Work Text:
Sylus scoffed as he tossed another crate of sub-par Protocores onto the floor.
“You didn’t even have the decency to smuggle anything good,” he muttered to the corpses of the men behind him. “Absolutely pitiful.”
“Boss!” Luke hurried up to him. “Kieran found another vault. There might be some better stuff in there.”
Quirking an eyebrow with interest, Sylus followed Luke into the back of the warehouse where Kieran was attempting to get into the vault.
Sylus waved him aside. “Move.”
The twins stepped back in anticipation as Sylus used his Evol to open the locked door, prying it open with a loud creak.
He had expected more crates—hopefully with better Protocores in them, but the sight that met him had him halting in his tracks, genuinely surprised.
The room was small, but in the center of it sat a chair with a man chained to it. He looked worse for wear, obviously having been beaten, his white and blue suit dirty and torn, but he still looked up at Sylus with a defiant glare in his eyes underneath the intricate silver mask.
“Holy shit!” Luke cried as he and Kieran came in to flank Sylus. “That’s—"
Sylus felt a smirk tugging at his lips. “Well, would you look at that? Looks like it’s my lucky day after all.”
He strode forward and grabbed the man by the chin, forcing his head up. “If it isn’t the legendary Lumiere,” he said mockingly. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you?”
Blue eyes glowered at him behind the mask and Sylus ignored him, shoving him back into the chair as the man grunted past the gag tied tightly over his mouth.
Sylus checked the cuffs locking him to the chair, seeing they were Evol suppressing. He broke the chair instead, slipping the cuffs off the shattered arms and locked them both around the man’s wrists, keeping his hands held firmly behind him before yanking him up with a shove toward the twins.
“Let’s get our prize back to the base. I’ve got some questions for him.”
Maybe it wasn’t high-grade Protocores, but he now had the man responsible for destroying a good number of the high-grade shipments that he couldn’t get to first. Lumiere had been an infuriating thorn in his side for a long time, but he also had to have some kind of insider information about the smuggling rings if he was able to get to them even before Sylus did a lot of the times.
And Sylus was determined to get that information out of the illusive little vigilante at any cost.
~~~~~~~
I finished up my hunt and handed in my reports before heading back home for the night. Worry gnawed at my stomach as I once again tried texting and calling Xavier. But, yet again, the call only went directly to voicemail as if his phone was off or dead, and the texts piled up with the other countless ones I had sent over the last few days.
Whenever Xavier went radio silence like this, I knew it was because he didn’t want me to know what he was doing.
Which meant he was definitely doing something dangerous. And it had probably gone wrong.
I huffed a frustrated breath, unlocking the door to my apartment and throwing my bag down on the couch. I flipped to my text thread with Jeremiah and sent him a hopeful message.
Anything yet?
He replied a few moments later with:
Unfortunately, no. I’ve been looking into everything I possibly can think of, but there’s nothing.
The unease only heightened as I slumped onto the couch. I couldn’t help but think of all the times Xavier had disappeared before, only to come back hurt, dangerously exhausted, or having run himself down so much he made himself sick because he had tried to overuse his Evol again. He could be anywhere, lying unconscious and alone in some abandoned place. His phone could have been damaged so even if he wanted to call someone for help he couldn’t. I swore that when we found him I was going to have Jeremiah put a chip in him. I hated worrying like this. There was only a matter of time before something terrible happened to him and I didn’t know what I would do then.
I sent one last desperate text to Xavier:
Look, I promise I won’t even be mad, I just want to know if you’re okay.
My message went unread just like the others for the rest of the evening as I half-heartedly cooked some dinner and sat listlessly on the sofa with the television as background noise to my worried thoughts.
I couldn’t help but feel resentment toward the Hunter’s Association for their ambivalence towards Xavier’s disappearance. It seemed like they gave him a little too much freedom, and, to be fair, it wasn’t uncommon for him to disappear for days at a time, but I knew the results were never good when that happened. However, it seemed like with the results Xavier’s disappearances often brought, they could care less about his own personal well-being.
But he was my partner, and all I cared about was whether he was okay, not the pile of dead Wanderers he left in his wake.
With even Jeremiah unsure of how to track him down, I began to think of other options. Outside of physically searching every No-Hunt Zone myself, I didn’t really know where to start.
I was genuinely contemplating doing that though, when my phone rang and I saw Jeremiah’s name pop up.
