Archive of Our Own ^beta

It started as a simple quest. As most things do when it comes to the Mighty Nein, it went sideways almost immediately.

They had stopped to rest in a small forest town. Upon resting, they found a board covered in small pieces of parchment. Most of it was simple — requests for woodwork, farmhands, trading goods and services. It wasn’t until Nott had scampered up to pocket some of the shiny pins and nails when she noticed something in particular.

It was relatively straightforward. There was a cave nearby where some knolls had been causing trouble. The townsfolk were too few in number to fight back. The cave itself was difficult to traverse, as their winding tunnels were pocked with water pools and reservoirs.

The kind man who had made the notice was offering bundles of food and any coins he could muster. The Nein had decided to help out before they left town.

The cavern itself was little trouble. Further down, evidence of a knoll nest became evident. It was a small group, but dangerous nonetheless.

Once the knolls were ambushed and combat was really in swing, the Nein had been caught off guard by another creature. A distant hissing sound came from one of the nearby rooms housing a water pool.

By then, only two knolls were left. Mollymauk and Caleb split from the group to scout for any further danger. The entrance to the room was dark and damp, the interior itself impossible to see in the darkness. Caleb conjured his Dancing Lights as Molly stepped fully into the room.

The room was almost empty — only a shallow puddle of water and another hallway twisting to the side. From that hallway, Mollymauk caught sight of something moving. Their vision spun and went out of focus for a moment. Whatever the creature was, it was quick and large. Mollymauk blinked out of his stupor and went to gesture at Caleb to follow. They turned only to realize that the wizard was no longer behind them. The globules of light flickered until they dimmed to nonexistence.

Mollymauk dashed from the room and back to the group where Jester was finishing off the last knoll with a grin. Caleb was nowhere to be seen. Mollymauk paused and went to call out for Caleb. Their yell was stifled by something small and grimy latching onto their side.

Another round of knolls had been hiding nearby and rushed in when the first group went down. It was another small group. The difference was that instead of daggers or scimitars, they were armed with strange gelatinous fluids. Chunks of honeycomb were thrown to slow down the Nein, unknown tar and gels tossed as ammunition.

The less said about that, the better.

Once the knolls had finally dwindled to none, Mollymauk took the opportunity to follow where Caleb had hopefully gone. They took a gamble and went the path they thought Caleb would follow. Thankfully, they were proven right by occasional drops of blood and damp footprints.

Eventually, there was only one room left. Just like the rest, an empty cavern with only a well of water in the center.

The biggest difference was a figure standing just on the other side of the pool. Mollymauk wasn’t sure if he should sigh in relief or hold his breath with trepidation.

It was nearly impossible to make out the figure in the darkness. Molly rifled in their pockets for a match and pulled out a small oil lantern. A gentle glow lit the walls as Molly hooked it to their side.

There was silence. Until;

“Caleb?”

The pool of water in front of them was pulsing with its own strange light — one that Molly didn’t think was coming from the lantern. It made their skin buzz.

Across the water stood a figure in the dark. Caleb Widogast, stock still and staring into the darkness of the curving tunnel in front of him. He was veiled by shadows that seemed to swallow him. Only the back of his coat and hair was outlined by the gently pulsing aquifer.

Molly reached out his arm, fingers splayed toward his wizard. He gingerly took a step forward. “You alright there, dear?”

No response. And then— a quiet hum. Molly found themselves blinking in a stupor. Was this another episode? It didn’t look like Caleb’s usual dissociation or even a panic attack. Something was different. Intriguing.

A flick of their tail, another step forward, interrupted as Caleb had suddenly turned to face Molly. His long coat was dripping water at the ends, hair curled with moisture and heat.

“Mollymauk,” Caleb muttered. It was quiet, almost inaudible had it not been for the echoing cavern walls.

This kicked Molly from his frozen stance. They strode further into the cavern until they stood at the very edge of the water pool.

It wasn’t terribly long, about ten feet to the other side, but it stretched to the edges of the cave walls. Molly assumed that Caleb had crossed the water pool before getting distracted by something in the winding pathways ahead.

