Chapter Text
Citlali frowned, three days and Ifa still hasn’t woken up. Ororon was losing more sleep than usual and even Kinich seemed more alert than he normally was. Not like she can blame them though, so much happened in just the past few days. Honestly… how is it that these three keep getting into so much trouble?
Still, she is glad that the Knave managed to help out here, in a sense. Removing the Doctor’s influence was one thing, whether the ‘Ifa’ they know made it out unscathed is another.
“Lady Itztli, what is the matter?”
Citlali broke out of her thoughts as she turned to see Arlecchino look at her.
“Ah, it’s nothing.” Citlali said, “I don’t mean the cause offense, but do the people who take that solution usually go comatose for a few days before waking up?”
“For three days, no, not this long.” Arlecchino said, “At most it was two, but usually it’s only twelve hours to a day. Of course, Doctor Ifa is a very… unique case, is he not?”
“He is… but now I can’t help but worry.” Citlali said, “What if Ifa did lose everything?”
“Then he needs to built from the ground up again.” Arlecchino said, “Ifa is now free from the shackles of his past. The remnants of the Doctor are now completely burned away. He made his decision and risked becoming a clean slate, completely purified. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“But… his friends…” Citlali said, “Ororon and Ifa are extremely close, if Ifa doesn’t remember him, it’s going to crush him. Kinich and Chasca too, they all care for him, they’ve been through so much with him. If he just… lost all of that he…”
“I don’t see the issue. After all, there are key traits one keeps even after being cleansed.” Arlecchino said, “He became ‘Ifa’ after the Wayobs locked his memories away. If he became someone you all cherished due to that, I have no doubt it’ll be the same now.”
“That may be true, but still.” Citlali said, “It’ll be a lot of progress lost in that sense.”
Before either could speak, Chasca ran out to them.
“Citlali! He’s awake!” Chasca said.
Ororon blinked back tears as Ifa finally opened his eyes again.
“Ow….” Ifa groaned, he raised a hand to rub his head as he slowly got up.
Ororon barely caught how fast Chasca left the room. Probably to alert granny.
“Ifa, are you okay? How are you feeling?” Ororon asked.
Ifa looked at him, his eyes hazy just a bit.
Please… please remember who I am…
“Hey bro… what’s wrong?” Ifa asked, “What happened?”
“What do you remember?” Ororon asked.
“Huh? Uh well…” Ifa muttered, “Uh, wasn’t I on the way to meet you here? We were going to pick out some veggies for the saurians.”
Ororon blinked, Ifa… he didn’t remember what had occurred over the past few days.
“My head…” Ifa groaned, “Felt like a tatankasaurus just bulldozed me.”
“It’s been a few hectic days. You were knocked out cold.” Ororon tried to keep his breath steady from the sheer amount of relief he felt.
Ororon and Ifa turned to see Arlecchino, Kinich, Citlali, and Chasca walk in.
“Oh, you’re uh… you’re the Knave, aren’t you? Kinich’s friend?” Ifa asked, “What are you doing here?”
“A small upset with a colleague of mine that needed tending to.” Arlecchino said.
“You said a ‘few days’. How long was I-”
“You were comatose for three days. You had an unfortunate run in with a colleague of mine who thought he could extract information from you.” Arlecchino said, “But Kinich and your friends managed to fend him off long enough for me to send him on his way. You needn’t worry about him anymore.”
Ororon blinked, confused. Why was… Arlecchino not mentioning what happened? He looked at Citlali and Kinich and they both looked slightly confused.
“O-oh, I see… man, he must’ve done a number on me to knock me out for so long.” Ifa winced, “Wait, where’s Ca-”
“Bro!”
Before Ifa could finish, a small pink blur shot into the room and practically crashed into Ifa’s face.
Cacucu let out a few squawks as he nuzzled into Ifa’s hair.
“Bro! Thank you, bro! Happy, bro!” Cacucu chirped.
“Hey! Good to see you too.” Ifa chuckled, “So I take it that not much happened while I was unconscious?”
Ororon glanced at the others, only for Arlecchino to speak up again.
“Thankfully, our only concern was when you’d wake up. However, it seems like you’re in good health.” Arlecchino said, “I shall take my leave.”
“Uh, thanks?”
