Chapter Text
“Focus your mind’s eye on a vision of the Archetype you need most right now.. Is it a Trickster? A Wise Mentor? Or maybe.. a Mighty Warrior?”
Teacher Cassie watched him expectantly as he focused, a patient smile on her face. She hardly expected the boy to get it on the first try - she wasn’t even sure if he was old enough to have many Archetypes. But she found herself pleasantly surprised when a bright orange outline formed, slowly filling in as a pencil sketched out the Archetype’s form.
The tiny projection popped into the mental world with a flourish, shouting a quick “Yippee!” before turning around and promptly running into the door behind it.
Raz couldn’t help but wince, but the paper boy seemed fine.
“Oh, well. Very good!”
Teacher Cassie, while impressed, wasn’t very surprised. She leant down and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder as the Archetype sprung back up and raced around in a circle.
“You’ll get better with practice.”
Raz didn’t look convinced as he watched his Archetype move around. Something felt.. Eerily familiar about him. Certainly, he was a cutout of himself, drawn with his own art, but still.. Something about how he acted resonated with something that was him, but not.
As if noticing his stare, the paper boy turned around and grinned, poking his tongue out.
“Hello, handsome!”
Faintly, he could register Cassie saying something about commanding his Archetype, but he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he crouched down and tilted his head. The aspect of him copied the motion, still grinning wide. He waved a hand and it followed. He stood up once more and it joined him.
This was.. Weird. Actually, that was an understatement. Staring at this.. Little Him felt wrong. Like it’s something he wasn’t supposed to be able to do. His fingers faintly twitched as he felt them go numb, the mountains of stress beginning to pile up again as the wrongness he felt in his stomach found itself right at the top, like the final snowflake before an avalanche.
The Archetype seemed to sense this and promptly ran up and kicked his creator in the shin.
“OW-”
Raz was shocked into the present, kneeling down to hold his hurting leg.
“What was that for?!”
“Oh my-”
Cassie started, only to be interrupted by Raz’s huffy Archetype.
“C’mon, slowpoke! I already opened the door, let’s go, go, go!!”
The tiny boy grasped Raz’s hand and began tugging him along regardless of his protests. Teacher Cassie simply placed a hand on her hip and waved to the boys, shouting that she’d see them at the end. What a strange little Archetype…
To say that Raz was exhausted was an understatement. These past three days could not have felt longer, and he barely got a wink of sleep between them. Honestly, he was beginning to grow accustomed to the large gaps of time where he would blink and be somewhere entirely new as the effects of the Maligula fight began to wind down. But he had to keep going, at least until everyone was safe and he’d screamed at Ford until he couldn’t breathe right, until he knew just how much it hurt to know his family hated him because of a lie. He wanted to scream and cry and punch something until either it or his hands broke under the pressure.
Again, Raz blinked and now Ford was talking to him. Apologizing, he thinks. His nonna- No, Lucretia joining in. Their voices sound like they’re coming through a filter, all the anger and hurt bubbling up to fill his head with thick, slimy water. His head hurts, it feels like he’s going to explode-
Something snaps. A rope keeping him tied down finally splitting and letting him drift away. Up, up into the space above. It almost feels like Astral Projection as his body acts on its own, going slack for a few moments. He watches Lucretia and Ford pause, the latter reaching out to gently catch the boy.
But he doesn’t fall.
Raz watches from far, far away as his body rights itself, blinking a few times. It looks around, as if taking in its surroundings, before locking eyes with Ford. It stares for a few, long moments, before turning on its heel and walking out of the soaked Heptadome. His friends old and new hover nearby, concerned. Milla and Sasha exchange a glance, Lilli worrying over her father as he continues to get his bearings.
Ford says something, warbled and so, so far away.
His body turns, and his voice is clear in his ears.
“Your apologies mean nothing to me, Ford.”
His voice is cold and flat. He doesn’t sound angry like he should be. He should be screaming and crying and hurting-
‘Shh. Rest now.’
A voice startles him in his daze. Who..? It doesn’t matter. He’s so tired. He just wants to sleep, and something tells him whoever’s controlling his body right now isn’t harmful. They’re just as tired as he is. He should be scared. Perhaps faintly, he is. But the only thing he can think of right now is sleep. So Raz, for once, does as he’s told.
He catches faint hints of conversation - his voice talking to Lilli a short while later to assure her that he’s fine. Talking to Morris about where the Intern dorms are. He vaguely recalls finding a shower, though he doesn’t remember if he got in or not.
His consciousness slowly drifts back to reality as he lies in a bed made just for him. Raz cuddles his pillow sleepily, clenching and unclenching his hands as feeling slowly returns to his fingers. A quiet groan escapes him. With feeling comes the aches that permeate through his body. Vaguely, he can tell there’s a few bruises on his arms and cuts on his legs. His chest hurts a little when he inhales, but shifting his position makes it less noticeable. His head still throbs with each beat of his heart, though his body seems to vastly appreciate some time to rest.
Slowly, Raz’s breaths even out as his heart rate slows. Before he even knows it, he’s sleeping like a log. Somewhere, something within him distantly smiles.