“Hey,” he said quickly as I answered the call. “So, I think I found a lead to where Xavier might have gone.”
I sat up straighter. “Where?”
“Apparently there was a big smuggler’s ring bust in the N109 Zone,” he said.
“Protocores?”
“Yeah.”
“So, you think he was doing Lumiere business?”
“I think it’s the most likely, though he never tells me about anything anymore.” Jeremiah’s sigh of frustration was audible. “You have a contact in the N109 Zone, right?”
“Yeah, I can see if there’s any info.”
“Great! Keep me up to date.”
I promised to do so and ended the call with Jeremiah, instantly pulling up another contact. I knew there was nothing that happened in the N109 Zone that Sylus didn’t know about, so hopefully, he would have some information on Xavier as well.
~~~~~~
Sylus strode into his office, yanking the chair out from under the desk and motioning for Luke and Kieran to drop their captive into it.
Lumiere fell into the chair heavily, continuing to glower up at the leader of Onychinus and his henchmen.
Sylus casually went to pour himself a drink from the bar on one side of the room.
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble over the years,” he said. “You seem to know an awful lot about the trade routes in and out of the N109 Zone.” He took a sip of the whisky and strode back over to stand in front of his captive. “Care to share how you acquired that information?”
He set his glass down and reached out to yank the gag away from Lumiere’s mouth. His lips parted on a deep inhale but otherwise he stayed silent.
Sylus made a sound of disapproval. “Silence is not going to be your friend today. I’m willing to offer a deal, but only if you cooperate. You’ve cost me a lot of very expensive merchandise, and I’d be happy to take my pound of flesh in compensation if need be. However, if you give me what I want, we can talk about a…deal.”
Lumiere’s eyes glared daggers at him and Sylus clenched his jaw, before backhanding him across the face.
A soft grunt escaped the stoic figure and he tilted to the side, fresh blood trickling down his cheek from where the mask had bit into his skin.
Sylus’s hand was around his throat, warning, as he pulled the man back upright, leaning in to better meet his eyes. “Look at me.”
Lumiere finally looked away, refusing to meet the piercing graze of Sylus’s right eye.
Sylus put more pressure on his throat, tilting his head back. Lumiere’s eyes squeezed shut, jaw clenched.
“Look. At. Me.”
His facial muscles twitched, but he still refused. Sylus scoffed and released him, hearing the gasp of breath as Lumiere slumped back into the chair.
“I see you’re determined to do this the hard way,” Sylus growled, turning around to pick up his glass. He took another sip of whisky as he let his Evol snake around the captive figure, constricting around his throat and chest, pressing into his injuries.
Sylus raised a foot and pushed his heel warningly into a deep cut above Lumiere’s right knee. Lumiere attempted to wriggle away but Sylus’s Evol was effectively pinning him to the chair now.
“Tell me who your contact is,” Sylus commanded.
Lumiere shook his head. Sylus dug his heel into the wound and the other man let out a strangled groan, fighting against the binding Evol.
Sylus grabbed his chin again and forced him to look up at him. “I’m gonna give you one more chance before I move from questioning to torture. What is your source for the trade routes?”
Lumiere’s breathing had picked up but he still stayed silent. Sylus ground his heel deeper into his wound and was rewarded by a grunt of pain.
“Luke, Kieran,” Sylus commanded, without looking over his shoulder. “Go get something to properly welcome our guest.”
“Yes, Boss.”
The two ran off and Sylus glanced down at his captive, seeing Lumiere’s eyes start to flutter a little.
“Hey,” he snapped and slapped him hard across the face. “You don’t get to pass out yet. I’m not done with our discussion.”
Something caught his eye then, a strange red light, coming from under Lumiere’s collar.
Sylus yanked his collar open to expose a barely visible, intangible band around Lumiere’s neck.
He frowned, probing it with his Evol without success.
“Would you look at that,” he muttered, forcing Lumiere’s head back to get a better look. “You’re just someone’s collared dog, aren’t you? Who holds your leash then?”
Still no reply, but Sylus would find out eventually.
Luke and Kieran returned with a metal briefcase which they placed on the desk. Sylus stepped back briefly as they opened it, making sure their captive had a good view of the contents.
Sylus was about to initiate part two of his questioning, when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, planning to silence the call when he saw the caller ID.
He sighed and answered it, putting the phone to his ear as he turned his back on Lumiere. “Sweetie, now isn’t really a good time.”
