Title: The Comfort of the Truth (A CtS and Gabriel Crossover – Etrian Odyssey 2 Fanfiction)

Summary: Lynus knows that the labyrinth is no place for a lone medic. But after declining a job offer of a personal medic to an insistent nobleman, he had no choice but to try to brave the first floor. Thank goodness his mentor, Gabriel, was there…

AN: Trying to get back into the swing of writing after a few days of painful headaches and migraines. Ok, so Gabriel belongs to thispleasestormod and it's connected to this previous oneshot. Now, without further ado, please enjoy~


The labyrinth was no place for a lone medic. Especially one who was anxious and unwilling to use a weapon. Lynus knew that better than anyone. He would never venture into the labyrinth alone. Even to the first floor. Especially not without Axel watching over him.

Even so...

If Lynus had to choose between allowing a group of loyal servants to 'escort' him to meet their employer to 'discuss' matters of Lynus becoming the noble family's personal healer or running blindly into the labyrinth to escape said adamant servants...he would choose the labyrinth.

Especially since those very same servants were now chasing him!

Lynus blinked back the tears that threatened to form as he focused on his breathing and his inner monologue of just keep running. To get away. To find help.

A part of him was in pure disbelief of what was happening. He was just doing a simple house delivery. Dropping off some custom made medicine to an elderly couple who found it hard some days to get out and about. He had just popped out of the hospital to do a quick errand. He hadn't expected to be approached by a group of armoured servants requesting that he went with them immediately to meet their employer, a nobleman who was most interested and insistent that Lynus, the 'famous Miracle Medic' became a personal healer to him and his family.

That immediately bought a surge of panic through Lynus. And their response to him saying politely but firmly "No" made his heart all but stop beating.

"Our employer would preferred it greatly if you agreed," one servant said tersely.

That was pretty devastating. They wouldn't take no for an answer. They were very insistent that Lynus at the very least allowed them to take him to meet their noble employer to discuss and 'negotiate' matters. Right there and then. He could mull over the details later, they insisted.

Lynus didn't want to meet their employer. He didn't want to become a personal medic. He couldn't go through that again. Not again. He would never, ever become the personal healer to anyone ever again!

When one of the guards took a threatening step forward, Lynus sensed in his aura that he was more than willing to use physical force to get him to comply. He could sense their determination. There was also a sense of desperation, but their combined desperation couldn't even compete with the fear Lynus felt in that very second.

And he did the only thing he could do - he ran.

The house he had delivered the medicine to lived close to the main road that led to the labyrinth's entrance. He could see it where he stood. It was the only place he could think of to go. There was no where he could go. The servants had strategically placed themselves in all other possible escape routes. They didn't figure that Lynus, alone as he was, would flee toward the labyrinth.

There had to be someone at the entrance of the labyrinth that could help him, surely. A guard? A guild? Someone?

Drawing quickly closer to the labyrinth's entrance, Lynus felt a small sense of relief when someone else appeared. It was Gabriel. He was leaving the labyrinth with his medical bag by his side and his heavy duty mace on his shoulder, bouncing it slightly as he walked. He seemed to be muttering to himself as he stared at the ground in front of him, deep in thought.

Somehow, despite his erratic breathing and eccentric heartrate, Lynus managed to find his voice to shout his mentor's name. "Gabriel!"

Gabriel immediately snapped his head up to look forward. His eye widened and his mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. His react was completely understandable. When Lynus heard the fear and terror in his own voice, he too was absolutely startled.

Thankfully, Gabriel didn't stop him to ask questions and demand answers. His eyes flickered to look over Lynus' shoulder and his face abruptly smoothed out into a stoic but serious expression. Without uttering a word, he simply dropped his mace from his shoulder, twisted his body slightly into a position half facing the labyrinth while he reached out with his other hand toward Lynus.

And as soon as Lynus was close enough, Gabriel grabbed his hand firmly and yet somehow comfortingly before he turned to face the entrance of the labyrinth and pulled Lynus with him.

Though Lynus' lungs burned and his legs ached from the sudden and fearful run, his adrenaline levels making him feel dazed and shaky; he managed to keep up with Gabriel. It was a relief to know that he didn't have to worry about looking where he was going. He could rely on Gabriel to take him somewhere safe.

The lush foliage of the first stratum was nothing more than a green and brown blur as Gabriel pulled Lynus down a few short and twisting hallways. Lynus didn't have a clue where they were, but he knew and sensed that Gabriel did.

As they turned a corner, Gabriel abruptly pulled himself into a sort of skid, not exactly pulling himself to a stop, and tugged on their joined hands to all but crush Lynus against his chest. As Lynus fell against him, Gabriel wound his arms around him tightly and shielded him as he literally dove to the side, into the thick shrubbery that lined the narrow, natural pathways.

