Chapter Text
Alix was a simple child. They weren’t needy, weren’t loud, and were smart enough to solve their own problems. They had no siblings, and had never had any real friends (maybe one, but that was just an acquaintance they had met once). They had parents, but they never wanted their child up in their business. They were told that they weren’t allowed inside the house when their parents were working, and that they would ‘get’ to spend all day every day outside at the age of 4, and had learned to wield a sword, while extremely poorly, by the age of 6.
So Alix practically lived outdoors by themself. It was a nice life, just them and the world. They could essentially do whatever they wanted. Since their family lived out in one of the more rural areas of Fontaine, they rarely ran into anyone, or rather, people rarely ran into them.
If Alix had been born in a more populous place, perhaps people would have been curious about them, as their eyes shone with both blue and red, but they wouldn’t find out that their partial heterochromia was a rare sight for a few more long years. Their short, fluffy brown hair was always a mess, and whatever clothes they wore usually had at least one hole. Even so, they liked the way that they looked, because it was one of the few things in their life that their parents actually let them control. They couldn’t go to any neighboring towns or, archons forbid, the Court of Fontaine, and they weren’t allowed to make any friends, but they could cut their hair short, wear baggy shirts, and alter their appearance however they wanted. Not that it really mattered, as no one saw them anyways.
Before Alix had to spend everyday by themself, they already were a less social child than most, only really speaking when they needed something, but practically living in the wild by themself caused them to never truly learn how to socialize. They would occasionally talk to passing creatures, but it usually came out a jumbled mess. The only human interaction that they really got was with their parent’s, and that was horrible. They were always condescending to Alix, and constantly were in a bad mood. If Alix had ever had any thoughts about wanting to socialize with others, the way their parents talked to them made them forget ever having that desire. Fortunately, they never really talked to any other people outside of their family, since their parents didn’t approve of them conversing with passersby, so instead of talking they instead would just… run away.
”Travelers don’t want to see kids out and about. They want peace and quiet, just like we do. Plus, others are not to be trusted. Most of them mean harm, anyways. Why else do you think they run around with those swords?”
Their mother never really paid them mind, but she had told them this the first time a passerby had asked where their parents were, since they were only four and barely old enough to do anything by themself. From that point on, they had done their best to avoid other people. Alix had never really understood what their mother had meant, but they knew that if all people were like their parents, then talking to others would just be a waste of time anyways. So their life was peaceful and devoid of people, just the way Alix liked it.
Well, devoid of most people. Alix’s parents had never really cared about them, telling Alix to be out of the house at dawn and not return until sunfall. One time when they had fallen and scraped their knee, they had come back home crying. They knocked on the door for at least a minute straight until their mother had finally answered.
“What do you want? I told you that you aren’t to come back during the day, you insolent child. Get out. Get out before I decide you shouldn’t come back tonight, either.”
Their mother hadn’t even waited for Alix to start leaving before she angrily slammed the door in their face. What she didn’t see were tears, not caused by the pain of their scuffed up knee, welling in Alix’s eyes as they had walked back to the coastline.
It wasn’t rare for their parents to tell them things like that. That they were a mistake, that they weren’t good enough, wasn’t wanted. After a certain point, Alix learned to ignore it all. But if that was what all people were like, then Alix wasn’t sure they would want to be around others. Alix had a kind heart, much kinder than their parents, one that helped little blubberbeasts get enough food, one that smiled at every sternshield crab they came across, and once was too afraid to hurt a group of hillichurls they had accidentally ran into once, and ran away hoping they didn’t disturb them too much (they also wouldn’t have been able to fight off all of them at once). Despite their parents' attitude toward them, they never reflected that hatred to the creatures around them. However, they were a defensive and nervous child, due to the way their parents had raised them when they were little. They jumped whenever the grass behind them would rustle, even if it was just wind. They constantly felt the need to make sure they were alone, away from people. That they weren’t in danger. They took their behavior as normal, because what if one of those dangerous wanderers were to show up? Or what if it was one of those hillichurls that they were so adverse to hurting, coming to hurt them.
That was the reason why Alix had decided to learn how to use a sword in the first place. When they first told their parents their idea, it was met with anger and humiliation.
“What, so you can go and take us out with it? Not a chance. I don’t see you being able to do shit with one, anyways, not with those arms of yours. You got your fathers arms, you did. HA- You wouldn’t be able to do anything even if you were being mauled by a pack of hillichurls.”
So they had made one themself, starting off by simply using a tree branch. However, they knew that a tree branch would barely do anything if they were to be attacked, so they took reference from a picture in one of their few storybooks and made their own. It took a few hard days of work, a lot of scraping a sharp rock against a large price of wood, and got so many splinters in their hands that they were practically made out of wood, but ended up with a piece of wood that somewhat resembled the shape of a sword. Sure, one side was heavier than the other, and they would still get splinters from holding the handle (made better after spending half a day sanding it down with a rough rock found along the coast), but the first time they swung it over their head and at a tree, it left a considerable mark on the tree, and gave Alix a shock of pain that reverberated throughout their body (due to holding the sword wrong), one that would never be forgotten.
