Chapter Text
Delilah had come home with him one day.
It started raining as soon as she opened the front door, the hulking bedframe creaking its way around the house under the shelf of the roof, thudding its heavy feet. Delilah had ran to meet it in her room, the only one not on a raised platform so that the bed could come inside easily. Baiken had come to see the fuss, and found a young boy breathing heavily atop the now folded bed. His hair was lavender, and where Delilah had an arrow pointing upwards, his was down. He looked like he was struggling to see, squinting at the world around him, and suddenly he sneezed.
"I'll go get some tea, start talking when I get back." Baiken barked, leaving for the kitchen to boil some water. Delilah bowed, then quickly set about finding warm blankets and extra pillows for the boy. Once he was sitting up, leaning on the cushions and swaddled properly in blankets, he finally started to breathe easier. Baiken had brought a tray of tea, and a concerned looking Anji, who immediately set to serving the boy some weak, warm drink.
"...This is Romeo. This is my brother…. Please don't be mad, but I had to use my powers to bring him back and-" Baiken hummed, looking carefully between the siblings. Looking at the broken, rusting bed, it looked right when this boy was in it, rather than Delilah. She knew as well, that using her powers was both a struggle and a risk for the girl, Baiken looking over her black marks for stress, checking her eyes for blood. Nothing was out of place, so the samurai leaned back, Anji helping Romeo eat a piece of buttered toast.
"Well, you're okay, so I can't be too upset. As for you," Baiken said, turning to face Romeo, "What about you? I've heard about your…condition. What's going on?"
Romeo fisted his hands into the sheets, grimacing.
"I made Delilah's powers decay to stability. As compensation, she now has half of mine…so we should be okay." Romeo went into a coughing fit, Anji rubbing circles over his back, easing him into breathing.
"Easy there," Anji whispered, offering a soft smile, "You've only just woken up."
"...Go back to sleep, brother. I'll still be here when you wake up." Delilah held his right hand in hers, pleading with her eyes. The boy nodded, Delilah taking a couple of the pillows out from behind him, so he could lie down flatter, and the gathering excused themselves from the room.
"...He can stay." Baiken huffed, reaching for her pipe. Anji and Delilah looked at her and each other in equal shock.
"I'm not about to tell a sick kid to stick it. As long as he pulls his weight eventually, he's fine." Baiken took in a breath of smoke, releasing it slowly.
"Anji, he needs glasses, and something warm to wear."
"Yes, you're right. Delilah, come with me tomorrow, we'll get him sorted out." Anji excused himself back to his workshop, leaving Baiken and the girl alone in the hall outside her room.
"...Thank you, hahaue*." Delilah fell to her knees to bow. As much as it annoyed her, Baiken recognised the respect Delilah had for her, and at least that respect was in her native language.
"Yeah yeah, now get to bed yourself, lil missy."
When Delilah returned to her room, it was with exceptional care to not creak the flooring, padding her way towards the cupboard where she kept her spare futon.
"Calling her mother like that is a bit excessive don't you think?" Romeo looked over at her, blinking slowly. Delilah smiled, of course he had woken up.
"She deserves my respect, and she's given up on fighting me over it." Delilah placed her bedroll on the floor right next to her brother, then adjusted his blankets for him.
"Sleep well, we'll have to start rehabilitating you tomorrow."
Romeo nodded, closing his eyes again.
—--------------
"It's thoroughly embarrassing to need this much help. Are you sure I can't go back to sleeping?" Delilah knew that whenever Romeo was actually complaining, it was because he was frustrated. Waking up after years of sleep, his body wasn't strong enough on its own yet, and he still had functions he needed to attend to.
Hence why she was helping carry him to the bathroom.
"But we can finally be awake together, wasn't that what you wanted?" Delilah reminded him, the boy wincing as he sat down to relieve himself.
"I suppose I'll just have to put up with this until I'm…rehabilitated." Romeo groaned at the word. Yes, he hated the thought of being treated like a test subject. Delilah agreed with the sentiment, but she remained steadfast on his recovery.
"You'll be alright. I'll be responsible for you." Again, Romeo flinched. That was another sore spot, he should have been the older, reliable, responsible one, and here was his younger sister, looking after him in his weakness.
Once he was finished, he acquiesced to Delilah helping him clean up properly and walking him back to bed, where the head of the frame looked at him curiously.
"... Don't give me that look. I don't need it from you too." He hissed, falling back into his blankets.
"Don't mind him, he's just tired." Delilah assured the frame, patting the round head gently, before it folded itself back underneath. Delilah sat herself on the edge of the bed, brushing her brother's hair with her fingers.
"Do you want a bath later?" She asked, taking a hold of his hands. He sighed.
