Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

2 years old

Kaveh opened the door and raised his eyebrows at the scene before him.
Cyno stood there, absolutely exhausted, his eyes barely keeping open and his hair a mess.
He had been struggling with balancing looking after his little brother with first-year studies for a few months now, but wow.

"You alright?"

Cyno moved to the side to reveal the toddler terror, and Kaveh smiled at his massive red eyes and white hair that was still wispy and new. How could he not?
Razor looked every bit like a copy of his big brother, even down to the blank expression on his face, just more adorable.

"Please take him. Just for a bit. I need sleep so badly and I've asked Tighnari to babysit too often." Cyno groaned, and Kaveh nodded and picked Razor up.
"Okay! Hiya Razor!"
Razor smiled at him and held onto his shoulder, and his heart melted right then and there.

"Uncle Kaveh is always ready to babysit little mini-Cyno, isn't he? Of course I am! You're just too cute!"
Cyno rolled his eyes and Razor giggled.
"He's been a menace recently. And nobody calls you Uncle Kaveh. I'm going to bed."
He turned and began walking away, and Razor frowned, wiggling out of Kaveh's arms.

"Cyno!"

Cyno turned around and looked down at the kid, who had attached himself to his leg.
He smiled and knelt down to hug him. Razor tried to wrap his tiny arms around his brother.
"Don't go!"
"I'm not gonna be gone long, don't worry. Look, you can play with Kaveh, and I'm sure Alhaitham's in too. I just need some sleep, okay?"
Razor burrowed his face into Cyno's shoulder, and Cyno stroked his hair.
"I'm not disappearing. Time will fly by, promise."
"...P'omise?" He whispered, and his big brother nodded.
"Yep. You can build stuff with Kaveh and get Alhaitham to tell you stories and it's gonna be great, and then I'll be back and we can go home, okay?"
Razor looked up at him, then back at Kaveh and nodded, letting go of him hesitantly.
"...Okay. Bye-bye."
"Bye-bye, Razor. I'll see you later."
He nodded again and ran off to Kaveh, toddling in the way kids do as if they're gonna fall over any second. Cyno stood up straight and waved goodbye.

"Sleep well, Cyno!"
"Be careful he doesn't get hurt or I'll-" He paused his threat, glancing at Razor. "...I'll not be nice."
"Okay! Come on, kid, let's go play."

Cyno waved goodbye again as he trudged away, desperate for sleep, and Kaveh shut the door, holding Razor's hand when he felt him grab for it.
"We're gonna have so much fun! Alhaitham! Someone's come to visit!"
Alhaitham appeared from his room and raised his eyebrows at the suprise child.

"A baby. Why do you have him?"

"Cyno's exhausted, poor guy, so we're looking after this lil' guy for a bit, right, Razor?" Kaveh grinned and nodded at Razor, who nodded too, smiling at Alhaitham and waving a tiny hand.
Alhaitham waved back.

"Okay. I'll go to my study, then. You two have fun."

Razor let go of Kaveh's hand and ran to Alhaitham as he went to go, grabbing onto his leg.
"Razor. I need to go and study. I have lots of work due."
"P'ease play!" Razor shouted, and Alhaitham raised an eyebrow.
Kaveh grinned.
"He said pease, I don't know how you can turn that down."

Cyno knocked on the door. He'd overslept and it was dark now, but he really needed that sleep, and Kaveh didn't seem to mind looking after Razor. It was Razor he was worried about. He had some kind of attachment issues, or anxiety, or something that meant he didn't like being away from him for too long.

He waited a few seconds, and when he didn't get an answer he knocked again.

No response.

He tried the door handle and found it was unlocked.
Jeez, these guys never checked.

He poked his head into the house and his eyes landed on a pile of people on the sofa.
Alhaitham had his arms crossed and had Razor next to him, leaning on his side and snoring, and Kaveh on the other side, his knees curled up.
They were all asleep.

There were building blocks on the floor.
Kaveh liked to say Razor was gonna be an architecture student like him, so Cyno could tell what he'd been encouraging him to do from the two separate piles, Kaveh's neat and structurally sound and Razor's haphazardly stacked, half of it on the floor already.

He looked back at the pile and sighed. He couldn't help but find it kinda cute, though.
Kaveh and Alhaitham barely agreed, and Razor being the thing that made them end up like this was just adorable.

He still didn't approve of the door being left open, but he could lecture them some other time. For now, he carefully approached and lifted Razor off of the sofa, being careful not to wake anyone up.

Alhaitham stirred, but he relaxed again when Cyno stayed still for a moment.
Either way, he slept weird. He looked like he was just sat up with his eyes closed, but he was snoring a bit, so Cyno deemed himself safe and carefully left with Razor, closing the front door.

When the cold air hit him, Razor woke up, rubbing his eyes and finding himself in Cyno's arms.
"Hello, sleepyhead. You can go back to sleep, I'll carry you home."
He mumbled something and leaned his face against his brother's shoulder again, falling back to sleep almost immediately.
Cyno smiled and leaned his head against Razor's, looking up at the stars as he walked.

He decided that nothing could come between them. Nothing, ever. He'd protect his baby brother till his last breath left his lungs, just so he could remember moments like this, when the cold night wind blew and he got to shield him from it. Moments like when he put him to bed and told him about what it's like to be all grown up, and so he could one day witness the future, when Razor himself would make his own friends and go and do whatever in this world he wanted, finally all grown up but still his baby brother.

For that, he'd do anything. He'd sacrifice everything, just for him.

Chapter Text

4 years old

"Cynooo!"
Cyno groaned and walked into the living room of the small house he rented, opening the door to Lisa. She grinned at him, and he glared at her.
"What is it now?"
"I want to come say hi to my little wolf cubs!"
"Don't call me that."
"Okay, my wolf cub. Singular. Where's Razor? Tell him Auntie Lisa's here!"

Razor came barrelling into the room, pushing past Cyno and leaping into Lisa's arms. She hugged him and twirled around, lifting him into the air.
"Auntie Lisa!"
"There you are! I brought you a gift!"
He gasped, a tiny fang showing.
"What is it?"
She put him down and crouched, opening her purse and handing him a tiny figure of the anemo archon, Barbatos.
He gasped again.
"It's so pretty!"
"That's what statues of the seven look like in Mondstadt, where I'm from."
"Wow!"

He grinned at her, and she grinned back.
Cyno crossed his arms, smiling at Razor's amazed expression.
"What do you say, Razor?"
"Thankyousomuchauntielisa!"
He hugged her again and she hugged back, then stood up.
"Can I come in? I wanna spend some time with my wolf cub!"
Cyno felt himself cringe at the nickname, then reminded himself it was for Razor and stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her as Razor let her into the front room, gripping his Barbatos figure tightly.