“It’s really important, Sylus, please just give me a couple minutes,” the familiar voice came over the line and he couldn’t help but feel his heart soften just slightly.”
“Alright, a few minutes, but make it quick. I’m right in the middle of a very important interrogation.”
He heard her exhale in relief. “My partner’s been missing for the last week and we have reason to believe he was in the N109 Zone.”
“Was he?” Sylus drawled. “You Hunters really can’t keep your noses out of my business, can you? What, pray, was he doing here?”
“Does it matter? Please, I…I’m really worried about him. All I want you to do is keep an eye and ear out for any information.”
Sylus sighed. “For you, kitten, fine, but you’ll owe me for this little favor. Send me his information.”
“I’m texting it to you right now,” she said.
He heard the ping and briefly glanced down at the incoming text, scrolling through the info: Name—Xavier, Evol—light, his Hunter’s ID number, and a photo…
Sylus frowned, looking at the photo a little closer. The hair and that jawline with the blue eyes…
He suddenly glanced back at his captive who was currently watching Luke and Kieran gleefully set out a selection of torture instruments. Sylus waved them aside as he stopped in front of Lumiere again and reached out to yank his mask off.
The man grunted, ducking his head as disheveled bangs fell into his eyes, Sylus tilted his head up again, holding up the picture and comparing them.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“What? Sylus, what’s wrong?” Ariadne’s voice came from the phone as he put it up to his ear again.
“I’m going to have to call you back, sweetie,” he said and ended the call as quickly as possible.
He stood there a moment, genuinely unsure of how to proceed. And that…bothered him.
Luke and Kieran watched him, obviously noting that something was wrong.
“Boss?” Kieran asked.
Sylus rubbed his chin, before he snapped his fingers at the twins and motioned for them to leave the room with him.
“We have a problem,” he said once they were out of earshot of their captive.
“What is it, Boss?” Luke asked.
“Miss Hunter is looking for her Association partner,” Sylus muttered, holding up the phone.
The twins gasped in unison.
“Her partner’s Lumie—”
Kieran elbowed his brother in the side.
“You see where the issue lies,” Sylus commented dryly.
“So, what are you going to do, Boss? Are you gonna tell her?” Kieran asked.
He sighed in resignation. “This could get…messy. We don’t know if she even knows that her partner moonlights as Lumiere. But she’ll start tearing the N109 Zone apart to look for him if I don’t tell her, so…”
They glanced at each other, something passing between them that Sylus frowned at but didn’t pry.
“Go pick her up,” he said decisively.
“Yes, Boss,” the twins replied and hurried off.
Sylus returned to the room and finally released the bands of Evol that held his captive to the chair.
Lumiere—or Xavier, he supposed—slumped slightly, taking a shuddering breath. Sylus flipped through his phone until he found a picture of Ariadne and showed it to him.
“Is this your partner, Lumiere?”
The Hunter’s eyes blew wide in terror and Sylus felt a brief hint of satisfaction to finally get a reaction out of him, even if he was slightly annoyed at the cause.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Xavier snarled, yanking against his restraints, the light around his neck flashing red again as if in some kind of warning.
Sylus smirked, selfishly refusing to put the man out of his misery as he turned away and called Ariadne again.
“Sylus? Why the hell did you hang up on me before? Is something going on?”
“Luke and Kieran are on their way to pick you up,” he said simply. “I’ll explain when you get here.”
He ended the call again and turned back to his captive, wondering what he should do now. He couldn’t exactly release him. Lumiere would only cause trouble, even in this state. He couldn’t trust him not to use his Evol; it was probably best to wait for Ariadne to get there to put him at ease.
That didn’t stop the Hunter from struggling though, his breathing labored as he frantically tried to free himself from the suppressing manacles.
“If you even think of hurting her, I’ll kill you!” he snarled.
Sylus shook his head, unable to help his amusement. “You’ll see soon enough that I have no intention of hurting her. All I want from you is your cooperation.”
“Fuck you!”
He went to pour himself another drink—he was going to need it.
As he was at the sidebar though, he heard a thump and swiftly turned to see the Hunter had fallen out of the chair, slumped limply on the ground.
Sylus felt a brief moment of panic as he pictured Ariadne’s face if she arrived to find her partner dead. In Sylus’s office.
