TACO Run
Chapter 17
'And sO I wander the land without aim. TherE are periods of time…time I cANnoT remember. I cOme back to mYSelf surrounded by DestruCtion. No MemORies, but I kNow: it Was mE. TheSE blaCkouts grOW mOre frequent. They COme foR ME nOW.'
Dark limbs twisted, angular and unnaturally bent, purple-black flesh shivering and dripping from the bone, only to be restored by the roil of dark flames. A bestial roar thundered through the barren cavern, shaking rivulets of sand from stalactites above and almost making Alfyn black out from the sheer otherworldly force of it. Cyrus and Tressa did black out, and it was only Dohter's charity that let Alfyn revive them both in time to avoid being swatted by a sweeping limb. H'aanit fired arrow after arrow, Therion was here-there-and-everywhere at once, dodging the claws trying to rend him in two, Olberic stood his ground as only the last knight of Hornburg could, Ophilia called forth Aelfric's sacred light to blast the monster, and Primrose buried her curved dagger into unholy flesh.
And through it all, the words of a journal they wouldn't find until months later carved themselves into Alfyn's mind.
'NO! StAy yOur hAnd!'
Alfyn scrambled to his feet, raising his axe as the fiend's body writhed ominously. Tressa was supporting Cyrus behind him, helping boost his concentration so he could call on Alephan for enlightenment.
'I aM nO mOnstEr…!'
Another bestial roar, and this time Therion fainted, as did Primrose and Ophilia, and even Olberic wavered on his feet. Alfyn scrambled towards them, hauling the thief over one shoulder and grabbing the girls with one hand each, trying to stagger back out of the Redeye's range long enough to revive them.
'I aM a Man.'
Those evil red eyes locked on Alfyn, and he felt his feet turn to stone. Saw Tressa lurch away from Cyrus and towards him, scrambling for his satchel to pull out the herb-of-grace elixir that would reverse the petrification.
'I aM A mAN!'
H'aanit called upon the god of hunters, summoning Draefendi's rage against such an unnatural beast, and the Redeye shattered into dust.
Alfyn came awake howling and thrashing, heart hammering as though about to burst. He could still smell that hideous taint, taste the unholy dust in the air. It wasn't real; he knew that. But it not being real now didn't mean it hadn't been real then, and the echo of that final, bestial cry still rang in his ears like the screams of a whole host of people dying.
A frightened, hesitant voice calling his name brought Alfyn back to the present, and he looked up shakily from where he'd curled in on himself, clutching his head. Izuku was kneeling nearby, half-tangled in his blankets as though he'd fallen out of his bed trying to get to Alfyn.
A hurried thumping down the hall said missus Inko was coming running too, and sure enough, the door burst open a second later as Izuku's ma clutched the handle, eyes wide and worried, a light robe hastily thrown on over her sleep-clothes. She asked him something, probably wondering why he'd woken them all up at whatever time this was.
"Sorry," Alfyn croaked, trying to wipe his eyes. The tears wouldn't stop coming, though. "Didn't mean to wake you, ma'am…"
Izuku said his name again, and a hand touched his arm, and Alfyn just turned to wrap his arms around the kid in a desperate hug, buried his face into frizzy dark green, and bawled. "He's gone, he's gone, he's gone…" Alfyn sobbed into messy hair, holding onto Izuku tight.
Fighting Redeye had been awful. Thinking back on the fight after learning about who Redeye'd been once, and how he'd been warped into that form…
That had been about a million times worse.
Even fighting Galdera hadn't been as bad, because Galdera had been evil, pure and simple. Redeye had been human once. A great man, a great apothecary, who'd saved Alfyn's life as a kid and set him on the path he followed now. Graham Crossford had been everything Alfyn ever aspired towards, and knowing that he'd had a hand in the man's death, even if it was a mercy-killing… it made Alfyn sick.
The others had helped as best they could. Ophilia had guided him to the fallen pillar near where they had defeated Redeye, to show him the messages begging for death that Crossford had left behind in his rare moments of lucidity. Cyrus had sworn he knew of no way they could have restored Crossford to his human state, and H'aanit and her master Z'aanta had both assured him that no hunter's tricks or traps would have worked to capture the beast alive, or hold him long enough to research a way to restore him without risking the deaths of hundreds or thousands more people. Therion had bluntly asked Alfyn if he'd have wanted them to let him keep rampaging across the landscape, if that kind of unholy transformation had been forced on him. Olberic had helped him talk and think his way through it as best he could, while Primrose let him cry on her shoulder when he needed to. Tressa'd given him a whole bag of candy, and some soap to wash his hands with, and pointed out that as long as he kept healing people, he was keeping the better part of Crossford alive.
