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Eiry had almost given up hope by the time he heard the dim rumble of a car creep up the dirt driveway. He had wanted to move to the window to see Rivener return, but he was rooted to his guardian's side. His grey-skinned hands were cupped around Isi's shaking fist and they were trying to hold him still, as if the mere gesture would be able to stop the rest of the shaking in Isi's body. When Rivener burst in through the door, Eiry turned his tear-stained face to greet him and beckon him forward with a small wispy voice, "Brother...?" With that single word, he was asking if he had succeeded, if he had brought something or someone that would be able to save young Isikoro.

Barricaded in by blankets and pillows brought in from Eiry, Isi tossed and turned, slowly and more weakly than before. There were still frightening jerks from his arms and legs, sometimes even his neck, as if he were suffering from a malfunction. The boy was exhausted and it was clear that he was slowly losing the fight. His paper-white face was sticky with sweat and his own drool had dried on his chin and down the sides of his cheeks. Now, his jaw was chattering uncontrollably and his panting was loud and breathy. Pillows and blankets shifted as Isi's legs weakly kicked them away from his body.

Rivener had been paralyzed with shock as he'd burst back onto the scene he'd left. It felt like he'd had a nightmare before, and not seeing it, Rivener could easily shove it to the back of his mind and pretend it wasn't as bad as he thought he recalled. But now, faced with the harsh, disgusting reality of this once again, Riv felt himself rooted to the spot, staring helplessly at what he'd created.

Rivener didn't really hear Julian's words, muffled through the haze of denial Riv was busy weaving around himself at the moment. Nor did the Frei feel Julian's taking of the antidote. The pat on Rivener's shoulder, methodical and emotionless as it might have been, only served to send flakes of skin snowing to the ground under the Scorpion. Rivener kept staring at the scene as though it was somehow unreal, watching as the glasses-wearing scientist stepped into frame and knelt, drank the antidote, and then kissed Isikoro.

Rivener flinched visibly at this, and it seemed to be the push forward that he needed. "H-Hey!" Riv protested weakly, lifting a sweater-clad hand and floating forward a little. He had to trust that Julian knew what he was doing, but... was this really okay?

Wringing his hands together, Rivener floated over to the wall nearer the two humans and the other Raevan. The Scorpion kept to the wall closely, almost hugging it, levelling worried eyes at the victim, HIS victim. Would Isi be okay? Rivener didn't even dare look at Eiry, for fear of the disgust he'd see in the other's eyes.

All in all, Julian assured himself it was a rather good thing that Mr. Aphismet was not present at that particular moment. Surely, that most intolerable of men would have come to the worst conclusion about the nature of the life-saving "kiss", which would have been highly inconvenient. No, while the Raevans were certainly unsure about the specific purpose of the lip-lock, they would not intervene or make unfounded accusations concerning Julian's romantic interests. The lack of an immediate distraction only made the process of forcing the antidote into the poor boy's mouth a touch easier. With a moderate application of strength, Julian placed his hand on Isi's pale throat, activating the reflex of swallowing by stroking on the exact patch of skin that would force such a reaction.

Julian knew the human body rather familiarly through personal study and from one anatomy course he had taken his freshman year at the University. The convulsions were a sign that the poison was beginning to take a deeper, likely fatal toll, but the child's resistance was not entirely futile. At least he was still moving and breathing, if irregularly, and who knew how much longer it might have lasted had Rivener sought out a less reliable source. Just give in, the student thought mildly, though it would be hard to say if he was trying to mentally communicate with the lad or the deadly substance he had a mind to eradicate from his system. Several precious drops of the serum slid out between the two sets of lips, but the majority of it was pushed and coaxed to the proper final destination.

At long last, after several painful moments of forced intimacy, the older male was able to pull away with the safe notion that he had just saved a mortal life. He could only assume it was probably a sign of rather loose morals that he was still somewhat irritated over the forced break from his extremely important paper-writing exercise. Julian sighed, paused, and then wiped his lips off on the back of his forearm. Mild disgust loomed overhead, but he pushed back the repulsion; if rescuing the boy meant touching him that informally—it wasn't as though he could be blamed for any mental scarring on either of their behalves.

"Now, Rivener, it's high time we talked about what exactly occurred this fine day, and decided which of us is going to tell your owner about it." There was nothing especially cruel about the way Julian looked at the scorpion Frei, but there was nothing especially kind or understanding about his gaze, either. As an afterthought, he called towards the direction of the door, "You can come upstairs, now, Gage."