Swearing, he hurried over and pressed his fingers to the Hunter’s neck. His pulse was weak and slow, but it was there. He felt too warm as if he had a fever. He must have just passed out then.
Sylus sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose briefly. This day had just been a sequence of losses all around.
He hauled the unconscious Lumiere up and dropped him onto the couch before going back to get his drink, slumping onto the edge of his desk to wait for the twins to arrive with Ariadne.
~~~~~~~
I stormed through the Onychinus base, Luke and Kieran hurrying at my heels, struggling to keep up. I was already annoyed with them since they had refused to tell me anything other than ‘Sylus would explain’.
“He’s in the office?” I demanded.
“Yes, miss!” they replied in unison.
I strode down to the end of the hall and flung the doors open.
Sylus was sitting on the edge of his desk, a drink in his hand, all too nonchalant. He smiled wryly as he saw me.
“Kitten—”
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Luke and Kieran refused to say anything so tell me what the hell—”
I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye as I got further into the room and saw a figure lying on the couch. It took me only a second to recognize the white and blue suit even in a ruined state.
“Xavier!”
I rushed over to the couch and knelt beside him, taking his face in my hands as I looked him over, seeing the copious amounts of cuts and bruises across his body. Not to mention the fact his hands were cuffed behind his back.
I spun around on Sylus so furiously that his eyebrows raised. “What did you do to him?”
He raised his hands. “I barely did anything to him, I found him like that.”
“Bullshit!”
Xavier stirred and I turned to see his eyes widen as he caught sight of me.
“Ari…no! You need to…run…”
“It’s all right, Xavier,” I tried to assure him before I turned back to Sylus. “Get him out of these cuffs now.”
“I can’t, they’re Evol proof.”
“You don’t have the key?”
“I told you, I simply found a prize and tried to make the most of it, I wasn’t the one who did this to him, sweetie.”
I pursed my lips, before I tried to use my Evol to resonate with the frequency of the cuffs, duping the mechanism into activating.
They snapped free and Xavier was instantly pushing himself up, sweeping me behind him as light gathered around him in sparking dots.
“Stop him!” Luke and Kieran said.
“Xavier, don’t!” I commanded, grabbing his arm.
“We can’t leave him alive, Ari, he’s…”
His Evol fizzled out and he started to sway. I caught him just as he collapsed again and Sylus chuckled mockingly.
“Still a little worn out, Hunter?”
I shot Sylus a look before I sat on the side of the couch, trying to settle Xavier. I pressed a hand to his flushed cheek and felt how warm he was. I then peeled his collar aside to see the red light from his suppression collar blinking in warning. My heart sank.
“He needs help,” I said quickly, searching Xavier’s pockets without finding what I was looking for. “Did you find anything on him?”
Sylus frowned and shook his head. “No, he didn’t have anything on him, not even a weapon or his phone.”
“You’re sure?”
“What are you looking for?” Sylus asked.
I gritted my teeth. “He has medicine—if he overuses his Evol his body starts to shut down like this.”
I patted Xavier’s cheek gently to try and rouse him. “Xavier, do you have your medicine on you?”
He took a shuddering breath, eyes blinking as he shook his head. “They took it…when I was captured.”
I spun back around on Sylus. “Where is it then?”
“Not us,” Sylus said firmly. “We found him in a warehouse that belonged to a gang of Protocore smugglers I was after. Their shipments were full of trash, so I thought I’d try my luck with Lumiere instead. You do realize how high his bounty is, don’t you?”
I huffed. “Then go back there and find his stuff.”
Sylus shut his eyes briefly, rubbing his brow before he said, “Fine. Luke, Kieran, go back to the warehouse and find Mr. Xavier’s effects.”
The twins nodded and headed out.
I reached for Xavier’s arm and started to pull him upright again. “He needs to be in bed. Help me?”
Sylus sighed and finally pushed away from the desk. It was then I saw what was hiding behind him and my eyes shot open as I caught sight of a bunch of torture implements laid out for use.
“You were going to use those on him?!”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Sylus growled, quickly shutting the case. “I was trying to…intimidate him.”
I rolled my eyes and helped Xavier to his feet. He leaned heavily on me and Sylus led the way to a guest room.
“First aid kit and clean clothes,” I commanded.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sylus drawled.
I ignored him and started to situate Xavier, peeling his Lumiere coat off, followed by his boots and trousers. Everything was dirty and torn. I winced as I stripped his shirt off too and was able to see the rest of the bruises and cuts that littered his body.
