Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Finn? Have you made up your mind?” The divine visionary, Rayne Ames, sets down his cup of tea as he throws an age old question to his younger brother. The relationship between these two brothers have greatly improved since last year’s incident. Rayne has been more and more supportive of Finn, and has tried his best to do “fun brother activities” despite having trouble doing so.

Finn, on the other hand, seems to have a lot on his mind. He sighs, “I… I’m not sure. Everyone’s telling me to participate, but I’m not sure I’d be a good match as a divine visionary… I’ll definitely look pale when compared to everyone else.”

The sword cane put some thought into what to say next. He casually rested his head on his right fist, leaning into the sofa. “Well, just follow your heart. If you’re determined to do it… I’m sure you’ll make it to the top. You’re more than qualified.”

Hearing his brother’s words, the younger Ames could only chuckle in amusement. “Me? Qualified? You’re kidding… All the candidates from last year were already super strong. Imagine what they’d be like this year! After all, I only made it through last year’s divine visionary candidate exam because of my friends. I’ll just end up humiliating myself, and you too.”

“You’re right.” He says sternly. His response made Finn’s heart sink, but it was the truth after all. Seeing his brother’s expression, Rayne smiled and continued his sentence. “The candidates this year must be much harder than last year's candidates. Especially with Carpaccio Luo-yang in the mix. But Finn… haven’t you improved a lot as well?”

The younger Ames couldn't think of a response. Did he truly improve? Well, he did gain a second line, but is that enough? Rayne lifted the teapot and slowly poured more tea into both his and Finn’s teacup. “No matter what the outcome is, I’m already proud of you. So there’s no need to worry…” Even though it’s been a year since their reconciliation, Rayne still hasn’t gotten used to actually being present in Finn’s life like he used to when they were kids. It was hard to get the words out, but he’s glad he could get the point across.

“I see,” Finn nodded. He then smiled widely and thanked the other. “It seems I’ve gotten things wrong the whole time. Things are different now, things have changed, and I have changed as well. I’m sure there’s others that are rooting for me too.”

And to that, the divine visionary could only cough. Putting out a cold front, he pretended to not be affected by his brother’s adorable smile. It’s been so long since he’d seen him like this, it truly was a refreshing sight to see.

____

Finn Ames blankly stared at his gold coins. Six golden coins in total, more than enough for him to qualify as a candidate. He thought over his decisions once more, before officially submitting his application. He’s totally committed to win! He’s already dreaming of it. Victory, people cheering him on, others finally acknowledging his presence, no longer will his achievements be swept under the carpet. And best of all, he’d be able to spend more time with his older brother, the current Sword Cane.

He wonders what tactics he would use during the exam. All his opponents are obviously strong mages who’s main ability is to attack, how would a support role like him fare against them? He’ll have to think about that more… maybe it would be a battle of endurance? He’d just heal himself, over and over again until his opponents tire themselves out. That’s one way.

It would be nice if he had some other signature spell up his sleeves. Technically, aside from those who were present during last year’s catastrophic final battle, no one else has seen Finn’s secondth spell in full action. Even though he clearly contributed to the battle, some students in Easton still refuse to give him any credit. He’ll definitely show them this time!

No matter, he’s sure to surprise them. Little do they know, Finn has been taking small courses with a certain flame wielding divine visionary. Kaldo Gehenna, who opted to take Finn under his wing just to piss off Rayne. And to his credit, it worked. There’s still some time till the actual divine visionary candidate exam, Finn will definitely improve by then.

“Yo Finn! How’s it going?” Dot Barrett barges into adler dorm 302 as Finn finishes submitting the letter and interrupts his very long train of thoughts. Behind him was no other than last year’s divine visionary, Lance Crown. “Hello, Finn, Mash.”

“Mhmhmhppmhh,” said Mash, who was sitting on his bed with a mouth full of cream puffs. Everyone assumes that meant something along the lines of “Hello, glad you’re here.”

Dot walks over to Finn, shoving a small paper bag in front of him. “Here… as a gift. herbal tea, as usual. I brought new flavors this time. Try them out and tell me which one you like better.” Finn accepts gratefully, giving the paperbag a small peek before putting it away. “Will do. Thanks, Dot.”

“So, Finn, it’s final then?” Lance welcomes himself in and takes a seat by the table. “You’ll be taking the exam all by yourself this year. All your opponents won’t be a walk in the park either. But then again, you’ve faced innocent zero already… this won’t be anything new.”

“Now that I think about it… this year’s most dangerous candidate should be Carpaccio Luo-yang. He’s downright terrifying! You’ll meet him again this year, are you absolutely sure?” The redhead expressed his extremely valid concerns.

“Y-yeah, I’ve made up my mind… it’s too late to back out anyways– I submitted the letter a few minutes ago. This year, I’ll give it all I have, even if I’m all by myself. You’ll be cheering for me, right? So I won’t be completely alone,” Finn replied without much of a thought. His friends all nod in support, giving him a few words of encouragement.

All those hard work Finn went through to gather these gold coins, have now paid off as he enters the divine visionary candidate exam. Out of the twelve participating students, only three will make it to the Tri-Magic-Athalon. He’s gained the support of all his friends, the support of his brother, and even support from the divine visionaries who said they were excited to work with him. Whether that was genuine or not, it motivated the young boy quite enough. That was the start of the next few weeks that caused Finn the most stress in his life.

Chapter Text

That was the origin story of how he got to this point. In this very moment and time, the final battle, the final straw– the only thing standing in front of him, preventing him from reaching victory– his last opponent, Carpaccio Luo-yang.

Finn took a peek at the arena, a one versus one showdown between the nine candidates from the three renowned magic academies. All his hard work and determination has led him to this, the match that determines this year’s divine visionary. The arena seats are filled to the brim with spectators, no one wanting to miss the final battle between Finn Ames and Carpaccio Luo-yang.

This whole time, Finn’s strategy was to wear out his opponent before striking them once they let down their guard. This has worked with every single opponent that crossed his path. He was fortunate enough to be paired against mages who work in explosive ways, he wins by simply letting them tire themselves out. They did all the dirty work for him, and all Finn needed to do was sit idly by and continue healing himself. Don’t get it wrong, continuous healing is far different from simply being invincible. He still feels all the punches thrown at him. Ouch.

But to his dismay, he may have met his match. A battle between endurance between someone who can’t feel pain and some wimp like himself? He’s definitely losing… Truth be told, Finn still has past traumas when it comes to this guy. Even hearing his name sends shivers down his spine. There was one point where Carpaccio sort of apologized, but it wasn’t a very formal apology and Finn was completely intimidated. The red head considered it as a mission success, though.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the final showdown between two candidates from EASTON! Give it up for the renowned magical genius of Easton Academy, the one who possesses one of the thirteen master canes, the one blessed by Gods himself, CARPACCIO LUO-YANG!” The commentator gave Carpaccio a very long introduction before giving him his cue to enter. As he entered the arena, the crowd applauded his presence, cheering his name over and over again. Seeing the oh so overwhelming sight had already made Finn’s confidence waver. With so many people cheering for his opponent, who is going to cheer for him?

The crowd takes a minute or two to calm down, before the commentator starts talking again. “And now, put your hands together for the boy who surpassed all expectations, the one to live up to his family name, the all in maxed out support character– FINN AMES!!”

“...why did my introduction sound so…” Finn shook his head. Whatever, doesn’t matter! He stepped into his arena, only to be greeted with an unfavorable amount of applause. He sighed and cried internally, but who cares! After dwindling in self pity, he held up his head and saw his friends sitting in a row. Their eyes met, and Finn knew he had to win this. He even spotted his brother in the crowd! And next to him was Kaldo Gehenna! There’s no way he’d embarrass himself, right?

________

He screwed up. Finn totally screwed up. Here he was, laying on the ground, in a puddle of his own blood. Let this reliable narrator tell you how the match went. They stood face to face, the first to make a move was Finn. He pulled out his wand and summoned Changeas Secondth. Before successfully doing so, his action was halted by a stab to the shoulder.

Ah, he wasted no time. Finn clutched his wounded arm before finally casting his secondth spell and healing himself. He planned to tough this out, but we’ll see what happens next. And that brings us to the present, where Finn lays helplessly on the ground as his many white butterflies swarm him as they desperately try to heal him. Meanwhile, Carpaccio stands ten meters away from him, still stabbing himself at various places.

Finn stays silent, aside from occasional grunts when the pain really hits. “This is getting repetitive… Are you going to give up or what? I applaud your bravery and this... futile attempt of yours, I truly do.” Carpaccio finally voices. “But my hands are getting… sore. I'd appreciate it if this ended now.”

“As if! Get as sore as you want… there's no way– there's no way I’m giving up…” Finn managed to say between heavy pants and grunts as he’s still facing cuts and slashes all over his body. The crowd has… gone silent. They were excited at first, but it dragged on for hours. The match started at nine in the morning… It's 2pm.

Some spectators have even gone home, but some persist to watch till the end, although very few. Among those few people are his friends. Mash continued watching with a cream puff in his hand, Dot has fallen asleep, Lance is staring at that picture of his sister he carries around, and Lemon couldn’t bear to watch the excessive amount of blood and just looked at the ground. Ah, yes, it’s going great.

“And Carpaccio strikes again… with his… well, with the same exact technique he did a hundred times already…” The commentator tried her best to make the fight look at least a little exhilarating, although there’s not much she can do. Poor girl.

The fight feels strongly one sided, leaning heavily towards Carpaccio’s victory. They were both tired, and so were both the angel entities guarding them. The nurse and the butterfly nun, they seem to be an equal match. Finn’s butterfly themed entity did nothing more than hover against Finn, sending dozens of never ending butterflies to heal him.

Seeing that the match is going nowhere, the judges of the competition decided to send a message. Finn saw the examiners whisper something to the commentator, before the girl nodded and made an announcement. “A note to candidate Finn Ames! If you do not fight back, it will be recognized as a form of yielding! Please make your move.”

Hearing that, Finn truly felt like the world was over. “What?! Fight back? This is my way of fighting back! Why do I have to fight him if he can fight himself? There was no problem with previous matches!”

“Well, those previous matches you speak of didn’t exactly last five hours.” The girl with the microphone said nonchalantly. “So, we’d appreciate it if you would hurry up!!”

Finn was so close to giving up. He’d endured all that, all that pain– for the past five hours, mind you– and it’s gonna end just like that? He sighed and finally brought himself up. He stood on his two, very wobbly legs, and walked closer to Carpaccio. Heavily underestimating his opponent, Carpaccio did nothing but watch.

In an unexpected twist of events, Finn balled up his hand into a fist, and punched Carpaccio as hard as he could. In which, that punch only came boomerang-ing back to him. He should’ve known that would happen. In fact, he did know that would happen. He fell to the ground once again, a flock of butterflies immediately rushing to his aid. “See what happens if I fight him?! THERE’S LITERALLY NOTHING I CAN DO!”

Frustration has clearly caught up to him, and he wished he could take his anger out on his opponent, but that would just doom him more. The commentator raised an eyebrow, “You could always just admit your defeat, you know?”

From the few spectators left watching, four of them were divine visionaries. The obvious two being Lance and Rayne, and the other Kaldo Gehenna, who was Finn’s self proclaimed mentor. He stood up from his specially designated seat and approached the examiners. He whispered something to them and they looked skeptical. After a bit of talking and convincing, whatever he was going to do seemed to have been approved.

Kaldo then walked over to the commentator girl and asked for her mic. She gladly handed it to him and Kaldo took over. “Alright ladies and gentleman, to spice things up, how about a little interview with the candidates, hmm?”

“Interview…? We’re in the middle of a fight.” Carpaccio says in his normal flat toned voice. Finn could only smile helplessly, “It’s not exactly much of a fight, is it…”

The flame cane flashed his signature smile and pulled out a glass of honey to enjoy while having their QnA session. “Haha, I’m sure you two have plenty of time on your hands, so not why entertain all our beloveds spectators? Alright! Question for Carpaccio Luo-yang…”

“Hmm?”

“When you become a divine visionary, what title would you like to go with?” A simple question. All divine visionaries like himself, have an alias people associate them with… mainly to sound cool. The titles are quite literal, the flame cane, the light cane, the sword cane, and so on.
Carpaccio stared blankly at that question. He hadn’t put much thought into it. “I’m not sure… that sounds like something trivial.” The red haired candidate looked around, as if searching for inspiration. His eyes landed on his own wand. “...the healing cane? I already have it, why not just use that?”

“Is that so? The healing cane. That has a nice ring to it,” He praises. Kaldo then smirked before trying to fish out an answer from the boy. “Healing cane… say, Carpaccio, can you heal?”

“...I can heal myself–”

“Can you heal others?” he replies before Carpaccio can finish.

He pondered for a moment. Before letting out a confused “No..?”

Kaldo looks very happy with his answer. “Ah, thats quite unfortunate. Then, do you know anyone that’s realy good at healing both himself and other people?”

Finn furrowed his brows. Where was Kaldo going with this? Carpaccio thought for a moment. He couldn’t really name anyone at the top of his head. He resorted to look around, again, for inspiration. His dull, wide eyes landed on the smaller figure laying on the floor. “Well, I guess… Finn can heal really well.”

Is that a compliment? Finn might be overthinking it a bit. Carpaccio had no thought behind that answer. Although the divine visionary questioning them seemed more pleased than usual. “Bingo! Finn Ames, truly a great healer, hmm? It’s obvious that he is, I was the one who trained him, afterall.”

Wait, why’s he making this about himself?! “But doesn’t that make it sound like Finn over there is more deserving of that title? What’s a healing cane that can’t heal other people?” Kaldo wasn’t done with just that. “Divine visionaries don’t always have to be powerful mages that specialize in combat… Take Sophina, for example. You don’t see her work in battlefields often, do you?”

“I suppose not,” Carpaccio admits, almost innocently.

“But then again, Finn’s not the one with the magic cane. I myself have to admit, you have the power to become a visionary. Chosen by God himself, you truly are one of a kind.”

The orca student seemed almost skeptical. Was that genuine? “Well… thanks?”

Kaldo continued, “Although you severely lack the attitude of one.” Of course, the compliment was backhanded. “And Finn, the bureau of magic needs more people like you. Kind and considerate, down to earth.”

“Umm… yeah?” At this point, all this talk got Finn interested. He changed his position from lying down to sitting cross legged. “Am I going to get a backhanded comment too or..?”

