Chapter Four: Dirty Business
Yuri didn't know what time it was. It had been eleven-thirty when he gave up trying to sleep and walked down the hall to the sitting area of the wing on the ground floor of the Altosk building that Harry had set them up in. There were bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a common room/dining room where Yuri sat now. There was also a door that led to storage rooms in the basement, which would come in handy when they got Flynn back here. They needed a secure place to hold him, and the public cells Altosk used didn't give them enough privacy.
He'd spent most of his time focusing on Flynn, mostly because that was easier to process. Ha, his best friend had been brainwashed for at least several months and tried to kill him and that was the easy part. What the hell was he supposed to think about Estelle? He found himself playing through every interaction he'd had with her and putting it in new context.
Had she been the one to hire Zagi to attack her in Flynn's room? It certainly gave her an excuse to leave the castle. If Zagi reported to her, it would explain how that freak always managed to find them. Everything she'd done, every civilian she'd healed, every kind word she'd said to him… she'd planned it all to paint herself as kind. He briefly wondered how hard it must have been for her to pretend she was a terrible actress when they got roped into doing that play on Nam Cobanda Isle.
He heard footsteps, but didn't look up until someone set a glass in front of him and sat at the table across from him.
"What, lurkin' in the dark now?" Raven asked. "Don't tell me you're a vampire and you've been hidin' your true self from us, too."
Yuri raised his eyes and silently told Raven he really wasn't in the mood to joke about this.
Raven understood the message and sighed. "Yeah. I'm not really feelin' it either."
"You also haven't turned the lights on." Part of that was because the only way to turn lights on now was to find a candle. All the blastia-powered lights had suddenly stopped working last week and there hadn't been time to find a suitable replacement yet. "What's this?" Yuri asked, gesturing to the glass of amber liquid.
Raven raised his own glass. "Ya look like a man who could really use a drink."
Yuri wasn't typically the sort to drown his sorrows with alcohol. He preferred to drink when he was happy, because drinking when he was in a bad mood usually just made his mood worse. Then again, maybe if he was drunk the world would start making sense again. He pondered the glass for a few seconds, and then grabbed it. "Screw it; you're right." He took a big gulp, and then slammed the glass down as he erupted into coughing fit. When he could breathe again, he stared at Raven with watering eyes and wheezed, "Whoa."
Raven chuckled and took a smaller sip of his own. "Strong, huh?"
"That's one word for it." He wiped his eyes and added, "Potentially lethal is another." He hadn't known it was possible to bottle fire in liquid form, but the world was always full of surprises.
"Guess ya don't have much quality whiskey in the lower quarter."
Yuri shook his head. "The bars serve the cheap stuff and I've always suspected they water it down."
"That oughta be a crime," Raven said, shaking his head sadly.
"Since they don't advertise that they'd doing it, Flynn says it is." His grip on the glass tightened and the conversation fizzled out. It had been a valiant effort to talk about something other than Flynn and Estelle, but Yuri should have known better than to hope it would last.
"It's weird ta think about," Raven said, swishing ice cubes around his glass. "I guess I never met the real Flynn."
"If it makes you feel any better, the version you met was doing a damn fine job of acting like the real Flynn." So good, in fact, that Yuri hadn't even noticed. He'd been confused about Flynn's actions for a while and worried about what he was getting into, but he'd never doubted that Flynn was Flynn and that he could only have the best of intentions. What kind of friend was he if he couldn't even realize his best friend had been brainwashed?
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Raven said. "If someone's going outa their way to hide their loyalties, ya can't blame yourself for not noticin'. You'd have ta be suspicious of every person ya meet, and that's no way to live. Nah, the only one who needs a kick in the pants in that kinda situation is the asshole doin' the betrayin'."
"Yeah, but what's that old saying? Fool me once, I kick your ass, fool me twice, I must be a moron?" It wasn't even limited to twice, either. Raven, Estelle, Flynn – he hadn't even realized Alexei was a piece of crap at first. He was clearly a terrible judge of character.
"Er… I don't think that's exactly it," Raven said. "None of us saw Estelle comin'. That's the kinda deception ya can't realistically prepare for. Alexei had the entire world fooled, and of course ya would trust your old pal."
Yuri took another sip of whiskey. It burned on the way down, but he didn't mind. It was a nice distraction. "Raven… tell me the truth. You've been around the world a few times; have you ever heard of someone being brought back from this kind of brainwashing?"
Raven thought for a minute, putting off having to answer by taking a long drink. By the time he started speaking, Yuri had already resigned himself to what the answer would be. "To be perfectly blunt: no. But then, ya gotta consider that we don't even know exactly how Estelle did this to him. I haven't heard of any cases of brainwashing happenin' outside fiction books. The closest thing is that every now an' then religious cults pop up and it's said they 'brainwash' the members. This seems like more in-depth than that, though."
