Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had been four days now, since Cyno left Aaru village with little to no explanations whatsoever.

Four days during which, Alhaitham was peacefully consuming his book content, sitting in the same spot for hours, almost statue-like, what Dehya actually did not fail to highlight multiple times with groans and glares, saying "he isn't helping".

Alhaitham did not mind. Not in the slightest. On the opposite side, Dehya was someone who needed to move, evolve in her own space. Alhaitham was far from that mindset. Sitting and reading for hours was much more interesting and enjoyable from his point of view.

But still, those last few days felt off for him and he somehow couldn't focus properly on his hobby as he wanted to.

He abruptly closed his book along with a heavy sigh.

"What are you sighing for?" Asked Dehya who happened to be setting the table at the exact same time.

He glanced over the mercenary but judged not worth responding to her.
With that, he stood up and placed himself in front of the only window of the living room.

The weather was awful.

Less than at the beggining of their journey, but still not improving much.
Of course Aaru village's streets were empty...
Well that's what he assumed since it would have been a miracle to see through so much wind and sand from a simple window.

And so he thought, what had been thinking Cyno to wander on his own outside of the town with this kind of weather going on? He was, of course, a bit rash himself sometimes but never reckless.

Inside of him, the Scribe felt irritation.
This kind of behaviour lacked of seriousness and could compromise their whole plan considering the General was sort of being spied on by the sages.

Yes.

That was bugging him a whole lot.

He automatically frowned as he remembered the exact moment Cyno announced he would leave for a few days.

They were all reunited in the living room, eating the simple meals Candace had the kindness to offer.
That day, Alhaitham had noticed that the general had barely touched his plate but made no comment about it.
Finally, the matra had stood up rather harshly which even had for effect to have Paimon choke on her food at the sudden movement.

"What's the matter General?" He had asked, only to receive a nasty glare in response.

"I need to talk to you, Candace." Declared Cyno, staring at the hydro user.

"In private."
He added.

She blinked a few times before smiling at the rest of the group and excusing herself as she left with Cyno in another room.

When she came back, the General had vanished.

"Cyno won't be able to be there for the next few days. He told me he had some urgent matters to take care of and hope you can all understand. He said he would try to get back to us as soon as possible."
She explained elegantly.

"Ha?! What? Cyno left? But why?!"
Asked Paimon with a confused expression.

"I'm afraid I don't know why."
Had answered their host.

Lies.
Alhaitham could easily tell that Candace knew the exact reason Cyno left. It would be hard to believe that she let him escape so easily and without a good point, knowing the weather was so unstable at the time.

However, he didn't refute what she said and kept this to himself.
Not that he was particularly interested in Cyno's motives anyways.

Plus, Cyno was by far the most skilled man out of the group when it came to exploring the desert. He was a capable and clever boy, so the Scribe wasn't feeling particularly worried over him.

At least, that's what he thought until the morning.
Indeed, when he woke up at dawn, he suddenly felt nauseous for no reasons, his head was throwing a tantrum and a roll of sweat had made its way towards his cheek.
He remembered rubbing his temples together as to ease the sick feeling away but it did cease only a hour and half later.
Of course he didn't discuss about and assumed it must have been the food that he had a hard time to digest.

Pretty much everyone seemed to be warry of him anyways.
Not that it mattered for him actually.

But coming back to the Cyno problem, he was starting to think that he would have to take action sooner or later.

He was in deep thoughts when the front door opened, revealing Candace's figure and oh so immaculate clothes even though the sandstorm was fighting hard today.

"Haitham, I see you've decided to move. Sadly the sand is all over the place again this morning. I think we will still need to wait for a couple of days before exploring the areas."
She explained, making her way inside, carefully swipping the sand she brought along with her.

"Do you have any updates on Cyno?"
He asked, clearly uninterested in small talks about the weather.

Candace seemed surprised at the sudden question but shook her head.

"I'm afraid I received nothing. I'm starting to worry as well."

The apologetic look she sent him made him frown.

"Do not take offence in what I'm going to say Candace but, you can lie better than that."

She stayed still for a moment. Alhaitham crossed his arms and she smiled.

"Ah always so perceptive. I told Cyno it would be hard to hide the truth from you. I guess I was indeed right. But he insisted on not telling anyone the reason of his departure. Especially you."
She emphasized on the last word and Alhaitham did feel a bit annoyed but not really surprised.
It was true Cyno looked ready to judge and drag him in front of a crowded trial at any moment for any valuable reason.

"Why is that?"

"You do know the answer. It's very obvious that he has a hard time bearing your presence. I don't think he forcefully hates you but you do feel like an intruder and untrusworthy person in his mind."

"I don't mind that."

"Of course you don't. I actually think that it's this unphased attitude that gets on his nerves."

"He is pretty emotionless himself."

Silence.

"Not when you get to know him."

Alhaitham looked bewildered at this kind of answer. It sounded awfully simple.

And all of the sudden, for just a couple of seconds, he did wonder what this side of Cyno could sound and look like.
Pure interest.

It was at this moment that Dehya chose to come back.

"Ha! Candace you're finally back! Traveller and I made dinner since you were pretty busy all day. Consider this as a thank you for your hospitality."

The hydro user chuckled.

"How nice. You shouldn't have. We're friends Dehya, you owes me nothing. Although it's a pleasant surprise."

"Hmpf.. I'll bring the rest, so just make yourself at ease."

Candace waited for her to leave before turning to Alhaitham.

"I'm sorry I can't explain the details for now since we're gonna eat so let's meet tonight at the front gate around a hour after I leave the house. "

She didn't let him a chance to reply, and disappeared in the kitchen as well.

_____________________________

Alhaitham went back to his reading habit after sharing dinner time with the whole group.
Candace had left once they were done with it, explaining it was her turn to guard the village tonight and so, Haitham had to wait until the hour of their meeting.

At first, the Scribe had begun to worry about finding a good reason to actually exit the house so late in the night. Considering that traveller and Dehya (especially her) held some suspicious instincts towards him and he would prefer not to get clumsily followed by one of those two.
Though, it seemed like the Archon was by his side tonight. Dehya had declared being exhausted as she had trained almost all day long with her new blade and hit off the bed almost immediately after eating.
As for the traveller and Paimon, they both chatted with him, or at least they tried, until minutes ago before finally waving him goodnight and disappearing upstairs as well.

When he decided it was close enough to be the time, the former scholar left silently, tugging his book in a sort of leather bag that he had previously filled with important supplies such as water, food and documents from the akademya.

With that, it took him only a couple of minutes to get to the entrance of the village where he saw Candace standing still, visibly waiting for him.

Noticing his footstep pattern, the polearm user turned around.

"So you came. I was starting to think you wouldn't."

"I'm not late as far as I know."

"That's true, but I imagined you as the kind of man to get there earlier on those kind of special occasions."

"Well, you're in the wrong for thinking this. That would be a waste of time. Anyways, I did come to get the informations I need. Isn't it a bit ironic to call ourselves a group when some of us are hiding crucial news from the rest?"

Candace huffed gently.
"You act as if you don't have any secrets yourself. But I guess you do have a point. Although I wish for you to understand that I was merely only trying to respect Cyno's desires."

"Give me the details."

"As you wish."
He crossed his arms and she continued.

"I think you must remember when Cyno asked for a private talk with me four days ago right? He did ask me to leave and I firmly rejected his demand as I judged the weather way too unstable for the moment. He said he expected this kind of answer from me, and so, told me he was going to give me a good reason but that I shouldn't repeat it to anyone. After that he announced he was heading towards the Scarlet king Mausoleum."

"What was his reason to go back there?"

"I won't reveal to you this piece of information. I'm no one to break off promises."

"Did you get any updates from him?"

"I did. The next day following his departure. He sent me some matra who came at this gate, informing me that general Mahamatra had gotten safely into the Scarlet King area."

"Nothing more recent?"

"Sadly not. That's also part of the reason I'm revealing all of this to you. I'm getting worried myself. I thought he would be back today but seeing he was still missing, I was going to tell the group what I'm explaining to you right now but you came first to me. I guess I'm glad you did."

Alhaitham made not comment as he felt she wanted to add something and she did.

"I can't leave the village as you know, I can't also ask Dehya to go after him as I don't think she would take the situation seriously and I don't know much about the traveller so it's also not an option for me to ask them. You seem to be the most reliable choice."

"You want me to go after him?"

"Well, weren't you going to do it? Isn't that why you needed those clues?"

The Scribe remained silent.

Candace squinted her eyes just a bit.

"If you do go, I advise you to take the path at the East of the village. It may take longer but it'll be safer since the sandstorm seems to be coming from the West this time."

Those were the last words he heard from her as he did leave for the indicated path right after this sentence.

Being considered as the safest option for this mission felt like pure irony to him but, Alhaitham did not see it as a burden.
It would even benefit him more than drag him down.
On one hand he could collect a lot of important datas about the Mausoleum's lore as well as the Scarlet King's. It was an opportunity like no other for someone like him.
Not to mention it also permitted him to do something else than just sit around all day long.
After all, the lunatic appreciated some alone time and thrilling discoveries more than anything else.

Candace hadn't been wrong on her predictions. The East side was relatively calmer and he reached the first statue of the seven, more than a hour after exiting the gates of the village.

He wasn't feeling particularly sleepy nor tired so he decided to keep on moving forward for the rest of the night.
If he was correct, he should reach the Pyramid a bit before witnessing the sun rising.
__________

The night felt cold.
Footstep after footstep, only his brain could keep him company.

He began to reflect about the whole situation.
It was indeed weird for Cyno to abandon everything so suddenly.
He may not know him personnally but could tell something was off.
This excited his curiosity even more and he had to admit that he really wanted to discover which precious secrets the General could be hiding from him.

It was only a few hours away that he eventually reached the main path towards the Mausoleum.
His eyes wandered around to analyze the surroundings.

His observation ended up being useful as he spotted a sort of camp which seemed to be one of some eremites or maybe matras....

It was for sure, in a good shape so he definitely crossed out the Hilichurls possibility.

Now... the question was the following one.
Eremites or Matras?

Alhaitham would rather prefer it being full of matras than eremites as he wasn't really up for an useless fight right at the moment. Plus if the matras were there, then he would be able to collect more intel about their so precious general.

After quickly gauging the situation, the Scribe decided to approach the small camp.
Following his reasonning, he had higher chances of being satisfied by this encounter than the opposite.

