Chapter Text
Shiro looked at the boy and didn't know what to do. He always knew his past would haunt him in some sort of way, but he expected that to be in the form of nightmares- not this.
"Uh- hello....?" He greeted, akwardly waving at the teen before him.
"Thank you for taking me in, Sir. I will do my best to not become a liability." the fifteen year old spoke up.
Shiro just sighed. He barely had Rin, Yukio and himself setteled into their new life when he got another child dumped on him. And not just any child either. The boy before him with his (honestly quite stupid looking) blonde hair reaching his shoulders and ice blue eyes was a clone from Section 13.
A survivor of the Blue Night. A Lucifer clone and an amnesiac with no memory of his past whatsoever.
The paladin had no idea how to act around him. It's not like he could just tell the kid the truth about his origin, a morinath contract stopped the man from that.
God- sometimes Shiro couldn't stand the Grigori. I mean what were they thinking !? Dumping this fifteen year old clone on him with no further instructions than to "raise and train him" because "they were a good fit".
"Looks like you'll live here with me now. You must have been confused, right ? Waking up with no memories like that....." Shiro tried. Arthur looked at him for some time, before nodding slowly.
The boy had something uncomfortable around him. Was it the way his voice was so monotone, or could it be how his eyes seemed unbelievably empty and dead ? Or maybe it was because the child was a reminded of the past Shiro would rather forget completly. Atleast the child was allowed to do so.
"...... Did they tell you about your past already ?" The older questioned. He hoped the people at the Vatican already came up with a fake story, Shiro doubted he'd have the creativity to come up with something convincing on the spot.
"My father was duke Arthur Angel of Saintfort in England. My mother was Augusta Lorraine , a french aristocrat. A demon possesed my father and killed my family and servants. When the knights of the True Cross arrived I was the only survivor. Having recieved a temptaint I was taken in by the Asylum. After it was destroyed during the Blue Night I was send to live and study under you." Arthur ratteled off.
It sounded more like a practised story than a retelling of a past, befitting of something that was just that. A practised story told to hide the child's true origin, Shiro mused.
"Let's get you situated, alright ? I'm sure you're burning to know what your new home looks like" the man tried to lighten the mood. The boy followed silently.
Shiro continued to sneak glances to him as they walked the hallways of the monastery. He genuinly didn't know what to think of all this. Once again the older had to sigh.
Arthur stayed quiet , apperantly only really speaking when spoken to. Overall the teen seemed more like a machine than a human being. Something in Shiro broke at the prospect of seeing someone having gone throught something even worse than that he had to go through.
He just hoped that je wouldn't regret what he was forced to do in this situation. "I'm sorry. The monestary is quite small and we haven't been able to find a room for you alone. I can imagine nicer things than rooming with two babies" the priest told Arthur as he opened the door to a nursery.
The room was quite nice. The walls were beautifully painted and a lot of effort was put into it. Some furniture was pretty hastily shoved to the other side of the nursery to make room for another bed meant for Arthur. Some baby supplies and clothes were also quickly stored in boxes to make room in the closet for Arthur's things. The teen however didn't have much with him , just a change of clothes and basic neccesseties which he deposited next to his sleeping place.
The priest watched as the teen looked around the room, just as stiff as he was when arrived. "Do you want to see them ?" he suddenly asked. The blonde looked at him questioning to which Shiro responded by motioning his head into the direction of the crib.
Arthur got the hint. He walked closer to the crib to see two babies, one with dark brown hair and one with white hair sleeping soundly together. "Pretty cute, right ? The white haired one is Rin while the one with the dark hair is called Yukio" Shiro told him, standing next to Arthur as the two watched the children.
"Rin and .....Yukio" the teen repeated, testing the names on his tounge. The priest nodded along and smiled "they can get pretty fussy at night, I'll try to figure something out for you as soon as possible." He chuckeled.
The teen just continued to look at the sleeping twins.
The first day went relativley normal so far. Arthur arrived just before lunch, Shiro excused himself shortly after introducing Rin and Yukio to Arthur inorder to make the all food. Luckily the babies stayed asleep until it was lunchtime.
The teen was introduced to the other priests at the monestary over lunch , too. He was even allowed to help feed Yukio a bit. Apperantly Rin was too much of a fussy eater for Arthur to handel, so he was only allowed to help with the younger of the two.
The rest of the day was occupied with showing Arthur around, introducing him to new people and explaining how everything worked. All in all the day was rather nice , until-
"I'm sorry, kid. Looks like I have an urgent mission to attend to. I promise I'll try to make it quick, just go and rest for the day" he told him before taking off.
It was late at night already and Arthur was about to go to bed anyway. He had no reason to be nervous. The people from the vatican told him to always listen to his new teacher and superiors. They already did so much for him, so listening to them was the least Arthur could do.
