Of Heroes and Villainy

On the day they were to meet the train to head back to the Academy, Wilhelm called his eldest into his office for a talk. When Walt got there, his father placed a vial with a deep red liquid in it onto the desk closer to Walt. "Take this," he told him before he handed him a small bag to put it in and then a teddy bear to hide the covered vial in. "I need you to get some of that into a drink for the Blackwood boy."

Walt hesitated as he zipped the back of the bear up. "What should I expect it to do?" he asked conspiratorially, pretending for all the world as if he was curious about the effects. "Are there any personal protection precautions I should take?"

Wilhelm looked proud of himself as he smirked. "From what I have heard, the Blackwood boy does blood magic away from others. This will make it so the next time he uses blood magic, it will cause blood poisoning. The school will have no choice but to put him down. Just stay out of his way once it happens and you should be safe. Make sure Stella stays clear of him too."

Walt nodded, looking thoughtful. "He seldom dines close enough to me to slip something into his drink, so it might take some effort. I'll let you know when the deed is done and Stella and I will make sure to steer clear. Are we sure there is no antidote for this?"

"They've never been able to find one," Wilhelm said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Colton was always sure there was a way to cure it, but his wife never wanted him to test it out."

"Colton? Was that the elder Blackwood? I don't recall you ever mentioning him by name before," Walt asked, careful not to seem too interested lest he tip Wilhelm off that he had a mind of his own.

Wilhelm nodded his head, his eyes looking far away as he seemed to be remembering things long since past. "Yes, your roommate's father. It would not look good on our family that we were once friends with traitors. Either way, he's dead and never found that cure he was sure existed. Nothing will be able to help his son."

Walt nodded, acting as if he had dismissed the question from his mind, even though some back corner of his mind was most certainly working on that very question. He assumed he did not know enough about blood magic and how it worked to intelligently be able to consider solutions to a problem he didn't even understand. He couldn't work on that particular problem right then, so he left it to work on itself while he focused on keeping Wilhelm guessing about his intentions.

Walt held the bear loosely and asked, "Surely with their deaths and the rumors surrounding the reason behind it the Blackwoods are no longer a threat to us. Not that I mind eradicating more members of that vile family, but why bother with them at this juncture?"

"The older two are the dangerous ones," Wilhelm told his son. "If it were just Adiran, Lilith, and Rinne, it would be nothing. She doesn't even remember her parents. But Adiran has been looking for some sort of conspiracy, and he's taught the older two to look for it as well. Clear the Blackwood name, so to speak. As if they weren't traitors to their country."

It made Walt wonder how he knew that, since Adiran kept far away from their family, and kept the kids away as much as he could until now. He knew better than to follow that particular line of logic out loud, however, so he simply nodded and verified that Wilhelm was done with his presence and slipped out to finish packing for the trip back to the Academy. He tucked the bear and its secret payload away, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that he would never willingly give that to Kageo.

It wasn't too long after that that Walt and Stella made their way to the train station. The Blackwoods weren't on the train yet, but an hour later, they came upon Vailmont where the two got on and came over to sit near them. Kageo just barely managed not to beam at Walt when he saw him, managing to remember there were others around and settling on a small smile instead. Seeing that smile only solidified that Walt would never give that elixir to him. Even with only a small smile, Walt could see the love in Kageo's eyes.

Walt risked talking quietly on the crowded train and greeted both of the Blackwoods warmly. Yami casually set a hand on each of the boys' knee or hand and facilitated a bit of a psychic group chat so they could catch up. They kept most of their talk about what they had been up to, though Kageo did tell Walt he had some things to show him when they got to their room. Walt responded that he had been working on a new project as well, confirming Kageo's suspicions about the "grey state" of their connection sometimes.

Of course, once they got to their room and their bags were on the ground, Kageo couldn't help but pull Walt to him for a searing kiss. He'd missed everything about Walt; his presence, his warmth, his affection, all of it. Walt returned his kiss with equal fervor, having missed Kageo to distraction most times. They pulled away from each other, both of their looks promising they would come back to this later.

