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The assassins struck the one day that Cyno was away from the Akademiya on business.
Hands shaking, Alhaitham stared at Kaveh and Tighnari where they were, forced to their knees, in front of him. Both of his friends had knives at their necks. Both of them were bloodied, and bruised, and beaten. Hurting. Because of him. Nails biting into his palms, Alhaitham glanced between them, trying to get as much information as he could from them. Speaking through their eyes wasn’t as specific as he would have liked, or as some of the Akademiya students thought they were, but it worked.
It still hurt looking at them. Tighnari was slumping forward, blood trickling down from a pair of brutal nicks in his left ear. One of his hands clutched his shoulder, and his breathing was wrong. There were bruises marking his skin. Kaveh wasn’t in much better of a state, with a bleeding slice above his right eye and a bruise spreading over that same cheekbone. His nose was bloodied and crooked, probably broken. Still, he looked at Alhaitham with this crooked grin, a form of an okay.
Next to him, Tighnari doubled over with a soft groan, eyes drifting closed as he slumped forward the rest of the way. “You might want to make your decision quickly. I don’t know how long he has.” One of the assassins said, holding Tighnari’s shoulder and squeezing until he gasped. “Come on, Grand Sage.”
“Beg, and we’ll let them go. I’d hate to hurt this pretty face more.” The one next to Kaveh drew her finger along his jaw. Eyes narrowing, Kaveh threw his head back into her nose. With a cry, the woman stabbed him in the back. Kaveh’s face twisted with pain, jaw clenching. He didn’t make a sound, though. “Brat. What’s wrong with you? I should have broken your jaw, too.”
“If you break more of his bones, then I will call the General Mahamatra. I doubt he would be very happy with you.” Alhaitham threatened, struggling to keep his tone even. The desperation was leaking into his voice enough for Tighnari and Kaveh to notice, though.
“We don’t have to do anything rash, Grand Sage.” The man continued to crush Tighnari’s shoulder. Sucking in a sharp breath, Tighnari screwed his eyes shut. His mouth drew into a thin line. It was the shoulder that had been struck by lightning, too. Which was…worse, somehow, than if it had been his other shoulder. “Come on. You know what we’re asking you to do. Beg for their lives, and we’ll let them go.”
“I have no assurance of that. The only assurance I have is that you are willing to hurt them. How can you prove to me that you will keep your word if I do what you have asked of me?” Alhaitham asked, still fighting his tone. Still trembling, Tighnari cracked his eyes open to look at him. “I need more than just your word.”
“How about this?” The woman gestured to Tighnari. “If you kneel, then we’ll let this one go. You’ll only have to beg for the life of the other one. But if not…I’m sure you won’t miss one of them.”
He would. He’d miss both of them, just like he would miss Cyno, just like they would miss Alhaitham if something happened to him. Their bed would feel empty no matter how many of them were in it at the time. Their home would be too quiet, Tighnari’s hut would feel strange when they visited it. If something happened to Tighnari, he would never be able to look at the Forest again. If it were Cyno, he would never be able to look in the desert. Kaveh, his house. He wouldn’t even be able to think. The heartache would never go away, not fully.
Pressing his nails into his palms and settling the anxiety in his chest, Alhaitham looked at both assassins, then to Tighnari and Kaveh.
"Let me take him over to the side. Then I will kneel. What do you want from me, specifically?”
“Oh, this isn’t for monetary gain, or academic gain.” The woman twirled an ornate silver knife between her fingers, watching it flash in the light. “We just want to see the great Grand Sage Alhaitham on his knees. Begging. That’s all.”
“Then let me move him, and I will. You have my word—I am sure you know how trustworthy it is.” Alhaitham said. Humming, the woman turned to her ally. He shrugged, and Tighnari was thrown forward.
Alhaitham ducked down to catch him before he could hit the ground.
His boyfriend’s head collided with his collarbone. Painfully, he was struck with the realization of how small Tighnari felt. Normally, it didn’t matter—he was lither than Cyno, but both of them were wiry due to their jobs. He didn’t have the same weight to throw around the other three did, because he made up for it in agility. Normally, if he were this wounded, he was the last one standing and the others were down. That had happened once—Alhaitham had been out, Cyno had been pretty close to joining him, but Kaveh cited Tighnari being terrifying when defending them all. When Lumine had heard about the incident, she had brought them cheesecake stuffed strawberry pancakes with her and checked in on them all in the Bimarstan.
