"... So after we put the fire out and apologized to the poor man, Yuu decided to wander off. I found him in the fountain twenty minutes later, stealing the money in there and splashing water at people while claiming to be a pirate. While my back was turned, Masamune decided he'd make use of some of Yuu's stolen 'treasure' and try out some of those kiddie rides-"
"Which were super lame by the way!"
"- and I had to pry his hands off the stupid machine and literally drag him from it-"
"It wasn't worth Yuu's treasure or my finger's safety either! It just went back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth..."
"- and then I lost Ginka! Turns out he'd gotten distracted by a turtle pool display in one of the shops so-"
"Those turtles were cool."
"... Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth..."
"- I had to remind him why we were there for the thirteenth time, not kidding, and then pull him away as he was completely mesmerized by them-"
"They had these shiny lights in the water so you could see them well, and one of them was trying to climb over the glass. He couldn't though."
"... Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth..."
"- and while we were in the store, Yuu had run off again and found a cotton candy cart where he was ticking off the guy selling-"
"Hey! He kept telling me to come back with my parents, which I couldn't, so I was just explaining why that was a stupid rule because I had Tsubasa's wallet and could totally buy some of his stuff."
"One turtle was swimming in circles..."
"... Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth..."
"- and trying to convince him to take the money Yuu'd stolen from my wallet. I apologized to him, but then Masamune and Ginka were both begging for cotton candy too, so finally I caved on the terms they all behave and stay quiet. This was actually very effective until they ran out when we reached the checkout. So of course Masamune and Yuu both decided it'd be fun to make annoying noises and just generally disturb the public-"
"Oh yeah! We also started playing with a football from some guy's cart!"
"Yeah, then fun-sucker Tsubasa took it away!"
"Wait, hold on, what was Ginka doing during this?" Madoka inquires.
Tsubasa pauses, frowning like it was hard to recall, then answers, "I think... He was actually semi-behaving. Well, he launched Pegasus and let him spin around the entrance, but besides that he wasn't doing anything to cause people to consider calling the police."
"Alright..." Hikaru says in an odd tone. "That's all great, but it doesn't explain why you're all covered in flour."
Tsubasa sighs. "One man left his cart and bag of flour unattended and these two idiots," he says and gestures to the ash-head and the blond. "Decided that, after discovering a hole, the best course of action was to deck themselves in it... And then shove a handful down my shirt! And then Gingka got involved, and we all got thrown out of the store."
Both girls stand there silently for a few minutes before Hikaru has to stiffle intense giggling and Madoka begins to angrily lecture the three errant troopers before ordering them to occupy the nearest shower.
"Those guys!" Madoka moans when they're gone.
Tsubasa smiles at her exasperation and absently tries to rub the layer of flour from his face. "Oh yeah, how is Kyoya?"
Madoka's face becomes serious as she answers, "Not any better. We managed to convince him to eat something, but it gave him really bad stomach pains." She sighs and adds, "As if we needed more problems getting him to eat. His appetite is basically nothing and he's gotten nauseous a few times. Plus, he seems a little wary about us telling him to eat... like he's worried about us doing something to the food."
"These are all normal symptoms though, right?"
Madoka nods. "You can go see him if you want. Though, er... Maybe you should shower too..."
Tsubasa sighs. "Yes. I know."
-.;
It takes a moment for Nile to notice the dark boy lingering just outside the room, peering around the door at him hesitantly.
"I almost didn't see you," he calls softly and Demure's wide dark eyes blink in surprise, the whites around them still holding contrast even in the shadows of the room. He slinks in shyly and sits down on a chair nearby.
"Is... Is he ok?" Demure whispers.
"Yeah. He's still sleeping off his stomachache, though I'll bet he'll be out even longer to recover sleep. I think he's probably been a bit of an insomniac while on those drugs."
Demure's quiet for a moment before muttering, "I wish I had told you guys earlier... Maybe he'd be a little better-"
"Demure, don't play that game." Nile snaps with uncharacteristic heat in his tone. "You only knew for, what, a week? It wouldn't have made a difference. Besides, Kyoya's a stubborn idiot. He chose to tell you because he knew you wouldn't tell on him. Look at it this way, at least now the moron might actually get it through his skull not to be stupid." With a huff, Nile turns away and glares at Kyoya's face.
He wasn't actually that angry at Kyoya. So maybe he did wish that he'd mentioned it. But Nile was far angrier with himself. How hadn't he noticed? He was the guy's teammate, his friend! He'd slept on the bunk right above the lion for the entirety of the World Competition and hadn't ever noticed anything. Pathetic!
"You know Nile, you shouldn't blame yourself either." Nile turns to Demure with surprise on his face.
Demure smiles softly. "I'm not as clever as you, but I can still tell when someone's being self-deprecating."
Nile rolls his eyes good-naturedly, but his lightened mood dissolves when his sleeping friend murmers in a discomforted way. "Kyoya?" He whispers.
The skin around Kyoya's eyes and mouth bunch up in a grimace and his head flops to the right. At the end of his bed his feet have begin to twitch and kick.