Kageo grabbed his messenger bag and pulled it up onto his desk before pulling out every photo of him and Walt together as children, taking them up until they were about five. He had included the ones of all four siblings together as well, and now he handed them over to Walt for him to look at. Each photo was lovingly noted on the back with who it was and the ages in Yuna Blackwood's handwriting.

Walt looked through the photos with the same reverence and wonder that Kageo had when he had found them. He had only suspected that they had known each other when they were little based on the information that he was still assimilating that he had gleaned from Wilhelm and Deirdre. To see these photos stirred feelings of nostalgia in Walt that he struggled to reconcile. It was as if a part of his life had been taken away from him.

In fact, the idea that he should have had some memories of the Blackwoods began to eat away at him the more photos he looked at. They hadn't seen each other in about fifteen years, but even at the ages of five, Walt and Kageo should have been able to have memories of each other. Kageo at least had the excuse of having dealt with the extreme trauma of losing both of his parents at the same time, but Walt didn't have that.

He was beginning to consider whether his father had memory manipulation magic when it occurred to him that he had been staring at a particular photo for a bit. He looked up at Kageo, his cheeks coloring in embarrassment. Kageo smiled at him and said, "Welcome back, handsome. Lost in memories?"

Before he could think about it, Walt shook his head. "No, that's the problem. I don't remember your family at all!" he exclaimed concernedly.

Kageo looked thoughtful as he considered that. He could remember things that he could connect to Walt now that he had been told everything and seen the photos. He could pull pieces of memories out, but he didn't know why Walt couldn't. "Not even after seeing the photos?"

Walt shook his head, the realization bothering him more and more as he thought about the ramifications. He hesitated to speak his concerns aloud, but felt like he was holding back vital information from Kageo if he didn't. "I think my father or someone he is in league with has memory manipulation! It's the only explanation for the empty places in my memories," he admitted.

"Well, luckily for you, and unlucky for your father, I happen to dabble in memories myself," Kageo commented, putting both of his ungloved hands on Walt's cheeks. His fingertips brushed gently against Walt's temples, which felt good. "Even if memories are manipulated or hidden, those memories live inside of us. It's just a matter of pulling them back to the forefront. If you want me to try."

Walt nodded wordlessly, the corner of his lower lip caught between his teeth in an expression of trepidatious trust just before he smiled broadly and met Kageo's eyes. Kageo gave his own small smile back before his eyes started glowing. He was looking for any and all memories connected to himself, whether they were from now or the past. Even if he found a wall in the way, he just took his time carefully chipping it away as he pulled the memory to the front.

Walt would never get accustomed to the feeling of someone else organizing his thoughts for him, but once he felt Kageo chipping away at the wall in his mind he was suddenly aware of it. Kageo let out a little whoosh of breath when he finally broke through the wall, like it had taken an expenditure of energy in order to finish it off. Then suddenly the hidden memories rushed at both of them, flooding their minds. They were memories of days spent playing in fields with their mothers, running hand in hand towards a playground, and innocent school boy crushes.

Walt had to assume that Wilhelm knew about those experiences if he had walled away the memories, which put Kageo in even more danger. That thought gave Walt an idea, though. He showed Kageo the memory of his father ordering him to poison Kageo with the blood magic poison, then mentally told him to implant a memory of using it.

Kageo pulled out a copy of the memory of the vial, using other memories to clip together to make what Walt was asking him for. By the time he put the memory in place, he felt tired. His knees almost gave out and Walt just caught him in time to make sure Kageo didn't end up on the ground. Kageo wrapped his arms around Walt's shoulders for support. "I'm sorry your father asked you to do that. It can't be easy to be given orders like that from him."

Walt carefully steered Kageo over and sat with him on the edge of the bed. "Honestly, I'm fairly certain now that what happened to your parents was related to Wilhelm and the Council, if not directly ordered by them. What I want to know is why, beyond the general desire the man has to rule over people," Walt said.

"It might have been about the council itself," Kageo told him. "From what I read and saw back at home, your father and mine started disagreeing about how the council should go. I don't understand why that was worth killing them, but it's a starting point."

