A/N: Last section lets goooo

This fic reminded me how much I enjoy writing accents.

Not much else to say really.

Enjoy!

The sunset slowly spreading golden light over the city was quite a spectacle to see as Tyler waited outside the inn for Jacques, who would be taking him to the show. He sat on a bench Owen had scraped together a while back and scanned for the bouncy blond hair of the Frenchman. He was tired, but could hold onto the last reserves of his energy for maybe another hour, tops. That would hopefully be plenty of time.

"Zhere you are! No time to waste, my friend, we must be off!" Jacques said hurriedly, offering a hand to Tyler to help him up out of sheer remembered instinct.

Tyler hesitantly accepted the hand, standing up and feeling something shift inside his shoulder that didn't feel right. His legs had added weight whenever he took a step and his feet ached from standing on and off them all day. An hour, just an hour...he told himself with a deep in and out.

The walk wasn't too bad, as the show was set up not far from the inn's more central location. Jacques led the way through a series of tented tunnels until they reached the end; backstage, so to speak.

Tyler felt a sudden wave of emotion hit him as he took in the familiar but foreign sight in front of him: performers in costume moving to and fro behind the folds of the tent that would open into the wider arena-like stage. Many of them he could just recognize from a hair color or even their choice of clothing. While in the company he'd rarely ever joined them in performing but was always there to clean up afterwards, until he'd been given chances that eventually brought his career there to an abrupt end.

There was no time to dwell on it, however.

"And vhere exactly have you been?" One of the more experienced performers practically flipped in front of Jacques and placed a hand on her hip. She had a paper list in her hand written in a foreign language. "You missed rehearsal for zhe big show, you better not be stiff tonight!" Her red lips were full and situated in a frown.

"Ah, desolé, Svetlana, but I had something to take care of at zhat time...mostly draining mes finances," Jacques apologized with a chuckle before looking at Tyler, who had stepped back a touch when Svetlana had appeared. "Besides, I brought un invité spécial. You remember Tyler, non?" he asked her, gesturing in his direction.

Svetlana turned her attention to Tyler and gasped. "It has been eternity, I could hardly recognize your face!" she exclaimed, moving closer to see him better. "Very grown up." She was older than him by some amount of years that were never discussed because rude, but she had the physical capabilities of someone much younger, as well as an impeccably injury-free track record, something he'd envied her for when they still worked together.

"Hey...Svet," Tyler replied with a tired half-smile. "Been awhile." His earlier overwhelming unnamed emotion was swept aside as he tried to appear as attentive as possible.

"Zhat is understatement, years it's been," Svet said as she examined his being with a keen eye. "So wonderful seeing you healthy again."

"Yeah...that," Tyler agreed. "It was hard to contact you guys since my job involves so much traveling…"

"Oh, that so? Vhat do you do?" Svetlana asked curiously.

"'E sells such strange things from across the world! I bought from him today zhis gold jewelry," Jacques answered for him, showing it off on his wrist.

"Ooh, very shiny!" Svet complimented it before returning to her more serious demeanor. "Zhe time is ticking away from us. We vill talk more after show, okay? Get ready, Jacques, you are on very quickly." She shooed him off to change, leaving the space to mutter in Russian over something that was probably important.

Tyler remained standing there, still taking in the situation and feeling a heaviness in his chest. It could have just been the exhaustion weighing him down, but… no, it was more than that. Maybe it was the creeping feeling that he didn't belong here, he never had, and knowing that he'd never get the chance to fulfill the dreams from his adolescence because he couldn't risk another life threatening injury like the one that scarred his entire back-

"There you are, Jacques, we were just about ready to kick you out of the show!" A much less accented voice was suddenly heard over the clatter.

"Josee, you know I would never leave you for too long! We will of course dazzle them like we always do!" Jacques replied with a laugh as he reappeared in his costume for the show.

Tyler felt his heartbeat in his ears.

