Shattering | Invite

Muggle Neighborhood
Surrey
August 1st


Damian stood at the side of the street in front of his house. The summer had actually been better than he anticipated - except for one incident, the muggle kids had avoided him. And Theo had taken time out of her schedule to spend time with him as promised, of course. He loved spending time with his sister. Theolynne was Damian's most favorite person in the world.

At the moment, Damian was waiting for Theo to come back out of the house. It was his twelfth birthday and they had spent the day in Diagon Alley and muggle London. Next, they were going to see a film at the cinema. It looked like a great one and the boy was excited to see it.

"Dame."

Damian looked up in surprised, blue eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Bryce," he said coolly. "What are you doing here?"

"I have to stop you," Bryce said, tone resolute. "We used to be friends - brothers, even - but that was before. You're a monster. I can't let you hurt anyone."

"I'm a monster?" Damian echoed, fists clenching as his temper flared. He stalked forward several steps. "If you remember right, you stupid muggle, you're the one who attacked me, first! TRAITOR!"

"You tried to bewitch me!" the other boy shouted.

"I saved your life!"

Bryce shook his head in denial. "You're lying!" he cried. "I'm sorry, Damian. I am. But we saw what that grown up demon-worshiper could do - you promised to come back and kill us! I can't let you. I have to stop you."

"And how're you gonna do that, dummy?" Damian taunted. "I can beat you up even without magic!"

In answer, Bryce fumbled to draw a handgun from the back of his jeans. Visibly trembling, the boy lifted the gun in both hands and pulled the trigger.

Damian had frozen in surprise, eyes widening - and then he was shoved back by Theolynne as she jumped in front of him.

Bryce gaped in shock, lowering the weapon.

"THEO!" Damian exclaimed. He tried to catch his sister as she fell. She was bleeding from the left side of her stomach, just under her ribcage. The boy pressed against the wound in an attempt to stem its flow, wincing as his sister groaned.

"Hang in there, Theo," Damian told her, panic lacing his tone. "Help is coming - someone would've heard the shot. Hang in there." He could feel the bond he shared with his sister more acutely than ever - it was weakening.

"Da... Damian," Theo whispered softly.

The boy had begun to cry. "It will be okay," he said, tone choked. "It will be. Theo?"

The girl's breathing was growing shallower. Still, the bond grew weaker. A thrill of terror shot through the boy.

"Please don't leave me," Damian sobbed.

Theolynne's brow crinkled in concern, her hand raising as though to wipe away the tears that had started to stream down Damian's cheeks. The motion halted midway, her hand lowering back to her side.

"No..." Damian murmured, shaking his head. The light began to fade from Theolynne's eyes. "Theo, no!" She exhaled quietly, but did not draw another breath. A moment later, the bond that had existed between them ever since Damian was born winked out. It simply ceased to be.

"No!" Damian shouted. "NO!" All was silent for several horrified seconds, then, Damian began to scream.

Never had any sound expressed so much; grief, horror, anger, everything in between. Sound wasn't the only thing emitted from the boy, however. Magic, too, left him in waves. Never had muggles seen such a display of accidental magic. All glass within a block's radius began to rattle, vibrating until it shattered. Bryce started to come apart, Damian's magic acting in response to his grief to perform the spell he'd once seen in Master Romain's office. The handgun clattered to the ground.

Bryce Morris existed no more.

And still Damian screamed.

Neighbors had come out of their homes, looking on in horror. Moria Gray tried to run to her children, but her husband restrained her.

"Let me go!" she demanded of him, struggling against his hold. "Damian! Lynne!"

Damian had to stop to breathe. He could no longer hear himself, though, whether it was because he had damaged his voice or his hearing, he couldn't say. The boy didn't really care. Sucking in a lungful of air, Damian opened his mouth to scream again.

A man had started towards the fallen handgun, intent on stopping the murderous wizard.

Asric was in his office at the time it happened. A feeling so powerful washed over him that it scared him, only one thing could cause that and it was death. He'd felt it with Stark twice, he felt his and Ace's pain all at once thanks to their connection and then again when Ace lost his wife and son. The feeling scared him more than ever, it was dangerous and nothing you could do could ever take away that pain.

He took a deep breath and spun on the spot landing meters away from his apprentice and one of his old professors. The streets were filled with the echoes of the loud crack he had created, the loudness of it all put on from pure anger and grief. He walked up to the boy and knelt down in front of him as he took him by the shoulders. "Damian, listen to me son." He said giving him a little shake to make him listen. "You've got to stop, you're draining yourself." He said before the sound of movement behind him had him twirling back onto his feet with his wand aimed at a mans face.

"Don't even think about it muggle." He said giving his wand a little flick so the gun flew into his hand. "YOU HAVE BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELVES!" He shouted so the whole street could hear. "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS ON YOUR HEADS. WE TRIED TO COINCIDE WITH YOU BUT YOU WONT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN." He said turning to point to the dead witch. "HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID BELIEFS AND UNWILLINGNESS TO LISTEN AND ACCEPT? BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED AND IT WONT BE THE LAST IF YOU CARRY ON. ARMIES ARE BEING MADE AND YOU'RE JUST MADE YOURSELF MORE ENEMIES." He said placing his wand back up his sleeve.

"THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE BRINGING YOUR KIDS UP INTO." He said before turning to point at the dead boy. "HOW MANY MORE OF YOU WILL KILL YOUR OWN CHILD FOR SOMETHING YOU MADE THEM INTO?" He asked turning to place a hand on Damian's shoulder. "YOU'VE JUST PISSED OFF ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WIZARDS OF OUR CENTURY. THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME THAT YOUR ARENT CAPABLE OF ADAPTING, YOU'VE JUST MADE UP MY MIND I SHALL FIGHT IN THE ARMY. I'LL MAKE EACH AND EVERYONE ONE OF YOU REGRET THE DAY YOU DECIDED WE WEREN'T WORTHY OF LIVING." He said before apparating them both back to his house along with the body of his former professor.

