Special Chapter 1 - Snatcher x Scabior
Snatcher watched them leave with a straight face and a wave. He cared about them a lot, they’re family. Somehow he is just now realizing that even though Fenrir had known it for ages.
He didn’t know why it was hitting him so hard. Maybe because Fenrir and Snatcher’s parents were terrible people that used him? They’re where he learned his brashness from, after all.
Snatcher cared for everyone in his pack and always had, but it’s so much closer with Remus and Regulus. It’s like the two of them were the catalyst the pack needed to not be in factions.
Snatcher looked over to Scabior and moved closer to hold his hand.
Scabior was way too observant for his own good sometimes but he noticed the change in Snatcher's attitude He intertwined their fingers and sat down on the couch with him.
"What is it, pup? Something's heavy on your mind, isn't it?"
Snatcher stared off to the side of Scabior’s head and gathered his thoughts.
“I don’t know….I have a family now, Scabior. You’re all my family. I just realized that…” he droned off, “I knew I cared, I just… I just have a family now. People I love and that care for me for more than my abilities. I know it’s been a few decades since Fenrir and I were around our parents, but their impact is still here. They’re in how I act, our defense mechanisms. The way we attack. Hell, they’re part the reason Remus is a werewolf. But they’re not here. It’s me, and it’s you, and it’s the pack. I…belong somewhere.”
Scabior's smile was soft and he brought his other hand up to Snatcher's face, gently putting it on on his cheek, holding his face. Scabior looked into Snatcher's eyes and they were full with more adoration and love than anyone could even fathom to exist in a single person.
"You do, yes. You are right where you're meant to be, with me, with the pack, with Remus and Regulus. You have people who look up to you now, who trust you, and - most importantly - who love you. You don't need to be or do anything you don't want to" Scabior gently caressed Snatcher's cheek, as if his mate was something that could break easily if he did not handle him most carefully.
"I know it is hard for you and I am not saying you should do it, but I want to remind you that you don't need to be strong anymore, understood? You are allowed to feel and you are allowed to show those feelings, even if they are negative. I know how your mind gets with you sometimes, if it is too loud, simply tell me, I will help you, I have promised you that countless times and I am promising it again now. I will never leave you. I will be here even more in times of need, because that is when you need to give yourself over to someone occasionally. Again, I am not forcing you or even saying you have to, but I am right here if you need to, if you want to"
Snatcher found himself crying, which quickly turned into ugly sobs and he despised crying, but Scabior was his safe place. He leaned into Scabior’s hand and closed his eyes, cradling Scabior’s hand with his own.
Scabior always managed to say the thing Snatcher needed to hear most, and now he’s letting himself break. He hiccuped and moved closer to hold Scabior.
Scabior put his hand on the back of Snatcher's neck, pulling him close, holding him like that for as long as he needed to.
"There you go, you're safe to cry with me, you're safe to show yourself to me. You don't need to hide anymore, pup." Scabior knew just how bad it had been for Snatcher, could vividly recall it and he knew Snatcher could, too.
He had dropped that topic a long time ago though, knowing it either made Snatcher lash out or pull away completely. "We can stay like this as long as you need to and when you are feeling better I will still be here. Nothing can ever change that"
Snatcher stopped crying after a while but laid on Scabior for a long time.
“Can we go to our bed?” He asked
Snatcher’s parents made it to where Fenrir was hard to find for years, so it was only Snatcher in control for a long time. That resulted in Snatcher being very protective of Fenrir, and not opening up to anyone. He was more like a loyal soldier or an attack dog.
He did everything that was asked of him, he killed so many people in the name of Romania and his parents. He didn’t feel any remorse for them, either. So many kids of parents dead or turned because Snatcher didn’t live for himself.
"Of course we can, pup" Scabior smiled softly and helped him up, getting to bed with him, still holding him close even then. It was quiet for a long time but Scabior couldn't sleep and he knew that Snatcher was awake as well. "Love? You know that you are not a bad person, right? Just as much as what Father made me do did not make me a bad person?"
He was laying in a way that Snatcher's head was on his chest so he couldn't see his face but he could feel the shift in his energy. "Sssssh...you can pull away in just a minute, I promise I won't keep you here, you don't even need to speak. Just listen, just for a minute, can you do that?"
He paused, knowing what Snatcher needed to hear but trying to phrase it to not be such a punch in the face. "In fact...you barely are your own person yet, are you? You never had time to find out who you are apart of what they made you do and when you did you were so terrified that you rather stayed being what you knew to be than who you could be. You're allowed to find out, okay? And you are allowed to fail. "
He kept combing through Snatcher's hair as he spoke.
Snatcher found himself crying again, he really didn’t know who he was. Failure seemed like such an impossible thing for Snatcher to experience, which is why both Remus and Regulus getting taken under his watch impacted him so much.
“I shouldn’t be allowed to fail, people always get hurt and I can’t bring myself to care sometimes. I only cared when Regulus and Remus were taken, and that says a lot about me.”
Snatcher had a very hard time being vulnerable with anyone, but Scabior allows him to with no judgement. Snatcher still felt as though he shouldn’t talk about his feelings at all, even though Scabior encouraged it.
"It says that you care about them, yes. That's all it says about you and it is beautiful. I am glad we have taken the two of them in." He placed a kiss on Snatcher's head.
"And failure is okay. I fail at things and that is how I learn. I failed by not telling Regulus about the magic he could do and teaching him earlier, but I know that it was a mistake and now I will start to teach all the Fanglings magic so they can defend themselves"
Another kiss "How are you supposed to ever learn if you don't fail, pup? There would be no new things if you never failed. Failure isn't bad and especially now you have your family behind you in case you need help getting up again when you fail"
There was no judgement in Scabior's voice, or belittling. He just explained it to Snatcher to get it through his - sometimes overly thick - head. Snatcher held him tighter, and cried for longer. After a while he spoke again,
“I love you so much, and I don’t express it enough. You’re very appreciated by me and Fenrir, you know that?”
Scabior chuckled "I do, and it makes me very happy to hear when you say it."
"I love you very, very much. Do you want to step back now? Process it all? I am not expecting you to stay, I said so much."
Scabior chuckled lovingly "If you want to stay you could give me a kiss though, I would like that very much"
Snatcher leaned up and kissed him slowly, “I’ll sleep now, I’m….exhausted. Thank you, my love. You can keep talking if you wish to, I’ll try to listen.”
He laid back down on Scabior’s chest and closed his eyes, playing with Scabior’s shirt.
Scabior knew that it made Snatcher feel safe when he talked, knowing he was there as he drifted of to sleep, so he just told him about his plans for the magic training with the Fanglings.