My Child

Equius: Have a Panic Attack

WARNING! THIS IS GOING TO BE A SAD ONE! I'm sorry, but it is necessary.

~Signless POV~

We got two rooms at the inn, one for Dolorosa and Disciple and one for Psiioniic, Equius, and myself. At the moment, all of us are in the "boy's room", as Equius had called it. Psiioniic is sound asleep. His injuries have been cleaned and bandaged. He's lying on one of the two small beds in our room, curled up in as much of a ball as he can manage. Dolorosa has decided that he needs someone close to him in case he wakes up scared, so she's sitting on the edge of the bed, sewing something. Disciple is pacing the room, angrily adding our night to her journal. Her photogenic memory still amazes me. I'm sitting on the other bed. Equius decided that my lap is his pillow and fell asleep while I run my fingers through his long hair.

Something in her writing catches Disciple's attention and excites her. "Signless," she squeals, climbing onto the bed with me and Equius. She holds her journal up so I can read something she's written. Honestly, I have no idea what she wants me to read. She's almost filled both pages the book is opened to.

"Okay, I give up," I say. "What am I looking at?"

She squeals again, louder than the last time. This time she manages to wake Psiioniic and Equius, both extremely disoriented. "He called you his guardian," she states in a slightly quieter, yet equally excited, voice. I give her a confused look. "Earlier this evening, when those drunk buffoons were threatening us, Equius said 'I bleed indigo and you're threatening my GUARDIAN.'" She points to the text near the top of the page.

Now that I think about it, I kind of am his guardian, despite how close in age we are. I'm the one that found him and took care of him. "I guess," I shrug. I honestly have no idea what she wants me to say.

"Are you his guardian?" she asks, once again looking like a confused meow-beast.

I don't even know how to respond to that. How am I supposed to respond to that? Me and Equius have never talked about it before. "I think that's up to him," I say, directing my attention to the indigo blood now cuddling up against my side. "Do you want me to be your guardian?"

"Yes," he states matter-of-factly and without hesitation. I can't help the smile that blossoms. I honestly didn't think anything of his statement at the time, just assuming he was trying to get the other blue bloods to leave us alone. I'm not entirely surprised that we have formed this sort of relationship, but I am excited and happy none the less.

Disciple squeals again, jotting down this moment in her journal as she resumes her pacing. This time she startles Psiioniic into Dolorosa's arms.

"Disciple," she snaps in her motherly tone. "If you don't mind, please control your volume. You're scaring Psiioniic." I want to help Psiioniic, but I don't want to leave Equius alone. I can tell that there's still something wrong, I just don't know what.

"You should make sure he's okay," Equius whispers to me.

I glance down at him for only a moment before I move to sit on the edge of the other bed, next to Psiioniic. Gently placing my hand on his shoulder, I feel him shaking. "No one here's going to hurt you," I say. He looks at me, then to Disciple. The pure fear radiating off of him is almost palpable. I move my hand from his shoulder to his cheek and turn his head back to me. "Disciple gets loud when she's excited, but she won't hurt you."

He nods, hugging his knees to his chest. "I'll have to remember that." He rests his head on his knees, turned to look at me. "I don't like loud sounds," he whispers.

"Bad memories?" I ask, wrapping my arms around him. He just nods. "I understand."

He rests his head on my shoulder. "I really don't think you do."