“Are you alright?” Molly repeated, more insistent. “We finished off those knolls. I noticed you ran off this way and came to find you. What in the hells are you doing?” Despite the bubbling concern, there was laughter in their words. Molly displayed a soothing smile. Their gaze focused on Caleb trying to gauge for injury.

He didn’t seem hurt at all. The slice on his cheek from the previous battle had begun to scab, no longer bleeding. He didn’t seem to be favoring a leg or clutching an unseen wound. Caleb’s eyes were clear of panic, his breath slow and calm. He seemed perfectly fine. He just didn’t say anything.

Molly sighed and smiled again. “Not talking at the moment, love? That’s alright. We can work with that.”

They leaned forward and breached the surface of the water. Whatever was happening, they didn’t want Caleb standing alone over there. He was practically waiting to be grabbed by some unseen creature.

As soon as Molly’s boot passed the water’s surface, Caleb’s face twitched into a grin.

“Worried about me, circus man?” He teased. His voice sounded of his usual grit and gravelly inflection. Something about his tone made Molly stutter in their movements, face flushing.

They quickly shook back to their previous rhythm, continuing forward with a confident stride. Molly’s smile melted into a smirk. “That’s up to you. Would you like me to be?”

With only a few steps, they had reached the other side of the water. Their boots were now fully submerged. Caleb was, for once, standing just barely taller than them on the small ledge above. This did not go unnoticed. Molly stood conflicted for a moment, before holding out a lithe hand.

“Help me out of here, magic man.”

Caleb smile grew wider. Rather than taking the offered hand, he instead reached out to Molly’s face. His palm settled to gently cup their cheek.

Caleb ran warm. Every time Molly had touched him beyond his coat and bandages, accidental brushes of skin or solid handshakes, his warmth was staggering. For a tiefling, Molly themselves was nearly always cold. Their magic usually manifested as ice. They had become to numb to their own chill that touching Caleb was like basking in sunlight for the first time.

When his hand made contact with Molly’s cheek, it took everything in them not to flinch away.

Gone was the familiar comfortable warmth. Caleb’s hand was cold. Intensely, strikingly cold. Where before the heat would have slowly seeped into their skin, the chill was immediate. A nearly unbearable frost had pierced Mollymauk’s cheek.

They opened their mouth to say something. They weren’t sure what. A question, a joke — nothing felt appropriate. A sinking feeling had snuck into Mollymauk’s stomach. Something was certainly different. Not intriguing, but terribly alarming.

Mollymauk pulled back from the hand on his cheek. The long fingers darted from their face to their throat, suddenly gripping them in a choking grasp. They hissed and looked up toward where Caleb had stood.

He was still there, smiling just the same. A bead of moisture slipped down his forehead. Another on his neck, sliding to meet where his violent grasp met Mollymauk’s flesh. It felt like water was pouring from his fingertips. His gentle smile was interrupted by a single fang.

His smile turned into a vicious snarl. Huffs of breath appeared as a cloud of vapor from the chill.

Before Molly could react, the grip on his neck tightened as the thing above him suddenly gasped. It let out a gargled shriek as an arrow pierced it’s shoulder.

Molly took the opportunity and used his own claws to scratch at the hands around his neck. It lessened its grip and Molly kicked upwards, flinging themselves away and into the shallow water.

The sounds of combat commenced as Molly found themselves overwhelmed and confusion. They blinked and shook their head, leaning up from their prone form in the water.

Nott and Jester were now in front of him, attacking in turn with what was— is?— Caleb.

Footsteps behind them. Molly turned their spinning gaze to the other side of the room. The rest of the group had seemingly followed closely behind, rushing through the cavern entrance. Yasha, Fjord, Beau— Caleb?

There was a rush of emotion through Molly’s head. Confusion, frustration, all-encompassing relief. They growled and took a moment to compose themselves. Their eyes squeezed shut and they took a deep, shaky breath.

Opening their eyes again, it felt like a fog had been lifted from their mind. They felt like when Yasha dumped them into a pond to sober them up after indulging in far too much cheap ale.

“Mollymauk. Hey!”

Molly blinked out of their thoughts. They were surrounded by freezing water and clashing swords. In front of them was crouched Caleb. His eyes were darting around Molly’s body and the room around them. One hand hung still in the air as if unsure where to place it.

