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Tighnari has known about Hermanubis since the beginning.
Things between him and Cyno have been different since they first met. Once the whole thing that had to do with him being a Matra on duty ended, Cyno started to gravitate towards Tighnari.
He seemed to find his company enjoyable and his reactions of frustration and disbelief at hearing his infamous jokes endearing and equally entertaining. The General had trusted him with Collei, had been sure of her safety as long as she remained with him and not even once did he doubt he could develop any kind of interest that would only be beneficial for him when he revealed the illness that afflicted her.
Tighnari isn’t sure when they fell in love.
It seemed to happen naturally, with getting used to each other company and feeling comfortable whenever both were together even if none were doing anything in specific. Despite his jokes and everything, Cyno was respectful of his work and could spend hours just siting next to him while Tighnari worked on documenting a new discovery or just while making a report.
In return, the forest ranger listened to Cyno’s stories after he came back from a long trip in the desert and tended to his injuries because he seemed to prefer going to him before going to the experienced healers who were always at the Matra’s disposition after a mission.
When Collei was no longer wary around Cyno, things seemed to further fall into place.
It was one night when the weight of what they were felt too heavy to ignore.
The forest was silent, the calmness he enjoyed so much allowing him to get all the noises from nature that were so hard to listen to when everyone was awake and going around with their day. Cyno was sitting next to him, looking at the drawings the other made before the sun went down, he wasn’t wearing the headpiece he normally wore, his white hair moving around with the wind giving him that appearance that looked so different from the one he had whenever he was doing his job.
Tighnari had stared at him until Cyno felt his eyes and looked up, staring back at him while little by little lowering the drawings, moving closer without breaking eye contact.
“Are you alright?” he had asked. “We could go back inside if you’re cold.”
Tighnari had resisted the urge to scoff at that. Cyno was the one to get cold at night, too used to the heat of the desert and the warmness of the shelters whenever the sun fell and had even claimed to say the coldness of the forest was different. His emotions were raging, urging him to do something he wasn’t sure he understood entirely. It felt different from how he felt around Collei, the traveller or even Alhaitham and Kaveh, it moved with such intensity inside of him that he wanted to know what it was.
“Cyno…”
His doubts evaporated when Cyno leaned to kiss him, those lips pressing against his own in the most tender way, as if he was scared of doing something wrong. Tighnari had kissed him back, equally worried about messing it up but knowing he couldn’t hold back what he felt.
Turning into a couple had been, as expected, tricky. They were very close friends and relied on each other a lot, but changing from one thing to another felt like a challenge they weren’t sure how to tackle. None had experience in the area and it’s not that they were surrounded by many examples.
Kaveh and Alhaitham were a case study on its own and while the ones around them knew they worked well together, Tighnari was sure no other couple in the world could replicate it. As for couples one could stumble upon while moving around, they couldn’t know their dynamic and replicating what they did didn’t really feel like an option either, they were two entities of their own, copying what others did sounded horrible.
Adding to it how busy both were and it was a complete nightmare.
In the end, they both started to get ideas that fit with their lifestyle a bit more. Cyno brought certain plant specimens, that already ended their life as to not disturb the balance, Tighnari had taught him well and got excited when the botanist was incapable of hiding his happiness at seeing it. On his side, he allowed Cyno to go around with his jokes and started to pay a lot of attention to anything TCG related. Things that screamed Cyno to him were bought without a second thought and he loved seeing the other going around saying how good it will look and how he would become the envy of the ones around him because of it.
Just like it happened with becoming friends, they worked perfectly and got closer as a couple.
“I can walk on my own, Cyno, it’s not that bad.”
“Won’t be happening,” Cyno says immediately, holding his arm more securely to continue walking. “You always force me to rest no matter what type of injury, I’m doing the same.”
“Yes I do that, at home, not when we still need to travel for a while before reaching anything,” he says with a quiet snort. “I know this forest, better than you at that.”
“As far as I know, you can still talk and guide me,” he hums, unphased by the glare that has made him so well-known around the Ghandarva Village. “The more you complain, the more it will take us to reach our destination.”