I was worried by the heat radiating off of him, knowing that he needed the medicine soon so it could start to take effect. I didn’t want to experience his body shutting down again. It scared the crap out of me whenever he did that, pushed himself to the limit.
Xavier stirred again, eyes fluttering as I came back to the room after grabbing a washcloth from the bathroom to attempt to cool him down.
“We have… to leave…while he’s not here,” Xavier murmured, grabbing my arm as he tried to sit up.
I sighed and pushed him back down, pressing the cool cloth to his face. “It’s okay, Xavier. Sylus is going to help you now. It was…just a misunderstanding.”
He frowned. “What do you mean? That man is—”
“Oh, Ariadne is well aware of who I am,” Sylus said as he came back into the room, dropping clothes and a first aid kit unceremoniously on the end of the bed. “And you’d best thank her, because she is the only reason I’m not torturing you for information right now, or finding an eager buyer to pay your ransom.”
“Sylus,” I snapped.
He shrugged unapologetically as he folded his arms over his chest. “I’m just doing my job, kitten—unlike your partnerwho was definitely not here under orders from the Association.”
I grunted and turned back to cooling off Xavier. “Believe me, I’ll be having a word with him myself.”
Xavier’s eyes slid shut as he groaned, tilting his head back against the pillows. I laid the cloth over his forehead before I reached for the medical kit, pulling out some cotton swabs and antiseptic wash that I used to start cleaning the wounds on his body. Most were simply abrasions and bruises—his left side was black and blue and I feared he might have a couple cracked ribs—but there were also some knife wounds, like the one in his leg that was pretty mangled, still bleeding.
“This looks fresh,” I said pointedly to Sylus.
He pursed his lips. “I wasn’t the one who took a knife to him.”
“Made it worse,” Xavier mumbled in accusation before he hissed in pain while I cleaned the wound.
“Sylus!”
“What exactly did you expect me to do, sweetie? Do you know how long Lumiere has been a thorn in my side? I promise that as soon as I realized he was your partner I didn’t touch him.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line and wrapped bandages around Xavier’s worst injuries. I cleaned the blood off of him and took a thermometer out of the first aid kit to check his temperature.
It was already at 103 and probably wouldn’t stop there. I sighed and pulled a light blanket over his shivering figure, trying to cool the cloth again.
Sylus had left the room and he returned with an ice pack wrapped in a towel.
“This might help better.”
I took it gratefully and set the cool towel against Xavier’s core to try and get his temperature down as quickly as possible. He shivered with a groan of discomfort but didn’t fight it.
“How long will Luke and Kieran be?” I asked.
“Not much longer,” Sylus promised, pulling a chair over to sit down in. He pointed his chin at Xavier. “Does this happen a lot?”
“Not a lot,” I sighed. “But more often than I’d like.”
“What is that collar around his throat?”
I hesitated. “I don’t really know where it came from. I only know that it suppresses his Evol so that if he tries to use too much his body just starts to shut down like this. Usually with the medicine he’s able to sleep it off but if it’s really bad he might get fevered like this.”
Sylus hummed, contemplating something.
Xavier moaned, one hand groping around. I took hold of it and squeezed reassuringly. He curled toward me until his head was resting against my knee, cheek rubbing it slightly. I stroked his matted hair with my other hand, worried about the heat waves he was throwing off.
I felt Sylus’s eyes on me, watching almost warily. I sighed and finally forced a small smile onto my face. “Thanks, by the way.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“For letting me know you had him. I get why he would be valuable to you and I know the ransom for Lumiere is extremely high—and yes, I am aware of how much trouble he causes here.”
“It’s not too late to give him up and split the ransom between us, kitten,” Sylus grinned.
I kicked him in the shin.
Sylus grunted, but shook his head. “To be honest, if it wasn’t for his penchant for destroying Protocores, I would thank him. He’s taken out a lot of smuggling rings I had planned to get rid of myself.”
I had to chuckle at that. “Trust me, I have the same issue with him and Protocores.”
Voices could be heard out in the hallway and Sylus got up to call Luke and Kieran into the room.
I sat up straight as the twins came in.
“Did you find it?”
They set a bag on the bed and I rummaged through it, finding Xavier’s broken phone, a few knives and bobbles and, finally, the bottle of medicine and syringes.