Lynus gripped the front of Gabriel's shirt and squeezed his eyes shut when they both hit the ground. But he barely had time to register what happened before Gabriel leapt to his feet, taking Lynus with him, and pressed his back against a large tree and pressed Lynus tighter against his chest.

Only when Gabriel threaded his fingers through his hair and uttered a low 'shush' at him did Lynus realise that Gabriel had actually taken him into a secret clearing. And the servants that had sent him running in the first place were just on the other side of the wall.

Lynus covered his mouth his hand and pressed his forehead against Gabriel's collarbone when he heard the sound of many feet running towards them. And he heard voices. The servants' voices. Talking about him. And they scared him.

"Hurry up, they couldn't have gotten far!"

"I wasn't expecting him to actually run like that!"

"Shut up! We need to find him or the boss will be pissed!"

However, the footsteps and voices continued, moving away from them thankfully. They rushed past them without pause. They moved quickly. There was no suspicion from them. They weren't observing their surroundings. They simply had their mind on the goal, which was Lynus, and focused on nothing else.

Even as the footsteps faded away, Gabriel stayed tense and at the ready. And Lynus stayed clinging to the front of his shirt, muffling his loud breathing with a hand over his mouth.

Finally, after what felt like ten minutes but was probably only a minute, Gabriel sighed and relaxed his stance. "I think we've lost them," he said softly.

Lynus dropped his hand from his mouth and nodded his head skittishly. He unexpectedly stayed pressed up against Gabriel's chest, though, the other medic unwilling to remove his arms around him just yet. He was feeling protective and concerned. And curious. Yet…he once again didn't ask any questions.

It was because Gabriel knew he wasn't just scared of them – he was terrified.

And he was. He was honestly terrified. Of them. Of what they represented. Of the memories they brought up.

"Why don't I build a fire?" Gabriel unexpectedly and rather suddenly suggested as he led Lynus to the far corner of their small clearing and sat him down on a fallen log. "It's rather chilly today, don't you think?"

Now that he mentioned it, the air was rather cold and chilling. It was also getting late. Nightfall was only an hour away when Lynus was sent on that errand. And night fell quicker in the labyrinth, it seemed.

"Won't take long; I've done this before, after all." With a wink, Gabriel stood up and turned his attention to their surroundings to look for the materials needed to build a fire.

Lynus simply sat still, his bag at his feet as he watch dazedly as Gabriel flittered around him. He wanted to ask Gabriel about his times in the labyrinth, about how it felt to camp out, about whether or not he was nervous the first time he camped out with his guild and such. He wanted so desperately to take his mind off what had happened.

But all he could think of, all he could imagine in his mind's eye was being back there at that place. Back in that godforsaken manor. Back under the control of Taksony. Back in that bedroom where he tried to protect and comfort others. Back to waking up in the warning with the feeling of dread and the selfish disappointment of still being alive.

He couldn't go back there. He couldn't go through that again. Not for a day. Not even for a second. Not after building a life for himself, a life that included the love and protection from the one man, the one memory of what kept him going through those dark days.

A part of him knew that if those servants did manage to snare him, to drag him to their employers, Axel and the others would raze the city to the ground to find him. But that fear, those painful memories of those eight years overrode everything else.

He couldn't go back. He just could not go back to that!

"This is why I've been insisting that you learn to use a weapon," Gabriel said in a lightly scolding tone that had no actual bite to it. "Too adorable for your own good, you know?"

Forcefully snapping himself out of his memories, Lynus lifted his head up and realised with a start that Gabriel had managed to build quite a fire, the flames large and inviting. And the flames were warding off the darkness that was the night.

He, however, winced and dropped his forehead against his knees as he tried desperately not to think about the first and last time he used a weapon on a person. That hollow crack…that gasp of surprise…that…last breath…

"I-I can't use a weapon on a person," Lynus whispered as he pressed his face deeper into his knees.

"Come now, some of them deserve it," Gabriel said in a slightly joking manner, but there was a sense of serious curiosity present in his aura. "No one expects a medic to whip out and weapon and use it."

They don't, do they?

Lynus shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "I…I just can't."

"Why not?"

"Because the first time I used a wand on someone I killed him!" Lynus half shouted, half sobbed as he wound his arms tighter around his knees with tears rolling down his cheeks. The words "and that was my intention" became lodged in his throat and all he could do was whimper as he tried to bury his head deeper into his knees.

He was sobbing uncontrollably now.

His heart thundered in his chest when he felt shock and disbelief from Gabriel. And the following silence as Gabriel stared at him was painful. He couldn't see Gabriel's expression. He couldn't bring himself to look. He didn't want to see the…understandable disappointment and probable disgust. He…couldn't sense those emotions, but he wasn't able to concentrate on anything but his aching chest as he sobbed and hiccupped through his tears.

