𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙶𝚘 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢 - H&S

Kelsier dropped his phone on the bed as he paced, fear pulsing through his veins like blood, only faster. He knew Nico wouldn’t message him again for a while unless…
Well. Unless the unthinkable happened.
He refused to accept that. He was powerless, utterly incapable of saving one of the new people in any world he truly loved, just like he’d been with Mare. He’d watched her die and he’d done nothing, nothing at all to save her. All he could offer her was vengeance.
“He’s not dead.”
The words escaped him before he could stop himself, and he moved before he could think, ignoring the pain from the wound the Hazekiller had given him as he scrambled across the room and scribbled a note on the wall, for lack of anything else to write it on. It didn’t matter, anyway, there was no time.
Then he turned, pacing the room, knocking things over as he went and not caring as he broke them.
“I want to go to Nico.” He muttered, closing his eyes and focusing. “I want to go to Nico. I need to go to Nico. I need. To get. To my son.”
He wasn’t sure what he did next. He thought maybe he’d struck a match, set something ablaze, shattered something, threw himself against the wall, desperation more than strategy swallowing him. All he knew was the thought on his mind, overriding the pain, overriding everything else.
I need to get to my son.
And then the Mistborn was gone, as simply and quietly as if he’d never been there at all.
Not from his own perspective. No, from his perspective, he was pacing in his half destroyed room one moment, and then he standing on the edge of a cliff the next. His eyes widened and he flared pewter for balance, throwing his arms out to catch himself before he tipped in, his breath coming out in a sharp gasp.

Kelsier heard the scream.
And that was all he needed.
He hadn’t blinked into the House, he decided quickly. That had been his first assumption, but he knew now.
This was the place Nico had been describing moments earlier.
It worked.
He didn’t have time to celebrate that. His daggers were in his hands and flashing in a moment and he leapt forward, attacking the first monster he saw. And he could see them, he realized, he could see them, he could pierce the Mist.
Then he saw Nico and everything else slid from his mind.
He ran.
And the Mistborn attacked with everything he had, slashing at the monster first and then kicking at it, trying to make it let go. He spun and attacked the next one, then the next, his body fighting almost of its own accord from years of experience, he knew how to fight outnumbered, and most of all he knew how to fight when he was fighting for something - someone - he cared for.

The dust was new for Kelsier, but he ignored it, fighting the monsters one after the next, trying to stay close to Nico.
Nico. Where was he?
Kelsier cursed under his breath, whipping around, trying desperately to find him in the sea of monsters. Then he spotted him and relief cut through him like the daggers he wielded, cutting down monster after monster as he slowly made his way towards him.
How many damn monsters were there? They just kept coming, pouring out of the shadows like blood from a wound, and he knew they wouldn’t last long, even both of them fighting side by side. He was reckless, not stupid, and he didn’t plan on dying anymore than he planned on watching Nico die.
He threw down a coin, then Pushed, soaring over the heads of the monsters and almost making it to Nico until one shot up at him and they collided in the air, the Mistborn knocked off course. He spun, stabbing the thing as it grabbed him with clawed hands, and then he hit the ground, hard.
They were on him in seconds. He fought back, kicking and stabbing and fighting to get to his feet, he was closer to Nico now, he knew he was.
“Nico, run! Get out of here!” He shouted as claws raked over his skin, tearing through first his mistcloak, then the cloth underneath. He punched the thing in the jaw, then followed it with a quick stab, and he rolled to his feet again, gasping like a drowning man.

