FIC | RPS < J2 < Dark Light < 02/??

[suckmyspock]

Title: Dark Light [02/??]
Fandom: RPS - Actors
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Summary: Ever since he can remember, Jared's had strange dreams, most of them involving a man he's never even met before. But then one day, he finds himself being followed, stalked by the very same mysterious stranger. Much to his disbelief, however, this isn't the worst of his problems -- it's probably the best thing to happen to him ever. Until the trouble starts.
Note: This chapter felt like it took forever to write, and I know there are still some unanswered questions about the past, and about Jensen -- but all in good time, I promise. Hope you guys aren't disappointed. :]
Warnings: AU, language, slash, sexual content, bottom!Jared, violence, character death, cracktastica. (overall)
Disclaimer: No harm, no foul.
Words: This Part: 4,815 ; Full Story: 11,061 (so far)

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS
{ previous chapters found here }


DARK LIGHT
t w o

"How'd you do that?"

Jared almost didn't realize he'd spoken, his voice sounded so weird in the complete silence -- this was all too surreal, there was no way it wasn't a dream. The man stopped a few feet in front of him, allowing Jared to fully take him in -- brown hair, an angular nose, broad shoulders; he was a dream man, all right. He studied Jared for what felt like hours, still looking as if he were the one surprised.

"Sorry," he said, "I just can't get over how different you look."

The sound of his voice -- it was thick with underlying rust -- did something strange to Jared, it made his stomach twist, and his face heat up. Like everything else about this man, it was so familiar.

Jared lifted his chin some, "You gonna answer me?" he demanded, his voice cracking, despite how cool he was trying to be.

Now the man smirked, and he lowered his gaze. "Just a little trick," he said to the sidewalk. A pause, and he looked up again. "You would've loved it when you were little."

Now this, of course, this excited Jared, against his better judgement. He'd known the man in his dreams would have something to do with his past, he'd just known it. He opened his mouth to start asking the questions he'd had his whole life, but then a thought occurred to him. Without thinking, Jared took two giant steps to close the gap between them, and reached up to touch the man's shoulder. Very real, very tangible -- that meant he wasn't crazy, right?

"You're real," he said in a breath, sounding relieved even to himself.

The man didn't look the least bit offended, or even curious about Jared's actions, he was only smirking still, an unreadable expression on his face. After a long moment, Jared realized how close he was standing to him, and he stepped back.

"Who are you?" he figured he'd ask the more simple of all his questions.

"Lately, I'm Jensen," the man said.

Jensen. It rang bells. In fact, it made a foggy image jump to Jared's mind -- standing outside, waiting by a small tree, turning around and seeing him, this man, hiding in some bushes. As quickly as the image -- memory? -- had come to him, it left. Blinking rapidly a few times, Jared shook off the chills that had come with it, and looked back to the man.

"Lately?" he asked.

"I've gone by many names in my life," was the answer. "Jensen's just my favorite."

"And...I know you?" Jared asked.

Now Jensen smiled, a genuine smile and not a roguish smirk. "You did," he answered.

"How?"

"It's a long story," Jensen said.

"I want to hear it," Jared said.

"Jared, I know you have a lot of questions," Jensen said on a sigh, and he looked around them at their frozen surroundings, "And I have a lot of answers, I have things I need to show you -- god, you don't know how long I've been looking for you."

This piqued Jared's curiosity. "How long?" he asked.

"You were five the last time I saw you," Jensen answered, and a troubled look of sadness came to his face very briefly before it disappeared. Jared opened his mouth to ask another question, but Jensen cut him off, "As I was saying, there's no time for it now, Jared."

"No time?" Jared repeated. "No time -- you froze time, we have all the time in the world."

Jensen smiled again, almost fondly, and he shook his head. "No," he said. "Look, all that matters right now is that I found you --"

"What if you lose me again?"

"I won't," Jensen said simply. "I want you to meet me tonight."

"When?" Jared asked.

"Whenever you want," the confusing response.

