Chapter Text
This was one hell of a fever, Cipher thought as she stared down at the snowy-haired boy that was just a bit too tall to fit comfortably into the bed. Well, comfortably if he had stretched out. Phainon had managed to make himself look very small indeed, huddled under the heap of messy blankets. The strands of sweat-soaked hair plastered to his forehead did nothing to make him look any older. It had been days- nearly three, and Cipher hadn’t seen him conscious for more than a handful of minutes at once.
“I would love if you ate something,” Cipher sighed. “It’d be such a shame if you went through all that just to have a little fever end you.” Phainon twitched, but his eyes didn’t so much as peek open. He let out a soft whine instead, his eyebrows drawing together in a way that made Cipher’s chest tighten. “Don’t die on my watch, kid,” she whispered, “You’re gonna make me look bad.” Her ears picked up the sound of a door closing with a bit more force than necessary in the next room, and her mind set on her next task. “Ah, gotta dash!” She pointed sternly at Phainon. “Get better.”
Cipher zipped into the hallway, coming to a halt just in front of her other current problem child. “Hey, gotta request for you.”
Charon eyed her with no amount of joy. “Hi. Don’t want to hear it.” Undeterred, Cipher dangled a pouch in front of him. The clinking of coins from inside of it seemed to resonate, since Charon folded his arms instead of continuing to walk past her. They stared at each other for several seconds before Charon exhaled loudly and made a gesture to continue.
“I would like you to head into one of the villages and pick up a few more pairs of clothing for our…little guest.”
Charon scoffed. “‘Little guest’ isn’t how I’d refer to the Phainon.”
“Well, we go way back.” Not technically a lie. “And, there should be enough for you and Aether to get something for yourselves as well.”
“Why Aether, too? Just have him go get it.”
Cipher raised an eyebrow, glancing meaningfully at the multiple rips in the boy’s pants. “Do you want the money or not?”
Charon sighed again and yanked the money from her hand. “Any color preferences or anything?”
Cipher snickered, thinking back to the numerous disparaging comments she had heard about Phainon’s taste in clothing. “Not particularly.”
“Great.” He walked off, Cipher hoped in the direction of the kitchen. She hadn’t seen him since that big storm came through, and had no idea if he had been eaten in that time. From what little she knew of the kid, he had probably been slinking around the villages to see what valuables weren’t nailed down. Not really her business, though, given her own track record. Cipher made it a rule to, well, not really have any when it came to kids staying here. As long as they didn’t get into fights with each other and helped out with chores every once and a while they were welcome to come and go as they pleased, and spend their time doing largely whatever they liked. They would have their own bed here and fresh food at the ready, and Cipher found the rest of it usually sorted itself out over time.
Charon was a more recent addition to the house, and Cipher knew he just needed some time before he came to think of it as truly safe. After all, Aglaea tried for years and I…well. That wasn’t really the same thing. Eventually she moved on to more…moldable things. Cipher’s mood soured as she thought about Phainon, lying ill in the next room. You were just the type of person she wanted. Did she end up getting sick of you too? Or was the weight of her expectations too much to handle?
Maybe they weren’t so different. They had both run away.
Another day passed, and Cipher’s worry began to manifest itself in ways she didn’t appreciate. Staring intently off into space, little fingers had tugged on her sleeve and Cipher whirled around so quickly she made Tamesis fall over.
“Shit- sorry, little one.” Cipher squatted down to be at eye level with the timid girl. “You hurt?” Tamesis shook her head but stayed silent, her eyes wide. “Did you…have something you wanted?”
“Um…” her voice was barely more than a whisper. “Miss Cipher, is- uh…that man still here?”
Cipher’s chest tightened. Now that she thought about it, the little girl had been sticking either to her room or near one of the big kids since Phainon had arrived. “Yeah, kitten. He’s not feeling well, so he’s resting for a while.”
Still sitting down from her unexpected meeting with the floor, Tamesis’s fingers gripped the edge of her dress. “…still sick?”
“Sleeping. He…um…” Cipher trailed off, trying to find a way around explaining Amphoreus’ very complicated and bloody history to a seven year old. “He had to carry something reallllllllly, really heavy. For a long time. And that made him feel really tired, and really sick.”
Tamesis nodded, as if that made sense to her. “I was sick for a week once,” she added sagely.
“Yeah, yeah, exactly! Just like that.” Cipher reached forward to ruffle her hair, making a slightly exaggerated face at the tangles she found. “Little miss, if your hair stays for that for much longer the birds are going to make it into a nest. Want me to help you brush it?”
Tamesis thought for a moment before nodding and scampering off towards the room she shared with Cerelia and Lumine. She was definitely on the younger end of the kids here, probably the youngest. Cipher usually only took on those who didn’t have a place to go, but also wanted to be more independent. Usually the street kids who had a hard time trusting or letting anyone do things for them. Like she had been. Like she still was.
For the younger kids, or those who would thrive in a family setting, Cipher had a bit of a system set up with Hyacine to help them find families who would welcome them. It worked out pretty well, since she didn’t have to stick around and do a ton of nurturing for the kids she did have. Normally, at least. Since Cipher had gotten Tamesis out of that horrible house, any mention of going to live in Okhema had shut her down completely. And if a little girl didn’t want to go somewhere, Cipher was no monster. It had kept her tied down to the house a bit more, but maybe she didn’t mind so much. Not like there was much excitement to be had after the whole recurrences thing got sorted out. And there’s me going and thinking about golden boy again. Cipher chewed on the corner of her lip. Maybe I should talk to Hyacinny. She grimaced as her mind went back to the rather pointed texts she had sent to the rest of the Heirs. …well, maybe if he’s not up by the end of the day.