Cradling Tighnari close, Alhaitham rubbed a hand over his bad shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He whispered, shifting his hand to cup the back of his neck. Gently, he pressed lips to dark hair, ignoring the flick of Tighnari’s ear against his cheek.
When he went to move away, Tighnari clutched the front of his shirt. “Don’t leave. Please.” He whispered, eyes flicking up to meet Alhaitham’s.
“It’ll be okay, I promise. Cyno’s on his way,” Alhaitham reassured. When he looked at Tighnari, the nicks in his ear looked worse. They’d tried to rip out his earring, too. Kissing the top of his head again, Alhaitham added, “Stay low. Keep pressure on any wounds you have.”
Tighnari whimpered when he let go of Alhaitham’s hand. Several of his fingers were swelling and bruising already—broken. His left shoulder looked rather messed up as well. They’re both going to need a Bimarstan visit. This isn’t something that Tighnari can treat on his own.
Pushing himself up, Alhaitham turned to the two assassins. Attackers? He wasn’t quite sure which one really applied here. Actually, he didn’t even care. He just wanted to get rid of them.
And if that meant kneeling, so be it.
“Pull the knife away from his neck. I’ll kneel.” He said, meeting the eyes of the man holding Kaveh. The man obeyed. So, Alhaitham did as well.
Reaching out, he settled one hand on the ground and eased himself into a kneel. The whole time, Kaveh watched him with this look of mild horror. “Alhaitham…” Voice trailing off, Kaveh glanced at Tighnari. However bad as the bruising Tighnari had was, Kaveh’s was worse. It kept getting worse, too.
The woman gestured to Alhaitham with her knife. “Bow your head. Look at the floor.” Dropping his gaze, Alhaitham stared at the floor in front of him and let out a slow, steady breath. He could just see Kaveh shift.
“It’s fine, Kaveh. Don’t do anything.” Alhaitham told him gently.
They all stayed where they were for…maybe thirty seconds, at most.
Apparently, that satisfied the woman. “Beg. For his life. Right now.” She moved forward, tipped Alhaitham’s chin up with the blade of her knife so that they were looking one another in the eye. Yanking Kaveh’s hair, her partner bared the man’s neck and held his blade to it. With a ragged swallow, Kaveh looked at him, then at Tighnari. “Beg, Grand Sage.”
“Please.”
He didn’t need to hesitate.
“Please what?” She asked. “Come on, Grand Sage.”
“Please let Kaveh go.” Licking his lips, Alhaitham calmly added, “I’m begging you.”
He glanced from the woman to her partner. Pulling back, she hummed. Then, she rolled her eyes, turned to her friend, and made a gesture. Kaveh was thrown forward on the ground. Turning back to Alhaitham, the woman threatened, “Don’t follow us, or we’ll grab both your loverboys here and you’ll be finding pieces of them for months. They’ll be alive for most of it, too.”
“Understood.” Alhaitham said, dropping his hands to his lap and then waiting. Striding off, the two attackers bailed out. Like they had asked, he didn’t go after them.
He turned to Tighnari. “Go help Kaveh. He took more hits than I did.” Nodding, Alhaitham rushed to Kaveh’s side. As for Tighnari, he had turned himself onto his side, tucked an arm under his head to pillow it, and was watching them both. Recovery position. He’s hurt, but he doesn’t have skull or spinal injuries. That’s good, that’s something. He turned to Kaveh, rolling him onto his back.
Curling his fingers around Alhaitham’s wrist, Kaveh looked up at him with a weak smile. “How’s Nari?”
“Fine. Put himself in the recovery position. He’s more worried about you—you took most of the hits?” Alhaitham brushed his hair from his face. Now that he had his hands on Kaveh’s face, he could feel how cold the man’s skin was. That wasn’t normal—Kaveh was typically a furnace when they were in bed. “You’re in shock.”
Exhaling, Kaveh blinked. “I know. Hypovolemic shock.” Taking a slow breath, he looked at the ceiling. “Lay me down, I need my legs raised. They broke a lot of my ribs.”
