In hindsight, he thinks he could have understood something was wrong from the way the wooden doors sounded as an insistent hand knocked on them; but even so, he probably felt something was not quite right even then, because an unpleasant feeling began creeping under his skin as he made his way from the kitchen to the Sagittarius house's entrance.
"Who is it?"
"Sisyphus it's me, please let us in for a moment." he is confused, one and then two times. The Aquarius Saint here, at such an hour? And he was with someone else? They'd discussed and let the Pope know about their discoveries on those ancient scripts just yesterday, what could be so important his friend would want to talk about-
He opens the door to find a deeply frowning Dégel and his wife Seraphina beside him, looking on the verge of tears.
He looks with an open expression between the pair, trying to gather a minimum of information from the depth of Dégel's contrite face and Seraphina's nervousness, how she fidgets in holding her hands to her chest, before finally asking "What happened?"
Dégel seems to think on how to word his sentence before answering him, and he does not like the hesitation he hears in his question. "Have you, by any chance… seen Fluorite?"
That to him presents itself as the least likely possible inquiry to receive. Why would he ask me this?
He feels at a loss for explanations to give himself when suddenly a light of understanding is lit on in his mind. He takes in Dégel's extremely tense posture and his slightly unfocused gaze as if he was there and yet also thinking intensely about something, as well as Seraphina's trembling shoulders and red, swollen eyes. A cold shiver goes through his back before his brain pieces together the pieces and his words leave is mouth.
"Not today, no. I saw her yesterday morning on my way back from Glyfada as she came back from the village after purchasing food, and since she was having trouble carrying her bags I helped her." He creases his brow, not understanding nor liking this situation, what it is making him think of. "Why do you ask?" and as the unpleasantness of that persistent feeling keeps clawing at his stomach, he adds "Where's Fluorite?"
The question seems to break whatever control was left in Seraphina, her throat seems to tighten briefly before he sees her choke out a sob, her eyes beginning to overflow with tears. "We don't know." She answers him with a feeble voice. "We haven't seen her since this morning." The admission hits him like a punch to his gut.
Dégel nods at her side, massaging his wife's back reassuringly with calming motions.
"She hasn't come back since she went to get food for today's lunch and dinner. It can take her longer sometimes when it's full with people amassing to get bread or fish, but she never takes so long." He swallows slowly. "After she'd been outside for an hour and some more, Seraphina came to my library to tell me, and I went to the market to look for her but she wasn't there. I asked the market folk for her whereabouts but all of them more or less told me she headed back towards the temple after she was done, like she always does."
She'd collected all she needed and headed back, but then didn't go back to the temple?
From wherever he looked at this situation, it made no sense. He'd have found it predictable if she'd strayed on her way home to pay the flower shop a visit, maybe in hopes to say hello to her friend.
Yet for her to stay away for such a prolonged amount of time…
"We came to you" Seraphina tells him "because we know how much she cherishes you." And her swollen eyes get paired with a small but heartfelt, if trembling smile. "And how much you cherish her, too."
And her words light a flame in his chest, right beside the awful pressing he feels expanding in his heart. It's true, he does. He cherishes Fluorite.
No, he loves her .
It took him some time to put the fragments of his love for her together neatly enough to realize, but he did. And she showed him the width of her own affection for him in turn, every day, no matter how small the gesture, it was as constant as the dawn rising. She'd tease him, letting her eyes sparkle in that way of hers for him to see, she'd hold his hand when they were strolling in a provate enough area; most flatteringly, she'd smile at him as if he was the best thing to have happened to her, and for all the serious and composed person Sisyphus was it never failed to make his heart flutter in his ribcage.
"Did you ask Agasha? If she was indeed at the flower shop when Fluorite stopped by, she has to have seen her." he proposes.
"We did go to her father to ask if he might have seen her, or if she stopped by, but he told us he was inside the entire morning and didn't hear a thing" Dégel's forehead creases "and while we were there Agasha had already gone to fetch water at the well, so we couldn't talk to her." If things are like this, then we might find a clue.
Sisyphus looks determinedly at the Aquarius Saint. "I'll go ask Agasha, in case she knows something more that might be useful." he turns to Seraphina, directing reassurance her way and talking pacately. "Do not fret, we'll find her." The woman looks gratefully at him as she leans on her husband for support, her energies almost completely gone from her anxiousness.
"Does someone else at the temple know?"
