Whether or not they are directly linked, or the characters know each other, I think of my stories as all having happened within the same little world! In my stories. I frequently mention things that have happened in others I have written, but most of them should be able to be read stand alone without issues.

Also, while I try to keep it very close with Genshin lore, I don't know every single bit of lore, and can't remember it all. So, some things are slightly different, there are also some things that are only guessed. I'm just here to write stories for people to read, should they choose!

As for my version of travel time, everything is small, and close together in the game, so I spread it out a little. It should take time to get places! (More dramatic that way rofl)

Thank you to my husband for being my proofreader!

As always, thank you for reading, I hope everyone enjoys it!

Feel free to leave a comment :)

I Was Worried

Chapter One

Kaveh was in the kitchen making dinner when he heard the front door open. Lumine had asked for Alhaitham's help several days prior, and because it was so sudden, Kaveh hadn't been able to join them. He was disappointed, but had gained a well-paying client.

He quickly rinsed his hands, and hurried into the living room, ready to greet Alhaitham, and ask Lumine and Paimon to stay for dinner. In fact, he could hear the little fairy from down the hall.

"Where should we go?!" Paimon squeaked.

Kaveh stepped around the corner, ready to tell them they didn't have to go anywhere, when he saw what she actually meant.

Lumine had Alhaitham's arm pulled over her shoulder, holding on tight as he sagged and swayed, with Paimon helplessly holding up his other arm. His head was hung low, and he seemed to be straining to stay up on his own. Kaveh would have thought he was drunk, were it not for the blood.

There were streaks running down the side of his head, neck, and arm. Some of it was dark, long since dried and some bright red, fresh. Kaveh snapped out of his trance, and rushed to take the arm Paimon was holding. It was worrisome that Alhaitham didn't respond in any way.

"Haitham? What happened?!"

Lumine was startled by his sudden appearance, but quickly responded, her voice slightly shaky, "During our mission, we were overpowered, and… he was taken. There were so many more than we expected."

That didn't make a lot of sense to Kaveh, but he had no time to find out what they had gone off to do. He'd get that information later, for now, he needed to help Alhaitham.

"Why didn't you take him to Bimarstan?" Kaveh asked, trying to inch Alhaitham forward.

At this question, Alhaitham finally responded, not by talking, but by struggling instead. He fell to his knees, bringing Kaveh, and Lumine down with him. He made a small noise, and started shaking his head 'no' while his breaths became faster, and faster. Alhaitham was panicking.

"Okay, okay, Haitham. We won't go, but we need to get to the couch. Can you get just a few more steps?"

Without waiting for a response, Kaveh got back to his feet, and helped Alhaitham stand. Although, he didn't know if it actually counted as helping when Alhaitham didn't have the strength to do anything, but they got him to the closest divan. Kaveh knelt next to him, and reached for Alhaitham's cheek, but stopped short, and turned to Lumine.

"Could you please go find Tighnari?" he asked, trying to sound calm, but he definitely failed at that.

With a small nod, Lumine, and Paimon were out the door, and Kaveh was able to really look at Alhaitham, who now seemed to be unconscious. His breathing had evened out some, but still sounded rough. There was an undeniable underlying wheeze to it.

The need to touch Alhaitham won out, and Kaveh reached for his cheek again. This time he made contact with the bloody skin, whispering to the scribe as he did. Alhaitham's headphones were gone, along with the cord that normally went to the waist pouch he wore.

The silver haired man didn't even flinch when his finger swiped over a cut. Alhaitham's skin was overly warm, and a light sheen of sweat was visible where there wasn't blood. Determined not to cry, Kaveh began to note the rest of Alhaitham's injuries, looking for anything that needed immediate attention.

There were several more cuts, one across the side of his forehead, a deep one. On one cheek was a shallow cut that bled down his neck, and a deeper one on his other jaw that the blood had made it all the way down to his chest. There were also several bruises across his face, including two black eyes, one worse than the other, a badly bruised cheek, and chin. One of his lips was split in two places, and there were tooth marks across the bottom.

"Oh, Haitham…" Kaveh whispered.

On his left bicep was another long cut, this one deeper. It was red, and angry looking, but it wasn't actively bleeding, so he moved on. His right arm, mostly across the upper section, looked like it had been dragged along gravel. The skin was torn with bits of mud, and stones embedded in the skin.

Alhaitham's gloves had been removed, along with his rings, including the one that matched the one he'd given Kaveh for Christmas. On his left hand, his ring, and pinky fingers were swollen, and discolored. Each wrist bore bloody, bruised marks all the way around, where he had been restrained, Kaveh realized.

His shirt was shredded along the right side, as well as his pants, having been dragged along the same filthy surface as his arm. Upon closer inspection, Kaveh found the marks went all the way around his back.

Across Alhaitham's stomach were what Kaveh thought were several long cuts, but they were actually burns, seared straight through the material, and deep into the skin. There were a multitude of other cuts across his chest, sides, and legs, some deep, possibly stab wounds, and some shallow. There wasn't much left of the material.

Kaveh didn't want to leave Alhaitham's side, but he needed to get something to stop the bleeding of the deeper cuts. Blood had already begun to form a small spot on the couch cushion. He was quick with gathering the supplies, and set to work on cutting the shirt off. The material stuck to Alhaitham's skin in many spots, and he tried his best to be careful.

With as bad as the cuts seemed, they were nothing compared to the bruises covering Alhaitham's chest. Kaveh could see broken ribs, and the terrible colors of the skin surrounding them, the worst was his upper chest. On the left side, very close to Alhaitham's heart, was a bruise that was a deep shade of purple.

When he barely brushed his fingers over it, Alhaitham's breath caught, and another small noise came out, something between a whine and sob.

"N-no… not… m-more-!" Alhaitham pleaded quietly.

Alhaitham tried to move his hand to stop whoever was hurting him, but it was only a weak flail. Kaveh grabbed his hand, and started talking to him. He tried his best not to let his voice give away the fact that he was crying.

"It's Kaveh," he squeezed Alhaitham's hand gently, "I'm just me, Haitham. I'm here, and nobody is going to hurt you."

