Chapter Text
It was incredibly rare to have one magical adoption, but Aurora was left with a surprise when she was contacted by the center and informed of a second such phenomenon. Considering she had extensive knowledge with her connection to Buck and his little girl, she was asked to meet with the individual seeking their help. She welcomed them into her office glancing them over. They had been bonded for long enough that the initial checks weren’t needed but clearly, they were hesitant. The father held the young boy in his arms and was looking at everyone through a judging gaze. She wasn’t put off about it as she knew how defensive the protector parent could be and the situation he had left.
She knew only the bare minimum from their file and preferred to get her information from the source so she was pleased they could meet. She introduced herself quickly. “Hello there, I’m Doctor Aurora Nighttree and you must be Eddie and Chris,” she said gently. “Please have a seat.”
The soldier was clearly hesitant but sat down, there was a second seat offered but he couldn’t bring himself to place his son into it, to let go of him even for a second. Aurora used to that exact reaction from Buck did not say anything from you. “What type of doctor are you,” Chris asked curiously. He seemed unbothered by his father continuing to hold him and just looked curiously around the room.
- “I’m a witch doctor,” she said causing the boys eyes to widen dramatically.
That fact clearly delighted him as he whispered “wow, like real magic.”
She much preferred the reaction of children then adults in these situations and he was clearly delighted to the idea. “Like real magic,” She agreed. “Though from rumors you have your own fair share of magic too.”
He nodded causing his blond curls to bob on his head. “The people in Texas said my magic wanted me to stay with daddy and so it made it so no one could take us away from each other ever again.”
“Magic is smart like that,” she offered gently. She hoped he continued to see that it was a good thing not something to be bothered by. She withdrew the focus from the boy and spoke to his father knowing he was the one who needed information. “So, you both have been referred to me as I am an expert in magical adoptions and bonds of protections. So why don’t you boys tell me what happened when the magic acted.”
Eddie hesitated. He didn’t want to explain that was clear but Chris however, had no problems. “The mean man tried to take me from Daddy cause Grandma and Abuelo wanted to keep me, and daddy said no, so they made a mean man try to take me and the police men came cause daddy wouldn’t let them and they tried to take me away and then the magic made it, so we stuck together.”
While that was clearly a very precise explanation, the witch doctor knew it was probably much more complicated. “I see, that must have been really scary,” Aurora said gently.
“I didn’t want to go to grandma and abuelos. I don’t like visiting them,” Chris said stubbornly. “They are mean.”
This was getting them closer to the source of the problem at least from the child’s point of view and in this case, she knew his opinion on the matter was important to magic. “How are they mean Christopher?”
“They don’t let me do anything. They think I’m a baby. They tried to make me drink from a baby’s sippy cup. And won’t let me dress myself. Or or…anything.”
That caused the witch doctor to look surprised. He was definitely too old to be babied in that way. “How old are you Chris?”
“I’m six,” he said exasperatedly. “Six. I’m not a baby. I’m six.”
“And a very grown-up boy for six,” she said impressed.
“And they are really mean.”
“How are they mean,” she asked trying to build an understanding of just why magic chose to interfere here. Ableism perhaps. He’d never reach his potential in that sort of environment, but it wasn’t outright abusive or dangerous from what was said this far.
He was silent for a moment before whispering, “They are mean to Daddy,” he said seriously and very sad about the fact. “Cause Daddys special.”
This was clearly more closely corresponding to the reason magic interfered. “How is daddy special.”
“Cause he has magic,” Chris said seriously. “They said that makes him bad. But I got magic too.”
“Do you?”
“It likes me,” Chris said seriously. “It makes me happy.”
“That’s very good, I’m glad the magic makes you happy.” Sending a profoundly magical child to live with people who have a hatred of magic would perhaps be a pushing point. Especially as their own magic would have fought against the feelings being expressed. It was a rare form but possible.
Chris looked hesitant. “I asked the magic to not let them take me from Dad. Is that bad?”
Asked the magic seemed a surprising statement but definitely not a bad choice. “No Christopher, fighting so that you feel safe and secure with a parent who clearly loves you could never be bad. If it wasn’t needed, magic would never have acted. Eddie, do you mind me asking you a few questions about the events or them in your words.”