Kelsier spun and stabbed and slashed, a dagger in each hand, dust coating his clothes and sticking to the blood seeping from his wounds,
Mostly the one that was not supposed to be bleeding anymore. He didn’t have time to check, but he knew the stitches had come undone based on the way blood was soaking through his shirt, wet and warm and sticky to the touch. Adrenaline and pewter kept him on his feet, though, and he fought as hard as he would have were he not already injured, his body tense and responsive to the danger.
He knew Nico could leave. He could get out of there, shadow travel away back to camp and be fine. Kelsier hissed as he stabbed again, and for the first time he noticed that though his weapon worked to injure the thing, it failed to kill it.
Damn. He wasn’t surprised, but it was frustrating.
If something didn’t change they were both going to end up dead. He wouldn’t allow that to happen. He’d come to save Nico, and he wouldn’t allow himself to be the cause of him staying and dying, not when he could escape. He’d sooner throw himself into Tartarus then be the cause of Nico’s death even one more time.
Then the ground shook and he stumbled, nearly falling as his balance was knocked off. The monsters didn’t stop attacking, but one glanced behind him, and then Kelsier turned to look as well.
And smiled.
“Nice work Nico.” He muttered, spinning and slitting the throat of a monster, which stumbled away, hissing. He turned, fighting his way towards Nico and the skeletons.

There were more, too, more skeletons appearing, and it was looking like they actually had a chance here. One, even two, of the best fighters that to exist in any world wasn’t enough against an entire army, but with their own army to balance out the numbers? They were going to win this thing, he knew they would. He didn’t know everything about how the skeletons worked, but he knew they would do as Nico commanded them, and that was enough for him. He fought, wish if he could kill them instead of merely hurt them, and then shoved one viciously over the edge into Tartarus, a dark smile appearing on his face as he fell. This...this was how he’d felt at Hathsin after he’d Snapped. This fierce enjoyment as his enemies fell, only this time the one he was fighting for was alive and fighting too, and they were going to be fine.
Or at least, Nico was. He could tell distantly that he was bleeding too much, the wound open again, staining his clothes. He ignored it as he fought, heading for Nico, his eyes narrowed in concentration as the monsters swarmed and rallied against them both.
And then Nico was attacked. And Kelsier’s eyes went wide.
“Don’t touch him!” It was too loud to be a snarl, too low to be a scream, too desperate to be am order, yet his voice didn’t shake. The sword impaled the monster that had been trying to lunge at him and he caught it, reaching through the dust to wrap his fingers around the hilt. Nico had tossed him his sword once in another room a long time ago, and then he hadn’t ended up needing it to survive. But this wasn’t the House, and Nico’s death here would be permanent.
Which was why Kelsier didn’t hesitate.
He let out a cry, shoving past monsters without a second thought. Then he pulled out a coin and dropped it, Pushing down hard and shooting up into the air with incredible speed, sword aimed directly at Alecto.
“I said.” He said quietly. “Don’t touch him.”

And just like that, they were out, Kelsier clinging to the sword like a lifeline, his other hand searching until it found Nico and held on. He would never get used to the feeling of shadow travel, he thought dimly, though he didn’t have much chance to consider it as they were out seconds later and….oh.
Oh.
Green.
Kelsier stared at the grass, the scars on his face standing out against too-pale skin. And then the sky, bright and clear and so blue more blue than anything natural Kel knew of. The sun touched his skin where the cloak had ripped, and he probably would have stared for hours if he’d been alone.
But he wasn’t alone. And his eyes snapped back to the boy as he fell.
Kelsier’s arms shot out, catching him and then lowering him gently, cradling him, trying hard not to stain him with any more blood than he already had. The wrist wound in particular looked nasty, but a quick search proved that Nico was not in immediate danger.
When the shadows melted away, the pain hit him out of nowhere, slamming into him with too much force. He didn’t move, still holding Nico’s still form, his own body desperately burning the little pewter he had left.
He was lucky. He had two more vials. But they wouldn’t last him long if they had another fight like that one.
He looked up as the kid called to him. His mind was starting to go fuzzy around the edges again, and he pulled Nico protectively to his chest.
It shouldn’t have been possible for him to stand in his condition. But stand he did, pulling Nico with him, cradling the boy carefully with his head resting on Kelsier’s chest. Then he walked - stumbled, really - forward, eyes locked in the kid.

