Chapter Six: Breaking Point

Yuri stood by the sink, washing dishes. He'd cooked lunch for Karol, and then pushed some food around his own plate without eating much of it. He just didn't have much of an appetite, even though Judy, Karol, and Raven kept urging him to eat. It had been three days since they'd started trying to break through Flynn, and so far they hadn't been successful.

"Don't rush it," Judith had said. "This sort of thing takes time."

It had been enough time, as far as Yuri was concerned. Flynn wasn't getting any better, and the only reason Yuri hadn't called it off was because he'd already decided he'd have to kill Flynn if this didn't work. The hope that they'd fix Flynn grew smaller and smaller every day, and he'd begun steeling himself for the inevitable.

"Yuri?" Karol said.

Yuri just grunted in response as he scrubbed the plate. He'd been doing a lot of grunting instead of talking for the past couple of days, but that was because he felt bad enough for the nasty comments he'd made to Judith a few nights earlier. Intense anger, overwhelming grief, and infuriating powerlessness simmered within him and he didn't want to risk taking it out on Karol.

"Um, you've been scrubbing the same plate for ten minutes."

Yuri froze and looked down at what he was doing. "Oh." Just as he set the plate on the pile of clean plates, he jumped at a sudden yell from the basement.

"That sounded like Raven," Karol said, looking worriedly to the stairs.

Yuri frowned and nodded. They were used to angry screams from Flynn, but Raven had more of a booming military speech rather than outright yelling. A minute later, footsteps pounded up the stairs and Raven burst into the room with his hand over his mouth and nose.

"Are you ok?" Karol asked, staring at him in alarm.

"He bit me!" Raven said, pulling his hand away enough to show a bloodied upper lip. "I leaned in too close and the bastard bit me!"

"You should get an apple gel," Karol said.

"Yeah, already plannin' on it," Raven grumbled, storming down the hall to his room.

Yuri glanced to the open door to the basement. Judy was out, Karol didn't go anywhere near Flynn, and now Raven was out of commission for at least a few minutes. Yuri wouldn't blame him for needing a rest, since he'd been at it for hours. They'd rarely left Flynn alone since they started, so Yuri headed for the door, just in case.

He hadn't actually seen Flynn since this started, and when he entered the basement his chest clenched. Flynn slumped in the chair, his chin on his chest, taking deep breaths. He'd gotten only a few hours of sleep in three days, and had only water and a couple sandwiches to eat. They were trying to balance the difficult line between being harsh enough to break Estelle's hold, but not so cruel they became worse than her.

"Hey," Yuri said, standing next to Raven's vacated chair.

Flynn slowly raised his heavy head and turned his bloodshot eyes on Yuri. "Great," he panted. "It's you." With his tousled hair, sweaty face, and Raven's blood on his lips, he looked practically feral. "What do you want?" he whispered with venom.

"Are you alright?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Flynn pulled uselessly at his wrists. Even with the fabric to protect him from the rough rope, the skin beneath was red and obviously sore.

"I mean, do you have any immediate and pressing health concerns?" Yuri sat on the edge of the chair Raven had vacated.

Flynn snorted and leaned his head against the back of the chair. "Oh, in the case, I'm dandy. I just haven't had more than a few hours of sleep in… however many days it has been."

"Three," Yuri supplied.

"Three. Perfect." He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. His breathing was getting easier, but that didn't alleviate Yuri's guilt over stabbing him.

"Hey, don't go to sleep," Yuri said, patting his knee.

Flynn cracked his eyes open and half-heartedly glared at Yuri. "What are you even trying to accomplish? You think if you keep me awake long enough I'll suddenly totally change my perspective on life?"

"It seemed to work on you last time." They didn't have any details about exactly what Estelle had done, which made their job difficult. Yuri was split between worrying they weren't being nearly harsh enough, and worrying they were going over the top.

Flynn stiffened and his expression went blank, which Yuri had come to expect any time someone tried to convince Flynn he'd been tortured. "There was no last time."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "For heaven's sake, Flynn." He grabbed the collar of his shirt and ripped it open, revealing a thick scar curving across his chest. "Want to explain how you got that, then?"

"Training accident," Flynn insisted. "It was my fault."

"That's bullshit! Just accept what happened to you!"

"Estelle wouldn't hurt me."

