Vesperia (c) Namco Bandai)
"Ya know, I've been thinkin', and I don't think we should be doin' this today?"
Scattered across the deck of the airborne Fiertia, the entire group turned around to face the speaker, with expressions ranging from a mildly bemused Yuri who had sat leaning against the outer edge on the port side of the boat, to a barely-concealed furious Rita who had taken her usual spot as close to the door below decks as possible. Raven quickly brought his hands up in front of his face in defence.
"Hey, HEY! Don't get me wrong, now, I know this business is important and we really need to try and do this as soon as, but... Well, there isn't really enough of 'today' left for us to do this today, is there?"
"I- I-" Rita spluttered for a moment before jumping to her feet and flailing her hands angrily. "You just don't want to go out to the Drifts, do you Old Man!?" She slowly balled her hands into fists level with her head. "It's just some cold, man up a little!"
Their destination was the Aer Krene discovered in the Blade Drifts of Zopheir, ferried along by the ever-faithful Ba'ul. The mood was high; not only had Yuri finally turned up alive a week after the events at the Enduring Shrine of Zaude, Rita had made a breakthrough on her research into the problems concerning aer and the Adephagos, and was eager to put theory into practice. Nobody was particularly happy about her choice of Aer Krene, but it was the nearest known one and probably the safest to use, so perhaps it was for the best.
"Oh, no no, I think I agree with Raven here." Judith chimed, tapping her cheek in thought. Raven leapt over to her and clasped both his hands over hers.
"Oh, you do?" A large grin spread across his face. "Oh Judy, darlin', thank you!"
"I mean, you do remember how cold it was when we crossed the first time, and that was during the day." Judith continued, gently batting the man away. "It would probably be... a bad idea to try going there at night."
Estelle gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Zopheir is really that cold? I've read books, but surely they were exaggerating...?"
"Try to think of it as the opposite of the Sands of Kogorh?" Yuri suggested, folding his arms. Estelle brought her other hand to her mouth, making one elongated high-pitched 'ooh' sound, before following it with a series of rapid descending ones with a grimace to match.
"Uhh, you guys," Karol raised his voice and waved his arms above his head, "maybe Judith has a point!"
"I made it first." Raven interrupted. Rita stomped angrily on his foot.
"ANYWAY," Karol raised his voice again, and paused until everyone was looking at him. "Maybe it would be better if we spent the night at Capua Nor instead? We're finally back together after a bad week, and we can head out from there in the morning." There was a general murmur of agreement, and a groan of pain from Raven, and Judith signalled a course change to Ba'ul.
Due to their previous course, they weren't far from Capua Nor, but the sun was already dipping beneath the horizon when the party reached the port. Ba'ul lowered the Fiertia the customary distance from town, careful not to be seen as to avoid garnering attention, and left to take his rest somewhere nearby. As they entered the town itself, life appeared to be continuing as normal for the townsfolk, with businesses finishing up for the day, and a sort of seaside night-life beginning; the only thing besides the giant space tentacles everyone was pointedly ignoring that betrayed any sense of normality in the port was an increased knight presence. Somewhat hurriedly, the party headed straight for the inn and checked in to a room. Karol immediately hopped onto one of the beds, while others positioned themselves and got comfortable around the room. The princess moved to the centre of the room.
"So," Estelle clapped her hands together and surveyed the group as she spoke. "bearing in mind we have an early start tomorrow morning, what is everyone planning on doing tonight?"
"Well, I don't think any of us are doing much of anything now that you've put it like that..." Raven whined, turning around. The older man had already been headed for the door.
"Actually, I think I'm just going to hit the hay." Yuri replied, rubbing his forehead and eyes. "I... I'm kind of tired, it's the first day I've been up in I think a week?" He sat on the bed near to Karol, who scooted up next to him and, after quickly slipping a glove off, slapped his hand onto the man's forehead, not noticing Yuri grunt at the sudden unnecessary impact or the loud noise from said impact.
"Ohh no, Yuri, your forehead is pretty hot actually!" he exclaimed. "Do you need a doctor or something?"
"I don't imagine you smacking him helped there." Rita added. She turned to Yuri. "What do you mean, 'up in a week'? Did you spend the entire time we were looking for you napping?"
