Archive of Our Own ^beta

Antarctic Empire was always dark and freezing for the majority of the year. So, when the youngest prince went missing the night after his tenth birthday, they feared he got whisked away into the blizzard. His window was open and snow had blown in. All the signs pointed to him being taken and they had no trace because of the storm that had already been raging for hours. The only thing that countered that assumption was the fact Theseus' bed was messy, but the normal messy for him… not in the way he would have fought messy.

Since he went missing, the emperor, Philza, ordered his men to search far and wide for his son. The crown prince, Techno dug through every bit of information they had on enemies. If there was even a glare sent the Empire's way, he knew and they would feel the entire weight of the kingdom if they hurt his brother. They both went through hours and hours of footage, but couldn't find anything.

They were in Phil's study when it happened. Two weeks after Theseus went missing, there was a bright light that flooded the space. It momentarily blinded the pair and put them on edge. However, when the light faded, there was a person who stood in front of them that gave them pause.

The gods always did have a strange tendency to mess with their bloodline.

In front of them was a man with long blond hair with two streaks of white clumped together with dried blood. His clothes were tattered and worn, also stained with blood. He stood tall, despite the injuries and countless scars littering his body, a bloody and chipped sword pointed at the pair. His eyes, though, that really gave them pause. Despite being so much duller than the last time they saw them… they were Theseus' eyes, but that made no sense because Theseus was ten and this man was clearly of age.

The man looked around, his breathing grew faster as he spotted the pair. He shook his head in disbelief, "⟟- ⋏⍜." He raised the hand that wasn't grasping the sword wiped his nose, which was when they both realized it was dripping blood, "⋏⍜!" He turned sharply and swung the sword at the mantel above the fireplace, knocking a vase and several trinkets off. He heaved as the vase broke into tiny little pieces.

Phil, slowly stood, "alright, mate," he spoke softly, barely pausing when the man sharply turned back and glared at the emperor. "Who are you? Can you speak Common?"

The man paused, as if rolling his tongue around his mouth, then he spoke with a slight accent, "of course I fucking do!" He glanced around the study again, waving the sword around like it would protect him from the air itself. "⎎⎍☊☍! I'm back!" He let out a wet chuckle.

Techno barely dodged the sword, holding his hands up placatingly, he would have to step in if needed, but he saw the pain and panic in the man's eyes and he needed to calm him down first, "who are you?"

The man paused, eyes wide as he looked at the prince, "you don't-" then a deranged laugh escaped him, "⍜⎎ ☊⍜⎍⍀⌇⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎅⍜⋏'⏁! Why would you? I mean-" he used his free hand to pull at his hair, "you're the same- you- you haven't changed at all."

Phil took another step forward and that set the man off again, pointing the weapon at the emperor. Techno's father took a deep breath, "let's all just calm down-"

"Why the fuck should I do that? I just-" his eyes trailed away and his sword fell to his side. He looked around the study once more, "how much time has passed?"

"What?" Techno took a tentative step forward. If he could get the sword away, they can work through whatever happened and figure out how this man got there in the first place.

The man slowly turned his head to the crown prince, eyes wide. He opened his mouth slowly, tilting his head before slamming his mouth shut once more. He glanced down at his sword, still dripping blood, "when did- ☌⍜⎅⌇, I-" he collapsed to his knees.

Despite the sword, Phil rushed forward. He grabbed the sword from the now loose grip and tossed it aside as he looked over the man, kneeling to get a better look. He paused again at the dull blue eyes that were now downcast.

After a few moments of silence, the man spoke, his words so soft they would've missed if they weren't paying attention, "dad?"

All the air seemed to vanish from the room. Techno got closer and looked over the man. From his perspective, he was able to see a distinctive birthmark on the man's neck, just behind his right ear. Two perfect ovals that his brother would often call his 'discs.' His eyes grew wide as he looked the other up and down, "Theseus?"

Phil gasped, finally recognizing his youngest. He was older, much older than he was when he went to bed that fateful night, but it was him. He didn't move from where he knelt in front the- no this was his child and he didn't even recognize him at first. The father felt as though he couldn't breathe.

The younger blond shook his head, spitting out, "it's," he paused, "⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬," then he paused again, mulling the name in his mouth, slowly trying to figure out a translation of some kind, "Tommy, sorry." He looked up the pink-haired man, "how long have I been gone?"

The crown prince and emperor shared a look, then the elder spoke, "two weeks. How-?"

Before Phil's question could fully leave his lips, a maniacal laugh escaped the wounded man. He hunched forward, his head head nearly hitting Phil as he clutched his abdomen, just laughing like a madman. He took a few deep breaths, clearly trying to steady himself, "⏁⍙⍜- two fucking weeks?" He laughed once more, but this time they turned to sobs. When Phil tried to reach out, his hand barely grazing Tommy's shoulder, he shot back up, pushing his father with a fear in his eyes, baring his teeth like a wild animal, "⎅⍜⋏'⏁ ⎎⎍☊☍⟟⋏☌ ⏁⍜⎍☊⊑ ⋔⟒!!" He didn't say it in common, but the message got across nonetheless.

Techno sank down, glancing at their father, who was staring in shock, before fully facing his brother, "how long were you gone?"

That made Tommy take pause. He glanced down at his now bloody hand- was he bleeding from his side?! He seemed to be counting on his fingers, speaking very softly, "I arrived there on… and then… no, it was…" he trailed off, his eyes widening. "⟒⟟☌⊑⏁- eight years," his voice shook as he raised his head to look up at his family. "I- ⟒⟟☌⊑⏁ ⌇⎍⋏'⌇ ⎎⟒⌇⏁⟟⎐⏃⌰⌇… I was gone-" he cut himself off as he looked around the study once more.

