This was going to be a one shot, but then it got out of hand. It's now about 20k and will update over the next couple of days. Anyway, because it was supposed to be short I didn't want to bring in a whole subplot about the conspiracy behind the scenario (If I had this would probably have turned into a novel), so I used the premise of a story I have planned for the future, and then obviously couldn't answer everything because that would spoiler future things. In fact, the initial scenario is a rejected plot-point from this future fic, so you can think of this as a preview of things to come.

Chapter One: Blast

It was funny, sometimes, how insignificant things could come together and create such a big mess.

Estelle had invited Flynn to travel to Desier with her. She was going on a trip with Rita to find some rare minerals she wanted to examine for some mana experiment. Estelle probably wasn't needed, but after a few years of working with politics in Zaphias, she'd been bitten by wanderlust bug. He'd considered trying to stop her, because wandering the desert was no place for a princess, but he'd seen that set in her jaw that said no human could stop her and gave up trying to keep her safe in Zaphias.

"Come with us, Flynn," she'd said in his office the day before setting out. "It would be fun and you deserve some time off."

It did sound fun, but… "Thank you for the offer, Lady Estellise, but I have far too much work here to justify an excursion to Desier."

He didn't think too much about it. He received invitations to attend various functions all the time, and had become accustomed to turning them down when he had too much work. So he let her go, not even feeling like deciding to stay was a major decision.

Then there were the protesters. In recent months, unrest had spread throughout Zaphias. Many civilians demanded government reform, with more representation for commoners and a Council that did more than serve the needs of just the nobility. Flynn could hardly blame them, and though he had to keep up a professional act, in private he agreed with the protesters. He'd send knights out to break up rallies if they got too out of hand, but he secretly cheered them on for bringing attention to the very issues he was trying to fix. Most of them were from the lower quarter; they were his friends and neighbours, and he was on their side. Perhaps he'd taken it for granted that all of them understood that.

There were the renovations on the castle, too. Ioder had said something about wanting to update some rooms from the older style as part of moving on from the problems of the past. It was mostly symbolic, but Flynn couldn't argue against the logic of tearing down some statues of emperors who really shouldn't be remembered fondly. The renovations meant contractors and workers were constantly entering and exiting the castle, which meant the knights had far more people to screen for security than normal.

Ioder told him he didn't have to come to the Council meeting today, since they were talking about minor government policy issues that the commandant didn't need to be part of. After quickly weighing how much time he would have after the meeting against how thick his stacks of paperwork were, he decided he had time to attend after all. With the protesters outside, he was nervous about letting the Council make decisions without him present, in case they decided it was time to crack down on the non-violent protests. He'd attend the meeting just in case.

The meeting started slow. Flynn really didn't need to be there. It was mostly about internal Council policies rather than decisions that would affect the empire at large, but Flynn stuck around just in case. He sat at the edge of the room, near a tall window draped in blood-red curtains. As the Council talked, he allowed his mind to drift. Maybe tonight he should head down to the lower quarter and see if Yuri wanted to join him for dinner. Yuri wasn't in town often, and his guild was just stopping here for a few days, so he should take the chance. Yuri might offer to cook, too. That would be great; he loved Yuri's –

Then the room exploded.

Yuri was in the public quarter when he heard the boom. All heads whipped to the castle in time to see billowing grey smoke pouring out the wall. Repede's fur bristled as people on the street pointed and shouted. He dropped his bag of groceries and ran, Repede racing at his heels.

The knights at the front didn't stop him as he ran inside the castle. They were too busy shouting orders and running everywhere to give him more than a passing glance, recognize him as Yuri Lowell, and decide he wasn't worth their time. Estelle had left on her trip with Rita about three days ago, so at least he knew she was safe. His destination, then, was Flynn's office so Flynn could tell him what had happened.

He burst into Flynn's office, but his friend wasn't there. Usually he wouldn't be concerned if Flynn wasn't in his office, because it probably meant he was in a meeting somewhere, but with the smell of smoke curling into his nose, dread oozed into his heart. Repede growled, and he shared a nervous look with Yuri. Finding Flynn was now his goal, and he trusted he'd figure out what happened along the way.

