Whatever the old man and Ba'ul had been up to, they'd done it in a hurry. Not only had Judy stayed behind, Tokunaga had finally made an appearance, fretting about the ship and demanding to know why he hadn't been on board. Yuri was actually surprised himself. The ship mate practically lived on the ship even when it wasn't in the air, keeping the ropes in order, scrubbing the railings and in general obsessing about it like it was a new baby. Clearly, he'd been out and about enjoying the celebrations when the explosions had struck and whatever fool plan the old man had went into action.
"Relax, Tokunaga," Judy called to him from her spot on the stretcher. "The ship will be fine on its own for a little while, I'm sure."
Noticing that she wasn't on board either, and what's more she was injured, Tokunaga's anxiety levels only went up, even if his volume went down.
"What you doing, there, pretty miss?" he asked in concern, and he went to go sit by her, the two of them talking in hushed tones as she explained the situation. The three of them - Ba'ul, Judith and Tokunaga - had formed a camaraderie of the air together, despite Tokunaga really not having much to do beyond the occasional steering for a water landing. The Fierta had been his home for far longer than it had belonged to Brave Vesperia and he was a part of it. His worry for the ship was as real as his worry for any of the other members of their little band and Judy was probably the only one who could talk any kind of reassurance into him. It was her home too now.
The addition of the shipman was making for tight quarters in the little tent of sorts that was being erected. Estelle had simply stopped in the middle of the street when she had began to help people, but apparently that spot had been good enough for the rest of the relief effort and a small temporary hospital was growing as if by magic around her. This particular corner had the princess kneeling over yet another patient - this one with a broken sternum and a particularly nasty bloody cough for it - and two nurses - one an actual nurse, the other a midwife who had set her fair share of broken bones. Yuri was beside the princess, his sword taking up more room than it technically needed to as he held it against the bottom of his crossed arms, but creating a welcome bit of breathing room in the crush. Judith was settled against the wall - really just a bit of sheet someone had hung up to add a little privacy and shade - with her leg propped up. She had the advantage of being down below waist-height, where there weren't so many things being carried or jostled.
It was crowded, with plenty of feet being stepped on and plenty of elbows threatening to knock equipment over. It was dangerous to be out here, Yuri thought again anxiously. One 'mistaken' slip of a hand, one 'oops, I'm sorry, didn't see you there' and Estelle could be gone, no matter how she kept insisting that she wasn't a target and the fact that Flynn kept popping his head in every four seconds. So Yuri refused to leave her, no matter how many times she pleaded with him to make himself useful elsewhere. Karol was around somewhere, helping to put up more of the shade hangings. His hammer was being used as a side support for a stretcher, though perhaps that wasn't the best idea, because the team who had hauled it in laden with its patient had complained that the hammer was heavier than the person.
Estelle was waning. He could see it in how her face was growing pale and her fingers trembled a little when she extended them. He was going to have to force her to rest in a little while. Chewing on gels was not going to fix the problem long term, and he could see her reaching for her pocket repeatedly, trying to keep her strength up.
o-o-o
Rita hadn't meant to fall asleep. She didn't think it would be possible, what with the adrenaline still turning her knees into mush and her heart thumping in her ears. But apparently she had, slumped on deck against the wall of the cabin just after managing to get the old man up the ladder. Raven himself was sprawled out on the deck, wrapped up in what looked to have been a Schwann Brigade uniform, clogged with blood and dirt drying in flake and chunks across the fabric.
"Shit shit shit," was all she could get out as she crawled over and slapped at his face. "Hey, hey old man. Shit shit shit shit. Hey."
"Mmmph," came the single glorious noise from the old man himself, his head lolling to one side and his eyelids fluttering.
"Hey, you are not dying on me, do you hear me?"
"Uhhh, an-anythin' for ya, Rita darlin'..." The words came out as a barely audible mutter, his lips - which were chapped even though he was drooling a little - hardly moving. But then he groaned and rolled into a sitting position, clutching at his chest and then at his leg.
