Otherworld Year Nine: Chapter 6




The fact that this guy was still conscious, was a friggin miracle.

He'd been here for hours, staring at that piece of paper through his glasses, speaking only once since bellying-up. "Sake." The man had said from behind his collar, uttered in a voice that had sent chills down his spine. After throwing that back without so much as a how-do-you-do, he had simply rapped on the bar in front of the decanter with two knuckles, silently demanding a refill. And that's how it had gone, refill after refill... the stools on either side of the man remaining empty, the other customers instinctively giving him a wide berth.

God knows in his line of work he'd seen his fair share of distraught, unhappy people over the years... drowning themselves in alcohol to ease whatever pain they'd been hit with, and while this guy seemed no different in his motivation, his attitude sure as hell was. No sighing, no quick swipe of tears from the face, no elbows propped against the bar to cradle a head... nothing. He didn't like this perfect, quiet control the man exhibited. It made him nervous... no... in fact, it scared the shit out of him.

He would be very, very glad to see this extremely dangerous looking fellow leave.

************

Not trusting his ability to get up the steep exterior stairwell, Auron opted for the main entry, leaning one arm against the wall and bringing his face forward to peer at the security pad, mashing the code in several times before getting the door to admit him.

************

Gabe was on his knees at the northwest section of the upper railing, bolting the new tie-down in place along the kick-plate that had come loose, when he saw the motion sensor lights come on at the main door below and looked down through the slats as Auron came through.

Rising to his feet, Gabe began to call down then stopped with a frown as he watched Auron moving ungracefully to the bottom of the stairs. Thinking he had somehow re-opened his wound, Gabe dropped his wrench and strode quickly around the mezzanine toward Auron's position.

"This could be bad." Auron thought aloud, starting up the stairs... his body careening from one banister to the other then stumbling as he reached the landing at the top, the far wall stopping his momentum as he rolled along its surface for a moment, then staggered forward along the upper floor.

As Gabe rounded the last curve and came closer to the struggling man, he could hardly believe what his senses were telling him, but there was no mistaking it. "Auron... you're tanked." Gabe said in astonishment.

Auron stopped at the sound of the voice and leaned heavily against the wall, his eye unable to focus clearly as he growled in Gabe's general direction... "What of it."

"Nothing, I guess. Except it's not like you, it's not like you at all. Here, let me give you a hand." Gabe said as he walked forward and took Auron's arm, intending to help him get to his apartment... the man looked ready to pass-out at any moment.

Auron shrugged Gabe's arm away, nearly falling to the floor in the process as he staggered past him and toward the railing. "Just leave me alone, Gabe."

"Come on man, you need a little help here... you're gonna hurt yourself." Gabe gently coaxed, approaching again and bringing his left arm up to wrap it around Auron's shoulders.

"I said leave me alone!" Auron shouted, roughly shoving Gabe against the wall, Gabe reacting without thought as he pushed off and grabbed Auron by the front of his robe with both hands, pulling him forward... Auron's head lolling back to meet Gabe's angered gaze.

"Care to dance?" Auron asked in a menacing tone, then began to laugh... a hard, bitter sound in his throat.

Sighing, Gabe relaxed his hold on Auron, turning him around and gently leaning him back... Auron now offering no resistance, sagging at the knees as his head thumped loosely against the wall.

"What in the ham-sandwich is going on out here?" Sahna asked in a sleep roughened voice from the doorway of their quarters, pushing the temporary door-cover of a bedsheet out of her way.

"Sahna, get back inside." Gabe said in a deadly-serious command. He didn't want her or Remie anywhere near Auron in the man's current condition.

"I will not. Why are you man-handling Auron like that and what's wrong with him... is it his injury?" Sahna replied stubbornly, walking toward the two men with her hands on her hips.

"No, Sahna, he's very drunk that's all. I'm going to get him to bed, just go back inside, okay?" Gabe answered quietly.

"Auron would never do anything like this unless something drove him to it. He's obviously in trouble, and I don't intend to leave him alone in this condition." Sahna said sternly, continuing forward.

"Sahna, he could hurt you without meaning to... a man like him could be very dangerous when out-of-control, don't you understand?" Gabe responded, his face and voice hardened with the intention of keeping her safe.

Then their attention was drawn back to Auron as he straightened his back and attempted to move from the wall, his head wobbling as it turned in Sahna's direction... Gabe pressing one hand against his chest to keep him in place.

"I'm glad you're here, Sahna... can you help me?... I seem to have forgotten how to weep." Auron said in a heart-wrenching plea, a hand stretching toward her for a moment then moving to his forehead and raking down his face, the anguished gesture sending his glasses from the bridge of his nose to catch on his collar for a moment, then falling to the floor.

