What Arawn had thought to be an annoyance had actually helped him immensely.
Living in the Town Hall for days on end surrounded by whining filth had him on edge. There were too many witnesses to get his anger out, so he’d had to keep a lid on his emotions, and lucky for everyone involved they were allowed to go home just as he was about to drive a shard of glass into the woman crying next to him.
His house had not been hurt too badly due to his own doings. It was not as if a sorcerer of his intelligence and skill would set up in a house and forget to place protection over it. He was not stupid. Small town this may be but there were thieves in every corner of the world. No where was spotless.
Mateo had found him soon after, asking after his well being like the kind soul he was. Arawn had wanted to reach out and crush that kindness, mix it into a bowl and use it for something actually worth while. But then when Arawn had asked Mateo how he was doing, simply for appearances he did not actually care, he saw the sadness that took him over.
And it was beautiful.
Apparently some terrible things had come from the spell everyone had been under in the Town Hall before being released. It was like a gift from heaven, seeing how put out the boy was, how torn up he was about something that wasn’t even real. Someone who felt as deeply as him would make a powerful sorcerer in the end.
It was time to put him down the path Arawn had taken to get to where he was now. He told Mateo to return to him at night instead of in the day light, much like their first meeting, but instead of beckoning the boy in, he stepped outside and told him to follow. They walked through the town and down to the cemetery, a place he had made himself familiar with by now, and guided them over to the older grace markers. He snapped his fingers at Mateo, and took Mateo’s hand from his side to place upon one of the sun warmed stones.
“Describe what you can feel,” he told him, and then quickly added, “and that was not an invitation for you to start rambling. Keep it short.”
A rather innocent-appearing farmhouse sat there, in front of Gabriel and Fuego. It had taken them a while, but they’d found what he was certain to be Goliath’s home.
It was a last resort. He didn’t know what Mateo’s relationship with the gargoyle was. Gabe personally had always been wary of him for reasons that were his own, but it was as good a bet as any, and he’d brushed the town clean with no sign of Mateo whatsoever. Elena was worried, it had been days, and, well, he was starting to get really worried, too.
After he got off the horse, the man headed for the door and knocked once. After a little while, he knocked once again. “Mateo!” he exclaimed out loud. “Open up if you’re in there!” He had a plan. If nobody answered, he’d just break in and look for any clues. He didn’t think Goliath would really mind if he explained afterwards and, when it came to his friend, he wanted to be as certain as possible that he was okay.
Moana was bundled from head to toe. She hated this weather. The nostalgia of snow wearing off within moments of that first snowfall. Especially when within the first week of vacation Moana got sick. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to get out. Wanting not to be stuck inside anymore. So she texted that boy she had met at school determined to make some better friends and practice her own magic at the same time.
Now she was just there at the Lake looking round as a biscuit as she held her jacket closer to her until she saw the familiar man. “Hey there! Hope it’s not too cold for you?”
Arawn brings Mateo to the Gates of the Underworld.
TW: some gross use of blood (like gross), and violence.
ARAWN
When the river had run clear once more Arawn had gone home. Not what his initial thought was, as he wanted to go down those stairs to find what he needed, but that wouldn’t have been the smart decision.
Instead he went home. He cleaned himself of the blood and mud. He changed into a clean suit, packed a bag, and walked to where Mateo was waiting for him.
Arawn had informed his apprentice that they would be leaving today. He had thought they would have left sooner, the Seal in his hands instead of dried blood under his fingernails, but this would do. No doubt the boy had been waiting for him for hours.
The dot was in the place he had told him to meet, even though it was dark and no doubt the skittish boy was having a difficult time sitting still in the cemetery alone in the dark.
Sure enough, there Mateo was, sitting by the grave he had instructed him to meet him at, a bag already packed. Good. They would be leaving. Now.
MATEO
Arawn had said to him, a few days before when there had been a tea pot he hadn’t been allowed near due to his more “idiotic clumsy nature,” that he was going to be taking a trip with Arawn for a short while. He had been very wary to the idea at first. Leaving his friends? Leaving Elena? Yes, of course. He didn’t want to leave, had made a promise he wasn’t going anywhere ever again.