It wasn't hard to find the site of the explosion. All he had to do was follow the smell of smoke and run toward the shouting. He and Repede found a hallway packed with people soon later. Halfway down the hallway was a large double-door he was pretty sure was the entrance to the Council chamber, which was the source of the smoke. Yuri wove through the crowd until he spotted a familiar burst of orange hair.

"Sodia! Hey, Sodia."

Her head snapped around, her face tense. "Yuri Lowell?" For a second he saw her gearing up to question what he was doing here, but she quickly decided she had more pressing concerns. Knowing immediately what he wanted to ask, she explained. "There was an explosion in the room being renovated below the Council chamber. We're still trying to ascertain precisely what happened."

He took a glance through the doors and saw carnage. There was a gaping hole in the floor with a ring of tattered ground around the edges of the room. Every window had shattered and several pillars had toppled. The room was grey and soaking wet, and based on the lines of buckets people carried out of the room, he guessed it had recently been on fire. Most alarming of all were the parts of bodies sticking out from under the rubble, coated in blood and dust. Some parts weren't connected to other parts. Repede growled so low Yuri felt it vibrate against his leg rather than hear it, and the dread in his heart throbbed. "Flynn?"

Sodia's stoicism slipped. "Commandant Flynn was… he was in the Council chamber at the time of the explosion. We managed to douse the fire just before you arrived so we haven't yet been able to search the rubble for survivors."

"Come on, Repede."

"Wait!" she grabbed his shoulder. "The floor is unstable. More of it might give out if you walk carelessly."

"So I'll be careful." Repede slipped into the room, and Sodia was too anxious to find Flynn to protest any further. She hung back at the door, not wanting to put any more weight on the floor than necessary, and watched Yuri creep into the room.

It was eerily silent. A layer of ash and debris blanketed every surface and Repede left clear footprints as he sniffed the ground, searching for Flynn. As they crept through the room, Yuri tried to piece together what had happened.

An explosion in the room downstairs, Sodia had said. He didn't know of any construction materials that would blow up like this, so he doubted this was an accident. He thought back to the rising unrest and the increasing anger of protesters he'd seen in bars and nearly kicked himself for not seeing how far they were willing to go. He'd bet his life savings this was a planned assassination attempt. The explosion had set off a fire that burned through the carpet and remains of curtains and furniture, all of which was now soaking wet from the bucket brigades that doused it.

He crept as far as he dared to the edge of the floor and peered into the room below. If the explosion was right below the centre of the room, most of the people would have been killed immediately when it blew up right under their feet. In the room below, he saw a pile of broken furniture and collapsed floor, and more than enough parts of bodies to make his chest tighten. Everyone he saw was wearing Council robes, which he took as a sign of hope that Flynn wasn't one of the corpses in the debris down there.

Repede barked, jolting him out of his thoughts. He looked to Repede to see the dog race toward the wall. Yuri looked ahead and spotted a body lying partially under a crumbled pillar. He couldn't tell if it was Flynn at first, because the part he could see was completely covered in a layer of grey dust, but then Repede reached him and nudged the head, brushing away enough dust to reveal a patch of bright blond hair.

Yuri's heart skipped a beat; it was Flynn alright. He ran to Repede, not even caring that the floor creaked ominously as he went. Behind him, more knights had started entering the room to search the rubble for survivors. Good, they could worry about sorting out which Council member bodies were still alive. All he cared about right now was Flynn.

Yuri dropped to his knees when he reached Flynn's side. It's not that bad, he told himself. Flynn was still in one piece, at least. That was true, except…

The burns were probably the worst part. A brass rod and a pile of ash nearby indicated there had once been a curtain on the ground next to him, but the fire had reduced it to dust. The fire hadn't done nice things to Flynn, either. Most of the right half of his shirt had burned away leaving a mess of red and black skin underneath. His entire right arm was bright red and mottled with bits of charred grey flesh, and around his hand where there had been little fat or muscle to get in the way, Yuri could even see bone.

The arm got the worst of his, but burns splattered across his torso as well. The shirt that remained was wet, indicating water thrown by bucket into the room had reached him and put out the fire before it consumed him entirely. The side of Flynn's head was dark red, and Yuri noticed a matching stain on the wall next to the window to guess where he'd hit it. A smidgen of blood trickled out of Flynn's ears and Yuri couldn't see the state of his legs under the rubble of the fallen pillar, but he guessed they couldn't be in great shape.

