Did You Ever Deny?

"Did You Ever Deny?" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
The desertion of the Conclave had almost all of the Rebellion now housed in the many buildings across the Jaw, and between soldiers and former slaves, they were finally settling in, and able to turn some of their work inwards, from working on the fallen fangs of Fenrir to filling in the gods-awful trenches where the slaves used to be kept. The shockwaves of the battle were quieting, but it still left many wounded in its wake, and that meant the healers still hadn’t caught their break yet.
True to Dario’s offer, Yun was staying in the house that they had been arranged for, a smaller affair that had probably once housed several before them, with enough separate rooms to give the young seidkonur the privacy he needed to try and lull his nerves-ridden self to sleep every night. But the bed he now owned had seen little use as of late. Yun currently sat at the table near the front door, head lowered and tucked into his crossed arms. He could feel fatigue tugging at him, but the day was already under way, and he and Milae were set to follow Dario out into the Jaw for his daily round of healing. He distantly heard narrow hooves and moving packs jostling down through the stairs, and he barely moved at the sound, his hazel eyes instead focused on his fingers, which were flickering teal as they fluttered on top of his arm in front of him. What only he could see were the thin strings plucking and vibrating as the tips of his fingers toyed with them, back and forth like he was playing a harp. The quiet but sharp noises of strumming played through the house, and as Milae entered the front room and set a second pack by the door for Yun, he trained his own eyes on Yun’s movements, and his ears twitched.
“Yun.” The human started at the sound of his name. “We do not use the threads of time to fidget.”
“Oh. Sorry. I’m sorry.” The threads shimmered back into invisibility and the light of his fingers died, but only to a certain amount. They both knew why.
“We’ll see him by the end of today.” Milae was reluctantly patient. “Try not to think about it.”
“I’m not.” 
“Are you?”
Yun took a thin breath and sat up in his seat, forcing his hands to squeeze the folds of his kimono instead. The cascade of bright lights from the upstairs window last night was the reason for the lightly bruised circles under his eyes. “I’m trying not to,” he mumbled.
“That’s fine. Come on, let’s be prepared. Dario is almost ready to go.”
dario-the-deer
Almost perfectly in time with the goat’s mention, the stag rounded the corner and tossed a rucksack onto the table with reckless abandon. He had chosen a less restrictive set of clothing for their outing – most notably his shirt, which featured a deep cut in the neck and recessed sleeves that allowed for more ventilation than his usual layers. Though the weather was still not optimal, the amount of travel and labor they would be performing often led to overheating, even in the coldest of days. His mood seemed far more elevated than usual; his humming carrying a free-flowing cadence that matched his steps.
“I’ve been ready to go, Milae.” He ruffled his partner’s hair, giving a teasing wink before placing a hand on Yun’s shoulder. “If you’re anything like him, I anticipate we will be ready to leave in a few months. Between the two of you, I’m certain I’ll perish before we get to leave.”
He looked to the young man still seated, adorned with exhaustion that was made obvious by the bags developing under his eyes. There was a twinge in Dario’s heart – he had known that Yun’s sleep pattern was irregular, at best, but he would never pry.
“Are you feeling up to helping out today?” He squeezed the back of Yun’s neck, letting his fingers massage the base of it. His muscles were unsurprisingly tense. “If you aren’t, I understand. You’ve been through quite a bit lately.”
foresight-botgd
He grinned tiredly up at Dario over his glasses. “I’m okay. If I don’t, I’m gonna go nuts.” Yun got to his feet, but it didn’t make much difference in terms of his relative height to Dario. Even minus his antlers–which had begun to grow in again, as round points of velvet–he was still incredibly tall to Yun. The hooves and deer joints gave him the illusion of being taller than his modern counterpart. “It’s not like I can go beat up Nala every day.”
