After that discussion[1], life at the manor had returned.
Not instantly, obviously, but it was an improvement compared to before. Sunless had spent a good hour crying alongside Plume and Jeanne. Shedding tears for past sacrifices and mourning what could have been in some other world.
The boy had fallen asleep in their arms, exhausted mostly by the relief of that tension. Like a puppet whose string had been cut after years of performance.
During his sleep, Nephis was told to wait with him in their room. Because a council was about to start, wills and wishes fighting one another. But she had refused the order. Wasn't she allowed to have a say in all that? After all, she had been acting like his shield since the incident.
Was taking care of the aftermath not enough to share her mind about that boy?
The same boy who had helped her with her fear, taking upon himself each night to endure her crisis. The one who had trusted her with part of his past with the braids? Because she was not blind; she just didn't have any other choice at that time. And Nephis had learned early in her life that complaining about a situation she couldn't change would be just more exhausting for both parties.
Trusting the process, that opening herself would help the boy to do the same. And when that happened, she decided to put her loyalty in Sunless.
Because he had shown her how broken he was, how alike they were.
So no, Nephis wouldn't leave a discussion concerning that boy's future. The adult had already proved themselves unable to truly grasp how deep his wounds were. She wasn't doubting their intent, only the execution.
Everyone was there, sharing their thoughts on the Sunless wish.
Of course, the majority wasn't against it. The boy had bonded with everyone over the months, but the main problem was still the same: Wouldn't he be safer far from them?
That was what caused the discussion to be heated.
Because there was a difference between someone's wants and someone's needs.
Two parties were fighting verbally.
Jeanne, Plume, and Nephis were on his side.
Theseus, Dana, and Ashe were against it.
Vincent was also here, of course, but he had decided to be neutral. Telling that he needed time to choose his side, since it would have an impact on the kid. So he had decided to just serve everyone a drink while listening to everyone's take on the situation.
Emotion against Logic.
Words were shared, sometimes overlapping.
It was the first time Nephis had seen the clan acting like that. Generally, everyone was on the same side, with the same goal. Not this time, because the end would differ depending on how this discussion ended.
[Theseus]:"The kid doesn't even understand how much danger he would be in with us."
[Nephis]:"But Teacher, he's already in danger by himself. And you all can't say it isn't the truth."
After a long time, the room had fallen into complete silence. Nephis had never tried to go against Master Theseus. It had been proof of how dedicated she was to her training. To do things because they had to be done.
And now, she was looking at him, matching his gaze without fear.
[Nephis]:"I read his notepad. I know how he feels. And you don't understand that if he trusted us, it was a one-time effort. Placing him with some unknown people to him would only result in more isolation. Isn't that the opposite of what you're asking of him? He's opening himself because it's us. There's not remplacement for us."
[Ashe]:" Nephis, my dear. I'd rather see the boy being alone than dead."
Just like that, tension grew once more and time moved on.
Jeanne had started to be more discreet, sharing that she was checking his vitals. After all, he might wake up at any time now. Debating again and again, searching to prove to the other how wrong they were. But it wasn't the problem, was it? After all, they both were right, but the question wasn't about being right or wrong. It was to know what mattered the most between those two truths.
Maybe…
No, it was a fact.
A fact they couldn't accept.
And yet, not even once had they tried to say that it was someone's fault. They could have, but they didn't.
The cook was serving drinks again when he dared to speak.
[Vincent]:"I'm votin' for it. The kid needs to stay with us."
[Ashe]:" 'Mind telling us why, then?"
[Vincent]:"The kid is too damn weird. Call it special or different, 'don't matter. If we don't take him in, someone else will, and there's no sayin' that they be carin' about his need."
With that said, the majority was now pushing toward granting Sunless' wish.
Because Vincent wasn't wrong at all.
Sunless was a freak of nature on too many factors for it not to matter. Some were explainable, but not all of them. For a kid who had lived for years in fear of being caught, the fact that he could sense when someone was watching him wasn't that surprising.
But what about the fact that he could just bypass Dana's Aspect to be invisible?
That his aura wasn't stable at all?
Or maybe the fact that Ashe's Aspect had bugged with him. How in hell can an Aspect be bugged to begin with?
How can they forget how he simply tanked the drawback during his arrival in this Memory? Sure, he had collapsed later on, but for years, they had maybe seen hundreds of mundane entering one of their Memory and all of them had collapsed while entering.
And you wanted to make them believe that a malnourished boy, whose heart was doing half its job, was able to just endure it for two more hours? For him to hike with them through the path covered with roots, branches, and tall grass?
Of course they had been watching him.
To understand if the problem was with him in particular or if it was just an impact on the new generation caused by remnant energy from Nightmare Gates.
Using Jeanne's network as the chief of the Caretakers to see if it was targeting the orphan in the Outskirts. Ashe had to ask for some favors in the government, while the other had to take note of any abnormality coming from him.
