Perfects and Innocents
Apr. 30th, 2014 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dhampyresaTitle: Perfects and Innocents
Fandom: Young Avengers
Characters: Cassie Lang, Kate Bishop, Tommy Shepherd, assorted Young Avengers (all of them) and various Marvel comics characters
Warnings: Chose not to use
Spoilers: Not really
Word Count: 8 257
Summary: A Children's Crusade AU. By which I mean: The year is 1212 and they're all headed for the Holy Land.
Author's Note:I wrote this way back when the end of Young Avengers: Children's Crusade was coming out in single issues, so late 2011 to 2012. I've never posted it before and actually kind of forgotten I'd written it untilschneefink reminded me. It pretty much started so I could make the joke in the summary and I haven't done much more than run spellcheck on it before posting it here.
Katherine de Beaumont twirls her quill around the loop of the S from Sancti. "Almost done," she whispers to Cassandre des Landes.
"Me too," Cassie whispers back. She dips her quill in her inkwell one more time. Hooves beat down in the courtyard. They keep writing. A nun walks in to talk to the Mother Superior. The Mother Superior blanches and approaches Kate and Cassie.
"Uh oh," Cassie says, sotto voce, just as Kate asks the Mother Superior, "Is everything alright?"
The Mother Superior turns to Cassie and says, "I think you should both come down to the courtyard."
They follow her down the steps and into the courtyard. Kate's father is handing his horse out to one of the sisters, who looks completely confused as to what to do with it.
"Father!" Kate shouts.
"Dad?" Cassie asks tentatively. Her father is nowhere to be seen.
Kate's father pulls a face, briefly, before smoothing it other. "Your father," he takes a deep breath, "Scott des Landes died defending Acco."
Cassie gasps, hands shooting to her mouth before she runs towards the dormitories. Kate looks at her father, features harsh, then runs after her.
When Kate finds her, Cassie is crying silently in a corner.
"Hey," Kate says, sitting down next to her. Cassie sniffles.
"I can't believe my father's dead," Cassie says.
Kate hates herself for what she's about to say, but she can't stand Cassie crying. She never could. "Maybe he's not," she says.
"What do you mean?" Cassie asks.
"Maybe he was taken prisoner instead. It's happened before!" she hastens to add at Cassie's disbelieving look. "My father didn't bring his body home. That means there was no body. So"
Cassie cuts her off, "Maybe he's still alive?"
"Yes," Kate says.
"Okay," Cassie says, drying her tears on her sleeve, "I can work with that."
Now it's Kate's turn to be disbelieving, "Cassie, are you thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking?"
Cassie nods, "I'm going to find my father."
"I'll help," Kate says, without hesitation.
"Thanks," Cassie says.
*
Later that evening, Kate finds Cassie in the stables. "Have you got everything on your list?" she asks.
"Yes," Cassie replies, "but are you sure we even need half this stuff?"
"Trust me," Kate says, "we probably will."
Kate finds her father's horse. She attaches both her bag and Cassie's to the saddle. She helps Cassie up and goes to open the stable doors. She takes the horse's bridle and closes the door after they're through. Cassie's knuckles are white where she's hanging onto the saddle for dear life. Kate uncurls her fingers, mounts in front of her and says, "Wrap your arms around me and don't let go."
"Never," Cassie replies.
"Never?" Kate asks, kicking the horse into a trot.
"Well okay, maybe not never," Cassie says.
The horse runs down the hill. Cassie laughs happily in Kate's ear.
*
Théodore watches as his mother's farm is burned down. His town's parfait holds him to his chest to keep him from running out.
"Mother!" Teddy cries, tears running down his face.
When the fire has calmed down, Teddy finally breaks free from the parfait. He runs to the farm and opens the door, paying no mind to sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh coming from his hands. Inside the house he finds a skeleton in the kitchen, bones charred black, skull grinning eerily at him. For a moment, Teddy holds out hope that it might not be his mother but when he gets closer he notices her earrings, tiny spots of gold among the ash.
For the longest time, he doesn't stop screaming.
*
"Kate, hold up! My hands are slipping!" Cassie shouts over the sound of the wind through the trees.
Kate pulls on the reins, stopping the horse. "We needed to stop soon anyway. Rest the horse, you know?"
Cassie nods, although, no, she doesn't know. "I meant to ask, how are we going to Jerusalem?"
"We're joining a Crusade," Kate says, entirely straight-faced.
Cassie laughs. Kate remains straight-faced. "You're serious?" Cassie asks.
"Yes," Kate says. She digs through the bags and comes up with a handful of bandages. She hands half of them to Cassie.
"What is this for?" Cassie says, turning the bandages over in her hands.
"Kate and Cassie aren't joining the Crusade. Kit and Cass are," Kate says. It takes Cassie a second to catch up and then she nods in understanding.
"I've never done this kind of thing before," she says.
"Me neither," Kate says, "but how hard can it be?"
*
"You're lucky," Nathanael says.
"Why do you say that?" Jonas asks.
"I don't want to be a knight," Nate says. "I don't to hurt people. I don't want to kill people either. I wish I could be a better person instead. I wish I were you."
"You don't have the faith," Jonas replies.
"So? I don't think it's a requirement."
*
It turns out to be pretty hard. It takes them until nightfall to figure it out. By that time the horse is well rested, but Cassie doesn't feel confident enough to ride at night again. They make camp near a close-by lake. Cassie lights a fire.
"My father taught me," she tells Kate's surprised eyebrows.
Kate nods. She cracks open a couple of nuts, while Cassie eats up some bread on the fire. "Keep an eye on the fire," she tells Cassie, "I think some of those berries are edible."
Kate picks up berries and then says, "Cassie? There's some meat in the bag."
"Kate!" Cassie shouts. "How could you?"
"We need to eat," Kate says. "They were planning a feast for my father. I only took enough that wouldn't notice and I think we deserve it. We're actually doing something for your father, after all."
Cassie takes the meat in the bag and says, "There's only enough for one meal." She throws in the fire. "I don't know how good this'll be. Where are we meeting the Crusade?"
"In Bourges," Kate says. "Or if they're not there, someone'll know where they are."
*
Eli is Saladin's grandson. He's not the only one of course, but still, that's quite the legacy right there.
His father, Ghazi, is off doing Allah knows what Allah knows where, leaving his uncle in charge of the force.
"Ilyas," his uncle says, using his full name instead of the childhood nickname Eli still thinks of himself as, "what do you think of this plan of attack?"
Eli pours over the map and says, "Are you sure they don't have a cavalry anymore?"
*
Kate and Cassie arrive in Bourges shortly after the Crusade does.
"This should be easy," Cassie says.
"Yes," Kate agrees, "we'll just follow the flies."
They laugh at that. Kate sobers up and says, "We should sell the horse."
"Why?" Cassie asks. "We could use it to follow the Crusade."
"Most of the people in the Crusade are on foot. We'll need the money more than the horse," Kate says.
"How do you know so much about this Crusade, anyway?" Cassie says.
"I like to keep myself informed," Kate says.
They find a buyer on town square, Kate spinning a tale of woe about this horse being her last possession and upgrading it in the process from palfrey to destrier.
When the horse is sold, and just before they meet up with the Crusade, Kate and Cassie split all their food and money in equal halves.
*
"I don't want to go!" complains Wilhelm.
Wanda kneels down to put herself face to face with her son, "Willy, my love, do this for our family."
"But I want to stay!" he cries.
"Are you afraid I'll forget you?" she asks.
Willy nods, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Oh, Willy," she breaths out. She hugs him to her chest, "I'll never forget you. I will always love you, alright? Remember this all your life. I love you. Always have. Always will."
He stops crying and hugs her back.
"We'll always love you too," Pietro says from the doorway.
"We will!" adds Tommy cheerfully. Wanda isn't sure Tommy real understands what's going on, but she's glad he cheers Willy up anyway.
*
"Excuse me," Kate says, "this is the Crusade, isn't it?"
The boy she asks is taller and broader than she is, blond hair like Cassie's and, strangely enough, wearing a woman's earrings. "Yeah, it is," he answers.
His earrings are simple loops, yet made of gold. "Thank you. Nice earrings," Kate says.
His hands jerk up as if to check the earrings are still there. "They were my mom's," he says, with a look Kate knows all too well. "I'm Teddy, I mean, Théodore."
"Kit," Kate says. "I know, it's unusual, but what can you do?" she shrugs. She tugs Cassie next to her, "This here is Cass."
Cassie waves a little then says, "Kit, talk to you a moment?"
"What are you doing?" Cassie whispers.
"Making friends," Kate replies. "We might need some."
"I don't want to make friends," Cassie says, "I want to find my father."
"We can do both," Kate says, brushing hair out of Cassie's face.
"Guys?" Teddy says, "if you want some food, we should go now before it's all gone."
"See? Paying off already," Kate says.
*
Teddy's hands take months to heal. By the time they do, Simon de Montfort has moved on.
"You could stay," Teddy's parfait says.
Teddy shakes his head, "I got nothing to my name except the clothes on my back and my mother's earrings." Teddy touches said earrings unconsciously.
"That doesn't matter and you know it," Bernard says.
"I can't stay," Teddy says. "Everything reminds me of her and I can't. I just can't."
Bernard sighs. "Alright. But you have to leave Occitania too. You need to keep safe from this Crusade."
"How do I do that?" Teddy asks.
"By joining another one," Bernard says.
*
Cassie takes the food. It's a piece of bread with some hazelnuts in. She moves to say grace. Teddy clearly doesn't know what to do with himself.
"You've never said grace before?" Cassie asks.
"No," Teddy says.
"Yet you're taking part in a Crusade," Kate says. "That makes perfect sense."
“I’m escaping a Crusade," Teddy says.
"Again," Kate says, "by joining one? That's perfectly logical."
"Well," Cassie says, "it's the perfect disguise. No one would ever think to look here."
"Exactly!" Teddy shouts. "That's what my parfait said."
When Teddy's brain catches up to what he's just said, he pales a horrified look on his face. He looks around to see if anyone has noticed what he's just said.
"You're a Albigensian," whispers Cassie, stunned.
"I've never been to Albi," Teddy says.
"But you are a Credentes," Kate says.
"Yes," Teddy admits. "Don't tell anyone."
*
"Antoine de Stain? Really?" Jonas asks.
"Yes, really," Nate says, sticking his chin out stubbornly.
"Your funeral," Jonas says.
*
The Crusade moves on. Kate and Cassie stay quiet about Teddy's secret.
Two weeks after they've left Bourges, there starts to be some mumbling about a thief.
"I've still got all my stuff," Cassie says, "what about you guys?"
"Me too," Teddy says. "Kit?" he presses on when Kate doesn't reply.
Kate looks at the ground intensely and frowns.