"Where?" Jared was beginning to think maybe he had lost his mind.

"You'll know where."

Jared started to protest, started to ask Jensen what the heck his deal was, but Jensen didn't allow it, instead raising his hand and snapping his fingers. In the blink of an eye, Jensen was gone, and everything around Jared came back to life. An old lady walking by him gave him a curious look, no doubt wondering why Jared looked so dazed.

Raising his eyebrows, Jared looked around slowly. "Okay," he said under his breath.

If that hadn't been the strangest conversation he'd ever had -- stranger than strange, in fact. He couldn't make any sense of it, no matter how hard he tried. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he barely noticed the bus pull up to the curb.

Pushing all of his unanswered questions out of his mind for the time being, he moved quickly to catch his ride.



"Are you feeling alright, Jared?"

It was just him and his parents at the dinner table on that night, as Megan had went to spend the night at her friend's house. Looking up at Sharon, torn from his thoughts momentarily, he raised his eyebrows.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"It's not like you to leave a full plate," she said lightly.

He lowered his gaze as if not believing her, and realized he'd been playing with his food for the past twenty minutes. And it wasn't like he didn't like Sharon's cooking, oh no. It was Jensen, Jared knew. Naturally, he couldn't stop thinking about him.

Sharon mistook Jared's silence, and she side-glanced Gerry. "How did your meeting with Dr. Morgan go yesterday?" she asked, almost tentatively.

"Fine," he answered. "Like they always go."

She suddenly reached over, placing a hand against his forehead. He paused, then shrugged away from her.

"Mom," he said, sounding very much like a whiny preteen. "I'm fine."

"Would you even tell me if you weren't?" Sharon asked. "I'm a mother, Jared, I'm supposed to worry."

Gerry piped in, saying her name quietly. Jared watched out of the corner of his eye as they made faces at each other, almost as if they were communicating through expressions. When Sharon turned back to him, he knew he was off the hook for now.

"How was class?" she asked, and though the question was honest enough, he knew she was still trying to weasel it out of Jared, see what was bothering him.

"It was okay," he said. Then, despite the fact that he wanted to be left alone, he forced a conversational tone to his voice, and continued, embellishing the truth just a little bit, "I'm doing good in Algebra, I can understand it a lot better now."

This was enough to throw Sharon off, and she stopped pressing him for words, as long as he ate and remembered to throw in his two cents on whatever topic she brought up. When dinner was finished, and Jared was helping her clear the table, he bit his bottom lip thoughtfully, before trying to sound as honest as he could.

"I'm uh...really tired," he said. "I stayed up late last night -- I think I'm gonna go to bed."

She studied him for just a moment, and he kept his expression blank. After a few seconds, she nodded and gave him a little smile.

"Okay, hon," she said, "Sleep well."

"Night," he said, turning to leave.

"Love ya," she said, and he returned it wholeheartedly.

After a similar exchange with Gerry, he made his way quickly to his bedroom. He shut the door, but didn't lock it -- Sharon would have a cow -- and he went to his stereo to turn on music, normal nightly routine. Keeping the light off, he used the dim glow from his computer screen to navigate through his room and get to his shoes. He quickly slipped the sneakers on, shifting on the balls of his feet to right them as he slowly pulled open his window.

Whenever he wanted, Jensen had said -- well, now was the moment he wanted.

As he worked to (quietly) get the screen off, Jared tried to think things through. He'd never climbed out of his window before, but he'd always assumed it would be relatively easy, even with his room being on the second floor. The porch was directly in front of Jared's window, and the roof of it wasn't too slanted. If Jared could hold his footing, he could slide to the edge, then drop over the side into the bushes. It wasn't a big fall.

Or maybe it just didn't look big when you were standing on the ground.

It was too late for Jared to turn back, as he had already started to climb through the window, feet first. He paused, sitting on the sill, and he strained his ears to listen -- dead silence upstairs, as he was sure his parents were watching TV in the living room. Taking a deep breath, he slipped the rest of the way outside.

