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Baby Kel | Hall | strider

Kelsier hadn’t ever blinked before, from his perspective. He didn’t know who was here, he didn’t know that eventually, he would have friends, too. Or maybe just a couple of them.
He didn’t have friends, now. He was alone because if he got too close to anyone, it could backfire on him. He was alone because if he slipped up, he couldn’t trust anyone at all. So it was just him and his immediate family. Which meant him, Marsh, and sometimes his mom when she was available. She was busy, though he did know what she was busy with. She never talked about it.
He smiled as Nico agreed to be his friend, and stood still, waiting patiently for Nico to join him. Now that the conversation had drawn to a natural close, he felt lighter, more cheerful, and a little bit more trusting.
“That’s what Marsh always says,” he replied, making a face. “I can protect myself, you know.”
He thought he probably could. He wasn’t even thinking about the things that could be here. He had no idea what kind of power the House possessed.
He headed for the hall. He felt, stubbornly, that he probably needed to prove he was capable, or Nico would think he was some sort of pushover. He didn’t need protection. But he was glad he wasn’t alone.
He stopped.
“That’s...a lot of doors,” he managed after a second, looking at Nico again. “Why are there so many doors?”

Baby Kel | Hall | strider

Kelsier’s eyes went very round as the sword made its appearance, catching the light as it swung deftly in Nico’s grip, like it was an extension of his own body and controlled with his mind as easily as his own hand was.
He caught his breath as it was tossed, mouth slipping open in pure awe as it was caught. If Nico had wanted to impress the small boy, he had more than succeeded.
“How are you so good at that?” He demanded, voice high, not with fear this time, but with respect and admiration. “Wow. Wow. Can you teach me to do that?”
He glanced at the hall again, though the doors were no longer the most impressive thing here. “Maybe after we explore, though. I want to see what’s here.”
Nico’s warning didn’t fall on deaf ears. Kelsier hesitated, then looked back and gave a serious nod. “Okay. I promise, as long as I’m not being chased or anything, I won’t go in alone. But you’re here and you’re cool and you can throw swords so it’s okay this time, right?”
He didn’t wait for a reply. Nico had already said he could try the doors, so he was ready. He walked a little further in, paused, picked a door at random, and stepped through, shooting Nico a quick grin as he did.

The smile that spread across Nico’s face as he heard Kelsier’s reaction was genuine and completely unforced, a rare mixture when it came to Nico. He didn’t smile that often, and when he did it was mostly for other people’s benefit. Now, though, it was just… his reaction. Kelsier had reacted exactly as Nico had hoped he would, with just as much zeal and excitement. It turned out Kelsier had a taste for drama, even when he was younger.
“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Nico replied, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. He was a good fighter, one of the best at Camp. He’d practiced at it for years on his own, trying to make himself good enough to stand up to even the toughest of enemies. He had been able to hold his own in Tartarus for a while… longer than most others would have been able to. “I’ll teach you when we get out of the room,” he said after another moment, gaze moving back towards the doors. He took a confident step forward, curious which one Kelsier would choose.
And then the door was open and Nico moved forward, making sure to slide in after Kelsier before the door had a chance to close.
It was a wide-open room, almost nothing in – four walls, floor, and ceiling, though that was much higher than the ceilings Nico was used to. It was difficult to tell, though, given the thick fog (mist, Nico corrected himself) that had settled over the room. And something alive, deeper in.

Nico would have been more than happy to respond to Kelsier’s comment about learning to fight (or, perhaps, just learning to be showy with a sword), but there were bigger things on his mind at the moment. Mainly, what the House thought it was doing. It could have given Kelsier a fun room, but it had chosen to give him something that was reminiscent of his own world. Nico hesitated, positioning himself so he was between Kelsier and the rest of the room. He didn’t want the kid in a vulnerable position.
Silently, moving almost like a wraith himself, Nico drew his sword, pointing it into the darkness. It seemed to emanate darkness itself, making the effect even creepier.
“There’s something else in here,” he told Kelsier quietly, trying not to disturb whatever it was as he probed out with his mind, trying to figure out what sort of creature would have the aura he was sensing. It was strong, like something that couldn’t be killed. Like… no. It all made sense now. The mists. The odd sort of silence in the room.
“Kelsier, get behind me,” Nico hissed suddenly, still trying to keep his voice down. There was no room for questioning in his tone. “Stay there. Whatever you do, don’t move from where you are, don’t let it get close to you, okay? I’m going to handle this, I promise.” Nico bit his lip, realizing a moment later that Kelsier had no idea what a promise from him meant. “I don’t ever break my promises.” There.
Balancing on the balls of his feet to decrease any noise made by footsteps, Nico began to venture into the mist, towards the source of the aura.