After that, Alix spent most of their time practicing swinging their sword at trees, marking up all of the trees in the area they had chosen as their training ground. They were careful not to get too close to their parents house, because if they had seen the sword that they held, it would only mean trouble for Alix. But one day, they went out to swing their sword at the poor pine tree that had been the recent target of their terror, but sitting right in front of it was a singular hillichurl, asleep and unmoving. Alix had been paralyzed, unsure of what to do, wondering whether they were strong enough to take it on alone or not. Finally, when the hillichurl shifted in its sleep, they decided to make a move, one that went against any of their philosophies up until this point. They snuck up to it, crouching low to the ground. They stood on shaky legs, raised their sword above their head, and brought it down.
Thunk.
They didn’t know what they had been expecting, but the explosion of blood from having cracked open the skull of the innocent hillichurl caused them to let go of their sword, now lodged in the mutilated head of the hillichurl, and take a step back, surprised and horrified at what they had done. Alix, was splattered with a deep red blood that stained their clothes, and yet still more blood was draining out of the hillichurl’ s head, seeping into its matted fur and staining the grass. The hillichurl made a few incomprehensible, sad, pained noises before disintegrating into a few bright flakes that floated for a little before disappearing altogether, the only remaining things were the hillichurl’s mask and Alix’s sword. The wave of regret hit Alix like a sumpterbeast, and they had collapsed, crying, still covered in the hillichurl’s blood. They knew that it was a mindless creature, dangerous even, and that it would have shown no regrets if it had killed them, but they couldn’t stop themself from feeling sorry for the life they had taken. They didn’t move all day, and when the sun finally set, they quietly got up, and went back home without a sound, leaving their sword on the ground where it had lain since the hillichurl had died. When they had opened the front door, their parents hadn’t paid any mind to them. Only when their father had noticed that they had tracked blood into the house did he finally pay them mind, and seeing the mess that they had made of their clothes, they had been slapped over and over, degraded between each hit.
“You… are a waste of money… and time… going out… and getting hurt… as if you’re defenseless… you’re lucky I’m tired…”
It would have been terrifying and painful, if they hadn’t still been in a daze, unable to stop thinking about the hillichurl.
This is what I deserve
They were unable to stop thinking the whole time they were being punished. It was what they thought the entirety of the next day, too, confined to their room while it poured outside. The day after that, when they went back to the tree in order to pay their respects and retrieve their sword, all of the blood had been washed away, except for the spots where their sword had been bloodied, forever stained a pink that served as a reminder of what Alix had done.
From that day forward, Alix couldn’t even look at a hillichurl without feeling a pang of sorrow. They avoided them like the plague, just like they did people. So one day, when they were ambushed by a group of hillichurls, they ran into the ocean and swam under the water to avoid them. They were too afraid to come back up to the surface, so they had looked around underwater for a cave that might have some air. Alix was about to give up and swim to the surface when they saw a hidden nook. They were running out of air; they rapidly swam over to it. It opened up into an underground beach. They had surfaced and gasped for air, noticing the way the cave tasted almost damp, but grateful for the air nonetheless. They had been underwater for well over a minute before they had surfaced. They couldn’t tell from where, but somewhere in the ceiling let in the smallest amount of light, illuminating the small cave just enough for Alix to see. It felt nice and warm inside the cavern, and they decided that it was the perfect hideout for an adventurous seven year old.
Any time that their parents seemed to be annoyed at Alix, whether it be because something that they did or something going wrong at work, they would swim back to their little cave and think all day. Their parents never expressed worry, or concern, or even any sign that they had noticed their disappearances, so they even would stay out for entire days at a time, sleeping upon the one small patch of grass inside the cavern. Since there wasn’t really anything to do inside of the cave, whey would often lay on the ground and think. They would think about their parents, how they always seemed to be disappointed about anything Alix managed to do. How Alix wasn’t really sure what their parents did for work, though the older they got, the more obvious it became that it was something non-conventional. They also thought about the Court of Fontaine. They had never been to the major city that Fontaine held, since their parents had forbidden them to even briefly visit, but they could see it, north-east of their house on the opposite coast, looming in the distance with bright lights shining late into the night and into the early morning. They thought about how they had never been allowed to go away from home, never been to any towns, been inside any house apart from their own. Alix knew that if they wanted, they could swim, or even just walk over to the distant city, see what they were missing out on, for a few days, and then come back home. Their parents would hardly bat an eye, just figure that they had been waking up before the sun rose, and managed to sneak back inside before they noticed. But Alix didn’t want to, didn’t want to see that many people all at once, hear all of their voices, feel so out of place in a place they didn’t belong anyways. It would have caused them sensory overload. They were also perpetually terrified of getting on their parents' bad side. Alix would also think about what they would do for food that day, since the only meal they usually got from their parents was dinner. Often they would make salads from wild vegetables, or occasionally catch a fish (while they felt bad for most animals, they didn’t feel too bad for fish since most of them just swam mindlessly anyways) which gave them the protein they needed. They also thought about what they were going to do with their life. They already knew that they weren’t cut out for city life, with too many social aspects to navigate, but maybe they would live out in a small town, on the border of Fontaine, helping out people where they could, fishing for food and for money, living a peaceful life. They thought about how that wouldn’t be too bad, an honest life with little interaction.