"Auntie Lisa, I can write my name really well now!"
"You can? Show me! Where's a pen and paper?"
Razor grabbed a colouring book and a crayon and put them on the floor, kneeling and opening the book to a random page. Lisa knelt next to him. At the top of the page, he started to very slowly, very carefully write an R, his tongue sticking out.

"Wow, your handwriting is so nice!"
She was lying.
He wrote an A, then a backwards Z, an O and a backwards R, even though he already had an R to reference.
He grinned, showing her the paper, and she gasped.
"You're so good at that! Well done, I'm really proud."
"Cyno taught me and now I'm really good at writing!"

Cyno sat on the small sofa and nodded.
"You can do most of the alphabet, can't you? Well done."
Razor beamed and Lisa got up, sitting on the sofa next to Cyno. He grabbed another crayon and began colouring, still holding his Barbatos figure in his left hand.

"He's growing up so fast, Cyno! He's gonna be a teenager before we know it." She whispered, and Cyno tried not to let that fact hurt him, just watching Razor scribble wherever he wanted, with no regard for the lines.

His baby Razor, all grown up... he frowned.
Lisa offered a sympathetic smile when she noticed that he was struggling.
"He'll always be your baby brother, no matter how old he gets. I'll bet when he's thirty he'll still think you're the coolest person to ever exist."

"God, I'll be fifty by then. We're gonna be old, Lisa!"
She clasped her hands together.
"Aww, I can just imagine it: you and that fox boy on rocking chairs together in your eighties, watching the sun set and remembering your marriage of sixty years!"
"His name is Tighnari."
"Yes, that's it. You and Tighnari."
Cyno crossed his arms, frowning.
"You're jumping to a lot of conclusions. First off, who said I'll have retired by eighty?"
"What, you'll still be a Matra by then? How do you know? You haven't even started properly yet."
"I just know. I'll be a general by then."
"Oh, really? Come back to me when you're really a general Mahamatra, and I'll eat my hat."
"That's mean. And are you sure? Your hats are all massive."
"Well, I know I won't have to!"
"Wow, you really have that little faith in me?"
"I'm just kidding. You'll be a great general."
"No, you already said you'd eat your hat. I'm gonna count down the days."

"Are you and Tighnari gonna get married?"
Razor sat up, and Cyno paused.
Lisa smiled and rested her head on her hand.
"Yeah, Cyno. Are you?"
"'Cause I really like Tighnari, so you better get married soon so I can be a flower boy."
Razor grinned and crossed his arms and Cyno smiled.
"We've not been together long enough for us to get married. It's only been a year."
Razor gasped.
"A year?! That's forever!"
"Mhm, a year is ages. You should totally propose."
"Yeah, p'opose!"
"With a massive diamond ring."
"Yeah!"
"While the sun sets over the desert and a band plays nearby."
"Uh-huh!"

Cyno laughed, his brain putting together the image they came up with.
He felt his face turn red and Razor laughed, running over and climbing onto his lap. He left his Barbatos figure on the floor.
"You're blushing! You love him!"
"It's not a secret. We're openly dating."
"You love Tighnari!!"
Cyno tried to cover his face and Razor grabbed his hand, giggling.
Lisa joined in with the laughing, leaning back in her seat and covering her mouth with her hand.

"Nari and Cyno, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Razor sang, and Cyno covered his mouth, earning a tiny chomp on his finger.
"Hey! You bit me!"
"You stopped me singing. Rude."

11 years old

Cyno was back!
He'd gone to Mondstadt and had left Razor entirely on his own back in Sumeru. Well, apart from Tighnari and Kaveh and Alhaitham.
He supposed that was more family than some people had, but still!

Razor loved his books about Mondstadt, and had read them all over and over again, so when he suddenly got told that his big brother had gone there without him for an emergency he was incredibly offended. He missed Auntie Lisa, too, and she lived there!

It had been a few weeks now, and he was missing Cyno so. Much.
He had a little stuffed jackal toy that Cyno said to hug whenever he missed him, but it wasn't the same. Also, he was 11 now! He was too old for that kinda stuff.
He still kept it close, though.

When his sensitive ears heard footsteps approaching Tighnari's house, he didn't react. Plenty of people called around for help from his brother-in-law, so he'd gotten used to not saying anything to them.

The leaves on the front porch were brushed away and the door opened without a knock.
He frowned and turned on his chair. Usually people knocked.

Cyno poked his head in and Razor's face lit up.
He jumped off of his chair and ran over, and Cyno smiled and hugged him tight.
"You're back!"
"I am! Do you know where Nari is?"
"He's out."

A teenage girl peeked around the doorframe, her arms covered in bandages, and Razor frowned at her. Cyno turned to his side to let them see each other better.

The girl stared at him with her purple eyes, and he stared back with his red ones.
He felt himself shrink and tried to hide behind Cyno.

"This is Collei. She's probably gonna stay here for a bit. Collei, this is Razor, my brother."

Collei had green hair and she was very pale. She looked sick, actually. She had eye bags and she was shaking, and Razor didn't like how she stared at him. It was creepy.

He frowned at her again and she crossed her arms over herself.

Cyno looked between them.
"Neither of you are scary. You're both nice kids. Can you not try to kill each other telepathically?"

Neither of them listened.
Cyno noticed Tighnari approaching from afar and sighed in relief, waving.
Tighnari's ears visibly perked up and he walked faster. When he got within earshot, he shouted.
"Hi!"
Cyno smiled.
"Hello!"

Tighnari got close and noticed Collei, waving at her.
"Hello. You must be Collei."
She nodded and he smiled, his ear twitching. She stared at it.
"I'm Tighnari. I'm a forest ranger here. I'll be looking after you, since Cyno's busy."
Cyno nodded and Razor watched the conversation, staying hidden behind his brother's back.

"And hello, Cyno."
The ranger gave Cyno a kiss on the cheek and Cyno shook his head and kissed him on the lips, a hand going around his waist.
Collei pulled a face.
"I've been gone too long for just cheek kisses and you know it."
Collei pulled another, more extreme face.
Razor scoffed a laugh at her and she stopped, but not without letting a tiny smile show.

Tighnari sighed and pushed Cyno's shoulder.
"I'm gonna show Collei her room. I'll deal with you later."
He beckoned Collei to follow him and she did so, walking down the wooden path.

Razor poked his head outside to watch them leave.
"Who's she?"
"A kid from Mondstadt. Well, not originally, but that's where we just came from. She got hurt by some bad people, so I went and picked her up. She's with us now, where she's safe."
"How did she get hurt?"
"A criminal from the Fatui did experiments on her, so she was badly hurt. She's gonna be ok, though, she's just a bit shy."
"Does she think we're gonna experiment on her?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh. OK."

He turned back to Cyno and smiled.
"Tell me about Mondstadt, please please please please-"
"Okay, okay. Let me put my headdress in my room and I'll tell you all the stories I have."

