𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘆 ✦ 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 ⁽ᴹᵃˡᵉ ᵛᵉʳ⁾

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀

He wasn't aware of what exactly he had done before he blacked out. The last thing he did remember though was someone gently telling him to rest up for a little bit.

He had slipped into unconsciousness after that only for his peaceful rest to be interrupted by a dream. Well, a memory.

It was one he would rather not remember. Now that he had, he had nobody to direct his anger towards.

"Ah... Dragonspine is beautiful, isn't it? When was the last time I was here, hm?"

A woman was curled up in a cave by a torch, smiling gently. She was bundled up in a large blanket so that only her face was visible, the face of her two-year-old son peeking out beneath hers.

"You don't seem to like it very much though." Eira chuckled, "Don't worry, when we get to Mondstadt, you'll never have to worry about the cold ever again! I'll get a nice job and I'll take care of us!"

The young m/n tilted his head up, e/c eyes round and the woman gave him a grin.

"Your mom is the strongest person in the world! She'll always protect you, one way or another, hehe!" the woman exclaimed.

"Ah..." the little boy breathed, eyes sparkling and giggled when his mother puzzled his forehead with a cold nose.

"Come on, we should get going. The quicker we get out of Dragonspine and to Mondstadt, the farther from the Fatui we'll be!" the woman chimed, standing up.

She bundled the little boy up in the blanket and left the cave emerging once more into the harsh cold of Dragonspine.

•••

"Hm?" Fintan's eyebrows raised when he noticed slight movement from the h/c haired boy as he shifted on the couch.

He recognized the expression on the boy's face, brows knitted closely together and a frown upon his face. Somehow that frown still managed to look fearful.

Fintan had seen it plenty of times when m/n was still just a baby. Even after all these years, he still knew facial expressions.

The man walked over and crouched beside the couch, taking the boy's right hand and observing it. It was still cold but at least it wasn't pale and covered in ice anymore.

'Ice from a delusion is a pain to get rid of, especially this one.' Fintan thought to himself, his ave moving towards the delusion resting on the table. The delusion that had once belonged to the woman he had loved dearly.

Now, this emotional train wreck had it in the boy's possession and it damn near killed him the previous day. If Fintan had not jumped in and knocked him out, it wouldn't have just been his right arm and shoulder that would be encased in ice.

The boy would've turned into a human popsicle, which defiantly would've been bad.

It took a while but Fintan managed to melt the ice before it could do any real damage to the boy. All that the boy needed to do now was to get some rest.

M/n whimpered something in his sleep, reaching for Fintan's hand. Fintan blinked then held the boy's right hand in both of his. He remembered when the little boy's s/c hand could barely hold the man's pointer finger and how it used to be free of scars.

His son has truly grown a lot. He looked so much like his mother that Fintan had initially mistaken him for the deceased woman. Perhaps it was desperation. Maybe it was the grief that never really went away. Who knows.

Fintan let out a small sigh, averting his eyes when the boy rolled over and so he pressed his hand to the boy's forehead. Despite growing, m/n hadn't changed much.

He pulled away gently and left his home to go check on his garden. The man lived rather close to Wolvedom but never had trouble with wolves.

He figured the h/c haired boy would panic upon waking up but he was ready for whatever was going to happen.

Fintan's main goal was to make sure that m/n was cared for until he was sure that the boy would be able to take care of himself again. As soon as m/n was better, he would leave and live his life.

Fintan sighed heavily, "Reckless."

But for now, the snot-nosed brat was his responsibility to take care of.