"No? I don't think so?" Yuri shook his head. "I really don't remember much of it. I don't know." He stopped, not intending to carry on until he realised everyone was staring and awaiting an explanation. He hesitated – his memory was a mess and he'd have to pick his words carefully here. "I mean, when I fell, from Zaude, I got hurt. Kind of bad. During the fall that is." He stopped as his hand instinctively shot to his side to massage it and tried to arrange his memories into some coherent form of order. "I can kind of remember... floating in the water – I sure don't remember hitting it, but I bet it hurt – but then I think Duke fished me out. He wanted Dein Nomos back rather than by my side at the bottom of the ocean. It was cold in the ocean." Yuri paused as his gaze drifted towards the ceiling. "But I think, no, I know that I got sick, and I spent a week delirious I guess. I really don't remember much..."
"Oooh, and I dragged you along straight away as soon as Repede and I found you! I even jumped on top of you!" Estelle winced and rushed to his side. Without her usual gentleness she pushed Karol's hand away to feel Yuri's forehead for herself. "You are, you're burning up! Oh Yuri, why didn't you say anything earlier?" He merely looked away, the slightest hint of embarrassment flushing across his face. He wasn't used to being fussed over like this.
"Perhaps we should take you to see a doctor, Yuri?" Judith suggested, joining at his side. "We need everyone in top condition for this." She added firmly as she swiftly pressed her finger to Yuri's mouth to silence his attempted objection.
"Uhh, is there gonna be any doctor still practising at this hour?" Raven asked quietly.
The room was silent for a moment until Rita jumped out of her seat. "Will you stop asking questions that cause problems today Old Man!?"
"I'm not doin' it on purpose like that!"
"Then stop doing it!" came the reply. She rested her chin in her hand to think for a moment."Hey, there are lots of knights around, right?" Rita turned to face Estelle. "Surely if we can't find a doctor, you can commandeer someone from the knights, right?"
"Umm, maybe?" Estelle shrugged slightly. A puzzled expression quickly changed to a happier one of understanding. "Actually, that's a good idea, I'd like to find out why so many of the knights are here and who's in charge anyway. I get the feeling that... Nevermind, that bit's not important."
"Nuh-uh, nope," Yuri swatted Judith's hand away. "No way, not happening. Not getting tended to. Not by knights."
"Then at least let us try for Nor's doctor?" Judith got uncomfortably close to Yuri's face, prompting him to turn his head and lean back a little. She didn't wait for any sort of retort this time and instead took both his hands, pulling him onto his feet. Her grip was like iron, or maybe Yuri just didn't have enough strength to properly resist; she didn't release his hands when he tried to pull away. "Then it's settled. Estelle, will you be joining us on the way to your knight chat?"
"Okay!" Estelle chimed and skipped over to the door. She looped her arms into Yuri's on the right while Judith firmly locked his left arm in her own, and the three left the room to find a doctor.
As he was dragged out of the room, Yuri could have sworn he heard Rita ask those left behind, "What did she mean by 'jumping him'?"
"Well, aren't you the lucky bunch?" the doctor said curtly. "Due to the knights turning up as they have, I've ended up in my office far past my usual hours. Normally only a night-shift nurse would be present. I guess I can take one more patient." He moved to start his check on Yuri, sat scowling with his arms and legs crossed on an examination bed, before stopping and turning to face Judith and Estelle. "You do realise visiting hours for this clinic are well over? IF this man has to stay the night here, you'll both need to leave as soon as I finish my diagnosis?"
Judith nodded. "Oh yes. Yuri's a big boy now, I'm sure he can handle one night without us." Yuri didn't know if she ignored or just didn't notice him roll his eyes at her. "Estelle and I need to be elsewhere anyway."
"Ahh, good. That lady knight wouldn't leave the other one they brought in earlier, insisting she remain during the night. It took ten minutes to get the poor lad into bed she was so insistent on staying."
"So the knights are here because one of them is sick?" Estelle asked.
"That's patient confidentiality, young miss. Sorry, I've already said too much." The doctor adjusted his glasses and turned to Yuri. "So, what seems to be the problem, young man?"
Yuri scowled. "I was sick last week, and I don't think I'm better yet. Look, I just want to go to sleep right now, so can I leave already?" The doctor leaned closer to Yuri and squinted. "I don't remember much of it if you're gonna ask about last week..."
"Can you two give me any more symptoms?" he asked, tilting his head towards Judith and Estelle. He reached for a thermometer and put it in Yuri's mouth before the man could object.
"Not really. We weren't there, sorry..." Judith folded her arms. "Otherwise we would have gotten him to a doctor a lot sooner."
"He did fall into the ocean, we know that much. I'm sorry, we don't know how long it took before he got pulled out." Estelle added.
"Eye hab no ideer eeba." Yuri mumbled while he tried to balance the thermometer under his tongue. "An eye was dere." Judith and Estelle simply shook their heads while the doctor ignored him.