“Well, All I’m saying is that in terms of magic, you’re way inferior to your opponent right here,” Kaldo says bluntly. Finn raised a brow, “Thanks.”

Kaldo waited a moment or two for them to connect the lines. However, they did in fact, did not connect the lines. Faced with a pair of meatheads, the flame cane turned to the audience. “What about everyone else? What do you think? Who should be this year's divine visionary? Since this match doesn’t have an outcome, how about you decide?”

The crowd's whispers fills the once silent arena. Inaudible murmurs were heard, before Mash said a little too loudly, “Why not just both?”

Everyone goes silent at that thought. Lance pinched his eyebrows, “Mash, they can’t just do that, one divine visionary per year. That’s the rule. Plus there’s only one slot opened so–”

“BINGO!!”

Once again, the crowd goes silent. This time, all their eyes were directed at the flame cane. “Great thinking Mash! Since they both complete each other’s incompetence, why not have them both be the healing canes?”

“That’s outrageous! Something like that has never been done before, it’s always one divine visionary a year! We only have one slot open, there’s no way we can add another,” A member of the bureau of magic, who happened to be one of the examiners, protested at Kaldo’s innovative idea.

Kaldo shook his head. “I never said we’d have to provide another slot… Didn’t you hear what I said? They complete eachother, they’re basically two souls in one! They can both be the healing canes, they can split everything, can’t they?”

“Wait, wait– but doesn’t that mean I only won because I have a… good personality? That's my only good trait?” Finn questioned.

Carpaccio on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind. “...If it’s with someone like Finn, I guess it’s fine. A win is a win…”

And with that, the divine visionary selection this year ended in a draw. It took a little bit more discussions and convincing, but in the end, this year’s divine visionary is the healing cane, or should I say, The Healing Canes.

Chapter Text

Finn, the newly appointed Healing Cane, stood nervously in front of this huge door, which was the main entrance to the divine visionaries headquarters. Beside him was the ever so unfazed Carpaccio, who is now his… co-worker? No, the other divine visionaries would be his co-workers. What would that make Carpaccio?

He sighed and cheered himself on. It’s alright, you can do this. You made it this far, and you didn’t mess up your speech during the ceremony! Well, almost. He’s already familiar with the other canes, so what’s making him so nervous? They love him, and he… well, he’s scared of them but that’s the same thing. Carpaccio noticed that Finn was making a strange expression while mumbling to himself. “...What are you doing?”

“E-eh? No, nothing… I’m fine.” He stumbled over embarrassment. “A-anyways, let’s go in… W-what should we say? Good Morning? Pleasure to be working with you? ah, is that too informal? Maybe I should say something more–”

Before he could finish, Carpaccio had already pushed the door wide open, exposing the two of them to everyone present. Finn activated full panic mode. Inside was a lounge where a few visionaries were sitting. There were multiple doors that led to personal offices for each of them. There was also a meeting room, but it had it’s doors closed. Other facilities such as a kitchen or shower room were also provided. How fancy.

“Finn, You’re here.” Lance greeted with his usual cool tone. Kaldo was among those present, he wasted no time in approaching them. “Welcome you two! It’s your first day, feeling nervous?”

“Kind of,” “What’s that?”

They simultaneously faced eachother, Finn’s expression saying “Seriously..?” and Carpaccio with a curious face. He tilted his head, “I don’t think I feel anything different.” Finn could only force a sarcastic smile.

“Wow, look at you two! Your chemistry is through the roof.” Was that sarcasm? “Haha, you two will get used to this in no time. Anyways, I assume you’re already familiar with everyone, so let’s just get into the tour. Lance and I will be showing you around.”

The tour consists of every single crack and crevice in the headquarters, it was overall a very detailed tour. Kaldo was a very talkative tour guide and Lance was just there to make sure the tour doesn’t end up becoming a honey themed tea party. They paid a visit to all the visionaries in their office, and finally reached their very own. “Now, this one right here is yours. It’s still quite empty, so decorate it as you will.”

He signaled something to Lance and right away he revealed two fresh robes with customized icons at the back. A plus sign? Well, they were the healing canes after all. “Aaand here is your work attire. Usually, you get a spare, but since there are two of you… you get one each. You’ll have to figure out how to dry them quickly.” The two newcomers accepted gratefully and immediately tried them out.

“I can't believe I’m wearing something like this…” Finn was in awe. This was the pinnacle of happiness, he couldn't ask for anything more.

“It’s not that hard to believe,” Carpaccio commented. Someone like him wouldn't get it. “Also, doesn't that look too big on you?”

“Hm?” Finn looked down at himself. He looked at his sleeves. “Oh, you’re right… are these in the same sizes?”

Kaldo could only smile. Lance shrugged, “They said it would be too much of a hassle to make it in different sizes. You’ll grow into it.”

Why does it feel like Finn is always getting the short end of the stick? “Anyways, let me briefly explain how things are around here. Since you two will be members of the Magical Medicine Administration, you’ll spend lots of your time there instead of in your personal office. I heard you were big in research, Carpaccio?”

The healing cane nodded at Kaldo’s statement. “Great! You’ll love this type of work… and as for Finn, you might have things you need to get used to, but you’ll do it in no time.”

Kaldo pulled up a piece of paper. “Looks like a contract?” “Wait, is that a check?” “That’s a certificate.” Finn and Carpaccio threw their guesses. They were right on the money. That right there are the benefits they will be receiving for successfully becoming a divine visionary.

“Right. As usual, these are your rewards. This certificate officially states that your status has been elevated to nobility, and you will receive a hefty sum. Albeit shared between you two, of course.” The flame cane explained. The two nodded, they didn't seem to mind splitting everything into half. “Oh, I forgot one more thing. Notice how there’s only one certificate? That’s because we only provide one. Now this might sound absurd, but only one last name can be signed on. You can still write ‘Carpaccio and Finn’, but for the column right here, you’ll have to decide between Ames or Luo-yang.”

“Well, I’ll keep this for now. Tell me once you’ve decided. Good luck on your first day! Take it easy, go around the place, tour the rest of the bureau, anything you want. Byebye now!” And off the two divine visionaries went, as they had more duties to attend to. That leaves our freshly nominated visionaries, who stood in awkward silence. Unlike them, however, the two newcomers don't actually have work until all the official paperwork has gone through. It gives them about… three days of free time.

“...um, so like… what now?” Finn talked first. Carpaccio stayed silent. Seeing as his attempt to start a conversation was denied, he sighed and sat down on his office chair. Wait, there’s only one chair and one desk? They’ll have to buy another one by themselves. “Hey, do you want this desk or do you want to choose one by yourself?”

“Any is fine.” He answered shortly.

“Okay…”

“........”

Silence yet again. Carpaccio wasn't doing anything either. He was just standing there– staring at the other, for some reason. Finn spun his chair in another direction to avoid eye contact. He fidgeted around, resting his head on a hand and started tapping on the wooden desk. Carpaccio on the other hand, finally moved from that spot and started… inspecting the shelves? “...This won't be enough for my books.”

“We have five shelves???” Finn questioned whether Carpaccio happened to have bad eyesight. The taller however, grabbed a hold of his own chin, already planning out where to put the next five shelves. “Five isn't enough. Maybe ten minimum? Not to mention there’ll be your stuff too…”

“No I think–”

“Have you already decided what things you’d like to bring here? I’ve already put them in boxes, I’ll bring them tomorrow. There’s about… seven in total.” He said casually, not seeing anything wrong with his statement.

Finn’s eyes shot wide open. “S-seven?! I only have two! Carpaccio, you know you don't have to bring everything right?… just bring office related things.”

“Hm, no.”

“NO?!”

It turns out that in those seven boxes, we're all of his ongoing research papers. Three boxes of papers and the rest were books. Seven boxes, pure paper inside of them. When Finn had asked where his necessities were, he said he would just buy them.

----

And buy them he did. Here the two of them were, in town square, on a mission to find a list of things the master cane user needed. “Do you really need all that? How are we going to carry this back?” Poor Finn, his words didn't even register in his co-worker’s mind. He was far too focused on his three meter long list.

Without saying a word, Carpaccio disappeared into the crowd. Great, Finn looked away for one second and he’s gone! Finn panicked for a moment until he noticed a swarm of people gathering at a certain store. With no hesitation, he immediately knew his partner was there. It was a magical potions shop, of course it was. He pushed through the crowd and saw Carpaccio’s red hair in the middle of everyone’s attention, shaking the store owner’s hand. He looked really out of it though, the poor guy only wanted to go inside.

“Carpaccio! Geez, just let me know whenever a store catches your eye…” The healer scolds him. Carpaccio turned to him with a simple “Oh, sorry.”

“Well, whatever. Now, what are we going to do about this crowd–”

Not having a chance to finish speaking, the shop owner takes his hand and starts shaking it vigorously. “Two divine visionaries at my humble store! This is unbelievable, welcome, welcome!” Finn could only smile awkwardly while Carpaccio, still with his flat expression, went past the other two and entered. The crowd outside was about to follow him inside but was stopped by the owner.

The store was huge and full of potions, books, tools, and various ingredients. Carpaccio grabbed a shopping basket, wasting no time getting himself immersed in all the available supplies, and began putting everything he saw inside the basket as he checked things off the list. Finn only waited by the entrance, sneaking occasional peeks outside to see if the crowd was gone. They’re not.

Soon enough, Carpaccio made his way to the tools section. He has his eyes on this one brewer machine, yet he passed by it, thinking there wouldn’t be enough space for it. He went around the place a couple more times before reaching the counter with three baskets in total. Finn’s jaw practically fell to the floor. “Hey, aren’t we shopping for office supplies?!”

“...It seems I got a little carried away.” He says as he pulls out his wallet. “...it’s empty. Do they take checks here?”

“Obviously not!” Finn sighed before generously taking out his own pouch and lent his ‘friend’ money. Carpaccio took it without a word and began counting the number of items, which by itself took a solid five minutes. After confirming the total, he reached out to pay, before hesitating. Finn raised a brow, “What is it?”

The two liner looked back at the machine he had his sight on earlier. He stared the owner dead in the eye. “How much is that.” It sounded more like a statement than a question. The man excitedly answers. “That’s the shop’s best seller! It’s high quality and has a large capacity, it will last you a long time. For the price, it’s only 30,000 pounds!”

“30,000?! Carpaccio, I don’t have that much!” The price was jaw dropping. For measurement, the three baskets Carpaccio got only totaled up to 4.000, which was already on the expensive end. Taking the other’s protests into consideration, Carpaccio’s expression finally changes into that of disappointment. “Oh,” he says.

The shop owner chuckled in amusement. “My, my, it seems you really like that one, hmm? Tell you what, I’ll give you a discount if you agree to write a personal rating of my shop! Also, I'd like to take a picture and frame it on the wall, is that okay?”

The taller spent no time rethinking. “Sure, anything for a discount, I guess.” And so the man fetched his camera and took a photo with both of them. He was pleased with the results, but Finn didn’t look too happy, both in the picture and in real life. He could be seen smiling awkwardly, and his stance was kinda off too. So many people are gonna see that…

While Mr. Shop owner was packaging the items, Finn and Carpaccio were each given a piece of paper. Finn wrote a positive comment as a sign of thanks for the discount. When he looked over to his partner, however, it was blank. Well, partially blank. He did write down the word “good” and called it a day. Finn pointed out that it should be more sincere, he argued that it was already sincere. Finn ended up telling Carpaccio what to write, word for word, while still trying to make it look like Carpaccio wrote it.

After all that was done, they again thanked the store owner and exited the shop. Thanks to a handy dandy teleportation spell, they don’t need to walk around the town while carrying multiple baggage. They soon noticed that the morning had now turned to evening. How long did they spend inside there?!

“...Now, Let’s go find a stationary shop. What about that desk now that we’re on topic?”

“How about a trip to the bank first?” Finn said sarcastically. “You used up all my money, remember? You gotta pay me back… deposit that check while you’re on it.”

“Oh. right.”

Well, off they went to the nearest bank. It was quite busy at this hour, so they had to wait in line for a while. It would’ve been fine if it hadn’t been for the many people asking for photos and autographs. Being famous is hard, Finn thought. Although truth be told, people were more excited about Carpaccio than himself. Should he feel glad or offended?

By the time they got to the front of the line, all disturbance had been shooed off by the security. The woman attending to them was an older woman, who looked like she hadn’t been following the news lately. Carpaccio handed over the check and the woman almost didn’t believe it. “My goodness… that’s quite the amount you have there. Where’d you get all that from?”

“Aha… you wouldn’t believe it…”

They deposited most of the money into Carpaccio’s bank account first, splitting the money equally later. After grabbing some cash (coins), they head to a local department store. Again, they were stopped by another horde of people. Finn couldn’t really hear what they were babbling about, since there were so many of them. Carpaccio remained indifferent, he seemed used to it. Doesn’t he have a fan club back in Easton?

Finn however, was annoyed. He’s getting stopped wherever he goes, and it’s by flocks of people who aren’t even there to see him! They’re all fawning over CARPACCIO. What do they see in him? One voice silences the crowd with its out-of-the-world question. “Are you two together?”

“W-what? Together? No, obviously not–” “Yes.”

What. What did he say? Finn practically side-eyed him as his head slowly turned to face him, with an unpleased expression. Carpaccio didn’t notice anything wrong though. The mob let out a loud gasp. Finn remembered people were watching and tried his best to clarify. “Wait, wait, wait, he didn’t mean that– you see I believe he misunderstood the question and–”

Before he could finish, the crowd was gone. No one left in sight. They didn’t want to bother the pair’s very wrongly assumed ‘date’. Finn could feel the dread coming in. it’s their first day and they’ve already caused a scandal. “This is going in the news… Isn’t it?”

“What news?”

“YOU!” Finn was going to lose it– if it wasn’t Carpaccio who he was dealing with, he might have already thrown a temper tantrum. “Why on earth would you say that?!”

“...what? It’s the truth. I’m not sure why, but that person asked if we were together.” Carpaccio looked Finn dead in the eye. “We’re both right here. We’re together.”

I should have just given up, Finn thought.

They return back to headquarters with a wooden desk, seven new shelves, and weird looks from all the other visionaries. Finn needs a break.

Chapter Text

The well deserved rest Finn asked the Gods so desperately for did not appear. Yesterday, he and Carpaccio arrived back at headquarters a bit too late, so they decided to continue unpacking the next day. They agreed to meet up after school and head to the bureau together, so here Finn was waiting for his co-worker to finish class. Many students bearing the orca uniform passed through, giving him weird looks. It made him uncomfortable how easily he stood out, but he was the only student adorning the adler uniform in a sea of orcas. What did he expect?

