A/N: You need to go to your local bookstore right now and buy volume one of Negima! And how come nobody noticed that Yuan got his wings back? I thought I'd get a bunch of reviews along the lines of "Fwee! Teh wingzors!" And OK, I know I've said this before, but I really, really mean it this time! You HAVE to read IdiotAmerica56's "Kidnap"! I'm in it! No really, I am! And I'm the leader of the Renegades! And he mentions Kloitz. I'm truly honored that someone would incorporate a peice of my fiction into their own... but his story really can't be considered a sequel to RUNAWAY. One of the main characters DIES! I can't tell you who. Anyway, I consider "Kidnap" to be an... 'alternate reality' ending for RUNAWAY. You've got to read for yourself. The link is in my favorites. Go read it!
Second to last chapter, approximately 5580 words long. Wow! One chapter left, folks... And it will set up one of the main sources of drama for the sequel. That is to say, Raine and Sheena's dysfunctional relationship...
Yuan continued to bang on the opening. "Kratos!" He yelled, "Kratos, can you hear me? Kratos? Genis?"
Sheena shifted in his arms, blinking in surprise and confusion. She looked at Yuan's shimmering aqua wings with wonder. "Yuan, your wings!" she exclaimed, reaching around his neck to feel the warm semi-solidity of the laser wings. She grinned, giving his long ponytail a friendly yank. "Your wings are back!"
He looked at her blankly, and then gave a start as he looked over his shoulder at his wings. For a moment, in the dim light his wings provided, she could see a brilliant smile light up his face. "Kloitz must be too weak to keep on supressing the magic.." he said before he shrugged and turned to pound on the opening again. A hollow, knocking sound came from the other side, and Kratos's muted voice could be heard.
"I'm here," he said.
"Kratos!" Yuan said, louder. "Can you hear me clearly?"
"Is everyone all right?" Sheena asked.
"Are you all right?" Yuan specified.
The two of them were silent, listening to the boots clank against their ceiling. Then they heard it, muffled through the metal. "All of us are seperated. The other four are in another tunnel."
"There's no way to open this thing manually!" Yuan shouted. Sheena covered her ears; couldn't he try not to scream in her ears? "But I want you to try and meet up with us at the Rest Station! Do you know where that is?"
"Understood," came his voice. "I'll see you two there."
"Yeah," Sheena said. "Stay alive Kratos. I'll see you later." She heard something that might have been a laugh and footsteps going away. She sighed. "Er... so we go down now?"
Yuan didn't answer, instead slowly flying down the shaft, completely blind in the darkness.
"Oh, ow, ow, ow!" Genis landed flat on his butt, sending a painful jolt up his spine. A moment later something barreled into him, knocking him over into a desperate tangle of long limbs and sword sheaths. Pandora groaned, climbing off of him and getting to her knees.
"Are there any enemies?" she said at once, leaping to her feet looking around her. She sniffed several times. "...Gross."
"Yeah," Genis agreed, "This isn't a beast cage. It's the freaking sewers. I'm only glad we didn't land in some big pile of Yuan's shit." He blinked several times, trying to let his eyes get accustomed to the semi-darkness. Being a half-elf, this wasn't too terribly difficult for him. After only a few moments, it could have been noon in the sewers as far as he was concerned. He could see Pandora clearly, and took a step towards her. She recoiled slightly, her face trying to keep its calm composure.
"Chill, it's just me... uh... Pandora, right?"
"Well it didn't change since the last time you asked me," she snapped. Then she coughed, averting her eyes. "Ehm... forgive me. You're just... unnerving me. I thought you were a monster because of your eyes."
Genis frowned. "My eyes?"
"They're glowing," Pandora said bluntly. "I've only ever seen that in monsters."
No wonder she was scared. "Yeah, they do that somtimes. My sister, Raine, hers only glow when she's casting magic. Or when she's.. er... excited about something." Now that he had explained things somewhat, she visibly relaxed. She's just like a ninja, Genis thought, carefully examining her now that he had the chance. He noticed her mouth had moved. Oh. Oops. Had she been speaking? She looked as though she was expecting an answer.