Nico hesitated, eyes narrowed as he began approaching. He didn’t know if that was the best idea, but he had a feeling that taking care of the threat in the room was the best way to find the way out. Unfortunately, he knew what it was. Fortunately, he had already defeated one. Unfortunately, he didn’t have an older Kelsier to hold him and protect him from bleeding out. He bit his lip, trying not to remember the feeling of being hit by the mace, the way he had sunk down only to find Kelsier there before he hit the ground, the way he had grown cold in Kelsier’s arms and had woken up later, completely healed. He had gotten lucky. This time, at least, he had his sword. He wouldn’t have to get rid of it, but he did have to make sure that the Inquisitor didn’t target Kelsier. If Kelsier got into the middle of the fight… Nico fought down the panic. He couldn’t afford to shadow travel here, either. He needed to save his strength for his world, otherwise it would be destroyed. Nico could feel himself beginning to fade, too, the strength of the pull getting stronger every time he shadow traveled. How long would it take him before he became shadow travel himself?
“Inquisitor,” Nico mouthed as he turned to look at Kel. “Don’t panic. It’ll be okay.” They were getting closer to it, and there was nowhere for Kelsier to hide. Did he have any metal on him? Nico briefly turned to look, cursing under his breath as he noticed the belt. It didn’t matter if Nico had metal on him… he was already going to be the Inquisitor’s target. The goal was just to make it so it couldn’t see Kelsier.
Slowly, he kneeled down in front of Kelsier.
“I need you to give me your belt, okay?”

Nico was about to reassure Kelsier when he disappeared, Pulled into the mist before Nico could get rid of any of the metal on him. Why had the Inquisitor targeted him? Why not Nico? Was it just going after the smaller target? Nico managed to stifle the strangled cry that almost burst from his throat, desperate and panicked at the sight of Kelsier’s terrified face. He had never seen Kelsier scared like that before. It was going to be burned into his memory forever, it seemed.
The one nice thing about facing the end of the world multiple times was that you very quickly learned how to be calm in a stressful situation. That, or you died. Nico cast his attention back out into the room, trying to follow the aura to its source. It seemed that Kelsier was, at the very least, alive. Nico leapt forward, eyes narrowed as he movied into the mist. He wished he could shadow travel, but he had to save his energy, especially if he wanted to save Kelsier.
It only took a few moments, but there it was. The Inquisitor.
“What,” he hissed, levering his sword in front of him. “You only want to pick on the little guy? Are you a coward? Is that it? Too scared to fight someone that can actually take you?” He was trying to make himself seem as big as possible – something that the Inquisitor needed to pay attention to. If he was a bigger threat than Kelsier, it might start paying him heed and leave the boy alone. Hopefully.

There were very few times that Nico was grateful for his powers, but now was one of them. He eyed Kelsier, judging his aura for a few moments before deciding that he was, for the moment, safe. He was alive, and though Nico couldn’t tell if he was injured or not, at least he hadn’t sustained any life-threatening injuries. Anything else could be dealt with later. Nico eyed the mace, remembering the feeling of it slamming into him once more. He wouldn’t let that happen, not when Kelsier’s life was on the line. Not when this could end in the death of one of the few people Nico trusted with his life.
Nico’s eyes narrowed as the Inquisitor approached. It was purposeful about its cruelty, Nico could tell that from a glance. It didn’t care who it hurt or how much. It just cared about getting its attack finished as quickly and as ruthlessly as possible.
“I killed you once,” he said, bracing himself on the ground. “I can kill you again.”
The sword was trying to pull away from him, Nico realized. He could have let it… holding onto it was likely to either send him crashing towards the Inquisitor or break his wrist. Nico frowned, then let go of the sword before dissolving it into shadow so there was nothing to pull on. A dark smile appeared on his face as he rushed at the Inquisitor, sword reappearing in his hands just as he made the leap to try to stab it in the face.