Tighnari can only huff. He really isn’t severely injured, it’s just a sprained ankle after failing to land correctly while attacking one of those fungi creatures that led the infestation of fungus in a nearby village. He didn’t break anything, but becoming protective of one another it’s something that also grew considerably. The ranger would be a liar if he said he didn’t like it, there was something special in being so cherished and loved, so despite his normally closed-off personality, he liked it when it came to Cyno.
That’s why he ends up sighing in resignation and lets both continue without arguing much further. The sun is already starting its way down and he already knows that means more dangers and unwanted issues, so the sooner they arrive at a village, the better.
The least he expects is to have a group of eremites appearing.
It’s not weird considering some had taken in the despicable practice of poaching and extracting materials that are under protection, but Tighnari does find it weird to see such a large number. Normally, they move in groups of four, five at most, to go as unnoticed as possible, relying entirely on being sneaky to avoid getting detected by the rangers who either try to fight them or go directly for the Matra so they are arrested.
“Unless you’re just travelling, you should have avoided us,” Cyno says after allowing Tighnari to free himself from him and stand at his side. “State your intentions.”
One of those tall and ridiculously strong eremites lets out an airy chuckle as he steps forward, muscular arms crossed over his chest. “Nothing that interests you, General Mahamatra.”
It’s not that it is abnormal to have people knowing who Cyno is, but added to everything else, Tighnari feels the pang of worry spreading more with the way he’s addressing him. “It is illegal to hunt animals for either consumption or for their fur.”
His ears twitch in distaste at noting the bag one of them is carrying and he can see a mushroom mixed with fur that can only come from a type of shroomboar that is protected due to a recent influx of hunters that almost gets them extinct.
“Still illegal,” he repeats. “You’re altering nature’s balance.”
“Well, we didn’t travel all the way here to return empty-handed.”
The fight is expected, the viciousness of their attack is as well. Tighnari has faced more groups than he would like to in a lifetime, just like Cyno who sees them almost every day. Both are more than familiar with their attacks and the things they try to use to their advantage, but then an arrow hits the floor between both and a greyish powder explodes in a way that it is impossible to avoid breathing in.
“It’s probably poison,” he hisses, still managing to jump to another side to avoid the rest of it, seeing Cyno doing the same but to another side. “We will have to hurry back.”
Cyno, after rubbing his nose, nods, tightening the hold he has on his spear. It’s not that Tighnari is weak or anything, but his strength compared to Cyno’s is abysmal and it is up to him to end the battle while Tighnari helps with what he can.
The ranger sees him jumping in to swiftly defeat two of the eremites with crossbows while Tighnari himself gets rid of the other, leaving only the ridiculously big one and two more who also seem to specialise in close combat. He knows this is a race against time, he doesn’t know what kind of poison it is and how fast it will spread through their bodies and what damage it will do.
Not feeling anything somehow manages to stress him further and it all reaches its peak when Cyno just… freezes.
The opening is immediately taken by the biggest brute and Tighnari even forgets about his sprained and throbbing ankle when the man sends Cyno to slam against a large rock.
“Cyno!” he cries, managing to shoot a couple of Vijnana Stormheart to distract them from reaching his boyfriend. “What do you feel?”
Cyno, however, doesn’t answer, he’s barely moving, his body is only trembling with violence, as if he’s freezing. He can even see his muscles contracting painfully, which can only mean the poison is one of the most aggressive types. He doesn’t know why it isn’t affecting him as badly, but there’s no time to think about it.
“It’s alright, I’ll take care of this,” he whispers. “Just hang in there for me.”
He has experience, maybe not as much as a trained warrior, but he has and in that moment he tries to use every single part of it to deal as much damage as possible while keeping the distance his attacks need and he’s close to making sure they don’t attack Cyno.
“You put up a good fight, but it wasn’t enough, little fox.”
Tighnari is bleeding from a large gash on his arm, his jaw aches after the hit he barely blocked, his legs are trembling and his hand can barely hold his body, but he’s still standing right in front of Cyno, glaring at the large brute who is the only one standing. “You’re not getting away with it.”
“Seems like I already did, that shady man promised this would incapacitate the general and seems he was right.”
