*deep inhale* ahhh, the lovely smell of re-opening the plot from the last book :)

Enjoy! :)

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"Tell us everything you know about the fire that I was in eighteen years ago."

Out of all the words Stargazer was expecting to hear come out of Race's mouth tonight this day in late May 1903, it wasn't those, and yet he's not surprised when he hears them.

"Why now?" Stargazer asks after thinking for a beat. "What's changed?"

Race shoots an uncertain glance at Spot. Spot nods back assuringly.

Stargazer softens when he sees the exchange. Perhaps to Race he sounded hostile, or unwilling to give information. He doesn't want to seem this way. "I'm just surprised out of all times, you come to me now. I'm just wondering if anything big happened or if you just really needed to know."

Race's shoulders relax a bit. "Well, something did happen."

Stargazer tilts his head. "Go on."

Race averts his gaze, and begins telling his story. "So Spot and I were in the park the other day, and..."

Stargazer watches his cousin's lover recount his story, hands gesticulating, eyes on the carpet, shifting his weight, stammering over his words, snapping his fingers repeatedly when he forgets a word, glancing at Spot and Ray every now and then for assurance, barely looking at Stargazer's eyes.

On one hand, Stargazer listens to the whole thing. On the other hand...

Two big thoughts run through his head, diluting his grasp on the present:

He reminds me of his parents.

I wish I didn't push him away. I wish he were comfortable with me. I wish I had actually been a part of his life.

True, he's been in Race's life since November of 1899. But 3 years of frequent visits don't make up for the 15 years they missed after Race's family left the picture and Stargazer ended his presence in Race's life.

"So...yeah," Race finishes awkwardly, bringing Stargazer fully back to the present. "And I mean...you were there, right? So I was wondering if you had any information on what happened that night, and what my dream might have meant."

Stargazer thinks on it. "Well, you were too young to have formed a memory, so I doubt this was a memory. Also it sounds like you were going around in the dream as your current self, so it couldn't have been a memory. And the Italian...the voice..."

"...you...don't think it could have been my mother, do you?" Race asks tentatively after a moment. "I know I never heard her voice--I mean, I did, I guess, but I don't remember it..."

"I wish I could tell you if that was your mother's voice or not," Stargazer responds regretfully. "Unfortunately, I cannot hear the voice in your dream. But the fact that it was spoken in Italian does sound like something Letteria would have done."

"But how could he have gotten all of this without a vivid re-enactment of the fire?" Spot cuts in. "Also there's a new building in the place of the old one that burned. How could he have known all of that if he was too young to remember?"

Stargazer shakes his head. "I don't know. I just don't know." He begins pacing. "This is really fascinating. I wish I had more answers. I wish I knew more about the science of dreams."

"Well...can you at least tell me how I survived the fire?" Race asks. "Because you were there, right?"

Stargazer stops and turns to face Race. "Well, from how I saw it, two miracles saved you: one of the miracles was one of our own, and the other must have been sheer luck."

Race tilts his head, wheels turning in his brain. "One of our own?"

Stargazer nods. "She used to be one of the best of us, us who go against Them. She ran into the fire to make sure that no one was hurt. She came out with a heavy heart and heavy arms. You were the only person in there still alive."

Race swallows. Ray pulls him into a side hug, which Race does not resist.

"What...what was her name?" Race asks. "Have I meet her?"

"You wouldn't have known her. She told us she was leaving this city about a decade ago. She wasn't with the taken. And I believe it that she made it out of town alive. She went in too deep, knew too much, and the only thing left to do was flee. I haven't seen her in forever."

"What was her name?" Spot prompts.

"She wouldn't tell us," Stargazer answers. "We had ideas, but she wouldn't tell us her given name. I just referred to her as Farfallina in my head because that's what your grandparents called her."

Farfallina. Butterfly.

Race is going to have to look for that name in his mother's journal.

"Was she also in the building before it went up in flames? Or did she show up at the right time?" Race asks.