Walt nodded his agreement, the set of his mouth telling Kageo that he was seething inside. Kageo didn't need their connection to know how Walt was feeling, he had been in his mind when the betrayal ripped through him. His love felt violated, and he couldn't blame him. It was doubtful that he had consented to having his memories walled away. Moreover, Wilhelm was accustomed to getting what he wanted regardless of how anyone else felt about it, and so was not inclined to be gentle or elegant.

Kageo pulled Walt down onto the bed with him so he could wrap his arms around him comfortably. He didn't understand this specific kind of betrayal, but he imagined it would feel horrible. It would be like finding out his aunt and uncle had been working against him, but with an added layer of violation that would be hard to get past. "I'm so sorry, love."

Walt found it difficult to hold onto his anger in such a comforting embrace and let himself be vulnerable enough to feel the rest of his feelings. He was nauseous and felt the very last thread of connection he had tried valiantly to maintain with his father break. Strangely, it didn't result in him falling into a depressive spiral as he would have expected.

He had prepared himself, if briefly, to face the despair of feeling as if his father were dead to him. Instead he felt a sort of elation at the break, as if a weight had been lifted off of his soul. He was no longer beholden to the Whitmore legacy as Wilhelm had envisioned it and it freed his conscience. He realized he had felt pulled in too many directions by Wilhelm's machinations and court intrigue while still attempting to maintain his sense of ethics and morality.

It was then that he surprised Kageo by laughing. He laughed uproariously for a solid several minutes, with tears streaming down his face while Kageo held him with an expression of mild concern. When the hilarity finally tapered off, Walt just laid there in Kageo's warm embrace for a bit, recovering the energy he had expended in safety. He wiped tears from his eyes and met Kageo's gaze finally and set about explaining. "Sorry. I've been torn between loyalty to the Whitmore Legacy and my own code of ethics for most of my life and I always had trouble reconciling where they diverged. Discovering that mental block snapped the last holdout I had left toward family politics," he said almost tiredly.

"I imagine that must feel freeing then," Kageo commented. It was clear he didn't completely understand but he knew what Walt meant. Kageo had just been lucky he'd never had to choose between the two. Adiran had done a lot to get Kageo trained up and ready for anything that might come at him, but they both agreed on the common mission between them. He had never felt pulled in one direction while wanting to go in another.

The only thing that sometimes gave him pause was that he had always accepted that this path would likely lead him to his early death. When he was with Walt, though, he didn't want it to come to that. He wanted to find a way to make sure they both got through it in one piece and thriving, but he knew he couldn't make that sort of promise. All he could do was try his best to get through it safely.

Rather than say anything though, he kissed Walt again, restarting what they had paused earlier. They shifted a little to where Walt was on top of his body, covering it with his own as they kissed heatedly. All of Kageo's earlier exhaustion seemed to disappear as their connection seemed to surge with sexual energy. Walt found himself responding almost automatically, his body reacting naturally to Kageo's interest and his mind tuning in without distractions for what felt like the first time.

It wasn't as if he had been operating on autopilot before, but some part of the back of his mind had been worrying about various concerns ranging from what his father might think about him enjoying the company of a man to what his father might think about him enjoying the company of

this particular

man. This time, though, he was able to simply be present in the moment without hearing a subdued nagging somewhere in the back-channels of his mind.

They shed their clothing again as they kissed, not even needing to speak to say how much they had missed each other or how glad they were to be back together, as that could all be silently communicated through the link between them. Walt did spare a quick thought for locking the door and soundproofing the room using the activation switch by Kageo's bed. That was the last thing Walt let himself be distracted by until he was lying beside Kageo in complete satisfaction later.

Spring semester was now in full swing as they got back into classes and their individual studies. Kageo told Walt, Yami, and Elliot what he had learned in his dad's study, and showed them the photos as well, but he still felt like there was a lot missing from the story. Knowing Colton Blackwood, that was likely on purpose. The information could put someone in danger, and Colton would have wanted to make sure the information could only be found when Kageo was old enough.

