“You won’t be able to stop them… They didn’t even stop him… He’s out there…he’s out there, I know he is…” Ender sobbed mournfully, the Gorgon now clinging to the arms he had around him.
Cyrus remained quiet, and avoiding Killian’s eyes as he gathered Ender more firmly to him, he rested against the headboard with the Gorgon. The Siren was just as quiet as he laid down and cuddled against the snake. He wasn’t sure if he was avoiding meeting Killian’s gaze because he was unsure what the Siren would see, or because he knew exactly what he would.
Murderous—Cyrus felt murderous at the idea that Halus Grimm was still alive. But how could he be?! Had his family really done nothing to punish the bastard for what he did?! For the many thousands of deaths he had willingly orchestrated?!
Killian probably wasn’t questioning him still being alive, but then, most believed that Fates couldn’t die. He wasn’t most, and while there was some truth to the matter, the fact was, he knew something most didn’t, something that even most Fates didn’t know. That death could come in different forms, including for Fates. And even if it was the only thing he could really do for Ender, Cyrus would make sure Halus Grimm never touched or hurt the Gorgon or anyone else ever again.
Backing out of the room, with Cyrus behind him, Killian slowly closed the door of their bedroom as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Ender up. It was still early, just past 6am. That the Gorgon wasn’t already awake told him how exhausted the man had been last night.
“How are we even supposed to…handle that? He…” Killian trailed off on a sigh, before looking to Cyrus, frowning on noticing how clenched the man’s jaw was, the Fate obviously grinding his fangs again. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live… I just…” Cyrus roughly rubbed his face. “There are just a lot of things going through my head. You know…after I killed those people, he told me… ‘Welcome to the other side of the law’, and I guess, he’s not wrong.”
“I’m sorry, Cyrus.”
“For what?”
“For not realizing earlier how hard this was for you.”
A small but tense smile slipped onto the Fate’s face. “It’s fine. And really, I don’t matter right now. We need to figure out how to handle whatever that was, so he doesn’t end up hurting himself.”
“That would be you cornering him and triggering him to tailspin into the deep depths of his paranoid fucked-up brain,” Soren drawled from behind them.
Killian glanced back at the Harpy, glaring. “Moonlighting as a spy now, are you?”
“No, I just happened to be in the hall, and I know him well enough, and how he reacts to being called out on his bullshit. I will say, before you really start to worry about it, or even think about taking those babies from him, he’s not usually this stubborn or bad. The pregnancy is just making everything worse.”
“We wouldn’t!” Killian snapped, his words echoed by Cyrus.
“I know, but some may think he would end up harming the babies, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t ever harm children, no matter what mental state he is in.” The Harpy sighed. “I can’t tell you his story, that you’ll have to hear from him. But I will say, he was happy when he found out he was pregnant. He even let slip that he’d tried before, but gave up after a few years of it not working out. He wants those babies badly.
“As strong as he pretends to be, and as much as he tries to claim he died back then, with our family and all our friends, he didn’t. He is just a sad, lonely man who was badly hurt, and therefore, keeps hiding away so he isn’t hurt further. It is, however, best to not corner him further the moment you see his hackles start to rise up. I'm not saying to let him get away with shit, but at least, while he’s still pregnant, caution is best.Good luck.” With that said, the man walked past them and disappeared down the stairs.
They were quiet for a moment before they both sighed heavily.
Cyrus leaned back,the grass feeling nice under his hands as he eyed the chickens clucking and pecking at the ground around him, many of them seeming to glare anytime they looked his way.
He and Killian were alone in the coop room, but then, the birds were menaces, and aside from them, only Ender, Quill, and Zenny seemed to willingly go into the area.
“They don’t glare at you,” Cyrus noted.
“I don’t yell at them.”
He snorted when Killian hugged one of the chickens, who seemed to be looking up lovingly at him, before hesitantly saying, “Killian…I’m not sure I can do this.”
The Siren frowned. “Fatherhood?”
Well, part of him wanted to say yes, because what the fuck did he know about being a parent? It wasn’t as if his had been that great. Relatively speaking, they were good in that his financial needs were always met, and they never hit him, it was just everything else. But that wasn’t what he’d been talking about, so…
“No, live in Ender’s world. I don’t think I have it in me to commit crime after crime. I—” He swallowed hard. “—I feel sick to my stomach after what I did. Shaky even. It feels wrong to me.”
“Do you regret it?’
“No, that’s the fucked up part. I don’t. I hate that I did it, that I had to do it, but I know that if I was in the same situation, I’d do it again. I don’t know how many more times I would be able to though.” Cyrus rubbed his face with a groan. “I just don’t know.”
“Then you won’t do it again, or commit any more crimes. At least, not any more violent ones.”
“But then, what do I do? Nothing?”