He lowered himself until he was on his stomach on the slanted roof, palms flat on the rough shingles. Heart hammering in his chest, he started to slide his body down, ever-so-slowly, and struggling to keep his hold. He had misjudged the porch roof however, or he hadn't realized how tall he really was, and he reached the edge a lot faster than planned.

And he slipped.

His hands scraped the shingles, and he was sure he uttered a curse of sorts at the small pain that shot up his arms, but somehow, his brain managed to send commands to the rest of his body, and just as he was about to slide right off the roof, he grabbed at the lip of it. As he hung on by a thread, he realized this hadn't been one of his better ideas.

He looked over his shoulder, and the drop did seem a lot bigger from this angle. Biting his lip, he shifted slightly, aiming for the bushes, and he breathed deeply through his nose once, twice, thrice. And he let go.

He'd gotten lucky he knew, even with the rock that was currently digging into his lower back. The bushes weren't as good a cushion as he'd been hoping, and his arms had gotten a little scratched up. Panting, he laid there for a moment or two, staring at the sky and listening. When he was sure the coast was clear, he wearily climbed to his feet.

"Next time," he said breathlessly to himself, wiping his palms on the thighs of his jeans, "I'll risk sneaking out the back door."

He started walking, wincing as he checked the damage on his arms -- just a few long scratches from the bushes. His hands were scraped too, bleeding slightly, and he wondered why movies always made it out to be a lot easier to sneak out.

He was about a block away from home when he realized he had no clue where he was going. He'd taken a left, he realized, and ahead of him, curled around the dead-end road, was a cluster of half-built houses. For a couple of years now, construction had been going on at the end of Greeley Way, and Jared had always thought to himself about how long it seemed to be taking to get the houses built. He'd just always assumed it wouldn't take that long.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he turned to go back the way he came, but his gaze fell upon one of the plots -- it seemed to be calling out to him. Jensen had said he'd know where to meet him, but this was just crazy. Was stuff like this even possible?

Then again...freezing time in the middle of the day wasn't exactly the most normal of things either.

Sighing slightly, Jared started towards the house to the far right. "Let's see if I've finally lost my mind," he muttered.

It was a concrete square where a couple of walls had already been put up, and the roof looked to be in the process of going up. It smelled strongly of fresh lumber, and there were tools and what looked like blueprints lying around -- shouldn't someone have taken them? On one wall, a doorway had been cut out, and heavy plastic hung from it. Jared pushed it aside as he stepped inside, and he looked around.

He could admit to feeling a little creeped out at this -- well, maybe he was really creeped out. But the sound of crickets chirping outside the walls was a kind of strange reassurance, for some reason. He swallowed, breathing deeply, and glanced upwards, wondering vaguely if the supports could come crashing down at any moment.

He started to turn on the spot, still looking at his surroundings, and he nearly jumped out of his skin as a dark figure had appeared behind him.

"Jesus!" Jared exclaimed, stumbling back even as he recognized Jensen, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness.

"Hey Jared," the other man said lightly.

Realizing he was clutching at his chest, Jared tried to slow his breathing, and he lowered his arms to his sides. "How long have you been waiting here?" he asked after a moment.

Jensen shook his head." Just a few minutes," he answered. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his dark jeans -- he surprisingly wasn't wearing his jacket, though his black tee was long-sleeved. And tight-fitting.

Jared couldn't help but notice that Jensen was looking a lot more weary than he had been earlier that day, but he didn't mention it. Maybe he'd just had a rough rest of the day.

"How'd you know when to meet me?" Jared asked, before an even better thought occurred to him. "How'd I know to find you here?"

"Guess that'll be the first thing I explain," Jensen said, with a tired smirk.

Jared didn't reply, just nodded, eager to listen.