"Yeah," Yuri said. "Do you think she was using aer, or blastia or something like that? Alexei forced you to work for him because of the heart." Yuri tried to run through every interaction he'd had with Flynn, wondering if he'd ever seen his chest to disprove this theory.
"Hrm… that's only partially it." He looked down at his glass with a guilty expression. "I still had free will. I could have turned against him any time I wanted if I wasn't such a coward."
"So, some other kind of blastia, maybe?"
"In that case, it would have disappeared last week and he wouldn't have attacked you yesterday."
Yuri groaned. "That's right. Dammit… maybe some Child of the Full Moon thing? She can use artes without blastia, maybe she can do this, too?"
"Could be," Raven said. He hesitated and added, "Although, have you considered the other option?"
"Which one?"
"That she didn't do anything to him and he's operating entirely on his own free will."
Yuri shook his head without pause. "I don't believe that for a second."
"Well, alright. And look, as much as I want Judy and Karol to find a solution, there's a chance it doesn't exist. Any idea what you're gonna do then?"
Yuri met Raven with a hard glare. Yes, he'd thought about this. There was only one thing to do if they couldn't bring Flynn back to normal, and Yuri wouldn't leave without finishing the job this time.
"Ah," Raven said, clearly understanding the look in his eyes. "Figured." Raven finished off his drink and stood up. He rounded the table and patted Yuri on the shoulder. "Don't stay up too late, kid. We've got a commandant to kidnap tomorrow."
Their wagon stopped at the side gate of the castle.
"Good afternoon," the guard said. "Delivery?"
"That's right," Kaufman said from the front bench. The Fortune's Market logo displayed on the side of the boxy wagon.
The guard handed her a clipboard with a sheet of paper, saying, "Sign here. We need to search your vehicle."
"If you insist," Kaufman said, scribbling her name and handing it back. "What's all the fuss? Your friends at the city entrance searched it too. Fortune's Market deliveries have been coming in for years without being searched."
"Sorry, ma'am," the guard said while his friend walked around to the back of the wagon and swung the doors open. "I don't know if you heard, but Commandant Flynn and Princess Estellise were attacked the other day. We're on high alert in case the culprit tries to sneak back in."
"Oh, I did hear something about that," Kaufman said. "Well, I can't fault you for being cautious."
"It's fine," the guard said, coming back after a quick search. "They can go through."
"Thanks," Kaufman said, and Tokunaga pulled the reins and got the horses moving again. The wagon trundled across the scrubby grass and around the corner to the staff entrance near the kitchen. Fortune's Market was one of the castle's top suppliers, so nobody gave them a second glance. It also meant the guard didn't bother searching the storage area of the wagon too thoroughly. This was a good thing, because it meant he hadn't found Yuri and Raven hiding in the empty barrels marked as grain.
Tokunaga pulled up against the wall and they both hopped down from the driver's seat. Kaufman opened the back door of the wagon and stepped into the dark cabin. "You can come out now, boys."
The lids of the barrels pushed aside, and Yuri and Raven popped out.
"Any trouble getting in?" Yuri asked, climbing out of the barrel.
"No," Kaufman said. "They didn't suspect a thing. Now clear out of here. I need to get changed."
"Aw, ya won't let me stay and help?" Raven asked.
"The only thing you can help at is scaring small children," Yuri said, grabbing his arm and dragging him out. When they were gone, Kaufman quickly switched clothes. There were no guards around this part of the castle, but they could come through on a patrol any minute now. Kaufman had borrowed the nurse outfit from a friend in the medical guild, along with some other supplies they needed.
When she emerged five minutes later, Raven gave her a thumbs up. Kaufman just rolled her eyes at him and straightened her cap. She pulled off her glasses and slipped them into her pocket and then said, "Yuri, Raven, wait in the wagon. We'll be back shortly."
"Got it," Yuri said.
She really didn't think Yuri and Raven even needed to come, but Yuri had insisted. He said that if anyone was going to kidnap Flynn, he wanted to be there. Of course, he also had slept maybe a couple of hours total last night, and he was currently the most wanted man in Zaphias, so Kaufman had been less than thrilled bringing him along.
With Yuri and Raven hiding out of sight, she and Tokunaga entered the castle. Tokunaga pushed a dolly packed with crates, which he took in the direction of the kitchen when their paths separated. They did have some actual items to deliver.
Kaufman walked quickly through the walls, her heels clicking loudly on the marble floors. She tried not to look like she was rushing to avoid suspicion, but really she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. She was a businesswoman, not a spy, and sneaking around the enemy's stronghold had all her nerves on high alert. She wasn't just worried about herself, but that she couldn't imagine how many trade partners in the empire would drop their contracts if the guild boss got arrested.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the door to the infirmary. She pulled the medical mask over her face, steeled herself, and entered. She and Flynn had met before, but she counted on the mask covering the lower part of her face, him being off the top of his game, and not expecting to see her here at all to keep him from recognizing her.