Casually and non-chalantly, he made his way toward the tent.
He went unnoticed quite easily until one of the guy spotted him immediately putting on a cheeky expression.

"Hey you! What are you doing near this area of the desert?"

The guy scanned Alhaitham from the top of his head to the tip of his shoes before huffing noisily.
Well the Scribe had been right, it was indeed a matra camp.

"You're from the Akademya? Then you must know that no student can come here without a signed paper from the sages attesting your presence for the sole purpose of research and knowledge!"

It was Alhaitham's turn to scoff.

"I'm not here for that matter. Also if you haven't noticed yet, I was the one who approached you. I could have entered the Mausoleum easily if I wanted to."

That remark didn't seem to please the guard at all.

"Ha really?! And can I know what is doing a student here then?"

Haitham smirked just a bit.

"Looking for the General of course"

Those few words got an interesting reaction out of the man.
His eyes widened for a short moment and then he called one of his subbordinates over.
Their exchange was brief but definitely not discreet.

Haitham was starting to get impatient.

Finally, the two turned around to face him again.

"So... I mean! Why are you looking for the General?"

"Do I have to justify my every actions to you? My reasons are my concern only."

The other man stayed quiet, frowning.
Haitham was just going to give up at that point since he was starting to reach a peak of annoyance.
How glad he was not to have taken upon the General Mahamatra role when it had been offered to him.
Being by himself was far more appealing in his mind. No pressure and no obligations.

"It's just that... the General did mention that someone may come for him when we last encountered... But you're nothing like what he described to us."

So Cyno wasn't as careless as Alhaitham thought.

"Who did he describe?"

"He talked about the high chances of a woman coming to us or a foreigner in other cases."

How laughable.
So Cyno really didn't even care to mention him.

"I see."
Simply declared the Scribe.

"So, ehm... Who are you?"

His face was well known to Sumeru's high society, but for those outsiders who only ever known the Desert, he was a stranger like anyone else.

Haitham felt his lips curving upward.

"His friend of course. It's no wonder he didn't mention me, I'm a pretty busy man."

The guy became livid.

"What?! You're friend with the General?! I-I've been so rude to you! Please excuse my poor mind!"

How gullible.

"I don't care that much. Now if you could inform me about what I need to know, it would make things easier for the both of us."

"Y-Yes! Sure thing sir! What do you need to know?"

"When was the last time you saw him?"
Alhaitham started, crossing his arms.

"Oh let's see... Ah yes! It was definitely three days ago! I even sent one of my man to Aaru's village to inform the beautiful maiden that the General had came here safely!"

"What did he say when you met him?"

The man paused as he seemed to try hard to remember.

"I do remember him telling us he had to enter the Mausoleum and that he was no longer the General Mahamatra so we were free to try and stop him."

'Hmpf it does sound like him' mentally snickered the scribe.

"Did he mention what was his matter with the Mausoleum?"

"No... I'm sorry Sir!"

Haitham sighed.
It wasn't more datas then he already had. How disappointing.

"I will take my leave then."
He announced.

"Ha! Wait Sir I do remember the General asking me something before leaving! He asked... Wait what was it already? Ah! Yes! He asked me about some terrifying word when working on Nuclear Physic! And uh... I didn't hear his answer but that must be a clue right?! The General is actually pretty talentuous when it comes to studies but I'm not... Maybe it is linked to his interest in the Scarlet King's pyramid! Some weird things are happening over there after all!"

Nuclear physics?
How odd.
Of course, Haitham wasn't minimizing Cyno's intelligence but it did feel out of character for a retiring General to feel a sudden interest in such subject.

"It can be a lead. I guess I can thank you for that. I'll take my leave now."

The man nodded vigorously and with that, Haitham left.
At least he gathered something interesting.

________________

When he was greeted by the entrance of the enormous monument, the ex-scholar felt a uneasy feeling of grandeur invading him.

It actually happened the last time he went there with the rest of the group but he had been too focused on searching an exit that he didn't pay it any mind.
But now, something tingled inside of him.
It was as if power was starting to flow through his veins at the sight of his huge temple.

He did not hesitate and entered.

_____________

Seconds, minutes, hours passed by under the meticulous and genuinely interested gaze of the Scribe.

Touching the stones, tracing down any ancient writting that he could decipher, or not.
He paused frequently in front of the peculiar architecture, often wondering if he had to go left or right.

He was actually stuck once more at this exact moment.

Some people would say "Does it really matter if you go right or left? After all if there is an entry, there is is forcefully an exit!"

It wasn't a particularly bad way to ratiocinate, but mostly a simple one and it just didn't fit Alhaitham's mindset.
He was convinced everything had a reason to happen and that reflecting was the key to problem-solving.
That side of him was surely what made him appear cold and manipulative but, of course he didn't give it any second thought.
People's opinions were the least of his concerns.

After a few minutes spent deducing which way could be the safest and most advantageous one, Haitham concluded the best option was to go right.

He also took into account Cyno's mentality. Considering the electro boy was a man of laws and rules, a judge and someone with a high sense of justice, his profile was most likely to be attracted to go to the right following basic psychology facts.
Even though Haitham wasn't fond of something as unreliable as pseudo sciences, it couldn't hurt to give it a shot.

Deep into thoughts, he crossed the stone door and his lack of focus caused him not to notice the hand flying towards his mouth.
Indeed, a violent pressure covered the bottom of his face and his eyes widened for a split second at the sudden assault.

He felt himself being cornered against someone's body. That same person seemed to have slammed their back on the wall as they were catching Alhaitham.

The sound of heavy pantings reached his ears through the device hiding them. He could even feel the shaky breath of the other man tingling the skin of his neck.

That's when he heard a sound of exclamation followed by a familiar voice.

"Haitham?.."

'Well I found him faster than what I had expected' mentally commented the scribe as he recognized the voice of Cyno.

"What are you doing here?! You...You shouldn't have came here-"

The firm press against his mouth loosened suddenly and he felt Cyno's body shifts heavily to the side as the general voice's faded away in an odd manner.

Haitham didn't even take half a second to understand what was happening.
He spinned on his heels and caught the falling body of the General before it hit the hard floor.

He assumed quickly Cyno had fainted, considering how flacid his whole body felt against him now.

He carefully accompanied the other down to take a better look at Cyno's actual condition.

Before that, he assured himself that the shorter one was still breathing, glancing over his bare chest which was indeed moving.

'It would have been infortunate if he had died on me the moment I found him' He thought silently.

He bended over Cyno.
His eyes frantically examined any traces of injuries.

As he was taking a closer look, he noticed how much in bad shape the other was.

Long scratches were decorating his torso, dry blood scattered all over them.
It was impressive he could have still stood up after having his body so messed up.
But Haitham deduced quickly that the cause of his lost of consciousness must have been provoked by the quite important wound ornementing his forehead.
It was a fresh sore.
Indeed, here too, the blood was present but it was definitely not dry.
Some drops of it had made their way towards Cyno's eyes, cheeks and nose.

It did give him a morbid expression.

Haitham then procedeed to touch the extremities of Cyno's hands.

As he had expected, they were pretty cold.

He let out a sigh.

It was a certitude that Cyno had lost quite an amount of blood.

He searched for some alcohol inside the bag he had brought along with him.

He had anticipated this kind of situation but not really to that extent.
It was mostly out of character for Cyno to let himself get so injured.

He poured emotionlessly the liquid on the open wounds, expecting the other to wake up because of the pain.
But he didn't.

This unintentionally sight worried the Scribe.

It meant the General must have had reached an intense point of exhaustion to not even be able to feel pain anymore.

Another sigh.

"How troublesome you are General."

------------------

It was hard to know what time it could be outside when the only sight greeting his eyes were the walls of the Mausoleum.
He assumed the night must have fallen upon the Desert a few hours ago already.

Tonight, he wouldn't be able to sleep either considering the fact that if Cyno had been so badly mistreated, ennemies must be on the look out now.

Though, he needed to waste his time properly, so, of course he had brought his book along with him.

Casually flipping through the pages, his focus was disturbed by grunts coming from the body laying next to him.

Though, his gaze didn't leave his manuscript.

--------------------------------

Cyno's head was hurting like crazy.
It felt as if a rock had cracked his skull open.
A nauseous feeling invaded him and his throat felt so dry while he was rapidly regaining consciouness.

He swore he could see stars above him as his eyes shot wide open.

He instinctively straightened himself against the wall behind him and brought a hand over his face.
It hurt so bad.

"So you did wake up. If I have an advice to give you it would be not to touch that wound with dirty hands."

Cyno's head turned violently to the side.
He had completely forgotten about Alhaitham's presence.

The Scribe seemed unbothered as he was still deeply focused on his book.

Cyno frowned.

"What are you doing here?"
He asked with such venom in his words.

Haitham closed his book.

"That is no way to greet a companion."

"You are nowhere close to being my companion."

Haitham looked unphased by this remark.

"Right. If you want to know everything, Candace asked me to bring you back."

"..."

A long silence invaded the room and Haitham considered for a moment coming back to reading until Cyno opened his mouth again.

"How much time have I been away from the village?"

The Scribe closed his eyes for a moment.

"Seems like you've understood the situation. I would say it has been around 5 to 6 days now."

"It's impossible."
The General stated out flatly.

"Hm?"
Haitham directed his stare over him, a sigh escaped his lips for the countless time today.

"That is not a crucial point anyways. You may have not noticed but your body was beggining to cool down. I suggest you eating and drinking something in order to balance the blood you've lost."

Now that Haitham mentionned it, Cyno did feel something warm wrapped around his upper body.
He looked down only to meet with the soft texture of Haitham's coat's fabric.

He felt his cheeks reddening from what was probably anger and shame and threw the coat towards the scribe's face.
Haitham caught it rather effortlessly and shrugged before handing Cyno a sort of fruit.

The General took it without even glancing at the other.
He was starving in all honesty.

"When you're done we'll leave. I merely waited for you to wake up to maintain your body in a stable state. But, it is clear that I will have to carry you now that I've taken a closer look at it."
Commented the Scribe with slight indifference as he eyed the other one.

"Get lost... I prefer ending my misery right now rather than having you treating me as if I'm that weak."

That remark amused the lunatic.

"What do you suggest then?"
He asked, genuinely curious.

Cyno paused to look at him. His face seemed to darken.

"You don't understand. We cannot leave."

That, for sure, was not the answer Haitham had expected.

"I'm listening. What are your arguments?"

Cyno made his tongue click.