Dégel raises his head, taken out of his thoughts. "Only the other Golden Saints present. Both Manigoldo and Kardia didn't know anything more either though, they saw her on her way out this morning."
He nods. "Then I'll let Regulus know too, in case he has some information."
He accompanies them on their way out to return to the Aquarius house, giving them both an empathetic look, letting them know he'll do all he can.
Going back inside to put his armor on, he thinks of all the information he has and tries to figure out an initial outcome of the events that took place.
The late afternoon breeze is lightly chilly, the golden metal singing with each step downwards he takes until he reaches the Leo house, knocking three times at the door.
Not too long after, he hears steps coming from inside. "Who is it?" he hears his nephew ask through the wooden doors. "It's me, Regulus. I need to talk to you for a moment."
The door opens to a home clothes clad Regulus, looking at him confused but attentive.
"Is it something serious?" the young man asks, tone low to maintain discretion.
Sisyphus gets a feel of their surroundings through his cosmo to make sure they aren't being eavesdropped on. Sure that they're alone, he turns to the Leo Saint.
"Fluorite disappeared." his answer is met with a gasp and widened eyes, incredulous.
"What?! But how? When?" Regulus demands quickly as he raises his arms to his chest level.
"She was last seen this morning on her way to the village market. Do you know anything at all, if she'd planned to spent the night with a friend or something similiar, perhaps?" Sisyphus finds himself asking this even if he knows the girl he talks about isn't the type to disappear out of the blue making her loves ones worry.
Regulus makes an apologetic face and shakes his head. "Conner mentioned to me she met both her and Gioca at the market this morning as she got food, like every first day of the week, but then they separated because Fluorite was in a hurry to go to Agasha's father's shop to get something." So she did go there.
"It's all I know, I haven't seen her myself in some days. Do you need my help?" he offers, but Sisyphus shakes his head, although smiling a bit at him. "You shouldn't leave Conner by herself. I'll go look at the village and see if I find something so we can understand where she is."
"Let me know how it goes, and come anytime if you need assistance." His eyes shine with conviction with his following words "Although If anyone can find her, it's you."
He's briefly taken aback by Regulus' words, before a gratitude and resolve build in him. "I'll bring her home."
He bids him goodnight and descends the stairs separating the Leo house form the Aries house, quickening his step just so, and as he makes to exit the temple he hears familiar voices.
He walks up to the other men with a puzzled look. "What are you two doing here at this hour ?"
The Cancer Saint turns to him with a serious face. "The same thing you are. Looking for a girl." Kardia looks uncharacteristically easy to read beside him, emitting a deeply dangerous aura to anyone not able to use Saint related powers. "There's more than something off about this. Most of all I don't like that a girl that's basically our adopted sister disappears out of thin air." then, maintaining his deep frown, he adds. "Well, except for you Sisyphus." He is positive his face doesn't betray him, but they know him too well and don't miss the way his shoulders stiffen just slightly at the comment.
Manigoldo doesn't miss the chance to fuel the fire further. "The way you look at Fluorite- and the way she looks at you, it's the same look Dégel and his wife share with each other. That's the one thing that's not difficult to understand from your face." he grins. "Let's bring the lass home."
Sisyphus can't help but thank the heavens that they're his comrades, because for all of being airheads and sometimes a pain to his peace and quiet, he couldn't conjure more loyal and reliable companions if he tried. "Yes."
He leads their little group out of the temple and they head to Rodorio, looking for anything that might be a hint as to what could have happened, but they arrive at the small flower shop without knowing anymore than they already did, the pathway giving no useful information.
Sisyphus raises his hand to the door and knocks, hoping to find the person he thinks ( prays) will help them locate the french girl. To his immense joy and relief, behind the door opening to them is Agasha.
The girl looks surprised at his presense, her green eyes looking at nothing in particular.
"Mr. Sisyphus?" she then notices the other two saints at his sides. "What brings you here?"
He makes himself sound as calm as he can so as not to startle her, even though there's a storm wrecking havoc inside him. "We wanted to know if you've seen Fluorite today, at any hour."
"Yes, this morning, I was coming back with a bucket to water the flowers and she was here to buy some." She deepened her forehead's brow in thought. "She'd told me Miss Seraphina's birthday would come soon and that she wanted to gift her something special that would make her smile. I believe…" she stopped for a moment, looking for something within her own mind. "Yes! They were forget-me-nots!"
