It's About That Time

[Christian Shane]

Prompt List

• .
• .
• .
• Homecoming
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• Change

[Christian Shane]

 

H O M E C O M I N G

To his credit, Christian had stayed in communication to the people closest to him. Capri, Axel, Ryan, of course. He'd also spoken to Lucien - quite a bit, actually. More than he ever had prior to things having gone so completely south in both of their lives. Hadn't fucking seen that coming. Used to be, Capricia and Axel were his closest friends; his most trusted confidantes. And, they still were, but... Things were a little different now. And two years was a long time to go without really talking, wasn't it?

Christian may have kept in touch with everyone, but what he didn't do was let anyone know when he was coming back. They all thought he'd stay gone, and Capricia would just be the de-facto leader of the guild. She'd been doing a fine job, and nobody was really going to fight her for it. Eventually she'd step down and give it to who best fit the position. From what Christian had been told by Lucien, Jared might actually be giving everyone a run for their money. Of course, he'd also learned some interesting things about that, too. Nobody had mentioned to him that Jared was a Strigoi. Maybe it'd slipped their minds. Axel wasn't willfully hiding things from him, he'd believe that. But he'd also believe they were trying not to stress him out. It was a nice gesture, but unnecessary. Christian was beyond stress, at this point.

He walked into the guildhouse at about eight in the morning, his stride right through the common areas where hunters were eating, joking, changing shifts, whatever. He didn't recognize some of the faces, but some of them, he did. And judging from the looks on those faces, they recognized him, too.

"What the finger-lickin' fuck," Jared said aloud, though to himself, almost dropping his paper cup of scalding coffee. No, that was definitely Christian who'd just walked by, looking like some Business Emo Ken Doll. What the fuck was going on? He couldn't get to his phone fast enough to alert Ryan that daddy was home. Judging by the arched brow as they'd made eye contact, Jared suspected that the man already knew exactly what his first point of action would be upon spotting him.

"Dude, you need to get the fuck up and get down here, right now. Daddy's home, and he looks - uhhhhh - yeah you just need to come down here, bro," he said. He didn't even give Ryan a chance to respond; he woke him up anyways, so Ryan was probably still trying to figure out how to hang up when Jared lowered his phone.

"Nice to know nobody redecorated while I was away," Christian said, walking into his office and scaring the shit out of Capricia and Chase, who appeared to be intently discussing a recent development he had not yet been made aware of. "Ladies," he greeted. He politely ignored their shocked faces.

"You didn't say you were coming back today," Capricia said. She'd recovered from her surprise, and though he could tell confusion still lingered, she reigned it all in. Apparently he had missed things.

"I didn't say when I was coming back at all," he replied glibly. "Don't worry, I don't need a cavalcade to receive me or anything. I've been playing catch-up the whole flight back, and I think I'm about up to speed, but there are still some points of strong confusion. Did we get a donation from Justinian recently, or was that my vodka tonic? It was a long flight, so," he said, shrugging. He dropped down in his chair, looking up expectantly and waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah, you saw correctly. There have been some Very Big Changes, and these have all happened within the last few weeks, so whatever you were sent may be slightly out of date, especially if that's the last thing you saw," Chase said. "Hate to run, but really wasn't even supposed to be here for this long as it is. I need to get back before Shannon burns something down." She paused. "Christian. Welcome back."

"Yep, thanks," he said, giving her a wave. He looked at the doorway for a moment, then back to Capri, who stood with folded arms, leaning against the wall. "Wow, she couldn't get out of here fast enough," he said. He looked at Capri. "Is it the hair?"

She stared at him for a second, and he held his hand up again. "Come on, let's hear it. Just get it out now."

"Christian, you've been gone for two years. A lot has changed. Clearly," she added, her eyes flicking up and down him quickly. "I get that you've been reading what you've been sent, but I think you're missing some context," she explained.

He pursed his lips. "I don't think I am. I mean, let's see," he said, putting a booted foot on his desk and rocking back in the chair, his eyes to the ceiling now as his hand was up, ticking off things as he listed them. "Midnight attack, family - mostly - killed, I bail and leave you in charge. Some very powerful creatures show up in town, another row at Midnight, which isn't Midnight anymore from what I'm told, three ancients get tagged, and none of them kills by our guild, surprisingly. I lost a hunter because Zaine's a creep - nice to see that's still going on, by the way - uh, lots of people coming out of the fucking woodwork with various skillsets, including two missing hunters, one of whom went right back to being missing. Am I forgetting anything? Oh, and there's some evil fairy demon thing and we're housing a super rare 30 Days of Night vampire that happens to be my little brother's best friend and - as I understand - a pretty good shot at hitting level five in record time. And a Phoenix in a pear tree." He stopped. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, two days ago the hunter that tagged two ancients - "

"Who isn't ours," he interrupted.