"Let's hope you don't tumble after missing rehearsal today," Josee countered with a smirk, walking towards Jacques in her matching outfit to his.

Tyler swallowed nothing. His throat was dry; there wasn't any water nearby, was there? His eyes stung too, must've been the air...

Before he ended up in full panic mode Svetlana suddenly said, "You need to go and sit down, zhe show will start in short time."

"S-sorry, I don't have a ticket...I only came to say hello," Tyler apologized quickly. "I'll get outta the way, you guys have a good show." He turned and made for the exit, a task that took longer than it would have if he'd just asked for directions back out.

I shouldn't be here

I can't stay

I need to go home.

"It is no problem to get you seat!" Svetlana called after him before sighing when he vanished beyond where it was feasible for her to follow at this point. "He is gone soon as he comes...did not leave address or anything!" she commented before moving to the entrance to the tent. "You two are ready, yes?" she asked the pink-clad partners.

Jacques glanced around behind them and finally noticed that Tyler was gone. His smile slipped for a moment-he didn't even say au revoir or stay for the start of the show!-before Josee placed a firm hand on his arm. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Jacques shook his head briefly and snapped back to attention. "Non, non, Josee, I'm ready!" he declared, his signature smile returning.

"Great, 'cause I'm not catching you if you fall," Josee teased before their cue was heard.

"You know I would never do something like zhat."

The crowd at the inn had thinned out as a number of folks were out on the town having a good time before all would head to their respective homelands the next day. Owen was taking the opportunity to sweep the floor, humming a tune to himself as he did so.

"So that's when...the dragon swooped on thhhhee castle and the vvvaliant knight shot hisss bow-" the young man from earlier apparently had had too much to drink and was talking into thin air towards another patron who just nodding every so often, sat at a corner table with a game board long abandoned on top. A few other patrons were eating some soup, that night's dinner, or fast asleep sprinkled throughout the room; it had been a long day for everyone.

A knock and a creak on the door caught Owen's attention. No one ever knocked on the inn's door unless something was wrong, or the mail was being delivered…given the time of day it was certainly the latter. He put his broom down and opened the door- "Tyler?" he spoke with surprise and concern seeing how worn and dejected his friend looked, leaning against the wall by the doorframe and holding on to it for dear life.

"...hey, man," Tyler greeted him back quietly between careful breaths. Catching a whiff of the air from inside he remarked, "soup smells good. 'S there any left?"

"Of course there- what happened?" Owen asked as he offered his arm to help, which Tyler accepted gratefully.

"Nothing, dude, I just...stayed out bit too long," Tyler muttered as he took light steps, made possible when much of his weight was being taken on by the large innkeeper. "My...everything feels…" he lost his words as he was led over to the currently empty couch, sitting back and sinking into the old cushions."...thanks."

"Anytime," Owen replied with a smile. "You still want that soup?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't eaten much today," Tyler said with a very small nod.

Owen nodded back and hurried off to get him a bowl, but got caught up when one of the sleeping people woke up asking for something that he didn't have on hand.

Tyler's vision blurred and crossed as he sat and felt. The slightest movement made him ache; none of the pain was sharp, thankfully, but that fact still didn't make him feel any better. What he wouldn't give to feel comfortable in his own body again...

When Owen finally came back with the soup, Tyler had closed his eyes and curled up on his side, staying incredibly still. He'd rarely had a moment without movement since his youth, before the days of flipping and selling, and...falling...

But tonight...tonight he wasn't looking to go anywhere.

And for once, that was okay.

So that's the end for this little AU Tyler escapade, unless I decide to add onto it in the future.

I enjoyed writing this whole thing a lot. I don't expect it to get much more traction than what it already has, but that's okay. To anyone who's read this far, thank you for doing so. If you have any thoughts or feelings about it, consider leaving a review. Or don't. :)

I'm gonna go work on MCS now, laters *skydives away*