Title: Crimes of the Ancestors

Summary: When Bryce is mistaken for someone else, he finds himself enduring several strange events, one after another. Coincidence? Bryce thinks so. Falkner, however, doesn't. Unfortunately, Falkner is proven right when the two find themselves taken captive. Their captors seem to think that Bryce is the heir to the forgotten Adalbern family. If he is, then he may end up paying for the crimes of his ancestors...

Pairings/Characters: Bro-ship of Bryce and Falkner as main characters, others have smaller roles

AN: Finally, the long awaited GiD Bryce fic. I'm also throwing Falkner into the mix. As a treat. It will be a short saga, about 6 or so chapter long. Getting right into the fun. So, I hope you enjoy reading!

-

Chapter 1:

It was mid-morning as Bryce made his way into the Researchers' Clinic. As the younger members of the guild made themselves at home within the clinic, he noted that there appeared to be a heavy tension in the air. Nothing appeared to be out of place. But Varuna and his brothers were centred around a room that was used for patient's care.

Had they received a patient in the middle of the night? Who was it?

"Hey," Bryce called out, quickly gaining the attention of a certain nightseeker who was in the process of moving to the patient's room, his arms filled with books.

"Oh, hey," Varuna returned, slightly surprised, as he placed the books down upon the coffee table and made his way over to him. To wrap his arms around him in a hug and a kiss to the cheek. "Morning."

Bryce looped his arms around Varuna's waist and pulled him closer. "What's going on?"

Varuna sighed as he slipped from Bryce's arms and quickly gathered the books once more. "Durriken has fallen ill. His body seems to be rejecting nutrients all of a sudden. We have no choice but to place him on a feeding tube as he can't eat anything. We hate having to resort to such methods."

Bryce frowned as he followed a step behind Varuna. He paused by the door, however, and peered into the room. Unsurprisingly, the room already had several occupants, and they were focused around one person: Durriken.

The far too gaunt and thin runemaster was propped up in bed, sunk back into several pillows. He appeared to be dressed simply, his knitted cap and rune robes folded neatly upon a chair. The sheets folded around him were white, and he was nearly as pale as those sheets.

A grimace marred his features, which was likely due to the fact that he had a long, thin, and flexible tube in his nose, held in place by an adhesive bandage.

By his bedside, sat in a chair pulled close, was Telem. Unsurprisingly, really. That nightseeker was difficult to read at the best of times, but from his ridged posture, he was greatly worried for his companion. Again, that was unsurprising.

In the corner of the room, close to the foot of the bed stood Isiah, Mahalah, and Falkner. And they were soon joined by Varuna, who handed off the books to Isiah and Mahalah.

Varuna spared a glance in Durriken's direction before he turned to make his way to Bryce's side once more. He learned forward to speak quietly to him. "It goes down the back of his throat, straight to his stomach," he explained. "It's not comfortable, as you can imagine. Hopefully it's only temporary."

And Bryce could not help but wince.

Yeah, hopefully. But how long was 'temporary'? The guy was just skin and bones already. Bryce hoped he was not starving himself to death. Going on a feeding tube was kinda a desperate, last resort, wasn't it?

"Falkner, are you busy?"

Bryce was surprised to realise that Nitish had silently stepped beside him to peer into the room, a heavy brown paper bag clutched against his chest.

"Nope," Falkner immediately replied, turning to give the blond a friendly smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Can you deliver these medicas to the atelier for me?" Nitish asked, motioning toward the bag in his arms with a sharp tilt of his head. "I'd normally do it myself, but..." His words trailed off, his eyes flickering toward the occupant in the patient's bed.

"Sure, I don't mind," Falkner responded in his usual carefree manner.

Telem turned his head to look over his shoulder, indicating that he had overheard the short conversation. "Do you wish for me to accompany you?" he asked unexpectedly, a slight frown on his lips.

But Falkner waved a hand in his direction dismissively. "Nah, you stay here and keep Durriken company. He'll feel more comfortable with you here."

"I'll go, though," Bryce stated. "Got nothing better to do." Which was true, but also because he was not good with these...medical procedures. He would just get in the way.

Nitish gave the two a small smile as Falkner received the medicas from him. "Thank you, both of you."

"Don't mention it," Falkner was once again friendly in his reply as he and Bryce made their way to the front door. "Be back soon!"

Bryce stepped through the door first and was halfway down the stairs as Falkner stepped onto the landing, taking a moment to pull the door shut behind him. The carefree smile on his lips faltered for a moment, replaced with a frown of concern. He soon shook it off, however, and smiled once more.

"Not heading out into the fields today?" he asked as he hurried down the steps and the two of them began walking in the direction of the atelier.

