Dew is super bored.
He doesn't know how in the world he is expected to find this cure in time—White Eyes and Dead Wife Dude definitely set him up for failure. He has less than two weeks to find something that hundreds of scientists have been researching over the past century and a half, with almost no success.
It is not looking too good for Dew, that's for sure.
Dew has just been sitting in his normal chair at Dr. Sanchez's desk, doodling on paper while she does all the work. He forgot to get DNA from Rowan, so there's literally nothing for him to do. He did offer to go find the guy somewhere in the castle, since he probably isn't too far, but the Doctor said no.
After a few more minutes, Dew decides that he's sick of doing nothing. He looks up from his paper, and looks over to see what the doctor is doing. He's never really tried to figure out what she's up to or what kind of progress she's made, so he's curious.
He gets up and walks over to look at her computer, and the lady doesn't even look up—too invested in whatever she's doing. When Dew's eyes finally adjust to her screen, he is immediately confused.
He recognizes the website she's on, which catches him by surprise. Not only that, it's... a shopping website. The woman is online shopping.
Dew blinks. What the fuck?
"Are you... shopping?" Dew asks in disbelief. What happened to finding the cure?
Dr. Sanchez actually jumps, and Dew raises an eyebrow.
The lady suddenly looks nervous, and Dew begins to feel pissed. She's fucking shopping? She's wasting their time, like Dew and Rowan's lives aren't on the line right now.
"No—I mean, yes. We need some more supplies." She says, and Dew is still skeptical. Noticing this, she continues;
"How about you go get us some lunch? The kitchen isn't too far."
Dew stares at her for another minute, before he turns around and leaves the room. He's glad to finally have something to do, but he knows what he saw on that screen. She was not looking for more 'supplies' or whatever, she was looking at clothing. Bathing suits, to be more specific.
Dew has a feeling in his gut, one that he recognizes immediately. It's the feeling he had when he suspected that Rowan was purposefully messing up their Origin investigation—and he was. Sadly Dew can't remember what emotions the doctor was feeling when he'd caught her just now, but he's learned not to doubt himself when it comes to people.
Sabotage.
He already has a billion obstacles in this, what's one fucking more?
Feeling bitter, Dew sets out to find food. He's a bit concerned about running into White Eyes again, but decides that he actually is pretty hungry so it's worth it. He takes note that there's almost nobody in the hallways aside from quite a few guards. No signs of Marley or Nero or even the regular castle staff—maids, maintenance employees, cooks, servers...
Huh.
Dew doesn't know where the kitchen is, so he decides to just start walking a random direction. Aside from Rowan and most of the higher-up officials, a lot of the military force are total assholes. Especially regular patrol guards. They piss Dew off with their fucking power trip, and he wonders if he should risk disrespecting one of them and ask for directions.
Whatever. Dew sees a guard standing by a doorway that appears to lead into a separate wing. He makes his way over to the guy, who is taller than him. Other than that, Dew can't see his face. The castle guard uniforms include a helmet, unfortunately. The only reason Dew could see White Eyes was because he had his helmet off... almost like he wanted to be recognized.
"Hey, do you know where the kitchen is?" Dew asks when he finally reaches the guard, who looks down at him. He immediately feels out of place.
"I need to see some identification."
Dew resists the urge to roll his eyes. He starts feeling around his pockets, before he realizes it's back in the lab with Dr. Sanchez. Damn, Marley gave it to him for this very reason, too. His hall pass.
"Uh, it's not on me." He's a pretty good distance away from the lab, too, and he doesn't want to walk all the way back. Not to mention he'd like to be away from Dr. Sanchez as long as possible after catching her. "I work here, though."
"If you can't show me proof of your authorization to be here, I will apprehend you."
This time, Dew actually does roll his eyes. See? This is what he's talking about, not even two minutes into the conversation and this guy has already threatened to arrest him.
"Dude, I work in the lab with Dr. Sanchez and I'm hungry." Dew guesses that it sort of makes sense to have strict law enforcement in the castle of a person that rules half the world, but that doesn't mean he isn't irritated at the inconvenience.