After a while, the doctor removed the thermometer and tutted. He put his stethoscope into his ears, again ignoring Yuri as he hissed when the cold plate was pressed against his chest. After a couple more investigations, the doctor leant back in his chair and just shrugged.
"Well, due to this man's physical fitness, I think it's not going to be much more than a cold lingering. I'd still like to keep him in overnight if that's okay, so I can see how he is in the morning."
"Overnight?" Estelle almost squeaked. "Are you sure he'll be okay?"
"Don't worry Estelle." Judith said, placing her hand gently on the princess' shoulder. "He said it himself, he just wants to be able to see Yuri in the morning. Yuri?" Judith turned her gaze to Yuri, who despite everything had been nodding off. He dropped his head from his hands at the mention of his name and came to slightly. "We'll come by tomorrow morning. Hope you're feeling better then."
Yuri yawned and nodded. "Can I go to sleep now?"
"The nurse will take you to a bed." the doctor replied, leading Judith and Estelle towards the door. "I hope you won't mind your knight room-mate. There is a dividing curtain." Yuri just grumbled as an older woman appeared by his side and started to lead him in the other direction from the door into another room. He tried to turn his head but only got a brief glimpse of Estelle and Judith waving merrily as they left through the front door.
The room he was led into was barely lit and just over twice the size of his apartment back in Zaphias, or at least Yuri figured it was. There was indeed a curtain dividing the room, with what looked like the shadow of another bed on the other side. It also looked and sounded occupied – even in his drowsy state, Yuri could make out gentle snoring coming from the other side of the room. There were windows the opposite side of the room to the bed, and a sink and various cabinets around the room filled with what Yuri guessed was medicines and other medical equipment. He didn't really know and honestly, he didn't really care, Yuri just wanted to go to sleep right now damn it.
He remembered the nurse mutter something, he wasn't really listening to her, but then she started to try to undo his belt from behind him. Yuri pulled away roughly, grumbling that he could handle his own clothes thank you. The nurse mentioned something about being in the other room should he need anything, in a tone that was probably offended, before finally leaving. Yuri shrugged off his tunic and shirt and left them on a chair next to his bed, before slipping his boots off. The floor was cold, even with socks on. He didn't feel like taking them off, so without any further ado, he climbed under the covers and he was asleep before his head even reached the pillow.
When he finally came to, Flynn's head was pounding. He slowly brought his hand up in front of his face to massage the bridge of his nose while he tried to figure out where he was and how he'd gotten to wherever here was.
Slowly Flynn realised he was laying in a bed. It wasn't particularly comfortable, and the blankets were itchy and heavy, and they reminded him of the Lower Quarter a little. Slowly, he pushed them back and sat up. His armour had been removed, and he was in a plain t-shirt and slacks, not his own. The room was poorly lit, a lone candle probably on the other side of the curtain dividing the room in two as well as a large open window allowing some starlight in. As he slid down back into the bed a bit, Flynn came to realise his head didn't so much hurt as he just felt very groggy.
Had he been drugged?
His hand moved to his temples. He sat up straight this time, supporting himself with his free hand. He could see it was late at night, or early in the morning, from the starry sky the other side of the window, with the constant reminder of glowing tentacles crossing the vast black expanse.
Last he'd been conscious, or could at least remember being so, he'd been on a boat, out in the ocean. Out by Zaude, looking for two things: his best friend, and some sort of excuse to keep the Imperial Fleet out searching for said friend. Yuri had been the one to save Lady Estellise, he had been instrumental in defeating Alexei, even if the Adephagos had been unleashed regardless. He at least... Yuri at least deserved his body to be found for a proper funeral.
Flynn retched a little. The thought of finding Yuri too late was still too much to bear. Even if he was Commandant, even if he'd seen plenty of his loyal soldiers die on orders he'd given, even if he'd seen friends and family from the Lower Quarter pass away for a multitude of reasons, the thought of Yuri dying when he was unable to do anything to prevent it was a little too much for the blond to handle right now.
They'd been out by Zaude, continuing the search. A week of constant searching at sea. A messenger bird had been received; an order direct from Ioder to call the search off. If not even a body had turned up in a week, then it wasn't going to turn up any time soon. Sorry, but the casket's going to be empty. Flynn was Commandant now, he had bigger responsibilities.
Flynn had yelled. He'd shouted. He'd probably cried too, he wasn't really sure. His knees had given out, and all the knights present on the boat were gathered, awkwardly awaiting orders while trying to ignore or pretend that little outburst had not just happened. A ../ /nd then suddenly there was Sodia, by his side, with a canteen in one hand, gently rubbing circles on his back with her other hand. He couldn't remember how much time had passed between being presented with the drink and actually accepting it, but everything was... shaky afterwards.