"If we could, I would be in Aaru's village already."

The Scribe squinted a bit and cupped his chin in the palm of his hand as he entered in deep thoughts.

Cyno stared at him mid-annoyed mid-impatient.

"I suppose you're implying that you cannot leave this place. To say so, you must have experimented this on your own. Care to explain what happened those last days?"
Calmly concluded Haitham.

The ex-General did not want to answer that.

But he will have to, anyways.
He had sense of responsibility.

But not like this. Not lying down and letting Haitham having the psychological and physical upper hand in this conversation.

He tried to get up by pressing his whole weight against the wall and slowly straightening his legs up.
At this exact moment, the entirety of the pain he hadn't felt during his lost of consciousness came back all at once.
A muffled sound escaped his mouth and he was quick to supress it by bitting his lower lips.
But Alhaitham did notice it.

"You should just stay down. I don't mind carrying you as I said."

"Shut up."
Cyno gritted his teeth.
There was no way he was actually being so miserable in front of the man.

Haitham maintained his stare.
It unnerved the shorter one.

The great Scribe of the Akademya exhaled once again.
He came closer to Cyno who defensively tried to shield himself from whatever he was planning to do.
But his next move came unexpected.

The taller man was about grab Cyno's side to support him, not really thinking deeply about it, but Cyno managed to lift his leg in a desperate attempt to push the other away.
It did work.

"Do not touch me."
He spat sternly but when he met the other's gaze, astonishment replaced anger.

Indeed Haitham had blinked at the sudden rejection. For a mere second his features did feel so...expressive.
It was unusual to see Haitham wearing that kind of look, as if he had been greatly offended.
But it vanished as fast as it had appeared.

"As you wish."
Finally responded the Scribe with a now stoic face.

Had he hallucinated? No way Haitham of all people could be showing not even a slice of human emotion.

"So? I believe you owe me some explanations General."

Cyno huffed.

"I'm no longer The General of the Akademya so I suggest you dropping the honorific unless you're planning to mock me."

"You are still the General in my mind. I don't plan of changing that."

How utterly annoying.
Really.
Very.
Very annoying.
...Right?

Then why did Cyno actually feel relieved and grateful for this answer?
His position as a General had rythmed most of his life so it was only natural to feel attached to this title.
But at the present moment, he had quit and it felt like a huge void was spiraling into his heart.
So the fact that Haitham still recognized him as worth of the honorific made his mind at ease for reasons that he preferred to ignore.

"Listen closely, I'm not gonna repeat myself twice..."

Haitham crossed his arms.

"I'm all ears."

'Ridiculous, you always have that weird device on your head, I'm not even sure of how you can hear the world around you with that stuck on your skull'.
Thought Cyno before starting his explanations.

"I've came here to investigate on something. I must have studied the whole mausoleum in a day maybe two. But when I started searching for an exit, the atmosphere changed. I think my elemental flux got perturbated. All doors started to close, new ones would open. It was endless. I tried to rest when you came. I mistook you for an ennemy and you know the rest."

Haitham digested those new informations as fast as possible but he frowned midway.

"I feel like you're voluntarily leaving out some important pieces of your story. For example, you did not mention how you got that much into bad shape."

Cyno fixed him blankly.

"I told you all that you needed to know. Do not try and search further details."

He was going to reach out for his staff located against the opposite wall (Haitham must have put it there to prevent him from using it) but the man with the teal cape blocked his way.

"I don't think that's sufficient enough. There are some things I have to be aware of. I want to know more about the ennemies. Should I be worried if they managed to lay a hand and even more on the infamous general Mahamatra?"

"I feel like you are trying to make fun of me by that statement."
He grunted.

"But no, you don't have to worry for your safety in the slightest. They're only after me."

That wasn't making any sense.
Why only Cyno when he was also his ally?
But Haitham shrugged.

"I'm not worried about myself but rather for you."

Cyno wasn't sure if he had heard that right.
The great Scribe? Worrying over anyone else other than his own little persona? Ah. That, for sure, was a good joke.

"That's unnecessary."

---------------------

The silence was heavy, both parties would have not dared breaking it first.

Haitham didn't mind.
Cyno was used to it.

Only their footstep resonated within the empty Mausoleum.

The Scribe was still processing all the infos Cyno had the exquisite kindness to give him, trying hard to connect the dots in order to restablish the hidden truth.
But some crucial pieces of the puzzle were definitely only possessed by the other.

"This room is quite big, I suggest you go to the left and I'll go to the the right to inspect."
Had said Cyno.

"Sure."

With that, the former General didn't wait one more second and split up from Haitham who directed himself to the left, as he had been told so.

'Funny how he did choose right'.

Still Haitham was not particularly fond of letting Cyno wandering on his own with such injuries, but he was even less fond of the idea of creating another useless drama.

He tried to order his thoughts.
He should focus on the exit.

It was such a rare occasion to actually explore in further details the architecture of such historical vestige, especially for someone like him who specialized in ancient languages and civilizations.

His eyes scanned everything worth to be admired or analyzed, and that's when they spot a different pattern on the floor.
He got closer.
It was a tile.
It seemed to be thinner than the rest of the floor.

He kneeled down to observe it better.

"Ha Haitham I was-"
Cyno was back.

" Haitham move!!"
He had suddenly shouted.

The Scribe only got the time to raise a brow that he felt the surface below him disappear into thin air.

All happened so quickly.

Cyno would not admit it, but he did panick at that exact moment.

He threw his whole body on Alhaitham, thus having for effect to violently move the Scribe away and, of course, himself.

That was a reckless move, Cyno was aware. He was sure there could have been more than a million of other possibilities to avoid what had just happened, but he acted on instinct.

And he was paying the price.
His wounds had opened again naturally.
This time he couldn't strangle the scream and it echoed into the whole Pyramid.

Haitham was at loss for words.
Cyno's tentative to rescue him had been successful yes, even if he did hit his head pretty hard when they both collided with the floor.

The former General was now on top of him, panting out of pain.
His face was hidden by his bangs but Haitham could tell he was probably having the most intense and horrified expression.

Droplets of blood fell upon his own chest.

The Scribe's pupils couldn't stop going back and forth between the spilled liquid on his torso and Cyno's hidden figure.

"Haitham you are supposed to be a specialist when it comes to pyramids and old civilization-"
Cyno cut himself to inhale deeply.

"How could you get so easily fooled by such obvious trap..."

He coughed.
His skin was burning.
His wounds stung.

"That would be more Kaveh's field if you refer to architectural complexity. As for myself I'm merely only interested in history and languages."
Responded the Scribe with slightly widening eyes but his tone didn't betray any kind of emotion.

What were they even doing?
Discussing simple matters while Cyno was on the verge of comatosis.

No response were given by the General and Haitham started to wonder if he had again lost consciousness.
It wouldn't surprise him honestly.
Cyno's state would probably recquier the most urgent and effective medical assistance but, it looked like despites his delicate figure and short body, the general was a rather tough warrior.

"General are you with us?"
He asked, only aiming at verifying the veracity of his thoughts.

"It's no moment to chat about architecture or whatever your field of expertise is, I don't even care."
Those words struggled to even make it past the matra's throat.

"We should-"
Cyno got cut off by a distinct scent invading his nostrills.
His head jerked to the side, staring at the now revealed trap on which Haitham had previously kneeled on.
Crimson irises widening.
That was bad.
Really bad.

Haitham had not uttered any syllable.
He was scrutinizing every details of his fellow ally in order to provide a logical explanation to the devastated expression Cyno was now wearing.

The said man grabbed the Scribe by the collar and between gritted teeth he ordered the following:

"Get out of here immediately."

The Akademya's lunatic arched a brow.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

Cyno's hands gripped harder onto Haitham's fabric and the Scribe pondered what had gotten into him.

It's only when his eyes met Cyno's that he finally understood.

The matra's iridescent pupils were now colonialized by a peculiar darker scarlet shade and Haitham caught himself in such fascination for a color that unique.
How beautiful.
He stared into them for endless seconds until he noticed the flying punch coming towards the side of his face.
He was quick to counter the assault with his forearm.

But of course, as he was still under Cyno's body, his movements were limited and he forcefully had to take on the full strength of that impact.

At some point, he even thought Cyno had reduced his radius in pieces as the hit was so strong.

A strange aura was envelopping the shorter one and Haitham immediately analyzed his new appareance.

His anubis hat was now covering the upper part of his face and radiating a strong purple glow.
His arms seemed to be trapped by a floating skin with similar shades of color.

'Is it the doing of his Electro vision?'
He asked himself, unsure of his own reasonning.

Haitham knew many things.
Many things about the world.
Many thing about Sumeru.
And many things about Cyno of course.

The Akasha was a reliable source of datas which he was used to exploit.
His status as a Scribe was a direct permit to the deepest secrets of anyone below the Sages's rank.
General Mahamatra or not, Cyno's life, habits and skills had little to no secrets for him.

So of course, he had been aware of Cyno's unorthodox methods when it came to fighting.
But even with that, now that he was facing the reality of it, something felt off.

'His eyes don't look the same. His moves are more nervous and less predictable. He isn't using his staff no more."
He observed silently. Still trying to block anything reaching out for his face.

First, Cyno did order him to get out.
That was pretty weird. It was as if the former General knew something was about to happen.
He also recalled seeing him eyeing the spot of the vanished tile before his sudden change of expression.

Haitham was sure that the Master key of his puzzle was sleeping within those clues.

But for now,
He had to get rid of the mad man on top of him.

"Forgive me General, I won't go easy on you."

He pushed his knee at full force against Cyno's bare torso, thus making the other losing his balance and being projected against a pillar nearby.

Haitham caught this opportunity to raise himself on both of his feet, immediately grabbing his sword.

He expected Cyno to jump onto him once more, but nothing came.

Nothing.

'Is he unconscious?'
Questionned Haitham as he was facing such displeasing silence and the sight of Cyno's body morphing with the stone structure.

He carefully took a step closer, but still assured himself to keep enough distance in case he had to react quickly.

He lifted up his weapon when Cyno's arm moved but the next action caught him off guard.

Instead of targeting him, the general plunged his whole claws into his already freshly open wounds.

Haitham stared at the scene dumbfounded.

No sound of pain could be heard which made the sight of this even more unrealistic.
Just the disgusting noise of flesh being ripped apart.

"He is possessed."
Concluded Haitham, definitely sure of this hypothesis.
He was fully connecting the dots now.