Nico’s eyes narrowed as he began to feel out with his powers. He wasn’t as strong as he had been even a few days ago, but that didn’t matter. The Inquisitor had fallen in the last room. It had died, Nico had watched its aura fade. He made sure of that before he allowed himself to collapse. So the House had just brought it back. Nico breathed out, landing hard on the ground as his blade failed to make contact. Fine. He just needed to distract the inquisitor, anyway. The main attack was pulling its spikes out, which he could do. Nobody else could, apparently, but Nico… his brow furrowed in concentration as he felt outwards towards the spike in the Inquisitor’s back, the one that seemed to be connecting all of the others together. He pushed at it with his mind, barely ducking in time to avoid a face full of mace. It was faster than Nico was. Pewter. It was helpful to know the names of the metals, but it didn’t actually do anything when it came to knowing how to fend against them.
Nico ducked forward then kicked out, aiming to sweep the Inquisitor’s leg out from under it.

“Kelsier!” The scream wrenched itself from Nico as the boy went flying, and there was little Nico could do. Except… limits be damned, he shadow traveled towards the boy in order to catch him before he hit the ground too hard. He caught Kelsier, then gently lowered him to the ground. He had been forced to cease his attack on the Inquisitor’s spike, and he felt exhaustion settle over him like a blanket, trying to weight him down. He couldn’t let it. He couldn’t afford to give in now, not when Kelsier’s life was on the line. He whirled around, but not before a wall of shadow had surrounded Kelsier, penning him in and (hopefully) shielding him from the worst the Inquisitor had to offer.
Nico took in a deep, gasping breath, then ran forward, sword aimed directly at the Inquisitor’s heart as he pushed desperately against the spike in the thing’s eye. If he could get the spikes out… any of them would do. Any of them would weaken it, he could tell. Its aura seemed to be concentrated around those spikes, like they were keeping it alive, somehow. He didn’t have time to question how or why. If he didn’t finish this battle soon, he was going to be defeated. He couldn’t afford that.

Nico was struggling already. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he had just shadow traveled a giant statue halfway across a country, along with himself and two additional people. He got tired when shadow traveling himself, he had never tried to tote a bunch of others around, too. He breathed out, trying to get his mind back into the battle. He didn’t stop to celebrate that he had gotten a hit in. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that he keep the hits coming, that he kept pulling on the spikes whenever he could. If he kept his focus on one and just pushed whenever he could, was it possible that he could get it to come out? The one on the Inquisitor’s back especially… it was clearly the most important one, and also seemingly the hardest for the Inquisitor to reach. That seemed like a major design flaw.
Nico winced at the feeling of the shadows guarding Kelsier being pushed against, and he slammed his powers into them, reinforcing them so that Kelsier couldn’t be Pulled. The shadows would hold for a while… hopefully, for as long as Nico was standing. He gave another wild push at the spike as he ran forward, barely avoiding crying out in pain as the mace hit the side of his left arm, one of the spines on it breaking skin.

Nico grunted, feeling his shadows pushed on once more. He wished he’d been given enough time to get the belt off of Kelsier. That way he wouldn’t be able to be Pulled around and hurt. Hopefully, he had the good sense to try to get it off now, when he was protected. The shadows would hold. They had to hold. And if Kelsier kept the belt in there with him, the belt couldn’t be used against either of them. The fight wasn’t ideal, but Nico had the advantage of having beaten he Inquisitor before. He had the advantage of having someone to fight for. They were both desperate. They both had everything to win. But Nico was weaker. He was in the middle of a quest, and he’d hardly had time to rest at all since he had first started taking the Athena Parthenos across the world. He could remember Kelsier’s words in his ear, telling him that it would be alright to let someone else be a hero, for once. Nico couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let anyone else die when he could be the one taking the risks.
Nico ducked down, just barely avoiding the mace. He was bleeding, but the wound wasn’t serious enough to really worry about. He could push through it. He could ignore it and continue fighting. He needed to, for Kelsier’s sake.
The spike was moving, it seemed. The creature was certainly reacting as though it was, and Nico couldn’t help but feel a little bit pleased. The Inquisitor was getting angrier, but once Nico managed to push the spike completely out… he gave another shove, then narrowed his eyes as the ground began to shake. He needed backup. He couldn’t protect Kelsier on his own, but the bodies buried under the ground could do it well enough. Then Nico could focus all of his attention on the fight with the Inquisitor.