Cassie elbows Kate, "What about you?"
"Yeah, same here," Kate says, shaking herself.
Jeannot moves towards their fire. Kate tenses.
"Hey, Jeannot, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" asks Teddy.
"I could ask you the same thing," Jeannot replies. "I just want to let you know they've got the thief. And get this, he has red eyes and white hair."
"How do they know he's the thief?" Kate asks, frowning.
"He's Jewish," Jeannot says.
Kate waits for him to continue. "That's it?" she says, when it's evident no other explanation is forthcoming.
"Yeah. Isn't that enough?" Jeannot asks.
Kate grits her teeth. Cassie squeezes her hand. Teddy says, "Red eyes, you said? I want to see that."
"Sure, let me show you the way," Jeannot says. He walks off. Teddy goes to follow him.
"We're coming too," says Cassie.
*
"I don't think we should kill the prisoners," Eli says.
"Why not?" asks his uncle.
"That's not what Saladin would do," Eli says.
"I'm not Saladin," his uncle says.
Eli braces himself and says, "That much is obvious."
*
The thief does indeed have white hair. Actually white hair, like an old man's, not pale blond like Kate had expected him to have. One of his eyes is swollen shut and the other is, like Jeannot said, red. He's bleeding from the mouth.
Teddy stops one guy from kicking him in the ribs by saying, "If he's the thief, where's all the stuff he stole?"
The guy Teddy is holding spits and says, "He says he doesn't know. Filthy liar."
"I don't know!" the thief shouts. "I'm not a thief. I have no idea where your things are."
"He's right," Kate says. Silence falls on the camp.
"What?" Jeannot asks.
"He's not the thief," Kate says. "he didn't steal those things and he has no idea where they are."
"Thank you! That's what I've been saying all along," the not-thief says.
"If he's not the thief, who is?" Jeannot asks.
"You are," says Kate.
"Very funny, Kit. Be serious, who's the thief?" Jeannot says.
"I said, 'you are'," Kate says, "and I can prove it."
The guy Teddy holds says, "Let's hear it. Dude, let go," he adds to Teddy. Teddy lets him go.
"You all know Teddy," Kate says. Teddy waves.
"Get to the point," someone out back shouts.
Kate rolls her eyes, "Teddy's earrings are missing."
"No, they're not!" Teddy says instinctively, before checking. "They are!"
"So?" Jeannot asks.
"So, this," Kate says, tugging open his collar. Teddy's earrings are pinned against the cloth.
"That's my crucifix he's wearing!" says the guy Teddy held.
Teddy grabs his earrings and hands Jeannot over to the the crucifix guy.
"Maybe they were working together!" someone says.
The not-thief sighs. "Oh, not <i>again</i>."
"I don't think so," Teddy says. "Anyone who has a problem with that has a problem with me."
Teddy is taller and broader than anyone else in the camp. No one has a problem with him. Cassie helps the not-thief get to his feet, "I'm Cass, that's Kit and that's..."
The not-thief cuts her off, "Teddy, yeah, I know, I heard. I'm Tommy."
*
"Tommy," Wanda says, "could you go get some parsley?"
"How much do you need?" Tommy asks.
"Not that much. Say hi to Pietro for me on the way back," Wanda replies.
"Sure thing, mom," Tommy says, walking out. It's amazing how much he looks like his uncle and grandfather, Wanda thinks. Not just because of what her father calls the family gift, white hair and red eyes, but also along the jawline and eye shape.
Tommy is barely halfway down the street when he hears someone break down the door on his house. He rushes back to see a group of soldiers grab his mother.
"Let go of my mom!" he shouts, running headlong into the closest soldier. He grabs hold of his tunic and pulls ripping away part of it.
One of the other soldiers knocks him out. "What do we do about the kid?" he asks.
"Just leave him," the commander says. "We don't have any orders about him."
*
"I'm looking for my brother," says Tommy. "I mean, really, I'm looking for my mother, but I want him to know what happened."
"What happened?" Kate asks.
Tommy relates the event. It's not that he trusts these people, but they've helped him twice so far. Maybe they can be persuaded to help him once more.
"That's awful," Cassie says. "Did you know what they wanted with your mom?"
"No," Tommy says, "but I've got this." He holds out the piece of cloth from the soldier. "Does this look familiar to any of you?"
"Yeah," Teddy says. "I think that's Victor von Doom's crest. He lead the assault against my hometown," he adds for Kate and Cassie's benefit.
"Teddy, we need to talk about your secret-keeping skills," Kate says.
"I take it you're not exactly the perfect Catholic altar boy either," Tommy says.
"None of us are," says Cassie. "I guess that's why we're here."
"Where's your brother?" Kate asks.
"I haven’t seen him in ten years," Tommy says, "but the last time I did, it was in Marseilles. He's the apprentice of an alchemist there. I think the name's Kaplan."
"We'll try to find your brother when we get there," Teddy says.
"We will?" Cassie says. Kate nods and Cassie says, "I guess we will."
*
"Pay attention," Alchemist Kaplan says. "This manipulation can be quite dangerous."
"Why is that?" Billy asks. He's been Billy for years now, ever since Master Kaplan's first child mispronounced his nickname.
"It can explode if handled improperly," Kaplan says.
"Oh," Billy says. "What shouldn't I do?"
*
The Crusade reaches Marseilles within a month.
By that time, it's well established that Tommy is part of Kate and Cassie's little group. Cassie doesn't know how to feel about that. This quest for Tommy's brother and mother seems to have distracted Kate from the quest for Cassie's father.
It's not that Cassie doesn't want Tommy's mother to be okay or for him to find his brother but her father is more important to her. Because he's her father.
On the other hand, it's not like can do anything about him before she and Kate get to the Holy land. And she might as well do a good thing while she's waiting for that.
"Hey," she says to the closest person, "where can I find Alchemist Kaplan?"
"Who?" the guy asks. "I don't know anyone by that name. Try down by the docks, the market's going on, you might have more luck there."
"Thanks," Cassie tells him, already walking towards the waterfront.
Tommy catches up to her in a back-alley. "Any luck?" he asks.
"Not really," she says, "I got told to try at the market. You?"
"Yeah," Tommy says, looking at his shoes, "me too."
It occurs to Cassie that people might not have reacted better to him than most of the people of the Crusade did. "I'm looking for my dad," she says. "People keep telling him he's dead, but I don't believe it. I'm going to find him and rescue him. And then I'm going to find your mom and rescue her."
Tommy looks at her like she's just grown another head. "So you want to become a professional rescuer?"
She punches his arm lightly. "Damn right I do! You can be my trusty assistant."
"No way," Tommy says. "<i>You</i>'re the assistant."
"I said it first," Cassie says, somewhat childishly.
"Yes, but I'm the most handsome one," Tommy says.
"Are not!" Cassie says.
"Am too!" Tommy replies.
"Okay, fine," Cassie says, "we can be each other's assistant."
"Fair enough," Tommy says.
They walk in silence for a while. "People are dicks," Tommy says finally.
"Wisest words I have never heard," Cassie says.
*
"That went wrong fast," Nate says.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Jonas asks.
"Yes," Nate says, "which brings to mind the question, why are you here, Jonas?"
*
Cassie and Tommy find the Alchemist in an alleyway along the dock. Although, they don't so much find it as are attacked by two children who demand to know what Tommy's done to his hair.
"Look, kids," Tommy says, "for the last time, "I'm not this 'Billy' person."
"But you look like him! And you talk like him! So you must be Billy even if your hair is weird."
"I'm not him! Tell them, Cass!"
Cassie doesn't say anything and just points towards the end of the alleyway. There's a boy standing there, looking like a dark-haired version of Tommy. They're slightly different: his skin is tanned and he's awkward and gangly to Tommy's lean assurance. There's no doubt that they must be related in Cassie's mind. It would also make him 'Billy'.
"I thought your brother’s name was Wilhelm," she says to Tommy.
"My name is Wilhelm," the boy says," but no one's called me that in years. Thomas, is that you?"
"Yeah," Tommy says, "yeah, it's me."
*
There's a man among the prisoners from Acco who has orange hair. Strange as it is, it's not his hair that draws Eli's attention, it's his eyes. There's sadness in them. Not for only himself but also for someone else.
"Who is it you're so worried about?" asks Eli one day.
"Why do you care?" the man asks.
"Because someone has to," Eli says.
"But does it have to be you?" the man says.
"It's the only way to be sure that someone does," Eli replies.
*
"So your mom, Billy's mom, was captured?" Alchemist Kaplan asks.
Tommy confirms with a short nod. Cassie says nothing. Billy says, "Master Kaplan, you've been to me all these years, but I have to go find her. She's my mother."
"I understand," Mrs Kaplan says. "Go find her and be safe."
*
They have trouble finding the rest of the group at the rendezvous point.
"Where are your friends?" Billy asks. Cassie thinks he looks faintly ridiculous in his dark clothes and bright red cloak, but she's not about to say anything. If anything, it'll make them more noticeable to the others.
"They're not my friends," Tommy says defensively. It hurts more than Cassie thought it would. Tommy adds, unexpectedly, "Except Cass, here, he's my business partner."
"Hey, Cass? Kit wants to talk to you about something. He didn't say what," Teddy adds from behind them.
"Teddy! I hadn't seen you there. Where's Kit?" asks Cassie.
"Over by the way station being stonewalled by Knight Barton," Teddy answers.
"Knight Clint Barton? Of the Avengers?" asks Billy.
"I don't know about any avenging business, but that's the name he gave. You're Tommy's brother, right?" Teddy says.
Billy frowns and says, "That's pretty bad. Your friend's in trouble. I'm Billy!" he shouts after them when they start running towards the way station, following Teddy's lead.
Kate is fine when they find her. She's holding her own against the whole Avengers garrison in a battle of wits and has just called them lying cowards.
"Calm down!" Cassie says, running up to her. When she reaches her, she whispers into Kate's ear, "Kate, you're not doing yourself any favours."
The sound of her name seems to cool Kate down a lot. "It's about your father, Cassie," she says. "They know something but they won't tell me."
Kate rests her forehead against Cassie's. "They won't tell me anything and I can't even tell them who you are. I wish I could do more."
"Oh, Kate," Cassie says, "you've already done enough."
"Clear off, you lot!" shouts the archer in armour.
"That's Knight Barton," Billy says. "We should leave."
"I'm not leaving without answers," Kate says.
"It's for the best," says Cassie.
Kate narrows her eyes, "I'm not leaving without something."
"No," Cassie says, "no, no. Oh no. No. I know that look. Absolutely not. No way. Whatever you're thinking, we're not doing it."
"Not even for your father?" Kate asks.