Chapter Text

12 years old

Collei was weird.
Razor still wasn't used to her being around. She'd been here a few months, now. She'd gained a bit of a tan since it became summer this year, and her hair was growing.
She didn't seem very social, though. She barely spoke to anyone except Tighnari, and didn't smile very often.

Razor had been following her around for a bit, and trying to stay secretive. He wanted to figure her out.
Right now he was doing exactly that, following her from a bit away as she walked to whatever duties Tighnari had given her.

Sometimes she stopped, and he hid behind a tree or a corner. She kept stumbling.
He kept following, keeping his footsteps quiet and his breathing slow. Just like Cyno taught.

She stopped again, and he hid behind a wide tree, listening for her footsteps.

He peeked around the tree to see if she was moving, and she had disappeared.
He frowned, scanning for her and not finding any hint of her existence. Not even footsteps.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped, spinning back around to find her next to him, glaring at him.
"What are you hiding from?" She whispered, and he stuttered, pointing to where she had been stood.
"The grass? I don't think it's following you, bud. It's just everywhere."

She laughed at her own joke and he frowned.
"I know you've been following me, by the way."
She moved to stand in front of him. She was taller, and he felt cornered and intimidated. He didn't like it.
"Why? Nevermind, I know why. You think I'm weird, right? Some kind of freak, huh?"
He shook his head, and she frowned.
"Did you know I have an old god in me? I could kill this entire village within seconds if I didn't like how you were treating me, so watch it."

She turned and walked away, back on her path, and he ran back to Tighnari's house as fast as he could.

"Hey, Razor! I'll be there in a sec." Tighnari called from the inpatient room, and Razor looked around. Collei had freaked him out. What did she mean, an old god?
Could she really kill everyone? Should he warn Tighnari? He bit the inside of his lip in worry.

Tighnari emerged from the room, smiling at Razor.
"What's up?"
"Collei."
"What about her? Did you two finally make friends?"
Razor shook his head and Tighnari frowned.
"What happened?"
"She threatened Gandharva ville."
"What?"
"I was following her, but only to see what she's like, and she found me and told me she could kill everyone!" He whispered, and Tighnari sighed and crossed his arms.
"She's lying."
"She seemed serious!"
"She's not. That old god got taken out of her a while ago by Cyno. She's harmless now. All she has is a bow."

Razor shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. If she was mean to you, it's because she's still not used to people being nice. She's had bad experiences before, so she's wary. I can tell her off, if you'd like."
Razor frowned and hugged himself.
"Mm... if she's just scared, I don't think it's her fault."
"But she shouldn't be mean to you either way."
"Right."

They stood there while Razor thought, and Tighnari sighed.
"Okay, I'll tell her later to consider other people's emotions a bit more, and I'm gonna tell you right now to stop following her. I know you think you're helping, but it's probably scaring her and I don't want her to feel unwelcome."
"Okay. Sorry."
"Alright. Issue resolved. I'm gonna go deal with some withering zones, tell someone here if you leave so I know where you are, okay?"
"Okay. Bye."

Tighnari walked off and Razor huffed out a breath.
Collei still confused him. He'd have to find her and properly talk to her at some point. He needed to figure her out.

Chapter Text

12 years old

Collei was sat on a wooden walkway, alone. She had a boomerang in her hand and kept throwing it up and catching it again.
That's not how boomerangs work.

Razor took a deep breath in and walked over, standing beside her.
She looked up and frowned at him, catching her boomerang and stopping throwing it.
"What? Come to find more stuff for you to tell Tighnari about?"
"No."
"Then what is it now?"
He fiddled with his yellow shirt, made from a blanket he'd owned as a baby by Candace. It was still quite big on him.

"I wanna talk with you."
"Why?"
"You're lonely."
She scoffed and glared at him.
"Why is that your business now?"
"I wanna... make you not lonely. Can we talk? I'm Razor."

"I know your name."
"Do you know why I live here?"
"You're Cyno's brother, and he's married to Tighnari."
"Mhm. Do you know why he looks after me?"
"No."
"We don't know our parents. I think they're dead, but Cyno keeps telling me not to say that."
He sat down next to her and she went back to throwing her boomerang the wrong way. She seemed to be listening properly, though.
"Well, yeah. Saying his parents are dead must make him sad."
"Right. Where are you from?"

She stopped talking and stared at her boomerang. He sensed he'd said something wrong and scolded himself mentally.
"Sorry. Should I have not asked? We can talk about something else."
"Yeah."

"I'm your uncle."
She laughed, properly laughed, at the sudden declaration, and he smiled.
"'Cus I'm Cyno's brother and Cyno and Tighnari are married and like... y'know, Tighnari's like your dad! So that makes me your uncle!"
She nodded.
"I guess? I wouldn't quite say I'm that close to Tighnari, but if you insist, I suppose he's my guardian."
"Yeah! So... Uncle Razor!"
She laughed again.

"You're younger than me by a year, though! Uncle makes you sound like an old man!"
"Kaveh won't like that."
"Who's Kaveh?"
Razor raised his eyebrows.
"You don't know him? Oh, if you haven't been to the city yet that actually makes sense."
"Who is he?"
"He's Cyno and Tighnari's senior from when they were at school. He babysat me a lot when I was a kid, and he always wanted me to call him Uncle Kaveh. It didn't catch on."

She smiled a little, kind of a sad smile. One that seemed like she was a bit jealous.
"You've got quite a few of that kind of family friends, huh? Tighnari sends a bunch of letters to different people, so at least a few of them have gotta be your aunties and uncles in that way."
"Yeah. There's Kaveh, Alhaitham, Auntie Lisa, Dehya, Auntie Candace, I guess Nilou as well, but she never babysat me. Auntie Lisa also has a bunch of friends I only met as a baby and barely remember, like Kaeya, Jean, Varka, Amber..."

Collei frowned.
"Wait, the Knights? I know them."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Amber's my friend. She looked after me last year, when I was in Mondstadt."
Razor raised his eyebrows.
"Oh! I think I've met her... uh, just once. But apparently Cyno and Auntie Lisa like her so I guess she's a family friend."
"Yeah! And now she's friends with your niece, too!"
She grinned and Razor grinned back.

Had he made friends with her already? He patted himself on the back mentally and beamed at her, crossing his legs and tapping his fingers against the wood happily. She watched him tap.

"The Knights are good people. If you ever go to Mondstadt, you can trust them. Some of them scare me a little, but they're all trying to help."
"Mhm. I wanna go to Mondstadt really badly. I've liked the stories since I was small, but I've never been. Not since I was a baby, and I can't remember that."

"How do you know Lisa enough to call her Auntie, then?"
"She comes here. She went to the Akademiya at the same time as everyone, so they're close. She visits every once in a while. I like her. She's really kind to me, and she calls me..."
He cringed a little, and Collei sat up straight.
"Oh my god, a cringy nickname? What is it?"
"You're gonna bother me with it."
She shook her head.
"No, I won't! I swear! Tell me, please!"
"...Her little wolf cub, 'cus Cyno likes jackals and I like wolves."
She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, and Razor groaned and covered his face.
"It's so embarrassing."
"It's cute! It's not that bad!"
"It's so embarrassing oh my god."
"No! It's adorable! It's so Lisa!"
She couldn't stop herself from laughing, though, and he couldn't stop himself from joining in.

