Work Text:
Miracle-
Staring through the cabin window as Amphoreus grew closer, Anaxa was filled with a mix of emotions. The thought of coming home was there of course; he was sure even if he never truly returned to the planet again after this a part of him would always consider it home. But there was a different sort of longing as well. He hated to think of it, but that deepest part of him almost wished they'd never managed to break free to reality, or even further back that they could have all just…ceased to be after the final cycles. Not because he wanted oblivion for any of them, but because then he would have never had to know what it felt like to finally have that sense of completion in his life just for it to be stolen away again.
Maybe that was how Khaslana had felt, in the times between one cycle and the next, watching the innocent, oblivious form of himself as Phainon go about life. Watching that cycle's version of himself fall first in love, then in bed with his prickly professor, knowing that they would only have a short time together again before hurtling towards destruction. Wanting only for an end to it so they could stop the constant back and forth of thousands, of millions of lives cut short.
Anaxa pulled himself from the black thoughts for now, letting his forehead drop to the cool glass of the window. Two years now. Two years since Amphoreus returned. Five since the defeat of Irontomb. He'd had Phainon with no worries of the coreflames or their damages for three years in that quiet garden Cyrene had given herself to create for them all. And then: they all woke up one day, back into being. Anaxa had stared at the ceiling of his apartments in the Grove that day, feeling the warmth of early morning sunlight (how long had it been since there was sunlight in the Grove?) filtering through the windows and across his bed. A bed that was empty aside from himself, even though in the garden he and Phainon had gone to rest in each other's arms.
He'd all but rushed to Okhema, surely reminding every passerby who knew of him of that 'madman' image he'd so often presented. All the others had made their way to the baths as well by the time he'd arrived. Only one of their number was missing. The one that Anaxa most wanted and needed to see safe and alive. He'd searched the city high and low, with the help of the others, but no one could find Phainon even in all his favorite places to while away the hours. It was the Trailblazer who suggested Aedes Elysiae. Why none of them had thought of his hometown was a question for another time; instead Anaxa and their gray haired companion made their way on the journey to check the last place they could think of.
They found him there; looking for all the world as if he was just napping the afternoon away in the sun warmed wheat field. Yet no matter how hard Anaxa shook those broad shoulders, or smacked at the cheek he wanted nothing more than to kiss , there was no reaction. Only the gentle rise and fall of his chest and the warmth of his skin gave proof that Phainon was alive. So Anaxa held tight to that still hand, a lifeline to what they were supposed to have as they returned to Okhema. Hyacine couldn't find a cause for why Phainon wouldn't wake, her check of him revealing nothing other than he was healthy, aside from the surreal sleep.
Anaxa intended to take him to Phainon's apartment, let him at least rest in his own bed while the scholar poured everything into finding a way to bring him back. But the priests had to have something, someone for the masses to worship. Even more so now with the 'miracle' of their world's rebirth. "The Dreaming Titan", or "The Sleeping Hero" Anaxa began hearing Phainon called. He even heard some claims that they would be doomed to fade if Phainon ever did wake; a notion that filled Anaxa with such rage he almost pummeled the priest there in the markets.
The turning of the first year since their return was when things went sour. The mythos of the Dreaming Titan had taken hold with so many of the masses. People who didn't truly remember much of the lives before the fall of Irontomb. To them, the Chrysos heirs and old Titans were a fairytale. Most didn't remember that those same people walked among them still. And many did not take kindly to the idea that Anaxa was trying to find a way to wake their new God. He had been away at the Grove, tracking down some old texts when they made a move. Anaxa returned, a spark of hope when Phainon was not where he'd left him asleep in the bed. But before he could go look for him, he turned to see Hyacine sitting in the main room, a wary look on her face. Little Ica was in her lap, a soft mournful trill emitting from the small animal.
"Professor;" her voice was soft, like he was a wounded animal she needed to calm upon approach. "I'm sorry. We tried to stop them."
Anaxa's eye flashed, and that spark of hope fizzled before it could fully warm him, leaving behind only a cold weight behind. "What do you mean, Hyacinthia? Stop who?"
She sighed heavily, looking away, but Anaxa could see the tears gathering in her lashes. "The Priests of Khaslana. I think that's what they're calling themselves. They've been building a memorial for Snowy. Lady Aglaea's been arguing for months to keep them from it, but the Council was in agreement. Until he wakes 'on his own', they say; his body is to be watched over by the temple."
Anaxa stepped closer to the smaller woman, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Where?"
She sniffled slightly, and Ica bumped his head lightly on Anaxa's hand. "The Gardens. I've seen it; it's pretty but…" she paused at Anaxa's scoff. "I don't like it, Professor. But we can't do anything. They said you'll be tried for blasphemy and treason if you keep trying to force him awake."