Yuri let go of Flynn's shirt before he forgot himself and got too rough again. "That's the brainwashing talking."

"Would you let that go?!" Flynn panted. Speaking with any energy drained what little strength he had left. "I haven't been brainwashed."

"You have."

"I changed my opinion on things," Flynn said. "Just because I don't agree with you anymore doesn't mean I've been brainwashed."

Yuri rolled his eyes and tried to keep from shouting. "It doesn't count as 'changing your mind' if it was forced on you."

"It wasn't forced," Flynn weakly insisted. "I found a better way to see the world."

"If you didn't think it was a problem, you wouldn't have spent the last few months hiding it from me."

"Estelle told me to," Flynn said. "I don't question her orders."

"Dammit, Flynn!" Yuri leaned forward, resting his hands on Flynn's wrists. "This isn't you. You are not Estelle's pawn. You care about other people. You're the kindest, most honourable, strongest guy I've ever met, and if anyone can break through this, it's you. Remember who you are!"

"I do know who I am," Flynn said, evenly meeting Yuri's eyes. "Every day you spend making me miserable in an attempt to change me just convinces me more and more that Estelle was right about you never really being my friend." With a final burst of energy, he smashed his foot into Yuri's shin and roared, "So why don't you cut your losses and let me go?!"

Yuri jerked back at the kick, and then abruptly stood up. He didn't know whether he wanted to scream or cry, but neither would help the situation so he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. He leaned against the door, taking deep breaths. It's not over yet, he tried to convince himself. There's still hope for Flynn. Were they just fooling themselves? Yuri truly believed he'd seen a scrap of the old Flynn a couple of times, but was that scrap all that was left? It might be kinder to kill him now and let him rest in peace. Forcing him to keep living like this was cruel, and maybe Estelle was right. Maybe he wasn't a good friend. Maybe he was keeping Flynn around for selfish reasons and not what was actually best for him.

"Hey, Yuri," Raven said, coming back down the stairs. "Were ya in to see Flynn?"

He nodded silently, not trusting himself to speak without screaming.

Raven patted his shoulder. "I know that's gotta be rough on ya."

"He's not getting better," Yuri said in a voice smaller and more frightened than he'd intended.

"No, no, he is," Raven said unconvincingly. "Er… he freezes up more than he did before when I try ta convince him he was tortured. I'm… not actually sure if that's a good sign or not."

Yuri shook his head stiffly. He didn't know either. He pushed away from Raven and stomped upstairs, hands shaking with rage and fear. "Karol!" he barked, grabbing an axe from his room. "I'm going out."

"Where are you going?" Karol asked nervously as Yuri crossed the main room.

"I'm going to go kill some monsters."

Karol gave him a worried look, and then said, "Hold on, let me grab my axe. I'll go with you."

Half an hour later, Yuri yanked his axe out of a dead basilisk. He typically preferred swords, but he had to admit that there was a certain satisfaction to hacking monsters to pieces with an axe. Besides, he'd left his sword behind in Flynn's office. In his chest.

Dead monster carcasses covered the bloody grass around his feet. Beating monsters to a pulp did wonders to relieve stress, but the scent of blood permeating the scene pulled up vivid memories of Flynn bleeding to death. This heightened his rage and frustration, which led him to rip apart more monsters, which made more blood in a vicious cycle of pain and killing.

"Yuri, behind you!" Karol shouted, finishing off a basilisk of his own.

Yuri spun around and sunk his axe into a grasshopper taller than he was. The monsters in this area usually didn't give them any trouble, but he supposed getting only a bit over five hours of proper sleep in as many days hampered his fighting abilities. Before he could avoid it, one of its scythe-like arms slashed his shoulder. Yuri grunted with a wince and then swung his axe at the arm and hacked it off.

the grasshopper hissed and slashed at him with its left arm, and Yuri darted forward at the last second and sank his axe into its torso. He yanked the axe out and did it again, and then sliced off its other arm. It screeched and clicked its mandibles as it fell to the ground, but Yuri didn't stop.

The hot blood running down his arm called up memories of the last time he'd been injured in a fight, against Flynn. He brought the axe down on the writhing creature and in his mind he saw Flynn, staring up at him as he brought his sword down. He squeezed his eyes shut and shouted, hacking away at the grasshopper as viciously as he could. He barely even realized he was screaming as he slashed away at it, and some distant part of his brain recognized that he was putting far more force into his blows than necessary.