"Do you know if she planned to go somewhere else afterwards, did she tell you?" he asks her.
Agasha looks with sureness at him. "No, she told me she'd gostraight back home to prepare for lunch and work on what she was planning to make for Miss Seraphina, even if she can be clumsy she's not the type to change her plans on the way of she's by herself."
With the corner of his eye, Sisyphus can see Kardia in deep thought, slightly annoyed at the lack of useful clues. He looks Agasha straight in the eye, openly. "Nothing else? Anything that comes to mind, no matter how unimportant you might think it."
The girl grips at her chin, tracing the day backwards and recollecting bits and pieces, until her head shots up, eyes wide. "As she was leaving, she was having some issues carrying her basket due to its weights, and a saint showed up." The new knowledge surprises him more than it should.
"A Saint?"
"Yes, a Bronze Saint If I'm not mistaken. He offered to help her carry her basket to the Temple because he was going back to report on something, so he'd accompany her. I think he told her they should take the shortcut through the woods." she stops to look him firmly in the eye, and with a small voice asks. "Has something happened to her?" she looks worried, her gaze trembling, and Sisyphus places a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright. Have faith in Fluorite and trusts us, alright?"
Agasha opens her mouth slightly, hesitating for a fragment of a second before saying "I will! Please keep me informed." She asks as she bows down to them.
"Don't worry." They weave her goodbye as she goes back inside.
As they walk to the area Agasha pointed them to, Kardia groans in frustration. "You've heard her, haven't you?"
Manigoldo turns to look at him, a hard gaze in his eyes. "She shouldn't have had ways to disappear, especially if a Saint was with her."
He said what you didn't want to acknowledge.
"It's true. But I haven't sensed Specters in the vicinity of the Temple or its immediate surroundings, so they shouldn't have encountered dangers. Unless-"
"The hypothetical enemy was of higher rank. But even so, Lady Athena or the Pope would have known." Manigoldo adds, he feels his fellow Saint share the same confusion he's experiencing. After some more walking, they get to the tree line signaling the woods' beginning. He looks around at the place, and doesn't bother to suppress his upset expression. "Even if it's true that it takes less to get to the temple taking this path, it is not one would take like any other." He looks at the trees ahead of them. "It's a space difficult to move into, let alone walk with all these trees and bushes. I can't imagine they were in such a hurry they'd come here." Kardia nods his agreement and the Cancer Saint takes some steps ahead through the trees, the sun beginning to settle shedding an orange light on the fronds. He steps into the wide space looking here and there slowly, until his foot hits something.
He looks down to find an apple. These are no apple trees, where does this come from?
"Sisyphus, come here a moment," Manigoldo's voice sounds almost demanding.
He reaches his friend some meters away, where a deeper number of bushes is, and kneels beside him, with Kardia behind them. When he sees what the fellow Saint had called him for, his eyes widen.
He sits beside her on the grass, the gentle breeze caressing them both at its passage and making her blonde braid sway gently. Her small hands thread colored ribbons into her basket's handle, positioning them in an intricate way that has them form a three colors line, securing each end with a knot and bow.
"What is it that you're making?" he asks her, hovering over her with a curious gaze.
She looks back at him with a brilliant, wide stare. "Adding some life to this basket. It looked sad, all wheat yellow." He laughs. "It looked sad?"
"Yes. That's why I'm adding colors to it, so it feels happier."
"And why those colors?" she grins at him, looking at her weaving. "This" she points at the green ribbon with her finger "is pappoús." I guess she'll never stop calling Dégel that, he thinks to himself with a smile.
She slides her pinky to the ribbon below it, a light blue hue. "This is mom. And this" he notices the added fondness in her voice, how warm it became. "is the man I love." below the green and blue ribbon is a light brown one, and he is breath catches in his throat noticing how closely it matches the shade of his hair. It moves him, the amount of her love for him, which he returns in equal measure. He watches her turn towards him, the sunset framing her face in light as she blushes and lowers her eyes a bit. He takes her chin in his hand and lifts it gently.
"Vous sentez-vous plus heureuse, Mademoiselle?" he asks her softly, his hand moving from her chin to her cheek, cupping her face.
She smiles that sweet smile she only shows him, the smile he so loves. "Avec toi à mes côtés? Toujours."