It had helped. It had helped a lot. But even three years later, he still had some really bad nights where it all came back worse than ever. If he was back in Clearbrook, Zeph and Nina would hold him until the shakes went away—
Warm arms wrapped hesitantly around Alfyn's shoulders, and missus Inko's sweet, timid voice said something worried and soothing close to his ear. It wasn't Zeph's warm, wry promise that everything would be okay… but the plump fingers threading through his hair were gentle and caring as any of the dim memories he still had of his own ma, and Izuku's scrawny little arms around his waist held on as tight as Nina ever did, and it was enough.
Alfyn cried until he had no more tears left, and he didn't even bother trying to pretend it was dust.
When at last he'd cried himself out, Alfyn sniffed and scrubbed his face with one sleeve. He felt stiff and sore and worn out, but better than he had before. Missus Inko patted him gently on the shoulder, making soothing 'there, there' noises for a second before getting up to fetch a handkerchief or something.
Little Izuku's voice piped up hesitantly, and a hand tugged his sleeve, and Alfyn looked down to see the kid staring up at him with wide, worried eyes.
"M'alright," Alfyn assured him, wiping his eyes again. "S'just a bad dream."
Izuku clearly didn't believe him, because his fingers just gripped Alfyn's sleeve tighter. He looked down, biting his lip… and then looked up again with that huge, strained grin that somehow managed to contort his whole face.
"Pfffthahaha!" Alfyn burst out into surprised laughter. "Seriously, kid, how do you do that?!" Sure, he'd figured out the why, after seeing those posters of that weird, buff blond actor the kid obviously idolized. But he still didn't get the how.
"Alfyn-san?" Missus Inko was back, carrying a small box with a tuft of something soft-looking sticking out of the top.
"I'm alright, Ma'am," Alfyn assured her, not lying this time. "Thanks for the hug, though; I needed it."
She still looked concerned, and pulled the tuft out of the box to hand it to him like you would a handkerchief.
Alfyn took it, and found that it was some kind of really, really thin, soft paper. It was barely strong enough to hold together when he blew his nose with it, and he wasn't sure what to do with it afterwards, because it obviously wouldn't survive a washing. But Izuku took it from him and threw it into the waste basket, so he guessed that whatever that fluff was, it was meant to be disposed of like that.
I guess that'd help keep sickness from spreading, if you're too tired from being ill to wash handkerchiefs.
Alfyn still felt like he ought to wash his hands, though, so after reassuring Izuku and missus Inko a few more times, he pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the room they used for washing up.
Three hours later, Izuku held tight to his mom's hand on one side, and mister Alfin's on the other, arms swinging between them as they all walked down the sidewalk together towards the park. He didn't know what kind of awful nightmare mister Alfin had had, but it must've been really bad if it made a Hero like him cry like that.
Looking up at him now, though, it was hard to believe that mister Alfin had ever been upset at all. He was laughing and smiling as bright as ever, happily swinging his arm along with Izuku and clomping his big boots in time with the swinging. His leather bag was slung over his left shoulder, and he'd filled his funny leather water-bottle thing with water he'd boiled on their stove-top and then let cool, and he'd eaten a nice big breakfast, and Izuku couldn't even bring himself to ask if he'd stay just one more night.
He already knew the answer.
Izuku didn't want mister Alfin to leave. He was nice, and warm, and kind of goofy sometimes, but he was also responsible, and considerate, and Izuku thought that maybe it was what having an uncle would be like, if either of his parents had had younger siblings.
Izuku didn't want mister Alfin to leave. But mister Alfin was a Hero, and his vacation couldn't last forever just because Izuku wanted him to stay.
Strong hands gripped Izuku around the waist, and he squawked in surprise as his feet left the ground. "Mister Alfin?!"
Mister Alfin laughed and swung him up high into the air, even as Izuku flailed and his mother made a startled squeak. A few seconds later, Izuku was seated on the Hero's broad shoulders, fingers fisting nervously in mister Alfin's sandy hair as mister Alfin gripped his ankles to steady him.