Gabe turned his head to meet Sahna's eyes, a clear understanding passing between them. Auron was extremely drunk, but he was also in shock.

"Oh, Auron," Sahna choked out "what has happened?"

"Checkmate." Auron replied dully, his eye clamping shut as he sagged again... Gabe holding him up with one hand, then wrapping his arm around Auron's waist in an awkward embrace, half-walking, half-dragging him forward along the mezzanine.

Not asking for an explanation of his strange answer, Sahna rescued Auron's glasses from the floor then hurried ahead of them, deciding Gabe was right... that the best course of action at this point was to just get Auron in bed, and let him sleep this off... he obviously was in no condition to make sense.

************

Gabe lowered Auron to the edge of the bed, Auron's face and body inanimate as Sahna unbuckled his belt then began to remove his robe... the sharp edges of a box scraping against her arm as it tumbled out of the robe's pocket and onto the bedcovers, a crumpled piece of paper escaping along with it... floating in a see-saw to the floor. Ignoring that for the moment, Sahna finished removing the robe, then addressed the chestplate... Gabe assisting by lifting Auron's arms up, their weight hanging loosely in his grasp.

Once Gabe had Auron's boots off, Sahna reached down to retrieve the paper from the carpet, glimpsing some of the words written there before carefully holding it in her lap. "I think he's lost someone... someone important to him." She said in a tight voice, laying the note against the box and reaching behind her to place them on the bedside table.

"Stop referring to me as though I weren't present... it's damned irritating." Auron suddenly spoke up angrily, raising his head, Gabe and Sahna exchanging a hopeful glance at his remark... it sounded more like the Auron they knew, not the emotionally distraught version of before.

"I am... tired. I think I will rest for a while now." Auron continued, then slumped back against the bed in a muscled heap.

"There he goes," Gabe nodded "I think it's safe to say he won't be doing much until morning... let's leave him be."

Sahna bent over and tenderly kissed Auron's forehead, then brushed a hand across his hair... giving him the comfort now, that would not be allowed her otherwise.

************

So this is a hangover, eh Jecht? He thought grimly... the pain of his swollen brain pressing against his skull, combined with the lingering emotions of Isabo's death making rational thought nearly impossible.

Shower, get in the shower he told himself... raising his hips and reaching down to strip his pants off, extending an arm to drop them on the floor beside the bed, then swinging his legs over the side and slowly sitting up, cradling his throbbing head in his hands for a moment as he started to rise from the bed, promptly returning to a sitting position with a groan. You're a fool, Auron, an utter fool, he chastised himself... bringing his hands up to rub at his temples in an attempt to clear the dizzying fog in his head, his stomach roiling in a sudden lurch of nausea.

Fresh air, or the Zanarkand equivalent... no time to waste.

Rolling off the edge of the bed, Auron shuffled in a crouch to the window-wall, not looking up as he fumbled for the touchpad then used the doorway for support as he moved onto the balcony and forced himself to an upright position... cracking his eye open then wincing at the brightness of the morning light. Glasses, need my glasses, he thought numbly, taking in a breath of air before returning to the bedside table to retrieve them.

The deep breathing having helped some, Auron rotated his head to one side at the sound of the door opening in the room behind him, his peripheral vision seeing Gabe approaching the balcony with a glass clutched in one hand. Considering his current state of undress, Auron decided a little propriety was in order as he asked in a hoarse voice... "You alone?"

"Yup."

Auron managed a nod, then took another deep breath, knowing he owed Gabe an apology for his behavior.

Gabe, no stranger to morning-after-guilt, anticipated the humble contrition and stopped Auron before he could begin... smiling in sympathy for the man wearing nothing but a grimace and his sunglasses. "Don't worry about it man, yesterday's news. Here, Sahna made this for you... it'll fix you up."

"Thanks." Auron replied quietly, looking at the thick, milky liquid for a moment then raising the glass to chug its contents... his face creasing in disgust as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "This is without a doubt, the foulest concoction I have ever consumed... what is in this?"

"I've never asked... figured it was better not knowing." Gabe replied with a low chuckle.

"I see."

Heavy silence hung in the air between them, Gabe trying to think of something to say that might bring some comfort to the stoic man at his side. "Life goes on." He offered scratching his head, ashamed of himself for not being able to manage anything better than the lame cliche.

"Yeah." Auron replied, looking at Gabe for a moment then turning his head to the view.

And so it did.

And Auron waited.

And Auron held on.

But until his long journey was over, he never emerged from sleep again without thinking of Isabo, and what it had felt like to awaken with her beside him.