Tighnari's ears twitched as he and Cyno walked back into the village after meeting up nearby.
His ears turned to find the source of the noise and determined it was up.
He looked up at a walkway and saw two pairs of legs swinging off of the side of it.

"Hey, look. They're being friends."
Cyno looked up too.

Razor and Collei sat there, chatting and laughing, and Tighnari smiled to himself.
He was scared Collei would isolate herself forever, and even more scared that Razor would make it worse by treating her weird, but it seemed the issue had fixed itself.

Cyno sighed in relief.
"Good. They seemed like they were gonna fight every second they were near each other. How did they get to this so quick?"
"I have no idea. Neither of them are very social."
"Kids are weird."

Chapter Text

13 years old

"Why do you like tigers so much?" Collei leaned her elbows on the table and watched Razor draw.
"They're cool."
"I thought you liked wolves."
"We don't have wolves in Sumeru, but we do have tigers, so I've switched."

"Do jackals count? They're dogs."
"No. They're myths."
"Cyno's a jackal."
Razor laughed.
"He's a human. His hat is a jackal."

"Surely we have some kind of canine that's real."
"Uh... foxes?"
She shook her head.
"No, they're like in-between."
"...Sumpter beasts?"
She shook her head again.
"No. They're-" She frowned. "Actually I don't know what they are, but they aren't dogs."
"I think we just have dogs." Razor went back to drawing.

"Where did they come from?"
"Wolves, but from somewhere else. I know they have wolves in Mondstadt, and they have them in Inazuma. I'm not sure about Liyue, Snezhnaya, Natlan or Fontaine, though."
"Do they have mer-dogs in Fontaine?"
"Maybe. Maybe they have super fluffy dogs in Snezhnaya because it's cold."
"And bald ones in Natlan because it's super hot!"

They both laughed and Razor drew a wonky mer-dog next to his rishboland tiger. Collei grabbed a peice of paper and a pencil and began drawing cartoon fish.
"How would a mer-dog even begin existing?"
They thought about it for a second and scrunched their faces up.
"I don't wanna think about that, actually."
She drew a fluffy dog and a skinny bald one, and one with its hair on end.
"What's that one?"
"Inazuman."

He snorted, which made them both cackle.

Cyno walked into the room, smiling at them.
"What's funny?"
"Dogs."
He shrugged and took his headdress off of a hook by the door.
"We've gotta go soon, Razor. Is your bag packed?"
He huffed and Collei frowned.
"Can't I stay here?"
"No. I've got to work in the city for weeks, and Tighnari's too busy to look after you both for that long, especially with the withering getting worse. Alhaitham's looking after you today. Go pack."

"But I like it here! The city's so loud."
"I can get you ear defenders if you'd like."
"No. Whatever, I'll go pack." Razor got up from his chair and walked towards his bedroom. "Bye, Collei."
She waved, still frowning. "Bye."

Alhaitham opened the door and hummed a hello to Razor and Cyno.
Cyno patted Razor on the head, then messed up his hair. Razor frowned and he laughed.
"See you tonight."
"Yeah, okay. Hi, Alhaitham."
"Hello. Come in, your bag can go wherever."
He moved to the side to let Razor past.

Cyno watched him go in, guilt festering in his stomach.
He pushed it aside.
"I'll be back around ten. I'll give you money for food."
"It's fine. I'm not struggling. I appreciate it, though."
"Okay. Is Kaveh in?"
"No. He's out meeting a client. He might be back soon, I don't know."

The adults chatted and Razor huffed, putting his bag down on the sofa and throwing himself onto it, too.
He didn't mind Alhaitham's house. He just didn't like moving around so often.

The conversation ended and Cyno called into the room.
"Bye, Razor! I'll be back by ten!"
He waved.
"Bye."

Cyno waited for a second, as if expecting his two year old brother to run over and cling to him, but his suddenly thirteen year old brother just sat there, staring at the ceiling.
He sighed and waved bye to Alhaitham. The door shut.

Alhaitham sat down on a different sofa and pulled a book from who-knows-where, starting to read.
"Whatcha reading?"
"A book."
"Duh. What book?"

"It's about complex mathematics."
"Oh."
It went quiet.
Razor sat up properly.
"Do you ever read anything normal?"
"As in what?"
"Like those Inazuman light novels or something, or that King of Invokations one. Normal stuff."
Alhaitham closed his book.
"No. I don't enjoy them. Do you read them?"
"No."
"What do you read?"
"Wildlife books. I know a ton about tigers and wolves."

Alhaitham nodded.
"Okay, do you want to tell me about them? I'm a bit interested in that topic, I don't know much about it."
Razor smiled and crossed his legs.
"I'd really like to tell you about them. Can I?"
"Go ahead. I'll listen."

-------------------------

The doorbell rang and Alhaitham got up, opening it to Cyno.
"Hi. Razor, it's Cyno."
Razor picked his bag up and walked out of the house, being greeted with a pat on the head.
"Hi."
"Got your bag?"
"Yeah."
Cyno smiled and looked up at Alhaitham.
"He didn't cause any trouble, did he?"
"No. He's a good kid. He told me about wildlife across the world, and I went to get us lunch. He didn't wanna come with, so I trusted him on his own, and he didn't burn down the house so I see it as a success."

Cyno nodded.
"Good. We'd better go, then. See ya later."
"Goodbye."
The door closed and it was quiet. They began walking to Cyno's temporary city house.
It was silent as they walked, but neither of them minded.

It was nice. Cyno looked up at the stars, and Razor watched the pavement as he walked along it.
The belt buckles on Razor's coat jingled and Cyno smiled as he remembered when he'd made it a year ago, the strips of fabric and tall hood clearly made to look like his big brother's headdress.

He couldn't carry him anymore, and he couldn't tell him bedtime stories because that wasn't cool enough for a teenager, but he could certainly savour these memories. The quiet ones, like whispers about midnight snacks and the silence of eating lunch together and the jingle of belt buckles sewn on clumsily.
He liked those memories, so if his job was to keep them he'd do his job without question and with the care of a thousand bedtime stories.

Chapter Text

14 years old

"School?"
Razor's nose wrinkled up.
"Why?"
Cyno leaned back on his hands, and Razor poked a finger into the sand.
"You might like it, and admissions this year begin soon."
"I know how to read and write, though."
"Yeah, but there people learn more advanced stuff."
"Why would I wanna do that?"
"So you can become a matra like me or an architect like Kaveh or a doctor like Tighnari."
"Or a librarian like Auntie Lisa??"