"Yes, Christian, who isn't ours," Capri said hotly. "Was attacked by two vampires, got the shit kicked out of her, and is now resting comfortably there after Victor had to fix her. What is with you?" she asked, unable to hide the shock on her face. "The last time I saw you face to face you - "

"I'm gonna stop you right there," he said. Everything about his body language changed suddenly. "And I need you to listen to me, Capricia. We've been friends for a long time. That person who left here, that's not the person that came back. And it's for the better. Now, before you launch into a diatribe about how we can't just pretend things didn't happen, yes, I know. I saw Indrani before I came here, and I've got an appointment to see Anna in a few days. I'm fine."

As if to prove it, he got up from the chair and walked to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Capricia, I'm fine. Okay? I've had a lot of time to sit and think, and I'm done sitting and thinking. I've kissed all that trauma goodnight. No doubt I'm going to have to tell Axel the same thing, but I'm going to need you to stop looking at me like I've grown a second head, okay?"

"Christian, I - shit, you really saw Indrani already? Damn, she's usually my Uno Reverse card when someone tells me they're fine," she hissed.

"Yes," he said, giving her a shake before releasing her. "I wouldn't lie to you." And he wasn't lying - he was mostly fine. He was serious about seeing Indrani. He didn't feel like it was anyone's particular business for him to disclose the help he was getting and when he got it, but her name carried a lot of weight. Anna was newer; she'd come on in his absence, but she was reputable. Also, because she was new, he had a marked advantage with her not having a bias to who he'd been before.

She studied him for a few seconds, and really looked into his eyes. The truth was that she was a different person, too, though perhaps not quite as drastic, but, she didn't sense any bullshit from him. "Okay," she said finally. "Alright, Christian. I'm not here to question you."

"Yeah, you are," he countered, walking to the door, his hand at her back, indicating for her to come along. "You and Axel are here to check me every step of the way, and for a reason. Now, come on, let's go find him. I'm sure he's already been told, and he's pleased to know that he wasn't informed sooner."

"Hell of a homecoming, I'll give you that," Capri admitted, following him as they exited the office and made their way down the hall. "I hope you know we weren't sanitizing reports to you," she said, her voice low. "We were trying to - I don't know, give you breathing room."

"Understandable. Don't do it anymore, though," he told her, and though he phrased it politely, it definitely was not a request. He said no more on the matter, though, instead telling her about the flight back from across the world, and all of the things that had gone wrong during that adventure. Delays, cancellations, et cetera. She could already see that his intensity had been re-gauged for new depths, so it was best to serve it in small doses. And besides, he wasn't interested in just appearing out of thin air and undoing the things they'd done routinely for two years. He was more attempting to see how they'd been doing things so the hand-off would be clean back to him. Because, he was back, for good - and things for Frost were about to look a little different.

[Christian Shane]

C H A N G E

Well, the week back had been a great success. True, there were definitely some uncomfortable adjustments being made on everyone's part - not his, of course - it was clearly the rest of them who had gotten maybe a little too comfortable in the routines they'd fallen into in his absence. He couldn't blame them. He'd been selfish, taking so much time, but it needed to be done. And, now it was all about moving forward, and the best way to do that. At least Axel had been on board, although he could see that his oldest friend did show some concern as to his sudden 180, but Christian assured him he'd get the full story in due time. Axel was smart; Christian had definitely missed his company.

He walked through the parking lot to his car, mentally ticking off things he needed to do now that he was back. He'd had the house put up for sale the same day he came back, so he'd need to swing by and ensure everything had been packed by the movers and ready to be donated. He didn't want anything that was there. He used to, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it would all just be clutter, and would probably hold him down in ways he'd spent a lot of time breaking free of.

"Hey man," his brother called. His voice cut through the cold dark, and it might've startled Christian if he hadn't have seen that Ryan's car was still there. He turned, raising his eyebrows.

"Hey," he responded, tone receptive. "Since when do you stay this late?"

Ryan resisted the urge to grimace. "Since you left," he said honestly. "No worries, though. Couldn't stay a little Level 2 forever, you know. Had to do something to fill in those shoes." He smiled, but it didn't meet his eyes.

Christian sighed, and set his bag down. "Alright, what?" he said. "Come on, I don't feel like standing out here all night. Clearly something's on your mind, so let's just - " he said, holding his hands up. His entire demeanor was calm, expectant, like this was an inevitability he'd planned for. And, he had. He knew there would be some things that would be unpleasant to deal with when he came home, and this was just one facet of that.