Dew's eyes widen when the guy starts reaching for something on his belt, starting towards him. "You are under arrest for trespassing restricted property without authorization. Anything you say can—"
Dew steps back, resorting to plan B. "Okay, okay, damn, how about you let me call Rowan? He... uh, knows me."
Very well.
The guard stops, seeming to contemplate this. Honestly, Dew really isn't expecting it to work.
"You mean Captain Lux?"
Dew blinks. Oh yeah, he forgot he's supposed to call Rowan that. Hm. "Yeah, whatever."
"You will get a phone call once you've been detained." It's obvious this guy doesn't believe Dew. He can't really blame him, since it's probably not an uncommon thing for someone under arrest to claim they know someone on the inside. Still, the dude could at least hear him out.
Dew can sense his impatience. This guard clearly has things to do, and Dew is just an inconvenience. He grabs Dew by the arm, roughly, and locks one of the handcuffs on. He's about to do the same to the other hand, and Dew's going to make some unwise choices, when they hear a voice a few feet away.
"Dew?"
Both Dew and the guard glance up at the familiar, authoritative voice. Wow, for once Dew's luck is on his side. There Rowan is, standing with his arms crossed in his white uniform.
The guard immediately lets go of Dew and stands at attention. Rowan isn't really looking at him, though.
"Rowan!" Dew can't even contain his excitement, immediately moving to stand closer to the guy.
"Can you tell him that I have authorization to be here?" Dew asks, loud enough for the guard to hear him and with quite a bit of attitude. Rowan raises an eyebrow, glancing at the guard.
"Where's your ID?" He asks Dew, eyes back on him again. Dew decides that he doesn't like that question.
"Back at the lab. I wanted to know where the kitchen is but this guy wouldn't tell me. Me and Dr. Sanchez are hungry."
"You wouldn't have been able to access the kitchen without an ID, anyway." Rowan replies.
Dew glares at him. He ignores the fact that he feels kinda dumb right now. Here he was thinking Rowan would take his side.
"Yeah? Well that's stupid. And so are you. Both of you suck, actually, I'm gonna go find the kitchen by myself." Dew declares, sending each of them a dirty look before turning around. He makes to stomp off, but then his arm is being grabbed. He spins around so that he's facing Rowan head on.
"Did you listen to what I said? They're not gonna let you in unless you have an ID or you are being escorted."
"Then escort me." Dew replies, raising his eyebrows challengingly.
Rowan studies Dew for a moment, head slightly tilted. He leans down a bit, so their faces are only about six inches apart, and traps Dew an an eye lock. He's still grasping Dew's forearm—the one with a handcuff fastened on it.
Rowan glances at the guard, who is still standing totally still. The guy hasn't said a single thing since Rowan showed up. It hits Dew, then, that most of the castle guards are probably pretty intimidated by Rowan. The thought kind of... amuses him. He can't really blame them, he's only seen Rowan angry a handful of times, but it can definitely be scary—especially if you're not someone he cares about.
"Dewey Price isn't to be apprehended. He's with me." Rowan notifies the guard.
"Yes Captain," the guard replies extremely fast, almost seeming fidgety. Rowan just nods, before unlocking the handcuffs on Dew, and clipping them onto his own belt (instead of giving them back to the guard, for whatever reason.)
Rowan starts to walk down the corridor, the opposite way that Dew had been, and the empath jogs to keep up.
"The kitchen's this way?" Dew questions, feeling embarrassed that he'd been going the complete opposite direction.
"Yes," Rowan responds, and Dew frowns. They really should have given him a map of this place, because even though it isn't as big as the old castle, it's still huge. Dew also has a bad memory, and he's probably going to forget where the kitchen is anyway, by the time they're done. It doesn't help that all the hallways look the exact same.
They walk in silence for a while, and Dew mostly stares at Rowan and takes in the decor of the unfamiliar part of the castle. Eventually they reach some double doors, and Rowan turns to face Dew.
"Whatever you do, stay in the kitchen and don't go out into the dining area. I have to go." Rowan instructs, before holding the side of Dew's face, giving him a lingering kiss, and walking back down the corridor. He starts talking into his radio, and Dew hears the staticky sound of someone replying, before he turns around the corner and out of sight.