Cyno frowned.
"I don't know if Lisa's a good role model when it comes to work."
"Auntie Lisa's cool."
"We have different opinions and that's fine."
Razor smiled and started drawing smiley faces in the sand, with rishboland tigers next to them.
"Why do you call her auntie and not call Kaveh uncle? He really wants you to."
"It's funny to watch him get angry about it."
Cyno snickered.
"Good point. It is hilarious."

They both went quiet, listening to the few villagers in Aaru Village chat and the wind blow. Sat cross-legged just off of a path, they basked in the sun and relaxed.

"...So no school? It's optional, I just think you might like it."
"Why would I like it?"
"You'll get smart. Plus, you like lessons with Tighnari and Lisa."
"Yeah, because I know them. And it's only me and Collei. I don't know other kids, and I don't want to. They're mean."

Cyno sighed, leaning back on his hands.
"You need friends. Not to be mean, but being all alone isn't good for you. Even Collei has someone she writes to in Mondstadt."
Razor drew cat ears on one of the faces.
"I know, I'll make friends with rishboland tigers. I won't have to do school work, and I'll get to hunt and play all day."
"Rishboland tigers would eat you."
"No."
"You can't just no that."
"Yes I can."

"Don't go running into packs of tigers."
"I'm gonna. I'll run up to them and they'll accept me immediately and I'll be free and wild. I'll be a feral child."
"You've been raised by people. That makes you a runaway, not feral."
"Whatever. The tigers won't mind. They don't care about the meaning of words or fancy ways of saying stuff. I'll eat raw meat and bathe in rivers and sleep in a massive pile of tigers."

Razor's expression changed from joking to having another layer under it. Some kind of anger brewed in his eyes as he picked up a stick and flicked the sand with it.
"Other kids will be scared when I come back and visit you guys, because I'll have a pack of tigers to defend me, and if they call me names I'll just get my tigers to chase them, and then I'll get them to come meet you guys and it'll be awesome."

Cyno frowned, sitting up straight.
"Are other kids bullying you? Do they call you names?"
Razor went quiet and bowed his head, avoiding eye contact.
"Razor. Do other kids call you names? Tell me."
He shook his head, but Cyno didn't believe him. When he was talking, he'd seemed genuine. Like his anger was aimed.
"Who?"
"Nobody."
"Razor." Cyno's voice became stern and he leaned forward.
"I said nobody. God, just drop it. Forget I said anything."
"If anyone bullies you, tell me immediately. I'm not joking. Look at me."
Razor looked up, glaring with all the teenage angst he could muster.
"Is anyone bullying you?"
"It's nothing to do with you. I can defend myself. Just... leave it."
"No! I'm not leaving it, you're my brother. I'm meant to look after you, so tell me."

Razor groaned and stood up, walking away. Cyno got up and followed him.
"Hey."
"God, just fuck off!" Razor shouted, and Cyno scoffed. What had gotten into him?
"Razor!"
"What? It's my life! It's not yours! I know everyone's always saying I look so similar to you and I act like you and I'm gonna be a matra like you, but that doesn't mean you get to fix my problems for me! I'm my own person, okay? Leave me alone!"

He turned at the statue of the seven and kept walking and Cyno kept up, walking next to him.
"If you're getting hurt by other kids, I wanna help."
"What, and melt their faces off with your vision? Interrogate them and make them see me as even more of a freak? The one with the crazy older brother, yeah, what a great reputation for me!"
Cyno stopped in his tracks and Razor turned, glaring at him.

Cyno looked incredibly hurt. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows were pushed upwards. "Are they bullying you because you're my brother? Because of me?"

Razor broke eye contact, staring at a rock nearby.
"It doesn't matter. I can handle it. I'm tougher than you think I am, and I'm not a baby anymore."
"I know that."
"Then act like it! Leave me alone."

He kept walking and Cyno didn't follow him. He just watched his baby brother storm off in confusion.
Which kids would dare to bully him? Was it Gandharva ville kids, because he was from the desert? City kids, because his brother was "crazy"? Or was it Aaru village kids, because he'd spent time in the rainforest and city and wasn't a "proper" desert dweller?

He remembered his own teen years. He had faced similar issues. Was it really still the same? Was he the reason Razor was getting bullied?

He stood there thinking, and the sun beat down on him.

About five minutes later, he saw a familiar person walking closer.

Dehya.
She got close and waved at him. He waved back half-heartedly and she sucked air through her teeth.
"You look devastated. What happened?"
"Razor-"
Her eyes widened and she grabbed Cyno's shoulders.
"Is he okay? Why isn't he here? If he's hurt, I'll kill-"
"No, no. I think he's getting bullied."
She frowned and let go of him.
"Oh. By who?"
"I have no idea. I think it's my fault. He said I'm crazy. Is it my fault?"

She put her prosthetic hand on his shoulder again.
"Right. Kids are little shits, yeah? So they're gonna be little shits to whoever's around. That includes other kids, like Razor. I guarantee they'd still be just as mean if you were just a random guy with no power. It's not your fault."
"But he said-"
"Whatever he said, he'd just be saying differently if you were just some dude. It sucks, and I'm absolutely willing to punt a kid if I have to, but it's the nature of teenagers."

Cyno frowned.
"You're not helping."
"It can't be that serious. Razor's a teenager now! He's hit a growth spurt, he's nearly as tall as you, he can totally fight them if he has to! Plus, I've taught him how to use a claymore since he was sma-" She stopped talking in the middle of her sentence and Cyno glared. If looks could kill, she'd be on the floor.
"You. What. Repeat that."

"No. I'm gonna go find Candace."

She began walking away and Cyno followed her in his menacing General-Mahamatra-about-to-murder-someone way, forcing her to start running towards the village chief's house.
"Candace! Help me! Cyno's gone wild!"

14 years old. An hour later

Razor had calmed down a bit.
He'd been walking. Not in any particular direction, but he had found himself chilling out a bit on his way.
He'd ended up at a fork in his path, one way leading to the city of Sumeru and one way leading into the rainforest.

He stopped and considered both options.
In the city, there was Kaveh and Alhaitham. He could trust them, but could he stand being gawked at by Cyno's subordinates the whole time he was there? Maybe not.

In the rainforest, there was Tighnari and Collei. He could always go back home to Gandharva ville, but Cyno might guess he would go there, and he didn't feel like having the same argument again. He also didn't feel like being asked a million questions about the desert by random rainforest kids.

He sighed, the wind blowing his hair into his face, and closed his eyes.
A trader walked by him with a cart and stared at him, and he clenched his fists, all his effort that had gone towards calming down wasted as he felt himself heat up again.

Everywhere he went.
In the rainforest, he was the scary desert kid. In the desert, he was the soft rainforest kid. In the city, he was the brother of the General Mahamatra, and you'd better not get too close, or he'll summon some ancient god and swallow you whole, so he was alone, other than Cyno's friends.