"Oh, Rita m'dear, everything's a little throbby right now."
"Quit whining," Rita said, standing up and hiking her dress up onto her chest again. "Where the hell are we?"
o-o-o
"Oh hell no," Raven heard Rita mutter as she leaned over the railing, clutching her clothing. He'd noticed it sliding down while she stood in the hole she had made, the lack of straps not making it any easier. The span of her back was streaked with dirt. He looked away quickly, closing his eyes and leaning back. They'd gotten further than he thought. It sounded like they were outside the capitol.
"The hell is all this?" Rita went on viciously. "What the hell were you people doing while I was gone?"
Then her arms were hooked under his again and she was dragging him up. Her wrists were like wire cutting into his ribs and he forced himself up more to make it stop than because of any real energy to do so.
"Come on," Rita grunted as he leaned heavily on her. "Let's get you patched up. Ba'ul, you tell Judy we need Estelle as soon as you can find a place to land."
Why she thought they needed to go down below - which meant stairs - and why he had to be sitting on a stool, not to mention how she'd gotten him down said stairs and up onto said stool, Raven didn't know. But she was tapping on the plates and had her ear to his back and then she dragged the glowing control out and was sitting across from him on a stool of her own, typing, hemming and hawing as if she were back in her own lab, with the lights all aglow and her screwdrivers in their neat chaotic pile, rather than several hundred feet up in the air, half-naked, covered in muddy sick and Raven's blood.
Raven just closed his eyes.
"Shirt off, old man," Rita huffed, and he didn't move as she unbuttoned what was left of his buttons. There was a hesitation as she realized that she'd have to get the sleeves off his injured shoulder, but he could practically hear her shrug as she retrieved a knife from the galley block and cut the fabric away. Raven didn't remember what shirt he had pulled on that morning, what seemed like weeks ago now. He hoped it wasn't one of his favorites, with all their moth holes and worn cuffs.
"Okay, arm up," she declared, sitting across from him again.
o-o-o
Raven actually cried out in pain - a little stilted thing - as Rita lifted his wounded arm.
She paused, unable to recall him ever having done that before. Sure, he whined all the time when she smacked him or if he was tired, but an actual involuntary noise?
Suddenly she wasn't so sure she could do this.
"I gotta take a look at this blastia right now," she said, not really sure if he could hear her. Her voice was suddenly cracking and sticking in her throat, and his eyes were squeezed shut. He didn't respond, but he bit his lip as she scooted her stool forward and hoisted his elbow onto her own shoulder, letting it rest there. She could see him trembling, all the muscles of his shoulder and chest twitching.
"Hey," she said, unsure. He was worse than she'd thought.
"'s that all right with ya?" Raven asked, as if she hadn't been the one to put the damn thing on her shoulder.
"Yes, idiot," she vented at him.
He relaxed - the idiot had been trying to hold it up himself!? - and the muscles around the blastia stopped twitching so much in effort. Seriously, how could one arm be so heavy?
"Need to start working out more, huh, you old fart?" she asked, trying to distract herself as she swiped open another panel and peered at the scrolling figures of the read out, the display barely fitting between them.
"Apparently so, m'dear."
She was impressed that he could get that much out. Rita actually spared a glace to look up at his face - whoa, when did his face get so close to the top of her head? - and frowned. He looked ashen, his eyes still squeezed shut, and his breathing labored.
"H-hey, you gonna be okay?" She was going to get him to Estelle. She was, but this had to happen now.
"H-huh?" He blinked blearily and then closed his eyes again, breaths coming sharp and shallow. "Never better."
"Stay with me now," she hissed, tapping through the screens. The pump timings were off, causing an arrhythmia. If she could get them back in sync, she could get the blood flowing correctly again. If she was lucky, that and a little mending of the flesh around it and that would be it. If not...
Raven sucked in a long, labored breath and his free arm raised slowly to rest on the back of Rita's stool, near her hip, trying to keep his weight up. And suddenly his chest was very, very close to her face as he leaned forward, head hanging low.