Damian was not even wholly aware of what was happening, anymore. His mentor had arrived. The man was speaking to him. Damian stopped screaming. Asric would make everything better. He'd make everything alright - he had to!

The boy stared back down at his sister while the man spoke, his hands still pressed against her wound. It will be alright... It's gonna be okay...

After a while, he felt the familiar sensation of apparation and they arrived somewhere he didn't recognize.

"You've gotta help her," Damian rasped painfully.

Once they landed back at his house he began to pace with his hands clench tightly into fists by his side. How many more innocents had to die at the hands of this war? He was sick and tired of it. He was all for making peace between the two sides but it was clear now that that wasnt going to work. The muggles needed putting in their place and they needed to do it soon, he would not bring a child up into a world they had to fear.

"Son look at me." He said crouching down in front of his apprentice again. "Shes in a better place now where no one can hurt her. To bring her back would be selfish. You don't want her to suffer do you?" He asked, he needed to make the boy see it how it was. He couldn't let him life like he had for the past decade blaming himself.

Asric's voice sounded muffled, somehow - which was all wrong with his enhanced hearing, of course. Damian shook his head.

"No - you just hafta help her!" he insisted, clearly going into shock. "She's just... sh-she's just unconscious. If you help her, she'll be okay. Please, Master. Please!"

He sighed the boys was clearly delusional which happened to everyone after such an incident. "Listen to me Damian she is dead alright. There is nothing you can do. She wont ever wake up again alright? Shes gone somewhere better where she can rest peacefully without pain or fear." He said he didnt know whether he felt annoyed or sad for the boy, but he definitely needed to be there for him no matter how many bad memories it brought him.

Damian stared at the man for a moment, his vision blurring with tears. "You're lying," he rasped out. He turned his attention to his sister, shaking her gently.

"Theo, wake up. Theo? Theo, please! Please, wake up. Please!" His shoulders began to tremble with silent sobs, though, that was likely only the case because he had already screamed himself hoarse - even his pleas were little more than whispers.

"Theo!" Talking hurt, but Damian continued to call her name, anyway. "Theo! Theo. The..."

"Damian." He said pulling the boy back around to look at him. He sighed, he had no idea what to say. He never was good at this kind of thing, he couldn't even handle it when it happened to him so how could he help someone else? "Shes not coming back son, you have to let her go. You can't end up like me and never get over it its not healthy for you or anyone around you. I realise that now and i wont allow you to walk the same path i took." He said stand up straight again.

"Pan!" He shouted and his elf arrived a second later. "Prepare the body for burial." He said pulling Damian back and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sophia woke up on the sofa. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in the first place - she had been reading. Wasn't that apparation she'd heard? Since the number of people who could apparate into the house numbered two, that meant Asric must be home. Setting her book on the coffee table, she rose from her place to head towards the entryway, where the sound had originated. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and though she had put on a bit of weight, she still appeared slender.

"Ric?" she called, tone a bit sleepy. "Ah thought ye weren't gonna be home until -" Sophia broke off, gasping in shock as she rounded the corner and was struck by intense, overwhelming grief. She pressed a hand over her heart, a desperate sob escaping her lips before she managed to yank her Occlumency shield into place - she had gotten used to leaving it down at home. Working to catch her breath, again, the woman took in the scene before her, gaze settling on her lover.

"What happened?" she asked shakily.

Let Theo go?

No!

Damian didn't want her to go! He needed his sister. She couldn't just leave him! NO!

"No!" Damian croaked. "Leave her alone!" He reached up to shove Asric's hand from his shoulder, trying to pull away from him.

"Stay in there love." He called back, he didnt want her seeing something like this. She shouldn't have to, hell no one should especially not a young boy like his apprentice. But many more people were going to be seeing much worse sights than this as the war progressed. "I have no idea, i just felt his pain and found them like this. He's delusional and i have no idea how to snap him out of it." He said, he never was good with this type of thing, he just never knew what advice to give.

"Damian!" He shouted tightening his grip around the boy. "It's time to grow up, shes gone and shes not coming back. I know that hard but its something you have to do. Do you think she'd want you to be like this huh? Do you think she'd want you crying over a shell because shes not there anymore Damian its just an empty body."

Saying Damian was delusional was not far off the mark - his grief was making him quite irrational, indeed. Furthermore, he was in no mood to be reasoned with. He struggled against the restraining hold on his shoulder. He wouldn't let them take his sister away - he wouldn't!

"Of course, he is, love," Sophia said softly, voice full of compassion and empathy. She had continued to them despite Asric having told her to do otherwise. It was awful to see pretty young Theolynne dead, but not only had the woman seen far worse in her Dreams, she could not ignore Damian's grief.

"She was the world to him," she told Ric, her eyes glistening with tears.

Sophia pulled the boy to her, his back to her front. She wrapped her arms around him, pinning his to his sides, then began to murmur in his ear. "Ah know, lad. It's hard, an' it isnae fair. Hush, now... Ah know." She held him tightly, though, he struggled against her, offering him comfort the best way she knew how.

Damian fought as someone else wrapped their arms around him, limiting his mobility, but he was already exhausted - only adrenaline was keeping him going. After a moment, he gave up and just cried. They were murmuring something, but Damian didn't quite make out the words. The tone was soothing, though it did little to ease the anguish in his heart.

His world had been crushed. Theo was gone. His sister was dead.

It was his birthday.

It seemed that an whole eternity passed... and then, darkness finally claimed him.