Chapter Text
The apartment fell quiet again after that.
Not comfortably quiet either.
The kind of silence that pressed awkwardly into every corner of the room while Johnny sat stiffly against the couch trying very hard not to look directly at the shirtless Aurea executioner moving around the kitchen area like this situation was remotely normal. Steam still lingered faintly near the bathroom doorway behind Gyro, carrying the scent of soap and warm water through the apartment while the low hum of the air conditioner filled the spaces between them.
Johnny's heart still hadn't calmed down properly.
Partially because of the whole kidnapping situation.
Partially because Julius Zeppeli apparently looked like that.
The executioner opened the fridge without much interest and retrieved a bottle of water before finally glancing back toward Johnny again. Damp blond hair fell loosely around his face now without the hood or ponytail keeping it restrained, softer somehow beneath the apartment lighting despite the scars crossing his shoulders and torso beneath the gold-tinted shadows.
Johnny immediately looked away again.
God.
This was humiliating.
"You panic loudly," Gyro observed calmly before taking a sip of chilled water.
Johnny frowned slightly from the couch. "You kidnapped me."
"You were bleeding in an alley."
"You knocked me unconscious with a damned metal ball."
Gyro leaned one shoulder lightly against the kitchen counter afterward, studying Johnny with the same unsettling stillness he carried earlier beneath the robes. Up close, the executioner looked younger than Johnny expected from Aurea's reputation. Not harmless, obviously. There remained something deeply dangerous beneath the calm expression and tired green eyes watching him across the apartment.
But human.
Annoyingly human.
"I prevented Corp.O from retrieving you," Gyro said quietly. "That benefits both of us."
Johnny opened his mouth immediately.
Gyro interrupted before he could speak.
"And before you ask, no, this does not mean Aurea suddenly trusts you."
The words landed colder than anything else he'd said so far.
Johnny fell silent.
Gyro pushed himself away from the counter afterward and walked toward the couch area slowly, bare feet nearly soundless against the wooden floor while water droplets still clung faintly to pale skin along his collarbone and neck. The closer he got, the easier it became for Johnny to notice details he missed earlier.
The scars, mostly.
There were so many of them.
Thin pale marks crossing his arms. A deeper one stretching beneath his ribs. Small circular scars near the shoulder that looked disturbingly like old bullet wounds. None appeared recent enough to still hurt, but together they painted an ugly picture of the kind of life Aurea executioners apparently survived.
Gyro stopped beside the couch eventually.
Then crouched slightly so his eyes aligned directly with Johnny's.
The shift in atmosphere happened instantly.
Every trace of earlier awkwardness disappeared.
Johnny felt it immediately.
The executioner's expression hadn't visibly changed much, but something colder settled behind the green eyes now while the apartment itself suddenly seemed smaller around them.
"If you speak Aurea's name publicly," Gyro said softly, "I will kill you."
Johnny's breath caught.
No anger accompanied the threat.
No dramatic violence.
Gyro spoke with the same calm tone someone might use discussing weather forecasts or train schedules, which somehow made it infinitely worse.
"I don't care whether you tell police, journalists, Corp.O, or priests. One stray word connecting Aurea to you becomes a liability, and liabilities are removed." The gold grills glinted faintly when he spoke certain words. "Do you understand?"
Johnny nodded before realizing how pathetic that probably looked.
Then nodded again anyway.
Gyro continued watching him silently for several moments afterward like he was checking whether the threat settled properly into place. Apparently satisfied, he straightened again and walked back toward the kitchen without another word.
Johnny exhaled shakily once the distance returned between them.
Right.
There it was.
That was the terrifying cult assassin Ferdinand warned everyone about.
Not the guy standing barefoot in sweatpants after a bath.
The executioner.
The one trained since childhood to kill people without hesitation if Aurea demanded it.
Johnny rubbed both hands slowly against his face while trying to steady his breathing again. His thoughts still felt disorganized from blood loss and shock and whatever the hell happened tonight, but the fear itself had become painfully real now in a way yesterday's meeting with Corp.O never fully managed.
Because Valentine frightened him intellectually.
Gyro frightened him physically.
The executioner returned a few minutes later carrying another water bottle and a small medical kit which he dropped unceremoniously onto the coffee table beside the couch.
"You should rewrap the bandage eventually."
Johnny blinked at the supplies.