"Old man?"
"Rita, I-" His arm was heavy on her shoulder and the other was hot against her waist. "I don't feel so..."
And then he fell, his head slumping neatly onto her shoulder and all of his weight falling onto her hands as she brought them up between them. For one brief moment, she held him there, her face full of his hair, stool tottering. Then she lost her balance and fell backwards.
She only narrowly avoided smashing her brains out on the wooden floor, she was positive. As it was, her vision went white and blue for a moment and she couldn't breathe as every whistle in the world screamed through her ears. She was amazed that she didn't pass out, but she was going to have to check with Estelle that she didn't have a concussion later.
She did not have the time for this.
Raven was heavy. Very heavy. Muscle was heavier than fat, and apparently he had a lot more muscle than she had thought. His chest rested on her stomach, his blastia poking a painful dent above her naval. She coughed, scarcely able to draw in breathe past his bulk.
"Hey..."
Her left leg was trapped under both of his as he sprawled awkwardly across her, her right tangled in the snarl of stool legs.
"H-hey, old..."
Her arms were under his chest, her own elbow jabbing into her ribs.
"Old man!"
"Mmmph."
She froze.
His face was pressed into the side of her neck, just where it met her shoulder, and as he breathed out the noise, the vibrations hummed through his lips against her skin and his hot breath whooshed into the back of her hair.
This was not okay. This was so very not okay.
"Raven!"
His left arm, the one that had been propped on her shoulder, was up by her ear. So was his right arm, maybe having been trying to break the fall, but now her head was boxed in, trapped. Her left ankle throbbed where it was twisted and flattened under his calves.
"Mmph," he said again, and the buzzing at her neck set all her hair on end.
"Raven, if you don't get off me, I'll-"
He said something, or tried to, and she shrank violently away from the feeling of his lips moving against her skin, still gritty from the dirt. He smelled like leather and cotton and sweat and fear and blood, and the smell was suffocating her as she tried to suck in air beneath his weight.
"O-old man-"
She was not going to start hyperventilating. She was not.
Then his arms moved, coming together, nearly embracing her head, then slid down her shoulders. Rita closed her eyes and forced herself not to start chanting. She was fine. They were fine. Raven was just unconscious, or barely conscious. Let him rest a minute. He'd get up.
She felt the muscles of his chest flex against her hands, then he tried to brace himself on his arms. For one glorious second, she could suck in an lungful of air as he lifted his weight off her stomach. Then it all blew out again in a pained cry as he fell onto her again, his injured shoulder unable to take the burden.
"Jus... jus' gimme a sec..." His mouth wasn't at her neck anymore, but now it was a few inches up at her ear, which wasn't any better. His shoulders covered hers and his arms were sprawled out to the sides where they had slipped.
Knowing that he was conscious instantly made things much better and much worse. Better because that meant he wasn't dead. Worse because it meant he kept moving, trying to get up. His hip stabbed her in the thigh as he tried to roll to one side, and his shoulder shifted so that it was now her face against his neck. He had a thick sheen of sweat that smeared on her cheek and his skin smelled like it was just shy of sunburn as it burned against hers.
Finally he lay completely still, his blastia hiccupping between their chests. The panel was still out, she could see the orange glow from where it was trying to maintain itself somewhere in the floor.
"'m sorry, Rita darlin'," he said, nearly whispering. "I just can't get up. Too... too weak."
"Figured it out. Just stay put," Rita ground out, even though every muscle in her body was screaming to get him off of her. His breath was combing through her matted hair. It was hot. His entire body was hot.
Rita realized she was trembling.
"'m sorry," he whispered again, and she knew he could feel it.
"Shut up," she hissed, fighting back tears and the urge to cast.
That was when there was a hearty thump through the entire ship that caused her lungs to rattle and the stools to shift on her legs. They'd landed. Now they just needed to be rescued.
o-o-o
Judy's head snapped around and Yuri knew that Ba'ul at least was back.