He had never been so afraid of an answer when he slowly reached his fingers to Flynn's neck to find a pulse. With the extent of Flynn's injuries, it could go either way. He couldn't shake a million worst-case scenarios playing through his head as he waited for a sign. Please…

There! A tiny flicker of movement. The pulse was weak, but it was there. Yuri heaved a sigh of relief as he pulled his hand away.

Repede whimpered and gently licked Flynn's forehead, not seeming to mind the dust.

Yuri felt like he might throw up so he grabbed the rough fur at Repede's shoulder for support. "It's going to be ok. He's alive."

"Commandant!"

Sodia had reached him. She pulled up short when she saw Yuri kneeling by his side and Yuri didn't have to turn around to imagine the horrified look on her face. "Is he…?"

"He's alive."

She let out a deep breath. "Thank heavens. I'll get one of the medics and a stretcher."

Pain. Pain. Everything hurt. Where was he? What had – ow. Why did everything hurt? Owww. Flynn couldn't even begin to tally all his pain. The best he could do was try to group it together.

Head – ouch. Throbbing. Localized on his left side, maybe? Hard to tell. Bad headache.

Left arm – ok. Bruises, perhaps. Sore, but not devastating.

Torso – Hurts. Hurts to breathe. Burning pain across his chest.

Legs – shit. Pain, pain, pain. He couldn't tell what had happened to them between the stabbing signals they kept shooting to his throbbing head.

Right arm – fuck. Nothing but agony. There were a few places that didn't hurt, but the areas around those spots felt like tiny, super-heated needles were repeatedly stabbing him.

What the hell happened?

Steeling himself, he pried his eyes open. For a few seconds he was confused, but then he recognized the white walls of the castle infirmary. Oh. That made sense. He still couldn't remember what happened, but with the amount of pain he was in, the infirmary was probably the best place for him.

He let out a groan, which turned into a cough, which made his chest hurt. At least, he thought he did. He felt like he groaned and coughed, but didn't hear anything. Maybe his throat was messed up – it certainly hurt. He tried again, because his arm was a spring of pain that kept flooding his body and he couldn't handle this without trying to release it.

He moaned, feeling the vibrations sting through his raw throat. Couldn't hear it. His voice must be weaker than he thought. He raised his voice, putting as much power into his groan as he could. Still nothing.

"H…hey…?" he tried. He needed someone to tell him what had happened, but no one was going to hear him, were they? Not when he couldn't even speak loudly enough to hear it himself. He tried to look at his body to see what state he was in, but all he saw was bandages. He experimentally attempted to move his fingers, but the bolts of agony the lanced through his arm and radiated through his body almost made him pass out again. His throat burned with the effort of screaming even though he couldn't vocalize it for now.

A few seconds later, he saw movement. Yuri! Yuri came into his vision with concern written all over his face. He didn't seem to know what to say, because his mouth flapped but no sound came out.

Yuri paused, staring at him. Flynn stared back, wondering why he still hadn't said anything. He couldn't think too deeply about it because everything hurt. It hurt so badly. It wanted to curl into a ball and scream at the top of his lungs if that would help deal with this pain.

Yuri mouthed something and through the small amount of clarity he managed to maintain he thought it looked like his name.

He tried to speak. "W…what…?"

Something cold bumped his left hand, and in surprise he glanced over at Repede. When had he come in? Repede opened and closed his mouth like he was barking, but didn't actually vocalize anything. This was getting frustrating. The silence in the room smothered him from all sides and all he wanted was to hear Yuri's voice telling him it was going to be ok.

"Why're… you… so quiet?" What was the point in talking when he couldn't get any sound out? It just hurt his throat and chest.

Yuri still didn't say anything, but his concern deepened. He held up a finger and then walked away, silently. Everything was quiet. So quiet. The room was silent. His breathing was silent even though he felt like it should be ragged.

When Yuri returned, he had a notebook and a pencil. He wrote something quickly and then held it up: Can you hear me?

Flynn frowned in confusion. Hear what?