Being released from the student's intimate and determined "kiss of life" was like breathing for the first time, sucking in as much breath, no matter how loudly, as he could. Exhaling felt like a conformation, a guarantee that things were going to get better, and a tired sense of gratefulness welled up in the young lad's chest. Already, his blood began to feel less of a heat compared to the infernos before, and his body was finally, and very slowly, beginning to relax. Some of Isi's muscles finally became less taut and instead fell slack. His weak legs stopped pushing themselves against the ground and his thrashing had come to a considerable halt. Unclenching themselves from tightened Gordian Knots, Isi's fists unfurled and lay twitching. Every so often, a surprised jerk of his body would startle both him and those around him.

Fortunately, though, things were slowing, calming. His breathing, albeit somewhat still irregular, began to slow as well until he was taking deep inhales and loud exhales. Little snippets of sound highlighted his breathing and silver eyes drooped tiredly. Isi, his brow still sweaty and his face haggard through the exertion, simply let himself lie, bewildered and overwhelmed with too many feelings to even begin to describe or try and name.

"Isi...? Is he...?"

Upon hearing his brother's confession, Eiry's mouth pulled into an even deeper frown. Whatever he had done, he truly regretted it, the minty frei had no doubt about that. So, finally making up his mind, since brothers were there for one another, no matter what, Eiry moved closer to Rivener and finally laid one of his cold deathly hands on his arm in a comforting motion. The evil that had been done looked, as of now, since Julian had leaned back up from his kiss to Isi, finished with and things were slowly being fixed. Isi's condition was improving and that's all that mattered. Eiry couldn't stand to watch his guardian choke and gag any more on his own spit. It was making him desperate. Thankfully now, he was calming.

He had to thank Rivener for saving Isi...Even if he was in the first place to have harmed him.

Eiry, not wanting to say anything, squeezed his brother's arm and tried his best to give him a soft, although sad, brotherly smile, something of encouragement since there seemed to be none from anyone else in the room.

Rivener flinched when Eiry touched him, trying to pull away from the touch he wasn't worthy to receive, but finding himself unable to move anywhere; he was already pinned against the wall. He could see the minty Frei's smile out of the corner of his red eyes, but Riv didn't look up, didn't feel he was allowed to anymore. Like he wasn't allowed to smile, either. Wasn't allowed to be happy ever again. He'd always have to remember this thing, remember that he was a monster, that he'd hurt someone he was supposed to love. His own family. You never pick your family, Rivener knew that, but Aphismet HAD picked Isi, and it seemed unfair, and-...

No, it didn't matter what Rivener thought at the time. What he'd done... No one should have the right to do that. The Scorpion's face, riddled with cracked skin, turned to hide in the collar of his shirt, bringing up his other sleeve to hide whatever didn't fit in the turtleneck. "E-eiry, go get him and put him in his bed," Rivener said in that tiny voice from before, refusing to look up.

Julian's question brought a new flare of shame to the dark Frei's face, and he kept hidden, his reply muffled. "Emotional." He didn't elaborate; Julian didn't need to know. It was Aphismet who needed to know, and he'd be the hardest one to tell. Rivener shook his arm free of Eiry and floated to the door, waiting there for the others, telling himself that he'd best keep his distance. At least for now. Perhaps forever.

Two days passed by in which Julian Sweet had little to no chance to rest. If he was not barking orders at all three Raevans, he was seated directly at Isikoro's side, checking his temperature at constant regular intervals. The wet washcloths he would rest on the boy's forehead alternated between cold and warm dependent on how the teenager appeared to be holding against the poison's remaining components. Sometime between the first day and the latter, the University's student called his cousin in order to have her deliver a few of his medical journals and the syringes from the bottom left drawer of his desk. The former were some light reading material rather than particularly helpful in caring for the boy's illness. At the times when Isikoro fell into bouts of convulsions, Julian would be the one to hold him down as he instructed Gage or Rivener to use one of the syringes to inject a simple muscle relaxant into the younger male's shiver wracked form. The going was not at all easy, but Julian was not about to complain despite the fact he was continually aware that his paper was still incomplete.