Kelsier turned his head, not quite understanding the words that flew between the two boys, his arms still curled protectively around Nico like he expected him to be snatched away at any moment. He was still in fighting mode, still ready to kill anything that came between him and his son, anything that tried to hurt him.
Will. He knew Will. And the shirts, the bright orange shirts with the logo Kelsier couldn’t read, yet he thought he probably knew what it said anyway.
“Did you think I was just a voice?” He said lightly, his humor somehow finding its way into his faint voice. He didn’t know how Will had managed to recognize him, but he was glad, because he wasn’t really in any condition to explain himself here.
He paused a moment later, frowning slightly as the kid in front of him seemed to transform into a medic right in front of him, the powerful tone commanding respect.
And if Kelsier hadn’t been so wired to protect Nico, and especially in his current weakened state, he might have listened.
But then again, maybe not. It was Kelsier, after all.
“Show me the...the....” He said it as best he could, his English mediocre but understandable. He didn’t know the word for infirmary, and it took him a moment to process it. “Infirmary.” He said finally, pleased with himself for figuring it out.
Some part of him that wasn’t affected by the blood loss and the pain told him to sit down. He ignored the rational part of his brain, as usual.
“Hades.” He added, his voice sharp with distaste. “I wouldn’t swear in his name, if I were you.”

Kelsier swayed slightly, trying to step forward, his legs shaking under him as they were forced not onto to support his own weight, but Nico’s as well. Not that the boy weighed anything.
He blinked, listening to the rapid English his brain was failing to translate properly in his condition. He caught some of the words, but most were lost as he glanced down at Nico again, checking for injuries he had already searched for.
He was bleeding heavily, the remnants of his pewter and the adrenaline and sheer willpower keeping him upright. But he wasn’t prone to giving up, and he knew somehow that they were going to try and take Nico from him. And if they did that, then something bad would happen. He wasn’t completely sure what, but he was in too much pain to question it. He felt like he’d just been hit over the head by something very heavy.
As Will told him to set Nico down, something in his expression hardened, and he missed the rest. “Nico stays with me.” He told Will, pulling Nico close, his eyes challenging Will to come any closer and try to take him.
Them the rest of his pewter ran out and he let out a small cry of pain as the severity of his injury crashed full force into him. Somehow, he still didn’t fall. Somehow, he stayed where he was, his body trembling with effort, his face set. A fly landing on his arm might have knocked him over.

Kelsier knew that side of Nico too. The side that was unstoppable, that killed an Inquisitor, that brought the skeleton army they’d needed to survive the monsters. The side of Nico that said he not only didn’t want your help, he didn’t need it, and as a matter of fact you needed his help.
He was probably minutes away from collapsing. He needed to think, needed to figure out a way around this, but he didn’t know how. He couldn’t lose Nico. He wouldn’t. Why did he feel like the moment he was out of Kelsier’s arms, everything was going to break apart at the seams?
He didn’t sit. He did almost lose his balance, but he managed to get it back after a moment of panic.
Then he heard the words in Scadrial, and his eyes widened, shock written across his features.
That didn’t make sense. He had only taught Nico that. He wasn’t so out of it as to believe for even a second that he was back home, because look at the grass. The tree behind him. The blue sky over his head. This wasn’t home, this was a dream, a fairytale. And for Nico, it was life.
Nico. He had to have taught the boy those words. That was the only thing that made sense.
And that meant he had to be a friend. Nico wouldn’t trust an enemy with that.
Kelsier went down, barely managing to avoid falling as he sat, his knees buckling under him. He still held Nico, but he ss on the ground now, and he allowed one hand to wander over to feel the grass.
“I feel alive.” He murmured in Scadrial.

Will was correct. Kelsier held Nico closer as the other boy approached, his expression wary in spite of the words he’d spoken in Scadrial. He still might try and take Nico away, and then someone would end up dead. Probably Will, maybe Kelsier too if he wasn’t careful, gut wounds were nasty like that.
“This is nothing.” He returned, his voice quiet and low as he tried to stop gasping for breath. Air wasn’t the problem, he wanted to tell his body, blood was. And that wasn’t going to just fix itself.
Or, maybe it was. He stared at the wound in shock as it began to heal, skin putting itself back together again, sealing in the rest of hie supply of blood. The song reached his ears and he looked at Will, his expression suddenly more respectful.
His brain was still fuzzy from blood loss. At least the pain was better. But he still found it harder than usual to follow English, and even harder to speak it himself, which required him to remember how to form the sounds.
He watched for a long moment, his expression careful, his arms still curled around Nico. He seemed to have decided the best way to survive this was never letting go.
He blinked at the question, trying to comprehend it. “Not serious.” He said haltingly, looking at Nico again, his eyes flicking towards his wrist. His English was usually better than this. “Or life threatening.”