The first time Alix had actually walked in on their parents while they had a client over was when they were seven, and though it would happen a few more times, the first time was the most memorable. It had been late at night, and they had come inside the house, ready for breakfast after a long day of playing with a particularly friendly blubberbeast, when they had heard a voice they had never heard before coming from the basement. Alix had never been allowed inside the basement before for unknown reasons.
“Never, ever, go downstairs. The things down there are not for nosy little kids to see, especially incompetent ones like yourself. If I ever find you down there under any circumstances, I will kick you out of this house without a second thought.”
Alix knew that she was serious, so they had never taken their chances to go and look, though they were sure that it had something to do with their parents' work. But when they heard the mysterious voice arguing with their parents voices, they were overcome with the urge to go and check what was happening. They quietly crept through the house, something they were good at, and stopped at the door to the basement. Afraid to go inside, they pressed their ear against the door.
“…promised a full batch by twenty-second. It is the twenty-fifth! Don’t you realize how preposterous and quite frankly, unprofessional this is, to be three days late on a significantly large order, with no correspondence about what is happening or the reason why? And now, you sit here in your comfortable home that you have the privilege to work from, and tell me that I need to be patient while you resolve a conflict that interferes with my income?” The mysterious voice sounded like it belonged to a man, and an older one at that. He sounded refined, but angry. Alix shuddered at the hostility radiating from his voice alone, and wondered what their parents had done to make him so mad.
So they manage orders of something that people then sell. I wonder what it is they supply people with? Why are they late on delivering it? Why wasn’t I allowed to know what they do?
“As we’ve told you, we’re sorry,” their father started, rather calm sounding, “but as to why your shipment is late, we don’t have any idea either. We are currently working with our superiors to resolve the issue and supply our clients with the highest quality product possible, but we are currently out of stock and might be for another few days-“
“I don’t care what you’re trying to do, but you can start telling your superiors to get their shit together and start doing their job! Look, I only have around forty units left, and nowadays you know how this stuff sells, so unless I get another shipment soon, people are going to be banging at my door asking me why the hell I'm out of stock. So unless you figure this out within the next few days, I’m finding a different supplier.”
“Sir, I can assure you that all of the suppliers for this particular… product, they all get it from the same source, so if we’re not receiving product, it’s highly unlikely that other suppliers would be receiving it.” Alix’s mother sounded annoyed, like she wanted to be going to bed but was instead stuck dealing with this annoyingly persistent man.
“I don’t care. Maybe they’ll actually keep a backlog, for times like these, but your professionalism, or lack thereof, is truly disappointing. I’ll give you two days to send me the package. If it’s not there by then, then count our contract null-and-void.”
Alix had then heard loud, thundering footsteps that sounded like they were coming towards him.
Where are they going- OH SHOOT. I need to get out of here-
They had left their position, quietly but quickly slinking up the stairs and into their bedroom, shutting the door behind them. They changed into their pajamas, and laid down in bed, as if they had been there as if they had been sleeping since they first entered the house. They struggled to sleep, thinking about what their parents' business was, what they sold, why it was such a high demand product, but more so, they worried that they would eventually let something slip, a clue that they had overheard the conversation between their parents and the strange man. But eventually, drowsiness overtook them. The next morning, their parents were particularly harsh on them, their father telling them off when they bumped into him while coming off of the staircase, and their mother blaming them for having to wake up early in the aftermath. But even then, the whole week was spent pondering what their parents did, and why it was so important that they couldn’t know about it. Any time after that had been much less exciting, simply handing off goods after the buyer inspected their quality, but Alix would never stop wondering about this mystery.
This was not the only mystery in Alix’s life. The biggest one, the one that they wished more than anything that they knew the answer to, was why their parents acted like they were an unwanted child. Had they been a mistake? They knew that they were definitely related to their parents (not that they had much concept of ‘adoption’) because their father also had brown hair the exact shade as theirs, though slightly longer, and his blue eyes with his mothers reddish ones were the exact two shades that resided inside of Alix’s. Plus, they had the same, shorter figure as their mother, alongside the same face shape as her. So if they looked so similar to their parents, it couldn’t be because they weren't theirs.
