In Memoriam (Michael/Dare/Adara)

[Adara Snow]

Adara sat near the lake, in a patch of warm sunlight she did not feel, near a clump of trees swaying in the light breeze, completely unaware of her pain. Her legs were tucked beneath her, and though her journal sat on her lap, she could not find the will to write. Her gaze was focused on one corner of the worn cloth-bound book, its once brilliant decorative threading now faded to a dusky rose. All except that corner, spotted with deep brick red. It had been stained with Emilian's blood during his fight with Chase, and though she had not paid much attention to it before, knowing as she had that he was well, now, she could not look away.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was hand-in-hand with Michael as they headed across the lawns, looking for Adara. She hadn't been anywhere to be found last night, and they'd assumed that she must have retired to Ravenclaw Tower at some point, so they had let her be and decided to tackle things in the morning.

Finally they'd found her, and as they approached, the tension in Dare's body doubled. They had good news, and yet they couldn't be sure she'd accept it. And she looked so lost right now that it was all Dare could do to keep walking, even with the warmth of Michael's hand against his.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael had been about to give up on finding Adara when they finally found her. His hand tightened around Dare's and he slowed down, glancing up at him. His chest constricted in pain for her, knowing at least part of what she was going through, because he had felt it as well. He hoped the whole thing would go smoothly, but he couldn't be certain it would, and the thin strand of certainty he had snapped when he saw her. "Adara?" he called softly when they came within hearing distance, wanting to get her attention, but afraid to startle her.

[Adara Snow]

Adara sat a moment longer, lost entirely to thought, before the sound of her name somehow fought its way in. She blinked, hesitantly, part of her afraid to leave her thoughts, morbid as they might have become, if it meant that she would have to face reality again. Her right hand shifted as she raised her head, blindly reaching for the brush at her side, and finding it exactly where it had been since she had set it beside her.

It took a moment for her eyes to focus, to recognize Michael, and then a moment later Dare. She could not summon a smile or greeting though, and bit at her lip as she looked out over the lake. "I first met Emilian here," she said, her voice strikingly calm, if soft, and only just audible. She did not want to refuse the boys company, but she could not shift her thoughts, and so she did not try.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyebrows creased as he looked from Adara to Michael. Despite her calm, and despite the fact that she seemed to be reminiscing, everything felt incredibly wrong. He knew they were going to tell her, knew that in the end perhaps she would be all right, but in the meantime, the idea of breaking something so large...he was worried that, if she had not already broken, the news might break her.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael glanced at Dare, and saw the worry he felt deep down obvious in Dare's eyes. "Adara, we have something to tell you," he said, sitting down. He didn't know how to tell her, the obvious way would be to just tell her, but what if she would react better to the letters? He sighed and glanced back up at Dare, unsure how to go about it, he had expected her to be bad, but she seemed so...lost.

[Adara Snow]

"Hm?" Adara asked, only half aware of Michael, though part of her tried to listen. She did not wish to think of what he might tell her, so she did not think of it. She thought of the way she had felt when Ryan had gone and Emilian had spoken to her. She thought of it with the same strange feeling of detachment that had come over her last night, and she welcomed it, because it kept just that much of the pain at bay.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare wished at that moment that somehow they could have brought Emilian with them and made him tell her, or that they could have taken her with them last night. He wished he had a time-turner so he could have stopped Cleo from having said anything in the first place. But no, their only option seemed to be telling her. Dare looked at Michael for strength, knowing that the task was not his alone, then turned back to Adara. "Adara, it's about Emilian," he tried.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"It's very important, Adara," Michael said, hoping that repeating her name would pull her out of it. He didn't know if it would work, but he figured it was worth a shot, it couldn't do any harm. He contemplated just telling her, but he wanted her full attention, or at least, some of her attention. As it was, it looked like she would give a fly more attention than she was giving them.

[Adara Snow]

Adara let out a heavy sigh, the pain pushing against the numbness as she tried to push away her thoughts. She turned to look at Michael, then briefly at Dare, her brows knitting as she struggled to hold onto detachment. "If it is very important, then I will listen," she said. Her mind tried to pull away again, into the half-awake state between full consciousness and her dream world that she had finally found, but she blinked, trying to focus on Michael, reminding herself how very close to Emilian he had been.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Well, she was paying attention to Michael, at least. Dare was grateful for it, even if his role was steadily dwindling toward moral support again. Still, he was there, and he wouldn't make Michael do this alone. "We went to the jewellery shop last night," he began, trying to introduce things the way he and Michael had found them, though he wasn't sure if he should. Without seeing him, would she understand? Dare looked to Michael again.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's fingers tightened around Dare's, trying to draw strength and courage. "The outside of the shop looked bad," he said, "But the inside...the inside was perfect." He watched her carefully, not wanting to give her too much information at one time. He was glad they had her attention, now they just had to tell her and make her believe, the part he had been dreading, however good the news.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's brows knitted further as she tried to digest the information she had been given. It was difficult. Though part of her mind insisted that yes, the Headmistress had put up spells, and yes, it made sense--he would have been safe inside his shop, would he not?--the rest of her insisted that she knew the truth already. She had his charred and broken wand as proof. Her mind was forced to work to reconcile these two different stories, trying to find the middle ground which must be reality.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare glanced aside at Michael again, the squeezed his hand as he looked at Adara, obviously trying to understand, and almost as obviously, having difficulty with it. "We were confused," he said, trying to relate to her and hoping that it might keep her with them at least a while longer. "We didn't understand, but we looked, and I swear, it wasn't our imaginations, not both of us. Everything was the way it was the last time we went in."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"There was a woman," Michael said, "I told her we wanted upstairs, she told us to give her five minutes, and she went up." He didn't feel it necessary to tell Adara that Dahlia had lied or that there had been anything hostile about the meeting, she was getting enough information as it was without the extra. "A few minutes later she came back down and said we could go up."