He was too busy thinking to himself that he hardly noticed the taller figure standing in front of him. Carpaccio waited a few seconds to be noticed. He waited a few more seconds until he was sick of being ignored. “...Are you trying to be a wall again?”

“H-huh? Oh, you’re here…” Finn smiled embarrassedly. He awkwardly waved hello. The boy blushed at the incident Carpaccio was referencing. “You still remember that? That’s embarrassing, so please forget that…”

“It really was. Did you really think you could blend in with the wall? Or do you have some kind of camouflage technique that happened to stop working at that moment…”

Theres no need to rub it in! Finn internally screamed out. He was ashamed to admit, but this was the truth. “Um, No… I was just hoping you wouldn’t notice I was there.”

“Huh.”

“Please don’t comment further on it…” Finn begged as he covered his face, leaving only his red ears visible. Carpaccio thought he was about to experience this thing people call a ‘laugh’. He didn’t, and he was very disappointed at the missed chance of learning something new.

Without waiting any longer, they push through the crowded halls and gain a couple of whispers, alongside with weird stares. Carpaccio didn’t seem to mind, but Finn felt as if their stares were going to carve a hole into him. As if he didn’t stand out enough, walking side by side with the “better” healing cane made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Soon enough, they arrive at the bureau of magic. After filling in their attendance, they head right into headquarters, passing by the lounge before reaching their office. The lounge was particularly empty today. It seems that most of them are off doing work in their own departments. Without anymore stalling, they began the renovations.

The office wasn’t anywhere near small, but it wasn’t big enough for the both of them either. With Carpaccio’s willingness to set up his own makeshift laboratory in the corner, there’s definitely not enough space. The first thing they did was completely rearrange all the furnitures. They mapped out where they’d place their things, ultimately deciding to split the office into two. Carpaccio’s space on the right and Finn on the left. They wasted no time and started installing the shelves. Finn gets two shelves, Carpaccio gets everything else.

Carpaccio was in charge of screwing in the shelves into place, while Finn started unboxing the boxes. Their desks were places on opposite sides, but they soon realized that was a bad idea, since when they’re sitting on their respective desks, it’s just kind of awkward to stare into each other. Oh well, too late for that.

In addition to Carpaccio’s ten hanging shelves, he also got two bookshelves. Which, ofcourse is filled with his books. There still wasn’t enough space though, as he had to place the rest of this books on the wall shelves. Finn didn’t have too many things to sort out, so he was done pretty quickly. Placing the few books he brought on shelves, cute decorations he thought would make the office more lively, and preparing drawers to place incoming paperwork. For now, his desk was empty, only having stationeries and two bunny figurines he thought was adorable.

Carpaccio, on the other hand, was a complete mess. Remember when I said they split the office into two? Apparently, they never said they’d split it equally. So here Finn was in his cramped space as Carpaccio takes up two thirds of the entire room, making sure his ambition of having a potions room in the corner come true. Finn pondered why someone like him had to pair up with someone like him.

“Do you… need help with anything?” Finn tried to clear the silence. The sound of rustling briefly halted as Carpaccio raised his head. He thought for a bit before answering. “Hmm… yes, actually. I’ve already emptied the boxes and it’s taking up too much space, so go throw them out.”

Finn was doing him a favour, yet it feels like he was following an order. This guy has no manners at all, no ‘please’? No ‘thank you’? Geez, who raised you… Finn couldn’t help but grumble and complain, even though he was the one who offered to help. He stacked the cardboard boxes so high that it covered his vision. Still, he managed to get to his destination. Before he was about to throw them away, a staff member at the bureau stopped him and asked if she could have them, since she needed to store some things. Finn gladly gave it to her and returned to headquarters.

On his way back, he stumbled upon a pleasant surprise, waiting for him in the main lounge. "Ah! Rayne! You’re having a break?”

“Hm. I just finished a short mission, so I’m done for today.” Rayne signaled for his younger brother to sit next to him, Finn happily did just that. “I didn’t get to see you yesterday.”

“Oh, right! I was going to go see you, but you weren’t in your office and I uh, had to go accompany Carpaccio into town. He was really excited about decorating the office…” Finn explained. He couldn’t help but scratch his head when he realized how awkward the words that came out of his mouth sounded. Accompany Carpaccio? He should be fine on his own, why did he have to… ah, on second thought, nevermind. It’s probably better if he keeps an eye on him, remembering what happened yesterday.

“I know.” The sword cane stated. Finn gulped, he already thought of the worst outcome. “I saw in the news today.”

“T-the news huh? Whaaat… what news…”

Rayne raised an eyebrow. Why was his brother acting so weird? “Does it make you uncomfortable? It’s normal for news agencies with too much time on their hands to cover the most irrelevant topic. You singlehandedly nominated the year’s best potions shop.”

Ah, it wasn’t as bad as Finn thought it would be. At least theres no strange rumours or anything… He sighed in relief before smiling awkwardly. “W-well, that wasn’t my idea… I’m still not used to being followed everywhere I go. I mean– they’re not following me, they couldnt care less about me. All they want is Carpaccio this, Carpaccio that, oh Carpaccio the new divine visionary… and stuff like that.”

The older only chuckled hearing his complaints. “Even after all you did, they’re still not giving you credit, huh?”

Finn couldn’t help but huff and show a hint of frustration. “I mean, it’s not like I mind or anything, but if i think about it more… it does get kind of annoying. It’s one thing that I became a divine visionary, but as I predicted before, I’m still at the bottom of the barrel.”

Rayne frowned upon hearing that. The younger noticed the sudden switch in atmosphere and desperately tried to save himself. “A-ah, don’t get it wrong, it’s fine, really it’s fine. It’s the truth after all, I’ll just have to work harder!”

“Don’t worry anymore, brother… I’m not the kind of person I was before. We’re you expecting me to go on, wallowing is self pity?” Finn half-joked, just to make the atmosphere less tense. It was clear Rayne wasn’t expecting him to say that.

“You got me… I was really worried.” He smiled softly while exhaling. He gives Finn a pat on the shoulder before standing up and fixing his robes. “I still have paperwork to do, there’s a storage full of magical tools that haven’t been inspected yet. Have fun.”

“You too!”

The sword cane left for his office, leaving the younger Ames seated by himself. He took a minute or two for a breather before going back to Carpaccio. When he entered, oh was he in for a bigger surprise. This time, not as pleasant as before. “W-what? Carpaccio! I left for ten minutes! What’s all this?!”

Carpaccio halted his activities and turned to Finn who was standing frozen still by the door. With a flat look, he answered the obvious. “I told you already. I’m setting up my research station. Also, it was closer to fifteen minutes, not ten.”

“No, no, no!” Finn slams the door behind him. “You said the station would be in the corner. your corner. Why’s it all over my space?”

“Well, your corner is empty, so I figured i’d utilize it,” he shrugged.

Finn could feel his eyes tick. “No, it’s not empty. I was going to place a sofa there, maybe a coffee table, a-and a shelf full of teabags, maybe with snacks? Whatever it was, I’m going to use that space so move your stuff!”

“What would you need that for?” the other asked, sounding almost genuinely curious.

“Isn’t it nice to have something like that if you’re having a tiresome day? What if i want to take a 20 minute nap during breaks… That would come in useful.” Finn reasoned, finally making his way closer to Carpaccio. He observes his partner’s activities closer, turns out there’s already a potion in the making. Remember that potion making machine? Yeah, it’s annoyingly loud.

“There’s a lounge outside,” Carpaccio thought. “Can’t you nap there? Although I wouldn’t imagine myself sleeping at work.”

Finn scrunched his face. “First of all, it’s not sleeping at work if its during breaks, and second, It’s more comfortable to have more privacy while sleeping, right?”

“I guess.”

After a back and forth discussion, Carpaccio finally agreed to move his things, although still taking up some of Finn’s space, but it’s better than nothing. Carpaccio noticed the potion making process was producing a concerning amount of smoke. Not wanting to suffocate the both of them, he opened the conveniently placed window.

“Are you sure it’s not burnt?”

Carpaccio shook his head, “It shouldn't be.”

Finn still thought the machine was a total rip off, but the other was having the time of his life. Before he knew it, the sky had turned dark. “It’s evening already… Time sure passes by quickly.”

“That’s because you were asleep.” Carpaccio deadpans.

They agreed to call it a day and packed things up. They were told that Kaldo had grabbed everyone take outs so they gathered at the lounge before heading off. There waiting was Kaldo, Renatus, Lance and Rayne, who was glaring daggers at a certain red head. Finn was the only one who noticed the murderous aura coming from his brother. Was everyone esle just too used to it?

The healing canes took a seat and each were given a box of take out. They were about to head off until Kaldo decided he would start some small talk. “So, anything interesting happened today? You two always seem like you’re up to something fun.”

“...Fun? No way, all I got today was this major headache whenever Carpaccio’s around,” Finn complained

Carpaccio didn’t feel guilty at all. A normal person would perhaps apologize, or if you’re someone like Renatus, you’d defend yourself. But Carpaccio blamed it on something else. “Are you sure the headache isn’t from the smoke?”

“Wait, what smoke–” Rayne questioned concerningly.

His concerns were ignored though, as the two peas in a pod continued their bickering. “That’s still your fault! Who told you to set up a makeshift laboratory in OUR office? I told you that was a bad idea…”

“A makeshift what,” Lance scrunches his nose, hoping he misheard.

“It’s more of a potions station. Also it’s not like I’d burn the place down or anything, so it should be fine,” Carpaccio explained normally, not getting the hints of concern given by others.

“Thats definitely not fine!” Finn rebutted as he ultimately lost the quarrel. He’s accepted the fact that from now on, he’ll probably have to deal with his partner’s shenanigans since there’s no way he’s winning an argument with someone who couldn’t care less.

Renatus stayed quiet as he watched the scene unfold. He continued eating, not letting the sight bother him. The divine visionary besides him, however, sat there with the same smile on his face, along side a jar of pure honey which he was pouring onto his food. Isn’t he enjoying this too much? This whole thing was his idea, after all…

Kaldo noticed the topic was getting old, and so he started another one. “Alright, alright. Just be careful you two. Anyways, about that certificate I mentioned yesterday…”

“Oh right!” Finn turned to Kaldo, “Sorry, we haven’t really discussed it yet…”

“It’s fine, you can talk about it now. Give me the final conclusion as fast as possible, your official work should start this Monday, so maybe have it ready before Sunday?”

Finn nodded. “Let’s just talk about it now…” He looked over to Carpaccio, who stared back at him. “Carpaccio, what do you think?”

With the way Finn was speaking and the silence as everyone locked their attention at him, it felt more like a therapy session. Actually, Carpaccio wouldn’t know. He’s never been anywhere near a psychiatrist. Everyone thinks he should go see one.

“I think. My name should be on the certificate, since… He’s already a divine visionary,” He pointed at the sword cane. Carpaccio made a good point. “People should already know you’re a divine visionary, and if they ask for your name, Ames is already on the list of nobilities. If we use your last name, there’s no way to verify I’m actually a nobility.”

“But you’re Carpaccio. Everyone knows you, everyone loves you. If the certificate is under your name, I’ll get thrown under the bus again,” Finn argued back.

Rayne nodded in agreement, showing full support for the decision that the certificate will be signed under their last name. Carpaccio seemed confused. “What? You mean literally or–”

“Not literally, I meant like– you know, people won’t acknowledge me.”

The taller couldn’t phantom that concept, having been praised and loved for everything he’s done, throughout his life. “Yes they do. Why won’t they? You won. You’re a visionary. Are you saying people don’t recognize you as one?”

“Well… they probably think I don’t deserve to be one,” Finn felt everyone staring at him. It adds to the awkwardness. “Unlike you, you’re not really… You don’t have any flaws. They think you’re perfect, overpowered, and really really… hot?”

“What.”

Finn rolled his eyes. With a fanbase as big as his, is he truly oblivious or does he just not care? The conversation was getting off track. “Anyways, you get it.”

Carpaccio stayed silent. He blinked. Then blinked again. Trying to understand just why people would discredit Finn like that. In his eyes, Finn was… how should he say this? He’s not perfect, but it’s not like he’s a burden either. He’s relatively weak, pathetic, and often nags a lot, but he’s not as terrible as he claims. Is he just fishing out compliments? There’s no way someone like him would genuinely think he’s worthless, Carpaccio thought.

“I don’t.”

“W-what? What do you not get? That’s all there is to it, even when I reach achievements they dont acknowledge me, so imagine what would happen if–”

“Thats not what I meant.” Carpaccio interrupted. He grabbed his own chin and started thinking. “You’re great at healing, you gained a second line, you have wits, and you’re nice. What’s there to dismiss? Isn’t it all concrete proof?”

All this has gotten Finn fired up. “Exactly! Look, I don’t get it either, but that’s just how it is. People hate me, for some reason, and they think I’m piggy riding my way to the top! Oh i did something by myself? Impossible! It’s because of Rayne, then it’s thanks to Mash, and then it’s definitely because Kaldo rigged the system! And next, it’s gonna be because of you.”

“Everyone thinks I’m the same old Finn Ames from middle school. It’s like they think the only valid form of magic is if I can take someone down with one strike! Just wait, the moment they get overpowered by another mage, who’s gonna heal them huh? Not me! Not me, because I’m weak and useless and a burden and–”

“...Shut up.” Carpaccio placed his palm over his mouth and physically made him stop talking. “It’s getting really annoying… Also, I don’t think that way.”

Finn pushed his partner’s hand away, utterly confused. “...Thanks…?”

“You’re welcome.” Oh, and it’s over, just like that. Problem solved. Thanks Carpaccio indeed. “Anyways, sign the certificate under my name.”

“Didn’t you hear anything I said?!!”

The other blocked his ears. “Stop trying to guilt trip me, it’s not gonna work.”

“Damnit!”

Renatus yawned. This is boring, he’s tired, his shift’s about to start, why can’t these kids just go home already? “You two are so annoying… Won’t everything be solved if you two had the same last name? Go register yourself in his family or something…”

The immortal cane wasn’t really thinking when he said that, it was just a one time comment. But the moment he wiped his eyes, he was met with a change of atmosphere and a certain Rayne Ames that looked like he was about to do the impossible.

Kaldo smiled at the interesting sight. “My, my, Renatus, are you implying Finn right here should change his last name? I don’t think our sword cane would be too pleased with that.”

