Damned If You Don't [Curse/Alex/Cain]

[Max Kameren]

January 2018

---

Curse pulled absently at the bandages on his arms as he stared out the window of the cursebreaker office he was waiting in. The office was in the far back corner, so deep into the department that any authorities on the rampage wouldn’t find him here.

The Ministry of Magic could no longer be home to Curse Kameren. Instead, he was public enemy #1. In the fiery aftermath of Mosrael and her Disciples’ attack on the Ministry, only one Sentinel had been too injured to escape. Curse Kameren had been captured and unmasked as a dark wizard; the Head Auror was the catalyst turning a large part of the Department of Mysteries to dust. The attack had culminated in a battle between brothers when Alex and the aurors stood against him, and ended in bloodshed when Curse brought his brother within an inch of his life. It was only the Blood Curses breaking his skin and spilling his toxic blood across the Ministry’s marble floors that brought an end to one of the worst attacks on the Ministry since the days of Voldemort.

And Curse couldn’t remember any of it. He woke up on that floor in a pool of his own magenta blood, his body and his life cut to ribbons. The Ministry begrudgingly brought him to Mungo’s and patched his wounds, stabilizing him to prepare him to face justice. He was (obviously) fired and ordered by the Wizengamot to stay away from the Ministry. His office was being held for evidence and his home was being searched; he doubted they would find anything, as he hadn't even known he was the mole in their midst. Mosrael had been listening behind his ears, she had been looking out behind his dull green eyes. When he raised a wand in anger, it was Mosrael who was pointing it.

After his release from St. Mungo’s he had little to do but wait for the Harkness Administration to decide how they’d charge him. In the years since the Death Eaters, Curse himself had had a hand in wearing away the Imperius Defense as a way to escape consequences from the Wizengamot. He huffed; what an irony, now. How was he to know that he’d need it, and that the only person who could vouch for his mental shackling had been sent to St. Mungo’s by his own hand? The Kameren Blood Curses left permanent scars; Curse’s shame would be marked on his brother’s body for the rest of their days. Of all the losses, Curse’s breach of his brother's trust was the most painful. Alex had told him, pleaded with him to get help. This was all his fault.

In the days since, he’d been staying with Arianna at night and spending his days in hospital keeping vigil (under strict scrutiny by aurors) over Alex’s recovery. He couldn't be trusted to be in the room, not in his current state. Mosrael could cast a shadow over his eyes at anytime, if he let his guard down. So, he stopped sleeping. When he slept Mosrael had total control. His loved ones were endangered by his very presence; any lapse in his mental faculties and her hooks would be in him again. Instead he kept watch. Over Alex, over Arianna, over the Auror Department that he’d let fall by the wayside. To protect them from himself, he kept his eyes wide open.

And when Alex was better, Curse sent him an owl: You were right. In response he’d been given a time and a place, and he’d managed to make his way here unnoticed. He had no control, anymore. As Mosrael slept, he put himself faithfully in Alex’s hands.

And the door behind him opened.

[Alecsander]

December was flying by, or was it January now? Alex knew he had lost time, somewhere between that late-night, half garbled warning from his brother, and today, the day he was shakily buttoning up his robes, determined not to spend another night, another hour in the cold impersonal halls of St. Mungo’s. His fingers shook on the buttons, he kept fumbling as his left hand refused to grip properly. But he’d just gotten an owl from Curse, and he wasn’t going to leave him subject to whatever had him in its grip any longer than he absolutely could avoid. He’d sent a short owl back via Nuriko, not trusting the way the other Aurors lurked around him. He didn’t know how Curse had managed to stay free before the trial, but didn’t feel like pushing their luck.

So the message was short, and Nuri sent it, her eyes solemn above her mischievous grin. It turned out the shopkeeper was not nearly as flighty as many assumed. He finished getting ready and apparated back to the flat he shared with Cain. It was currently empty, Cain likely already at the Ministry. Gathering a few items, Alex headed there to meet his two brothers. He had hoped to introduce them in less… turbulent circumstances.

Cain met him at the entrance to the Cursebreaker’s halls, and wasn’t that a foreboding name? Alex could only hope it wasn’t going to be literal. Sweeping into the room, he approached Curse as Cain set silencing spells and wards and closed the door.

“What the hell were youthinking?” He enveloped the man in a brief hug before pulling back to look at him properly. “Sending me Lucy? Couldn’t you have just sent me literally anything else that didn’t try and eat me?” He raised a brow at his brother, his smirk belying his words. He looked back at Cain, who was watching the brothers with a sappy look on his face. Gross. He’d always been the sentimental twin. He looked back to Curse, who looked thin and shadowed, the bags under his eyes had bags. “How are you?”

“Curse, this is Cain. Cain, this is Curse. You know his twin,” he said, noticing the weirded out look Curse was giving. “Cal? She just made Auror?” He waved a hand at Cain, who smiled broadly with pride.

“Hello!” Cain offered his hand, then half-heartedly retracted it, not knowing if it was welcome. “I hear you almost blew Alex and the entire Kameren Cemetary up.” He winked, blue eyes sparkling. “Is it true? Wow! That sounds stellar! Alex told me about the runes you used, unfortunately he doesn’t have much of a head for them so I’ve been dying to meet you and ask what exactly you did—”

Alex cleared his throat, interrupting what was sure to be a marathon geek-fest, if he knew either of them.

“Right, right. Uh, lets not get off track. I know this is going to be painful, but I promise I’ll do everything I can. Please tell me what you know.”

[Max Kameren]

“What the hell were you thinking?” Alex burst into the room and Curse stood to meet his hug, his arms tightening when Alex tried to pull away. All he could think when he was bleeding out on the floor of the Ministry was that he’d lost him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Sending me Lucy? Couldn’t you have just sent me literally anything else that didn’t try and eat me?”