He proceeds calmly, as if giving it the necessary time the object a few feet from them would dissipate. But when Sisyphus brings his hand to the basket, he feels them. A smooth fabric, a precise weaving. A three colored ribbon pattern. Green, blue, brown.
"It's Fluorite's basket." Picking it up, they indeed find the things she mush have had shopped for, bread, meat and the forget-me-nots Agasha had mentioned she'd looked for for Seraphina's gift." taking in a breath, he inhales an odd scent.
"Do you smell this too?"
"Yeah, it feels like a great deal of leaves has burned. But had there been a fire we'd have noticed, or someone of the village would have let us know if they needed help."
Kardia looks like he's every bit ready to throw his hands in the air. "Why the fuck would a bronze Saint lead a girl with a heavy basket here in this awful corner of death smelling jungle? Just for a shortcut?"
"That, and he supposedly disappeared as well" Manigoldo chimes in "which tells me he did the poorest job of looking over her. We might have to teach him how bodyguards do their job once we find him."
Still crouched, and looking around for anything to give him more hints, he feels something, akin to a pull.
His body turns to a spot beside them, where the soil descends and the fallen foliage carpets the green grass. Closing his eyes on something that catches his eyes, he notices an irregular trail of blue petals diminishing in the direction of the downhill.
He stands up and follows the trail to the last petal just before the soil modifies itself going downwards, shifting himself slightly backwards to take a full look at what's in front of him. He looks at the trees roots, the grass sprouting all around on the verdant soil, and he finds a handful of some more blue petals, this time almost concentrated into a single spot. He moves is gaze a tad to the right and sees, his heart stopping.
There's a mass of yellow and dark blue, just at the end of the downhill where the new layer of soil begins. Her braid is undone, honey blonde hair scattered messily over her face and the earth below her, and her dress is battered and dirty.
"Fluorite!"
His body moves as if it had its own mind, sliding down the descending path to where she lays and laying his hands on her, one to the back of her head and the other to her neck, checking her heartbeat.
Manigoldo and Kardia reach them quickly, alarmed by his shout.
"Her pulse is weak."
The both of them gasp when they assess the conditions she's in, shocked expressions turning to coldly enraged. "How did this happen?" Manigoldo spits out, looking at Fluorite. Kardia looks equally shaken and furious.
She looks like she's been through hell, her skit is tattered at the hem and there is what he fears to be blood at her hip, a nasty looking dark stain that spans from the line of her breasts to her thigh.
Moving the strands of hair covering her chest to examine her better, he finds another patch of dark red on her left side, frighteningly close to her heart.
The hand resting on her head goes to her nape- and finds it wet with something thick. She hit her head.
He turns to his companions, hoping he doesn't look as devastated as he feels.
"I need you to go to Syntagma square and look for Doctor Fragonis." he tells Kardia with urgency. "Tell him we need him to make haste." the Scorpio saint nods, and he hears him as he says, in a low tone "I'm gutting the one who did this." as he starts running towards the city.
He then looks at Manigoldo. "Go to the Aquarius house and warn Dégel, tell him to prepare a clean room." He swallows, looking at Fluorite's pale face. "…Let them know it won't be pleasant when they see her."
The Cancer Saint takes off his coat, the white fabric getting soaked in blood as they wrap the girl in it in hopes to keep her at least a bit warm. He then makes for the direction they came from, towards the Sanctuary.
Sisyphus carefully lifts her from the soil, standing up and watching her still form moving downwards with his movement, her head falling down before he moves her upper body higher, positioning her head to lay securely by his shoulder. Like this he can really observe how small she is in his arms, her body looking frail and wounded. He makes for the direction Manigoldo had ran off to, taking flight, the Sagittarius Cloth's golden wings spreading as he asks it to be fast, let me get there fast.
He holds her closer to himself. Please, hold on Fluorite.
He thinks he gets to the Temple in less time than he would have by feet, but he doesn't really care to think this through because he's in a hurry to get Fluorite inside, climbing the stairs quickly with everything being a blur in front of him. He gets to the Aquarius house's door and pounds on the doors to make sure they hear him. Soon enough, someone opens them and he finds Dégel's eyes, going from him to his adoptive daughter's still form with a shattered expression. "Gods above…" he whispers with little voice.