"Is he having a nightmare?" Demure wonders.
Nile shrugs uncertainly.
In apparent response to their speaking he moans louder and begins to jerk around, his expression twisted painfully.
"Alright, we'll wake him up now," Nile decides. "Just to make sure."
He reaches down and jostles his shoulder. "Kyoya? Kyoya, wake up!"
An arm smacks Nile's hand away and a low whine begins in the back of Kyoya's throat, gradually rising in pitch as his struggling becomes more frantic.
"What do I do?!" Demure asks Nile helplessly.
"Grab him! We have to hold him down or he'll hurt himself!" Nile shouts back.
Much to their added predicament, Kyoya is not nearly as weak as he looks. Coupled with his sudden panicked flailing, it made for a near impossible task to get him still. It didn't exactly help that neither Demure nor Nile were very large people, one being quite short and the other too skinny, so neither were strong enough to wrestle him down for more than a moment or two.
Footfalls alert Nile to someone entering and he turns to see Tsubasa at the doorway.
"What-" begins the confused eagle blader, but Nile cuts him off.
"Kyoya's stuck in a nightmare! Help us hold him down!"
The lankey teen quickly crosses the room and complies, pressing Kyoya's upper body down against the mattress firmly. For a few moments they're able to hold him in place and he seems to start quieting ever so slightly.
Then a savage jerk wrenches him from their grasp and Kyoya lets out an ear-numbingly shrill screech. His body twists wildly as if he's been possessed and tears are streaming over his face. They reach out to try again at holding him down, but a stray foot connects with Tsubasa's jaw and Kyoya suddenly tumbles to the floor, still writhing and letting out quick breathy moans.
Something was terrifying Kyoya.
Just the thought of that in itself was nerve-shattering.
It sounded like if Kyoya was physically able to beg for relief, he would.
Kyoya didn't beg. Kyoya didn't get scared.
Nile could feel the start of something very black sprouting in his heart.
Then Kyoya opens his eyes.
The screams and moans don't stop. They increase. And his thrashing is scaring Nile now. He doesn't appear to look at them, rather, he is instead fixated on something across the room. Something apparently invisible.
"What is this?!" Demure cries, looking just as terrified as the lion blader. "What's happening to him?!" He turns his wide eyes to Nile, pleading for an answer, but it's Tsubasa who answers.
"Night terror."
"What?" Both Africans turn to stare at Tsubasa, who is still nursing his mouth.
Those golden eyes meet theirs with an odd calm and acceptance. "Kyoya's in a night terror. He's probably hallucinating and paranoid. Touching him must have made it worse, it usually does in these cases."
"How do we fix it?" Nile demands, but Tsubasa shakes his head with a sigh.
"There's no 'fixing' it. All we can do is let it run it's course." He leans back against a chair. "It's a side affect from his drug use."
"So..." Nile watches his friend still kicking at and fighting invisible demons, still crying out and scared. Emerald eyes sharpen in hate towards his own helplessness. "We can't do anything at all? Just... Let him suffer?"
"He probably won't remember much of it later. And no, there isn't much we can do. You could try turning on a lamp, or talking to him, but there isn't really any cure."
Nile slowly settles into a chair, stone faced.
Demure follows his action, watching Kyoya with raw concern etched over his face for a moment before kneeling down next to the flailing, screaming teen and murming, "it's alright, it's alright Kyoya, it's ok," in an effort to console him.
Tsubasa walks out, intending to let the others know and asking Nile to let him know should there be any changes to Kyoya's condition.
"Nile..."
Nile blinks, snapping from his blank stare and gazing at Demure. He swallows a gasp. When had Demure started crying?
" Nile... Nile help me," he pleads, swiping an arm over his face to wipe the tears, but they just stream down his face faster.
Nile stares. He had no idea it disturbed Demure this much... Then again, hadn't he just been staring off at nothing, not thinking, not moving, completely shut off for a second? This was horrible for all three of them.
He climbs down to the floor on the other side of his friend and begins to mutter comfort to Kyoya. If anything, it was at least helping Demure.
The Night terror lasts about forty minutes before Kyoya begins to calm down, face flushed and shiny with tears, hair in disarray and utterly exhausted. He curls up on his side and drifts off again.
"Do you think that's ok?" Demure wonders, scared about him falling into another episode of violent hallucinating.
"Yeah. He's too tired to do anything right now." Nile answers, then adds, "though I'll tell Tsubasa, just to make sure."
Climbing heavily to his feet, Nile turns and walks out, not looking at either his passed out mess of a friend or the friend still crying over him.
He was a failure already in helping either. He had to redeem himself, somehow.
Sorry about taking so long. My muse was having a cuppa with Sherlock instead of playing junkie!Kyoya. I finished kinda late, and I'm sorta tired of this chapie, so I'm not looking over it.
Oh yes, Kyoya's thing there did start as a nightmare or lucid dream or something, but it turned to that. And Tsubasa just happens to know everything, so don't question him.
Nile friend feels really bad about all of this. He's kinda taken it as all his responsibility, so he's just going to be a real peach of a person while Yoyo struggles.