Sentinel

Schools, and the Court, on principal were thought to be untouchable. They had wards, and guardians, and other staff to ensure the safety of children and that had just hit the fan. Moroi were losing their shit but Tony remained a weird kind of calm. It was like he was watching a movie or something in which everyone was freaking out and he felt… well pretty safe still. That was probably stupid of him but the Strigoi had barely penetrated the campus- the furthest they got was just outside of his dorm and apparently Peggy and Maria showed up to save the day there. The guardians stationed around the dorm obviously helped too but it was Peggy and Maria that were the talk of… well everywhere.

Tony had thrown out the insane idea that Moroi could fight but no one believed it. His single example had been in an emotional time, most who even listened to the argument cited Maria’s use of fire as a fluke. There was nothing accidental about what she did to all those Strigoi with Peggy and the results were better than good, they were stellar. Every single guardian at the scene by the elementary school said they never could have done what they did without Maria’s help. Talk about Moroi fighting was growing, much to Tony’s surprise. Hell, even his encounter with Loki had gotten around though the details were still muddled on that one as far as the public knew. No one knew what to make of his ability to heal or any of the other abilities he had. Someone even suggested he somehow faked it until Charles jumped in with his own admission that Tony’s magic was real, he could do some of the things he could as well.

It had been deeply satisfying to Tony to show all those jackasses who claimed he’d be useless in a fight that he actually had a use. They couldn’t claim his inability to join in was the reason he advocated for Moroi fighting anymore, not that the convoluted argument ever made sense. Also it was fun to throw all their plates of food on their laps given that’s when some Vankov- Tony couldn’t remember his first name- decided to make a snide comment to him. They all had to admit that telepathy was pretty useful and Tony had already proven to himself that it was. Rhodey, as per usual, was pissed about all of this but what was he to do?

*

The influx of guardians was something Tony should have expected but he was still surprised when a bunch showed up. Some were only there for investigation purposes but there were quite a few who were there to replace guardians who had died and as extra security. Rhodey seems to be sizing them all up but Tony mostly ignored them. They weren’t really relevant to him outside of a passing curiosity at least until he’s ambushed by a pretty brunette.

“You’re Tony Stark, right?” she asks. Something about her dark hair and blue eyes looks familiar but he ignores it.

“Yeah. And you are?” he asks, wondering why a guardian would be seeking him out of all people. The guardian was stunning too, like freakishly beautiful given that she probably got beat up a lot. Tony thought it was unfair that she didn’t have to try like he did, he’d look like road kill if he got beat up on a regular basis.

“Rebecca!” a new voice calls and they both turn to face, of all people, Bucky stalking towards them. “What are you doing?” he snaps as he gets close. Tony looks between the two and notes Rebecca’s amused expression. They knew each other than, there was no way they didn’t. Familiarity was present in both of their auras too; they indicated there was a long history there.

“Just talking to the guy you’re clearly sneaking around with. The guardians here really need to up their observation skills if they haven’t noticed,” she says flatly. Tony’s jaw drops, which would have confirmed what she said was true even if she didn’t already know it was. Bucky doesn’t react at all but that was normal for guardians.

“Leave him alone, Becca,” Bucky says in a weary tone.

“And miss out on embarrassing the crap out of my big brother? I don’t think so. Did he ever tell you about the time we went camping and he and Steve accidentally rolled around in poison oak? Priceless, we have pictures of them and they were so grumpy,” she says, snickering.

“We were seven, Becca. Everyone is a little bit of an idiot at seven,” Bucky points out. Tony neglects his own story with plants that were terribly reactive with the skin because he had been fifteen at the time and he felt that he should have known what poison ivy looked like.

“Fine, did he tell you about that time he accidentally lost Steve in a corn field in Memphis when he was nineteen? That had been hilarious,” she says, looking smug.

Bucky doesn’t look smug at all, he looks annoyed. “That wasn’t funny! For all I knew he was dead, it was night time!” he says.