Sisyphus advances towards the Aquarius temple, Dégel following closely by his side as they enter and go to the room they'd prepared. When they step in, he finds Manigoldo, Kardia and Seraphina seated at one corner close to the table he gently lays Fluorite on, accompaniying her head with his hand carefully. The woman gasps loudly with a sob at seeing her, hands covering her mouth and her eyes getting watery by the second. He hears footsteps approaching at the door, and he turns to find the very doctor he'd sent to call entering. "Jonas" he greets him.
"Sisyphus" the bearded man nods at him, medical remedies and bag of supplies in hand. "Where's my patient?"
Sisyphus steps aside from where his body shields Fluorite from his view and sees his face turn into a shaken semblance. He moves his head from side to side in disbelief. "Mighty gods…" he lowers his tools as he gets nearer to look at her better. "What kind of monster would do this?"
Sisyphus feels his hands shaking, and grips them in tight punches.
"I don't know yet, but when I find it I'll make sure he suffers ten times worse." He watches on as Jonas carefully cuts through the fabric of the dress to assess the wounds.
"Had she been there in this shape another hour, she would have died." he tries not to flinch at those words but is unsure whether he manages it. The doctor raises his eyes to look at him "You ensured her a chance to fight. This will gain me time."
He breathes in.
Jonas turns to the other occupants of the room. "I need to remove her dress to properly tend to the wounds, it seems like they will need cauterization." Dégel and Seraphina get to him from their seat with evidently scared but determined faces. "We'll stay to help" the woman's tone is resolute, even if she looks like she came out of a tornado, her eyes focused, her husband looking at her with a small smile, then at Jonas. "What can we do?"
"Help me turn her on her side, I need to cut the dress and close the wounds. He and Dégel stay on each side of Fluorite, carefully lifting her left side grasping at her arm and positioning her to look at the wall, Sisyphus holding her head still as Seraphina takes the dress off her.
Jonas looks with understanding eyes at the couple before him as he says "I need you to hold her still, even if she's unconscious if she makes sudden movements in reaction to the pain it could cause her further damage." the two nod to him, and Sisyphus takes a long, deep breath. The doctor positions an iron bar on the fireplace, waiting some time before lifting it off the flames, it's tip lava red. He turns towards them and seems to gaze at he blonde girl pleadingly. "We need you to be strong, little one."
Sisyphus holds her head between his hands as he inhales, exhales, inhales, exhales. When the burning iron touches the wound on her chest, he doesn't know whether he feels glad she's not conscious or absolutely devastated at the complete lack of reaction she has, at how absolutely immobile she is, her hair dirty with blood on her nape, in constrast with her nasty pallor. You're going to be okay, I swear to you.
He gets taken out of his mantra prayer by Jonas' voice, hands working carefully and quickly as he circles the girl's head with a clean bandage, taking new ones to wrap her chest and hip. "The are closed, let's put her on her back slowly." he and Dégel move her gently as he carefully holds her head, paying attention not to put too much pressure. Seraphina goes to another room and soon returns with a blanket, laying it over her daughter with care and stopping to brush her fingers on her cheek in a light caress. "And now?" she asks the doctor, turning with a lost stare.
Jonas looks at Fluorite and let's out a breath "Now we wait. She has to make it through the night." he looks with kind eyes at his companion and his wife, looking exhausted. Sisyphus turns to from where he stands at Fluorite's side. "You should go and try to rest some, you need it. I'll stay with her and alert you of any changes." he says with honesty, and for all Seraphina seems about to collapse from tiredness and stress she takes one last look at the french girl and responds. "Let us know if anything happens." she implores as she leans on Dégel for support, his arm going around her waist. "We'll be close by, just in case." he turns his gaze from the doctor to him. "We leave her in your care." Sisiyphus nods, answering their grateful and frightened looks by sending reassuring waves at the both of them as they retire and hoping they are wrapped in them, hoping they all can be strong as Fluorite fights.
He takes a chair from where it was left at the corner of the room and positions it at the bed's side, sitting down. Jonas looks over to him from where he's bent, cleaning his tools. He closes his bag and steps to him, voice low. "There's something I need to show you." he circles the bed and gently raises Fluorite's arm from where it was sitting, covered by the blanket, his hands supporting her elbow and wrist.
"Look here." and he gestures down. Sisyphus gets closer and what he notices sends a sense of nausea to his throat. Just around her wrist there are scrapes, braid-like in shape. "A rope." he says, and heavens he's grateful the medic is there to steel him from going to punch a tunnel through the soil.
