Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Bethany]

Bethany tenses, curling even tighter into a ball and continues to sob. She's pretty far gone, her breathing consisting nearly half of hiccups and gasps as her body protests the abuse of her emotions. She'd not bothered to pull out the old tarp or blankets they'd stashed here, instead just laying directly on the damp ground.

[Carver Amell]

Carver crawls over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Bethany?" he asks quietly, sounding more scared than gentle. 

[Bethany]

Bethany hunches in tighter in on herself and continues sobbing. But he can just make out a broken 'go away' in between the tears. Her body is trembling but the normal temperature at least.

[Carver Amell]

"I-- I can't go away," he says in a small voice as he sits back on his heels. "You're here."

[Bethany]

Bethany's sobbing stutters, body rocking for a moment. Then she takes a shaky, haggard breath.

"Witch."

[Carver Amell]

"I-- you're using magic, Bethany!" he whispers. "I don't want, I don't want them to burn you, please, you have to stop. Then we'll, it'll all be fine."

[Bethany]

Bethany resumes sobbing for awhile, but she manages to force out, "I c-can't. Need t-to l-learn c-c-control."

[Carver Amell]

"By, by doing more of it?!" Carver swallows. "They'll burn you. Being burned hurts."

[Bethany]

"V-Varric's. S-Safe," she manages to force out between sobs. "Safer th-than sch-sch-schoooo-" That she doesn't quite get out but Carver can probably figure it out.

[Carver Amell]

"He's an adult.  What if he tells Mother?"

[Bethany]

That's just wrong enough, and it's been long enough that Bethany can wrestle back her sobs to left her head a bit. "What? V-Varric's teaching" hiccup "us.

[Carver Amell]

"Varric's a witch?!" Yelps Carver. "No way!"

[Bethany]

"Carver," Bethany snaps, head coming up before she freezes, listening intently. She glares at him for a full minute before relaxing. Giving him a disgruntled look, she hugs and turns away again.

[Carver Amell]

So him you'll protect, but not us? It's perhaps the first time in his life Carver has consciously resented his twin; the witchiness had come about just as he was getting to an age to separate from his twin, to develop his own identity. Marian had drilled into him how important it was to protect Bethany -- but she never said what to do if Bethany wouldn't protect herself. Would rather protect a stranger.

"You-- you're coming home right now, young lady," he said, at a loss for what else to do. "And you think about what you've done." 

[Bethany]

"Did- did you just Mom me?" His twin demands softly. That's... not a happy tone of voice. For some reason, Carver gets the feeling of a cat fluffing up when presented with an overly loud dog.