Another idea that they had was that maybe they had done something when they were younger, something that they could no longer remember, that had angered their parents to the state that they were now. They knew that a lot of hate was simply stress from work being taken out on them, but surely any loving parent would at some point, stop and realise that their child was not the problem? So the only reasoning for this was Alix themself had done something, made some mistake, interfered with business or something of the like, that had caused this eternal hatred.
But one of the biggest theories that had regarding this subject was that their parents didn’t like them because they simply got in the way. Their parents were business people, constantly having to make deals, deal with clients, count inventory, send and receive shipments, and having a child in the midst of all of that work, work that was obviously not meant to be public, simply raised their stress levels. They didn’t like Alix because they found them a nuisance. One more part of the job that already kept them so busy. And as much as Alix hoped that one day, their parents' attitude towards them would change, that someday they would walk into their house and their parents would say “We missed you”, they knew that it was never going to happen. They had known from the beginning that their parents were not like the ones in the few books they had read, but were ‘loving’ in their own way. They rewarded them not with praise, but with cold ignorance. They gave them not presents, but the ability to be ‘free’ and outside every day. And while it wasn’t always enough, Alix could never fault them for it, because deep down, they had always wondered,
Am I a burden? A mistake? Would the world ever even know I existed if I were to just… vanish? Would they care?
From harming hillichurls to annoying their parents, they sometimes wondered if the world would be better off without them.
—------------------------
The day that Alix’s life changed was a warm one. It was the middle of summer, and there hadn’t been rain for the past week, which was odd for the nation of hydro. Alix had spent most of their time in their hideout, which they had eventually decorated with some rocks and shells. It was much cooler down there, and they had been tired due to recently going farther than they usually did anyways. That day, they had been sleeping when a stray blubberbeast that had stumbled into the cave had woken them up. They had been startled at first, but upon seeing the creature, an innocent look in its eyes as it waddled around them, they had understood that it was just curious.
“So who might you be, little guy? Are you lost? You seem kind of young. Where's your group?”
They didn’t expect an answer, and knew that it wouldn’t respond. But it clapped when Alix was done talking, so they had wondered if it liked the sound of their voice.
“Well, I’m glad to have some company. Do you not feel like swimming? Or is it just the heat outside? You blubberbeasts must hate the lack of rain. I’m sorry little guy.”
It yawned back at them, waddled over, and flopped down right into Alix’s lap.
“I- oh, uh- okay then, I guess? You really like me, huh? But why aren’t you with your family right now?”
Once again, there was no response as expected, so Alix just sighed and laid back down, relaxing a bit as they soothingly pet the blubberbeast’s head.
But suddenly, mid stroke, its head shot up. It made some sort of noise, and moved as fast as it could out of the cavern, and back into the water, leaving as if it was never there.
That's weird. Was it some sort of sonar call? Its family wondering where it went? Or did it see something-
But then they heard it. Shouting. Lots of shouting. They practically shot up onto their feet, and before they could have the thoughts of what if these voices mean harm. Or what if it's unsafe outside right now, they had run towards the exit and had dived into the water. They navigated their way out and swam back to the surface, noticing that the area around them was completely devoid of life except for a few fish. The blubberbeast was nowhere to be seen.
They resurfaced and swam to the shore, once again hearing the shouting. It was louder now, but scarily enough, seemed to be coming from the direction of their house.
Oh shit, oh shit-
They internally cursed, words they had picked up from their parents' constant use of them, and raced back home.
They felt it before they saw it. It was like a wall of heat, and as soon as you stepped inside you could feel the temperature shift, could smell the smoke and ash, and could taste the taste of burnt material. They were walking up the hillside, but as they looked up at where their house was, all they could see was a thick fog of smoke. And standing outside of the smoke, some holding guns while others instructing gardemeks to hose the fire down, were the Maison Gardiennage.
Alix froze.
Their house was on fire.
Their parents were nowhere to be seen.
And the Maison Gardiennage, the one group of people their parents had told them to never, ever trust, were right there. With weapons and gardemeks.
Why are they here? Did they cause the fire? No, because they're putting it out. But then how did it happen? Maybe they could tell me. Maybe if I asked, they would tell me exactly what happened, and tell me everything was okay, and that my stuff is intact and that I can go right back to the way things were. But where are my parents? Did they get taken? No, that wouldn’t make sense, because why would they have been taken? But what if they’ve done something. What if this fire was all a ploy to arrest them for something? What if they see me, figure out I'm related to them, and arrest me?
It was a thought that they never would have had, if only their parents had never planted the virtue of “don’t trust anybody, especially officers.”
But that thought had scared them.
That thought had scared them enough to make the biggest decision of their life.
They turned around, and ran back down the hill, back from where they came from, tears welling in their eyes as they wondered why this was happening to them, when their life had been so peaceful-
“Hey kid! Where are you going! You’re Mr. and Mrs. Alarie’s daughter, right? No- don’t run away damnit.”