"When Anji is awake, I suppose." Delilah let him go back to sleep, while she wrote another entry into her picture diary.
—----------
"How old are you, Romeo?" Anji had helped him climb into a small tub of water, where he was being sponged down.
"Fourteen." Was his clipped response. He was hiding his face in his hair, and Anji allowed him his embarrassment.
"Right," Anji wrapped a fluffy towel around his shoulders, easing him out of the water and onto a tilted seat, where he could wash his hair, "What prescription are your glasses?"
"Single focus, polarised, nearsighted. But I suppose if I'm going to be awake, can I get two pairs? One with transition treatment, I don't want to lose any more of my retinas if possible." Romeo hissed when the warm water flowed over his touch-raw scalp. Anji touched the arrow curiously, finding that it was intangible.
"It's magic, if you couldn't tell. Maintaining it helps drain some of my power, so I don't die."
"You two are very…" Anji saw that Romeo was bristling, anticipating the next word, "...unique. Now, Delilah and I picked these out for you because we thought you'd need some warmth."
Romeo flushed slightly, in response to being called unique. He contemplated the clothes, looking at the pins in his shoulders as he lifted the shirt he'd been brought. He lifted the pins with a minimal amount of magic, so he could pull his clothing on, then he drove the pins through the fabric. Anji looked pale watching him perform this particular ritual, but he supposed he never saw Delilah unscrew hers.
"Ah, and I've made a call, you'll be getting a wheelchair next week, is that okay?" The dancer asked, trying to regain his composure.
Romeo found that he liked that Anji would ask him if things were okay to do, he'd asked him if it would be okay to give him a bath, and now was it okay that he was getting a wheelchair? It made him feel human.
"That's fine. Anything for independence."
Anji helped him walk out of the bathroom back into the main sitting room of the house, Delilah flipping through a book, Knitting Basics.
When they arrived, Anji carefully seated Romeo on a backed seat on the floor, the boy stretching his legs out to their full reach. Delilah took this as her queue to pick up his ankle and slowly move his left leg through its motions, starting by pushing his knee to his chest.
"How do you feel?" Delilah smiled while she helped her brother, switching to his right leg. He could feel his heartrate increase as the blood flow improved.
"Acceptable. Still not thoroughly enjoying the sensations, but I will survive if you are any evidence." He replied.
"What would you like to do today?" His sister moved onto his arms, rotating his shoulder slowly.
"Well," Romeo began, looking down the hallway that led to his shared room with Delilah, "Maybe we can do something about my poor eigth generation reinforced bedframe. I think it can do better than being a broken as it is."
"Sure! I'll go get some paper, rulers and pencils." Delilah went back down the hall to gather the necessary materials, Romeo smiling. Of course she wanted to do it on manually, rather than trusting their abilities.
"I'll head back to work now," Anji said, turning for the door, "Baiken will probably be home for dinner."
"Okay, we'll make today's meal then. Itterashai." Delilah bowed slightly, depositing the drawing necessities onto the low table, watching as Anji left.
"Hm, shall I also adopt these mannerisms which you seem so fond of? Is that what will make our caretakers happiest?" Romeo moved carefully closer to the table.
"Hmm, maybe. But that can wait, just don't upset Baiken or Anji. Maybe relax on the word count?"
"That request I can oblige. Now, about the bed-" Romeo started to describe what he wanted the frame to become.
First, he said, they'd have to strip the actual bed of the mechanisms. Once they had the skeleton on its own, they could begin the proper modifications, it should still retain its wheels, fingers, the head, and all its weapon capablities. Maybe make the spikes able to retract. Program it to be able to free roam, and fold itself around things, either the bed or a wheelchair, they discussed. Plans drawn, Delilah and Romeo calculated the necessary materials in kilograms of scrap metal and tools.
Romeo yawned, rubbing his eyes. Delilah put their papers neatly to the side, then helped her brother get to his bed, this time the head and arm appearing, tucking him in.
"Take a nap, I'll be back later. Love you." Delilah hugged him gently, then stroked the bauble head again.
"You too." He yawned again, letting himself sink into his pillow.
—------------
"Do you think it's possible?" Delilah had called Ramlethal of all people, surely she'd know about masses of scrap metal somewhere.
"It may be possible, yes," Ramlethal's voice came through the receiver, "I'll deliver the materials personally. But Delilah, why do you need this much?"
Delilah hummed for a second, considering how best to respond to the special commander. She couldn't tell her about Romeo yet, could she? Deciding against it, she gave a relatively vague answer.
"I had something I wanted to build, and I'd rather use old materials than new."
"Alright," Ramlethal sighed, "I'll call when I have made arrangements."
One mission down, one to go, Delilah thought. She looked in the fridge for ingredients - it was thoroughly stocked, and among the goodies was a packet of thin steaks, perfect for what she had planned, but that could wait.