“What?” He looked to Rayne, who was currently in an extremely foul mood. Just looking at the kid sent chills down his spine. Whatever these guys were thinking, it was wrong. “Dude chill out, I didn’t mean anything by that okay? Just forget what I said…”

They ended up talking so much that they had completely forgotten to eat. They took the already cold food to go. Along with Lance, the three Easton students checked out of headquarters a little earlier than everyone else did. They made it to their dorms just in time before lights out. That's the story of how Carpaccio won another argument, I guess.

Chapter Text

Today was Monday. Finn had waited for this day all weekend. Like usual, he bid his friends goodbye and met up with Carpaccio. This time, Lance tagged along as well. They were all going to the same destination, so why not just go altogether?

They filled their attendance and headed to headquarters. Before they even reach it, they're stopped by someone calling for them. “Hey. You two,” he pointed at the healing canes, “… get to Kaldo’s office. There’s a task waiting for you.”

The man in question, Renatus, immediately left after delivering the message, not having time to wait for a response. The Healing Canes bid Lance farewell and rushed to Kaldo’s office. They knocked twice on the door before coming in.

“Finn! Just in time… come in, come in. Have a seat.” The flame cane greeted them, or to be exact, greeted only Finn specifically. Carpaccio didn't entirely mind but he did sense favoritism. The two sat themselves near the coffee table– no, more like a honey table. Finn looked around, visibly concerned at the amount of honey bottles stocked up. Is this amount of consumption healthy?

Kaldo laid out a map on the table and pointed at a spot near the mountains. “Apologies for not being able to serve you tea… But let’s cut to the chase. There's been an incident in Caraway Village, which is right here. A monstrous beast has caused havoc throughout the village, and it has managed to escape. While Agito is taking measures to secure the wild beast, you two will be tasked with checking on the villagers, making sure they're okay.”

Finn and Carpaccio nodded, understanding the assignment.

“So we’re only there to check up on the villagers? Does that mean Carpaccio doesn’t have to come?” The boy with two toned hair was excited to have some alone time after being forced to spend every waking hour of the day with his partner.

Kaldo thought for a bit. “Hm, it’s fine. He should come with you, just for safety measures. Besides, you two are a pack. Wherever he goes you go, and wherever you go he goes. Even when you’re not needed. If only one of you came, then it’s as if the healing cane isn’t present.”

Much to his disappointment, Finn could see where Kaldo was coming from. It was their first of many missions, so they should try to get along. After a little more briefing, they grabbed their brooms and took off. They soared through the clouds and soon arrived at the village. Their arrival was welcomed kindly by the villagers, as everyone flocked to ask for help. They were led to a large tent where all the wounded were waiting. No one was terribly wounded, most of them only have scars and burn marks.

“Burn marks…?” Finn mumbled to himself as he inspected the patient. The man he was treating overheard him and recalled the incident. “Yes, yes… The wild beast– it was truly terrifying. It had the posture of a bear, yet… it had paws made of flames.”

Finn tried hard to imagine the creature in his head, but to no avail. He shook off his thoughts and quickly performed healing magic on the patients. There were dozens of people waiting for his aid, so he moved on to other patients without taking any breaks. While the healer was working around the clock, Carpaccio could only watch from afar. He stood in the corner, watching as people walked past him completely, not acknowledging his presence. Instead, they all went to Finn.

Carpaccio found this quite odd. He remembers always being the center of attention, everywhere he goes. But this time, people walked past him and flock to Finn? This was the first time that his co-worker outshined him. Don’t get it wrong, he didn’t mind at all. He was simply, curious. Yes, simply curious. This made him think back to a couple days ago, when they were discussing the certificate. Finn seemed so sure that people hated him. But look at him now! Basically being fawned over, surrounded by people who clearly valued his abilities. Again, Carpaccio doesn’t get it.

The peacefulness doesn’t last, however. As the “non healing” healing cane was deep in thought, Finn noticed something was wrong. He was focused on performing a more advanced spell for a patient that had intense wounds, yet he felt his ears perked up. “Hey…what’s that sound?”

Carpaccio stayed silent, trying to hear the sound Finn was mentioned. Not long after, a more audible noise was heard. The sounds rustling, rushed footsteps, alongside panicked screams. Outside the tent, shadows of people evacuating could be seen. Finn looked over to his partner, and they both nod in union, knowing what to do next. They rushed to exit the tent and bumped into a young man who was frantically going door to door, warning people of the dangers that were coming their way.

They approached the man and asked him what was going on. He explained through heavy pants, “Haah… the beast– it’s back… Please! Visionaries, please help us!”

“Okay, okay, calm down… we’ll take care of it okay? In the meantime, please alert everyone else to stay on guard…” Finn tried to address the man as calmly as possible. The guy took a deep breath, thanked them, and returned to his task.

The Healing Canes now turned to the job at hand. They push through the fleeing citizens and soon met the source of chaos itself. But the creature before them, was totally different from the description Finn received from before. Instead of a bear-like creature with flames for paws, it’s a deer with flames for antlers. “...Is Kaldo behind this?”

“There’s no way…” Finn sighed at the other’s question. He probably wasn’t being serious, but how could he tell? That guy always has the same flat and serious tone. Without any further ado, Carpaccio stepped forward and told Finn to step back. He looked the beast dead in the eye, before summoning the nurse entity that had always guided him.

The deer-like monster obviously took offense and started charging at them. Carpaccio responded with… stabbing himself. Finn instinctively winced at the sight. He could never get used to that. As the damage transferred, the creature instantly wailed in pain. Finn almost felt bad… It reminded him of all the animals he used to practice his healing on. Poor things.

The creature quickly got over the pain and appeared more enraged than ever. Carpaccio paid it no mind and continued his work, ever so mercilessly. It was clearly one sided, but the deer had no intentions of backing down. Finn only watched with squinted eyes, as he couldn’t bear the bloody sight infront of him. Haha, get it? Bear… the bear… wait, where’s the bear with the fiery paws? Almost comically timed, a loud growl could be heard from the distance. The beast seemed to have noticed it as well. It huffed before quickly rushing off into the woods.

“W-wait! Should we chase it?” Finn panicked as the creature they were supposed to take care of was nowhere to be seen. “It seemed badly wounded, but what if it causes chaos again?”

“It should’ve been dead by now…” Carpaccio wondered to himself. He was right. An average human would probably be dead by now. He was hitting all the vital spots, over and over again, yet it’s still alive. “Hmm… maybe the transfer isn’t perfectly performed on animals. The anatomy between a human and beasts are very different, after all…”

Finn listened to him blabber as his concerns were ignored. Not long after, another growl was heard. They decide to track down whatever creature made that noise, heading deep into the forrest. After wandering around, they spotted a grey colour from afar. It looked like a patch of greens that had been burned. Perhaps by the creatures that had body parts made of fire?

The tracks of burnt grass led them to a cave. It was dark and silent, although sounds of water droplets could be heard. Finn had to be honest, this whole thing was freaking him out. It was pitch black, and Carpaccio’s footsteps were so quiet that most times Finn doesn’t know where he is. Finn has been walking for a while. He sees nothing and he could hear nothing as well. “...Carpaccio? W-where are you?”

His question was met with silence before the other answered, startling him. “I’m here.” The sudden voice was right behind him, causing him to jump. He screeched in fear. Carpaccio furrowed his brows as he grabbed Finn’s shoulder, causing him to flinch. “Why are you yelling? You asked, I answered. Is something wrong?”

The healer only now realized how embarrassing his actions were. “N-no… I was just startled that’s all…” His voice was shaky, but to his surprise, Carpaccio bought it. They continued walking in complete silence until Finn couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you still there…?”

“Hmm?”

He was, in fact– still there. Right beside him, to be precise. Finn sighed, feeling the fatigue kicking in. “Do you really have to walk like that? Like, you have no footsteps… isn’t that a bit weird? Did you especially practiced for that?”

“What? I’m walking normally. Isn’t it good to be stealthy on missions?” The taller tilted his head. He was right, so Finn didn’t know what to say. He remained silent. It’s good that the cave is so dark, otherwise Finn’s sour expression would be seen, and it isn’t much of a sight. “Are you scared of the dark?”

The question caught him off guard. Finn quickly stammered to deny the allegations. “Whaaaat no way… scared of the dark? That’s not… I’m not scared. I’m just– making sure you’re here. You like to wander off and disappear when I look away for a moment. Now I can’t see anything, therefore I can’t keep track…”

“You know, you could just. Hold on. Right?“

“Hold on… to you?” Just thinking about it made his face heat up. He’s not thinking about anything weird, just the fact that he’s embarrassed for asking such an obvious question. “What else is there to hold on to?”

Finn blushed and reluctantly held on to Carpaccio’s robes. They walked silently with the master cane user leading ahead, occasionally warning the other of slippery puddles or piles of rocks they could trip over. Soon enough, they see a source of light in the distance. They were incredibly thrilled to make some progress and hurried their pace. After lurking around, they find exactly what they’re looking for.

“The bear!” Finn whispered.

“And the deer from before.” Carpaccio pointed out. “The slippery puddles we’ve been stepping on might have been a trail of blood…”

Finn shuddered at the thought but jabbed his partner for his useless comment. “That’s not important. Look over there– there’s a third figure.”

“Doesn’t it look oddly human?” Finn thought he was seeing things. Maybe that’s just a weirdly shaped shadow? No, that’s definitely some guy. They observe a little more. The man was mumbling inaudibly to himself, and the two creatures that were seemingly quite obedient to him. The two divine visionaries assumed he somehow created these monsters. The entire section of where they stood was fully lit up by the fire coming from the animals. It seems the man had been inspired to create his own magical beasts.

They wasted no time and confronted the man. Long story short, the man was lowkey a mad scientist who liked to test his potions on animals. Carpaccio was quite intrigued by the man’s research until Finn berates him for being distracted on duty. Finn gets his ass kicked, Carpaccio kicks the mad scientist’s ass, and they confiscate his huge collection of weird potions as Finn made sure to prevent Carpaccio from sneaking some potions back home for personal research.

They bickered on what to do with the magical beasts. Finn opted to go back and check on the villagers while the other stayed to guard the beasts, but Carpaccio thought Finn would just get into trouble. Finn felt his eyes tick at that comment. In the end, they ultimately decided to call the dragon cane for help. When Finn was about to contact Agito, he stopped as he heard the sound of shattered glass. Gosh, please no. He didn't even want to look. Carpaccio stood silent as well, seemingly feeling a little guilty. Finn took a very deep breath and mentally prepared himself before turning around and facing the redhead.

He was met with the sight of broken glass scattered all over, blue coloured mist coming from the liquid that spilled on the ground, and a Carpaccio who stood awkwardly with a poker face. Finn facepalmed, both physically and mentally. The master cane user only mumbled a simple “sorry.”

Finn had opened his mouth to complain, but didn't have the chance to do so as the blue mist quickly gained in size and spread everywhere, enveloping his co-worker until he couldn't be seen. At this point, Finn was too tired. It took a moment for the panic to eventually kick in, but by the time it has fully registered– Carpaccio had turned into a cat.

“.....” Finn, for a lack of words, was baffled. The two stared at eachother in silence, trying to let what just happened sink in. That was until Carpaccio– the cat– let out a meow. That was when Finn lost it. It started out with a held back laugh, and ended with uncontrollable wheezing.

“No way… ha… haha… THERE’S NO WAY!” He practically fell to the ground just from laughing. Carpaccio, on the other hand, deadpanned. “Serves you right! I’ve been trying to tell you, but you just wouldn’t listen! Haa, this is too funny…”

All the stress and frustration disappears once he sees an ever so fluffy cat with red fur. Even as a cat, the flat expression was very visible. He scoots over to the cat, who seems very unhappy with him. He reached out his hand, trying to pet the adorable creature before him. However, to his dismay, it dodged. “Meow.”

“Seriously? What am I going to do with you…” Finn realized he sounded like a madman talking to a cat. But that cat is his work partner, so cut him some slack. “Should I tell Mr. Agito about this? Oh, I’m going to tell everyone. The great Carpaccio transformed into an adorable furry cat– I need to take pictures…”

As he took out his communication tool and was about to dial the dragon cane, Carpaccio growled and pounced on him, knocking the tool out of his hand. “H-hey! What’s wrong with you?!”

“Do not. Tell. anyone.” Carpaccio voiced almost threateningly. Although if we take into account the fact that this threatening voice came from a cat with soft paws, it’s actually quite adorable. Finn laid on the floor after being pushed over, as he looked at the other with a weird stare. “...You can talk?”

Carpaccio looked shocked himself. “Apparently I can.”

“...I’m still calling for backup.” Finn reached for his communication device and called for help while shooing away Carpaccio and his protests. “Yes… yes, we found the beasts. Mhm… yes, Carpaccio and I have them under watch– OW!”

Finn yelped, accidentally dropping his communication device. “D-did you just scratch me?! What is it with you!”

Kaldo, on the other hand, held his device closer to his ear, trying to figure out what was happening on the other side of the phone. He furrowed his brows in confusion as he heard Finn inaudibly scolding someone from afar. He assumes it’s the more troublesome healing cane. But what he couldn’t wrap his head around was the mysterious sounds of meowing. Was that from the beast they detained? What scratched the kid? He didn’t have time to ask as the call disconnected. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t concerned, so he quickly dialed the dragon cane to check up on the teens.

Back with the healing canes, Carpaccio sat solemnly as Finn berated him non-stop. “I’m just trying to complete the mission! I don’t care if you’re embarrassed this is all your fault! If only you had listened to me… but nooo, of course not. Carpaccio just can’t lower his ego and listen to anyone, so now we’re in this mess.”

“....” What his work partner said was true, so the double liner couldn’t say anything. Finn had intended to stay mad at him, but soon noticed that the cat’s flat expression had turned into a pout. A very adorable one at that. The healing cane’s determination wavered. How could he stay mad at him with a face like that..?

“...I’ll let you off the hook if you let me pet you…” Finn tried to compromise. Carpaccio thought about it. After weighing his options, he figured that he’d do anything if it meant getting Finn to stop babbling on and on. He walked on over and let Finn hold him, much to his dismay. At this point, Finn had forgotten about all the previous mishaps and instead happily picked him up. “I hope reinforcements come soon, We wouldn’t want the spell to wear off before everyone sees, right?”

“You’re unbearable.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking… but I much prefer you like this.” He pets the grumpy feline, “If you’re a cat all the time, there won’t be as much trouble. Right? So why can’t I just have a cat for a work partner.”