And just like that their brotherly moment was over. Curse rolled his eyes. “Lucy would never eat you. She has taste.”

“How are you?”

“How are you?” Curse repeated, reaching up to pull at Alex’s shirt collar to inspect the bandages on his shoulder. “I’m fine, considering. I’ll be better when we can do something about her.” He tapped his temple as his green eyes darted to the stranger casting wards to keep them undisturbed. A foreboding twinge of pain passed through his temples at the sight. “Can cast as many wards as we want, she’ll still be listening.”

“Curse, this is Cain. Cain, this is Curse. You know his twin. Cal? She just made Auror?” Curse cast Alex a sideways look and pinched the bridge of his nose, nodding along with his brother's explanation. These introductions felt far too casual for what he’d been through in the past 72 hours.

“Hello!” Cain offered his hand, then retracted it when Curse held up a bandaged right hand. “I hear you almost blew Alex and the entire Kameren Cemetery up.”

“I - yeah, not Alex. Well, the other night, but - “ Curse’s words were getting jumbled by his tired tongue as the blond ball of energy barreled right through him. This was the person Alex was sure could break Mosrael’s hold on him?

“Is it true? Wow! That sounds stellar! Alex told me about the runes you used, unfortunately he doesn’t have much of a head for them so I’ve been dying to meet you and ask what exactly you did—”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to gather enough energy to reciprocate even a tenth of what Cain was throwing at him. “They were from, uhm, India I think. My auror mentor taught me. A Banjara ward-breaking ritual, the runes are Sanskrit - ”

Alex cleared his throat, interrupting. “Right, right. Uh, lets not get off track. I know this is going to be painful, but I promise I’ll do everything I can. Please tell me what you know.”

Curse swore. He wasn’t kidding that this would hurt, he thought as he took a deep breath and sat back on the chair he’d been waiting in. Curse gripped his knees as he prepared to speak about Mosrael - something she forbade him. She would make him pay dearly for it.

“It started at - aat at the break-in l-last f-fall…” Pain bloomed like a fresh rose behind Curse’s eyes and he shrank back, his hands balling into fists on his legs as he tried to withstand it. “I’d just b-black out. Lost h-hours, then d-days…” His fists made contact with his temples and he pushed. It felt like his skull might burst. “S-she w-was listenng to my c-conversations… thoughts… tha-at’s how she w-wasalways a. A step - step ahead’ve us.”

Curse’s gaunt face was turning red from the pain and tears streaked down his face. “Wh-ehn I bl-lack out she’s c-controlling me - andwhen I d-disobey she hurts - “ He stumbled off the chair to grasp for the trash can to heave bile into its depths. He went limp, taking deep breaths over the trash as his silence caused the pain to fade.

He closed his eyes, praying one last statement wouldn’t push him over the edge. “It’s like… like I’m in an electrified cage in my own mind. If I touch the bars - “ The pain took another turn and he cut himself off to retch again into the trash.

[Alecsander]

“What the hell were you thinking?” Alex burst into the room and Curse stood to meet his hug, his arms tightening when Alex tried to pull away. All he could think when he was bleeding out on the floor of the Ministry was that he’d lost him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Alex pulled back a little to give Curse an irritated look. He didn’t want his apologies, he didn’t like the way Curse held him tight as if he was afraid and didn’t quite look him in the eye. He lifted an eyebrow, lips twisting in a brief wry smirk as he joked.

“Sending me Lucy? Couldn’t you have just sent me literally anything else that didn’t try and eat me?”

And just like that their brotherly moment was over. Curse rolled his eyes. “Lucy would never eat you. She has taste.”

This was beneath his notice, so Alex instead asked, this time seriously. “How are you?”

“How are you?”

Alex swatted his hand away, pulling on Curse’s own collar. “I’m fine. Where are you staying? We need to make sure its secure.”

“I’m fine, considering. I’ll be better when we can do something about her.”


“Can cast as many wards as we want, she’ll still be listening.”

“And there can’t be anyone else we should keep this a secret from?” Cain drawled, finishing the final layers and sauntering over to the Kamerens, looking toward Alex with a prompting smile. “And anyway, I do a pretty mean ward. Its no Kameren Estate, but I did study it a bit when I was younger, gave me a lot of ideas. It’ll keep most people or things out. For a while anyway. I laid a lot of the foundations a while back when Alex first told me, so they’re as strong as I can make them without months of foresight.” His grin turned a little predatory for a second before Alex intervened with a roll of his eyes to introduce them.

“Curse, this is Cain. Cain, this is Curse. You know his twin. Cal? She just made Auror?” Curse cast Alex a sideways look and pinched the bridge of his nose, nodding along with his brother's explanation. These introductions felt far too casual for what he’d been through in the past 72 hours.

“Hello!” Cain offered his hand, then retracted it when Curse held up a bandaged right hand. “I hear you almost blew Alex and the entire Kameren Cemetery up.”

“I - yeah, not Alex. Well, the other night, but - “ Curse’s words were getting jumbled by his tired tongue as the blond ball of energy barreled right through him. This was the person Alex was sure could break Mosrael’s hold on him?

“Is it true? Wow! That sounds stellar! Alex told me about the runes you used, unfortunately he doesn’t have much of a head for them so I’ve been dying to meet you and ask what exactly you did—”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to gather enough energy to reciprocate even a tenth of what Cain was throwing at him. “They were from, uhm, India I think. My auror mentor taught me. A Banjara ward-breaking ritual, the runes are Sanskrit - ”

As Curse spoke Cain’s grin never faltered but his eyes were intent, tracking every little movement he made, every hitched breath and wandering gaze. The man was a mess, capital M. Cain didn’t revel in pain or anything, but he could tell this would be a challenge like he’d rarely encountered before, and his palms itched to get started, though he was getting a little side-tracked…Alex cleared his throat, interrupting their ramble and Cain clapped his hands.