Alhaitham's struggling paused, his head turned towards Kaveh, but his eyes didn't open,

"K'veh…"

His speech was slurred, and his voice was rough. Something about that pulled at Kaveh's heart, but the fact that Alhaitham had responded had a breath of relief making its way through him. At least until the silver haired man became visibly upset.

"No… I-I tried… they cn't… t-they can't have you!" he gasped, only pulling in small, short breaths.

Alhaitham began struggling again, with a small burst of energy behind it. Kaveh tried to carefully hold him down. The problem was, it was nearly impossible to find a piece of skin that wasn't bruised, or cut, and he was worried that touching the injuries would make it worse again. If he didn't do something, Alhaitham would end up falling off the couch.

Kaveh leaned over him in a way that he'd be all Alhaitham saw if he opened his eyes, and gently ran his fingers through silver locks, "It's okay, Haitham. You are at home, laying on your own couch." When the movements started to slow again, Kaveh continued, "You're home, and Lumine is going to find Tighnari for you, okay?"

While Alhaitham had stopped moving, he didn't respond. He hadn't moved away from Kaveh carding through his hair, so he continued. He knew Alhaitham had always enjoyed the feeling. Unfortunately, he still needed to tend to the cuts that were still bleeding.

"Alhaitham? … You have a few injuries that are bleeding. I'm going to have to press something to it, okay?"

Eventually, Alhaitham's less swollen eye opened a crack, and looked in Kaveh's direction. A hand came up and clumsily landed on his cheek for a moment, before it fell back to Alhaitham's side. The scribe gave a small nod to show he understood, and his eye slid shut again.

Kaveh kept one hand running through Alhaitham's hair while he applied pressure to the worst cut. The silver haired man sucked in a sharp breath, and started coughing painfully, unable to catch his breath in between. Unsure of what else to do, he brought Alhaitham into a sitting position. He couldn't reach any pillows, but he could support him.

He heard the door open behind him, and twisted to see Tighnari rushing in. The ranger climbed over Alhaitham's feet to situate himself on the other side of the large couch, and immediately brought an ear to Alhaitham's chest, the latter whimpering again when the dark bruise had contact.

"I'll have to get him on oxygen after," Tighnari said as he grabbed any pillows he could reach, and layered them behind Alhaitham, "Alright, against these… nice and slow. Alhaitham, can you hear me? Do you think you could try to take some slow breaths with Kaveh?"

Alhaitham didn't respond, but Tighnari took the scribe's hand, and put it to Kaveh's chest, "Feel Kaveh's breathing? Just try to slow yours down a little. Kaveh is your anchor, okay?"

There was no verbal or physical response, aside from the strained attempt to breathe slower. After a few minutes, his breathing evened out, as best as it could, but it was because he was unconscious again. Tighnari got to work.

Kaveh pointed to the towel that was no longer being held on, "That was the worst one I've found so far, and I tried to stop the bleeding, but that's how he ended up not being able to breathe…"

Tighnari nodded, then grimaced as he pulled away the towel, "It goes around to his back, and gets deeper. I don't think it's hit anything important, but it's going to need a closer look at-"

"Don't say it!"

His friend looked up at the sudden outburst, shocked, "Kaveh, he has to go. He's not in good shape. I can see most of these cuts are showing signs of infection, and the bruising is severe, especially here, close to his heart. We can't keep him here, he's got to go to the-"

"-No, no! You don't understand… he panicked when I said the name earlier, and struggled. He was afraid."

Tighnari's brows knitted together as he continued to work on Alhaitham, "... I'll do what I can, but we're going to have to figure this out. This man -I swear. He has a bad habit of not going when he needs to most."

That one, single statement was too true to even be funny. Alhaitham had quite a list of things that he should have gone to the hospital for, and didn't. Not until he was dragged there. The concussion he's gotten from fighting Azar, injuries from expeditions, and missions with the Traveler, being zapped by weird devices, and hit with odd potions… appendicitis. The list went on, and on. Kaveh had suspected that Alhaitham was somewhat afraid of Bimarstan, possibly even hospitals in general, but he'd never been able to prove it.

"It was Lumine who came and got me, but took off as soon as she told me to come because Alhaitham had been injured. I had no idea he'd been… beaten like this."

"Where did she go?"

Tighnari shook his head, "She went to find Cyno. She wants to take him back to where this happened, but didn't say why. She was certainly in a hurry… He's got two stab wounds in his left thigh. Archons, what did they do to him?!"

Kaveh gripped Alhaitham's hand tighter to his chest. Lumine, Paimon, and Alhaitham were the only ones who could give them answers right now, and two of them were gone, while the other was in no condition to tell them anything.

Anxiety gripped at him, and his thoughts began to take a turn towards the worst case scenarios. Having Alhaitham come home looking like this, but not having a lot of answers was scary. Had Lumine gone back because the people who did this were still out there? Was someone else hurt, or was something bigger going on? Why had this happened? Alhaitham was no pushover when it came to wielding a sword, let alone Lumine's capabilities. Were these people going to come back for Alhaitham?

"Kaveh?"

Kaveh snapped out of his worry bubble, but definitely wouldn't have been helpful to Alhaitham's breathing. He couldn't catch his breath. Tighnari took his other hand, and gently stuck it on Alhaitham's chest.

"It's your turn, Kaveh. Slow down. I know there's a lot going on, and it's all panic worthy for sure, but we don't have time for that panic right now. I need help."

Tighnari, his best friend, and often their savior. Patient, even when he's not. He was right. Kaveh sat up straight, and slowed his own breathing. He was needed.

"W-what do you need?"

"More clean cloth, and some hot water. I might also have to make use of any medical supplies you have. I have a lot, but there's a lot here to take care of."

Kaveh nodded, "Okay, got it."

Chapter Two

Lumine was furious with herself. This was all her fault. She shouldn't have dragged Alhaitham along on that mission. She should have known that mission was some sort of set-up.

With the known information she was given, it needed someone who had dendro abilities, and a bit more of it than she had. She loved Kaveh, and would have gladly had him along if he'd been available, but Alhaitham was what the mission called for. Of course it was, because it was all a set-up to get him, of all people, right into that position. The information was false, and they found themselves surrounded by far too many people to get through, even for them.

While they tried to simply wrangle Alhaitham, they were aiming to kill Lumine. He'd taken more than one hit for her before he grabbed her, and pushed her over the ledge into the river below. She heard him yell to Paimon to follow. He had saved them, but at a terrible cost.