"Probably not," Bryce replied. "I think Varuna wants to stay at the clinic today. Just in case."

Falkner's smile faltered again, and he nodded his head. He obviously knew more than Bryce did. Clearly, Durriken was in a pretty bad state.

He was not close to the guy by any means, but that did not mean he wanted anything to happen to him. If for no one else's sake than for Telem's. They had been a duo for years. From what he understood, they only had each other to rely on for so long.

To lose one half...

"The kids could do with a day around the city," Falkner suddenly said, likely in an attempt to change the topic of conversation. "How has Fletcher been? Keeping out of trouble?"

Bryce could not help but utter a sigh and rub the back of his neck. "He's definitely grown a lot more cautious, simply because he's the one who decided to take on the role of preventing Miach from wandering off in a daze."

Which happened more than he liked to admit.

Falkner grinned, obviously amused. "Good to hear."

"Where is everyone else?"

"Roxbury is speaking with Highland Count with Achyuta and Zesiro. Lorge and Jeroden are at the wharf with Ciaran and Xander. Everyone else is loitering around the clinic, too."

Good, good. Best to have everyone within the city just in case something happens.

"Hey, Zach!"

Bryce could not help but scowl when a voice, loud and completely unknown, yelled directly behind him. The name shouted was equally unfamiliar, so it had nothing to do with him.

"Zach, I know you can hear me!"

Bryce continued to look forward, his eye twitching in annoyance. Falkner, however, turned his head to look behind them, likely out of curiosity. He soon holstered the bag of medica into the crook of his arm as he nudged Bryce's shoulder with his other hand.

"Bro, I think he's talking to you."

Better not be. His name wasn't Zach.

Bryce stopped mid-step, and turned around, his gaze immediately colliding with that of an unknown man. Long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail, sharp brown eyes, and pasty pale skin. He was dressed in rugged clothing, topped with a dark leather overcoat. Other than the scar along his hairline, there was nothing noteworthy about the man.

"You got the wrong guy," he said simply.

The man arched an eyebrow, clearly sceptical. He reached into the inner pocket of his overcoat and pulled out a folded piece of paper, along with a golden badge. He flashed said badge at them. "Detective Findlay. As title states, I'm a detective. And you look awfully like Zach who has been missing for three weeks. Possible victim of amnesia."

He then unfurled the paper to reveal a surprisingly detailed sketch of someone that looked suspiciously like Bryce. It was a side portrait, sketched by someone with obvious talent. And it honestly looked eerily like him. Even had the slight furrowing of the brow.

The picture may be based on him, but the name sure as hell wasn't. He certainly had not been missing. And he sure as hell was not suffering from amnesia.

"Interesting portrait, but I'm not Zach. That much I know."

"I can definitely vouch for him," Falkner immediately piped up, sounding like his usually friendly self, but there was an undeniable sense of caution in his tone. "Been teammates for years, after all. We're both members of the Phaedron guild. They'll also vouch for him."

The man, Findlay, continued to stare at the two of them with not-so subtly scepticism. Bryce was not sure what else to say and was on the verge of turning around and walking away, when the man uttered a loud, exasperated sigh.

"Damn. And I thought my job had finally reached an end," he muttered as he folded the sketch and placed it back into his coat. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is searching for one person in a city this big?"

The man's scepticism had moulded into frustration, and if what he said was true, it was not surprising at all that he was becoming fatigued. Bryce could never be a detective; he was too impatient. Though, he was pretty damn stubborn.

"That sketch does look like Bryce, we will admit," Falkner began. "But the name is wrong. Maybe the sketch is wrong?"

"If it is, I'm going to be seriously pissed off," Findlay muttered, roughly scratching the back of his head in another sign of his frustrations.

The corner of Bryce's mouth twitched into a smirk.

"Why a sketch, though?" Falkner asked.

Talon nodded his head idlily. "It is suspicious, aint it? But the family are the superstitious type. Photos steal your soul or something."

That brought a frown back to Bryce's lips. "If that's the case, he'd probably had good reason to run away."

Findlay titled his head back to snort up at the sky. "I've considered it, too." He righted himself and presented the two an apologetic smile as he reached into his coat's inner pocket once more. "Sorry about the disruption, gentlemen. If you happen to find your friend's doppelganger, let me know. I'll be loitering around the bars."

He then presented a business card to them.

Bryce was not sure what they were going to do with a business card, but he retrieved it nevertheless. He glanced at it briefly and noted that it simply held the man's name and an address, possibly the place of his business.

"Sorry once again for the disruption!" Findlay said as he turned and quickly slipped into the throngs of the city inhabitants.

That was odd. He supposed he should be glad that they got rid of the guy so quickly. But it was a lot easier to convince him that Bryce was not the guy he was looking for...