"They're on the outskirts of the city. Ba'ul can't find a place to land any closer."
Shit, now they'd have to get there before the rest of the city.
Estelle was struggling to remain focused on the patient while overhearing the news. "Oh, Judy, are they okay?" She poured another pulse of light into the man's chest, the horrendous bruise fading and shrinking into itself a little.
Yuri didn't wait to hear the answer. There had been a 'they' involved, which meant at least someone was on board. Wrapping his scabbard strap another hitch around his palm, he scooped at Estelle's elbow and pulled her into a standing position.
"You ready to go?"
"Yuri, I can't just..."
"He's fine," he said, gesturing at the man who clearly was going to make it, if going to need a bit of bed rest. The nurses were no longer gathered around like worried mother hens, but instead were patting him reassuringly on the shoulder and moving along to the next patient, this one with a broken leg that would heal just fine with conventional methods.
"Yuri..."
"Look, they're probably going to need you on the boat."
Estelle still hesitated, looking back at Judith, who still hadn't moved. She was looking after them, an odd twist to her mouth that wasn't entirely due to the pain in her elevated leg.
"They're going to need you," she confirmed quietly, relaying whatever Ba'ul was telling her.
"Flynn's not going to let me leave," Estelle protested, but her voice was low as she glanced around the tent. Flynn was around a corner somewhere and for this brief moment, there were no other soldiers in sight, all of them having been quickly conscripted for various tasks.
"By the time Flynn can get out there, we don't know what's going to have happened."
Estelle looked over at Judy, not protesting as Yuri cupped her elbow.
"Did he find her?" Estelle breathed. Yuri himself paused just long enough to catch Judith's nod. Then they were out the door, Judith calling out directions behind them.
"Just before the river!"
And they were gone.
o-o-o
Rita forced herself to take yet another calming breath. What was this, the seven hundredth? What the hell was taking them so long?
Raven was drifting in and out of consciousness. She could tell because every so often his limbs would jerk and he would make a small noise that rattled through her chest. Her arms were still between them and she had managed to shove him just far enough off her that she could manage to take yet another breath to keep herself from panicking, but that was about it. He would move and mutter and clearly be on the verge of trying to get himself to his feet, but then he would go limp and she would panic again for a second before she felt the reassuring hum of his heart. Or as reassuring a hum as its little hiccups could be. She needed to get it fixed.
It took an unknown number of breaths, calming or otherwise, for Ba'ul to give a low shuddering moan that rattled through the beams of the ship and Rita heard a faint, familiar voice calling out in a slightly-less-than-its-usual-cool volume.
"Rita! Raven?" Yuri's sword could be heard clacking on the wooden steps of the rope ladder as he climbed up the side of the ship.
"In the galley!" Rita shouted as best she could. Raven started violently, his shoulders shifting and his boot toe dug into her shin viciously.
The thundering of multiple boots came down the stairs and Rita heard a very distinctly-Estelle gasp.
"Rita!" came the princess's voice, with Yuri's "What the hell is going on here?" simultaneously.
And then the weight was off her chest and the old man made another tiny noise deep in his throat as he was dragged up by his arms and Rita's stomach dropped, hot and shallow, into a pit.
"Rita, are you okay?" Estelle asked, but she was over Raven, both her hands on his chest and her face all aglow with gold.
"Uh-huh," was all Rita could get out, still on her back, her head turned to see where Raven was crumpled next to her. Yuri appeared above her, his hair falling down to tickle at her forehead. She put a hand up to readjust her dress again and closed her eyes.
"I need to fix his chest," she said, not sure if anyone could hear her.
"I've got it, Rita," Estelle said, her voice high, but firm.
"No, no, the pipes are out of alignment," Rita said, and she grabbed at the air until Yuri grasped her hand.
"Rita, you need to rest," he said.
"No time," but she couldn't get those words out audibly and instead just a whoosh of air came out mostly and she hauled on Yuri's hand until he firmed up his grip and pulled her into a sitting position.