There was no world in which Nico would ever call Kelsier weak, even here. Kelsier was stronger than anyone Nico had ever met, it was just that he was the one who needed to be protected here. He wasn’t the one with the fighting experience and the magic power that allowed him to beat Inquisitors. That was Nico, so Nico was the one who should be fighting here. He just hoped that Kelsier didn’t mind the shadow shield too much. He knew it was frustrating not being able to see a battle, but he didn’t care if Kelsier hated him when they got out of this, as long as he was alive to hate him.
Nico skidded backwards, lifting an arm up to block the mace again. He gave a loud cry of pain as the mace knocked him backwards – he was fairly certain he had broken a bone in his arm, but he didn’t have time to check. He needed to get back on his feet and get fighting again.
“Is that all you got?” Nico screamed at the Inquisitor as he launched himself at it again, a slew of Greek insults issuing from his mouth. He pushed at the spike again with his powers, focusing all of his might on it. He could feel himself getting weaker with everything he was taking control of. The shadows, the two skeletal warriors guarding Kelsier, the pushing at the metal… he didn’t have that much energy left, but as long as he could get that spike free…

So far, it seemed that they were fairly even. They matched each other blow for blow, though the Inquisitor had seemed to sustain wounds far more serious than the ones Nico had. The thing was, the Inquisitor had pewter. It could heal itself without issue, and Nico couldn’t. So the wounds they suffered were about equal when considering that pewter allowed the creature to stay standing and keep fighting for much, much longer. Eventually, tiny wounds had to kill it. Probably. But it would kill Nico before tiny wounds were enough.
Nico steeled himself, a loud yell emanating from him as the Inquisitor tried once more to tear his weapon away. He couldn’t use the same trick he had before, not with everything else he was using his powers for. Instead, he just grabbed onto the blade with his other hand as well, brow furrowed in concentration as he did his best to hold on.
And then something happened. Something Nico hadn’t expected. It was like the breath was knocked out of him, the room warming back to its normal temperature, heat flooding Nico with an intensity he wasn’t prepared for. The skeletons guarding Kelsier toppled until they were just piles of bones. The shadow shield faded away. Nico tried to push on the spike, but nothing happened. Panic filled his dark eyes for a long moment as he tried to figure out what, exactly, to do now. He was powerless. That didn’t mean he was going to stop fighting.
Eyes narrowed, Nico leapt forward, blade aimed at the Inquisitor’s knee. If he could just bring it down… if he could get behind it, keep it dancing… maybe he could pull out the spike manually. It was protruding noticeably more than it had before.

Nico was less than certain he could beat the Inquisitor without his powers, but what choice did he have? He was alone here, alone against a foe that could kill both him and Kelsier with scarcely more than a thought, and there was nothing he could do about it if he just gave up. Giving up wasn’t an option. He didn’t understand what had happened to his powers, just that they were gone. Just that he needed to find some other way to get to the Inquisitor, that he needed to kill it before it could hurt Kelsier. Before it could rob him of his dad before the future Survivor even made it to the age of ten. It was desperation pulsing through Nico’s heart, nothing else. Not bravery, not heroism, just desperation. And maybe, just maybe, a little bit of selfishness. He wasn’t sure he minded being selfish. He was about to run forward, about to try to find a way to duck under and attack from behind, but something changed.
The ground was shaking, Nico realized, cracking underneath his feet, opening like he was the one controlling it. He could feel his powers making the cavern beneath him, could feel the drain on his energy as it yawned open, as his feet lost their purchase, as he plunged through suddenly empty air. One hand managed to catch the edge of the crack the Inquisitor was making, but he didn’t know how long he would be able to hang on by his fingertips. The only reason Nico was aware he was trembling was because it made it that much harder to hang on. His eyes squeezed shut as the ground continued to open up, as he waited for death, as… as nothing happened?
Nico hung for several long seconds, tears building up in his eyes as he fought not to let them fall. He had to hold on. He had to. He didn’t know if a crack in the House led to Tartarus, but that wasn’t a risk he could take.
His powers were back. Cold flooded him, then the rest of the room as his powers caught up with the terror coursing through his body. Almost reflexively, Nico shadow traveled out of the hole and landed himself as far away from it as he could, breath coming hard and body shuddering uncontrollably.