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The thing about having a sick guardian is that they can never quite watch you as closely as they used to. Not that Sethos was ever that closely monitored past making sure that his Ba Fragment settled correctly, but the point still stands. There was a reason that Cyrus had been able to take Cyno and disappear into the night, a reason past his high clearance and his Grandfather's benevolence. Kindness. Fondness. Whatever it was that had caused him to let Cyrus go for so long.
Back in his prime, when his Grandfather didn't wheeze with every step, he had taught Sethos how to hunt, how to fight, how to survive in the desert. Sethos, armed with a polearm that never quite settled right in his hands, took to it like a fish to water. And thus, his independence was born.
When his Grandfather started to struggle to walk, to breathe, to stay awake past noon, Sethos had been allowed to take to the desert alone. All he had to do was let his Grandfather know that he was going out, and how long he expected to be. It didn't matter if his trip lasted a little over or under, his Grandfather trusted him to get back in one piece.
Sometimes it hurt Sethos to look at the man who had once been so much larger than life become so fragile and pained, so he set off and went camping for a few weeks, just to clear his head. He always felt better for it, and his Grandfather didn't need the extra burden of comforting his grandson when he was already so sick.
Of course, with his newfound responsibility Sethos couldn't just up and vanish like he used to, especially not without getting the appropriate staff to take over the appropriate tasks. Luckily, everyone had known him since childhood, or at least long enough, and would offer their help to him when they could see he was getting too antsy, when he needed to disappear.
His first proper trip since taking over the Temple of Silence is spent in Sumeru City, in an inn with his brother, his brother-in-law, and his niece who he meets for the first time. It's a funny thing, to suddenly be so intertwined in the lives of others that they can call him family. Before, all he had was Grandfather.
He gets along best with Cyno, naturally, and this time, he finds that he cannot craft up a good enough excuse to weasel out of TCG with him. He loses spectacularly each time, much to the amusement of everyone else.
After working through a little bit of awkwardness, Tighnari takes to him quickly. He asks about Sethos' favourite foods and adjusts his cooking to match, laughing and chatting with him as sizzling fills the air. He recounts embarrassing stories of Cyno and fond recollections of Collei, and gives Sethos context about the people in their lives. He learns about the couple that he can't stop seeing everywhere - Alhaitham and Kaveh. He gets invited to drinks with them.
He thinks of being fourteen with a stolen bottle of wine, drunk and alone in his camp, trying to come to terms with his Grandfather's prognosis. It will only get worse, he had been told. It's fatal. It's treatable, but not curable. Your Grandfather is going to die.
"I don't drink often," He says, and it's not a lie. It sits heavy like the wine on his tongue, but it is not yet a rejection.
"You don't have to drink," Tighnari says. "We'd just like for you to join us in the tavern,"
"I'll drink," Is what he finds himself blurting. He hadn't sworn himself off of alcohol by any means, but it still feels far too vulnerable than what he's used to, peeling petals off of a flower that had not yet bloomed.
With the plans made, dinner is cooked and both Cyno and Collei join them at the table. Collei is a good kid, far better than Sethos was at her age. He had been a terror, all mischief and grief and pressure to lead shoved into one teenage boy with inhuman eyes, sticky fingers, and a budding taste for alcohol.
Collei is none of that. She is sweet, gentle, polite. Her hands stick to herself and she doesn't eye the wine bottle on the centre of the table like the only thing that is keeping her going is her plan to steal it and run.
Sethos decides that he will not drink tonight. Setting a good example for his niece, right?
He joins Cyno, Tighnari, Alhaitham and Kaveh at their table in Lambad's, gets pleasantly buzzed off of wine and finds that his thoughts are much easier to outrun when in the company of others.
He laughs at Kaveh and Alhaitham's spats, learns of their work and Kaveh's annoyance with Alhaitham's interior decorating skills. Listens to a twenty-minute rant about ugly rugs. He counts.
The drunker Kaveh gets, the less sense he makes, and he settles for just slinging insults at Alhaitham. Oaf, fool, stubborn. Tighnari, also drunk, tuts at this.