He had no reason to be as nervous as he was. The teen simply chalked it up to anxiety from having so many things happen to him.
The blonde managed to brush his teeth and go to sleep, resting for what he assumes to be an hour before he's ripped from the land of dreams by screeching wails.
The fifteen year old shot up with such might the bedframe creaked under him. The wails came from the other side of the room- the side of the two babies. Worried that soemthing happened to them, Arthur stumbeled into the direction of the crib to see what was up.
The room was dark and the blonde could barely see what was going on, luckily there was a small lamp on the nightstand next to the crib. The turned it on and to his relieve nothing was wrong with either of the children. Atleast in terms of injuries.
The twins were bawling their eyes out, their tiny faces scrunched and red as they wailed. Arthur had no idea what the problem was. They seemed alright. Neither Rin or Yukio looked to be hurt, his teacher fed them already so they couldn't be hungry. What else could the problem be ?
He looked around himself to maybe get a clue on what's going on from his sorroundings, to No avail. Maybe Arthur should go and try to find the other priests ? No- he didn't know where their rooms were. Getting lost and leaving the two obviously distressed infants alone wasn't an option.
He could try to wait, maybe the other priests would come on their own. The boy took another look at the babies decided that that wasn't an option either. Ignoring the fact that resting with two crying kids in the same room was impossible, Arthur was pretty sure that crying from the top of their lungs wasn't healthy for babies.
Suddenly he remembered that some of the priests talked about a "change scedule" for the twins after dinner. Could that be the problem ? Did they simply need a change ?
With no other options the teen decided it was worth a try. Sure- he had no idea of what to do , but how hard could it be ? If he manages to help with taking care of the babies he also already proofed that he was very capable of assisting his master ! Arthur was determined to show that he could do it. Failure was not something he will allowe himself.
He picked up the baby with the white hair first- he remembered that his name was Rin. He was crying the hardest of the two. The blonde was careful to support the infant's head just like Fujimoto-sensei teached him when he was allowed to hold Yukio when he fed him at lunch.
While the cries of the youngest increased in volume after being seperated from his brother, Rin's clamed down a little as soon as Arthur held him to his chest.
He wasn't sure what the reason was for Rin to suddenly quieten down. Arthur just layed him on his chest to make it easier to carry him. He rocked the infant a bit, replecating what he saw the priests do when they put the children to sleep.
Soon enought the wails of the oldest turned to soft sniffling. Arthur felt how wet his shoulder was after having a crying child rests it's head on it. The realization of what to do was welcome, thought. If Rin was able to be stopped by simply holding him a bit, then the case would probably be the same with Yukio.
He gently pulled the infant away from him inorder to set him back down into the crib so Arthur could focus on his brother- only for him to promptly start up wailing again. The teen immideatly took him back up into his arms and rocked him yet again, once he was less fussy Arthur tried to set him down again. The baby yet again started to cry.
This cricle repeated a few times, by now Yukio was starting to stop crying just like his brother did when Arthur held him. But that wasn't because he was being clamed like his brother, it was because he was too exhausted to continue.
Although the blonde had no idea on how to deal with babies, he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to cry themselves to sleep because they were too exhausted to continue.
Arthur was getting a little desprate, Rin wouldn't allowe him to set him down without crying and he was getting worried about Yukio.
He knew that he probably wasn't allowed to do what he was about to do, but it was better than letting the twins continue to cry. He also needed his sleep if he wanted to prove himself as a good student. Rin wouldn't allowe himself to be put down and Arthur wasn't able to sleep while standing up. It was pretty much his only option right now.
The blonde was carefull as he climbed into the crib, he still held Rin and didn't want to drop him. Neither did he want to accidentally kill Yukio by standing on him. He opted to have the small lamp stay on in case the twins might wake up again and something more serious happened.
He carefully laid down next to Yukio and set Rin down next to him. The younger immideatly grabbed the olders hand as if it was an instict to him. Before Rin could start to cry again, Arthur laid down next to the baby.
It was a little cramped, he couldn't really strech his arms or legs. There wasn't a pillow or any covers big enought for him either, but Arthur managed to make due with a few stuffed animals to rest his head on.
Following the stradegy of replecating what he saw the priests and Fujimoto-sensei do, Arthur begann to hum a melody. He didn't know any popular lullaby and couldn't remember what he heared his sensei sing when he passed the room just as the older put the children to sleep, so the teen just hummed whatever melody popped into his mind.
He seemed to have done the right thing considering that Yukio finally clammed down like his older brother, for a second the teen contemplated if he should try to get up. The plan was quickly discarded when he felt Rin grab his hair in what he could only describe to be an iron grip.
With a sigh Arthur closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep. Atleast the twins seemed to be fairly content.