Without a word, Molly gripped his wrist and brought it to his face.

Caleb stiffened at the contact before leaning in to relax his grip. His touch was warm. So warm, so beautifully warm and familiar and relieving.

“Mollymauk,” Caleb repeated. His voice was insistent, yet somehow softer. “Are you alright? What happened?”

Molly leaned into his palm and grinned. “Ran into your twin. I really must keep a better eye on you there, magician.”

They paused and suddenly realized the position they were in. Against every instinct (warm-real-comfort-warm-caleb-safe-caleb), Molly pulled away from his wizard to take stock of the room.

Yasha was bringing her sword down across a body on the ground. The creature posing as Caleb had morphed into a different form. It was now comprised of a long tail and humanoid upper body, made with shades of blue. It almost resembled a tiefling woman, except her blue skin was covered in sharp barbs and spikes of frost. Scales and gills ran across almost every inch of their figure.

Molly huffed out a breath. “What was that?”

“A siren,” Caleb said. Eyes sharp and focused, he launched into an explanation. “Water-based shapeshifters which eat the hearts of other humanoids. They are known to take the form of young women as desirable figures of affection to lure in their prey.”

Molly nodded in understanding. There was a moment of pause before Caleb spoke again, breaking eye contact with a sheepish tone of voice. “I came across another one earlier, in the room we went into. You seemed to be stunned somehow. I followed it down the tunnel.”

“I was.. caught, I suppose, for some time.” A hand flew up to nervously rub at the back of Caleb’s neck. “The group found me before things went too poorly. They said you disappeared after the second round of knolls, so we came to find you.”

Molly nodded again. That made sense with that happened earlier, especially if they had been somehow stunned or confused for a moment.

Something Caleb said was stuck in their mind. They considered it for a moment before tilting their head toward him. “If they usually look like young women, why was this one pretending to be you?”

The nervous hand rubbing at Caleb’s neck stilled. His eyes darted around the room, anywhere except Molly. He cleared his throat.

“Sirens have a certain.. method, of hunting their meals. They will often present as projections of desire. Affection. For most, this is an attractive young person who they may be drawn to. I suppose this siren caught eye of us together and manifested as, uhm. The next best thing.”

Molly was stunned, staring at the quiet man in front of him. “Well that is- hm. That is certainly interesting. I must say, they certainly did not miss the mark on that one.” He let his smile grow into a flirtatious grin.

Caleb stuttered, cheeks dusted with pink. “I meant- it’s- if you..” He grumbled something under his breath before sighing. “We should get out of here.”

Molly hummed in agreement and reached out his hand to assist himself and the wizard. Caleb accepted the offer and hauled them both to their feet, now stood dripping in the icy water.

The others, ever-restless and searching for action, had quickly busied themselves nearby. Yasha and Nott were trading words over the corpse while Fjord and Beau were poking around just outside the cavern.

Jester, on the other hand, was crouched beside the water. She was grinning with mirth and mischief.

“Your siren was already gross and spiky when we found you,” she chirped to Caleb. “What did it look like for you? Someone of desire?”

Her eyebrows wriggled up and down as Molly and Caleb stared at her incredulously. Caleb’s face grew even warmer, flushing to his ears. He sputtered for a moment before grasping Mollymauk by the arm and turning away, pulling them both out of the water.

Jester giggled and poked fun at the both of them while they collected themselves. She continued to demand answers as she was ignored by the wizard in question.

After gathering the others and confirming that everyone was alright, the Nein gathered together once more and began the long trek through the caverns. A few short minutes into the walk, Molly trailed behind the group and put a gentle hand on Caleb’s shoulder. He stopped and turned as they waited until the group was just out of earshot.

Molly locked eyes with Caleb, fighting down the sudden urge to either run back down the tunnel or hold his wizard by the waist and kiss him breathless. Instead, they cleared their throat and spoke. His voice was quiet and hopeful.

“Time for that later?”

Caleb’s eyes softened. His hand reached out in front of him to rest on top of where Molly’s claws were fidgeting together. Their fingers intertwined.

Warmth blossomed across Molly’s skin, up to his cheeks where their smile stretched into something vulnerable. Something rare.

Caleb smiled back.

“Always.”