She went back to the main room, setting a digital timer next to her, she picked up a ball of yarn from the nearby basket, and casted on a row of starting stitches. She intended to make her brother a cardigan and a scarf, to keep him warm. She knew purple was his favourite colour, and she'd managed to find natural fibre yarn, this one a mix of merino and alpaca wool, plenty water resistant, soft, and gentle on the nose. Knitting was also a good way to focus, to manage her mind. When information directly from the Backyard filtered through you, it was sometimes hard to think clearly. Baiken was still considering her request for training, complaining that she wasn't old or 'crippled enough' to need to pass down her skills, but she hadn't said no yet, either.
By the time the alarm buzzed quietly, Delilah had made most of a back panel for the cardigan, three cables going up the middle of the panel, and she was almost through her first ball. Getting up, she set to making dinner, setting up the rice cooker for four people, then preparing a bowl of salad, a sampling of pickled vegetables, putting the dishes into the empty shelf of the fridge. She had time before Baiken or Anji returned for the meal, and she should probably go and wake her brother, maybe give him some tea.
When she came back to their room, Romeo was sitting on the edge of his bed, dragging his toes along the floor, swinging his knees, testing.
"Would you like some tea? Dinner will be soon." Delilah picked him up under his shoulder, walking with him to the dining room, Romeo finding a cushioned seat for himself.
"Sure, thank you, Delilah." Romeo waited patiently while his sister brought him a cup of water and a mug of weak green tea. While the tea was slightly bitter, it was refreshing, and the water was welcomed. A jug of more water soon appeared at the table, followed by brightly coloured salad, a bowl of pickled vegetables and the rice in four bowls. Last to arrive was a warmed plate covered in meat. Delilah handed her brother a pair of chopsticks in bright violet, a pair of sheep on the ends.
"I picked them for you, I have these ones." Delilah showed him her own, these ones yellow with the same sheep.
"I suppose having personal utensils is a cultural thing?" Romeo asked, feeling the sticks in his hand, practicing moving and pinching them.
"Anji says it is. We even have special rests for them." She said this, pointing at the frogs that she'd put Baiken and Anji's chopsticks on, their bodies specially designed to hold the tips at an angle.
Speak of the devil, Anji and Baiken soon appeared at the table, having removed their shoes and sitting themselves in position, Baiken at the head of the table, Anji to her right, and Delilah on her left. Romeo sat on the opposing end, under her scrutinising eye.
"So, what're your plans?" Baiken asked around a mouthful of rice and meat.
"For the immediate future or long term?" Romeo asked, picking cautiously at his food.
"Whichever." Baiken replied, taking a drink of water.
"Well, first we're going to fix my bedframe, and then who knows. I'm a criminal, so I can't exactly move around freely, and until I'm recuperated, I can't imagine having a physical occupation." Romeo watched Baiken's reaction through squinted eyes, the samurai looking around her table. Anji was smiling, and Delilah was fairly neutral, probably concerned for the older woman's answer.
"Yer right about that. When you're feelin up to it, I'll train ya both. No sense in training you separately." Delilah positively beamed at this, then schooled her expression when Baiken raised her eyebrow in her direction.
"If that's the case," Anji sipped at his glass, "what would you think of goggles?"
"Goggles?" Romeo felt his face relax, putting his chopsticks across his emptied bowl.
"Yeah, glasses would fall off your face if you got too sweaty, and then they'd break. Goggles wouldn't do that to you." Anji explained. The logic made sense to Romeo, even if he thought the image of himself in goggles a bit goofy. Delilah clearly had the same thought, he heard her snort.
"I think it's the logical thing. I trust that whatever adaptive equipment I get is given out of care, so I won't say no." Romeo answered, taking the last of the water for himself. Baiken huffed.
"Ya always got so many words?"
Romeo thought about what Delilah had said earlier - maybe he should shorten his responses?
"Don't be hard on him, Baiken. He speaks earnestly." Anji touched her shoulder gently, the samurai sighing.
"Hm. I guess." Baiken excused herself from the table, complimenting Delilah on the food.
"I shall try to be more concise, hahaue." Romeo said as Baiken rose from her seat. The woman took another deep sigh.
"If I have to deal with that outta both of ya, I'll start growing grey hairs. It's whatever, kid." Baiken passed him by, ruffling his hair.
"Let me help you with the dishes?" Romeo asked his sister, as she cleared the table, Anji moving to the sitting room with Baiken.
"Sure, I'll move a chair to the sink, would you dry up for me?"
—-----------
"... He's fine. I'm not about to cut his tongue out, if that's what you think." Baiken huffed on her pipe.
"They're a fine pair." Anji mused.