Oh, wow! Izuku's eyes widened with wonder, his heart racing in his chest at the sight of the world spread out before him. He'd never been up on someone's shoulders like this before, not even when he was really little, and the view was different, alive and real and strange all at once, and it wasn't anything like looking out of their apartment windows, or over the side of a bridge. Those were either huh, I'm high up or if I fall from here it'll really hurt. This was different, wobbly and exciting and not scary at all even if his blood was thundering in his ears.
Then mister Alfin started walking again, and Izuku yelped and clutched at the Hero's hair hard enough to make him wince. Izuku hastily let go, babbling apologies that mister Alfin just laughed off.
Izuku's mom led the way, nervously glancing back at the two of them every few steps, and worriedly asking mister Alfin if he was sure Izuku wasn't too heavy, he was almost twelve, after all…
Mister Alfin laughed that off too, and put a little bounce in his steps that made Izuku yelp and clutch his hair again, and then hastily get out more apologies.
Once he'd regained his balance, Izuku looked around again, shading his eyes against the early morning sun. Mister Alfin had woken them up before dawn, so the sun was still kind of in their faces. "Over there!" he pointed excitedly, spotting the playground beyond a hedge a little further down the street. "Mister Alfin, that's the park right there!"
Mister Alfin made an "Oooh!" noise, and then took off running, long legs eating up the ground as Izuku screeched in shock and excitement both.
"Goodness, mister Alfin!" Izuku heard his mom call out behind them, startled but not upset. "Don't go too far!"
"We won't, Mom!" Izuku called back, grinning at her over his shoulder as he clutched the sides of mister Alfin's collar to keep himself upright. "See you there!"
Inko couldn't help but smile, watching Alfin play with her Izuku. She couldn't recall the last time she'd seen such unfettered happiness on Izuku's face, and it warmed her heart to think that a kind young man like Alfin was the cause.
When he'd packed up his satchel this morning, Inko had known he didn't plan to stay another night. He'd asked, through gestures, where the closest library or bookstore was, so Inko had drawn him a simple map, with their address as the starting point and the local public library as the destination. He'd been pleased, and folded the paper up to stick it in between his shirt and vest for safekeeping.
He'd given her so many gifts as he prepared to leave, medicines he'd made the day before, labeled not with words, but little pictures to show what they were for. It wasn't that he couldn't read and write, she was sure. She'd seen him paging through a huge compendium of some kind, and a hand-written journal, muttering to himself as he put together one of his more complicated concoctions the day before. No, the pictures were because he'd realized that if they couldn't understand each other's speech, there was no way she'd be able to read his writing!
His pictures were little better than rough sketches, but their meanings were clear. Sachets of that headache-curing herbal tea, and another one to help her sleep at night. Doses of powder for fevers, a bottle of powerful cough syrup, a little jar of salve for burns and rashes—almost half of what he'd made the day before. Each one was accompanied by a folded-up piece of paper he'd taken from the stack she used for grocery lists, with little pictures showing how to use them, and even how to adjust the dosage for Izuku if she needed to.
Inko had been very grateful, and flustered by Alfin's generosity when he obviously had so little, but when he'd cheerfully refused to take any money for the medicines, she'd insisted that he at least take her spare tea kettle with him. After all, if he was constantly travelling then he needed something to make tea with, and the spare was a much older one, from when she'd first married Hisashi, and barely big enough to brew two cups of tea at a time.
Alfin had been a little taken aback, but he'd accepted the old tea kettle willingly enough and packed it carefully away in his satchel, along with his medicines and the bandages he'd used on Izuku before, which he'd thoroughly washed and dried for later use.
Inko would be sad to see him leave. Looking over at the boys now, though, she couldn't help but smile at the picture they made. They sat on the grass not far from the playground, chatting with their backs to her and fiddling with something on the ground between them. They'd played frisbee earlier, which Alfyn had apparently never encountered before, because he'd treated the flying disc with all the wonder and excitement of a Labrador retriever playing fetch for the first time. He'd picked it up quickly enough, and the two of them had sent it skimming back and forth across the park with shrieks and shouts of laughter.
Alfyn had also apparently never seen monkey bars before either, because he and Izuku had clambered all over it, swinging from the bars and rings and whooping as they went down the slide as if it were a roller-coaster. Alfyn had even shown off by doing chin-ups on the bars with Izuku clinging to his back like a monkey, and Inko was caught between wishing there were other children there for them to play with, and being glad they somehow had the park to themselves, so they could be as silly as they liked without worrying about embarrassing themselves.