“How’d you find him?” Tony asks more out of curiosity than anything.

“By stomping through the field threatening to kill anything that went near Steve, including two rabbits and a scarecrow,” Becca says.

“It turned out he and this kid were standing too close and I accidentally mistook the kid for him because I wasn’t paying enough attention. How he got lost in the field I have no clue,” Bucky mumbles, looking uncomfortable. Given light of recent events Tony figured it was time to change the subject from Steve to literally anything else.

“So I guess you’re here as some kind of backup?” he asks Becca.

She shrugs, “more or less. I’m a recent graduate and I don’t have an assignment yet so I volunteered to come here. Didn’t expect to find my brother in some kind of weird romance with a twelve year old, no offense,” she says.

Tony squints, “you would have graduated last year, which means you’re only a year older than me at the most. Are you also twelve?” he asks. He was offended at this assumption of him being a child. Young, sure, a child? Not so much.

“He makes a point,” Bucky tells his sister, grinning.

“Peggy will leave you be so don’t worry about your granny beating your ass,” Tony says. He was sure he could talk some sense into the woman; he doubted she hasn’t noticed something by now. Rhodey was certainly suspicious.

“You joke but you don’t know her,” Bucky says, “she’s a scary woman.”

Tony shakes his head, “Strigoi? You’ll happily throw yourself at those but here you are flipping out at the potential for your grandmother to find out about your relationship. Which is barely illegal might I add. I’ll be eighteen in a few months,” he points out.

It’s obviously the wrong thing to say because Becca gives Bucky a look.

“This is better than that time I stole Mom’s car with Falsworth, admit it.”

“Only because you two idiots totaled the car. You idiot why are you dating a teeny bopper!” she hisses.

“Uh, excuse me the teeny bopper is right here,” Tony points out.

“I swear he’s more mature than he seems,” Bucky says in his own defense.

Becca wrinkles her nose, “that is like Line One in the How To Be A Creep Handbook, Bucky. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Look I know that but… well just spend some time with him, you’ll get it,” he says.

“I certainly hope not even if I’m more age appropriate!” Becca exclaims. Her hands are on her hips and her aura indicates that she is not impressed with her sibling.

“Do I get a say here?” Tony asks when there is a moment of silence.

“You’re ten so no,” Becca tells him.

“Well you’re eleven so you shouldn’t judge,” Tony says, nose in the air. If he had to be a child she could suffer too, she couldn’t be more than a year older than him.

“You want to rethink that maturity statement?” Becca asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You called him a child first, he’s only pointing out the flaws in your argument,” Bucky points out.

Becca pinches the bridge of her nose. “Oh boy,” she mumbles.

*

Tony doesn’t expect to run into Bucky’s freakishly hot sister again but she finds him a few days after they met initially and she looks determined. Her aura reflects it too. “You,” she says, pinning him with a stare, “I’ve been watching you.”

“Creepy,” Tony comments but continues staring at the piece of silver he was trying to charm. Everyone else could charm silver with the elements, why wouldn’t he be able to? So far he’s done an awful job and Charles was… well far worse than he was actually. Aside from Erik he still couldn’t channel healing even when he knew the general concept. He did manage to make a rose shiver with the magic yesterday though. That was something. Tony hasn’t picked up any of Charles’ tricks at all but he does quickly get ahold of his ability to levitate things. Charles managed to give himself a headache trying that but that was all he managed.

“I don’t get my brother’s weird attraction to you,” she says.

“Good thing you aren’t dating him then,” he mumbles, glaring at the silver. It occurs to him that he’s more grumpy than usual but it’s hard to tell if that’s due to his annoyance at his inability to charm things or if it was because of his strange magic.

“But he seems to care about you,” she continues, “and after Steve I didn’t think he’d care about anyone ever again, himself included. But I guess you changed that so I… don’t approve but it could be worse I guess.” She doesn’t look happy about this, her aura confirms she isn’t, but Tony wasn’t looking for approval.

