Ace jumped, hearing a loud THUMP come from a room nearby he decided to get up and check on Argo. He quickly made his way across the large hallway and knocked on the door, his eyebrows furrowed when he found the boy on the floor.
"Argo, are you alright love?" He asked quietly, unsure if he was awake or not.
Argo startled, pulling himself up from the floor to curl up in a ball. He didn't say anything, his leg twitching violently as he rocked himself back and forth on the floor
"Hey, it's okay." Ace cooed, giving the smaller boy a big hug, his heart breaking at the sight in front of him.
"F-floyd!" He yelled, running his hand through Argo's hair.
Argo flinched from the touch. Images of the man who had dragged him away from his father and older brother's burning bodies and beat him flashed through his mind, and he curled in on himself even more as his arm twitched so much he accidentally hit Ace's chest
Floyd was woken from his calming sleep by the sound of Ace yelling for him in another room. He jerked awake, becoming panicked for a moment. He was way too paranoid at the moment. He jumped out of bed and ran into the other room, looking around quickly. “Ace? What’s going on?” He asked, frowning as he looked down at him and Argo.
"I don't know, I heard a loud noise and found him on the floor." He said, holding Argo closer to his chest, his heart rapidly beating as he worried for the child.
"What's wrong with him?!"
"I-I-I'm fine," Argo stammered, his tone sounding choked as he stammered far more than usual. He was still twitching, but he hugged his legs tighter to his chest in an attempt to stop the tics
Floyd chewed at the inside of his cheek as he thought. “God- I don’t know. Side effect of trauma? The kid did look beat up when we found him,” he said, tone unsure.
Ace looked down at him, loosening his hold on Argo, although he was too afraid to let him go completely.
Argo rubbed at his face, trying to keep Ace and Floyd from seeing the tears from the nightmare he was having before he woke up. It took him a few tries to get his arms to work properly, and he hid his face in his hands as the twitching began to slow
Ace furrowed his eyebrows, frowning down at the boy.
"Hey, It's going to be okay." He whispered, using his thumb to wipe the tears from Argo's face, giving him a kiss on the nose.
"I promise you'll be okay with us." he said, giving him a small squeeze.
Argo sniffled, finally managing to get his tics down to just a random finger twitch here and there. "I'm sorry for wak-king you, Mr. Ace," he said softly, staring down at the floor
"No, no, you didn't wake me love." he lied, giving Argo a sweet smile.
"Just, scared us a little is all," His fingers continued to run through the boy's hair, and his thumb drew small shapes on his arm.
"Wanna talk about it?" He asked.
Argo sat up a little, knowing that Ace was lying about waking him and Floyd up. "You'll find out sooner or l-later, so I might as well tell you now." He took a deep breath, rubbing at his eyes for a moment before beginning to talk. "Argo isn't m-my real name. I…I ran from home because my family was burned at the stake. I c-come from a family of witches, who use d-dark magic to help people. We've been f-famous for it for a long time, but w-when people started disappearing the t-town blamed us. They killed my w-whole family, and I got away before they k-killed me too."
Ace held "Argo" tighter, rocking him back and forth, his eyes filled with worry as he looked up at Floyd, and then back down at the boy.
"It's going to be okay now." He whispered, "I promise.."
Floyd crouched down, lips pursed into a frown as he glanced at Ace, then to the boy. “Ace is right, you’re completely safe here,” he reassured. His mind drifted to the thought of the possible murderer who was still on the loose, but he shook the idea from his thoughts.
"No, it's not. It's n-not okay," Argo sobbed. "I'm a killer. You don't know who you b-b-brought into your hom-me," he choked out, curling in on himself tighter
Ace looked up to Floyd, still unsure of what to do for the boy. He picked him up, laying him down on the bed, and then joining him, wrapping his arms around Argo as he continued to run his hands through his hair.
"Don't say that about yourself, you are not a killer."
"You don't know w-what I do for a living," Argo sniffled. Before he knew it, the confession was tumbling from his mouth before he could stop himself. "My real name is Vien Harlock, and I'm a contract k-killer who specializes in da-ark magic," he said, fear immediately gripping him
The blonde's eyes widened, bringing Argo, or, Vien closer so his head was against his chest. His eyes locked with Floyd's.
"Dark Magic?" He asked, feeling a bit conflicted on how to deal with this.
( ACE IS IN LOVE WITH THIS KID AND HE JUST WANT'S TO L O V E HIM!!)
(lol and Argo is just here like 'there is literally no way anyone could love me')
Vien nodded. "I'm sorry. I took a-advantage of you, and I should have just l-left. I'm sorry," he sniffled, trying to hold back tears as he spoke. "I'll just g-go," he said, moving to try and get away from Ace
Ace held onto him tighter.
"No, no you are going to stay here with us." he said, taking Vien's hands in his own.
"As king, it is my duty to protect my people, and that includes you."
( ACE HAS THE BIGGEST HEART OH BOI I LOVE HIM SO MUCH)
(aaa sameee)
Vien sniffled, his face scrunching slightly as he tried to hold back tears. He didn't understand. He was a killer. Shouldn't the king be locking him up right now? "I…W-Why?" he sniffled, looking up at Ace
Dark magic? Contract killing? Oh, was Floyd confused and conflicted. Vien was only a kid, how was he able to kill people? And he was never a big believer in magic- dark or not. “I’m sure there’s more to you, Vien, besides all of that stuff that you told us. You seem like a nice kid, and Ace is a good king. He knows what he’s doing, so if he says you’re going to stay here and be safe, then he’s making a good decision.”
Vien didn't know what to do with himself. He had never been so conflicted and confused before. No one was ever nice to him, niceness was considered a form of weakness. So why were these people, especially these people being so kind to him?