Stranger on the Cliff (ONC 2021)

Burning Light

"Tav?" Georgiana lifted her head blearily, confused at the weight pressing against her mattress. He assumed her surprise fair – despite all the changes he doubted illicit midnight bedroom assignations had become acceptable.

"I saw it again," he admitted.

"The thing? Where?" She sounded justifiably panicked, lifting herself up against the headboard and rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Earlier, out of the dining room window. It saw me- it saw Darcy and I. Kissing."

She allowed herself a moment of eager congratulations before getting serious again.

"Glowing eyes again?"

"You're taking it rather calmly," he said, though wasn't sure if he meant the kissing or the monster, really. Either way, she shrugged expressively, before a charming little smirk passed her features.

"In your mind I am not even real, yes? Perhaps this is simply just how your brain might hope your helper may react."

"Stop, or I may feel we're both destined for the mad house."

It did raise, again, the uncomfortable notion of a successful adventure meaning Georgiana and Darcy wouldn't be around anymore, not as real people. That Georgiana was helping him to possibly write herself out of existence. Joking or not, if he kept thinking about it he probably would find himself in whatever passed for a psychiatric ward here. He had to just keep moving the story along.

"Do you believe it means us harm?"

He'd forgotten Georgiana didn't know he'd seen Jane Austen again, so he told her the most relevant parts of what she'd said.

"A chaos demon?" she asked when he'd finished. "Though it sounds like it can be killed. If she claimed it as weak?"

"Yes, and also as though it will try to kill me. Like I need to be removed from the story so things will go back to how they were."

"Perhaps we need to kill-," she was interrupted by a whisper from the doorway that made them both gasp.

"Tav, what are you doing in here so late?" It was Darcy, looking worried and glancing over his shoulder as if worried the servants would catch them in a compromising position.

"I'm telling Georgiana about us," Tav hurriedly came up with. Well, it wasn't completely a lie. He still felt it was too dangerous to tell Darcy everything, in case it impacted the story too much in the wrong way, though he felt uncomfortable continuing to hide something this big.

"I'm sorry, Georgie, I hope you don't feel as though I took him from you," Darcy said, approaching the bed to take her hands.

"Don't be silly, Fitzwilliam. I can assure you, there was not a moment where Tav was mine, despite what we suggested to Aunt Catherine. Neither of us wanted that. He's always been for you."

Tav didn't know how he felt being discussed as though he were a chattel, but then he supposed perhaps that was normal, even with the changes. Women certainly had always been considered property. He wondered if that had changed in this timeline of events, though he wouldn't confuse matters more by asking.

Georgiana and Tav could no longer talk about their next step, but neither were going to sleep comfortably with the demon out there, so they encouraged Darcy to stay up with them, perhaps a little cruelly given his tired eyes, and regale Tav with tales of growing up at Pemberley. Georgiana was some years younger than Darcy, so even she hadn't heard all of the stories and listened rapt. Darcy even told them, in completely innocent terms, about his love for Wickham when they'd been younger men.