Chapter Text
When they finally arrive back in the court of Fontaine, Lynette nearly falls as she jumps off of the aqua bus. By this point, she’s completely exhausted, more so than she can remember being in her life. Simply blinking feels like such an arduous task; her eyelids are so heavy that she seriously considers giving up and just going to sleep right on the ground beneath her feet. She can’t help but be a touch jealous of Freminet being almost carried by Lyney as they step down onto the platform. But one look at her baby brother’s bruise-mottled face, red-rimmed eyes, and the messy oversized pyjamas he still wearing, and all she can think is that they need to get him back to bed more than anything.
Once Lyney and Freminet are both safely on the platform, Lynette gathers her strength and walks over to wrap an arm around Freminet’s back, taking some of the strain off Lyney.
“Come on, we’re almost home now.” She says softly, gently pulling them towards the lift, thanking the gods that their house was close to the station. Lyney grins back at her, but it’s so obviously forced; not even he could pull off this level of fatigue. Freminet doesn’t respond at all, and Lynette is pretty sure he’s been zoned out since they’d left the clinic, just going with them mindlessly as they made their way home.
The streets are almost empty now, with the sun barely peeking above the horizon and the night finally coming to a close as the morning begins to take its place. A few rowdy drunkards are bumbling about, and some patrolling gardemeks walk their well-trodden paths, but nobody else. No one tries to approach or call out to them, and they make it home without incident––aside from a minor stumble by the fountain and another close call on the stairs.
When they finally fall through the front door, Lyney’s body finally gives in, and he crumples to the floor, awkwardly taking Lynette and Freminet down with him.
“Sorry,” He moans weakly, groaning as he lets go of them and flops onto his back. “I need sleep––or death. At this point, I’ll take either.”
Lynette snorts despite herself as she lowers Freminet into a sitting position.
“Oh,” Freminet says quietly as he blinks his eyes back open. “Why are we on the floor?”
“Because you are too heavy. I mean, seriously, when did you get as tall as I am? It’s not okay. Go back to being short and scrawny already.” Lyney whines, curling over and burying his face in his hands. “I need a vacation.”
“Well, we will probably have to take a break anyway,” Lynette mutters offhandedly, her tail flicking and smacking Lyney in the face as she frowns. “At least until the discourse dies down.”
“Ow,” Lyney says, belatedly dragging his tophat over to protect his nose.
“What does that mean?” Freminet asks innocently, looking over at Lynette with tired, dazed eyes. “Did something happen? W-Was it my fault?”
Lynette quickly snaps awake again, shaking her head and taking Freminet’s hands.
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She promises, grimacing as she wonders if she should be honest with him right then and there. He’d only get upset, and they’d all already been through far too much that night. “It was just a prop mishap at our show a few nights ago. Nothing for you to stress about.” She assures him, giving him the gentlest smile she can muster as Freminet’s face twists into bewilderment.
“A few nights ago?” He asks, sitting up a little straighter, his eyes clearing. “You didn’t have a show a few nights ago.”
It’s Lynette’s turn to be confused now, and she fumbles her words, barely noticing Lyney dragging himself back up into a sitting position.
“Fremi, when do you think our show at the Opera Epiclese was?” Lyney cuts in, suddenly sounding very awake, as he stares over at Freminet with wild eyes.
“Last night––wasn’t it?” Freminet whispers, his eyes flicking between the twins as they stare back at him, shock written all over their faces.
“We need to go back to the doctor,” Lyney says, leaning closer, eyes scanning his little brother's head, looking for anything indicative of head trauma. “Something could be really wrong. We need to get you to a healer.”
“N-No!” Freminet cries, shoving Lyney back as he clambers to his feet, nearly falling back down as he stumbles over his own boots. “I didn’t hit my head like that. What’s going on?”
Lyney looks over to Lynette; her eyes are blown wide as she stares back at him, her expression desperately asking if he knew what to do, and Lyney did not, in fact, know what to do. He didn’t even know what was really going on, and part of him wanted to drag Freminet back to a doctor right that second, regardless of how much he kicked and screamed.