Ororon watched as the Knave left the room, watching as Kinich and Chasca quickly followed her out.
“You okay, bro?” Ifa asked, bringing Ororon’s attention back to ground level.
“Yeah, I’m just glad you’re alright.” Ororon said, “You had me worried.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to do that.” Ifa said, “Whoever nabbed me must’ve been scary. So, what exactly happened?”
Ororon glanced at Citlali and she gave him a knowing look. The Knave did what she did for a reason, maybe it’s best to play along for now…
“Peruere,” Kinich started, “Why did you lie about what happened?”
“Simply because it’s the most logical course of action.” Arlecchino said, “After all, telling him the truth of the matter might break his mind. Besides, the whole point was to burn his past away completely. Reminding him of it would be counterintuitive, would it not?”
“Perhaps…”
“So we have to keep it a secret now?” Chasca asked, “What happens if your colleague comes after him again?”
“The Doctor may be cruel, but he pragmatic to a fault. He knows when something is a lost cause.” Arlecchino said, “I’ll see to it. He came here in hopes he could ‘salvage’ something, but with his previous segment completely burned to ash, he knows all investment is lost. He won’t come after him again, he’s deemed a ‘failure’ now.”
“And that’s enough to keep him away?” Chasca asked.
“Keep him away from Doctor Ifa anyway.” Arlecchino said, “I doubt he’d quit coming here entirely, but there is a lack of reason for him targeting certain individuals.”
“So we still need to deal with him when the time comes.” Chasca said.
“Perhaps, I believe he should be focusing his research on Nod-Kai. Natlan should be out of his radar since it is my juristiction now.” Arlecchino said.
“...Ifa should be alright now, correct?” Kinich asked after a moment.
“Yes, we are lucky that the identity you all wanted to keep was the one that managed to survive.” Arlecchino said, “He shouldn’t worry about it anymore.”
“...Fixing him?”
Citlali nodded, “That’s what Ajaw told me. Apparently Cacucu was under the Wayobs orders to bring Ifa to one of the more potent Leyline and phlogiston zones because he needed ‘fixing’. Cacucu doesn’t know exactly what fixing meant though.”
“I can hazard a guess.” Biram said, “The Knave told us all some sordid details regarding Ifa’s composition.”
“Composition?”
“Apparently since he’s a ‘segment’ of another person, his body isn’t natural.” Mutota said, “According to her, Ifa is a cruel fusion and experiment involving natlanese the Doctor captured and studied to create him. To try and replicate our connection to the leylines and phlogiston as close as possible.”
“In such a vein, the lingering traces of those natlanese would still be in him.” Biram said, “In turn, the Wayobs would sense an unusual soul, one that is meant to be under their protection, but isn’t, one that is meant to be their child, but isn’t. What they did was probably why he was able to live as a normal natlanese this entire time, and likely into the future.”
“I see, so the Wayobs claimed Ifa as one of their own. That’s why his memories were sealed.” Citlali said, “The Wayobs somehow completely reconnected Ifa to the Natlan Leylines, ‘resetting’ his memories and giving him the proper abilities to manipulate phlogiston like normal.”
“That seems to be the case.” Biram said, “In light of all of this, what do you plan on doing, Mutota?”
“What else? Ifa can just continue his work as a vet.” Mutota said, “I don’t care about what happened back then. The one responsible already paid the price. I’ll keep an eye on Ifa to make sure he’s alright, and to make sure that other monster doesn’t come near him.”
“You have my thanks,” Citlali said, “Ororon is sticking to him like an aphid to a flower for the time being, I doubt he’d leave him alone anytime soon.”
Mutota chuckled, “Well, with Ifa being out of commission, his understudies took over for the time being, but definitely not at his level yet. Pretty sure they all could use an extra hand.”
“Are you sure you’re alright, Kinich?” Chasca asked.
Kinich nodded as he sat on the bed. Per Peruere’s request, he’s to remain with Citlali and the others for a few days to ‘monitor’ anything from when Dottore poked and prodded him, however brief it was.
“I’m fine… my muscles just ache a little, that’s all.” Kinich said, he clenched his arms a bit as the memories flashed by his mind again. He didn’t mind the pain of the metal syringes plunging into his veins as much as he thought. What got to him were the times when the Doctor drove that delusion into his chest. Searing hot energy coursed through his veins, burning him from the inside out.
