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“He’s awake! Freminet, how do you feel?”
How does he feel? Ugh… the room is spinning and so are his thoughts, like the floor had been ripped out from under him and he was falling…
But Freminet forced his eyes open anyway, scanning the room with blurred perception. He barely registered the forms of his siblings, but somehow managed to speak. “Lyney…Lynette…”
“We’re all here,” Lynette said softly.
“Where…am I? What happened to me…?” the words were like sandpaper against his throat. The hot flashes that rippled under his skin were getting more and more unbearable as he gradually became more aware of his surroundings.
“The infirmary at the Fortress of Meropide, Mr. Freminet, and you are no longer in any danger.” The voice that spoke was high-pitched and childlike, but not like Paimon’s, who was floating just to the voice’s left. She had the features of a Melusine… So she had to be Sigewinne, the head nurse. That made sense.
“How do you feel? Don’t push yourself if you’re not feeling up to it,” Paimon asked. The Traveler nodded beside her.
“Traveler, Paimon… It’s been so long,” Freminet’s brain was still a little slow to catch up, and he said the first thing that came to mind. Wait, why were the Traveler and Paimon here? Surely they had better things to do. Freminet had been doing something to help them out…but what? A mission where he…
The realization crashed over him like a wave.
“The sea! There’s something wrong with the seawater!” he blurted, jolting upright. Unfortunately, he could not support his own weight, and Lyney had to place a hand across his chest to stop him from falling over. The magician laid another cautious hand on his back and guided him back towards the bed.
“Shh, it’s okay,” soothed Lyney, “We can talk about it after you’ve recovered.”
“No, listen to me, this is really serious!” Freminet urged. Both Lyney and Lynette’s faces morphed into twin expressions of shock, they knew it was unlike Freminet to be so adamant about anything. “There’s Primoridal Seawater mixed into the regular seawater. I don’t know why it’s there, but no one should touch it!”
The Traveler finally spoke from their place at the foot of Freminet’s bed. “What happened after you snuck into the pipes?”
Freminet’s memory faltered. “Pipes… Right, the pipes. It’s all coming back to me now…”
Recounting the story was perhaps the most difficult part. He had to keep pausing every so often, just enough to catch his breath and refocus his eyes. At one point, he dissolved into a rather aggressive coughing fit, prompting a scramble to overtake the infirmary as Sigewinne searched for the right medicine to administer. Lyney looked horrified. Freminet would’ve done anything to make sure he never made that expression ever again.
As a result of Freminet’s coughing fit, Lyney elected to climb onto the bed and sit beside Freminet, one hand on his back in support. Lynette did the same, sitting on his other side with one hand clasped in his own. Just those two small gestures made Freminet feel miles better, and he continued with confidence.
Once he got to the part of the story where he went underwater, however…
“It was suffocating. My heart was racing and it was so hard to breathe… Almost like drowning, but not quite.” Terrible memories of previous diving incidents resurfaced in his mind, but he shoved them down. “I kept thinking to myself that I couldn’t die down there, and that I had to keep going…”
Lyney looked like someone had ripped out his heart and crushed it in front of him. The magician tightened his grip on Freminet’s shirt.
“It’s alright now, Freminet,” Lynette said from beside him, “You got through it.”
“Yeah. I tried my best to swim back, but I had already put some distance between myself and the Fortress, and I just couldn’t find the strength to keep going… I probably passed out some time after that, and you know the rest.”
Lyney met eyes with Sigewinne and then quickly looked away, a perfect mask of composure and focus descending over his features, leaving Freminet wondering if someone else had suddenly swapped places with his distressed older brother.
“…So, in other words, the trail you were following vanished, and you had no idea where Master Childe could’ve gone, but there was no obvious place for him to have disappeared to…”
“Mhm, that’s right.”
Paimon huffed from where she floated. “Hmph! It’s about time Wriothesley actually told us what’s going on! We should go talk to him. Wanna come with us, Lyney?”
Lyney hesitated briefly, glancing between the Traveler and his siblings. Ultimately, though, he decided rather quickly. “No, please go on without me. I don’t want to leave just yet.”
“Lyney…” said Lynette.
The magician looked down at his shoes. “The logical part of my brain is aware that we’re safe right now, but I still can’t bring myself to leave. Both of you were just in danger.”
Lynette nodded once. Those two were always on the same wavelength, Freminet often found himself being left out of their silent understandings. “Understood. Then let’s just sit together for a while.”
“In that case, I’ll leave the infirmary to you,” Sigewinne said, “The Traveler and I are going to head out for now— as long as you stay in here, I don’t think you’ll be disturbed.”
“Thank you,” Freminet said quickly, only because he thought he should be the one to thank her. There was bound to be a lot of talking and thanking in his near future…
Freminet and his siblings watched in silence as the others left the room, finally able to breathe easy.