"Yes. Her other wrist is the same. Also," and he fetches something from the small table his bag is "there were these caught in her hair. "And his hand hopen to some scattered petals, some of which he recognizes as lavender. "These are chamomile, lavender and valerian. They're all implemented in patients' recovery as they have a calming and pain relieving effect, but they're mostly all soporific flowers." Thoughts and cogs turn in Sisyphus mind, leading him to once conclusion. Her sleeves were intact, save for the hems.
There were no self-defense wounds. "There were no self-defense wounds." Jonas states at the same time as he thinks it. They share a look.
"The person who did this either surprised her or was someone she didn't think she needed to defend herself from." the doctor speaks their shared conclusion aloud, and a thought lits up in the Sagittarius saint's mind. He gently uncovers Fluorite's other arm and takes it in his hand to look at her wrist, watching the circular pattern closer. The scrapes are braid-like in pattern, but it isn't a simple rope. The shapes forming the interspersed line are bigger and not oval like a string would look.
These look like feathers.
And then it clicks in his mind. The weird path they took to return to the Sanctuary. The burnt smell he and the other saints had smelled when reaching the woods. The lack of traces of the missing saint, and now these feather shaped scrapes.
His conversawith Agasha comes back to him.
"As she was leaving, she was having some issues carrying her basket due to its weight, and a saint showed up."
"A Saint?"
"Yes, a Bronze Saint If I'm not mistaken. He offered to help her carry her basket to the Temple because he was going back to report on something, so he'd accompany her.
"I need to show you something." Jonas tells him, his tone deathly serious and his eyes searching for hesitancy withing Sisyphus's stare. When he finds none, he slightly lifts pff the blanket from Fluorite's chest, enough to show them her neck, gesturing him to look at it. When he does and notices what is there, his blood runs cold. It's probably less noticeable than it would have been some hours prior, but still very apparent against the girl's pale skin. Red, deep hand shapes circle her thin neck, half moons probably made by nails digged at the lower sides of it due to the strenght of the grasp.
A dead silence fills the rooom, before the saint tells the other man "Stay with her for a bit, there's something I need to make sure of. I won't be long." his friend nods his assent and sits on the chair as he gets out of the room, opening the doors to exit the Aquarius Temple briefly. Going towards the stairs descending, he finds the Scorpio and Cancer saints waiting for him.
Manigoldo watches him with hard eyes that tell him he's thought violent things for the past hour.
"Did you see those signs on her?" he says in a grave tone. He nods.
Kardia closes his eyes and inhales deeply to calm himself from probably committing a recklessness.
"The Phoenix Saint." he confirms for all three of them. And Manigoldo then adds "And do you remember the saint you released your arrow on some time ago in the Colosseum?" he thinks about it and the memory comes to mind, realization displayed on his features as all the pieces connect.
"The Saint that had asked for Fluorite's hand to Dégel." he breathes out, unable to keep the displeasure and mounting disgust from his voice. "He's been given the Phoenix Cloth?"
Kardia cracks his fingers with a sharp sound. "He won't have it for much longer." sharing one look with his comrades, they descend the flight of stairs to the Aries temple and into the structure that the Bronze and Silver saints reside in. With a joined push, they open the doors and enter the Temple. Luckily enough, it takes them little time to encounter someone to direct them where they need to.
A young man stands in front of them in civilian clothes and salutes them. Sisyphus looks at him straight in the eyes. "I won't keep you long, I just need you to tell me where I can find your comrade, the Phoenix saint." the Bronze saint clears his expression from the puzzled look he was wearing.
"Last I checked, he was in the kitchen on meal duty for tomorrow."
The Sagittarius nods his thanks, and they proceed towards the room he points to.
Entering the room, he smells a mixture of scents that both makes him want to puke and confirms the hypothesis they had formed, now a certainty. Ashes, lavender and humid earth cling to the man in front of them, dressed in everyday clothing and sitting on a wooden box, peeling a potato. When he hears steps approaching, he turns to them with an unreadable look, leaves the tuber and knife on the table and shifts his eyes to where they stand, looking pointedly at Sisyphus. And then he smiles at him, like someone who knows he completed a goal and is now reaping the fruits of his work.
He sees red, doesn't see anything, doesn't know how, but in a fragment of a second he stands at a breath away from the man's face, his cheek red and his own hand pulsating for the hit and rushing blood, ire like he's never felt before running through his veins in equal amount.