"And so I'm just supposed to sit by while they make him a source of entertainment?" The scoff turned into a small laugh devoid of humor. "I made him a promise, and I intend on following through. So they want to label me a blasphemer? How many times is that now?" He moved away from her, towards the door. A thought crossed his mind and he turned back towards her. "The Express is here currently, correct?" When she nodded, Anaxa opened the door. "Good. Tell the others to keep the zealots in check as best they can. I think it's time to look beyond Amphoreus to find the answers to bring him home."
Just over a year now. That's how long it'd been since he'd had that conversation with Hyacine. He'd stepped out of Phainon's empty apartment, and almost immediately been on his teleslate, making plans with the Trailblazer on his way to the garden. The priests had thought they would refuse to let him near Phainon's memorial, but the professor found it humorous almost how facing down the business end of his gun changed their minds. Anaxa's fingers had brushed over the glass separating him from the face he longed to see smiling again. The garden was quiet, at least all the other Okhemans that came to pay respects had the sense to leave when they'd seen Anaxa striding purposely into the memorial space. A memorial for a man that wasn't even dead. He'd said his goodbyes, and boarded the express without turning back.
He'd spent time with Herta and Screwllum, the Geniuses just as confused as to how Phainon still didn't wake, nor did he deteriorate as time slid forward. Dan Heng introduced him to several members of the Loufu's Divination Guild; but all the Master Diviner was able to reveal for him was that Phainon was still in his mind and that it didn't seem to be anything harmful to the effects. Her best guess was that it was a pleasant dream he was afraid to leave with no way to know what he'd be waking to. Anaxa's notebook at his bedside was rapidly filling with ideas and theories, but nothing concrete that he could use to bring Phainon back. Until one night while the crew was sitting around after dinner, and the Trailblazer started talking about Penacony and the Dream. Something about the idea of a world where people chose to stay submerged in their dreams clicked. Anaxa wouldn't deny that he might have gotten overzealous in his questions that night, but as a group the Nameless did agree; this was maybe the closest Anaxa had come to a solution.
Not that it wasn't without its hurdles. First and foremost would be how to get Phainon from Amphoreus to Penacony. Anaxa had already started putting plans in motion for that before the Express had barely begun preparations to return to the planet. And now, they were back and it was almost time.
He heard footsteps behind him, reflections in the window showing the Trailblazer and Dan Heng both coming to stand to either side of him. "Everything ready for go time?" the Trailblazer asked, tipping their head. "Pom Pom said we'll be ready to head down in less than an hour."
Anaxa nodded. "Hyacine is waiting at our arrival point. She says Tribios is handling keeping the priests busy and away from the memorial. Cipher and Mydei will meet us there." He finally stepped away from the window, turning and taking his seat on one of the couches again. "As long as everything goes smoothly, we should be able to get Phainon and be gone before anyone even knows we were there."
A handful of hours later, and Anaxa is sitting on the edge of his bed, hand tightly gripping the still hand next to him on the sheets. Hyacine is smiling, and Ica is in his lap, content to doze as Anaxa's other hand idly pets the small horse. "Snowy is still well, Professor. That's at least good, right?" Her voice was hopeful, but she could see disappointment in the way that Anaxa was holding himself. "So the next part is to go to this other planet right? And see if putting him in the dream there will help him wake up?"
Anaxa finally turned to look at her. "Yes, Hyacinthia. What I'm hoping is that after we put him in this dreampool the Trailblazer told us about, he'll enter the dream state of Penacony and we can find him in it. After, I'm going to have to see if waking him from that dream will allow him to wake up in reality."
"If you, Grayie and Dannie all think it might work, I think it's a great idea." Her voice turned slightly somber. "But…Professor? What if it doesn't?"
Anaxa's eye closed. "That…will depend on what happens in Penacony's Dream. If we find him there and he still won't wake? I might become a permanent member of the Dream as well."
"Profe-" She paused, seeing how sharp his gaze was when his eye opened and turned that glare at her.
"What's the point? Do you know, when we waiting for the birth of Irontomb; what I found out about those 33 million cycles? In almost every one that we met before he became the Flame Reaver we were in love. I had a front row seat to millions of lifetimes of love that was stolen from us. And now, we finally have what's supposed to be our happy endings, and the only thing I want is the man who is trapped in a permanent sleep. So yes, if he's doomed to stay in the dream for his life, I fully intend on being right there with him."