“Right, right. Uh, lets not get off track. I know this is going to be painful, but I promise I’ll do everything I can. Please tell me what you know.”

“It’s like… like I’m in an electrified cage in my own mind. If I touch the bars - “ The pain took another turn and he cut himself off to retch again into the trash.

Cain crouched to Curse’s level, his face solemn as he offered him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth on. “Thank you, that was very brave,” he said quietly, letting the older man recover himself a little. “Forgive me if I’ve missed the obvious, but is pain-killing potions or medication an option? To help you a little?”

He paused, considering what he knew with what he’d been told before. “Still, you don’t need to tell me anything else right now. I think I can help.”

[Max Kameren]

“It’s like… like I’m in an electrified cage in my own mind. If I touch the bars - “ Curse retched again until the pain finally let up. When the pain finally ebbed he was spent already, resting his head on the cool metal of the bin.

“Thank you, that was very brave,” Curse took the handkerchief but bristled at the praise; after what he’d done, Curse hardly deserved any congratulations. “Forgive me if I’ve missed the obvious, but is pain-killing potions or medication an option? To help you a little?”

As he pulled the kerchief away Curse shook his head. He’d tried everything from magical to muggle to dull the pain but Mosrael found her way past anything he threw at her. “No, there’s nothing. I can’t fight her, not like this.”

“Still, you don’t need to tell me anything else right now. I think I can help.”

“Anything’s better than this.” Curse looked up at the two younger men, his face sallow and sunken from the pain and exhaustion the curse put him through. If Curse kept fighting Mosrael on his own, it was only a matter of time before she claimed his life or he did to stop her from controlling him. “What do we have to do?”

[Alecsander]

“It’s like… like I’m in an electrified cage in my own mind. If I touch the bars - “ Curse retched again until the pain finally let up. When the pain finally ebbed he was spent already, resting his head on the cool metal of the bin.

“Thank you, that was very brave,” Curse took the handkerchief but bristled at the praise; after what he’d done, Curse hardly deserved any congratulations. “Forgive me if I’ve missed the obvious, but is pain-killing potions or medication an option? To help you a little?”

As he pulled the kerchief away Curse shook his head. He’d tried everything from magical to muggle to dull the pain but Mosrael found her way past anything he threw at her. “No, there’s nothing. I can’t fight her, not like this.”

“Still, you don’t need to tell me anything else right now. I think I can help.”

“Anything’s better than this.” Curse looked up at the two younger men, his face sallow and sunken from the pain and exhaustion the curse put him through. If Curse kept fighting Mosrael on his own, it was only a matter of time before she claimed his life or he did to stop her from controlling him. “What do we have to do?”

Cain rubbed his chin, looking thoughtfully into space as his mind raced. Eventually he stood from his crouch, stretching tight muscles as he offered a hand to Curse. “I need… oh at least a week. I have a pretty good idea but I need some time to prepare and do some research.” He rifled through his pockets, bringing out and sorting through a handful of amulets and chains, muttering to himself. Finally satisfied, he picked out complex silver talisman inlaid with small jet and jasper stones around a large, perfect sphere of onyx in the middle, sliding it onto a heavy silver chain and handed it to Curse. “By the way, here. I almost forgot but Caleigh was sorry to have missed you at Christmas. She thought this would look good on you, match your eyes or somewhat.” He handed Alex a similar talisman, smaller with a hollow hoop of onyx. “You too brother, you know how she gets when you reject her gifts,” He turned away from Curse to give Alex a glare, before turning back to Curse with a smile as Alex closed his mouth again, swallowing his objections.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you a gift too, but I suppose big brother’s prerogative is claiming halfsies on my sister’s gifts?” He waggled his fingers at the brothers, heading towards the doors. “I’ll send you a message.”


16th January, 11pm

Cain had spent weeks on his preparations, his research diving deeply into the old, dark magic he’d sworn never to mess with again. Well, mess with was a vague concept. No more trying to gain power through shortcuts, maybe. Or perhaps no more trying dark rituals just to see how they could be done. Regardless. He stepped back to double check his preparations. He’d been lucky in that he knew already where to find such a large slab of obsidian, but he’d needed to lay down the foundations for the spells himself. He’d had to be careful, not wanting to taint his preparations with errant magic.

Silver traced along the walls, trailing in complex patterns and symbols towards the center of the room, crucial parts of the pattern glinting with gold reinforcements. He’d laid the channels himself, carefully chipping out channels in the obsidian walls and floor piece by piece. Then he’d started layering wards and incantations, letting them lay dormant, ready to spring up at a word. They’d have the best chance of success if they started precisely on the cusp of midnight, the very crossroad of the new day and the old, the new moon and the old, and that meant leaving nothing to chance.


Curse and Alex arrived, and Cain handed Alex a blindfold for his brother. Not taking chances meant not giving Curse the ability to see and parse what he could of the room, limiting the knowledge running through him to the parasite in his mind. Once it was secure, he led the brothers into the room, arranging them carefully in the center of the silver and gold spiral. Gingerly stepping on the few bare spots in the floor, he collected the amulets he’d given them, then brought up the prepared spells layer by layer until the room practically hummed with power. He counted down in his mind as he made the final preparations, laying stones in notches around the perimeter of the circle, placing the two amulets in pride-of-place opposite each other.