“Lovely. That all?” he asks, still mostly ignoring her.

“I… guess. What are you even doing? Trying to glare a hole through that silver?” she asks.

Finally he sits back, annoyed with his lack of progress. “Do you mind holding this?” he asks, handing her the bracelet. She was nice enough to take it but yelps as soon as it touches her, dropping it immediately.

“What the hell was that?” she asks.

“Not what I wanted,” he says and picks up the bracelet. Becca raises an eyebrow but says nothing, turning to leave but Tony’s words stop her. “How much has Bucky told you about the attack here?” he asks softly.

Something in his voice must tip her off because when she turns to face him again she’s wearing one of five expressions Tony sees guardians use. “What is it?” she asks. Confusion is all over her aura, indicating Bucky had likely told her nothing.

“The person behind the attacks,” he says, “I know who it is.” Becca’s eyebrows just about hit her hairline and she scrambles forward.

“Well who is it?” she asks with a note of urgency to her voice.

Tony looks grim, “it’s… it’s Steve. Rogers,” he clarifies. “Bucky did his best but I don’t think anyone would really expect him to be able to stake his best friend, even if it isn’t Steve anymore.”Becca’s jaw drops and her entire demeanor changes.

“Shit. Shit. I have to kill him,” she says like this was nothing instead of a rather large sacrifice for her brother.

“I was hoping you’d say that. But I uh, actually have other ideas,” he says and he hands her a page out of one of Loki’s books. He’d been useful for something at least; it turned out they had a good portion of information about his magic. Most of it was compulsion related and honestly the things Tony could do with that were… not things he really wanted to try. When Charles had read on the compulsion techniques in the book even he had looked a little sick and he’d used some of the same magic on his stepbrother once. They both decided that magic was better left untouched.

“This isn’t just impossible, it’s suicide,” she tells him.

“Given the damage Rogers has caused I think going after him in any capacity is suicide,” Tony points out. Becca could hardly disagree there. “Besides, even if I fail he’d still be dead technically.”

“If you fail?” she asks.

“Well yeah, you don’t have the magic to bring him back to life,” Tony says, “I’d have to stake him.”

Becca shakes her head, “Bucky told me that magic of yours drives you insane but I think you’re already gone.”

Tony doesn’t care what she thinks because he already knew she was on board with his plan anyways. Steve Rogers had to die and she couldn’t afford getting picky about who staked him.

*

Charles chases Tony down a week after the attack looking shockingly excited. “I found another!” he says as soon as he’s close enough.

“Another what?” Tony asks, sensing Rhodey’s question as well.

“Another person who can use our magic, come see!” Charles says, yanking Tony out of his seat.

He goes mostly because Charles didn’t look like he was about to say no any time soon. Erik lingers around him creepy as ever but his aura was lighter, healed a little by Charles’ magic. Tony had yet to see the darkness that pops up in Charles’ aura from that stunt but it would eventually. Knowing that shadow kissed people could soak that up scared him given Erik’s previous instability but he figured that was Charles’ problem. He did, at least, learn that being shadow kissed was due to dying and being brought back for sure now. He could see the same shadows in Erik’s aura that were in Rhodey’s.

“There!” Charles tells him when they get to the guardian building. At first Tony is about to tell Charles he needed to check his auras but then he sees the gold. He isn’t the only one either. The guy notices them too and he briefly tells the person he’s handing boxes off to something before he turns away. His aura indicated that he was fond of whomever he was talking to. Tony could tell even at this distance that the woman was a Dhampir. Poor bastard then, they’d never work out. Tony only had more faith in his relationship because reproductive capacity was off the table. Moroi men always ended up with Moroi women though so this guy’s relationship was damned.

“You two,” he says upon approach, “you two have gold auras. And you’re shadow kissed,” he says, pointing at Erik.

Even Erik looks surprised at that, “you know what shadow kissed is then?” Tony asks.

“Do you know what the magic is? What can you do with it?” Charles asks before their companion can respond.