"Low blow," Cassie says, because Kate might be wearing her dangerous face, the one that always got them into trouble at the convent, but Cassie would do anything for her father and anything for Kate and it was never really a question in the first place.
Kate smiles, something sharp in the bow of her mouth.
*
"I still cannot understand why you chose Antoine de Stain," Jonas says.
"You can call him Iron Man, you know, everyone else does," answers Nate.
"No, I can't. It's a ridiculous nickname not based on fact and don't think you can distract me. I still expect an answer," Jonas says, pulling out his quill and parchment.
"Fine. I want to do something with my life. Help people, not be a monster," Nate says, getting Jonas's inkwell for him.
Jonas looks at him. "You do not have to be one or the other. There is a spectrum between those two points."
"Not for me," Nate says. "I don't think there is."
They're interrupted by a commotion outside.
*
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Cassie says.
"Hush," Kate says, rooting through the archer's gear. She comes up with a bow. It's the strangest bow Cassie's ever seen. "There," Kate asks, "this will do."
Kate makes off with the bow, leaving Cassie to continue looking through the papers. She doesn't find anything except some paper bearing Von Doom's crest. She stuffs them under her tunic. There's an open door on the other side of Knight Barton's room, leading to another room. She tip-toes past all three beds in the room, feeling a wild surge of hope as she sees red hair on the third pillow. But it's not her father. It must be Knight Romanov, then.
In the room beyond Knight Barton's lies Antoine de Stain. He does not, despite what legend says, sleep with his armour on.
Cassie is so fixed on not making any noise that she doesn't hear the boy sneak up on her.
He doesn't seem to have the same motivation as she does to stay quiet. "Who are you?" he asks angrily. This, unfortunately, wakes up Antoine de Stain and both the occupants of the other room.
"Cassie?" asks Tony, still bleary-eyed from sleep, and, if she knows him, and she does, probably hung-over too.
"Yes," Kate says, over from the windowsill she's perched on, bow drawn and arrow notched, "now, let her go before I do something you'll all regret."
"Yeah, no, I don't think you can do it," says Knight Barton.
Kate lets the arrow go, slowly, deliberately, and it embeds into the eye of the hawk on Knight Barton's shield. Her bow is already drawn again by the time they all look back at her.
"Okay, so maybe you can," says Knight Barton, sounding impressed and then surprised, "You're the kid from earlier! The one who wanted to know about Scott."
"Unfortunately, we have no more information on Knight Barton's situation than you do. We do not know if the Saracens killed him when they took the fortress," Knight Romanov says. His voice is a touch too light for him to be as old as he appears.
"Then you know more than we do," Cassie says. "We thought he was dead."
"I see," Knight Romanov says.
"Well," Tony says, "I think we should take all these lovely people including the lovely Cassies over there to the Holy Land. Cassie," he asks, frowning, "why are there two of you?"
"Because you are as drunk as the night is black, Knight de Stain. I do not believe you to be in any state to be giving orders," Knight Romanov says.
"Nonononono," slurs Tony, "I'm the boss of you. What I say goes. We’re taking the Cassies to the Holy Land."
"I guess we better do what he says," Knight Barton shrugs.
"You only say this because you admire the archer's skill," Knight Romanov tells him.
"I do not!" he protests, but Cassie turns her attention back to Tony and Kate. Kate is making Tony sign and seal a contract to take all five of them to the Holy Land. Oh, Kate, Cassie thinks, only you.
*
"Do your people not keep Ramadan?" Eli asks.
"No", the man says, "we keep Lent when it is time for it, though."
"I see," Eli says. "It's strange that I still don't know your name."
"Don't bother," the man says. "I don't have any family that'll pay a ransom for me. I asked them not to."
"That is not why I want to know," Eli says.
"Or so you say," the man replies.
*
Meeting up with the rest of the group, it's quickly decided that they're all headed to the Holy Land.
Kate and Cassie are looking for Cassie's father. They've had to come clean about that, although Knight Barton, Knight Romanov and Tony have all agreed to keep Cassie's real identity secret. Kate's secret is still safe though.
Tommy and Billy are looking for their mother. They've had a look at the papers bearing Von Doom's crest, but they're in code. The headers are not and those clearly name von Doom, Tony and Jerusalem.
Teddy says that he'll help his friends.
So they go.
The Avengers, and there's a story behind that name Cassie knows, are not happy to see them. Knight Barton, in particular, seems adamant that Kate should give him back his bow.
Knight Romanov, on the other hand, has been nothing but helpful. He has given Cassie hints on how to look more like a boy. Shoulder squared. Chin up. Walk around like you own the place. Don't be afraid to take up space. Act like I do.
It's the last one that's most puzzling to Cassie, until she realises what it means. Her and Kate are not alone.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a voice. It's the boy from earlier, the one who threatened her.
"I'm sorry about earlier. If I'd known about your father, I wouldn't have been so harsh," he says.
"Who's the guy that looks like you?" Cassie asks, a propos of nothing.
The boy looks puzzled at her question. "That's my brother. His name is Jonas, mine is Nathanael. I'm Knight de Stain's squire."
"Why is your brother here?" Cassie bites her lip. "Does he read code?"
Nathaniel shrugs. "I don't know why he's here. Neither does anyone else. I think he does, why?"
"Nothing," Cassie says. Tommy, who was eating at a nearby table, goes to see Jonas.
Tommy has as good a copy of the documents that Kate and Cassie could make. They've put the originals back, but the information is too important to be let go off so easily.
Cassie doesn't see Tommy again until later that evening. Tony and Knight Romanov have shown Cassie maps of the fortress at Acco as well as schematics of the battle according to their intelligence. "There," Cassie says, "if I was in control of that fortress, that's where I'd keep my prisoners."
"I agree," Knight Romanov says. "It does seem to be the likelier alternative."
"Cassie, you and the Young Avengers can do that while my troops and me provide back-up for Von Doom's reclaiming effort."
Before Cassie can ask why they're working with Von Doom, or who the 'Young Avengers' are supposed to be, the diner bell rings.
"So I asked this Jonas guy about the code," Tommy starts, "the Avengers are headed for Von Doom's force at Acco. Apparently, that asshole is now in charge of all the forces in the Holy Land."
Kate adds, "From what Knight Barton has told me, it sounds like your mother's with him. There are rumours of a Jewish fortune-teller in Von Doom's entourage."
"We're actually doing this, then?" Teddy asks.
"I vote for 'yes'," Billy says.
"The Young Avengers are missing two members! Go join the group, Nate and find your brother," Tony says, ushering Nathaniel towards their little group. Nate's frown answers Cassie's own. The Young Avengers is a ridiculous nickname and being burdened by the squire and the monk would put a heavy damper on their escape plan.
"That makes no sense," Nate says, in the weary tone of someone who deals with Tony de Stain on a regular basis.
"Stay here, kid, the grown-ups have to talk," Tony replies.
Nate pulls a face. "So much for the trusting," he mutters. Jonas joins him shortly after.
There is an awkward silence, until Jonas says, "I've finished cracking the code. Lord Von Doom seems to rely heavily on his new advisor, someone called Windu, Wende -"
"Wanda," Tommy and Billy say in unison.
"Yes, probably, the code doesn't have any vowels you see," Jonas continues, "he -"
"She", the whole table, minus Nate, choruses.
"Seems to have some sort of knack to predict which strategy would work in any given situation," Jonas soldiers on, clearly not paying any attention to the interruptions anymore, "or possibly to make any strategy work. He - she," he corrects, before they can, "has a keen strategic and political mind. Since the arrival of this new advisor, Lord Von Doom hasn't offended anyone. Which is surprising given both the political climate in Jerusalem and Lord Von Doom's personality."
"Yeah, Von Doom's not exactly the nicest person I know," Teddy says.
"And he talks about himself in third person an awful lot. Doom does has he pleases!" Nate adds, voice pitched low and resonant.
"I hope not," Tommy says, muscles twitching along his jaw.
"Why do you care so much about this Wanda person anyway?" asks Nate.
"She's my mother," says Tommy at the same time Billy says, "She's our mom." There's something slightly scary about how in sync those two are. Some sort of twin magic thing maybe?
"Your mother is Von Doom's future wife?" Jonas says, surprised. Nate hangs his head and sighs.
"What?" they all says, all at once. Heads in the dining hall turn their way. Tony makes a 'be quiet' or possibly a 'it's so cute that they're making friends' gesture. It's hard to tell with Tony.
Jonas is making some sort of effort at an explanation. "The code made mention of what I assumed meant a business partnership, albeit phrased in a really metaphorical way, but a marriage makes a lot more sense."
"This is it," Tommy says, "we're leaving for the Holy Land <i>right now</i>. I don't care if I have to walk there, but I will if I have to."
"I'm coming with you," Cassie says, to his surprise. "We did agree to each other's professional rescuing assistant, didn't we?"
"Were Cassie goes, I go," Kate says, in a tone that brooks no argument.
"Thank you," Cassie whispers back to her, even as Billy says, "She's my mom too so I'm coming with you guys."
"So am I," Teddy says. There's a look in his eyes when he glances at Billy that's a lot like how Cassie feels towards Kate. She can't blame him for following their little group to the ends of the Earth if need be. She'd do the same, and more for Kate.
"Can this wait until tomorrow? Because Knight de Stain just said that we were boarding tomorrow before first light. I read lips," Nate adds in answer to an unspoken question.
*
"Tell me about this Von Doom person," Eli says. He fully expects the man with red hair, Scott, if the other prisoners are to be believed, to lie to him or refuse to answer. Neither of these happens.
"Why? Is he coming here? Run. Run as fast and far away as you can. That man will stop at nothing to get his goals. Nothing," Scott stays instead, his voice full of horror. It's the voice of a man who's seen one battlefield too many. No. It's the voice of man who stared evil in the face, and ran away.
The man continues, "I will always regret having my daughter meet that man's son."
"You have a daughter?" Eli asks.
Scott shuts down faster than you can say Qur’an.
*
They board the ship the following morning. The Young Avengers, Cassie still hates the name but there's no use trying to get of rid it now that it's caught on, are all rooming together, except for her.
And <i>that</i> is an unexpected obstacle. Not so much for Cassie, who is rooming with Tony, under pretence of 'catching up about Scott', but for Kate.
Cassie is turning the problem over in her mind when Tommy says, "It's a shame Kit has that stomach bug. He'll have to be isolated or else we'll all catch it. Fortunately for us, I was able to negotiate for some angelica to cure it."
Cassie wants to say, that Kate isn't sick (not yet), but there's something about the way Tommy says it, that gives her pause. "You know," she says.
"Suspected," he says. "I do have some angelica if you're worried about that."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Cassie says.
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Tommy says.
Cassie narrows her eyes at him. He could have said something about his suspicions to anyone at any point, but he didn't. "I trust you," Cassie says, "for now. But no funny business."