They were too far from the city, and terribly short on time to get their friends to help. He was in danger, and time was not something he had, so she was left to track them down herself. Unfortunately, that also took time. Nearly two days, in fact.

Whoever these people were, they covered their tracks well, but not quite good enough to completely throw her off. The issue being that finding the clues was very, very slow. Then, it took more time to quietly infiltrate their little base, and have them not alert others.

They found the room much faster when they could hear the screams, unmistakably Alhaitham's voice. She hadn't expected what they found, and Paimon squeaked next to her, horrified. Though it was chaotic, Lumine made fairly quick work of the people in the room, and went to help her friend.

Alhaitham was shackled, hanging from the ceiling in a way that only his bare toes grazed along the ground. His head hung down between his shoulders, but the blood dripping from his chin to the floor was obvious, having created its own tiny puddle away from the one that his feet had smeared around.

There was blood dripping down his arms from where the bindings were cutting into his arms, as well as other visible cuts. In fact, nearly any skin she could see was bloody. When she had put her arms around him so Paimon could hit the release lever, he struggled. He was only partly conscious, and it took some convincing to get him to stop, all the while making his wrists worse.

Once he was down, it was yet another trick to get him upright enough to walk. Alhaitham wasn't a light person, and had struggled again each time she tried to carry him. A slow, quiet walk home, and some panic at the mention of Bimarstan, and they'd finally made it.

Lumine knew Tighnari would take care of their friend, she needed to go back, and make sure there was no one else involved running free. She, Cyno and his Matra made good time getting back to the torture dungeon. Paimon only had to be carried part of the way, her adrenaline kick was wearing off, and she was quickly slowing down.

If the look in Cyno's eyes when she told him how they had found Alhaitham, and what had happened was bad, it was nothing compared to the anger she could see boiling up to the surface at the sight of the crime scene. On the General's normally impassive face, was a deep frown, his jaw flexing, and his brows knit together.

He looked over the bloody tools that had obviously been used on Alhaitham, scattered across the floor, "This is the room you found him it?"

"… Yes."

After a moment, Cyno nodded, "Very well. Search for anything that seems odd, out of place, or has information. Although, I'm not counting on much. I believe this place served one purpose."

Lumine agreed with that. Not that she had the chance to do much looking before, but she had seen no sign of anything odd, no papers, no science equipment. Now that she was able to dig deeper, she found that she was right. There was nothing. What she did find was Alhaitham's Vision tossed in a corner, as well as his headphones, and some rings she recognized as the scribe's on one of the bodies that had been left behind.

Paimon had been unusually quiet, paused at the doorway as if afraid to enter the room. Her little floating friend was tough, Lumine knew that, but she could still be affected by things. Especially something like finding one of her friends strung up, and beaten.

With Alhaitham's belongings in hand, and the rest of the rooms checked, Lumine returned to Cyno. Alhaitham's boots had been set next to the door, with his gloves neatly set on top.

Cyno sighed, and crossed his arms, "Were you able to find anything?"

Lumine held out the items she found, "Nothing else. It seems more like their only plan was to hurt him."

Cyno took one of the rings, the one that matched a ring she'd seen Kaveh wear, and frowned deeply. Alhaitham and Kaveh had never said anything about it, but she knew that neither of them wore the rings when she'd first met them. Cyno probably knew more about those rings, being closer than she and Paimon were with the odd couple.

If there was one thing that was obvious to her from the start, Kaveh loved Alhaitham, and Alhaitham had eyes for only one single person. The scribe had all but kicked Paimon and herself out after they were done asking questions, so that he could have dinner with his roommate who wouldn't call them "friends, exactly".

"I agree," he said as he handed the ring back, along with the shoes, headphones, and gloves, "I'll work alone from here, and continue to search for anyone who may have escaped. Would you return these to Alhaitham for me?"

Lumine shook her head, "I can help, too."

"There's no need. I would rather you were watching over Alhaitham's home. Ensure they remain safe."

At first, Lumine was ready to argue with him. She needed to make sure it was well, and truly done, but the look in Cyno's eyes had her simply nodding. She was fairly certain that she'd gotten everyone. Cyno only needed to round up those left alive, who Lumine had thoroughly tied up, and were accounted for, and start interrogating them. This was something that he could easily handle himself.

Once they were back out in the open, Paimon sighed a breath of relief.

"Are you okay?"

Paimon put a hand to her forehead, "Paimon is glad to be out of there. Seeing Alhaitham like that… He's kind of an arrogant jerk and all, but he didn't deserve that!"

Lumine nodded, "I agree, but I still believe he was being targeted. People can be cruel. I doubt Alhaitham could have done anything so bad as to deserve this, but other people's tunnel vision can be dangerous. He'll be okay, Paimon." She let Paimon settle on her shoulder, "Let's go see how he's doing, hm?"

~xxxxxxxxxx~

By the time they arrived back at Alhaitham and Kaveh's home, the silver haired man and architect were both asleep on the divan. Kaveh was tucked in close to Alhaitham's side, while Alhaitham tried to cling onto him in his sleep. She wasn't sure what it was that kept making the scribe panic, but even with the way he held Kaveh's arm as tight as he could, he still seemed far more calm than he had before.

Lumine had definitely never thought panic was an emotion she'd ever see from the straight-faced, silver-haired man. He tended to keep his emotions carefully in-check. Kaveh had told her once that Alhaitham did have emotions, but that he just kept them well hidden. It was true. The scribe was an extremely difficult person to get a read on, and he liked it that way.

She realized it was somewhat the same with Xiao. He was quiet, and he didn't like experiencing his emotions, for the most part. Zhongli had told her that he'd never seen Xiao react in the same way the Yaksha did with her, and the ex Archon seemed to genuinely enjoy seeing Xiao's happiness.

Tighnari came from the kitchen, drying his hands. He looked tired, but she knew all too well how having an injured friend could drain you. Truthfully, she was feeling it too, and Paimon had long since fallen asleep, curled up on Lumine's shoulder like a little floating cat. She had no idea how the fairy stayed up there like that, but thankfully, she was also easy to transfer to a better spot.

"How is he?" she asked quietly as she laid Paimon on one of the divans.