He growled and the trader hurried along.
Maybe he could really run off and live with wild animals.

Rishboland tigers would take him, or maybe he could walk all the way to Liyue and find one of their geovishaps. Maybe a Mondstadt wolf, even. He could catch a boat and pay by working and get to Inazuma and be adopted by that pink-haired kitsune from Collei's light novels.

Anything but this.
He stared at the clouds, his brow furrowed.
He didn't mean to start a fight with Cyno. It was an accident. He just wanted to deal with it himself, and Cyno was pushing and annoying him and ugh.
Being fourteen was difficult.

He looked between the paths, and then back at the path to Aaru Village.
His three parts, and none of them fit.
Every path led to a separate family. A separate life he had to live. A whole new him, and a whole new list of problems to come with it.
All separated by this path. This dirt road. The result of thousands of people walking this way, choosing a path, going down it and staying.

His eyes wandered, into the expanse of grass nearby that led to mountains.
Towards the middle of the jungle, with no path.
They had tigers there. He'd often been scolded for running off to try and find some.

His imagination ran, and he walked.

Chapter Text

Aaru Village, at the same time

Dehya chatted away and Candace smiled and nodded, listening carefully.

In the corner sat Cyno, who had been given reassurance that Razor didn't hate him and a cup of tea.

He frowned into his cup of tea, and Candace looked over and gave him a sympathetic look, as if she could tell exactly his thoughts from across the room. She probably could, he wasn't trying to hide his expressions.

"He's only been gone an hour, Cyno. You're overthinking this. He always wanders and ends up either in the city, back with Tighnari, or here. He's going to be fine."
Dehya sighed.
"He's a teenager. Of course he's rebelling. He's gonna start wearing all black and getting piercings soon, just you see, and then he'll leave this phase and be your friend again."

Candace tilted her head again, her jewellery jingling.
"I don't think either of you left that phase, Dehya. You both wear eyeliner and dye your nails black still."
"Yeah, and you like it on me. Cyno's just emo."
Cyno scoffed.
"Yeah, and Tighnari likes it on me, so there you go."
"Of course he does. He loves everything you do. You've been married for ages, and you're still in your honeymoon phase."
"Shut up. You're always all over Candace!"
"Yeah, but, at least- well, I- whatever!"

Candace smiled, sipping her tea.
"You're arguing like little children."
Cyno put his tea down and crossed his arms.
"No I'm not."
Dehya laughed at him, and he glared at her.

Her laugher died out and it went quiet.
It seemed to get to Cyno pretty quick, and he started tapping his fingers against the table, his jaw clenching.

Both of the women watched him and gave each other a look.
"Cyno." Candace spoke, and he looked at her, his expression back to a carefully practiced blank slate.
"Razor is going to be fine. You know that, yes?"
He stared at her for a moment then looked away, staring at the door as if he expected Razor to burst in at any moment.
"Just because you two had a bit of an argument-"
"He's never shouted at me like that before."
"What?"

"He was really mad at me. We've argued before, but he was really, really angry. I don't want to hurt him, but he seemed hurt, and he told me to fuck off and stormed off. Should I have followed him or something?"
"No. He needs space." Candace replied calmly.
"What if he gets hurt out there? We don't know where he went."
"Like I said, the city or Gandharva ville. He's probably gone to family. You're being overly protective."
"...He's just a kid."
"A strong kid who can defend himself if needs be. You should stop worrying, look, you've already gone grey."

Dehya laughed and Cyno rolled his eyes. Candace covered her mouth to try and pretend to not be laughing when he glared at her for the millionth time, but her shoulders shook and she couldn't hide it for long.
"That wasn't even a good one!"
"It was quite funny. Good one."
Candace gathered herself together, the ends of her mouth twitching as she tried not to laugh again.
"Thank you, Dehya."

Cyno got up and summoned his spear, leaving and slamming the door.
Dehya frowned.
"Did we strike a nerve or something?"
"My guess is he's gone to find Razor. He's not listening to us."
"Of course. Should we follow him?"
"No. He doesn't need bodyguards."
"I know that. I'm saying do we need to defend other people from him?"

14 years old. Another hour later. Inbetween Gandharva ville and Sumeru City.

The sky had darkened.

Razor tried to ignore it and listened to the rustle of leaves and the chirping of birds around him.

He'd seen a few tigers on his way here. He'd stayed at a safe distance.

His mind wandered back to the very thing he was avoiding, Cyno.
He felt a bit bad for shouting like that. Maybe he should have stayed. Maybe he should have told him about the names and the laughing.

It began raining and he pulled his hood over his head. He saw lightning in the distance and counted.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Thunder rumbled.
Eight miles away, then.

A loud crash and a tiger's yowl dragged him out of his thoughts.
He looked for the direction he'd heard that in and heard more yowling the same way. Pained, terrified yowling.

He ran in the direction of the noise, his sharp ears and nimble feet finally being useful.
His hood fell off, so he was getting soaked, but he didn't care.

He found the source of the noise and hid behind a large rock so he wouldn't be spotted.
A large tree branch had fallen onto a rishboland tiger, and it seemed trapped.
That was who was yowling.
There were no other tigers nearby, so he moved away from the rock and crouched, slowly moving towards the tiger.

It was already hurt badly, and it was only a small one, not fully grown yet. Any longer and it's injuries might kill it. Razor wouldn't let that happen.

It saw him and began growling, its ears pinning back against its head and its pupils narrowing.

He took a slow, deep breath and tried to shake off the chilling feeling down his spine.
He slowly, carefully crawled towards the tree branch, and the tiger kept its eyes on him. It growled and tried to scratch and he jumped back.

"I don't want to hurt you." He muttered, but of course it didn't understand.
He edged away from it and observed the branch, determining it way too heavy for him to move it with pure strength. He needed something to lever it.

An idea came to him and he grinned, summoning his claymore. He barely used it, but here Dehya's training had come in handy.

The tiger saw this as a threat and yowled, and he wedged the end of the weapon into the small gap between the tree, a rock, and the ground and lowered himself again, avoiding eye contact. His shoes squelched.

"I'm not scary. I'm helping!"
It kept growling lowly, threatened. He glanced at the handle of his claymore, perfectly balanced to set up his plan. If he pulled down hard enough, he could free it, but he might scare the tiger.

The stuck tiger yowled in pain and he took it as motivation, reaching up and pulling with all of his might.

The tree branch lifted a little and the tiger shuffled out, limping a bit away from him.
He put the branch back down and smiled at it, but his smile didn't last long.

It was badly hurt. It's middle was bleeding a lot, and a hind leg seemed broken.
That was too much blood.
Too much for even a massive tiger.
It was being washed away by rain, but more of it kept coming.

It stared at him, but didn't growl or pounce.
It just stared.
He took a careful step forward, and he held his hand out to it.
It sniffed him and hesitated, and he carefully put a hand on its head, feeling its wet fur and gently stroking it. It seemed to relax, deciding he was not a threat. Either way, it couldn't run away.
Either way, it didn't seem like it was going to live past today.