Actually, he had heard some peculiar stories about how much of a devil the General Mahamatra could be, but he never took them too seriously considering that most people Cyno had arrested would call torture something like pinching their cheek.
Most outlaws in Sumeru were desperate searchers, cowards who would spit out any infos if it would assure their safety.

But now, Haitham was starting to question if those rumors were true or not.

Cyno did mention earlier that his elemental flux had been messed up.
Was it the doing of it?

Hmm.

No, it did not make sense since Cyno had urgently ordered him to leave the place before being submitted to this weird transformation.

Haitham had two theories.
Either Cyno was possessed by a spirit since he landed a foot on the Mausoleum and so, already experimented the lost of control over his mind which would explain the injuries he was carrying when they met.
Or, the former general was carrying much darker secrets and was actually always linked with a spirit of some kind.

Though, this last idea sounded less believable but not impossible.

But right now, he should try to stop the other man from dying of his own dementia.

He plunged forward, separating Cyno's hands from his own body by blocking his arms with his sword.

This seemed to work quite well, even though the matra's wounds looked far too horrible now.
Netherless, the shorter one was still very agitated and Haitham wasn't sure if he could keep up with blocking long enough.
Cyno was strong.
Insanely strong.

But,
Suddenly,
the former general seemed to calm down.

Haitham stayed cautious, he would only release his hold once he would be sure the soldier was back to normal.

They must have stayed like this for what seemed an eternity, until Cyno's fangs were revealed and abruptly dug themselves into his own upper lips.

Needless to say that Haitham was quite mortified to witness such self-destructive behaviour.

Cyno's mouth was being butchered.
It bled.
A lot.

What was he supposed to do?
At this rate, Cyno was going to seriously pass out from either the pain, or his blood flowing out of his corpse.

Not reflecting on the spot was out of character for Haitham.
But at this exact moment, he wished he could say he had analyzed the situation thoroughly to conclude this was the best option.

Indeed.

He grabbed Cyno's chin with little to no care before crashing harshly his lips against his.

The taste of hemoglobine invaded his own tongue but he surprisingly didn't feel grossed out by it.

Despites the circumstances, Haitham could find a rather sweet sensation in the action of kissing the other one.

Well.
He would not really consider it a kiss.

He did what had to be done.
Nothing more.

A grunt was heard.

Another one.

And then it faded away.
Cyno's jaw muscles started to relax, not really giving into the kiss, but at least abandonning his self-harming trance.

And thus, his eyes closed themselves once more.

Haitham noticed.

He pulled away quite immediately.

For some reasons, his chest was being loud and frantic while his expression remained neutral as always.

--------------

Cyno's eyes fluttered for the first time in hours.

His senses were slowly coming back to him and the first thing he felt was some foreign warmth pressed against his cheek.
His vision was a bit blurry but the surroundings were far from familiar from as much as he could distinguish.

His body felt awfully light .

Was he dreaming or was he actually bouncing quite a bit?

It took him an extra second.

And then he realized.

He was being piggy back rided by none other than the great Scribe of the Akademya.

A frown appeared and he stirred harshly, opening his mouth to protest in front of such pathetic situation.

But,
He gasped for air as the wounds painted on his torso reminded him suddenly of the previous incident.

Right.
He remembered loosing consciousness after ordering Haitham to get out.

What had happened?

Stress invaded him.

Meanwhile the Scribe glanced towards him sternly, clearly noticing how agitated his ally seemed to become.

"I see you're awake. You do spend a lot of time sleeping lately."

This remark was unwanted.

"Put me down."
Ordered Cyno.

"No."
Flatly answered Haitham,clearly not caring.

Cyno was going to object.

"Before you say anything, you should consider evaluating the state of your body General. I'm not carrying you out of pity. I already let you wander on your own and I regret this decision."

Cyno bit his tongue in the process of answering.
Haitham's voice was free from any form of taunting or mockery.

The matra had a bad feeling.

"I think you owe me some explanations."
Continued the Scribe.

Silence.

Haitham was right.
Cyno couldn't even feel the extremity of his fingers.
His legs were numb and his skull seemed to be ready to explode at any moment.

"I will tell you what you need to know, but first off, I want to know where we are."

Haitham didn't respond right away, and for some reasons, it made the former General quite anxious.

"When you collapsed, I decided to explore the path under the vanished tile. I found some incense at the bottom of the trap.
There is a high possibility it may be what triggered such behaviour from you."
Haitham started off.
He paused.

The General didn't like the way silence was falling upon them once more.
It felt as if Haitham was gauging his every reaction even though it was technically impossible for him to even catch a glimpse of Cyno's face.

But what about his tense muscles?
What about the grip his hands had over the the Scribe's shoulders?

Did Haitham even notice it?

"I have decided to keep on exploring but to be efficient I couldn't have to worry about leaving you behind, so I chose the safest and fastest option."

Cyno translated that quite easily into "I carried you because I had no other choice".

"I actually found an underground pathway. It seems we are under the Mausoleum right now."
Added Haitham with no emotion in his voice.
He wasn't a particularly enthusiastic person himself, but hearing the monotone and cold voice of the other made Cyno ill at ease.

"Why do you sound so pessimistic? Isn't it a good thing?"

Haitham blinked in front of such question and tilted his head to the side, just enough to perceive the matra's naked eye.

"I do? My apologies but I don't feel like I'm speaking differently from the usual."

Cyno said nothing in return.

-----------------------

Cyno really hated the way he had to rely on someone who was nicknamed by the whole akademya as a lunatic.

Him, the representant of justice and laws in Sumeru at the mercy of such unpredictable individual.

How laughable.

"I am waiting you know."
Haitham's voice extirped him from his judgemental thoughts and his eyebrows furrowed.

"What?"

"You still owe me explanations. I answered your question, it's your turn to satisfy my curiosity."

Right, Cyno had totally forgot.
Not that he wanted to share anything though.

"What do you want to know?"
He finally asked, sighing in defeat.

"I'm sure you have already guessed by now. After all you're an admirably smart person General."

The compliment could have felt nice.
Cyno could have maybe, grinned upon such words.
But the fact was,
that it was Haitham who spoke them.
Not only that but for some reasons the Scribe's tone remained as cold as a rock.
No emotions whatsoever in the statement he had just made.
It was as if... He was filling the conversation on autopilot.

Don't get him wrong,
Cyno was well aware of the emotionless state of mind Haitham had, and it was a side of him that he didn't particularly like but could relate to and understand.
But this time, something felt out of place.

Though, The General let that sink for the moment.

"I'll answer when you stop prying out infos from me instead of being straightforward. Do not forget that I mastered data collecting for years. You won't get anything from me by being evasive Haitham."
The way the Scribe's name rolled on his tongue was kinda displeasing.
He didn't mean to sound harsh but assumed it ended up being the case.

He swore he perceived a glimpse of a smirk from where he was but the next second it felt like an illusion.

"Right General, I'm sorry if I offended you but I'm sure you can understand my train of thoughts as we used to be both scholars."
Explained Haitham.

It was unnerving.
Cyno could feel how little faith the taller one was putting into his sentence.

"We are nothing alike."
He stated coldly.

The silence came back, but this time, Cyno didn't mind it.
If he could, he would even be tempted to prolongate it, but Haitham's voice resonated in the cave again.

"Are you linked with a spirit of some kind General?"

That was out of the blue.
It definitely took the matra by surprise.

Cyno knew Haitham was sharp, but he would have never believed he could came to such conclusion that easily.

But then he started to get anxious.
What possibly happened when he was unconscious for the Scribe to deduce that?

"I am indeed."
Was all he gave as an answer.
If it was possible, he would like to avoid going into details.
But he was rather sure Haitham wouldn't loosen his hold on him that easily.

"I see."
Muttered the scribe softly.

Cyno's eyebrows furrowed.

What? That was all?
Wasn't he going to ask for more?

For some reasons Cyno was angry but relieved in the same time.

But something was weird.
The fact that Haitham didn't pry for further explanations was a thing.
But the Scribe didn't even mention what happened during his lost of consciousness.
He had learnt to know the student during their stay at Aaru's village and maybe it was why his instinct was telling him a thing was off.

Actually, it felt like Haitham wanted to avoid the topic as well.
But maybe Cyno was overthinking.

Yes,
It was the most logical explanation.

But it didn't remove the stress growing within him.
Though, Cyno preferred to think that Haitham didn't jump on this occasion because there was simply nothing interesting to say.

----------------------

The general wanted to let his feet tread the ground.
His shame was knowing an apogee.

But, the only thing reassuring him was that, somehow, the Scribe wasn't the kind of man to boast to everybody that he had to carry a poor injured General for hours.
So well, his honor would be saved on that part.

It was just a secret between the... two of them.

That thought put him off.

He had nothing to do up there.

Now that he was actually taking a closer look, he was indeed far from the ground.

His eyes wandered from Haitham's hair to his shoes.
The man was so tall.
It was ridiculous.

And he looked always so unbothered.

Candace liked to joke about how him and Cyno were alike.
Quiet students with a preference for calm and silence.

But Cyno knew he was very different from the other.
He was rather emotionless most of the time yes, but in his private sphere he could let his emotions out.

While in Haitham's case, it was clear that the man drew no line between strangers and anyone close.
He just didn't care enough.

It was something intriguing for sure.

And Cyno wondered,
Had Haitham a hidden side of his personnality too?

"Tss what am I even thinking."
Whispered the former General.

"Did you say something?"
Asked Haitham non chalantly.

"None that is your concern."
Bitted back Cyno, a bit too quickly for his own taste.

Haitham ignored it and kept on walking quietly.

------------------------

Cyno had lost track of time.
All he could presume was that a long and merciless journey awaited them.

Would they even make it out of there?

His thoughts were interrupted by Haitham's brisk walk stopping in the middle of ruins and dilapidated walls.

The matra didn't comment on it and instead tried to discern what was going on for the Scribe to pause midway.

Perhaps, the man read his mind because at this exact moment, he gave him the explanation Cyno yearned for.

"I think you will have to lend me a hand on this General."

Cyno arched a brow.

"What for?"

The taller man tilted his head to the side to contemplate Cyno's eye.

"There is a puzzle recquiering electro."

"Put me down."
Incquiered Cyno firmly.

"Can't you do it from where you are? I suggest you-"

"I don't care about your suggestion Haitham. Do you think I'm a kid? I am aware of what my body can and cannot handle."