"Heeeey, genius mage," Raven slurred, but his eyes were half-open and there was some color to his face again. Another whoosh of healing and he didn't look nearly as hung-over.
"Shut up," she said, pulling up the panel. Sync up the valves and she could sleep. Sync up the valves and she could sleep.
Yuri said something to her, but she didn't hear it. Just needed to adjust the timing. It was funny how something like reprogramming the entire damn thing to work with mana took like thirty seconds on the top of a tower, when this, something as simple as changing some timers and running a clean cycle was taking a damn year.
It was a slipshod job. She knew it, but she couldn't muster up the strength to do anymore. Her eyes were hot and her spine just didn't want to support her anymore. But she was going to be damned if she was going to collapse on his chest a second time in her life, so she was careful to lean back on her heels and sit heavily as she clapped the control panels back into invisibility.
"When you're done with the old man, Estelle," she remembered to say, "if you could take a look at my head."
o-o-o
Raven woke up on the floor, securely tucked in with a blanket that smelled foul. To be fair, it was him making it smell foul, but he couldn't help coughing as the smell stung the back of his throat.
Yuri looked over from where he was standing across the room, the swordsman's arms tense under his sleeves.
"Sorry about the floor, old man," he said. "We just couldn't get you up in the bunks."
"Not a problem. Floors are nice," was what Raven heard himself say as he pushed the blanket down somewhere away from his face. His bare torso was cold, but damn he reeked. He fought the urge to cover his blastia with one hand. It's not like Yuri didn't already know it was there. "Is she okay?"
Rita was in one of the bunks, flat on her back and also neatly tucked in. She was still white as a sheet, but at least she wasn't green-looking anymore.
"She'll be okay, Estelle said. Took a few knocks to the head, but nothing serious. You were in far worse shape."
"And she's the one that got kidnapped," Raven finished wryly, knowing it was where Yuri would have taken it eventually.
"The hell is wrong with you, old man?" Yuri's voice was quiet, disappointed. It was odd. "What did you think you were doing?"
Ah, so that was it.
"I can't say as I was thinkin'," Raven admitted, rubbing at his forehead with his knuckles before rolling over gingerly and pushing himself into a sitting position.
"You almost got yourself killed. You could have gotten Rita killed. What if you had needed backup?"
"Psh, Rita had things well in hand by the time I got there," Raven said, crossing his legs and hunching over around his heart as if that might help the jittery ticks he could feel interrupting the normally-steady flow. Whatever he'd done to it, it had been bad.
"What happened?" Yuri continued. It was as if he couldn't decide what question he wanted answered first, and so he was just asking all of them, hoping he would get some information just in the asking.
Raven sighed.
"I dunno, kid," he said, rubbing at his forehead again. "I just... couldn't sit around and wait for something else to happen. You woulda done the same thing."
"Didn't get a chance," Yuri muttered. He looked uncomfortable. "You..."
There was a moment of silence. Raven looked up, gauging the younger man's expression. Very un-Yuri-like, with hints of embarrassment and anger.
"I know, I know, I was an idiot," Raven said, trying to reassure the swordsman, trying to get that look off his face.
"You and the genius mage..." Yuri started again.
It was of course when Rita's glorious sense of ill-timing came into effect again and she groaned and coughed and Yuri turned to look at her.
"Hey," he said, and Rita opened her eyes. Raven watched her stare at the bunk above her head, blink slowly, and then continue to stare.
"You okay? How're you feeling?" Yuri asked, but Rita just continued to stare blankly. Raven's mouth went dry, watching her working out just where she was and who was talking to her. The tenseness in her jaw, the way her shoulders began to draw up towards her chin, he could see the cogs in her head clicking through the evidence.
"Rita," he heard himself say. The mage blinked and her head turned slowly to the side to meet his gaze, the lines of her neck slowly relaxing. Raven saw Yuri look between the two of them and he realized what it was that Yuri had been going to say.
Oh.
Shit.
"How's your heart, old man?" was the first thing Rita said.
"Better. Seems I have you to thank for that again."