What Carpaccio said in response was something Finn had never expected. “Say that once you get your ass kicked.” Finn’s eyes widened at that. That was indeed out of character of him, but I guess if you’re a powerful mage that turned into a cat, It might just mess with you.

“I do NOT need you to come and save me everytime! I’ll be just fine without someone like you.” Oh here we go, another round of bickering.

Even as a cat, he is as persistent as ever. Without thinking much, he throws out his thoughts, ever so insensitively. “You do need me. I’m the one who doesn’t need you. What good is your healing for me? I’m a two in one package.”

“Well right now I need you to Shut the–”

“There you two are!” Kaldo’s voice echoes from afar, silencing the two figures. “My goodness, I was starting to think I wandered into the wrong cave! It’s good that you two are here…” The flame cane let his eyes wander. “That’s strange. I could have sworn I heard Carpaccio’s voice. You were talking to him too just now, weren’t you?”

Finn stood awkwardly. He had been dreaming of showing Carpaccio to the world, but now that the opportunity is here, he found it quite difficult. “W-well… you see, he’s um. He’s actually right here…”

Kaldo tilted his head as Finn pushed the cat he was holding towards him. Oh! That must be the cat from the call. “Where’d you get that from… Cute guy, he looks a lot like… oh.” The realization sinks in. “...Should I ask what happened…?”

Not soon after, Agito Tyrone comes in, gives Carpaccio a weird look, whispered “It will wear off,” to Finn– and carries on to take care of the two magical creatures. They wrap up the mission and stop by the village. Exiting the cave was much easier thanks to Kaldo’s flames that lit up the room.

They waltz on over to the village and was greeted by the villagers welcoming, praising, and thanking them. During the meet and greet, Finn was still holding the cat in his hands. He had to hand Carpaccio over to someone else while he takes care of more wounded individuals. Once they were all set and done, the sun was soon to set. The village people thanked them once more, seemingly thanking Finn the most. Today felt like his moment to shine. It may not be much, but at least he could help, and the people he helped recognized him.

Finn returned to headquarters with a wide smile… although the same can’t be said for Carpaccio. The other visionaries who saw Carpaccio in his cat form, pointed and laughed. “Catpaccio?” “Carpawccio!!” “Why not both?”

And that was the story of how Finn made it in the news for being helpful, and how Carpaccio turned into a cat on a mission. It’s safe to say the media enjoyed covering that incident, since it was trending for at least two weeks. During those two weeks, Carpaccio kept a low profile and denied any missions that involved meeting the public.

Chapter Text

The day was Saturday. Meaning, Finn technically didn’t have to go to the bureau since there’s nothing to do. But this wasn't any normal Saturday, today was the day of a nationwide festival, the Magic Festival, which celebrated the blessings given to humans by gods. At the center of the festival were the people from the bureau of magic. The festival thanks the gods for their blessings, as well as the bureau for their contribution to society. Before I expand more on that, do note that Finn is currently making his way to headquarters, along with Rayne. The brothers stay together during weekends, so today they arrived together.

He greeted the visionaries in the lounge, entered his attendance, and helped Rayne settle the bag of supplies they brought into his office. Rayne asks his brother about his plans, just to reduce the silence. “Finn… Are you still going to see the festival with your friends?”

“Oh! Yes, I’ve already made plans with them. I’ll catch up with them after the opening ceremony,” Finn beamed with excitement. He hasn't had the opportunity to spend time with his friends since he’d won the title of divine visionary. Come to think of it, he’s been spending a lot of time with Carpaccio that it’s starting to grow on him. Although he is glad to have at least one day out without him.

After taking care of the supplies, he bids Rayne goodbye and skips over to his own office. Today is a good day, he thinks. All he has to do for today is appear on stage for three minutes and not mess up the opening ceremony, then he could spend the rest of his day with his friends. He smiled just thinking about it. But of course, Finn can’t have anything nice.

A blissfully unaware Finn Ames enters his office and froze. Carpaccio was standing near the window, directing the smoke to exit the room as both their visions were blinded by the thick grey fog. The master cane user squinted his eyes and recognized the figure standing before the door. “Oh, Finn. You’re here. What took you so long?”

Finn could feel the trouble coming his way. He stayed quiet, observing his surroundings to figure out what was off. Soon enough, he noticed something out of the ordinary. That was– Carpaccio wasn’t wearing his uniform. Finn sighed as he figured out what was going on.

Seeing that the conversation was one-sided, Carpaccio frowned. He then continued his activity, continuing to fan away the smoke. A moment or two later, Finn closes the door behind him after noticing the smoke was spreading outside. He carefully made his way to the sofa with minimum eyesight and sat down. At this point, an irritated smile was plastered on his face. Carpaccio, not noticing anything wrong, continued to appeal his curiosity. “You look happy today. What’s happening?”

“I should be the one asking you that,” Finn huffed. The room was warmer than usual, thanks to Carpaccio’s makeshift potions corner. This all added to the pile of things testing his patience. He scratched his head in frustration, “What happened to your robes? We need them today… for the ceremony, remember?”

“Oh, right…” Carpaccio walked over to his potions station and turned off whatever device was causing the foggy sight. He picked up the robes and frowned. “I split some potion over it...”

Finn could feel his eyes twitch. “Carpaccio. It’s eight in the morning. THE FESTIVAL STARTS AT ELEVEN. How– how do you even mess up this bad, so early into the day?!”

“...It was an accident.”

And so, Finn ends up washing Carpaccio’s robes for him as he nags on and on about how bothersome he is. Carpaccio just stood there, watching his co-worker aggressively scrub away the stain mark on his clothes. Just so you know, Carpaccio could not care less. He thinks the festival is a waste of time and that only one representative is enough– it’s his way of saying that Finn should go on the opening ceremony himself while Carpaccio spends his time doing whatever Carpaccio does.

All was said and done, until one more problem arises. Clothes, as you know it, takes time to dry. And while they do have this wet piece of cloth, they do not have the time to wait for it to dry by itself. Finn starts panicking– again.

Carpaccio then gets this genius idea and sets up a makeshift dryer in his potions corner, which really is just a small campfire. He took the robes away from Finn and rushes to his office, leaving behind a trail of water droplets and receiving weird looks from the other visionaries, again… How many times are these two going to cause trouble?

So once again the room was filled with smoke. Finn laid down on the couch, staring blanky at the ceiling as the smoke lightly suffocates the atmosphere. He could hear the red head hanging his robes above the fire as he shakes it from time to time, hoping it would dry faster. “It’s not drying fast enough… we need a bigger fire.”

“Wouldn’t wind work better?” Finn sighed, still laying down. He could think of one person that would be a lot of help, that was the pink haired wind user, Love Cute. But calling her all over just to help with drying clothes? That would be too bothersome. Finn turned his head to check the clock. He could barely see it, but it was almost ten, meaning they should probably head to town square. As he thought, there was soon a knock on the door.

The door opened, revealing the sword cane who came in to inform them that it was time to go. Rayne, for lack of a better words, was baffled. He stared wide eyed, furrowing his eyebrows. “What… are you doing?”

The healing canes looked at each other awkwardly. Finn avoided his brother’s judging gaze and left the explaining to the taller. Carpaccio stops his activity to answer. “I’m drying my robes. Obviously.”

“...We don’t have spares, and Carpaccio was careless enough to stain his clothes right before the festival,” Finn’s voice sounds muffled as he covered his face with a pillow, trying to hide from Rayne’s judgemental stares. “So we’re hoping it would dry quickly…”

Finn then hugs the pillow, looking over to Carpaccio. He panics a bit when he caught sight of Carpaccio’s robe catching fire. “W-wait! Carpaccio! You’re setting it on fire!”

“Oh.” He looked down. Seeing as what Finn said is true, he instinctively poured the glass of water next to him– definitely put out the fire, but now his robes are wet once again. “Ah, I put out the fire.”

Finn facepalmed so, so hard.

“Inhaling too much smoke isn’t good for you.” Rayne didn’t bother acknowledging Carpaccio and his weird actions, instead he approached Finn and dragged him outside the room, leaving Carpaccio to tend to his own troubles. Surprisingly, Finn didn’t protest.

In the end, Kaldo helped dry the robes at the last minute. Carpaccio awkwardly thanks him with a flat face before going to find Finn, who was getting lectured by Rayne about how dangerous it is to have Carpaccio as a partner. It's a well-known fact that from the start, Rayne strongly disagreed against Kaldo’s idea to have two people as the healing cane. The sword cane has some sort of… grudge against Carpaccio. Most likely from last year’s divine visionary selection exam. Although Finn has assured him many times that his partner was harmless and was actually a lot of help (sometimes), Rayne still objects to anything that has to do with a certain Carpaccio Luo-yang.

They gathered and headed towards town square together. The visionaries received some applause here and there as they soared through the sky on their brooms. After arriving at the pavilion, they were led to a more exclusive area to rehearse their parts. Finn only had two lines to say and he was confident he wasn’t going to mess this up.

Time passed by quickly and soon they were only minutes away from the opening ceremony. Finn found himself more and more nervous. He peeked through the curtains, there was a large crowd. The last time he had to speak in public to that many people, was when he became a divine visionary. That was actually only two months ago, but who cares?! The point is that Finn isn’t the best with public speaking.

The MC could be seen talking to Kaldo and Ryoh. Curious, Finn approached to see what they were talking about. It seems that they are talking about the script.

“Oh and one more thing,” Kaldo took the script away from the master of ceremony and took out a pen to make slight adjustments. “When you’re introducing the divine visionaries, remember to use plural on the healing canes. There’s two of them after all.”

“Ah, I see! That was a mistake on my part… I will be sure to remember it.”

He turned to the healing canes and gave them a wink. Finn gave a thumbs up and a forced smile while Carpaccio nodded somewhat gratefully. The MC bids them goodbye and goes to start the event. The moment inched closer and Finn could feel the sweatdrops forming in his palms. Soon enough, all the Divine Visionaries were listed, leaving only him and his partner. The moment of truth, everyone.

“And last but not least… Our newest divine visionary, The Healing Cane…!” The MC announced, forgetting to add an extra ‘s’ to the sentence. Oh, of course they forgot.

Carpaccio frowned hearing the mistake. He enters the stage earlier than Finn and instead of lining up with the other visionaries, he walked over to the MC with quite the terrifying aura. He didn’t mean anything by it, but the master of ceremony is understandably sweating buckets. Carpaccio stared the guy dead in the eye, before ‘borrowing’ the mic from his shaking hands. He tapped the mic then said confidently, “He’s wrong. It’s ‘The Healing Canes’, with an S. There’s two of us, Carpaccio Luo-yang and Finn. We told him right before the event… I don’t know how he managed to forget, but it’s fine since I’ve helped you correct it.”

Finn blushed in embarrassment. Why’s he causing such a scene over a tiny mistake… and the fact that he acts like he’s doing everyone a favor?! That poor guy must be scared to death. Carpaccio returns the mic and proceeds to stand next to the other divine visionaries, completely unfazed. Finn resisted the urge to break his smile.

The event continues with the visionaries saying their opening speech. Finn observed the greetings made by the other and found it intimidating how good they are. It's his turn now. With sweaty palms he grabs the mic and recalls the words he rehearsed so much. “Um, w-welcome everyone to this year’s festival! We– the healing canes, would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm regarding… regarding the event…”

Finn looked over to Carpaccio, signaling to him that it was his cue. Carpaccio took a while to notice, resulting in a noticeably awkward pause between the two. “Oh. We hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

Despite his seemingly ingenuine statement, the crowd cheered for Carpaccio. The other sighed, jealous of his partner’s privileges… He could do the bare minimum and people would cheer for him. The two bowed and returned to their original positions. The ceremony soon passes, much to Finn’s delights. Everyone does a little review section after the ceremony was done. As soon as it was over, Finn bids everyone goodbye and rushes to meet his friends in town square.

“I’ll take my leave now! Thankyou for today!” Finn says as he hurriedly packed his belongings and headed towards the exit along with Lance.

“Oh we’re done for today?” Carpaccio asked, but was ignored as Finn was already too far away, and was far too excited to notice Carpaccio at all. The boy blinked solemnly.

Ryoh Grantz could be heard chuckling from afar. Carpaccio turned to the footsteps heading towards him and tilted his head, still with an ever so flat expression. The light cane places his hand on the younger’s shoulder. “Well, everyone’s going to be on guard for today, just incase anything happens during the festival. But your friend over there has plans to spend his day with his friends, so he took the day off. What about you, young man?”

“...I wasn’t invited.” Carpaccio murmured to himself. He didn’t know what to feel about that fact.

His remark only made Ryoh even more amused. “He did mention he was going to hang out with his Adler friends. You should be fine with that, right? Afterall, you’ve spent almost everyday with him.”

‘“I guess,” Carpaccio shrugged. He thought about what he’d do for the day. “I suppose i’ll go back to headquarters… continue my research.”

—

“Finn! I’m so glad you could make it…” Lemon cheered once she spotted the boy from afar. The friend group agreed to meet up downtown around 1 pm. Finn was the last to arrive. He glanced to all his friends who were already waiting for him. Thankfully, everyone is wearing normal clothing this time.

Mash waved blankly at Finn, “Hey Finn. I was worried you weren’t going to show up.”

“Of course I’d show up… What made you think that?”

Dot popped up from behind and lightly jabbed at Finn with his elbow. “It’s because of all that divine visionary stuff or whatnot. Soon enough, you’ll get so busy that you’d forget about us… just like that pretty boy Lance. Damn him, he thinks hes sooo high and mighty and better than everyone else? He thinks he’s too good for us!”

“I’m literally right here.” Lance deadpanned. He had just arrived together with Finn.

The red head shrugged. “The truth’s the truth.”

And so the five friends spent their day going around the town, going to food stands and leaving without buying anything, stopped by the carnival, played games and won nothing. Whether it was frustration of losing your money, happiness just from the fun of it, or a mix of both, it was overall a fun day out.

Dot was determined to at least win something from the carnival games. He planned to give the prize to Lemon, as one of his futile attempts to woo her. “Arghh! Not again! Come on, come on, just one more try!”

“Haven't you spent enough money…?” Finn tried stopping his hot headed friend from emptying his life savings. Dot, however, was persistent. Lance rolled his eyes and took over the carnival game. He shoved Dot away and gave it a shot himself, winning the game first try. Dot cursed Lance for his luck once again.