"Visibly not."

That was the last straw for Cyno.
What was up with that damned Scribe?

"Do you have something to say? If that, say it clearly."
Cyno spat with an icy-cold voice, pressuring himself not to loose his temper on the spot.

Haitham suspired blaringly.

"I'm simply worried about your well being General."

The man had stated that as if it could only be the most rational and logical explanation in the eyes of the entire world.
Cyno was not having it.

"You are fooling no one. We all know you only care about what benefits you. Even this whole situation with the Akademya, you're only helping us because it means you will keep on living peacefully. You have no moral compass, you don't care about anyone's well being besides yours."

Cyno's tone was stern, words came out with resentments, but he was merely staying factual.

For a split second, he wondered if he had been too severe, too unfair.

After all and despites everything, Haitham had been carrying him for hours and was also the one who came looking for him in the Mausoleum.

But he quickly dismissed this supposition when the man responded.

"Is it a bad thing?"

If it didn't have that genuine tone, Cyno would have lashed out at Haitham for sure.

But at this moment, the former General realized the Scribe might literally have never experienced any form of emotional stimulation other than devoting his whole understanding to logic and knowledge.

His moral compass was definitely as broken as his perception of life.

Seeing he wasn't getting any rejoinder from the shorter one, Alhaitham unconsciously strenghtened his hold on Cyno's legs.

The soldier noticed but said nothing.

"So that's how you see me."
Added the man with the teal cape.

Was it disappointment filling this phrase?

"I won't say you're wrong since this description fits me quite well, but one point is incorrect."

Cyno remained silent.

"I do care for you General."

His heart skipped a beat when those terms arrived at his ears and he couldn't even pinpoint why.

For all one knows, it could be how smoothly they came out.
No malice, no mockery, no nothing.

What was this Scribe saying now?
Was he trying to coax him with fake worry?

Cyno wished it was the case, but he was aware better than anyone else when someone was being straight up dishonest.
He could tell Haitham was being true to his words here,
as always.

But little did he know that the other man was enduring a tangled mess of tenderness and solicitude within his most vital organ.
He didn't mean to say that.
It was out of character for him to show any form of concern.

But, for some obscure reasons, his lips couldn't forget the sweet and forbidden sensation Cyno's mouth procured against them.

Even if the scene had been far from romantic, the Scribe just had this longing feeling spreading into his heart and the split moment they shared was being played on replay in the corner of his mind.

It was as if he had tasted the most savorous and delicious thing in whole Teyvat.

But, his disatissfaction was huge, lying within the fact it had only been a one sided action.

Would it be selfish if he said that he wanted to grab Cyno's face to taste his tongue once more?
Probably.
And he wasn't going to do it.

He was a man of self-control after all.

"Whatever, I'll activate the puzzle. Get closer to it."
Announced Cyno.

Haitham blinked before showing a content stretch of his lips.

Though, the tip of ears felt hot from his previous thoughts.
It was truly a blessing he was covering them all of the time.

------------------------
"We will stop there for now."
Had declared Alhaitham.

Relief invaded Cyno but his features remained impassive.
Though he hurried himself to touch the ground as fast as possible.

His whole body distanced itself from Haitham's one and when his feet met the cold path of the cave, he was quick to supress a shiver.

Though, his legs were visibly numb both from the blood loss and the fact he had been unable to move for such long time.

So, naturally he lost balance when trying to amble.

Usually, he would have reached out for his staff to support himself, but he was being harshly reminded that the situation he was in was FAR from usual.

Thanksfully, or sadly for him, Haitham was quick to recapture him once again.

He suddenly had a sense of déjà vue.

The side of his head collided with the Scribe's chest and the foreign melody of a heart thumping thunderously got to his ears.

"Be careful General."

Cyno straightened himself up almost immediately, wearing a shocked look, what Alhaitham didn't fail to notice.

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

Shock became confusion to finally mutate into neutrality.

"Nothing..."

He got closer to the nearest rock and silently leaned back onto it.

"There seems to be multiple paths from here. I'll take a look around. Try not to do anything inconsiderate General."

With that, the Scribe receded away.

When he was finally out of his view, Cyno let out the longest sigh possible.

-----------------------

It had only been a few minutes that Haitham left and Cyno already caught himself wondering when the man would be coming back.

Not that he was heavily depending on him,
Never in hell.

But, as surprising as it could sound, Cyno still considered Alhaitham an ally.
His help was precious even if it cost him to admit so.
He had proved himself useful through their investigation and Cyno had no other choice but to trust the lunatic.

But now, the thought of him possibly betraying them for the sages made his heart ache.

Why?
Why didn't he want that to be even a possibility?
It could happen.
Yes it could but...
It hurt to even considerate this a prospect.

He would rather be tortured than admit that,
But he did miss the silent company of the Scribe flipping through pages of any unknown book those last days.

He realized only now how much he was starting to get accustomed to this lifestyle.

As he was reflecting about this sensitive topic, his hand wandered to his side and brushed against the leather case attached to his belt.

Oh right.

He totally forgot about his TCG deck.

Dismissing his weird thoughts, Cyno directed his interest on the cards he rapidly pulled out of the case.

He hadn't played TCG for weeks now.
He was sure the meta must have changed by the last time he even got to enjoy a quick round.

He was usually playing with either Tighnari or Collei as opponents.
But,
The girl had a hard time understanding the rules of the game and as for Tighnari,
he wasn't really fond of it and rarely accepted to battle against Cyno.

Though, Cyno couldn't blame them, everyone had their own hobby...

So, the rest of the time he would simply play against himself.
This method wasn't actually bad intellectually-wise,
but it did make him feel like a looser.

He stared at the deck, absently shuffling it until his eyes fell upon this one particular card.

"Deshret king"
He read out loud.

Actually, the TCG invocation cards featured archons and other divinities as exclusive sets.
Cyno remembered how his eyes had brightened up when Tighnari offered him this special set which featured the Scarlet King and the Molrani Rukkhadevata as exclusive items of the newest released deck at the time.

Those were pretty rare.

But, the more he stared at the Deshret card, the more it was reminding him someone else.

The symbol printed on it was none other that the infamous eye decorating most of the pyramids in the whole desert.
The symbol of Deshret king himself.

The pupil had this peculiar shade of teal with a hint of red ornementing it.

He squinted.

Those eyes.

Yes, he definitely saw them somewhere else...

"What is this?"
Asked a curious voice behind him.

Cyno jumped out of surprise, letting the card falling from his grasp in the same time.

When he turned his head to face the 'intruder', his gaze met Haitham's tealish orbs and it clicked almost instantly.

What a stricking ressemblance.

But quickly, he noticed how close their faces were to each other and he backed away immediately, trying to regain his composure while Haitham was reaching out for the fallen item.

He picked it up carefully before examining it.

"A card?"
He asked interrogatively.

His eyes fell upon Cyno once again.

"It's from my TCG deck."
Admitted the matra neutrally.

"You play TCG?"

Cyno's eyes shone up unintentionally.

"Yes... Do you know about it?"

And now he was informally giving into casual conversation with this lunatic.

"Not much. But I heard Kaveh raging about loosing money after betting on a round of TCG."

He handed back the precious item to his owner and crossed his arms.

So that was it?
Cyno would lie if he said he wasn't being disappointed.

But, after all, it made sense.
Haitham wasn't the type to care for trivial things such as card games.

It must have been written all over his face because Haitham continued.

"You look like you expected more from me."

The former General shook his head.

"Not really."

"Would you care to teach me how it works?"

What?
Cyno was sure he was wearing the most dumbfounded expression right now, because Haitham gave him a funny look.

"Why?"
Was the only word which crossed his mouth.

"I'm simply curious. Wether I like the concept or not will depend entirely on your way of introducing it. Also I need to rest, so anything mentally stimulating is welcomed."

It was Cyno's turn to cross his arms.

"I have no obligation to do so."

"But you want to."
Teasingly stated Haitham.

Cyno frowned, turning around to hide his embarassment.

---------------------------

"You lost again, General."

"Tch."

Cyno radiated a gloomy energy.
He hated how he was humoring this Scribe.
There was no way he had lost four times in a row to a person who just happened to get the rules thirty minutes prior.

Alhaitham was amused by this sight.
The all mighty General Mahamatra sulking,

how distracting.

He cupped his cheek in the palm of his hand and stared fondly at Cyno who was focused on stacking back the deck into his case.
He had removed his hat, and his long white hair were now exposed.

The said matra could tell he was being watched and so, looked up to encounter Haitham's peculiar irises.

He then directed his gaze on the man's lips and noticed the soft smile forming on them.

It was unbelievable how angelic the Scribe could look, while his way of reckoning didn't match any part of this pure appearance.

Though, Cyno wasn't going to be fooled that easily.
Even if his heart was stupidly throwing a tantrum in his ribcage.

"I'll admit you are a worthy opponent Haitham. But don't get too cocky."

Haitham's grin dropped slowly to regain his usual passionless expression.

"A compliment from the General himself? I'll gladly accept it."

----------------------------

Haitham had advised Cyno to rest as he was monitoring the area.

Obviously, the shorter man had remarked that he was not a child who needed to be taken care of.

"I never said such thing."
Had replied Alhaitham, a bit annoyed.

----------------------------

"Did you bring medical supplies Alhaitham?"
Asked Cyno out of the blue, as he was busy lightening up a fire to keep the both of them warm.

"I did."

"Give me sutures and a needle."
He ordered, presenting his hand in front of the other to receive what he demanded.

Not giving it any second thought, Haitham grabbed the items and placed them into Cyno's palm.

The matra leaned tiredly against the nearest stone and quickly attached the needle to the suture forming a knot to tie the whole thing into a more solid one.

The Scribe watched him curiously.

He was far from guessing Cyno's real intentions.

Indeed, when the sutures were ready, Cyno did not hesitate and pierced the side skins of his injuries in order to stitch them together and preventing them from opening once again.

Of course, Haitham stared in shock and disgust at the scene he was witnessing.

Cyno's medical knowledge was far from being impressive and his action would surely earn him an existential crisis from Tighnari, but it was the only solution he has thought of as the wounds kept oozing with every movement he made.

Squeaks and grumbles escaped his mouth and he obviously winced because of the pain.

"Stop that General."
The scribe's voice was severe.

He got closer to the matra, who failed to hear him as he was diving into an ocean of self-torture.
He couldn't even process what was happening around him.

Haitham grabbed Cyno's wrist firmfully.