But Arawn demanded that he go, saying that it was crucial that he come with for his learning and for humanity itself. So, Mateo agreed. Arawn often spoke of big ideas and pictures and the good of mankind. Mateo wanted what was best fir everyone, people of every kind deserved what was right and if Arawn had something like that in mind then Mateo was more than happy to help him.
Besides, it would only be a week. And the princesses had a more than capable defensive system with Naomi and Mr. Golaith there to keep them safe. So he agreed, packed his things and went to Arawn’s for instructions the night before. Then, that Saturday afternoon he went to the cemetery
And he waited.
And waited.
And finally after a couple of hours his master came to get him, making Mateo pop up on his feet to look like he hadn’t just been about to fall asleep.
ARAWN
“We haven’t any time to waste, are you ready?” he asked, walking past Mateo at a fast pace towards the forest without stopping to pause, to greet, to do the usual song and dance he had grown so tired of.
The day was almost over and Arawn was not willing to risk the Gates closing at the stroke of midnight. Then he would not be able to hold himself responsible for what would happen to this town should he be disappointed once more for the day.
MATEO
“Yes, sir,” he said with a nod of his head. Usually Mateo would be really excited for something like this but ever since he had started seeing soul strings things were different.
Every life was before him, every day he was reminded of just how fragile everyone was. Sitting in the cemetery for hours had him looking around at all the graves with cut strings lying limp. It made his heart feel heavy, made his thoughts less vibrant. His smile had dulled because how could he smile at someone when all he could see was a reminder that they were going to die one day?
He followed behind Arawn, looking at his soul string now, too, wondering what he saw when he looked at Mateo’s.
“Uhh…” he made a face at the back of his master’s head, glancing over his shoulder towards the road. “Where…? Are we going?”
ARAWN
He had been waiting for that question. Had expected it when he has first told Mateo they were going somewhere but the boy was so trusting, never asking until he felt absolutely compelled to, when it had no choice but to come out like an accident.
“Hell,” he answered with the curt truth, no longer needing to walk around it.
"What I-, what we need can only be found in the City of Dis, located in the Underworld. The Gates have opened tonight, thanks to the equinox and the tea pot I was working with earlier. We only have a few hours before it closes, so we need to hurry.”
Arawn looked over his shoulder as he picked up his pace to add a barking, “Now!”
MATEO
Arawn didn’t have to tell him twice. He broke out in a jog after his master, his mind going a mile a minute.
Hell? City of Dis? The Gates? He’d only read about these things in the books Arawn had been giving him, but he never thought they would be here in Swynlake. Although...there had been talk about the Underworld for a while under the radar, but he never paid any attention to the town’s gossip. It made him feel all slimy talking about people behind their back in a bad way.
A voice that sounded like Naomi voiced his doubts, told him to go home, leave this to someone else. But this was Arawn, who had helped him so much, who had taught him despite the difficulty Mateo presented. He couldn't abandon him when he was asking for help in return now. So he silenced those doubts and he followed his master into the dark of the forest.
Running was already hard enough for Mateo, but in the dark through the terrain of the forest with the added uneven weight of his bag made it ten thousand times harder. He slipped and fell several times, had to catch up a lot, almost got lost three times, and-.
Well, okay he was actually lost now. He’d lost his master’s silhouette in front of him, and stopped to pant as he looked around.
“Arawn!” he called, then cupped his hands around his mouth. “Arawn! Where’d you go?”
ARAWN
Losing Mateo had been easy. All he had to do was wait for the right oofish noise to sound out and then he slipped into the large shadow of a tree and watched as Mateo jogged passed him.
For a moment he just watched the boy make a fool of himself, the panic rising from him right on time. Then he threw a vial off to the side to catch against the ground.
His voice sounded out, “Mateo!”
The boy turned. Arawn moved within the shadows behind him in silence, unseen. His voice chimed in again, more desperate this time. “Mateo, look out!”
Arawn admired his acting ability, wondering why they as a society gave praise to those who did such things for a living when he could do far better within the span of ten seconds as he yelled into a spell.