And then he woke up in this bed.
It was probably for the best. As much as he hated to admit it, Flynn would probably need to take some time off, sort his head out. He sighed deeply, then looked around the room, this time paying attention to his surroundings. To his right was a wall, lined with medical cabinets. To his left was a curtain, dividing the room in what Flynn assumed was half. And in front of him, standing before the window, was...
...the ghost of Yuri Lowell staring right back at him?
Flynn rubbed his eyes and squinted. Now he was sure he'd been drugged, there was no way he could be imagining this on his own. 'Yuri' himself was stood, shirtless, holding a mug and looking Flynn up and down with a confused expression. After a moment he grinned widely and knocked back the contents of his mug, sighing happily afterwards. He strolled lazily towards Flynn and placed his mug down on the bedside table before pulling Flynn close.
"Flynn! How'd you get here?" Yuri leant back a little, keeping his hands on Flynn's arms. His brow furrowed as he examined the blond. "You're not sick as well, are you?"
Flynn couldn't form a response. Those hands on his arms were real, very real feeling. And he was producing a shadow. Was this...?
"Yuri?"
"Yes?"
"Really? Not... not dreaming?"
"No." Yuri's expression softened. "I'm real... I'm alive..." He paused again. "Honest."
Flynn let out a breathe he didn't realise he'd been holding. "I'm... so happy. Do you know how... how sad I was when I... when I thought you were..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead, he brought his hand up to feel Yuri's forehead. "You're rather hot..."
"Why, thank you kindly." Yuri smirked. He sat down on the bed next to Flynn. "But really, what're YOU doing here?"
Flynn sat staring silently at Yuri for a moment before spluttering his reply. "I... I got knocked out since Sodia was worried I was over-working myself... Least I think so?" He noticed Yuri's expression darken slightly at the mention of Sodia. "Look, never mind me. What happened to YOU?" Flynn folded his arms. "I... I looked for you..."
Yuri turned his gaze to the ceiling as he leant back. "I... Where do I start? Where would..." Yuri subtly folded his arms so as to cover his waist. "...would you like me to start?"
"Zaude." came the solemn reply. "What happened after I got shot? I got up there, and Alexei was dead, and Brave Vesperia was there, and Sodia too, but you weren't. They said you fell, but I continue to find it hard to believe that Yuri Lowell could just go and fall down like that."
Yuri tilted his head forwards, and the curtain of hair that fell in place obscured his expression from Flynn's view. After what felt like an eternity, Flynn was about to start his questions again when Yuri broke the silence.
"Look, I'm here because I'm sick, and I have a temperature, and a mother-henning Estelle backed-up by Judith is not a force I can overcome." He stood up suddenly, then wobbled slightly. After steadying himself for a moment, he continued. "I'm going to go back to bed now. I want to be able to join the others in the morning. We've got too much work we need to do for me to have a sick day."
"No." Flynn leapt out of his bed and quickly closed the gap between himself and Yuri, grabbing his arm with both hands. "I... I am not just leaving this."
"Flynn..."
"Don't you dare 'Flynn' me." He spat back almost shaking with anger. "I want, no, I need answers, Yuri Lowell." Yuri's eyes went wide at the use of his full name. "I need this..." A beat, and a sniffle. "I- I mourned you, damn it... I... That was the worst week of my life, thinking that you were... were..."
"Flynn..." Yuri cooed. "Flynn, chill. I'm here, and I'm alive... and I'm sorry..." Gently, Yuri took a hold of one of Flynn's arms and pulled it away from his own. "Come on, it's... a little harder for me to stand up than I thought."
Yuri carefully led Flynn to his bed, where he sat down, and patted the bed next to him. Flynn took the invitation and sat down slowly next to him, gaze fixed on Yuri's face the whole time. Yuri scratched the back of his head, clearly unnerved by Flynn's behaviour.
"Well, I've already sort of tried to explain all this to the others, but you've got to bear in mind, I don't remember half of what happened. And I... can't really order what I do know." Yuri's arms shifted, again to make sure that his waist, that present from Sodia, was all hidden from Flynn's view. Flynn, however, stopped him.
"No, Yuri. I've already seen that scar." Yuri flinched at Flynn's harsh tone, like a small child caught in the middle of mischief-making. He tried to wrap his arms around himself even tighter. "And your trying to hide it just reinforces my belief that it had a role in the events at Zaude?"