Flynn sat propped up by pillows going over paperwork on his lap. He smiled and said, "Good afternoon."
He took short, deep breaths and his face was unhealthily pale. After hearing Yuri's story, Kaufman had half expected to find him smirking evilly while plotting world domination. He looked so… normal. In fact, he looked worse than normal because he was clearly still recovering from serious wounds. She hesitated for a couple of seconds, wondering if Yuri had lost his mind and she was about to abduct the commandant for no reason.
"Can I help you?" Flynn asked.
Kaufman pushed those thoughts aside. She knew Yuri well enough to know he wouldn't have put his friend in the hospital without good cause. "I just need to give you a shot," she said, pulling the syringe out of her pocket. "Hold out your arm please."
"Alright." He held out his arm and rolled up the sleeve without protest.
Kaufman hoped her nervousness was hidden behind her mask. She had never given an injection before, and hoped she didn't mess up. Luckily, his skin was so pale the veins stood out clearly in the crook of his arm. She held his arm and pressed the needle under his skin.
"Aren't you supposed to disinfect the area first?"
Oh. Whoops. When she'd borrowed this equipment from her friend, she was pretty sure that had been mentioned. Considering she was kidnapping him, she felt it was a slip-up that could be ignored. "No, I don't need to on this one."
"Ok, I'm sure you know better than I do. What's this injection for?"
"It will help with your breathing," she said, pushing the liquid into his arm.
He took a deep breath. "That would be much appreciated."
The injection was done, so she pulled the needle out and slipped it back into her pocket. "That should do it. Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked, stalling for time until the sedative kicked it.
"I don't think so. Now that I've got something to work on," he gestured at the papers on his lap, "I feel I might as well sit at my desk."
"I'm sure that wouldn't be medically recommended until you're fully healed," Kaufman said.
"Yes, I sup.. sup…" a deep yawn took over and he covered his mouth. "Ah… excuse me." He wrinkled his brow in confusion and said, "Actually, I suddenly feel incredibly tired." His eyes flickered and he put a hand to his head. "What is…?" He looked to her with alarm. "What did you give me?"
"I told you, sir," Kaufman said. "Just something to help with breathing. Do you feel tired? Maybe I should get a doctor."
She took a step away from the bed, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Who are you?"
She turned back and grabbed his hand, prying his weak fingers off her wrist. "Nobody. If you're tired, just lie down and go to sleep."
"No… Kaufman?!"
Shit. There went that plan. Luckily, Flynn was already struggling to keep his eyes open. She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him against his stack of pillows to keep him from getting up. "Calm down," she said as he struggled against both her and the drug that was dragging him into unconsciousness. "Believe it or not, we're actually trying to help you."
"You're here with… Yuri… aren't… you…?"
His eyes closed and his struggling stopped. Kaufman waited a minute to see if he was faking her out, but he remained still, taking ragged breaths. It sounded horrible, but at least it meant he was alive.
Thirty seconds later, a gentle knock came to the door. Kaufman hurried across and opened the door a crack, and then widened it when she saw Tokunaga. "Perfect timing," she said.
"Is he asleep?" Tokunaga asked, entered the room with dolly and an empty crate. It had held potatoes until recently.
"Out like a baby." She remembered spending time at her cousin's house shortly after their child had been born and all the sleepless nights that entailed, and then revised her statement. "Out like a couple who doesn't have a baby, I should say."
"Good. Let's get him out of here." Tokunaga grabbed Flynn under the arms and Kaufman grabbed his legs, and they loaded him into the crate. It was very hard to not feel like a criminal while doing this, and she kept reminding herself that they were doing this for his own good.
Tokunaga put the lid back on the wooden crate and said, "I'll see you at the wagon."
Kaufman nodded and watched him leave. A delivery man walking side by side with a nurse might raise a few questions, so she'd let him get ahead and follow in a couple of minutes. For now, she sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath. They'd gotten Flynn out of the infirmary at least, and hopefully getting him out of the castle and then Zaphias wouldn't be too much more difficult. She had a feeling, though, that physically getting him to Dahngrest was going to be the easy part of this mission.
She was almost ready to go when the door opened again. Her heart skipped a beat, but she remembered she still had the mask on.
Rita entered the room and looked around. "Oh. Sorry, I was looking for Estelle. Thought she might be in here."
Kaufman shook her head and stood up. "No, I haven't seen here, sorry."
"It's alright. Where's Flynn?"
"A couple of the other nurses took him outside." It was almost the truth. "We thought the fresh air would be good for his lungs."
"Oh, ok." Rita was about to leave, but she frowned. "Have I met you before?"
"I don't think so," Kaufman said.
"Hm… ok. Well, sorry for bothering you."
Rita left, and Kaufman breathed a sigh of relief. Once she'd waited long enough for Rita to leave the area, she hurried out, eager to get back to her wagon and put this messy job behind her.
When Tokunaga emerged with the crate, Yuri jumped up. "Did you get him?"