Finn couldn’t help but smile. He missed this energy. The chaos that comes with his friends– Dot and Lance always having a one sided arguement, Mash with whatever it is he has going on, and Lemon with her low-key creepy crush on Mash. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s got to do to make someone as stoneheaded as Mash notice you. Overall, Finn is having a great day. But he notices a missing figure. Wait, where’s Mash?

…Although the same can’t be said for a certain healing cane. Carpaccio sat in his office, staring at the wall. He was finished with his research for today, and was on standby like the other visionaries. He could hear conversations from the lounge, they were having a good time it seems. Carpaccio isn’t one for socializing though. He didn’t know what else to do. The office was feeling a bit… lonely.

He decided to take a look around town. He passed by other visionaries who gathered around the lounge to celebrate the festival in their own way. It would be fun if he understood what was going on. Carpaccio passed them without saying anything.

“Hhm? Where are you going?” Tsurara noticed the red-headed figure heading towards the exit by himself.

Carpaccio stopped in his tracks. “I’m going to town, I guess.”

“It’s only been a few hours and you miss Finn already?” Kaldo teased. “Give him a break…”

“I’m just going to look around. I’m bored.”

No one bothered asking further, so he went and did just that. There was nothing to see, despite there being lots of festivities. People celebrating here and there, spending time with friends and loved ones. Carpaccio didn’t get that, what a waste of time. One food stall did catch his attention, so he queued up to get a bite. After getting a stick of grilled squid that was as hard as a rock, Carpaccio continued his walk towards a more crowded area.

He wandered around, until he noticed a familiar face from a distance. A certain mushroomhead, standing awkwardly next to a baked goods stand, eating a cream puff. Carpaccio figured that wherever Mash was, Finn would be nearby. And so for just a moment, his eyes lit up.

Well, that was until he came over to the boy and all the hope left his soul. “Mash Burnedead. Where is Finn?”

“...I don't know,” he says rather inaudibly, still munching on his cream puff. “I’m lost.”

“...”

And so Carpaccio spent the rest of his day with an unexpected companion, while Finn and his friends wondered where in the world Mash went. As the master cane user slowly realises how much of a pain it is to be around Mash, and how much he misses having Finn around.

Chapter Text

“...A what now??”

“It’s exactly as I said,” Kaldo stirs a spoonful of honey into his milk. He sips his glass, not minding the reactions shown by his guests. “The mission requires the both of you to work together. Well, the three of you, I suppose.”

Kaldo continues. “The gist of this is that there’s a notorious thief from a couple of years ago, who has resurfaced and has stirred up trouble. He once broke into the magic tool bureau and stole a precious artifact. Normally this would be a job for Rayne, but we don’t know what effects it has. So this is where the healing canes come in! Just for safety measures.”

Finn raised an eyebrow at Kaldo’s suspiciously happy tone. Rayne kept his stoic face, processing the mission. “I understand what I must do… But is it truly necessary for… this one to come along?”

The person he’s referring to, Carpaccio, didn’t seem too bothered by the snarky remark. Ever since the incident (which really was just the festival day), he silently vowed to never leave Finn’s side. The flame cane smiled at Rayne’s disapproval. “When they go bearing the name of the healing canes, they go together, even if one is not needed. So unfortunately, you can’t have your brother bonding time for this mission.”

Rayne frowned.

Finn was not looking forward to what was about to happen. He could already picture everything that would go wrong. Without any further chance to complain, the three were forced out of Kaldo’s office and immediately began their mission before the wanted criminal could cause even more havoc.

As they were flying through the skies on their brooms, Finn was enjoying the mountain view. Rayne on the other hand, could not take his eyes off of Carpaccio, who couldn’t take his eyes off of Finn. Of course, Finn pretended not to notice their weird behaviors. They soon arrived at the location where their target was last spotted.

“Okay… so the man we’re looking for is about six foot, black hair? And um, mismatched socks..?” Finn reads the questionable list of descriptions by witnesses given to him by Kaldo. “Well, whatever. We’ll notice a shady man if we see one, right guys?”

Finn turned to the two divine visionaries who walked behind him. Those two were still sending death glares at each other. Finn could only sigh and focus at the mission at hand. “Right… ignored yet again.”

They ventured through the empty fields before Rayne noticed something was off. “Something is following us.” He cautiously looked back. At first, it seemed as if nothing was to be seen, until Rayne sent a flying sword over to a suspicious looking tree, knocking it down and revealing a shadowy figure.”...I knew it.”

The figure disappears and in an instant appears right in front of them, sending a shock reaction and making Finn instinctively back out. He laughed, slowly revealing himself. “I thought I hid myself well… I guess nothing can beat the divine visionaries, hmm?”

Carpaccio immediately took an offensive stance and brought his trusty knife to his neck. The mysterious man saw his gesture and laughed.

“Haa… I wouldn't do that if I were you.” He quickly pulled out a fork-like item and pointed it at the visionaries with a victorious smirk. Rayne’s eyes widened as he immediately stopped Carpaccio from slicing himself. He furrowed his brows as he observed the item.

Rayne, as the sword cane, was quite familiar with magical tools. And that was certainly a magic tool. Although, he couldn't remember if he’d seen that in the official inventory list before. He also wondered why such a tool would be shaped like a fork, and what in the world its functions were. “...That’s a magic tool. I’m not sure what it does just yet… I don't seem to remember there being a tool like that.”

“Obviously you won't recognize it… I stole this item far before you joined the bureau of magic. The security has improved massively, I can give you that.” The man admits that Rayne does a great job as a member of the magic tool administration, much to his own dismay. “And as for why it's shaped like a fork, I don't know, okay? I didn't make this thing.

Without wasting a second more, the fugitive swoops towards Carpaccio in a flash, catching everyone off guard. Finn could only watch with wide eyes as Rayne pushed him away. He fell to the ground but was unharmed. He panicked a bit, but then realized the one who got attacked was Carpaccio, and it would probably backfire on the enemy. He sighed in relief.

Carpaccio took a defensive stance, crossing his two arms in an ‘X’ to shield himself from the gust of incoming attacks. As the attacks he received started to fade, he noticed something was wrong. The attacks completely stop before he was able to open his eyes and inspect his arms with wide eyes. To everyone’s surprise, there was a trail of red liquid dripping down to his elbow. “...Ouch..?”

Rayne was flabbergasted. Carpaccio, even more so. “That… hurts.”

“Of Course it hurts! You just tanked a physical attack with your– WAIT WHAT?!” Finn took a moment to process before realizing that Carpaccio got hurt. “Y-you’re bleeding!”

“Huh. I am,” His reaction was more or less expected. However a normal Carpaccio would react to a situation that has everyone else in shambles, and that is– uninterested. “I haven’t felt pain since last year’s selection exam… Come to think of it, this doesn’t feel too bad–”

“CARPACCIO?!?!?!” Finn rushes over and starts panicking really badly.

Amongst the chaos, Rayne still had his eyes focused on the perpetrator, who was laughing and enjoying the scene. Turns out, the magical item blocked healing magic. The theif stole this item a long time ago and thought it was useless, until he recently heard of a new set of divine visionaries, focused specifically on healing. And so, he resurfaced. After noticing Rayne’s deathly glare, the man spent no time waiting to attack. Rayne summoned his swords as shields to protect them.

In this scenario, Carpaccio is practically useless. Finn and his overpowered healing is also no use. So the healing canes could only sit in the corner and discuss their plans as the sword cane fights tooth and nail to defeat their opponent. Rayne frowned in annoyance, thinking back on all the terrible things that happened today. His day out with his adorable little brother has not only been ruined by that burgundy haired brat, but now there’s this weirdo wanting to eliminate them. It truly pisses him off.

Rayne kept sending flying swords to attack, and there was no way the man could dodge, right? Well, he didn’t dodge. He healed himself. So how that stupid fork item works is that it eliminates healing magic and instead grants the user insane healing. Finn could only sigh at the plot armour.

Finn thought hard about what he could do, until Carpaccio reminded him that unlike himself, healing magic isn’t the only thing Finn could rely on. Changeas. At the very core, changeas is the magic ability to switch places. His magic was often used to switch himself with another entity’s place, but little do most people know, he had learned to switch objects as well. With a loud gasp, Finn picked up a rock on the ground with his left hand and took out his wand with his right. He chanted his spell while Rayne distracted the man.

“CHANGEAS!”

And with that, the fork-like object appeared in his hand. His face beamed with excitement as Carpaccio finished off the job by… stabbing himself. Again, Finn would never get used to this. Rayne helped in securing the fugitive. He sighed in annoyance as he watched the younger tending to his partner’s wounds. Why couldn’t Carpaccio heal himself as usual? Plot point. “...Couldn’t you have done that earlier?”

“Ah…” Finn rubbed the back of his head. “I totally panicked and forgot about changeas… Carpaccio reminded me though. Y-you should thank him!”

That, was Finn’s futile attempt to get the two to get along. Rayne raised an eyebrow and walked away. “Heal this guy too after you’re done. Carpaccio did too much.” Finn nodded to his brother's words.

They finished it up early and headed back with a plus one. After handing him over to the authorities, Finn and Carpaccio headed straight to the administration of magical medicine, which was their second office. They’ve been spending a lot of time in the MMA’s (Magical Medicine Administration) main building as of late.

Carpaccio was tasked to figure out a way to store healing magic in potions. Different from herbal medicine which takes a while to take effect, this new invention was supposed to heal people immediately whenever a healer isn’t present during a crucial time. Carpaccio has been spending a lot of time on this project, and Finn was… his lab rat– I mean lab assistant.

“Finn,” Carpaccio called out. Finn prepared himself mentally for what was next in store for him. “I need you to imbue this herb with your magic. This whole time, I’ve been trying to recreate something similar to healing magic, but I soon realized nothing compares to the source it self. So I tried finding a way to trap your magic in a bottle and have it release on demand, but that didn’t work either. So I wondered…”

Finn felt his head started to spin as he listens to this science maniac’s hypothesis and experiment results. Everything he heard entered through his left ear and left through his right. “In conclusion, I’m just trying to improve already existing herbs at this point.”

Carpaccio finally finishes talking and Finn hesitantly nods. He waited for instructions and did as told. The red haired frowned after seeing his experiment fail a couple times. Finn sighed as he sat on the couch, taking a momentary break as Carpaccio kept working on it. Finn could see the clock pointing at the number eleven. It was already this late? He already told Rayne that he’d be back late, but this late? He might start worrying.

“Carpaccio? It’s getting a little late. I know tomorrow’s Saturday, but shouldn’t we continue tomorrow?”

The taller looked away from his messy wall of sticky notes and red strings to look at the clock. “Oh, you can go home first.”

Finn considered that idea, but quickly decided that leaving Carpaccio alone in a place where so many things could go wrong MIGHT be a bad idea. “There’s no way I’m letting you do your weird experiments unsupervised…”

In the end, Finn calls his brother to tell him that he won’t be coming home tonight. After being interrogated by Rayne for what felt like an eternity, Finn noticed that his communication device was running out of battery. He tried to keep the conversation short, but Rayne shot him one last question. “Where are you staying?”

Finn was already sweating hearing his device beep and flash in red. It was on one percent. Finn panicked and answered, “With Carpaccio–” before the call ended as his screen turned black. He was going to elaborate more and had now only realized how terrible that must have sounded to Rayne. Uh oh.

That was a problem for tomorrow as he shook it off and went to sleep on the couch, often sneaking glances at what Carpaccio was doing from time to time until he dozed off to sleep. He had told the other many times that he should stop overworking himself and take some rest, or else he’d get sick. Carpaccio said he had never gotten sick before.

—

Finn realized he might have accidentally cursed Carpaccio in his sleep. Cause lo and behold the next morning, here he was sitting with a pout on his face. He was holding a warm cup of tea Finn made for him, and his body temperature was just as hot as that cup of tea. Not to mention, he was also wrapped in a blanket. You could just imagine the sight. Carpaccio, believe it or not– was definitely sick. Finn felt bad, but deep down he also felt satisfied.

“See what happens when you don’t listen? I told you that you’d get sick!” Finn was once again ready to berate the ever living hell out of his partner. He went on and on about how he was right and how important rest is. Carpaccio felt his ears bleeding. Mind you, Finn would never act this way with anyone else. Carpaccio thought he must be the most unlucky man in the world. Finn ignored the disdain plastered on Carpaccio’s face and continued until he himself got tired. “Are you listening, Carpaccio?!”

Carpaccio opened his mouth to retort, but Finn started talking to himself??? “Haah, Carpaccio, Carpaccio, Carpaccio… why is your name so long?! It’s annoying to say.. That’s three syllables long! Which of your parents decided this was a good idea…”

The other didn’t exactly know what to say. “You can just shorten my name, whatever.”

“You bet I will!”

“No matter how powerful you are, you can still get sick, you know?!” Of course he knows. Finn has said this fourteen times. “This is why you should listen to your elders…”

Now that last part was just a half hearted line Finn added to tease his co-worker. But Carpaccio with his dense ass? oh, nothing could ever be just a joke. “...Elder?”

“Um? I was just joking, you know? I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just something my brother used to say when we were kids whenever I didn’t–” Finn tried shrugging it off.

“You’re older…?”

“...what.”

Carpaccio didn’t seem to believe it. “No you’re not. You’re just lying to me.”

“I just told you I didn’t mean anything by it!” Finn facepalmed. “Does it even matter who’s older? We’re just five months apart…”

“But it wouldn’t make sense if you’re older. I mean, just look at you.”

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?” Finn didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Ah, whatever, whatever! You’re still sick, do you wanna get better or not??”

And so Finn took a red faced Carpaccio to the sofa and forced him to lay down. He spent the day silently laughing while doing his paperwork across the room, seeing that Carpaccio was lying as still as a stone, staring holes in the ceiling. He had been forced to lay down and he hated being sick, so he listened. To cut it short, Carpaccio was bored, and I mean bored. He’s itching to get back to work.

The day was relaxing as Finn got to enjoy a day without Carpaccio getting the both of them into trouble. He sipped the tea from the cute rabbit mug his brother got him. How cute… wait. His brother. RAYNE. Finn almost spilled his tea when he remembered. How could he forget?!

He left Rayne hanging last night. He must be really worried. Finn started thinking of ways to make it up to him. Just in time, there was a knock on the door. The knock didn’t sound too friendly and Finn had a bad feeling about this. He stood up from his chair and nervously stepped to the door. Before he could reach to open it, the figure on the otherside had already unlocked it.