"But funny is my middle name!" Tommy says, throwing his hands in the air.
"Tommy," Cassie says, mock-serious, "you don't have a middle name."
"NO!" Tommy shouts, in mock-horror and at the top of his lungs, stretching the o for as long as his lungs allow.
People turn their heads to look at them and they collapse in a fit of giggles on the ship's deck.
"We have to go tell Kit," Cassie says, several minutes later, when the laughter has finally subsided.
Tommy waves Kate over from where she was learning to shoot loaded arrows from Knight Barton.
"He figured it out," Cassie says, "and we'll be telling the Avengers about how sick you are and how you should be in quarantine until you're better."
Kate throws a glance at Tommy and nods. She tells Tommy she's watching him and he has better behave. Tommy nods back.
The rest of the voyage to the Holy Land passes without incident.
*
"Doom is looking for something," Scott says. "Find out what, and you'll figure out why he's doing what he's doing."
"Why are you telling me this?" Eli asks.
"Because I hate him more than I hate you," Scott says. "He believes himself to be the rightful ruler of the world and will stop at nothing to be in his rightful place."
"Why do you think this a bad thing?" Eli asks. One Christian master is much like the other, to him.
"I serve my King," Scott sneers. "And it is not he."
*
They make landfall in Acre.
The Young Avengers wastes no time in good-bye and heads out towards the fortress at Acco within the hour. Much to Cassie's dismay, the squire and the monk are coming with them. Somehow, they've acquired horses and Tony's blessing, provided the two come with them.
Cassie really, really resents that. They have no business with their venture. There's no reason for them to be here. Cassie holds onto Kate and seethes silently. Kate pats Cassie's arm where it lays across her belly.
When they stop to make camp that night, they're already halfway there.
"I talked with Jonas," Billy says.
Cassie nods absent-mindedly in his direction.
"The message might not be talking about marriage. The exact wording is 'Holy Covenant', and given other elements and midrashic lore, I think it might refer to the Arc of the Covenant."
"My brother," Tommy says, dead-pan, "Is a midrash enthusiast. Of <i>course</i> he is."
"I resent that," Billy says.
*
"Here, look at the riders," Loukas says.
"They look young," says Eli. He frowns, "The blond one looks like Scott."
"Are they with Doom?" Loukas asks.
"Only one way to know," Eli says.
They set the ambush in the valley a quarter mile from there.
*
Tommy frowns and throws his head back, hitting the side of the cart, "Oh, great plan, Cas, just great."
"Fastest way to the fortress," Cassie says, wiggling her fingers at him and loosening her bonds.
"Yes, I know. I just wished people here didn't hate my guts and want to kill me," Tommy says.
"This is different from your average life exactly how?" Cassie asks.
"I'm tied up," Tommy says, holding up his hands for emphasis.
Cassie takes a knife from her boot and cuts through his bonds, "Not anymore."
Tommy grins.
They slip out of the cart and into the fortress courtyard. They have maybe five minutes to get inside the buildings before anyone sees them. With their hair colour, anybody who sees them will know right away they're not locals and raise the alarm.
They get into the building right on time.
Finding the jail depends on them finding the guardroom and following a guard out from it. Or just following a guard getting on duty.
They follow him.
When they get to the dungeon, Cassie hits him upside the head. Tommy shoves him in a dark corner, tying his hands to a stone bench, behind his back. They march down the corridor, checking every cell.
Third time's the charm.
"Dad!" Cassie says.
"Cassie?" Scott asks, confused.
Tommy shushes them. "Come on, let's get out of here."
*
Kate is going to kill Cassie. Not only did she run off to save her father with Tommy, but she also took advantage of the rest of them to plan the damn thing.
Kate also suspects Teddy might have been in on the plan all along, but she has no proof.
"Maybe we could try planning for Wanda's rescue while they're away," Billy suggests.
Kate turns to look at him and he backpedals immediately.
"Or not," Billy says.
"We have to do something," Kate says, "and since we can't move, we might as well."
Billy doesn't look too reassured. Kate can't find it in herself to care. She sits down into the sand, followed by Billy. She traces an approximate map of the Holy Land between them with her finger. She marks out where they are, where Cassie and Tommy presumably are and where they're going.
"No, I think we should go towards here," Billy says, marking a point that would be several days of travel away from their objective.
"Why?" Kate asks.
"I think Doom is going to go there," Billy sticks his finger into the sand. "That's where the Arc of the Covenant is, according to the Midrash. We can intercept them here," he says, tracing both Doom and their own courses onto the map.
"Us and what army?" Nate asks.
"How long have you been awake?" Kate says.
"Long enough," Nate replies.
Kate rolls her eyes. Trust Nate not to give a straight answer.
"What do you suggest?" Billy says.
"We go directly to your Ark of the Covenant and ambush Doom there," Nate says.
"Us and what army?" Jonas says, over from where the cover he was sharing with Nate.
"Not as funny as you think," Nate says.
"I thought it was," Teddy says. He gets up and goes to sit next to Billy. "I vote for ambush."
"Me too," Billy says.
Nate also votes for his own plan.
Jonas and Kate oppose it.
*
Kate looks murderous when they show up at camp. Which is only to be expected, of course, but still. Tommy wishes she'd smile. Kate's smiles are the prettiest smiles in the world. He knows for a fact Cassie thinks like him. That counts as bounding, right?
So they have a hostage and broke out all the prisoners in the fortress. So what?
They did save Scott. That was the whole point of Cas and Kit's journey to the Holy Land, after all.
Oh.
Tommy really hopes Cassie is going to hold up her end of the professional rescuers deal. He can't do it on his own. Maybe he can recruit Billy to help.
"Hey," Cassie says, "we'll go save your mom later."
Tommy is relieved. It looks like Cassie isn't letting him down, after all.
"Do you do this often then?" their hostage asks. "Breaking into strongholds and letting out prisoners?"
"Who's that?" Kate asks.
"That's Eli, he's our hostage," Cassie says.
"Oh, we have hostages now, do we?" Kate says. "Wonderful."
"I still think the Dead Sea is our best bet!" Billy shouts, arguing with Jonas.
"Best bet for what?" Tommy asks.
"Taking care of Von Doom," Teddy says.
Kate points her fingers at Teddy and says, "Secrets, Teddy, secrets."
Teddy pales.
Kate points at Eli next to her and Teddy goes even paler.
"I guess we're stuck with you," Tommy says.
"You could try not being so happy about that," Kate says.
*
Wanda swipes a knife up her sleeve while Von Doom's back is turned. It's the third knife she's appropriated this way.
As soon as she knows her children are safe, she's leaving. Neither Doom nor high water is stopping her.
She might as well run away now, she realises. If Tommy isn't dead yet (please, let him not be), he'll have run away by now. Disappeared. Gone, somewhere across the plains of Europe. Safe. But Willy wouldn't have known. Von Doom's arm is far-reaching. Willy's not safe. It's her duty to protect him, no matter the cost. He's her son.
"Wanda," Von Doom says.
She turns around. "Von Doom."
"Viktor, please," he says. "You worry too much. Tell me about the place where the Ark of the Covenant is."
"Again," Wanda says, repeating the strains of argument they have long since learned by heart, "I know nothing."
"Imagine," he says, "that you did."
And so she does.
*
They find the place just after noon.
They set the ambush, Kate is aerial support from up near the cave's entrance and the rest of them are setting the boulders to fall.
Von Doom shows up before they have a chance to finish it. Half his men are dead before he notices the ambush. The rest are dead before they can react. Kate's aim, as always, is infallible.
"Mom! Over here!" Tommy says.
Wanda swipes a knife from up her sleeve, cuts the rope binding her horse to Von Doom's and kicks it towards Tommy.
Kate shoots her last arrow at Doom and this time Cassie sees the arrow stop and drop half a foot from his body.
For a second, everything stops.
And then, it as though the End of Days is there. Von Doom is throwing bolts of green fire at Wanda and Wanda has her hands raised, red light fashioned into a wall.
They are aglow, from the inside, with green and red.
"Into the cave!" Kate shouts and Cassie obeys, like the rest of them.
Wanda flicks her hand and boulders fly in Von Doom's direction. She rushes inside the cave while he protects himself in the way she had just been doing.
When she's in the cave, she closes it off with the boulders.
Instead of dark, the cave is filled with light. There is a halo around a stone chest in the center of it.
"Is that..." Tommy starts, voice filled with awe.
"I think it is," says Billy.
"Is what?" Eli asks.
"The Ark of the Covenant," Billy says, wide-eyed.
At that point, Von Doom bursts through the cave entrance. The force of the explosion throws everyone in the air. Wanda is the farthest from the entrance and the closest to the Ark.
When her palm connects with it, everything dissolves into light.
Wanda dreams of the mountains of her childhood and the shadow of a giant bird made of fire.
Cassie dreams of wide open skies and touching stars.
Thomas dreams of running so far and fast that he outruns the lightning.
Jonas dreams of thundering light and walls fading away at his touch.
Wilhelm dreams of blue fire and dancing lightning.
Scott dreams of wide open fields and ants the size of houses.
Theodore dreams of distant wars and people with skin the colour of grass.
Nathanael dreams of thundering light and sand flowing backwards through an hourglass.
Ilyas dreams of blood and having the strength of ten men.
Katherine dreams of an arrow, falling in flight and a hawk flying off into the skies.
Viktor dreams of his mother and the voices of clocks.
Throughout all of their dreams, which are not dreams at all, there is silence.
They wake up crying.
Kate wakes up first. She was always an early riser. She grabs her bow and her quiver and feels the arrows sing in under her hand.
She hears a sound behind her and shoots before she's turned completely around. Her arrow is embedded in the rock behind Von Doom, who has grown translucent.
She has just fired an arrow, through a man, into solid rock, but Kate has no time to wonder of this, as Von Doom is now disappearing in a puff of smoke and magic. Kate shoots at him again (never mind that her quiver was empty a few moments ago) and the arrow disappear along with him.
Kate knows he can't have gotten far. She can feel her arrows and the only one that isn't with her is with him.
She wakes the others up, and explains the situation.
"Let him go," Wanda says. "He can't hurt us now."
Kate replies, "What about other people? Could he hurt them?"
"I suppose," Wanda says.
“Then I’ll help them,” Kate says, “No one should be hurt by him.”
Cassie and the rest soon agree with her.
And so, they go.
What happens then is the stuff of legends. It’s not long before Von Doom isn’t the greatest threat they face and it’s not long after that they ally with him.
It’s not an easy alliance, but it’s the only way they can defeat the menace from the skies.
After that it’s one thing after another, until it’s been ten years since they’ve been enemies. Despite this, Wanda is perhaps the only one of them who is not surprised when she marries Von Doom.