"Yeah," Tokunaga said, pulling off the lid. "He's asleep, but he's fine."
"Good. Get him into the wagon." Working together, they pulled Flynn out of the crate. His knee banged on the edge, which made Yuri feel guilty, but not significantly more guilty than the fact that they'd already drugged and abducted him. They pulled him across the wooden floor and laid him to rest next to some empty barrels.
Yuri looked down at his sleeping face, trying not to tense up with worry every time he heard a laboured breath. He knew exactly who was to blame for Flynn's injured lung.
"He'll be ok," Raven said, sitting cross-legged against the wall.
"Yeah," Yuri said, not really feeling the enthusiasm. As he looked down at Flynn, the events of their fight running through his head for the thousandth time, it occurred to him that he'd lost his sword. In all the chaos and emotional turmoil he hadn't even thought about it, but he'd left it behind in Flynn's office.
You left it lodged in your alleged best friend's chest.
He pushed that thought aside. He was getting used to doing that. The sword was probably locked up as evidence in some knight's office.
The door opened again and Kaufman hurried out. "Let's get out of here," she said, pulling the mask away from her face. "Yuri, come over here for a second."
Eager for a distraction from feeling guilty over Flynn, Yuri hopped out of the back of the wagon and rounded to the front, where Kaufman and Tokunaga sat at the driver's bench getting ready to go. Kaufman held a few syringes out and said, "Give him another dose in about five hours to keep him asleep. Earlier if he starts stirring."
"Thanks," Yuri said, slipping them into his pocket. They'd parked the Fiertia at Deidon Hold to avoid notice. They'd probably get there before Flynn needed a third dose, but it didn't hurt to be too careful.
He was about to walk back around when he heard a furious voice. "I knew it! What the hell are you doing with Flynn?!"
"Whoa!" Raven shouted. "Settle down, Rita, darlin'."
"I will not settle down!" Rita shouted. Dammit, she was going to alert the guards. "You're here with Yuri, aren't you? What did that scumbag tell you to get you on his side, huh?"
Yuri darted around the wagon before Rita could set it on fire. Rita opened her mouth to shout again, but before she could get another word out, Yuri wrapped one arm around her chest with another hand muffling her mouth. Her heel smashed into his shin and she shook her head back and forth to try to get his hand away.
Yuri clambered into the back of the wagon, shouting, "Kaufman! Just go!" Raven slammed the doors shit and the wagon kicked into motion.
Rita tried to shout through Yuri's hand while he dropped to his knees to keep from being knocked over by the moving wagon. Trying to hold Rita still and silent was like trying to keep a grip on a tornado. "Hold – still," Yuri grunted. "I'm not gonna hurt you but you need to shut up until we're past the guards." It took every ounce of Yuri's energy to keep hold of her until he heard the grass under the wheels turn into cobblestone and he knew they'd left the castle behind.
His grip loosened only slightly, but it was enough for Rita to dig her teeth into his hand.
"Ow!" Yuri jerked his hand away and shook her. "What the hell, Rita?!"
"Let go of me, you asshole!" She elbowed him in the chest to get away from the arm still gripping her tightly.
"Would you calm down and stop struggling so much!? It's just me!"
"Is that what you said to Estelle?!"
Yuri stiffened, and his arms dropped. He hadn't been thinking when he phrased that, but considering the allegations Estelle had lodged against him… he felt sick. Rita scrambled away and sat on her knees with her back to the door, but at least she wasn't stupid enough to try to open the door and jump out of a moving vehicle.
Yuri stared at her, disgust settling into his bones. "Is that what you think? Do you really believe I did that to Estelle?" It made him sick just thinking that people believed him capable of something so revolting.
Rita let out a breath through clenched teeth. "Dammit, Yuri, I really thought I could trust you. What am I supposed to think? Estelle came running to my room with her shirt ripped, sobbing her eyes out."
Of course she did. She started this whole damn thing and then she had the gall to go crying to Rita. Yuri shook his head slowly. "She was lying."
"Why would she lie about something like that?"
Raven frowned. "Turns out Estelle's been lyin' about a lot."
"What are you talking about?" Rita demanded. "And where are we going?"
"Back to Dahngrest," Yuri said. "Looks like you're coming along for the ride now. Sorry."
"Like hell I'm going to Dahngrest! Let me out of here right now, and let Flynn go, too!"
"Would you give me a chance to explain?!" Yuri settled into a more comfortable position. "A lot of shit's happened and I'd like a chance to give you my side of the story, thank you very much."
Rita sat back and crossed her arms. "Fine. Give me your side. I would love to hear an explanation for all the crap you've pulled."
As quickly as he could, Yuri summarized everything from finding Alexei's letters to running away from Flynn's office after the fight. He knew it didn't sound plausible even as he said it.