The Forest Ranger sat on the unoccupied divan, and motioned for Lumine to sit. He didn't speak straight away, gathering his thoughts to put into words.

"Many of his injuries are quite methodical, and very precise in the pain they were trying to inflict. Beating, cutting, stabbing, burning, bone breaking. He also has many random injuries from where he'd obviously been dragged, and shackled. There are also some odd burns here and there. Strangely… fireworks, if I had to guess." Tighnari took a deep breath before he continued, "Then there's the bruising. Along his arms, legs, and torso are spots where they must have used things like pipes to hit in the same spots repeatedly. The most notable bruises are on his kidneys, and right next to his heart. While they must have spent some time randomly punching, even breaking some ribs in the process, they aimed for a spot right between his heart and left lung. I'd say they were aiming for his heart and missed. Listening to his heart, I think it's fine, but he definitely needs extra testing. His left lung sounds pretty rough. I haven't seen any signs of internal bleeding, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. Again, he needs more tests than a stethoscope, and a botanist."

That was a lot. Alhaitham had been tortured, and likely just for fun. Lumine wondered how that would change someone like him. She had seen the results of Diluc's experiences, but they were completely different people. Diluc internalized it until he was physically unable to, and it wasn't unusual for him to work himself sick, be it with the wine industry, or late night heroism.

"Maybe when he wakes again he'll be more calm, and let us take him."

Tighnari nodded slowly, "Until then, if he seems to get worse, we'll have no choice but to get him to the hospital, somehow. He's so stubborn about going to Bimarstan, I'm not sure how he's still alive. You'd think someone so logical would treat illnesses and injuries, instead of acting like they don't exist."

Alhaitham groaned weakly, started struggling slightly, and started mumbling "No". Tighnari cringed when he realized what he said, and went over to his friend.

"He's still asleep," he said tiredly.

Lumine stood, and pulled Tighnari to where she had just been sitting, "You should sleep, too. While you can. I'm sure you'll know if anything changes."

Tighnari sat with a huff, then laid across the seat, "I guess it's not the worst idea…"

Lumine laughed to herself when the Valuka Shuna was out in seconds. It had been a very tiring day, and a few days for Paimon and herself. She knew it was irresponsible not to sleep at this point, but she couldn't get the image of Alhaitham hanging like that out of her head. It would go away with time, but for now, she just needed to occupy herself.

Making her way to the kitchen, she started preparing some soup for everyone.

Chapter Three

There was a very large advantage to Cyno's position as the General Mahamatra. Anyone who had simply heard of him, feared him. It was fair to do so, he had no qualms about taking down those doing harm to others.

This fear had its own advantages, along with the serious demeanor he kept up, interrogations usually went very easy. One look from Cyno, perhaps a small display of power for the tougher ones, and they would tell him what he needed for fear of losing their lives to the cold General.

The men Lumine had left alive were very easy to get information out of. They were nothing more than thugs who wanted to take out their aggression on someone Vision holders after messing with the wrong person, and losing one of their own. Ultimately, they were looking for someone to blame for their woes, and poor life choices.

Alhaitham had simply been the first victim they had gotten their hands on. Considering who he was, they were all the more happy to prolong his pain. They had been smart enough to bring the entirety of their group into their surprise attack on the Traveler, and scribe, otherwise they never would have succeeded. Both were formidable fighters who could easily hold their own.

Lumine hadn't taken kindly to what they had done, and took care of the problem herself. If she had gone back for help, Alhaitham would have likely been dead by the time they found him. In a way, it was lucky that they had decided to play with their victim first. It probably saved the scribe's life.

He hoped it saved his life. Cyno was willing to admit that the sight of the room Lumine had removed Alhaitham from painted a vivid picture of what had happened, and he had to restrain his anger before he were to do something regrettable.

Because of his restraint, questioning the perpetrators went smoothly. He was able to learn that two of their group seemed to be missing, their leaders, and where they may have tried to escape to. One prisoner had also let him know that they had been using Kaveh's safety against Alhaitham. If they knew about him, then he was in danger.

After securing the living prisoners in their little torture chamber, and having the two Matra he'd brought watch over them, he set out after the last two. One of them was easy to find, terrible at covering their tracks. That paired with the information he'd received from their other prisoners made it simple.

The other was a little better at it, and had seemingly disappeared. Cyno knew better, and his gut feeling told him exactly where she was going to go. When he caught up to her, Cyno wasn't surprised to find that she had already been taken down, but he was fairly surprised who had done so.

Kaveh was standing over her unconscious body, holding his claymore, and looking angrier than Cyno had ever seen him. That was saying something, since it was usually Alhaitham the blonde was dealing with. The moment the Cyno had entered, Kaveh gave him a relieved look, and immediately went back to Alhaitham.

Tighnari and Lumine recovered from their shocked state, and the Tighnari set down the bow he had drawn, and started to check over Alhaitham. Lumine also put away her weapon.

Paimon peeked out from behind the Traveler, and looked down at the unconscious woman, "Whew! Paimon didn't even know Kaveh could move that fast!"

Lumine nodded, "It seems they didn't need our protection at all. Maybe he's secretly up for hire as a bodyguard."

Kaveh finding work as a bodyguard. Now that would be an interesting career change for his architect friend. Cyno realized the scribe was mumbling something, and Kaveh was quietly talking back as he changed a washcloth across his forehead. As Cyno secured the last of their prisoners, he took a moment to have a look at Alhaitham.

He couldn't recall ever seeing him in quite that rough of shape. Lumine had mentioned that the scribe had a poor reaction to mention of the hospital. For some reason, if Alhaitham had any say in whether he went to Bimarstan, or not, he'd choose not. The silver haired scholar wasn't usually the type to have irrational fears, but Cyno supposed everyone had something they were afraid of.

He called for the closest guards, and left his friends. He'd have to check up on them later. For now, justice had to be taken care of.

Chapter Four

"Unfortunately, his fever is spiking. It's the deeper wounds, his side, arm, and… where they stabbed him in the leg," Tighnari said, his ears laying almost flat, "We waited too long to bring him here. I should have just sedated him, and we'd have gotten him treatment much faster!"

Kaveh shook his head, "You said you wanted to make sure they didn't give him anything serious that might have a reaction. That's not a bad precaution, and any other time we tried he hurt himself panicking, Tighnari. This isn't your fault."

