Waking up he was disoriented, everything hurt, his feet, his head, his eyes. Everything. He’d not felt such a thorough ache in years. As it started to dull his memories from before started to make themselves clear again. The strange court, the loud crack, the run, and then the fall. He’d been captured by the fae then, his feet had betrayed him and he’d fallen into their grasp quite literally.

Only, when he finally did try to move, shifting one leg first, then an arm, he didn’t find himself chained or restrained. In fact it was fabric he felt, smooth and cool like his bed sheets in the early morning. He blinked, trying to clear his vision enough to orient himself, the spots persistent. Finally they gave way to reveal his room, the same plain ceiling and walls he always saw.

He sat up slowly, the pain in his head flaring for a moment before it settled back into a manageable, dull, pulse. This was his room, the same as it always was. Had last night really all been some sort of dream, more elaborate than the previous had been? Was it all in his head?

It took him a few moments to realize that he was still wearing what he’d been wearing last night, save for shoes. There was a hole in the knee of one pant leg, a bruising scrape just beneath the denim. That was the only injury he could find, even when he peeled off his clothing, examining every inch he could see. He remembered falling, hitting his head hard enough that he blacked out, shouldn’t there have been a bump or a bruise from that at least? There wasn’t, save for the scraped need he was totally fine.

Still confused he stood up, the pain in his head barely lingering now as he shuffled out into the rest of his apartment. It was the wee hours of the morning now, sun just starting to spill across the sky and into his window. It lit up his living room in almost an eerie light though he was glad to see it all again. He’d thought for sure that yesterday had been the last time he would ever be there.

There was something out of place however, a blanket that was lumped on a couch. He’d not remembered leaving it like that, hadn’t he taken the time to tidy out here as well? He shuffled over to it, reaching out to put it back in place, stopping with his hands just above it. It wasn’t just a blanket, there was someone sleeping on his couch. Someone had broken in here to take a nap on his ugly but comfortable couch.

The stranger shifted, rolled over, eyes struggling to open with the early hour. Instead of fear of being caught, the man smiled, getting himself into a sitting position. Arlan was caught in place, unable to run, unable to move, unable to do anything but stare. There was something odd and familiar and he found himself trying to place just what it was that had him so mesmerized he couldn’t run and hide.

“You’re up! Finally. I was a little worried. Shifting between the veil took a lot out of you.”

“C-Corwin?” It was the voice he recognized, not the face, his own shaking as he said a name he’d not spoken in years.

“Yeah.” His smile grew, rubbing the sleep from his eyes enough that he could focus a little more on Arlan. He moved his feet off the couch, tugging the blanket with him. “Sit down? You gotta be tired as heck.”

“I’m not tired.” There was too much adrenaline coursing through him right now for sleep to hang on any longer but he took a seat anyway, his knees threatening to give out on him. He didn’t know what to say, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to find the words for his apology though he knew it would never be enough. In the end words failed him, simplified down to the idea with no embellishments. “I’m sorry Corwin.”

“For what? For saving my butt? You offered yourself as a replacement for me, right? You saved me as far as I’m concerned.” Corwin seemed oddly unphased by everything and his best friend wasn’t sure how to take that. It had been years since he’d been spirited away, since his mistake had caused Corwin’s disappearance but here Corwin sounded like he was just talking about the weather.

“I said no to the prince and he took you instead. Years ago Corwin. You’ve been gone for years. How are you not… how are you so calm?”

“Well it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been back. You were gone for like a week and a half? I’ve had a little bit of time to adjust. Here in your apartment at least, I hope you don’t mind. And they didn’t take me because of you, they have their own agendas, I was at risk no matter what you said. You just saved your own butt that way.” Corwin watched his friend carefully, deciding that Arlan needed the blanket more than he did at the moment. He draped it over his friend’s lap, smiling a little when it was pulled closer absently.

“I’ve been gone? I don’t understand. What about your mom? Why are you here and not with her and your family? She’s been devastated.” The headache he’d woken with in the back of his head shifted to his temples as he tried to push through the fog to think. The pieces didn’t quite fit together right and he wasn’t even sure of what the entire picture was supposed to look like when it was done.

“Fae time is weird. You’ve been gone. As for home… When I came back I guess they decided to lend a hand and change memories for me. It’s like I was never gone at all. I couldn’t be around that. I begged your mom for a spare key, had her send it to me because I just couldn’t be at home. I’ve missed what, six years at least and she was talking to me like I’d just been out at a friend’s house.” Corwin’s smile finally dropped a little, his tone bitter as he tried to shrug the unpleasant memory off. How could anyone have forgotten Corwin’s disappearance? It had been the only thing on Arlan’s mind for years, what kind of magic could reverse that in an entire town? “I’m glad I did though, I found you when I came in, just inside your front door, passed out on the floor.”