Nearly midnight. He took his blood and smeared it over a large sphere at the center, then Alex, then carefully extracting Curse’s without touching it and smearing it over the smooth stone before taking his place at the apex of the triangle. Almost. The numbers ran down in his head, he lifted his hands and brought up the last of the magic precisely at midnight, feeling the rush of power down the walls towards the center of the room.

[Max Kameren]

“What do we have to do?”

“I need… oh at least a week. I have a pretty good idea but I need some time to prepare and do some research.” He rifled through his pockets, bringing out a complex silver talisman inlaid with small jet and jasper stones around a large, perfect sphere of onyx in the middle, sliding it onto a heavy silver chain and handed it to Curse. He examined it with an arched brow; what it aesthetically lacked it hopefully made up for in power.

“By the way, here. I almost forgot but Caleigh was sorry to have missed you at Christmas. She thought this would look good on you, match your eyes or somewhat.” Curse rolled his eyes as he fastened the silver chain around his neck. “You too brother, you know how she gets when you reject her gifts.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you a gift too, but I suppose big brother’s prerogative is claiming halfsies on my sister’s gifts?” He waggled his fingers at the brothers, heading towards the doors. “I’ll send you a message.”

“Can’t wait,” Curse responded. And he meant it.

.. .. ..

Curse came-to on the rooftop of his London apartment building, teetering dangerously over the edge. The shock of his surroundings pushed him forward and momentum pulled him down to the traffic and pavement waiting below. On reflex Curse cast confringo from his palms, the blast reversing his momentum and sending him falling back to safety on the roof.

“Fuck,” He swore to himself, taking deep breaths to wear away the shock; Greatest Wizard of his Generation or Legendary Auror he may be, but the last six months had taught Curse that he was only human. He could be threatened, bent, or broken if an enemy knew the right places to push him. Mosrael had found a way to breach his greatest strength - his mind - and chip away at his weaknesses until he fell apart.

The familiar laughter that accompanied his darkest moments rang in his ears and Curse tensed. It was different, this time, the musical laughter mingling with the street sounds down below and carrying on the wind. It wasn’t just in his head, he realized with horror as he raised his head from the asphalt roof to find the hem of a flowing cloak grazing his fingertips. “Careful, Kristopher.”

An animal rage welled in Curse’s chest at the sound of his name falling from Mosrael’s lips. He pushed himself up with all his strength and shot a Killing Curse point blank as the pain he knew was coming exploded in his skull.

Mosrael’s laugh twisted into a fiendish sneer as the ray of green light Curse blasted at her passed directly through her. Despite the reality Curse felt from her presence Mosrael was only an illusion in front of him; his attacks had no effect on her, but when her clawed fingers wrapped around his neck and pulled him to his feet they felt as painful and white-hot as the tendrils of pain still radiating through his mind.

“You can’t hurt me, Kristopher,” She laughed as her fingers tightened around his neck, “we are one, you and I. You can only hurt me as little as I would hurt myself. You can’t destroy me without destroying yourself. You’re my right hand; my perfect weapon. Together we’ll burn the Wizarding World to ashes.”

“No,” Curse struggled against her tightening grip as the laughter rose like an unruly sea, buzzing painfully and overwhelming him. He finally twisted loose, turning on his heel and lunging with all his strength over the edge of the building to fall to the pavement below.

.. .. ..

January 9th, 2018.

“Kris! Kris, wake up!” Arianna shook her boyfriend by the shoulders from where she was hunched behind him to protect herself from his barrage.

The smell of burning was the second sense to greet him as Curse exited the fugue state to the chaos of reality.Curse’s confrontation with Mosrael may not have been real, but his spells had been; there was a hole blown through his girlfriend’s bedroom wall from Curse’s confringo and his killing curse succeeding it. his hands found Arianna behind him on the bed and he twisted to look her over in alarm. “Are you alright?! I’m sorry, it - it felt so real…” He pulled her close and held her tight, tears welling in the corners of his eyes as he listened to Arianna’s panicked heartbeat. As the panic of the moment settled in his chest, a dark realization set into him. “She’s going to kill me, Ari. This… this is going to kill me.”

Any protestations Arianna may have given him fell on deaf ears as Curse’s realization reverberated through his entire body, ringing in the mind where Mosrael’s laughter still echoed. If he carried on this way, his end would be coming sooner than the White Death foretold for him. Cain’s solution couldn’t come soon enough.

.. .. ..

January 16th, 2018.

Curse had become a hermit in the days since the incident at Arianna’s apartment. After another blackout incident he resolved to spend the rest of Cain’s research window barricaded in his apartment, windows boarded and wards set to high with only Lucy keeping him connected to the outside world. Harkness had decided not to press charges against Kameren (another decision made under mysterious circumstances), so when the ex-Head Auror was reunited with the contents of his office he sat on a veritable arsenal to keep Mosrael out. And to keep himself inside, if needed.

It wasn’t any wonder the concern in Alex’s face when he cracked open the wards on the day of the ritual to find Curse wide-eyed and frazzled and entrenched in a nest of his own paranoia. Curse Kameren had reached the outer edge of his limits. At this point even if Cain’s ritual killed him, to Curse it would be a blessed release.

The moment they set foot on the premises of Cain’s ritual, the pain began. Curse set his jaw and pushed on, grabbing Alex’s forearm for support when a new wave became too much. When the blindfold was offered Curse took it gladly, faithfully following where Alex and Cain would lead him.

This had to work. If they had to wait for another full moon there would be nothing left of him to save. Curse took a deep breath as they extracted his blood. The fingers of his other hand caught Alex’s sleeve during the procedure, leaning in close to his brother to make a last request:

“No matter what happens, no matter how I react. Don’t stop. This is our only shot.” I can’t hold on much longer. It was tonight, or death.

