stranger [C. TARTAGLIA]

13

"this is no toy factory..." you murmured as you stared outside of the said 'institute of toy research' childe had mentioned.

"awesome!" teucer began to prance around the place, observing the surroundings as he heard some machinery like things inside.

"uhm, so, have you actually got any idea what the inside of this building is?" you glanced at childe who was watching his brother.

"well, i know that this was a research facility by dottore but he recently grew bored and abandoned it. but other than that, no i don't." he flashed you an innocent smile.

"you– don't you care about your brother's safety? this place might be crawling with ruin guards!" you argued.

"of course i do. but no matter what the danger is, i will parry it. isn't that what any older brother would do?"

you were taken aback at what he said, somehow speechless at his words. you didn't expect childe to be so... caring. but then again, this is his brother we're talking about.

"hey! what are you guys talking about? let's go!" teucer tugged childe and tried to drag him closer to the entrance.

"alright, follow me."

you followed behind the siblings, being alert as to what might happen once you were inside.

"someone told me that mr. cyclops is a killing machine. is that true?" teucer asked.

"were they now? what a silly thing for them to say."

you still haven't got any clue as to what a mr. cyclops is. was it one of his toys? or imaginary friends? children often have a big imagination so it wouldn't come off as a surprise.

while you were thinking about it, teucer had gone running off on his own. "hey teucer wait up!" childe called out.

you started to run after him but the door shuts, separating you from the kid. "damn it the door shut." you cussed.

"there's another path over there," childe points, "let's move."

you nod and began to run behind him, hurrying to meet teucer on the other side. after solving puzzles to get inside, you managed to see teucer on the other side. however, there was a mechanism he had to unlock.

childe ordered teucer as to what he should do to get to him, to which he fortunately followed. when you finally met with him, you let out a sigh of relief.

"thank the archons you're okay." you said. "you're not hurt are you?"

"hurt? no way this is really fun!" he chuckled. "oh, what's that over there?! is that where mr. cyclops takes his friends when they come to visit!"

he points at the room in front of you were two ruin guards were sitting. you had just now realized, "mr. cyclops is the ruin guard?!" you whispered loudly at childe.

he only lets out another nervous laughter and followed teucer. "it is, impressive isn't it? now how 'bout a game of hide and seek."

"huh? now? but..."

"don't worry i have a surprise for you y'know." he said. you had no idea what childe was planning at this point, but your only goal was to protect teucer and that was it. "alright now turn around and count to 60."

when teucer began to count, you stayed beside him while childe went into the room and began to fight the ruin guards. "48, 47... are you guys okay? what's all that crashing and banging?"

"don't worry, it's all part of the surprise!" childe responded while trying to take down one of the machines. you were planning on helping out, but you couldn't just leave teucer behind.