“My mom must be so worried if it’s been a week. My work would have called her.” His panic shifted to how his family must have felt, the fear and despair he’d already seen Corwin’s family go through. His stomach twisted and his next words dried up in his mouth as he watched his friend shake his head.

“Fae magic is weird and I really don’t get it but… they didn’t notice. Your mom acted like you were just out for a vacation when I called for the key, she actually laughed and said she was surprised I wasn’t already taking care of the place for you while you were gone.” Corwin reached out with a hesitant hand, setting it on his best friend’s shoulder, touch light as if he’d forgotten how to handle human contact. “I… didn’t think you were coming back. How did you get them to let you go?”

“I didn’t. They were going to seal me or something? Then there was this big light and everyone was confused and I ran. I’m not even sure how I got back here. I fell and hit my head.” It sounded crazy, Arlan knew that, he could hear the words as they left his mouth but they were all true.

“That’s...weird.” Corwin’s smile was replaced with a frown, though at least it was a thoughtful one. “They don’t really like giving up that easily.”

“I don’t really get it either. But I didn’t want to stick around and find out if it was a mistake.” Arlan could still see that unfriendly grin when he closed his eyes, he one that was hungry for something he didn’t want to have named.

“Yeah no, that makes sense. Look, go back to bed, get some real sleep now and in a couple of hours we can talk, you can tell me everything that happened then, okay?” Corwin was already getting to his feet, pulling his friend up along with him, ignoring all protests. He walked Arlan back to his room, blocking the doorway with his body as he made sure his friend actually headed back to his waiting bed. The years had changed Corwin so much, they’d broadened his frame, built muscle upon it, added some extra height. He looked so much a stranger but sounded exactly like his friend always had. Arlan was a little afraid that when he went back to sleep he’d wake up to find Corwin gone again, a figment of his imagination.

Corwin only left when Arlan sat down, giving him a moment to move his clothes off his bed. As he moved his jeans, the sound of something hitting the floor rang out loudly in his ears, making him stop. The quartz he’d been gifted in the shop had broken into two pieces, the evidence of as much sitting on the floor now. Had it been the cause of the loud noise when he was grabbed? He had no idea but he gingerly reached down to pick both sides up, pressing them together as if he thought that might repair it. It didn’t but he set the sides next to one another on his dresser before he threw his pants towards his laundry hamper. When he climbed back into bed properly he reached out to wrap a hand around the quartz, falling asleep properly, cradling them in his palm. 

The morning came properly a few hours later though answers did not. While Corwin asked question after question about Arlan’s trip to the veil but refused to answer any directed at him. It wasn’t until he snapped, remarking about how they were memories he didn’t want to revisit that they ceased, conversation dying out for a moment or two. Whatever had happened to his best friend while he was gone must have been horrible and he felt badly for trying to pry.

In the end they still had no real ideas as to what had happened to Arlan, or how he escaped. Their only lead was the quartz stone that had cracked so violently down the middle in his pocket. He was fairly certain it had happened when he fell but Corwin thought otherwise, declaring that they needed to head back to the source. It was strange to think that it had in fact been more than a week since he’d been granted the gift and not just an evening. He still felt guilty about bringing it back broken.

When he went to grab the quartz pieces he noticed something strange. The smooth stone that had been given to him from the fair prince so many years ago wasn’t on his bedside table as it always was. It was set next to the table, on the floor, by the corner it usually rested on. His stomach flipped with unease, he’d not put it there, he’d left it in his pants pocket when he threw them off before. He almost didn’t grab it, wanting nothing to do with it ever again only it had saved him when it gave him the view of the chains wrapped around Mies. With hesitation he slipped it into his new pants, opposite pocket once more from the one he put the quartz in.

The trip to the small indoor mall was put off a little by a quick stop for food. Arlan was absolutely starving, stomach rumbling so loud he was sure Corwin could hear it despite assurances that he couldn’t. His body certainly felt as though it hadn’t eaten in at least a few days. He offered to treat his best friend to their first meal together in over a decade but Corwin turned it down politely, mouth in a hard line. The fae used food as a way to trap someone within their side of the world, he wondered how often it had been used against him while he was gone. He couldn’t ask.