Kelsier shook his head slightly, lost. He didn’t understand what Will was saying, though he caught a few words here and there. He could speak English pretty well now, usually, but his brain was refusing to keep up, and he kept missing words and not being able to remember what they meant when he did catch them. He just wasn’t processing them the way he was supposed to be, and though a part of him knew it was because he was hurt, it made him nervous. He didn’t like not completely understanding what was happening around him. Bad things usually happened when he didn’t understand enough to stop them.
Well...technically the bad thing had already happened. Almost happened. Kelsier stared at Will, Nico still cradled in his arms, and he didn’t seem to be planning to let him go anytime soon.
He blinked, letting himself meet Will’s eyes. He didn’t think the boy was lying, he just didn’t understand what he was saying. He kept saying words Kelsier didn’t even think he knew, let alone recognized in this condition.
“Capture the flag.” He repeated, pleased to at least understand that. Nico talked about it sometimes, enough that the phrase stuck out to him, even with how poorly he was doing at thinking at the moment. “Now?” He added, for clarification.
He paused as Will spoke in Scadrial again, and he switched back. It was much easier that way, and he was grateful Will was trying. “I’m Kelsier.” He said, though he expected Will to know that much already. He hesitated, unsure how to describe himself. His titles were useless here, and he wasn’t trying to scare, impress, or intimidate Will, which was mainly what he used them for.
“I’m also a friend.” He settled with, still speaking in Scadrial. He was too tired to attempt English at the moment.

There were so many things that warred for Kelsier’ attention, and even on the best of days he would have been much too in awe to pay much attention to...well, anything for longer than a few seconds. He wanted to stand up and look closer at the trees, he wanted to feel the soft grass under his feet, the tiny green strands catching his attention every few seconds ans distracting him. And the smells….Nico hadn’t said much about the smells, but here they were, attacking him at all sides. He took a deep breath in, trying to clear his head, but the fuzz remained firmly in place, and with it the difficulty of understanding English. If only Will hadn’t been quite so good at his job, Kelsier might have used tin to shock himself back, using the pain as a tool as held done many times before. Now, when he burned tin, it just made things worse. Too much information all at once. He extinguished it quickly.
“Capture the Flag now.” He repeated again, then glanced at Nico, frowning a little. “Miss it.” He added, shaking his head a little. Of course Nico was missing Capture the Flag. Kelsier wasn’t surprised, but the thought made him sad, and he stared at Nico for a long moment, then lightly brushed a strand of dark hair from the boy’s face.
He looked up a moment later as Will said something that would have been completely incomprehensible...had Kelsier not heard Nico make the same mistake countless times. He smiled a little, nodding once. “Nice to meet you, too.” He said, pronouncing the ‘you’ with slow precision. He wasn’t making fun of Will. He was genuinely attempting to help him pronounce the word. Though his slight smile probably wasn’t helping.
He blinked as Will stood, and he held Nico a little closer, instantly protective. If they were moving they might try to take him away, and Kelsier wouldn’t allow that. Even in his normal state he would have been reluctant, but how he was now? He was desperate, and nervous, and overwhelmed, and at the same time determined not to let anything happen to Nico. Especially not while he was unconscious and therefore trusting Kel to protect him. That didn’t quite make sense, but Kelsier didn’t know that.
He watched Will carefully, narrowing his eyes a little.
“Home.” He repeated, frowning a little. “Hades.” He added after a moment, and he understood what Will was attempting to communicate, even if he didn’t like the idea that it was Hades’ cabin. It belonged to Nico, thank you very much.
He got to his feet, still not really stable but more so by far than he’d been before. Then he moved to follow Will, Nico still held close to his chest.