Oh well.

"Anyway, let's get these medicas to the atelier."

"Right."

... ... ... ... ...

Their trip to the atelier was a short and simple one. They turned over the medicas to Wynne, retrieved money and more empty bottles, and with the young girl uttering a complaint about them not buying anything, Bryce and Falkner were soon on their way back to the clinic.

Nothing unusual there.

As they moved down the street that would take them straight to the clinic, Bryce had nearly forgotten about their encounter with that detective. Nothing about the man or following conversation was of anything noteworthy to Bryce.

But Falkner seemed bothered by something.

"What do you think about that detective?" he finally asked.

Bryce shrugged dismissively. "Nothing remarkable about the guy."

"I don't know," Falkner uttered, a slight frown on his lips. "Having just a sketch to work from is pretty suspicious, you know? Unless it was a wanted poster."

Ah, so that was the issue. Was he bothered that someone would mistake Bryce for a possible wanted criminal? Or was there another reason?

"Legal or illegal, though?"

"That is the question."

Now that he thought about it, the guy's readiness to simply accept Falkner's word that Bryce was not the missing Zach came too easily. Too quickly.

Hm...maybe they should pay a visit to Detective Findlay and get a few more details.

"Let's keep it between us for now," Bryce advised.

"Sure."

Any further conversation between the two of them was disrupted by a loud rumbling sound. A sound that told him it was from that of a horse-drawn carriage at a full run. Rattling and creaking wood, hooves clacking sharply against the stone paved road. A shrilled neigh of the horse cemented his belief.

He and Falkner immediately stopped in their steps, their postures becoming tense and defensive.

A mere second later a carriage thundered past them in the middle of the street. They were not near the thing, but the sound and rushing wind still made them both wince.

Bryce instinctively looked up the street, and his heart leapt into his throat.

Blayden and Baldur were in the middle of the road...

His brother's name hitched in his throat as the carriage bore down upon the two teens. He was not able to see what happened to the two. Just the rolling, rattling carriage move over the spot where Blayden and Baldur were. He heard the startled cries of onlookers.

Then the carriage, pulled by a single, frantic horse, thundered out of sight.

Baldur was sat on the footpath, leaning back of his hands with his legs sprawled out in front of him. A posture of someone who had been roughly pushed aside.

But it was the blond figure curled up on his side in the gutter that had Bryce's full attention.

"Blayden!" Bryce dropped the bad he was holding, uncaring if he broke every single glass bottle found inside.

He was across the street and by his brother's side in seconds. He resisted the urge to simply gather his younger brother into his arms. Caution thankfully gave way to protectiveness. From where he stood on the other side of the street, a few yards behind the carriage, he was not able to see what actually happened.

Which was probably for the best as he did not want that image of Blayden potentially being ran over by both horse and carriage trapped in his head.

But he had to be careful. He did not know if Blayden had endured any internal injuries. And he was not sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing when Blayden began to stir.

"Whoa, easy," Bryce said, his heart in his throat.

God, please let him be all right.

As Bryce gently rolled his brother onto his side, Blayden began to move. He held his leg with one hand as he used the forearm of his other to push him up from the ground, and to crawl his way onto the footpath.

His leg had been injured. How badly, Bryce was not sure. It...was not deformed, thankfully. Though blood seeped from numerous abrasions on the skin.

There was a bit of blood, but not too much. And he was moving all four limbs. Ok, good. That meant there was not a spinal injury. At least, not a devastating one.

"I'm f-fine," Blayden uttered, though the pain in his voice said otherwise. "Is Baldur ok?"

Hearing his name pulled Baldur from his shock and he was soon knelt on the ground on the other side of Blayden. He looked him over, almost as frantic as Bryce was. "Y-you...absolute fool. Why did you push me? B-both of us could have gotten out of the way!"

As Bryce continued to inspect his brother for injuries, Blayden uttered a forced laugh. "Just reacted, I guess." He winced to hide a grimace as Bryce inspected his arm. "No point in both of us getting ran over."

Bryce frowned at that. He had better talk to his brother about that particular 'instinct', never mind that he probably got that tendency from him.

"Keep him still," Falkner practically ordered. "I'll get Isiah."

They were just a few yards away from the clinic. It was possible that Nitish had already sensed something, and Isiah was already on his way.

Blayden continued to wiggle and fidget, so Bryce sat himself down cross-legged upon the footpath and pulled the young blond onto his lap, hoping to keep him comfortable. "Stop moving. You're injured," he chided.

"I've had worse," Blayden retorted, but he fell still, sprawled over Bryce's lap.

"Ok, tough guy," Bryce said as he brushed back Blayden's hair. "Just keep still for a bit."