Fandom: Young Avengers
Characters: Cassie Lang, Kate Bishop, Tommy Shepherd, assorted Young Avengers (all of them) and various Marvel comics characters
Warnings: Chose not to use
Spoilers: Not really
Word Count: 8 257
Summary: A Children's Crusade AU. By which I mean: The year is 1212 and they're all headed for the Holy Land.
Author's Note:I wrote this way back when the end of Young Avengers: Children's Crusade was coming out in single issues, so late 2011 to 2012. I've never posted it before and actually kind of forgotten I'd written it until
schneefink reminded me. It pretty much started so I could make the joke in the summary and I haven't done much more than run spellcheck on it before posting it here.Katherine de Beaumont twirls her quill around the loop of the S from Sancti. "Almost done," she whispers to Cassandre des Landes.
"Me too," Cassie whispers back. She dips her quill in her inkwell one more time. Hooves beat down in the courtyard. They keep writing. A nun walks in to talk to the Mother Superior. The Mother Superior blanches and approaches Kate and Cassie.
"Uh oh," Cassie says, sotto voce, just as Kate asks the Mother Superior, "Is everything alright?"
The Mother Superior turns to Cassie and says, "I think you should both come down to the courtyard."
They follow her down the steps and into the courtyard. Kate's father is handing his horse out to one of the sisters, who looks completely confused as to what to do with it.
"Father!" Kate shouts.
"Dad?" Cassie asks tentatively. Her father is nowhere to be seen.
Kate's father pulls a face, briefly, before smoothing it other. "Your father," he takes a deep breath, "Scott des Landes died defending Acco."
Cassie gasps, hands shooting to her mouth before she runs towards the dormitories. Kate looks at her father, features harsh, then runs after her.
When Kate finds her, Cassie is crying silently in a corner.
"Hey," Kate says, sitting down next to her. Cassie sniffles.
"I can't believe my father's dead," Cassie says.
Kate hates herself for what she's about to say, but she can't stand Cassie crying. She never could. "Maybe he's not," she says.
"What do you mean?" Cassie asks.
"Maybe he was taken prisoner instead. It's happened before!" she hastens to add at Cassie's disbelieving look. "My father didn't bring his body home. That means there was no body. So"
Cassie cuts her off, "Maybe he's still alive?"
"Yes," Kate says.
"Okay," Cassie says, drying her tears on her sleeve, "I can work with that."
Now it's Kate's turn to be disbelieving, "Cassie, are you thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking?"
Cassie nods, "I'm going to find my father."
"I'll help," Kate says, without hesitation.
"Thanks," Cassie says.
*
Later that evening, Kate finds Cassie in the stables. "Have you got everything on your list?" she asks.
"Yes," Cassie replies, "but are you sure we even need half this stuff?"
"Trust me," Kate says, "we probably will."
Kate finds her father's horse. She attaches both her bag and Cassie's to the saddle. She helps Cassie up and goes to open the stable doors. She takes the horse's bridle and closes the door after they're through. Cassie's knuckles are white where she's hanging onto the saddle for dear life. Kate uncurls her fingers, mounts in front of her and says, "Wrap your arms around me and don't let go."
"Never," Cassie replies.
"Never?" Kate asks, kicking the horse into a trot.
"Well okay, maybe not never," Cassie says.
The horse runs down the hill. Cassie laughs happily in Kate's ear.
*
Théodore watches as his mother's farm is burned down. His town's parfait holds him to his chest to keep him from running out.
"Mother!" Teddy cries, tears running down his face.
When the fire has calmed down, Teddy finally breaks free from the parfait. He runs to the farm and opens the door, paying no mind to sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh coming from his hands. Inside the house he finds a skeleton in the kitchen, bones charred black, skull grinning eerily at him. For a moment, Teddy holds out hope that it might not be his mother but when he gets closer he notices her earrings, tiny spots of gold among the ash.
For the longest time, he doesn't stop screaming.
*
"Kate, hold up! My hands are slipping!" Cassie shouts over the sound of the wind through the trees.
Kate pulls on the reins, stopping the horse. "We needed to stop soon anyway. Rest the horse, you know?"
Cassie nods, although, no, she doesn't know. "I meant to ask, how are we going to Jerusalem?"
"We're joining a Crusade," Kate says, entirely straight-faced.
Cassie laughs. Kate remains straight-faced. "You're serious?" Cassie asks.
"Yes," Kate says. She digs through the bags and comes up with a handful of bandages. She hands half of them to Cassie.
"What is this for?" Cassie says, turning the bandages over in her hands.
"Kate and Cassie aren't joining the Crusade. Kit and Cass are," Kate says. It takes Cassie a second to catch up and then she nods in understanding.
"I've never done this kind of thing before," she says.
"Me neither," Kate says, "but how hard can it be?"
*
"You're lucky," Nathanael says.
"Why do you say that?" Jonas asks.
"I don't want to be a knight," Nate says. "I don't to hurt people. I don't want to kill people either. I wish I could be a better person instead. I wish I were you."
"You don't have the faith," Jonas replies.
"So? I don't think it's a requirement."
*
It turns out to be pretty hard. It takes them until nightfall to figure it out. By that time the horse is well rested, but Cassie doesn't feel confident enough to ride at night again. They make camp near a close-by lake. Cassie lights a fire.
"My father taught me," she tells Kate's surprised eyebrows.
Kate nods. She cracks open a couple of nuts, while Cassie eats up some bread on the fire. "Keep an eye on the fire," she tells Cassie, "I think some of those berries are edible."
Kate picks up berries and then says, "Cassie? There's some meat in the bag."
"Kate!" Cassie shouts. "How could you?"
"We need to eat," Kate says. "They were planning a feast for my father. I only took enough that wouldn't notice and I think we deserve it. We're actually doing something for your father, after all."
Cassie takes the meat in the bag and says, "There's only enough for one meal." She throws in the fire. "I don't know how good this'll be. Where are we meeting the Crusade?"
"In Bourges," Kate says. "Or if they're not there, someone'll know where they are."
*
Eli is Saladin's grandson. He's not the only one of course, but still, that's quite the legacy right there.
His father, Ghazi, is off doing Allah knows what Allah knows where, leaving his uncle in charge of the force.
"Ilyas," his uncle says, using his full name instead of the childhood nickname Eli still thinks of himself as, "what do you think of this plan of attack?"
Eli pours over the map and says, "Are you sure they don't have a cavalry anymore?"
*
Kate and Cassie arrive in Bourges shortly after the Crusade does.
"This should be easy," Cassie says.
"Yes," Kate agrees, "we'll just follow the flies."
They laugh at that. Kate sobers up and says, "We should sell the horse."
"Why?" Cassie asks. "We could use it to follow the Crusade."
"Most of the people in the Crusade are on foot. We'll need the money more than the horse," Kate says.
"How do you know so much about this Crusade, anyway?" Cassie says.
"I like to keep myself informed," Kate says.
They find a buyer on town square, Kate spinning a tale of woe about this horse being her last possession and upgrading it in the process from palfrey to destrier.
When the horse is sold, and just before they meet up with the Crusade, Kate and Cassie split all their food and money in equal halves.
*
"I don't want to go!" complains Wilhelm.
Wanda kneels down to put herself face to face with her son, "Willy, my love, do this for our family."
"But I want to stay!" he cries.
"Are you afraid I'll forget you?" she asks.
Willy nods, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Oh, Willy," she breaths out. She hugs him to her chest, "I'll never forget you. I will always love you, alright? Remember this all your life. I love you. Always have. Always will."
He stops crying and hugs her back.
"We'll always love you too," Pietro says from the doorway.
"We will!" adds Tommy cheerfully. Wanda isn't sure Tommy real understands what's going on, but she's glad he cheers Willy up anyway.
*
"Excuse me," Kate says, "this is the Crusade, isn't it?"
The boy she asks is taller and broader than she is, blond hair like Cassie's and, strangely enough, wearing a woman's earrings. "Yeah, it is," he answers.
His earrings are simple loops, yet made of gold. "Thank you. Nice earrings," Kate says.
His hands jerk up as if to check the earrings are still there. "They were my mom's," he says, with a look Kate knows all too well. "I'm Teddy, I mean, Théodore."
"Kit," Kate says. "I know, it's unusual, but what can you do?" she shrugs. She tugs Cassie next to her, "This here is Cass."
Cassie waves a little then says, "Kit, talk to you a moment?"
"What are you doing?" Cassie whispers.
"Making friends," Kate replies. "We might need some."
"I don't want to make friends," Cassie says, "I want to find my father."
"We can do both," Kate says, brushing hair out of Cassie's face.
"Guys?" Teddy says, "if you want some food, we should go now before it's all gone."
"See? Paying off already," Kate says.
*
Teddy's hands take months to heal. By the time they do, Simon de Montfort has moved on.
"You could stay," Teddy's parfait says.
Teddy shakes his head, "I got nothing to my name except the clothes on my back and my mother's earrings." Teddy touches said earrings unconsciously.
"That doesn't matter and you know it," Bernard says.
"I can't stay," Teddy says. "Everything reminds me of her and I can't. I just can't."
Bernard sighs. "Alright. But you have to leave Occitania too. You need to keep safe from this Crusade."
"How do I do that?" Teddy asks.
"By joining another one," Bernard says.
*
Cassie takes the food. It's a piece of bread with some hazelnuts in. She moves to say grace. Teddy clearly doesn't know what to do with himself.
"You've never said grace before?" Cassie asks.
"No," Teddy says.
"Yet you're taking part in a Crusade," Kate says. "That makes perfect sense."
“I’m escaping a Crusade," Teddy says.
"Again," Kate says, "by joining one? That's perfectly logical."
"Well," Cassie says, "it's the perfect disguise. No one would ever think to look here."
"Exactly!" Teddy shouts. "That's what my parfait said."
When Teddy's brain catches up to what he's just said, he pales a horrified look on his face. He looks around to see if anyone has noticed what he's just said.
"You're a Albigensian," whispers Cassie, stunned.
"I've never been to Albi," Teddy says.
"But you are a Credentes," Kate says.
"Yes," Teddy admits. "Don't tell anyone."
*
"Antoine de Stain? Really?" Jonas asks.
"Yes, really," Nate says, sticking his chin out stubbornly.
"Your funeral," Jonas says.
*
The Crusade moves on. Kate and Cassie stay quiet about Teddy's secret.
Two weeks after they've left Bourges, there starts to be some mumbling about a thief.
"I've still got all my stuff," Cassie says, "what about you guys?"
"Me too," Teddy says. "Kit?" he presses on when Kate doesn't reply.
Kate looks at the ground intensely and frowns.
Cassie elbows Kate, "What about you?"