[Alecsander]

Alex worried every day for two weeks, trying his best to help Cain and Curse both, wearing the amulet warm against his skin. Some days it nearly burned, and Alex would be driven to his knees, agony lancing through him. The amulet seemed to get heavier and heavier, the hoop transforming into an infinite loop over time. He always tried to check on Curse, after. Pull himself together, not show his brother that he was feeling some of his pain. The last thing they needed was Curse refusing to wear it out of stubborn pride or protectiveness or something.

When the day finally arrived (Cain worn to a frazzle, but insisting that they didn’t have time to wait for the next new moon, and that a full moon was powerful but they needed the change offered by a new moon) Alex was unable to fully hide his concern as Curse opened the door. Apparating them to the ritual location, they walked in brief silence before Curse broke it, leaning on Alex and speaking low, desperately,

“No matter what happens, no matter how I react. Don’t stop. This is our only shot.” Alex nodded, clasping his brother’s wrist in return. A promise, easily given but not easily broken. A vow.

“Yes.”

Cain came to the door, offering Alex a blindfold with out a word. Placing it on Curse, Alex saw the pain in his eyes disappear behind the silk. Cain led them into the chamber, directing Alex to step carefully through the intricate lines and symbols on the floor. Alex led Curse cautiously, feeling the hum beneath his skin as Cain started activating the array around them. He left Curse with a reassuring squeeze in the small hollow Cain directed him to lay in with a quiet murmur as he drew more symbols in the air, fingers glowing. Alex settled in his own hollow, laying back and watching as the room brightened with power.

The wave of power hit him like a train, suddenly he could feel every line and symbol in the room, the white-hot power in the amulets, the dark hole in the center, where that perfect sphere of obsidian stood, every nerve on fire and not, the fire tugging free and draining towards the sphere. Alex opened his mouth, to scream or speak, he didn’t know, but he found himself suddenly in a foggy landscape he somehow knew was Curse’s mind.

’I have a lot to do, finding the trail, and following it to the end and untying the knot that she’s made her door out of,’ Cain sketched as he spoke, figures and lines coming to life under his hands, ‘And then I have to make sure all her little hooks are out.’ He paused, ‘but you need to keep her distracted. She shouldn’t be able to harm him, even with that door, because there will be so much obsidian and silver and gold in the room, but removing all those hooks will be painful. And if you don’t distract her and she triggers something else… we could lose him. The magic will be painful for you both. You’ll share his load. I need what I can of that brilliant mind of his so,’

‘I know,’ Alex said, stilling Cain’s fingers where they fidgeted on the pencil. ‘I’m not afraid of the pain, Cain. Anything to help him.’

Alex set his jaw against a new wave of pain, and started walking.

[Max Kameren]

“No matter what happens, no matter how I react. Don’t stop. This is our only shot.” Alex clasped his wrist in a gesture of solidarity and Curse squeezed it, meeting his brother’s identical green gaze in thanks.

“Yes.”

With Alex’s resolution Curse felt comforted and the pain seemed to ease slightly in his mind. One way or another, tonight they would have a resolution. Curse wouldn’t be trapped in this hell any longer, feebly fighting his own defenses only for Mosrael to take him again. Either he would be free, or it would be over.

With faith in his brother and Cain Curse took the blindfold and followed where they led him. He took deep breaths, feeling the pain of Mosrael’s warning with new clarity as he tried to ground himself in his own mind. In the last few weeks his sanity balanced on a razor’s edge; tonight he needed to be strong enough to bear whatever Cain - or Mosrael - threw at him.

And he would need it. When the power activated in Cain’s runes Mosrael no longer took passive notice of what they were doing; pain shrieked through every fiber of Curse’s being and he seized, crumpling in his hollow and falling limp.

.. ..

Alex and Cain passed through several vignettes on their way to the foggy moor of Curse’s mind. A young boy with dark hair and sharp eyes, sitting up on a bag of flour in the back of a deli to watch a grey-haired woman tap away at a calculator; an examination in a grey classroom, the thin man across from him taking him in with clinical intrigue; reciting formulas in a similar grey classroom, fidgeting with fear at the thought of getting something wrong and disappointing the dark-haired woman sitting with arms crossed in the corner; older, in a screaming match with that same woman until her hand came up then down across his face; wonder at a new place, taking in London from the window of the apartment he still lived in to this day; Hogwarts, roaming the dungeons with one of his first and only friends; a complicated loss, the unknown of where his mother had gone and what became of her; taking in the stars from the clay shingles of a rooftop in Southern France with a pretty blond by his side, a raucous house party raging below them; pain and frustration at being really challenged for the first time by his Auror mentor; locking eyes with Alecsander Kameren for the first time.

His defenses finally registered recognition at these new presences and deposited them, standing alone in the desolate landscape of his current mindset. ’I have a lot to do, finding the trail, and following it to the end and untying the knot that she’s made her door out of,’ Cain sketched as he spoke, figures and lines coming to life under his hands, ‘And then I have to make sure all her little hooks are out.’ He paused, ‘but you need to keep her distracted. […] The magic will be painful for you both. You’ll share his load. I need what I can of that brilliant mind of his so,’

‘I know,’ Alex said, stilling Cain’s fingers where they fidgeted on the pencil. ‘I’m not afraid of the pain, Cain. Anything to help him.’

‘She isn’t going to like this.’ A voice sounded from behind them, familiar but somehow lighter. The two wizards turned to a rail-thin teenager standing between them, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

His hair was dark and long, unruly waves tied back in a haphazard bun at the nape of his neck. His eyes were the same sharp emerald as ever, though he was nearly unrecognizable without the broken nose and iconic diagonal scar across his face. His other scar, a thin white line along his right cheek in the present day, was open and dripping blood down his cheek where he smirked. When he lifted his hand to hold his cigarette it was clear even in the low light of the moors that his hands were also wet with fresh blood. This was how Curse Kameren saw himself, the image he kept ever-present in his mind when he determined for himself what kind of man he might be.