"Um, what?" Genis focused on what she was saying.
She made a small noise of amusement and frustration, repeating herself. "I said: I think I see a door behind you."
"O-oh, right." He turned around, walking along the grimy sewer path and trying not to notice the stream of dingy, discolored water flowing next to him. Just a few feet further, and he would have landed face-first into that mess. He thanked the Goddess for small favors, grabbing Disaster from its holster on his hip. He remembered a time when he was small enough to need to carry it on his back. Reaching the iron door, he grabbed at the handle, tugging as hard as he could with one hand. "Hmm."
Pandora stood next to him, running a hand along the rusty hinges. "I wish it wasn't so dark," she muttered. He welcomed her so close to him, because she smelled pleasently of feminine perfumes and was a welcome relief to his abused nose down in the sewers. "Do you know of any light spells?"
"Heh, sorry, but you're out of luck. I specialize in offensive magic only." He brightened, waving Disaster around. "But if worse turns to worst, I could always blast the door down!"
The very edge of her mouth quirked up. "Only as a last resort, if you please Mr. Sage."
"I'm only sixteen, you know."
"...And?"
"You don't have to call me 'mister' or anything like that."
Pandora was silent for a moment before chuckling. "If you're a half-elf, you'd better stop restricting your potential with petty human concerns such as age. We're very different from humans, so try to get the concept of 'age' out of your system, or you won't amount to much."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry, did you want me to sugar-coat things because you'reonly sixteen?"
Genis flushed, "Hey, I was being nice, but if you're going to be a bitch I won't hold back if it comes to blows. You're not that cute."
"I'm just giving you some advice because I like you."
"Well geesh, what do you do to the people you don't-" he started, angrily, but she reached up and pushed a finger against his lips.
"I'm not done," she said, voice dead-pan. "Your brother has the right idea- he's just as adept at martial arts as he is with offensive magic, where you put all your concentration into one thing and leave yourself wide open to physical attacks. This is because you limit yourself with human thoughts, unconciously. You need to catch up with the rest of us half-elves and let go of both your parent's blood, Mr. Sage, and you need to learn how to reign in your temper."
He slapped her hand away. "You have got a lot of nerve, lady."
"Lady? I'm onlyseventeen." Her smile spread as she mocked him, softly, returning his own phrase against him in a condescending tone. He opened his mouth to retort with something that might or might not have been laden with foul words not meant to be printed under the sun, before he was half-strangled to death.
"Buddyyyyyyy!" Zelos squealed, hovering in midair, Genis's face squashed against his chest. Zelos's shining, orange wings flapped so rapidly a steady hum could be heard from them. He stopped short when he saw Pandora. "Oh. You're still alive too, huh?"
In response, Pandora placed her hands on either side of his face, standing up on the tips of her toes to gently kiss him on his lips.
Colette slowly came into sight as well, appearing from the chute in the ceiling and crinkling her nose at the smell of the sewers. "Is everyone all right?" she asked, one hand to her chest as she nervously glanced around.
"Yep," Genis said, shoving Zelos off of him. "Hey, Colette, you think you could open this door for us?"
"Sure!" the tiny angel zoomed up, her lavender wings flapping silently as she grabbed the door ring and pulled with all her might. The door groaned for a moment before screeching open- and completely snapping off of its hinges. Alarmed, Pandora shot three feet back, her naked sword whipped out and her heart pounding as she saw Colette, looking abashed, with the heavy iron door still held loosely in one hand.
"Oh... oh no... I broke it!" She said, on the verge of tears.
Genis tried very hard not to laugh as he patted her on the shoulder. "It's OK, Colette!" He said. "Now we know it won't lock behind us if we go through."
"Well... if you say so.." She dropped the door onto the floor, guiltily hiding her hands behind her back. "I really do try not to break things anymore."
"There's nothing wrong with a strong chick," Zelos said, grinning as he took her hand and led her through the doorway.
Tp.
Yuan's feet hit the floor. Sheena let go of him, only keeping one hand on his shoulder so she wouldn't get lost in the darkness as she stood on her own, trying hard to let her ears and other senses see where her eyes were useless. She didn't have to do that for long, though, because Yuan held out one hand.