Someone else was shouting, but he spared no attention to it. All he focused on was the grasshopper, and hacking away at it until all the pent up rage flowed out through his axe. His throat hurt almost as much as his muscles did.

"Yuri!"

It was probably Karol. He didn't care. He had to kill this grasshopper, because it was a threat to the town and someone needed to take care of it and at least this was something he could do.

"Yuri, it's dead!"

No, he could still see it twitching. Maybe that was just the vibrations from repeatedly hacking into its body. Yuri had stopped screaming, mostly because his throat had run out of energy and he was left panting and grunting in fury as he ripped the giant bug to pieces.

"Yuri, it's dead, you need to stop," Karol said, reaching for his arm.

Yuri jerked away and then smashed his arm across Karol's face to get him out of the way. He hadn't even noticed he'd done it until he heard Karol fall to the ground and reality crept through his rage-fueled tirade against the grasshopper corpse.

He looked to Karol on the ground, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes and one hand gingerly rubbing his sore cheek. The axe dropped from Yuri's hand, shortly followed by his knees dropping to the grass. Before he could stop himself, a sob wrenched out of his chest.

"I'm s-sorry," he stammered, vigorously rubbing his eyes and trying to get them to dry up. Damn it all to hell – he did not cry.

"It's ok," Karol said softly.

Once he'd started, he couldn't stop. Yuri had spent most his energy dismembering the grasshopper, and now all the remaining dregs poured out of his eyes. He missed Estelle, he missed Flynn, and he felt like shit for allowing Flynn to suffer and now for smacking Karol. He had no idea what he was going to do with the rest of his life if he had to kill Flynn and then Estelle was never punished for her crimes. He'd really believed that when they defeated the Adephagos, he'd never have to face anything as horrible ever again.

Karol started crying too. Yuri felt bad for kicking him off, and scooted over to sit next to Karol so he could wrap his arm around the boy's shoulders and try to comfort him. Since Yuri was crying even harder than Karol was, this wasn't very effective.

"L-look at us," Yuri said, rubbing his eyes. "We're pathetic."

"I – I won't tell anyone i-i-if you won't."

"Heh," Yuri chuckled through his tears, "deal."

At the end of ten minutes, Yuri and Karol had cried themselves out. Yuri rubbed his sleeve across his eyes and sniffled, trying to clear up any evidence that he'd been crying. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried. It had probably been back when he and Flynn were kids.

He didn't feel the same stab of grief and anger when he thought about Flynn that he'd grown used to. He supposed he'd used it all up on this sob fest. He didn't know if he'd say he felt better now, but smashing that grasshopper to bloody pieces had been amazingly cathartic. It felt like he'd been holding these gut-wrenching sobs inside since that night he went running to Karol and Judy, and finally letting loose was like setting down a heavy backpack.

"I think… I think it's going to be ok," Karol said, looking at the skyline of Dahngrest in the distance. "As much as I don't want to believe this happened, it has. We've gone through some horrible things before, so we'll get through this, too."

"Yeah," Yuri said. "We'll fix Flynn. He grew up in the lower quarter with me, and that means he's tough as nails." The fear that he would never get the real Flynn back still preyed at the back of his mind, but now that he was out of the confining basement and vented all his fear into hacking apart monsters, he felt a lot more optimistic. "Then he can tell everyone what Estelle is."

Karol nodded. "And even if that's not enough to convince everyone, I know we'll beat Estelle because we have something she doesn't."

"And what's that, Captain?"

"Friends!" He punched the air. "If she thought she could use us and then get away with it, she's got another thing coming. No one messes with Brave Vesperia."

Yuri smiled, which felt weird considering he hadn't done it in almost a week. They had lost Estelle, and that hurt more than he could put into words, and he was so close to losing Flynn it terrified him, but at the end of the day he still had some of the most amazing and supportive friends a guy could hope for.

Yuri took one last deep breath to stabilize himself, and then said, "I'm sorry I hit you."

"It's alright," Karol said. "I know you didn't mean it. Do you think we should go back now?"

"Let's wait a bit," Yuri said. "Your eyes are still all red and puffy."

