#Magnus definitely came up grinning and didn't stop grinning because that man looked death in the face

[noodyl-blasstal]

"27. [Clearly been bitten by a vampire] Yeah, well. You should see the other guy. " please? with anyone u want!

Prompt from Monster Mash Prompts, however it’s also Wood from TAZ Bingo for @taznovembercelebration because no one can stop me. Sorry this took forever, Uni apparently expect me to do work???? Ridiculous.

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Magnus hadn’t come back and he wasn’t answering his phone. Something was wrong. Protocol said Lup had to wait another hour before she could officially go searching, but, quite frankly, fuck that. Magnus was always on time. What Dav didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

A few quick calls and Taako and Barry had agreed to watch the base while she went looking. She definitely shouldn’t be going alone, but Barry couldn’t risk being caught in the daylight, Taako was still restricted after Grindrgate, and she refused to wait around for anyone else to get in.

Lup traced his route backwards, hoping to run into Magnus - delayed, not hurt, and with a story to tell. It didn’t take long to find him, he’d been so close to home. The alley reeked of blood. At first she missed him, but then saw a hand… his hand, wedding ring still blessedly in place, sticking out of a pile of bin bags shoved against a wall. Training took over, she didn’t have time to think about whether he was seriously hurt or worse, about what a world without Magnus in it might look like. Instead, she scanned the area for threats, checked for environmental hazards, then ripped the bin bags away to reveal Magnus. His skin was pale, paler than she’d ever seen him. Lup reached tentatively for his neck to feel for a pulse.

“Did ya know ‘im?” A Cockney voice came from behind her. A deeply unconvincing Cockney voice.

“Fuck off, Kravitz.” Lup replied without even looking round. She couldn’t deal with him right now. She couldn’t feel Magnus’ pulse, there was no movement in his chest. Fuck fuck fuck.

“Look, you know I only went after you because I thought you were a vampire. I wouldn't have if I'd known you weren't.” Kravitz said from behind her shoulder. He’d dropped the accent thankfully, but picked up a defensive tone. That fucker moved far too quietly, she needed to put a bell on him.

“What do you mean needed or not? I thought you were a vampire, Lup.” Kravitz spoke as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. As if he would gladly stake her husband, her friends. He would, she knew he would. That’s why they had to keep him as far away as possible, no matter how Taako felt about it.

“Yeah, and you jumped straight to staking without even checking to see whether it was needed or not.” Lup elbowed him in the knee.

“Now fuck off, I have to help Magnus.”

“Yeah, yeah, all vampires are bad, murder them all, I’m a scary slayer dude with a few hundred years of training but I can’t have a conversation and figure out everything isn’t black and white, we get it. Now, either help me pick him up, or fuck off.” If he was going to hang around, he was going to help.

“Did I stutter, Krav? Grab his legs or fuck off.” Lup squeezed her eyes shut. She refused to cry in front of him. She could deal with feelings once she had Magnus back to base. It was going to be okay. Everything was fine. There was still an hour and a half until dawn. She grabbed Magnus under the arms and heaved. He probably didn’t know he’d been training her for this moment, but thank all the gods he had.

“You know I can’t.” Kravitz’s brow was furrowed.

“Lup…” He laid his hand on her shoulder.

“We have to burn him, he was drained.”

“Kravitz, once again, grab his fucking legs or go. Do not make me fight you right now. You know what happened last time.” Lup continued to pull Magnus towards the mouth of the alley. She could tell Merle where it was later, his clean ups were always thorough.

“Lup.” Kravitz said again, softly this time, pretending he actually had feelings.

“He’s going to turn. If you cared about him at all then you need to let him go.”

“Duh.” Lup replied. Trying not to show how breathless she was already. It was a good job they were so close to base.

Kravitz stood frozen, staring intently at her.

“He’s going to turn.” He repeated.

“He’s going to be a vampire.” Kravitz tried again, as if there was something she wasn’t getting.

“My dude, I cannot tell you how much of a shit I do not give about that. If you’re going to lecture me then help me while you do.” Lup wasn’t going to listen to this if he wasn’t earning his keep. She tried not to get too angry at him. He’d apologised for trying to stake her every time he’d seen her since, and he kept showing up. As much as he still spouted the militant anti-vamp shtick, he didn’t act on it. He definitely could have burned Mags by now if he’d wanted to.

“Why do you think that?” May as well attempt to destroy some of the guy’s core world views while she carried her friend’s corpse home to bury in the family graveyard.

Kravitz shot forward and grabbed Magnus’ legs.

“He’s going to want to kill people.”

“Because that’s what vampires do.” Kravitz sounded exasperated again, but didn’t let go of Magnus.

