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English
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Part 16 of Scarlett and Brown Fluff
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Published:
2023-06-06
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740
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1/1
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Whispering Phantom

Summary:

Mallory is spared by the Outlaws and finds a way to put his life to good use this time...

Just some Outlaws Fluff with a little Angst.

Notes:

As promissed, the Mallory redemption fic. This is also my hc as of now. Enjoy!
I am so curious to see where he goes in the books, but I doubt that he will pull a Zuko and just join them. That would neither fit him nor Scarlett&Albert. So here is my idea for his redemption...

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

"You choose who you are." he had said. Albert, the boy he had made it his life to hunt down and kill.

"I know you can change. If Scarlett can, and if Ettie can, then you're capable of kindness too."

Malroy thought of the girl with the red hair.

The criminal who had led Albert astray. But he had seen her choose not to kill the priest who had taken everything from her. The one person he thought the girl had the right to kill.

She hadn't done it. She had taken the children out of the burining house instead. Among them the little Tainted girl, Ettie. She astonished Malroy the most.

All his life he had learned that the Tainted were the scum of the earth. They had no feelings. They knew no compassion. They were not human!
And yet the girl had reached out to him as he lay injured on the ground and told Scarlett to help him, even without words. And she had done so. They had saved his life, even though he had tried to kill them so many times.

And then they had just let him go.

"You'd better kill me!" he had cursed "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You'll find something to do." Albert had only said and left with Scarlett and Ettie.

 

He wanted to be dead. He should be dead. Why wasn't he? Why hadn't they just killed him?

He was so angry about it. They had taken away the last bit of dignity he had left after Dr Calloway's death and the first show off with Albert.

He wanted to hate them. All three of them. But he couldn't...

He only felt a new overwhelming pain. He wanted what they had. A family. It was indeed everything he had always wanted.

Someone who loved him without judging him.

He had felt that way when the little girl brushed the hair out of his face.

 

Malroy had sat there for a while until he had got up and found somewhere to spend the night.

When he got up the next morning he knew exactly what he had to do.

He made his way to the nearest mining town.

 

The children looked at him in shock when he opened their dormitory. They were so small. Barely older than Ettie. A small boy with green eyes looked up at him. He seemed scared, but Malroy knelt down and showed him his empty hands.

"It's okay." he said "I won't hurt you, but you have to come with me."

He took them to a village that had been depopulated by a plague last year. Most of the children and old people had died. He knew that the people would take the children in and look after them well. He also left them some of the money from the house of faith he had robbed earlier.

Soon the Whispering Phantom was a legend. He freed children and slaves from captivity and took them to safe havens.

He was the saviour of the powerless, the disenfranchised and the suffering.

Some claimed that he was the legendary Albert Browne. But others said that was impossible, as he had died with Scarlett McCain in the great fire at the Faith House Centre.

Be that as it may. The Phantom became a legend. Ballads were written about him.

But he remained lonely. Had no partner, no sidekick. And he was restless. He never stayed in one place for long.

 

Eventually, the Phantom reached Stonemoor.

There were only a few children left there.

Since Dr Calloway and her apprentice Mallory had disappeared, the institution had fallen into increasing chaos. 

One of the older girls looked at him for a long time as he took her outside.

She said nothing, but there was a silent recognition in her face. She knew who he was, but she did not judge him. Perhaps she knew that she would have acted in exactly the same way if she had been in the situation. Maybe she was just being kind.

He did not know.

He took them all north on a bus where they moved into one of the settlements he had set up for the children.

One day he would cease the work. But not yet. There were still so many children and young people who needed to be freed from their chains. He knew what he was going to do. Finally.

Notes:

I used the Fantasy Bandit Name Generator to find the name 😅 I thought it would be something a emo boy like Mallory would take. I imagine him rocking a stupid Zorro hat and mask, like it was actually looking cool and mysterious and somehow getting away with it?! Anyhow, hope you enjoy this small contribution to the tine tiny fandom.

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