He struck Mateo with a rock he had picked up along their way through the forest. They were just inside the brush from where the Gates were, but in order to get inside, he would need to do something he knew the boy would never agree to do.
MATEO
The sound of Arawn’s voice made him turn, searching the trees and forest plant life for his master’s figure.
The warning didn’t process fast enough, they never really did when it came to Mateo in situations like these, and by the time he understood he was already laying flat out on the floor with dirt rubbing into his cheek and hair.
ARAWN
Unlike the girl Arawn would not be able to carry the boy. Instead he dragged him by his feet to the river.
There the girl’s body still laid, the blood that had once flowed like he had raised a dam now only trickled from the gash on her neck. It would have to be enough.
He smeared the blood from the wound onto Mateo’s face and arms, any exposed skin he could manage. The rest he put on himself, breathing in deeply as he did so. It was still sticky, but cooled due to her body having laid in the water and her core temperature dropping.
Arawn pulled Mateo along with him down the hole along the first few steps by the shoulders then, his feet and over limbs hitting against each step. They seemed to go on forever, or at least it felt that way. No matter, they had made it past the entrance and a cool breeze was drying the blood coating his skin. Using the water bottle and his own pocket square Arawn cleaned himself off carefully, but left Mateo’s on if only because it would be funny to watch him squirm. He placed the water bottle back and discarded his pocket square
He then picked up Mateo by the collar of his shirt and dropped the boy to let his head smack back against the stairs. Quickly he got down on his knees beside the boy, getting fist fulls of his shirt and tugging him up. Arawn panted, looking at the other desperately before he even had his eyes opened.
“Mateo?” he called, shaking him a little, “Mateo? Can you hear me? Are you alright?”
MATEO
The first thing Mateo did when he came to was groan. The first thing Mateo heard was his groan reflect back at him like he was in some kinda echo chamber.
Then he heard his master calling for him.
“Arawn?” he asked, his eyes slitting open in fear that they would be pierced by light. Instead all he could see was darkness, and the whites of Arawn’s eyes. He sat up quickly and, oh, gosh, head rush. A palm came up to cradle the back of his head. His skin felt tight and sticky, it smelled like sickening copper and he felt like he really needed to vomit, the headache stretching like a tight band over his forehead.
“Where are we?” he asked, then squinted down at his hands, “Oh, god, what’s on me?”
ARAWN
Idiot. Remarkable how everything that had just happened had worked. It could only have been Arawn who would be able to put such a useless creature to be such a vital portion of his plan.
He let out a sigh of relief, practiced once or twice in front of the mirror with no error, then released Mateo in order to stand so he could help the other to his feet.
“We’re in the Underworld,” he said in awe, walking down the next couple of steps. “I had to drag you down here, a...branch fell on your head back in the forest. The Gates were closing so I had to drag you since you weren’t waking up. I didn’t want to just leave you there. You’re very lucky I was there, otherwise who knows where your inability to pay attention to your surroundings would have gotten you.“
Arawn turned back to look up at him from down the way, ”Wash yourself off with water, whatever is on you it’s…,” he made a face, “everywhere.”
Around them the air seemed to get cooler. He sighed happily against it, the chill sending lovely goosebumps over his legs and up his arms. Oh, it was wonderful. Everything he’d ever hoped it would be and yet this was only the entry way. He was already making his descent down the stairs, not bothering to wait for the apprentice.
All these years of only ever seeing loose visions of where the strings would run off to and now he was here.
After the night of the proms, having Gabriel teetering on the edge, having had Isabel and Naomi in the middle of a fire, and Elena getting hurt, Mateo could only think one thing; he needed to talk to his master. He couldn’t though, not when Gabriel was in the hospital and he just wanted to be there for his friends. Mateo had made sure his master had gotten the message that he wouldn’t be coming, apologizing profusely, and with the promise that he would make it up to him no matter what it took.
Because he was tired. He was so, excuse the language, fucking tired of not being good enough. Of having to sit next to the people he loved while they were miserable and suffering because something happened that he could have prevented. That giant chandler had crashed down on Gabe and Mateo could only watch before the lights went dark. Elena had gotten hurt, Isa and Naomi had been in danger, too, and Mateo-. Well, Mateo had done nothing to help.