Karol pouted and said, "Yeah, well so are yours."

Yuri rubbed some remaining moisture from his eye. "Hmph. I guess so."

Rita stood on the front step of a house in the public quarter, hoping no one would answer the door. It hadn't been difficult to track down the records of Estelle's former caregivers. There were employment records going back generations, so finding a list of who took care of the princess less than twenty years ago was simple. The records also listed the reason the person had left the position, which Rita found quite useful in narrowing down who to talk to.

The earliest nanny left because her mother in Halure became ill and she had to go take care of her. Then there were tutors who were dismissed after Estelle outgrew their instruction, or governesses who left because they'd become pregnant and wanted to take care of their own family first. The one Rita found interesting was the second nanny, who had been put in charge of Estelle when she was four years old. She left when Estelle was eight, and the only given reason was "no longer wished to associate with the princess."

The door opened and an older woman smiled at Rita. "Hello, Miss. Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah, maybe," Rita said. "Are you Bridget Mason?"

She nodded. "That's right. Is there a problem?"

"I was just wondering if I could talk to you about Estelle."

Ms. Mason frowned. "Estelle…?"

"Princess Estellise. You used to take care of her, right?"

Ms. Mason's smile fell. "Oh. The princess. Yes, I took care of her. Has she… done something?"

The fearful tone in her voice made Rita's heart skip a beat. That didn't sound like the tone of a woman who was going to tell Rita not to be ridiculous and that of course Estelle was nothing but love and joy. "I don't know," Rita said. "She might have. I just want to know what she was like as a child."

Ms. Mason glanced nervously around the street. "She… there's nothing to tell. The princess was a wonderful child."

She was clearly lying. Rita frowned and asked, "So, why did you leave the castle, then? The records say you didn't want to associate with her anymore."

"That's personal," Ms. Mason said. "I am a dutiful worker of the empire. I wouldn't dream of saying anything to sully the name of the royal family. I'm sorry, it looks like I can't help you. Have a nice day."

She started closing the door, but Rita shoved her foot out and caught. "Hold on, I'm not done with you yet."

The door pressed against Rita's foot as Ms. Mason tried to close it, but Rita remained firm. "Miss, there is nothing I have to tell you. Please leave me in peace."

"You know something, don't you?" Rita demanded. "My friends might be in trouble because of her, but I can't help them if I don't get to the bottom of this. Tell me what you know!" She glared at the woman, and then decided to try out a word that Estelle had encouraged her to try. "Please."

They met each other's eyes for a few tense seconds, and then Ms. Mason's flicked away to look down the street again to see if anyone was watching. Finally, she sighed and opened the door a little wider. "You'd better come inside."

Rita usually found the prospect of new evidence to support a hypothesis exciting, but for the first time in her life she found herself dreading new information. Inside, Ms. Mason gestured for her to sit down at the kitchen table.

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

"No, thanks," Rita said, folding her hands. "I'm not really thirsty."

"Right," Ms. Mason said, sitting wearily across from her. She looked like she'd rather fuss around with a teapot than sit and talk about Estelle at the moment. "So, tell me, what brings you here about Estellise?"

"I want to know what she was like as a child. Was she… normal?"

Ms. Mason looked to Rita with pursed lips. "You aren't going to tell anyone you talked to me, are you?"

"Not if you don't want me to," Rita said.

"Alright. I've never told anyone about this because I was afraid I would get in trouble for bad mouthing the royal family. But if you promise to remain confidential…" Ms. Mason glanced around her kitchen like there were informants lurking in the cupboards. In a loud whisper, she said, "There was something wrong with that child."

"Wrong how?" Rita asked.

"She never had any friends," Ms. Mason said. "Noble children were brought over to play with her, but she was always disinterested in them at best. When she was six, I saw her go to two members of a group and tell them the other had said something mean about them, and then she sat under a tree making flower necklaces while watching the group devolve into arguments and fighting."

Estelle had told her she'd never had any friends before, but it had never occurred to her that she might have purposefully avoided other children. It made some horrible amount of sense. Even if she was a princess, there would still have been the children of Council members, who logically would want to go out of their way to get in with the royal family.