And after months of research, they had concluded that Sunless was the problem.
Calling it a problem wasn't something they wanted to do, but since it wasn't under control yet, they couldn't call it any other way.
A kid who could bypass Aspect was destined to be caught and exploited or experimented on.
Maybe not Ki Song, but Anvil would certainly find him.
He would send an "emissary" to catch the kid, erasing any witnesses, and no one would ever see the boy until he was turned into a perfect weapon or just left without a purpose. The government would find him too, and since they can't argue against the Great Clans, they would be forced to give the kid to them.
So if he couldn't be left with a normal family, nor be entrusted to the government… It left only one place for him to stay: With them.
He was destined to be hunted.
He wouldn't survive alone.
Even if he was trained by them, what could a kid do against the world?
[Jeanne]:" One problem. Persist. He's afraid…. No. Terrified. Of Ashe."
[Nephis]:"Not only that, but he can't even think of the Outskirt without trembling."
[Ashe]:"..."
And how could he not be?
What he had suffered could only be described with one word: Torture.
He had experienced countless times something that humans can normally taste only once. No one in this world would be sane after that. So the fact that he was traumatized wasn't a surprise. Death was something that helped people accept life for what it was. That it was the end after the light.
Luckily for them, it seemed like it was too much for his mind and that he had forgotten most of this accident. But fear remained.
[Plume]:"[There's still a chance for him to remember what happened with Ashe, and if that happens, what would we do?]"
Because even without his memory of …"that", they couldn't ignore how he acted when he woke up. How, after a week in a coma, he woke up like a mad beast. Fighting everything around him. Nephis had been one of the strong variables that helped them move on. Or to at least try.
He was still fighting the remains of that torture in his mind.
Nephis had decided by herself that she would keep an eye on him, helping him the best she could because no one else was able to do so. To the point where he preferred talking to her rather than to anyone else.
She was his strongest support. One who was fighting for him even now because she wanted to. She was the one who had reassured him when he shared his fear of becoming something hunted.
But he already was.
Even if he didn't know about it, the world was about to chase him the moment his abnormality was discovered outside that Memory they were in.
Nephis was giving a judgmental look at her grandmother.
Since Sunless had arrived, she had been lying about everything surrounding him. She couldn't confront Ashe since she knew that she would deny her claims.
She always had been a bit secretive, but never that much.
At this instant, Nephis had accepted the fact that her Gran… That Ashe was maybe acting without Sunless' well-being in mind.
So she had to do it herself.
Still with her brown milk mustache, she thanked Vincent, who was pouring her another glass of hot chocolate.
[Nephis]:" I propose that Grandma teaches Sunless what people learn in school."
[Ashe]:"But Ne-"
[Nephis]:"Let me finish."
The words were sharp, instantaneous.
Taking a sip from her mug, the girl was forcing everyone to shut up.
[Nephis]:"The fact is… even if he's afraid, he needs to face it… To face you. He would force himself to do so if it allows him to stay with us. He also needs general knowledge. Because life is not only about survival. Does he know how to do grocery shopping? How to use common Spelltech? Plume had to teach him how to hold a pencil, for Spell's sake."
Another sip, and her milk moustache grew only wider on her face.
And yet, no one was mocking her for that fact.
The girl was making sure that everyone in here was getting the fact that even if Sunless was a really good learner, he was still lacking. His understanding had been shaped by his need to survive. He might know a lot more things about the Outskirt than all of them combined, but he never truly had the chance to learn more diverse things.
Survival tips from Vincent were for the possibility that he might have to do with almost nothing at hand.
Plume was literally useless if people in front of him hadn't learned ASL themselves.
The only good news was that he was greedy to learn even more. Taking most of his free time in the library, but old books could only take him this far.
[Nephis]:"You were the one who taught me almost everything I know, so I'm sure that you'll be able to teach him too. Oh…I almost forgot, I won't leave him alone with you. Not until he dares to ask me to do otherwise."
She was overprotective right now.
Everyone could see it, but she didn't care.
Because if Sunless had sworn loyalty to them, she, on the other hand, had sworn loyalty to him. A crow never forgets who helped it, and she was no exception.
If no one had spoken since her last statement, it was simply because they all had something else in mind.
This girl had once acted unexpressive and distant with them before the boy's arrival. And she was now baring her teeth at whoever was in her path. She was slowly becoming authoritarian, and it… was starting to be a little scary if she was to keep walking that path.
But it didn't matter if they were a bit afraid.
Because she had one goal, and she would do anything to accomplish it.
Even facing the Old Flames.
[1] I could have stated in the title that it would be an [Other POV]'s chapter. But I felt that [Other POV]'s chapters are optional. You can read the ff without reading them and you wouldn't be too lost.For me, it's a chapter that need to be read for you to understand how the dynamics might change in the future between the cast.