“Uh huh, and how many vampires do you know who kill people?” Lup raised an eyebrow and tried to look dignified despite how red she definitely was.

“How many vampires do I know? It’s none vampires Lup, you shouldn’t know vampires! They eat people.”

“Sounds like something a person who doesn’t know any vampires would say.” Lup tried not to pant too hard as she hammered her point home.

Kravitz opened his mouth as if to reply, then shut it again.

“That’s what I thought. Now, put him down. I’ve got it from here. You need to go.” Lup said, stopping a few turns from home. Kravitz nodded and gently lowered Magnus’ legs to the floor.

“Thanks Krav. Think about what I said, okay?”

“Whatever you say, pal.” Lup pulled Magnus into another alley, waiting until Kravitz had turned and left before emerging and making the last of the journey home.

Kravitz nodded, then froze.

“There’s nothing to think about.”

“‘Ko, start digging!” She yelled as she shouldered her way through the door.

“Could use some of your freaky strength about now, Bear.”

Lup swallowed back the sob clawing its way up her throat and started running, grabbing a shovel from the door as she went and joining Taako in a desperate scramble to dig Magnus’ grave - if they could do it fast enough he wouldn’t need it for long.

Barry was there in an instant, gently taking Magnus from Lup.

“You got him home, Lup. I’ll get him now.”

Lup snorted as she dug. Of course, how had she forgotten the fucking coffin he’d made? It started as a joke ‘if I’m going vamp then I’m doing it in style’, but then he’d spent his downtime carving and polishing. He’d worked on the bear face, snarling defiantly from the panel above the space his face would soon be, for days.

Barry laid Magnus gently beside them.

“I’ll get his coffin.”

She didn’t cry until the first clods of earth scattered across it. Covering the bear, marring the beautiful wood. Magnus was going to have to polish that baby so hard if he made it out. When he made it out. Barry looked nervously at the sky, squeezed Lup’s hand, and retreated inside with a “wake me if you need me.” So Lup and Taako kept the vigil, only moving to send periodic texts. Everyone would be here soon. Magnus wouldn’t be alone.

Merle was the first to arrive, clean up completed. He placed a leaf on top of the churned earth, bowed his head, and sat cross legged opposite the twins. Lup didn’t know whether to be more concerned about the fact he was wearing sandals which were clearly blood stained, or that he refrained from making any inappropriate comments. Davenport and Lucretia arrived next. Davenport nodded tersely, Lup imagined there would be a lot of conversations later. Lucretia smiled soothingly. They all waited, as dusk fell, Barry joined them, planting a soft kiss on Lup’s head.

They waited as Magnus heaved again, a second hand appearing, grasping at the ground for purchase, and pulling himself up, up, up, until his head appeared. Grinning. Fucking grinning. That absolute shit.

Lup’s ears strained for the soft shift of earth. Maybe they had packed the grave too loosely? They didn’t want him to have to damage the coffin, but maybe it wouldn’t work because the universe would know they cheated? Now he had to lie in that stupid box forever and… the leaf moved. She could have sworn it moved. Everyone leaned slightly forward, focused. The earth shifted again, and Barry was gone. A small divot appeared, soil running down into a vacated space below, the ground heaved again and a hand appeared. Taako casually leaned forward to high five it.

“I knew he’d be fine.”

Lup didn’t point out the tear tracks staining his face, or the nail marks in his palms.

“Getting eaten by vampires is it, Mags? You could have just said something if you didn’t want to train with me any more.” Lup raised her eyebrow at him, and definitely wasn’t crying, not even a little bit.

“Pfft, this? This is nothing. You should see the other guy.” Magnus flopped out of his grave just as Barry appeared with a cooler.

“Shut up and eat these before you eat Taako.” Barry chided.

“You know the rules, bud.”

Magnus rolled his eyes and made grabby hands at the blood bags. As he chugged, Davenport stood.

“Right now we’re all definitely alive…” Davenport winced.

“…ish. I’m going to need the report on this one, because dead teammate implies something went wrong and we really have to stop letting things go wrong. At least some of us need to be able to handle the light. Team meeting first thing tomorrow morning, we’re doing a lessons learned spreadsheet, just like after the Barry indecent. Magnus, HR will work your shifts out with this in mind.” He looked resolute for a moment, then grabbed Magnus’ leg in a hug.

“Don’t you ever, ever, do anything like this again. You have to stay safe.”

Lup took that as her cue to dive in too and collided with the others on the way. They piled in as Magnus sipped a blood bag and absently petted their heads with his free hand. Dead or alive, she loved her family.

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Find the prequel here