Dusting off her skirt, Inko stood up from the bench she'd been sitting on while watching their things. "What are you two doing over there?" she called, smiling as she moved towards them.
Izuku jumped a little, startled, and looked back over his shoulder at her, cheeks pink with mingled excitement and embarrassment. "Um. Mister Alfin and I were just making something for you," he said, somewhere between nervous and eager.
"For me?" Inko approached closer, charmed by the thought. "What is it?"
Alfin hitched himself around to face her, grinning broad and bright, hiding whatever he'd been working on behind his back casually. He nudged Izuku with one elbow, they looked at each other, and then simultaneously thrust their presents towards her, matching grins on their faces.
"Oh, my!" Inko gasped, hands to her cheeks as she exclaimed over the two flower-crowns her son and Alfin had woven for her. Daisies and clover and dandelions, their stems twisted together into yellow-and-white circlets. "How lovely!" She knelt down to let them place the crowns on her head, and laughed when Alfin's proved too large, slipping down over her ears to make a kind of necklace instead. "Thank you both so much!" She'd thought Izuku was too old to make flower-crowns anymore, but apparently Alfin brought out the child in her sweet little boy far more than she'd realized.
"I'm glad you like them, Mom!" Izuku beamed up at her, cheeks flushed. "It's… it's not too silly, is it…?" he asked, ducking his head shyly and scratching at one cheek, eyes averted.
"Not at all!" she assured him. "Why, I was just thinking that I missed being given flower-crowns, since you've grown up so much."
Izuku's flush deepened momentarily, and then dissipated. "That's good! Um, did you want to join us…? I mean, we're done with flower-crowns, but we can do something else together, like hide-and-seek! Or red-light-green-light?"
"That sounds like fun; what do you think, mister Alfin?"
Alfin tilted his head curiously, spitting out a spare dandelion stem he'd been chewing on and obviously not having really understood what they were talking about. He slapped his knees with both hands, saying something that sounded vaguely like it might mean 'alright' or 'let's go', and then pushed himself to his feet.
"Mister Alfin?" Izuku's tone hovered between curious and worried.
Alfin dusted off his trousers and then set a hand on Izuku's head, crouching down to smile and say something gentle and warm.
"Oh." Izuku's face fell. "I guess… I guess it's time for you to go now, huh?"
Alfin just kept smiling, ruffling Izuku's hair very gently. He said something else soft, and then stood back up.
When he moved to step back, though, Izuku flung himself abruptly forward to wrap his arms around Alfin's waist in a fierce, tight hug, actually rocking the young man back on his heels with the force of it. "Thank you," he said, burying his face in Alfin's shoulder and clinging tight. "For, for staying with us for a while, and being so super nice, and, and everything. I'm gonna miss you."
Alfin laughed and hugged him back, and then transitioned to tickling Izuku until he shrieked with laughter and let go. Alfin smiled at her son, and patted him on the head… and then turned to go.
"Mister Alfin?" Izuku looked up again in time to see Alfin scooping his bag up from next to the bench, and bit his lip, one hand reaching up to clutch at Inko's.
Inko gripped her son's hand back. "Goodbye, mister Alfin!" she called out properly, bowing.
Izuku sniffed, obviously holding back tears as he hastily bowed beside her. "Bye, mister Alfin!" he called out too. "Thanks for everything!"
"Safe!"
Both of them blinked and looked up at that, to see Alfin grinning bright and fierce, one hand lifted in farewell.
"Yeah!" Izuku grinned beside her, despite the tears trickling down his cheeks. "You stay safe!"
A/N: Dohter is the Orsterran god of healers, apothecaries, and midwives. Draefendi is the god of hunters, trappers, wild creatures, and woodsmen. Galdera is/was the god of life and death, who attempted to destroy and absorb all life on Orsterra, before he was defeated by the twelve other Orsterran gods and sealed behind the Gate of Finis in a state of hibernation. The eight main characters of Octopath Traveler prevented his revival and defeated him once more, sealing him away (theoretically) for good.
A/N: Izuku's father has apparently been working overseas since before Izuku learned that he was Quirkless, so it's extremely likely that Izuku has never been carried on anyone's shoulders before—or if he has, that he doesn't remember it.