It slumped down, lying on the floor, and he knelt next to it, tears welling in his eyes out of pure shock.
He'd saved it, though. He got it out, that's what he was meant to do.
Help it and then it would be fine, but...
It looked so tired. So weak, and scared. That's not what tigers were meant to be.

It's breathing began slowing and he shook his head.
No. This wasn't right. This wasn't fair.
He took his coat off, shivering in the cold, and tried to cover the wound, but it was massive. The brown of his coat turned darker with the blood.
He continued petting it and it nudged its head into his hand, then rested it on the ground.

He felt tears escape him as the tiger closed its eyes and he began sobbing.
This wasn't right.
This wasn't right. It was meant to be fine. He was meant to help.

He leant over and buried his face in the tiger's neck, his entire face getting soaked in wet cat fur.
He heard its heartbeat.
It was uneven and slow, and he sat there stroking the fur on the tigers head until it stopped.

He saw a flash in the sky.

His shoulders shook heavily and he tried to wipe his face, sobbing and staring at the body. One, two.

"I was meant to save you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Three, four, five, six. Thunder. Six miles.

He heard a low growl from behind him and spun around.
Another two tigers emerged from the shadows, their ears pinned back and their pupils narrowed.
They showed their teeth, sharp and stained with boar blood, and he froze in place, his breathing still shallow and uneven from crying and his body shaking from the cold.

He saw lightning again.
The tigers growled and the rain assaulted the ground.
One, two-
Thunder.
He stared at them as they slowly approached, glancing to his claymore.

Lightning. It hit a tree somewhere in the distance and he jumped.
Thunder.
One mile.

He got up and summoned his claymore, and the tigers moved forward, getting ready to pounce.

His hands were wet, partially with blood.

He felt the lightning closer than it had ever been.
His very heart beat with it. His hair stuck up on end with static and he swore he saw his hands glowing and

The tigers pounced.

Chapter Text

"Any news of him?"
Cyno scoffed and shook his head. Tighnari sighed, scribbling notes into his notebook at the kitchen table and being careful to not knock the small candle that lit the room dimly.
"Of course there's no news." Cyno grumbled. "When did he become so evasive?"
"When he was raised by his brother the General Mahamatra and his runaway niece, that's when."

Cyno frowned, slumping in his chair at the table.

It went silent as Cyno stared out of the window at the rain pouring down from the dark sky. Tighnari went back to his notes.

"Where do you think he is?"
"Looking for tigers." Tighnari shrugged.
"In this kind of weather? At this time?"
"He takes after you. He has no regard for personal safety."
Cyno glared at the fox.
"You're not helping my worries."
"Sorry." Tighnari coated his voice with sarcasm, looking up at his love and grinning. "He has every regard for personal safety and has never, ever put himself anywhere near physical harm."

Cyno didn't seem amused. He crossed his arms and frowned, and Tighnari straightened his own posture, sobering his expression.
"He's gonna turn up eventually. It's okay."
"It's been hours."
"He's been gone for longer."
Cyno's eyebrows pushed upwards in worry and he put a hand on the table.
"Yeah, when he's visiting the city or Aaru Village! I know where he is then! He's missing, Tighnari!"
"Collei went wandering when she was younger, and she's fine now."
Cyno stared at him.
"Collei got kidnapped as a child."

Tighnari sighed and shook his head.
"Don't bring that up, Cyno."
Cyno stared at the candle, his expression going blank.

He had been the only one caring for Razor since they were both small. He had basically watched him like a hawk for the first ten years, and after that he'd always kept him close or with a friend he trusted. Now Razor was a teenager, a proper teenager. Nearly an adult. He was wandering and exploring and Cyno couldn't keep track of him, not with work as well.
He had been injured before, if he got hurt, or worse, killed out there... it would be Cyno's fault.

Thunder crackled outside and the door slammed open. A gust of wind blew out the candle.
Both of the men turned to see who it was, Tighnari's ears flattened and Cyno ready to fight.

Razor stumbled inside, lit only by the faint glow of a lantern outside, soaked in rain, his hair tangled and all over the place and...
And covered in blood.
He collapsed to the floor immediately, but not without trying to grab the wall to hold himself up and smearing blood over it as he fell.

Both of them scrambled to their feet and ran to him, Tighnari lifting him up to lie on his side and Cyno checking him for wounds.

He was severely injured. Scratches and bite marks covered his body, and the blood all over him was at least partly his own.
He was pale and breathing shallowly and quick, and Cyno felt like screaming at him, but he could barely move.

Both of them immediately got to work in silence, Tighnari retrieving his emergency med kit from next to the door and beginning to wrap his wounds and Cyno wiping away dirt from them to avoid infection, his hands shaking. They didn't say a word, other than Tighnari telling Cyno when to hold down on a particularly terrifying bite mark on Razor's side that was bleeding intensely.

The rain fell through the open doorframe, and lightning struck a few miles away.

A faint purple glow came from the doorway.
One that Cyno didn't want to acknowledge.
A small gem, bright, newly forged.

He felt his hands shaking and his heart racing, and had to focus on his breathing to make sure it was still happening.
He then focused on Razor's, for exactly the same reason.

A weak, rattle of a breath dragged in and out of the boy's body at an uneven rate.
As he breathed in, it sounded painful. Scratchy and thin.

He exhaled, and it was much less laboured, but still weak and not enough.

"His heart. His heart, is it-" He turned to Tighnari. The doctor nodded.
"Still going, but he needs serious attention. For now, I'm just focusing on stopping the bleeding, but these wounds all need to be washed and properly dressed, and he needs blood."

He went back to wrapping his arms, tightly tying bandages to stop the blood that was already forming a puddle.

Cyno didn't want to think about how much blood there was, but the smell of it and the feeling of it invaded his mind.
He was used to blood. He was a Mahamatra.
Just not from his baby brother.

He knew enough about injuries and blood loss to be aware that this amount being on the floor, along with however much Razor must have lost while getting here, was terrifying.

He felt paralysed, stuck staring at the pale, unconscious face before him, with deep red blood on his hands and the floor and all over Razor and a purple glow he was desperately trying to ignore.

He was suprised he wasn't breaking down right about now.
He supposed it was shock.

A thousand bedtime stories. A thousand bedtime stories.
He'd cherish their memories with the care of a thousand bedtime stories, that's what he'd said to himself last year.

But that was mourning talk, and he wasn't doing that yet, so he kept himself in the now.
In the moment in which his brother was dying on the floor and he couldn't do anything.
The worst possible moment.

Thunder clapped and lightning flashed and he didn't count how far away it was, because he couldn't tell the difference between the thunder and his own heart beating in his ears.