Alhaitham did as asked, cupping the back of his head as he laid Kaveh out on the ground. They were in a private room in the Akademiya. He didn’t want to leave Kaveh and Tighnari yet, not until he had checked on his boyfriends. Then he would go and get someone. Until then, he wasn’t going to leave them. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“They broke my nose. Orbital. Cheekbone.” Reaching up, Kaveh traced his fingers around the bruising at his right eye. With a gasp, he yanked his hand away and grabbed his ribs. “Left hand’s going to need surgery, they broke all my fingers. Think…probably at least a bone in each finger of my right hand. Wrists broke. Left forearm. Ribs, think my lung’s down, left collarbone. Lot of bruises.”
“You sound like Tighnari.”
With a weak laugh, Kaveh cracked, “Had to pick up something, you know?” He tilted his head to the side. “They got him pretty bad. His tail, mostly. They stomped on it. Multiple times.” Looking up at him, eyes shining with tears, Kaveh whispered, “Can you—can you check on him? Please?”
“Of course, love. I’ll be back.” Leaning in, Alhaitham kissed Kaveh’s forehead. A soft hum rewarded him. Then, Alhaitham pushed himself up and hurried to Tighnari’s side.
Tighnari reached out for him, and Alhaitham linked their fingers to place a kiss to his knuckles. Humming, he closed his eyes. Alhaitham rested his hand on the floor, looking over his injuries. “Left shoulder’s dislocated. They dragged a knife across my back. I think they thought it would be funny for them to trace the old lightning marks.” A shudder passed through him as Alhaitham traced a hand along his back, checking for spinal injuries. He could check his head later. Kaveh definitely had a skull fracture—it wasn’t too bad, but it was still a skull fracture.
At least they were staying still.
Quietly, Tighnari listed out his other injuries with the same clinical phrasing that Alhaitham expected him to. He was a horrible patient, usually. The fact that he was finally being a good patient gave away how bad it really was. “I’m okay, though. I’ve had worse.” Tighnari murmured.
Leaning down, Alhaitham brushed his hair away from his face and then kissed his forehead. “Just stay laying down. I’m going to get some help for you and Kaveh, just—please. Stay lying down.” He pushed himself up and backed away with a quick glance at Kaveh to check his condition. “Just—please. I’m begging you.”
Tighnari nodded. He made a move to grab his tail. In the middle of it, he froze with a gasp. Stiffening up, he dropped his head to the side. Heart stuttering, Alhaitham took a step for him— “No. Go—get help. It’ll be more use—than you staying by our sides. Just—make it quick.”
Though something in his chest tore at the feeling, Alhaitham backed away and ran for help.
+
Cyno arrived at their home in the early hours of the morning, covered in blood and coming in through the window instead of the door.
When he spotted Alhaitham, his mouth drew into a thin line for a moment before he carefully kicked off his shoes. The two exchanged a nod. Then, Cyno ducked into the bathroom to wash up quietly. Alhaitham set his own water cup on the counter delicately, picked up the ones he’d filled for Tighnari and Kaveh, and then slipped back into their bedroom. Even though Cyno had arrived back from his trip earlier, he had had…Mahamatra business involving some assassins who had been apprehended. He’d spent the entire time that Kaveh and Tighnari had been in the Bimarstan with the two criminals, and Alhaitham didn’t blame him for a second. If he’d been in Cyno’s position, well…
Honestly, if he had been able to do anything else, he would have. Sitting there in the waiting room, waiting for Kaveh and Tighnari to get out of surgery and into a recovery room, had been agonizing. Even with his audio intakes off, even unable to hear, Alhaitham had been unable to keep himself from panicking. Nilou and Collei had both shown up, and Nilou had offered to take Collei for the night when Alhaitham asked. He didn’t want Collei to see what had happened to his boyfriends, especially not Tighnari.
Thankfully, the Bimarstan surgeons were talented. The surgeries only lasted…probably ten hours? Eleven, maybe? He didn’t even know, or even care, but they raced to the Bimarstan shortly after one in the afternoon and left at around four in the morning the next day. Strict orders from the doctors for bedrest and care had been the only reason they could leave at all. That, and Tighnari was showing signs of stress that mysteriously went away once he was home.
