Time moved slowly.

All he knew was he had to hurry. Alexei was doing something with Zaude's core and he didn't know, didn't want to know, what was going on. He had to stop him.

"Stop, Alexei!" Yuri screamed, brandishing Dein Nomos as he charged.

"Fool." Alexei hissed, pointing his own sword toward Yuri. The core within it pulsed, and the blade began to glow.

Time moved slowly. He heard the rush of steps behind him, and suddenly Yuri found himself thrown off his path, shoved to the side. He landed on his rear, looking up just as Flynn yelled his name, just before the attack discharged from Alexei's sword slammed into him and sent the knight flying. Red sprayed in the air, and Yuri's eyes widened as the world dimmed around him.

The thud of Flynn's body hitting the ground echoed in his ears. Yuri could barely spare that second to look, to see Flynn on the ground, the beginning of a blood pool under where his shoulder armor used to be. There was a clank somewhere, but Yuri's eyes were on the body of his best friend, on the shoulder and part of his chest where the strike had done the most damage. Red, blistering skin marred him, the armor broken and tunic scorched. Where Flynn's shoulder socketed into his torso was a clean, perfectly circular hole; from it came the blood fountain.

Sodia's shriek made time move again. Yuri tore his eyes away, looking at the thing that hurt Flynn.

"You bastard!" Yuri was back on his feet, charging and activating Dein Nomos as Alexei once more charged his sword.

He swung the thing, more intent on slaying Alexei then and there. The swords began to react, the aer boiling between them into it ignored and sent both swordsmen back and to the ground. Yuri scrambled to his feet, breathing hard, Dein Nomos clutched in his hand. Alexei remained on the ground, his weapon gone; narrowing his eyes Yuri approached, raising Dein Nomos once more.

"The irony," Alexei gasped, his eyes still fixed on the sky. "The sword… turned against me after all… but behold."

Yuri scowled, just spinning the sword into place. He had enough of this crazy man's bullshit. Just before he could bring Dein Nomos down, the entire world shook violently, and Yuri stumbled back a few steps. He heard gasps and yells, and when he looked up, the sky cracked. Lines spread to the horizon, and above them it began to fall away, piece by piece, as a massive cloud of ebony began to descend.

The catastrophe…

"The Adephagos!" Yuri gaped, staring up at it with wide eyes.

Movement caught his eyes, and when he looked, Alexei had gotten to his feet. For a moment, Yuri heard nothing else of what anyone said. He heard Raven, heard Judith, heard Alexei, but the words didn't matter. All he knew was Alexei was standing, and he wasn't bleeding.

Flynn bled because of this bastard. People died. People were hurt. Now the entire world was facing destruction.

Alexei's laughter snapped Yuri from his enraged trance, and it only infuriated him further. "Shut up already, you bastard!" Yuri snapped, running toward him again.

Alexei faced him just in time to witness Yuri bringing the sword down on him. Almost effortlessly Dein Nomos sliced through his armor, and Yuri shifted his stance and grip, bringing the sword up to cut through the man again. Blood sprayed after the slices, and the same vile liquid bubbled past Alexei's lips, dribbling down his chin.

Before Yuri could finish him, he heard crackling above their heads. He gazed up, ignoring Alexei's last words, hardly caring; the core was falling, and Yuri darted away. He could hear everyone else running just before the resounding slam of the massive core hitting the platform, throwing up rubble and boulders of debris.

"Yuri!"

He heard the others calling him on the other side of the monstrosity of a core, but as his gaze was drawn to the horizon, Yuri found himself oddly enthralled with the image of Adephagos. So far, but so huge even from this distance… it was going to eat the world.

"Disappeared into the void, huh…" he muttered to himself. He always thought that meant death. To disappear was to die, wasn't it…? But sealed off, left behind…

He heard the rattle of armor, and Yuri snapped back to reality. "Flynn…!" he turned around, about to scold, to smile, he wasn't sure. Flynn shouldn't be up, even if Estelle healed him, he…

Pain erupted from Yuri's abdomen, his eyes widening as it further burned and wormed its way deeper into him. Suddenly his entire body was on fire, every nerve inflamed with agony, and he could feel himself threatening to pass out. Yuri stumbled back several steps, his shocked eyes fixed on Sodia's terrified face. But his vision was starting to get blurry, shaky, and he could feel the sensation of dropping. He'd been stabbed before… why did this hurt so much?

He could hear yelling, and he felt some sort of pressure… a grab. A hand, around his wrist, but he was still falling…

Flynn's voice screaming in agony made Yuri look up, forcing his eyes to try and focus. Above him, he saw his arm, his wrist grasped in Flynn's tight grip… and they were hanging off the edge together.

"Fl…" Yuri slurred, his hand flexing in Flynn's grasp. His vision was fading again, but he could see the blood still falling from Flynn's shoulder. "Le… leggo…"

"Hang on," Flynn grunted, holding onto the edge desperately. A second later, Sodia finally moved, scrambling to the edge and grabbing Flynn's arm.

