damned_institute | Day 35: Morris Park

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artemis

Day 35: Morris Park

(From here!)

And here he was again. In the last place he wanted to be, really. The boy cast a glance around the desolate, dilapidated park and a sudden chill ran up his back. He pulled his overshirt closer and set about to looking at the trees.

There was a moon. He could get outside. If there was a water source and oak trees here, he could do it. The Ritual. Theoretically. As long as he was a magical being, he could perform the Ritual and gain the magic he'd spent, back. Artemis would be safe again. Safe to be injured and at least have a chance at regeneration. He still couldn't control it, of course, but once he got back home he would ask Holly for instruction on it. He'd of course have to explain how he'd happened to acquire magic, and of course the LEP captain would be irate, but she would forgive him. After all, he had one of her eyes in his head.

The boy crouched down and picked up a leaf. Oak, or not? And if so, he needed an acorn...

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Zabuza hadn't been doing much since they arrived in town. He had mostly kept to himself. He thought about trying to go to Haku, but thought better of dealing with the nurses who would bug him. He went to the far side park to be alone and to just be... outside.

It was so weird for him to be locked up and it was nice for once just to be outside, even if he was still being watched.

He heard Artemis approach and moved to watch the boy. When he realized who it was a slight grin came to his face. He wasn't really happy to see the kid, more just amused by him.

"Lose something?" he asked Artemis, as the boy seemed to be looking for something.

Artemis didn't move for a moment. Surely he was going crazy. Surely Momochi Zabuza's voice wasn't coming from behind him. Surely he was going to die in three seconds, crouched in the dirt, where no one would hear him scream.

Nope, he was insane. He wasn't hearing that at all. After all, Haku had told him that Zabuza had disappeared so he wouldn't be--

Dear God he was standing right behind him. Artemis fell back onto the forest floor and just stared at Zabuza for a moment, terrified.

"You... you're alive...!"

Zabuza looked at the boy strangely, though his grin didn't leave his face. It wasn't a happy expression; it simply showed off his sharp teeth.

"Of course I am..." he said. "Why would you think differently?"

"Because... you've been gone for at least three days...!" Artemis said, looking warily at Zabuza's sharp teeth. "Haku looked for you night after night, and even I began losing hope that you would turn up. I kept telling him you wouldn't abandon him here."

Artemis felt a small swell of pride at being right. Very small, though. Being splayed out on a forest floor on your bum wasn't very dignified, and didn't call for the term 'pride'.

Zabuza's grin disappear. He moved closer to Artemis, threateningly.

"What?" he asked. "I've been gone... how long?"

Artemis scrambled back as Zabuza moved towards him, letting out a squeak of panic. "I-I can't be completely certain, but I vaguely remember Haku mentioning that he didn't see you three days ago. After you two were attacked by another patient...!"

Please don't shoot the messenger, please don't shoot the messenger...! Artemis thought frantically.

Zabuza stopped and thought, trying to access the memories of the last few days. He drew a complete blank. He felt irrationally angry at Artemis for telling him this.

"Stop being so pathetic, brat!" he snapped. "I can't believe Haku would ever consider such a coward a friend." It was better to focus on Artemis' failings then to consider the possibility that was the child said was true.

Artemis looked flabbergasted for a moment, then his expression turned hard. No one, not even Zabuza, told him that he was worthless as a friend.

"Oh of course. How could I possibly be Haku's friend when the one who has been comforting him the whole time you were absent was me. Certainly friends don't do that sort of thing, so why on earth Haku still thinks of me that way, I have no idea."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed. He thought of killing the boy right where he stood, squeezing the life out of that skinny neck. He didn't. He was silent for a moment and finally a frown crossed his face.

He wasn't angry at the boy, not really. He was angry because Haku had been left alone for so long. Haku had been worried about him. Haku had... who knows what since he had been 'gone'.

At least it explained why he was back in town and why he felt so groggy.

Really, it was just to show how much he had grown since dying, that he took a moment to process his emotions.

He wasn't going to apologize, not to this stupid boy. Instead he simply deflated and stood back, giving Artemis some space.