“And we would rather you not,” Milae chimed in, pushing Yun’s bag into his arms. “It’s better to save your strength.”
dario-the-deer
He wasn’t sure what he had expected when Yun stood; the change in height from when he was sitting was negligible, and it created that same feeling in his chest that he found himself graced with when Milae would do the same. There was a deep sense of responsibility for the man he had just met weeks prior, though he couldn’t explain why that feeling was present. Even if he could, Dario was just glad it was there.
“I am still amazed that you held your own the way you did with her.” Dario was almost prancing towards the door, his voice echoing through the mostly barren rooms of their temporary abode. “That being said, I agree that we certainly don’t want to watch that again without reason.”
He looked over himself and his bags, then to the two counterparts. His quick inventory found that everything was in place.
“Alright. It’s going to be a longer day today; I heard rumblings of folks coming to and from Haligan, so I’m not certain who is going to be able to help us out on the recovery front. Be ready to work on your own if it comes to that. Can you handle some solo efforts today, Yun?”
foresight-botgd
He nodded firmly, puffing his cheeks out and blowing as some of his dark, tousled hair fell into his eyes. It was starting to get unmanageably long. “Yeah. No, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
They were interrupted by a familiar hum and a circle that widened beneath their feet, but it receded moments after, like it had changed its mind about its positioning. It quickly shifted to right outside their home instead, followed by a light knock on the door. It seemed like an effort to be polite, but before anyone could move, Akkey burst it open herself with some force and called out loudly, “Milae! Dario! Yu–! Oh, hey. There you are.”
foresight-botgd
“Akkey Black,” Milae chided, as Yun nearly dropped his bag, pulling it back into his arms from where it had slipped in fright. “We are not that slow to answer. What in Midgard do you need?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
A quick, apologetic grin passed her face before becoming serious again. She quickly shut the door, and they could hear portals humming and ice cracking at intervals as she checked the perimeter, ensuring that they were isolated.
She turned to face them, “I have some bad news. It’s about Hel. You might want to sit down…” Her eyes settled on Yun in particular.
Despite Akkey’s usual nature, or at least what the stag knew of it in their limited interactions, the words she spoke were uncharacteristically ominous. Her tone was unmistakable; something dire was in play, and even to someone as aloof to current happenings as Dario, the mention of Hel was blood-chilling. He glanced over to Yun, filled with concern and anticipation for how the young man would react.
“Yeah- let’s have a seat. Everything can wait for a bit.”
He took Yun’s bag, offering a smile to try and break the newly formed tension in the air. Once he piled all of them in the corner, he took a seat at the table and waited for the others to follow suit.
foresight-botgd
To say that the twin souls felt a pit in their stomachs was an understatement. Yun’s eyes jumped from face to face in the room as he sat back in his seat next to Dario and quickly scooted closer to him, gaze wide and fixed on Akkey. His pulse had immediately pushed up to his throat and was intent on beating a tattoo under his skin. Milae, in contrast, was staring very hard at the wall from his end of the table, tendons tight under his old seal.
“What’s wrong?” he said tersely, but calmly.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Akkey sat at the edge of the table with one leg stabilizing her on the ground, and let it be silent for a breath before speaking low but clearly, “I’ll get right to the point–Hel is now mortal.”
“Grey and Lila just brought me the news a few minutes ago. Apparently she made some type of cosmic bet with a higher god, lost, and is now walking Aidorin without any powers looking like this,” Her finger came up to hover a small ice sculpture of the drawing Grey showed her. She squinted, “–or something like this. I don’t know how well Grey draws. Lila thinks she needs to learn morality to regain her strength back, but that’s a working theory.”
The frozen figure dissipated as she closed her hand, “I checked my agent contract–it’s still intact. That means whatever magic Hel’s already cast remains, but now she can’t do any more.”