That was when Tommy started shaking… a lot. Then, it suddenly the bloodied man started to tilt to the side… into Techno. He let out a whine as his brother caught him, but didn't fight back as his eyes fluttered to a close. That's when the pink haired man finally noticed that the bloodied tunic was still wet… and the dark patch was growing. He didn't even hesitate before hauling Theseus Tommy into his arms and rushing out of the study and towards the infirmary.

Techno had just gotten his brother back, maybe different and changed, but he had just gotten him back and there would be hell to pay if he lost him again.

When Tommy woke up, he wanted to go back to sleep. The room was bright and strange… well… after eight years it was strange. Everything was clean and white and he could hear a beeping that quite frankly annoyed the fuck out of him. He felt actually clean for the first time in years and things were sticking to him and his finger was restricted in- oh. Oh… this was… he was back.

The infirmary was the same from when he broke his arm at age seven, in clean clothes that had a texture he was no longer used to. The beeping was a monitor and the thing on his finger was a pulse… thingy. Okay, give him a break, he was ten when he left. He had no idea what it was actually called.

A glance to his left revealed his dad, looking the same as he did when Tommy left. Well, mostly the same… he had dark circles under his eyes now. He was asleep with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't look like an emperor, but instead a concerned father.

The memories of returning home returned to him and- two weeks. For them it was two weeks, but to him it was eight years.Eight years of nothing but pain. Eight years of hell. Eight years because ⌿⍀⟟⋔⟒ had commanded it to be so.

The stickers were annoying the hell out of him, along with the finger thing, so he yanked them off as he pushed himself to sit up. He realized his mistake immediately when the machine started beeping loudly and his father shot awake and fumbled about for a moment before turning to Tommy. His hand flew to his chest as he noticed the teen awake, as if trying to calm his heart.

Before Phil could even open his mouth, someone rushed into the infirmary. They froze at seeing the teen sitting up… then promptly scolded him and told him to lay back down. In response, he snarled at them. He was a trained warrior, he didn't need to listen- okay… maybe he should lay down because his side were hurting and definitely not because their glare was terrifying.

He slowly lowered himself back down and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the person who began to look him over. They didn't put the stickers on, but insisted he wore the pulse ox… thank you person he didn't know for telling him what it was called. He only let it be placed back on his finger because his father looked at him pleadingly when he went to argue.

When they were left alone, he went to open his mouth, but his father beat him to it, "are you okay?"

The teen raised a brow at the man, cocking his head to the side "Considering I'm in the infirmary, I'm going to say that I'm doing fantastic," the sarcasm dripped from his voice like venom.

The emperor mouth twitch slightly, before it fell once more, "stupid question, I know."

"Mhm," Tommy nodded as he turned to look up at the ceiling, "quite stupid to ask. All the questions in the world you could've asked and you asked that one." He began to silently count the small dots above the room.

He heard the man take a deep breath, "where were you?"

The teen stopped counting and turned to stare at the man who had raised him for the first ten years of his life. He sighed softly, "⟒⋏⎅⌰⏃⋏⏁⟟⌇." He paused momentarily, "I-" he mulled the name in his mouth for a moment before sighing, "you got-" he paused again, translating the word in his head, "paper?"

Phil glanced around the infirmary and his head perked up momentarily before standing up and making his way to the other side, "what's that language?" He made his way back, paper (and a pen that Tommy had forgot to ask for) in hand.

The teen glanced around and pushed himself back up and yanked over the wheeling table, "⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⟟⏃⋏." He took the pen and paper and started writing out the language's alphabet and then slowly translating each letter to Common. He was lucky it was simple and direct. Then wrote out the name of where he was and what the language was called, translating that as well.

When Tommy was done, he shoved the paper towards his father. He watched him read the paper, but then when he got to the bottom, his eyes widened, "Endlantis?" His head shot back up after reading the name again, and then finally reading the name of the language, "that- Thes-"

"⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬," he spit out, not realizing he has swapped back to the language he had spent the majority of the past eight years speaking. "⋔⊬ ⋏⏃⋔⟒ ⟟⌇ ⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬ ⏃⋏⎅ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ☊⏃⌰⌰ ⋔⟒ ⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬!"

Phil stared at his son, eyes wide, "sorry."

Tommy's shoulders fell, he hadn't realized that had been raised in a tense position. A sigh escaped, gaze falling, "it's been two weeks for you, but I've been gone eight years. I'm not the same person anymore, you- you don't know me now."

Gently, his father placed the paper back down and leaned forward. He kept his hands in perfect view as he slowly placed one on his son's knee, ready to back away if needed. He bent down and got his face back into Tommy's line of sight, a small smile on his face, "that's okay, Thes- Tommy, I'll get to know you again. So will Techno, he was so scared when you collapsed. You- it may have been eight years for you and we may have missed you growing up, but you will always be my son."

After a few moments, Tommy's face mostly remaining neutral, his eyes betraying him as tears flooded his eyes, he placed a hand on his fathers, "can I- can I have a-" he struggled searching for the word, so instead he opened his arms in lieu of speaking.

Hesitantly, Phil took his son into his arms. His boy was bigger than before, so many scars he so desperately wanted to erase. Scars that he knew told a story his son would eventually tell. He held him as a broken sob escaped the teen. His arms tightened as he heard the child he loves try to hold back even more sobs. "It's okay," he softly told him, "you're safe now."

The dam broke… he ended up crying himself back to sleep in his father's arms once the man climbed into the bed with him to just hold the teen close.

It would take time… a lot of time, but the family would heal. There will always be fractures and they might never be as close as they used to be, but the scars will fade. But in this moment, Phil just held his son and Tommy felt loved for the first time in years.