“Let's take a breather, okay, and we’ll talk it out, okay?” Lyney says, directing his attention back to his little brother, who was staring down at him with his lips pursed, and brow furrowed.
He imagines they made a hell of a sight right then, three clearly exhausted kids with eyebags as deep as the Chemin de L’Espoir all glancing manically between each other.
All Lyney wants is to go upstairs and crawl into his warm, inviting bed and get some peace, to lie quietly and drift off pretending that none of this mess was real and that their careers weren’t boned, and they didn’t live in a country with a legal system that operated off the whims of an immature god and a machine that no one knew a thing about.
“Well?” Freminet huffs, glaring at him in a way that probably would’ve been intimidating had he not looked so tired and damaged; the lighting of their entryway was bright against his skin, and the bruising looked so much worse under the harsh light. Maybe he’d just left the doctors too soon. Lyney had probably been rash to drag him home straight away; what if Freminet had a traumatic brain injury and Lyney had just aggravated it?
“Let go sit in the living room at least––actually, no, Freminet, your room will be comfier. Let’s go sit in your room.” Lynette pipes up, yawning and using the wall to help herself to her feet.
“Okay,” Freminet whispers hesitantly before reaching down and reluctantly helping Lyney to his feet.
“Thank you,” Lyney grimaces, ruffling Freminet's hair before looking back to Lynette. “Make sure to take your shoes off.” He chides gently, and Lynette rolls her eyes.
“One time, I accidentally wore my shoes upstairs one time, and you make it a whole thing.” She huffs, shaking her head as she kicks off her boots before stomping towards the stairs.
“You tracked dirt all through the house!” Lyney chuckles superficially, glancing over at Freminet. His little brother looked at least a little less on edge but still far from calm and content. Lyney sighs. “Come on, let's get our shoes off, too, and then we can talk, okay?”
“Okay,” Freminet says softly, toeing off his boots and putting his and Lynette’s in the cubbies off to the side. Lyney yanks off his too, and haphazardly tosses them towards the cubbies as he takes Freminet by the sleeve and starts to drag him upstairs. “The clock’s broken.”
“What?” Lyney asks, glancing back at Freminet, who’s staring at the grandfather clock at the top of the stairs.
“It’s too quiet. It must have stopped working while I was gone.” He mutters softly, shuffling from foot to foot as he stares at the clock with an intensity that Lyney would never understand giving to chores.
“Well, don’t worry about it right now.” Lyney sighs, yanking at Freminet’s sleeve to get him to keep walking.
“But how will everyone wake up in the morning?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Fremi, it’s morning, and we’re already awake.” Lyney huffs, letting go of Freminet and walking away, heading toward his room.
“But the others––” Freminet whispers, and Lyney is using every last bit of energy he has left to stop himself from turning around and snapping at him.
“Nobody has anywhere to be today. You can fix it later.”
Lyney hears Freminet grumble a little and then start walking again, his footsteps creaking against the wooden staircase as he makes his way up.
Lynette is waiting for both of them when they come in; she’d made herself comfortable on the floor with a pile of throw pillows and left the duvet on the bed pulled back. Lyney drops down beside her with a groan and lets his eyes rest a little as Freminet climbs up into his bed and puts Pers down on his little spot on the shelves beside the headboard. They all sit in a strange silence for a few seconds until Lynette speaks up.
“Freminet, our show at the Opera Epiclese was several days ago.” She says gently, looking up at him searchingly. “You’ve been gone for days.”
Freminet opens his mouth to respond but just sits there, gaping at them. Lyney could see the thoughts rushing around behind his eyes as he tried to put it all together.
“T-That doesn't make sense. I remember getting caught on that fishing net not long after I surfaced. I can’t have been gone for more than a few hours. They wouldn’t have just left that net alone for days. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Lyney grimaces, and none of it was making sense to him either; there was no way Freminet was in the open sea for more than one or, at a push, two days; any longer, and he would’ve suffered severe dehydration and likely would've died.
“Freminet, can you tell us what actually happened?” Lyney probes, looking at his little brother, who squirms a little under his gaze before nodding apprehensively. “We’ll be right with you, okay? You’re not alone; we can figure this out together.”