"She stole things regularly. Not out of malice, but just because she wanted something and didn't feel like going to the trouble of asking for it. And then…" Ms. Mason bit her lip, "there were small animals. Mice and things that got into her room sometimes. She killed them, sometimes quite brutally. Sometimes she'd keep them alive as long as she could, like an experiment."

Rita's stomach squirmed, trying to imagine sweet Estelle, who wanted to make a grave for every monster, torturing small animals. "But… she doesn't do that anymore."

"No," Ms. Mason said. "I scolded her quite harshly whenever I found out. She learned that hurting animals got her in trouble and that she wasn't allowed to have dessert if she did it. She started overcompensating, and going out of her way to tell me how much she liked animals to make sure she got her desert. If she accidentally killed anything, like a mouse or a bug, she'd loudly explain how sad she was that she'd done it and how horrible she felt, so that she wouldn't get in trouble."

And then she'd probably become a more efficient liar as she grew up, and reached a point where she could say things like that with utter conviction. Rita felt nauseated just thinking about Estelle in that way, and changed the subject. "What made you leave?" she asked, even though she doubted it would make her that much happier. "You were with her for four years. Did you just give up?"

Ms. Mason sighed and fiddled with her hands. "It was just after the Great War started, when she was eight. I explained to her that a war was starting and that's why all the knights were moving. She got so excited at the prospect of war, and I told her she mustn't be enthusiastic because it was a serious thing. She looked up at me and asked, 'are many people going to die?' But, it wasn't like a scared child. She sounded excited, like the prospect of thousands dying in a war like out of her books would be thrilling.

"I told her yes, and that it is very sad when people die. She simply said, 'Oh, alright'." Ms. Mason frowned and stared at the table with a cross look. "There was something in her eyes… or rather, there was nothing, and that terrified me. I could tell she understood what death was, but it didn't matter to her." She shook her head and concluded, "That was the last straw. I did my best with that child, but in the four years I cared for her I never saw her express any empathy or compassion for a single living being. I did, however, see her grow better and better at faking it as she aged. The thought of being around her when she was older, more experienced, and more powerful terrified me. So, I quit."

"I… see," Rita said, trying to rationalize this influx of information. She couldn't, though. This woman had no reason to lie to her, and it fit with what Yuri had already told her. It was all horribly true.

"I've heard that she's grown up to be a beloved princess who heals the wounded and helps the common man," Ms. Mason said, looking up at her. "I suppose I was naïve in hoping that against the odds she managed to grow up a normal, well-adjusted adult?"

"I think so," Rita said softly, staring at the table in shock. "I thought she was my best friend, but… crap."

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you."

"I asked because I was already suspicious."

"Has she hurt anyone?" Ms. Mason asked worriedly.

Rita heaved a sigh. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she has."

"Yuri!" Judith shook his shoulder. "Yuri, you need to wake up."

Yuri pried his eyes open from the first solid sleep he'd had in days. This had better be important. "What's the deal, Judy?" he said, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes. "First you nag me to sleep, and now you nag me to get up?"

"You need to go downstairs," she said. He couldn't see her face clearly because there were no lamps in his bedroom and only the moonlight coming through the window illuminated her, but she sounded tense. "Flynn needs you."

Yuri shook his head to clear his mind, and the mention of Flynn jolted him awake. He hopped out of bed and was already halfway to the door by the time he finished asking, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," she said, hurriedly following him. "I went down to relieve Raven, but just as I got there Raven ran out and told me to get you."

Yuri quickened his pace on the way down to the basement. He hadn't seen Flynn since their encounter yesterday, and he was terrified something had gone horribly wrong. Were they being too rough? Was he having another coughing fit and spewing blood everywhere? By the time he reached the door to Flynn's makeshift cell, he was convinced he'd find his friend half-dead on the ground.

What he didn't expect to find was Flynn sobbing his eyes out. Raven stood awkwardly by his chair, and when Yuri looked to him for answers he said quietly, "Uh… I think I got him ta accept that what Estelle did ta him was torture."

"What happened?" Yuri asked, walking closer while Judith hovered in the doorway.

"I was just talkin' ta him like I have been," Raven said, meeting Yuri halfway across the room and speaking in a low voice. "I asked him why a knight would need to be secretive about who he directly reports to, and usually if I ask that he babbles somethin' about not questionin' Estelle's orders. This time, though, he just snapped and started cryin'. I dunno if we've totally gotten through ta him, but I think ya need to talk ta him."