Yuri held the book with one hand and with the other he snapped his fingers. Flynn saw his fingers move, but no sound came out. Yuri's lips moved again, slowly mouthing, "Can you hear me?"

Realization drummed through him and he slowly shook his head. Yuri was talking… but Flynn couldn't hear it. He tried to talk, because maybe his voice wasn't gone after all. Maybe his words were plenty loud but his ears couldn't pick them up. "What… hap…pened?"

Yuri wrote again. What do you remember?

Flynn tried to think. What did he remember? It had just been an ordinary day and now he was here, in more pain than he had ever experienced combined. He'd been doing paper work, and then wasn't there a Council meeting today…? He was pretty sure he'd gone to that… "C-council… meeting?"

Yuri nodded slowly and then held up another page. Yuri was going to have to work on his handwriting if this was going to be a viable form of communication. You were at council meeting. Protesters blew it up.

That sounded vaguely familiar. If he really concentrated he could remember snatches of heat and pain and a loud boom, but concentrating made his head hurt. "M…my… arm…"

Burned, Yuri wrote quickly. There was a fire. Yuri gave him a glance over and then wrote something else, his mouth tight as he went. What he held up was a list of Flynn's injuries with explanations.

Hit your head. Mild concussion. Bad burns on torso. Some cracked ribs. Right arm really burned. Left arm ok, but bruised. Falling rubble cracked legs in few places – doc said they'll be fine but broken right now. Breathed a lot of smoke. Dunno about ears – doc didn't mention it.

He had trouble concentrating long enough to read all that, so he took it in short snippets. He read a line and then closed his eyes to take a few deep breaths and then read another. It was overwhelming to see at all listed like that, but at least he had answers. It explained why his arm hurt so bad, at least. The parts of it that didn't hurt were probably where he was so badly burned all the nerves were dead.

It all hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt. His arm might as well still be on fire and his legs throbbed and ached. He couldn't see them under the blanket but he knew they must be a mess held together with splints. He could feel himself slipping back into unconsciousness, and he welcomed it. Before he passed out, he managed to ask, "H…his…," a cough interrupted him and, oh, coughing also hurt so much…. "M-majesty…?"

Yuri wrote quickly, trying to get the answer written before Flynn passed out again. Ioder's alive. Injured. Not as bad as you.

Flynn managed a small smile, and then passed out.

Yuri didn't usually like spending a lot of time in the castle, but he also didn't like sitting at home while Flynn was injured so badly. It had been three days since the explosion and they still knew aggravatingly little. Knights had found evidence that some kind of explosive substance had been smuggled into the castle by terrorists disguised as construction workers, and there was little doubt it was tied to the ongoing protests. Yuri had asked around the lower quarter, but everyone swore they knew nothing about it and the ones he knew personally were adamant that they would never want Flynn to get hurt.

Yuri had a feeling Flynn wasn't even the specific target of the attack. From what he understood, Flynn hadn't even supposed to have been at the meeting. Flynn's injuries were severe, but Yuri was beyond grateful he was alive. At the end of the day, after clearing as much rubble as they could and sorting through the bodies found, there had been more deaths than injuries. The death toll numbered somewhere in the mid-twenties, with another sixteen injured. Yuri didn't care too much about the fates of Council members, but he was glad that Ioder at least had survived. He'd been sitting near the back of the room and had suffered a pretty nasty head injury, but was expected to fully recover.

He found himself in Flynn's office, not sure where else to go. Estelle was probably in the middle of the ocean on her way to Desier by now, out of reach for healing. Judith and Ba'ul had left to find her, but they had an entire ocean to cover. There wasn't anything else he could do for Flynn now but wait.

He sat at Flynn's desk and absently twirled a pen around. The bastards who'd done this were going to pay, but he had no idea who they were. He'd been siding with the protesters up until now, but this was too radical for his tastes. Pressuring the Council to reform was all well and good, but blowing them up when that didn't happen fast enough was crossing the line.

The office door opened and Sodia entered. She paused and seemed about to berate him for being here, but then decided it wasn't worth it. "Did you see him today?" She sat across from him and set the folders in her arms on Flynn's desk.