Hyacine's hands were covering her mouth. No, she hadn't known. None of them really spoke of the things they learned about their previous lives in that final cycle. It was unspoken that it was immensely private and in more than a few cases, painful to relive. She put her hands down, fingers clenching into the fabric of her skirts. "Alright. I understand, Professor."
Anaxa hadn't even expected Hyacine to follow them. But she'd insisted that after as long as the priests had kept Phainon in that glass coffin she wanted to check him over more fully than they'd allowed her to in her monthly well being checks. And as the Express couldn't hang around Amphoreus, that meant she chose to come with them to Penacony. Which worked as well to keep a check that the dreampool didn't have any adverse effects on the white haired man. Though Sunday had already confirmed that many of the more permanent residents of the Sweet Dream were those who family sold everything to have a chance to say goodbye to a loved one who had been in a coma for long periods.
The benefit of being both friends of the Astral Express, as well as two of the 'heroes' associated with keeping IronTomb from escaping to destroy the universe was that special concessions were being made to allow Anaxa and Phainon to enter the Sweet Dream without the associated exorbitant costs. Upon arrival, Anaxa went with the Trailblazer for their check in, working with the management team to allow them to use a private entrance rather than the main lobby to bring in the sleeping Phainon.
Anaxa looked around the overly finery draped room they'd been set up in. It looked like something much more to Cipher's taste than his or Phainon's, but the Trailblazer assured him that yes, this was what pretty much all the rooms in the hotel looked like. Only staff were given rooms that were little more than closets with a dream pool.
As the Trailblazer left the room to go to their own, they saluted Anaxa with a grin. "See you in just a bit in the Dream. I'll get in first, so that I can hopefully find Phainon and you when you arrive." Then they were out of the room, the door clicking closed behind them. Dan Heng was working on getting Phainon situated in the Dream pool, going over an explanation of how the whole thing worked that strangely enough Anaxa couldn't find himself paying attention to.
"Alright Professor. Whenever you're ready, just lie down in the pool." Dan Heng said, drawing him out of his swirling thoughts. With a quiet breath Anaxa did as instructed, breathing calmly as he laid back in the warm water. his eye closed of its own accord, and he felt nothing aside from a feeling of floating. Until he sat up with a gasp, heart pounding and sputtering as water poured from his mouth. Dan Heng and Hyacine were there almost immediately.
They helped him calm down, and he tried it again. This time, he recognized the moment before his body rejected the quiet and shot back out of the water. It was too similar to that instant when the cycle reset. The peace of nothingness and a snap of sensation before the world returned to focus. A sensation his body knew, even if he didn't up until the cycle where he'd become a virus in the mind of Lycurgus. His body and mind were fighting that sensation out of a primal sense of fear. It took several more tries, but finally, he was able to overcome the moment of subconscious survival instinct and felt himself fall further.
Noise. That was the first thing he noticed. It was so loud, like the festival parties he always tried to avoid Okhema during. The light behind his closed eyelid flickered erratically, already starting a headache beating in his skull. He cracked his eye open and looked around slowly. He was sitting on a bench in what looked like a busy shopping center. People coming and going, chatting, laughing, couples with their hands linked. And everywhere great swathes of greenery, red bows on the ends of each run and so many tiny lights.
But no sign of gray or white hair that he could see. The Trailblazer had told him if they weren't near when he awoke to head for the overlook at some sort of plaza. Probably would work best to just head that way. Anaxa pushed himself to his feet, making a beeline for a signboard that had a map on it. His destination pinpointed, he started making his way that direction. It was easier to avoid the crush of people if he stayed closer to the buildings lining the shopping area, so Anaxa found himself glancing from time to time at the various goods on the way. He stopped short at one, looking at the silver ring sitting in velvet, tiny flecks of blue and gold diamonds lining the center of the band. He slipped into the shop, and after a few messages sent between him and Miss Himeko to work out the details, he left a short while later with a small box in his hands.
It wasn't much longer before he found the plaza that the Trailblazer had said to meet them at. If there was an area buzzing with even more activity than the shopping district he'd just left, it was this area. Groups were all piled around the game machines and tables to one half the plaza. The other half was filled with couples dancing around an automated band. And between the two was an enormous tree bedecked in sparkling reds and golds, red velvet trailing from the shining star at the top like rivers to the ground. How Anaxa was meant to find two people in all this, assuming they'd even arrived yet was beyond him. Until in the very back of the plaza he saw the overlook that the Trailblazer had mentioned. And the bright flash of a shimmery purple across broad shoulders topped by a head of white Anaxa would know anywhere. He and the Trailblazer were both leaning on the railing of the overlook, apparently in conversation as they watched the crowds.