"He's right, Nari. He was doomed to this no matter what. That place was filthy, including every one of the items they used on him. There's nothing you could have done," Cyno added.

Tighnari had been blaming himself for Alhaitham's fever for two days. They had done everything they could to clean the wounds, but he'd already had a fever when he got to their home. Nothing about this was Tighnari's fault, but he understood feeling helpless against a situation, and that was what the Valuka Shuna was currently fighting.

"It's because we got him here that it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. Also, he… he's tough, and has more books to read, so he'll be fine!"

Honestly, Kaveh wasn't really convinced of that himself. It really seemed like Alhaitham was having to fight this way too hard, but his body was weak, and needed extra time, and help to heal. It would be a slow process, Kaveh already knew that, but knowing didn't help quell the anxiety.

Tighnari didn't respond after that, but went about changing bandages, blankets, and IV bags. He'd told Kaveh that they were giving Alhaitham antibiotics, and lots of fluids. At one point they thought they could get him to eat some watery soup, but he hadn't been interested in eating, or drinking. He just mumbled something about feeling sick, and went back to sleep.

At this stage, the bruises looked horrible. The bruise next to Alhaitham's heart had been checked with imaging, and they found his lung to be bruised. That was where the difficulty breathing was coming from. While it was still pretty bad, Kaveh was grateful that his heart seemed okay. Alhaitham's lung was expected to heal completely.

Alhaitham had been in and out of consciousness since they'd gotten him to the hospital, but mostly out, and most of what he said didn't make any sense. It was just random, incoherent babbling, which Kaveh knew the scribe tended to do on the rare occasions he had a fever. It would actually be somewhat amusing, were it not for the cause.

On the third day, Alhaitham showed great improvement. He was still far from his usual sarcastic, argumentative, know-it-all self, but he was awake, and somewhat aware, if not a little sluggish. At first, he had trouble staying awake for very long, but that had also improved somewhat by the end of the day.

Cyno had stopped back by, happy to see Alhaitham awake, and the scribe had given him his account of the events, as best he could. When Tighnari, and Cyno left for food, Kaveh thought Alhaitham would settle back into sleep, but instead found himself being stared at by tired teal and gold eyes.

"What?" Kaveh asked as he smoothed out Alhaitham's blanket.

The scribe caught his hand in his own, "You're beautiful."

Kaveh blushed, "Y-you can't just say things like that!"

"What's there to be embarrassed about? No one else is here."

Alhaitham pulled Kaveh closer, and buried his face in his chest the best he could reach, and inhaled as deeply as he could without starting a coughing fit.

"H-hey, don't do that! I haven't showered in a few days!"

Kaveh tried to push him back, just enough to get the scribe to stop smelling him, but Alhaitham clung on tighter.

"Stop. I need it," Alhaitham said quietly.

Kaveh stopped immediately. That was so very unlike Alhaitham, and that worried Kaveh. Had they done something else to him while he was there? Kaveh was glad he wasn't back to being afraid to touch him, but something was different.

He gently wrapped his hands over Alhaitham's tense back, "Okay-" he paused, wanting to ask but worried it would further upset the man already clinging to him, but he couldn't help if he didn't find out, "Would you tell me what's bothering you?"

At first, Alhaitham stayed quiet, and Kaveh wasn't willing to push him, but eventually, the scribe spoke again.

"I was worried."

Worried? That made sense, "Well of course you were. You were being held against your will, hurt, and had no escape-"

"No. You misunderstand. I was worried about you, that they would do the same to you."

Oh. He knew he had the privilege of seeing something that no one else got to, an array of emotions that Alhaitham expressed openly only around him, happiness, contentment, anger, confusion, pleasure, and lust. Although he'd seen it several times before, worry wasn't usually in that line up.

"They can't do anything to me now. You and I are both safe, Alhaitham."

"..." Alhaitham's grip tightened on Kaveh's shirt, "I know. Just let me stay here for a while?

How could Kaveh ever deny a request like that? If Alhaitham was being clingy, there was a reason. It took a lot to get the scribe to that level of neediness, and if that was the frame of mind Alhaitham was in, clinging onto him as if he would disappear, then Kaveh would always be there to help.

Kaveh wasn't sure how he'd managed it, but Alhaitham fell asleep like that. It had to be pulling on his broken ribs, bruises, and cuts. As much as Kaveh wanted to just hang onto him, Alhaitham's body needed proper rest, and relaxation, this wouldn't do.

After a few minutes of struggling, Kaveh realized he wasn't going to escape from Alhaitham's grip so easily. Beaten up and lame muscled as he may be, he held onto Kaveh tightly, and wouldn't let go, even in sleep.

Thankfully, it was only a few minutes more when Tighnari came to check up on how his friend was faring.

"Help?" Kaveh asked pitifully.

Tighnari laughed, but worked on slowly getting Kaveh free. As they finally got Alhaitham to let go, and laid back into a comfortable position, they both stopped in their tracks when the scribe whined at the loss. Kaveh took Alhaitham's hand while Tighnari looked at his wounds.

"Just let me finish, and we can move him over a bit to make room for you."

"Really? Will that be okay? What if I hurt him?! Our couches are so much bigger than this bed…"

The last thing Alhaitham needed was to be hurt worse, or have his injuries aggravated.

Tighnari gently laid a hand on Kaveh's arm, "It's okay. You won't hurt him, this would be helping him. It'll stop him from twisting like he was, and help him rest more soundly."

Kaveh nodded, and watched as Tighnari finished checking everything out. Together, they maneuvered Alhaitham to one side, the man was out cold, thankfully. He carefully laid down on his side, and gently laid his arm along Alhaitham's, so his hand was resting on the scribe's shoulder, close to the scribe's face.

It was only once he was situated that Kaveh realized how tired he was, and closed his eyes.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Tighnari watched over his friends as they slept. Kaveh had fallen asleep within seconds, which wasn't surprising, considering the blonde had hardly slept in the past several days. He'd learned long ago not to bother arguing with Kaveh about it, but instead gently push him into doing what was best for himself. It didn't always work out, like when the blonde was headed for a major breakdown, but it certainly had this time.