They hadn’t heard the voice at first, hadn't even realized that they had been noticed in the first place, but when they did and realised that it was talking to them, they jumped and ran even faster than they had been.
“Kid, come back at once! The Maison Gardiennage orders you to!”
Those words awoke a new feeling of fear deep within them.
The Maison Gardiennage orders you too.
But they would already be in trouble for running in the first place, right? And they would have to deal with questioning about what had happened. Who they were. And they didn’t want to. They didn’t want anyone to come and steal their solitude from them.
They ran all the way back down the hill, and reached the water. They slowed, not sure what to do. They couldn’t keep running forever, even though their stamina was quite good and they were pretty fast for a nine year old, but they knew that they would eventually tire. What if they tired and were caught? So when they looked behind them and saw the guard, a young male in his blue uniform, running after them, the only thing they could think to do was to run into the water. They dove under the water and started swimming in a panic, and wondered if they could make it into their cavern without the guard noticing them. But even under the stress of the situation, they knew they had no time. They didn’t look behind them, but they heard a splash behind them as the policeman entered the water. And so they swam as fast as they could, checking behind them every few seconds, too scared to go up to the surface for air. Their ears hurt from the water pressure as they swam further down, but they couldn’t care as long as the officer was behind them.
They swam away from their home, now lost to fire and strange people. They swam away from their parents, the only two people who had really been in their life for a significant amount of time. They swam away from the life they had built, their underwater cavern and their blubberbeast friends.
Finally, they gained confidence and looked behind them, and were finally sure that they had lost the man. He must have resurfaced for air, probably not used to swimming this far in one go.
But then again, neither was Alix.
And upon realizing that, they suddenly felt a pang in their chest, one that had been happening for the last few seconds, but was only noticed now.
A pang that was noticed too late.
It hurt.
They needed air.
Air that was all too far above them.
40 whole meters of water above them.
They looked up, in pain that made them feel like each of their lungs were imploding, and started to swim.
Alix thought they had experienced fear when confronted with the Maison Gardiennage, but this?
Dying?
This was a new fear unlocked, a fate that they had once wondered if they had deserved now coming upon them like a tsunami, forcing them to face the truth.
I don’t want to die- not yet, not when there's so much more for me to do.
They swam up almost blindly, their lungs aching so terribly that they wanted to slit their chest open.
30 meters from the surface.
I can’t, no, I can’t, not yet. I haven’t even really lived yet-
They still swam, but so weakly that they were barely going up.
20 meters from the surface.
Finally, their lungs throbbed so hard that Alix opened their mouth and tried to take a gasping breath. Fresh water flowed into their mouth as they inhaled, and it burned. It burned more than the throbs their lungs had been doing.
Yet still they pushed up.
I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,
10 meters from the surface
The light of the stars above the surface was growing brighter, and they could almost taste the air that was just out of reach, salty and warm, when suddenly the pain stopped. It no longer hurt, the water in their lungs feeling cool instead of hot. They could no longer feel how tired they were. They knew that it was wrong. They were drowning, wasn’t it supposed to hurt? But as they started seeing colors, a whole rainbow of flashes and spots in their vision, they knew that the inevitable was happening. Before they realized it, they had stopped moving up, and were starting to slowly sink down, down, down.
And maybe that wasn’t so bad.
They thought of the hillichurl they had mercilessly slaughtered all that time ago, and wondered,
Was this what you felt, too? Not pain, but peace? I hope so.
As their eyes started to close, they saw a particularly bright flash in front of them, and wondered if this was what death looked like.
Maybe this isn’t all too bad.
—------------------------
Freminet had always loved diving. It was one of the only things that he was good at, and it got him away from the hustle and bustle of people. Usually he was only allowed to dive for missions that he was given, but the recent arrival of his vision had made it easier for him to sneak out and dive whenever he wanted, since it allowed him freedom from needing a dive suit. This particular evening, his siblings had caught him, probably because they were half cats and had particularly sharp hearing, as he left his bed and started to quietly move to the door with the intent of sitting at the bottom of the ocean for a few hours. When they finally got him to say what he was doing, Lyney, his older brother, had enthusiastically suggested that he and Lynette, Lyney’s twin sister, should come with. Freminet wasn’t fond of the idea, since if they were caught sneaking out, especially all three of them at once, Father was sure to be mad at them, and Freminet didn’t want to imagine the missions that she would send both of them and himself on, which was an even scarier thought considering that up until recently, Freminet’s missions had mostly been safe, apart from the fact that he spent hours at a time underwater while fixing things such as pipes. Oh, that was one of the other only things that he was good at, was working with machinery.
The three of them had snuck out through a window, the twins having a step up on Freminet keeping quiet due to their cat genes and their experience of sneaking around. They made their way to one of the gates leading outside the city, and after realizing that the guard that was supposed to be on watch was asleep, snuck past her and out into the open world. Lyney and Lynette had bickered about what they wanted to do with their free time.