"Let's use our nice words, Kaveh," He scolds, and Sethos cannot help but laugh at the utterly sheepish expression on his face. He giggles and giggles, until he flops, boneless, onto Cyno's shoulder, who catches him and keeps him steady with such earnestness he decides that he cannot, under any circumstances, focus on it.
"It's like he's Collei!" Sethos finds himself snickering, pleased perhaps beyond what the situation calls for.
"He was misbehaving!" Tighnari defends, scandalised. There's a tinge of a slur to his words, marred with inebriation.
This, unfortunately, sends Sethos into another round of laughter. Perhaps he is drunker than he thought.
"You're a giggly drunk," Cyno notes, reverent, like he wants to find out all he can about his little brother.
"Not always," Sethos blurts before he can stop himself. He doesn't elaborate, and no one makes him, but he gets a few looks from the others at the table, and he's half-convinced his words have slightly sobered up Kaveh.
Still, he has a nice night, and pretends that his favourite part isn't Cyno and Tighnari helping him stumble back to the inn. It feels nice, to be touched.
He starts to feel a bit exposed, picked apart and on view for everyone to see. When Cyno and Tighnari leave in the morning, he decides he will take a page out of their book and disappear for a bit.
"I'm going out," He tells Collei. "I'll come back at some point," Is what he says, because he does not know when he will be coming back. He doesn't have many days left with his family, so it will not be terribly long. There is no need for further elaboration. Collei's a smart kid, so she'll definitely get what he means.
He wanders out of the city, but not too far. Less than half an hour on foot. He's not planning on staying for long.
He finds a nice spot to set up camp and stew in his thoughts for the day.
Something feels wrong.
When Tighnari gets home from meeting with his Master, he certainly does not expect to see Collei, teary-eyed and panicking. It is late into the evening now, and she would usually be tucked into bed by this point. Her Eleazar may be cured, clearing, but she still tuckered out quicker than most girls her age. He feels his own panic rise in his chest, but pushes it down. The quickest way to work Collei into a panic attack was to show his own anxiety.
"Collei, sweetheart, what's wrong?" He speaks softly. And then, "Where is Sethos?" Which turns out to be the wrong thing to say, because Collei's face scrunches up further in distress.
"He- He said he was going out this morning after you and Cyno left and it's been hours and it's getting late and he's still not back!" She frets. "What if something happened to him? What if he's hurt?" At first, Tighnari feels annoyance. Not at Collei, never at Collei, but at Sethos for working her up into this mess. He and Cyno were cut from the same cloth, he notes, disappearing without telling anyone. Then, he frets. Collei is right. It's dark, Sethos is unaccounted for and anything could have happened to him. Sethos is strong, but not unfallible.
He hears the door click, and the pad of almost-bare feet on the floor that indicates that Cyno is home. "Go to bed, Collei," He instructs, shushing her when she opens her mouth to protest. "It's late and you're tired. Cyno and I will go look for him. Save your energy,"
With great reluctance, Collei does as she is told. Cyno looms in the doorway.
"Sethos went out this morning," Tighnari brings him up to speed. "He hasn't come back yet. We're going to look for him,"
They didn't know Sethos well enough to guess where he'd be, so they asked around. A mercenary near the city gates said he'd spotted someone matching Sethos' description leaving early that morning.
It took less than thirty minutes for them to find him. He was sat near a fire in a makeshift camp, not sad, not happy, just there. Barely present in the moment. Emotions rushed through Tighnari - relief and indignance and fury all at once.
"Sethos!" He snaps, and the younger man's head snaps up when he hears his voice. Surprise flickers across Sethos' face. He wasn't expecting to be found.
"Tighnari!" He replies, going for cheerful but missing by a mile, sounding confused and concerned.
"Do you have any idea what time it is? Collei was worried sick!" He shouts, just to soothe himself, stomping closer. Cyno flanks him.
"Wha- But- I let her know I was going out! I told her I'd be back at some point!"