"Illuminate," he said, and a ball of crackling blue energy appeared in his outstretched palm. "Definately a beast pit," he said, grabbing at a heavy linked chain welded to the wall. "I think this is where I kept the manticores."
Sheena flipped out her cards, looking around her, trying to keep an eye on the shifting shadows caused by the light in Yuan's hand. "They're all gone now though, right?" she asked. He didn't answer, instead walking up to a door and palming an activation pad. It beeped once and the door slid open.
"Right?" she repeated.
"...All of my beasts were put to sleep when I closed down this base," Yuan said, walking out the door into the corridors. "They were all monsters, not real animals. There was no use trying to put them back into their natural environment. And besides, most of them were used in experiments either I or Mithos conducted." He turned and smirked at her. "You may not know this, but it was mainly us who populated the worlds with monsters."
Sheena followed the angel, down the dark corridors. "Are you serious?" she demanded. "Why?"
"A world full of peril is a world that does not progress."
Sheena shook her head. "Insane," she said, but she kept quiet the rest of the way, up flights of stairs, and through so many twists and turns she finally gave up on trying to memorize the path. It was only when Sheena saw the familiar open doorway of the cell they had just left that she stopped, opening her mouth to tell him they were lost in his own Base.
"Shh," he said before she could start, grabbing her hand and quickening his pace.
"Yuan, what are you-"
"Shh!" he repeated, louder. They came to a split in the path. "This way," he said, pulling on her arm and beginning to trot, beads of sweat popping out on his brow as he glanced over his shoulder. The illumination spell died and left them in the dark, and he didn't start it up again. Sheena didn't ask him to, either, because now she could hear it.
cl-clickaclick click clickaclick click.
"Raahh... raahh... ra-a-a-aahh..."
She had figured it was just odd machinery noises. The last time she had been in this base it had been fully operational, and she had remembered always being on edge because the background noise of so many computers had kept her from knowing whether there were enemies nearby. Now she knew better. Something was following them.
"I thought you said the beasts were all gone!" she hissed.
"Left!" Yuan shouted when they reached another fork in the passage. They veered left, stumbling slightly as they started to run, the sounds of heavy breathing and clacking nails following them. "None of my beasts are here, but I assure you none of my beasts looked anything like that! Shit! Make a right, then another left! C'mon!" He tightened his grip on her hand, both of them running flat out as the creature began the chase in earnest, heavy, hot breath blowing her hair forward into her eyes. Why didn't she keep that stupid hair pin?
Clackety click clack clickclick clackety clack-click!
"Raahh! R-r-r-raahh!"
"When we reach the elevator you've gotta turn around and stall it!"
"W-why me?" Sheena said, terror gripping her heart. She heard the claws, of course, when they scrabbled against the floor. But she could hear other things- wet, sick sounds. Tentacles being dragged along behind the monster. And that heavy, noisy, humid breath.
"Rahrahrahrahraaahhhh!"
"Because the elevator responds to my hand, girl! Just do as I say!" Wide, aqua eyes glanced at her, full of the fear of the unknown. Apparantly the Cruxis Crystal hadn't regained full power, because he could certainly feel emotions just as strong as she could. "I won't leave you behind," he said, sensing her fear. "That's just not the way I operate." Letting her hand go and picking up the speed, he disappeared around another corner as she whipped around, calming herself, beginning the incantations. She backed up slowly, reaching the bend in the path where she could see Yuan frantically palming the elevator, throwing glances over his shoulder at her every now and then.
"I call upon the envoy from the dark abyss..." she whispered, feeling the odd sensation of another being inside her, thinking with her, and yet being totally seperate from her.
Clack...the creature slowed...clickclack.. cl...tnk, tnk, tnk, tnk.
Boots.
Despite herself, she stopped the summoning, brow knit in confusion as a figure stepped closer to her, features uncertain in the semi-darkness of the corridors. Dim strips of light were on the walls, emergency lights perhaps, that Kloitz had set up. Their eerie red glow only added to the demonic sense of the person standing before her.