His heart further drops at hearing that, his eyes glancing at Cyno who is looking at them even if he can’t still move. Only heavens knows what that powder had and he would even prefer it was poison instead of some unknown thing. What’s worse is knowing that the man is right, he can’t go any further, he’s at his limit and with Cyno incapacitated, it won’t be hard for him to end both right there.
He feels for Collei and all their friends, only Archons knows if their bodies will be recovered or will end somewhere else, but he’s at least with Cyno.
“Y-You won’t…”
It all happens way too fast for any of them to process it. Tighnari only hears Cyno’s voice before there is a rush of electro that sends him stumbling to the floor. A flurry of purple passes him by along with an animalistic growl that makes him think they awakened one of the many creatures in the forest and lured it to attack.
When he looks up, however, cold fear washes over his entire body.
Cyno is standing up and attacking the man, but it’s not Cyno.
The first few times he could see Hermanubis, he could feel the change of energy that came with it. It felt more violent, demanding, and it even went as far as changing his spear-based attacks to ones where he used those large claws as a weapon. It felt more like a frenzy, a rush of power that was unsustainable for a normal body given how hard it pushed him to the limit and how it demanded things that were above human’s limits.
The creature attacking its enemy is aggressive in an almost animalistic way, it tears at skin with long claws and sends powerful currents that fry his opponent and it doesn’t stop, not even when it is clear the man is dead.
“Cyno,” he still calls him, trying to get rid of the horribleness of the picture and focus on his boyfriend who needs to be there. “Cyno, please…”
The creature that turns to look at him isn’t his boyfriend and what makes it worse is that he can see the damage that is doing to him.
The strips of heavens know what material that appears whenever he uses the power of Hermanubis are still there, but they seem to be cutting into Cyno’s arms of how tight they are, his hands are deformed by the claws that used to look like gauntlets and the headpiece almost looks fused to his head, with a strip of the same material wrapped tightly over his eyes.
“Enemy…” he whispers, his voice sounding almost like a monster.
“I’m not,” he says, struggling to push himself away from the advancing creature. “It’s me, Tighnari, your— Your boyfriend!”
He doesn’t seem to listen, he continues advancing towards him on unsteady feet with grunts and hisses that further show the pain he’s experiencing, but advancing while Tighnari can’t even bring himself to stand up without collapsing once more. Everything until there’s a sharp tug on his injured ankle that slams him face-first into the dirt.
“You’re guilty…” the entity claims, raising one deformed arm ready to deliver the fatal hit.
“I’m your Nari,” he pleads, struggling against those strips that keep wrapping around him. “We need to go back— we, we are together, we love each other and you’re stronger than this!”
It’s one of those nonsensical things one says or do when the times are desperate, but that’s the only thing Tighnari has in that moment. His thoughts are similar to the ones he had when he thought the eremite was going to kill him, but now he regrets it at understanding how hard Cyno will be on himself at discovering what happened.
If he returns to be himself, that is.
Ultimately, he closes his eyes, reading himself for the fatal blow or to be ultimately strangled by the things already wrapped around him. It isn’t easy to make peace with death while being young, but life is life and if he can’t change it, then—
A sudden scream makes him jump as much as he can and open his eyes to see Cyno holding his head with those deformed hands, pressing so hard he’s worried he’s about to crush his own head with his hands.
“Cyno!” he says, renewing his struggles despite his exhaustion but feeling optimistic with the hesitation until he finally manages to slip free.
By the moment he gets rid of everything holding him, Cyno is already on the floor, on his knees, holding his head and letting out pitiful cries of pure pain that become louder when his muscles seem to contract unnaturally and his bones make a noise that makes him believe they’re all breaking.
The blood that doesn’t belong to the mangled body lying a few metres away from them, runs down his arms and face, to Tighnari it is as if the spirit has decided to kill Cyno so it is free to use the body for its own purposes and the panic of dying evaporates as he’s suddenly worried about losing the one he loves so much in this way.
His hands move frantically as he tries to cut the strips, little by little revealing deep cuts and bruises that send an even fiercest spark of fear down his body. He can feel the electro coursing through his body, but he ignores it as he finally manages to take hold of his face and tries to cut into the strip covering those beautiful eyes.
