Archive of Our Own

Freminet clutched Pers tightly to his chest, a familiar feeling of anxiety creeping up on him. He’d already walked full circle around the Court of Fontaine, but the person following him didn’t seem to care. He quickened his pace, praying to the archons that he could lose this person, and just go home. He didn’t have his diving helmet with him, and Freminet just wanted to lie down in bed, put it on, and pretend he was diving. It wasn’t like it was too late to go diving on his own, but he’d promised Lyney he’d be home. 

His brother had been even more worried over him and Lynette since they arrived home from the Fortress of Meropide, and with good reason. After what happened to Lynette all those years ago, and Freminet consuming the Primordial Seawater, he had every right to fuss over the safety of his siblings. 

Freminet still hadn’t completely recovered physically from his exposure to the Primordial Seawater, so he was walking slower than he would have liked. He knew the stranger following him would catch up, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop, hoping they’d get tired of following and eventually leave him alone. 

A squeak of fear left him when someone grabbed his shoulder. 

“Hey! You’re that diver, right? Freminet?”

Freminet nodded, holding Pers tighter than before. Normally, he’d just pretend he didn’t hear someone when they tried to talk to him, but he didn’t really have much of a choice here. 

“D’you think you could help my friend and I? He wants to go diving, but he thinks some of his equipment is broken. I heard you’re great at that sort of stuff,” the guy asked. 

“I, um…” Freminet mumbled. “I have to get home, I’m already late as it is…”

“Come on, please? It’s not that late, and it won’t take long! He’s just this way, come on…” The man took Freminet’s wrist in his hand, pulling him along. 

“But-“

“Don’t worry, it won’t take long. He just needs you to take a look at his stuff! You don’t have to fix it or anything, just tell us if it’s broken or not.”

Freminet couldn’t really do anything as the man dragged him along, to the small patch of beach at the edge of the Court. Another man was waiting there, looking impatient.

“Finally!” he said. “Is this the guy?”

The first man nodded. “Uh huh. He said he’d look at your gear, make sure it’s all working properly.”

Freminet didn’t have the heart to say anything, and just looked at the ground, watching a crab scuttle by. 

“Seriously? He’s just a kid,” he heard. 

“Trust me, he’s the right one.”

The first man finally let go of Freminet’s wrist, but not before tugging his arm to walk him forward.

“Um… so… where’s your gear?” he asked the other man quietly. 

Before he could reply, someone - or something - hit him hard over the side of his head, and his vision blurred as he fell to the ground. Everything started to go dark, and he heard the two men saying something as he finally blacked out. 

“Has the boss told you what he wants us to do with him?”

“No, he doesn’t care as long as we get paid. I’ll think about it on the way back.”

“Lynette, have you heard from Fremi yet?” Lyney asked worriedly, poking his head into their bedroom. 

“Is he not home?”

“No. He promised he’d be home an hour ago, but I haven’t heard anything.”

“Maybe he just went out diving,” Lynette said, her eyes moving between her book and her brother. “You know he loses track of time easily when he’s underwater. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Mm, but… I can’t help but have a bad feeling.”

Lynette sighed, putting her book down. She wasn’t too fond of hugs and physical affection, unlike her twin, but she opened her arms anyway. “Come here.”

Lyney junped onto the bed, snuggling beside his sister as he listened to her heartbeat. 

“After what happened last week, I can’t help worrying. I couldn’t lose you again, Lynette, and Fremi could have died…”

“I know. But we’re okay. Sigewinne helped Freminet, didn’t she? He’s fine now. And nothing happened to me. Wriothesley isn’t a bad person. He just… has some questionable ways of doing things. He reminds me of you.”

“Hey! I’m nothing like him.”

“Right. You’re too short.”

Lyney grabbed the pillow behind him, smacking Lynette in the face with it. This quickly led to a pillow fight, with Lynette coming out on top. 

“Come on. I’m hungry. I win, so I want cake.”

“You’ve already had three slices of Fremi’s birthday cake today.”

“So?”