Mellow, somewhat reluctant voice. "Hello again, Sheena."
"Kuchinawa?"
Gagging, vomiting up freezing sea water as strong hands pulled her up onto the shore. The pre-teen's eyes fluttered open, foggy violet pupils trying desperately to focus. "Oh Goddess," she sobbed as her savior quickly pulled off his coat, wrapping her up as she clutched onto the tiny body of an infant. "Oh Goddess. Oh Goddess. Save them. You have to save them. Please save my brothers."
"There's nobody else here.." the man said, anxiously looking up and down the strip of sand. "Girl, what's your name? Where are your brothers? I can't help you unless you talk to me!"
She broke down sobbing against his chest.
"My brothers... my brothers..! Goddess Martel high above, hear my prayers and... and...S-s-s-sa-a-vuh-vuh-vuh..." She stared up at the night sky, shivering too severely to even finish a coherent sentance, the tears freezing even as she shed them. The man cursed, unbuttoning his shirt and wrapping that around her too, making sure that the infant was able to breathe before he turned around and dove into the freezing ocean.
"Kloitz..." Raine hiccoughed. "A...AA
She sat up, shivering uncontrollably. Deep in her throat she started to make soft sounds, the beginning of a whimper, before she savagely strangled it and forced herself to wake up.
Raine Sage has been having nightmares. Each night was worse than the last, each dream more vivid. And yet something deep inside her, maybe something out of her control, would wipe it away from her memory so thoroughly she didn't even know she had fallen asleep. She had been eleven when she first came to Sylvarant- surely she had memories of Tethe'alla, but someone, maybe even herself, had completely blocked them out.
Maybe they were coming back.
"Professor!" Ken leapt onto the bed, crushing her in a hug.
"You're unusually affectionate this morning," she said, as dispassionately as she could muster. But she hugged him back anyway.
"It's not morning." Ken, perhaps realizing the gross discourtesy of his actions, crawled off of the bed and bowed from the waist, clapping his hands together. "You've been asleep for hours. It's almost sunset."
Raine considered that for a moment. "Yes," she said slowly. "Genis gave me something to..." She paled, suddenly, and then just as quickly began to blush. "...help me sleep. Where's Sheena? I... uh... really need to talk to her. And I need to talk to you, too!" She said the last part with a change of tone in her voice, turning from shame to anger in an instant. She grabbed at the front of his shirt, bringing him down so she could hit him on top of the head. "I'm still angry at you!"
She reached into her coat pocket, bringing out the note he had shoved into her hand when he made her leave Shadow Triet. It was a research paper, with a bright red "Perfect Score," written on the top, along with praise for his fine writing voice and abilities as a researcher. On the back of the page was Ken's letter. "This was the greatest praise anyone ever gave me," it said. "You stirred my enthusiasm for finding out about the unknown. When you reunited the worlds, it was this curiosity that led me to try and seek out the mystical village of Mizuho and become a Shinobi. My loyalties forever lie to Mizuho now, but it's all thanks to you. Please tell my family I love them. Ken."
"I'm sorry, Professor..." he sniffled miserably, and Raine eventually gave in to his wide, moist eyes and let him go, sighing loudly to let him know she was still displeased. "I was just following orders."
"Ugh. Forget it, Ken. After all, you're not my student anymore." She glanced at her reflection in a nearby mirror and tried to smooth out her constantly wind-blown hair, giving up after a moment of seeing that it (as usual) wouldn't comply to the endless combing and brushing. "But back to my first question: Where's Sheena?"
Ken's face darkened. "They left without us to get him, Professor... to get your brother."
Raine wordlessly got out of bed, running downstairs to where Lloyd was waiting for his love's return, and the news of how the hunt had gone.
"I... hate... stairs!" Genis wheezed, collapsing down on the landing, the murder of stairs far behind him. The four of them had found that navigating through the sewers was easy enough, but the flights and flights of stairs leading up to the first level of the Flanoir Base had done them in more than any of the foul-smelling monsters they had encountered deep below. Colette hovered over him anxiously, fretting over him. The climb had been easy for her and Zelos- they had wings.