Anaxa took a moment to just watch from the far edge of the plaza. He had to admit, Phainon looked good in the clothing that blended into their surroundings better than their wildly different Amphorean clothing. And part of him was searing every detail into his mind. It had been so long since he'd seen his love like this: talking, expressive, truly alive. And then Phainon caught sight of him. Anaxa knew the moment he saw him, saw the way Phainon stood up, hands smoothing down his clothes before turning and tugging on the Trailblazer to direct their attention to where he was pointing. Then Phainon pushed away from the railing, only barely avoiding a flat out run in Anaxa's direction. Anaxa started moving along the edges of the crowd, even as he kept his eye on where Phainon was dodging between bodies, Anaxa's name carrying over the music along with the sound of Phainon's warm laughter. They met halfway, and Anaxa's feet left the ground almost immediately, Phainon lifting him up and spinning him slightly before setting him back down, long fingers interlacing with Anaxa's as he grabbed the smaller man's hand and started pulling him back through the crowd, away from the highest volume of music and revelry.
He didn't try to speak to Anaxa until they were back across the crowd and in the open area of the overlook. Here, there was only a few people sitting on the benches, drinking bottles of some vibrant bottled drink and talking in lower voices as they took a break of their own from dancing and playing. Phainon still hadn't let go of Anaxa's hand, but as they returned to where the Trailblazer was standing, beaming at them both, he did lift their joined hands so he could press his lips to the back of Anaxa's. Anaxa could feel his cheeks warm, glad that at least Phainon kept the show of affection fairly tame, even if part of him wished that for once, his lover would have forgotten about how much the professor hated overly public displays and just kissed him breathless right there.
"Anaxa! You're a genius, of course, we all knew that already. Our Partner's been telling me what I've missed out on." His eyes drooped slightly in sadness. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting. They said even now, this is still a dream and I'm still sleeping?"
Anaxa glanced around, noticing that all the other people were at least pretending to not pay attention to the trio standing at the railing. To hell with it, he'd gone so long without Phainon by his side, what did he care about what strangers in another world entirely thought? He pulled his hand free from Phainon's raising it to place against the other man's cheek. "It is, and you are. But, the thing with this world is; so am I. This is still real. I'm hoping by bringing you into this dream, we can wake you up finally." He stepped back, hand falling from Phainon's face to his hand again, raising it palm up to set the box in it, opening the lid before stepping back so Phainon could look at the ring nestled in the velvet. "And if not, Phainon of Aedes Elysiae; I'm willing to stay here, with you in the dream."
Blue eyes welled with tears, picking the ring from the box and letting Anaxa take it from him to place on Phainon's finger. "I'd rather wake. But I…I don't know if I can."
The Trailblazer was the one to speak up. "Well, we won't know until we try. And this is the time of year most planets consider the time of miracles. Let's try and see if we can create another miracle for Amphoreus." They hugged Phainon and Anaxa both. "I'll see you guys in reality."
After the Trailblazer vanished, Phainon and Anaxa shared a look. Finally, Phainon took a long slow breath. "I guess it's as good a time to try as any?" He looked out at the crowd. "Though, I have to admit it's daunting. I don't remember much since the garden faded- I'm guessing when we joined reality- aside from being alone."
Anaxa took a moment, then nodded. "All we can do is try." He straightened himself, and the smirk he gave Phainon reminded the white haired man of days gone; days spent debating and lectures, and the way Anaxa always shone when he was in his element. "Though, do you really think I would have gone through this trouble if I wasn't sure?"
Phainon couldn't help the laugh, one hand patting the smaller man's shoulder. "Given it branded you a blasphemer and heretic yet again? Actually yes, you would."
Anaxa's laugh was all that Phainon heard, the man having already disappeared as he woke. And then Phainon tried what the Trailblazer had told him to do to wake. And everything faded from view to return him to darkness.
Anaxa sat up, gasping for air and brushing wet bangs from his forehead. He turned, heart hammering in his chest as he waited. The Trailblazer was already in his and Phainon's room, guiding Dan Heng and Hyacine to the door. If Phainon woke, the pair would need a moment to themselves. If he didn't…Anaxa would need the privacy to compose himself. The three watched from across the room and Anaxa's expression gradually darkened as nothing changed in the man still lying in the water next to him.
And then a cough. Two more. Anaxa's eye widened and his hands were already on Phainon, helping the man sit up, laughing as finally, those blue eyes opened on reality. The pair didn't even notice the others slip from the room, Phainon turning to pull Anaxa into a tight hug as their lips met for the first time in what felt like forever.
And sitting silently on the table in the room; a small box, opened to show the band of silver set with sparkling blue and yellow. The card tucked under it with a simple message in flourished script:
Wishing you a season of happy miracles.