When he was done, Rita gave him a skeptical look. "Let me get this straight. You're accusing Estelle of being some kind of soulless monster who's been acting this whole time? You think she was pulling Alexei's strings?"
"I don't think, I know," Yuri said. "She told me herself."
"But… come on, she's Estelle."
Raven nodded. "That's what makes it so hard ta believe."
"Rita, would I lie about something like this?" Yuri met her eyes and tried to convey honesty.
Rita glowered at the floor. "Well… no, but I don't think Estelle would, either." When she raised her face again, she said, "You're asking me to choose between two of my best friends. You've both given me a horrible story about the other, and I know one of them is true, but it's your word against hers and how can you expect me to figure out who to believe?"
She had a point. It was the exact point that they needed Flynn to disprove. Once they got him back, he could tell everyone the truth, but until then it was Yuri's word against Estelle's. "All I can say is… I'm the one telling the truth. But, Estelle will tell you the same thing. I can't tell you who to believe."
"Dammit," Rita muttered, deep in thought. To save herself having to decide right then, she looked to Flynn and said, "So, what are you doing with Flynn?"
"We're going to try to break whatever hold Estelle has on him," Yuri said. "We think he's been brainwashed or something like that."
"So you're kidnapping him."
"Er… yeah."
"Actually, come ta think of it," Raven said, "when ya sign up as a knight, they make ya sign all these forms about who your next of kin and stuff is, ya know in case ya die in battle. Who'd Flynn put down?"
"Huh?" Yuri thought back to their first day in the Knights so many years ago. It had been full of excitement and confusion, but he did remember a flurry of paperwork that he'd breezed through while Flynn carefully read every line. "I don't remember exactly, but it was probably me. Not like he had any other family."
Raven nodded. "That's what I thought."
"Does it matter?" Rita asked.
He shrugged and explained, "Not especially, but it does mean that if he's outa commission, Yuri's legally responsible for making medical decisions for him."
Yuri stared at him with wide eyes. "I am?"
"Yep," Raven said. "So if being brainwashed counts as being medically unfit to make your own decisions – and ta me that sounds like an exact definition – you're actually totally within your legal rights to take him."
"So if we prove Flynn was brainwashed, I haven't actually committed a crime?" Yuri asked.
"Not technically," Raven said. "'Course, even if it was technically a crime, if ya save him there's no way your buddy would prosecute you, and if we fail, there's no way Estelle won't. Just thought you might want ta know that technically, you're legally responsible for him now."
"Huh," Yuri said, looking to Flynn. Who would have thought that those forms he'd signed years ago would come back to him?
"Alright," Rita said. "I've made a decision."
"Oh, good," Raven said. "So, who ya decided to trust?"
"I've decided I need more information. I want you to let me out here. I'll go back to the castle and keep an eye on Estelle."
Yuri eyed her suspiciously. "How do we know you won't tell her where Flynn's gone?"
Rita rolled her eyes. "Yuri, who else do you think she would suspect? She's obviously going to know it was you, and she's already pretty sure you guys are in Dahngrest."
"Ah… right." Yuri stood up and knocked on the front wall. "Hey, Kaufman, slow down for a sec, would you?" he called through the wall. "We want to let Rita off."
A minute later, the wagon pulled a stop. Raven opened the back door, revealing a dimly lit alley in the public quarter.
"I won't alert the knights," Rita said, hopping down. She met Yuri's eyes and said, "I'll trust you with Flynn. Please don't let me down. If he dies, it'll kill Estelle."
Yuri snorted. "Yeah, well Estelle's feelings aren't paramount in my concerns right now."
"Yeah, I figured."
"Good luck, Rita," Yuri said. "Be careful. Don't let Estelle know you're suspicious of her."
Rita sighed. "Yeah, right… I'd wish you luck, too, Yuri, but right now I know that either you or Estelle is a monster. To be honest, I'm hoping it's you."
This was disheartening, but not unexpected. "I can accept that. See you around." Raven pulled the door shut, and they continued on their way.
Yuri sat in the lower cabin of the Fiertia with his feet on a crate. A few feet away, Flynn slept soundly on one of the bunks. Did it count as sleeping soundly if he'd been drugged? Yuri wasn't sure, and dwelling on it made him feel like shit.
It was late now. They'd spent all afternoon travelling to Deidon Hold, and they were now flying back to Dahngrest. Yuri's heavy eyes begged him to go to sleep, but the knowledge of the horrible nightmares that surely awaited him kept him sitting up. It was bad enough that he couldn't get those memories to stop playing in his head while he was awake. He could still vividly recall the feel of his sword sliding through Flynn. There had been surprisingly little resistance, and every strained breath Flynn made now reminded Yuri of how he'd gasped for air and coughed blood. Hey, Flynn attacked me first, he determinedly told himself. Thinking of it as self defense was the only thing that kept him from turning his blade on himself.