‘Going to have to move fast if you want to find the door before she opens it.’ Teenage Curse cocked his head in the direction of a black spot on the horizon. As he directed a pathway lit their way with fiery pain; if either wizard ventured too close to the embers the intense pain of Mosrael’s warning would flash through them as it did their host.

‘Better hurry. She’s coming.’

[Alecsander]

.. ..
[[threw this first bit in to fix my screwup last post ]]

He walked for a long time, at first alone, then through Curse’s memories, scenes and emotions flashing around him. Then, alone again, Alex turned, trying to decide what was next. ‘here, watch,’ That was—Cain? Alex turned towards the voice, recognizing the moment, Cain sketching out plans and diagrams. This was his memory, not Curse’s. That must mean the ritual was working, Cain had warned of the possibility.

‘She isn’t going to like this.’

Alex turned, the memory fading from the landscape, finding himself alone with Curse. A younger Curse than Alex ever remembered meeting. Alex ran his eyes over the image of his brother, lingering briefly on the face, and longer on his hands, red with blood. Lifting his gaze, he met Curse’s gaze steadily. Mosrael’s likes or dislikes didn’t concern him, she was trespassing in his brother’s mind, and Alex was here to get her


‘Going to have to move fast if you want to find the door before she opens it. Better hurry. She’s coming.’

“I’m sure he will.” Alex said, eying the pathway that stretched in the distance. “You saw that?” he asked unnecessarily, closing the distance between them. Another memory, Cain’s face bent over an intricate tracing of silver. ‘I’ll be there but you two will carry the bur—’ Alex flinched away from the memory, forcing his mind to think of other things. They didn’t want their whole plan to be broadcast to Mosrael, which was why Curse had been kept from the planning in the first place.


“No matter what happens.” Alex reiterated his earlier promise, his expression resolute.

------
[elsewhere, i guess ]

Cain held handfuls and handfuls of threads, falling over his hands in infinite directions. He worked swiftly and methodically, tracing the direction of each, catching and holding memories, feelings, all the myriad experiences of a human life, tracing through the mind in tiny but powerful pathways. Each one he touched gave him a small flash of meaning, adding to the growing map he held in his mind. This one held the memory of a cold day, the flashing of teeth in the sun, the taste of a cigarette on the tongue. He ran them through his fingers, getting a feel for the mind of the man he was in, trying to acquaint himself with his baseline before he hunted down the intruder. He found the first tainted line, following it to a small knot, practically nothing. Something ordinary, infected with malice. He left it, marking it in the map as he moved through the river of filaments, looking for the door. You had to start at the beginning, with knots. Pull the right place and the web would collapse, taking most of the rest with it. It was only then would he need to focus on the small hooks that would leave Curse vulnerable to reinfection.

Collapse the big net, and Mosrael would be gone, and most of the pain would as well. Do the little ones first, and she had the chance to counter him. Do the little pieces first and Curse’s pain would be extended until he cut out the root. Finding a heavy, pulsing thread, Cain followed it, preparing himself. Though he would have preferred to lessen Curse’s pain further by taking on some himself, he knew he couldn’t afford the loss of control. He had to hope halving it by tying the two brothers together would be enough. He’d tried to trick the Kameren curse into thinking the two brothers were one being, and that the malicious intruder in Curse’s mind was another Kameren. It had taken a lot of very intricate spells, layered into a complex web, but it was the only weapon he could give them as long as she was imbedded in Curse’s mind.

Suddenly the thread he’d been following opened up around him, a great malevolent web that pulsed with dark magic. He spent time exploring, mapping the twists and turns, then lay his hands on a corner and pulled. The effect was immediate, but the cursebreaker didn’t stop, setting his weight and continuing his work as the world shook around him.

[Max Kameren]

“Careful.” A bloody hand pressed onto Cain’s shoulder from behind, pulling him from the thread currently between his fingers. The bleeding teenage Curse met his eyes evenly, trusting but still skeptical of the man currently rooting through his mind. Trust didn’t come easy to Curse, and never quickly; even with Cain standing in the landscape of his mind, he questioned.

“Some of these memories are off-limits. They need to come to my grave with me.” Cain would recognize a ritual scar when he saw it, he knew, and the slash in his cheek was no accident. As a Cursebreaker he would understand; some rituals were too much for mankind to bear, and would be better left buried. Curse knelt by Cain’s side, green eyes following as Cain worked. “Can I help?” He shrugged as he laid a hand on the threads, “I mean, who knows me better?”

He observed Cain’s process and matched it, taking care only to touch the unaffected threads or avoid the risk of drawing Mosrael’s attention. Once or twice more he stopped what he was doing and laid a hand over Cain’s when he touched a sensitive thread, shaking his head before returning to their work. The closer they got to a possible source, the fires in the moor grew; the pain was rising in Curse’s consciousness, and with it his counterpart’s red hands were slowing.

When the thread opened up the fire roared into a wall of pain. “I’ll leave you here,” Curse shrank away, crossing his arms to hide the shaking. “If I keep my focus on Alex hopefully she’ll follow me.”

He nodded in thanks to Cain. Curse was naturally difficult and suspicious with new people, but if it weren’t for Cain he would certainly be lost. It was still a possibility; Mosrael hadn’t yet shown herself, and Merlin only knew what she would have for them. But through the pain and fear, Curse held onto a thread of hope. He took a shaky breath, fear flashing in his eyes as the fire flared around them. “Good luck.”

Curse backed into the fire, vanishing into the painful embers and leaving Cain to his mission.