“Yeah,” Lynette smiles softly, and Freminet's face relaxes slightly as he nods back to her.
Freminet stomach was twisting up tighter and tighter as he tried to string together a coherent timeline in his mind and thought back to the atrocity he’d seen in the depths. How could he explain it in a way that would make the twins understand its horror without sounding like he was weak? If Father found out how afraid he’d been, she would force him to go back until he overcame that fear to make him stronger .
“I really did get lost on a dive.” He whispers, pointedly staring down at his hands. “But I was only underwater for an hour at most. There’s no way I was missing for days. That doesn’t make sense.”
“ You getting lost on a dive in the first place doesn’t make sense,” Lyney grumbles, making Freminet flush with embarrassment.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Then who’s fault was it, Fremi? Because I’m really tired, and I need you to tell me what actually happened right now, or I’m dragging you right back to a doctor.”
“Lyney!” Lynette snaps, smacking him with a pillow as she gets up and goes to sit on Freminet’s bed, leaving Lyney alone on the ground. “Are you alright?” She whispers, brushing the hair out of Freminet’s face.
Lyney immediately feels guilty as soon as he looks up to see the expression on Freminet’s face, the combined self-loathing and fear making Lyney feel as though he’d committed a cardinal sin and he really was too tired to handle this.
“I’m sorry, Freminet.” He groans, rubbing his face harshly, leaving his cheeks stinging from the rough fabric of his sleeves. “I’m just worried about you.”
Freminet nods, although the expression doesn’t leave his face even as he starts to talk.
“There’s this drop off the reef where I’ve been gathering ingredients.” Freminet’s voice is so soft he’s barely audible, but Lyney is too afraid to ask him to speak up just in case the interruption ruins his resolve. “It’s so deep, and I’ve wanted to check it out for ages, but I’ve been too busy. But since your friend took the ingredients to the forge for me, I had some extra time.” He lets out a shuddering sigh and clenches his fist tight as he steadies himself. “I thought there might be a wreck or a ruin down there, or even if there was nothing, I thought it’d be a nice long dive just to get my nerves settled before your show. I really wanted to be there for you.”
Lyney’s heart clenches, and Lynette looks at Freminet with so much love it’s palpable. Their little brother really was a gem, and they hadn’t given him enough credit. Lyney never should’ve believed he wouldn’t show up for what was supposed to be the biggest and best moment of their careers yet.
“Thank you for loving us, Fremi,” Lynette whispers, running her fingers through Freminet’s matted blonde hair with a glassy look in her eyes. “I’m so sorry we ever thought you would miss that.”
Freminet looks between them, trembling a little as they stare back lovingly, seeming so grateful for something Freminet hadn’t even managed to do.
“I-I–Okay.” He stutters, gulping before he continues. “I swam down, and for a while, I figured it was just empty; there were barely any fish down there, let alone ruins. There was absolutely nothing, and then there was the light.” A violent shudder ran through him as he recalled the anomaly, and he could swear he felt a cold hand brush against his spine. “I was so deep that I couldn’t make out the sun, and at first, I thought I’d gotten disoriented and turned around at some point since I couldn’t understand how there could be something so bright at the bottom of such a lifeless and empty chasm.” he gulps, and Lyney shifts closer to the bed, unconsciously putting himself between Freminet and the door. “I-I wasn’t sure what to do, and it started to pull me closer, and I saw a few fish being dragged ahead of me, and i-it was like they melted. It looked like they just dissolved into the light, and I felt so ill.”
Lyney thought he looked ill even as he just talked about it; the fear practically radiated off of him, and Freminet was not easily frightened. He may get anxious, but on missions and especially in the sea, Freminet was near indomitable. The idea of something so vile it could make his little brother look like he was about to be sick just speaking of it was highly concerning, especially since the only person he knew who could even dive to those depths and find the thing again was his baby brother and like hell was Lyney letting him go anywhere near it again.
“It’s alright, Freminet,” Lyney mutters grimly, reaching up to squeeze his arm and nod at him to keep talking.