"Yeah, same here," Kate says, shaking herself.
Jeannot moves towards their fire. Kate tenses.
"Hey, Jeannot, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" asks Teddy.
"I could ask you the same thing," Jeannot replies. "I just want to let you know they've got the thief. And get this, he has red eyes and white hair."
"How do they know he's the thief?" Kate asks, frowning.
"He's Jewish," Jeannot says.
Kate waits for him to continue. "That's it?" she says, when it's evident no other explanation is forthcoming.
"Yeah. Isn't that enough?" Jeannot asks.
Kate grits her teeth. Cassie squeezes her hand. Teddy says, "Red eyes, you said? I want to see that."
"Sure, let me show you the way," Jeannot says. He walks off. Teddy goes to follow him.
"We're coming too," says Cassie.
*
"I don't think we should kill the prisoners," Eli says.
"Why not?" asks his uncle.
"That's not what Saladin would do," Eli says.
"I'm not Saladin," his uncle says.
Eli braces himself and says, "That much is obvious."
*
The thief does indeed have white hair. Actually white hair, like an old man's, not pale blond like Kate had expected him to have. One of his eyes is swollen shut and the other is, like Jeannot said, red. He's bleeding from the mouth.
Teddy stops one guy from kicking him in the ribs by saying, "If he's the thief, where's all the stuff he stole?"
The guy Teddy is holding spits and says, "He says he doesn't know. Filthy liar."
"I don't know!" the thief shouts. "I'm not a thief. I have no idea where your things are."
"He's right," Kate says. Silence falls on the camp.
"What?" Jeannot asks.
"He's not the thief," Kate says. "he didn't steal those things and he has no idea where they are."
"Thank you! That's what I've been saying all along," the not-thief says.
"If he's not the thief, who is?" Jeannot asks.
"You are," says Kate.
"Very funny, Kit. Be serious, who's the thief?" Jeannot says.
"I said, 'you are'," Kate says, "and I can prove it."
The guy Teddy holds says, "Let's hear it. Dude, let go," he adds to Teddy. Teddy lets him go.
"You all know Teddy," Kate says. Teddy waves.
"Get to the point," someone out back shouts.
Kate rolls her eyes, "Teddy's earrings are missing."
"No, they're not!" Teddy says instinctively, before checking. "They are!"
"So?" Jeannot asks.
"So, this," Kate says, tugging open his collar. Teddy's earrings are pinned against the cloth.
"That's my crucifix he's wearing!" says the guy Teddy held.
Teddy grabs his earrings and hands Jeannot over to the the crucifix guy.
"Maybe they were working together!" someone says.
The not-thief sighs. "Oh, not <i>again</i>."
"I don't think so," Teddy says. "Anyone who has a problem with that has a problem with me."
Teddy is taller and broader than anyone else in the camp. No one has a problem with him. Cassie helps the not-thief get to his feet, "I'm Cass, that's Kit and that's..."
The not-thief cuts her off, "Teddy, yeah, I know, I heard. I'm Tommy."
*
"Tommy," Wanda says, "could you go get some parsley?"
"How much do you need?" Tommy asks.
"Not that much. Say hi to Pietro for me on the way back," Wanda replies.
"Sure thing, mom," Tommy says, walking out. It's amazing how much he looks like his uncle and grandfather, Wanda thinks. Not just because of what her father calls the family gift, white hair and red eyes, but also along the jawline and eye shape.
Tommy is barely halfway down the street when he hears someone break down the door on his house. He rushes back to see a group of soldiers grab his mother.
"Let go of my mom!" he shouts, running headlong into the closest soldier. He grabs hold of his tunic and pulls ripping away part of it.
One of the other soldiers knocks him out. "What do we do about the kid?" he asks.
"Just leave him," the commander says. "We don't have any orders about him."
*
"I'm looking for my brother," says Tommy. "I mean, really, I'm looking for my mother, but I want him to know what happened."
"What happened?" Kate asks.
Tommy relates the event. It's not that he trusts these people, but they've helped him twice so far. Maybe they can be persuaded to help him once more.
"That's awful," Cassie says. "Did you know what they wanted with your mom?"
"No," Tommy says, "but I've got this." He holds out the piece of cloth from the soldier. "Does this look familiar to any of you?"
"Yeah," Teddy says. "I think that's Victor von Doom's crest. He lead the assault against my hometown," he adds for Kate and Cassie's benefit.
"Teddy, we need to talk about your secret-keeping skills," Kate says.
"I take it you're not exactly the perfect Catholic altar boy either," Tommy says.
"None of us are," says Cassie. "I guess that's why we're here."
"Where's your brother?" Kate asks.
"I haven’t seen him in ten years," Tommy says, "but the last time I did, it was in Marseilles. He's the apprentice of an alchemist there. I think the name's Kaplan."
"We'll try to find your brother when we get there," Teddy says.
"We will?" Cassie says. Kate nods and Cassie says, "I guess we will."
*
"Pay attention," Alchemist Kaplan says. "This manipulation can be quite dangerous."
"Why is that?" Billy asks. He's been Billy for years now, ever since Master Kaplan's first child mispronounced his nickname.
"It can explode if handled improperly," Kaplan says.
"Oh," Billy says. "What shouldn't I do?"
*
The Crusade reaches Marseilles within a month.
By that time, it's well established that Tommy is part of Kate and Cassie's little group. Cassie doesn't know how to feel about that. This quest for Tommy's brother and mother seems to have distracted Kate from the quest for Cassie's father.
It's not that Cassie doesn't want Tommy's mother to be okay or for him to find his brother but her father is more important to her. Because he's her father.
On the other hand, it's not like can do anything about him before she and Kate get to the Holy land. And she might as well do a good thing while she's waiting for that.
"Hey," she says to the closest person, "where can I find Alchemist Kaplan?"
"Who?" the guy asks. "I don't know anyone by that name. Try down by the docks, the market's going on, you might have more luck there."
"Thanks," Cassie tells him, already walking towards the waterfront.
Tommy catches up to her in a back-alley. "Any luck?" he asks.
"Not really," she says, "I got told to try at the market. You?"
"Yeah," Tommy says, looking at his shoes, "me too."
It occurs to Cassie that people might not have reacted better to him than most of the people of the Crusade did. "I'm looking for my dad," she says. "People keep telling him he's dead, but I don't believe it. I'm going to find him and rescue him. And then I'm going to find your mom and rescue her."
Tommy looks at her like she's just grown another head. "So you want to become a professional rescuer?"
She punches his arm lightly. "Damn right I do! You can be my trusty assistant."
"No way," Tommy says. "<i>You</i>'re the assistant."
"I said it first," Cassie says, somewhat childishly.
"Yes, but I'm the most handsome one," Tommy says.
"Are not!" Cassie says.
"Am too!" Tommy replies.
"Okay, fine," Cassie says, "we can be each other's assistant."
"Fair enough," Tommy says.
They walk in silence for a while. "People are dicks," Tommy says finally.
"Wisest words I have never heard," Cassie says.
*
"That went wrong fast," Nate says.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Jonas asks.
"Yes," Nate says, "which brings to mind the question, why are you here, Jonas?"
*
Cassie and Tommy find the Alchemist in an alleyway along the dock. Although, they don't so much find it as are attacked by two children who demand to know what Tommy's done to his hair.
"Look, kids," Tommy says, "for the last time, "I'm not this 'Billy' person."
"But you look like him! And you talk like him! So you must be Billy even if your hair is weird."
"I'm not him! Tell them, Cass!"
Cassie doesn't say anything and just points towards the end of the alleyway. There's a boy standing there, looking like a dark-haired version of Tommy. They're slightly different: his skin is tanned and he's awkward and gangly to Tommy's lean assurance. There's no doubt that they must be related in Cassie's mind. It would also make him 'Billy'.
"I thought your brother’s name was Wilhelm," she says to Tommy.
"My name is Wilhelm," the boy says," but no one's called me that in years. Thomas, is that you?"
"Yeah," Tommy says, "yeah, it's me."
*
There's a man among the prisoners from Acco who has orange hair. Strange as it is, it's not his hair that draws Eli's attention, it's his eyes. There's sadness in them. Not for only himself but also for someone else.
"Who is it you're so worried about?" asks Eli one day.
"Why do you care?" the man asks.
"Because someone has to," Eli says.
"But does it have to be you?" the man says.
"It's the only way to be sure that someone does," Eli replies.
*
"So your mom, Billy's mom, was captured?" Alchemist Kaplan asks.
Tommy confirms with a short nod. Cassie says nothing. Billy says, "Master Kaplan, you've been to me all these years, but I have to go find her. She's my mother."
"I understand," Mrs Kaplan says. "Go find her and be safe."
*
They have trouble finding the rest of the group at the rendezvous point.
"Where are your friends?" Billy asks. Cassie thinks he looks faintly ridiculous in his dark clothes and bright red cloak, but she's not about to say anything. If anything, it'll make them more noticeable to the others.
"They're not my friends," Tommy says defensively. It hurts more than Cassie thought it would. Tommy adds, unexpectedly, "Except Cass, here, he's my business partner."
"Hey, Cass? Kit wants to talk to you about something. He didn't say what," Teddy adds from behind them.
"Teddy! I hadn't seen you there. Where's Kit?" asks Cassie.
"Over by the way station being stonewalled by Knight Barton," Teddy answers.
"Knight Clint Barton? Of the Avengers?" asks Billy.
"I don't know about any avenging business, but that's the name he gave. You're Tommy's brother, right?" Teddy says.
Billy frowns and says, "That's pretty bad. Your friend's in trouble. I'm Billy!" he shouts after them when they start running towards the way station, following Teddy's lead.
Kate is fine when they find her. She's holding her own against the whole Avengers garrison in a battle of wits and has just called them lying cowards.
"Calm down!" Cassie says, running up to her. When she reaches her, she whispers into Kate's ear, "Kate, you're not doing yourself any favours."
The sound of her name seems to cool Kate down a lot. "It's about your father, Cassie," she says. "They know something but they won't tell me."
Kate rests her forehead against Cassie's. "They won't tell me anything and I can't even tell them who you are. I wish I could do more."
"Oh, Kate," Cassie says, "you've already done enough."
"Clear off, you lot!" shouts the archer in armour.
"That's Knight Barton," Billy says. "We should leave."
"I'm not leaving without answers," Kate says.
"It's for the best," says Cassie.
Kate narrows her eyes, "I'm not leaving without something."
"No," Cassie says, "no, no. Oh no. No. I know that look. Absolutely not. No way. Whatever you're thinking, we're not doing it."
"Not even for your father?" Kate asks.
"Low blow," Cassie says, because Kate might be wearing her dangerous face, the one that always got them into trouble at the convent, but Cassie would do anything for her father and anything for Kate and it was never really a question in the first place.