“My parents showed up at my door with a guy they were claiming was a social worker. But there’s…rules,” Eddie said. The entire situation had felt wrong from the beginning. “For social workers. They don’t come with your parents to take your child. He was talking about taking my son for the investigation I told him that he wasn’t touching Chris. He tried to force him from my arm’s, and I stopped him. Told him there has been no investigation. He said I was a danger to Chris.” Eddie hesitated a moment. “I don’t know when or how the cops arrived. But the moment the guy said he was from CPS doing a child removal. They took him from me. I don’t know what happened. There was lights and I just remember Chris back in my arms. A few of the cops tried again but they were thrown back. Eventually some other people showed up, we were taken separate, and they said no one could take Chris from me. That it was being investigated.”
That was of course fitting with the magical adoption and how they occurred and made a lot of sense. It was obviously a traumatic experience. “And how did you end up in Los Angeles?”
“Someone suggested it. That I leave Texas which isn’t overly known for its magical friendliness and that it would be better for Chris. The person who did, said that they couldn’t take him from me but that didn’t mean they couldn’t make my life difficult. The social worker lost his licence since he hadn’t followed protocol and no investigation or formal complaints occurred and he had no right to take my son. There was no proof I wasn’t fit. So, they couldn’t keep us in Texas.”
“Why LA specifically. WE do have a strong center but I’m just wondering why exactly you chose to move here.”
“My grandmother and aunt live here.”
She nodded. “I’m guessing they disagreed with your parents’ actions.”
Eddie nodded since his Abuela lost her mind when she found out and his tia was just as bad if not worse in her anger. Neither of them wished to ever speak to his parents again and he honestly was fairly sure he would be hiding a body if his abuela got a hold of his mother. “Completely.”
“That’s good, having a good support system is a great start. Could you explain to me a bit about why your parents tried to take your son?”
Instantly Eddie got defensive glaring at her. “I’d never hurt my son.”
She stopped him quickly since she had not meant to give him the belief, she thought that or was accusing him. “I don’t doubt that fact at all. I’m asking why they thought they had a right to him.”
“My mother has a tendency to set off my PTSD,” Eddie admitted. “I was invalidated home a year ago. A year and a half. Military. She’d smash pots, bang doors. As if trying to prove that I was mentally unfit. I had a PTSD episode a few days before. I never hurt Chris. I was stressed, my parents were being awful. Everything…All I did was when I thought I heard a gun go off, I grabbed Chris and covered him.”
“So…even in an altered state your first choice was to protect your son from what you deemed as potentially harmful. What went off.”
“Firecrackers. That make a snap and a pop sound but not the ones you light up. My mother gave them to my nephews. Which considering she hates those; I think she was trying to set me off.” How a parent could do that to him hurt him worse. “So, there was witnesses, a few of them. I think they did it so they had proof I wasn’t fit. I was told to come here, that if I had questions about this bond thing that happened you could help me. Can you?”
“Absolutely,” she said accepting the subject change since clearly the topic was upsetting him. “So, lets get straight to the facts. This bond, is considered an adoption bond enforced by magic. It has got a lot of names but the most common used is a magical protection adoption. It occurs when a profoundly magical child, is in an unsafe position and typically revolves around guardianship in some form. So, a child being heavily abused or potentially killed by a parent, a child being abandoned, or a child being abducted. Their magic latches onto someone with a magical core and ensures they cannot be separated. There is not any strict reasons why the person is selected as the situations differ in many ways. In one case, it was an aunt who was a person who protected the child or tried to. Another a firefighter involved with a rescue. There was an incident where it was a doctor who worked on saving an individual. One case it was a teacher whose students inherent magic reached out for protection and security. In each case, the similarities involve the person the bond pushes towards, has some level of magical potential and a protective caring role in the child’s life. It’s only been in I believe four recorded cases in the last 50 years, a parent.”
“How many cases have happened in the last fifty years.”
“Over 100 but this is worldwide,” she said explained. “Typically, in these cases, the child needs protection from a parent. In the four cases that mimic yours. Its always involved a custody dispute. Typically, the other parent holds a threat to the child on some level and magic reaches out to give them a secure unquestionable connection. In one of the four cases, it was a non biological stepparent who became the protector in this bond. Can you explain a bit more about your parents being anti magic.”