"What" the Bronze taunts him "did I hurt someone you care for?" he says as he turns his head to align their gazes, his black eyes void of any comprehension of what he's done.
It's his friends' turn to lose their barely contained patience, as Manigoldo bolts forward from where he was at the back of the room and kicks the man to his face, Kardia at his own right pushing him flat against the wall. "I don't think you understand the position you're in, worm. You harmed a civilian under the Sanctuary's protection and severely endangered her life. Don't think we won't do all we can to see you crawl on the earth until you regret being born for that unfortunate mother of yours." the Cancer saint spits at him with poison.
But the wretched man keeps his eyes on him, has the nerve to tell him "What's the fuss about? Many orphans die, especially with all the bad things happening here and there. That girl's a weird one, isn't she? Not the brightest on understanding people's intentions when they aren't positive. Made my job easy, I have to give that to her. But she's persistent, I had to put her to sleep so I could work, she kept on fighting me. Is that what enticed you? Hmm-" he grins wickedly, pupils dilated "Let's see how long she lasts." At that, the last bits of his self control dissolves into air and he slams him hard against the bricks in front of them. He hopes it hurts, he hopes he will feel miserable his whole life and karma lays its hand on him to give him all the pain he shed much worse.
"Listen well, you vermin" he seethes, sliding his body upwards on the wall, rising him by the collar of his shirt with a death grip. "The only reason you're barely wounded and not beaten into a pulp or buried in the pits of the earth where ants can feast on your corpse, is because even after this I know she wouldn't want it. She'd feel the burden of having somehow taken a life, and I don't want that for her." He steps closer, slowly.
He tightens his grip on the man's garment until the fabric pulls uncomfortably at his form and he sees an alarmed grimace cross his face. He gets as close to the man as he's able and tells him, lacing his words with a promise of pain "If you ever touch even a hair on her head again, I'll make sure you die the most atrocious of deaths. Do not think I won't return the favour after what you've done." He feels the bastard jump slightly at his affirmation, and after a long stare he gestures at Kardia and Manigoldo.
"Take him to the Pope and let him know what transpired. See to it that the proper measures are taken."
He leaves the soon-not-to-be a Saint anymore to his fellow Golds, holding him firmly at each arm. Kardia stings him with his scarlet needle and the man convulses, before stilling and losing consciousness.
He goes to the exit and the Cancer saint raises his eyebrow at him, making a nod to the unconscious former Phoenix. "Can we have our way with this shitbag?" He asks for both him and their blue haired companion.
Sisyphus shrugs. "So long as he makes it to the Pope alive, I'm not complaining."
They nod, Kardia donning a pleased smirk when they weave each other goodnight as they separate, him returning to the Aquarius temple and them going up the stairs, to the Pope's chambers.
When he enters back in the room, Jonas is sitting at the small table his medical bag is on, sleeping against the backrest with crossed arms, a couple of written on papers on it, likely the recording of his patient's conditions and possible therapy.
He steps to the bed and sits back down, his hands practically jumping to her, one to cup her cheek carefully -and how overjoyed he is to find her less cold then when he left her, the other to check her pulse, her jugular miraculously beating steadier under his fingerprints, although still heavily weak. Nonetheless, when he softly slides his hand from her neck to the underside upper side of her chest, her heart beats, its vibration sure as the sky above them.
And he thanks her then, for her strength, for the fortitude she instills in him always, right now, even if she's the one in terrible shape and barely (but surely) holding on by a thread.
Sisyphus brushes his fingers along her her cheeks, goes to adjust her messy fringe carefully and holds her, remembering how physically painful it had been to part from her just a while before, how he yearned to hear her pulse against his skin telling him "I'm not leaving, I'm putting up the fight to come back. Wait for me."
He lowers himself and presses a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead, his fingers threading through her honey blonde strands. I'm here, agápi. I'm here for you.
He positions his head on her chest, not quite where her wound is placed so as not to hurt her, and lets the melody of her heart lull him to sleep.
He comes back to his senses after he doesn't know now much time, but everything is silent as he stirs. While he wakes, he feels something barely moving through his short strands, the repetitive and slow movement comforting. His mind springs back to awareness and his head shots up.
He feels like he's never quite felt true joy, not as he's experiencing right now.