Kelsier didn’t understand the sentence, his brain failing to translate it into meaning. He shook his head a little to clear it, trying to focus. He knew he could figure out what the words meant if he could just manage to concentrate, if he could think past the fog in his brain.
It was a very good thing that Will knew some Scadrial, or things might have gone much worse. Kelsier probably would have ended up collapsing instead of sitting, for one thing, and he might not have let Will near him and Nico, even if the rational part of his brain could have figured out where he was. The rational part of his brain wasn’t really functioning at the moment. Blood loss was interesting like that.
He followed Will, stumbling a bit but managing to stay upright, his hazel eyes scanning his surroundings as he moved. The forest….the forest looked incredible. It was green and brown and the leaves looked soft and moved in a gentle breeze and there was no ash, no ash at all, and Kelsier found he couldn’t quite believe it was all real. Surely...surely he was dreaming, surely he would wake up back home, back in the ash clogged streets and his own small room.
He didn’t want to wake up.
He looked up as he realized Will had said something, and he nodded. “I’m good.” He told him, speaking slowly in Scadrial, hoping he would be understood. It seemed Will knew significantly less than Nico did, which wasn’t surprising, considering Nico was almost fluent by now. Pride and not a little emotion rose in Kelsier’s chest at the thought, because Nico had clearly worked very hard to learn it, and who had he learned it for?
The walk seemed even longer for the Mistborn, and he stumbled and nearly fell, gritting his teeth against the dizziness that seemed almost to swallow him for a moment. He was fine. He hadn’t come all this way just to pass out here, he ordered himself not to pass out. He had to stay awake or he was in danger of dropping Nico and he refused to do that.
It was that more than anything else that forced him to continue forward, following Will, his eyes set stubbornly ahead of him rather than wandering over the wonders. And the other kids who stared at him, because, well, he was a tall man soaked in blood and carrying their unconscious friend. He would have stared, too.
“Home.” Kelsier repeated in English, smiling a bit to himself. It had been one of the words they had exchanged pretty early on, and he knew it now even though his thoughts were muddled and difficult to sort out. He blinked at the cabin and his smile deepened, because he was finally seeing it. He was finally getting to see it. He reached out a hand and brushed it over the surface, as though checking to make sure it was real.
“Hurry.” He added in English, his accent heavy on the word. He switched to Scadrial without meaning to as he continued. “Need...to put Nico down…”

Dox. That was who Will pitied without knowing their name. And the rest of the crew, of course, but Dox was the man who usually had to deal with Kelsier. Sazed may have handled the physical wounds, but they relied on Dockson’s sensible nature to keep Kelsier in bed for any amount of time.
He couldn’t have explained the whole other worlds thing very well at the moment even if there hadn’t been a massive language barrier. His head just wasn’t working that well at the moment. He saw the glance at Nico and he shook his head a little, trying to communicate that he was fine, for now. There was just the urgent matter of not collapsing on top of him.
The only thing really keeping Kelsier upright was that worry. He didn’t even have any pewter to burn at the moment, and even if he’d been thinking clearly to remember the vials he carried, he wouldn’t have wanted to waste them now that he was mostly healed.
He stepped into the cabin, blinking as he took it all in. He would have preferred Nico show him this himself, of course, but then he wasn’t exactly in any condition to inspect the place. Maybe when Nico woke up, they could pretend it was Kelsier’s first time seeing the place.
He smiled a bit at the bed, which managed to be as good as he’d hoped it would be. And it wasn’t a coffin, so points for that. Another glance around made the place feel a little lonely, and though Kelsier knew Nico liked his privacy, he wondered if it ever bothered him. How it seemed built to be convenient on his death. How it was so clearly built with that thought in mind.
He shook his head a little. He could be indignant at their treatment of Nico later, right now he just had to make it a little bit longer. He nodded once as Will ducked out, leaving him alone with Nico. Good. He trusted Kel enough for that.
He walked across the room and set Nico down very gently, slowly lowering him and then slipping his arms out from under him, releasing him even though his mind said that was the wrong thing to do, that he shouldn’t let him go until he was awake and could defend himself.
He stepped back, looking at him for a long moment. And he smiled faintly.
Then the Mistborn fell, his eyes rolling up into his head, unconscious before he hit the ground.