Chapter Text
Eddison Watts just a normal trade school student in some corner of Nowhere, U.S.A. That is, he was, until he fell through a door into somewhere else.
Eddie was sprinting full tilt through the bookshelves of the library and away from five men. Apparently Eddie had pissed them off by questioning why all five of them were named “Hank”. Seriously, five grown men named “Hank”, there has to be a story behind that, right? Well, it pissed them off so much that when one of them saw him passing by in his red letterman jacket from high school with “Watts” embroidered on the back in unfortunately recognizable lettering, all five immediately gave chase, screaming bloody murder.
Eddie regretted every choice in his life bringing him to that moment.
He ran to the first door he saw, leading to a wing of the library he vaguely remembered being told was very very off limits, but he was trying to not get murdered at the time, the librarians would cut him some slack right? The door was jammed. Cursing under his breath, Eddie fiddled with the door handle and put all of his weight on it. It suddenly opened when Eddie muttered “Open up you little shit-“
He landed face first into Celia’s office, the door slamming shut behind him.
Celia, the headmistress of the most illustrious wizarding academy in all the kingdoms of this land, was not necessarily surprised at her office hours being interrupted by a disheveled young man. That was normal. She was, however, understandably surprised to see that he clearly did not belong at her school. Judging by his sweatpants and the style of his jacket, he didn’t even belong in this world at all.
Despite that, Celia welcomed him with open arms. She sat him down, and explained everything to him. That he had somehow passed through a portal to another dimension, and he wasn’t unfortunately stuck until they could find a way to open another portal back. She enrolled him in the school right then and there, taking him in as an personal apprentice.
Suddenly he was in a world full of walking cats and magic wands and curses and true loves and destiny. It was daunting to say the least.
Weirdly enough, he didn’t mind. One minute he was working himself dry to be able to afford textbooks with diagrams of wire contraptions in them. The next he was in a whole new world full of magical machines the likes of which the authors of those textbooks could only dream of. It was like he was halfway between a Victorian inventors dream and a children’s book.
Eddie spent his days learning about things belong belief. How to curse, and fix, and hex. How to turn himself into any manner of strange creature, something he was surprisingly good at.
Any chance he got to explore the guts of those magically mechanical machines he took with an enthusiasm he’d never experienced before. Every wire and motor sparked mystery and intrigue in his heart, far more than anything in his world ever had. These machines weren’t powered by the same sort of electricity that the machines he was used to did. He couldn’t describe it, but it felt like the energy was alive, thrumming with life just under the surface somewhere he couldn’t reach. It was intoxicating to say the least.
He started building them. Small things at first. Things that crawled on the floor and fluttered through the air before crashing to the ground. Then he made bigger things. Engines powered by magic and electricity, flying machines that soared high in the sky, automobiles that were powered by sunlight and believing in yourself.
Yet he wanted to make more. He wanted to make a home for himself that would move wherever he wanted, so he could explore this wondrous new world from the comfort of his own home.
And there were other reasons to want to just run away. The mages among him began dropping out of school and joining the military. Each was convinced that war was coming, something about a missing prince, and they wanted to be on the ‘right’ side. He wanted nothing to do with that, and had a sinking suspicion that if he stuck around much longer he’d get drawn into it, no matter what he did. Maybe if he built a house that could move, they’d never be able to make him fight.
So he started building.
Not that long into the project, he realized the amount of raw energy he would need to make such a thing even possible was practically impossible to procure. Not even this world had enough magic to make it work, not without making certain sacrifices.
When he came to Celias office, searching for answers to his problems, she explained fire demons to him. She explained these beings of infinite energy and blazing fire and crackling electricity and unbridled life. Celia was sure to warn Eddie that this solution had a price he would never be prepared to pay, but knew it was too late for him. She’d seen enough doomed young hero’s to recognize one when she saw them. Eddie had already become entranced by the idea. Beings of fire and electricity and energy and life and would give you everything at such a simple cost?
Imagine the things he could do with that kind of energy?
Would it be enough?
The idea became so intriguing that he decided to find out for himself.
One night, when stars were predicted to fall from the sky like drops of rain, Eddie found himself sitting in open valley full of flowers near where he was constructing his machine to wait. Late into the night he waited, lit only by starlight.
Celia’s words about the price of such an endeavor replayed in his head on a loop.
“A heart is a heavy burden, but not one to give away.”
He didn’t care.
This would be worth it.
A star started falling from the sky. Dancing down the sky and across the fields of wildflowers, illuminating the night sky in bursts of blue before fizzling out unceremoniously.