She snorted. "I need to look at it again soon. I can't help it if you're an idiot, but I can patch up the shit job I did. "
"Later."
"Later," she confirmed. Her eyes closed again.
"Yuri!" Estelle came down the stairs then, her boot heels clicking on the wood and echoing through the room in the sudden silence. "Yuri, there are soldiers here for Rita and Raven."
"What?"
The noise of the city could be heard through the hull, but it was a faint hum, a bustle of activity and voices. Now that Raven was paying attention, he could hear the rattle of the ladder against the side of the ship and he wrapped the blanket around himself again, covering the plate. Yuri stood at attention, rapping his sword hilt against his leg as if it were an enemy coming down the stairs. Estelle reached him and put a hand on his chest briefly before moving to Rita's side.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah, I'll survive."
Raven sighed and stood up, now mostly ignored by all parties for a brief moment as Yuri intercepted the soldiers and the girls were occupied with reassuring each other. Couldn't they just wait until he'd had a wash? His legs were weak, and he could feel his back muscles trembling with the effort to keep himself upright. He needed a chair, pretty quickly. Standing up had been a bad idea.
"Hey, old man," Yuri called from the door. "Someone here to see you."
"What can I say? I've got a lot of friends." It was all he could think to say, the only persona he could fall back on for a moment. A stool wasn't as good as a chair, but it was going to have to do for now.
The officer that arrived first looked suspicious. Not that he himself looked shifty, but that he looked at every single occupant of the room as if they were shifty. Even the princess, who was sitting as prim and proper as every second of her life had told her to until some long-haired, girly-faced ruffian had come along and ruined everything. Yuri noticed and shifted his weight eloquently.
"Raven," the officer said, putting a question at the end of the name, as if he wasn't sure which of the national heroes was the commonly disregarded scruffy one. Or maybe he couldn't make saying a single name sound authoritative without the last name to back it up.
"Present and accounted for," Raven said, waving carefully from beneath the blanket. The officer's eyebrow tweaked ever so slightly, daring him to get snippy, but Raven didn't even bother trying to meet the other man's gaze. He was not going to even try playing this game right now. He just tried to catch Rita's eye, which was hard because her eyes were still closed.
Well, this was going to be fun.
o-o-o
The ship effectively became a prison within thirty seconds of the soldiers' arrival. Yuri found this out when Estelle finally dragged herself away from Rita's side and went out onto the deck to see about getting back to the people on the ground. Yuri, of course, was right behind her. The captain down in the hold hadn't stopped them, but clearly there were orders to keep them on the ship.
"We're sorry, your highness," a soldier at the top of the rope ladder said, putting a hand out but clearly hesitant to actually physically restrain the princess, "but we can't let you leave until the commandant arrives."
"You know who this is, right?" Yuri said, piping up where Estelle just sort of stared, half accepting orders out of habit, half determined to go and help as much as she could. "You really want to get in her way?"
"I'm sorry, your highness," the soldier said, eyeing Yuri warily but not moving from his post. "It's for your own safety."
"Why can't people believe me when I said I'll be fine! I'm not who they're after!" Estelle was the closest Yuri had seen to either stamping her foot or slugging the soldier right in the nose. He decided to present himself as a better target, since the poor jackass at the ladder was just doing his job.
"You keep telling yourself that, princess," Yuri said, gently pulling her to a tidy pile of rope and netting and setting her down on it. She of course sat like she was on a throne, back straight and hands folded in her lap, even as her face was almost as pink as her hair with anger.
"If anything, I'm in more danger here, since they're after Rita." She was wringing her hands until the knuckles turned white, both of her gloves long gone now. Yuri absently reached out and pulled at her right thumb until she untwisted her hands. She was going to give herself arthritis or something doing that.
"I think Ba'ul could more than see anyone coming and take off before they get anywhere close. Really just got a keep an eye on this guards. Anyone can put on a uniform. We'll just wait for Flynn to get here."