Freminet slowly blinked awake, his head throbbing. His vision was dark and blurry, and he could barely make out the people standing in front of him. He tried to say something, but all that came out was a small whimper of pain. 

“Hey, look. He’s awake,” came a familiar voice. 

It was the man from earlier, he realised, just as someone grabbed his hair and yanked his head upwards. He cried out, squeezing his eyes shut against a strange bright light above his face. 

“Fatui scum,” someone spat. A new voice. There had to be at least four or five people in the small room, based on the amount of breaths Freminet counted. It was only then that he realised his hands were tied behind him, and he was sitting on a rather uncomfortable chair. 

“What are you Fatui doing here, huh? Trying to screw up our peaceful lives? We’re all perfectly fine and happy, and we don’t need you sticking your noses where they don’t belong.”

Freminet didn’t say anything, still trying to adjust to the light directly in front of his eyes. A harsh slap across his face made him jump, and he whimpered in pain again. 

“Well? Are you going to answer us? Or is the brat mute?”

“Hey, we know you can talk. We aren’t stupid. Now answer the damn question - what are you Fatui doing in Fontaine?”

“We-“ he started, but paused. He didn’t want to give Lyney and Lynette away to anyone. “I… I live here…?” 

“Bullshit.” Someone spat on his cheek, the horrible, dirty feeling making him whine uncomfortably. He tried to wipe his face on his shoulder, but the person holding his hair yanked his head back again. 

“I- I do, I was born here,” he whimpered. “I’ve never left Fontaine…”

“As if we’d believe that. You’ve been lying to everyone, you and those magic twins. You think news wouldn’t spread, especially something as big as that?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know. Lady Furina told everyone the truth about you three during the court case.”

“The truth…?”

“That you’re Fatui. The House of the Hearth or something. You directly report to the Harbingers, and archons know what kind of stuff you do to innocent people when no one’s around. You all deserve to die. Too bad we don’t have some of that weird seawater stuff. At least then there wouldn’t be any way to trace the body back to us.”

“Lady Furina told everyone?” Freminet whispered, his eyes wide. It took his brain a moment to process the second half of what the man had said, but when he did, he visibly panicked. He began to tremble, desperately trying to untie his hands from the chair. 

“Hey! Stop moving around.”

Freminet froze as a dagger was held under his chin. He couldn’t stop shaking, but the blade was enough to stop his struggling. 

“Listen here, kid. Someone has offered us a lot of money for each Fatuus we deal with. You’re just a scrawny kid - no one will notice if you disappear, which means no one would pay a lot to get rid of you. However, we’re willing to make a deal with you. If you tell us where those magic twins are, we might just consider letting you go. How does that sound, hm? We get paid more, you don’t die - it sounds like a win-win to me.”

When the terrified boy didn’t say anything, the man - a treasure hoarder, Freminet belatedly realised - sighed, pressing the dagger closer to his throat. The cold metal on his skin made him shiver, and even that small action drew blood. He whined in fear, unable to respond any other way. 

Are they all treasure hoarders? he thought, as another person laughed behind him. 

“Come on, look how pathetic he is,” they said. “There’s got to be an easier way to get those two. Just get rid of him and we’ll figure out the rest later.”

“Wait, no-“ Freminet blurted out. 

“Hm? Does this mean you’ll help us?” someone said. 

Freminet remained silent. 

“Well?”

“I… I’m not going to help you get rid of my siblings…”

“Siblings? Ha!” the first man shouted. “Aren’t you all orphans? You just happened to grow up in the same house - that doesn’t make you siblings. They don’t care about you. You’re just another Fatui kid.”

“That’s not true-!”

Someone slapped him again, effectively shutting him up.

“Hey, I have an idea. What if we sent those two a letter? Put in his Vision and something else, like… I dunno, a bit of his hair. Tell them to pay us the Mora the client would have given us, or give themselves up if they want the kid back. Likelihood is we’ll be paid regardless.”

“That’s the first smart thing I’ve heard you say,” the first man said. 

Freminet pulled as hard as he could on the ropes binding him to the chair. 

“Leave them alone!” he shouted. 

“Will someone please shut him up?”