The end of the day approached, and Cipher’s fears were not alleviated. She watched the sun go down, mentally tussling with herself about what the definition of the “end” even entailed. ‘
“Whatever,” she muttered under her breath, walking upstairs to his room. She knocked lightly, then peered her head in after her feline ears picked up nothing in return. Sure enough, he was still sleeping. Cipher walked to his bedside, giving him a little poke in the side. “Hey, can you wake up already? My pride is kinda on the line here.”
Phainon’s eyebrows drew together, his face twisting in what seemed to be pain. “...no…use,” he breathed, his voice coming out low and ragged.
Cipher stared blankly at him. “...huh?”
“...can’t…change- mind.”
“Oh,” a bit of the tension in her shoulders eased. “You’re having a dream.” She was about to call that good enough and check back in the next day when his eyes fluttered open. Unfocused and hollow, his gaze found her but didn’t see her. Instinctively, Cipher shivered. Those same eyes, that same look, haunted her as the last thing she saw before imminent death.
Her instincts never let her down, and it was the only thing that kept her alive as a sword slammed into the ground where she had just stood. Cipher was fast, obviously, but Phainon’s ability to spring up and swing that humongous sword so quickly was downright inhuman.
“TITANS-” she yelped as she sprang towards the door, “so much for that fever, huh?” Phainon swung again, this time visibly staggering as the momentum of the swing carried him forward. “Deliverer boy, where do you think you are right now?!”
“Don’t-” he panted, eyes sunken and chest already heaving with effort. “It’s- inevi…table-”
Somehow Cipher managed to wrangle her mind out of panic mode enough to realize that he was stuck in a memory or a dream or something. Although, she would be a bit more sympathetic if he wasn’t actively trying to kill her. She made a split-second movement and flipped her coin high up in the air, but only chose to move out of his direct line of sight. Sure enough, after several moments Phainon’s muscles tensed in a way she recognized all too well, preparing to take off using the exact same speed. But he didn’t have that power anymore. Cipher let the coin fall back into her hand, chest heaving with adrenaline as she fought every nerve in her body telling her to run. She saw the exact moment Phainon came back.
His eyes widened, darting around the room before landing on the sword in his hands. Dawnmaker slipped out of his fingers, making a loud thud that must have been audible to everyone in the house. “I- Cipher-”
She held her hands out in front of her in a placating gesture, trying to school her tone into something gentle instead of the many words she was screaming at him in her mind. “You didn’t hurt me, okay?”
Phainon started to visibly shake, his arms coming up to wrap around his torso. “Sorry-” he choked, taking a few weak steps backwards. “I didn’t-” He bumped up against the wall and his knees buckled, collapsing into a sit. “I-”
“Hey,” Cipher managed, taking a few steps forward before she realized she had even moved. “Don’t try to talk right now.” She stopped when it seemed to only quicken Phainon’s already too-fast breathing. His eyes were wide, distant, cornered.
One thing became abundantly clear to her at that moment. If he left here, he would die. Whether that was at his own hands or that of hunger or illness, there was nothing he would do to save himself. Somehow, she had become the only person that still stood in his way. And to that end, the first thing she decided to do was get out of his way. Resisting every muscle in her body that was pulling her the other direction, Cipher walked forward and let her back slide down the wall until she was sitting a few feet from him. Phainon let out a small, choked cry, and buried his face into his knees. Cipher tried not to look, instead finding a spot on the opposite wall to stare at and accepting that she was going to be here for a while. She didn’t know much about him. If it were Mydei or Castorice, they might have the knowledge of what could comfort him in a situation like this. I’m not good at that sort of a thing, anyways.
Phainon’s breaths had devolved into sharp, choking gasps that he was trying his best to muffle into his knees. While she hadn’t been trying to intrude, it had been impossible not to hear the sounds of his crying echo through the Express when he had been up with Stelle in her room. It didn’t sound like this, though. Those sounds had been ones of liberation, of the pent-up weight of millions of years being lifted. The sounds Cipher was hearing now were ones of someone who didn’t think they could hold on any longer. Her head started to spin, trying to find purchase on any ideas of how to help him. To keep him here, where at least one person would still be able to keep an eye on him.
Cipher had gotten so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t register when Phainon’s breathing eventually evened out, his head drooping even further into his arms. “Miss Cipher,” his voice was scratchy, words so quiet they were almost indiscernible. “I have no excuse for my actions.”
“A ‘sorry’ would be nice,” Cipher replied before she could think better of it.
Phainon picked his head up, surprise visible in his ocean-blue eyes. “Right…” he stammered, “sorry.”
“Anyways, I’m going to go get you some food. Did you know you’ve been asleep for days?”
“I-” Phainon’s eyes were glued to Cipher as she arose. “No, I should- I need to go.”
Cipher ignored him. “There’s some clothes I think will fit you over there,” she waved her hand vaguely towards the dresser, “and I better see you resting when I get back.” She paused at the doorway, glancing back at the stunned boy on the far side of the room. “Also drop the Miss, okay Deliverer boy? You sound like one of the kids.”
Titans above, I really don’t need another reason to think of him as one of the kids.