“C’mon, Lynette. We have a whole night to do whatever we want! We could go swimming, we could climb a tree. We could shoot some of my flaming arrows into the water!”
“I didn’t ask for this,” his sister said monotonously. Like Freminet, she wasn’t the best at socializing, “so I think that I’ll sleep while you shoot your arrows that definitely won’t raise an alarm for fun.” She yawned while Lyney whined in protest.
“Lynette, don’t you have anything that you want to do? I mean really, one person can’t be this boring. Right Frem? You’ll back me up”
Frem wasn’t expecting to become involved in their play-arguing, but decided to play along.
“Actually, Lynette is right. Definitely no fire-arrows that would raise attention. You could probably climb a tree though.” Lyney frowned, looking overly hurt by this comment.
“So what, my ideas aren’t good?”
“He just suggested you do one of your ideas, you whopperflower.” She smiled as she insulted him, laughing when he made a shocked face at her as if he couldn’t believe she would betray him like this.
Finally, they reached the coastline a little north of the city, where Freminet could finally submerge himself in the nice warm water of the Fontaine ocean.
“You guys coming with me?” He broke up their fighting, which had escalated to them lightly shoving each other while laughing.
“Nah, I don’t feel like getting my clothes wet. You have fun though.” Lyney said half distractedly, trying to grab Lynette's tail while she was distracted. She obviously wasn’t distracted enough, though, since every time he tried to sneakily grab it, it quickly flicked out of the way.
“Yeah, same here. Although I am quite excited to watch Lyney’s attempt at climbing a tree.” She smirked amusedly, moving her tail again as Lyney went to grab it, and slapped his hand playfully.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys later. Don’t, like, burn anything down I guess.” And with that, he headed off to the water, wanting nothing more than to run over and dive in, but not wanting to get made fun of by his siblings, he resisted.
As he was walking towards the refuge of the ocean, looking out at the scenery, he noticed a large plume of smoke drifting up from the mountainside to his southwest. He hadn’t noticed it as he was walking over since it had been hidden by the night, but now as he looked at it, he noticed that it was slightly illuminated, as if on fire. A feeling of nervousness struck him.
I wonder what happened to cause a fire that big. Maybe… maybe we should go back. The Garde will be checking it out, probably. Should I tell Lyney and Lynette?
But as he looked back at his siblings, happily chasing each other around as if playing a game of tag, he knew that they needed a moment of reprieve as much as he did. He hadn’t seen them this stress-free since Lynette got her vision, and that was a while ago. So what if there was some fire? As long as they kept on the down low, they would be fine. Plus, they were both trained to notice things like this, so Freminet knew they would be smart enough to recognize that they should keep on the quieter side.
So he kept going, finally reaching the water he longed for. It was the only place where he truly felt he belonged, and he was excited to be able to swim around freely, without the pressure of a mission or project on his shoulders. He walked in, and started swimming farther out, eventually completely submerging himself.
The fish swam away from him, probably startled to see a larger life form, but a curious small blubberbeast swam up to him. It was a cute little thing, but it was almost too little to be swimming around without its mother.
“Hey little guy, what are you doing all alone?”
Freminet’s voice, with the help of his vision, carried smoothly through the water, and the blubberbeast having heard him started swimming off hurriedly.
“Hey, wait, where are you going? Is there something you want to show me?”
Freminet started following the blubberbeast, and when he started catching up to it, it went even faster. It was as if it was running from Freminet.
Should I just leave it alone? It’s just a baby, without its mother. It’s just scared. But if it’s alone, then shouldn’t I at least help it find its family? Or maybe it’s not supposed to be swimming around right now, like me.
That last thought gave him a guilty feeling, knowing that Father would be completely disappointed if she knew what he was doing right now. It would certainly be a means for punishment. He would probably be given a more difficult mission than his last one, too. Freminet slowed slightly, wondering if he really should just tell the twins that this was a bad idea and head back, but upon noticing that he had slowed, the blubberbeast slowed down too.
So it’s not running? Maybe it’s trying to show me something, then? But why would it want a stranger to help it?
So he sped up, following it. And that was when he saw it.
Well, not it. A girl. More specifically, he saw a sudden bright light that drew his attention, and then he saw her.
And she was slowly, limply drifting down to the bottom of the ocean. And weirdly enough, there was a vision in front of her.
Freminet gasped, and swam over to her as quickly as he could.
What happened? Did she drown? Oh, archons- is she even still alive? How is she drowning if she has a vision? Can’t she breathe?
He thought back to when he had gained his vision. When his family had all been slowly suffocating around him. If it weren’t for his determination, they all would have died.
And this was just a kid, like him. Like his family.
