Chapter Seven – Neglected Health

Nash stood there in the meeting room for several minutes after Chris left. He tried to convince himself that Chris' rage had been partially due to stress from the upcoming battles, but he couldn't lie to himself. Too bad really, since he could lie to everyone else.

His head hanging slightly, Nash left the room, certain that he could not possibly feel any worse.

He was wrong.

Borus and Percival were standing a few feet from him. Before Nash could even consider sneaking away unseen, the two knights spotted him and their expressions immediately darkened with fury. They stormed over to his Borus looking particularly dangerous, with his teeth bared and eyes slightly bulging.

Yes, Nash definitely felt worse now.

"YOU!" Borus growled. "I wondered when YOU would show your sorry hide around here!"

"If I thought I could get away with it, I would challenge you to a duel to the death," Percival added in a menacing voice.

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" Nash asked, acting completely oblivious to their fury.

"Does banishing us to some weird limbo to eat lunch with some bimbo ring any bells?!" Borus demanded. Nash thought he could see smoke coming out the man's nostrils as he spoke.

"That's quite clever, Borus. Limbo and bimbo. I bet you're quite a poet beneath all that tin."

"Don't get smart with us," Percival threatened.

"I don't see what the big issue is," Nash said calmly. "You were merely indulging a Budehuc resident in joining her for lunch. Besides, you two looked like you needed a break, a chance to relax."

"Being force-fed pickled onions for four days in a row is not my idea of relaxing!" Borus retorted. "I hate onions!"

"We've told Lady Chris exactly what happened, and she's not pleased with you in the least. It's likely she'll banish you from the castle, or better yet, throw you in the dungeon," Percival said coolly.

"Well here's a newsflash for you," Nash replied. "Chris can't do either because I am with bishop Sasarai."

"It's Lady Chris!" Borus corrected, jabbing Nash in the chest with his finger.

"Then we'll go Bishop Sasarai and tell him what you've done," said Percival.

"Go ahead, but I think you'll be dissapointed," Nash replied.

The raven-haired knight narrowed his eyes at him. "We shall see."

"In the meantime, blondie," Nash began, turning back to Borus, "I have my own bone to pick with you. It seems you've got yourself a little friend."

"What?" asked Borus in bewilderment.

Nash produced Kidd's notebook. "The boy confessed. You've been paying him to dig up the dirt on me. Problem is, he didn't do a very good job. He stuck his nose into my business one too many times, and now I have his book full of secrets on everyone in the castle."

"Borus, is this true?" Percival asked, turning to Borus in astonishment. "You hired a kid to snoop around for you?!"

"Of course it isn't true! I don't know what he's talking about!" Borus exclaimed, but his expression betrayed the horror he must have felt when he saw Kidd's notebook in Nash's hand.

Nash read from the notebook. "'Commissioned by B.R.', it says. Now tell me, how many people in this castle have the initials B.R.?"

"How should I know!?"

"And of those chosen few with the exalted initials, B.R., how many of them would give a damn about me and what I do?"

"I have no idea! Why would I, for that matter!?" Borus asked. He wasn't a very good liar. He avoided Nash's eye and his face was no longer red with rage. In fact it was slightly pale.

Nash smirked at the question. "Because you wanted to find a reason to get rid of me. You figured a shady character like me is bound to have a dirty secret that's bad enough to send me into exile."

"And as repulsive as you are, why would I waste my time to do something like that?"

"Because you didn't want me getting any closer to Chris."

There was a long moment of tense silence. Borus and Percival looked at him in bewilderment. Nash was surprised himself for having said it as plainly as that.

Finally, the color came back to Borus face and he said in a low, threatening voice, "You have no proof of that!"

"I think it's pretty obvious," Nash replied. "You're jealous of anyone and everyone who talks to Chris more than you. But just because you're hopelessly in love with her isn't my problem."

"How dare you! There's no truth in it!"

"I think there's plenty of truth. After all, who wouldn't be in love with someone like Chris? Even Kidd is in love with her. You should see all the doodles he has of her in here. Actually, I'm starting to wonder if you didn't draw any of them," Nash commented, flipping through the notebook's pages, "Some of these look too good to be a kid's drawing."

Nash looked up from the notebook just in time to see Borus' ironclad fist soaring into his face.

------

"Nash, what happened?! Your nose is bleeding!"

Dios and Sasarai's eyes widened as Nash entered their room.