All he could do was hold onto them, and pace around the waiting room while they waited for any news on Gabriel. All he could do was cry silently because Elena had already been through enough, Isa had already been through enough, Naomi had already been through enough, he didn’t want them thinking they had to comfort him, too, on top of taking care of one another and themselves.
He was done. Done with being a terrible sorcerer who couldn’t perform a levitation spell for longer than ten seconds without something falling on his head and giving him a concussion. And he was done with not being able to do anything of use. No more, he vowed on the walk over to Arawn’s. He was done with the beginners stuff, he had already gone through that with Alacazar, and even with himself trying to back track in order to teach himself.
He knocked on the front door with the appropriate knock, which at the time Mateo had been super excited about because how cool was that, but now all he could feel was burning frustration and overwhelming sorrow.
ARAWN
He had gotten Mateo’s message about not arriving for their lesson because someone close to him had gotten hurt. Upon listening to the boy speak, blubbering and almost not understandable, he had rolled his eyes. Weak to be caring for someone that death could touch so easily.
It was why Arawn had gotten rid of anyone like that to him. First his master, then he waited for his parents to take their leave of this plane, and, well, anyone else he didn’t wait for. If he was so willing to put his lessons on hold for someone else then Arawn still had work to do.
But it was also a good thing, because at the end of the message he heard the tone in Mateo’s voice. The utter defeat. It was delicious, it had practically made this whole thing worth it.
The smile had not left his face for the remainder of the time between the message and Mateo arriving to make up the lesson for that day.
Approaching the door at their knock, he schooled himself into a sympathetic demeanor. This boy had lost a friend after all, and he was supposed to be the mentor figure who was there for his student when he needed him most. He took in a final breath, ready to find a shell of the boy he had been having do chores around the house and town for him, but when he opened the door he found something he did not expect.
There was residual anger sitting hot and heavy in the boy.
Oh, how delightful.
He quickly looked up into the boy’s eyes.
“Mateo.” He placed a hand on Mateo’s shoulder and pulling him inside with a concerned expression on his face, “I thought I told you to stay home today. It’s too soon for you to get back into things.”
MATEO
When the door opened he straightened up, trying to look presentable in front of his master. As soon as the other man said his name and touched his shoulder Mateo deflated all over again. So easily broken under the touch of someone who cared about him. That was probably another thing about himself that he needed to change, being so open and emotional. It caused more problems than not. Like right now, when he wanted to be strong and ready to learn, he crumbled under Arawn’s touch.
“I,” he sighed at the sound of his voice, then cleared his throat. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m not interrupting anything am I?”
Suddenly he felt very self conscious, looking around the entry way for any signs of someone else being there. He knew Arawn was a busy man, that he didn’t have any right to be barging into his house pretty much unannounced. Then he looked to his master with wide eyes.
ARAWN
The worry that welled up in the boy was rather interesting. Always thinking about others, wasn’t he? It’s why he was so easily exploited. Thinking about people before he thought about himself.
That’s why he was doomed to fail. He would put everyone else before his studies, his magic, himself. Arawn was sure that if asked he would put his life on the line for someone he cared for.
He barely caught his smile from pulling at his lips at that thought.
Arawn released his hold on Mateo in order to shut the door behind them and lead the way to his workshop, opening the door to the room. There the sun was setting and the light that came through the windows was tinted more orange than the warmed yellow.
“No, luckily I wasn’t busy, but you should think next time you come over like this, Mateo, I can’t simply put my life on hold for you, you know.” He sighed, as if it were a chore to scold him like this and not like he was taking pleasure in it.
“But you’re here now, so there’s no reason to linger around that subject,” he continued on waving his hand in the air to dismiss it before Mateo could counter or apologize again. “Tell me, why are you here and not with your friend?”