“Only us four, the Ericsons, and the Felmans know about this,” she continued, “She’s with Jari right now, on their way to the tavern–I suppose Stones can be added to that list soon. Grey and Lila are keeping a close eye on her, making sure she doesn’t get hurt, or…” Akkey trailed off, not wanting to speak the grim possibility into existence, especially with the threat of the goddess that was hounding on their backs.
foresight-botgd
The quiet that remained after Akkey’s proclamation was tight, awkward, and heavy, and reminded Yun so strongly of his last minutes with Jin that he immediately tried to break the silence, even though he wasn’t finished processing what had been said. “Okay–um–so that’s…”
The goat half-breed down the table was still staring intently at the wall, hooves clenched. The only one familiar enough to recognize his body language was Dario–his frame was coiled with tension, noticeable in the far-too-controlled jerks of his breathing and the twitches and flexes in his wrists and neck.
“That’s not…” Yun trailed off, now also watching Milae. He wasn’t even sure how to properly react or digest what he’d heard without a cue from his mentor. Milae refused to meet his eyes. He didn’t like that. “M-Milae–?”
“Þegiðu,” Milae finally growled. Yun flinched and shrank into Dario. There was another pregnant pause. “Is Hel not in control of her faculties? She does not know how to reverse this?”
dario-the-deer
He could feel Yun recede into him, trembling at Milae’s unexpected frustration. Though not entirely well-versed at times, Dario was no stranger to the phrase Milae had directed towards Yun. The stag shot a glare at the goat’s direction, pushing his arms against the table as if he were moving into a standing position.
“Milae, do not speak to him that way.” He didn’t move from his seat entirely, but his stance and expression was remarkably out of character for the typically easy-going deer. His voice was a similar deep tone that Milae had heard after their experience with Sylar, but these words carried a fury behind them. “He’s scared. We all are, and you will get your answers… but do not for a second believe that you have the right to treat him that way as a projection of your emotions. You are better than that.”
He slowly put himself back into his chair, sliding a hand under Yun’s arm and wrapping his arm around the young man’s side. He pulled him in closer in a show of assurance that they were on the same team, despite the tension. Akkey had not spoken during this exchange, and the stag felt a bit bad about their interjections.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“She doesn’t, as far as I can understand,” she said slowly, eyeing them one by one, starting with Dario. The strain in the air had thickened so much that one could pierce it with a deadly nadder spike, and her voice tightened along with it, despite not fully understanding as tensions rose, “Lila says she needs to learn ‘mortal morality’ and that might get her powers back, but no one’s certain…”
foresight-botgd
“No powers…” Yun’s eyes were distant.
Milae, for once, had cowed at Dario’s reprimand. He exhaled heavily and squeezed his fist before letting it uncurl flat against the table, reluctantly looking Dario in the eyes. “You’re right, I am,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry.” Yun seemed too lost in his own mind to acknowledge the apology.
Milae still tossed a hand in a gesture of frustration though, concentrating on the wood grain of the table as he thought. “And so we wait for this…process to be attempted, and if it fails…we are out of time after that point. We need contingencies.”
Yun was staring at his hands. Milae’s voice was hazy. Nothing outwardly had changed about his markings, but the meaning of a word was almost blinding at the forefront of his mind. It burned with its intensity.
Lifun.
Dario felt a subtle vibration in the corners of his lungs, emanating from his close proximity to Yun. Milae seemed unaware. “When will she be back?” he asked, both more heated and more steady.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“They didn’t say, but I’m hoping they take a portal and get here within the next few days,” she replied, drumming her fingers against a thigh as she continued turning her thoughts over, not really seeing her surroundings at the moment.
“If not, then I’m picking them up myself. She’s not wandering the wilderness powerless like this if I can help it, not with fucking Frigga in the equation,” she said through gritted teeth.
dario-the-deer
Dario understood Akkey’s frustration – this was a whirlwind of information to be unpacked in one sitting, and it was still fresh in her mind too. Having to be the messenger of such heavy news could not be easy for the Nix.
“Okay… alright. It sounds like everyone who needs to know is aware, and though nothing is set in stone as of yet, it seems that you have a good start of a plan. That’s good.”