"Really... I hadn't noticed..." Nash had his thick scarf stuffed up his nose in an attempt to stem the blood gushing from his nostrils. His damp hair was now thoroughly askew, and his right eye was severely bruised.

Borus had only punched him once, but it had been enough to knock him flat on his back. Percival had to drag Borus away before he could finish him off. Nash was thankful for Percival's unexpected mercy. Perhaps he was too much in shock about what he had learned about his comrade.

Regardless, Nash now felt worse than ever. He practically crawled over to the table where Dios and Sasarai were sitting, and slumped down in a chair.

"It looks as though you've been in a fight!" Sasarai said.

"I have."

"With who!?"

"Just a couple of Budehuc's tenants."

"What? But why?"

"Who knows."

"You should."

"All I know is that I lost."

"That's evident."

"Thanks."

Sasarai turned to his assistant. "Dios, take Nash down to the infirmary."

"No." Nash stood from the table in protest.

"Nash, you're a complete mess. You need to see a doctor."

"I thought you wanted me to help you with the battle plans for the Harmonian armies?"

Sasarai shook his head. "Even at the time, it was against my better judgment to ask you up here. You're not well, you should have never left Harmonia. Especially having sustained those wounds, I'm surprised you could even crawl up the stairs."

Dios took Nash by the arm and tried to guide him to the door. "The Bishop is right, you're in no shape to be working right now."

"I'm fine," Nash insisted, breaking away from Dios.

Sasarai gave him a long, strange look. Finally he sighed in resignation. "Suit yourself."

Damn that Sierra.

How dare she. He could see them from afar. Sierra was whispering fiercely in Chris' ear, and they kept looking his way. He couldn't hear them but he knew Sierra was telling Chris horrible things about him. Chris was nodding.

Nash tried to run towards them, to stop Chris from believing the vampire's cruel words, but he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

"Chris! Don't believe Sierra, she's lying!"

Chris turned around, her face a mask of disgust and disbelief. "You expect me to believe that? I think you're the one who's lying."

Sierra sneered at him, and the two women began walking away.

"Nash?"

Nash snorted. "I'm not lying."

Sasarai blinked at him. "No one said you were. I simply asked if you thought the Harmonian units should be alongside the Zexen units."

Nash straightened in his chair. He must have nodded off while Sasarai was talking. Time for some fast talking.

"I don't think so," Nash said quickly. "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that I'm not lying when I say that Zexen is entirely capable of handling their units without Harmonia backing them up. We can be more useful if we move our units separately. We can close in on the enemy that way."

Dios nodded, apparently unaware that Nash had been dozing. "That's a good plan if you think it will work. Sasarai?"

Sasarai was giving Nash that strange look again. Finally he turned back to Dios. "Yes, I suppose the Zexen knights can manage on their own."

The bishop continued talking. Nash soon tuned out, amazed by how Sasarai's monotone voice could sound so very much like a lullaby. The desk he was sitting at was also beginning to look remarkably like a bed...

Koroku, Koichi, Connie, Kosanji, and Kogoro were all chasing him. They were all playing tug-of-war with his scarf. Nash ran towards them, yelling at them.

"Stop! I've had that scarf for years!" Nash grabbed part of the scarf and joined in the dogs' game.

Finally he shook the five dogs off of the scarf and tried to wrap the tattered cloth back around his neck and shoulders.

Then he looked down in horror. All five dogs were surrounding him with their legs lifted...

"Nash!"

"Don't pee on me, you mongrels!"

"What?!"

Nash lifted his head off of the table. Sasarai was standing beside him, staring down at him. Actually, Nash thought, 'staring down' wasn't quite the right term, as the bishop was barely eyelevel with him while he was sitting. The look Sasarai was giving him, however, made Nash feel very inferior indeed.

Nash turned his head and looked up to see Sasarai's assistant on his other side. Dios did look down on him in the literal sense, but Nash truly wished he wouldn't. He could see all his nose hairs.

"Erm... What I meant was..." Nash was actually at a loss for words... He could think pretty quickly on his feet, but the sentence he had woken up saying hadn't left him much to work with.

"Enough, Nash," Sasarai said sternly.

"I'm okay now, really-"

"You've fallen asleep at least twice in the past half hour," Sasarai interrupted. "And when you are awake, you're not paying attention, and you have this sickeningly glazed over look in your eyes.

