Closed lost and found

[Willow Cullen]

Life in the Auror office was busy. the days were long and the work hard but they were always enjoyable. well nearly always. those days that weren't were made better by the friends she had in the office. She wished that she had more of a social life outside of the department but with the hours she was working and training and studying there was no time. at least she had Jacob, they were pretty much each other's lifeline on the hard days. one day she returned home from the office to find Linden standing at the front of her apartment he looked stressed and upset. he came inside and with a little coaxing and some persuasion, he explained that his friend Casper was missing and wanted her to help find him. she said that one runaway teen was not something that the Auror department usually handled but agreed to help him look for him after work.
a week later and her brothers inflatable air mattress and discarded clothes were taking up the majority of her small sitting room. not that either of them were spending time at home. when they weren't at work they were looking for Casper. she or, on days she was on night duty, their mum, sometimes both apparating them out to one location or another to look for Casper but no such luck. there was one place, a mountain on the south island where her mum had gone unnaturally quiet and sat at the bottom of a cliff looking out over the landscape, it was only after that she had told them both that it had been there that she had been bitten after she had run away on the break between fifth and sixth year. that was news for willow. she had known her mum had been bitten at about that age but it was interesting to see where it had been. so far from anywhere.
as time progressed willow was starting to feel disheartened too in her own abilities. maybe she should have failed the unit on tracking seeing as she was making poor progress of it outside of the scenario. she did consider asking jacob to help, he had gotten far better grades in that class than her but the work was hard enough already and they didn't need another of them to be tired. if he wasn't paying attention then whose notes would she be able to borrow. it certainly wasn't going to be analeis. as the week progressed towards two the bags under both of their eyes grew. she was glad for once that she had had to pull so many whole night training and swatting sessions or that trainees were often given the terrible shifts so she had practice forgoing sleep. linden was not so prepared. she could see him getting grumpier and drinking her coffee like it was going out of fashion.
on day ten she was returning home. and was just about to tell her brother that they would take a night off searching as by this point an extra day was not going to make a big difference in the search at least not as much as a decent nights sleep would. and it would definitely stop her from making stupid mistakes at work however the boys expression as she opened the door took her by surprise "they found him wills. they found him. can we go an visit" he said the excitement clear in his voice. and while she was longing to change into her old leggings, and curl up and relax for the evening she nodded "Okay Pipsqueek. but let me change and eat first." she said smiling at the nickname pipsqueak lin had acquired. not that he was a pipsqueak any more, he was taller than she was.
About an hour later they materialised in front of the Becketts house. linden paused for a moment by the front and willow wondered what was going on between the two of them. it sort of reminded her of herself and chante or her mum and aunt Madlyn. actually a lot like her mum and aunty madlyn. she watched as her brother made his way towards the house.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

The first call linden had recieved asking if lucas was with him had seemed inconspicuous, it sounded like alison had wanted to tell him something but nothing that important. he hadn't seen cas all holidays and that is what he had told alison. however when Addison had contacted him at work a few days later and asked again, asked just to say yes if he was staying with the Cullens even if he had been told not to tell them just so they knew he was safe. the look of worry on her face made linden realise it was serious. he had gone to his sister's after work and begged her to help look for his dorm mate. the whole next week he had spent all his free time searching for Casper. scouting around the harbour before work. working and then heading straight to his sisters house afterwards where either she or his mum would take him somewhere and they would scour the countryside. how was Casper missing. it didn't make sense. he had invited him to stay with them the holidays and he had said he would spend it with his family. so why wasn't he with his family. he had spent evenings wandering parks, and streets, and woods and one night on a mountain he had found out where and how and when his mother had become a werewolf. he was slightly relieved that the full moon was still a way off, but there were creatures around that didn't need a full moon to hunt.
he was getting more and more worried what if Casper was hurt and stranded unable to get water or food or to stay warm in the New Zealand winter. it wouldn't take long until, no he mustn't think like that. it was the tenth day of the hunt and he was returning to willows apartment where he had taken to crashing wondering if he had time for a sleep before willow got home when he was contacted by Allison again saying that Casper had been found. he was so relieved and now didn't feel like sleep. he was rattling around the apartment when willow returned "They found his wills. they found him. can we go and visit." he said before she had even crossed the threshold. he was glad that she would take him to the Beckett household but the time she took to have a shower and eat seemed to drag on for ages even as he wolfed down his food. Come on" he said as she finally finished her food and they made their way outside to appreciate. it would be so much easier next holiday when he would be able to do that. he could spend more time with Lucas. and he wouldn't have to drag his family around to look for Casper not that he was hoping for a repeat next year.
as soon as his feet hit the pavement he made his way up to the house and knocked on the open door seeing Casper straight away. "don't you ever freaking dare do that again" he said letting go and giving his friend a stern look. his face pale from worry and dark circles and bags from lack of sleep shadowing his eyes.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper was emotionally worn out. And a bit chilled. The treehouse hadn't been the warmest. He had tried to ignore how he'd remembered how warm it was curling up with Sebastian there. He also chose to ignore wanting to know if Lysander would have been that warm. Eddie showing up had surprised him as well. The talk he'd had with the man had most certainly drained what little strength he'd had left. Coming home had almost been as rough. The twins had crowded him, smothering him until Abner had taken them both away somewhere. He was so worn out he barely noticed what happened with them, with Stanis, with Abner.

He left his things in his room again and walked downstairs for a drink of water. He was barely paying attention, wanting to just sleep, when he heard someone at the door. He turned and walked back to the front door, pushing it open. He blinked at the sight of Linden, struggling to really process the boy in front of him. "Linden?" Casper asked after several moments of silence, his voice very small and dull.