The third day, Julian was standing by Isikoro's bedroom's front window, wiping his hands off on a cloth as they were becoming rather disgustingly dirty with both sweat and blood from when one of his patient's physical fits had actually ended up with Julian's cheek being scratched rather roughly. With some common detachment he gazed on as Aphismet's car pulled into the driveway and started down to park where his own vehicle remained parked. "It appears as though your guardian has returned, Mr. Delaran."

He neither expected a reply from Isikoro, nor would he have listened to one had it been offered. "I believe it's time I take my leave."

Collecting Gage on his way, Julian moved from the third floor to the first, not pausing once as he strode towards his own car. Even if Aphismet was to attempt conversation with him—request an explanation for his enemy's presence at his home—the student would have nothing to say other than a very chilled, "You need to talk with your Raevan."

All too soon Julian was back on the road, his frei snapping his seatbelt in as the car picked up speed. If luck was on his side, he would finish his thesis right on time.

The first one for the panic-stricken man to come across was Eiry, who floated right out of the wall as Aphi climbed the stairs in order to come and greet him. "Aphi!" His blood red eyes were wide and a look of relief was quickly spreading over his face. He reached out with his grey hands, taking Aphi's face so he could look him straight in the eye and say, "Up, up, we must ascend. He's in his bedroom! They both are." Without an other word, the minty frei took Aphi's hand and started leading him quickly up the stairs.

In Eiry's mind, he was heavily weighing the choice of who he should show Aphi to first. Both Isi and Riv were in dire need of the older man, although one was more emotional toil than the other and the other was a little more physical distress than the next. If he were to show Aphi to Isi first, Rivener would be in no place to receive anything less than berating and bereavement, and as Riv's brother, Eiry didn't want to inflict anymore damage to Riv than could be helped. But then again, if he were to show Aphi to Riv first, Aphi would first notice Riv's terrible skin condition and perhaps things would be okay, but then again, Isi was still in a poor condition. Once Aphi discovered what his raevan had done in his absence, perhaps all barriers of pity and concern would be lifted to reveal a flood of stern reprimands. So perhaps it wouldn't be good in the first place. But then again, once Aphi saw Rivener then it would be upon Rivener to first point out what he had done instead of Aphi jumping to conclusions.

Eiry, scrunched his nose, determined to sort out the thoughtful mess he had concocted in the bowels of his brain on the situation at hand.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, passing by Beauregard, who had, that entire time, been singing any and every song that had depressing connotations (when he hadn't been securely silenced by a stern glare from Julian), Eiry finally made his decision and made his way first to Rivener's bedroom, which was, on the second story while Isi was still on the third.

"Straight-think," Eiry warned, his troubled face tainted with concern, as he floated towards Riv's bedroom, "Don't jump to conclusions. Hear-listen. But you must be quick, both are shy of health and heart. I'll watch over Isi, tend to Rivener. Quick-step."

Upstairs, Isi turned in his bed, still sweating and waiting out the last mournful throes of the poison. He hadn't been sleeping much thanks to the return of his nefarious and infamous nightmares, so he just kind of pondered the world around him in a half-thought out haze. Thoughts, only half-formed and unrealistic, fluttered about his head. These past three days, Isi had been trying to deny the fact that he had been poisoned, nonetheless bedridden. There were times in the day when he attempted to roll out of bed and get up to do chores around the house, all the meanwhile, making incoherent mumblings about the house being clean for Aphi's arrival, having his garden watered, keeping Eiry fed (which was easy since Gage was there and they could just ping pong off a single plant until both were full), and the clean-up of the mess that had occurred in the paint room. He was worried about the dried paint on the wooden floor. "It's going to ruin," Isi would plea with a strained jaw. Before he even completed the motion of lifting himself up out of the bed he was immediately shoved back down by the gentle, yet forceful cold hands of Julian Sweet, then sternly reprimanded to stay in place.

And Rivener...Every time Rivener was forced into the same room with him, Isi would find himself trying to make it seem that it wasn't Riv's fault. He stopped trying to convince Rivener that he wasn't mad at him the first day. The second day, he stopped trying to give the scorpion raevan comforting smiles. The things he was doing to try and help rectify the situation seemed to only make it worse. Although Isi was quite shocked, scared, and betrayed, he didn't let those feelings stop him from feeling concern for his brother's raevan. His skin was looking terrible and Isi noticed it. He wished that he could do something, give him a cream that was underneath the second floor bathroom cabinet, or vitamin E, anything that would help his skin, but he knew that Rivener wouldn't accept it in the end. Isi severely hoped it wasn't anything life-threatening, that it was just something that would pass, but he couldn't help but worry a little for his assailant.