Freminet’s lip quivers, but he keeps talking, and his voice seems stronger now.
“It took so much out of me to just swim away; the currents were so strong, but I got away. At that point, though, I was really far out to sea, and I had no idea where I was. With the distance between me and that thing, I realized it couldn’t be the sun. It was something else b-but I don’t know what.” Freminet took another deep breath and paused for a few seconds before speaking again. “I managed to get to the surface, and after that, I got caught up in that net and passed out. I woke up in the clinic.” They are all silent for a few seconds before Freminet keeps talking, his voice loud and desperate now. “There’s no feasible way I was missing for more than a day. They bring those kinds of nets in daily, and I was not injured enough to be unconscious for very long. I-It doesn’t make sense.”
Lyney glances away from Freminet and locks eyes with Lynette, who looks about as concerned and confused as he feels.
“Time must have moved differently around that light. I can’t think of any other explanation.” Lyney says reluctantly, even as a million other awful and increasingly implausible thoughts pop into his mind. “I know time has been rumoured to move differently in the abyss, but I still can’t make sense of it.”
“From what I heard, it moves slower there, not faster though.” Lynette ponders, brow furrowing in thought.
“That’s not entirely true. Stories of the abyss always vary regarding the perception of time. I think time probably moves unpredictably down there and likely varies on where you are in the abyss, too.” Lyney frowns before shaking himself back to the present and looking back over to Freminet, who seemed far from comforted by their words. “It doesn't matter. All that matters is your home and safe.” Lyney assures as he leans forward, forcing Freminet to look right at him. “We don’t have to worry about it right now. We all need to get some rest. I’ll figure it out. You don’t need to think about it again, okay, Freminet? I’ll worry about it from here.”
Freminet watches Lyney with wide eyes, and Lyney stays firm and slowly Freminet unwinds, leaning back into his pillows, sighing deeply as the stress seems to evaporate off of him.
“Okay, but you said something happened at your show. Is everything okay?” He asks, blinking blearily as he tries to swallow back a yawn.
“Oh, nothing for you to worry about. We can talk about it in the morning.” Lynette hushes, kissing Freminet on the forehead as she gets up and helps Lyney to his feet. “If you need us, please come get us, okay?”
Freminet nods and seems to pass out as soon as his head hits the pillow. Sleep coming easily with the weight finally lifting off his shoulders. The twins leave quietly, watching at the door as Freminet's face softens into a tranquil expression, and he begins to snore softly.
“He’s probably not going to be happy when we explain that we were on trial for murder, and he missed it, right?” Lyney whispers quietly to Lynette, who just grimaces.
"No, definitely not."
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Lyney manages to get a few hours of sleep, but unlike Lynette and Freminet, he struggles to sleep with the sun up. Lynette probably wouldn’t get up until it was night again. She always was fond of long naps in the sun, and with how tired she was, there was no way she’d be up before late afternoon. He was up by what he thought to be around ten in the morning. He couldn’t tell, though, because, as Freminet had so astutely pointed out, the clock was broken.
Most of the other kids in the house had gone out to perform tasks or hang out with friends, and the ones left were all hiding in their rooms and likely wouldn’t leave them until food was already on the table.
Lyney thought about going to check on Freminet to make sure he was still there and still breathing, but he and Lynette had been toeing the line of his privacy and comfort zone a little too much, and if Freminet caught him sneaking into his room while he was sleeping Lyney likely wouldn’t be forgiven. So he sits alone, brooding at the kitchen table, waiting for something to happen.
To his shock, Lynette appears first, still wearing her dressing gown, yawning and heading straight past him to make a cup of tea.
“Good morning,” Lyney greets, and Lynette looks back at him scathingly.
“It’s 4 pm, you heathen,”
“What? Wait, the clock is broken––” Lyney starts, but Lynette cuts him off clearly in her ‘I’ve just woken up against my will, and I’m going to make it everyone else's problem ’ mode.
“Freminet just finished fixing it.” She says, turning her back to him and grabbing the teabags and tea set before stomping back to the table and glaring expectantly at Lyney until he got up and headed over to heat up the water for the tea.