MATEO
Mateo followed Arawn into the familiar workshop, closing the door behind himself. He nodded, relieved at first to hear he hadn’t troubled his master, but then Arawn continued and Mateo felt his heart sink. He was still a selfish kid, wasn’t he? Always asking people to put him first, his needs first, what he wanted first, never thinking about his actions before he did them. Gosh, he was so stupid! It wouldn’t have been hard to wait to come when Arawn had told him to, or call ahead to ask if it would be okay for Mateo to come then.
But he hadn’t done either of those things, and the guilt would sit with him. He continued into the room, his head hanging so his eyes were trained on the ground, resembling the demeanor of a dog that had just been kicked, though, Arawn really hadn’t said anything mean. It was the truth.
“Well, I was...I was thinking,” Mateo started, his hands coming together to meet in the middle at his chest to pull at one another’s fingers. He just needed to say it, he just...just had to tell him! That’s all that was stopping him at this point. Himself. That’s it, once he could get past himself everything else would fall into place. Arawn had said that, too, after all.
God, Mateo! Just say it!
“I’m tired!” he blurted suddenly, head snapping up, eyes closed, hands turning into fists. And, oh no, here came the word vomit, “I’m tired of not being enough anymore! I want to be able to do magic! I want to be like my grandfather, and I want to be like you! I want to be able to pull ingredients from people whenever I see them, and I want to be able to use my Tamboritas like they’re supposed to be used!”
He started pacing then, arms wiggling around in the air, “I’m so sick of being like this, Arawn! I want to be somebody people can count on! I’m tired of having to sit around and watch as terrible things happen to good people because I’m not good enough. I want to be worthy of being my grandfather’s blood!”
Mateo stopped and turned to look at his master, still looking like the pitiful excuse for a sorcerer he was. His shoulders had fallen, his eyebrows were screwed up in misery. Mateo let his hands go limp by his sides.
“Please, help me,” he said quietly. “I can do more than this I just...I know I can. Please show me how.”
ARAWN
He had stayed silent throughout Mateo’s little outburst, watching the fireworks shoot off of him in bursts of self hatred, anger, disappointment, shame. It was a lovely display. The words were a little lackluster but he made up for it in the way his face contorted into such a pitiful expression.
Arawn had never felt more pleased with himself in picking this child up off the street. Yes his house was spotless and his cabinets filled with the ingredients he needed thanks to Mateo, but this! Oh, this was more than he could have ever asked for.
The devotion, the want, the desperate need that Mateo was showing here was absolutely glorious.
He kept his expression neutral for the moment, as if he was thinking about it instead of celebrating. Had he known he could get this reaction from Mateo from one of his friends getting hurt he would have killed off someone sooner.
“Mateo,” he sighed, stepping forwards and shaking his head. It was too easy, wasn’t it? He needed to make the boy work for it, see if he had it in him. And if he begged, that was just an added bonus.
“Like I told you, you’re far too distraught to be here. I know you’re hurting right now, and that’s perfectly reasonable, but there’s no need to think of yourself like this. What happened wasn’t your fault was it? There was nothing you could have done, surely, otherwise you would have done it and your friends, and anyone else, wouldn’t have been hurt.”
MATEO
“No,” Mateo tried to say, his voice airy as his lungs started to ask for more. He sucked in a breath and shook his head.
“No!” he said more forcefully, swiping his hand across the air. “That’s just it! I can’t do anything but I...I want to. I know I could if someone would just give me the tools I needed. I’m ready. I’m- I’m ready for this.I know I wasn’t ready before, but I am now!”
And he was. He really was. He didn’t want to see anything else happen to his friends, he was ready to be the sorcerer who could help Elena figure out the Scepter of Light and he was ready to be the sorcerer people could look towards for answers.
Mateo de Alva, grandson of Alacazar de Alva, was supposed to be the Royal Sorcerer of Avalor.
As of right now he was just some kid who had not only failed in his task in keeping the princesses safe when their Royal Guard had been ordered to leave, but a failure at the only thing he was good for. Magic. He wasn’t a sorcerer, he was a disappointment to the name. He didn’t want to be anymore. He wanted to be someone his friends could count on for help. He wanted to be someone his grandfather would have been proud of to leave his title to.
“Please, Arawn,” he said, stepping closer to his master, his desperation sinking his voice. “I’ll do anything.”