"Here you go, buddy," Zelos said, clapping him on the back. "First Aid!"
Pandora was last, some sweat dripping off of her nose but no other signs that she was in any way fatigued. She stood over Genis, smiling thinly. "And such is the disadvantage of training your magic and not your body," she said. It was as close as she could ever come to saying, "I told you so!"
Genis panted, crouching with his hands on his knees. "Screw... you..." he said, straightening himself out as the healing spell took affect. He unhooked Disaster from his belt and began to trot away from them, down the dark corridors. "I looked at a few of the maps Yuan leant me," he said, not bothering to see if any of them were following him. "We keep on going this way until we reach an elevator. At this level, there's no need to identify yourself so we shouldn't have any trouble using the machines here- but only until we reach the third floor. Then..." he grimaced. "Then we're gonna have to use the stairs again."
"Do you even know where you're going?" Zelos complained, lazily floating just ahead of Genis.
"Where would you go if you were on the brink of death?" Pandora questioned, to nobody in particular. "Where there would be something to heal you."
"The rest station Mr. Orochi took us to when we were looking for the Rheiards, that one time?" Colette answered her.
Pandora shrugged as she caught up to Genis. "I don't know," she said. "You guys know this place better than I do."
Genis half-laughed, grimly. "What, there's things you don't know?"
Surprising him (and surprising Pandora herself), she winked. "Only a few things," she said.
Genis shook his head. "Heh."
"Kuchinawa?" Sheena took a step back. Her face hardened as the man in red took a step closer, near one of the angry red emergency lights. She readied the spells again in her mind, holding out one hand that shined with the violet light of Darkness. "You're not Kuchinawa," she said, trying to supress the shivers that coursed along her spine. Whatever this creature was, it wasn't very good at taking on human forms. The would-be Kuchinawa's face was horribly disfigured, a long, dark red tonge sagging out of the parody of a mouth. Lizard eyes blinked, fur-tipped ears twitching.
"Sheena, Sheenarah," it said. "I am Kuchinawa...raaah... Can't you see? Can't you see what he...raaah.. did to me?the creature couldn't manage to complete full sentances without taking a huge inhale of breath. The sound was eerily similar to a death-rattle. Or maybe a laugh. "You could have... raahh... saved me, Sheena. Raahh... look at me, Sheena. Do you see what I've become?"
"The elevator's almost here," Yuan whispered, perhaps confused at the sudden lack of claws scraping across the floor.
"Raahhh..."
Sheena grinned. "I do see," she said. "Kloitz made you much more handsome, Kuchinawa-san. I should thank him."
The creature began to convulse with frightening, wheezing coughs. It took Sheena a moment to realize it was laughing.
Ding. The elevator.
"My ride is here, Kuchinawa-san," she said. The creature lunged.
"I summon thee!" Sheena said, her face impassive as she stood her ground. "Come, Shadow!"
Stygian darkness erupted from the ground, wrapping around the fake-Kuchinawa's limbs, stopping him as he was face-to-face with Sheena. It howled, slavering tounge running all along its face, yellow lizard-eyes rolling in their sockets as he started to convulse with racking coughs of laughter, laughter that didn't stop until the darkness slowly crept up along its body, slowly smothering him until all that was left was his head, then his mouth, then that disgusting vermillion tounge...
"Raaahhh!"
"Enemy... dead..." Shadow rasped, looming over the ninja.
"Good job, Shadow," Sheena said. Shadow noiselessly drifted back into the floor, seeping along the walls until it had returned to its element.
Only then did Sheena start shivering. She turned around and trotted to the open elevator, and a suitably cowed Yuan. "Who did you see?" she asked him, standing in the elevator and watching the doors slide shut. "It was a lesser demon. Kuchinawa probably used more forbidden ninja arts to call it out."
A friendly voice rang out. "Third floor," a female computer chirped. "Desination?"
"Rest Area," Yuan commanded. The elevator hummed and they began to ascend in silence. "I saw Mithos," Yuan admitted.
Sheena nodded. "...Your cousin."