Finn froze in shock as he saw that the guest was none other than his brother, who had a less than pleasing expression. “O-oh! Rayne… what a surprise, haha… um, if this is about last night, I’m alright! Sorry for being unclear.”

Rayne looked enraged. And enraged he was. He looked past his younger brother and locked eyes with an unknowing Carpaccio. He furrowed his brows at the unusual sight of Carpaccio all snuggled up with three layers of blankets, but that’s not something that would stop him from causing the absolute havoc that will follow. Whatever happens next wouldn’t exactly be a fun memory for the poor boy. Finn acts as the mediator once again.

And that was how Carpaccio gained a lifelong memory. A memory… that would surely be remembered, even for years to come. One of many memories, as a tale of two individuals who made history can't possibly be boring, right?

Chapter Text

Finn slowly blinked as his eyes fluttered open no thanks to the sunlight seething through the window. He tossed and turned a bit. His movements were limited since he was sleeping on the couch. Why was he on the couch? Great question.

The first thing his eyes landed on was a figure across the room, the only thing he could make out was a familiar figure. As expected, that was Carpaccio. He was focusing on his newest project, another job the MMA bureau had for him. That reminded Finn of Carpaccio’s first ever official project that he had troubles with, which resulted in him always staying up late. Until now, Carpaccio never changed, did he?

“Paccio? Another all-nighter?” Finn sat himself up on the couch. No matter how many times he had told his partner to take care of himself, he never listened. No matter how many times he had gotten sick.

Carpaccio’s ears perked up as he turned his head. “Oh, you’re awake.” He stopped whatever he was doing and approached the other. He sat next to him on the couch, handing him a glass of water that was on the coffee table. “Morning.”

Finn frowned when he saw the dark eyebags under his eyes but accepted the kind gesture. Carpaccio noticed the stares and touched his face. “...It’s due in two days. I’m not making any groundbreaking progress.”

The atmosphere felt awkward as Carpaccio was eagerly awaiting an answer. Finn was holding up a sour face, but soon sighed in defeat as he couldn’t stand looking at the other’s deadpanned expression. Again, it’s something he noticed that hasn’t changed through out these years. Out of nowhere, Finn started to reminisce of the past. “Do you remember the first time you got sick? Cause you weren’t taking care of yourself?”

“...yeah?”

“I had a long dream,” he found himself smiling. “It was about our journey throughout the years. From the start of us becoming divine visionaries, up to when you experienced your first cold.”

Carpaccio didn’t expect for the conversation to switch so drastically, but he was glad. He started thinking of the past as well. “I remember. I remember most of it.”

“Yeah, the dream was extremely detailed. It really felt like I went back in time.” Finn looked around the room, through the multiple framed photos hung on the walls and placed on their desks. Many, many adventures they experienced together as the healing canes. All this made him a little emotional. “I can’t believe time passed by so quickly. We were just teens a month ago, weren’t we?”

“...That was ten years ago.” Carpaccio tilted his head. Always literal, that’s how he is. Although annoying most of the time, Finn chuckled as he realized how glad he was that Carpaccio hasn’t changed a bit. “I know, Paccio. I didn’t mean it literally.”

He got up and walked towards one of the shelves. Carpaccio watched in curiosity. Finn picked up the framed photo and felt his lips form a small smile. In the photo, were the both of them awkwardly posing for the picture. In the background was a defeated mythical beast, and a certain sword cane who looked like he’d seen better days. On that day, they defeated the beast and Rayne just so happened to be splattered with blood while Carpaccio stabbed into it. Finn chuckled to himself. There was also Lance and Agito who accidentally photobombed. Carpaccio peeked over the other’s shoulder and saw what he was holding. “Oh, I remember that one. Kaldo took the photo. But Rayne wasn’t too happy with me.”

“Right… It was our first big scale mission, most of the divine visionaries were there too.” Finn placed the frame back to it’s place and moved on to the next one. A smaller picture caught his eye. It was the one sitting on his desk. The picture only has Carpaccio in it, who was holding some sort of certificate and a golden medal.

Finn looked at it and giggled to himself. Carpaccio made it over to Finn’s side and looked at it as well. “...What’s so funny? Is the photo bad? Why did you frame it?”

That photo has been comfortably sitting on his desk for about eight years, collecting a good amount of dust. Three years into becoming divine visionaries, Carpaccio won some sort of nobel prize for his accomplishment in inventing a way to store healing magic in commercial glass bottles– making it possible to do healing magic without actually having a healer by your side. But even if it was such a ground-breaking discovery, Carpaccio still had the same exact flat expression he always has. On that day, he was acting like it was any other day, which made Finn think hard about how far their differences are. He soon discovered through a muffled confession that the reason Carpaccio was so uninterested in the award, was because he couldn’t seem to make the official workers to put Finn’s name on the certificate as well.

“That’s not it…” Finn takes a sheet of tissue and wiped off the dusty surface of the frame. “I was just thinking how big of an accomplishment you achieved at only twenty years old. That’s definitely going in the history books. You were really something, hm? It’s unbelievable how I got the opportunity to partner up with you.”

“You’re just as impressive.” Carpaccio always insists that Finn is an amazing individual. Back then he would never say it out loud, but times are different now. Even if he never said it, he had always throught this way– even from the moment they first met. To him, Finn is strong, resilient, hard-working, loyal, brave, logical, smart, kind, he has a cute personality and he also has a really cute face– WOAH. Alright Carpaccio, pack it up buddy. That's a bit too far off the deep end. But you get the point. Although very exaggerated, Finn is more or less perfect.

The lovesick idiot was about to open his mouth and say more, but Finn stopped him. He has gotten more than enough compliments from that guy, more than enough for a lifetime. But even so, he still can’t help but blush a bit whenever he does that. He shakes his head, indicating he doesn’t want to elaborate further. He places it back to where it was and moved on to the most eye-catching thing in the room. “What about this one? Do you remember anything?”

The next picture was way bigger than the previous one and was framed on the wall. Carpaccio took one glance at it and nodded. “Of course I do. That’s the emergency mission we had. It was on valentines day too.”

His expression slightly changes into a frown when he said that. The incident took place six years ago, during valentines day. After a long time of mixed signals, Carpaccio finally gathered up the courage to ask Finn out on a ‘date’ night to a fancy restaurant. The whole time Carpaccio was stiffly making small talk as he read from the flashcards Margarette made him. Finn also noticed that Margarette was also in fact stalking them from across the room. Finn appreciated the effort though. Just as the food arrived, Finn took one bite and felt his communication device ring. The healing canes looked at eachother and sighed as they were alerted of an emergency mission.

During the whole mission, Carpaccio visibility frowned. He worked so hard just for it to be ruined like that. Finn couldn’t help but smile whenever he thought of it. It was about eleven at night when their mission wrapped up. Finn noticed his partner was totally bumbed out, so he ordered take out and they had a little makeshift candle light dinner in their office. The picture framed on their wall was a picture they took of that moment. It was beautiful– if you ignore a figure with two toned hair standing by the door in the background. But it was perfect nonetheless.

The office was decorated head to toe with framed photos of the two. There’s one for every memorable mission they accomplished, every anniversary and multiple newspaper headlines plastered together. Finn’s favorite will forever be the time Carpaccio got in the news for turning into an adorable cat. He has pictures of said incident inside his wallet.

Finn snapped out of his thoughts and sighed. “I would do anything to relive those memories again… I wished the dream lasted longer.”

Carpaccio wasn’t good with comforting, but he took classes on ‘how to be romantic’ with Margarette, and so he knew this was a good time to do something. And so, he wrapped his hands around Finn’s waist and hugged him from the back. “The past was nice… but isn’t the future better?”

“If your dream continued, it would last a hundred days. I don’t think I can last if you sleep for that long,” Carpaccio muttered as he buried his face into the other’s neck.

Finn thought about it for a bit, then concluded what he said was right. He patted the burgundy haired man and laughed. He was right. No matter how many adventures they experienced, there will be many more. They were only in their late twenties, afterall.

Their heartfelt moment was disturbed by a knock on the door. Finn felt his face heat up and immediately pushed the master cane user away. The door slowly opened to reveal the sword cane, bringing in a pile of paperwork. He quickly noticed the weird atmosphere and the unusual poses the two made while trying to look natural.

“Rayne! Hey… m-more paperwork? Thanks!”

“Uh, yeah, no problem,” He said with a perplexed expression. He placed the stack of paper on Finn’s desk, as there was no space left on his co-worker’s messy table. He was about to walk out the door before he remembered something. “Oh right, Carpaccio.”

He stopped and said without turning to face the other. “Don’t forget about tonight… Six at the usual cafe. Also, take a nap before you go. You promised you wouldn’t worry Finn, so if you don’t get your ass to bed right now, I’ll make sure you won’t wake up.” Rayne didn’t wait for a response and closed the door.

“....”

The appointment was new information to Finn. He hasn’t heard Carpaccio mention anything about it. “You’re going out with Rayne?”

“Mhm.”

“...Just suddenly? Out of the blue?” Finn was a bit skeptical.

Carpaccio looked towards the ceiling, thinking. “Well, no. We meet up every week.”

“E-every week?!” Now that was new. Come to think of it, Carpaccio has been disappearing every Wednesday without any news. Why didn’t he notice anything fishy sooner? “Wait, wait– since when? why didn’t you tell me??”

“You never asked.”

It turns out this has been a routine for quite a while. Maybe it’s been around six months? Carpaccio said he doesn’t remember. He said they just go to a bunny cafe and talk about what they have in common (they talk about Finn). Finn has noticed the two have gotten along lately, but he was just glad and didn’t look into it. But this wasn’t something he expected. Sure, he’s glad they’re getting along well, but isn’t it kinda weird?

Finn shook his head in confusion. “How did this even start?”

“Rayne said he wanted to interrogate me. He said that as my future brother in law, he should get to know me better so he could deem me fit or not. Whatever that means,” Carpaccio shrugged. Hearing his explanation, Finn could only facepalm his already blushing face.

“Anyways, how do I hide these things?” Carpaccio changed the topic and instead pointed to his eyebags. “I have to make it look like I rested.”

“Here’s an idea, have you tried sleeping?”

Carpaccio seemed like he considered it for a moment. “Hm… anything else?”

Finn could feel his eyes twitch. “Just go to sleep damnit!!”

He completely ignored Finn’s suggestion and ended up exiting the room to see if Tsurara or Sophia has some type of foundation for his face. Finn truly wished Rayne would come through that door and teach him a lesson. Just getting sick wasn’t enough of a lesson for dear old Carpaccio. Lately, Finn has noticed that Carpaccio has been enjoying being sick a little too much. Perhaps it’s because Finn always ends up taking care of him. Well, that plan backfired. Not only does he not experience physical pain, he has also found a way around being sick. What else could Finn do?

A moment later, his partner returned with a noticeably lighter face. Carpaccio walked passed Finn and looked into the mirror. “...I guess it worked?”

Finn raised an eyebrow. Whoever did this definitely covered those eyebags well, but– He’s like, three times whiter than usual. “You think Rayne won’t notice?”

“The cafe is dimly lit,” He reasoned. “Also, he would most likely be distracted by the bunnies. Not like he’d willingly look at my face. He said my face ‘pisses him off’,” Carpaccio nonchalantly says as he made quotation marks in the air.

“Yeah I can see why.”

Carpaccio frowns– well, it looks more like a pout. Finn personally finds it adorable, but Carpaccio doesn’t need to know that. Carpaccio goes over to the coffee corner and takes three shots of espressos. Turns out the lounge corner was a great idea, thanks Finn! So glad Carpaccio didn’t turn it into an extension of his potions corner. Speaking of the potions corner, it underwent some renovations. Let’s say it’s far more advanced now. As in it has it’s own ventilation system and has the area sealed off by glass. Which means, no more suffocating smoke in the office!

After gulping down his concerning amount of caffeine, He bids Finn goodbye as he said he’s going to want to prepare for the meetup. Finn was a bit confused, as Rayne said the meetup time was six in the evening, and it was currently eleven in the morning. What type of preparing is going to take Carpaccio seven hours?

Finn didn’t overthink it as there was a pile of newly arrived paperwork, which was waiting to be done. He sighs, it’s going to be a long day– especially without Carpaccio to brighten it up.
______

The day continues as expected. Boring and uneventful. He brews another cup of coffee to fight back the fatigue. He personally prefers tea, but tea just makes him even more sleepy. Finn forces down the caffeine and also forces his eyes open. There’s just so many words to read, his eyes are sore already. He takes a break and stares at the ticking clock, watching the arms move slowly as seconds pass by.

Now, I’m not sure if Finn is the universe’s favorite, but let me tell you– whenever he wishes something would happen, boy does it happen. Boring day? Boring no more! And for the hundredth coincidence, a miracle happens. His communication device lit up as he was spacing out. He jumped a bit when he heard the notification, but quickly got it together as he realized it was an emergency call. He drops his phone due to panic, but quickly answered the call.

“K-kaldo? What’s wrong?”

“Finn!” Kaldo’s voice was full of distress. He didn’t know what was going on where he was, but it sounds really urgent. “I’m so glad you answered, I got an emergency job for you.”

Finn gulped when he heard the news. He gets these type of emergency calls quite often, but he never got used to the pressure. Oh, now cold sweat is running down his back. “Uh, Carpaccio’s not here though. I don’t know where he’s at or when he’d be back, i-is that okay?”

“Yes! Yes, anything is fine. Carpaccio’s not fit for the job anyways,” Kaldo shrugged.

The man with two toned hair raised an eyebrow hearing that. He never thought there would be a day where his mentor would say something like that. Usually, he’s always underlining how the healing canes should be the healing canes together, do every mission together, and basically be two peas in a pod. So if Kaldo is saying that, he must be really desperate for assistance, right?

Finn wasn’t completely sure of it. He’s never done anything without Carpaccio before, even if he’s usually just there in spirit, for emotional support (He actually makes the situation ten times worse but it’s okay, he’s biased). Finn braced himself for his first ever solo mission. “Sure, w-what can I do?”

“So you see, I need you to get to this location here. ASAP. I’ll send you the location right now.” Kaldo says, still with a serious voice. Finn rarely gets the opportunity to hear that type of voice coming from the flame cane, so he knew how serious the situation was. “Oh! And also, wear something nice before you go.”

“...huh?”