When they saw the photos, Elliot looked wistful and said, "I wonder if my dad still has some of the photos of us together as kids too."

Everyone stopped and looked at Elliot as if he had sprouted five heads. It was Yami who eventually broke the stunned silence. "We knew each other as kids?"

Elliot looked surprised as he looked around at all of them. "Yeah. You didn't know? I thought you knew! Dad was one of Blackwood's supporters. In fact, your dad is the reason my dad got involved in government. He was the one who supported my dad as a judge. Of course, most of the people the Blackwoods endorsed for government lost their bids after they were deemed traitors. Dad was one of the few who managed to get through it unscathed, but he's been angry about the propaganda that came out about the Blackwoods afterwards."

Kageo blinked a few times before looking at Yami, who was thinking hard. Finally she said, "I think I vaguely remember a few kids we spent time with before mom and dad withdrew us from society. It was so long ago though."

Walt snorted, "Up until my roomie here unlocked the memories, I didn't remember anything about the Blackwoods," he complained quietly.

Elliot's expression showed just what he thought of the idea of locking away someone's memories. "That's horrendous. I remember quite a bit about that time. Dad was always so stressed out, and when the Blackwoods died, he was furious and hurt. He told us to keep our peace but he wanted us to know the truth. I thought that was part of why you trusted me with taking your sister to the dance. With my dad on your side, I would be safer."

Kageo shook his head. "I had no idea. I only now know most of the names of dad's supporters because of journals I found. I didn't put two and two together, though. I've been occupied. Does your dad know who made the call or why they were killed?"

Elliot shook his head. "He doesn't know for sure but he has some guesses. He said Colton told him someone was trying to fix the elections. Dad thinks it has something to do with that."

Kageo turned his eyes over to Walt, the look on his face saying he was connecting dots, and all of them were pointing at Wilhelm. Walt met his eyes and nodded slightly in confirmation. He was thinking that as well. Kageo turned back to Elliot and said, "Do you think your dad would be willing to talk to us?"

"Definitely!" Elliot replied with a nod. "He's been waiting for the day when he'd get to meet his friends' kids again and tell them how sorry he is for what happened." Then he blushed. "He was really happy when I told him I'd met Yami and we were getting closer."

Yami's own cheeks reddened slightly as she smiled at him. Walt smiled and shared a look with Kageo; they could both see the budding heart connection between Yami and Elliot, and Kageo was glad for it. He didn't want either of his sisters to be with someone who might have a connection like that to someone else. Thinking of Lilith made his chest ache for his uncle, and Walt could feel it through their connection.

This close to each other, it was easier to see that Kageo wasn't in any physical pain, so Walt made note of the feeling to ask about later. The burgeoning heart connection between Yami and Elliot reminded Walt of his talk with his mother and the strange connection Wilhelm shared with... someone.

As Walt was thinking about that, Kageo made sure no one was around before he soundproofed their area, and told the others about how Adiran had a broken heart connection, and Lilith had one that didn't lead to their uncle. He had to explain how he knew about it, which got a grin from Yami and a blush from Elliot because Kageo mentioned he could see theirs too.

Walt spoke up while Elliot and Yami were coming to terms with their inevitable connection. "I saw a similar thing during my visit home," he began to say, but they were interrupted by Stella and her entourage approaching the border of their privacy screen. He caught Kageo's eye and nodded over to the newcomers so Kageo could dispel the quiet zone. Kageo did so right before the group was near them and Stella and her posse didn't notice anything amiss at all other than a quick hand motion from Kageo, but it wasn't done at them.

Stella's visit turned out to be a brief one, but she lingered long enough to slip Walt a strip of paper with something scrawled in their family code and generally disrupt the local wildlife before swanning away with her followers trailing behind. Walt could hear the whispers from the surrounding tables as some folks told others that The Stella Whitmore was "That Whitmore Guy's" sister so

of course

she stopped by his table, she was

obligated

by familial courtesy. It was all enough to make Walt roll his eyes even as he quickly deciphered the code in his mind.