Disclaimer: Seeing as we're in the middle of what appears to be Ragnarok here and work's been cancelled for, uh, everyone due to not being able to leave our homes, have some story. Also I'd be a terribly irresponsible alchemists, my first thought every single time I see the Clock Tower involves skateboards, heights, and bets.

Not actually sure this title theme is worth it. It's way more trouble than I thought it'd be.

Firmer Ground

IV. Lurking In The Darkness

Roxis was used to waking up all at once. It had, after all, been a necessary skill for most of his life. So this waking up in stages he seemed to be doing was nearly as unnerving as the initial fall down the stairs had been. He was lying on his back on hard stone, his head was pillowed on something soft, there was an inexplicable weight on his chest and a horrible scent from somewhere, and the last thing he remembered was being in the workshop with Nikki convincing Vayne to try and synthesize what she called skates.

"Are you awake?" Vayne's voice was soft, as always, but it still made Roxis wince.

Then he opened his eyes, and even the fading light in the room made him slam them shut again. "Unfortunately, yes, I'm awake."

"Unfortunately?" Vayne shifted, making Roxis realise that the other boy was sitting right beside him.

"My head... is killing me. I'd almost rather... have stayed unconscious." Maybe if he spoke slowly and quietly, his head wouldn't protest so much. After all, now that he was a little more properly awake, Vayne's voice didn't sound quite so harsh. "What happened?" He decided, tentatively, to open his eyes again. He immediately regretted it but he kept them open just the same. It was painful, but he needed to know what was going on.

Roxis assessed the situation as quickly as possible. He was in one of the dilapidated classrooms of the Old Schoolhouse. Vayne was sitting next to him, curled almost into the nearly feline position he seemed to prefer, but prevented by the unnatural way his right leg was twisted. The 'pillow' was one of the spare uniforms they'd had with them. Vayne had a half-empty X-Heal at his side.

The weight pinning Roxis in place was Sulpher, curled up on top of his chest like he belonged there. Like he wasn't already bonded so closely to Vayne. Like Roxis didn't already have a Mana. Like it was nothing out of the ordinary. And, now that Roxis was awake, Sulpher was spitting out a gash twig in disgust- apparently the cat had been holding the bitter herb near Roxis' nose to wake him.

And the shadow in Vayne's eyes as he looked at Roxis and Sulpher made it clear that this wasn't normal. Roxis couldn't think of a time he'd ever seen Sulpher willingly initiate physical contact with anyone but Vayne before. He'd certainly not seen the cat show concern for anyone else's welfare unless Vayne asked it of him- and going by the other alchemist's expression, this time Sulpher hadn't waited for Vayne to ask it of him.

"Nikki wanted to make skates," Vayne said, dropping his eyes to the floor. "We were racing. We all fell down the stairs. Nikki was okay, she left to get help, but I... hurt my leg... and you hit your head, and then you didn't get up. And we didn't bring any Nectar this time, so... "

"Why didn't you just use the Wings of Icarus, then?" Roxis started to sit up, but a growl from Sulpher stopped him.

"Nikki never remembers to bring hers, you didn't seem to have yours, and mine broke when I fell." He showed Roxis a handful of sad- looking feather charms. The pendant was clearly beyond repair.

Tony had taken Roxis', saying it would help him train if he didn't have an easy out. Roxis had never gotten around to getting a new one. It hadn't seemed like it would be a problem, especially after switching workshops- sure, Roxis went out on his own as often as the rest (except Vayne, who nearly always had someone insisting on accompanying him, even on simple gathering trips) but he knew enough to avoid areas where he was likely to need the Wings if he was out alone.

"We had X-Heals with us, didn't we?" Roxis asked, trying to remember, but coming up with a blank. They always had healing medicine on them, though. Vayne always double-checked to make sure they had enough X-Heals and Heal Jars to cover them in nearly any situation, he'd done that since before Roxis had joined the workshop. Even their lack of Nectar was unusual, owing mostly to having been low on ingredients. "Didn't you drink any? Your leg shouldn't still be hurt." He was trying to avoid saying broken, because a broken leg at Al-Revis could be very, very bad- the school had no classes that didn't require physical activity of some kind. Luckily, the stronger healing medicines could heal nearly any wound that wasn't fatal, and even the lesser ones could heal a great deal especially if you'd taken many of them. For them to work well, though, you couldn't wait too long after an injury- it slowed the effect by a staggering amount. If Vayne took enough healing medicine now, it would only take days for his leg to heal, even if it was broken. If he waited, though, it could end up taking weeks or even months depending on the severity of the break. That could seriously set back a graduation date.

"I drank two." Vayne was still avoiding his gaze. "I was saving the third one for you, but Sulpher said I should at least drink half of it."

Roxis tried again to sit up. This time, Sulpher let him, leaping down to curl up on the floor between them both and letting Roxis get a clear view at Vayne's leg.

It was easy to see it was a bad break; the X-Heals didn't seem to have helped at all. In fact... Roxis frowned as he looked closer. Something about the break had immediately looked strange to him, but now that he looked closer, he realised it wasn't the break that was bothering him. Something about Vayne's leg looked strange.

It was hard to tell what, exactly, it was, but Roxis had the strangest impression that Vayne's leg looked like it had been put together by someone who didn't particularly care about more than surface accuracy. Everything looked right, but... But. Something was strange, was all.

Roxis started to climb to his feet, only to quickly discover that was not an option and end up slumped back in the exact position he started in. "Well that was a bad idea," he mumbled, even as he glanced around the room. It was nearing night, and although there were no monsters in the room with them- presumably Nikki had stuck around at least long enough to deal with that problem- there was always the possibility, no matter how slim, that one of them would come barreling into the room once it got dark and the monsters became energized. "...We should have a barricade up for the night," he said at last.

"Neither one of you is in any condition to be building one," Sulpher was quick to point out, lashing his tail.

"We are doubly in no condition to fend off an attack," Roxis shot back, remembering too late that he shouldn't have been replying. Luckily, Vayne still seemed totally content with Roxis' previous explanation that he was perfectly capable of translating feline language. It wasn't as much of a stretch as it could have been- he usually understood his own cat, Fionn, as well as could be expected. All right, Fionn was a kitten and his commentary tended to be less complex than Sulpher's (it was largely limited to 'feed me,' 'pay attention to me,' and 'let me out,' but he was still a kitten), but still. Roxis felt he'd proven by now that could understand cats just fine.

And none of these thoughts were getting the door blocked. When he started to struggle to his feet again, though, Vayne pushed him back down as Eital materialized beside them.

"Will both you stubborn creatures stay put?" she demanded. "Sulpher and I are capable of guarding the door. I expect the both of you to manage a better show of healing by dawn."

"You can let me up, you know," Roxis groused at Vayne after Eital and Sulpher had resettled themselves before the door. Eital was keeping an eye out, but even as it got darker Roxis could still see Sulpher's eyes glowing near the doorway, directed back at Vayne. "We're both hurt, and you're hurt worse."

"No," Vayne said stubbornly, keeping his palm spread against Roxis' chest. He wasn't exerting any pressure, but then, he didn't need to be. "You've got a head injury. You don't know how bad it is."

Roxis almost snapped at him but checked himself in time. For all he really, truly knew about the other boy, Vayne could have lost someone to a head injury in the past. All right, he'd said he had no family, but he also had very little memory, and Roxis had trouble picturing Vayne alone and friendless in the woods for reasons he didn't want to examine too closely. "At least help me sit up so I can get a good look at your leg," Roxis said at last, resigning himself to a long, sleepless night.

Guardian: Yeah I took some liberties with healing items.