“Freminet should be resting.” He huffs, his attention torn between using his Pyro and Lynette. “Wait, when did he even wake up?”
“A few hours ago.” A small voice pipes in from the kitchen door, and Lyney flinches so violently that he almost sets the table on fire.
“Good god, don’t scare me like that.” He yelps quickly, trying to get his heat back under control as the water comes to a fast boil.
“Sorry,” Freminet winces as Lyney jumps up to avoid the water from boiling over onto his hand. Freminet waits quietly by the door as Lyney fusses around drying up the spilled water, and Lynette calmly prepares her tea.
“Are you feeling okay this morning, Freminet?” Lyney asks as he finally sits back down. “Do you need some painkillers?”
“No, I’m alright, and it’s just gone 4 pm, by the way,” Freminet says with a sigh, and Lyney has to bite down on his cheeks to stop himself from screaming. “Can we finish talking now?”
“Oh,” Lynette says, grimacing as she looks to Lyney, who quickly takes the lead.
“It’s really not a big deal, Fremi. It’s not that important.”
“If something happened, I should know.” Freminet frowns, looking between his siblings, who look guilty as sin, both refusing to look him in the eye.
“It’s, ugh,” Lyney groans, dropping his head into his hands as Lynette sighs loudly behind him.
“We didn’t kill our assistant,” Lynette says nonchalantly, and Lyney spins round to look at her in shock.
“What?” Freminet says, sounding utterly bewildered.
“Lynette!” Lyney yells, glaring at Lynette, who doesn’t even have the decency to look remorseful. Lyney quickly turns back to Freminet, who’s still standing, staring at them, looking baffled. “Our assistant was unfortunately killed on stage,” Lyney says, trying to sound as calm as possible even as the horrific event played again in his mind, making him want to squirm in his seat.
“What?” Freminet says, his eyes wide and concerned as he stumbles forward into the seat next to Lyney. “What happened?”
“Well, something went wrong with one of our props, and the lovely god Focalors decided it would be fun to accuse us of killing him for her soap opera of a court case.” Lyney snorts unhappily as Lynette takes a good long sip of her tea.
“Are you okay?” Freminet asks quietly, looking between both his siblings, who look like they’re trying to hide their true feelings from him. “You can talk to me.”
“Yeah, Fremi, we’re fine. We were acquitted, and everything was sorted, but it’s still not great PR to have someone die during your magic trick or to be revealed to be Fatui.” Lynette sighs, her facade slipping so Freminet can see the genuine bitterness his sister clearly doesn’t want him to see.
“They found out who we are,” Freminet asks, a hint of fear in his voice, which Lyney quickly tries to squash.
“Don’t worry about it, okay? I’m going to sort it out.” His older brother says with a steady smile, reaching up and ruffling Freminet’s messy bedhead.
“And I’ll make sure he doesn’t mess that part up.” Lynette cuts in with a small smile of her own. “But everything is going to be okay, alright.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” Freminet frowns and looks down at his feet resentfully, his shoulders drawing in, and Lynette can see him start to get stuck in his own head.
“Don’t ever blame yourself for something that isn’t your fault again.” She says, leaning over Lyney to grab Freminet’s face and force him to look up at her. “Do you hear me?”
“Okay,” Freminet says after a moment of silence, and Lynette doesn’t let him go until his shoulders relax again and his face softens.
“We’re all okay now, and we’ll sort everything out, but for right now, let's just rest and focus on getting back on our feet slowly.” Lyney smiles, catching Lynette's hand as she sits back down and offering his other hand to Freminet, who hesitates and then takes it in fervor, gripping on tightly. “We’ll all be fine as long as we’ve got each other, right?”
“Yeah.” Freminet nods, looking content as he stares down at their linked hands, the corners of his mouth pulling up ever so slightly.
“Let’s have some breakfast then, shall we?” Lyney laughs only to get shoved off by Lynette, who sighs wearily.
“It’s still 4 pm, you vagabond.” She huffs, getting up and heading into the kitchen as Lyney gapes at her back, and Freminet has to bite back a giggle.
“You’re the one who woke up late!”