One of the treasure hoarders moved to tie a rag over his mouth, but Freminet had already noticed the hole in their plan. They hadn’t tied his feet down - so he kicked out at the Hoarders as hard as he could, headbutting anyone who got close enough. 

“Get his legs!” one of them shouted. “Tie him down!”

They eventually managed to tie Freminet’s ankles to the chair legs, but he was shouting as loud as his lungs would let him. 

“Lyney!” he was yelling. The rational part of his brain knew there was no way Lyney could hear him, but the small, terrified little boy inside him instinctively looked to his brother for help. “ Lyney!!”

Tears began to fill his eyes as he shouted for Lyney. He was always the one looking out for him and Lynette - he was always so protective, always making sure they were safe, always taking care of them. The two boys argued a lot, but it was often to do with Freminet’s safety or Lyney hiding behind a mask. The younger boy would give anything to have Lyney shouting at him for being irresponsible right now, as long as it meant he was safe at home. 

Someone managed to tie a cloth tightly over his mouth, stopping him from shouting properly. But being as stubborn as he was, Freminet continued to scream as much as he could over the gag, until a blade was once again at his throat. 

“Shut up!” the treasure hoarder shouted, pressing the blade into his skin, drawing blood once again. “Try that again and I’ll fucking kill you myself.”

Once he was still, the treasure hoarder grabbed a lock of Freminet’s hair, slicing it off and ignoring the boy’s wince. Tears began to slip down his cheeks, no matter how hard he tried to keep them back. 

“Aww, look, he’s crying!”

The hoarders all laughed at him, which just made him cry more. There was nothing he could do as they unclipped his Vision from his waist, pushed his chair back against the wall, and pulled an old sack over his head. Not being able to see so suddenly scared Freminet even more - how could he know what they were going to do?

Just as he thought this, someone kicked him in the stomach. Hard. He doubled over, his eyes watering and coughing into the gag as he struggled to catch his breath. He heard the treasure hoarders leave the room, locking the door behind them, and he finally let himself break down. He sobbed, pulling on his restraints. Part of him hoped that Lyney and Lynette wouldn’t come for him, so at least they’d be safe, but the other part wanted nothing more than to go home.

When he’d had a really bad day, the twins would ask if he wanted to sleep in their bed with them, and he would be squished between them all night, Pers in his arms. He wished they could all go home and let him snuggle in between them, drifting off to sleep as he forgot that any of this happened. 

… Where’s Pers?

Usually, Freminet would hear the soft tick-tick-tick of the gears moving in the little penguin, but the room was completely silent. Pers must still be at the beach. 

Freminet cried himself to sleep, locked in a silent room, all alone. 

The next morning, Lyney ran to the small section of beach that Freminet liked to visit when he dived. His little brother still hadn’t returned, and even Lynette was worried. They’d agreed to go and look for him, asking everyone they could find if they’d seen him. Chiori had mentioned something about Freminet going to the beach with a strange man, about his little brother going to check someone’s diving equipment. Lyney figured that was his best shot, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Freminet wasn’t there. 

The beach was completely empty.

Lyney sighed, but just as he turned to leave, he heard a familiar tick-tick-tick noise coming from a few feet away. 

Pers lay abandoned in the sand, looking like it had been thrown around by a group of children. 

Lyney felt a wave of relief when he saw the little robot, but it quickly turned into dread. Freminet never went diving without Pers. He didn’t go anywhere at all without Pers. If the little penguin was here, with Freminet nowhere to be seen…

He grabbed the penguin and ran home, crashing into multiple people on the way. He shouted for Lynette as soon as he spotted her, practically shoving people out of the way in his hurry. 

“Fremi’s in trouble somewhere!” he said, panicked. He held out Pers, and his heart sank even further when Lynette’s face dropped. 

“No one’s seen him since yesterday,” she said quietly. “We need to make a report, see if the Gardes can help find him.”

A few hours later, Lyney and Lynette were asking around again to see if anyone knew anything about Freminet. 