Tighnari puts his hands on his hips, replicating the pose that Madame Faruzan loves to pull when she's scolding her juniors. "Most people tend to assume that 'some point' means later that same day, not all the way into the evening!"
"I was going to be back by tomorrow!"
"Wha- Tomorrow?" Tighnari scowls incredulously. He turns his scathing glare over to Cyno. "What is it with you both, gallivanting off when you feel like it without regard for how the people around you feel?"
Cyno had the decency to look sheepish. Sethos looks like he's been caught in an alternate universe.
"I'm sorry I scared Collei, but I did let her know,"
Tighnari took a deep breath. Calmed himself. Yelling wasn't going to do anything for the situation.
"Sethos," He starts slowly. "You told her you were going out. You didn't let her know where you were going, or when you'd be back, so when it got late, she got scared that you had been injured or lost. We had no idea where you were. We had to find a mercenary, only for him to tell us you had left the city. Do you know how scared we were? Having no way to ensure your safety? I mean, you wouldn't do this to your Grandfather, would you?"
"I would," Sethos blurts. "I mean, I did, all the time. I told him that I'd be out, and then I came back after a couple of weeks," Things are starting to slot together for Tighnari. It doesn't make a pretty picture. "I only have a few days left with you, so I was going to be gone for like, two at most, so..." He trails off awkwardly, nothing else to say. Tighnari is going to reply, but Cyno beats him to it.
"That's not normal, Sethos," He says, blunt as always. "It's not normal for children to leave without supervision for weeks at a time. Collei only takes simple Forest Ranger duties by herself, and even then Tighnari goes looking for her if she is out longer than expected." He lets that sink in, before he tacks on, "That's why we were worried. It's not normal to leave without explanations. That's why I usually write letters if I go out on a sudden mission," Cyno tanks Tighnari's glare at the use of the word 'usually.'
Sethos thinks this over for a bit. "My Grandfather was a good man," He blurts. "At least to me. He would never do anything to hurt me. He was just sick. Distracted. It wasn't his fault."
Sethos' hands are shaking, Tighnari notes. Like a cornered animal, ready to bite. "We never said it was," He soothes. "Just that it wasn't normal. I'm sorry for yelling at you, Sethos. You're not in trouble. We were just scared. We care about you, you know that? You lummox,"
And with that playful admonishment and admission of care, Sethos refuses to look at them. His shoulders are shaking and he's taking gasping breaths. He's crying.
Tighnari pulls Sethos into his arms, swaying him back and forth. Sethos clings to him like he's never had contact like this before. Cyno isn't far behind, enveloping him from the other side.
"I'm sorry," Sethos mumbles. He sounds miserable. "I didn't realise it wasn't- I mean I never even-"
"Shh, it's okay," Tighnari cuts him off. "You don't need to explain. We understand,"
Cyno has something divine and animalistic buried deep within him. It's possessive - it views people as property and tells him to keep what is his safe. It only grows with the addition of the second Ba Fragment.
When he had first laid eyes on him, Cyno had felt a weird connection to Sethos. After besting him in their duel, the fragment finally explained.
Yours. It purred, a deep rumble. Yours. Keep yours safe.
It was only natural he gravitated towards Sethos, intelligent and charismatic and oh so strong. Cyno was proud to call him his brother.
Cyno, admittedly, was not the greatest at identifying subpar childhoods. His own was hazy, filled with fevers and headaches and whispers from a god he could not yet communicate with. He wondered if Sethos' was the same.
Cyno had been an independent child, but even through the fog of the past, he remembers being watched over. Lisa or Cyrus were always there, in the background, and if not them, someone else. His heart ached, in that inhuman way it always did when Hermanubis lingered a bit too close to the surface when one of his was hurt.
Sethos was asleep now, safely tucked into his bed. Tear tracks still stained his cheeks.
Collei was asleep in her room. Tighnari was standing in the doorway of Sethos' room.
All of his were safe and accounted for. He would make sure they never hurt again.