Defeated, or more accurately not in the mood to put up his usual argument, Yuri slowly raised his arms slightly above his head to allow Flynn access. Immediately, Flynn's fingers and face flew to examine the angry scar in Yuri's side.
Flynn could barely conceal his shock. "Yuri, this is... this is clearly a stab wound, Yuri. A small blade by the looks of it... a dagger of some sort? " Flynn asked. Yuri nodded mutely in response. "Lady Estellise would have informed me about having to heal something like this, soooo... This happened at Zaude at some point, correct?" Another silent nod. "And your attempted murderer's name is...?" Yuri stayed completely still, simply staring straight ahead. "Yuri, answer me. This was clearly close range. You can't have missed their identity. Who stabbed you?" No reply again. "Yuri-"
"Stuff happened, okay? " he snapped suddenly, catching Flynn completely off-guard. "Stuff I really don't wanna talk about. And yeah, stab wounds don't exactly help my balance. I fell off that stupid platform because I got stabbed, okay? And I'm not happy or proud of that fact, either." His eyes narrowed as Yuri swore. "I fell into the water, and it hurt... it hurt a lot."
"I got up to the platform after that then..." mused Flynn "The ones up there were-"
"No."
"Huh?" Flynn moved to look at Yuri, but his expression was dark.
"Please drop this subject. Now."
"Why? Yuri, you got stabbed! I spent a week thinking you were... Who did it?" Flynn's tone was desperate. "Please tell me..."
Instead, Yuri turned his back on Flynn. "You know, when this happened, I came to realise something. Just before I lost consciousness." He ran a hand through his hair and laughed hollowly. "...I played Judge, Jury and Executioner all by myself. Twice. And, while I still think I did more good than bad with that, I still don't really regret either Ragou or Cumore..." Another false laugh, this time harsher in tone. "Ultimate irony!" He tilted his head towards Flynn, but Flynn couldn't make out his expression. "Someone saw fit to play those three roles on me... I'm still kind of confused as to why I survived..."
"Yuri?"
"...Yes?"
Flynn hesitated. "...No, never mind. I'll leave it." The blond flopped down on his bed, laid on his side and closed his eyes. "I can tell I'm not going to get anything out of you... Not yet anyway."
Thump.
"But you are going to have to tell me some day, understand. Yuri?" Flynn called out, but there was no reply. "Yo, Yuri?" No reply again spurred Flynn to sit up once more, but Yuri wasn't immediately visible. Flynn looked around to see he was lying on the other end of the bed, having fallen the other way. "You okay there?"
Flynn slid off the bed and moved towards Yuri. He brushed the hair out of the other man's face, getting a feel of a hot forehead as he did. No particular worries. Yuri had already told him he was here for a fever. He'd probably just fallen asleep. Flynn suddenly felt slightly guilty for his questioning, his friend had already complained about waiting to go back to bed once.
He sighed. Getting Yuri back into his own bed would be easy, but it was a hassle that Flynn found himself very reluctant to carry out.
"Good morning, Doctor." Estelle chimed as she opened the door to the clinic. Behind her trailed a slightly sleepy Rita.
"Hmm morning." mumbled the mage distractedly. "Is Yuri better? Can we go?"
The doctor chuckled as he approached to greet the two girls. "Ahh, yes, our little pink haired lady."He paused to regard Rita, but then skipped over her and turned to face Estelle again. "Your male friend is much better. He slept... very well, it seems." He adjusted his glasses. "Would you care to help us wake him? The night nurse would like to go home sooner rather than later, but he's proving hard to rouse."
"Yuri's being difficult to get out of bed? Why am I not surprised?" Rita snorted.
"Rita, he's more of a morning person than you are." Estelle scolded. She scratched her head. "Though I guess that's not saying much? Rita, please go help the nurse, I need to pay the doctor," she turned to face said man. "don't I?"
"Ahh yes, payment. Miss... err, Brunette, your friend is through that door there. If you'd help the nurse in waking your friend up, you're free to leave. Just... don't push him too hard today."
Rita debated internally bringing up the day's plan, but decided against it and left the room with a wave of her hand. She walked through the door, taking care to close it behind her. She found an empty bed in front of her, but could see the shadow of another bed and a person behind the curtain. With her usual care for other people's privacy, she casually pushed to curtain aside. She certainly hadn't expected to find Flynn there, or that he would be cuddled up sleeping peacefully in the same bed as Yuri. The nurse was simply stood to the side with her arms folded.
"Hmmm, Yuri..." Rita smirked. "I think you might owe me your puddings for a little while..."
((Little did Rita know he'd a) probably not really care or b) dare give up his sweets.
First fic uploaded here in... years. Please review c:))