"You didn't take the time to recover in Harmonia. You go gallivanting around in a storm in the middle of the night. You get into a brawl with some unknown enemy. By the looks of things, you haven't even been sleeping."

It was true enough. Nash had only slept involuntarily for a couple hours the day before, and had spent the majority of the night traveling in the storm.

"It's a wonder you're not dead, Nash!"

"Really Bishop, I-."

"You've been seriously neglecting your health. Dios will escort you to the infirmary."

"Bishop-"

"Go. That's an order." Now that Sasarai was exercising his authority, Nash had little choice.

"Very well," Nash replied, "but I can get down there myself."

He left before Sasarai could object.

------

Nash decided right away that he was not going to the infirmary.

He himself could not identify the reason. Was he being stubborn? Was it because he enjoyed punishing himself? Was it because he refused to believe his health could be failing him because of his age, a little wind magic, a rainstorm, a brawl, and no sleep? Was he going through some sort of premature midlife crisis? Was it because he hated Tuta's hat?

He descended the stairs to the front hall, and from the position of the sun coming through the window, Nash figured it was mid-afternoon. He released a sigh, wondering why he had forced himself to sit through Sasarai's monotonous battle plans in the first place.

He heard a gasp, and turned to see Yumi.

"Nash! You look simply awful!"

"Good to see you again too," Nash replied with a weak smirk.

"What happened to you?"

"Long, long, long story. What about you, why are you back here? Not another sleepwalking escapade, I hope."

Yumi smiled. "Of course not. The Alma Kinan clan came to help Chris with the battle at Brass Castle yesterday. We have decided to join the fight against Luc."

"Ah, that's right. I had forgotten."

"Do you need to go to the infirmary?" the concerned girl asked, frowning at his black eye.

"No, no, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You also look very tired."

"I just need a couple of stiff drinks. I was just heading to the tavern."

"Oh, I was on my way there too! I'm going to watch Nadir's new play. It's a matinee, because tonight everyone will be getting an early night's sleep for the battle tomorrow."

"Well, how about we go together? I don't mind watching Nadir's plays as long as I'm not in them."

Yumi laughed, and the two of them left for the tavern.

------

"The Boy Who Cried Wolf". It had to be "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

Nash's heart sank when the title of the play was announced, and by the end of it, he was slumped in his chair, feeling uncharacteristically ashamed.

The play had such a simple message, but Nash felt as though the deities above had been speaking directly to him when Jacques so masterfully said his last line, "...Lying is bad."

The curtain closed and Yumi clapped, apparently having thoroughly enjoyed the play. She stopped abruptly when she saw Nash's face.

"What's the matter, Nash?"

"Yumi... Do you know where Chris is?"

"Lady Chris? No, I don't. I think she's been talking battle strategy with her knights all day. Why do you ask?"

"I need to explain something to her... I need to apologize..."

"Apologize?"

"Yes. I have given her reason to distrust me, and I regret that more than words can say. And miss Yumi, I am not a person who regrets much."

"You must care about her a good deal then," replied Yumi, matter-of-factly.

Nash smirked slightly and stared into his empty glass. "No doubt about it."

For a brief moment, Nash was concerned that Yumi would bring up his 'wife', but she did not. Somehow, he knew she wasn't even thinking it. He could tell that she was a very nonjudgmental person, and it put Nash at ease.

"Perhaps you need to tell her this then," she said.

Nash nodded. "She will hate me until I do. On second thought, she might hate me even more..."

"Lady Chris does not hate you," Yumi said immediately.

"No? Well she certainly gave a good impression of someone who hates me this morning."

Yumi shook her head. "I don't know what happened this morning, but I do know that she must hold you in very high regard."

"What makes you say that?" Nash asked incredulously.

Yumi hesitated slightly before responding. "Well, when lady Chris and Sir Borus were ambushed by the sorceress, Sarah, they came to my village for help. We immediately assembled our clan and went back to Brass Castle, fearing that it may be Luc's next target.

"On the way there, Chris spoke of you. Said that when last she saw you, you were traveling on your own, and she 'hoped you had the sense to keep yourself out of trouble.' She sounded genuinely concerned."

Nash was genuinely surprised to hear that Chris had mentioned him to anyone. He smirked a bit.

"Was Borus there when she said this?"

"Yes, he was."

"I would have loved to see the look on his face right then."