When the comforting sound of gravel underneath tires reached Isi's ears, the boy was settling after another fit that had resulted in the scratching on Julian's cheek. He hadn't meant to and now he regretted hurting the man that had done so much and saved his life (There was still a part of Isi that shuddered over the thought of Jules' lips pressed around his and he sorely wished to be held). Overall, he was much better compared to the writhing worm he had been three days ago, and color was just beginning to touch his cheeks again. Thankfully he was a little more coherent than usual. So when Julian took his leave, the boy was able to croak out a scratchy, "My thanks..." as Julian left his room.

Now, he lay with his thin legs spread (for the mere feeling of any part of his body touching anything else still felt a little sore), his arms laid out by either side of him as he leaned against the propped up pillows, almost completely sunk into the plush, while trying to regain his breathing so he didn't look as bad as he felt.

By the time the truth had transpired in the room below them, Eiry had already floated up to his guardian's bedroom and through the door. Isi had startled as soon as the raevan came him, and Eiry started to coo with his voice (which was creepy and unhelpful in the first place) in order to try and pacify his guardian. He would do that to calm the pets around the house. It worked for them, so it should work for Isi. But the crippled boy simply shuddered and tried to turn away, to say that it was scaring him. Eiry tilted his head at the reaction he received from his guardian and he sucked in his lip, now at a loss of what to do until Aphismet made his round up here.

Deep inside himself, in places that hadn't formed, Eiry felt a tense ball of anticipation well up. He hoped that he had made the right choice in showing Aphi to Rivener first, that, for some moments, Riv and Aphi could just be together. Eiry loved his brother, but he loved his Isi too.

On the bed, Isi groaned and tried to shift to the side. He could hear the footsteps of his older brother down below and he could only begin to fathom what was going to happen next. Aphi would fret over Rivener, Rivener would tell him, and then he would race upstairs. It was then that Isi wished he could get up so he could look like he was fine, so he could look like all that he needed was a bandage and pat on the head and he should be fine.

But, oh, was it a wall of relief that hit him when he finally heard Aphi's voice call out his name. A little safer the world became when Aphismet was home, and a little safer still when the chef finally burst into the room, rushing to the bedside.

When Aphismet finally rushed into the room, Eiry dodged the man as he entered and floated away to the door. He didn't want to be in the way for them. In fact, he didn't feel like he should be there and listen into the conversation that would soon ensue. So, like the ghost he was created from, Eiry floated through the wall and started making his way to Rivener's room. He felt that his big brother needed him.

So down the stairs he floated until he came to the scorpion frei's bedroom, and slowly did Eiry peek his head into the wall, his small voice tentatively calling, "...Rivener?"

At the sight of the panicked chef, Isi couldn't help but smile, tears welling in his eyes. The sight of Isi lying, prone and weak, wasn't a pretty one to see. thankfully, he wasn't as bad as he had been and he had been improving thanks to Julian's tender and precise care. Now he could string sentences together, look around and interact with his surroundings. It would be another day or two before he regained enough strength to actually stand (with the help of his crutches, of course). The small convulsions were also lessening and only really happened in mornings and evenings. His chest and shoulders were neatly wrapped by Julian's bandages, his pale face still sprinkled with sweat.

He had been through a lot in the past week since Aphi's departure to the meeting, there was no denying that. Discovering that, for the entire time Rivener and he had been living underneath the same roof, the scorpion raevan wanted to have Isi dead, was a heavy thing to swallow. Isi had no trouble in admitting that he was still scared stiff at the thought, nonetheless the fact, that Rivener had, indeed, almost killed him. Not only that but the amount of pain induced from a single pair of lightning quick stings, and the terror of being unable to move or control his own body, the surprise of Julian and his kiss of life, was too much for Isi to accept with a nod and shrug.

Rolling the top half of his body to the side, the boy tried to prop himself up on one elbow, clumsily and silently begging Aphi to embrace him. "Ah-aphi..." Isikoro choked, finally letting himself degenerate into soft weeps, focusing his weary grey eyes into Aphi's eyes of coffee brown.