“Excuse me,” Lyney asked everyone who bothered to listen. “Have you seen my brother? His name is Freminet - he’s a bit shorter than me, he’s got blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles, and he usually wears black and carries around a little penguin…”

“Sorry,” every single person said. “I haven’t seen him.”

Lyney felt like he was about to scream in frustration. He spotted an unfamiliar man heading in his direction, and ran to meet him. 

“Excuse me! I’m looking for my little brother!” he said desperately. He quickly described him, but the man didn’t seem to recognise who he was talking about. 

“Please, do you know anyone who might have seen him? He’s autistic, and if he gets stuck or lost or in trouble somewhere strange he’ll end up panicking or he’ll have a meltdown and he’ll end up getting himself even more lost and he won’t be able to get home on his own but he won’t trust anyone else to lead him home and-!”

“Hey, hey, calm down. I haven’t seen him, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

“I’m sorry, I just… I’m worried about him. I don’t know where he could possibly be, and no one’s seen him…”

“You’re Lyney, right? The magician?”

Lyney nodded.

“Some guy at the harbour asked me to find you. He said he had a gift for you, and asked me to deliver it…” The man pulled out a small package, handing it to Lyney. “He said something about opening it with your sister. I don’t know what he was on about, but maybe it’ll help you find your brother. Good luck.”

Lyney dragged Lynette back home as soon as he found her, and ripped the package open as soon as the door closed. Inside was a letter, and something else that Lyney didn’t bother to look at. He started to read the letter, but froze before he could get to the end. 

“Lyney…” Lynette whispered. He looked up to see his sister holding Freminet’s Vision in her hand… and what looked like a lock of his hair. 

“Someone - someone took him,” he mumbled. “Someone kidnapped him? Who would do that? He hasn’t done anything…”

“Lyney, I think we need to talk to Father. If anyone can help, it’s her-“

“But the letter… It says that we can have him back if we go to the beach on Monday.”

“What? It can’t be that simple.”

“I don’t know, I didn’t read the whole thing…”

Lyney’s hands were trembling, so Lynette gently took the letter off of him. She read it through to the end, sighing sadly and crumpling it in her hand. 

“We need to find Father.”

“Father!” Lyney shouted, bursting into the office. “I- I’m sorry for bursting in, but - but, Freminet, he- he-“

“My deepest apologies for my brother, Father,” Lynette said as she followed him into the room. She bowed, before quickly summarising the situation. “Someone has taken Freminet, and they’re offering him back to us on Monday under one of two conditions.”

“What might these conditions be?” The Knave turned in her seat, her red-cross pupils fixed on the ever-calm Lynette and the hyperventilating Lyney. 

“We can either pay them seven million Mora, or turn myself and Lyney over to them. But neither of the options guarantee Freminet’s safety.”

“I see.” The Knave thought for a moment. “Could this have something to do with your recent trial? I hear Lady Furina revealed your history to the entirety of the court.”

“Someone kidnapped Freminet just because he’s Fatui?” Lyney exclaimed. “Why would they do that?”

“Lyney, settle down. The Fatui have plenty of enemies, so it’s no surprise that people want to be rid of us,” the Knave said, resting her elbows on her desk. “I don’t believe there is anything you can do besides the options you were given. Were you told of the consequences if you simply… don’t show up?”

“No, but…”

“But they could kill him!”

“Unfortunately, sacrifices must be made occasionally to protect our family. I do not wish for Freminet to leave us, but this matter is up to you. You should do what you believe to be the best option. However, please be aware that we cannot afford to lose more than one of you.”

Lyney hugged his pillow tightly to his chest. 

“What are we going to do, Lynette…? We don’t have seven million Mora. How are we supposed to get him back?”

“They could be using Freminet to get to us,” she suggested. “If that’s the case, I doubt they’d hurt him until they get what they want.”

“But what if they aren’t? What if they kill him for no reason at all?” Lyney mumbled. “We have to help him, we have to…”

“Lyney… I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. We’ll think about it leading up to Monday, okay? We can decide what to do then. Go to sleep. You’ve been running around all day. You must be exhausted.”

The twins slept facing away from each other for the first time in years, both pretending they didn’t hear the other cry at the loss of their baby brother. 