I tore open a fresh syringe and measured out the liquid instantly. “Thanks, boys.”
The twins nodded, watching as I inserted the syringe into Xavier’s neck and injected the medicine.
He sucked in a shaky inhale, eyelids fluttering. I stroked his forehead as I set the syringe aside, waiting for his breathing and heartbeat to calm a little.
“Rest, Xavier.”
He shuddered, groping for my hand again. “Don’t…leave…”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised, taking his hand.
Luke and Kieran turned to stare at Sylus with unreadable expressions. He finally snapped at them to get back to work and they fled the room.
“I assume he’ll recover now,” Sylus said.
I nodded. “He’ll sleep it off for a while. But the fever should start going down soon.”
He nodded and stood. “Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”
I took the seat Sylus vacated as he left the room, still holding Xavier’s hand in mine as I watched my partner’s breathing even out.
I watched over Xavier until the fever went down to a safe level, then finally remembered to text Jeremiah with the news that I had found him.
After that, I was so exhausted from my own worries over the last week that I simply rested my head against the bed and fell asleep.
~~~~~~~
Xavier swam blearily back toward consciousness, a dull pounding still behind his eyes and a full body exhaustion that pulled him deep into the—very comfortable—mattress.
His mind swam a little, trying to remember where he was, what had happened, but as he tilted his head to one side he saw Ariadne, fast asleep, sitting in a chair next to his bed, his hand still loosely clutched in hers.
A smile of relief flickered across his lips and his eyes fluttered again before the sound of the door opening brought him back to alertness.
His eyes snapped up to see the leader of Onychinus entering the room, red eyes sweeping over Xavier’s helpless figure.
Xavier fought to remove his hand from under the covers so he could manifest his sword, but the man snorted.
“Easy,” he said. “I think it’s time we agreed to a truce, don’t you?”
Xavier glowered at him. “I can’t do anything to stop you at the moment. I only ask that you let her go.”
Sylus gave a genuine laugh, eyes crinkling slightly in amusement. “I think we both know she does what she wants.”
He reached out to pull the blanket resting over Ariadne’s shoulders more firmly around her. It was a gentle, caring gesture that made protectiveness boil in Xavier’s stomach that had nothing to do with fear of bodily harm. He clutched her hand tighter, pulling it in against his side.
“You’re free to go as soon as you have your strength back,” Sylus informed him.
Xavier narrowed his eyes at him. “How do I know I can trust you now that you know my secret identity?”
Sylus quirked an eyebrow. “Why would I tell everyone and risk someone else getting Lumiere’s bounty?” He chuckled at Xavier’s indignant look, shaking his head. “I have no interest in outing you. It’s not really that important to me either way, but it is to her.” He nodded toward Ariadne who was still fast asleep. “She cares a lot about her partner.”
“She cares a lot about people in general,” Xavier replied fondly.
“That being said,” Sylus added. “I’ll agree to look the other way as long as you don’t actively mess with my business deals. And I’d appreciate a few crates of Protocores left after your little…escapades.”
Xavier narrowed his eyes. “I’ll make no promises.”
“Then I hope she doesn’t have to come rescue you from me again in the future, Hunter.”
But there was obvious amusement in Sylus’s eyes, if not a little sharp as his gaze swept back toward Xavier and Ariadne’s joined hands. Xavier tucked her hand against his chest as if in protest, and watched in satisfaction as Sylus bristled slightly.
She finally stirred and they both shut up. Xavier quickly released her hand, watching as she pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
“Mm, good morning,” she murmured.
Sylus smiled fondly. “Good morning, sweetie—breakfast?”
She glanced between him and Xavier, suspicion instantly on her face. “You two better not be up to something.”
“We’re just having a polite conversation,” Sylus promised a little too innocently.
Xavier huffed, then pouted slightly as she reached out and touched his forehead.
“At least your fever’s gone down,” she said in relief. “How do you feel?”
“Better.”
“Good.” Ariadne stood up, hands on her hips as she jabbed a finger at Xavier. “Never go on a mission without telling someone where you’re going again!”
“I—”
“I swear I’m going to have Jeremiah put a chip in you!”
“You should have said something, I could have done that for you while he was unconscious,” Sylus said with a smirk.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Xavier grunted.
But Ariadne wasn’t done. “Do you have any idea how worried we were? And you didn’t just get captured once, but twice! AND you overexerted yourself—again!”
