magic_fratboy

He'd known it was a mistake the second he uttered the words, should have realized who he was dealing with and what she was capable of. Still, somehow, with two lifetimes behind him and a general sense for his own personal welfare, he spoke standing right there in front of her, him with a death wish and her with a fresh tray of her trademark cookies in hand.

"I think I need new jeans."

Things got sort of fuzzy after that, and amidst a tidal wave of chatter, bouncing, car keys, and a toddler's shrieking, Tommy found himself at the Forum Shops at Caesar's, Mayilia on his hip with the bag of candy Sassy had already bought her, hoping to God that he could somehow corral his best friend, the personal shopper with a bottomless wallet.

"Sass? Sass, will ya stop for a sec? I need new jeans, that's it, you ain't buyin' me a new wardrobe. Or May...Sass, are you even listening to me?"

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.

Tommy didn’t have a chance against the Bringer and he knew it. He knew it beyond the waves of energy crashing over him, black and noxious, forcing his heart to cave and his spirit to bend under the pressure of complete hopelessness.

He stood in a side alley, pinned to the wall by the hand of a Bringer of Despair. Fingers of ice wrapped tightly around his throat, freezing his skin and choking off his air as he was forced to stare into the noisome void of emptiness in its face. It was a living form with breath and function, but the shape had no meaning, the face no features, and in its empty, bland, and inconceivable eyes he saw the knowledge that it was nothing, that nothing was all there was.

And though it was hopeless, though he knew he would die, he still twisted in its grip. He bucked, he writhed, and he fought.

Right up until the moment that the hand fell away and fire filled his vision.

Collapsing to the ground, he coughed and hacked, looking up to see his father standing over the Bringer with a ball of fire in his palm, waiting for the creature to make a move.

“Tom Tom?”

“Fine.” He coughed. “Go!”

Gregory Karras nodded…and as Tommy watched, his father became another man.

He barely wrinkled his suit as he lobbed a fireball at the Bringer and went on the attack, throwing punches and ducking blows Tommy didn’t know he was even aware of. Knowing his father was Fraternity wasn’t the same as seeing him fight, and as he watched him resist the energy of the Bringer, saw him spit in the face of evil quite literally…Tommy realized that he’d been born to a true hero.

When the Bringer finally gave up and vanished from sight, Tommy was back on his feet again, and certain that he had a lot of work to do before he was even half the man his father was.

As Gregory walked over and helped Tommy straighten himself out, he felt a brush against his mind, thoughts that fused with his in a clumsy and awkward fashion…but in them, he felt his father’s pride and his love.

//The real hero is the man that can hold the line until the reinforcements come, bub. I got more years, but you got more heart. Don’t you ever forget that, okay?//

Grinning, Tommy reached out and embraced his father warmly. “I got it, Dad…thanks.”

Hugging him back for a moment, Gregory finally pulled away and grinned at his son. “Come on…I left your mother in the car when I felt the Bringer. Where’s your girl?”

“Zee? Left her in the casino.” Tommy replied. “Safest place, I figure…we been waiting on you and Mom, I have no idea how to get to the venue.”

“Well, let’s go collect your mother, then, and go find your girl.” Gregory laughed, draping an arm around his son’s shoulders as the two of them started heading for the main entrance to Caesars Palace. “When Caesars Magical Empire was open, it wasn’t easy to find, and it’s even harder to locate the entrance since it went underground.”

“I still don’t get it…didn’t they tear it up to make room for Celine Dion’s theater?”

“Hell no! They just hid the joint and made it Fraternity only. And believe you me, son, the performances have only gotten better for it. Your girlfriend is in for a night she’ll never forget…”

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 588