That evening, after Adrien had gotten the sadness and betrayal out of his system and we spent the entire day fooling around, I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling of my room. Neeks flew over, sitting on my chest.
"Wow... Busy day, huh?" He said softly, and I nodded, reaching up to pet him. "Think Adrien will be okay?" I nodded before pointing to my mouth.
"He's tough." I mouthed, "He's been preparing for this for months."
Neeks' ears flattened against his head. "Well... Still. It feels wrong that he's home alone."
"I know, but he insisted." I mouthed, frowning slightly. "Mom and I both offered him to stay the night."
"Do you think she knows?" Neeks asked, and I shrugged. "Anyway, it's amazing the media hasn't tried to figure out Hawkmoth's identity. Guess Ladybug's request really got through."
"Well, it is different from the Akuma. Mr. Agreste knew what he was doing." Neeks sighed softly at my words, and flew to his pillow, settling himself down on it.
"Well, I'm tired... Sleep well tonight, Jasper." He said with a large yawn before closing his eyes. I nodded, giving him a few more pets before looking at my ceiling again. Even though Neeks was tired, I was wide awake. I had no desire to sleep just yet. I sighed faintly, sitting up and grabbing my writing notebook, flipping the pages back to the story I had been writing all those months ago. I thumbed the page, rereading what I had written a few times, before pulling the pencil out of the spiral binding and placing it to the paper.
The next day, after the sun had fallen, Felix and Oliver made their way to the edge of the forest, with Oliver riding on Tivachi's back. Felix untethered his horse, fed it, got onto its back, and they went on their way. On their journey, Felix studied the strange duo in the silence that usually fell over them all, taking note of whatever he could.
He noticed how Tivachi would periodically make Oliver walk, although he stuck close to the vampire boy, as if to make sure he didn't fall. He noticed how Oliver always looked tired and worn, and that whenever Tivachi brought him something to eat, he would look disgusted with himself even as he hungrily gulped down as much blood as he could. Sadly, he also noticed that most of it was thrown up about ten minutes later.
Tivachi did most of the talking when Felix asked questions. Did most of the talking in general. He explained that Oliver's body was used to being empty, and while it hungered to be filled, it couldn't handle regaining so much at once. Oliver throwing up was a regular occurrence, no matter what they tried. The wolf explained that Oliver wasn't much of a talker because of similar reasons, but they were working on it.
"He hasn't spoken to anyone in thousands of years," Tivachi explained one night, when they were waiting patiently for Oliver to come back from where he had gone to throw up blood. "Add on the fact his throat was burned terribly from the chains on his cloak, and you've got a boy who could barely say a single word before coughing when I first met him." Felix looked over to the wolf, noticing the sadness and pride in his silver eyes as he continued to speak. "He gets tired easily when speaking now, and his throat pains him if he talks too much at once, but he's made so much progress in the months I've known him."
"...Did they mean to leave the chain on his throat?" Felix asked softly, looking towards where Oliver had gone when he heard leaves rustling. Oliver was walking towards them, the back of his hand pressed against his mouth and his gaze locked on the ground. Tivachi sighed, standing so Oliver could climb back on when he reached them.
"Who knows? Whether it was an accident or a form of torture, not even Oliver knows." Tivachi's eyes slid over to Felix, who shivered from their intensity. "Either way, it was left there to hurt him."
Tivachi's tail wagged when Oliver came over, and he licked the vampire's cheek before he climbed on, then they continued on their journey.
Felix noticed how Oliver's neck dipped harshly where the scars were.
It took them five days to return to the castle, and when they neared the gate, Oliver pulled his hood over his head, hiding his face from view. Felix had them stop before reaching it, and he reached up to pet Noir. "Noir, can you head inside and let King Jun know I came back with the vampire? I don't know how the guards will react, and they might not let us in." He said softly, causing the cat God to scoff before yawning loudly.
"Please, they have to let him in. He was chosen by a god, after all. If they don't listen to that, then I'll go." He said, hitting Felix's face with his tail and making the Knight frown.
"I-I don't know, Felix..." Oliver's scratchy and hoarse voice spoke up, and Felix looked down to where he sat on Tivachi's back, hands twisting nervously in the wolf god's fur before smoothing it and repeating the process. Oliver wasn't looking at him as he carefully thought about what he wanted to say. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. No one in the castle is going to feel safe with me there."
Felix sighed heavily, swinging himself off his horse's back so he could look at Oliver more easily. "Alright, listen here, Oliver. You have had five days to back out, and now that we are finally here, you want to leave? I can't let you do that, bud. Come on, everyone will love you when they learn the real you."
"You don't even know the real me." Oliver said so quietly, Felix almost didn't catch it. He smiled, offering Oliver his hand. Oliver hesitated before taking it and sliding off Tivachi's back.