The thing is, as expected, displeased and it transmits it by sending stronger currents through his body and attempts to pull him back and away, but Tighnari is Tighnari and if he endured getting hit by lightning and facing Dottore, then this stupid entity won’t be doing anything against him.
Cyno is unconscious by the time he finally removes it, but he’s alive and that’s all Tighnari needs.
He isn’t sure how he manages to drag his body with the added weight of Cyno to the closest village he can remember, isn’t even sure how none of them bleeds out before doing it, but he only breathes when villagers rush to help them and one of them takes it up to him to look for the Matra and the healers.
With their limited resources, they can’t do much for their bad state, but they can do enough to keep them from dying of blood loss and once Tighnari regains enough strength, dedicates entirely to tend to Cyno who is still unconscious and looking close to dying.
The Matra and healers arrive around an hour later. They pale and pretty much look as if they are about to pass out when they take in both his and Cyno’s appearance, but they are understandably more worried about their General as they try to understand what happened.
It is hard to explain why there are no witnesses and also where they can find the… bodies.
It doesn’t take them long to decide they need to be taken to the healing pavilion so they receive the attention they need and Tighnari doesn’t oppose, only asking them to deliver a letter he writes for Collei explaining what happened and how it will take them longer to return. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her everything is alright because he doesn’t know if it will be and he wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened and he had to deliver that news to her.
He can’t even think about what he would do, but that’s another thing.
“We have stabilised him, though, it will take a while for him to recover,” the woman explains, subtly glancing him over. “I still strongly recommend you rest, he’s in good hands.”
“I’m fine, nothing was too serious,” he says with a faint shake of his head. “Don’t worry about me, I know my limits.”
He didn’t respect it this time, he went way above them, but he can’t even think about being away from the other, not right now.
“Still, no need to injure yourself further.”
“I won’t, you can be sure of that,” he says. “I’m a ranger, getting injured every now and then happens.”
She, thankfully gives up on trying to convince him and he’s thankful for it, managing to keep his smile polite once she starts moving away and disappears into another room. Tighnari only takes a moment to make sure no one else is coming his way before finally going inside the room where the other is.
“Nari…”
“The doctor told me you’re probably still dizzy, so don’t even try to move much,” he says after swallowing the lump in his throat at seeing him there. “I have a full list of things that follow a very strict time, obviously I will be taking care of that.”
“You still… want to be around me?”
Any other thing he planned to say in hopes of lessening the tense and awkward atmosphere evaporates when he hears that question. He freezes centimetres away from reaching the bed, his eyes staring at the wall before slowly moving to the figure on the bed.
“What?” he asks, his ears dropping a little. “I have been doing this since the beginning, why wouldn’t I?”
“I’m a monster, Nari, one that can’t be trusted.”
Even if he doesn’t want to, he can’t help but remember the creature that manifested in that moment, the one that tore to shreds their enemy and almost ends his own life, but along with that, he remembers the pain Cyno went through. The blood, the broken bones, the torn ligaments and everything as that thing took over in a different way than what it was normal.
“Do you have that little faith in me?” he asks, finally moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “You’re the same who gets excited because someone found his jokes funny.”
A weak smile appears on that bruised face, but it vanishes almost in an instant. “I almost kill you.”
“Unless that’s your secret desire, I don’t blame you,” he says with a snort. “If what that brute said was true, it was something made to affect you.”
“I don’t think that was quite it,” he whispers, shaking his head. “Well, it incapacitated me, but not him.”
“Then maybe there’s something wanting to experiment with you,” he says, a shiver running down his spine.
“It’s possible, I’ll have to investigate it immediately.”
“You’re not doing anything until you’re better,” he says with a raised brow. “This time it is much more delicate and won’t be letting you go that easily.”
“Tighnari—” he starts but stops, he sees him swallowing hard. “I’m so sorry.”
It always hurts to hear that level of pain and vulnerability in someone who is normally so composed and it is worse when seeing the bruised face, so he just rests his hand on his bandaged hand. “It’s alright… it won’t happen again.”
He can see the doubt appearing in those red eyes, a silent confession of not being sure he will be capable of holding it back all the time, but that’s fine, he’s not leaving, he’s not going back on his words not now, not ever.
And so, he only makes sure to hold his hand more securely.