Monday couldn’t have taken any longer to come around. Lyney had decided to sneak out first thing in the morning to find Freminet - he didn’t want to risk hurting Lynette, but he had to get his baby brother back home somehow. He didn’t know how Freminet would get home on his own, but he didn’t want to bother anyone else, so he just had to hope he would be alright. 

Lyney ran down to the agreed meeting place as discreetly as he could, hoping no one would notice him. He rehearsed what he would say over and over, practicing his apology to Freminet. He wrote a note to Lynette, and to Father, apologising for leaving them behind. He planned to give them to Freminet, so he could pass them on. But he never got the chance. 

Lyney waited at the beach from dawn till dusk, but no one showed up. 

Freminet was dragged out of the tiny room after almost a week. He had no idea how long he’d been there, but it had been so long the bright sunlight practically blinded him when the sack was pulled off his head. 

The past week had been pure torture. Freminet was beaten, bruised, and weak, barely able to keep up as his captors dragged him towards a secluded beach. They’d spent the past week starving him, beating him, calling him all kinds of names and all the slurs they could think of, not to mention the constant misgendering and cruelty after he almost passed out from wearing his binder for too long. They even took his shoes at one point, forcing him to stumble across the rocky land completely barefoot. 

When they finally arrived at the beach, one of Freminet’s captors kicked the back of his knee, sending him to the ground. He couldn’t get up properly with his hands still tied behind his back, so they grabbed his hair again to pull him into a sitting position. Freminet was almost surprised he didn’t have a bald spot on the back of his head yet. 

They waited for what felt like hours, until the sun had already set, but no one showed up to rescue him. 

Freminet didn’t know how to feel. On the one hand, at least his siblings would be safe. But…

A sob shook his body as he realised he wasn’t going home, the sound muffled by the same dirty rag around his mouth. 

“Well, just as I thought. Looks like they don’t care as much as you thought they did, hm?” the treasure hoarder said, crouching down to his level. He wiped his tears, suspiciously gently. “Don’t cry, you silly girl.” That phrase alone made Freminet tear up again. “It’ll all be over soon.”

The treasure hoarders dragged Freminet around again, this time to the end of the broken aquabus line that jutted out above the sea. They pulled him towards the edge, before pulling the old sack over his face again and pushing him to kneel down. 

“Hey, how do we know he’s going to sink? He’s not exactly heavy,” one of the treasure hoarders whispered. 

“I don’t know. Go find some big heavy rocks, we’ll stuff them in his pockets or something.”

Freminet didn’t hear a word they were saying. His mind was racing - was he about to die here?

It wasn’t like he never thought about death. He almost constantly wondered what difference it would make if he just disappeared one day. How long would it take for someone to notice? How many people would actually care? 

He sniffled quietly to himself, knowing he made peace with dying a long time ago. He just wished it could have been on his own terms. He wished he’d gotten a chance to say goodbye, at least.

The treasure hoarders filled his pockets with the heaviest rocks they could find. They weighed Freminet down enough that he wasn’t even sure he could crawl away if he wanted to. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, thinking about Lyney and Lynette’s smiling faces. He thought about the first time they called him their brother, the first time they told him they loved him - which he still hadn’t done - the cake they’d got him for his birthday recently… Whatever happened, he wanted to go thinking about the people he loved the most in this world. Even if they didn’t feel the same about him. 

“Don’t worry too much, kiddo. You won’t feel much after this,” one of the treasure hoarders said. He held a bat in his hand, ready to swing it at Freminet’s head. “…You know what,” he said, and the diver could practically hear his cruel grin. “I think I gave the magician the wrong location. Maybe that’s why no one showed up.”

Before Freminet could react, the treasure hoarder hit him hard over the side of his head once again, and he was falling. 

Falling, falling, into the darkness. 

Miles away, a certain dragon felt something odd in the waters of Fontaine. 

A knock on the front door echoed through Lyney and Lynette’s house. Neither of them wanted to get up. They hadn’t moved since the previous day, holding each other tightly in a failed attempt to make themselves feel the tiniest bit better. They may have lost Freminet, but at least they had each other, right? That’s what they tried to tell themselves, at least, but if anything it made them feel worse.