"Earlier. He was still asleep so I didn't want to bother him." When Flynn had first been injured, Yuri couldn't wait for him to wake up and prove he really was alive. Now, Yuri preferred it when Flynn was asleep. Whenever he woke up, agony displayed clearly on his face and he struggled to speak between moans of pain. All the lemon gels in the world couldn't do much in the face of severe burns on almost twenty percent of his body. Just thinking of the sight of white bone surrounded by the blackened and charred remains of the skin of his fingers made Yuri feel sick.

"I talked to the doctor. She said he would probably recover."

Yuri raised his head from the spinning pen. "Probably?"

"Most likely." She didn't seem certain. "At least… she said he would most likely live. The prognosis for regaining function in his arm is… less certain."

Yuri nodded slowly, not even surprised. He'd seen how badly charred it was. "What about his ears?"

"She isn't sure. The blast of the explosion damaged his eardrums. The might heal on their own, or they might…"

"Never recover?"

"Possibly."

"So he'd be deaf forever."

"That's only a possibility," Sodia pointed out with a hurry. "She expects his eardrums will recover on their own."

"Hope so." It was bad enough wondering if Flynn's arm and hand could ever regain full functionality without worrying about him being deaf, too. He supposed he should be grateful Flynn's legs had been crushed, because the rubble kept the fire from burning them as well. "Any progress on catching the guys who did this?"

"No. I'll keep you updated."

"Thanks."

The next day, Yuri sat next to Flynn's bed. They still hadn't been able to contact Estelle, but at this point Yuri wasn't sure what she would even be able to do. Could healing artes sort out the rupture in his eardrums? Could they regrow all the skin and muscle Flynn had lost on his arm? Maybe, though, at the very least they could ease his pain.

By now, Yuri had pages and pages of conversation written out. He wrote another line. Hanks said hi. Says he hopes you get better soon.

Flynn smiled slightly. "Th-thank him for… for me!" He always spoke either too softly or too loud, since he couldn't hear himself to regulate it. Yuri liked it more when he spoke too softly, because when he was loud it was usually because he was doing his best to suppress a scream.

Yuri held up the paper again. Can I get anything for you?

"Not unless… you can… get me more drugs."

He nodded, his heart aching. Flynn was always so strong and in control, and he was doing a valiant job of maintaining his composure whenever he had visitors. Maybe it was because he let himself slip around Yuri or perhaps Yuri was just better at noticing the small details, but Flynn's face was clearly thinly masking agony. Any one of his injuries would be cripplingly painful but to group them all together…. As soon as Yuri found out the names of whoever planted that bomb, he was going to rip them apart.

"I'll get…" Damn, he kept slipping. He wrote it down instead. I'll get the docs to give you more morphine.

"Do you…" he squeezed his eyes closed and bit his lip as another wave of pain washed over. Yuri doubted he even knew he was moaning.

Yuri forced himself to sit still and wait it out. His instincts wanted to reach out for Flynn and do something to help, like hug him or rub his shoulder or something. Any amount of movement aggravated his injuries, though, so Yuri didn't dare risk it.

When Flynn pulled himself together again, he managed to ask, "Did they tell you when my hearing will come back?"

Yuri shrugged. They're not sure. It will.

"Good. This… is annoying. What about… terrorists? Found 'em?"

Not yet. Sodia's working on it.

"Ok… and the Council?"

Shambles. Lots died – dunno which. Ioder's started giving orders from his hospital bed.

Flynn frowned slightly at that. "I should, too. Can't… can't keep lying around."

Yuri rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Of course you'd say that." You could tell Flynn wasn't fit to go back to work just from listening to him speak. His voice was hoarse and strained from breathing too much smoke and he had to keep pausing to catch his breath between gasps of pain. Yuri scribbled, No, stupid. You're hurt worse than Ioder. Take it easy. He tried to relax around Flynn and reassure him that things would be all right by acting like his usual self, but it was hard when he was so worried that things wouldn't turn out all right.

"But… the Knights…"

Sodia is managing things. He held the notebook up stubbornly and fixed Flynn with a glare to tell him he'd better stop worrying about his job at a time like this.

Flynn smiled a little, coughed a little more, and took a few deep breaths. "Yuri…" he wheezed, "if my hand doesn't work… I can't be commandant."

Yuri stiffened. He'd been worrying about that too, but he didn't want Flynn worrying about it when he had so much else on his plate. He tried to relax and not let his handwriting shout how worried he was. Your hand will heal. Estelle will fix you right up.