"Sisyphus" she whispers with high fatigue, taking a breath through the syllables. Gods, it's only been a day but it feels like a lifetime since he's last heard her voice, last looked at her eyes. They're halfway open, exertion taking its toll on her body, but she keeps her gaze on him, blue eyes warm and filled with gladness, mirroring his.
"Fluorite" he exhales, and it might as well be the first true intake of oxygen he took ever since Dégel told him she was nowhere to be found.
He raises from the chair to sit at her side on the bed, cupping her face gently and kissing her forehead, once, twice, thrice, until his lips have the texture of her skin engrained in his brain. With what little movement she manages to make, she brushes her nose against his tenderly, pressing a featherlight kiss to his lips, which he returns.
He sees her image getting unfocused before him just as he feels her hand rest on his face, albeit with effort due to the pain. He lets the tears fall, going down his cheeks after keeping them in so long, the worry, desperation, relief and happiness mixing together within each drop. She lightly grasps at his shoulder and he follows her hold, resting his head in the curve of her shoulder, inhaling her familiar rasperry and flour scent.
"That saint…" she makes out with little voice.
He raises his head from the crook of her neck to kiss reassurance onto her lips, softly.
"You won't have to worry about him anymore." he tells her earnestly. She gives him a serene smile, the hand that was moving through his hair moving to his cheek, drying his tears. He takes her hand delicately in his own and kisses her palm, her knuckles, holding it to his face again.
"You found me." she says, eyes swelling with tears that start falling from her blue eyes this time around, even though he sees they are relieved, glad ones. He slowly takes his time to dry them from her face, one by one, holding her in his hands as if she were the Holy Grail.
"Of course. I'm always going to find you." He readjusts a rebel strand behind her ear, and it feels like he can't get close enough, he wants to put her inside his heart where nothing will ever harm her and she'll be safe. "Even though it was you who found me." he smiles, thinking back to when they first discussed their feelings. "Thank you for finding me. Thank you for waiting for me."
She smiles almost fully at that, as much as her state allows.
"It couldn't have been anyone else." It'll never stop surprising him, her candor, the transparent frankness with which she moves through the currents of life and conveys, channels her thoughts and feelings.
He presses their foreheads together and lets himself feel her, the raw sensation of her skin against his, their heartbeats resounding in tune, her warmth, the soft and pleasant familiarity of her touch.
He loves her. Gods above, he loves her.
"Try to rest a bit" he tells her with a calm voice after some time, seeing her eyes threaten to close even if she fights sleep with the same fervour she fought what had ailed her (and still is).
"Stay with me?" she rasps, voice small from tiredness and ache.
"Of course. Where else could I go?" he assures her, patting the crown of her head.
She gestures with the little energies Morpheus and her hellish day haven't claimed from her and has him lower himself briefly again to her face, kissing his brow sweetly. She carefully moves to her side, where the bandage around her hip wound cushions her perception of reverberating ache, and settles against his hold, inhaling him and quieting. He lets her get comfortable and enfolds her in his arms, an attentive cradle that shields her from anything that isn't their shared warmth.
"Sisyphus?" she mumbles against him after some minutes.
"Yes?"
" S'agapó " she whispers to his heart, and his chest warms.
He goes to kiss the golden river of her hair, letting the mutuality of his affection flow through it.
" Ki ego se agapo, agápi mou."
The following weeks were intense, for both Fluorite and all of them. Jonas had strictly forbidden her from exherting herself, and between Seraphina and Agasha watching over her improvement and fussing at her every grimace and the four Golds' overprotectiveness (Sisyphus had to stay the instinct to hiss and release and arrow on whatever male came too near Fluorite that wasn't a Gold saint iest he wound him.) she had little to do for a time since she couldn't go fetch water or shop for food, taking a stroll in the mean time.
Aside for that, the former Phoenix saint was dismissed immediately after the Pope and Lasy Sasha had been informed of the ordeal, with related proof and witness testimony, taking a collective worry off their shoulders.
The late afternoon breeze makes the grass blades sway under it all around them as they readjust the ribbons on her basket together, the way their fingers touch every so often pleasant and reassuring to him. She happily talks about how she finally got permission to go fetch water from the nearest well they have in the vicinity of the Aquarius house, eyes shining with rebuilding energy and shimmering blue hues dancing in her irises. She raises the recomposed basket to his eyes, presenting their teamwork, and the happiness on her face infuses him with all the resolve he needs.
I'll ask Dégel tonight. he thinks to himself as he muses on how to shape her ring.