He frowns and examines Tony and Charles, “you two… don’t know?” He sighs and suggests they meet up later, which the obviously agree to.

*

Bruce has only ever met people like himself in psych wards. The golden auras there were what he was used to and it always made him uncomfortable to know he would be in one of those wards too some day, that was how it worked. He explains this to Charles Xavier and Tony Stark of all people, both of whom were leaning forward in interest.

“But is there a way to stop it?” Charles asks.

“And what is it?” Tony throws out.

It takesBruce another few moments and a sneak peek at their auras, to figure out that they’re telling the truth. “It’s… well it was known as spirit back when people still knew about it. It’s an internal element though. The other elements, they draw from the things around them- air users draw from the air, water users from water, you get the point. But spirit… the only place you can take that from is yourself. It’s why we go insane,” he says. There was only so much of themselves they could give away until there was nothing but madness left.

Charles and Tony exchange a glance at that before turning to Bruce as one. “And there’s no way to stop it?” Charles asks softly.

Bruce nods at Erik, “the shadow kissed can help, but when they absorb the darkness they don’t process it like we do. They can only take so much too and then it becomes too much for them too. He knows,” Bruce says, nodding at Tony. Charles looks at him too and Tony sighs.

“I figured this out recently with Rhodey. Usually I do my best not to use the magic but I’ve been using it a lot lately with without the usual uh… vices. He’s been checking in on my moods more when they start going wild but he accidentally started absorbing them. I’ve been unknowingly healing the moods out trying to heal his weird aura,” he explains.

“You can do that but the balance is a fine one. Use too much of the magic you go insane, use too little it’ll start to call to you. It’s dangerous,” he says. He knew from experience. Tony and Charles seem to pick up on this and ask about it. “I knew a woman once, Jean Grey. She hadn’t specialized so of course no one knew that the element that she actually specialized in had long been forgotten and she didn’t know the consequences of using her power. She used it too much and it destroyed her, and her shadow kissed partner. They both went insane and she ended up killing them both in a spirit-induced haze. I’ve tried to avoid using the magic after that but it calls.” Oh did it ever and Betty is a guardian. She was always hurt and it hurt to not be able to help her. He learned to make charms though and those healed her just as well, he just made sure to slip on of the charms onto her without Ross noticing. Bruce has never been fond of the man and he wasn’t fond of Bruce either.

“Do you have any uh… affects?” Tony asks.

Bruce nods, “angry outbursts usually. Betty has nicknamed it ‘hulking out’ for some reason.” The nickname annoyed him but he let her cope with it the only way she knew how.“Well,” Tony says, “this has been sufficiently terrifying. Lets go do something less depressing.”

*

Tony learns Bruce was adept at charms especially, but he could touch minds like Charles, see auras, and he had the telekinesis. He had no idea he could dream walk though and Charles had no clue about the charms. Tony had only guessed. So they start comparing their powers, learning that Tony was still the most gifted healer, Bruce was hands down the best in charms considering the other two only just found out about them, Charles was still the only dream walker and he was better with the telepathy, and Bruce and Tony proved to be evenly matched for the telekinesis. It was more than Tony ever expected to find out that was for sure.

“What are you thinking about?” Bucky asks. He looks concerned but that was because Tony started talking without making much sense earlier. Too much use of spirit he guessed.

“Rhodey,” he says, “and spirit. I don’t care if I go nuts, but I can’t do that to him. Bruce says the only way to break the bond is to kill him.” Tony obviously couldn’t do that so he guessed he was stuck with finding some other way to ensure Rhodey didn’t suck up the spirit darkness. He knew he was still doing it too because he felt better not very long after his rambling earlier. Damn Rhodey.

Bucky pulls him close, “you should be careful and not just for Rhodey but for you too. I don’t think I can lose someone else, not again. I love you too much for that,” he says softly, pressing his lips to the top of Tony’s head.

He figured it was best to leave his insane plans regarding Steve to himself then. “I love you too,” he says honestly.