"She actually ran into the building after she saw it was on fire," Stargazer answers with a fond smile. "She had almost no self preservation. Not when others' lives were on the line."

"Now, I don't want you thinkin' you can just follow in her footsteps, okay?" Ray jokes in a serious tone. "Please try not to run into burning buildings."

Race smirks at him. "Look who's talkin'."

Ray just smiles and shakes his head. "You got me there."

Race turns back to Stargazer. "How did she know about the fire?"

Stargazer shrugs. "I'm not sure just how she knew. I figure she must have heard something from Them when she was spying on them."

Race remembers another detail. "In my dream, there was a shadowy figure leaving the building. I...think that person was the one who caused the fire."

Stargazer nods thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, I think I remember her saying that she had a relative who was one of Them."

Spot and Race exchange glances, eyebrows raised.

Then Stargazer starts murmuring. "I knew...I knew who it was...she was tight lipped but I figured it out...I knew...and that's why They...They..." He stops, his whole body going rigid.

Race's eyebrows knit, worry filling him. He glances at Spot, whose face shines with alarm and worry. He grabs Spot's hand, trying to reassure him. Spot squeezes his hand.

The second Stargazer went rigid, Ray sprung into action, pulling him into a hug, one hand behind his head, murmuring softly to him.

"What's...what's going on?" Spot asks Ray smally.

Ray faces them, face sorrowful. "They did a number on him when he was locked up for ten years. He won't tell me just what They did to him, but...it was bad. Really bad. He gets like this every time we try to ask him what he knows, especially the big secret he knew just before he got taken."

Race bites his lip as Ray keeps murmuring soft things in Stargazer's ear.

Race and Spot exchange glances.

"I think it's time to leave," Spot tells Race, voice still small.

Race nods wordlessly. He turns back to look at Ray. Ray nods, silently giving them permission to leave.

And so they walk out together, hand in hand.

The second the door closes, Spot croaks, "I just...I can't stand to see him like that..."

Without another word, Race pulls Spot into a tight embrace. "I know. I know. It's hard. But he'll be okay, you know? He's got Ray. And if there's one thing Ray knows how to do, it's comfort someone."

Spot clutches Race tighter, inhaling and exhaling shakily.

"I need to do something," Spot tells him after a while. "I can't just...do nothing after learning what They did to him. Heck, we don't even know what it was, just how much it's still affecting him!"

"Maybe there is something we can do," Race responds softly.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

Race pauses, trying to think out his words before speaking them. "Well, maybe we can't help Stargazer...but we can look around for others affected by Them. Or anyone wronged by anyone in general. We can try to undo all the harm that They did. Maybe we ask around. Most people like Jim and Annie are harder to find, but we know Jameson and Andrea and Giacomo are always within reach. So maybe we can start tomorrow or the day after, okay?"

Spot lifts his head to kiss Race's cheek, slowly and lovingly. "Sounds like a wonderful idea."

A hint of a smile presents itself on Race's face. He's always felt like he's not good at comforting someone, but here he is, maybe doing a good job.

"How about we go to my grandparents' house?" Race suggests softly. "We'll be close to Sheepshead, they're something familiar, and maybe spending time with them will take your mind off of what just happened."

Spot inhales slowly. "Okay. Let's do it."

And so they pull out of the embrace, and, hand in hand, start walking back to Brooklyn, occasionally glancing at the stars above, identifying their constellations. Never letting go of each other.

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I...man. This was not supposed to be angsty.

Thoughts?

Even when I think I know where this story is going it always surprises me haha.

So...a lot happened to Stargazer in the ten years he was locked up. Whether or not we'll learn about it, I'm not sure yet. But we do know one thing: they tortured Stargazer to forget what he knew, because he figured it out, and he was right. Don't think that information won't be important later.

So...how did Race have such a dream about the fire?

Please, no homophobia/transphobia/aphobia etc, profanities directed at other users, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who really wishes that more people were open to an unconventional path)