"... Thanks."
Gyro shrugged slightly.
The gesture looked strangely casual coming from someone who arranged bodies into spirals less than twenty-four hours ago.
For several minutes neither of them spoke afterward. Johnny unscrewed the water bottle mostly to give his hands something to do while Gyro moved quietly around the apartment collecting pieces of the discarded executioner robes from where they'd been draped earlier across chairs and furniture.
Without the robes fully assembled, Johnny could see the gold spirals more clearly now.
Beautiful craftsmanship.
Each embroidered line curled intricately through the black fabric in overlapping patterns almost hypnotic to look at for too long. Some appeared faded from age while others gleamed brighter beneath the apartment lights, forming elaborate rotational symbols that resembled sacred geometry more than ordinary decoration.
Johnny noticed Latin stitched subtly along one sleeve.
"Motus Dei."
Movement of God.
The realization sent another uncomfortable chill through him.
Gyro caught him staring again.
"This interests you too much."
Johnny looked up immediately. "What?"
"The robes." Gyro folded one sleeve carefully before setting it aside. "You keep examining them."
Johnny hesitated.
"... I'm a humanities professor."
"A convenient excuse."
"It's literally my job to analyze religious symbolism."
Gyro hummed quietly beneath his breath, unconvinced.
Johnny took another drink of water mostly to avoid saying anything else stupid. The apartment lighting had softened further now that evening settled fully outside the windows, casting long shadows across the room while city lights glowed faintly beyond the glass.
Finally, unable to tolerate the silence anymore, Johnny spoke again.
"So what now?"
Gyro glanced toward him.
"What do you mean."
"I mean Corp.O tried to kill me." Johnny gestured vaguely toward his bandaged leg. "I'm assuming that wasn't a one-time thing."
"It wasn't."
"Great."
Gyro continued folding the robes calmly.
"You know about the corpse parts now. You know Aurea exists. Corp.O already considers you compromised enough for elimination." His voice remained matter-of-factly detached. "Returning to your apartment would be suicidal."
Johnny stared blankly at him.
The reality of that settled heavily into his chest.
His apartment.
His university.
His entire normal life.
Gone overnight.
Because he got curious.
Johnny laughed weakly once under his breath.
"Fantastic."
Gyro finally looked at him properly again.
"You should've ignored Ferdinand's call."
Johnny's expression tightened slightly.
"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly expect secret organizations and religious assassins to become my problem."
"They became your problem the moment you researched the saint's corpse publicly."
Johnny frowned. "What does that mean?"
Gyro remained silent briefly before answering.
"Aurea monitors scholars discussing the corpse."
The statement made Johnny's stomach drop.
"Excuse me?"
"You wrote three papers regarding medieval pilgrimage myths tied to fragmented holy relics." Gyro leaned lightly against the kitchen counter again afterward, arms folded loosely across his chest. "Gregorio noticed similarities between your theories and restricted Aurea records years ago."
Johnny blinked slowly.
"You've been watching me?"
"Aurea has."
"That's somehow worse."
Gyro ignored the comment entirely.
"You possess information Corp.O wants. More importantly, you possess information Aurea doesn't."
Johnny frowned harder. "Like what?"
"The location of the corpse."
Johnny almost laughed.
"What? No I don't."
"You will."
The certainty in Gyro's voice unsettled him immediately.
Johnny stared at the executioner for several moments before speaking more quietly.
"Why are you helping me?"
That finally caused a slight pause.
Gyro looked away briefly toward the apartment window before answering.
"I'm not helping you."
"Then what is this?"
"A temporary arrangement." His tone flattened again. "Corp.O exposed their intentions too early by targeting you. That means Valentine believes your research capabilities remain useful enough to justify surveillance but dangerous enough to justify elimination."
Johnny rubbed tiredly at his forehead.
"You talk like a CIA report."
Gyro continued without acknowledging the interruption.
"Aurea lacks direct access to Corp.O's internal research databases. You already breached them once." Green eyes shifted calmly back toward Johnny afterward. "Which means you know something we don't."
The realization settled slowly into place.
Johnny looked at him carefully.
"So that's why you brought me here."
Gyro didn't deny it.
The apartment grew quiet again afterward while Johnny processed the situation. Outside, distant traffic lights reflected faintly across nearby buildings and somewhere below street music drifted upward through the warm night air.