"I told you to stop."

Cyno glared at him.
Rolls of sweat trailed down his temple.

"Don't interfer in this Haitham. I'm trying to make things easier for me so stay where you are. I know what I'm doing, I already performed this multiple times in the past."
He said between gritted teeth.

The scribe frowned even more before giving up his hold.

He had no idea Cyno went through so much vicissitudes, even considering his position as a General.

He shoved his arm in front of him and stared into Cyno's crimson orb daringly.

"Bite it."

"What are you saying now?"

"It will make the pain more bearable."

Cyno looked frantically between Haitham's arm and face, asking himself if the man was loosing his mind already.

But when the needle travelled through the last piece of flesh, he instinctively dug his fangs into the offered arm.

Alhaitham grimaced just a bit but didn't show any sign of bother whatsoever.

Then,
Why was he so glad that Cyno accepted this odd offering?

---------------------------

The lunatic silently watched his dear General resting on the same spot he had previously martyrized his body on.

His fingers gently brushed the marks formed by Cyno's teeth.

The fire was crackling.

The scenery felt like home even though his actual home wasn't a freezing cave invaded by the sound of water drops hitting the ground monotonously.
No,
Actually, having the status of Kaveh's roomate, his daily life was all but monotonous.
The blond was making his days feel like exhaustion three quarters of the time.

He would always ask for explanations on the dumbest and most irrelevant things.
Would cause a fuss because he just couldn't comprehend Haitham's point of view on various subjects.

They would ultimately always clash.

Kaveh was noisy, whiny and terribly annoying.

But, Haitham had a good reason to offer him his hospitality,

For the moment.

But lately, he had been close to throwing out the spare key of his home into the Grand Bazar's pond just to enjoy a peaceful night of silence and solitude.

Perhaps this was the reason he greatly enjoyed the time he was spending in Aaru's village even if the situation he had dragged himself into couldn't be qualified of "relaxing".

Maybe it was also a sufficient reason to enjoy Cyno's company.

Hm..

Having the General as his roomate instead of a loud and frantic individual was a soothing thought.

He couldn't fathom since when his brain had jumped onto this occasion to create complex scenarii where Cyno would greet him home with a frown of disaproval while Haitham would return the gesture neutrally.

In this dream, he would approach his interlocutor leisurely and his eyes would not be able to extirp themselves from his plumped lips.
At some point he would devour them brutally, cutting Cyno in the middle of the lecture he was giving him about whatever.

He would never pull apart until Cyno would be the one pushing him away, sending him a dirty look.

Some other of his fantasies only revolved about simple things such as sharing a meal. Working on projects together or even just silently enjoying each other's presence.

And the worst thing was;
The teal-eyed man felt no shame in giving into those absurd contemplations.

His inner thoughts were so messy.

What was happening?

Why would his logical trail of thinking be colonialized by the urge of touching Cyno's sand skin, kiss his delicate lips, taste him entirely.

Haitham never experimented such thing before.

He never craved someone that much.

He never craved anything that much.

It was an odd but not forcefully displeasing feeling.
Quite the opposite.

It was troubling him.

He did wonder if the Mausoleum was the one messing up his brain the same way it had toyed with Cyno's body.

He reached for the book next to him, hoping it would distract his mind from such desperate needs.

Cyno chose this moment to wake up.

"Haitham what are you doing?"
Asked the shorter one in utter confusion still a bit groggy.

"I'm reading."

...

"Then why is your book upside down?"

Haitham's eyes widened for half a second before quickly playing it cool, casually turning the book back as it should have been.

-----------------------------

"Haitham, did something happen when I passed out yesterday?"

The scribe took a pause to take a glance at Cyno who was perched up on a rock next to him, srutinazing the surroundings solemnly.

"Nothing that I don't recall General."

That wasn't a lie.
He remembered everything in the clearest details, simply didn't wish to voice them out.

"What do you recall then?"

His aquamarine orbs trailed down the ground for a moment.

"You went mad. That is all. I suspected it was a case of possession and you confirmed it to me. That's it."

That was, for sure, one way to closing the topic abruptly.

He didn't mean to sound distressed, and he surely didn't sound like it but he had the gut wrenching sensation that he did.

A grimace of dissatisfaction invaded the other.

"You're hiding something."
He flatly commented.

'How perceptive, as expected from the General'
Mentally affirmed the Akademya prodigee.

"You and I are no different in this case."
Uttered Haitham with disinterest.

None other words were spoken after that, and the great Scribe focused back on the stelae he recently found in a concealed part of the ancient underground monuments.

As someone who studied thoroughly the history of the Deshret temple, the only conclusion coming to his mind was that this would surely become some sort of key.

It was a logical and reasonable deduction.

But, considering how his thoughts wandered dangerously on his ally from time to time, he wondered if his judgement could still be trusted and labelled as rational.

Because all the things he dreamt for at the moment, were all but rational.

But again,
dreams were purposefully made of excessive needs and exaggeration.

Haitham was not a dreamer,
So he should be fine.

He was probably obsessing.
-------------------------------

Cyno handed Alhaitham a plate full of a rice-shaped pyramid, sauce oozing from the inside of the dish.

"I did what I could. It's a chance those fatuis had set up a camp in the middle of this godforsaken place."

The Scribe accepted the food with a hum.

It smelled rather good.

"I didn't know the General himself had time to develop cooking skills."
Commented Haitham as he detailed the peculiar-looking dish.

Cyno only gave him a blank look in return.

He shoved one of the spoon he had found in the fatuis's supplies in front of Haitham's nose.

"Take that and eat. And don't bother commenting on my cooking, I don't care about your opinion."

Haitham wanted to huff but he prevented himself from doing so.

Actually he looked forward to taste Cyno's handmade meal.

He brought the spoon towards his mouth after destroying the top of the miniature pyramid, and gulped it down carefully.

"It's surprisingly not bad."
He stated, as he repeated the previous action multiple times, which betrayed the fact that he did appreciate the food more than what he implied.

"Tch..."
Was all Cyno found to answer, clearly embarrassed to be complimented on his cooking out of anything he was able to perform.

---------------------------------

"How is Kaveh?"

Alhaitham arched a brow, not sure if he heard that right.
Seeing how Cyno was patiently waiting, arms crossed, he deduced that he didn't dream.

"Kaveh? I believe he is fine since all he has tried to do recently is searching ways to argue with me."

Cyno didn't react immediately to this statement, but he did feel amused by witnessing the annoyance forming on his ally's features at the mention of the other's name.

"I can't blame him. Living with you must be hell."

Alhaitham stopped his track and turned his head towards Cyno with a frown.

"It's the other way around actually. But you are not the one sharing the same house as him so I don't expect you to understand."

Cyno blinked dumbfully.
Haitham sounded hurt by his previous remark.

Actually, he didn't believe living with Haitham could be that draining, and Kaveh was actually a bit dramatic so maybe he should have been more considerate with his choice of words.

But, Alhaitham wasn't supposed to wear that pouty expression all over his face.

"Are you...hurt?"
Asked Cyno hesitantly.

Haitham didn't even spare him a glance.

"Not really."
Lied the Scribe.

His poor fantasies were collapsing under Cyno's sentence.
Living with him would be hell?

"He reported to me that you had taking an interest over the knowledge capsules. He said he wanted to inform me before he was dragged into a mess of any sort. That's how I have been aware of your moves towards Port Ormos incident."

Cyno felt like revealing this piece of information would distract Haitham from sulking.

And it was indeed very effective.

The Scribe brought a hand over his face, visibly facepalming in front of such revelations.

Someone was going to sleep outside when he was coming back home.

"I see.
Thanks for sharing this with me."

"Don't be mistaken, I still consider you untrustworthy. But I do pity Kaveh, especially since he came last time to Gandharva and kept blabbering about how much you of a horrible roommate you were. Apparently you keep interrupting his creativity and he feels like a bird which wings have been chopped off."
As he quoted the last phrase, Haitham made his tongue click.

"He is free to leave then."
The scholar responded harshly.

...

"Do you agree with what he said?"
Suddenly questionned the Scribe as Cyno couldn't distinguish which kind of appearance he had while uttering those words.

The white-haired man quickly analyzed them, he even trapped his chin between his thumb and the rest of his fingers to show that he was seriously reflecting on the topic.

"As you stated it yourself, we both don't share a home so I can't have an objective point of view on the matter. But if I had to trust my gut, I would say that you don't seem that bad. Although I think your attitude can be a problem with various other people. If I was simply your roommate and not a General, I don't think it wouldn't bother me that much."

This response sparked a tiny flame into Haitham's heart.

He was... reassured.

Somehow.

He never looked for reassurance his whole life and was fine with it, but Cyno's detailed analysis triggered a boost of self-confidence within his core.

--------------------------------

"Have you taken a liking into Nuclear physics lately General?"

Haitham was rarely the one initiating conversations between the two of them, so, Cyno felt a bit startled when the man raised up his voice all of sudden while they were silently walking next to each other.

He got confused.

"What kind of question is that?"

Now it was Haitham's turn to show confusion.

"I met matras on my way there. They told me you questionned them about nuclear physics... Was it simply random or is it actually relevant considering our situation?"

As he was finishing his sentence, he noticed the General had stopped walking and was now meters behind him.

"What is happening?"
Questionned the taller man.

The matra instinctively lowered the hat on his head to hide the embarassment spreading before coming back to walking silently.

Haitham was clearly befuddled but didn't press more answers from him.

They carried on with their current exploration as if nothing had been ever asked.

Until Cyno opened his mouth, minutes later.

"Oops."

"I beg your pardon?"

"What's the worst word to say when studying Nuclear physics? Oops."

Alhaitham took a second, then two, maybe even ten to understand what in hell Cyno was referring to.

The general exhaled.

"You don't understand? I can explain the joke to you. You see-"

"I understood perfectly, but was bewildered at how incredibly bad it was."

And with that, Haitham broke into a tiny chuckle.

Cyno said nothing.
He only stared in awe, clearly torn by the vision of his academical rival wearing something else than a flat line on his lips.
It must be the first time he went through such emotion since they've known each other.

At this point his core couldn't handle more shame and cringe.

His awful jokes were initially created to relax his subordinates when being confronted to him not to humor some unbothered Scribe.

But why couldn't he resolve himself to shut Alhaitham's laugh up.
Why did he wish so hard for this lively expression to persist forever on him?

Haitham was so annoying.

It wasn't even funny.