Jensen licked his lips, sighing slightly. "We have this bond, you and I," he began. "We're connected mentally because of something that was done to us when you were born. Because I'm so trained with the Power, I can tap into this bond, this web that holds us together, and I can feel what you feel, see what you see if I try hard enough. I can even hear your thoughts."

Jared's eyes widened, then narrowed. Before he could say anything, though, Jensen continued.

"Not that I do that," he said. "I wouldn't want anyone to do it to me -- talk about a major invasion of privacy."

"What was done to us?" Jared asked. "When I was born?"

"An enchantment, you could say," Jensen said with a nod, "One that makes me your guardian. I'm your Protector, until the day you die...or I die."

Jared's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" he asked, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. What was so special about him that he needed a guardian?

Jensen nodded shortly, not responding.

"So...because of this bond," Jared said slowly, "I was able to...feel that you were here?" At Jensen's second nod, Jared then asked, "So do I...have powers then? Like you?"

This time, a smile accompanied Jensen's nod. Giving a little smirk, Jared put his hands on his hips.

"So what?" he asked. "You're like...a wizard?"

"We actually use the term Warlock," Jensen answered. "Wizard is so...Harry Potter."

Jared couldn't help but grin, but he lowered his gaze. Chewing on his bottom lip, he took a deep breath, and tried to straighten out his muddled thoughts -- there were about a billion-and-one questions running through his head, and he didn't know which one to ask first.

Jensen had no trouble reading his expression. "I'll start at the beginning," he said, before gesturing to the ground. "You should sit down."

Looking down, Jared made sure the cement was clear of any debris that might've hurt him, and he wasted no time in plopping down, legs bent Indian-style. Jensen slowly lowered himself as well, only he stayed crouched instead of sitting, his hands on his knees. He studied Jared for a few seconds, before looking away, and this angle gave Jared a perfect view of the bags that were forming under Jensen's eyes.

"Some people are born with the Power running through their veins," Jensen started his story, his tone low. "Many think it's random, others think it has to do with...past lives and whatnot. Your parents were both very skilled with it. And your mother soon became the leader of our coven, a High Priestess."

Jared couldn't explain the short thrill that went through him; his mother sounded like she'd been important, and Jensen wasn't even halfway finished.

"It's a position that few get," Jensen added, "And one even fewer manage to keep."

"So she was powerful?" Jared questioned, "More powerful than you?"

Jensen gave a chuckle. "Hate to burst your bubble, Jared, but I'm really not that powerful," he said. "But yes, she was... Amazingly so." He licked his lips again, as though trying to choose his words carefully. "Now, when one becomes a High Priestess -- there are never any High Priests -- she gives up a lot of things. The ability to have children is, for some reason, one of those things.

"Despite that, for as long as I can remember, there have been prophecies that talked of the firstborn son of a Priestess. Of course, who would waste any time with those? We just disregarded them, like most others would. And then, your mother became pregnant with you."

A chill ran down Jared's spine, and he swallowed against his dry throat, waiting for Jensen to go on.

"Your father died shortly before you were born," the older man said. "Many thought your mother wouldn't be able to make it without him, but she was strong -- and she was excited about you. You were born healthy and okay, and she couldn't have been happier.

"When she asked me to be your Protector, the only reason I initially agreed to do it was because I was obliged to her," Jensen said. "But I realized quickly how important it was, how lucky I was to have been given such a purpose."

"Why?" Jared asked, knowing he was blushing. This story was making him out to be some kind of royalty, when he knew he wasn't -- he was a messed up kid who needed summer school and a head doctor.

Jensen smiled again. "I told you," he said. "You were prophecized -- you don't know how special you are to our world."

"But I don't even have any powers," Jared said.

"They're dormant."

"Huh?"

"Sleeping."

A small silence fell over them as Jared tried to imagine magical powers hidden inside of him. He didn't even realize that he couldn't hear the crickets chirping outside anymore.

"It happens to every child born from one of us," Jensen said slowly. "The Power being asleep, I mean. It's up to us to awaken it -- a ceremony we conduct on the child's fifth birthday."