Alhaitham looked more at ease. His body had been tense, his breathing slightly uneven, and his brows furrowed. Tighnari always found it interesting, for two people who fought so much, how much they needed each other. Neither of them was complete without the other.

He covered the two with a blanket, and sat in a nearby chair.

Chapter Five

Alhaitham was relieved that his stay at the hospital was fairly brief. Although he supposed it only seemed that way to him. He had been there for a little over a week, but he didn't remember the first several days.

He was sore, but just being home felt great. Alhaitham had his books, his coffee, and a hot blonde looking after him. He'd started calling him "Nurse Kaveh", just to watch the beautiful architect's face turn red. It was worth whatever punishment Kaveh would dish out later, even if it was watery coffee.

As per usual when one of them was injured, their friends had been in and out.

For now, they couldn't do other things, so he'd tried to rile up the blonde on several occasions. It hadn't worked a single bit. Kaveh wouldn't argue with him at all, and Alhaitham was bored. Because of this, if he wasn't up attempting to walk around, he found himself dozing off while reading.

He'd still had a few bad dreams, but they had begun to ebb away. Surprisingly, this incident hadn't had all that many lasting effects on him mentally. It turned out that the really good dreams had caused more issues, due to his current physical limitations. Heavy breathing did not agree with bruised lungs and broken ribs.

Now, Kaveh was talking to him while he tried to ignore the various pains in his chest, and catch his breath. In the dim light of the lamp that had been left on, Alhaitham could see the worry on the blonde's face. If he could just get a word out…

"… 'm fine," he coughed.

"You are not! You're choking to death! Your lung has collapsed – or you might be having a heart attack! That bruising is really close to your heart-"

"K-Kaveh… I'm fine. It was just a dream."

Kaveh stopped, and his face turned from panic to sympathy, "Oh, Haitham, I'm so sorry. Come here, it'll be okay."

"It… wasn't a nightmare."

The blonde paused, and crimson eyes traveled lower along Alhaitham's body, "Oh. I- uh. Alhaitham, we can't…"

Alhaitham laughed, "I know. Let's just go back to sleep."

Alhaitham pulled Kaveh close, and wrapped his arms around him. It pinched, but it felt so good, and warm. He sunk into the feeling, and basking in the light of his Sun, he fell asleep.

Alhaitham's Point of View

Alhaitham watched Lumine go over the edge, and was thankful to hear the splash as he turned back to their attackers. Paimon gave another squeak as she realized what happened, and dodged a swing. Throwing the Traveler over the edge wasn't optimal, but he knew the river was deep enough just below them, and now she would be safe.

"Paimon, go after her!"

The floating fairy hesitated, and was nearly cut through by a sword aimed at her head. Alhaitham blinked between her and the sword, and brought his own weapon up to partially block the strike, but it still painfully sliced into his arm. With a sudden hard strike to his face, the blade was wrenched free as his body spun with the force of being punched.

Happily, the last thing he saw was the little fairy's white hair, and golden halo disappearing over the edge.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Alhaitham became aware of the tension in his arms as they took his entire weight. His wrists hurt, and his hands were numb. Having not even opened his eyes yet, he clumsily tried to get his feet under himself to try to relieve his wrists, and failed miserably. Instead, whoever had detained him was alerted to his return to consciousness.

He still couldn't quite find the energy to open his eyes, but he could hear the footsteps drawing near.

"You know," said a woman's voice, "When I put out that commission, I figured that traveler would take it, and get some help, but getting you? That was far more than I ever could have hoped for as our first! And to have the great ex Acting Grand Sage himself at our mercy, that's fantastic."

"What do you want?" Alhaitham rasped.

The woman was quiet for a moment, walking circles around him. He was finally able to get his eyes open. There were several people around him, all looking like they'd love nothing more than to tear him to pieces. The person who had been talking to him looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen her before.

"Vision users. You're all the same, thinking you are better than everyone else. You all act as though you rule the world, as if you own us. It's because of you that we lost Yerzin! You had no right!"

Who was Yerzin? The name bounced around in his memory. He'd seen it before, on a wanted criminal report that had come across his desk, along with a woman who looked just like the one who was accusing him of taking someone from her. Hylina was her name, if he recalled.

A nasty smile spread across her face, "Every one of you are going to pay. One at a time, you'll all suffer!"

Alhaitham knew he should have been expecting the incoming fist, but he'd admit his mind wasn't exactly functioning fully. He was hit in the chest, right over his heart, making it feel like it skipped a beat in his chest.

He wheezed, and coughed painfully as the shackles around his wrists dug in. Before he could catch his breath, another hit came, this one harder, and from a larger fist. Then another, and another, all on about the same spot.

While it might have only been a short time, it felt like this went on for hours, then they switched it up. They gave Alhaitham just enough time to start breathing again before hard metal hit his side. The cracking sound was loud enough for the room to hear, and those around him began laughing. He hadn't realized the sound of breaking ribs was so amusing.

They began to punch him again, anywhere they could reach, in the ribs, arms, and face. After one of them hit him in the groin, and he became unresponsive, they stopped. Some time had passed, and the pain had begun to become slightly bearable, though Alhaitham was still beyond dazed.

He could feel warm liquid dripping slowly down his arms, and face. Even though he wasn't trying to use them in any way, every muscle in his body was shaking, exhausted from being tenderized. His head fell forward, chin resting on his chest, and he fell in and out of consciousness.

Slowly, Alhaitham became aware of the tapping sound of shoes circling him again. When he didn't react to their closeness quickly enough, two fingers were grabbed, and crushed while being yanked backwards. He could feel them crunch, and let out a small sob. A laugh sounded nearby, and an order was given.

"Drop 'im!"

With that, a loud clank echoed through the room, and he gracelessly fell to the floor, unable to catch himself. Heavy footsteps came near this time, and the chain connected to his shackles was picked up.

"Hey, Scribe. Wanna run laps with Gimmel?" the woman's voice mocked.

Were he given a chance to answer, it would have been a resounding "No.", but as it were, he immediately found himself being dragged along the floor. The man pulling him, Gimmel, apparently, ran around the edge of the room in circles, pulling Alhaitham across the gravelly floor by the chain. He could feel small, sharp rocks embedding themselves into his skin.