Eddie rushed to his feet, running after the last bits of the star before it fizzled out. He didn’t make it, but just as that one died another started falling, and another and another and another.
He ran and ran and ran, chasing for star after star with bright eyed wonder.
One that seemed to burn brighter then any other was falling just above Eddies head. He skidded to a halt to stare up at it. He held his hands out to catch it.
For something that had moments before fallen so violently from the sky, the star landed in Eddie’s hands with a strange sort of gentleness. It crackled and popped in his hands, but never seemed to even consider burning him, playfully bobbing up and down. Mesmerized by the star, Eddie almost forgot to give it what it was due.
He lifted the star up to his lips, and swallowed it whole. Only then did the star start burning. It burned him from the inside out, trying to grasp on to anything to keep it steady in this world it was not built for, this body it was not built for. It needed life to keep living, desperately, as desperately as we need food, or fire needs wood. When it came across his heart, it began devouring in earnest, finding something to ease the aching desire inside of it.
Eddie started coughing, doubling over at the excruciating pain of ripping his heart out of his own chest. He scrambled to pull it out, and with some resistance, it bled through the muscle and skin of his chest to rest in the palm of his hand, burning with bright white-blue fire.
There it was. Eddie’s heart. Burning in the palm of his hand. It felt like someone had taken a knife to his chest and scooped it all the parts that made him human. However, his mind was overridden by giddy pride and excitement of making a fire demon. Making his dream come true.
It was worth a heart, right?
…Was the demon supposed to be glowing that brightly?
It pulsed brighter and brighter in the palm of his hand. So bright he had to shut his eyes against the now blindingly white light held in his hands. After a second or two, the light faded almost completely, just a small bit of light making it through his eyelids. His hands still holding something comfortably warm.
Eddie opened his eyes, and saw the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.
Pure energy radiated off the man, shining like starlight and crackling like electricity. His hair softly glowed in the darkness, creating a halo of light around his face. His beautiful, grinning face that looked dangerous and sincere at the same time. His eyes glowed a soft electric blue, a color Eddie was sure didn’t belong on any human, but somehow fit. Eddies eyes started raking over his toned chest before the fact that this man was completely naked shocked him into realizing he’d was gawking.
“I-uh-shit.” Eddie could feel his face heat up and was glad it was dark enough that this man, whoever he was, probably couldn’t see it. He tried to say something that didn’t sound dumb, but was too hollow a breathless to find the words. “Hi.”
“Hello,” The man made of starlight said. A kiss was pressed into the fingers of one of Eddies hands before Eddie could even process that the man had been holding them.
If Eddie had a heart, it would have stopped beating right then.
When he caught his breath, Eddie asked, “Who are you?”
“That’s a very good question my dear,” The man said, cocking his head to the side to consider, hair spilling over his shoulders. “I’m not quite sure, if I am to be honest. But I do believe I have your heart.”
Before Eddie had the foresight to pull away, the man gently guided Eddies hands to his chest, right where his heart would be. Eddie could feel the steady thump of a heart beneath the warm smooth skin. “This is yours, right?”
Eddies brain had practically melted into mush at least thirty seconds prior to this, so he just nodded along to whatever this man said.
“Eddie! Volt!”
Both turned to the sudden sound, seeing something equally as mind melting as the man’s existence.
Another person, one that had definitely not been there before, was standing on the other end of a shallow pond. Eddie couldn’t make out their face, but could tell they had the sort of beauty that was easily understated but undeniably real. The world began to warp around them, folding over itself again and again, and them along with it. Shadows drew them closer and closer, ruffling their clothes with a persistent wind. They reached out to the two men, to no avail, the darkness pulling them closer.
“I know how to help you now!” They yelled, fighting with tooth and claw for just one more second here with them. They were granted one more second, but no more. As they were pulled in, the last words they yelled were “Meet me in the future!”
And the world went back to stillness.
Eddie stared at the patch of grass where the unknown figure had just stood. By now, he was completely incapable of rational thought, just turning back to the man still holding his hands with a dumbfounded look on his face.
The man wasn’t doing much better. Now he looked so lost, like his grip on Eddies hands, still pressed close to his chest, was the only thing keeping him tethered. He looked almost frightened, a strange feeling to see on the face of a star.
Neither spoke for a long moment, trying to absorb what exactly just happened. It didn’t work.
Eddie sighed, gently taking his hands away from the man’s grip, much to both of their chagrin. Someone had to be sane that night, and Eddie wasn’t sure he was capable of being sane when touching this man. Hell, just looking at him was hard enough. He ran his fingers through his hair and try to get his brain to form at least one rational thought. “I guess I should take you home then. Yeah?”