-----------------------------

"Cyno, there is something I've been meaning to tell you."

The person he was addressing himself to glanced over him.

"Go ahead."

"Will you let me kiss you?"

"What?"

The teal-eyed man maintained his stare over him while the matra glared angrily.

"What are you even saying now, Scribe? Have you lost your mind?"
He hissed, indignation clear in his tone.

"I love you."
Was all the said Scribe gave in return.

"Shut up, you don't even know what that means."

"I do and I will repeat myself if you want me to."

"I told you to shut it."
As he fizzled those words, he grabbed the taller man by the collar, giving him a menacing look.

"Cyno, I love you, I want to kiss you, I can even beg for it if it means you'll reciprocate."
He sounded so desperate, so out of character despites his face remaining blank.
But he couldn't remove the growing urge to lick the fresh and appetizing lips of the other.

"F-Fine.."

Haitham's eyes comically widened and he couldn't even believe that Cyno was complying to his demand.
He was being given the permission to perform what he had been daydreaming about for hours this last week.

He didn't wait for more and bended over the General to capture this magnificient piece of art.

Their lips were so close to meet.
So so close.

....

And that's when Haitham woke up.

A sudden headache seized him when he tiredly raised up one of his eyelids.

"Ah you're awake."
Observed his ally who was sitting right in front of his face.

Alhaitham grunted hazily, instinctively bringing a hand behind his skull as he felt a fierce discomfort over this area.

"A hilichurl attacked you per behind while you were examining ancient writings."

Ah..
So that was it?

So...
No confession nor passionnate kiss then?

His stare darkened when realization hit him.

He didn't appreciate the way his brain was consciously sneering at him.
Actually, he shouldn't even be able to create any kind of dream-like state because of his akasha, but it seemed like the Mausoleum had its own rules.

"Are you okay? You've been hit pretty hard."

The aquamarine orbs of the Scribe tragically stopped on the object of his desires before sighing in annoyance.

"I think I'll rest a bit more for now Cyno. Now if you excuse me..."

And with that, he fell back into slumber almost immediately, leaving a distraught Cyno which cheeks heated up on the spot when Alhaitham's eyes closed.

'What has gotten into him? First he calls for me in his sleep and now he drops the honorific so casually."

He was red.
Bright red.

--------------------------

Alhaitham was grumpy.

As someone with little to no facial expression, it was easy to discern.
But the cause of such discontent remained unspoken.

Actually, the General didn't want to start a meaningless chat so he silently observed his fellow companion who was busy detailing a newly found obelisk.

The Scribe hadn't pronounced anything either since he woke up from his nap earlier.

The atmosphere felt heavy for the first time in days.

Cyno swore he could even perceive a small rainy cloud hovering over Haitham's head from how much gloomy energy he was radiating.

"I was right to keep this stelae, the obelisk recquieres some of them. If we reunite them all, we should be able to unlock an exit."
His voice sounded robotic and passionless.

It made Cyno cringe.

"What is happening Alhaitham?"

The man glanced over him.
He didn't respond.

A nerve ticked on Cyno's forehead.

"Are you ignoring me on purpose?"

"Yes. We have more serious matters to take care of at the moment, I believe you're aware of it. I appreciate you worrying over me, but that is unnecessary. As for now, we should collect the missing stelaes."

'What an asshole'
Internally hissed Cyno.

One moment he was fine and the other he decided it was okay to let him hanging.

All the previous days they had spent together suddenly felt deeply fake.

Now that they encountered a way of exiting the underground, Haitham was dropping the act,
that was it?

Hatred and disappointment rushed through Cyno's veins and he violently grabbed his staff, urgently leaving the room, ignoring Alhaitham's directives.
He would be fine on his own,
As he has always been.

The Scribe looked over the now empty spot where the other was a few seconds ago.

"It seems like I've made him mad."
He muttered under his breath.

But what was he supposed to do?
How was he even supposed to act?
He didn't know anymore.

He was conflicted within the deepest part of his persona.

After that awfully bittersweet dream, Haitham concluded that being close to the General was dangerous.
Too dangerous for his own good.

Trivial needs weren't part of his vocabulary.

If putting an end to this emotional turmoil meant he should ignore Cyno for now,
so be it.

He had enough unproductive and disturbing musings lately.

Yes.
This decision was for the better.

He even physically nodded to his own reasonning, aknowledging it was the best and only rational solution.

But,
It didn't last long.

Indeed,
Regret, worry and anger overtook his brain when he spent hours pacing back and forth in the labyrintic cave where the stelaes were supposed to hide.

He found them quite easily,
That wasn't the problem.

The problem was that Cyno was out of his sight.
What was he doing?
He was still injured after all.

Was it...his fault?

Should he have kept on with acting as his heart told him to?

This wasn't the right moment to disappear anyways!

What if-

"I looked for you Scribe, where were you?"

Alhaitham unanticipatedly turned his head towards whatever direction the voice came from.

Were the Archons mocking him?

Cyno, who was initially glowering, manifested suprise.

"You look distressed. Did something happen?"
He detailed the surroundings as he spoke, assuring himself that no one was there.

"Nothing."
Gulped Haitham, clearly having troubles overcoming the way Cyno was accusively glaring at him.

"Then let's get done with this. It's about time we should have headed to the village already. I found one of the missing stelae also."

Haitham could only nod in agreement.

--------------------------------

Alhaitham had nearly forgotten his interest over the desert civilization.
It was only when he slotted the stelaes into the Obelisk that his fascination for the ancient world came back at full force.

The ingeniosity of the mechanism was utterly splendid.
He could affirm being a lucky individual to get the chance to witness such piece of work in action.

The object started glowing a blinding turquoise light as soon as it had been fed with the various stone he and Cyno had collected.

The both of them, as the good scholars they used to be, could only admire the show in awe.

But the light became fiercer and stronger.
So strong the whole room vanished from their eyes, only to be replaced by a blazing brightness.

Haitham automatically closed his eyelids, irises crying from the intensity of such luminosity.

It was only long and eternal seconds later that the room came back to its natural state.

At least that's what the Scribe guessed.

When he opened his eyes once again, nothing had changed.

The room was still the same.

Except for one thing.

Where was the General?

The Scribe hectically scanned his surroundings, fearing the worst had happened.

"General?"
He called, unsure of wether or not that had been a good idea.

"Are you looking for me?"

An unwanted shiver travelled down his spine and he volte faced the person, instinticely seizing his sword as he detected danger.

He only had the time to counter the plunging staff coming for his heart, blocking the weapon with his own one.

What he witnessed chilled him to the bones for a mere second.

Cyno was there.
He was the one directing the shaped spear towards Haitham's vitals.

But Alhaitham knew better.

He immediately understood something was out of place when he met the lifeless eyes of the other.

'This is an illusion.'
He mentally stated.

And thus, he engaged in combat.

-----------------------------
It didn't matter if this was an illusion or not, in all ways, the opponent was incredibly strong.

It was even ridiculous for something which was not supposed to be real.

Haitham avoided blows coming from the side and above him, but fighting was not his speciality.

He was starting to get seriously exhausted, all the more knowing the back of his skull was still suffering from a concussion.

If the fake Cyno could also mimic the stamina and skills of the true soldier, then Haitham was doomed for good.

He could only rely on strategy now.

So he waited for the right opportunity, for the moment when the illusion would leave him an opening.

The time came when the other assaulted him per behind.
Haitham anticipated the next move of the adversary as he had calculated a pattern in the attacks throughout their brief melee exchange.

Although, he had to admit getting lucky with his predictions, the chances of the clone actually maneuvring as he thought were incredibly low.

But it happened.

In a split second, the Scribe made the Staff fly away from the other's hand, his sword now threatening the clone's throat.

"Not bad."
The fake persona commented with an impassive face.

And, Archons, it unnerved the ex-scholar so much to witness this perfect impersonification of Cyno.

"What do you want from me? I suppose that you are merely only a defense system triggered by the obelisk."
Accused Haitham, greatly emphasizing on the non human part.

"That's indeed correct. Both of you awakened the sacred obelisk to fullfill your own selfish desires, it is only normal to pay the price."

Alhaitham said nothing.
It was true that they may have comitted an act of profanity.

"You look like the intelligent type. I'm sure you understand the situation.
Though I can hear how unstable your heart is and that is the main reason I choose to make you hallucinate instead of your companion."

Haitham frowned.

So Cyno wasn't experimenting any sort of hallucination as well?

It was a relief.

But it wasn't helping his current state.

"You are wondering how you can get rid of me, am I right?"
Interjected the impersonification.

"Indeed."

"You should just do whatever you would do on a normal human being to make them disappear."

Did he mean...

"You are asking me to kill you."

"That's the possibility I'm giving you. But it won't be that easy, for you."

Alhaitham didn't need to analyze those words deeply to understand what they were about.

He briefly remembered a sentence he had read in a manuscript. The book itself wasn't that much interesting until he had reached the part dealing with some strange Theory.

"The walls of the most ancient Ruins can drill through everything."
He quoted.

The other looked surprise for a moment.

"I see you've been thorougly educated."

"So it's true?"

"Of course it is, isn't my sole existence a proof of that? I know what you feel, I also know everything about what your aspirations and dreams are. Why do you think that I chose to interpret this person instead of another? Your love for him is so unconditional, you'll never be able to kill me in this form."

It was ridiculous.

Haitham was logical.
This Cyno wasn't the one he hovered sentiments for, murdering an illusion sounded like the easiest part of their journey actually.

"Your argument is deeply fallacious. In which way wouldn't I be able to leave a fatal blow on some sort of spirit?"

He didn't wait for the answer and raised up his sword to tear through any vital points he could reach.

The blade was centimeters away from leaving a deadly wound, but something within him made him stop his actual movement before he could end the ghost.

What if he was actually attacking Cyno's real body?

This possibility crashed into his mind.

It would explain why his ennemy was so impassive.

How utterly annoying.
Why should he care about some low probabilities?

Plus Cyno was more than able to defend himself if Haitham was attacking him...

But he knew, deep down, that he would never forgive himself if he would worsen his ally's state.

He wasn't even keen on murdering someone.
Even despites his cold façade, killing someone was an extreme case he would rather avoid at all costs.

"You've stopped."

The illusion commented the obvious.

"Indeed."

A mischievous grin ran through the ghost's lips.

"I was right. You can't bring yourself to even hurt that person. You do realize it's pathetic?"

Haitham didn't make any objection.