Alhaitham squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to think of something else. However, the incredibly loud bang next to his head had him opening his eyes on instinct. Standing in the middle of the room was a few of the people who had surrounded him before, but now sparks glimmered in their eyes. Literally. They had started to throw firecrackers at him, holding them for as long as they could before throwing them as close to him as possible.

Some missed, some hit close-by, and he could feel the sparks burn his skin. Worst of all, several hit him straight on. Unable to do anything else, Alhaitham tried to kick one foot against the floor, and turn himself on his side. It took a few tries, but he managed to turn his back to the fireworks, and bend his leg enough to keep himself that way. Thankfully, they became bored again shortly after that.

He had hoped they would just leave him on the floor, but there was no such luck. The chain was reattached to the pulley, and he was hauled back up. Alhaitham closed his eyes again as the chains pulled on his raw, burning wrists. When it stopped, where his toes just barely reached the floor, there was a hot breath right in his face.

"You hurt my back, Scribe," a deep voice said, presumably of Gimmel, "Can't quite help but hurt people, can you? You disgusting piece of crap. That's what you "Blessed" Vision users are."

Alhaitham knew he had been cut before his brain registered the pain. He hissed, and made a small sound that his tormentors thought was amusing. They continued to cut, deep, and shallow. He could feel the blood moving slowly down his body, and gather on the floor beneath him, the slippery fluid getting caught between his toes as they slid through the liquid when he involuntarily moved with each new cut.

These people were standing so close to him now, caught up in their activities. Alhaitham gathered what little strength he could, grabbed a hold of the chains, and pulled himself up. It was just enough for him to get his legs wrapped around the neck of the closest attacker. The man dropped his knife in surprise.

Alhaitham didn't have a lot of energy left, and he knew this little attack of his was pointless, but he poured what he could into squeezing the man's windpipe. The man panicked, and tried to desperately pull the scribe's legs away from himself, but Alhaitham wasn't willing to let go.

Seemingly, for a moment, the man's friends looked befuddled, and stood still while their friend choked. Then, the woman Alhaitham had labeled as their leader pulled her own knife, and stabbed it into Alhaitham's thigh. The knife sunk in three times before he couldn't keep a hold of the person anymore, and they fell to the ground, gasping for air.

At first, the wound was just a pressure that caused his muscles to ache, then came the burning, and pain. Blood leaked down his trembling thigh, and his breathing came in short bursts, more pain weaving itself through his entire chest.

When they started hitting again, they aimed purely for his face this time.

The room spun, then it went dark.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

When he came to, Alhaitham was very disappointed to find he was still hanging by his arms, and still in a large amount of pain. It also didn't take his captors long to realize that he had once again joined the land of the waking.

It also didn't take long for the people to get to work. Apparently, they hadn't had their fill of cutting him. Everyone, get in line. Take your slice out of the Scribe's skin, and return to the back of the line for another turn! Alhaitham grit his teeth against each new mark.

He wasn't sure where the circus announcer in his head was coming from. Blood loss? It was hard to say when you'd lost your ability to think about it.

"Haha, why are you so quiet, Scribe? Do you think you're so brave?"

Alhaitham bit into his lip as they added another cut to the multitude of others that had begun to accumulate over his body. He was not brave, he wanted to scream, and cry, to add to the tears that were already searing down his face. He wanted, no, needed Kaveh.

"Aw, don't you want to talk to us? We're just having a nice conversation here!"

It was getting more difficult by the moment to open his eyes, but he could see the woman twirl the knife in her hands. Alhaitham couldn't help but think Cyno would never have passed up that joke opportunity, and he deliriously choked on a small laugh as he pictured Cyno saying "knife conversation". A growl was his only warning before another cut parted his skin, and he bit back another cry.

"Maybe we should get some new blood in here, you've gotten boring, Scribe. Hmm, I was thinking… the Light of Kshahrewar. I bet he'd scream real pretty! Everyone with a Vision will be taken down!"

Alhaitham scrambled at that, unable to think before he responded, "L-leave… him. G-good person. He won't… hurt…" he feebly pleaded with the woman, who simply laughed.

The woman put on a mock pout, and roughly grabbed Alhaitham's jaw with one hand, "Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head. You won't live to see the day that pretty boy dies, Scribe," she breathed into his face, and suddenly changed the subject, "Oh, right! There's something else I've just been dying to try!

"Hey! I wanted to use it first! You've been going at him forever, it's my turn!"

As the thugs fought over who got to hurt him next, his eyes involuntarily shut, and his head slumped against his chest. A sharp slap on the cheek brought him back to reality, and he slowly slid open his swollen eyes as much as he could.

The woman stood in front of him, proudly holding a small canister with a purple flame coming out of one end. The smile on her face told him everything he needed to know what was coming, but he had no strength left to brace himself against it. His muscles had long since given out.

Alhaitham tried his best to suck in his stomach as she brought the flame to his side, and failed. She slowly dragged it across in a line. He couldn't stop the scream that escaped, and the woman did it again, then again, enjoying the same reaction each time. At this point, Alhaitham couldn't even understand what he was hearing, all he knew was that the burning had suddenly stopped.

It was someone else's turn to scream. He could hear it happening, but he couldn't think of what it was, and what it meant. All he knew was the short reprieve from the pain. To him, those few moments of not being hurt felt like an eternity.

When someone new called his name softly from right next to him, he jerked away, and cried out at the motion. There was a squeak from a short distance away, one that he knew. Paimon was there, that meant the other voice was probably Lumine. His shoulders relaxed as much as they could in that position, and the world went dark once more.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

After he'd managed consciousness again, it took him a while to realize that he was being carried. No, that wasn't quite right, he was slowly, and weakly walking next to someone, his arm pulled over their short shoulders. Despite the height difference, the person was taking most of his weight.

Alhaitham wanted to stop walking, but his body kept pushing forward, one step at a time. He couldn't get his eyes open, so he had no idea where he was, or who he was with. Although, he seemed to remember something about Lumine and Paimon.

Whoever it was, they noticed he was at least half awake.

"Alhaitham!" they said in a hushed voice, one that he now knew did in fact belong to the traveler, "I've got you. We're headed for Bimarstan, but it's still far – Hey, what are you doing?!"