Dew feels like he just got the wind knocked out of him, and he's not even sure why. Though... something tells him it's something to do with Rowan Lux—as per usual.
Dew pushes open the kitchen doors, and when he walks in he sees that most of the staff isn't really busy. He sees a woman who appears to be in her fifties glance up at his entrance, and she immediately walks towards him.
"Excuse me? Can I see your ID?"
Oh goddammit, Rowan left too soon. Dew knows he's a busy man and he probably should've seen this coming, but what the fuck? He does not want to deal with this again—
"That's Dew. He works with Dr. Sanchez." A guy that Dew vaguely recognizes—though he doesn't know how—notifies the lady. She glances over at him, before something seems to catch up with her.
"Dew? Dewey Price?"
Dew blinks. "Yes ma'am."
Her face lights up. "Oh! Rowan and Marley have told me so much about you! What can I get for you? Are you hungry? I'm assuming you are, it's lunch time. Are you picky? I can make you anything you want."
Wow, she just said a lot of stuff. She's also very obviously excited, and it makes him feel good about himself. Rowan talks about him?
"Uh... can I just get, like, two sandwiches? For me and Dr. Sanchez?"
"Sure! What kind?"
"Uh..." Dew is not picky, and Dr. Sanchez didn't give him any sort of preference to go off of. So...
"Any?"
The woman seems a bit surprised about that, and Dew thinks she's probably used to cooking for rich people with a dozen dietary restrictions.
"Okay! I'll surprise you. My name is Chef Anita, by the way. Come get me if you need anything—you can wait in here or in the hallway, but just don't go in the dining room. We should have that out for you in a few minutes."
Dew nods, and she disappears. He wants to know why he can't go into the dining room. She is the second person to tell him that, after Rowan. He doesn't even know where the dining room is, though, so they should probably calm down.
Dew sighs, wondering how long this is going to take. He doesn't want to just stand here awkwardly, so he decides to just find somewhere to wait. He walks around the kitchen, and finds that there really isn't anywhere to sit. Everyone seems busy, too, and he doesn't want to bother them. After a minute, he decides to wait in the corridor instead.
He sees the pair of double doors that he's pretty sure he came in here through, and makes his way over to them. It's only after he finds himself not in the hallway, that he realizes he just directly disobeyed both Rowan and Anita's direct orders. Damn.
Dew had no idea that the dining room was connected to the kitchen.
He freezes, hearing the doors close behind him, and he settles his eyes on a single person, sitting at the very opposite end of the table from where he's standing. They look up at his entrance, and he finds that he recognizes them as well.
This guy, though, Dew really recognizes, he just can't put his finger on it. It's on the tip of his tongue...
"Uh, sorry." Dew apologizes, turning around to go back into the kitchen. He stops, though, when the man talks to him.
"Wait. Can you help me with something?" Dew kinda still wants to leave, since Chef Anita seemed nice and he doesn't want to get on her bad side. Still, for some reason he decides not to. He turns back around.
The man appears somewhat tall, though it's difficult to tell with him sitting down. He has on eyeglasses, and his hair—which Dew at first thought was white—appears to be a very pale blonde. He notices this as he gets closer, and—
As he gets closer? When did Dew start walking toward this guy? Once he notices, he stops. It's a little too late, since he's across the table from him so it doesn't do much good. How did he even get over here so fast? He was just now by the kitchen doors, prepared to make a run for it.
Dew decides not to make a big deal about it. "Sure."
The man finally looks up to make eye contact with Dew, and when he does, Dew completely freezes in place.
Oh, he knows exactly who this is. The realization puts his nerves in overdrive.
"Take a seat."
Theodoric.
Dew hesitantly takes a seat at the end of the table, almost next to the guy. He meant to take a seat across from the emperor, but his body isn't really cooperating with him right now.
Once Dew is close enough to him, he's able to empathize. He finds that the guy isn't really feeling much of anything aside from focus. There's something else, too, and Dew may have been able to identify it if he wasn't so nervous.
Theodoric slides a folder towards Dew. It's open, and on top is a paper with a lot of goddamn words. The title is just, Osiphia.
Dew raises an eyebrow. "What do you need help with?"
