Chapter Text
Tezca smiled, Justin being reverted back to his childhood self was a nightmare, it truly was… but having the boy in his old uniform curling up against him and suckling lazily on his pacifier was so unbelievably cute it made up for it all. Justin trusted him well enough as an adult, but it was nothing like this. Right now Justin clearly trusted him so entirely it made tears prick Tezca’s eyes. The little hand of the boy was clutching onto his shirt, his entire body curled into Tezca’s chest.
Justin’s old uniform- the one he took on after being separated from his father, it was heavy black and formless. Big enough that Justin just looked like a tiny head poking up the top… it was unfairly cute. This was Justin before he had the power of a Death Scythe, before he even knew how to use his weapon form or how to control it… from the kid’s reciting of his age he was apparently 10 right now, not even a year since he was removed from his father’s care. That fact only made Tezca more protective of the boy, wanting to make sure nothing forced him to remember that time.
The unfortunate complication of all of this was Giriko, who was obviously going to come back from his mission at some point and wonder where his husband had gone. Tezca wasn’t too thrilled with the man being anywhere near Justin while he was so vulnerable and little. Giriko was extremely rough and while Justin could certainly handle it as an adult… as an abused child only starting to recover… it just wasn’t an option. He needed to be treated softly and carefully.
Thinking of that Tezca bent down a bit to kiss Justin’s forehead tenderly. Justin didn’t like being called angel, he had never explained why but he seemed to get pensive and sad whenever it was said… but Tezca also wasn’t sure what else the boy could possibly be. With hair in a bright halo of gold and big blue eyes that shined so beautifully, Tezca wasn’t sure how else to describe him. There was a tiny mumble past Justin’s pacifier, something at 10 he was far too old for but that none of them could reject him having because really, anything to soothe the damaged boy was needed when he first arrived.
Just thinking to back then made Tezca’s heart ache. Justin had been so scared, screaming and hiding under beds because he didn’t know them as anyone else other than the people who had killed his father. It was more than fair for him to be scared, to be cowering and tearing up and thinking of them as monsters… the boy had first hand seen too much blood being shed for a child. So much so, that even now that Justin was an adult… Tezca was certain that had left scars.
To this day he disagreed with how the academy handled that situation, they certainly should’ve gotten the kids out first instead of letting them bear witness to that carnage. Tezca was unsure what became of all of Justin’s “siblings” for lack of a better term, but they had certainly been better off than Justin who apparently saw his dad’s death extremely up close. They also got sent to loving foster homes while Justin had been admitted to the academy for his promise… now parentless and scared. It couldn’t be called anything but cruel, Justin had truly deserved far better.
Alas, Tezca hadn’t been in control of any of that and there was nothing he could do other than hush the boy and tell him it’d be alright.
Like right now. Although, Tezca wasn’t sure where Justin’s mind was currently… if he was 10 did he think he had just been taken from his father’s church or was he close to 11 and sort of used to the academy at this point? ...Or maybe did he think he was still a part of his father’s church? Tezca couldn’t really tell, all he knew was Justin was exhausted and didn’t feel safe sleeping alone. That’s why he had the boy resting on him right now. Justin had wanted to sleep under some tables and chairs where he was hidden but hadn’t struggled either when Tezca picked him up, apparently recognizing him as someone safe.
Which was an unbelievable compliment to Tezca, having Justin’s trust was like taming a goddamn bear, it felt close to impossible. Lifting Justin’s tiny body off the floor and not getting any struggling or much of any reaction at all sans a few stressed out sucks on his pacifier… it was amazing. Tezca was expecting screaming, biting, thrashing, everything on earth Justin could think of to get him to let go. Justin had never been the type to just let people touch him or move him around, but he had just sort of hung limply in Tezca’s arms then, letting himself be carried off somewhere safe and warm.
Tezca was unsure if this version of Justin had his memories from adulthood and was just lacking the same maturity and therefore knew who Tezca was or what… but he was being obedient and soft and damn was that a relief. Tezca certainly wasn’t complaining about things being just the slightest bit easier for him here. It wouldn’t be that way very long after all, time was ticking down from when Giriko would arrive and Tezca was getting a bit anxious trying to decide what to do. Honestly keeping Justin on his lap until this was all over was what he was hoping for… but he knew that was pretty much impossible.
Giriko and Tezca practically never interacted, they didn’t like each other and Justin was completely fine with them not liking each other. He didn’t force them to interact or try to make them understand each other or any of that, he truly just didn’t care. Which Tezca appreciated, he didn’t want to have to talk to Giriko ever… but right now he was going to have to.
Justin wasn’t old enough to really know how to take care of himself anymore. He was absolutely tiny and really just having a hard time staying awake at all. Plus, Tezca wasn’t even sure if Giriko knew how to handle baby weapons. The idea of Justin bringing out his pendulum blades and tripping around trying to hold up the heavy things to minimize dragging their chains loudly across the floor… and Giriko being the one that had to catch the boy so he didn’t accidentally cut anyone’s ankles off…. That was nightmarish.
When they first got Justin he was extremely, uh, ‘well trained’ Tezca supposed he’d put it. Everything he did, he did with a weird sort of pacing. It was clear each movement was intentional, done rather quickly or slowly depending on the situation and who was around him- nothing close to how a normal 10 year old would act. Tezca could never really manage to get a grasp on the exact pattern it all followed and what situations caused what mannerisms… but it was still obvious that there was something like that going on.
