Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn’t that Eeez hated Tyki, far from it, actually. For the most part, Eeez adored the older man and soaked up his attention like sunlight. For all that he spent the least amount of time with Tyki given that he was gone so often and so very long on those secret jobs of his, and Eeez saw Momo and Crack far more often, the fellow Portuguese was Eeez’s favorite. They had a connection that went beyond that of countrymen.

Tyki had been the one to pulled Eeez from the dirt alley, cleaning up his pale cheeks with a nearly equally dirty tissue, a soft smile, and kind words. He helped Eeez remain upright when his coughing ended with blood on his lips and always made sure that he wore enough layers when the winters got bad.

Eeez had clung to Tyki because the man had saved him. Without Tyki’s interference, Eeez would have died in the alley he collapsed in and nobody would have cared about his young age. They wouldn’t have called it a tragedy, merely seen him as trash.

But Tyki thought he had worth.

Even though Eeez contributed nothing to their income and ended up eating quite a large portion of their food in turn, Tyki always treated him with care, cracking jokes to make him smile. The man was too young to be Eeez’s father, but he could be his older brother or uncle. Eeez had neither and the terms mixed and matched in his head well enough, reforming in the shape of Tyki Mikk, running his fingers through his hair, switching cigarette brands until he found one that didn’t bother Eeez’s lungs as much, dropping the habit entirely when his health relapsed.

Tyki, whom he hadn’t seen in months.

Anger bit as hot and sharply into him as the cold outside.

Tyki’s jobs had become more frequent and more exhausting as they could tell by the bags under his eyes, but now he simply hadn’t shown up for months. Were he younger, one of those street kids running around the bigger cities, running errands for those posh and proper nobles, Eeez would have thought that they would never see Tyki again, that he got a little too bold and clever and was now a little too dead to come visit them.

Eeez had seen it too often when he’d been alone on the streets. No gang wanted to take him in, his fingers constantly shaking and numb from anemia to make him a good pickpocket. Those kids that got too smart always ended up dead, paying the price for behaving better than the rabble they were supposed to be.

But Tyki was a proper adult who knew better than to throw away his life. He always told Eeez to be mindful, to cherish the time he had. True enough, Tyki didn’t look like he was particularly well-educated, but once you got him started, he turned out to be quite the philosopher, able to quote more books than Eeez had ever had the chance to touch. Always on the road without a school to attend, the adults had taken it upon themselves to teach Eeez whatever they deemed important. Sometimes that was bartering, how to fix your clothes, what fruit or vegetable to eat, or the language of whatever country they were in.

Tyki never seemed to have a problem with any of them

So he might not be a genius, but Eeez was intelligent.

Therefore, rationally, Eeez was aware that he shouldn’t be too upset with Tyki’s disappearance.

The world had gone crazy recently, monsters appearing everywhere. Despite their many travels, their group had never run into one. Usually, that was also due to Tyki’s guidance. He somehow always managed to bring them to safe lodgings, to take the route where they weren’t attacked by some bandits or police that had about the same attitude.

Traveling without him was more difficult even though they had one mouth less to feed.

And now, the snow still sticking to his bloody knees, that monster looming over him, all Eeez could think of was that this wouldn’t have happened if Tyki were here.

That Eeez would still die in a dark and dirty alley, abandoned by the world.

“Eh?” the monster tilted its head. “Aren’t you a fun little— urgh—!”

One moment, the monster looked like a grotesque skeleton, created from blood-coated machinery, large holes for eyes, a twisted halo framing its head. The next, it was kind of soft, and instead of rusty red, the now whole plating was covered in light blues, yellows, and whites.

“Are you alright?” the monster suddenly asked, voice much lighter than before.

Eeez could only nod, unsure of what to do with this sudden change.

The monster grinned, razor-sharp teeth flashing before it gave him a thumbs up. “Great!”

Then it promptly began attacking the rest of the monsters with much prejudice. Their screams would haunt Eeez for years to come if he still had years to experience. Returning to his senses, Eeez scrambled to his feet and rushed to the nearest house for safety. Taking a quick look around, Eeez realized two things:

1. The house had been abandoned in haste.
2. It was not actually abandoned.

Eeez stared at the small body lying in the corner. It looked like somebody had placed the other kid there – and what a weird kid it was. Bright blue hair and a freaking marble the size of Eeez’s fist in his forehead. Maybe whoever had put him there had been killed by those monsters. Eeez had gotten separated from Crack and Momo when those things had appeared in the sky. He didn’t know if they were still alright, but if they’d been hit by even one of those monsters, there was nothing Eeez could do for them anymore.

The monsters seemed to be mostly chasing through the streets, tearing open the houses. They’d probably already gone through this one. It didn’t make the house very secure, just better than anything else. Eeez probably had more luck if he headed to the nearby forest and hid out there. Glancing at the body once more, Eeez realized that the kid was still breathing if a little strained. He was only a little smaller than Eeez. The safe solution would be to just leave him there, give the monsters something else to entertain themselves with while he made his getaway.

Tyki Mikk had pulled him out of the dark and into the light, lifted him into the air, let him sit on his shoulders, and nearly touch the sky.

Uncharacteristically crude, Eeez let out a string of curses and rushed over to the boy. He struggled to put the body on his back, the boy turning out to be heavier than he looked.

First, he thought he would die because of Tyki, now he was going to die because of some stupid unconscious kid in a fancy jacket that could feed Eeez for a week at least.

God better see this one good deed and deem it enough to repay him handsomely in the afterlife.

Wheezing under the strain, Eeez got to his knees and headed towards the back of the house, the sounds of the battle echoing in his ears.