"I was told there has recently been some intel acquired about Osiphia, and I believe you are the reason. Am I correct?"
The feeling Dew couldn't quite identify is getting stronger.
"Yes."
Theodoric turns to meet Dew's eyes, and holy shit are they a trip. Dew's never seen them up close, and he realizes he can't identify their color. This is because they are a lot of colors at once. It seems like from every angle, they change. Purple, red, green, blue—
It's almost hypnotic. It makes Dew want to listen.
"So tell me what Alexine said to you."
Love.
Theodoric is feeling love right now, though Dew can't tell for what—or who.
"Uh," Dew replies. He feels like he shouldn't disclose this... but he really, really wants to.
"He said he wants to kill you and he hates you and stuff, and that's why he started the war." Dew kind of blurts out, which he didn't mean to do. Seriously, what is going on?
Theodoric doesn't seem surprised at all by that, and that's when Dew realizes something. The love he's feeling, which he's starting to realize is actually pretty damn strong, is directed at Alexine.
Holy shit. No way. There's no way. Dew's empathy must be acting up or something—
Though it's never been wrong before.
Theodoric is in love with Alexine. Dew's sure of it.
"That sounds about right. He probably told you I murdered his family, too."
Dew half nods, not trying to hide his confusion. He gets the sense that these two have a weird relationship.
"Uh... yeah, he did."
"Well, if it's any consolation, I didn't. He doesn't believe me, though. I'm surprised he told you, of all people, this. How did you get it out of him?"
"I can empathize with people, so I could tell he was lying about the cause of the war. He told me the real reason." Why is Dew so easily giving out this information?
Theodoric kind of... pauses. It's then that Dew realizes his mistake. Oh shit, he told Theodoric about his empathy. Theodoric, who has been feeling a lot of emotions that he probably doesn't want Dew to know about, during this exchange.
"You can feel other people's emotions? How does it work?"
"Uh..." Dew really wants to tell the truth, and it's then that he remembers the conversation he had with Marley, when the king admitted to basically being hypnotized or mind controlled or something by this man. The reason they chose a side in the war. Dew thinks it's probably hypnosis, judging by his psychedelic eyes.
Dew needs to lie about this. He doesn't know what, but he can sense that something bad will happen if Theodoric finds out that Dew knows of his feelings regarding the king he's supposed to hate.
The king who hates the emperor, almost as much as the emperor loves the king.
"Uh, I have to... touch them." Sure, that works. Dew definitely hasn't touched this guy since meeting him, so he's in the clear. Theodoric looks at Dew a second longer, before turning back down to the paper.
"So you touched Alexine?"
Shit. "Yeah. I shook his hand."
"He wears gloves."
Dew honestly didn't even notice that, and he immediately has questions. Like, all the time? Alexine wears gloves 24/7?
"Uh, he wasn't... this time."
Theodoric stares at Dew inquisitively, before, "right, well do you have any more information?"
Dew thinks for a moment. Not really, aside from...
"I mean, he tried to hire me for something and when I declined he pulled a gun on me, but that's about all the excitement."
Theodoric actually half smiles at that, and Dew can feel his fondness for Alexine. Every emotion this man feels for him is incredibly strong, Dew's never seen anything like it.
"Alright, thank you." Theodoric responds, and suddenly Dew is back in the kitchen, standing by the entrance.
He wobbles a bit, feeling confused immediately. What the hell? Did he just teleport, or was that all a hallucination?
"They're you are! I made you turkey sandwiches, is that okay?" Chef Anita comes out of nowhere, effectively startling Dew. It takes him a minute to even process what's just been said to him, and remember the situation he'd been in before the previous.
"Uh, yeah. Thank you." Dew replies, smiling at her and turning to leave.
The whole way back to the lab, he's stuck trying to answer questions he never thought would exist.
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Hey guys! Update is out a bit later than I had intended but I hope it didn't disappoint! I really hope it didn't feel rushed or anything bc I kinda got that vibe when I edited it.
Any predictions? What do you think of the story? What's your favorite animal????
Ok goodnight. Excited to spend time w the boytoy tomorrow. Have a great weekend!!
~alyssa