「 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 」

𝑿𝑽𝑰𝑰. ☁️

Xavier wasn't sure how much more he could take under Latissimus's cruelty.  He was always hungry, as he was constantly not being fed enough.  His body ached all over, and he was covered head to toe in bruises.  Sometimes, he'd be gagged and tied up and gawked at and talked down to like he had subpar intelligence.  He had to assume that the reason Latissimus did this was because he just loved having someone around to preach his manifesto to.

Whenever these moments came around, Xavier tuned out as much as he could.  It was his coping mechanism that helped him maintain his sanity.  He never even knew what time of day it was since the room he was in didn't even have windows.

At one moment, though, he was sleeping.  He did that lot since there was nothing else to do.  He woke up, he heard a myriad of voices.  A couple of them he could swear was Oriana and Godbrand.  It was probably just a vivid dream, though, just like others he had had before…

"Xavier!  Xavier, wake up!"  Oriana shook Xavier's shoulder, trying to get some kind of response from him.

"… Oriana… ?"

"Yes, yes it's me, baby!  And Godbrand.  We're here to take you back home."  She couldn't contain the tears that spilled down her face. 

Xavier was so out of touch with what was happening, Godbrand stepped in, wrapped him in a blanket to cover his naked form, and scooped him up.

"We'll try to talk to him when we get back.  Captain, did you find anyone else here?  Latissimus??"

"No sir, unfortunately we found no one else.  We swept the entire compound."

Godbrand sighed and looked down at the angel in his arms.  "It's alright, for now.  We got who we were really looking for.  Let's vacate."

-

"Look at how bruised up he is, Godbrand… and he's so pale, even more than I remember him being," said Oriana as the couple looked at the sad state Xavier was in.

A doctor's assessment revealed that he was quite dehydrated and starved.  Food and drink had to slowly be reintroduced.  It was such a sad sight for the both of them to see.

Godbrand was pretty much speechless.  He just wrapped his arm around Oriana and brought her close to him like he seemed to be doing every five minutes.  He didn't mind, though.  Deep down, he knew he needed the proximity too, maybe even more than she did.

"We'll check back in on him when he wakes up.  Come on; Yuel fixed something for us to eat."

-

Xavier had stirred awake by the time Godbrand and Oriana were downstairs.  He felt so sluggish and depleted of energy, but he somehow found it in himself to sit up and peer around the familiar room.

"I'm back… so they did find me… it wasn't a dream."

The door of the room opened and in came Oriana, who'd snuck away from the kitchen when Godbrand and Yuel were engaged in conversation about what to do with Latissimus since he'd gotten away.

"Xavier!"

"M-Mistress…"

Oriana had engulfed him in a huge hug, well, as huge as she could give him without hurting him.  He was still in rough shape.  She was emitting sounds that were somewhat of a cross between crying and laughter.

"I know you feel terrible now; don't move too much right now.  The doctor says you need plenty of bed rest for your body to recover from the trauma."

Xavier simply nodded.

"What about… Latissimus…?"

"We got to you after he'd already disappeared.  I promised I would punish him myself, but lucky for him he was able to dodge it," Oriana sneered.

"It's fine," said Xavier.  "You don't have to catch him just for  me."

Oriana frowned.  "But…!"

"I'm tired of all of this, Mistress.  If it's possible, do you think Sir Godbrand could drop the search?"

"… I don't know.  He's really hard-headed when he has his mind set on a goal.  At the end of the day, it's up to him if he wants to let go of the investigation.  And if I know my husband, it probably won't happen."

Oriana pat Xavier's blonde hair and kissed him.  Slowly, she helped him stand up from the bed.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up."