ARAWN
I’ll do anything.
He could feel the boy’s desperate pleads from where he stood. So pathetic, so helpless, who was Arawn to deny him? To those like he and Mateo, who possessed it at its rawest form, magic should not be oppressed.
All over the world people were being hunted, sold, and thrown away just because they were better than those who dared to do those things. Because they did not understand, because they were weak minded.
He had once thought Mateo to be weak minded, sitting there through each lesson with a stupid grin on his face while Arawn insulted him. But finally his true colors were revealed, as everyone’s were when they had finally broken open.
Because their came a time in everyone’s life where they would have to choose, either to stay in their ways and be satisfied living in the mud and rot away among the foul stench of those doomed to fail or they would find their footing and move to the river to cleansed of their weaknesses.
“Mateo,” Arawn said, his voice clear and sturdy among all the soft whispers and crackling yells the boy had been spouting. “You have more power than I believe yourself to know. I have told you before that it is only you that is holding yourself back. Tell me, boy, what is it you are so afraid of? Why will you not allow yourself to be the sorcerer you are asking me to make you?”
MATEO
He looked towards the ground, needing to focus on the words Arawn was saying instead of his face or the fantastic room around them.
The answer was there. It had always been there. Ever since the assassination of the King and Queen, since his grandfather had died at the hands of magic, ever since that evil sorceress had taken his home from him. It had turned up in a dream, and it had been left in his nightmares.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Mateo said, looking up into Arawn’s eyes.
So many had fallen victim to want, to greed, to pride. It was all for the sake of humanity but Mateo couldn’t imagine them really believing such a thing. It was all due to selfish desire, cloaked in the mask of ‘for the greater good.’ He had lived through a life where he had walked that road, following an order that had made him kill. It had been fake, but he had still felt every moment of it. He had lived a life in the span of a night, and had woken up hating that he didn’t have the power he had been able to control within it.
“I love magic,” he continued, smiling sadly as he gestured around them. He reached behind him, pulling on the handle of the Tamborita that stuck out of his bag to hold it out in front of him. Mateo smiled down at it, “Ever since I can remember it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do and I’ve only ever wanted to be a sorcerer but-.”
He swallowed, finding his way back to Arawn, knowing he had promised to not keep things from him when asked. “But I don’t want it to make me into someone I’m not.”
ARAWN
Perhaps Mateo was not weak minded but his heart was still soft.
He regarded the apprentice in the fading light of the sun, the power pulsing just below the surface, waiting to be let free. It was being kept so heavily guarded by all of these fears. Dangerous for someone with that amount of residual power, both from being born from his bloodline and from the amount of time it had spent being locked away over the years, to be walking around in such an emotional state.
“I understand.” Arawn sighed. “Well, if that is the case then I’m afraid I cannot help you.”
He turned away from Mateo then, moving across the room to busy himself with other things.
MATEO
A hopeless, “No,” came from Mateo as he let out a breath, watching Arawn turn his back on him. They had only been apart of one another’s lives for a short amount of time now, but that didn’t change the fact that Arawn had been the only one willing to teach him in years.
No one in Avalor had wanted to take on the task and they hadn’t settled down somewhere for two years in order to be able to have someone teach him. Finally they had and finally someone had decided it would be worth it to take him on. He wasn’t going to lose that, not now.
“Please,” he said, taking a hard step after him. “Please! I’ll do anything! I can’t do this anymore, you have to understand! It’s miserable, and I can’t do this all by myself. I’ve tried and it doesn’t work. I need your help. Please, tell me what I can do to change your mind.”
ARAWN
Those words were like music to his ears. He was more than willing to get Mateo’s powers up to where they should be at his age, but he wanted to milk this. If he could push the boy’s desperation past the point of no return then there was nothing that would be holding either of them back.
He turned round to face him, pinning Mateo down with a glare for a moment until he fell silent.
“I’m not here to play games, Mateo, I told you that from the start,” he snapped. He needed to be authoritative and clear, no matter how funny this whole situation was to him. Ridiculously dramatic all because he needed Mateo to eat from the palm of his hands now. The time for caution and wariness would need to be behind them.