As the stag spoke, he could feel his chest resonate. It was a feeling that wasn’t entirely foreign to him; his eyes glanced downward to Yun, who had not looked up from his fixation on his own hands. Dario brought his head lower to meet Yun’s, whispering lightly in hopes that a soft tone would help Yun to express his thoughts.
“Hey buddy, it’s going to be alright. We’re going to figure this out together.” He raised his hand to meet the base of the man’s neck once more, running his fingers upwards and through his hair. “You have an entire army behind you, and some of the smartest minds looking out for you.”
Dario looked to Milae, giving him a wink and sly grin. Though the minutes prior had been tense, the stag knew that his partner’s behaviour was born of uncertainty and fear for Yun. He shared in it, but tried his best to hide it from the young man, who was most certainly battling his own thoughts at this point.
foresight-botgd
Yun allowed himself to be pulled a little closer with the movement, and it let him break concentration on his fingers and look up at Akkey. His vision dimmed briefly, and he saw a tangle of thrashing, glowing strings warping around the half-breed. They were a familiar spectrum of colors.
“Where’s Juro?” he said, his voice low. Milae looked uncertainly at him, then back at Akkey.
“I suppose with his assistance we might be able to pinpoint any potential danger before it finds us…” he added, trying to qualify the non-sequitur.
“…he left for the Library this… uh, morning. He says he might have some ideas about Frigga and wanted to research about it,” Akkey replied, but she did with some instinctual caution. She slipped off the table, unaware, as she met Yun’s eyes. She felt like he knew something, “Why?”
foresight-botgd
Yun’s shoulders fell a bit and the warning hum around him died as well. His eyes dropped back to his fingers as they resumed a much more mundane pattern of fidgeting, twisting in and out of each other, and the first lines of young, ordinary concern showed in the creases under his eyes and in his slightly-scowling brow. “I don’t know.” It was the lie a moody teenager would have given his expectant mother, something that he knew, but didn’t wish to speak with her about.
The half-breed goat down the table from him eyed him before getting to his feet, the chair scraping across the floorboards. “I think we may…need what few minutes we can get to take this in. I am glad you let us know as soon as you could.” Nothing had felt like it truly had changed, but it was like viewing the same house at a different time of day, with different shadows cast and new highlights across familiar angles.
dario-the-deer
Dario flashed a half-thankful, half-concerned smile to Akkey. This could not have been comfortable for her, and he was grateful to have had someone he knew deliver it. He watched Milae stand with the stress of the moment still written across his face, and finally turned his attention back to Yun. The young man returned his gaze to his fingers, fidgeting in a way that was oddly familiar to the stag.
“Uh, hey… if you both don’t mind, I… I would like to talk to Yun for a few minutes. Nothing too long, but I was hoping to just have us two alone.” His voice was soft; he was intending to keep his tone level, as to not elevate the tension of the situation. Even with his remark, Yun did not move from his current position next to the deer.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Akkey stared at the seidkonur openly, her eyes narrowed in an eerie way of deja vu that Yun knew a certain captain would. She looked at him for a long time without regarding either Milae or Dario, silently, the way he avoided her question washing a feeling of familiarity over her. But in the end, she decided to drop it. She’s learned her lesson for the time being. She didn’t need a repeat of last night’s events.
She nodded, breaking the glare, and glanced at Milae, “That’s fine. I want to talk to Milae anyway.” The toe of her boot tapped the ground, opening into a portal.
foresight-botgd
Before Yun broke eye contact with Akkey, she caught a glimpse of light flashing across his retinas, and then he dipped his head and folded his arms tighter on the table when she turned away. Since Milae was already prepared to leave the house, he nodded stiffly and crossed the room, scooping up a walking staff from near the door and pulling up his hood. He made to look back at his housemates still seated behind him, but his head didn’t turn quite far enough, leaving his face obscured by fabric. 
“We’ll be back soon,” was all he said before stepping through and vanishing, and Akkey followed suit, leaving human and half-breed alone together.