He didn't realize he had held onto her thumb, let alone was running the pad of his own thumb along her knuckle until he realized that she wasn't breathing. Weird that he would notice that before noticing he was touching her. The realization made him jerk his hand away and glance at her face to judge her reaction, but she was looking down at her hand, face a bright, blotchy red and eyes wide. She let her breath out in a long, slow sigh and Yuri flinched.
"Hey, 'm sorry," he heard himself mumbling. Estelle just continued to stare at her hand.
"Estelle?"
She finally looked up at him, then quickly back down.
"It-it's okay. I'm sorry, I just realized..."
"No, no I'm sorry. It wasn't okay for me to touch you."
"No!" And then she had his hand in both of her and it literally took every ounce of self control he had not to run his thumb down the inside of her right palm.
"No, no I just realized that we've never held hands before today. We touch each other all the time, silly." And she was looking at him and blushing, her face still a patchwork of different colors, ranging from pale pink to bright red. It was amazing how perfect that cacophony of colors was, even as it clashed with her hair.
Then she looked down at their hands again and she pulled her hands away as if he'd burned her.
"I'm sorry. This isn't important right now."
"Don't be sorry." He wasn't sure if he should take her hands again. He wanted to. This was important. But the guard was watching them now and clearly some shit was going to go down with the explosions and Rita's disappearance and Raven's bullshit plan - or lack thereof - and suddenly Yuri realized that he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life anymore or what was going to happen in even the next twenty four hours.
"Estelle-" he started but then cut himself off.
Fortunately, he was saved from saying anything else of import by the arrival of Flynn, announced by a couple of heavy thumps on the bow of the ship and a throaty welcoming bellow from Ba'ul where he still hovered above their heads. Yuri saw the bright platinum blond of the commandant's head before it breached the railing. He reached out for Estelle, but kept it safe, just touched her shoulder. There was no way in hell he was cutting her out, no matter what anyone said.
"Hey, don't worry about it, okay? You want to hold my hand, you hold my hand."
If anything, her blush got brighter. He could practically feel it burning him from across the way.
"C'mon, let's see what Flynn has to complain about now."
She smiled, which was what she was supposed to do. He smiled back and did not kiss her silly, which was what he was supposed to do.
"Yuri," Flynn said immediately upon boarding. It was not a greeting. It was barely an acknowledgement. Instead, it came out as an accusation. Yuri tried not to bristle. It was difficult.
"Hey, Flynn."
The commandant was immediately in front of him, barely looking at the princess, a sharp reversal from their encounter down in the square.
"Yuri, what the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking I could help out a little. You looked busy."
"Do you know how much danger you put the princess in? Do you know how much manpower was distracted in looking for you? Do you ever even think about what you do?"
"Flynn, I wanted to come," Estelle began, but Flynn raised a hand.
"I'm sorry, pardon me, your highness, but don't try to defend him this time. You wouldn't have come here if it weren't for him."
"How do you know that?" Estelle exclaimed. "Rita and Raven are my friends too!"
"Be that as it may, Rita and Raven have not been accounted for, their disappearance has not been explained, and there is a large of information I simply do not have, your highness. Their friendship to either you or me is not worth a jot right now in light of very serious events that have yet to be explained." It was the closest Yuri had ever seen Flynn to snapping at someone other than Yuri himself, and he was doing it to the princess.
"Flynn..." he tried.
"It's Commandant Scifo," Flynn barked, snapping back to Yuri. "Now, where are Raven and Rita Mordio?"
o-o-o
Raven was surprised that they hadn't already arrested him. Flynn had slammed into the cabin, taken one look at Raven, then whirled back to Yuri and Estelle who were hot on his heels, looking bitter and contrite respectively.
"You," the fresh-faced commandant said to Yuri in a tone that sent shivers down Raven's spine for reasons he didn't want to think about. "You are to wait here with Captain Marlow."
Captain Marlow was apparently not thrilled with the idea of babysitting the dangerous criminals, as his lips tightened and he eyed Yuri even more suspiciously as the swordsman just turned on his heel without a word and walked over to lean on the wall by where Raven was sitting.