Kate smiles, something sharp in the bow of her mouth.
*
"I still cannot understand why you chose Antoine de Stain," Jonas says.
"You can call him Iron Man, you know, everyone else does," answers Nate.
"No, I can't. It's a ridiculous nickname not based on fact and don't think you can distract me. I still expect an answer," Jonas says, pulling out his quill and parchment.
"Fine. I want to do something with my life. Help people, not be a monster," Nate says, getting Jonas's inkwell for him.
Jonas looks at him. "You do not have to be one or the other. There is a spectrum between those two points."
"Not for me," Nate says. "I don't think there is."
They're interrupted by a commotion outside.
*
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Cassie says.
"Hush," Kate says, rooting through the archer's gear. She comes up with a bow. It's the strangest bow Cassie's ever seen. "There," Kate asks, "this will do."
Kate makes off with the bow, leaving Cassie to continue looking through the papers. She doesn't find anything except some paper bearing Von Doom's crest. She stuffs them under her tunic. There's an open door on the other side of Knight Barton's room, leading to another room. She tip-toes past all three beds in the room, feeling a wild surge of hope as she sees red hair on the third pillow. But it's not her father. It must be Knight Romanov, then.
In the room beyond Knight Barton's lies Antoine de Stain. He does not, despite what legend says, sleep with his armour on.
Cassie is so fixed on not making any noise that she doesn't hear the boy sneak up on her.
He doesn't seem to have the same motivation as she does to stay quiet. "Who are you?" he asks angrily. This, unfortunately, wakes up Antoine de Stain and both the occupants of the other room.
"Cassie?" asks Tony, still bleary-eyed from sleep, and, if she knows him, and she does, probably hung-over too.
"Yes," Kate says, over from the windowsill she's perched on, bow drawn and arrow notched, "now, let her go before I do something you'll all regret."
"Yeah, no, I don't think you can do it," says Knight Barton.
Kate lets the arrow go, slowly, deliberately, and it embeds into the eye of the hawk on Knight Barton's shield. Her bow is already drawn again by the time they all look back at her.
"Okay, so maybe you can," says Knight Barton, sounding impressed and then surprised, "You're the kid from earlier! The one who wanted to know about Scott."
"Unfortunately, we have no more information on Knight Barton's situation than you do. We do not know if the Saracens killed him when they took the fortress," Knight Romanov says. His voice is a touch too light for him to be as old as he appears.
"Then you know more than we do," Cassie says. "We thought he was dead."
"I see," Knight Romanov says.
"Well," Tony says, "I think we should take all these lovely people including the lovely Cassies over there to the Holy Land. Cassie," he asks, frowning, "why are there two of you?"
"Because you are as drunk as the night is black, Knight de Stain. I do not believe you to be in any state to be giving orders," Knight Romanov says.
"Nonononono," slurs Tony, "I'm the boss of you. What I say goes. We’re taking the Cassies to the Holy Land."
"I guess we better do what he says," Knight Barton shrugs.
"You only say this because you admire the archer's skill," Knight Romanov tells him.
"I do not!" he protests, but Cassie turns her attention back to Tony and Kate. Kate is making Tony sign and seal a contract to take all five of them to the Holy Land. Oh, Kate, Cassie thinks, only you.
*
"Do your people not keep Ramadan?" Eli asks.
"No", the man says, "we keep Lent when it is time for it, though."
"I see," Eli says. "It's strange that I still don't know your name."
"Don't bother," the man says. "I don't have any family that'll pay a ransom for me. I asked them not to."
"That is not why I want to know," Eli says.
"Or so you say," the man replies.
*
Meeting up with the rest of the group, it's quickly decided that they're all headed to the Holy Land.
Kate and Cassie are looking for Cassie's father. They've had to come clean about that, although Knight Barton, Knight Romanov and Tony have all agreed to keep Cassie's real identity secret. Kate's secret is still safe though.
Tommy and Billy are looking for their mother. They've had a look at the papers bearing Von Doom's crest, but they're in code. The headers are not and those clearly name von Doom, Tony and Jerusalem.
Teddy says that he'll help his friends.
So they go.
The Avengers, and there's a story behind that name Cassie knows, are not happy to see them. Knight Barton, in particular, seems adamant that Kate should give him back his bow.
Knight Romanov, on the other hand, has been nothing but helpful. He has given Cassie hints on how to look more like a boy. Shoulder squared. Chin up. Walk around like you own the place. Don't be afraid to take up space. Act like I do.
It's the last one that's most puzzling to Cassie, until she realises what it means. Her and Kate are not alone.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a voice. It's the boy from earlier, the one who threatened her.
"I'm sorry about earlier. If I'd known about your father, I wouldn't have been so harsh," he says.
"Who's the guy that looks like you?" Cassie asks, a propos of nothing.
The boy looks puzzled at her question. "That's my brother. His name is Jonas, mine is Nathanael. I'm Knight de Stain's squire."
"Why is your brother here?" Cassie bites her lip. "Does he read code?"
Nathaniel shrugs. "I don't know why he's here. Neither does anyone else. I think he does, why?"
"Nothing," Cassie says. Tommy, who was eating at a nearby table, goes to see Jonas.
Tommy has as good a copy of the documents that Kate and Cassie could make. They've put the originals back, but the information is too important to be let go off so easily.
Cassie doesn't see Tommy again until later that evening. Tony and Knight Romanov have shown Cassie maps of the fortress at Acco as well as schematics of the battle according to their intelligence. "There," Cassie says, "if I was in control of that fortress, that's where I'd keep my prisoners."
"I agree," Knight Romanov says. "It does seem to be the likelier alternative."
"Cassie, you and the Young Avengers can do that while my troops and me provide back-up for Von Doom's reclaiming effort."
Before Cassie can ask why they're working with Von Doom, or who the 'Young Avengers' are supposed to be, the diner bell rings.
"So I asked this Jonas guy about the code," Tommy starts, "the Avengers are headed for Von Doom's force at Acco. Apparently, that asshole is now in charge of all the forces in the Holy Land."
Kate adds, "From what Knight Barton has told me, it sounds like your mother's with him. There are rumours of a Jewish fortune-teller in Von Doom's entourage."
"We're actually doing this, then?" Teddy asks.
"I vote for 'yes'," Billy says.
"The Young Avengers are missing two members! Go join the group, Nate and find your brother," Tony says, ushering Nathaniel towards their little group. Nate's frown answers Cassie's own. The Young Avengers is a ridiculous nickname and being burdened by the squire and the monk would put a heavy damper on their escape plan.
"That makes no sense," Nate says, in the weary tone of someone who deals with Tony de Stain on a regular basis.
"Stay here, kid, the grown-ups have to talk," Tony replies.
Nate pulls a face. "So much for the trusting," he mutters. Jonas joins him shortly after.
There is an awkward silence, until Jonas says, "I've finished cracking the code. Lord Von Doom seems to rely heavily on his new advisor, someone called Windu, Wende -"
"Wanda," Tommy and Billy say in unison.
"Yes, probably, the code doesn't have any vowels you see," Jonas continues, "he -"
"She", the whole table, minus Nate, choruses.
"Seems to have some sort of knack to predict which strategy would work in any given situation," Jonas soldiers on, clearly not paying any attention to the interruptions anymore, "or possibly to make any strategy work. He - she," he corrects, before they can, "has a keen strategic and political mind. Since the arrival of this new advisor, Lord Von Doom hasn't offended anyone. Which is surprising given both the political climate in Jerusalem and Lord Von Doom's personality."
"Yeah, Von Doom's not exactly the nicest person I know," Teddy says.
"And he talks about himself in third person an awful lot. Doom does has he pleases!" Nate adds, voice pitched low and resonant.
"I hope not," Tommy says, muscles twitching along his jaw.
"Why do you care so much about this Wanda person anyway?" asks Nate.
"She's my mother," says Tommy at the same time Billy says, "She's our mom." There's something slightly scary about how in sync those two are. Some sort of twin magic thing maybe?
"Your mother is Von Doom's future wife?" Jonas says, surprised. Nate hangs his head and sighs.
"What?" they all says, all at once. Heads in the dining hall turn their way. Tony makes a 'be quiet' or possibly a 'it's so cute that they're making friends' gesture. It's hard to tell with Tony.
Jonas is making some sort of effort at an explanation. "The code made mention of what I assumed meant a business partnership, albeit phrased in a really metaphorical way, but a marriage makes a lot more sense."
"This is it," Tommy says, "we're leaving for the Holy Land <i>right now</i>. I don't care if I have to walk there, but I will if I have to."
"I'm coming with you," Cassie says, to his surprise. "We did agree to each other's professional rescuing assistant, didn't we?"
"Were Cassie goes, I go," Kate says, in a tone that brooks no argument.
"Thank you," Cassie whispers back to her, even as Billy says, "She's my mom too so I'm coming with you guys."
"So am I," Teddy says. There's a look in his eyes when he glances at Billy that's a lot like how Cassie feels towards Kate. She can't blame him for following their little group to the ends of the Earth if need be. She'd do the same, and more for Kate.
"Can this wait until tomorrow? Because Knight de Stain just said that we were boarding tomorrow before first light. I read lips," Nate adds in answer to an unspoken question.
*
"Tell me about this Von Doom person," Eli says. He fully expects the man with red hair, Scott, if the other prisoners are to be believed, to lie to him or refuse to answer. Neither of these happens.
"Why? Is he coming here? Run. Run as fast and far away as you can. That man will stop at nothing to get his goals. Nothing," Scott stays instead, his voice full of horror. It's the voice of a man who's seen one battlefield too many. No. It's the voice of man who stared evil in the face, and ran away.
The man continues, "I will always regret having my daughter meet that man's son."
"You have a daughter?" Eli asks.
Scott shuts down faster than you can say Qur’an.
*
They board the ship the following morning. The Young Avengers, Cassie still hates the name but there's no use trying to get of rid it now that it's caught on, are all rooming together, except for her.
And <i>that</i> is an unexpected obstacle. Not so much for Cassie, who is rooming with Tony, under pretence of 'catching up about Scott', but for Kate.
Cassie is turning the problem over in her mind when Tommy says, "It's a shame Kit has that stomach bug. He'll have to be isolated or else we'll all catch it. Fortunately for us, I was able to negotiate for some angelica to cure it."
Cassie wants to say, that Kate isn't sick (not yet), but there's something about the way Tommy says it, that gives her pause. "You know," she says.
"Suspected," he says. "I do have some angelica if you're worried about that."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Cassie says.
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Tommy says.
Cassie narrows her eyes at him. He could have said something about his suspicions to anyone at any point, but he didn't. "I trust you," Cassie says, "for now. But no funny business."