It was a pain unlike any other. It felt like he was almost going to die.
Unlike the Night Warden Wars, he wasn’t on his last breath, he wasn’t raising his weapon on determination and will, he wasn’t remaining on his feet even though he should be on the ground. He wasn’t acting on his own. He was trapped. He was completely helpless. Bound to that damn table as Dottore caused him pain, and succeeded in breaking Ifa’s mind, he was completely helpless. He couldn’t fight back even if he wanted to.
He hadn’t felt so helpless in a long time. The last time was-
Kinich was broken from his thoughts as Chasca wrapped her arms around him in a sudden embrace.
It wasn’t until then did Kinich realize how fast his heart was beating. Or how his breath was running short.
“It’s okay, I won’t let him get close to you again.” Chasca said, “You or Ifa. That man will be dead before he gets the chance.”
She moved a hand up and gently rubbed the back of his head.
“Don’t worry, neither of you are alone. You’re not alone.” Chasca said, “I promise.”
Kinich took a breath as he leaned into her embrace.
“Thank you, Chasca.”
“You’re welcome, Kinich. I promise we’ll remain by your side.”
Ifa rubbed his head, man his head still hurt…
“Ifa, are you alright?” Ororon asked.
“Ah, I’m fine bro. Don’t worry.” Ifa smiled, “Still just a little achy in the noggin. I guess that guy did a major number on me.”
Ororon seemed to stiffen for a moment before hugging Ifa tightly.
“Bro?”
“He did, I was very worried…” Ororon said, “You need to be careful.”
“I will, I will, I promise.” Ifa said, “I didn’t mean to worry you. I guess the Knave helped out? I never really had a proper interaction with her.”
“She did, she helped out a good deal to help get you back. Are you sure you feel fine? No nightmares? Headaches?” Ororon asked.
“Huh, now that you mention it, I haven’t had a nightmare recently.” Ifa said.
It’s been a few days since he woke up, but everyone insisted he’d stay with Ororon for the time being to make sure he’s completely fine before returning to his usual work routine. These past few days, he hasn’t had any nightmares. They used to be a common occurrence, but now he hasn’t had one since he woke up from his brief coma.
He had heard Kinich got wrapped up in the incident too. The Doctor wasn’t so kind and kept Kinich awake. It wasn’t often Ifa saw Kinich so scared. Or so relieved to see he was alright. The last time was-
Ifa stopped, his mouth flattened for a moment before he shook his head. That was long ago, he shouldn’t be dwelling on it now.
“Ifa, something on your mind?”
Ifa shook his head, “Nothing, just glad that whatever chaos happened while I was out passed now. I’m glad Kinich and I managed to get out with minimal injuries. It’s good to know the storm has passes for now, y’know?”
Ororon smiled, “Yes, I’m glad too.”
“Ah, you’re back in Snezhnaya.” Arlecchino noted as she saw Dottore in his plain office space. On completely separated from his lab. He was writing something down in a notebook.
“Yes, a tumultuous journey in Natlan yielded results, but no opportunity to further study them.” Dottore said with a frown, “Did something happen to Theta?”
“Who knows, the Masters of the Night-Wind know their trade well.” Arlecchino said simply.
“Ah, so that’s the play.” Dottore said, crossing his arms. “Shame, here I thought an old segment survived Kusanali’s deal. Looks like another lost cause and failure in my wake. I put so many resources in him. Yet nothing to show for it. I take it this is revenge for touching that half dragon brat you decided to adopt, isn’t it?”
Arlecchino said nothing.
“Why is it the most interesting beings in Natlan are the ones I cannot touch?” Dottore sighed in agitation. “A broken soul, a contracted draconian body, and my old segment. None I can touch again because of certain circumstances.”
Arlecchino remained silent again for a moment.
Dottore scoffed, “Regardless, I do plan on returning to Natlan and conducting research not pertaining to those three. I’m certain that would appease you?”
“Just don’t do anything that would hurt the Fatui’s relations with Natlan.” Arlecchino said as she turned to leave, “Capitano sacrificed a good deal, and I’ve been trying to maintain it for the Tsaritsa. Best you don’t do anything that harms our efforts.”