He needed the full trust and loyalty now, and if not then he didn’t want the idiot around at all.
“Do you hear yourself when you speak? Or think about your words?” Arawn scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What you’re asking of me is an oxymoron. There can be no success without failure.”
Another step closer. His eyes turned harsh to match his tone, “You are a failure. And you will always be a failure. You fear it so much, and because of that you’ve let it become who you are. You wish to know what you can do in order to change my mind? To become a sorcerer?”
MATEO
He really admired Arawn’s ability to tell it like it was. There was never any lies, or a layer of sugar over the truth to make it go down easier. He was always brutally honest. It hurt but Mateo knew it was necessary. It was the only way he was going to get his point across to Mateo, who would otherwise probably not get what he was saying at first.
Here there was no mistake. He knew that Arawn thought so little of him, but was still willing to help. He was right, too. Mateo was afraid to fail because every time he had in the past bad things would happen, and he was in such a position that he shouldn’t be failing anymore. He should know the ins and outs of magic more so than anyone in Avalor.
Mateo held his ground as Arawn stepped forwards, but bent under his stare. His head lowered and shoulders fell forwards. He was a failure. He was right. The only person that had been holding him back was himself, because he was too scared at not being good enough when that’s exactly what he had been this whole entire time.
He swallowed, looking up at the questions his master was asking him. Mateo nodded enthusiastically, sniffling and wiping at his nose with his sleeve.
“Yes,” he answered too quickly. “Yes!”
ARAWN
“Stop caring. Stop thinking so much about other people. They don’t give a damn about whether or not you become a sorcerer. It is up to you to get better.”
He thought back on himself. On a young boy who slaved over books and lessons, trying to understand what it was he was doing wrong. Arawn had worked harder than any other apprentice he had known trying to please his master, his family, his friends. There had been no one, and never would be, anyone more worthy of the title of Sorcerer than Arawn Prydain.
Yet he couldn’t even pull a single memory from anyone. He couldn’t get a spell to combine. Nothing worked.
“Magic will change you, there’s no getting around that.”
Not until he took it upon himself to become what he was today. He had done that, all on his own. No master, no friends. No one. Just him.
“I can get you there, I can teach you what you need to know,” he continued. “But I can’t do that until I know that there’s nothing holding you back.”
MATEO
His first thought went to his friends which led him to remembering Gabriel in the hospital. To Elena bleeding in a basement in Germany. To Avalor having to sit in the palm of a tyrant while its people suffered.
He didn’t want to not think about them, it felt wrong to solely think about himself in a time like this but...but Arawn was right. Mateo hadn’t gotten any better with the weight of his failures sitting on his shoulders, just sinking further and further down. He had thought it would be good motivation to get better, that if he thought about all the things he had done wrong that he would get better in an effort to try to avoid them when he was a great sorcerer. Wise, strong, powerful. All the things his grandfather had been, and maybe a little bit more. If possible.
What Arawn was saying, it seemed like that’s exactly what he wanted for Mateo, too. Only he couldn’t worry about what other people thought about him anymore, and he couldn’t worry about the things his magic would do if it went wrong, either. He couldn’t look at failure as something to be scared of anymore. Mateo needed to become something better if he was ever going to be able to fill the robes that had been left for him and protect the people he cared about. That was the only motivator he needed.
“I understand,” he said finally. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
ARAWN
Arawn had watched the whole thought process pass over the boy’s face. He wasn’t awfully hard to read, his expressions always gave him away. It was cute. Innocent.
It would have to go, too.
Finally, though, he could see the acceptance release the worry lines and knew he had won. Lovely. This was going to be easy.
“Good. Then I must warn you that some of my methods are not the most widely accepted. But I can assure you, Mateo, that I am here for your benefit. I would never do anything to misplace your trust, and would hope that you would do the same for me,” Arawn said. “I will teach you my specialty under the circumstance that you are willing to listen and learn. My word is final and if you fail to follow my instructions, there will be consequences.”
He held out a hand between them, never letting his stare waiver from Mateo’s.
“Do we have a deal?”
