Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4: Papa IV Era & The Main Event - Fate Breaker (MxM)

Always

Quinn woke to the sounds of angry voices drifting through from the lair and a purring cat next to his face.

It took him a second to figure out what was going on. The fluff in his head from being woken from a deep sleep took a few moments to clear.

The cat was Imp, of course. She stood and stretched, arching her back and trilling at him when he rolled over onto his back and groaned. He glared at her and bared his fangs weakly but she rubbed her face against his cheek and sauntered away, silently hopping down from the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

Quinn sat up, rubbing a hand down his face. It felt tender and he remembered he and Earth scrapping in the woods the previous evening. Thankfully the healing spell that Seren had cast was still working because he should definitely have felt a lot worse than this after the beating the earth ghoul had given him.

He swung his legs over the bed and stood, stretching out and listening to what he realised was Air berating some as yet unidentified ghoul if the frustration he was feeling from him was anything to go by. He sighed a heavy sigh and wandered out into the lair, following the voice to the lounge.

“He wasn’t though!” Air was yelling as he paced back and forth. Quinn was surprised to see Secondo sitting on the sofa with his head bowed, the object of Air’s anger. “It wasn’t even worth it! He damaged his brain and for what? For nothing!”

Water, Fire and Earth were there also. Earth was leaning against the wall, arms folded and Fire and Water hung back to watch this unfold, ready to intervene if necessary.

“I understand your frustrations Air, but he could have said no,” Secondo said.

That only seemed to anger Air further.

“You knew that he wouldn’t say no! He would sacrifice his last brain cell for you if you asked him to! Not to mention his mental health! You knew what it would do to him! And the worst part is that you sent me away so that you could use him! It’s deplorable!”

Earth glanced up and noticed Quinn standing in the doorway. He gave him a half smile but he didn’t let the others know. Air hadn’t seen him yet, he was still pacing back and forth in front of Secondo.

Quinn frowned when he noticed Secondo’s demeanour. This was not the usual authoritative man that they all knew and loved. This was a man on the verge of a burnout and Quinn should have picked up on it sooner. It was his job to recognise when Secondo was pushing himself too far and although he had noticed it earlier in the interrogation and tried his best to prop him up, he’d let it go on for too long. That exhaustion that Secondo had been experiencing ever since he’d begun this thing with Santos weighed down on him and it was slowly crushing his soul.

“Air, I am sorry. I misjudged because I wanted this to end. The quicker we find the answers, the sooner we can all be done with it. Having Quinn use his connection to the ether was the quickest way I knew how to do that with her.”

Air didn’t seem to accept that.

“It isn’t me you should apologise to. It’s him. I know that’s his job but it feels like you just used him like some disposable lackey, burnt him out with no thought about the consequences. He asked you not to make him deal with her. There’s a reason for that. A good reason. When does he ever ask anything of you? He will give and he’ll give and he won’t complain, but this time he specifically told you that he didn’t want to be involved. You intentionally hurt him and that is not cool, Secondo.”

Secondo’s shoulders slumped and he sighed dejectedly. The others stayed quiet but Quinn could sense their shock as they watched Secondo being berated by one of his ghouls.