Beta: None, but I did fix SPaG errors from the contest.
Disclaimer: 1. This is a work of fan-fiction. 2. No money is made on this work. 3. JKR retains her rights. 4. thanfiction retains his portions.
Warnings: Implied violence, implied character death
Spoilers: DAYD and Sluagh
Summary: A oneshot for the 2nd Monthly Improv Writing Contest on the LJ community daydverse.
Author's Notes: written for the prompt: Daydians, crack, cross-over, issued by lonelyflutterby

Note: The crossover is Sluagh (Oweynagat timeline)-Son of the Shadows. I'm not sure this really qualifies as crack!fic if you know enough of both story lines, but it might seem like it if you don't. In any case, I tried... And I totally failed on the prompt...it says DAYDians not DA Members. Oops. Completely misread that.

Liadan stood in the courtyard of Sidhe Dubh looking up at Eamonn's battlements. They seemed so impenetrable. How could she and Niamh possibly escape from here? Liadan was sure Fiacha the raven would have to play some part in this; she couldn't possibly do anything without the assistance of Niamh's lover Ciarn. But how was Liadan supposed to do anything when she had to worry about Johnny's well-being too? It was all becoming so confused, and yet, she knew somewhere in her heart that Bran was out there and that he would help her somehow as well, if only in spirit.

And so, she finally found the way for them to escape, even if she thought the whole thing might fail. She sent Fiacha out the next morning, carrying messages to the Painted Man and his band, as well as to Ciarn. She was surprised, but not shocked when Bran grabbed her on one of her journeys out and told her he would help her and Niamh to escape from Eamonn's clutches. Eamonn had turned surprisingly cold toward her since she had turned up pregnant after her imprisonment with the Painted Man's band. She had come back changed in other ways as well, but Eamonn only wanted to exact vengeance on Bran, and he would stop at nothing until he succeeded.

"Bran," she said, coming to herself and realizing how much danger he was in, "you must leave this place! If Eamonn should see you, you are a dead man!"

"I have outside help this time. Ciarn has sent me his friend, the Sluagh. He has magic and he will help us help your sister to safety. He is one of your kind. He knows these parts well, as well as Southern Eire. The Sluagh will keep your sister safe."

"Bran! Don't you understand? The Sluagh, he is an avenging spirit. He will no more keep my sister safe than he will be your ally."

"He assures me it is just a code name, but he is very secretive about his actual name."

"Like you, Johnny?"

"What did you call me?"

"That's your name, isn't it? Your true name?"

"How did you-never mind, you must get back inside now, before you are missed. Meet us out here at nightfall."

Niamh didn't want to go at first, even if she hated Fionn with a passion and wished to be free of him. But Liadan convinced her to follow her down to the portcullis and out across the Marshes. When they encountered the Painted Man and the Sluagh, Niamh shrieked. Both men were covered head to toe in patterns and designs meant to scare the living daylights out of a man and it was working quite well on Niamh, a mere woman. Liadan shushed her and they began to make their perilous way across the Marshes.

After that night, Liadan never heard from the Sluagh again, and when she asked Bran about it after they were married, he said that the young man with the steel-gray eyes, the blue cross tattoos and Celtic knot-work down the right side of his face had simply vanished one night, never to be seen again.