.. ..

“She isn’t going to like this.” 17-year-old Curse Kameren cocked his head as he looked over Alex Kameren, his arched brow unmistakable even with his younger face. The painful fires were only embers around them, drifting in around their feet as Curse gestured his brother onward. “Going to have to move fast if you want to find the door before she opens it. Better hurry. She’s coming.”

“I’m sure he will.”

“Not him, you.” Curse corrected petulantly as he followed his brother through the cloud of his memory. “We need to be where she is, and keep her away from Cain.” He gestured to the spot of black on the horizon, where he was simultaneously aiding the Cursebreaker in his work.

The last thing they needed was for a duel to breakout near where Cain was working; any casualty that was hit by a stray spell was part of Curse’s mind, after all. There was no deflecting somewhere harmless when the landscape was you.

“You saw that?” he asked unnecessarily, closing the distance between them. Another memory rose between them at Alex’s prompt and Curse pushed him further up the path, his bloody hands leaving no prints on Alex from his touch.

“‘Course I did,” Curse responded as he pushed at his brother, “stop it. Stop thinking about it, stop worry about him. Stop worrying about me. The less you think about him, the further from him we’ll be.” There wasn’t distance in this plane, after all, only difference. They separated each other by focus.

The fires around them were rising, the embers merging together and forming patches of misery burning their way through his consciousness. Curse, and by extension Alex, was starting to show signs of wear. The elder Kameren was starting to sweat under the pressure. His hand found Alex’s wrist just as he had before the ritual, stopping his brother with a hard stare that belied his fear.

“I think it’s starting.” His voice wavered. Curse’s voice never wavered out in the world, but in here he couldn’t hide it. The image of him became a little clearer as his subconscious focused all his attention on Alex’s presence. The fire around them began to roar, forming walls of white-hot pain around them and flaring the burden in their connection. “Are you ready?”

“No matter what happens.” Alex reiterated his earlier promise, his expression resolute. With a last squeeze of his brother’s wrist Curse disappeared into the licking tendrils of flame.

Like a crack of thunder, Mosrael’s laughter shook the landscape of Curse’s mind across every plane. The flames rose and rose until the foggy moors gave way to resemble the surface of the sun. And with it came the pain; in the outside world Curse screamed as he tried to fight back against the opening of the door. The sky above them cracked open and faded to black. Curse’s screams were drowned out by Mosrael’s laughter and the rising flame.

Did you think I didn’t know what he was doing? When Mosrael spoke her voice blended with a familiar rasp and the flames responded with her tone. Did you think I hadn’t been following his every movement since the day he threw himself over a rooftop to get rid of me? It turned out the waking up had been the illusion, not Curse’s dream. Curse had already drawn her attention before Cain had even written a single rune.

I know every memory you’ve filtered through him, every secret you’ve kept that he deducted himself. Kristopher has made an excellent cypher and a strong weapon: it’s time to see for yourself… The landscape shrank together until Cain and Alex were back to back, surrounded by the rising fire of Curse Kameren’s fraying mind.

Mosrael didn’t need to appear in Curse’s mind if the door remained intact. She no longer risked hurting her asset by sending Kameren after his brother, with the loophole Cain had made for them. A black-clad man stepped from the flames, his face hidden behind an ornate mask save for his lifeless, vacant green eyes. The laughter rose again with the flame as Curse lifted a glowing hand and fired on his allies.

[Alecsander]

“Careful.”

Cain looked up, recognizing the boy—the man, almost immediately. He’d been embedded in hid mind for ages at this point, time unending stretching before and behind. He nodded briefly, not pausing in his mapping, threads flowing like water between his hands. They worked in near silence for some time, Cain taking the occasional guidance from Curse, before he neared the net he’d been seeking. He looked up, face grim, expression distant as his mind raced behind his eyes. “You’d better brace yourself,” he looked at the complex tangle before them. Destroy the anchor, destroy the net. But he had to do it carefully or the lashback would cause more damage.

When the thread opened up the fire roared into a wall of pain. “I’ll leave you here,” Curse shrank away, crossing his arms to hide the shaking. “If I keep my focus on Alex hopefully she’ll follow me.”

.. ..


“‘Course I did,” Curse responded as he pushed at his brother, “stop it. Stop thinking about it, stop worry about him. Stop worrying about me. The less you think about him, the further from him we’ll be.”

“Well then I should definitely not stop worrying about you,” Alex said, a wry twist to his mouth, as if he could do anything but worry about Curse. Pain was flowing over them in uneven pulses, the brothers drawing closer together in search for solidarity.

The sky and land darkened, a voice cracking like thunder over the moors, driving an ice-pick directly through Alex’s brain. He found himself screaming and trembling for it, stumbling back, groping blindly for his brother, trying to anchor himself, anchor them together, His hand closed over empty air and he swore vehemently, blinking the spots from his vision to search the rising flame. There was a figure kneeling near him, walking along in a crouch as he traced glowing paths through the flame. Eyes watering, Alex glowered at the sky, not willing to give even an inch to the witch holding his brother’s mind hostage. Mosrael had made a grave error trying to use Alex’s brother in her schemes while leaving Alex alive to do something about it.

A figure strode through the flame, familiar and not, and Alex lifted his hand to deflect the spell flung his way. He supposed their… unique handicap in dueling had to be worth something. Alex had gotten very good at fighting Curse without injuring either of them, and very good at deflection. He could only hope it was enough. Shooting a look at Cain, he circled Curse slowly, firing binding and shield spells.