Lynus felt as though he was beginning to suffocate when he heard Gabriel audibly sigh and the sound of feet walking across thick grass.

He was surprised when he felt Gabriel sit down right next to him and slip an arm around his shoulders. "Come; let me see your pretty little face. We can't have you suffocating now, can we?"

His chest and lungs burned as Lynus lifted his face from his knees. He kept his eyes tightly closed though, his breathing uneven and honestly painful from his sobbing. The fear, the memories, and the anxiety – it was too much. He couldn't get all the tears out fast enough. He was starting to hyperventilate; he knew he was, but he couldn't help it.

"Take deep breathes for me," Gabriel said to him as he gently wiped the tears from Lynus' cheeks with his hand as he other stayed firmly around Lynus' shoulders, softly coaxing him to turn toward him.

As Lynus drew in deep, painful breathes, he briefly remembered the second time he interacted with Gabriel and how the other man had gently coaxed him from a previous panic attack. He felt a sense of misery because, god, he must look so pathetic. He was pathetic. He could never match up to Gabriel, could he?

Before he could allow that bitter misery to fester and grow, Gabriel suddenly pulled him into his arms, pressing Lynus' cheek against his chest as he wrapped his arms around him in a warm and comforting manner.

"Tell me what happened," he requested gently as he curled a strand of Lynus' hair behind his ear softly and rested his cheek on top of his head.

Pressing his face into Gabriel's shirt, Lynus' chest ached as he tried to find the words to tell his mentor why. He needed to tell him. He deserved to know. If it led to Gabriel no longer wishing to be his mentor, that was…fine. He had that right. It would be understandable.

He didn't want him to turn away from him, though. He truly didn't.

"It…d-do you know a man called Taksony?" Lynus whispered.

There was a soft sound of confusion from Gabriel. "I have heard of the man. Utterly deranged if gossip is of any indication. Why?"

"H-he was a lord of great power and influence," Lynus said as he trembled at the man's name. "He was also o-obsessed with immortality. Especially after he became ill. H-he wasn't willing to die. Not yet. So he s-sought a medic who could prolong his life. A m-medic who he could control and keep as his personal healer. K-keep as a hostage."

Lynus squeezed his eyes shut tightly when he heard Gabriel breath in a sharp intake of air. If was as if he knew and was expecting what Lynus was to say next. He didn't need to say it, but…he did.

"He found me."

Gabriel unexpectedly tugged Lynus onto his lap, positing him so that Lynus' back was against Gabriel's chest and his head nestled gently under his chin. He kept his arms around Lynus, one folded across his shoulders to gently play with his hair as the other wound around his waist to cradle him so tenderly against him.

"How long were you there?" Gabriel asked him.

"E-eight years…"

"You were just ten…"

Gabriel's arms subtly tightened around him, but he didn't falter for a second in running comforting fingers through Lynus' hair. "It was Taksony, wasn't it? The one you were referring to earlier?"

Lynus nodded his head as he hands gripped the front of Gabriel's shirt tighter.

"Hm, deserved a harsher death, in my opinion."

B-but he had killed someone. Medics were supposed to save lives, not take them.

"Listen to me," Gabriel ordered gently as he leaned back slightly to slip a finger under Lynus' chin to tilt his head back so that he looked up at him, into his eyes. "You did what needed to be done. It had to be done. There was no other way. What you had done was saved the lives of everyone who was under that man's control and command. You didn't take a life, Lynus; you saved lives."

Lynus felt his eyes widen as those words slowly registered in his mind. He could hear the truth in them. Could feel the sincerity in Gabriel's words. And most importantly, he felt his belief in them.

That was right. He was right.

Lynus had done the right thing. It truly was the only way.

He…saved lives that day. He truly did.

He…realised that now.

"I'm very proud of you," Gabriel said as he continued to look directly into Lynus' eyes. "Choices like that aren't easy, and they should never feel like they were. But they're the reason you're alive and here, and I'm so glad you are. And I'm sure everyone else is, too."

Fresh tears spilled from Lynus' eyes, but they weren't as painful as before. They were soft and gentle from the sheer relief. He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Gabriel's chest once more, feeling heavy from exhaustion, and yet there was a lightness to his shoulders and to his spirit.

He was just…so relieved.

"Sleep now," Gabriel said as he continued to run his fingers through Lynus' hair. "When you wake, your Axel will be here to take you home. And you'll be safe and sound with your guild."

As Lynus felt his eyes slowly closed in exhaustion, he could have sworn he heard Gabriel mutter something else under his breath.

"And that nobleman is going to need more than a medic to save him…"