"Princess, would you please accompany me back to the aid station?"
"But..."
"I'm afraid I will not allow you to refuse, your highness."
Estelle's eyes narrowed at the command. It cheered Raven's spirits a little. Give her a bit more time on her own and if she got ahold of the throne, the empire wasn't going to know what hit it. But she also was diplomatic enough to know this was a fight not worth fighting.
"What about Rita?" was all she said.
"Miss Mordio will be coming with us as soon as a stretcher can be found."
"Don't bother," came Rita's voice from her bunk. "I'll hike myself over there, thanks."
"Miss Mordio-" Flynn began, but Rita had none of Estelle's tact and she waved him off, talking right over him before he could finish his protest.
"Let me walk or clap me in irons, Flynn, your choice." She punctuated the sentence with rolling out of the bunk and landing on her feet.
Any worries Raven might have had about her vanished as she glared down the blond commandant. Actually, that wasn't true at all, but the fact that she was there, wobbling a little but standing her ground, fists balled up at her sides, made whatever they were going to do to him worth it. He tried to keep from laughing as Rita unhurriedly adjusted her dress again as it began to slip down and Flynn's face took on the slightest tinge of pink even if his expression didn't change.
Flynn and Estelle were cut from the same cloth and he yielded as gracefully as one could under the circumstances.
"Very well. After you."
And they were gone.
Rita didn't look back.
For some reason that made Raven's heart hurt and he pulled the blanket tighter around himself.
o-o-o
"Well, at least the mage is safe. Good thinking on your part, Raven," the officer said abruptly, in a tone that he obviously thought was friendly and conversational, turning to where the archer slouched wearily on his stool. Yuri watched Raven's eyelids lower and raise in one slow blink.
"Huh?" It was like he was coming out of a daze, his shoulders picking themselves up from where they had been hunched almost to his chin. The officer didn't seem to notice, his helmet tucked smartly under one arm, the very picture of military efficiency. Yuri wanted to knock a few teeth out of his smug grin.
"Due to your quick thinking," the uniformed moron continued, "we have retained a valuable asset to our cause."
"You know she should be on bed rest, right? I mean, she's not exactly up for a jaunt through the front lines. She's not a weapon, she's a scientist." If Yuri hadn't known Raven, he would have thought the man was being flippant. He'd leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and tilting his head to one side. But Yuri saw a flash of something, something he didn't understand and didn't want to understand. Something he feared in himself sometimes, right before he fell asleep at night. Still, the officer continued.
"To be sure, but we still don't know the circumstances around her disappearance. There is a very real chance she orchestrated this herself."
Yuri recognized the next flash then, a flicker of the serene fury that had been Schwann. His hand clenched on his scabbard without him realizing it.
"What are you talking about? Rita wouldn't betray us," Yuri spoke up before Raven could... do whatever thought had accompanied that flicker.
"I have no doubt of that," the captain replied, making it clear that he did very much doubt it and why was Yuri talking to him anyway? "But there are ways to control people, persuade them, force them to act in ways they might not otherwise."
Raven shifted a little and Yuri swore mentally. Great, instead of steering the conversation safely away, it was getting even closer to the subject of Schwann. How did Estelle manage this deflecting thing?
"Well, that's not going to happen," he said finally. He turned to Raven, who was staring into a space somewhere beyond the captain.
He wouldn't have thought he would actually want Flynn to come back, with the mood the commandant had been in. But something about the look on Raven's face made Yuri realize he needed to keep the conversation away from Rita unless it was absolutely necessary, and Flynn at least wasn't a complete asshat.
And then he and the old man needed to have a conversation. Soon.
A/N: Writing this chapter included prime examples of "killing your darlings" for me. There were some lovely scenes planned and even written for this chapter (some before the story was even kicked off properly, all that time ago) that just did not make the cut. They might make it into future chapters in some manner or another, but it hurt so badly when I realized that they were simply not going to fit into what was happening anymore.