damned_institute | Day 27: Breakfast

Day came too soon.

Sora hadn't been able to find Rena, had instead been forced to crumple onto the grass of the recreational field and bleed all over himself, and hadn't even accomplished what he'd been sent out to do. What he'd been entrusted to do. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face Renji and the others, but he also knew he wasn't going to hide from them, either. That would just be low, after all, and he was ready to face up to the consequences.

He didn't try to make excuses for himself. Even though there had been a Special Counseling patient, they had managed to take her down by sheer numbers. The fact that he hadn't seen any sign of Rena was what had him the most worried. He hoped he could find her today.

The boy laid in his bed for a good while that morning before his nurse finally came in to collect him. She clucked over the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and leg, and asked him if he was okay to walk.

Once Sora assured her he was fine (he didn't really want to use crutches, as that would just attract attention to himself, and he didn't need others worrying over him), they made their way to the cafeteria. Sora yawned and winced against the bright light of morning - it seemed even earlier than usual, and he realized why when they entered the cafeteria and found it empty.

The boy shuffled over to grab a chocolate chip pancake, a bowl of cereal, and a glass of milk (good for the bones, or so his mom had always told him) before settling at a table. He kept an eye on the door, hoping he would see Rena walking in soon.

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Celes waved off his apology with a slim hand. Though she was sure he (probably) meant it, wrapped up in his adjective-rich speaking style made her want to disbelieve him.

"I'm fine. I would like to know why I ended up here--Setzer had nothing to do with this," she said simply, unapologetic for the prescribed punishment she meted out.

She pushed her light blonde hair of her shoulders and fixed him with steely eyes. "When did you arrive, Edgar? How long after the battle with Ultros did you wake up?" she assumed he'd been taken at the same time she was. It held the most logic, after all. You couldn't just go plucking people willy nilly whenever you pleased!

Edgar blinked.

"Which—?" he began, then immediately caught his tongue. Could Celes truly come from the past? She mentioned Setzer... the Opera House? Edgar mused. It seemed hard to believe— but then, most of what had happened these past few days hadn't been particularly conceivable either. He turned away from Celes' iron stare, idly stabbing his pancakes with his fork.

"I..." he said, after a brief moment of hesitation. "I do believe that some small time has passed since then." He paused. He didn't really wish to elaborate. If Celes didn't know yet, about the floating continent, about the world... he had no wish to be the one to inform her of such things. Suddenly, he wasn't quite so hungry anymore.

"And I have no idea how you ended up here... or anyone else, for that matter. I'm sorry. The people here just go to sleep one night and wake up wearing dreadful uniforms. I do doubt that Setzer had any involvement in this, yes— though if he did, I will take great pleasure in personally dismantling his airship piece by piece. And then set fire to his lucky deck," he added with a chuckle. "It's good to know you're alright, at any rate."

"Okay. I can do that, Kisuke-san." Though Ururu's expression had barely changed, her voice was lighter, comforted by the familiar feeling of Urahara's warm hand on her head. "I promise I'll look really hard."

She'd just taken a bite of her pancakes (and decided that they were very good) when Urahara asked her what she remembered. That was a tricky thing, because it was hard to remember everything that happened when her brain changed, as Jinta liked to put it. But she knew enough to answer.

"Tessai-san was healing me after I got hurt fighting the Arrancar." Ururu looked down, frowning a little deeper. "Are you mad because I got out of bed? I was supposed to be sleeping, but I went onto the roof."

Small tears began to form at the corners of the gir's eyes. "Is it my fault we had to come here, Kisuke-san? I'm sorry."

Although Urahara was still interested in getting some answers about this place, it seemed as if his two acquaintances were already deep in conversation with each other, and he had Ururu to worry about at the moment.

"Ah, sorry," he smiled at them, scooting Ururu and himself a little off to the side. "If you'll excuse us..."

[ Moving down to their own thread. ]

Celes looked down at the gaudy yellow smiley face and picked it away from her skin. "Yes, they are rather horrid, aren't they?" she agreed.

"How long since, then? Were we able to secure the airship?" Celes asked softly, voice dropping as a nurse passed cheerily by. "I remember doing the opera and and then... then... waking up here." The general set her chin in her hand, thinking. Though I did meet someone yesterday morning. He was kind enough to allow me to accompany him."

"Quite horrid, I must agree." Edgar poked his own little smiley sulkily. "No sense of style, dreadful taste, appalling tailoring, and don't even get me started on the color scheme. Matron would haul me over the coals if she saw me like this. Ah, but you look charming regardless, my dear," he added with a wink and a smile. Never let it be said that the king of Figaro could let an opportunity for a compliment slip by.

That... and he was stalling. Because he wanted to avoid answering Celes' question. Because he wasn't quite sure he wanted to even begin considering the implications of what she'd just confirmed. Edgar sighed, growing serious, and helped himself to a generous portion of whipped cream.

He could lie to her. He could tell her it had been just a month, that nothing had gone wrong. He'd lied about worse things before, he knew, and thought of his brother. But this madhouse was a place built on lies, and to add yet another falsehood... he'd be doing her a disservice. And we couldn't go around doing disservices to a lady, now could we? He set his fork down.

"It's been... almost two years. Yes, we did secure the airship with no problems." ...For a while, at least. But Edgar said nothing about that, and about what had happened since. She didn't need to hear it. "Setzer's not a bad guy."

Celes crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow at his compliments, though her expression quickly changed to one of shock.

"Two years, Edgar? H-how?!" She looked alarmed, an unnatural expression on her usually confident face. The general leaned back in her chair, and eyed the King of Figaro. There were a few more lines in his ~~handsome~~ familiar face that she did not remember.

She ate daintily, trying to absorb this information. Soon breakfast would be over and they would ushered somewhere else. "We should continue this conversation in the... Sun Room." she paused, thoughtful. "But, Sabin, Locke and the others, they're not here, correct?"

Edgar noticed the look of alarm flash on Celes' lovely face, a look that did not belong on such beautiful features. He sighed, and shook his head. "I'm as shocked as you are, I'm afraid. I do not understand how this is possible, but from what I understand from reading the bulletin board it is not an uncommon occurrence in this place. Don't worry, though, as far as I've seen, none of our other acquaintances have made an appearance," he reassured her.

"Thank the Goddesses," he muttered beneath his breath. THe idea of his friends, of his brother in such a place... it terrified him.

It was at that point that the intercom went off — and that part of Edgar's brain which could keep him entranced for hours dissecting interesting contraptions still leapt up in interest. But he had much more important things to deal with for the time being. He frowned at the distraction, and looked down at his half finished breakfast. He helped himself to one last forkful of whipped cream. Then he got up.

"Well then, milady, shall we go?" he asked, with the most courteous of bows.

"Yes, let's," Celes replied quietly.

The statuesque pair removed themselves to the Sun Room quietly.

Day 27: Breakfast

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