Without anymore chit chat, Kaldo ends the call. Finn was utterly confused– he considered the possibility of him misshearing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. So as skeptical as he is, Finn wastes no time and immediately gets ready.
_____

On the other side of the city, was Kaldo who just ended the call. Right after ending the conversation, his expression takes a drastic turn. He started chuckling to himself with a smirk.

“Woah! That was good!” Ryoh complimented his facade as he pats his shoulder.

“Ah, really? Sounds convincing right? Right?” Kaldo was proud of his act. Not only Finn, even everyone else nearby was also convinced. He truly made it seem like an emergency. Little did Finn know, all the visionaries, all the friends he made in Easton, all his loved ones, were all gathered in one place to celebrate an event of a lifetime.

In a secluded garden, dimly lit by decorative lights and covered with flowers, was an unexpected figure having a breakdown, laying on the ground. Carpaccio, for the first time in his life, is experiencing a panic attack. Thankfully, Margaratte is right beside him, acting as a one man support system.

“I think I’m gonna die. I’m genuinely going to die.”

Margarette sighs heavily. “For the tenth time, you’re not going to die, Carpaccio…”

“No, no, like… my heart is going to explode… literally.” Carpaccio points to his chest and also to his weird looking wand. “??? are you seeing this. This– THIS. This didn’t happen when I asked him out, it was never this bad. Help?? Me??”

The older man tries to keep a smile on his face, although with a hopeless expression. “That, my dear, is what normal people experience. Now, I’m not sure if you know this, but you are quite far from what is considered ‘normal’, so I understand your reaction. But won’t you trust me on this? Haven’t I helped you so much with capturing his heart?”

As if to reassure him once more, Mr. Macaron grabbed the red head’s shoulder and looked straight into his eyes. “ You’re. Not. Going. To. Die.”

Carpaccio stares back before taking a deep breath. He had to admit that Margarette could be very intimidating at times. “...Okay.”

“Great!” his mood suddenly switches instantly. As he stood up and stretched his back, which was sore from crouching down to get on Carpaccio’s level. “Now, remember what we rehearsed. All you have to do is get down on one knee and say…?”

“...Will you ma…ma…m-marry me…”

“Good. And don’t forget the ring. It’s in your pocket.” Carpaccio nodded and Margarette ruffled his hair. “But maybe, just maybe, let’s practice more on that.”

On the other side of the garden, was everyone else. They had agreed to give the soon to be groom some space to panic to his heart’s content. While they waited for Finn to arrive, they double checked the decorations and fixed some tangled lights. Mash and his friends were obviously invited. Lemon was in charge of taking documentation footage of the special night.

She planned to make a cute video of everyone sharing their thoughts on the event. She was going to replay it in the wedding day, she thought it would be a good way to show Finn and Carpaccio just how many people support them. Lemon took out her recording device and started interviewing her friends.

“Mash! Your best friend is getting engaged soon, how are you feeling?”

The mushroom head spaces out a bit. He was thinking of what to say, but was so emotional that his system went to overdrive. “M-mash?!” Lemon was worried and so she dropped the camera to check on Mash. Lance picked up the recording device from the ground and pointed it at himself.

With a flat face, he spoke to the camera with a tired voice. “That means Mash is very excited. I suppose. Something like that.” Lance’s screentime was cut short as Dot took the device from his hands.

“I’m sure as hell excited! Oh how time flies, I can’t believe Finn is getting married before I am?? There’s no way!” Dot didn’t realize he was holding the camera upside down. “I hope Finn’s happy. If that bastard ever tries anything weird, I’ll be the first to kick his ass!”

Lance shook his head at his antics. Some things never change. Dot shoved the camera to the divine visionary’s face. “What about you pretty boy? How are ya’ feeling?”

“I feel fine…? I see them everyday. They already live together. They spend everyday together as well? I feel like this changes nothing,” Lance spoke as he pushes the camera away.

After making sure Mash was a-okay, Lemon continued her job. She took videos of everyone present. There were various responses, each with something that makes her question their sanity. Margarette said “I knew they were going to be together the moment I saw them together!”, whatever that means.

Lemon wrapped up the recording session and reviewed the footage she took. She soon notices that the divine visionaries each had questionable answers.

_______

Orter Madl said something about how helpful Finn was, but also mentioning something about how both Carpaccio and himself are jealous over the concerning amount of time Finn spends with Wirth?

“Honestly, will Wirth start spending more time with me once Finn gets all busy with his married life? I need your honest opinion.” -Orter

“Uh, I think you should get a girlfriend.” -Lemon

—

Ryoh Grantz started talking about his own wedding.

“I sure hope they throw the most spectacular event! If you need help with planning, you can always ask me for help. Have you seen photos of my wedding venue? I decorated it myself! I don’t mean to boast or anything, but it was quite the sight, if I do say so myself.” -Ryoh

“That’s… nice…” -Lemon

“But of course, no matter how grand the venue was, nothing compared to my wife’s beauty! Oh how I wish to relive that night.” -Ryoh

—

Tsurara kept complaining on how cold it was tonight.

“It’s really cold… I’m already wearing five layers, how could it be so cold?” -Tsurara

“Right, right… What do you think is going to happen tonight?” -Lemon

“...I might freeze to death.” -Tsurara

“I meant the proposal but thankyou for your time.” -Lemon

“Oh. Finn is lovely.” -Tsurara

—

Agito started by mentioning the catpawccio incident and ended up giving out fun facts about animals.

“I remember Carpaccio as a cat all those years ago.” -Agito

“That’s adorable! What else?” -Lemon

“...Although I don’t think he would make a very good cat. Not with that personality of his. I believe he would be more of a fox? Those big eyes of his reminds me of this variant of a magical beast, a mix of a fox and a dragon, but it has talons of a bird. It’s quite terrifying at first sight, but they’re nice when you get to know them. Kind of like Carpaccio. The first time I saw him, I thought he was going to kill me with that glare of his. Oh, fun fact, did you know that there’s a magical beast that could inflict poison to it’s prey only by looking at them? It’s called–”

(Lemon ended the video here, Agito went on for another 15 minutes)

—

Renatus was asleep.

“Mr. Renatus Revol? Hello?” -Lemon

“....” -Renatus

—

Kaldo gave a genuine response. Logical? No, but it felt genuine. He had so much to say, Lemon’s planning on putting this on 5x speed once she edits it. Long story short, it’s something about how Finn was such a talented disciple, and how much he enjoyed mentoring Finn, and how he thinks Carpaccio is a nice person.

“Carpaccio is a nice guy. He might be scary at first, but he has a soft side to him!” -Kaldo

“What makes you say that?” -Lemon

“Well, a couple weeks ago he came into my office to ask me about the proposal. I was about to say ‘over my dead body’ but then he gave me a jar of honey– no, three jars of honey!” -Kaldo

“Right, of course he did.” -Lemon

—

Lemon swore she will worship the ground Sophina Biblia walks on. She was the only one to give a normal response. Lemon is now her number one fan.

“What are your thoughts on the proposal?”

“I look forward to it. Usually, I would not be too optimistic when I see two people that are polar opposites– they don’t last long. But these two… they’re different. I’ve seen the way they work together, and I can’t say their teamwork is flawless- not even after ten long years. But they look like they enjoy eachother’s company.”

“..Thank you… THANK YOU!” (Lemon starts crying)
_____

Lemon almost teared up when she rewatched the the knowledge cane’s video. She soon notices that she forgot a very important figure. Rayne Ames. How could she forget Finn’s beloved older brother?

She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what’s in store. Lemon turned on the recording device and approached her last target. “Excuse me, would you mind sharing your thoughts on the proposal?”

“....” Rayne looked at her up and down, then straight into the camera. He sighed before answering, “I can’t say I object much.”

Lemon stayed silent, letting him elaborate.

“Ever since I could remember, I’ve been trying to find every single excuse to hate him. Just every little mistake, anything to prove that someone like him doesn’t deserve Finn. But…” Rayne shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I never expected him to come to my office and ask for a talk. He told me he wanted to get my approval. I immediately turned him away, but he kept coming back everyday. One day, he took me to a rabbit cafe to talk. We got to know eachother, we talked every week– face to face, just the two of us.”

Lemon never heard Rayne speak so much in her life. She feels like tearing up.

“There will forever be an endless pit of things I will never understand from him. But there’s one thing I can understand, and that’s how much he truly cares for Finn. So as much as I would like to amuse my pride– the logical thing to do as a good brother would be to not hinder their… love.” Rayne’s face was heating up. Lemon noticed his ears were red and she couldn’t help but squeal. Rayne noticed the unusual reaction and tried to look away. “But… But if he ever does anything to upset Finn, I’ll make sure he regrets it.”

The heartwarming atmosphere changes as Rayne’s expression suddenly turns dark. “Uhh, I’m not putting this in the video…” Lemon mumbled to herself as she turns off the device. Right as she finishes the mission, Kaldo announces to everyone that it was time to go to their places. Lemon excitedly hid behind a tree for the surprise. She hopes to catch Finn’s reaction on video.
_____

Finn was sprinting on his flying broom. He would be sweating buckets by now, but the cool breeze of the night cooled him down. He couldn’t help but notice the full moon tonight. It was beautiful– he could never get used to it. Every full moon, it would always remind him of that fateful day. It was a full moon on the day Carpaccio asked him out for the first time. How nice.

He soon arrives at the designated location. Finn get’s a bad feeling about this. The place was dark and felt eerie, but he shook away the fear and pushed through. Finn notices a source of light in the distance. He soon realized it was a trail of candles, lighting up a path. Intrigued, he followed its lead. He was led to a golden gate, opening up to a suspicious looking garden. It was completely dark, only having the path of candles and the night sky to guide him.

When he least expected it, he heard a ‘click’ sound. And within seconds, the garden lit up completely. It wasn’t any regular garden… it was a butterfly garden. Decorative lights hung from tree to tree, flowers adorning everything, and a butterfly shaped altar in the center. As mesmorized as he was, he couldn’t help but focus his attention to the center of attention. He squint his eyes, trying to see the shadow on that altar. A familiar figure. “...Carpaccio?”

“....” Carpaccio didn’t answer, but just from seeing his silhouette, Finn was certain it was him. He wanted more answers, so he walked closer towards where his partner was. He could feel his heart racing, uncertain of what was going to happen next.

He climbed the few stairs and was greeted with Carpaccio holding his hand out to him. He gladly grabbed his hand with a smile. “Finn… you…”

Finn patiently waits for what he was going to say. The whole time, Carpaccio has been staring at the ground, refusing to face him. His hands were also shaking as he held his own. This whole time, Finn’s mind wandered elsewhere. He keeps trying to piece together what the occasion was. Did he miss anything?

It wasn’t until Carpaccio finally gathered the gut to look Finn in the eye. Finn was baffled by how flustered the other was. His red face, red ears, warm hands… what’s going on?

“Finn…”

“...Yes?”

Carpaccio let go of Finn’s hands and reached into his robes. He took a deep breath and goes down on one knee. Finn’s eyes widened at that. “Huh..? w-wait–”

“Finn. You’ll… You’ll stay with me for f-forever, right?”

Oh, he fumbled that. He even said 'for' forever ! There's already a 'for' in 'forever' you big dumb idiot?? ? Is what's going on in Margarette's head. Behind a bush not far from the altar, was Margarette Macaron cursing under his breath. “Damnit! That boy… I repeated the line to him about seventy times! How did he mess that up? It’s three words!”

“Shh!”

Finn heard the whispers behind the bush, but he was too shocked to process everything. Carpaccio… is proposing? To him?! Finn now knew how Mash feels. His whole system is shutting down. What is he even supposed to do? Say yes??? OF COURSE HE SAYS YES.

After a long silence, Finn finally answers with very happy tears in his eyes. “Y…yeah… Yeah…”

Carpaccio’s wide eyes widened even more. Seeing Finn’s silence, he was ready to get rejected. To his delight, he was hit with a lovely surprise. Carpaccio blinked many times before making a move. While still shaken, he took the ring from the box and slipped it onto Finn’s ring finger. He stood up and hugged Finn tightly without saying anything. Finn understood that they both need a moment to process, so he simply returned the hug silently as he gave Carpaccio a kiss on the cheek, making his face twice as red.

As soon as they hugged, cheers could be heard in the background. Finn expected there to be some people waiting for them, but he certainly didn’t expect this many. About thirty people came out of their hiding spots and started celebrating. They popped champagnes, poured themselves a drink, set off fireworks and confetti, and started hugging eachother? Finn is just glad everyones so happy.

Margarette suddenly appeared behind them, startling the newly engaged pair. They separated from their long hug and Margarette instantly patted Carpaccio on the back. “See? You’re just fine! I told you you wouldn’t die.”

“Wait what?”

“Good job dear! You messed up the lines, but at least the point got across.” The older man took a closer look at Carpaccio and grinned. “My, my! What do we have here? Carpaccio… you’re crying!”

“I’m not…” Carpaccio looked away.

Amidst the chaos, Kaldo brought over a honey-themed cake and held it out for the couple to cut together. There was only one knife, so they held it together as Lemon took a photo. Finn felt his stomach get sick just by looking at the cake, so he opted not to eat it. Kaldo’s just happy he gets to have another serving.

Rayne soon comes up to them and congratulates them. He first shook Carpaccio’s hand before going over to Finn and hugging him. Finn couldn’t hold it in anymore and just full on cries. Rayne couldn’t help but shed a few tears too, seeing as his little brother isn’t so little anymore. “Congratulations. You’ve grown a lot… I hope for the best.”

“Thank you,” Finn says through sniffles.

His older brother then turned to a burgundy haired brat and gave him a look. Upon seeing that expression, Carpaccio nodded. Finn always wonders what type of telepathy these two have going on.

Everyone made sure to give Finn and Carpaccio some space. The two gets their own table as everyone else sits in a circle and gossips about them. Finn wondered who planned this and Carpaccio said he didn’t really have much of a say in it, but the butterfly garden was his idea. Hearing how thoughtful his partner was, Finn’s first reaction was to bawl his eyes out, again. Carpaccio starts panicking as he sees the amount of times Finn was crying. Finn assured him it was a positive reaction. Carpaccio argued with how red his eyes were, it definitely wasn’t healthy.

Despite all the bumps in the road, the memory of that day made it’s way to the office’s wall of fame. It soon became the biggest and most eye-catching framed photo in the room. That is until the wedding photo comes out.

And that, my friends, is the infamous love story of The Healing Canes. However, it is far from over. There’s still a long road ahead for them to experience together, hand in hand. Not only as work partners, but also as lifelong partners.

The End.