"Dude, what the fuck," Ryan said finally. He had honestly wanted to say something more eloquent, but lapsed back into his most familiar vocabulary, finding he was at a total loss to explain the man standing before him. "Like, who even are you right now? Also, you're selling the house? Yeah, I was the one taking care of all that shit, so I was notified by the realtor because you left me in the contacts and forgot to take me off. What the hell, man?"

  "Oh yeah, that," Christian said, like he'd forgotten to run an errand.

"Yeah man, that!" Ryan spat. He scrubbed his hands across the stubble on his face, then held his arms out. "Dude, did you get your soul stolen when you left or something? That's Eva and Andrea's house, too. All their memories are there. You can't just get rid of them like they never existed."

Christian rolled his eyes. "Don't be a child, Ryan. Souls aren't real. I had Grayson make some adjustments after I left. Mostly because a life of misery isn't a life worth living, and I wanted to wake up without, you know, wanting to eat my own gun every day, so it seemed like the best decision at the time." He paused, noting Ryan's shocked face. Guess he hadn't expected that, had he? "Oh come on, you really think I went off somewhere and meditated for two years? Get real."

"Hoo, okay," Ryan said, exhaling as the complete surprise filled his body like electricity. At least it all made sense now. "Christian, listen - we can go to Cole, and we can put it back. You said so yourself, you've been talking to Indrani - yeah, I know about that - and I think it could be a good thing to deal with it, finally. Maybe process it, actually. I'll even take you myself," he offered, walking closer to him. There had been a healthy distance between them before, but Ryan was closing it.

"What? Fuck no I'm not putting that shit back," Christian exclaimed, the disbelief audible in his voice and on his face. "The first thing I did when I got off that plane was go get that stack and destroy it."

Ryan froze. "What?"

Christian shrugged. "Yeah. What, did you think I'd just leave it on the shelf for a rainy day when I wanted to remember where I watched my wife and child burn to death? No, no way. It's gone. Because they're gone. It was an issue, and now it's not. And honestly? It feels really nice, waking up every day not wanting to die, so yeah, man, I would never have put it back to begin with."

"Christian, you can't just pull out memories that make you said and delete them!" Ryan sputtered. He grabbed his brother by the shoulder, still in total amazement at what he was hearing. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! You're making it like they didn't exist!"

Christian looked from Ryan's face to the spot on his shoulder where his hand was clenched, and then slowly looked back at him before forcefully pulling the hand away. He held Ryan's wrist in a tight grip for a second, and then practically threw the arm back at him. "So you've already said," he said. "Now get your fucking hand off me,"  and though it was phrased as a simple statement, it was a warning. "You are taller than me, little brother. Not stronger." With that, he picked up his bag, readjusting his position.

"You want to sit in the dark and cry for the dead, be my guest. You're lucky I came back at all, and you can thank Cole for that. Now, I came back to do my job, and lead. And that's what I'm going to do, whether you're on board or not. If not, I won't hold any grudges. I mean, I spent my whole life forgiving you for horrible shit you put me through, it's kind of an old hat at this point," he added, shrugging.

"You sound like a fucking psychopath right now, you know" Ryan said, weight to his voice. Christian was clearly getting to him, and it was obvious.

"Maybe. But you know what I don't sound like? Someone who's still tortured by all the deaths he's caused. And hey, who knew? It's actually a pretty wonderful life - I mean, you know, not being crushed by the weight of your own guilt. I could do without some of the other stuff. But, here we are. So, if you're done judging me for the fact that I didn't commit suicide like a good grieving widower, I'm gonna go about my night. You should do the same. Hey - great talk, though. Love to do it again sometime."

He turned and started walking back towards his car, and Ryan followed, only to stop abruptly when Christian whipped around.

"Back off, Ryan," he warned, and this time it was much more obvious. "I love you, but you are pissing me off."

"Well, shit, at least you didn't choose to forget that," Ryan muttered.

"Of course I didn't," Christian shot back, and gave him one last look before he continued on his way. Ryan didn't follow him this time, at least, and Christian didn't bother looking back to check because he was sure if Ryan did, he was going to knock one of his teeth out, and he didn't relish the idea of it. He got into his car, ignoring the cold, and started it with an agitated sigh. He didn't owe anyone these explanations, but he was positive now he'd have to go through that once again with Axel, because Ryan was no doubt already on the phone with him. It didn't matter what anyone said or thought at this point, it was already done.

They'd all have to get used to it, just like he'd had to get used to it.