Xavier stared at her, mouth open, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.
Ariadne then spun on Sylus, jabbing her finger at him. “And you, don’t think you’re off the hook! You need to think twice before you start to torture people!”
“I already told you, I didn’t torture him,” Sylus defended blandly, folding his arms defensively.
“You did hit me,” Xavier muttered.
Ariadne raised a pointed eyebrow at Sylus.
“I didn’t touch him after I found out who he was,” Sylus amended. “You can’t expect me to be soft, kitten.”
“I just want you both to think a little before you act!” she snapped.
The men glanced at each other before looking away. She huffed and sat in the chair again. “And yes, I want breakfast, and Xavier should have something too.”
“I would like breakfast—protein,” Xavier said. “A lot of it.”
“I’ll spare no expense,” Sylus said smoothly.
Twenty minutes later, Xavier was dressed in the borrowed clothes and sitting at the dining table with Ariadne and Sylus, eating the admittedly delicious and hearty breakfast the Onychinus Boss’s personal chef had cooked. He hadn’t eaten since his capture and he was ravenous, finally feeling some of the strength returning to his body.
“I’m glad to see you two getting along now,” Ariadne said as she sipped her coffee pointedly.
Sylus and Xavier exchanged a tight-lipped smile.
“Oh yeah, we’re besties,” Sylus muttered.
“Exactly,” Xavier replied, eyes icy. “Besties.”
Ariadne gave them both a look, but thankfully gave up on prodding the posturing men.
With Xavier feeling better, they got ready to head back to Linkon. Ariadne lamented over the state Xavier’s Lumiere outfit was in, folding it gently into a bag.
“Jeremiah will be able to fix it,” Xavier told her, a little grudgingly.
“I know, it’s just…”
“I have all the same injuries, you know,” he muttered.
Ariadne gently reached out and poked a bandage on his cheek, right under where his mask rested. “Maybe I’m mad it didn’t do more to protect you.”
He smiled softly, shaking his head.
Sylus came into the room then. “Luke and Kieran will drive you back to Linkon if you’re ready.”
“Yes, I’d like to get out of here,” Xavier said, grabbing the last of his stuff before pushing past Sylus.
The leader of Onychinus glanced down at Ariadne with a smile as she came up to say farewell.
“Hope to see you again soon, kitten—under better circumstances.”
“You too, Sylus.”
She smiled and gave him a hug, which he returned with a very smug smile over her shoulder, directly at a certain Hunter whose temperature was rising again.
“I look forward to it,” Sylus replied before reluctantly releasing her.
Ariadne headed toward Xavier, taking his elbow as she led him down the hall.
“Oh, and, Hunter,” Sylus called.
Xavier turned, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Sylus tapped his neck. “Come see me when you’re ready to get that collar off. I might be able to figure it out.”
Xavier’s eyes widened briefly as Ariadne shot Sylus a grateful smile.
The Hunter finally nodded. “Thanks…I…might… take you up on that.”
Sylus gave an enigmatic smile and waved before they met with Luke and Kieran by the elevators.
Luke was practically hopping back and forth, and when Ariadne gave him an odd look, Kieran elbowed him.
“Sorry.”
“What’s gotten into you today?” Ari asked curiously.
Luke inhaled and finally blurted, “Mr. Lumiere, could I please have an autograph?!”
Xavier looked speechless. Kieran groaned at his brother’s antics and Ariadne giggled, nudging Xavier.
“Well, come on, what’s the harm?”
Xavier pressed his lips into a thin line. “Fine. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
“Really? Thank you!” Luke cried, pulling a small folder out of his coat and opening it to show off several special edition trading cards with the famous hero on them.
Ariadne’s eyes lit up instantly. “Oh my gosh, how did you even get your hands on these?! This one only had 300 copies ever made of it!”
Luke preened under her excitement. “Hey, I got my connections thanks to the Boss. But this is only part of my collection—I can show you more the next time you visit!”
The elevator dinged and both Xavier and Kieran exited, heading outside toward the car as Ariadne and Luke continued to geek out.
“Oh, wait, Mr. Lumiere! I have a pen, um…you can sign wherever you—”
Xavier slumped in the back of the car, slamming the door behind him and shutting his eyes. He wasn’t actually sure what was worse—the captivity, the torture, or the Lumiere fans.
Needless to say he was looking forward to recovering at home in his own bed.