He couldn't go there, he needed Kaveh. He needed to go home, where it was safe. Alhaitham, weakly fought against the person holding him up, and stumbled to the ground. Kaveh. Home. Kaveh. Home. Kaveh. Home.

Those were the only things on his mind as he slowly lost awareness again.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

He knew Kaveh's voice, and he could hear it right there next to him. He had his Kaveh back.

Most of what was being said was just garbled nonsense to him, except for scary words like Bimarstan. The logical part of his brain that tried to make an appearance told him that this was where he needed to go. The rest of his brain told him that was too scary, and to panic. That was the one Alhaitham listened to.

He didn't want to go to the hospital, he didn't need it. He needed Kaveh, and he had Kaveh here, so why go elsewhere? It didn't even make any sense. After he fell, Kaveh asked him if he could make it a few more steps. It seemed impossible, but he'd do anything his love asked, so he tried his best.

Alhaitham could feel the softness of a cushion behind him, and practically melted into its comfort. He listened to Kaveh talk, but he didn't say anything back, hoping that the blonde wouldn't stop, just so he could hear his voice.

At some point, cool air hit his chest, and he could feel the material of his shirt being pulled away from his skin. Where the blood had dried the material to his chest hurt each time it was slowly pulled away, as well as where it was burnt to his skin, but he didn't have the energy to put a stop to it.

However, when he felt something brush painfully against his bruised chest, panic flooded him. It was them. They were back to hurting him, not having had their fill yet. Alhaitham couldn't take anymore.

He weakly begged them to stop it, but they never did, and when he heard Kaveh's voice, he panicked even more, a surge of fear at them doing this to Kaveh as well. The blonde's voice was calm in return, promising he was fine, that they were safe, and that they were home.

He phased in and out of sleep, and semi-awareness. The pain in his side suddenly flared, and surprised him. He sucked in a breath, and that hurt more. He heard conversations around himself with the added voice of whom he thought might be Tighnari. His body hurt, and he couldn't breathe, so he tried to focus on the comforting sound of his friend, and love instead.

One of the times he was mildly aware, Alhaitham could feel a chill seeping through his bones. He wanted Kaveh's warmth, certain that would put a stop to the cold, but the blonde only held his hand, and spoke to Tighnari. Just knowing Kaveh was there helped him relax, but he couldn't stop shivering, and it hurt.

Voices faded into the background, but he could still feel Kaveh's touch, as well as Tighnari tending to him. Alhaitham floated in a state of unawareness for what could have been a lifetime. Kaveh's hand never left his, and he could feel the other hand softly running through his hair. His body felt so weak, and a voice in the back of his head told him it was because he needed to go to the hospital. Likely correct that voice may have been, but Alhaitham didn't see what he could do about it.

He drifted further into nothing, letting the dark take over again.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Alhaitham slowly became aware that he was, in fact, not dead. It hurt. He could hear voices, but they were fuzzy. It was safe to assume it was his attackers, probably trying to figure out what they should do to him next.

Eventually, he realized he was no longer strung up, but laying down. It was soft, and there was something warm next to him, which was nice, since he was freezing. The voices became more clear, and he could have cried when he recognized them.

He had tried so hard to keep Kaveh out of this, but here he was. Tighnari's voice made an appearance, too, arguing with one of the voices he'd come to know too well over the past… had it been days, or weeks? Alhaitham had lost track of time, but they must have finally become bored with hurting him, and went after others.

The warmth beside him disappeared, and he tried to reach for it, not wanting the loss, but his arms wouldn't work, and just lightly flailed before falling back to his sides. Kaveh's voice was loud, he was yelling. Alhaitham wished he could open his eyes, or move, or anything at all.

He could hear the warning in Tighnari and Lumine's voices, a woman's scream, and a thud. Someone had hit the floor, and he found himself struggling to get up again.

"Kaveh…"

It came out as barely a whisper, so he kept repeating it as his body failed to move, as he failed to help. Kaveh. Kaveh. Kaveh… Kaveh.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm right here, Haitham!"

"… H-hurt?"

"No, no, no… I'm not hurt. Don't worry!

Kaveh's hands touched his cheeks, and he felt something lifted from his forehead, only to be replaced with something cold, and wet. It felt good, but sent a chill through his body at the same time.

"Alhaitham, we really need to take you to the hospital," Kaveh whispered.

He didn't want to go to Bimarstan, "I'm f-fine…" It was just a few bruises, and a chill, nothing he couldn't handle.

Kaveh sighed, "You have broken bones, stab wounds, terrible bruises that need checked, you need stitches, and are running a fever. You can hardly even breathe right. I'm sorry, Haitham. You are not fine."

Alhaitham felt Kaveh's hand grab his own, and a hand on his cheek again. He did his best to lean into the touch.

"At least he didn't panic this time!" Paimon exclaimed from somewhere far too close for his sensitive ears.

He involuntarily jerked away, and cried out at the fresh wave of pain that shot through his body like daggers. For a while, it felt like he was sinking into darkness, until he felt himself being lifted. He reached out a hand, unconsciously looking for comfort, and a familiar hand slid into his own.

Alhaitham could hear Kaveh's voice, as well as his other friends, and some voices he didn't know, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. His body hurt, and he was cold. He knew he was falling in and out of consciousness, aware one moment, then nothing the next, only to suddenly become aware again.

Sometimes, panic rose in him, and he just knew he was going to wake to being stabbed, or burned, but the sound of Kaveh's voice, and the feel of his hands would soothe him. When he was slightly more aware, he made an attempt to open his eyes, but it felt like they were glued shut. He was only able to open one enough to see his own eyelashes, and a white blob that he had come to identify as Kaveh.

Occasionally they tried to get him to drink. He was trying, but none of it was sitting right. He hadn't vomited yet, but the nausea kept an ever-present feeling that it would happen at any moment.

When Alhaitham was awake, it all felt like far too much to handle. However, when he was asleep, he was hanging by the chain he'd desperately tried to grasp onto, not just to take some of his weight off his wrists, but also in hopes he'd stop digging his fingernails into his palms. That hadn't worked well.

Now, he just felt miserable. The pain was always there, it was hard to move at all, he was so cold, and he couldn't even see Kaveh. He tried, and tried to pry his eyes open, but they hurt every time he tried.

He knew that everything would be so much better if he could just see Kaveh.