---

Cain ignored the roar of flames, the writhing of the filaments in his hands from pain, busy mapping out the knotted parts of the web. Sitting back on his heels, he considered his options, running over the maps he held in his mind, fingers counting and gathering the appropriate ropes. Then he started the deliberate process of collapsing and then completely unraveling the web,

[Max Kameren]

When Alex deflected the first spell away sparks flew where it landed and on impact the pain flared. The landscape they dueled in was only an illusion after all, but the spells were real. Any deflections were just sending spells to the unavoidable target of Curse’s consciousness.

The pain reared Curse onward and the elder Kameren dissipated Alex’s binding spells with a gale of wind from his fist, battering his brother’s shields. Curse shot out another string of spells: cruciatus, confringo, expelliarmus, and another cruciatus to curve around and hit Cain where Alex’s back was turned.

Curse may not have taught Alex everything he knows, but he’d taught him enough. The younger auror matched him step-for-step, and Cruse’s volleys got increasingly frustrated as the pain boiled over. In his exertion the mask cracked and slipped away, and behind Curse’s vacant eyes fear and anger started too to push through. Was it Curse angry that he’d been overtaken once again, or was it Mosrael starting to worry that her best laid plans were in jeopardy?

In his desperation Curse cut his spells and lunged at Alex, tackling his brother to the ground. Tendrils of painful fire licked their bodies as Curse swung at him, connecting a fist with his cheekbone. He yelled out in frustrating at Alex’s counters, dodging what he could and absorbing the rest as shaking fingers closed around his brother’s neck and squeezed.

[Alecsander]

Alex didn't speak, grinding his teeth through the roils of pain as they fought in lockstep, neither gaining ground that they didn't then lose. He had to keep focused. He had to. He wished he knew a way to stop the spells without deflecting them into Curse's mind. A sudden lull and Alex stepped towards his brother, hands lifting-- but Curse was faster, and they rolled on the ground.

He was stronger-- more fit than Curse who believed wizards didn't need to be able to chase down criminals even before he'd gone and gotten nearly murdered a time or three. But this was no mere physical battle, and Curse's mind had always been formidable, and this was his psyche, his home turf.

Curse's fingers closed shakily on his neck, Alex bucked, flipping them over and trying to pin his brother to the ground. This wasn't real--he had to remember that this wasn't his physical body and he wasn't charring to death in flame or losing breath because of Curse's fingers around his neck. He bore down with all his weight, trying to think heavy thoughts. And then it all went black.

It took him several long moments to realize it was the flames--gone.

---

Cain collapsed the last of the net, feeling more than seeing the release and the snap as the warp and weave of Curse's mind sought to return to old channels. Not stopping to celebrate, he started on the more tedious task of removing the little malicious burrs he'd marked out earlier.

[Max Kameren]

As the battle progressed Curse became more and more desperate - a caged animal under Mosrael’s control, He had only one impulse: get her what she wanted. Do what she says. Make the pain stop. When the fires burned at hot and bright as they did now, her solution was very persuasive.

In his anguish Curse cut the spells and lunged for his brother, taking the younger Kameren by surprise and tackling him to the ground. In the real world Alex would have easily bested him in this type of fight; Curse realized long ago that he could not longer physically stand up to what the aurors asked of him. The poison that ravaged his body made him frail, making him rely more heavily on his formidable mind and spellcasting. They were in that mind. Here, he could be as strong as he used to be.

Alex bucked and rolled them over, trying to pin Curse down as the elder Kameren’s fingers closed around his brother’s neck and an alien fury lit up Curse’s glassy eyes. He had to stop them, subdue Alex and stop Cain by any means to keep his Mistress safe. Keep his mistress happy and the pain will stop. Fight, defend her and it will be over. It would all be over soon –

And the lights went out.

A shriek seemed to rattle the very sky above them. A black hole opened in the sky, pulling the fire upwards spiraling into nothingness. So too came the tainted threads, the pieces that Cain frantically sought to remove came loose and floated upward into the vacant space where Mosrael’s presence in Curse’s mind had been.

Then there was Curse, too. Hands that had been around Alex’s neck froze and pulled away. Curse’s vacant green eyes suddenly clouded, turning the same spiraling black as the sky above. He stumbled backward and fell, cracks forming in his skin and his expression a silent scream as the edges around his form started to blur and turn to dust. The wind of the torturous spiral picked up the dust as well, sucking the remains of the possessed Curse Kameren to the broken gate above.

When every last piece of Mosrael’s presence had been collected the black hole darkened, becoming more dense as the pieces compacted together. The dense darkness formed a perfect circle then faltered, cracking and imploding in on itself. When it finally seemed to have settled and the danger seemed gone, a crack of bright white light broke through.

In a flash the door exploded, pushing out Mosrael, Cain, Alex, and any other intruders who may be lurking in the facets of Curse Kameren’s fractured mind.

.. .. ..

Curse burst back to life in the real world, taking in a gasp of air and ripping at the blindfold over his eyes. When he could see he took in his setting in confusion and panic; Curse had no recollection of how he got here or what just happened, of the fight or his new apparent freedom from the Mistress who tortured him. He scrambled to his feet, hands pulsing with shield spells as he took in his surroundings.

In the maze of runes two men were illuminated by the dim starlight, their faces blurry and covered by shadow. “Who are you?! Identify yourself.”

The auror’s brow furrowed and nostrils flared as he acted on instinct, pushing out with his hands and trapping the two in shields against the wall. On their impact with the wall Curse felt a blow to the back of his head and he turned, frazzled green eyes searching for a third assailant in their midst. “What is this?” He hissed to himself, his heart rate rising as he took in the debris from their ritual. Were they Sentinels? Was this Mosrael, tightening her grip on him? Had he not been through enough?

“What have you done to me?” Curse’s glowing hands turned to fists and the shields turned opaque, their density pushing in on his assailants. “What is this?”