Chapter Text

Razor's eyes opened slowly to a dim room and his own bedsheets. His entire body hurt, and his vision was blurry.
He groaned and the door opened. His brother gasped and sighed in relief.
"You're alive."
He tried to move, and Cyno reached out and touched his hand.
"I can't hug you because it would hurt, but I really want to. I also want to slap the shit out of you for running off, but I'm glad you're alive even if I am mad at you."

Razor laughed weakly and Cyno smiled, tearing up.
"What happened? Can you speak? Does it hurt? Do you need water? Food?"
He took a deep breath in and his head went spinning. He groaned and coughed, but did his best.
"Water? Please?"

Cyno nodded.
"One minute."
He left the room and Razor closed his eyes again. Jesus, everything was hurting. He supposed this was his own fault, but that didn't stop the agony coursing through him. He didn't even want to look down at his body, he knew it hurt like hell already and didn't need to see the proof.

Cyno returned with a glass and put it on the nightstand.
"You gotta sit up. I'll help, and it's gonna hurt, but you need to so you don't drown."
He opened his eyes and nodded. Cyno put a hand behind his back, lifting him to a sitting position. His ribs felt like they'd collapse if he breathed too hard, and he winced in pain.

His bedsheets fell away and he saw how his entire torso was covered in bandages, stained with blood.
"I need to help you change those soon. You got fucked up."

He coughed, and it hurt like hell itself had come to swallow him whole. Cyno offered him the water, letting him hold it himself but keeping a hand nearby to catch it if he dropped it.
His mouth was so dry. He downed the water in almost one gulp and sighed, giving the glass back to Cyno with a shaky hand. He put it down and looked back to him with the most intense worry in his expression Razor had ever seen.

"It was tigers, right?"
He nodded, squeezing his eyes shut to try and reduce the headache making his head pound.
"Go on then. Justify yourself."
Cyno crossed his arms, but he didn't really seem angry. Just worried sick.
"There was a hurt one. Under a tree." Razor croaked, opening his eyes again.
"I couldn't leave it to die. It was gonna die. I couldn't- it didn't need to." His voice broke, and Cyno's shoulders dropped.

"I moved the tree with my claymore."
"Which I wasn't aware you had."
"Dehya said I needed something to defend myself with."
"She's right, but I could have helped. How long ago did she give it to you?"
"Uh... last year, but she taught me to use hers when I was, like, ten."

Cyno clenched his fists and his jaw, and Razor frowned at him.
"It saved me, Cyno. I got the tiger out, and then..."
His voice trailed off and Cyno relaxed, concern once again taking over his face.
"Then what?"

"...It died."
Cyno went silent and watched Razor's expression as he seemed to go through the series of events in his head.

"Um." He sounded strained. He was trying not to cry.
"I tried. I tried really hard."
"I know."
"I tried to save it, I promise."
"I know you did."

Razor stared into the distance, blinking back tears.
Cyno desperately wanted to hug him, but he had a feeling that would break him, like it would snap him in half or dislocate every bone he had.
So he held his hand instead, squeezing gently.

"What happened next? How did you get hurt?" He spoke quietly and softly.

"It, uh, was raining. I should have been indoors, but I wanted to stay with it. It was alone, and I didn't want it to be alone when it died. I wouldn't want to be."

"Okay, I knew it was raining, and that it was storming. How did this happen?"
He pointed to Razor's side, where the massive bite mark was. Luckily, Tighnari had made sure to prevent any infection or diseases he might have caught, but it was still massive and terrifying.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Sorry."
"Don't be sorry."
"Mm. Uh, so, I was sat with the tiger and then..."
He frowned. His voice was shaky and weak still.

"Then there were more of them."
"More tigers?"
He nodded.
"Two, I think. Or three, or-" He pursed his lips. "I can't remember."
"That's okay, I just need to know how you got this badly injured."
"I think they thought I killed it, because I was sat next to it's body and my claymore was nearby, and then they got close and I got scared and brought my claymore closer and they took that as a threat, but-"

He frowned again, his eyebrows knitted together.

Cyno was, admittedly, not just asking how he got hurt. He was also looking for a reason why there were two electro visions in the house.
He watched Razor struggle, his heart breaking every time he tried to fidget but winced in pain instead.

"But then, um..." He looked at his hands, resting on his lap, one of them held by Cyno.

"Uh."
"Do you not remember?"
The kid paused, and Cyno could see him trying desperately to dig through his memory.

Nothing came of it.
"No. I don't."
Cyno nodded.
"Okay. Do you want me to help? I have something you've not mentioned."
Razor turned his head slowly to face him better.
"Huh?"

Cyno let go of his hand and got up.
"I'll be one second."
He left the room and Razor sat there, alone.
Something he hadn't mentioned? His coat, maybe? It was covered in blood, he knew that.
He had no idea.

Cyno came back, holding something small wrapped in thick cloth. It fit in his palm.

He sat down on the chair next to Razor's bed again, and Razor stared at the thing.
"What is it?"
"Do you really not remember? Nothing at all?"
"No."

Cyno nodded and unwrapped it, being careful not to touch it with his bare hands.

It glowed and lit up the dim room, throwing purple light to every corner.

Razor forgot how to breathe for a second.
"That's... it's not yours?"

"If it was mine, I'd be able to touch it. It would burn me."

Razor stared at it in awe.
"Is it..."

Cyno held it out, lifting Razor's hand to hold it.
The kid didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say.

He stared at it, at the vision in his hand. Thick cloth was between them, but...

He lifted his other hand and, carefully, very, very, lightly, touched it.
It didn't burn.

He gasped and discarded the cloth, holding it with both hands. His hair stood on end with static.
It felt cool to the touch, smooth and barely scratched. The gold was new and shiny.
It could only have been formed a week ago at most.

He looked up at Cyno, who was smiling. Not a truly happy smile, though. A bittersweet one.

"It's mine?"
"Mm-hm."
"It's not a fake, or-?"
"No. It's real."

He went silent. He stared at it again, at the vision.
His vision.

"Electro." He whispered, and Cyno tilted his head.
"We match."

Razor felt like he wanted to cry. He also felt like he wanted to laugh, though. He wanted to dance and he wanted to hide it and he wanted to show it off and he wanted to

He just stared.

"Did I earn this? How?"
Cyno crossed his arms.
"You tried to save a dying animal in a storm, even though it was losing hope. That's how."

Razor blinked back tears.
This was all so much.
The last two days were so, so much.
He'd argued with Cyno, ran away, tried to save a tiger, failed, fought two at once, and now...

The room was silent, two electro users illuminated by the glow of one vision.

"I'm sorry for arguing with you." Razor looked up.
Cyno raised his eyebrows. He hadn't expected him to bring that up.
"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have pressed, and I instantly regretted it. I'll let you fix your own problems, as long as you tell me when you need me to help."
"I will. I promise."
Cyno's eyebrows furrowed.

"...Promise?" He whispered, searching for reassurance, and his little brother nodded.
"Yeah."