"That's more like it," he said. "If you are going to be friends with my boy then you need to show some back bone. I can't stand cowardly people." He let the drop and automatically changed the subject. "I've been gone for days, huh? How has Haku been? Did he do anything stupid while I was away?"

Artemis stood up when Zabuza backed off. Perhaps he wouldn't be throttled anytime soon. Well, this time at least. Artemis himself was surprised at how he'd stood up to Zabuza. Granted, he was still terrified, but some things outweighed the danger of being killed.

Besides... he could have screamed for Schuldig anyway.

The boy shook his head, "No, we've both been safe for the most part." His hand reached up and self-consciously covered the cross burned into his neck. "I've been making sure he eats, and he's uninjured right now. I've been taking care of him the best I can.

"But I can't protect him," Artemis finished. He looked up at Zabuza. "That's your job."

Zabuza laughed at that, a cold cruel chuckle. "My job?" he asked. "You really don't understand anything about us, do you?" He was amused at the idea that Haku needed protecting.

"Think about it," Artemis countered. "Hypothetically, if I were with Haku every night, I would be nothing but a liability--a distraction. But he knows that you know what you're doing, and he doesn't have to worry about you. He can focus on himself. And he'll be safe and focused.

"So I believe the real question is: do you understand anything about me?"

Zabuza didn't feel the need to explain his and Haku's relationship so he let Artemis assume whatever he wanted to.

He crossed his arms. "I don't really care to know anything about you," he pointed out.

"Really? I find that strange, considering how close you are to Haku. I would think you'd want to know every intimate detail of my life just so that you would know I wasn't going to emotionally scar him."

Because physical scars were really out of the question.

"Or lead him to do something stupid. Or," Artemis continued, "I could be lying to you about making him eat. How would you know? You don't know anything about the type of person I am."

Zabuza was silent for a moment, regarding Artemis carefully.

After a long moment he finally spoke.

"Haku has never had a friend before," he pointed out. "Not really. I found him when he was very little, half-starved with a broken leash around his neck." He let the implications speak for themselves and paused again, considering his words carefully. "The only person he had ever been close to is me, and I'm not exactly a friendly kind of man." He grinned his evil grin again. "If he trusts you and you betray him, I'll be the least of your worries."

Artemis considered this for a moment, bobbing his head slightly in assent. He'd found out the implications of Zabuza's story long before, thanks to a certain religious man. But a leash...? Good Lord. But he couldn't show how much it affected him--not right now. Now, he had to reassure Zabuza that he wasn't doing precisely what he was doing.

"Well, fortunately, we are merely friends, and we have no deep bond that I could betray. Even if I desired to."

Which he never would.

"So I think it's safe to say that I am also the least of your worries. However, I still say that you know nothing of me, and thus it would be prudent to get most of your information from Haku--a far more reliable source than I am."

"I don't need to know more about you. Haku can take care of himself." Zabuza paused for a moment and considered Artemis seriously. "But if you ever try to do anything that will seperate us, I will kill you." His voice didn't have an extra amount of menace as he said the threat, it simply was. He meant it completely. He had already watched Haku die, he had no plans of ever losing the boy again. Ever.

He didn't honestly think that Artemis would be stupid enough to attempt to do anything, nor did he think that Haku would allow anything to seperate them... Except that it already had, at least for a few days. Zabuza felt a strong desire just to see Haku, but that would have to wait until nightshift.

"Exactly my point. He can take care of himself, so why do you come to me to make sure he eats and doesn't hurt himself? I just don't understand it," Artemis knelt down and brushed aside some leaves, feeling that it was safe to do so now.

It was not, however, safe to ask Zabuza to what extent he meant when he said 'separate'. Artemis and Haku were nearly attached at the hip during the day, and the boy kept trying to catch glimpses of his roommate when they were in the same room. But now that Zabuza was back, he and Haku would spend the nights together. That was fine by him. It would be ammunition he could use should Zabuza ever have a problem with how much time he and Haku spent in the company of each other.

And he and Haku would always have dinner.

The boy straightened up, several acorns in his palm. "Shall I inform Haku you have returned?"

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Day 35: Morris Park

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