"I know you are the kindest vampire I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and you wouldn't hurt a fly." Felix said with a small laugh, Tivachi snorting slightly behind them, as he started walking with Oliver to the gates. He kept the vampire close, feeling how his legs tried to buckle underneath him almost constantly, and he hopped a little as if to keep his weight off one of his feet.
When they reached the gate, the guards there welcomed him back excitedly, but their expressions changed to serious when they noticed Oliver beside him. "Felix, who's that?" One of them asked with a frown, walking closer and making Oliver flinch when he got a little too close and held the torch in his hand closer to him in an attempt to see his face. Felix carefully shuffled them back a step at that, wanting to keep the vampire in his comfort zone.
"This is Oliver. I found him in the Forest. He was chosen by one of the gods there." He explained, and the guards looked at each other in confusion.
"But no one's supposed to go there besides Knights."
"He met his god outside the forest." Noir stated, jumping from Felix's shoulders and onto Tivachi's head. "This is his God, Tivachi." At the introduction, Tivachi bowed his head in greeting, but said nothing as Noir continued. "Now let us through, will ya? I want to sleep in my bed again."
The guards quickly let them pass, watching Oliver wearily. Felix pulled the boy closer, after handing his horse's reigns to a stable hand, and smiled at him. "King Jun is probably sleeping right now, so how about you spend the night in my room with me, and we'll get everything sorted in the morning. Do you think you can take a nap until morning?"
Oliver nodded, and Tivachi nudged his hand gently. "You did great, pup. Everything will turn out alright, don't worry." He said softly, making Oliver smile weakly.
Felix let Oliver climb back onto Tivachi's back again when they reached a long flight of stairs, and they went up to the next floor. He led them to his room, opening the door for Tivachi and watching them take in the simple room.
His room was nothing extravangent, the walls mostly bare aside from a few banners that symbolized his rank and the country he was apart of. He had a desk against one wall, scrolls and books piled neatly on top of it, with writing utensils on one corner. A bed, big enough for two, with black and green sheets and white pillows was pressed agains the other wall, leaving space for a black and green carpet on the stone floor between the two structures. An armoire was in the corner of the room, next to the large window that covered most of the wall and allowed moonlight to flood the room with light. Noir jumped from Tivachi's head and darted to the windowsill, which was big enough for a person to sit or even lay, and made himself at home on a smaller black pillow than the ones on the bed, a loud sigh escaping the God as he stretched on it.
"Ah, the wonderful comforts of a bed! How I've missed you!" He purred, making the group laugh.
Felix closed and locked his door, and watched as Tivachi walked to the bed, letting Oliver climb onto it before settling himself on the carpet besides the bed. The white wolf God and Oliver's shock of white hair and pale skin stood out drastically against the decor the castle servants had given his room, and Felix was faintly reminded of freshly fallen snow and how beautiful the pair was.
"You can sleep on either side of the bed, but it'll be a bit hard for the servants to see you in the morning if you sleep against the wall while I take the outer edge." Felix said, shedding the pieces of armor he had on as he walked to the armoire. As he put his armor away, he thought about whether or not he should change into his night clothes, but after a moment decided that would probably be too much for Oliver and he walked back over to his bed after stripping to only his undershirt and cotton pants.
Oliver had pressed himself against the wall, and was fiddling with the torn and frayed edges of his pants, staring at the bed. "Oliver?" Felix asked softly as he settled himself on the edge of the bed, and the vampire slowly lifted his head to meet Felix's eyes. "You know you can relax while your here, and can ask me anything, right?"
Oliver nodded, shifting around a little nervously and biting his lip. "I don't.. Want to make your bed even more dirty." He said softly, and Felix chuckled a little.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm covered in sweat and dust, too. You won't get it dirty, and it can be washed tomorrow if it really bothers you." Felix said softly, reaching up to ruffle the boy's hair.
Oliver was quiet for a moment longer, before he opened his mouth to speak. "C-Can you..." He started slowly, moving one of his hands up to point to the silver clasps of his cloak. Felix immediately understood, and he reached under his shirt collar carefully, unclasping the chain and taking Oliver's cloak off of him. He stood up again, folding it and dropping it carefully over his desk chair as Oliver said a soft thank you.
He went back over to his bed and lifted the sheets, getting under them along with Oliver. Tivachi chuckled from his place on the floor. "Get some rest, boys. I'll wake you when you need to get up."
Neither boy protested, falling asleep with ease.
I sighed softly, looking at my charging phone to check the time. 12:23 AM, it showed me, and I closed my notebook, putting my pencil back in the spiral and setting it back on the nightstand as I yawned. I turned off the lamp beside my bed and made myself comfortable under my sheets, closing my eyes and letting the steady breathing of Neeks lull me to sleep.