There was some hesitation, but he did respond. “They are religious,” Eddie said. “They believe magic is the devils work.”
“And you? Being raised in that household. I know even when you have magic sometimes that indoctrination is hard to fight.”
Eddie was silent for another moment and Aurora just waited for him to be ready to respond. “My Abuela, always taught me magic was a gift, it was everything. Always around us. It never held a large role in my life, except the short times I was allowed to see my grandmother. But I never really understood the distaste. When I was in the military, I met a precog. He was really good in a rough situation. I owed the man my life. What he could do, well it is quite obvious that magic exists even if some like to deny it.”
“Have you ever noticed how your magic formed, as I said everyone involved has some level of magic.”
“I should know,” Eddie noted because it bothered him that he never really understood the role magic played in his life. The people in Texas had insisted that he must know but he had no idea. “Shouldn’t I? But I don’t…I’ve been told I have some potential, but I don’t know.”
“That’s not unusual,” she said shocking him. “Some people merely have magic. Some learn to use it in a variety of ways, others merely exist with it. As a witch doctor, my magic is heavily oriented to reading and understanding the way magic acts and occasionally manipulating it. So, for example, I can tell you both are bonded, and it feels like a bond of safety, security. It is not causing either of you harm and is fairly settled. Its coming from Chris not you as it is always the case in these situations.”
His eyes widened slightly in surprise. “I…well that makes sense. I always wondered what a witch doctor did.”
“There are different forms but yes this is typical gifts you require to be able to learn how to help others with magic. Some peoples magic, makes them good nurses or doctors. It helps heals in ways. Some are obvious like precogs. Where they may have full visions or get pushes by magic in ways to act to help others. Magic, is in all cases, used to help in some form. Some people are good with plants. They can make anything grow. Do they need magic in those cases, no. But it is where their magic is most happy. You would be far from the first to not know how your magic feels or what it pushes you to. Sometimes its not overt, its just in little things.”
She clearly knew a lot more then the people he had spoken to previously which was a relief for him. It meant he would get answers and that would hopefully insure he could better protect his son. “What else…is known about these bonds.”
“Interference is never a good idea, magic has a tendency to protect these sort of bonds…viciously,” She admitted.
“What happens.”
“Well, in one case, they were separated, this was hundreds of years ago. By a church who wanted to protect the child from the evils of magic. They took the child from the parent. The parent was B-U-R-N-T at the stake to purify the child of the bond.” Eddie cringed since he knew there was a long history of magic users being hated but in reference to his son, he couldn’t stand the idea. “Well the reports…implied that those responsible burnt with him. Another case, they all got extremely ill until they chose to reverse the decision. In more severe instances the act led to the D-E-A-T-H of the child and the ones who were responsible followed and those who helped separate the bonded spent the rest of their days in agony.”
Eddies eyes widened in surprise. “Hence why no court system would ever willingly separate you both for fear of reprisals. Even those who hate magic, know enough to fear it in some ways. There are other connections during those acts but no proof of course. No one will succeed in taking your son from you by any legal means. There are protections for these bonds.”
“How many of them…happen a year. You said 100 in the last fifty worldwide.”
“Sadly, in the last year, you’re the second in the United States, another bond has occurred in California. I can tell you the bare bones of that case but no identifying details due to confidentiality rules. Though if you wish to discuss this with someone in a similar position, I’m sure the young man would love knowing another person in the same situation and I could attempt to get you both together to discuss it.”
Eddie couldn’t help himself but asked for the information she could give in this case.
“A teen parent gave birth and had a profound hatred of the child. When further investigation it was not a SAE but the boyfriend dumped her for another girl and she never told him she was pregnant. She chose filicide as a way out, but the little lady was quite the fighter. Rescue services was called, and she bonded to someone involved in her rescue. A delightful young man who dotes on her.”
“I…if he’s willing to I’d like to maybe talk to him at some point. Not right now. I think we need to go home. I have a lot to think about.”
“I’ll give you some booklets to get you started,” She offered which he accepted gratefully.