Lyney felt empty. He felt numb. For so long, it had just been Lyney and Lynette, long before Freminet had joined them. When they first met the small boy, they were twelve, and he was only six. Eleven years had passed since then, but Lyney never thought he’d feel so hollow when the trio eventually dissipated into a pair once more. 

Lynette slowly sat up, letting Lyney sink into the nest of blankets and cushions they’d created, with Pers in his arms. 

“Where are you going?” he mumbled. 

“To answer the door. It might be important.”

Lyney hummed in acknowledgment as she left the room, tuning out the conversation in the hall. There had been a time when he wished it could go back to just him and Lynette, and now he would give his life if it meant his baby brother could be home safely.

..

“They found him!”

“Hm?”

“Lyney, come on! Monsieur Neuvillette found him! He’s alive - he’s taking him to the hospital now!”

Lyney hadn’t seen Lynette so animated and emotional for years, so it took him a second to process the shock before her words sunk in. 

“Freminet?!” he shouted, sitting up abruptly. Lynette’s ears folded back, but she nodded. 

“Come on! We have to go, come on!” she grabbed her twin’s wrist, dragging him out of the house.

Neuvillette had left his office to inspect a beach near the Fontaine Research Institute. It was a quiet, secluded place that was rarely visited by anyone. While he couldn’t tell exactly what it was, something here was undoubtedly wrong . A quick glance around proved that everything on the surface was intact, so he was right to assume the issue must have been in the sea. 

He slowly waded into the water, the gentle waves lapping at his ankles. Before long, Neuvillette was deep enough to dive beneath the surface to search for… well. He didn’t know what he was searching for. He knew that he would sense it more strongly the closer he got, but that would take some time of trial and error. 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for him to find the source of the disturbance. He could see the thin trail of blood from almost a mile away. 

Of all the things he expected to see, the body of a young person was not one of them. They had a bag over their head, their hands tied. Clearly, they had been underwater for a considerable amount of time, but they were still alive, although barely. 

 Neuvillette scooped the child into his arms as gently as he could, trying not to aggravate their wounds as he swam to the surface. As soon as he set foot on the ground, he carefully laid the small body on the sand, gently pulling off the bag on their head. 

He was shocked to see the younger sibling of Lyney and Lynette, battered and bruised and bleeding steadily from a wound in his forehead. He didn’t have time to examine him properly - the boy wouldn’t survive if he didn’t hurry back to the city.

He called to the first Gardes he saw when he arrived, explaining what had happened and instructing them to find the twins immediately, before rushing the boy to the nearest hospital. The wound on his head still hadn’t stopped bleeding, so Neuvillette ripped off a piece of fabric from his jacket and held it gently to the boy’s head. It was then he realised that he knew this boy. Actually knew him, to some extent. 

This was the boy that still called out when it rained, to let the Hydro Dragon know that it didn't need to cry. Neuvillette heard every single call to him, and he hadn’t heard anyone more than he had this young boy. 

He left Freminet in the capable hands of the doctors, before leaving as fast as he could. He just hoped Wriothesley would allow him to borrow Sigewinne for a while. 

“Where is he?!” Lyney shouted as soon as the hospital doors opened. “Freminet? Fremi!”

Lynette tried her best to remain calm as Lyney peeked through every single door he could find. 

“Hello,” she said quickly, polite but desperate. “Monsieur Neuvillette found our little brother and brought him here. Could you point us in the right direction?”

She grabbed Lyney’s hand, pulling him along to the room the nurse had indicated. 

The door flew open, and all the twins could see were multiple doctors crowding around a bed. Lyney let go of his sister’s hand, pushing through the small crowd. 

“Freminet!” he shouted, seeing his little brother unconscious in the bed as the doctors finally moved. “Freminet! …Fremi?” He glanced up at the last remaining doctor. “Will he be okay…?”