Estelle had attacked him first, too. Maybe the reason he spent so much time dwelling on what he'd done to Flynn was that even that was preferable to thinking about the truth of Estelle. He'd been hurt when he found out Raven had betrayed him, but this devastated him. He was still picking up the pieces of his shattered world view, and he knew it would be a long time before he let anyone earn his trust again. Even now, he was only ninety percent sure he could trust Karol, Judy, Rita, and Raven. After all, if Estelle could betray him, couldn't any of them? He'd even found himself side-eyeing Repede this morning.
He stared at Flynn, eyes glancing over the face that was even more familiar to him than his own (they hadn't had much in the way of mirrors in the lower quarter). He tried to forget what that face had looked like while earnestly trying to kill him. That wasn't really him, he reminded himself. At least he hoped it wasn't. He was putting all his faith on the idea he'd been brainwashed, even though he remembered how clear and focused Flynn's eyes had been while attacking him. He didn't act like a puppet whose every movement was controlled, but Yuri refused to believe his ideals could have changed to the point where he decided on his own to kill Yuri.
Flynn might be acting autonomously, but he wasn't really himself – he just couldn't be. Flynn hadn't been himself for a long time, and Yuri felt horrible for not realizing. It did, however, mean that there was a way to fix him. Whatever Estelle had used to force Flynn to follow her orders, they'd break it and return Flynn to normal. Yuri wouldn't rest until that happened.
Raven had said Flynn being controlled via a blastia heart seemed unlikely, but they really didn't have any proof, right? Yuri glanced around for a second, and then scooted his chair closer to Flynn's side. He struggled with the buttons on Flynn's pyjama shirt – geeze, maybe he did need more sleep. When he managed to get enough of them open with his clumsy fingers, he pushed Flynn's shirt open, almost afraid of what he'd find.
He was almost disappointed to find nothing. He wouldn't wish Flynn to be in the same position as Raven, but at least it would give them an answer and they'd know what they were dealing with. Flynn's chest wasn't totally unblemished, though. He had some ugly scars across his torso and shoulders, which caused Yuri some confusion.
There were healers embedded with every Knight squad, and Flynn himself could cast First Aid. Scars only formed if you went a long time without getting healed, so when would Flynn have been in a situation days away from a healer? In addition, he'd spent the last two to three years in the castle, where he hardly would have seen much action, and these were too old to be from their recent journey. Yuri was certain he would have known if Flynn had been injured to this degree when they lived with each other before joining the Knights.
Yuri frowned deeply and whispered, "What the hell happened to you, Flynn?"
Heavy feet stomped down the steps, and Yuri quickly buttoned up Flynn's shirt again.
Raven tossed a blanket over Yuri's shoulders. "Are ya still awake, kid? I thought when ya came down here ya were finally gonna sleep."
"Someone's got to make sure Flynn doesn't wake up and freak out before we arrive at Dahngrest." He'd fully embraced what Raven had said earlier about being Flynn's legal guardian. He probably would have felt like this anyway, but a legal precedent cemented the idea that Flynn was his responsibility.
"And I think that person has been you for long enough. Get some sleep."
Yuri smirked. "I know you're ancient, Old Man, but you're really not old enough to be my father."
"Aha, I'll take compliments from ya where I can. In all seriousness, ya barely slept last night and it's already almost midnight. Ya must be dog tired."
"Nah, I'm fine."
"Those bags under your eyes say differently. Go ta sleep, Yuri," Raven said. "I'll watch Flynn, alright? You can trust me."
Yuri raised his heavy head and looked up at Raven, analyzing his face. How could you tell someone was going to betray you? He hoped he'd recognize the signs from Raven, since he'd betrayed them before. He saw nothing but earnest care, but then that was all he'd ever gotten from Estelle, too. "Can I?"
Raven's face fell. "Hey… look, I know I'm the last guy who deserves your trust. All I can say is, I've screwed up enough in this lifetime and I don't plan on doin' it again."
Yuri hung his head. He hated doubting his friends, and he hated that he felt like he had to. "Sorry."
"I understand," Raven said. "Maybe you'll be a bit less on edge if ya get some sleep?"
Yuri wanted to protest, but he was so tired his muscles ached and keeping his eyes open was a constant challenge. If he didn't lie down, he would probably pass out where he sat. "Maybe you're right."
"Of course, the great Raven is always right!" He grabbed Yuri's elbow and pulled him to his feet. Yuri stumbled, catching himself on Raven's shoulder. Maybe he was more tired than he thought. "Go get some rest. I'll wake you up when we reach Dahngrest."
They got Flynn back to Altosk without incident. They went to the side entrance that Harry had lent them a key for, and Yuri waited with Flynn on his back for Raven to open the door. Inside, they found Karol and Judith at the table in the main room, surrounded by books.
"You're back!" Karol said.
"Did you have any problems?" Judith asked.
"No," Yuri said. "We did run into Rita. We explained what's going on."
"Did she come back with you?" Karol asked, trying to look around Yuri.