Jared had once asked Sharon when he'd been adopted, and she'd answered that he'd been five-years-old. Another chill went through his body, giving him goosebumps.

"While every birthday ceremony is important, yours was especially so," Jensen went on. "It was said that you'd be more powerful than any could imagine -- even your own mother. The coven had never been more excited...

"We were interrupted, however," Jensen's expression darkened. "Your mother had been preparing to read the spell when a couple of witch hunters had arrived. They'd been spying on us -- thought we were going to harm a five-year-old boy. There was nothing we could do but wait for them to make the first move."

"What?"

"First rule of life, Jared," Jensen said slowly, "Harm not no one. It's what differentiates us from the monsters."

"But it would've been in defense!" Jared said.

"Not until they made the first move," Jensen insisted. "And your mother hated violence to begin with."

There was more silence, as if Jensen was thinking. Jared picked at the bottom of one of his shoes, keeping his gaze on the ground.

"What happened next?" he asked.

"They attacked," Jensen's simple answer. "I made sure to get you out of there -- told you to go hide. Then I went back to your mother, she was dying; one of the hunters had shot her."

Sadness settled over Jared, even though he had never even met his real mother. He supposed it had to do with the sadness that had taken over Jensen's tone.

"She told me to go find you, to take you and lay low for a while before I awakened the Power myself," the older man continued. "I left, but I wasn't the only one to find you. The hunters -- clueless bastards they were, somehow managed to make it out alive -- took you with them. That's how we were separated."

"You couldn't try and take them?" Jared asked.

"Couldn't risk being killed," Jensen answered. "I needed to stay alive for your sake. So I went back to check on everyone. Most were already dead...I stayed with the ones not quite there. Then I left before the cops could arrive."

The crickets had started up again, and Jared bit his bottom lip, trying not to stare at Jensen. Even in the dark, he could see the anguished look on Jensen's face.

"And...it'd been the whole coven?" he asked slowly. "They'd all been killed?"

"Might as well have been," Jensen answered. "The few left didn't know what to do with the loss of your mother. They disbanded and went their own ways."

"And you?"

"I was busy searching for you."

"How'd you find me?" Jared asked. "The bond?"

Jensen nodded. "It was made stronger by your eighteenth birthday as it approached -- the Power's getting restless."

In all the excitement, Jared had actually forgotten that it was his birthday. He looked back to Jensen, who was studying him again.

"Do you want to see her?" Jensen asked.

"What?"

Not answering, Jensen stood, gesturing for Jared to do the same. As he climbed quickly to his feet, he wondered what time it was. One of Jensen's hands were suddenly on his shoulder though -- his touch was hot, even through Jared's tee shirt, and it made him feel kind of tingly.

Jensen then snapped with his other hand.

Jared blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he and Jensen were no longer on the foundations of the unbuilt house on Greeley Way. Now they were standing in a large, dimly lit room, occupied by people in white robes. Jared jerked, starting to flinch away from them, but Jensen was still holding onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Jensen said. "They can't see us."

"Is this...did we go back in time?" Jared's voice came out in an excited whisper.

"No," Jensen shook his head. "Merely showing you a memory."

"One of yours?"

Jensen nodded, and Jared looked back to the other people in the room -- the coven. His gaze fell upon a woman dressed in purple, she was obviously the leader, and Jared felt his chest tighten painfully.

"Is that her?" he asked, voice cracking.

Jensen side-glanced him, the hints of a sad smile on his face. "Yeah."

She was beautiful. More so than he could've ever imagined.

A door opened across the room, and Jared glanced over to see...Jensen. He entered the room with a child in his arms, and Jared's brow furrowed as he glanced between the present!Jensen and the past!one.

"You don't look much different," he said.

"I'm one of the few ageless ones," Jensen sounded amused.

Jared's eyes widened. Ageless? That was possible too?! He turned back to watch as past!Jensen set the child -- who he realized was himself, only fun-sized -- on the table in front of his mother. Jared felt another ache in his chest as he watched the way she greeted him. He'd grown up with no memory of her, but just this one from Jensen was enough to make him feel like a piece of him was missing.