Justin didn’t talk about it, not even as a kid. He kept his mouth shut and his head down, and when people pressed him too hard for more details he’d get scared . It took a few months for them to really get a grasp on the fact Justin wasn’t just traumatized by the slaughter of his church- but also from whatever went down within its walls. Another thing they really should’ve seen coming but certainly didn’t.
The vast majority of the academy still didn’t know what had happened to the boy, Justin was nothing if not good at keeping things quiet. However , Tezca did know. He knew because he actually went out of his way to visit one of the boy’s ‘brothers’ in their foster home. He wanted to know what was wrong with Justin, how he could help. The child wasn’t excited to talk to him, but after his foster parents explained how important it was and it was to help his now-distant older brother, he did open up a bit.
Justin apparently was the priest’s favorite . Favorite-favorite. He took Justin everywhere with him, most of the time Justin slept with him, they had private lessons together and Justin always got the lead in their choir just because the priest wanted him to be the one who got to go on church trips along with him.
The poor boy explaining this clearly didn’t really understand what he was saying- and he was jealous. Apparently the other kids there were jealous of how much attention Justin got and how ‘ungrateful’ he was for all the blessings he had.
Both Tezca and the foster parents watching this conversation went dead silent after Tezca decided that this boy really didn’t know anything more- thankfully. Another child didn’t need to be wrapped up in that… he’d probably realize one day when he was older though. Shaking his head Tezca had said his thank yous and goodbyes, smiling sadly at the completely unaffected kid excitedly waving bye and two solemn parents.
The fact that even now Justin had never seen any of his brothers since that night… it kinda made Tezca’s heartache. Still, Justin showed 0 interest in meeting any of them again and Tezca wasn’t in any position to push- he had no idea what kinda shit was going down there and what kinda relationships Justin may have had with them. That wasn’t the point though, the point was that as well behaved and practiced and quiet as Justin was as a kid… as he got more comfortable he… well…
He was excited to show how ‘good’ he was.
When Justin finally knew that they weren’t planning to hurt him and in fact took him out of that nightmare… he got more affectionate. Which was cute, Tezca loved that, but apparently the ‘best part’ of the kid that he was offering in thanks for being saved was his weapon form. Which was… something.
Tezca was a weapon himself, and he was a Death Scythe too, so he knew what it was like to have different forms and abilities and ways to twist himself to really get effective attacks… but he was an adult, not an 10 year old. Justin wasn’t good at all at controlling his weapon form at that age, but he could do some crazy things and really show off how horrific his weapon form would become once he was trained.
Justin was a deadly child, without the suffocating hold from his father keeping him silent and still with his head down… he was an actual threat. Taking care of him had been a challenge for all of them, he was sharp absolutely everywhere and hard to keep a hold on. Tezca didn’t trust Giriko with that for a second.
Not that Tezca thought Giriko would take advantage of it, which was surprising because Tezca put very few things in the ‘below Giriko’ category, but still Tezca was sure not even Giriko would use a child as a weapon. That was some truly low shit. However he was worried that Giriko just… couldn’t take care of that disaster.
Tezca hadn’t been able to handle it right the first time, but now that he had practice and knew what Justin was like… he had way better odds of keeping Justin safe until they undid this curse. There was just no confusion, he had a history here.
Sure Justin was being perfectly fine and obedient right now, doing nothing but sleeping soundly, but who knew how long it’d stay that way. That was the difficult thing with kids, you never knew when they’d pull a 180 and decide they wanted to cause chaos. Justin was a better boy then most his age, but he was still just barely tying his shoes and learning how to spell. He was tiny , he was going to make mistakes, need help, do dumb things and all that other nonsense. Expecting Giriko to have the patience to deal with that would be a joke. There was no way.
Plus depending on when and where Justin thought he was right now and if he remembered the future or not… he might still be in the modality of prayer. All of them were foggy about what exactly the practices of Justin’s church were, they were very secretive and Justin wasn’t big on sharing… Well it was more like Justin didn’t share at all and didn’t humor any interest, he wanted to worship by himself and refused to allow anyone else into his particular practice… Which was fine, no one was really interested besides Tezca and Tezca learned not to push a long time ago.
The part of concern that raised though was if Justin was still like he was when he originally came to the academy he would pray at least 8 times a day and would talk only in religious terminology- that was how he was trained so that was how he acted until he got brave enough to venture out. Giriko putting up with that… also seemed impossible. Justin and Giriko barely meshed as adults, with Justin being a kid it’d just be a nightmare.
As if to prove that this wouldn’t be the slightest bit easy Justin started to wake up, making tiny little moaning noises as he stretched out and got used to his tiny limbs again. It took a little bit for Justin to fully get up again, but once he did he was immediately trying to get down. Tezca could feel his hair falling out in stress. He didn’t want to put Justin down, but quickly the kid started whining, daring to cry if he wasn’t released… a complete nightmare.
Sure enough, as soon as he put Justin down… the kid started going.
Tezca had no idea to where but he was tripping to follow, not wanting to lose sight of the little weapon. It was clear at this point that Justin knew he wasn’t under his father’s commands anymore, acting like this, which was good but also incredibly inconvenient. Tezca didn’t want to wish suffering on the boy, but there was also no denying that he’d be much easier to deal with praying then whatever he was doing now.
“Justin, Justin come back, where are you going!?”