He grabbed her and her vision, and started swimming up to the surface as quickly as he could while holding her with one hand, the blubberbeast that had led him to the girl helping as best it could. But it was a long way up to the surface, and depending on how long she had been under…
Don’t think about that. You’ll save her, just like how you saved them.
Freminet had never considered himself a hero, not even after saving multiple people from suffocating, but he knew that right now, he needed to act like he could be one. So he swam up,
and up,
and up,
until he finally surfaced.
But the girl did not gasp for breath. There was no breath of relief.
And Freminet knew that if he didn’t act fast, there never would be.
He wasn’t that far from the shore, so he started swimming towards it, swimming awkwardly due to the fact that one of his arms was still holding the girl. He was much more north that where he started, Lyney and Lynette out of sight. But he knew he would need them. Both of them knew more medical things than he did, and they were more likely to be able to help.
He reached the shoreline, though not as quickly as he would have had he not been holding the girl, and he laid her out flat on her back, putting her vision beside her. The blubberbeast had, thankfully, followed him onto land, so he spoke quickly as he got the girl situated.
“My siblings- they’re over on the coast somewhere closer to the city. I need you to find them. Can you do that?”
He had no time to check whether it had understood him, or even heard him at all, as he placed his hands over where the girl's heart was and started rhythmically pressing down.
Freminet had never done cpr before, and only knew not to do it because Father had made all of her children learn it. But right now, it doesn't seem to be working. He pushes down as hard as he can with every beat, but nothing happens.
“Freminet!”
He instinctually looks over when Lyney calls his name, stopping his beat, but upon seeing the horror on Lyney’s face, he resumes his attempts at trying to revive the girl.
“Frem, out of the way.” Freminet barely managed to move before Lyney was where he was a second before, aggressively pressing his hands down in a much quicker beat than Freminet had been doing.
“Freminet, what the hell happened?” He hadn’t noticed Lynette behind him, but he slightly jumped before hurriedly answering.
“I- well- uhm, was swimming, and this little guy,” he motioned at the blubberbeast that was back, making its way towards them, “he seemed to want to show me something, so I followed him. Then I saw her, but she was already unconscious. She was still floating though, as if, as if she was trying to swim to the surface and just didn’t make it. So, uh, yeah. She also had a vision, so I don’t know how this happened.”
Lynette looked horrified, probably thinking about the fact that this was the second time in under six months that he had to save someone from drowning, but he didn’t know what to say, a horrifying thought making its way into his mind.
I might not have been able to save her in time.
He shuddered, the reality of the situation finally hitting him. What if she really was dead? It would be his fault for not swimming fast enough. His fault for hesitating when he thought of Father. His fault for-
The sound of watery coughing interrupted his thoughts. It was painful to hear, and probably more painful to be going through, but his head snapped to the face of the girl, who was not desperately gasping for air while she coughed up what seemed to be a whole ocean of water.
“Oh, thank the archons,” Lyney said, obviously relieved as he shifted her onto her side so that she wouldn’t re-swallow the water and drown again.
It took a while, but finally she seemed to be able to take full breaths of air again. She had opened her eyes at some point while choking, but when she finally looked at Lyney, then Lynette, the Freminet in the face, her eyes widened and she pushed herself backwards a few inches.
“Hey, are you okay?” Lynette moved forwards, obviously trying to make sure to not scare the girl while also sounding worried and relieved at the same time. The girl gave no response for a few seconds, before shakily saying,
“Who are you guys? What happened? Why am I…”
She trailed off as a look of horror dawned on her face, and she moved her gaze from Lynette’s face to somewhere behind Freminet.
“No, no, no.. I- I have to, I have to go, I think. They’ll be looking for me, won’t they? I have to-” She was cut off by her coughing, and Lyney and Lynette looked at each other nervously.
Looking for her? Who would be looking for her? Her parents? But then why would she look so scared? What if… did she cause that fire in the distance? No, that surely can’t be right… Was that her house, maybe?
“Sorry, but who will be looking for you?” Lyney asked cautiously.
“The- the Garde. They, they were chasing me. I don’t know why they were there, but they chased me into the water. Did- didn’t I drown? Am I dead?”
That last question seemed to strike both Lyney and Lynette, and Freminet felt a pang of sorrow for her. She had just drowned, and would have died if Freminet hadn't happened to leave at the exact time he did, if he had been caught by the sleeping guard at the gate, even had he simply turned around out of fear of what Father would do if she knew he was breaking the rules…
But then the first part of her words seemed to become apparent to Lyney.
“The Maison Gardiennage is chasing you? Shit, Lyn, Frem, we have to move. What if-” he cut himself off, seemingly remembering that he was in front of someone who did not belong to the House of the Hearth.
“I should probably go. I, uh, thank you for saving me, but I don’t want you getting in trouble.” The girl started to get up, which seemed to take a lot of effort, but Lynette stopped her.
“No, you don’t need to go. We can help you. Where are your parents?” She used a gentle tone, one Freminet only really heard her use when he himself, or one of the other children at the House, got hurt.