He made a small noise of disdain. "Hmph!" and adjusted his cape, wrapping it around himself to ward off the cold. It might be warmer than it was outside, but it still stood that there was no heating system currently active in the Flanoir Base. "Yes," he said. "And Martel, too. But love works a little different for elves and half-elves."
"No it doesn't," she said. He looked down at her from the corner of his eye, expressionless. She shifted uncomfortably. "I mean.. um, people need people."
He glanced away. "So you're saying something along the lines of everyone needs someone to love." He closed his eyes and smiled. "How... idealistic. Just like Lloyd."
When you see Raine in Hell, give her this, from me.
"Whatever," Sheena muttered. "So you're still scared of Mithos?" she asked, unable to help herself from satisfying her curiosity.
Yuan smirked, looking down at her with cool aqua eyes. "So you're still scared of Kuchinawa?"
Sheena took the hint.
"Arriving at the Rest Area!" the Female Computer said. The doors whizzed open. They stepped out.
Kratos heard the voices before he turned the corner. The auburn-haired seraphim stopped, his posture relaxed but his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Brown, listless eyes gazed at the space of floor in front of him as he concentrated all of his hearing into this conversation.
"Damn it," Kloitz said. "He's here. One of the seraphim is probably listening right now." It took Kratos a moment to realize that while he could hear Kloitz, Kloitz could also hear him. "I hope you don't have any more questions, Kuchinawa, because now is the time for action." There was a sudden whir of machines. "This game has gone on long en- aargh!"
"Master, you can't stress yourself while the Refresher is still working!"
"I can move if I damn well want to. It's not like you care, you useless puppet. Don't act concerned for me- you're only scared that you'll get hurt again. Shadow Triet is still fresh in your mind, isn't it?"
Silence. The mechanical whirr instensified for a moment and then died out. Ding. Refreshed.
It started up again.
"You should go. You know what you have to do."
There was a soft, slightly moist sound. A kiss? Kratos frowned. Whatever is was, he was going in now. He unsheathed his sword and rushed into the room, readying a fire spell in one hand. His eyes immediately took in the room; the smoke from where Kuchinawa had vanished, the bloodstains all over the floor and equipment. The crimson spill was smeared as someone large and heavy had been dragged to the Refresher.
Kloitz was lying in a cot, hooked up to the Refresher. With several blankets piled on top of him, he definately looked like someone on the brink of death. Dark shadows had formed under his eyes, eyes that shone feverishly bright. "Hey, buddy." he said. "You're probably here to kill me now." He lifted up what was left of his right arm- it ended in a swath of bandages right at his elbows. "I guess... I guess you're going to aim a little higher this time, huh?"
Kratos grunted, unstrapping the shield from his back.
Kloitz smiled. "Angry 'cause I beat up your friends?"
"...Yes," the seraphim answered, brown eyes smoldering. He swung the sword once through the air to test it, as if he didn't already know his sword the way a mother might know her child. "Genis's brother or no, I'll have you begging for death."
Shwip!
Kratos lunged, bisecting the Refresher. The machine split apart in a shower of sparks, one of them catching onto Kloitz's blankets and spreading as a small fire. The half-elf groaned, rolling out of the bed, one hand to the bandages over his middle and the other reaching for his mace-like Kendama. Kratos calmly kicked it out of his reach, placing one boot down on Kloitz's belly and pressing down. The brilliant array of lights on his Cruxis Crystal illuminated the dim room, shifting from one color to the next as Kratos's eyes, once a rich brown, glowed with their own demonic red light.
"Kratos!"
Sheena. She was here already?
Kratos jerked back, the lights snapping off. He swallowed, thickly, looking over his shoulder at Yuan and Sheena. "I..." He looked from them to the sword in his hands, choclate eyes glazed over and confused. He shook his head roughly, sheathing the sword and taking a few steps back from the cackling half-elf on the floor.
"We've got to get that Cruxis Crystal out of him, now." Yuan strode over, flipping the end of his cape over his opposite shoulder to leave his arms free. He knelt before Kloitz, holding up his blood-stained left hand.
"If you take it out of me without a key crest, I'll turn into a monster and rip you all to shreds," Kloitz said, turning his head away and smiling coyly.