"No," Raven said. "Rita wasn't sure whether she believed Yuri or Estelle. She's stayin' in Zaphias ta try and find out more about our dear princess."
"I hope she's ok," Karol said.
"Rita can take care of herself," Yuri said, kicking the door shut behind him. "Where should I put Flynn?"
Judith quickly got to her feet. "We set up space for him in the basement. Harry gave us things to make it a bit more comfortable."
"Great."
Judith opened the door to the basement and Yuri carried Flynn down the cold concrete steps. She opened the first door on the left and led Yuri into a pitch-black room. Karol came down behind them with a gas lamp, which helped cut through the shadows. The room was small, but it had been cleared of storage leaving an open space. The only furniture was a cot against the wall, a small table and a couple of chairs.
Yuri dumped Flynn on the cot. They couldn't risk him waking up and overpowering them the next time they came into the room, so Yuri grabbed a pair of handcuffs off the table and cuffed Flynn's hands behind his back.
"Sorry," he muttered, though Flynn couldn't hear him. He turned to Judith and Karol and said, "Alright, tell me you guys found something."
Karol and Judith exchanged nervous glances that did nothing to lighten Yuri's mood. "We did find something," Judith said.
"You're not going to like it, though," Karol said.
Yuri sighed. "Why am I not surprised about this? Alright, let's go talk about this."
They left Flynn asleep on the cot and locked the door when they left. Karol left the lantern on the table, so that if Flynn woke up he'd have some light. Back upstairs, they sat around the table with Raven.
"Ok, tell me what you guys found," Yuri said, glancing at all the books.
"We actually didn't find a lot," Karol said. "Even though we spent all day in the library!"
"What we have here is basically every book the library had that discussed brainwashing, mind control, or things like that. A lot of it said it was mostly fictional," she added with a frown.
"Yeah," Karol said. "Actual cases of brainwashing are pretty rare."
"But there was something, right?" Yuri said.
"Yes," Judith said, nodding. "Just to clear things up, Yuri, do you think there is any possibility that when he attacked you he was hypnotized, and not fully conscious?"
Yuri thought back to his fight with Flynn and slowly shook his head. "I don't think that's it. He was totally normal until he decided he needed to get rid of me. He would have to be under hypnosis for years, and I don't think that's likely."
"Didn't think so," Karol said, crossing something off a list. "Just being thorough."
"We already crossed blastia off the list," Judith said. "It's theorized blastia could work for mental manipulation, but since it didn't go away when the blastia disappeared, that can't be it."
"We guessed that already," Raven said.
"Could Estelle be blackmailing him?" Karol asked.
Yuri shook his head. "No. Even if Estelle coerced him to fight me, there would be no reason for him to say the things he did when I was the only one there to hear it."
"Ok," Karol said, scratching something else off his list. "Well… there's only two more options we could think of. The first is that Estelle used some kind of mind control device that nobody else knows about and has never been documented."
"We're unsure how realistic that one is," Judith said. "Ordinarily I would say that inventing such a device would be far beyond Estelle's skill, but now I don't really know what to think of her."
"We'd better hope it's not that one," Raven said. "How're we supposed to combat a technique we don't even know about?"
"What's the other option, Karol?" Yuri asked.
"It's… it's not a thing like a device or an arte that we can just switch off or cure. I found a book on a hypothetical way to convert enemy prisoners to your side."
"Alright, and what do you use to do it?" Yuri asked.
"That's the thing, Yuri," Judith said. "It's not a thing you use, it's just pure mental manipulation."
"What? You mean, just talking them into switching sides?" Yuri shook his head. "Flynn's got way too much confidence to fall for something like that."
Karol chewed on his lip before speaking, and when he did each word plinked delicately into place. "But maybe it would be different if he'd been tortured."
Yuri stiffened and a chill rushed through him. His brain flashed back to those scars he'd seen as dread curdled in his stomach. "What kind of torture?"
"A combination of physical and psychological," Judith said.
Yuri used to be impressed with her ability to remain calm and rational no matter the circumstance, but now her emotionless tone irritated him. He should show emotion, because this was his best friend she was talking about.
She continued, "It's a process that spans weeks or months. The simplest way to explain it is that if you torture a person until their mind breaks, you can put the pieces back together again however you please, with a new set of beliefs and ideologies."
The unexplained scars, Flynn's mentions of pain and suffering that Yuri didn't understand, letters he'd written to Flynn at the castle that always went unanswered… it all made horrible, unsettling sense. He buried his face in his hands and tried to keep from shaking. How could he not have known? Yuri's still-aching injuries from the fight throbbed as he imagined those horrible scars he'd seen. His best friend must have suffered so much, for years, and he'd been oblivious. He whispered, "That's it. That's what we're dealing with."
"Ah," Raven said slowly. "That… complicates things."
"Yes," Judith said. "It's not a matter of Flynn being controlled. He was manipulated and tortured to the point where he's doing this of his own free will."