Eventually Johnny spoke again.
"If I help Aurea..." He hesitated slightly. "What happens to me afterward?"
Gyro answered immediately.
"Depends."
"On what?"
"Whether you become another liability."
Johnny stared at him flatly. "You're really bad at reassuring people."
"I doesn't prioritize reassurance."
"No kidding."
Despite himself, Johnny noticed something faintly amused flicker across Gyro's expression at that before disappearing again almost immediately.
Then silence returned.
Longer this time.
Johnny's thoughts spiralled restlessly beneath the quiet while he stared down at the untouched medical supplies resting on the coffee table beside him. The reality of his situation had finally become impossible to avoid now.
Corp.O wanted him dead.
Aurea didn't trust him.
And he had absolutely nowhere else left to go.
The thought of being abandoned outside this apartment suddenly felt terrifying enough to make his chest tighten painfully.
Johnny looked up sharply toward Gyro again.
"Wait."
The executioner paused.
"What."
Johnny swallowed hard.
"I can't leave."
Gyro frowned faintly. "Obviously."
"No, I mean..." Johnny struggled briefly to organize the panic rising through him properly. "You can't just throw me back out there once you get whatever information you want."
Gyro's expression remained unreadable.
Johnny pressed onward anyway.
"Corp.O already tried killing me once. If they find me again, I'm dead." His voice tightened despite how hard he tried controlling it. "And I don't exactly think the police are gonna believe me when I explain Jesus's corpse bits and extremist death cults."
The gold spirals folded across Gyro's lap caught the apartment light softly while he listened.
Johnny leaned forward slightly against the couch.
"I can help."
"You already are."
"No, seriously." Desperation crept more visibly into his voice now. "I know how to research this stuff. Religious history, pilgrimage routes, relic traditions, manuscript translation. That's literally my field."
Gyro remained silent.
Johnny hated how impossible it felt reading his expression.
"And if the corpse parts really exist..." Johnny continued more quietly, "then Corp.O's not gonna stop searching for them either."
Still nothing.
Johnny's chest tightened harder.
He suddenly realized this conversation probably determined whether he survived the week.
"I don't wanna die," he admitted finally.
The honesty hung awkwardly through the apartment afterward.
Gyro looked at him for a long moment.
Then sighed softly through his nose.
Executioners probably weren't supposed to hesitate like that.
"Aurea isn't safe either," he said eventually.
"I know."
"You don't." His voice remained calm, though something heavier lingered beneath it now. "You think Corp.O is frightening because they hide behind politics and surveillance. Aurea is older. More secretive. More willing to sacrifice people for doctrine."
Johnny swallowed.
"Still better than being murdered by Valentine."
Another silence.
Gyro walked slowly toward the apartment window afterward and looked out across the city lights beyond the glass while loose blond hair shifted softly around his shoulders. Without the robes fully concealing him, he looked strangely young standing there beneath the dim apartment lighting despite everything dangerous resting beneath the surface.
Finally he spoke again.
"If Gregorio discovers I kept you alive without authorization, he'll likely order your execution personally."
Johnny blinked.
"... That's comforting."
Gyro ignored him.
"But." A pause followed. "Until Aurea determines whether your knowledge proves useful, Corp.O will have difficulty reaching you near me."
Johnny stared at him.
That wasn't agreement exactly.
But it also wasn't refusal.
Hope sparked painfully through his chest anyway.
"So I can stay?"
Gyro turned slightly toward him again.
"Temporarily."
Johnny exhaled shakily in relief before he could stop himself.
Then Gyro added coldly:
"If you become a liability, I won't hesitate."
The relief vanished immediately.
Johnny nodded anyway.
"... Right."
The executioner watched him carefully for another few seconds before finally walking back toward the kitchen area again, apparently considering the discussion finished.
Johnny slumped backward against the couch cushions afterward, exhaustion crashing violently into him now that adrenaline had mostly faded. Everything hurt. His head. His shoulders. His chest.
And somewhere beneath all of it remained the ugly desperate hope still clawing through his thoughts.
The corpse could heal him.
Even now, after everything that happened tonight, he couldn't stop wanting it.
Across the apartment, Gyro silently resumed folding the black executioner robes beneath the soft yellow lighting while the city stretched endlessly outside the windows around them both.