"Are you okay?" Jensen asked quietly, not looking at him.

Jared nodded quickly, deciding not to say anything.

His mother said something to the coven, but he didn't hear the words -- he was too hung up on how wonderful her voice sounded. He did watch as the people in the room suddenly raised their hoods, and he even smiled a bit as he watched past!Jensen play with his five-year-old self.

Suddenly, the door he hadn't known they were standing beside slammed open, and Jared started. He turned to look, but Jensen was grabbing his arm and snapping his fingers again.

Next thing Jared knew, they were back on Greeley Way, back in the present.

"Why'd you do that?" Jared demanded.

"You didn't need to see the rest."

"I wanted to see the hunters," Jared said.

"They don't matter," Jensen said, suddenly sounding angry. "A couple of nobodies who didn't even have the decency to take you to a police station or anything."

"What'd they do with me?" Jared asked.

"Left you on a doorstep," Jensen said dryly. "Those people were kind enough to call the cops at least. I couldn't get to you in time before you were thrown into the system though."

Jared lowered his gaze, realizing how close he and Jensen were standing, and he stepped back some. Swallowing, he tried to keep his tone neutral.

"Can I ask you something?"

A nod.

"You froze time earlier...you couldn't have done that then?" Jared thought he sounded dumb, but he pressed on. "You couldn't stop them from killing her?"

Jensen's anger faded immediately, and he frowned deeply, getting that anguished look on his face again. "No," he said, slowly. "I hadn't known how to do it back then. It probably would've killed me anyway. It drained more of me than I thought it would."

Jared realized that that was probably why Jensen looked like he belonged in a hospital at the moment. "So...you mean, it's just something you learned?" he asked, changing the subject somewhat. "Can I learn how to do it someday?"

He was glad when a small smile came to Jensen's face. "Maybe," the older man said. Then he twitched slightly. "Oh yeah," he said, "I forgot to give you your present."

Jared flushed deeply, sure he was the color of a tomato. "Present?" he repeated. "You didn't -- I don't..."

"It was your mom's," Jensen held up a necklace suddenly. It was a plain silver chain, with a ring dangling from it. "Happy Birthday, Jared."

Jared reached up to take it slowly, as if he thought Jensen was joking. The ring was large and brass, and there was a strangely hypnotizing black stone set into it. It was warm against his skin, and he was sure the stone glittered slightly as he touched it.

"But you have to promise me something, Jared," Jensen said, "You'll keep it with you at all times. Never let it out of your sight."

Jared nodded quickly, reaching up to slip the chain around his neck. It felt like it belonged. "I promise," he said earnestly. Then he felt a little shy, and he shifted awkwardly on his feet, "Thanks."

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence that blanketed them this time, and Jensen did one of those long stares that seemed like he was trying to look right into Jared's soul. When he finally looked away, Jared relaxed.

"So what's next?" he asked. "How do we...wake up the power in me, or whatever?"

"Another time, Jared."

"What? Why?"

Jensen smirked. "Because your other mom is going upstairs to check on you," he answered.

Before Jared could even think about what he'd said, Jensen snapped his fingers again.

Jared opened his eyes this time to find himself lying on his back in bed. His shoes were still on, and he started to get up so he could shut the window, but he heard the doorknob turning.

He quickly stilled, closing his eyes, and he listened as Sharon entered his room. He heard her muffled footsteps as she went to his stereo to turn it off, and then she was gone -- apparently not even noticing the window, much less his shoes.

When he was sure she was gone, he jumped up quickly and went to the window. Thankfully, the screen popped into place easily, and he slid it shut, while at the same time, toeing off his sneakers. When he laid down in bed again, he reached up to finger at the ring Jensen had given him. For some reason, it made him feel closer to his real mother.

He didn't get any sleep that night.

NEXT.