"...He's right," Yuan said, gripping Kloitz's wrist painfully. "But you won't turn into a monster if I kill you, will you now?" Kloitz's face hardened and he looked away, towards the shattered Refresher. Yuan sighed, sitting back on his heels. "We'll wait for the brat," he said.
Sheena looked up in surprise.
"This is a family thing.." Yuan muttered, standing up. He avoided Kratos's gaze and walked to the other end of the room, his arms crossed. "I.. don't think I can intefere if I wanted to."
"We'll wait for Genis, then..." Kratos said, nodding slowly. Sheena could only take a rubber band from a nearby desk and put up her waist-length hair. Yuan tapped his foot. Kratos glared darkly at Kloitz, who lifted himself up, gingerly, back onto the cot.
"Well, you don't have to wait much longer."
They all looked up to see the half-elf standing in the doorway, youthful face grim and unsmiling. Lingering behind him were the two angels and Pandora, swords and chakrams drawn. He swallowed, nervously, hooking Disaster back onto his belt, feeling the stares lying heavily on him, especially his brother's violet ones. Trying to quell his shaking, he walked up to Kloitz's cot, kneeling down next to it so that they could be at eye level.
"You look pathetic," he said, bluntly.
Kloitz was silent, staring at him levelly. Eventually, he cracked a smile. "That's what happens when you get stabbed, brother."
Genis winced at that before recovering, reaching down into one of his pockets and bringing out a needle, a shining, clear liquid visible inside. He flicked the cap off, tossing it to the side before taking Kloitz's left hand, the one stained blood red like his right hand. "I lifted it from Raine's medical bag... This won't hurt much," he said, tapping a finger against the needle. "Just a pinch. You've been through worse."
Kloitz carefully read the label on it before grimacing, "Oh, my brother, this is too anti-climatic. I wish we could have had some sort of final duel to the death." He grinned. "Like in a novel, or something."
"Or something," Genis agreed quietly, readying the needle. At the last moment, before he injected the liquid straight into Kloitz's bloodstream, the half-elf shifted closer to him.
"I could tell you all about our family, Genis," he whispered, so soft Genis barely heard him. "All about your father, and your mother, and your dear little brother." Manic, violet eyes sought his out, searching. Genis locked eyes with him, right up until the very last moment when his eyes closed and he sank back into the cushions, smiling faintly.
Sheena turned to see Colette, running away from the room. Pandora, glaring at her shoes. Zelos had left, as had Kratos. Would only she comfort him, then? She walked up to do something, touch him on the shoulder if she saw he was too overcome with emotion for a full embrace. She was interupted by Yuan, though, who came up first and tapped his shoulder briefly, one hand held out, demanding. Genis complied, placing the needle in the seraphim's hand.
Yuan looked at the label. "So. Neither of us wins the game, huh?"
"I couldn't do it," Genis said, his voice thick. "And I won't let you do it. He's still my family."
"Hmph." Yuan tossed the needle carelessly over his shoulder. Sheena lunged, catching it deftly by the handle so she could read it as well. The information was surprising.
"You took an anesthetic from Raine's bag?" she asked, taking the time to study Kloitz and see the faint but definate rise and fall of his chest.
"Y- yeah," Genis answered, busily wiping at his nose with the sleeve of his double-breasted blue coat. He looked over his shoulder at her, shame-faced. "But.. he's too heavy for me to carry. Can you help me?" he looked back up at Yuan. "...Please?"
Yuan rolled his eyes. "I've got his arms," he said, shoving past Genis to hoist up the large half-elf. "Sheena, be useful and help." Sheena nodded quickly, saying something along the lines of "Actually, I think there's a stretcher in here somewhere..." and Genis got up to help her search. Somehow, without words, they knew that all tension about Raine had been forgotten and buried.
ca·thar·sis (kah-thar-sis)
n. pl. ca·thar·ses (-ses)
1. Medicine. Purgation, especially for the digestive system.
2. A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.
3. A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
4. Psychology.
A. A technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness.
B. The therapeutic result of this process; abreaction.