Yuri shook his head. "That's not free will. Torturing a person until their brain is so scrambled they'll believe anything you say is not free will." Yuri took a deep breath and raised his head. This was the most important question: "Is it reversible?"
Karol and Judith were silent for a long ten seconds. Karol hesitantly said, "Yes…"
Yuri's heart leapt.
Judith added, "But it's not pretty or easy."
"When has that described anything in my life?" Yuri said. "What do we have to do?"
"Reverse the process," Karol said. "It will be easier for us than what Estelle initially did, because we're just trying to salvage the old Flynn, not impose an entirely new personality."
"We need to get him unstable," Judith said. "It's going to be very unpleasant. Through verbal and, yes, physical abuse, get him to a point where he's disoriented and not sure what he's supposed to believe anymore. Once he's open to emotional manipulation, we can start coaxing his old personality out and encouraging him to go back to his old self. We'd basically be breaking him again so that we can put the pieces back in the right order."
Yuri looked down at his fists. "And that's the only way?"
Karol nodded slowly. "It's the only thing we found in the books."
"Has anyone actually successfully done this?" Raven asked rubbing his chin.
"Er… there wasn't a record of it in any of the books," Karol said. "I don't think this degree of brainwashing has ever happened before. At least, it wasn't in the library."
"Hrm," Raven said. "I'm just worried about what kind of mental state he'll be in, assumin' he recovers. That kinda abuse can really mess a guy up."
"But if we do nothing," Karol said, "he'll stay devoted to Estelle and that's not good either."
"Well, Yuri?" Raven said. "It's up to you."
Yuri glared at the table, mulling it over. On one hand, they were proposing hurting Flynn. This was, obviously, horrible. On the other hand, Flynn's brain had already been thoroughly dry cleaned by Estelle. That paperwork he'd signed all those years ago meant he was responsible for making medical decisions on Flynn's behalf, so he considered what Flynn - the real Flynn - would want. It didn't take much thought to determine that the Flynn he grew up with would desperately want them to do anything if it meant restoring his sense of justice and ideals.
"We'll do what we have to do," he said, looking up and glancing between his friends with determination. "If that means punching Flynn in the face until he listens to reason, so be it. I'll get started on him tomorrow."
"Uh, are you sure you should be the one to do this, Yuri?" Karol said.
"Yeah," Yuri said. "Flynn's my responsibility. If anyone is going to do this, it's gonna be me." He'd already resigned himself to taking on the dirty tasks no one else wanted to do.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Judith said.
"What? Don't think I can do it?"
"Honestly? No," Judith said. "I know how much all this has affected you, Yuri. I think you might break down before he does."
"He's my friend," Yuri said. "If someone's going to hurt him, it should be me."
"Actually, Yuri," Karol said, "I really think that's a bad idea. Someone needs to talk him out of this once he's unstable, and ideally it should be a person he doesn't associate with abuse. I can't think of anyone better suited than his childhood friend. You're the only one here who's even met the real Flynn, so it would be better if you're not the one to actually break him."
"Well… I guess you're right," Yuri said. He would greatly prefer to not have to be the one to hurt Flynn, but he didn't want any of his friends to have to do it, either. "Who's going to do it, then?"
After a long pause, Raven sighed. "I'll do it," he said. "I've already done some pretty shitty stuff in my life. What's one more?"
"If you need it," Judith said, "I'll trade off with you."
"Right." Raven stood up and stretched. "Well, if you kids don't mind I'm gonna hit the hay. Didn't get much sleep last night."
Yuri was tempted to join him, because he didn't get much sleep last night either. He'd gone to bed after Raven's pestering, but it had been another restless night. He didn't feel like lying in bed thinking about Estelle again, so he stayed put.
Raven left, and Judith took off not long after to go out and buy groceries now that it was clear they were going to be here for a while. Yuri and Karol were left sitting silent at the table.
About ten minutes after Judith left, Karol said, "Yuri… I've been thinking. When Flynn recovers and he tells everyone the truth about Estelle, what's going to happen to her?"
"I don't know. She'll probably be arrested."
"Do you think they would execute her?"
"I'm not sure," he said stiffly. "She's a princess. Flynn'll probably be hard-pressed to even get her arrested."
"I know that Estelle is not a good person," Karol said with a frown. "I believe everything you said, Yuri. But even though I know she did horrible things, I can't stop worrying about what will happen to her when everyone finds out. I know it's dumb, but I don't think I could bear to see anything happen to her even though I know what she's done."
"It's not dumb," Yuri said. "To be honest, I feel the same way. Even though she tried to kill me and publicly accused me of assaulting her, I can't stop caring about her."
"You know, I think maybe that's a good thing," Karol said. "At least, it means… it means we're not like her. If I had to either care about people I shouldn't, or not care about anyone at all, I think I'd take the former."
"I don't know," Yuri said. "The second choice sounds a lot less painful."