerie creatures can find you in Ambrose Grove, then your Faerie Queen can be summoned there," Felicia had argued.

A full half hour to journey the grassy plains of the garden might seem excessive, but he had no way of knowing what challenges faced him on the way. He looked around, waiting for some sort of sign.

The approaching chug of his lawnmower made him jump. “Wait? What? Chad?” The moonlight which suffused the lawn, reflected on it’s shined paint and lit an empty seat. Well then. Either he was dreaming or his quest was real. It came to rest by the terrace, facing the orchard. “I think,” said Jared.  “We’re supposed to get on it.”  Except, every time Jared tried to sit on it, it moved. If they tried to walk instead, it blocked their path. After three attempts he stopped to think.  He couldn’t see any little folk but it had to be under their control. He had an idea. “Oh, we need to pay for safe passage!”

The mower stilled. He got out a dollar and placed it on the seat. The engine stopped. “More?” Jared asked. He put another dollar on top. The engine restarted. Jared got on and sat down, his broken leg jutting out at a ridiculous angle. The dollars had mysteriously disappeared.

“Well, what about me?” Jensen complained.

“Either I’m supposed to go on my own,” started Jared, as the mower began to move, “Or…”

Jensen took a running leap onto the hood and hung on grimly as it picked up speed. “Or I can ride along. I am not letting you do this alone.”

“Yeah, that.”

It only took a few minutes to reach the edge of the orchard. The lawnmower rolled to a stop and they dismounted. In the blink of an eye, it was gone entirely. Jared fervently hoped that it had vanished back to his storage unit where he had put it the day before.

The halo of the lantern picked out child sized mushroom seats around a picnic table. and beside that, a tinier copy. “So, now…,” said Jared.

“We do what all good hobbits do,” said Jensen.

“Second breakfast,” said Jared.

They were big men and the mushroom stools were small yet sturdy. They sat awkwardly and unpacked their sandwiches. One for Jared, one for Jensen and another, a delicate triangle sandwich, which they placed on the tiny table beside them. It didn’t move or disappear. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. He waited for something to happen and something did.

A rabbit hopped right up to the little table. White as snow and as big as a cat, it stared at Jared with bright green, unblinking eyes. It seemed to be waiting for something.

He decided to greet it. “Hi, I remember you.”

And he did! Recollection flooded back. Moments after his father died - silky cloud fur between his fingertips, a sparse comfort for his trauma. Then later, glimpses of huge floppy ears, when his bullies fell and scraped their knees, and a twitch-nosed companion in a lonely household. Jared knew the rabbit existed, even as all the adults in his life had denied it. He searched his mind for what came before the rabbit, when precisely it had arrived, and when it had stopped visiting, but there was only fog.

Within minutes, the rabbit had been joined by a wiry squirrel, which dismounted from the branches of a tree in a series of amusing gymnastics. It cocked its head at Jared, daring him to remember days of tears, after his grandma died and the moment he smiled again, at the antics of a ridiculous white squirrel. He acknowledged its presence, “You helped.”

Jensen was oddly quiet. He helped Jared back up and held the lantern to guide him and he didn’t appear at all fazed by the strange company.

The animals crowded at Jared's feet joined by a tiny white shrew, which he was sure he had never seen but he did remember the patter of little paws, and squeaks from a 'monster' under his childhood bed. He couldn’t help smiling, “Seriously, that was you?”

He didn’t get an answer. They seemed to want him to follow.  So, this was it, phase four, time to meet his adversary, and it didn’t seem so scary, after all.

Under the canopy of the fruit trees darkness became velvet black. Late night silence was punctuated by the sigh of leaves in the breeze and the occasional thud of ripe fruit falling to the ground. He squinted at the cool grass at his feet, and with his staff for balance he hopped carefully around mushroom rings following his ghostly guides, until they finally stood at the very edge of the largest ring in the orchard. He blew out slowly. His heart was racing. His whole life rested on his next move and he had no idea how it would play out. It might be the last time he ever saw this world, the last time he ever saw Jensen. He didn’t know if he could go through with it, he only knew that he had to.

His voice trembled, “Here we go then.”

Jensen snatched his elbow and pulled him back into him. He turned to face him, expression earnest, “I need to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

Jensen frowned, and it almost looked as if he would cry but then his plush lips crashed onto his, a chaste but emotional kiss, “Never mind.”

He licked his lips, tasted Jensen on them. What did it mean? Did this screw it all up?   He wanted it, wanted Jensen.

Felicia’s advice, “It’s all about intent,” came back to him. He stepped away, trying to distance himself. He had to keep his intent on breaking the contract. He couldn’t endanger Jensen.

Ground shook and leaves parted. A white moose approached with magnificent dignity and it stopped, yards away, watching with intelligent eyes. So, that just left the stag, and his encounter with that hadn’t worked out well.

“I have to go,” he said softly.

Jensen’s eyes glittered, a single tear on his lash. He shooed Jared, “Go. I can’t come with you.”

“I know.” He lifted his foot and when he hobbled his next step, he was inside the faerie ring.

On high alert, he turned a full circle waiting for something to happen. Jensen and the animals stood at the very edge of the ring, watching, waiting.

Nothing happened.

He put his pot of stolen herbs down on the clumpy rough grass and placed his remaining dollars, and his mother’s wedding ring with it. Then, he turned on his iPad and scrolled to the design for an elaborate faerie trail. He carefully leaned it up against the pot. The clock on the screen clicked through to midnight, 00.00. He pressed his fingers through the leaves of his herb garden, and the scents of thyme, mint and lemon verbena wafted headily in the air. He took a deep breath, the night was too warm for the way his body shivered.

“I come home to pay homage to my Faerie Queen. I come to offer favor.”

“Jared Padalecki!” came a reply, and he whirled around to face a glamorous red headed woman in a shimmering long dress and a white rose crown.

His mind flashed back to a long distant day. He had a toy teapot in his hand, drops of water glistened on the  leaves of a lemon verbena He breathed its sweet strong scent, giggling in delight at a tiny red-headed figure with iridescent wings as she danced among lacy white flowers.

Quest end.

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