“I don’t, I guess I don’t know. They could be dead? I don’t know what happened.” She, for some reason, didn’t seem to be shaken by what she had just said, rather the fact that she didn’t know what was happening.
“But I don’t think I want to go back. I don’t really know what they did, but the Garde was at our house, and it was completely on fire. They always told me that, that the Garde were bad people, but that doesn’t make sense. Everything I’ve read has said that officers are good people. And my parents were always so secretive, I don’t- no, I can’t go back.”
She seemed surprised at what she had just said, as if the words had tumbled out of her mouth without her permission. And maybe they had. Maybe she was still delirious after having drowned.
Freminet realized that the smoke that he had seen earlier must have been her house. He was also right about the Garde being on alert. But if that was her house, and she didn’t know nor care if her parents were still alive, then where was she going to go?
“Your house is the one over there, with the smoke, right?” Freminet spoke quietly, yet everyone still heard him. He pointed at where the giant plume of smoke was wafting up into the sky, and she nodded her head.
“Well, you don’t have anywhere to go, you might be orphaned, and you need refuge from the Garde?” He asked this question more to Lyney and Lynette than he did to her. He was not asking her if he understood everything, he was asking his siblings if what he was thinking was wise.
“Frem, no, we’re not even supposed to be out right now. What do you think Father is going to say if we show up at her office late at night with her. Is she going to say ‘oh I’m so proud of you for sneaking out and saving-’” “They. It’s, uh, they, not her. Oh, and uh, I’m Alix.”
Lyney was cut off by Alix, taken aback. Freminet didn’t know many people who used ‘they’ instead of the usual ‘she’ or ‘he’, but there were a few kids at the House that did so, so it wasn’t a foreign concept to him.
“Look, Frem, we simply can’t show up with some kid and just go ‘look at what we found’, do you understand how much trouble we’ll be in?”
“Lyney, what else are we supposed to do? Let the poor thing go into the wilderness and starve? Or be taken by the Gardes for archons-know-what?” Lynette stood up for Freminet, and he gave her a grateful look.
She turned to Alix, “So, Alix is it? I’m Lynette, the quiet one who saved you is Freminet, and the loud one who apparently has no morals is Lyney,” she shot her brother a glare that Freminet was glad he was not on Lyney’s side of, “So you don’t want to go home?”
“Well, I kinda… can’t.” They looked over at the smoke in the sky sorrowfully.
“Well then, that settles it. You could come with us. We live in a place called the House of the Hearth, have you heard of it?”
“No. Should I have? I’ve never been in the city. Or anywhere, really. You’re the first people I’ve talked to in a long time, other than my parents.”
“Fine, Lynette, but you get to explain to Father what the hell we were doing out when we weren’t supposed to be.” He looked at Lynette meanly, and Freminet wondered if this was going to cause a temporary division between the twins.
“Alix, the House of the Hearth is an orphanage.” They looked confused, so she continued, “That’s a place you go when you have no parents, and no one to help care for you. But you also have to help out by doing chores and stuff. Plus, you have a vision, meaning that you’ll probably be sent on dangerous missions-”
“What? No I don’t. I’ve never had a vision, and I’ve only ever seen one in my life. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
If they don’t have a vision, then why did I find one next to them in the water? Could they have stolen it?
Lyney walked over to where the vision still lay in the sand, and picked it up. Its gold casing blended with the sand, and the blue hydro symbol that Freminet hadn’t noticed earlier was the same color as the water itself. Lyney walked back over and showed it to Alix, who had a look of shock on their face. But when they reached out and took it from Lyney, it glowed for a second before going back to normal, confirming that Alix was indeed its owner.
“I don’t… where did you find this?” they looked at the three siblings, their gaze landing on Freminet who looked away awkwardly.
“Oh, well, I guess it was next to you when I found you, so I figured it was yours. And I guess I was right, because it reacted to you? Maybe you got it after passing out?”
Alix looked at him for a moment, then looked down at their vision, a look of awe passing over their face as they must have realized their newfound power.
“Anyways, as I was saying, joining the House is no joke, especially because you’re a vision holder, but if you really have nowhere to go, I guess it’s your best option.”
Freminet looked at Lyney, and though he knew that the older boy was trying his best to look as if he didn’t care, Freminet could tell that he was already starting to care for Alix, and would probably be disappointed if they declined the offer.
“You really want me to come with you? But you said I’ll get you in trouble-”
“It’s fine, nothing we can’t take. So, whaddya say?” Lyney seemed much friendlier with his last sentence, even smiling at Alix with his hand outstretched, offering them to take it. He was good at switching up the way he acted, which Freminet guessed was typical for an actor.
They looked past the three siblings again, probably at their smoking house, thinking about everything they were leaving behind, a whole lifetime of memories, before looking at Lyney in the eyes.
“Sure.”