"Can't feel it at all," Flynn mumbled, closing his eyes. "It's there, but… numb. Like I slept on it… for a while."

No kidding. His hand more closely resembled a gnarled tree in the dead of winter. He didn't say that, though. Wait for it to heal.

The door opened and a pair of nurses entered. Flynn, not facing the door, flinched when one of them suddenly appeared beside him with no warning, and then gasped as the movement hurt his injuries again.

Yuri tried not to frown too deeply at this. He'd assured Flynn that his hearing would come back, but the doctors honestly weren't positive. He had never put much though into hearing, but it was essential in a battle. If you couldn't hear an enemy coming up behind you, you'd be dead for sure. If Flynn's hearing didn't come back, it wouldn't even matter if he was able to hold a sword again. The Knights had no use for a deaf soldier.

"Good afternoon," one of the nurses said to Yuri. "We need to change his dressings." To Flynn, she smiled and pointed at his bandaged arm and then mimed peeling something off.

Flynn grimaced but nodded. Slight shifts of weight were enough to aggravate the burn to nearly make him cry out, so Yuri couldn't even imagine how bad it must be to have the bandages pulled off, the wound cleaned, and then more dressings reapplied.

Yuri held up a sign. Do you want me to go?

Flynn shook his head and reached for him with his left hand. Yuri reached forward so Flynn could grab him and let Flynn squeeze as the nurses carefully unwrapped the bandages. Flynn's breath caught in his throat and he gripped Yuri as tightly as he could, which was hardly half of his usual strength. As air hit his exposed arm, Flynn scrunched his eyes tight and did his best to suppress a whimper.

Yuri turned his eyes to Flynn's face, because he didn't want to look at his arm. He'd seen enough when he first found Flynn and wasn't keen to see it again. The quick glance he got now said it hadn't changed all that much, and it was enough to make him wonder. Even once Estelle got back, how much could she heal a hand charred to the bone? How could a limb so heavily disfigured ever go back to the way it used to be?

Instead of speculating on the chances of Flynn holding a sword again, he watched his friend's pale face, scrunched up as he took deep breaths. "It's gonna be ok. When Estelle gets here…" He trailed off, reminding himself once again that Flynn couldn't hear him. It was frustrating to say the least. Deafness stood between them like a wall.

He didn't want to look at Flynn's pained face, because it bothered him to see the man who was usually his pillar of stability so torn down. But, he also didn't want to look at Flynn's arm, and wondered where the nurses got such iron stomachs to not have to look away from the horrific injury. He ended up watching the nurses faces, marvelling at what strong character it must take to face such horrors without batting an eye.

While watching the nurses, he saw a flicker of concern in one's eyes. She murmured something to her companion and motioned to something on Flynn's arm, but Yuri couldn't make it out and everything on Flynn's arm looked equally terrible to him. Flynn didn't notice, since his eyes were still closed and obviously he couldn't hear anything. Yuri was glad, because Flynn needed to focus on healing and any other concerns would just worry him.

"Is something wrong?" Yuri asked, glancing at Flynn just long to check that his eyes were still closed.

"Don't worry about it," the nurse said with a forced smile. "We'll let you know if we determine there are any complications."

He didn't like the way she said that, but didn't question further so they could go back to work.

Once Flynn's arm had been cleaned, they moved on to clean the burns on his torso, then changed the bandage on his head wound, and then focused on the wounds on his legs. Flynn had so many injuries it overwhelmed him.

At long last, the nurses finished. Flynn breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn't let go of Yuri's hand.

"That's all for now," one said. "Do you know if he needs anything else?"

"He said he wanted more morphine. I don't think he's getting nearly enough pain relief."

"We'll do what we can. We'd like to stick to gels because morphine can be dangerously addictive, plus gels heal as well as relieve pain."

"They don't seem to be healing very much."

"They're doing what they can. They're intended for small wounds, not massive injuries like this. I'll talk to the doctor about getting more pain relief, though."

"Good. It just seems cruel to leave him like this."

After the nurses left, Yuri wrote something for Flynn. They said they'll get you more morphine.

Flynn managed to smile. "Good."