MATEO
Was that even a question? A bright grin appeared on Mateo’s face for the first time since he had arrived. Since even before he had arrived. He was just so relieved and happy and excited to finally be taking this step in his life! There was nothing that was going to keep him from becoming someone that his friends would benefit from being around, that his country would be happy to have under the title of Court Sorcerer.
The terms were fair. Who was Mateo to say that Arawn was wrong? He was the apprentice. And, as Arawn said himself, he was there to help Mateo. There was no reason to doubt that. All Arawn had done was teach him and help him, and now he was going to bring him up to a level that he should have been at years ago. The word, finally, kept running through his mind.
He grabbed Arawn’s hand and shook his animatedly, nodding and laughing, and only crying a little tiny bit.
“Thank you!” he said, “Thankyouthankyouthankyou, I won’t let you down! And you won’t regret this!”
The glint of magic that caught his eye that morning had been, how does one put this politely... Disappointing. For all that it shone, like a bright torch lit up into the night sky only to disappear among the scattered stars above, it held no weight. Like the sorcerer carrying it had just been letting it sit out in the sun to grow worn and old without even giving it any use.
He scoffed and turned away from it. The young sorcerer looked like he was of age to know have been well on his way, so there was really no excuse as to why he was walking around the way he was. What was worse was that he didn’t even seem to notice or care. It made Arawn seethe.
Magic was not to be wasted. It wasn’t to be left out in the sun to wrinkle or burn. A town like this, surely this idiot should know that it was safe to use his magic to his heart’s desire. It enraged him, made his own magic skirt about beneath his skin.
He stopped suddenly. A sorcerer with power lurking beneath their surface, unused for whatever reason, was still a sorcerer. The boy, though of age, was still young. He had yet to meet any others here, and if this boy was one of only a few then he would be unwise to dismiss him so easily. Besides, someone with such a abysmal display would be no threat.
Arwan wasted no time. He turned to follow after the boy until he could reach out and tap on his shoulder. “Excuse me.”
For Gabe, it was refreshing to see familiar faces from back home, and for them to be so close to him all of a sudden. He had really missed the party he originally set out with from home, so it was a wonder to have them all around.
What came along with that was the eventual arrival of Mateo to his apartment. He hadn’t really thought about it much before, but when Gabriel first came to town, he’d set up his own apartment with the intention that the spare bedroom would be occupied by the young wizard. Until now, though, it hadn’t happened and he’d gotten used to living on his own. After all, it was a commodity he never had back home.
That morning, Mateo had started to move in, and as far as Gabe knew, he was still in his room doing who-knows-what. One would think that a wizard would be an instant unpacker, but whatever. While that happened, the guard was in the small kitchenette. He poured two cups of hot chocolate (Store-bought, sadly) and went to knock on Mateo’s door with his elbow, considering he was holding one mug in each hand. “Hey, I have something to drink,” he spoke up in spanish. It was another thing he’d missed. “Mateo?”
So hold your head up and tell yourself that there's something more
And walk out that door
Go find a new rose, don't be afraid of the thorns
- Every Storm Runs Outta Rain
@mateodeavalor
*inhales sharply*
OKAY LOOK.
Mateo de Alva is not only the love of Elena’s life, but mine. He is! Too pure! For his own good! He’s allowed himself to be manipulated into being dragged to HELL by Arawn because he told him what he wanted to hear about how necromancy will help people, and that’s all Mateo wants to do. Help! People!
Especially his people, his country, his friends, his princess/girlfriend. His purity’s led him to be corrupted, like. That’s some next level irony right there.
Writing with Andy has been fantastic since Day 1. We have a lifetime of hc for these two - after all, they were friends for almost twenty years before they came to Swynlake - and everything she says about Mateo and his family just makes me love him more.
He’s the sunshine of Team Avalor (maybe second to little Isa), the optimism to Elena’s pessimism and Naomi’s cynicism even if that optimism excludes himself. Mateo is so loving and encouraging of everybody except him! Elena’s only wish is that he learn! To love! And value! Himself!
Well. It was her only wish. Now she just wants her boyfriend to come home from wherever he’s disappeared to. Hell.