"Right," Yuri said, all vestiges of sleep gone from his mind. "Thanks for getting me. You and Judy can go; I'll deal with this."

Raven nodded, and Yuri sat in front of Flynn as the door clicked shut behind Raven's exit. "Hey, Flynn?" Yuri said, reaching out and resting his hand on Flynn's trembling bicep.

Flynn raised his head and stared at Yuri with wide, red-rimmed eyes, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "Y-Yuri," he choked. "H-help – I don't – I can't – help."

The wooden chair creaked as he pulled at his bound wrists, and Yuri took pity on him. He untied them, praying Flynn wasn't going to flip out and try to strangle him. Flynn did lunge at him as soon as he was free, but instead of going for Yuri's throat, he went for his shirt and clung to him. He sobbed into Yuri's shoulder as Yuri awkwardly wrapped one arm around his shoulders, wishing he was better at dealing with crying people. Maybe if he let himself cry more often he'd know what to do.

"Why?" Flynn choked out, his voice muffled by Yuri's shoulder. "W-why… why is this happening?"

"I'm sorry," Yuri said. "I'm sorry we hurt you. It was the only way to-"

"No, not this." Flynn's grip on Yuri's shirt tightened. "All of it."

"I don't-"

"Estelle… sh-she wouldn't – she'd n-never… I trust Estelle."

"No, don't say that!" Yuri said quickly. Whenever Flynn started going on about how he trusted Estelle, he always closed off again. "What Estelle did to you was wrong."

"Y-yes…" Flynn panted. "I c-c-can't do this, Yuri."

"Yes, you can. You're strong, Flynn."

"I can't! I – I'm not allowed." He raised his head and stared at Yuri with wide, panicked eyes. "She's going to find out."

Yuri could only assume he meant Estelle. "Find out what?"

"I'm not allowed to think it was torture! E-Estelle is going to… I'm going to be punished."

"No," Yuri said as firmly as he could. He really wasn't sure what was going on, so he grasped at straws and tried to say what he thought Flynn needed to hear. "No, she's not. She's not going to hurt you again. You're with us, now."

Flynn heaved for breath and then fell against Yuri's chest again. "But… but I trust her… I'm not s-supposed to think about it."

"Don't listen to her. No one has the right to tell you what you're 'allowed' to think about. You have to accept what happened so you'll understand Estelle doesn't deserve your loyalty."

"I don't want to." His chest heaved with a sob. "I d-don't want to remember."

"You've got to confront it," Yuri said. Flynn needed him to be calm and supporting, but it was all he could do to not smash a table in fury with Estelle for doing this to Flynn. Seeing his best friend, the friend who was always so strong and confident and always a step ahead, reduced to a shaking mass of sobs filled him with rage.

"Why me?" Flynn whispered. "W-why did she do this to me?"

"I don't know, but you're going to get through it."

Flynn couldn't get any more words out. He just pressed himself against Yuri and bawled, and Yuri got the distinct impression that this was three years of horrified tears built up behind his mental block finally breaking through. There was nothing Yuri could do but sit still and hold him until he'd run out of tears, and even then his shoulders heaved and muscles trembled.

"Are you alright?" Yuri asked when Flynn finally loosened his grip on Yuri's shirt.

"I… no… thank you," he murmured. "You're so kind, even though you hate me."

"What? Flynn, I don't hate you."

Flynn stared at him with confusion, and Yuri groaned in frustration. He could deal with this later, though. They'd finally gotten Flynn to remember and accept that Estelle had tortured him. Getting him to accept that this meant Estelle was undeniably untrustworthy and a bad person was another step, and getting him to believe that she'd been lying through her teeth about Yuri hating him would hopefully happen along the way.

"Come on," Yuri said gently, slowly standing and pulling Flynn to his feet. "I think you deserve some proper sleep."

Flynn stumbled, and would have hit the ground if Yuri hadn't caught him. Yuri half-dragged him across the room to the cot and let him collapse onto the hard mattress. Flynn made no move to grab the blanket, so Yuri pulled it up for him.

"Goodnight," Yuri said, praying giving him a good night's sleep wouldn't undo this breakthrough.

Flynn was already unconscious by the time Yuri left the room.