Chapter Text
An 11 hour train ride, another (local) train ride, and a taxi, had left Phantum looking like a corpse.
“Why is it so hot out here?!” He said, keeping his voice down so the people from the neighborhood didn’t hear. He and Jamie had planned a vacation to go visit Jamie’s aunt, as they had never really met her, but from what little they knew, she was the complete opposite of their mom, as Jamie claimed his mother always said she was gullible and naive. Jamie stood, also exhausted, in front of the door of an unfamiliar house. It was daytime, but for them they were hours behind on sleep, especially Phantum. Jamie was used to this exhaustion, deciding to go non verbal and take it, unlike Phantum who appeared to have become a stature leaning on any wall on display for all the locals to point at how tall he was.
“Jamie! The ladies are talking about me…” He said as a group of women passed by, they murmured back, “They just said you look like a purple tree..”
“That’s worse!”
A woman opened the door, wiping her hands off with a clean tea towel, only to drop it the second she saw Jamie. She took them both in and hurried to get them food.
“Suware! Suware!” She sputtered. Leading them to sit on the couch of her living room, where Phantum sank down on the floor because none of the muscles or even his bones worked at the moment. She brought them both some soup along with some water. When Phantum didn’t wake up to take the food, she threw it on him. He jumped and stood up straight.
“So rude! Are you fresh now?” She asked.
“My hair is going to get frizzy…” He mourned his, used to be, pretty hair.
“And you,” She turned to Jamie,” Want me to get you anything, I made sure to give you veggies, your mom used to say you loved them!” She smiled. Jamie looked down at the soup, and then at her, saying with a monotone voice, “used to…” And then took a sip from it.
After the two got some of their energy back, with Phantum looking like the sleep deprived college student he, also, was. Jamie could finally start talking with his aunt. Apparently, their mother was like that since she was little, as their mom acted similarly too. However, she and her brother got very different endings. Their aunt had started dating a guy in college and they moved in together, only for them to break up after she decided to go to the Poison Kingdom, and her brother had unfortunately died at the hands of their aunt’s mother. It was a lot to take in, but the fact that they had a nice family member comforted them. They tried to ask about the rest, but a sudden pain interrupted them. They hissed and held onto their stomach. When she asked what’s wrong, they explained why they didn’t like vegetables that much anymore, and when the two tried to fix the problem, their kidney medicine was gone, just like how Phantum’s anti-depressants had disappeared that one time.
They asked their aunt to take them to the Pharmacy, but she quickly refused, saying how she needed to cook them a healthy meal that wouldn’t hurt them. It was starting to turn into evening already, and she had the great task of being the host to Jamie and Phantum. So she sent Phantum with them. Jamie shook Phantum up, gently, from the bedroom they were given. He sat up from the floor (fresh floor), and when Jamie explained, he nodded tiredly. The two left the house hand in hand and began walking to the Pharmacy. As they walked, Jamie was their navigator, asking people around the fastest way there, and actually being able to read all the signs, as Phantum had unfortunately not gotten a chance beforehand to learn at least something from their language.
The two got to the store, and Jamie explained to the Pharmacist, with pained hisses, what medicine they needed exactly. They took a while to find something with a similar dose, and the two ended up leaving at night. Phantum had been standing in front of a group of little kids who were with their mom, asking things that to him were either insults or some kind of incantation.
“Segatakaidesu ne! Nē, ojisan, son'nani se ga takaku naruniha nani o tabeta ndesu ka?” asked a kid.
“Tabun kare wa akuma no mi demo tabeta nda! Wanpīsu mitai ni!” exclaimed the other kid.
“Hai! Hai! Nē, anata wa rufi mitaina no?” said another
“...All I got was One Piece…el wan pi” Phantum said tiredly.
Their mother shooed them away and apologized to Phantum. Jamie tapped Phantum’s shoulder, they had already taken the medicine, and now the two just needed to return to their aunt’s house. Half way on their trip back, Jamie asked Phantum to carry them back. He lifted them up and carried them in their arms, with their head leaning on his shoulder, and their back covered by one of Phantum’s jackets (He wants to be fashionable ok?)
He got to a part of the path that he didn’t remember, so he looked at Jamie, who was now fast asleep in his arms. Fortunately for him, he had taken a screenshot of where the house is…he couldn’t read it. He looked around at all the nearby signs, comparing the symbols to the one in the screenshot.
“Palito…Raya…Rayita…But a circle is missing…”
He spent an hour until midnight trying to return, only for a random man to check on him when he sat down on the sidewalk to cry while holding Jamie like a plushie. He held Phantum’s hand and guided him to Jamie’s aunt’s house.
“Graciaauauauauauss!” He cried out quietly, trying not to wake Jamie up.
“Nan demonai yo! Sore to, shawā abite ne” The man brushed it off and walked away quickly.
“I don’t know what you said :(“
Back inside, they were met with a wonderful dinner, a nice, clean, and soft bed, and SLEEP.