"He didn't seem very pleased," Yumi admitted. "I found it quite odd. He said, 'you needn't waste your concern on a ruffian like him, milady.' I couldn't believe he said that. Sir Borus has always been such a gentlemen, I can't imagine why he'd say something like that."

Nash smirked even more. "I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Lady Chris then told him not to be so judgmental, and that although you are a little 'rough around the edges', you deserve to be respected."

Nash smiled for a moment as Yumi spoke.

"Thank you so much, miss Yumi. I am glad you told me this." He gave her a roguish wink.

However, as he stood from the table, he felt the familiar stab of pain in his chest, and his head swam for a moment as he fought off the nausea.

"Nash? Are you alright?" Yumi asked, looking seriously concerned.

Nash nodded, but left the tavern without a word. The truth was, he felt like he was about to be sick. When he got into the hallway, he leaned against the wall for a minute until the feeling subsided. He definitely wasn't well. But he had to find Chris now, because tomorrow was the battle and he probably wouldn't have a chance to speak to her. It had to be tonight.

------

By the time Nash finally found Chris, the sky's horizon showed only faint streaks of orange in the purple-black sky that were reminiscent of the daylight, and a few stars were visible. She was by the fence at the castle's ranch, fondling the ears of her white mare, which occasionally bent its head lazily to the ground to graze.

Chris did not see him approaching, and he decided to speak before she sensed his presence.

"Beautiful evening sky, nearly as beautiful as the lady admiring it."

Her body stiffened at his voice, but she did not turn around. She gazed up at the sky in stony silence as Nash reached her side by the fence.

"Only you would dare to say something like that at a time like this," she eventually muttered.

He shrugged. "Just being honest."

"I highly doubt that."

Nash sighed. "I can see you are still upset about this morning."

"Why are you here?"

"Just to talk."

"I'm not in the mood to talk."

"Understandable. How about I do the talking then?"

"Let me make myself more clear. I'm not in the mood for you, Nash. I'm very tired."

"Also understandable."

Nash leaned against the fence, feeling that Chris' tiredness could be nothing in comparison to his. There was a moment of silence.

"Chris," Nash said finally. "I want to tell you something, but I'm not sure you want to hear it."

"You're right, I don't."

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"Why should I? You've never made things easy for me."

"Fair enough. I'm up to the challenge."

"You ARE the challenge."

"Chris... I want to explain everything. I want to tell you everything that's happened, the whole truth."

Chris' eyebrows rose in surprise. She turned towards him and looked up into his steady gaze.

Nash's mind suddenly went blank. He felt very hot.

"Nash... Are you... feeling alright?" she asked suddenly. She stepped closer to him, finally noticing the bruises on his face. "What happened?" She was unable to keep the concern out of her voice as she spoke.

"Nevermind that, this is more important."

"What happened?" she asked again, in a more demanding tone.

"Remember when you slapped me this morning and told me I deserved much worse?"

"...Yes."

"Well, I received much worse. Just not from you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

However, Nash did not reply, for he was finding it harder and harder to keep his balance, even as he leaned on the fence for support.

And then he could no longer stand. He fell forward, and Chris instinctively caught him. She eased him onto the ground and brushed the hair out of his eyes, feeling his forehead.

"Nash, your face is burning up!"

"I don't see any flames," he said weakly.

"You think this is funny? You're seriously ill!"

"I'm sure it's nothing you couldn't kiss better."

Chris stared down at him angrily. "If you weren't half passed out right now I'd-"

"Slap me again?" Nash finished for her.

"She slapped you? I like her already." It was Sierra's voice.

Nash tried to turn his head to see where she was, but his vision was becoming darker and fuzzier with every passing moment.

"Who are you?" he heard Chris ask, suddenly sounding far away.

"Nevermind that right now, let's get this fool onto your horse and take him to the Infirmary," replied Sierra distantly.

Nash was barely aware of the two women pushing him onto Chris' mare. A growing dread rose within him, and the last thing on his mind before he blacked out, was the nightmare he had earlier that day of Sierra driving Chris away from him.

Who knows what the vampire would tell the Zexen knight.

A/N: I finally got this up. I may have to edit this some more later. This chapter was very hard to get right for some reason. I had to rewrite a whole section because the dialogue became entirely too un-Nash-like. I know Borus seems stereotypically mean in this fic, but on the surface Borus is a somewhat short-tempered person, and it's quite obvious that he's never liked Nash, so I think it's warranted. Nash was about due for a punch in the face anyway. heh heh.