"But funny is my middle name!" Tommy says, throwing his hands in the air.
"Tommy," Cassie says, mock-serious, "you don't have a middle name."
"NO!" Tommy shouts, in mock-horror and at the top of his lungs, stretching the o for as long as his lungs allow.
People turn their heads to look at them and they collapse in a fit of giggles on the ship's deck.
"We have to go tell Kit," Cassie says, several minutes later, when the laughter has finally subsided.
Tommy waves Kate over from where she was learning to shoot loaded arrows from Knight Barton.
"He figured it out," Cassie says, "and we'll be telling the Avengers about how sick you are and how you should be in quarantine until you're better."
Kate throws a glance at Tommy and nods. She tells Tommy she's watching him and he has better behave. Tommy nods back.
The rest of the voyage to the Holy Land passes without incident.
*
"Doom is looking for something," Scott says. "Find out what, and you'll figure out why he's doing what he's doing."
"Why are you telling me this?" Eli asks.
"Because I hate him more than I hate you," Scott says. "He believes himself to be the rightful ruler of the world and will stop at nothing to be in his rightful place."
"Why do you think this a bad thing?" Eli asks. One Christian master is much like the other, to him.
"I serve my King," Scott sneers. "And it is not he."
*
They make landfall in Acre.
The Young Avengers wastes no time in good-bye and heads out towards the fortress at Acco within the hour. Much to Cassie's dismay, the squire and the monk are coming with them. Somehow, they've acquired horses and Tony's blessing, provided the two come with them.
Cassie really, really resents that. They have no business with their venture. There's no reason for them to be here. Cassie holds onto Kate and seethes silently. Kate pats Cassie's arm where it lays across her belly.
When they stop to make camp that night, they're already halfway there.
"I talked with Jonas," Billy says.
Cassie nods absent-mindedly in his direction.
"The message might not be talking about marriage. The exact wording is 'Holy Covenant', and given other elements and midrashic lore, I think it might refer to the Arc of the Covenant."
"My brother," Tommy says, dead-pan, "Is a midrash enthusiast. Of <i>course</i> he is."
"I resent that," Billy says.
*
"Here, look at the riders," Loukas says.
"They look young," says Eli. He frowns, "The blond one looks like Scott."
"Are they with Doom?" Loukas asks.
"Only one way to know," Eli says.
They set the ambush in the valley a quarter mile from there.
*
Tommy frowns and throws his head back, hitting the side of the cart, "Oh, great plan, Cas, just great."
"Fastest way to the fortress," Cassie says, wiggling her fingers at him and loosening her bonds.
"Yes, I know. I just wished people here didn't hate my guts and want to kill me," Tommy says.
"This is different from your average life exactly how?" Cassie asks.
"I'm tied up," Tommy says, holding up his hands for emphasis.
Cassie takes a knife from her boot and cuts through his bonds, "Not anymore."
Tommy grins.
They slip out of the cart and into the fortress courtyard. They have maybe five minutes to get inside the buildings before anyone sees them. With their hair colour, anybody who sees them will know right away they're not locals and raise the alarm.
They get into the building right on time.
Finding the jail depends on them finding the guardroom and following a guard out from it. Or just following a guard getting on duty.
They follow him.
When they get to the dungeon, Cassie hits him upside the head. Tommy shoves him in a dark corner, tying his hands to a stone bench, behind his back. They march down the corridor, checking every cell.
Third time's the charm.
"Dad!" Cassie says.
"Cassie?" Scott asks, confused.
Tommy shushes them. "Come on, let's get out of here."
*
Kate is going to kill Cassie. Not only did she run off to save her father with Tommy, but she also took advantage of the rest of them to plan the damn thing.
Kate also suspects Teddy might have been in on the plan all along, but she has no proof.
"Maybe we could try planning for Wanda's rescue while they're away," Billy suggests.
Kate turns to look at him and he backpedals immediately.
"Or not," Billy says.
"We have to do something," Kate says, "and since we can't move, we might as well."
Billy doesn't look too reassured. Kate can't find it in herself to care. She sits down into the sand, followed by Billy. She traces an approximate map of the Holy Land between them with her finger. She marks out where they are, where Cassie and Tommy presumably are and where they're going.
"No, I think we should go towards here," Billy says, marking a point that would be several days of travel away from their objective.
"Why?" Kate asks.
"I think Doom is going to go there," Billy sticks his finger into the sand. "That's where the Arc of the Covenant is, according to the Midrash. We can intercept them here," he says, tracing both Doom and their own courses onto the map.
"Us and what army?" Nate asks.
"How long have you been awake?" Kate says.
"Long enough," Nate replies.
Kate rolls her eyes. Trust Nate not to give a straight answer.
"What do you suggest?" Billy says.
"We go directly to your Ark of the Covenant and ambush Doom there," Nate says.
"Us and what army?" Jonas says, over from where the cover he was sharing with Nate.
"Not as funny as you think," Nate says.
"I thought it was," Teddy says. He gets up and goes to sit next to Billy. "I vote for ambush."
"Me too," Billy says.
Nate also votes for his own plan.
Jonas and Kate oppose it.
*
Kate looks murderous when they show up at camp. Which is only to be expected, of course, but still. Tommy wishes she'd smile. Kate's smiles are the prettiest smiles in the world. He knows for a fact Cassie thinks like him. That counts as bounding, right?
So they have a hostage and broke out all the prisoners in the fortress. So what?
They did save Scott. That was the whole point of Cas and Kit's journey to the Holy Land, after all.
Oh.
Tommy really hopes Cassie is going to hold up her end of the professional rescuers deal. He can't do it on his own. Maybe he can recruit Billy to help.
"Hey," Cassie says, "we'll go save your mom later."
Tommy is relieved. It looks like Cassie isn't letting him down, after all.
"Do you do this often then?" their hostage asks. "Breaking into strongholds and letting out prisoners?"
"Who's that?" Kate asks.
"That's Eli, he's our hostage," Cassie says.
"Oh, we have hostages now, do we?" Kate says. "Wonderful."
"I still think the Dead Sea is our best bet!" Billy shouts, arguing with Jonas.
"Best bet for what?" Tommy asks.
"Taking care of Von Doom," Teddy says.
Kate points her fingers at Teddy and says, "Secrets, Teddy, secrets."
Teddy pales.
Kate points at Eli next to her and Teddy goes even paler.
"I guess we're stuck with you," Tommy says.
"You could try not being so happy about that," Kate says.
*
Wanda swipes a knife up her sleeve while Von Doom's back is turned. It's the third knife she's appropriated this way.
As soon as she knows her children are safe, she's leaving. Neither Doom nor high water is stopping her.
She might as well run away now, she realises. If Tommy isn't dead yet (please, let him not be), he'll have run away by now. Disappeared. Gone, somewhere across the plains of Europe. Safe. But Willy wouldn't have known. Von Doom's arm is far-reaching. Willy's not safe. It's her duty to protect him, no matter the cost. He's her son.
"Wanda," Von Doom says.
She turns around. "Von Doom."
"Viktor, please," he says. "You worry too much. Tell me about the place where the Ark of the Covenant is."
"Again," Wanda says, repeating the strains of argument they have long since learned by heart, "I know nothing."
"Imagine," he says, "that you did."
And so she does.
*
They find the place just after noon.
They set the ambush, Kate is aerial support from up near the cave's entrance and the rest of them are setting the boulders to fall.
Von Doom shows up before they have a chance to finish it. Half his men are dead before he notices the ambush. The rest are dead before they can react. Kate's aim, as always, is infallible.
"Mom! Over here!" Tommy says.
Wanda swipes a knife from up her sleeve, cuts the rope binding her horse to Von Doom's and kicks it towards Tommy.
Kate shoots her last arrow at Doom and this time Cassie sees the arrow stop and drop half a foot from his body.
For a second, everything stops.
And then, it as though the End of Days is there. Von Doom is throwing bolts of green fire at Wanda and Wanda has her hands raised, red light fashioned into a wall.
They are aglow, from the inside, with green and red.
"Into the cave!" Kate shouts and Cassie obeys, like the rest of them.
Wanda flicks her hand and boulders fly in Von Doom's direction. She rushes inside the cave while he protects himself in the way she had just been doing.
When she's in the cave, she closes it off with the boulders.
Instead of dark, the cave is filled with light. There is a halo around a stone chest in the center of it.
"Is that..." Tommy starts, voice filled with awe.
"I think it is," says Billy.
"Is what?" Eli asks.
"The Ark of the Covenant," Billy says, wide-eyed.
At that point, Von Doom bursts through the cave entrance. The force of the explosion throws everyone in the air. Wanda is the farthest from the entrance and the closest to the Ark.
When her palm connects with it, everything dissolves into light.
Wanda dreams of the mountains of her childhood and the shadow of a giant bird made of fire.
Cassie dreams of wide open skies and touching stars.
Thomas dreams of running so far and fast that he outruns the lightning.
Jonas dreams of thundering light and walls fading away at his touch.
Wilhelm dreams of blue fire and dancing lightning.
Scott dreams of wide open fields and ants the size of houses.
Theodore dreams of distant wars and people with skin the colour of grass.
Nathanael dreams of thundering light and sand flowing backwards through an hourglass.
Ilyas dreams of blood and having the strength of ten men.
Katherine dreams of an arrow, falling in flight and a hawk flying off into the skies.
Viktor dreams of his mother and the voices of clocks.
Throughout all of their dreams, which are not dreams at all, there is silence.
They wake up crying.
Kate wakes up first. She was always an early riser. She grabs her bow and her quiver and feels the arrows sing in under her hand.
She hears a sound behind her and shoots before she's turned completely around. Her arrow is embedded in the rock behind Von Doom, who has grown translucent.
She has just fired an arrow, through a man, into solid rock, but Kate has no time to wonder of this, as Von Doom is now disappearing in a puff of smoke and magic. Kate shoots at him again (never mind that her quiver was empty a few moments ago) and the arrow disappear along with him.
Kate knows he can't have gotten far. She can feel her arrows and the only one that isn't with her is with him.
She wakes the others up, and explains the situation.
"Let him go," Wanda says. "He can't hurt us now."
Kate replies, "What about other people? Could he hurt them?"
"I suppose," Wanda says.
“Then I’ll help them,” Kate says, “No one should be hurt by him.”
Cassie and the rest soon agree with her.
And so, they go.
What happens then is the stuff of legends. It’s not long before Von Doom isn’t the greatest threat they face and it’s not long after that they ally with him.
It’s not an easy alliance, but it’s the only way they can defeat the menace from the skies.
After that it’s one thing after another, until it’s been ten years since they’ve been enemies. Despite this, Wanda is perhaps the only one of them who is not surprised when she marries Von Doom.