“I’m not sure yet,” the doctor said. “He only got here a minute before you did. I haven’t had a chance to assess him. I’m going to have to ask you to-“

“I’m not leaving! Whatever assessment you have to do, you can do it with me here. I'm not leaving him.”

“…Alright. I understand.”

The doctor eventually finished up, checking Freminet over and cleaning and bandaging his wounds. He left the room, allowing the twins some alone time with their brother. 

An hour passed, and Freminet still hadn’t woken up. Lynette had been the one to talk to the doctors and nurses, to get food and water, while Lyney sat by the bed, holding his little brother’s hand. No matter what, he wasn’t leaving him. 

Eventually, Freminet’s eyes twitched. They opened slowly, almost too slow for anyone else to notice, but Lyney had been waiting for even the slightest movement. 

“Fremi?” he whispered, gently squeezing his hand. Freminet turned his head to face him, but it didn’t seem like he really processed where he was. 

“…miss you,” he mumbled sleepily. 

“I missed you too, Fremi,” Lyney whispered, carefully stroking the top of his brother’s still-damp hair. “You’re okay now. You’re safe.”

“Safe?”

“Mhm. You got hurt, but you’re in the hospital. We’ll take you home soon so you can get better.”

“Home…” Freminet whispered, closing his eyes. 

“Have another nap, little Fremi. We can talk more when you wake up.”

Freminet nodded, drifting off to sleep once more. 

When he blinked awake again, a familiar small face was next to him. 

“Oh! He’s awake!” The high pitched voice of Sigewinne hurt his ears, and he winced. 

“Freminet!” The voices of Lyney and Lynette overpowered all the other sounds assaulting his ears, before he was crushed by a hug. 

“Be careful! He’s still injured.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lyney said sheepishly as the twins backed away. “Fremi - are you okay? What happened?”

“Lyney..?”

“Mhm. It’s me, and Lynette.” The twins sat to the side of him, Lyney holding onto his hand like a lifeline. “Are you okay?”

Freminet nodded slowly, and then shook his head. “Everything hurts,” he murmured. 

“I know. It will hurt, but it’ll get better soon.”

“I’m cold. This bed is uncomfortable.”

“We’ll take you home tomorrow, Freminet,” Lynette said. “And then you can wrap up in our bed with us, with all your blankets.”

“Freminet,” Sigewinne said. “Do you think you could tell us what happened? It’ll help me treat you.”

“Um…” Freminet scrunched his eyes together, thinking hard. It hurt his head, but he wanted to help as much as he could. “Some… treasure hoarders, I think. They wanted money. Someone wants to get rid of Fatui… one of them spat on my face.” He unconsciously rubbed his cheek against his shoulder, trying to rub off the dirty feeling again. Lyney gently stroked the back of his hand, letting him think. “They… gave you the wrong location. They said you didn’t care.”

“We do care, Fremi. We thought we’d lost you…” Lyney began to tear up, holding Freminet’s hand tightly. 

“I’m sorry-“

“Don’t apologise,” Lynette said firmly. “As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

Freminet nodded quietly, smiling at his siblings. He eventually managed to tell Sigewinne exactly what the treasure hoarders had done to him in the past week, and he ignored Lyney squeezing his hand even tighter and sniffling into his sleeve. 

Later, Lynette was sat on a chair next to the bed, while Lyney had climbed into Freminet’s bed to give him a proper hug - and to tuck Pers back into its rightful place in his arms. 

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again, you know that?”

Freminet smiled again, a small laugh escaping his lips. 

“…I love you guys.”

There was a moment of silence as the twins processed what they heard, before Lynette turned her head away. For a second, Freminet panicked again that he’d said the wrong thing, until he saw her shoulders shaking slightly. 

“Lynette?” he said. “Please don’t cry.”

“How can you blame us?” Lyney sniffled into Freminet’s shoulder. “You’ve never said that before.”

“…it’s true. I love you, both of you. Even if we aren’t really related, you’ll always be my big siblings. I thought I was going to die and I just wanted to think of you as much as I could.”

“Oh, Fremi…” Lynette said, turning back around. She stood up to kiss his cheek, and wrapped both of her brothers in a tight hug. 

“We love you too.”