"Captain…!" Sodia grunted, trying to pull him up, but Flynn was still heavily armored despite the shot having blown off some of his plate and chainmail. Him on his own, being pulled be gravity, was difficult to hold onto. But with Yuri… "Captain, I can't…!"

"Damn you, Sodia!" Flynn snapped, his face twisting in agony as Yuri's dead weight strained his wound. He swore he heard his skin tearing further. "Just don't let me fall, get me up a bit and I'll pull us up!"

Sodia let out a soft little sob, but she didn't let go. It was hard, trying to back up and pull Flynn up. She managed two steps before she slipped and Flynn's arm, for a terrifying second, slipped from her grasp. She screamed again but managed to catch him, although the jerk of the movement nearly faulted her over with them. As it was, Yuri's weight felt like it was suddenly dropping, and Flynn couldn't contain his yelp as his injured shoulder popped out of its socket, pain bursting within it. For a second, he could see stars.

But no matter how bad the pain, how he could practically feel the strained muscles and ligaments tearing, Flynn refused to let go. Blood felt like it was just pouring out of him, running down his arm, absorbing into what was left of his clothes and making its way to Yuri's prone body. Yuri hung silently in Flynn's grasp, and the blond couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

There was a rush of footsteps, and Flynn's grimacing face gazed up to see Raven and Judith also reaching for him. With them, Sodia was able to heave Flynn further up, and biting his tongue hard, Flynn forced his arm to bend and bring Yuri slowly up as well. As soon as he was reachable, Karol, Patty and Rita made a grab for Yuri. Flynn still didn't let of his wrist until most of Yuri's body was on the platform, and soon he himself was pulled fully up.

He ignored Estelle's shrill cries and everyone's question. Forcing himself Flynn pulled closer to Yuri, leaning down close to his face. Relief flooded him as he felt breath rushing from Yuri's nose and against his lips.

"Yuri," Flynn whispered, closing his eyes a moment and relaxing. That moment caused him to come undone, and the pain, along with the loss of blood, made him slowly fall onto Yuri's barely moving chest.

Waking up was a pain.

Not a physical pain, but an annoyance. He felt like he was trying to push through thick foliage and just kept getting slapped in the face with exhaustion. But above all else, he wanted to wake up. If he could wake up, he'd leave sleep, and he'd leave the nightmares behind. Finally, Yuri's eyes opened, and upon gaining consciousness he felt the sensation of being tangled in sheets. A bed. The room didn't feel familiar…

Carefully he sat up, wincing and glancing down. His tunic was missing, and pressed over the left side of his lower stomach was a thickly padded bandage taped in place. Very slowly and carefully Yuri pulled the tape off one end and peeked, his nose immediately assaulted by the vile stench of antibiotic mixed with anti-venom and dead flesh. When he looked, his face felt like it drained of color—peeling with the bandage was some of his own skin, and the sight was a little more grotesque than Yuri was willing to stomach first thing; he hurried put the bandage back, surprised it didn't hurt. They must have numbed the area… no wonder, really.

I was stabbed. Yuri remembered that much. Sodia's horrified look blossomed in his mind, and he cringed. She stabbed him… and it burned. Then…

"Flynn!" Yuri whispered fiercely, glancing around. To his left was another occupied bed and Yuri nearly fallen off his to get to it.

Flynn laid on it, asleep. Or sedated. Yuri wasn't too sure, but looking at the thick bandages and leftover medical supplies near Flynn's injured shoulder, he had to assume the guy was knocked out.

Yuri was going out of it, but he remembered hearing Flynn, seeing him hanging off that edge with him. That idiot, already hurt and then pulling that stunt… Yuri had half the mind to punch him right into the injury.

An injury Flynn got from protecting him, because Yuri was foolish to charge headlong and not pay attention…

The anger he had toward Flynn evaporated at that fact, and he slowly pulled up a chair to Flynn's bedside. He was fairly sure someone will come in and have a fit he was up, but Yuri didn't care. All of that could wait a moment. He just needed a moment to be at Flynn's side for once. He owed the guy that much, at least.

Several minutes of silence tick by and Yuri stayed where he was, his elbows resting on the mattress and his eyes fixed on Flynn. He could have lost him… they both could have died. It was a realization Yuri had gone through several times when separated from his friend. The last time they were together and threatened like that… But if Flynn went over that edge for him, he would have sunk in all that armor. In retrospect there was a slim chance Yuri could have survived… but no way could Flynn have.

You idiot.

But Yuri couldn't stay mad at him. After all, he would have done the same. He'd shoulder all the pain in the world if it meant saving Flynn. Yuri sighed heavily, shaking his head like he was exasperated, but by the end of the movement he was smiling down at his sleeping friend. In the end, it ended up okay. It was a little heartwarming too, knowing Flynn was still Flynn and reckless as ever.

Some things really don't change.