In other words, Tighnari had decided to manipulate his knowledge and the doctors’ knowledge of his own species to get them to send him and Kaveh home early.
Alhaitham was almost proud.
The worry overtook it.
And now, he was placing water cups down on the bedside tables, trying to be quiet. In the bed, Kaveh showed no signs of stirring, even when Alhaitham bent down to ensure the anemo mask strapped to his face was working properly. He didn’t like sleeping on his back, but eighteen broken ribs (six on the right, twelve on the left), a broken sternum, and the worst case of flail chest the Bimarstan had seen in twenty years meant he had to sleep that way. There was some extra padding on the right side of his face, which was bruised but not broken anymore. Thank the Archons for Hydro Visions.
Slowly, Alhaitham drew his hands over Kaveh’s arms, tracing the lines of the splints on his arms. The assassins had known who they were targeting.
Both of Kaveh’s wrists had been broken, as well as his left radius. All of his fingers had at least one broken bone, he’d been right about that. Every single one of his left fingers, several of the bones in the back of that hand, and a second bone in his right little finger had been targeted. It took as much of his dexterity as possible in one move. The slash above his right eye had been a strike against his appearance. His nose, right cheekbone, and a part of his right eye socket were cracked. Fixed, now, but they hadn’t been earlier. Two of his broken ribs punctured his left lung in different places. Internal bleeding, thankfully mild, hypovolemic shock, a broken left collarbone…suddenly the stab wound he had taken to his back and the bruises still smattered across his skin seemed so much less. Apparently, he’d been shouting and cursing at the assassins to get their attention, because they had been out for Tighnari and his self-sacrificing nature just…
Sighing, Alhaitham brushed Kaveh’s hair from his closed eyes. His face didn’t change. For a moment, Alhaitham just watched the steady fogging and clearing of the mask on his face. Even with the broken bones reduced to just that ugly bruising, the slice stitched up by careful, expert hands, he was still one of the three most handsome men Alhaitham had ever seen. He always would be.
Carefully, he tucked the blankets around Kaveh, who was lying in the middle of the bed, and kissed his forehead.
In his sleep, drugged up on painkillers as he was, Kaveh hummed softly. A smile tugged at the left edge of his mouth. The lines of pain softened further.
Smiling, Alhaitham pulled back and then turned to Tighnari.
Unsurprisingly, Tighnari was awake. His eyes were a little hazy, also from being dosed up on painkillers. They’d really had it out for him—it was why Kaveh took the injuries for him and Alhaitham couldn’t get it out of his head that they had been hurt because of him.
His tail was…thirteen bones were broken. His entire right arm was broken, plus three broken fingers and his palm had been crunched. His left shoulder, obviously, had been dislocated. There were knife wounds everywhere, an extra stab to his lower right side. The stuff they had done to his left ear, the bruises and the broken ribs (less than Kaveh’s, thankfully) and the bleeding. Both of them had been bleeding internally, although thank the Archons it had been mild.
“Do you need water?” He asked softly, moving to Tighnari’s side and crouching by the bed. Tighnari was also in the middle of the bed, tucked up against Kaveh’s side as much as he could. He honestly looked like he was trying to make them one person. “Or food?”
“I’m okay.” Tighnari whispered. The bandages said otherwise. Still.
“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Is Cyno back?” Right. Of course.
“He just got back. Totally safe. Just cleaning up in the bathroom. Do you want me to join you right now, or when he’s here?” Tighnari paused for a moment, blinked languidly. Then, he shifted to the side, just a little bit. With a nod, Alhaitham carefully pulled the covers aside, kicked off his slippers, and joined him. Two seconds after he had settled, Tighnari had his back pressed to Alhaitham’s chest and was tugging at his arm to use as a pillow.
Resting an arm around his middle, Alhaitham tucked his nose into his hair. The bandages in his ear were too bright against his dark fur. Carefully, Alhaitham tightened an arm around Tighnari’s middle. He stopped as soon as Tighnari sucked in a long, soft breath. Hands settled around his own, squeezing gently. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” It was little in the way of comfort. In light of what Tighnari and Kaveh had gone through, it was paltry. Nevertheless, it was what he wanted. Alhaitham was all too happy to give it. Especially when he was the only one who could—Kaveh was injured, and Cyno just too slim for this sort of thing.