He wasn't pathetic...
Only...Careful.

"Look at what I can do to that body you like so much..."

Alhaitham's focus urged back to the fake Cyno.
He had a bad feeling about this.

His mind had only the time to process the man bringing up a small dague against his right arm and procedeed to dig it into the member, the disgusting sound of flesh being martyrized invaded Haitham's ears and he suddenly felt nauseous by both, the sight and the noise.

For reasons he would like to ignore, The Scribe wanted to scream.
His blood was boiling.
Keeping a composed attitude was starting to get too testing for him.

"I see. You think you are smarter than me?"
He hissed through a clenched jaw.

"I don't think.
I am."
The man was ready to tear down any other part of the Cyno's body's perfect replica.

The teal-eyed man looked bored for a second before lifting up his weapon once again.

But this time, the blade wasn't facing his opponent.

The other raised up a brow.

"This reality is all in my head I believe. I'm even sure of it. This illusion that you interpret is only the fruit of my own desires and fears. You are tricking me from the start into thinking that getting rid of you will break the curse you put me through.
But I have my own radical methods in this case."

He felt like it was an useless blabber that he sputted out, but his pride had been wounded and justifications were highly recquiered.

He was smarter.

"Allow me."
Was the last thing he told the spirit before directing the sharp part of his weapon towards his core.

No apprehensions, no qualm, no regrets.

Nothing.

He wasn't going to die.

He knew it.

He was rather confident about it, until the blade perfored his ribs to catch the pumping organ hidden in a corner of his chest.

Haitham immediately chocked.

The taste of blood invaded his tongue and the foreign feeling he had experimented a few days prior when he caught Cyno's lips during his outburst came back to him.

Why now?

It was not the right moment.

He coughed.

The blood wouldn't stop flowing out from his mouth.

Did he go too far?

Did he miscalculate?

He wasn't going to die.
No.
He wasn't.
He couldn't.

He couldn't die now, by his own hands moreover.

A vision flashed through his agonizing mind.

He should have...
He should have told everything to Cyno.

He wanted the other's answer.
He needed it.

It was such a foolish last wish.

He cursed himself, sight becoming blurry, eyes closing themselves.

Soon, the dark spiraled him and the world faded away.

--------------------------------

"Help me out!"

Sniffles.

Whimpers.

A cracking voice.

"He-He is wounded!"

Was all Haitham's could hazily discern through the void emptying his consciousness.

He couldn't feel his body.

Maybe he was already dead.

How pathetic.

-------------------------------

When Alhaitham's eyes opened up for the first time in days, The Scribe himself was faced up with huge confusion.

The rays of the heating sun burned his retina.

It took him a long moment to adjust to the luminosity.

And another one to realize he recognized the room he was in.

Those walls and this traditional tapestry...

He was back in Aaru's village?

Was he still hallucinating?

As his pupils were beggining to handle the light better for each seconds passing by, the former scholar insitnctively scanned his surroundings.

That's when he was greeted by a comforting scene.

The general was there,
arms crossed,
sitting,
back resting against the chair.

His torso was covered by large bandages and Haitham felt like he could finally allow relief easing through his thoughts.

So they were back.

He couldn't recall what happened after his exchange with the mysterious spiritual system of the obelisk.

He took a look at his own state quickly.

A part of his head was bandaged as well along with his chest.

He stared blankly at the covered wound.

"Haitham you are awake?"

The voice made him jerk his head to the side a bit too harshly.

Cyno's crimson orbs were round from bewilderment.

"I am."

Since it was the first time he spoke in days, Haitham's voice cracked unintentionally.

"Is it all you have to say?! You are such a fool!"

Alhaitham jumped when the yell echoed through the room.
His mind was still foggy from his comatosis state and he could only observe powerlessly the other grabbing his collar with such fierce and anger.
But Cyno's eyes screamed despair.

"Do you have any idea of what you put us through with your unreasonable behaviour?!"

He wasn't even trying to lower his voice.

"You-"

The General clenched his free fist, eyes darkening and his other hand glued onto Haitham's shirt, shaking.

Finally, he loosened the hold and sat back with a heavy sigh.
The wave of emotion which had taken over him mere seconds ago vanished in the same time.

"You could have died."

Alhaitham blinked in confusion.

He was at loss of words and his skull felt like splitting itself open at any moment.

But, a thought crashed into his mind as his eyes fell back on Cyno's delicate figure.

Now he remember.

He had something very important to confess.

"Cyno I need to tell you-"

The door of the room bursted open, cutting him midsentence and making even Cyno flinch from the noise.

"Cyno what happened?! We heard you scream and-"

Alhaitham stared blankly at Dehya who just disrupted their calm.

"Oh you're finally awake! That's some good news."

She turned towards the shorter male, shoting him a small grin before immediately putting on a confused attitude.

"Why are ya looking mad? Shouldn't you be happy he is back with us? I guess now you can stop looking miserable and spending your whole time confinated here."

Cyno shot her a glare, visibly embarassed to having been exposed so easily.

The mercenary laughed.

She then turned towards Alhaitham this time.

"I never expected you to be so reckless considering how quiet you are. But you clearly got the death out of Cyno ya know? Consider yourself a lucky guy that I actually found you and Cyno in the middle of my path."

She marked a pause, letting the infos flowing easily into Haitham's brain structure.

"You were both so fucking wretched. I never saw Cyno panicking so much. He was dragging your body out of a temple when I encountered him. And as for you, you kept bleeding a shit ton despite the compress Cyno had applied."

Alhaitham shot a curious glance to the General who happened to dissolve slowly as the words kept pouring themselves out of Dehya's mouth.

So Cyno dragged his body out after he had been under the influence of the hallucination?
The way Dehya made it sound, it also seemed that he had been on the verge of death.

He guessed they were even now.

Cyno cleared his throat.

"That's enough, details aren't needed. There will be a proper time to talk about it and it is clearly not right now."
His voice came back to his usual and quiet tone and the eremite arched a brow.

She then let her eyes travel between the two men before shrugging.

"I see. Well have fun then loosers. I'll notify Candace that Alhaitham woke up."

"That's a thoughtful decision."

She scoffed at Cyno's remark and stormed out of the room as quick as she had came in.

The both men exchanged a glance before allowing themselves to fall back into a comfortable and soothing silence.

Was it the right moment?

Alhaitham didn't know.

But he felt like speaking for once.

"You stabbed yourself you know that?"
Asked Cyno, out of the blue, stealing Haitham's chance to start the dialogue.

"Oh, so it really did happen? That's infortunate."

Cyno sent him a nasty glare.

"That's infortunate?! Did you hit your head or something?"

"Actually yes."

"You nearly died! Your blade cut one of your artery and it's all you can say?"
Cyna lashed out, completely ignoring the other's silly comment.

"I thought...
I thought you of all people would be concerned about your health and well being more than anyone."
He continued, clearly struggling with the way his words betrayed his worry.

But this wasn't the only thing he was struggling with.
Indeed,
Cyno couldn't fathom the previous selfless behaviour Haitham had made him witness.

"I do feel concerned. But I am alive and safe, isn't it sufficient? I believe I have to thank you for that."

"Tch Don't even dare mention it. I'm not as heartless as you to let anyone agonize in front of me."

"When did I even do that?"

"You would have."

"That's regretful that you think so little of me. Didn't I save you in the Mausoleum the other day?"

"You did it only because you had to."

"Is it any different from you?"

Cyno shut himself up.

Even with a near death experience on the counter and a drugged state, The Scribe still had his ways to make him feel frustrated.

Alhaitham waited for him to object.
To say that
No,
He didn't drag him out of this mess just because he HAD to, just because Haitham was too important for their upcoming plan, just because he had responsabilities.
But rather because Cyno had WANTED to, because he felt like it, because he needed him as much as Haitham craved him those last few days.

How ironic.

This wasn't in any way logical.

Seeing that Cyno wasn't going to argue with him, Haitham sighed softly.

"I have to admit being slightly disappointed."

"What are you saying now?"

"Cyno, I came to terms with the fact that I actually took a liking towards you, but I believe that you feel none of that."

The former General wasn't sure how he was supposed to react or even interpret this sentence.

"You should keep your mouth shut, you barely even makes sense."

Haitham felt annoyed at the way the other was dismissing his honesty so easily.

"I make perfect sense."

Silence felt heavy until Cyno broke it.

"So if I understand correctly you are basically admitting that you appreciate me?"

"A bit more than that even."

Cyno's face went blank and Haitham wondered if he was disgusted.

"Now is not the time for that."
The matra turned around to face the wall and paradoxically, escape Haitham's sight.

"When will be the right time? Are you running away General? I didn't know you were such a coward."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I do."

...

"I want to know more about you Cyno. I wish we can share some of our time in the future. Your presence is the only way to stimulate my mind."

"So I'm no better than a toy for you."

Alhaitham's eyes remained unexpressive.
That's not what he meant...
He had his hopes up in thinking his sentence was rather emotional but apparently it wasn't the case.

Well, he had never been the sentimental kind.

"Are you trying to misinterpret what I'm saying on purpose?"

"Maybe yes."

"Can you, at least face me when we are talking?"
Haitham pleaded with a hint of annoyance traveling his voice.

"I don't feel like it."
Cyno responded.

"I see.
As you wish then."

Though, Haitham's mind screamed the opposite.
If he listened to himself, he would already be carressing the smooth skin of the General, closing the distance between them and feel euphoria blooming into his heart while they would learn to know each other's heat.

From the corner of his eyes, Cyno noticed the dismay written all over The Scribe's face.

Was he really being genuine?

Of course, deep down,
Cyno knew he was.
But it was so much easier to ignore that fact and keep on demonizing him.

Perhaps he was the heartless one.

But he couldn't concede these feelings to invade him as well. Their mission here was important, their top priority. Any other form of involvement could wait but...

"Cyno, my feelings for you will remain unchanged even if you do not reciprocate."
Said Haitham, surprisingly smug about it,
which got a mix of anger and fluster out of the shorter one.

"Go to hell."

And with that, he urged himself towards the door, internally experimenting a mess of regret, dissatisfaction and frustration.

He only stopped a step before exiting.

"We will talk about this once our Archon is free from the Akademya.
Until then, try not to get on my nerves Scribe."

.....

He left.

He left and for some reasons, Haitham's lips stretched in amusement.

He did not feel rejected,
Not one bit,
Especially not after witnessing how red suited Cyno's cheeks so well.