Like this, he could just see the old lightning scars on Tighnari’s shoulder where his shirt had fallen away. They should have faded. All his research pointed to the fact they would. However, like a man whose hair had turned half white when he was struck (another case that Alhaitham had read), it seemed Tighnari would always be marked by that storm. Not one of them minded. Even Tighnari himself, because of who he was.
Sometimes the Forest Rangers would end up with a wounded child, or a young teenager, who ended up being wounded in such a way that it would leave a scar. Sometimes, it would be a parent, sobbing over the loss of a child or a friend or a spouse. Alhaitham had watched Tighnari use his scars to comfort someone once. He had been speaking to a little boy who was sobbing over a new scar that drew itself from his shoulder to his fingers. Carefully, slowly, Tighnari had removed his shirt and shown him his own wounds, his own scars, and reassured the poor kid.
As for Tighnari, he was trying to make himself one with Alhaitham, apparently, considering how tightly he was pressing himself to Alhaitham’s chest.
“I’m not going anywhere, it’s okay.” Alhaitham hummed, feeling Tighnari’s hands leave his. His boyfriend was trying to soothe himself, rubbing at his collarbone with his good hand while leaving the other lying in front of him. They’d learnt the hard way about touch being a love language. It wasn’t Alhaitham’s, wasn’t Cyno’s, shockingly wasn’t even Kaveh’s (his was service, Cyno’s was quality time, and Kaveh was a mix of quality time and verbal affirmation). If he’d met other Valuka Shuna, Alhaitham would be able to figure out if it was a Tighnari trait or a species trait (and some small, scholarly part of him wanted to know). Really, he could live his whole life not knowing.
For now, he just laid his hand over Tighnari’s own. One of Tighnari’s hands had gone down to rub at his hip, his thigh. More self-soothing, more attempts to sweep his fingers across the fabric. Again, it was touch, it was the stimuli, it was a form of comfort that he could give to himself even when the others weren’t around. When Alhaitham’s fingers touched his hand, Tighnari stilled.
The door opened, and both of them turned to see Cyno enter into the room. He looked tired, dressed in his nightclothes. Nodding to Alhaitham, he quickly hurried over and settled down beside Kaveh, placing their wounded boyfriends in the middle of the bed. Kaveh stirred briefly, Reaching out, he grabbed for Cyno and let out a low moan. “Ssh, ssh. It’s okay, it’s alright.” Cyno murmured to him, trying to calm him. Cracking his eyes open, Kaveh tilted his head towards Cyno.
"Kaveh, go back to sleep. It's okay." Alhaitham said. “I’ll make you all pancakes tomorrow, you can eat them in bed. Just try and get some rest, alright?”
Apparently, Kaveh was not fully awake. He glanced around, red eyes bleary with sleep and painkillers. Slowly, he looked at Alhaitham, then Tighnari, then back to Cyno. Then, with another very effortful blink, he said, “I’m the Raiden Shotgun. I do what I want.”
Before Alhaitham could even ask what Raiden Shot-gun meant, Kaveh was back out again. For a couple seconds, none of them said a word. Then, flatly, Tighnari said, “Well, at least he didn’t yank my pillow away and scowl at me like I stole it. Again.”
“I thought you liked using me as a pillow.” Cyno pouted.
“Yeah, when I have the option. Kaveh’s the best pillow out of the three of you, though.” With a low squawk, Cyno almost looked offended. Then, he paused, tipped his head to the side, and nodded. “You two are all muscle. He’s softer. Anyways, I’m going to bed. Wake me up in December. Or not at all.”
With that, Tighnari rolled over (with Alhaitham’s help), buried his face in Alhaitham’s chest, and then went to sleep. Presumably. As for Alhaitham, he shared a glance with Cyno. “How do cheesecake stuffed strawberry pancakes sound for breakfast? I think we have some of that yogurt you like.”
If it weren’t for the fact their two injured boyfriends would have a) woken up and b) murdered them for it, Cyno probably would have thrown himself across the bed and cheered. He’d done it before. Alhaitham knew the look in his eyes.
As for tomorrow, well—he already knew Cyno was making plans.